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22nd of Cylus 718

The capital city of the of Rynmere, here is seated the only King in Idalos.
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Valeria Burhan
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

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22nd Cylus 718
It started with a letter. Well, more of a note, brief and direct.

"I need you, please come!"

Aside from her name on the envelope that it had come in and the signature at the bottom of the note, there was no further information. However, she had no intention of refusing the plea given the signature: Tristan Venora.

They'd had a single meeting the previous season, an introduction and a glorious night all at once. Since then, she hadn't seen him; he'd returned to Oakleigh and then she'd gone to Burhan. In spite of the physical distance between them, they'd remained in contact through correspondence. There wasn't a trial that went by when Valeria was ungrateful to herself for taking the chance of writing to him when her mother's summons came. If she hadn't done so, she had no idea if the duke would have gotten in contact with her. Even if he had chosen to write to her of his own volition, there was no telling how delayed his letters would have been as they sought her in Andaris while she was locked away in her childhood home. Without him, she had no idea if she ever would have gotten out of there. Chances were that Raakel Burhan would never have believed that her daughter had successfully caught the eye of the Duke of Oakleigh - not in any meaningful way - and they might never have come to the arrangement that they had. In fact, if it hadn't been for the letters from the man, she might well still be trapped at home in Faerain, refusing to eat and throwing up at every opportunity.

The young woman may be thinner than she had been but her mental state was certainly better and she was eager to see her fellow Elithem and see if she was already well on her way to fostering the addiction for herself in Tristan that she'd promised her mother she'd cultivate. Given the tone of his note, it seemed a positive sign that she'd managed to instil some degree of need in him. She didn't think that she'd ever witnessed quite a hunger for her flesh before in anyone - woman or man - especially when there had been no supernatural means used. The blonde had certainly enjoyed herself with him the last time and if this note invited her to a similar occasion of debauchery then she would struggle to play hard to get. All the same, she had to keep him at bay, at least physically, if she wanted to build a ravenous hunger in him for her form.

The Burhan put careful thought into her appearance. She debated between dressing plainly or dressing up and ended up settling on the latter as she wore the pretty blue organza dress that she'd worn to the Winter Mist Masquerade the previous season. It wasn't a full gown but it was beautiful and elegant, the lace applique adding a definite charm. She settled for flat shoes though, along with simple make-up. There was no point in going overboard after all. She agonised over what to do with her hair, choosing to braid it, an endeavour that took a considerable amount of time, especially as the blonde struggled to remember precisely how to carry it through. When she had the choice, she'd always gotten Ulyne to do such things for her so that alone, she struggled.

She chose to braid her hair in sections, intending to create a multitude of skinny ones. She sectioned off her hair, doing her best to clip most of it to one side so that she could work more easily on the other. Then she set about weaving the hair together, beginning as close to her scalp as possible. Three small clumps of hair that were roughly the same were woven back and forth, the outward ones always looped into the middle. By the end of it, it frankly looked a mess but she couldn't be bothered undoing it. She continued to braid sections of it with differing levels of success. Ultimately, she settled for braiding some of it on each side before tying her hair back in a ponytail, a mix of loose strands and mediocre braids that she wasn't wholly sure worked in her favour.

Once she was ready, she put on her blue velvet cloak and was just about to leave the house when Alena approached and sat to stare at her. Valeria and the cat stared at each other for a few moments before she recalled that Tristan had a cat as well. It was uncertain whether the creature was with him or not but was this not an opportunity for her to introduce feline and man? Her pet might even help her to keep enough physical distance between herself and her prospective fiancé. She went to fetch the animal's travel bag, scooping her up and depositing her on the blankets within. With that done, she set out to find the duke's residence.

It took a bit of time for her to navigate to the appropriate location, having to stop to enquire about the direction from a Moseke Knight. However, when she reached the residence, she hardly took in her surroundings, heading straight for the door to find out if she had indeed come to the right place. A knock brought a servant to her and she waved the note from Tristan airily while softly asking to be brought to the Duke of Oakleigh at once. His seal was like a key, leading her to be ushered into the house. She could only hope that she'd be ushered into his presence as quickly.

