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[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250424/9445274aea837d74bab18689a9fa72c8.png[/img]
[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/250424/9b1c58bf4c02c9b06d978e5c95767c24.png[/img]

[color=228B22][b]Time[/b]:[/color] Evening
[color=228B22][b]Location[/b]:[/color] Banquet Hall
[color=228B22][b]Interactions[/b]:[/color] Kalliope; Count Blackwood [@Tae]
[color=228B22][b]Mentions[/b]:[/color] Charlotte [@Princess]
[color=228B22][b]Appearance:[/b][/color] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/kg2qwHH4/alkalinestingray-A-Malay-woman-sitting-on-a-tree-branch-adult-l-7ef98d90-03c7-4ee4-a849-9b32e06b7271.png]Iyen[/url]
[color=228B22][b]Attire[/b]:[/color] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/bJfFDK9C/alkalinestingray-Watercolour-painting-of-an-outfit-for-a-female-4e7d7b50-e077-439d-b35a-05297e271a19.png]Iyen[/url]
[color=228B22][b]Equipment:[/b][/color] 
[hider]
Iyen:
[color=228B22]A short blade sheathed on her lower back
A coil of rope across her body[/color]
[/hider]
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This was all so, [i]so[/i] very confusing.

When Sjan-dehk had asked Iyen to accompany him to this…Banquet-thing, she’d assumed that it wouldn’t be anything too different from the feasts she was used to. There’d be a lot of eating, a lot of drinking, some drunken fun, a fight, or two, or three, and maybe one or two people thrown out—Sjan-dehk and herself the most likely candidates, she’d thought. But the night would still, ultimately, leave everyone with good stories and fond memories. 

And so, the tension that stretched taut through the air, palpable even beneath all the festive veneer, came as an unpleasant surprise.

Really, these Caesonians were almost as bad as the Sejatis, the Vasenyans, the Kawuns, or anyone from the Central Islands. And the only reason Iyen considered the Caesonians to be worse was solely because at least the Central Islanders had the decency to let everyone finish eating before clustering into their little groups to gossip and slander each other amongst themselves. But here? There was no such thing. Eating, chatting, and possibly conspiring all seemed to happen simultaneously.

Iyen’s lips twisted in a frown. Honestly, how was anyone supposed to eat like this? Even though she didn’t understand enough of the language to know what exactly was being said—thankfully—she’d accompanied Lady Adiyan to enough noble-filled events to recognise the tone high-borns liked to use with their stabbing words and pointed, subtle—or not-so-subtle—insults. It didn’t matter the dialect, or language, that irritating tone was always the same. 

Well, Iyen supposed that was the case with the nobility. They really were all the same, regardless of where they came from. 

She allowed her eyes to wander around the hall. A force of habit, more than anything—a good bodyguard had to always be vigilant for threats, and even though Lady Adiyan wasn’t present tonight, Sjan-dehk was, although if she had to be honest, she was more on the lookout for anyone [i]he[/i] might be a threat to. 

An impish smirk pulled across her face as she found him with a pale, dark-haired girl, the same one she’d met at that excessively yellow place a few days ago. The two of them seemed to be getting along just fine, and Iyen made a mental note to tease Sjan-dehk about it later. Really, it was just too amusing that he, who had never seemed to care much for women, was having such a good run of luck here, on foreign, faraway shores. There was this girl, and then there was that–

Well, think of a person to the Shadowed Green, and so they shall appear.

Iyen’s surreptitiously turned her gaze towards the red-haired woman in green, who walked past Sjan-dehk with feigned nonchalance. The two’s eyes met, and while the Captain’s face was frustratingly hidden from Iyen’s view, the woman’s wasn’t. Something flashed in her eyes. Something Iyen didn’t know, and couldn’t name, but was almost certainly there. She turned away just as the woman took her seat, yet another frown replacing her smirk.

This woman was also so, very confusing.

Sjan-dehk may have believed himself stealthy and quiet, but Iyen had caught snippets of what he’d said to the woman in the hallway. And he’d said many things. Many sweet things. Many kind things. And he’d also made many promises, promises that Iyen had no doubts he’d fulfill, regardless of cost and trouble. And for her part, the woman had seemed receptive to them. She’d seemed vulnerable, and true, and heartfelt with him, and that was why Iyen hadn’t said much when Sjan-dehk had been carrying her. Not as much as she could have, certainly. 

But what had the woman done when they’d reached the hall? She’d so insistently, so violently, wormed out of Sjan-dehk’s hold, a hold which she’d asked for in the first place. Iyen had thought it amusing at first, but when the woman had made a quick exit to run off to another man—granted, a friend whom she wanted to help—Iyen’s suspicions were aroused. And when she saw the look on the woman’s face, the positioning of her body, and the shadowed gaze in her eyes, Iyen’s amusement turned to indignation. Had this woman’s protestations simply been because she didn’t want to be seen in such a state by her actual lover?

Well, if that was the case, Iyen wasn’t going to let it slide. Not without getting a word in.

She glanced over her shoulder at the woman, who’d sat down. With a grin on her face, a smile akin to that of a cat about to play with a new toy, Iyen shifted herself to Sjan-dehk’s empty chair. Not before giving the Count a quick farewell—however garbled it may have been—of course. [color=228B22][i]“Kali, is it?”[/i][/color] She began, a smile on her lips as she reached for a chunk of hard-crusted bread. [color=228B22][i]“Thought I’d take the chance to talk to you, now that Sjan-dehk’s not here to interrupt us.”[/i][/color]

She pulled the chair a little closer, until she could speak just loud enough for Kalliope’s ears. [color=228B22][i]“Tell me,”[/i][/color] she went on, tearing the chunk of bread in two, placing part of it on Kalliope’s plate, and taking a bite out of the other. Iyen took her time to chew and swallow before continuing. [color=228B22][i]“Is playing with men’s hearts a hobby of yours, or is Sjan-dehk just that unlucky of a bastard to catch your eye?”[/i][/color]

Her smile—wicked, daring, and somewhat angry—never left her face.