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[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220927/23fb834f443fddf069b302a80ffae13a.png[/img]
[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220927/713c9ea7f90a3bccf2680492bc93671a.png[/img]
[img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220928/bcf4c8fb894d886cf1f86d12d903935e.png[/img]
[h3]...Feat. [color=228B22][b]Iyen[/b][/color][/h3]
[color=1E90FF][b]Time[/b]:[/color] Evening
[color=1E90FF][b]Location[/b]:[/color] Banquet Hall
[color=1E90FF][b]Interactions[/b]:[/color] Fritz [@JJ Doe]; Kalliope [@Tae]
[color=1E90FF][b]Mentions[/b]:[/color] Charlotte [@princess]
[color=1E90FF][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] [url=https://i.postimg.cc/Fzw1wZ8n/alkalinestingray-Portrait-of-a-South-east-Asian-Chinese-sailor-52c337e9-3211-44db-8828-5fdc1044bd39.png]Sjan-dehk[/url]
[color=1E90FF][b]Attire[/b]:[/color] [hider]
[color=1E90FF][b]Sjan-dehk:[/b][/color]
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/0QCZ6rQj/alkalinestingray-Watercolour-painting-of-an-outfit-for-a-male-s-312f5cf8-c1fd-4b90-8f64-d292f9b1da7f.png[/img]
[color=1E90FF]Sword and pistol hanging down his right thigh[/color]
[color=228B22][b]Iyen:[/b][/color]
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/bJfFDK9C/alkalinestingray-Watercolour-painting-of-an-outfit-for-a-female-4e7d7b50-e077-439d-b35a-05297e271a19.png[/img]
[color=228B22]A short blade sheathed on her lower back
A coil of rope across her body[/color]
[/hider]
[/center]

[color=228B22][b]Iyen[/b][/color] pulled the mug back, her smile never leaving her face. [color=228B22][i]“If you’re sure,”[/i][/color] she said and, holding it in both hands, took a long, noisy swig from it—just long enough for the pleasantly sweet taste to grace and linger upon her tongue, and for casual observers to think her an idle drunk, but not long enough to truly inebriate her, however. Kali seemed to know what she was about, and if she thought that they needed to keep their wits about them, then that was what Iyen would do. 

No point in letting perfectly good advice go to waste, after all.

[color=228B22][i]“Duwah!”[/i][/color] She placed the mug on the table—again loudly—with a cheer that was, if she were to be honest, only half-an-act, at most. It couldn’t be helped; good drinks deserved to be savoured properly. All the more so, when they were drunk in good company. And with most of the tension between her and Kali gone, she could say with certainty that the latter was decent enough company. Decent enough for Iyen to think about taking the first steps towards friendship, at least.

And decent enough for her to, perhaps, see why Sjan-dehk might have a fondness for Kali.

A playful smile curled Iyen’s lips as she rested an elbow on the table, and her cheek in her palm. Her eyes first looked at Kali, then flitted over to Sjan-dehk. [color=228B22][i]“You know,”[/i][/color] she began slowly, and in a low voice. With the index finger of her other hand, she drew aimless circles on the tablecloth. [color=228B22][i]“The only reason I know you were trying to protect him by rejecting him is because you told me. Oh, and you’re an amazing actress, by the way!”[/i][/color] She giggled. [color=228B22][i]“I guess that’s why I, as you put it, came in swinging like a drunk in a brawl.”[/i][/color]

After a quick sip from the mug, she continued. [color=228B22][i]“But anyway,”[/i][/color] she said with a wry smirk. [color=228B22][i]“You’re right about Sjan-dehk being smart, but he’s not smart in everything, you know? In sailing, he’s a genius. But in things like…”[/i][/color] Her words trailed off into silence, and she pointed at Sjan-dehk, then at Kali. [color=228B22][i]“I think you know what I’m talking about, hm? When it comes to things like that, he’s a complete idiot. He’s just going to think that you rejected him and get upset about it.”[/i][/color]

She paused to let her words sink in.

[color=228B22][i]“You’re right about one other thing, though. He’ll figure it out, eventually.”[/i][/color] Sitting back, she grinned at Kali, a knowing glint in her eyes. [color=228B22][i]“But it might take a decade or so for that to happen. If you ask me, I think it’ll be easier on everyone to just tell him everything plainly.”[/i][/color]

Iyen swept her gaze across the hall once more. She still had no idea as to what she should be looking out for, but she knew what she saw—nobles leaving in ones and twos. Some quietly, others with quite a bit of fanfare and raised voices. Two men, in particular, were noticed by Iyen. One was obviously angry, and had left in a furore, whilst the other was markedly much more calm. A little [i]too[/i] calm, perhaps, given the heat of the situation. Did he know something everyone else didn’t? Or was he simply used to such uproars?

A furrow rippled across Iyen’s brow as she followed the two men with her eyes as they left the hall. And in the process, she also caught sight of the pale girl—the one who Sjan-dehk had been talking to—stumbling after them with hurried, unsteady steps. There was urgency in her movements. Was one of the men one of her family members? A father, maybe? Or a brother?

Tension slowly built in the air, drawing taut like a bowstring over everyone’s heads. 

[color=228B22][i]“Hm.”[/i][/color] Iyen hummed, then shook her head. She had to relax. If something truly was afoot, then she wasn’t being helpful by making it so clear that she was keeping a keen eye on things. No, the silly she appeared, and the more careless she seemed, the better. 