She followed her guide with her cat's bag in hand, wondering if it had been a mistake to bring the creature.
Last edited by Valeria Burhan on Sat May 05, 2018 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 991
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Tristan Venora
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

It wasn’t actually a servant that opened the door. It was Tristan’s chief bodyguard and occasional lover Lianne, a very pretty redhead. She wore tight-fitting black pants (how scandalous!) and a white blouse, and even though she appeared to be unarmed, she had half a dozen daggers hidden on her person. She looked at Valeria for a moment, taking in her pretty face and her fashionable clothes before her gaze settled on the cat. She smirked, and then she pointed towards the hallway and informed the noble, “His Grace is inside. He’s trying to sculpt. He’s almost always sculpting when he’s in Andaris. Last time he made a giant monster head and scared Lord Gawyne with it.”

With that she walked away, giving Valeria and Tristan some privacy even though she’d much rather stay and watch and listen because this promised to be very interesting. Tristan had told her about the woman he had met at his cousin’s charity gala, and she was aware that they had been exchanging letters as well. Had he told her about his evil cat and his daughter though? It was probably a good thing that Brandon and Hannah, two of His Grace’s other bodyguards, had taken Ayla for a walk and wouldn’t be back for a while.

While Lianne desperately wished that she could shrink herself to the size of a mouse so that she could spy on Tristan and his guest, Tristan himself sat in his living room, a lump of stone on the table in front of him. He wore a blue silk shirt and blue pants because blue was in fashion that season, but he had no jacket on, and he wasn’t wearing any shoes either because he was at home, and he didn’t care about etiquette and such when he was at home.

He had wanted to make a new sculpture, but found that he couldn’t concentrate, no matter how hard he tried. He was nervous and slightly melancholic and excited all at once. He wasn’t happy with some of the most recent developments in the kingdom. Cassander’s people were killing innocents, his cousin Pythera was killing innocents, and his new subjects still didn’t like him very much, but he didn’t know what he could do about it. He had never thought that he would say (or think?) it, but his life kind of sucked at the moment – apart from one thing.

He hadn’t been able to get Valeria Burhan out of his mind since the gala, and truth to be told he didn’t want to because he had never met a woman like her before. She was like him, she had the same outlook on life, she had been blessed by the same Immortal, and there was something quite addictive about her. He had invited her because she was the only one who would possibly be able to cheer him up. He wanted her – no, he needed her!

When Valeria appeared in the doorway, he jumped up and almost rushed towards her. He was aware that such behaviour was unbecoming of a duke, but he didn’t care. “You came!” he exclaimed, and smiled all over his face because he was so happy to see her again. “And you brought company!” He knelt down so that he could take a better look at Alena in her bag. “Who is this?” he wanted to know. “You never told me her name!”

“Mistral!”
he exclaimed. “Come here and meet your new lady friend!” Of course Mistral didn’t come. The self-proclaimed cat king of Rynmere had decided to hide under the kitchen table and watched the intruders from out of sulfur-yellow eyes instead. What did they want here?
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As she followed her guide, she had time to consider that she wasn't a regular servant at all but perhaps one of the female lovers that the duke had mentioned. Valeria wasn't sure what she was but given her style of dress and the movement of her hips - by Zanik, her ass was distracting in those pants! - she had a bit too much confidence and dominance in her movements. Here was someone who was used to having a lot of free will, not someone who was expected to submit constantly to others. There was no real deference in her. She didn't even properly show her in but instead simply pointed to the door and moved away again. The blonde was left uncertain of herself but she followed the direction, opening the door and pausing at the threshold as she took in the sight beyond. He was a figure in blue, bare-foot and bohemian as he sat with a lump of stone before him. There were mere trills for her to take in the scene before he leapt up, his delight at seeing her unmistakeable, his body vibrating with energy as he came towards her; he looked ready to throw himself at her madly. Her mother would have been proud of her for causing such a response.

