[centre][color=gold][h2]Atallia Faeron[/h2][/color][/centre]

[i][b]"We weren't the first creatures on this Earth, you know."[/b] Her father mused, his features both wild with imagination and amusement at his young daughter's reaction to his stories. She was a small thing with wide golden eyes that usually frightened the other children. [b]"When the world was first made, it was filled with weird and wonderful creatures but among them, the dragons, the children of Pyrus, were the most wise of all beings. Their fires lit the great mountains and burned with the heat of a thousand million suns."[/b] The young Atallia was estatic at this point, cowering behind her sheets but still engrossed. Her father continued, a smirk dancing on his lips. [b]"They reigned over air and land and were regarded as the kings of all creatures. They were the fiery fist of Pyrus, the weapons to halt the vile children of Vivari. For aeons, they fought with the dark Gods and eventually, they helped the Great Mother forge the Mountains of the Spine."[/b]

His story telling seemed palpable; her father had a way with words that was undeniable. Suddenly, his tone took on a much darker one. [b]"But the dragons, although great and wise, were corruptable, and many fell to the sways of the vile Gods. Their power was so great that if they fell to evil, it would spell the end of the Elder Gods so Vivari cut the tether of life and they were no longer capable of producing children."[/b] This was met by a loud gasp from the young girl who had dropped the quilt and crawled forward to listen to the story. [b]"Eventually, all the dragons faded away until one was left - Tal. He was a noble dragon, ancient, knowledgeable and a friend of Pyrus. He too was dying and in fiery resistance to his mother's wishes, Pyrus granted Tal an immortal spirit. That he would never fade from this world."[/b] Her father ducked down, coming close as he rounded off his story. [b]"But Tal was lonely for his people had long since faded from the world. And so it was that one day, he found a young woman dying alone in the forest. She had been happened upon by horned devils and they had left her to die. Tal spoke with her for a long time and comforted her so that her death would be painless. As she lay dying, however, he could not bring himself to see such innocence stolen from the world so the gift that was granted to him from Pyrus was passed to the young girl. And that day, death did not take her but the ancient and noble dragon."[/b] Tears filled the young girls eyes as she looked upwards but her father smiled gently and patted her curls of brown. [b]"The young woman was sad for a time, that the great dragon had traded his life for hers, but as she grew, she realised that with his spirit, the dragon had granted her great power. Years later, as raiding parties reached the first towns and villages, reports came back of a great warrior in the mists who danced with dragonfire and wherever innocent blood was spilled, the great spirit of the dragon would come again to protect those who could not protect themselves."[/b]

Her tears had dried at that point and, with wild golden eyes, she buried herself in her father's stomach, her arms curling tightly around him. [b]"Some people still reckon that the spirit of the dragon will return and free us all. But until then, we have to keep fighting with everything we have so that the Great Dragon didn't die for nothing. Ok?"[/b] His smile danced and blurred and everything faded with a rocky bump and a harsh voice.[/i]

[b]"Get a move on! Out you get!"[/b]

Atallia blinked back sleep from her eyes; she had been dreaming again. Her dreams were wild things, calling back to the days of her youth but she had no use for them now. Dragons were gone and the world was filled with horrors beyond counting. Living in hope of the return of a great warrior was pointless. They didn't need a warrior - they would burn the bastards themselves. Fire Gems were renowned for being rebellious and the young Talli wasn't exactly an exception to that, she was the living proof of it. For that reason, the guard kept his hand on his sword as she fixed him with a dark glare. [b]"That way! Take your stuff and move!"[/b] She jumped down, trailing her chest before two massive Drakken guards fell into line with her, forcing her to walk in the direction the other guard had dictated for her.

It wasn't long until she ended up being roughly pushed into a small changing room. There was a bath and an outfit already laid out for her, apparently. A long, flowing black dress and without even donning the thing, she knew it would hug way too much and expose a lot more. Letting the growl of annoyance die in her throat, her frown turned on the bath and in silent resignation of fate, she stripped and climbed into the cold water to bathe quickly. She hated being cold but it had to be done. Once she had towelled down and pinned her hair up in a style that portrayed some eloquence before the tangled remains of the style betrayed that eloquence. The black dress was horrible. Well, it was lovely but that was exactly why it was horrible - the black seemed to juxtapose the royal gold of her eyes and it's hugging tightness alluded to some curvature of the small Gem. Not to mention but the bastards had also somehow figured out about her tattoo and left the shoulders open, exposing her dragon. The shoes were plain but sloped upwards just enough to make them uncomfortable to move in. She wasn't making a runner in them, apparently. Running was for cowards anyways.

