The Definition of Fun

[Baleron87]

It was as if Baleron had found his place in the expansive castle that truly suited his personality. After a good half an hour of searching the extensive grounds of the palace, he had come across an enclosed garden, one of many he believed Edric had installed within the palace walls. Within it's limits, many plants stretched across the grounds, most of them being the source of the many hedonistic acts that littered the rooms he had a taste of viewing. Thankfully, it was a garden filled with the many local varieties of his favorite green leaf, and he had taken a sample to a secluded, and yet fully open field located within the garden where he could fully enjoy his habit even with the ongoing passerbyers who every so often invaded his privacy with their idle wandering. He had since then dried the beautiful weed leaves with his blood, encasing the leaf in it and heating the blood to turn the leaves into their dried state, giving him a chance to smoke the amazing leaves in his metal pipe and further continue his journey into a higher state of existance.

As the smoke billowed out from his lungs and disappeared into the open air around him, he relaxed onto the soft and warm grass, giving a thankful sigh to the peace that the garden presented to him. Stone pathways lead past his relaxing spot within the grounds, but the wanderers never gave him notice as he partook of his habit, more than likely figuring that his business was his own, and that their presense was more needed in the many rooms where the sexually active participated in their many events. Baleron continued with his own hedonistic approach, happily sucking on the local variety and enjoying the further high he recieved from the happy green.

After a few minutes of indulging his weed-smoking, Baleron rested the metal pipe back within his pocket and entered a meditative stance, allowing the weed to help him focus on the nearby persons. Many of the bodies around him were heated, more than likely taking part in the sexual acts that he had almost been dragged into hours before, but none of them matched the blood type of the one he was searching for. It disappointed him that he was having such a hard time finding Caela at all, but he did his best to cheer himself up simple due to his position of high-ness. He hoped that he would have another distraction to provide him with entertainment, such as the presense of the re-birthday girl, that would allow him to act upon his more basest insticts that were driven out by his current position. Idle thoughts of the interesting girl slipped through his head as he returned to his meditation, hoping to find even a drop of blood that matched his queen's.

[supernal]

Fifteen wondered silently to himself if Eroina had been created so long ago, or more precisely put he wondered if she had been ‘alive’ long enough, that she had managed to memorize the intricacies of the palace’s pathways. Naturally, Fifteen was more than capable of slaving the correct paths to take into the recesses of his mind, but this was merely a product of who he was and what he did as a profession. He found it hard to believe that someone as sweet, and young, and seductively naïve as Eroina could match him mentally tit-for-tat.

But since when had this become any manner of competition? To a degree, it disgusted Fifteen that he could take something as insignificant as an idle thought and turn it into a rite of comparison. No, no more of that. He focused, instead, on the warmth that Eroina’s fingers radiated when nestled tightly between the crooks of his hand, at the pace in which she led him confidently into the depths of the castle, and of the ever-present scent of lilacs.

The girl must have had some kind of radar beeping constantly in her head, for it couldn’t have been more than ten or so minutes after they had entered the belly of this grand and ornate palace, before she led them to a garden that held in its depths a surprise. A certain captain of the guard that he had met once before.

Fifteen forced a plastic smile and strained his words through his breath.

“Ah. Wonderful. Baleron, a pleasure to see you. I’ve come with Eroina to keep you company for a while.”

[Nayt]

Eroina knew the castle about as well as Fifteen, actually. In truth, she hadn't the time to memorize the floor plan of the Palace of Vice, given the little time it had been since her re-birth, and the fact that, although she enjoyed learning, she enjoyed being outside and around others much more. Eroina's movements around the palace were not that quick; she was strolling whilst walking hand-in-hand with Fifteen, just enjoying it while she could. Sadly, there was a good chance of her never having that happiness after he inevitably left.