She smiled slowly to herself, pleased with his evident joy and absorbing some of his good humour. Her hand tightened a little on the handle of the cat bag, anticipating that he was going to pick her up and swing her around (she wouldn't put it past him) but instead, he knelt to coo over Alena. It made her relax, smiling more broadly. She set down the carry case, opening it and pulling out the curious ball of fluff. Her eyes were huge, the excitement of it all having made her pupils dilate and she gave an inquisitive mew as she was presented with a new location and a new person.

"This is Alena. I usually call her Ally, although she also quite happily reacts to any name that I call her from Baby Girl to Fluffy Butt," she revealed with a giggle, cradling the cat in her arms as if she was a baby. "Now Alena, this is Tristan and we're here to visit him. I'm gonna put you down and you're not to get too comfortable now. This isn't your house so play nicely," she told her pet, scratching her under the chin before setting her down carefully as the Burhan had said that she would. She watched the cat for a moment, chewing anxiously on her lip as she glanced towards the man's own feline. From what he'd said, he could well be a mean sort of cat, potentially territorial and she wondered about whether he'd attack Alena or not. She was a female and a quiet one at that so he might simply try to swagger up to her, cow her.

The animal must have been aware that another cat was present but she didn't seem too fussed, instead wandering around with interest, sniffing at things and acting as if she had no idea that Mistral was watching and keeping his distance - for now.

The noblewoman moved to kiss Tristan softly on the cheek, a gentle whisper against his skin. "You seemed quite eager for me to come, what did you want with me, your Grace?" she questioned, purring the honorific in a way that showed she was teasing him. She let her fingers glance off his arm as she drifted past him, aiming for the tomcat who seemed to be almost glaring at her. "Oh he's so big and sleek. He's gorgeous," Valeria murmured appreciatively, kneeling neatly near to him, sweeping her hands over her rump so that the skirt of her dress settled under her instead of rising up unpredictably. Regardless of her intentions where the Venora was concerned or what some of her behaviour might suggest, she was a lady.

The blonde stretched out a hand to the black cat, palm upwards so that he could sniff it, her fingers together and fully extended. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to give you as a peace offering. If you're going to bite or scratch me, I suppose that you should get it over with, Mistral," the Elithem added, holding her hand still as she held the cat's gaze. She'd had scrapes and scratches, nips and proper bites from cats before and while they were a pain when they happened, they weren't something to dread in her opinion; if they happened, you dealt with it so she wasn't afraid or even apprehensive as she awaited his response.

"Could your Daddy just not do without me, Mistral? Is that what happened?" Valeria asked, smirking to herself, fully aware that she was speaking loud enough for Tristan to hear her quite clearly. "Was he pining after me?"
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

“Ohhh“, Tristan cooed and gently stroke Alena’s head before he submerged his hand in her luxurious fur. It almost disappeared. He had never seen a cat with so much fur before, and he was absolutely smitten – to the point that one could get jealous. “She’s so fluffy! Mistral isn’t fluffy at all. What’s taking him so long, by the way? He normally comes when I call him!” He looked around, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see Mistral anywhere. His cat had apparently either decided to hide somewhere or jump out of a window and beat up a few dogs instead of saying hello to his visitors.

Normally Tristan didn’t care about Mistral’s bad manners – on the contrary, he loved him because he was different and because he was probably a failed necromantic experiment – but this time he desperately wished that he would try and make a good impression on his visitor. Valeria was too important to him, and he didn’t want her to think that he didn’t have his cat under control!

Since Mistral refused to show up, he watched Alena instead as she explored his house, as if she were the most fascinating creature that he had encountered in a long time – and only turned around when Valeria kissed him on the cheek. For a moment he looked surprised to see her there – he had been so focused on the cat that he had forgotten everything else – and then he abruptly put his arms around her, pulled her close and kissed her.

