Cheated Courtship [Lorelle]

by **Meville Brightshade** on June 6th, 2013, 4:04 am

"Great!" Meville drank as she did before placing the mug down and giving Lorelle a serious look. "To explain my bad Vani, let me explaining - explain - why I'm here and not Locke." The young man wasn't entirely sure whether Lorelle actually cared to hear why he struggled with her native tongue or why Meville had come instead of Locke. Now that she wasn't expecting him to do anything to win her over, he figured there wasn't much of a reason to skirt around his obvious language issues.

"See, I ran into Locke earlier, and he was... Afraid? He said he was coming to meet you. I'm nice. I tell - er, told - him I could go in... for him." Meville didn't have the greatest constitution when it came to alcohol. He could consume large quantities of it, but it didn't take much for it to affect his ability to communicate. Still, he was getting the story across, though Mieville was certain it lacked the subtle undertones. After all "I'm nice" didn't quite have the same effect as "I'm an understanding sort of fellow". He mentally cursed himself for not learning Vani sooner. It was certainly making things more difficult than it should have.

Shaking his head and smiling, Meville continued, "He said yes. He gave me his clothes, and I gave him my clothes." Meville took a quick swig, letting the semi-sweet flavor of the liquid linger around in his mouth before swallowing. The stuff always tasted better the more drinks he took. "I came here trying to... Joke? Trying to joke you, but..." He shrugged, chuckling as he pointed a playfully accusatory finger at his now companion. "You were not having it." That might not have been an entirely accurate depiction of what had happened, but it was the jist of it.

"Not that I blaming you. Blame you. When I saw you, I lost my nerves." He sighed a little, shaking his head. "You surprise me. Surprised me. I know how Locke felt now." Meville laughed at himself, leaning back in his chair with a slight grin. So now, she hopefully understood he felt a bit nervous despite everything. With the whole idea of courting and marriage behind them, Meville hoped she might warm her chilly exterior a little bit. Of course, he would have to earn it. The best way he could think of was explaining his situation.

Giving her a curious tilt of the head, Meville decided he might as well venture a question. "I have curious-" Eloquence was too difficult at this point. "What do you enjoy doing? I meaning... Interesting. Interests? What are your interests?" Gods. Meville took another drink from his quickly emptying mug. "To make good conversation.' No. That wasn't right. "Oh, I don't know." Meville ruffled up his nicely smoothed hair, letting it fall back into a tangled mess as he stuck out his tongue in frustration. "Gods, Vani is so beautiful when you speak it, but I can't seem to verbalize a single well formed sentence!"

Returning his focus to Lorelle, Meville just laughed, letting his tensed shoulders relax as placed both elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "Maybe tell me about you?" It was time to just revert to the most rudimentary phrases of Vani. Understanding the language was so much easier than actually speaking it.

by **Lorelle** on June 6th, 2013, 4:55 am

The story actually was quite interesting. To find out that she actually intimidated a Frostfawn enough to give up his date for the night was something of an unusual nature to hear. Though it did give Elle a sort of sick pleasure to find out she had scared one of the Frostfawns. Or at least made him nervous. She always saw them as these sort of Vantha that dealt with animals so not exactly easily scared. Especially not by something as simple as one date. Though considering the fact that this one date was suppose to turn into more, Lorelle could almost see even one of the Frostfawns being nervous about that.

"Well I will tell you this much Meville, I am actually finding myself enjoying your company much more than I think I would have Locke's. So I surprise myself by almost being grateful you took the spot for him," she surprised herself by saying after he was done telling his story, butchering the Vani language as he went. Another thing that surprised her is that the boy in front of her lost all his nerves upon seeing her. It is another thing she found twisted pleasure in.

She took another drink of her wine, emptying the glass. The amount of such a beverage Lorelle can take before feeling its effects is not much. Already she can feel its tendrils latching onto her and begin to blur the fine line of what she should and shouldn't do. The sane and the insane. She looked down at her glass, running her finger along the top of it once more as she felt herself start peering of the edge of loosing her head.