So, with fire in her eyes and a little bit of awkwardness in her strides, she left the changing room and descended down into the sea of horny Drakkens and terrified Gems. Or possibly the other way around - some of her sisters seemed to forget who the real enemy was and made quite the show of themselves. Atallia did the exact opposite. Moving just as far as she needed to, she stopped and allowed her arms to cross, leaning her weight on one leg as she watched the moving room with molten eyes. Fire danced cautiously across them and anyone watching would have noticed the gold take on red flecks before resolving to the shiny royalty of their normal state. Way too much royalty for one room to handle.

[centre][h2][color=sienna]Rynek Darion[/color] & [color=skyblue]Aeila Snowblood[/color][/h2][/centre]

[color=sienna]"I want that one! Oh, no! I want that one! Are they twins? Fuck! I want twins! Jynal - I demand that you get me those Twins! Threesomes are a wonderful celebration of life!"[/color] Rynek was in his element or more appropriately, Rynek was fairly close to Nirvana. Pretty little Gems everywhere and all he wanted was a threesome but as it turned out, they were just out of his reach.

Jynal sighed, adjusted his spectacles and shook his head. [b]"As I already told you, my Prince, these girls are only going in now. You can't take them because the other Lords would start complaining."[/b] The man was a Gem as his lack of horns pointed out but he made for a decent advisor and Rynek's father unfortunately insisted that he tagged along to make sure he doesn't do really stupid stuff.

Nevertheless, he frowned and pouted a little. [color=sienna]"Fine!"[/color] He drew out, his voice exasperated as he looked around at his guards. They were a merry bunch, his bastards. He always told them - he didn't need an army, just twenty good men and he could reap havoc. Some of them wore the heavy blacksteel with the branded wolf of the Darions indicating them to be the Royal Guard who were famed for being vicious cunts who would cut down anyone who got in their way. The rest of his guard were made up of fuckwits, to put it simply. They were the sort of men that were defined by three simple things - fucking, drinking and killing which they were all fairly good at. Rynek was something similar to them but unlike them, he had some thought behind his actions. Or, at least, he put some thought into the repercussions.

[color=skyblue]"Threesomes?"[/color] A soft voice questioned, almost too quiet for the rest of them to hear but Rynek had good ears and his younger sister interested him, to an extent. For the daughter of the King and at least some relationship to him, she was a little runt that was terrified of her own shadow but that in itself interested him. She held on and survived despite everything piling up on her. His eyes turned and like a million times before, he found himself summing his little sister up before he grinned.

[color=sienna]"Excellent question, Aely! Well... When a man loves a woman who also kinda digs other women..."[/color] Eventually, what became an explanation soon became a demonstration where Rynek very helpfully parted both index and middle fingers before slotting the two together in a repetitive motion and lazily attempting to stick a thumb into the whole process. Needless to say, Aeila was left wide-eyed and almost as red as the curls that decorated her head. Jynal sighed in annoyance and his guards shifted restlessly, the talk of sex perhaps a little too close to home for the needy bunch.

Before long, they had dismounted and wandered into the great halls of Shadow Worth. Various lords and chieftans had already gathered for the choosing and Rynek would have gone amiss if it wasn't for the short girl beside him. As they moved further into the building, she seemed to attract greater and greater attention. None ever whispered in gossip - they knew all about the white-haired Prince who she rushed to follow. Aeila never realised what the outside world was like. She had only ever seen the inside of the Drakkan Capital Fortress and a few fleeting glimpses of bustling markets of trade so as curious as they were to her, she was to the building and those gathered inside it. Her eyes traced the beautiful architecture with awe and she very nearly tripped over Rynek but righted herself somehow. Tripping over her older brother on her first public appearance since her arrival in Draka probably wouldn't have went down well. She remembered the last gift of advice her father gave her - look weak and you'll be treated as such. And so, almost subconciously, she righted her vision like Rynek who was strutting down the corridor like a man on a mission and wandered after him, red hair dancing out behind her.