“I’ve been dreaming of doing this since the gala”, he informed her as he let go of her again. “Letters are a poor substitute for the real thing. I’ve missed you. You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, Val. You are the only good thing that has happened to me recently, and if I could I’d never let you go again. Are you hungry or thirsty, by the way? Brandon and Hannah prepared a meal before they went for a walk with …”

He was just about to mention that his other bodyguards had gone on a walk with Ayla when he realized that Valeria had spotted Mistral, and he immediately followed her into the kitchen. “That’s where he’s been hiding!” he exclaimed as he noticed a black head with two bright yellow eyes peeking out from under the table. While Valeria knelt down in front of Mistral, he remained standing a few steps behind her. He would just watch what she was doing, for now – although he was prepared to intervene should Mistral decide to attack her.

At least for the time Mistral did no such thing. He didn’t jump at Valeria and maim her – he had done that before, to other guests who had then decided never to visit again. No, he just eyed her somewhat warily before he made a tentative step forward and then another one until he stood directly in front of her. He stared at her for a moment, and then he suddenly wrapped his front legs around her arm, digging his claws into her skin and bit her hand while kneading her with his hind legs. He looked content and happy and very, very smug as he did that.

“I think he has decided to give you a chance after all”, Tristan remarked and laughed. “Either that, or is simply going to knead you to death because he’s tired of beating his victims up. I don’t think I’m his daddy, by the way. I’m pretty sure that he considers me his slave! Isn’t that the case, Mistral?” Mistral momentarily let go of Valeria and meowed loudly. Apparently he agreed – both with Tristan’s comment and with what Valeria had said.

“He’s a very intelligent cat”, Tristan said. “I just couldn’t do without you, Valeria!”
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Valeria was forever explaining to people that Alena was fluffy and yet they'd never quite believed her, not even when they saw her. It was a very different matter when they stuck their hands into all that fur though. It made her feel smugly proud as if she had been the one to give the feline all that fluff in the first place. She was also amused by Tristan's apparent upset about his cat's disobedience. Ally would come when she was called... only when she was so inclined. Still, as cats went, she was probably doing well on the obedience front. Based on what the duke had said about Mistral, she highly doubted that he was the sort of cat to be summoned.

Of course, it made sense that she had to wander around the house looking for him. Well, in truth, she'd been following Alena and understandably, she'd managed to wander into the one place where the other of her kind could be found. Still, it was good to seek the cat, especially as it allowed her a diversion from the Venora. If she had a distraction and, more importantly, a means to increase his own pining for her attention then it was all for the best.

It was good to get out of his grasp and turn her focus to his pet. It might have been better if she'd find some other method for holding her attention because the beast latched onto her with an enthusiasm that was painful. The blonde gave a short yelp, gritting her teeth as sharp points scratched and nipped at her arm. It could have been worse; if the animal truly wanted to hurt her, he could probably have torn chunks out of her. This display was probably meant to be affectionate. She'd had Alena take a swipe at her before in true annoyance so by comparison, this was okay. The trick was not to move until the cat decided to let go of his own free will. Trying to wiggle her arm free would simply lead to a world of trouble.

In the meantime, she looked over her shoulder at Tristan. "So this bodes well for me then, eh?" she questioned, smiling crookedly at him. "I'm glad that I'm not going to die, I guess," the Burhan giggled, catching sight of her own pet in her peripheral vision. Alena was trotting over, curious to see the tomcat, especially as he appeared quite interested in her owner. The blonde eyed the female wearily, unsure how Mistral would take to her and worried that he might decide to brutalise her. The woman was covered in the creature's scent and he hadn't reacted poorly to her so she hoped that that little introduction would go well.

The very trill that the animal released her, she drew her arm back quickly, rubbing at it as she pulled a face. Turning her attention back to the young man, her brows rose in surprise, a small smile of pleasure curving her lips. Rising with as much grace as possible, Valeria approached him, laying hands on his shoulders and cocking her head to one side. "You can't do without me? You hardly know me, Tristan," the Burhan remarked gently. She raised her hand to touch his cheek, smiling at him sweetly. "Of course you can do without me, love. It's not like you're dependant on me. You don't need me. I'm just one woman, I'm not that special. You seem to be making me out to be more than I am."