Nonetheless, her idle wandering (and she was too generally jovial to seem lost) merited success! They had passed by one of the many gardens when she caught something out of the corner of her eyes, and upon investigation, found that something to be Baleron, set down, smoking. Eroina had started into the garden, and eventually let go of Fifteen's hand (gently, of course) to go on ahead towards Baleron, skipping with each step. She stopped right before him, hands holding each other behind her back, a smile wide on her face.

"Hello~!"

Opium was one of the most popular drugs in Persistencia, but marajuana was still popular enough to merit the support of its production. Actually, nearly every drug known to man--and some not known to man--were popular enough to garner such support! Even if they were not, some botanist would have demanded the right to grow it. Eroina had personally not smoked such a thing before, or anything at all for that matter before today, but she had heard good things! It wasn't nearly as intoxicating as opium, for example, but still caused happiness within the smoker--just not belligerent happiness, like Eroina had experienced awhile ago.

"I told you I'd come find you later!" Eroina giggled.

Though, she had actually forgotten why she'd been looking for him, information lost in the haze of opium. Eroina did know that she told him she'd come to find him later, and she had! It just so happened that she had found him by accident, but she had been searching nonetheless.

[Baleron87]

Idle voices pecked at his physical senses while his mind lay inward to his search for Caela. For a moment, he sensed something, a fractional feeling that disappeared as quickly as he had found it. Desperately, knowing he had found Caela within the sea of bodies residing within the castle, he searched for that feeling again. However, it seemed as if the shifting masses that littered the grounds kept him from accessing it once again. It was a defeat to him, but only a small one. He now knew that Caela was located on the island, and that made him swell with happiness.

Bringing himself out of his meditation, he opened his eyes to find a mysterious looking young girl peering down at him. A confused stare at the sudden intrusion of a face where garden should have been brought Baleron to believe that the local weed was responsible for the image before he at once realized that Eroina truly was standing before him with a wide smile on her face. He offered a wide smile to the beaming young girl, which lessened only slightly as his gaze passed Eroina to look at Fifteen. He was in far too much of a happy mood to have it lessened by the noble's presense, and besides that, he was feeling quite blazed out of his mind.

He bounded up from his cross-legged position on the grass, wrapping his arms around the re-birthday girl and picking her up in a great hug, swinging her around in a loop once before turning her down. It was an action he hadn't even expected, but once her feet touched the ground again, he simply went with the odd act. "Eroina! You certainly did find me. I'm glad to see you enjoying your party." He leaned closer, looking straight into her eyes. "Oh, someone's definately been hitting the pipes. You certainly are enjoying yourself. And is this a new dress?" He looked down upon the sky-blue dress, watching as a cloud silently floated on over her stomach. It was such an odd scene that Baleron almost believed he had imagined it happening at all.

His eyes turned up to Fifteen, and a sly smile creased his lips. Without much warning, he spun Eroina around so her back was against his chest, and he pulled her back against him, his hands resting on her stomach while he leaned forward enough to rest his chin against the top of her head. "Hey, umm... Noble-guy... What was your name again? Twelve? Thirty-two... Oh, right! Fifteen! I'm going to steal the re-birthday girl from you. I promised her stories, and I'm fairly sure you wouldn't be interested in the biography of such a lowly guard, eh?" He grinned, letting his head fall onto one of Eroina's shoulders. He winked in a way that Fifteen would notice most, and turned his head, kissing Eroina on the cheek. His gaze turned back to the noble, and he grinned. "Hope you don't mind."

[supernal]

The rancor that Baleron exuded almost roiled the air, and Fifteen’s face noticeably dropped. He seemed hurt, to some extent.

“Yes…yes, Fifteen’s the name.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Baleron was doing. He was using Eroina to take futile attempts at his psyche, or would-be futile that is, for his tactics seemed to be working, and effectively so. His brow furrowed, his eyes deepened in their internalized pain, and Fifteen cast his eyes down and to the side with an all out display of timidity. When he spoke again, his voice was noticeably softer.

