A Raspberry Tart

[visualspice]

OOC: This Thread has come from: The Dessert Table. See Rules of the Table before joining! Thanks!

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Boys, men, soldiers, toys...
Lady Davina Callister adored them all; even if soldiers were paired with the latter. But what she really loved from them was the money. Endless jewels and fancy wears is the sort of life she wished to lead. A plush and posh existence with a man of exquisite tastes and a refined air about him...

But oh! The pickings were slim at an event so fair, and also- the men's faces so hard to see! A masked ball! How strange a thing, and how dull. It would prove difficult for a woman like Davina to just sniff out what she desired.. but even still, with a frustrated sigh, she tossed her dark black curls over her shoulder and lifted her wine glass to her raspberry painted lips.. for that's what she had come as, something sweet, something.. different, as Davina Callister came as a dessert. Her dress was a deep wine color with light, almost unseen layers beneath it in a warm vanilla hue, and gloves that covered every inch of skin up her arms..
and of course, the dress was cut exceptionally low, and her mask, held on a rod, was lifted from time to time from her face as eh peered around the room. A top of her head, jewels were strung in a theme of a raspberry tarts, and little, sewn versions of the desert were strewn throughout her dress. It wasn't in too much excess, but the small, frilly, feathery cape thing upon her shoulders was annoying. And her new heels were digging into her feet.

Sighing again, she took another swig of her wine and went to see what sort of men were playing games, and as she moved down one of the great halls, she passed a number of rooms. There was a study with an extensive library, one she could smell all the way from the hall, then a music room and behind that- a series of game rooms where the men were quickly gathering. It figures. Give men booze and a deck of cards, billiards even, and they will come.

Adjusting the jeweled collar she wore, she fussed over her cleavage, making sure it was ripe, before waltzing on into the room. Might as well play a game of her own....

[Ivory]

Trevian glanced up from his conversation as a lady stepped into the room.  His attention was caught less by her costume and more by the adjusting to said costume that she had only just accomplished...and she did a fine job with that, he had to admit.

Excusing himself, the Jack of Hearts picked up a pair of drinks and sauntered over to the attractive woman making her way into the room.  The ensemble was colorful, featuring a feathered red cap sat at a jaunty angle on his head, a matching red and white square tabard with hearts and J's in the corners worn above a ridiculously froofy outfit that seemed a fair imitation of the design on the card.  The mask he wore was a simple white porcelain thing perched upon the upper half of his face delicately.

"Would you like a drink, my lady?" he inquired, holding a drink out to her in offering with an easy, confident smirk.  Bright, intelligent eyes studied her from behind the mask.  "Or, perhaps, you're more interested in a game?"

[visualspice]

It seemed Lady Davina wouldn't have to look far for some sort of entertainment, or drink. Her lips made only the slightest of grins to show her appreciation as she took the offered drink and smoothed back her long, black hair from over her shoulder.

"How kind of you.." she said, eyes flicking across his body to take in what he was before she answered coolly, "Jack, is it?" ANd she lifted the bejeweled goblet to her lips for a sip.

[Brisinger987]

Janette hated parties. Especially balls. They were exactly that. They were literally a load of balls to her. Or, rather, as she put it: bollocks.

It was noisy, it was social, it meant that she had to appear to get along with other women, she couldn't fight, she didn't have Megraph, who was no doubt wreaking havoc in their room. In short, she wanted to be at home, or out.

Not stuck in a palace with a bunch old codgers.

Then Janette found the game room.

Young, fit, ripe men for the picking. It felt like her birthday. This was what she wanted for her birthday, lots of soldiers to treat her like a queen. This room was full of them. There were a few women eying up prey, trying to decide which man to take home.

And Janette had drunk just enough wine to not even recognise her family's costumes, so of course, that was just as much fun. In her mind anything without a corsage or breasts was fair game.

So as she approached her older brother, recognition didn't occur, and she simply just barged past to him.

"Hello there... And what do I call you, other than handsome..."

[Ivory]

"Jack has a better ring than 'Knave,'" Trevian answered with a practiced smoothness that came so easily to him...and a charming spark of mischief in his eye.  He held out a hand to her, expecting her to accept so that he could kiss her dainty hand...