Her eyes moved away from him, focusing on the cats as Alena came near enough to try to sniff at Mistral. "To answer your question, I don't want anything to eat or drink. I came here for good company, not for items to taste," she murmured, turning slightly so that one eye was directed his way, the corner of her mouth on that side curling upwards. "Well... I have nothing against tasting the good company," she teased softly.
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

“But I do know you“, Tristan disagreed, held her and looked into her eyes that still fascinated him as much as they had fascinated him when he had met her for the first time. They reminded him of jewels, bright and precious beyond measure. He had the feeling that he could lose himself in them “And I do need you, more than you can imagine. If you aren’t special, then nobody in this world is. I’ve never met a woman like you before, a woman who enjoys the same things that I do, who has the same outlook on life and worships the same Immortal. Seeing you, talking to you, touching you – even thinking of you – makes me happy, and Zanik knows, I need a little happiness in my life right now. You are the best thing that has happened to me in a long time!”

He stopped there as he didn’t want to talk about murder, betrayal, magicism (like racism, but against mages, Sintih and he had recently invented the word) and all the other things that made him unhappy when he was with her. When he was with her he only wanted to talk about good things and happy things, such as … wait, what was Alena doing? He had been about to enjoy Valeria’s company, when he noticed her cat approach Mistral. His eyes widened, heart skipped a beat, and he almost panicked even though Mistral’s first meeting with Valeria had been quite encouraging, all in all, as he had not tried to murder her.

As Alena sniffed at him Mistral looked irritated for a moment, but then he also sniffed at her – at her behind to be exact. His tail began to rapidly move back and forth – he was apparently quite excited – and then he glowered at her and growled. It was a surprisingly deep growl. Alena was a female cat, and Mistral quite liked female cats – he had countless children all over Rynmere and probably a few in the Eastern Settlement as well – but this here was still his house, and Tristan was his slave, and she was an intruder, and he needed to show her who was in charge even though she (and the slave she had brought) smelled really nice!

“This is a good sign, isn’t it?” Tristan asked and turned to face Valeria again. Now that he had realized that Mistral wasn’t going to murder Alena, at least not right now, he wanted to focus on her again, although there was one thing that he needed to ask before that because he just couldn’t ignore the cats completely, “Do you think that she likes him? I have a few toys with catnip somewhere, in case you think we should make things a little easier for them. Mistral loves catnip. It’s his drug of choice!”

“About tasting the good company …”
he then remarked. He briefly wondered if he should tell her that he had once interviewed a cannibal that had actually tasted the men that she had been with (they had even talked about recipes and such, and he had apologized to her because he hadn’t been able to offer her any human meat), but then he came to the conclusion that talking about eating people wouldn’t be particularly romantic, and thus he decided to pull her close again instead which, he had to admit, felt very nice. “I would like that a great deal”, he whispered to her.

It occurred to him that Ayla and her bodyguards would probably be back soon, but hopefully not before he had given Valeria the opportunity to find out just how good he tasted.

In his opinion he was the best tasting man in all of Rynmere!
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Raakel Burhan had wondered if her daughter could so well enthral Tristan that the man would be unable to think of anyone other than her. They'd definitely talked about addiction, she felt sure of that and now she was listening to the duke, she thought he sounded as if he had a high level of obsession with her. Not that she had a problem with it though. It was delicious. All of that attention, all of that enthusiastic desire as if he was ready to drown in her beauty. It was a serious massage to her ego, an incredible boost and it was delightful to know that she could have this sort of effect on anyone. It was intoxicating and addictive in its own way. If he kept this up then Valeria was more than happy to cling to him. It was just one more reason to keep him close, have him near to get that fix. The nobleman had the capacity to worship her, not just Zanik or Ilaren, and she wanted that. It was an attractive notion, even if it did sound hopelessly romantic.