“I…I wouldn’t mind. But it seems that…” He did not dare to meet Baleron’s eyes just yet, but as the seconds ticked away, as the sands of time were guzzled into their own conceptual prison, the pain that Baleron had caused continued to crack his porcelain face. “It seems that you mind. I can tell by your tone, you don’t want anything to do with me. That’s fine…that’s fine, but…well, I don’t think you would have had to have been so mean…”

Fifteen reached into his pocket and removed a monogrammed handkerchief that he ran along the edges of his lips before his eyes focused onto Eroina and his lips lit up with a smile.

“I’ll be in the main room, Eroina, so please come and find me when you’re done here. Maybe the next person we visit won’t be so adverse to my presence.”

With that, and nothing more, he nodded to her and turned to make his way back into the palace.

[Nayt]

Baleron's reaction had gone from sober to jovial in an instant. Eroina, surprised by him lifting her up in an embrace, couldn't help but laugh--happily, and throw her arms around him, as well. It was strange, though, as she couldn't feel a thing. The embrace, no matter how tight it may have been, was gentle enough--as if he was trying not to squeeze her too hard?--that she could not feel it, only the pressure of it.

Set back upon the ground, Eroina released him as he did her, and stood once more with her hands holding one another behind her back--and though Baleron, for a moment, thoroughly inspected her eyes to discern how moist and bloodshot they were, she didn't once drop her wide, wholly pleasant smile. Of course, she had hit the pipes. She had hit them pretty hard. In fact, she had taken enough hits from the hookah that for a brief period of time, Fifteen could have introduced himself as God, and she'd have believed him. She was still running on a buzz, though; not high, but happier than usual. Likewise, this meant she was also susceptible to depression, too.

"Mh-mmm!" Eroina shook her head, "It's the same dress, but Fifteen made it so much prettier!"

And then, she was spun around, a surprise that had her gasp at first, but laugh in the end, as Baleron held her close to him. This kind of closeness . . . she really enjoyed it, even if she couldn't feel it all. What she could feel, though, was a kiss upon her cheek--the second one today, which, for the second time, had a chill running up her spine. A good chill. A warm chill. Sadly, that feeling could only last so long, as Baleron's actions and words put Fifteen off significantly. He looked . . . sad. And he sounded it, too! Eroina's features fell, and she pouted out her lip and sulked her shoulders. She really liked Fifteen, too . . .

"B-but, but!" Eroina exclaimed, sadly. She sulked in Baleron's arms, sighing. "I . . . but I . . . ohhhh . . . we were having so much fun, too . . ."

[Baleron87]

Baleron considerably frowned as Fifteen offered no resistance to his actions and simply decided to give up on any conflict. It annoyed him that the noble had utterly dismissed what he had done, and was not willing to fight for Eroina as he had expected of him. A low growl escaped his lips, audible only to Eroina. It had seemed he had disappointed her as well by his actions, which was an unintended side-effect of his desires. If Baleron was going to keep her happy, he knew he would have to keep Fifteen from escaping from the both of them, and he only knew one way of doing just that.

He leaned down against Eroina, his lips barely brushing over her ear as he whispered gently to her. "I didn't mean to ruin your fun. Why don't I make him stay with us?" He didn't bother to wait for an answer, straightening up and lifting a single hand toward Fifteen, his palm outstretched toward the noble's receding form. He would have to be quick to keep the man from escaping into the many hallways, but in the high state he was in, his mind was more focused and clear, and his abilities bloomed forward faster then they ever could during his more sober moments.

A thin line creased horizontally from one side of his palm to the other, the skin spreading apart to open a large hole in his hand. Blood began to drip down his hand, following the lines in his skin down to the wrist before dripping bit by bit onto the ground below. It began to flow more freely, more and more splashing down onto the grass, staining it dark red. As quickly as it had begun to flow, it seemed to stop, drops of blood still hanging in the air, seeming desperate to let gravity do its job. The blood slid back up his wrist, forming a small sphere just before his palm. He grinned, his preparations complete before he raised his voice so Fifteen could hear him.

