[center][color=007fff][b][u]Azura[/u][/b][/color]
Level 1
Day 3
Location: 26th Floor of Tetris Castle, the Reception Hall
[b]Experience: [color=black]||||||||||[/color] (0/10)[/b][/center]

Even when made heavy by boots, the footfalls of the foreign princess walking the Tetris Castle's halls seldom made a sound.  Over the last few days a great many new faces had arrived at this hub world, united by the common threat posed by the Mugen Virus, and among their ranks were featured unforgettable faces, unignorable attitudes, and attention-grabbing appearances.  With all of the commotion caused by so many arrivals, few could devote their time to unimportant tasks, but all the same there came scattered reports of a woman nobody seemed able to commit to memory.  They knew that bore breathtaking aquamarine hair, voluminous, long, and in splendid condition.  If spotted at the training grounds, she was said to carry an ornamental spear as beauteous as herself.  Yet this woman always seemed to slip away, first from the body and then from the mind, remembered only sparingly and in retrospect.

For her part, Azura did nothing to attract attention.  This place was, after all, another castle.  She knew the nature of royalty, their subjects, and how they behaved in response to a foreign princess whose silence and dignity came off as coldness and aloofness, making them think she thought she was their superior.  A castle was a cold and uncaring domicile, a place of status rather than compassion.  If one wasn't its master or the master's progeny, one could be expected to be treated like dirt, like a tool, like a pretty trinket brought out for display on special occasions, or in a certain someone's case, all three.  When in Nohr, Azura found relief from the lonesomeness of her secluded chambers and the pointed looks of the kingdom's nobles in the markets and outdoors, where either commoners or nature were happy to receive her.  There, she found that her songs sounded far better than in her recitals.  Today, her first mission as a 'hero' would begin, and she was to be received by someone of the name of 'Vault Boy'.  When she accepted the invitation of a strange turtle to come here, she hadn't imagined that she would be giving up the hospitality of the kingdom of Hoshido for a frontline war against some terrible menace, but Azura was determined to do some good in the world.  It was time to demonstrate that she was neither a trinket nor a wallflower, but a heroine.  As she approached the place of the meeting, therefore, she brought company: the Blessed Lance bestowed upon her by gracious Queen Mikoto of Hoshido, a memoir of the short but wonderful time she hadn't felt quite so alone.

The Reception Hall certainly lived up to the grandiosity Azura had come to respect from castles' public chambers.  When she entered, her hand as gentle on the door as could be, there appeared to be nobody but servants and Vault Boy himself amid the fixings for a gratuitous feast.  [i]I'm the first, then.[/i]  Since carrying a lance to a meal would be nothing short of preposterous, and bringing it here in the first place seemed a more brainless decision by the second, she decided to give a soldier's bow to her host.  With a flourish of her weapon she executed the respectful gesture, which ended with Azura embedding the weapon's point in the tile floor just to the right of the door.  [i]I can play it off as a ceremonial act resulting from a somewhat militant background—it wouldn't be a lie.[/i]  With that out of the way she returned to a far more unassuming posture, hands clasped behind her back and head bowed.  [color=007fff]”Good day, sir.  I am Azura, of the kingdom...of Hoshido, here in response to your summons.”[/color]  Unfailing in her etiquette, she remained motionless as she stood, waiting for instruction and for the arrival of others before taking any further action.  A gracious guest assumed nothing, after all.

Others arrived before long, at which point their diminutive host greeted them and bid them eat.  His other utter words caught Azura's attention, making her wonder for a moment before she concluded with some certainty that he'd been joking.  He didn't end up telling the group much other than that the proceedings would properly begin in five minutes.  At Vault Boy's behest, she went ahead and approached the table.  Barely had she seated herself before a Lemming appeared, offering her a selection of drinks.  Avoiding the creature's gaze, she whispered, [color=007fff]”...Water, please.”[/color]  Once he left, Azura gingerly reached out and grasped a roll from a nearby serving platter, which she began to nibble at.  Even if provoked, she would do nothing to break her composure, though in fact she hadn't eaten since she arrived her yesterday.  Either way, her focus lay first and foremost on the task that would soon be at hand, wrapping her head around her current situation and preparing herself.