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Post by Arynielle on Jul 7, 2008 8:08:50 GMT -8
A Trainee RP-- relax and go for it. No profiles or applications required. Just jump in.
She felt awful. Here she was, sitting at the table of a wealthy lord who had invited several of the land's finest mercenaries for dinner and dancing. Before her was a bowl, filled with what she thought was absolutely vile: chicken dumplings. In reality, it was a lovely meal to the rest of the guests-- made by a gourmet chef from the kitchen and served on the finest silverware to be found. However, Arynielle Fallyce was not impressed. This was, and by was she truly meant it, an animal! A helpless animal who was probably minding its own business before being plucked up and diced by a human who wanted its flesh for dinner.
Ari pushed the bowl away from her, although few noticed. They were too busy chatting away and enjoying their chicken dumplings to pay attention to the vegetarian who began to gorge upon salad. She felt irritated-- normally, she wouldn't have felt this way due to chicken dumplings because she had friends who were avid meat-eaters. As long as she wasn't forced to prepare the dishes, she didn't care what they ate. Of course, she secretly wished that they would become vegetarians but she couldn't bear to see them unhappy without their precious meat sources.
The reason why she was so touchy now was because she was personally invited by said lord who guaranteed that she would enjoy the feast. It had all felt like a very friendly situation until she arrived. Apparently, this lord didn't know her all that personally as she had thought and she was disappointed. By the Gods, she had even put on a dress for him. A dress. She never wore dresses for most occasions, only the most special of them and here she was, wearing a dress to a party where she was offended by none other than the chicken dumplings.
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Post by Aleu on Jul 7, 2008 9:22:29 GMT -8
Serene could barely eat. The reason was twofold. First of all, the food in front of her was dumplings. Now, dumplings were a strange food to begin with -- Serene viewed them as a kind of mutant child of a waterlogged rice paddy and a loaf of mutant bread. Bread ought to be comfortably moist - enough to stay soft, no more, unless accompanied by soup. Bread was a good thing. Bread was what kept meat on her skinny little bones and prevented her from snapping in half every time the wind blew. Bread was a good thing. Rice was a good thing. Sweet and sticky, and a perfect addition to any meal... except bread. Together they were a disagreeable thing indeed.
Furthermore, they were chicken dumplings. Meat dumplings, vegetable dumplings; they were tolerable. Fried, they could even be pretty good (steamed, less so, boiled, even less). Heck, she could go for a few fried meat dumplings right about now, with soy sauce. But, no. Fate had conspired against her, and had given her... chicken.
It wasn't that chicken tasted bad, not by any means at all. As meats go it was pretty tasty, and a pretty versatile cooking meat. No. It wasn't that. It was that chickens, lamentably, were a type of bird. Serene was also a type of bird. Well, only very, very partially, and even then only similar in terms of limited aspects of anatomy, but nevertheless, a type of bird. Wouldn't that make her a cannibal? ("No," her father had commanded sternly, and that was that).
So.
She ate slowly and quietly, the food seeming like ash in her mouth and resting in her belly like a heavy rock. There was, too, the second reason for her being here, done up in a dress of blue and white and emblazoned with her family crest, immaculately clean and wearing jewelry (to be fair, it was only a small necklace).
The Larkins were on the brink of war. As an extremely effective mercenary-for-hire family, they had, understandably, made more than a few enemies in their time. This particular landlord was part of the circle of command over those moving to destroy the family and its operations. He had been put against the family when cousins Rose and Will had quietly shut down the key to his wealth - an underground black market. She was here tonight to negotiate with him to try and arrange a hearing with the main council to try and avert a conflict. Hiding outside was her backup -- Aleu and Kapu had tagged along to provide firepower support in case things turned messy. Hopefully they wouldn't be needed.
Serene cleared her throat a little and brushed at her dress, then looked across the table at Ari, who seemed to be avoiding the dumpling as well. (Gulp -- another one lead-weighted into her belly). "Not a fan of the food either?" she asked, with a wry smile.