"Hey, noble. Heads up!" With a flick of his wrist, the sphere hurdled toward Fifteen at a breakneck speed. As it neared him, tendrils escaped from the sides, and it continued on, preparing to wrap the hopefully wary noble of the imminent capture Baleron had created for him.

[supernal]

The swagger in his step made it undeniably clear that Fifteen harbored concrete intent to lose himself in the intricate pathways of the castle. He knew nothing else of the palace, but had burned the motions of the outside and the main room into the recesses of his mind; soon enough, he would be reunited with his beloved and would be able to enjoy another glass or two of that delicious wine.

He neared the archway that led inside and, mid stride, his step faltered. He did not stop complete, but it was as if he flinched, as if he sensed the ball behind him inching closer to his head at a phenomenal speed, but then continued forward.

The force of impact sent him reeling, tilted his center of gravity and caused the esteemed noble to meet the ground face-first and with no conservation of impact. He was dazed instantly, rolling around the floor while trying desperately to gain his bearings, and groaned; when Fifteen realized that the orb surrounded the entirety of his face, he grew frantic. Arms waved around without purpose for a bit, then he clawed quite desperately at the goop which threatened to cut off his air supply, before the red slime ballooned outwards in a modest attempt to restrain his screams.

A keen ear might be able to discern, through the muffled speech, something along the lines of.

WHAT’S GOING ON?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP I CAN’T BREATHE!!!

[Nayt]

"Keep him here? How?" Eroina asked, not realizing the malicious intent behind Baleron's voice--or that he even had mal-intent whatsoever.

In Persistencia, innocence was simply a lack of malicious intent. The vices that the world traditionally looked down upon for any age was inconsequential, not subject to altering the innocence and purity of a person. Eroina never felt malicious intent towards another creature, and did not understand it in the slightest--she was, for all intents and purposes, pure as far as the land of Persistencia was concerned. With her lack of comprehension of such a thing came a naivety that could possibly be of much harm to her someday.

How to keep Fifteen there, though, Eroina was a bit confused about--though, not concerned. At first. She figured that Baleron was just going to apologize to Fifteen or something of the sort, but that turned out wrong--completely wrong. Baleron's idea of keeping Fifteen there was the exact opposite of what she expected.

"A-ah!" the girl cried, shutting her eyes tightly when Baleron suddenly attacked Fifteen.

Why was he doing that? It made no sense! Fifteen was a nice person, and Baleron seemed like he was one, too! There was no reason for them to fight, and especially no reason for Baleron to just attack the man from out of nowhere! Or attack him at all! She wanted to yell at Baleron to stop, but her voice was muted by the fear of that happening to her, too. She was still in close proximity to him, after all . . .

"Wh-what are--" Eroina tried to raise her voice, but found it difficult, and wound up pleading in a desperate whisper: "P-please let him go . . ."

[Baleron87]

He seemed to realize all too suddenly that the situation had taken a drastic turn away from it’s intended path. As Fifteen lay helplessly on the ground, scrambling to remove the enclosing orb from around his face, which had been a mishap of aiming on Baleron’s part, the simple and honorable fight he had figured would ensue suddenly made him look like a fool. Eroina’s dire pleading barely registered to him as he looked on at the noble, truly wondering why he had ever thought Fifteen was the grand mage he was.

One look at Eroina’s pretty new dress had given him the reminder of the many tricks and spells the old Archmage had shown to him in his short period of guarding him. He had only imagined that the man therefore had the same gift at arcane magics. And now, because of his idle assumption, he not only looked dishonorable to the uppity noble, but Eroina too was afraid of his sudden outburst.

