[Color=silver] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/HSVJtD7.png[/img] [Color=gold][sub][u][url=https://youtu.be/RnKR66yaqdc?si=9fM5_NpZUQ6fUWvd]Lorexander Deakena[/url][/u][/sub][/color] [/center] [Color=gold][b]Time:[/b][/color] [color=red][b]6 p.m.[/b][/color] [Color=salmon][b]Location:[/b][/color] Entry Hall, The Castle Dining Hall [Color=gold][b]Attire:[/b][/color] [url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1288647225571807274/1341215972287320154/remix-6b91c8ee-fee6-4534-8423-84a51496b106.png?ex=67d81ff6&is=67d6ce76&hm=a3f9916378ac693915b982cb0eced024d3d833f232375d29bb36598e047fe5fa&] Alexander's suit[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/aqfNx2y.jpeg]Lorenzo’s fit[/url] [Color=salmon][b]Interaction:[/b][/color] [Color=gold][b]Mention:[/b][/color] Charlotte [@princess] [hr] [H3][i]Last time on Roses & Daggers…[/i][/h3] [I][Color=gold]“Lorenzo, I’m sorry. Truly, I am…”[/color] He lied easily as he had waited for a moment like this to return. [Color=gold]“...but I am not the man who wounded her heart. That dove is too precious. A rare soul that young woman is… In truth, Charlotte was in a similar state at the art gallery as well. One moment, she was wallowing in something deep. Drowning in it. The next, she was preening over me. She even attempted to kiss me…”[/color] Alexander felt Lorenzo quiver beneath his grasp. [Color=gold]“…but it was our first outing together and in the public eye… you and I, we both know how such an intimate exchange would look… with a married man at that.”[/color] Lorenzo slowly but surely faced Alexander, his visage sad and pitiful as if he could shatter if he decided to simply squeeze his shoulder in comfort. [Color=gold]“I was only trying to protect her in my refusal but… I do wonder now, Lorenzo. Who could have hurt her… Twisted her mind in such a cruel and awful way?”[/color][/i] … There was a moment of pause and silence between the two men. To describe that as simply that was easy. In truth, a predator had its jaws locked around a prey’s throat, canines piercing and preventing the windpipe from providing oxygen to the brain. Isolated and weakened, it was a surprise that Alexander chose not to indulge in a swift act of violence. To remove such a piece from the board would be easy. Who’d even miss him? Charlotte? His servants? Who did he truly have? Yet, the thought hadn’t crossed the mind of the man who wore such a pleasant smile. [Color=gold]“Whoever it is, it doesn't matter. What's most concerning now, is that she's hurting, and she needs you, her father, more than ever in her time of weakness.”[/color] Alexander placed his other hand on Lorenzo's other shoulder, his eye boring into his now. [Color=gold]“She is your treasure, is she not? The only person who has a place in your heart… Who fills it so completely that it hurts you to see her in such a way.”[/color] [Color=salmon]“Lottie… is- She’s the most important person in my life.”[/color] Lorenzo's voice was weak despite the emotions he felt within. His soul was shouting the words, but his mouth failed to deliver them appropriately. [Color=salmon]“This… This courting season…”[/color] Lorenzo scowled, blaming the only thing he could think was the problem without evidence. He'd blame the choice of her drinking red wine over white if it were something to cling to. [Color=gold]“Shh… You're thinking too rashly, my friend.”[/color] Alexander's voice was like a silk blanket draping over Lorenzo's shoulders. Unbeknownst to him, however, that soft comforting fabric was contaminated with unseen disease and plague. [Color=salmon]“But, it's the only thing that's changed! We were fine before all this! She was a normal girl! You- You don't know the strange things I’ve witnessed her do,”[/color] Lorenzo challenged fervently. [Color=gold]“I don't, but what will you do, Lorenzo? Lock her away and keep her isolated from the world? Is that normal? Lorenzo Vikena. You are looking at this in the wrong way.”[/color] [Color=salmon]“No! We need to return to Veirmont! We need to go back to-”[/color] [Color=gold]“Normal?! Lorenzo, it is not this city that has changed your daughter. It's the people, Lorenzo… Think! Who have you let into your home? Who have you allowed access to your daughter without you knowing them?”[/color] Lorenzo appeared as if he might say something, but he took too long to think of a retort, or rather, Alexander was too swift. [Color=gold]“How much did you know about me before this evening? How much do you even know now? You were lucky I had good intentions for Charlotte, but what about the others? Do you know them? Their intentions for her? Their influence on her? The masks they wear and the faces beneath them?”[/color] [Color=salmon]“I trusted Lottie's judgment. Was that wrong of me?!”[/color] [Color=gold]“Was it? You tell me.”[/color] [Color=salmon]“… I don't know! I’m just trying to give her a good life! The best one I could give her. To have her not worry so much! I just…”[/color] Lorenzo could feel a familiar tingling in his eyes as his voice nearly cracked. [Color=gold]“Lorenzo, listen to yourself. Think about all she’s been through.”[/color] [Color=salmon]“I know…”[/color] Lorenzo nearly whispered. [Color=gold]“How vulnerable she must be.”[/color] [Color=salmon]“I know…”[/color] His voice was shakier as his lips quivered. [Color=gold]“She lost her father to sickness at such a tender age. Sickness. It lacks mercy, Lorenzo. Imagine it. Charlotte had to watch the strongest man she ever loved slowly fade away from this world with no ability to stop it.”[/color] Lorenzo's head hung low, as his knees became weak, but Alexander had him and would not dare let him escape from this. [Color=gold]“Then, her mother. [I]Suicide[/i]. What kind of mother leaves behind their child? And what does the child think of their mother abandoning them so selfishly?”[/color] Alexander leaned in closer to Lorenzo. [Color=gold]“And then you. You isolated her. With good intentions, I know. You wanted to be away from the tragedy, but… what do you think happens to someone who keeps losing people like this? She's not you, Lorenzo. She has holes in her heart that are too deep to be filled by you alone… and so she seeks…. So many around her, wearing smiles and speaking prettied words, but you know better than anyone that there are actors all around us.”[/color] [Color=salmon]“We could leave… Veirmont is different.”[/color] [Color=gold]“And hide forever? Do you think she’d like that? With all the [i]friends[/i] she's made?”[/color] [Color=salmon]“I don't know…”[/color] [Color=gold]“Lorenzo… Lorenzo, look at me!”[/color] Lorenzo lifted his head, meeting his gaze. He appeared to be such a different man than the one who led Alexander into the hall. Face reddened, eyes puffy, and face wet with tears. [Color=gold]“Good, now listen. [Color=crimson]Let her do as she wants. It's too late to change anything.[/color] Sometimes, you have to let the youth see the error of their ways. Let them stumble and fall. And when that happens, you and [i]I[/i] will be right there to catch her. And then we can [color=crimson]crush whoever happens to be the cause.[/color]”[/color] Alexander shrugged, but his smugness quickly morphed into distress. [Color=gold]“Aagh!”[/color] Alexander shut his eyes tightly and pushed Lorenzo from him as he was suddenly afflicted by a sharp headache. Lorenzo, unprepared, fell backward onto his rear with a high-pitched yelp. Lorenzo was initially appalled by the act, but concern quickly grew within him as he watched Alexander place a hand over his forehead while using the nearby wall to support his weight. The pushed too much and too far in such a short period of time. Alexander just needed a moment, but what would this evening give him instead? [/Color]