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Post by Arynielle on Jul 7, 2008 12:01:19 GMT -8
[*brings RP level down for Kal* You'd better join now, Kal.  ] Ari, who was stuffing herself with rolls and salad so she wouldn't starve, looked up at Serene. "Not at all," she sighed, picking up a nearby napkin so she could wipe her lips free of any oil or crumbs. "I don't even know why I'm here." She threw a glance over at the lord, growing more irritated by the minute. At this rate, she might as well leave. Ari smoothed her evening gown and brushed back her lavender hair. "Is there a reason why you're still here? From what I've gathered, chicken dumpling aren't your thing either." By all logic, Ari should have been gone by now but she was stubborn and remained here for whatever reason. She took a sip of water from a goblet. [wow, I think writing short posts is more difficult than writing long ones.] |
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Post by Aleu on Jul 7, 2008 13:34:40 GMT -8
((I have no such reservations. But I shall bold speech, because it does make it rather more readable.))
"'tisn't polite to leave before one is dismissed," she said, a half-smile still on her face. "And regardless of that, I've things to take care of before I can leave the Rotund One be and scamper back home." She, of course, had a cover story: the Larkins meant to cut a business deal regarding the rights to their land and the surrounding waters - this lord was a local conduit to the proper authorities and was being consulted on the matter.
Serene took another bite of dumpling, grimaced, and took a bite of bread to keep it down. "I think, though, I've had my fill," she muttered, pushing away the dumplings with as little fuss as possible, and grabbing a roll to nibble on. Nerves and the meal combined were making her stomach jumpy and irritable -- Ari could tell something was up by the reflexive contracting of her wings around her body.
"Or maybe a little bit more than my fill, I suppose." She put her hand over the goblet next to her, lifted it to her lips and took a small sip. Wine. Her father had told her that a little bit of alcohol calmed the nerves, but Serene had only ever gotten headaches. Still, it was a good show, diplomatically, to have a bit of a drink.
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Post by ♫ Busan ♫ on Jul 8, 2008 9:43:23 GMT -8
(and now time for me to take a stab. ) "This food is amazing!" Go thought to himself. "I've never had chicken dumplings this good before." Suddenly Go's pleasure turned into a bitter anxiousness. "I can't forget why I came here, it was not the amazing chicken dumplings." Go's father is good friends with the lord who is hosting. At least that was what he was told. The last time Go saw his father was 8 years ago, and he just received a letter last week about this feast. "I have to find him tonight, the next time I'll have the chance to see him will be too late." Go lifted his head to search for a familiar face. |
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Post by Arynielle on Jul 14, 2008 17:13:28 GMT -8
Surprisingly enough, Ari laughed. She had never thought that she would find another who disliked chicken dumplings as much as she did. Ari had no idea if this new girl was a vegetarian or just had an aversion to chicken meat. Either way, Arynielle liked chickens... when they were alive. She cared about animals too much to allow herself to eat meat; besides, she was quite happy with her dining choices.
"Well, I suppose," Ari replied casually, taking a bite of the bread which was actually quite good. After swallowing, she continued. "It's not exactly polite for a host to keep his guests waiting either." She had yet to see this lord at his dinner party. He was not sitting at the head of this table. Where in the world was he? Ari would have liked to have a word with him-- something simple along the lines of "goodbye, I'm leaving."
She sighed and crossed her arms. "Where in the world is he?" Right as she said that to herself, the Lord made himself known. He was a large, fat man, though he probably would have been quite handsome had he not spent his entire life eating foods made by his personal chef. Probably in his mid thirties, he still appeared to be quite young. Occasionally, he waved at the guests who stood up to speak with him before sitting down to his own dinner.
Ari automatically twitched.
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Post by Aleu on Jul 14, 2008 19:55:09 GMT -8
"... I... would not have objected to waiting a bit longer before having seen that," Serene muttered to Ari, eyes fixed on the round baron. "I think I've met him once before... I used to have to clean out the grease buckets in the kitchen..." she whispered to Ari, sidelong. It's not that she was mean-spirited -- he was a disagreeable person and an easy target to boot. Surely no one could resist!
Surely!
... "Did you have some business with him?" Serene asked Ari, a little edgily now. Her time for action wasn't until the dance, where she could disappear without being noticed, but now that gametime was approaching nerves were mounting high. "I'd, uh... advise you get it over with quickly. I've business of a financial matter to discuss with him." Serene smiled wryly at Ari. "And you must know how long those take. I'm afraid if you wait you shan't see him 'til morning."
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