The Burhan didn't believe in love, that was true, but she did have to admit that he stirred something in her, something that she didn't ordinarily feel as a result of her sexual liaisons. Maybe it was due to the fact that she didn't tend to see them again but that wasn't strictly true. She had seen some of them again; she'd seen Caius on numerous occasions and it had never affected their friendship. Maybe it was intent. When she'd first slept with him, it had had nothing to do with lust but rather the simple necessity of getting a feel for things with someone who could be trusted, even if she had manipulated him. There had been a thrill of connection between herself and Tristan from the outset and she'd found herself thinking about him during their separation, feeling an odd possessiveness of him when her mother had tried to interfere. In fact, when the Baroness had suggested that Val couldn't keep him, the young woman had almost lost her mind. It gave her plenty to think about.

At least, she could say that the cats were sure of each other. Mistral seemed to like Alena at least and Alena certainly appeared curious. Although maybe the tomcat was merely thinking about devouring her as a snack or doing something particularly nasty to her. It was enough to make her eye the feline warily before bending down to pick up her own. She didn't want anything bad being done to her little girl. She scratched the animal under the chin, thoughtful as she considered the other animal.

"Maybe she does, I'm not sure. I've never introduced her to catnip so maybe it'd have an interesting effect on their, uh... relations," she murmured, a slow smirk spreading across her face. "I didn't think we were here to play matchmaker between our cats. I thought I was here because you needed me and wanted my lovely company," she teased, her tongue darting out, lightly catching it between her teeth. The blonde set the animal down on the table, letting herself get caught up in his embrace once more, happy to put her mouth to new use beyond teasing.

Her arms looped around her neck, stretching up on her toes, fingers curling into his hair so she could pull his head back a little, creating an interesting pull between their lips before she swooped in to kiss below his jaw.

"Did you want to- What was that noise?" she asked, breaking away as her gaze darted in search of the noise. She could have sworn that she'd heard a childish voice. Listening more, she heard adult voices speaking in childish ways. Her irises became a muddled blue-grey, puzzled as she glanced his way. The young woman would have to be blind and deaf to have missed out on certain pieces of gossip and information. She'd heard that the Duke of Oakleigh had a child - a daughter - but she hadn't thought... she hadn't considered.

Her eyes were huge, round, staring at him, her gaze a question. The childish sounds were unmistakable now and she didn't know what to make of it.
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

“Maybe you should”, Tristan suggested as Valeria admitted that she had never introduced Alena to catnip. “I don’t see why we humans should have all the fun while Alena and Mistral just sit there and get bored. Isn’t that right, Mistral?” Mistral didn’t say anything. Instead he strutted over to a nearby chair (he was the cat king of Rynmere, he never just walked, he always strutted!) with his tail held high and jumped onto the chair and then onto the table because he wanted to see what the incredibly fluffy intruder was doing. She was much more interesting than Tristan and Valeria right now!

In the meantime Tristan enjoyed Valeria’s attention. In fact, he was just about to return the favour and show her a certain part of the house where they could continue to get reacquainted and delight in each other’s company in a much more comfortable manner when Valeria suddenly broke away. He looked at her in confusion because he didn’t know what had happened and he didn’t want her to stop just now, but then he heard it as well.

“Oh that”, he remarked and laughed. “That’s just Hannah, Brandon and Ayla returning home!” With that he let go of her (a little reluctantly), walked over to the door and opened it in order to let his daughter and her bodyguards in. Hannah had red hair, just like Lianne, only that hers was short while her colleague Brandon (who had played cards and gotten drunk with Tristan, back when Tristan had just been the son of a Baron) had brown hair. Between them walked a little girl with black hair and brilliant blue eyes that appeared to be about three arcs old. She was dressed in a blue silk dress and a blue wool coat with a fur collar, and she held a doll in her hands. It was a cute doll. It wore a yellow dress and it had three eyes and a fluffy tail.