"I enjoy reading and music. I like the quiet and absolutely adore the cold. I once went to Wind Reach, it was fun but way to warm for my taste. Especially since we got there in the summer," Lorelle answered his first question almost a tick after he asked it. The colder, icy edge started wear off now and her eyes have started turning multiple colors showing all her conflicting emotions. An actual smile spread across her lips for a chime at his comment about her Vani. She looked up at him with her multicolored eyes and said "Thanks, but don't worry you'll get it. You know what they say, practice makes perfect." she told him, her smile vanishing not long after the words were spoken.

The girl sighed at his second question. She still had not lost it enough to start throwing out information that could ever be used against her in anything. Opening up was hard for her, even if he wasn't asking for the inner whispers of her mind but only about her. He did however open up to her about why he showed up tonight and not Locke and he did have quite a hard time doing it. Because of this Lorelle decided that she could open up a little and just tell him the basics, telling herself it couldn't hurt a thing to do so.

"Well, I grew up here in Avanthal. Snowsong hold, of course. I am an only child, my mother had difficulties trying to have anymore after me. I play the flute and I sing some, though I am not a big fan of doing either of those things." Lorelle spoke in her fluent Vani as she thought up things to say on the spot. She was trying to give him the bare minimum, trying to keep herself closed, but not so much that she didn't make any sense. "My parents started trying to marry me off when I was sixteen but it didn't work out. My mother has been trying ever since to find someone for me. My father doesn't seem to care, he goes with whatever she says," she continued, stopping to take a small pause as she ordered another glass of wine from the server.

Once the server had left to fetch more drinks for the third time tonight, Lorelle turned back to Meville. "All that however is probably not what you wanted to know, what is it that you do want to know about me?" she asked, resting her elbows on the table. She was fully prepared to answer him with a lie if she had to. If the truth was to personal than a lie would just have to do for him. A lie or nothing at all.

by **Meville Brightshade** on June 6th, 2013, 7:17 am

She was grateful! Well, almost, but who was sweating the details. Not only that, but Lorelle had seemed to decide she was going to give him a little to go off now. Meville's eyes widened with interest when she spoke of travelling to Wind Reach, but nodded in agreement when she described it as too warm. Avanthal was incredibly cold, but it was what Meville had grown up with. Though he lacked the marks that kept the Vantha safe from the biting chill of the frosty winds, he still found the numbness of his fingers much more enjoyable than the unpleasant feeling of being sweaty and stifled. He wasn't surprised she was interested in music. Lorelle was a Snowsong, after all.

When she smiled, Meville's heart jumped about like a bird trapped in a cage. The ale was starting to get to him. He even found his cheeks burn a bit warmer when she encouraged him. Meville responded to her wisdom with a mute nod of agreement. She spoke just fast enough that he had a bit of difficulty picking up everything, especially the subtle nuances of her tone. Her face, however, gave him enough to piece everything together. She wasn't flirting, but she was being much more friendly than she had been initially. Meville appreciated that. He was uncertain whether he should appreciate or find it odd, so he chose the feeling he found more appealing.

Her smiled faded as was replaced with a slight sight. Meville bit his lower lip, feeling a bit like he'd pushed too hard. He could see her deciding upon what she felt she wanted to share, though anything beyond that was too complex for Meville's ever-increasingly unfocused eyes could decipher. When she answered, it was mainly basic sort of mundane facts about her life. To her, they might have seemed plain and simple, but Meville focused hard on her words to make sure he got everything.

An only child was a little uncommon, but not unheard of among the Vantha. Lorelle used the words "difficulty" and "mother" after that, but Meville wasn't quite able to catch what she said. Her mother was difficult, maybe? She could play the flute and sing, though apparently she didn't find either of them to be her favorite past times. Well, either that or she had said something about singing and playing the flute not being a fan. Lorelle continued on to explain that her parents tried to get her to marry a while ago, but it hadn't gone so well. After that, her mother... Did something, while her father when with whatever. Meville rubbed his eyes, and nodded when the server asked if he'd like another drink.

"Must been nice to have parents." The sentence sort of slipped out before Meville realized what he'd said. Blinking a few times in confusion, he shook his head once more to rattle the thoughts around in his mind and get a better handle of himself. "Er... What did you say? What I want to know?" Meville smiled away his slight blunder, his head still propped up by his hands. Her face just a bit closer now that had decided to lean in a little bit more, though he still found he had to look just slightly to make eye contact.