And so, she giggled, and took another long drink from the mug. Her hands, however, remained ready to fly to her arms at a moment’s notice. Her ears stayed sharp, and tried to pick out anything that even sounded remotely suspicious around her. And when Iyen slammed the mug back onto the table, she made sure she leaned back with an air of inattentiveness about her. An air of being not much more than a decoration.

She grinned inwardly. Maybe this feast wouldn’t be so boring, after all.

[color=1E90FF][b]Sjan-dehk[/b][/color] watched Charlotte leave, the suddenness and surprise of it all having momentarily stunned him into silence and inaction. Only a few moments had passed since she’d shared with him her suspicions that she’d been poisoned, and in a voice so laden with worry, so laden with unease, that he’d seen little reason to believe that she’d been anything [i]but[/i] dead serious, no less. That she could even identify a few possible herbs as the poison, just from her symptoms, had simply added more weight to her words.

Granted, none of the herbs she’d listed were familiar to him—not with their Caeonian names, at least—but poison was poison. Whatever they were, they couldn’t be good. They certainly couldn’t be something to be allowed to run rampant through a body until a time when treatment was convenient.

And yet, as Charlotte tottered after the two noblemen leaving the banquet hall, that appeared to be exactly what she was doing. It wasn’t as if she’d gotten any better. If anything, the opposite was true; her gait was swaying, and her steps awkward. A particularly strong breeze would be enough to make her keel over, by the looks of things. 

[color=1E90FF][i]“Charlotte,”[/i][/color] Sjan-dehk called out to her as he stood up from his seat, but she’d already left. With furrowed brows, he made to follow her. Before he managed even a handful of steps, however, someone else cut in front of him.

[color=9354FF][i]“I am terribly sorry we haven’t been properly introduced, Captain, I do hope we’ll remedy that soon.”[/i][/color] It was a man—noble, by the looks of it—who greeted him with a quick bow. He was one of those whom Charlotte had hugged earlier. That made him a friend of hers, then. Sjan-dehk stopped in his tracks, and gave him a curt nod. It’d be better for someone with whom she was more familiar to attend to her. 

[color=1E90FF][i]“Just make sure she’s fine,”[/i][/color] he said, tilting his chin towards Charlotte, and stepped aside to allow the man to pass. Even so, he kept watch over the girl, his face scrunched up in concern, until she disappeared into the darkness beyond the doorway. Then, he looked away.

And just so happened to meet Kalliope’s gaze. 

It was strange, really. Even though he’d only just told himself to put down whatever feelings he had for her, to accept that ultimately, none of it mattered, just one look from her; one glance into those beautiful, green eyes of hers, was enough to turn that resolve into dust. And that look in them; a look that strummed on his heartstrings as if it were a zither; a look that asked for him, that pulled him towards her, was the wind that scattered that dust into nothingness. 

And so, he picked up his hat, and approached.

[color=1E90FF][i]“Kali,”[/i][/color] he greeted with a nod, trying to sound as casual as possible. He had to remember; whatever he felt for her wasn’t important. They were, at the end of the day, inconsequential. All he would achieve by letting them run wild in his mind, would be to come between her and Cassius, and that wouldn’t be right. It would be going against the Way. 

He cleared his throat and looked to Iyen. [color=1E90FF][i]“Ah, is Iyen bothering you?”[/i][/color]

[color=228B22][i]“Rude!”[/i][/color] Iyen protested with mock indignation. Then, she laughed quietly. [color=228B22][i]“Well, I guess you’re not entirely wrong, this time. I was, maybe, perhaps, disturbing her a little, but I think we’re fine now!”[/i][/color] Her eyes flicked over to Kalliope, then back to him. [color=228B22][i]“We were just talking about ghosts, and how there might be some with us here, today.”[/i][/color]

Sjan-dehk arched his brows. That euphemism wasn’t lost on him. [color=1E90FF][i]“Ghosts, is it?”[/i][/color] He repeated, a wry smirk on his face. [color=1E90FF][i]“And here I thought we’d made enough of those to get them to leave us alone.”[/i][/color]

[color=228B22][i]“Well, Kali here thinks we’d best be careful,”[/i][/color] Iyen replied. [color=228B22][i]“And I trust her judgement.”[/i][/color]

[color=1E90FF][i]“As do I,”[/i][/color] Sjan-dehk said with a nod, and turned to Kalliope. There was a marked air of concern about her, one that was enough to make him want to put a quick end to whatever it was that troubled her. [color=1E90FF][i]“We’ll keep an eye out, Kali.”[/i][/color] His tone was reassuring, as was his smile. And as was the hand he gently placed on her bare shoulder. 

A moment passed, and then he finally realised what he was doing. With a blush creeping over his cheeks, he quickly pulled his hand back. [color=1E90FF][i]“Ah, sorry–”[/i][/color]

[color=228B22][i]“Stop apologising!”[/i][/color] Iyen cut in quickly, and looked between him and Kalliope, a cattish grin curling her lips, and a mischievous glint in her eyes. [color=228B22][i]“I’m sure Kali didn’t mind that,”[/i][/color] she said. [color=228B22][i]“Isn’t that right, Kali?”[/i][/color]