Tristan didn’t try to find some sort of half-hearted excuse for why he hadn’t told Valeria about his daughter yet (“I thought that everybody knew!”, “I was so busy making love to you that I forgot that I had a child!”, “I was drunk!”). He didn’t need an excuse because Ayla wasn’t somebody that you needed to hide or be ashamed of. She was one of the best things that had ever happened to him even though her mother was an evil Immortal and had tried to ruin his life. Instead of looking at Valeria with puppy-dog eyes and praying that she wouldn’t leave him now, he walked over to Ayla, smiling all over his face because he was so happy to see her again, picked her up and carried her over to his guest.

“Did you have fun?” he asked the little girl which prompted her to inform him about how they had eaten cake with Mrs. Delner, the old lady that lived across the street and that she had seen a puppy before she abruptly turned around, realizing that there was somebody else in the room and stared at Valeria from out of her big blue eyes. “This is Valeria”, Tristan introduced his guest. Ayla smiled and waved before she held her monster doll out to Valeria and looked at her expectantly. Apparently she wanted them to play together.

“Valeria, this is my daughter, Ayla Venora”, Tristan said.
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

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The young woman hadn't giggled enough recently, that was the truth of the matter. Oh she'd laughed and enjoyed herself on different occasions but there was something about being with Tristan that left her feeling lighter than normal, more ready to laugh. It was pleasant to giggle about the idea of the cats taking drugs and having fun like their humans did. The young woman had ended up trying drugs at an earlier point in the season with interesting results. Very interesting results. The mere memory of it was enough to make her blush, her previous attempts at debauchery seeming quite tame in the face of that but that wasn't what she was supposed to be thinking of right now, not while she was with the duke. Best not to talk about the drugs then.

The blonde simply let it go, even when the cats went back to investigating each other and were quite clearly visible. She just let thoughts of them slip from her mind, doing her best to simply focus on the Venora man before her. Thinking of other situations and other liaisons at this time was less than wise. It wasn't that it would be unfaithful - they weren't together in any official sense - but it would be unfair to have her mind elsewhere, especially after what he'd just confessed. It wasn't that he loved her, which was a ridiculous notion in any case, but he felt something and while she could run away, it wouldn't suit the plans she'd made with her mother, the plans in her own mind. If she was going to marry this man then it was better to start things off right - she could turn her mind elsewhere at a later date.

Once the Burhan allowed her mind to focus on the present, there were no distracting thoughts... at least until that sound occurred. Then she was left with that confusion and a sense of betrayal. The next thing she knew, there was a child in her presence and she was even more bewildered.

The girl was strikingly pretty in her blue clothing, clutching a peculiar doll in her hand but it was her apparent age that made the half-Biqaj's eyes widen, irises startlingly bright silver with shock. Based on what she'd heard, Tristan's mysterious child had surfaced the previous arc (or was it the arc before?) and she'd heard a baby but this girl- No, that was an assumption. Some people used 'baby' to refer to one arc olds, even two arc olds so the nobleman must have been presented with his daughter at a later age, not as a newborn. That sorted that matter but it still left her with a child that she'd forgotten and that the man had neglected to mention. At all.

Her eyes darted to him, hurt flickering briefly across her features, her look accusatory. Admittedly, they'd been quite busy when they'd met previously but Valeria had asked him about himself. How had he talked about naked statues and cat kings and not think to mention his own bloody child? There'd been no mention of her in his letters either and it meant that she hadn't prepared for this, not as much as she should have. It meant that after she threw that agonised look that she was left frozen and uncertain, unable to believe that she was listening to childish chatter while carefully constructed plans wobbled precariously.

When those blue eyes settled on her, the woman actually felt her legs tremble, an odd fear flashing through her.

Zanik, give me strength! she prayed silently, drawing on the power within her so that the Elithem aura arose along her skin. "You've got this, Valeria," she told herself softly, the words meant for her ears alone as she let Zanik's power surge through her, charging the syllables. The power bolstered her, the ability doing just what it was meant to do.