"Honesty? Honestly?" Meville could really feel the alcohol now. He'd only had two mugs, but it was starting to hit his considerably weak system. "You have told me more than I expecting. Expected. Example!" Meville pushed himself up, his right hand curled so his pointer finger stuck straight up towards the ceiling. "You are different because you have no fan. Are not a fan of do sing and flute." Meville squinted slightly, letting his hands cross on the table. That wasn't quite right. "Special, maybe? I think that one is right. It's interest. Interesting."

The conjugations were really getting to him, but Meville powered through as the server returned with their third round of drinks. He drew a quick gulp before trying once more to verbalize what he meant. "I mean... Black secrets are not needed. Just whatever you want to sharing. Share." If only he could communicate to her what he actually meant. Meville had been trying to point out that it didn't matter what she shared as long as she shared it. He enjoyed listening to her speak, and he found her interests... well, interesting. Nodding to himself, Meville thought to try to express just that.

"Like... You are little frustrating - frustrated - with mother and marriage, yes?" Meville's brow knit slightly. "You do not say it, but I can hear it. That is what interested. Interesting. Is interesting." Another swig. He gave her an apologetic grimace. "I think nothing exact about you, but all?" He nodded, answering his own question. "Yes all. All sides. You do not have to sharing - share - all sides. I like any sides. This sides. Side." Meville's slightly serious face broke into a good bought of laughter at his own words. "I sound like a child! My Vani sound so strange, even to I. Me!"

by **Lorelle** on June 6th, 2013, 9:28 pm

One thing was certain, Meville was having a horrible time with her language. Lorelle couldn't help but notice all of the mistakes in the words he said. She was also loosing her grip on reality enough to not care other than to be annoyed. Most of the things he said were answered with a smirk, a short laugh or not even acknowledged at all.

When he finished butchering her language for the moment, Lorelle took a long drink of her third glass of wine before turning back to looking at the boy. She looked at him with much thought before even attempting to answer any of what he just said. Or tried to say. "Having parents is a pain in the butt, they always try to dictate what you do and assume they know the best for you when they know nothing about you," is the first thing she said in a calm demeanor that would soon all but become extinct.

After she spoke, a confused look landed upon her face. She stared off past Meville before her eyes flickered back over to him. "Wait, why... why would you say such a thing? Don't you have parents? Or you at least had them right?" she asked. She then watched as he jumped up and said something about a fan. "What the is he talking about? No fan? Fan of what? Singing and flute? Ugh this man, he confuses me," she mentally griped to herself. More words were spoken but she did not say anything about them. In fact she didn't say anything till he complained about his Vani.

A laugh uttered from her lips at his complaint. "While I do not disagree, you are also not helping yourself by ... by.." she forgot what she was going to finish that with. Staring down, confused Lorelle takes another drink of her wine. She looks up at Meville before shrugging. "You can switch to common if you please, I can understand that well enough," she went on as if she didn't just forget what she was about to say. No sense in trying to figure out what was now past.

by **Meville Brightshade** on June 7th, 2013, 7:19 pm

Though Meville understood his ever increasingly terrible Vani was starting to get on Lorelle's nerves, he found the subtle frustration of her pursed lips to be both adorable and comical. Perhaps it was because he was very quickly losing his ability to take things seriously with the finishing of his third drink, but a very contented grin had started to spread across Meville's face as she responded to the small things she felt answerable. He felt a little bad about having devolved the conversation to the point where she could only sit in silence and stare at him like some strange foreign object, but even her tacit confusion was enough to bring a couple chuckles from the young blonde's mouth.

It appeared Meville wasn't the only one experiencing difficulties communicating. Lorelle had started a thought, but had been unable to finish it for whatever reason. Meville let a big, dopey grin spread over his face as she took another drink to cover up. He played his his own empty mug as she did so, tapping the sides in a rhythmic tip tip tip as she downed the red liquid. When she set the glass down, Lorelle gave him permission to use Common. Gods that was a relief. Meville's goofy smile gave way to an extremely grateful, "You, Lorelle, are a goddess of compassion clothed in a deceptive veil of ice."