Rynek burst into the claiming chamber like he knew there was an old friend behind it and technically there was - virgins. He had missed them. The southern nations liked breaking their girls in early and due to the fact that he had a little bit of standards, he had to make-do with some second-hand merchandise. But these lovelies were ripe for the picking and oh he was going to pick them something serious. [color=sienna]"This is heaven, little sister! Blondes, brunettes; horny little minxes and celibate religious girls! A man could lose himself in here!"[/color] Sighing in pure bliss, he descended the stairs and began roaming. Rynek was like a child in a sweetshop except instead of sweets, it was crying Gem girls but basically the same thing to Rynek - tasty but they didn't last very long.

It had been years since he had last been to a Gem claiming and he had to admit that he missed it sorely. When you're off fighting a bunch of barbarians that don't even bother shaving down there, one can get quite upset with the quality and nature of those whom you fuck. That quality was guaranteed with these lot though. Aelia hurried after him, drawing too many glares for her own liking. She felt almost as exposed as the poor Gems who were currently being paraded like cattle. [color=sienna]"You know, Aely, I think I'm a pretty good brother! Look, I'm taking you out on nice excursions like this and if you're really lucky, I might buy you a girl! You could have horrible brothers like good ol' Zakles over there. Ever heard what he did to his sisters? Interesting story, actually! Oh and Loofa - he wasn't meant to take over his house but let's just say those plans changed. Haha! What a lovely bunch!"[/color] Aeila naturally shifted closer to him, her eyes cautiously watching for anyone who dared step too close to her. She felt uncomfortable here and in a weird way, she longed for the quiet confinement of the Fortress. Aeila wasn't stupid; about the only thing she had going for herself was her brains and she realised that she was a symbol of the current King's shortcomings. She was his weakness and to any man who wished to take the throne next, she would be a valuable conquest.

Rynek on the other hand, was silently questioning if foursomes had any clear advantages over threesomes apart from the obvious inclusion on an extra person. Interesting stuff. Jynal butted in again, his voice annoying and incessant. [b]"There are the twins you longed for earlier, my liege! Although they are claimed, I'm sure none would dare stand in your way!"[/b] Rynek frowned and lowered his vision to the beady eyes of the Gem. There was something about him that just set him off but he couldn't be bothered pissing his Father off so he left the man in a somewhat decent state. Most in the room hadn't exactly noticed Rynek's presence. They noticed his bastard sister's, strangely, but she had taken the rest of the exposure from him. He quite liked his sister but he was intrigued in just how well she would do by herself. When she turned away for a moment to catch a glimpse of a crying girl being dragged off, Rynek disappeared into the crowd, closely following by his personal advisor.

The young prince had spotted a sliver of silver in the sea of horns and dresses and something drew him close. Dipping through the crowds, his smiles faded as he finally stopped and tilted his head, taking her in. She was a waif and her skin seemed almost as pale as her hair but surprisingly, her body lusciously tucked in to feminine curves that made him wander just what she would be like without all those pretty clothes. Excellent! Threesomes were out of the question now but who needed a threesome when you had one special lady in your life. Or at least, into the foreseeable future before she was offed.

Some horned fellow was talking to her before leaving so Rynek dipped in quickly, not caring to look after the fellow. His loss. Within a moment, Rynek was on her. Figuratively, of course; he was leaving the physical getting-on for at least when she had answered some important questions. Bending down to her level, he eyed her suspiciously, stroking his chin all the while. He cirled her once before pausing and frowning, his eyes squinting in distrust. [color=sienna]"Question one - which is more preferable? Death by a questionable amount of sex or a long life filled with shitty sex? Question two. If I gave you a knife right now, what would you do with it?"[/color]

While Rynek was somehow attempting to win over the Gem who had captured his eyes, Aeila was hopelessly lost and too small to figure out where her older brother was. Her breathing came quick in rapid bursts and although she was trying hard to cover her terror, she realised that she was drawing a lot more attention now that Rynek wasn't with her. She had to prove her strength and she couldn't do that if he was constantly looking out for her but in all honesty, she was terrified. The King had no ties to her now and she wasn't under his protection. Breathing, she felt her eyes slip closed. She had no choice but to do this and if she got through it, she would be fine. It was just difficult. Insanely difficult. Way too difficult for a young Drakken who barely even had the guts to lift a blade.

[@Obscene Symphony]