...That, sadly, was never to happen.  For only the barest of moments, he stared dumbfounded at Janette...and then a laugh, rich and easy on the ears, rose from his lips.  "It seems that not even the snake is immune to some poisons."  He held up his glass to the mystery woman with a chuckle, to demonstrate that he meant the alcohol, then downed the rest of his shot with relish.

He was not drunk enough for this...

Instead of letting his true feelings shine through, he graciously bowed to the fair lady, taking a moment to kiss her hand as a gesture of farewell, rather than greeting.  "Enjoy the games, my Lady.  I believe I know to whom this snakeling belongs, and I should like to see her safely to her escorts before she disrupts anyone any further."

He bowed again, quite the gentleman!, then grasped Janette by the upper arm.  Fortunately, he had seen Braxton but a moment ago...  Hopefully, the man was still between games.  "Let's go, Janette."

It didn't take long for them to find the man; he hadn't gone far, and they had the advantage of being near the center of the room to begin.  Still dragging the drunken girl in tow, he released her only to step up behind his elder brother and whisper in his ear, conveying all of his annoyance in as quiet a tone as he could, "Braxton, Janette just hit on me.  She is that drunk."

Yes, he was telling on her!  Because that was the manly thing to do!

[visualspice]

Lady Davina Callister was greatly amused, and the tight, yet small smile on her lips indicated as such. But her eyes remained cool even as she took in the lady snake and let her eyes only dazzle after the 'Jack' kissed her hand. Well now, at least this one had manners but the snake...
She looked the frumpy tramp over with obvious scrutiny, the smile now on her face laced with subtle venom and the look she gave to Janette promised a bite if she were to continue to spoil Lady Callister's moment. But it seemed the Jack was to rescue her, and before the man dragged the little serpent away, Lady Davina gave a rigid curtsy to the girl and said, "Nice Scales." And she waved the pair of before taking a seat in her lonesome, crossing one long, dark stocking leg over the other.

[zozee9]

Jana entered the room, her figure full of confidence and composure. Her dark green eyes calmly scanned the room as she tried to decide who to talk to first. There were a number of high figures in the room, some standing out more than others. And then there were three of her siblings all clumped together... Braxton, Janette, and Trevian. That meant trouble.

But rather than focusing on her family, who she'd be able to spend time with later, she made her way over to the lone lady. Rumors didn't treat Davina well, but rumors also said she had spent a fair amount of alone time with some higher ups. Meaning she might have a solid knowledge base that Jana might be able to weasel information out of, if she played her cards right.

With a charming smile on her face, Jana sauntered over to the girl. She bent over (which was tougher than she had expected, given she was wearing a tuxedo) and held out her hand in hopes of getting the lady's. If her hand was given, Jana had every intention of planting a light kiss on it. Looking at Davina's eyes in her own sort of smolder, she asked, "Lady Davina—or, I suppose, Lady Raspberry—may I have the pleasure of sitting with you?"

[visualspice]

Lady Davina thought she'd be bored, but it seemed the game room was offering an endless supply of handsome men. Though she wanted to learn more about 'Jack'- who's to say she couldn't try out an Ace? Glancing the Bloodied Angel over, she admired Jana's wings very slowly, very appreciatively before slipping a hand into hers.

"You may sit but... I must say, there are a lot of masks I do not recognize this evening..." and she raised her brows coolly at the other and asked, "Does this angel have a name?"

[Paradox]

Braxton had given his wife the slip and snuck away to surrender himself to one of his greatest of vices. Gambling. Screw talking to snot-nosed aristocrats and screw dancing. This was more like it. Smoking a big fat Allarian cigar and drinking some of beer with a pile of chips stacked up in front of him at the table, Braxton considered his evening to be coming along quite nicely.

The other men seated at the poker table were middle-aged like himself. Mostly minor nobility and experienced soldiers. No kids were allowed at this table.

