[color=fff79a][h3]Franziska[/h3][/color]
Franziska's Lab
[@Aqutanama]
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Franziska listened, unblinking as he introduced himself. Aku? Body not his own? Franziska smiled faintly. How humorous. Either that was a lie or she indeed, succeeded...but the chance of that? Quite slim. He went on to suggest a game. A bet. A deal? How stereotypical of an extraplanar being. Almost too typical even really. Suspicious. So suspicious. There were times when charisma was good, but there was also times where being [i]too[/i] familiar and too knowledgeable or charismatic was just as bad as being not enough. Still - he talked a good game. In fact she wanted to believe him.

Too bad none of it mattered.

She was playing an entirely different game already.

A game she could never lose.

[color=fff79a]"Heh,"[/color] A small chuckle first. [color=fff79a]"Ahahahaha! Amusing!"[/color] She then held a hand to her chest, a bright, amused laugh filling the basement. She knelt next to him once again, grinning brightly. [color=fff79a]"Unfortunately for you, the only games I play are ones I win. A question from something beyond the realms? Fool, you could ask me anything! Something from some other realm that I couldn't possibly have knowledge of, so tell me why I would play such a game obviously stacked against me?"[/color]

Something odd would then happen.

In a blink, she was gone. A hand was placed on his head from behind, a the edge of a knife was digging into the flesh of his neck. In the span of what seemed like only a second she had moved behind him without seeming to move.

[color=fff79a]"You even suggest you could 'have your way with me'. That's a threat, you know? So crass and lacking of class, aren't you? Hah, that's a rhyme."[/color] She smiled, her head hovering just above his shoulder. [color=fff79a]"You like games, then? I do too. Games sharpen the mind. Make the physical better. Any good Scarab knows games are excellent mental exercises."[/color] The knife withdrew from his neck, Franziska once again, somehow seeming to blink from existence and back again in front of him within a mere second.

[color=fff79a]"Ah, but where are my manners, traveler. Franziska Gwerder. Seeker of knowledge and illuminator of secrets lost."[/color] She bowed, a deep, formal bow with a flourish. [color=fff79a]"Now then...Aku was it? Instead of lamenting lost progress, let us applaud new discoveries. Let me propose my own deal. Without all this needless underhandedness or power struggles. I seek an apprentice. Random chance that you appeared here? Or the Illuminated granting me a boon? Only time will tell, heh."[/color] She chuckled, holding a hand out for him to shake. [color=fff79a]"I shall teach you the ways of enlightenment...and in return you shall help me with whatever it is I desire. Is that acceptable? Most would be quite thrilled to receive such an offer."[/color]

It was difficult to tell if her words were lies, but she seemed mostly genuine in her intent.