Growling at his own idiocies, he closed his hand into a fist, and the blood orb surrounding Fifteen’s face became like glass and shattered into thousands of glowing red pieces, drifting up harmlessly into the air around Fifteen’s form. Baleron offered no words of apology or regret to his actions, however. He stalked away from them both, heading toward the doorway that was closest to where he had lost spotted Caela’s blood. He stopped before reaching the doorway, however, looking back over his shoulder at Eroina and the recovering noble.

“Keep her. I’m not interested.” He shrugged his gaze away from them both and stole away from their sight as quickly as possible.

[supernal]

When the sticky shroud of blood covering his head finally dissipated, Fifteen took in a rasping, rattling breath that filled his lungs with a kind of joy the likes of which could not possibly be put into words. He coughed, all but hacking up one of those lungs, as he brought himself to a sitting position; his eyes were bloodshot and watery, but nonetheless alight with an aureate fury.

For a little while, Fifteen had nothing to say. He had been attacked by a man that he thought to be a bit more civil than to just degrade himself into the brazen tactics of the barbarians, had been all but suffocated, and now was reduced to sitting on the ground in a flower garden of the palace of Persistencia.

“So, that’s it huh?”

Fifteen wiped the tears away from his eyes and looked up at Eroina. His brow was furrowed, his glance concrete, but this austerity was broken irrevocably by a playful wink and a smirk, one that Baleron would not be privy to. Fifteen’s voice was hoarse, his throat and lungs were on fire, but he managed to speak on.

“You’re just going to hit a man who has his back turned and then walk away, hm? Not much honor in that, I don’t think. Not what I imagine a captain of the guard is supposed to do.”

He didn’t stand yet; he didn’t even turn around. He just kept talking, the svelte timbre to his voice returning with every sharp word that he flicked from his tongue.

“Back where I come from, people at least stuck around for a bit afterwards. Had a bit of a talk to part ways amiably.”

[Titan]

"How often do you converse with yourself?" My voice was shrouded again, a tone just above a whisper that carried my words but did not betray my vocal origins. Truly it was I that stood just inside the door, near invisible in the shadow cast by the small archway that separated me from the garden itself. The only thing giving me away was the white-fur of my cloak. In but two steps, ones very simple to myself yet quick as to befuddle the minds of men, I was standing in front of the grounded man. Another who's name I did not know. Offering a hand for a brief moment would give him leverage to be pulled off of his ass, though I would not wait forever; nor would he find it easy to keep my hand grasped if he tried.

Whether or not he was on his feet my own would have moved me closer to Eroina; I said nothing to her at first, faux interested in the budding plants that Baleron before had taken sample of. Honestly I did note their presence and the richness of thought that taking some for myself brought, but I was mostly focused on the young lass before me. Fate, it seemed, had brought us together. I was full of intent to return to the main room or even the banquet hall and wait out the remaints of the day either for night to come or Eroina to find me. Bale's huffy and stiff retreat from this place had attracted my attention, curious to know what had angered him.

To my dismay, I found a man's back to me, rump plastered to the ground that was messed as if he'd been thrashing about. To my delight, I found Eroina standing at some distance from him, what had transpired before I arrived leaving her looking worried. Looking shocked. Looking vulnerable. Just as swiftly as I'd approached her I was then at her left side so that the both of us would be facing Fifteen; if, of course, she didn't turn to keep her eyes on me. If neither of them sought to spark conversation I was free to let an awkward silence draw upon us. In that event, maybe Fifteen would get the hint and leave us two in peace, for by the smell of things the two had already spent some time of their own together; Baleron's scent was presence as well. Neither was strong enough to indicate a deep interaction between them, but enough to know they'd shared close contact. Unseen eyes narrowed.

