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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 [@Tae]
[color=228B22][b]Mentions[/b]:[/color] 
[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]
[/center]

Iyen giggled.

It probably wasn’t the smart, or even right, thing to do, but really, what else could she have done? Kalliope was just being so, [i]so[/i] adorable, reacting the way she did. She reminded Iyen of a wounded animal, backed into a corner—stung by hurt but trying to hide it, trying to put up a tough face, and all the while lashing out wildly, hoping to score a winning blow. 

And so, like a tiger playing with its prey, Iyen decided that she could afford herself a little fun.

[color=228B22][i]“Oh my, my, where do I even begin?”[/i][/color] Her voice was melodic, as if those words were lyrics to a song. [color=228B22][i]“Did I hit something sore?”[/i][/color] Another tittering laugh, this time accompanied by a teasing, almost mocking, grin. [color=228B22][i]“All I did was ask one simple question, Kali. You didn’t have to spoil me with so many words! Please, allow me some time to give you a proper response, okay?”[/i][/color]

She hummed a tune, tapping a finger on her lips as she swept her eyes over the table. A shallow bowl sat in front of her, by a plate piled high with meat—chicken, she assumed. Iyen dipped her finger into the bowl and licked the white granules off of her finger, beaming when she recognised the taste. [color=228B22][i]“Here,”[/i][/color] she said to Kalliope as she pulled the bowl over, and grabbed two drumsticks from the plate. One for herself, and one for the red-haired woman. Again, she placed it on her plate.

[color=228B22][i]“Sjan-dehk would hate it if I stabbed you,”[/i][/color] Iyen went on to say. [color=228B22][i]“And he’d hate it just as much if I flirted with you, too, and…”[/i][/color] She leaned in a little closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. [color=228B22][i]“To be honest, you’re not my type, anyway. Sorry!”[/i][/color]

Sitting back, Iyen gestured to the bowl. [color=228B22][i]“So, here’s your salt.”[/i][/color]

She tore a piece from her chunk of bread and popped it into her mouth. [color=228B22][i]“You’re right, I know nothing about you,”[/i][/color] she began after chewing and swallowing. Her smile flickered away for a moment. [color=228B22][i]“But you also know nothing about me, isn’t that so? You’ve been through things? You survived things? So have I.”[/i][/color]

Salt in her wounds. Water in her lungs. Screams in her ears. The waves, pushing her under. Dark, endless waters, pulling her under. A hand on her head, pushing it towards the sky. 

Iyen pushed those memories away. 

[color=228B22][i]“So that means we’re on equal ground, isn’t that so?”[/i][/color] Her grin returned, and she ripped off another morsel of bread. [color=228B22][i]“And besides, our pasts have nothing to do with any of this, Kali. Well, not our pasts from so long ago, anyway. It’s what I saw just now that concerns me, actually.”[/i][/color]

She popped the soft, fluffy chunk of bread into her mouth, savouring its warmth and taste as she pondered about her next words. Provoking Kalliope any further wasn’t going to do her any good. It certainly wouldn’t be any fun—not now, at least. But peace offering, no matter how slight, would be too close to surrendering for Iyen’s liking. She wasn’t going to give ground. Not when she was doing this on behalf of a close friend. 

The facts, then.

[color=228B22][i]“Mm…Maybe I should tell you what I saw,”[/i][/color] Iyen said at last. Her dark brown, almost black, irises looked up from under long lashes, and met Kalliope’s bright, leafy green eyes. [color=228B22][i]“Or maybe, what I heard. What I saw and heard, that’d be better, wouldn’t it?”[/i][/color] She giggled again. [color=228B22][i]“Oh my, I’m sorry. I’m not making this easy for you, am I? I’ll get started now, okay, so listen!”[/i][/color]

She cleared her throat before continuing. [color=228B22][i]“What I saw, was a woman who seemed to be so, so sweet with Sjan-dehk. And what I saw from him, was him being the biggest idiot I’ve ever seen him be in all my years of knowing him. Do you think he’d say such things to just anyone?”[/i][/color] The pause that followed was filled with tension, as Iyen intended. [color=228B22][i]“I heard what the two of you said to each other. Parts of it, anyway. It was really sweet stuff, by the way. And I saw how you looked at him, and how he looked at you, and how you looked like you were enjoying yourself in his arms. Which, by the way, he’s never carried[/i] me [i]that way. I’ve always just been a sack of rice to him.”[/i][/color]

She let out a short laugh at that thought. There had been no bitterness in her words, and no malice; only a casualness that one might expect from someone sharing a story over drinks. [color=228B22][i]“But oh my, what a surprise it was when we got here! I honestly thought he’d touched you somewhere he shouldn’t, with how much you were struggling. It was like you just couldn’t wait to get away!”[/i][/color] Her grin turned into a smirk, and it widened into a wicked look. [color=228B22][i]“To get away to find someone else, I might add. Someone whom you seem to be very, very attracted to.”[/i][/color]

Leaning back, Iyen turned her eyes up to the ceiling and tapped a finger on her chin. [color=228B22][i]“That really confused me, to be very honest! All this while, I thought that you might actually like Sjan-dehk, but now what am I to think?”[/i][/color] She looked at Kalliope. [color=228B22][i]“You can tell me about all the hurt looks you’ve given him, how you feel so, so much pain, and that you really, really care for him, more than I do.”[/i][/color] The laugh that followed was almost derisive, with how sardonic it was. 

[color=228B22][i]“But,”[/i][/color] Iyen continued. [color=228B22][i]“I find it hard to believe when you don’t seem to have thought about how he feels at all, Kali. Or perhaps you were far too distracted by your other man, hm? Or maybe you’re hurt because he seems to have found another lady?”[/i][/color] She nodded to Sjan-dehk, behind Kalliope, and the girl he was talking to. Without waiting for Kalliope to react, Iyen rolled her eyes and continued. [color=228B22][i]“Don’t worry. I’ll play nice and tell you right now that he’s got no intentions with her. He never does.”[/i][/color]

However, she couldn’t help but add. [color=228B22][i]“Not yet, at least. Who knows the future?”[/i][/color]

She chuckled and turned away from Kali at last, to face the table. [color=228B22][i]“I don’t think you’re a villain, by the way, so let’s not be too dramatic. And I’m not threatening you, either. If I were, you’d know it. I’d make sure that you did.”[/i][/color] She paused to pick up her glass and take a sip. [color=228B22][i]“But I am telling you. Don’t play with Sjan-dehk’s heart. Be serious about him, or not at all. Otherwise, I’ll be really, really upset.”[/i][/color]