[hider=Alejandra]

Conrad squinted. He rose from his chair, his daunting figure much taller than Alejandra. He stood inches from her, looking down at her as if he was looking down at his boots. From this distance, anyone could smell him or count the blonde, prickly facial hairs protruding from his skin. One could look into the wrinkles and scars on his face like one could stare in a hole in the ground. One could stare into his deep blue eyes like one stares into the sunless sea. 

He grabbed his right hand and clutched Alejandra's jaw with it like one would a child, squishing her lips and cheeks together. Despite his titan's grip on her, Conrad maintained his still and stern expression; he was always in control. "You'd do well to listen better, whelp. It is [i]my[/i] job to protect the interests of the Midlands in negotiation, not you. You have only as much say as I graciously bestow upon you." he snarled. His teeth were slightly cramped and crooked. At this distance, one could see their reflection in his saliva. "You will not undermine my authority, but if you take such an interest in foreign affairs, I'll let you be on the guard protecting Pompey's champion on his journey to the North. We'll see how well you handle it." 

Conrad released his grip on her, almost throwing her to the ground. The party around them didn't seem to notice. Conrad quickly weaved through the crowd and slid out the door. Alejandra was left to her own devices; she could either leave or say at the party and find something to do. Whatever it was, she had to be careful; she had tested Conrad's patience once and failed. It would be unwise to test that of the Fates. [/hider]

[hider=Remix]

Lugurix sat in his chair at the corner of the room. He was old going on ancient, and it became difficult to even rise from his chair nowadays. He seemed to never be looking at anything; his eyes always looked glossed over. Many speculated he was blind, but his exceptional use of a scalpel testified otherwise. "I cannot say, young one. He is a greater force than I am, both among people and with the gods. It will be people like him who will pass judgment upon me, not I upon him." Lugurix was always cryptic. Many thought him crazy, and the notion isn't unfounded. From his glossed over look to his protruding lower lip that made him look like a fish, he looked much like a lunatic. 

About a half dozen Northerners in the room had caught a nasty plague that had been spreading across the North for months; medicine men and women all across the North had tried bloodletting and a dozen different herbs, but it seemed fruitless. These doomed men must be burned now to prevent the spread of the gut-wrenching plague. 

"It surprises me that you are unmoved by him, Remix." Lugurix croaked. "His tongue is like a ship's rudder, and his lungs like sails." Not all of Lugurix's similes and metaphors hit their mark. "Do you guard yourself? Only with walls could one prevent such a man from reaching one's heart." [/hider]

[hider=Morgan]

The Piper only giggled and grinned while he looked over the balcony. "Oh, you don't know? Tomorrow's tournament isn't a tournament, not only in that it lacks brackets. It's a slaughterhouse. A gorefest. A visceramphitheater." 

The Piper adopted his storytelling tone. "Imagine a man so tall he could pluck us both out of this balcony from the party floor!" The Piper began to use his hands to express himself, acting out his impression of the man-beast he described. "Imagine him taking the dullest, rustiest blade akin to a butcher's knife and practically bludgeoning men to death with it, splitting them down their middle with only a single, two handed stroke. Charcoal skin, fiery hair, and piercing, yellow eyes, what frightener he is! I've seen him with my own two eyes, and he's more likely to leave nothing left of his enemy to patch up then he is to be patched up himself." 

The Piper calmed down eventually, but one would need be fearless to say that they weren't even slightly chilled by the Piper's performance. "It's all a political gambit, really. He's a traitor from the South, and Pompey wants to show him off." [/hider]