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[hr][i][color=LightSteelBlue]Time: Late Morning[/color] 
[color=LightSteelBlue]Location: Sorian Beach[/color] 
[color=Lightsteelblue]Attire:[/color][url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1065027714953793578/1138619964304142417/Cas_Beach.png]Cassius[/url]
[color=LightSteelBlue]Interaction:[/color][@princess] Charlotte / Calbert, [@Tae] Kali [@Potter] Layla  [/i]
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[color=8D3B72]"Oh, Cassius, dear…So this is the girl whose name you said last night instead of mine? She’s even more beautiful than you made her out to be at dinner!"[/color]

Kali’s words caused the smile to slip from his face as his heart sank down into his stomach. Normally, such a jest would have elicited a hearty laugh and some form of charming one liner from Cassius. Nothing was off limits, and he enjoyed few things as much as a bit of banter and back and forth. This felt different, though. It felt unfortunate. He had wanted so badly to reset the impression he made the other night, and perhaps he had been on his way to doing just that…but the way the air around Charlotte shifted and changed in the seconds following Kalliope’s words was all the evidence he needed to see that the opportunity was gone. 

He wasn’t angry with Kali, in fact even now he could find the humor in her calling him out like that. It was a bold move from an even bolder woman, and he respected it. He only wished it had been at the expense of him alone and not involving Charlotte after all she had already gone through in the moments prior. Well…perhaps he [i]was[/i] a little bit vexed after all. Still, maybe out of instinct or because he didn’t know what else to do, he momentarily turned his attention to his company from the night before and feigned a version of his normal grin as if to say [i]You got me[/i]. Then, as he turned back to face Charlotte his eyes met her face just as she spoke. 

[color=AFB3E0]"Oh."[/color]

Cassius watched as the gears turned in Charlotte’s mind and the moment of realization set in. Once again he felt the need to apologize…or honestly to say anything at all…but he wasn’t used to the kind of shame he was feeling at that moment and so all he could do was look at her with regret-filled eyes. 

[color=AFB3E0] "Please excuse me, I-..."[/color]

Her words felt as though she might be dismissing him, but Cassius didn’t get the chance to know for sure as the woman turned the attention of her verbal assault back to Charlotte once more. Cas impulsively stepped to put himself between Charlotte and the woman antagonizing her. 

[color=F4BC5E]”Aww.. Don’t you feel better being out in the open, Lady Slut Vikena?”[/color]

The woman’s gaze shifted to meet Cas’ eyes with a flirtatious wink and smile. Her derogatory remarks towards Charlotte caused his blood to boil more than he could have expected, and for some reason the woman’s flirty gesture towards him only fed that fire. All of the mixed emotions that were bubbling beneath his surface, the confusion, the shame, the regret…it all began to manifest into anger. He had managed to keep his mouth shut during her initial onslaught, which was a miracle in itself, but despite the situation clearly being handled by the others…he could not bite his tongue any longer. 

[color=LightSteelBlue]”You prissy little rich bitch. Let me guess…mommy and daddy gave you everything a girl could have hoped for, didn’t they? Well...everything except for their love, of course.”[/color] An arrogant grin formed on his face as his expression held nothing but contempt for the woman. [color=LightSteelBlue]”All the gold in the world couldn’t make up for the fact that despite all of that ambition in your eyes, you’re still nothing but an insecure little girl [i]so[/i] afraid of being alone that you would hurt everyone around you with your petty spite before they can get close enough to strike you first…all so you can maintain the illusion that you have some semblance of control.”[/color] Despite his anger, the words did not come out venomously, but instead they dripped with a beguiling sense of poise. Cas was thankful that many years of conflict had prepared his instincts to maintain a bit of mastery over his external emotions even when on the inside he was full of rage. [color=LightSteelBlue]”And you want to know what my favorite part is? It doesn’t even matter if I’m half right about these things…because even if there’s just [i]one ounce of truth[/i] to my words it is going to eat you up at night that someone who is seeing you for the first time caught you slithering in the tall grass before you could get a chance to read them first. You don’t think anyone can see you behind all of those masks you wear, but darling I always see right through them…and what lies beneath is far more sad and way less interesting than you delude yourself into believing.”[/color] 

As he finished his words, Cassius turned away from the woman as though she wasn’t worthy of his gaze and looked back to check on Lady Charlotte. Upon doing so, his eyes met those of his father’s some distance away…who unbeknownst to him had been approaching the group.