[Nayt]

It went without saying that Eroina was very disappointed with Baleron! He had gone and attacked someone out of cold blood. It was so cruel, too, because Fifteen was such a nice person, and Baleron had been so nice to her, too! And when they were together just then--Baleron and her--he had been so sweet to her. The hug, the twirl, and the act of holding her close--it felt so nice, and he seemed so nice, that Eroina had great difficulty in assuming him to be something of a bad guy. And yet, he had attacked Fifteen, someone who had also been super kind to her, in cold blood. That was what made someone a bad guy, right? Eroina just didn't know . . .

All she was certain of was that Baleron had left, and Fifteen, still regaining himself from the moment of suffocation, was delirious. A sobering state of temporary decay, instigated by the uncalled for assault by a man who must have had equal goodness, but awkward means. It was the only way Eroina could see the situation.

She was ready to go to Fifteen's side when a voice broke loudly into the garden--that cloaked man she had met earlier. The thought of what he had asked of her--and she had promised--wasn't reoccurring just yet. Once Fifteen was all right and the situation died down, though . . .

Eroina did look up to him, however, and tried to figure out if he had been watching the entire time, and if he'd help out with Fifteen. She could only hope, because Fifteen looked quite hurt at the moment. He needed some help, and she started towards her friend after the cloaked man came to a stop. If he needed to get some medical help, then she was going to help him to that--or if he wanted to lay down, even. She'd have certainly wanted to lay down for awhile if she was choked like that! Eroina may have been remarkably deceased, but she still had a functioning respiratory system. She could still feel the pain of someone dying, even if suffocation was unlikely to end her.

"A-are you okay . . .?" Eroina asked as she sat on her knees by Fifteen's side. If he needed help walking, she was doing to do her best to provide--and hope that her other friend would help, too.

[supernal]

Baleron was quick to excuse himself from their audience. It seemed that when shame and chagrin were nipping at your heels, that expedition became second-nature. Wonderful. Fifteen had managed to dispatch of a man that he didn’t quite care for without having to draw his blade and without having to blemish the outstanding social record and rapport he had been building up with Eroina since they first met.

Just then, he became suddenly aware of another presence. A voice and a hand that cut through the air and offered itself to him. Fifteen, after a bit of scrutinizing of the hand, wrapped his lithe fingers around the offered appendage before promptly pulling himself up. Once he could stand on his two proper feet, Fifteen began to tedious process of dusting himself off, taking a step back to put a comfortable distance between himself and the stranger, and then addressing him.

“Not nearly as often as I should. That aside, I was trying to talk some sense into Baleron. He attacked me for no reason that I could possibly think of as I made my way back to the banquet hall, and wanted to keep him around long enough to get to the bottom of the problem. I try my best not to let bad blood ferment between myself and too many others. I suppose this is just something of a lost cause, however.”

As Tanis let the silence fill the space between them, Fifteen looked idly on. He did not become aware of anything else, and simply stood there, smiling politely with his eyes ever forward and boring into the eyes of the stranger. After a short while of this, when cordiality had properly run dry, Fifteen cleared his throat.

“Ah…quite. Anyway, Eroina, shall we see to the other whose presence you promised to attend?”

[Titan]

By Fifteen's own reaction and my reassuring pat on her shoulder, Eroina would get the clue that the man was quite okay. Indeed it seemed his voice was cleared and his only concern was the dust that had gotten on his clothes. I felt some small amount of satisfaction as Fifteen actually took the time to justify why he was speaking to someone who was no longer there. He talked for a good moment about events that transpired when I didn't care about them in the least.

Then he came back to the main topic at hand; the meeting between Eroina and myself. Obviously he knew not it was I she was going to see, so then I had the element of surprise on my side. Initially I hadn't intended to persuade the man with anything other than speechlessness, but his meaningful stare into the almost unnatural dark of my hood changed my mind. With the most simple shift of my head light played across my eyes and we settled into a lock.

"That other presence would be me; so you may go attend yourself." It was a very subtle way of telling him to piss off, but for a different reason I had some confidence in the chance he would just leave the two of us to ourselves.