The blonde smiled, fully aware that the aura still clung to her and finding herself shifting it, not with erotic intent as she normally would but merely to enhance her eyes and the curve of her mouth. It was defence mechanism as much as an attempt to allure. The young woman came a little closer, telling herself that it was silly to be unnerved by a child, even if she could be the cause of her downfall.

"Well hello there, Ayla. Is that for me? Did you want me to look at, uh... her?" she asked, reaching towards the door, perturbed by its appearance. Her gaze couldn't settle on those three eyes but the tail... Reaching out to catch the fluff between her fingers, she smiled more broadly, more confident now. "Oh look at how fluffy her tail is! I know someone with a fluffy tail too, do you want to see her?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turned back to the table and took up Alena - rescuing her from some very troubling advances in the process - and presented the fluffy feline to the little girl. "This is Alena. I call her Ally. Look how fluffy she is! Do you want to pet her? She's very nice, she won't bite or anything."

The mark-powered strength that she'd given herself wavered, she could feel its potency weaken. It evidently didn't have a particularly long duration but hopefully, she wouldn't need it anyway. All she had to do was make friends with the small child. Her experience with small children was non-existent, beyond a vague remembrance of actually being one.

Her confidence wasn't at its highest.
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Tristan Venora
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Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 11:47 am
Race: Human
Profession: Mad Scientist Socialite
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A Meeting of Necessity (Tristan)

Tristan didn’t know why he had told Valeria about Mistral and his naked Peake sculpture, but not about Ayla even though he was really proud of his daughter. He didn’t rack his brain and engage in an impromptu self-exploration session that would likely end up with him feeling guilty either even though it did occur to him that he could have handled the matter a lot better. When she threw him an accusatory look, he just met her gaze for a moment as if he wanted to tell her that they could talk about it later on.

As Valeria began to glow, he raised an eyebrow and looked at her questioningly, but unlike Celeste Andaris he didn’t begin to scream and accuse her of all kinds of evil things because he often glowed as well and thought that using Elithem in front of Ayla was actually a good idea. It might make her like Valeria better, and he really, really wanted Ayla and Valeria to get along because he wanted to have both of them in his life.

Ayla was completely unaware of what was going through her father’s mind of course. Instead she looked at Valeria fascinatedly because she was so pretty and because she had such a nice golden glow around her. When Valeria asked her about her doll, she looked a little unsure for a moment before she nodded and informed her in a very serious tone, “This is Milly. She’s a mutant, but she’s really nice. Do you want to hold her?”

As Valeria told her that she knew somebody with a fluffy tail, Ayla’s eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. “Is it a puppy or a kitten?” she wanted to know and then proclaimed, as if it were the most important thing in the world, “I like puppies and kittens!” before she followed Valeria on her short legs. She only remembered that she should probably ask her father if he was okay with that a little belatedly and looked in his direction. Tristan did of course not mind, but nodded encouragingly and told her, “Go ahead!”

When Valeria presented Alena to her, Ayla immediately extended a hand and began to stroke her, maybe a little too enthusiastically. She had a really happy expression on her face. In fact, she looked as if she was in love. “She’s so pretty”, she remarked and smiled.

In the meantime Tristan picked up Mistral who looked just a little jealous and frustrated because Valeria had taken Alena away from him again even though he wasn’t done with her yet and stroked him so that he wouldn’t feel ignored. Alena was a really pretty and fluffy cat, but Mistral was his cat, and thus he would always like him best, and he wanted him to know that!

And Hannah and Brandon? The two bodyguards stared at Valeria of course because they hadn’t been aware that Tristan had a visitor and one that he seemed rather infatuated with at that. Hannah cast him a meaningful look while Brandon mouthed something that sounded suspiciously like “good luck”, and then the two of them went wherever Lianne had gone and did … whatever bodyguards did when they were alone.
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