"Alright boys, "Braxton chuckled as he shuffled the deck again and proceeded to deal out the cards, " we-"

He felt someone step up behind him and recognized the voice. Sighing, he excused himself from the table and turned to face Trevian and Janette. "God damn it, Janette. I've been more than tolerant with you since pa croaked, but your antics have gone far enough today," This would have been funny if he weren't responsible for her now. "Since you can't behave yourself, then I'm sending your ass home.  "No Janette, no headache! The last thing he wanted was a drunken little slut of a sister wandering around and getting herself knocked up.  He looked at Trevian, " I'm not going to risk her embarrassing us further. Take her home, please. " 

[Ivory]

"Me?"  It came out as a very unTrevianlike squeak.  "Brax, c'mon!  Can't you get Oscar to do it?  Or Riley or even Ethen?"  Really, there were enough Treyburns running around to escort a whole pack of Janettes home.

Erg, that was a sobering thought.

"Look," Trev said, lowering his voice even further to keep the conversation between the two of them.  He knew his brother's weaknesses...and if exploiting them would get him out of this, well...  "I've got a girl waiting on me."  A charming smirk, full of knowing expectation appeared on his face.  "But if I don't get my ass back over there, someone else is going to scoop her up.  From here down," and here he placed a hand at his chest.  "...Gorgeous.  And she isn't shy about showing off her assets either."  He didn't feel he was overselling...  "I think you can see her from here.  See?  The one over there..."

He trailed off, and, beneath his mask, his face actually faltered.

"...That Jana is stealing from me..."

Oh, God, this is why he rarely visited his family...  He was definitely not drunk enough for this.

"Nevermind.  Might as well now..."  He looked a little moody about it, still, though!  "But just for the record, this family gets more dysfunctional every time I visit."  In what other families did sisters (drunk, admittedly) hit on their brothers...only to have a different sister (dressed up as a man) swoop in to steal the girl you were flirting with?  Just in the Treyburn family.  Yup.  "Come on, Janette.  Let's get you home and put to bed."

[zozee9]

Jana placed a small kiss on Davina's hand before gently letting it go. Only briefly letting go of eye contact, she sat next to the lady while making sure to not mess up her own wings.

With a small sigh, she replied, "I'm afraid this angel has lost his name when he was cast away... And most of his memories, in fact. The only name remembered would be that of the most beautiful lady at this entire ball." Not wanted to overkill the situation, Jana ignored her urge to wink. She did, however, flash another of her charming smiles.

[visualspice]

Both of Davina's brows actually raised, and a bit more of her cool smile did to as she looked at her new angel escort over with more interest rather than scrutiny (but she always held people in with scrutiny...)
Sighing herself, she tossed some black hair off from her shoulders, not wanting the damn length to get in the way of her cleavage that she so amply was pushing up, nearly bursting from her dress.

"Well, I always did love a mystery." And she examined the detail of the bloody jewels on the feathers of Jana's wings and wrinkled her nose, just ever so slightly, in glee. "Though the fall must've hurt you." she said, and turned her face to look directly into Jana's with more of a seductive intent as she 'tenderly' cupped her face, but did not touch it.

"You poor thing. Perhaps sampling some of the raspberry tart might help you remember? Or.." she said, leaning forward just enough so that their faces were only a few inches apart. "Even make new ones. No one should go without a memory." And she paused to add, coyly, "A name."

[zozee9]

Jana knew exactly what the other girl was trying to do by moving her hair. And the words were simply lewd—especially since they had just met. It was women that did things like that that gave her a guess as to why women were banned from the army... then again, women probably wouldn't sleep for power if they could gain it in their own ways. As much as she wished she could talk to classier women, Jana withheld her disgust and continued on with the conversation.

"I'm afraid, milady, that I will only make new sweets if it is with the woman I marry. So unless this is a marriage proposal—and it would be a bold one, at that—I will have to reject your offer." Jana did, however, move Davina's hand so it was actually cupping her own face. She leaned her head into it while continuing, "The pain from the fall, however, is fading with the magic being delivered by your soft fingers. Ah—not real magic, of course. For even if I am outcast by the Great God, I would not believe such heresy as magic." She spited the words even as she said them, but knew she might get called out otherwise. "Enough with dreary topics, however."

Jana paused, removing Davina's hand from her face and returning to her side, where she yet again let go gently. "My name... Lady Raspberry, I'm afraid I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of such a beauty like yourself. For you see, just having descended from above, I haven't had much time to make a name for myself." After a brief hesitation, she quietly added, "However, I will tell you something that isn't supposed to be known yet... for it isn't official, and may cause a little bit of a scandal once it's known. There is a good chance that I will be rising to power in one of the higher families—which one, I cannot tell you—in not too much time. And when that happens, I may hold more power than I ever did in the heavens..."

[visualspice]

Lady Davina sat there, as proper as a woman in her attire could sit, and only smiled coolly throughout the conversation, her eyes never hinting that she was taking it all in. At 'his' last statement, the corners of her lips curled and she released a laugh through her nose.

"I.. think you misunderstood the meaning behind my words, my dear Angel," She said, looking into Jana's eyes as her thumb gently stroked the 'man's' cheek. "By sampling I simply meant to talk. But if you would presume so much from me on our first meeting..." and she turned away from Jana, her hand slipping away from Jana's cheek. After all, the woman just offended her.
And she always loved to play the victim as she moved to stand. After all, what should keep her in such company if one of Angsar's own fallen angels thought her so wicked?

Even... though she was.

[Brisinger987]

Trevian had let go of Janette.

And Janette had been long gone by the time Braxton and Trevian were done talking, off to take whatever man she felt was game. She may not have recognised her brother's costumes, but she recognised their voices, and felt slightly embarrassed.

So they had to find her if they wanted to catch her and send her home.

The first stop had been the gambling tables, where she had flirted, joked and kissed one or two men, just flaunting herself as something that none of these men could get.

Then secondly, she had left the room, heading for drawing and music rooms, rather coherently in all honesty.

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Exit: Janette going to A Slice of Lemon Cake (Drawing/music room)

[Ivory]

"Perfect.  This is exactly how I wanted to spend the night."  Babysitting.  This wasn't the exact reason he was single...but it was pretty close...  "Go back to your game.  There are enough people here that someone must have seen where she went."

She was only a head taller than nearly everyone in Connlaoth, after all.

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Exit to Spurmoni, Studel, and Sweet Potato Pie

[Paradox]

((This is in response to Ivory and Bris's posts))

Braxton rolled his eyes at Trevian's whining and replied brusquely, "Because you're the one bellyaching to me about it, that's why. "

He chewed on his cigar and flicked some ash in Trev's direction, narrowing his eyes at the man when he mentioned a woman. Of course Braxton looked Davina's way, checked out her assets and then smirked. Looking was alright. He could do that,but that was about all he could do. He hadn't strayed from his wife now in two years and their relationship was a hell of a lot better for it.

Braxton guffawed at Trevian's realization that Jana had stolen Davina's attentions and kept laughing when Janette broke away and Trev went running off after her.

((Braxton has left. He's gone to Triple Chocolate Cake . ))

[zozee9]

Jana looked at the girl in disbelief. Did she really think that she'd believe her lie? She knew she construed the promiscuous girl's words correctly. But of course she was going to play the victim...

Well, two could play that game.

"Milady, I'm afraid that you have far less of a reason to be offended than I do," Jana replied sadly. "I was going to let it pass because my costume is so impeccable, but we have met before. And yet you asked my name, over and over. I am not angry—you have nothing to fear—and I, as a fallen angel, have experienced much more sadness than this. However it would be a lie from my very own now unholy lips if I were to say that some part of me did not break when I learned that you forgot me."

Jana readjusted her mask before standing up, "I think it is time for me to get something to drink, if you would not mind."

[visualspice]

Well now.. well played, she thought. But her cool grin never left her lips. She wasn't about to let a potential suitor just walk away, so she gave the man a grin and rose.
"Perhaps you might need an escort, my angel? And perhaps.. the memories that elude to me of your true identity might return?"

[zozee9]

Jana wrapped her arm around Davina's in a gentlemanly way before looking into her eyes and saying, "There is nothing that could please me more than those two things, so please, accompany me, and let those bittersweet memories flow back into your head—ah, but just the sweet parts, of course. Forget all that is bitter."

She started walking at a leisurely place, not sure what she wanted to happen. Drinks, of course, were where they were heading to. But it seemed that all that had come out of their conversation was flirting. Jana wasn't here to flirt, as amusing as it may be. What she needed was information. Even something as simple as learning about the girl's feelings on the war would be valuable.