"What I had meant to say," Meville moved the mug up to his lips but set it back down, realizing it was empty. "Was I don't-" He squinted slightly in thought, "Er... I like all of you, no matter what you share. Just talking is nice." He'd completely forgotten what he was going to say, so had instead substituted it with a lame summary of what he thought he had said in Vani. Truth be told, everything was getting a little bit hazy, and it was a little bit difficult to remember what he had been saying only a few bells before. One thing he did remember was her surprise at his accidental statement about parents. He was feeling good enough that he didn't really think much of it.

"You asked about my parents?" The server had come bearing drinks without even asking this time. Meville clapped the man on the arm and gave him an appreciative grin as he took his mug from the mans hands. He took a gulp of the ever increasingly sweet liquid and continued. "My mother passed a year ago, but she was mentally exhausted to the point of madness from the time I was born." Not really thinking about what he was saying, Meville rolled his eyes as he described Tomas. "And my father? He's an introverted recluse who uses me for inane experiments and food runs." Meville laughed, though from the content of what he had just shared it wasn't really appropriate. "It's all very convoluted."

Leaning back into his chair, he lifted the mug to his lips but didn't drink. Instead, he pulled it back slightly, spilling a little bit on the floor with a surprised "oops" before he continued to address Lorelle. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make out as if my family life is worse than yours. I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be to have the two people in your life who should care most about you force you into something you so blatantly are against." He shook his head, a little more of the ale sloshing out onto his hand. "I prefer my freedom. The very idea that someone would decide what I would do with my life is absolutely absurd."

Finally, Meville took a swig out of the mug, carefully placing it back onto the middle of the table. Once there, he proceeded to carefully scoot it along using the back of his hand until it rested precariously on the edge of the table. "But... I would be lying if I didn't say I envied you just the slightest of bits." He pushed a little more as the mug teetered dangerously on the edge. "They may not entirely understand your wishes and desires, but-" He pulled the mug from the edge, placing it now in a much safer spot on his side of the furniture. "But they act out of love. Or something like it, I think."

The entire time, Meville had avoided contact with Lorelle's ever changing eyes. Up until this point, he hadn't really realized why, but when he felt a a warm wet line inch down the side of his face, he realized he was crying. Wiping his eyes, Meville looked with surprise at Lorelle, an apologetic grin on his face. "I apologize. I think this ale is getting to me." On cue, he downed the rest of it. What was that now? Four? He absently counted the glasses on the table: eight. They'd certainly had quite a bit already.

On an off thought, he wondered how much it was all going to cost. Meville wasn't made of money, but he was certainly enjoying the drink it bought. It didn't really matter at this point anyway. He was going to pay for the drinks regardless of cost. In fact, he was probably going to pay for even more than he'd already had. Though his entire body felt sluggish and warm, his mind seemed to inform him that the alcohol had, contrary to popular belief, not reached his brain yet. That meant there were still many drinks to be had, even if Meville was having a difficult time focusing on the beautiful face of his drinking partner.

by **Lorelle** on June 8th, 2013, 11:43 pm

Meville's words started to run together in Lorelle's brain. They were becoming foggy and hard to understand. Though part of this was because they were in common language instead of Vani. But Lorelle did prefer this over the boy's Vani for that was a real disaster. The currant one was just effects of the wine getting to her brain and her inability to understand common fluently.

"A goddess? Well, that is something I have never been called before," the female Vantha commented on the first thing he said. The only words she caught onto were goddess, compassion, and veiled. Other than that she had no clue as to what he was saying. It didn't matter though, she would make the best of what she could pick out. Or that is what she told herself.

Lorelle had just finished her third drink when a fourth was set on the table in front of her. She could feel her mind slipping in and out of clarity, but she did not care. She went for the fourth drink and started on it. Slowly at first and then at a faster pace till it was gone. Once emptied, she set the glass on the table, feeling quite good at the moment. Great actually.

"Sorry about your mom," Lorelle commented, "And don't let your dad get to you. Wouldn't want whatever it is to drive him to make you do such to rub off on you." Lorelle didn't fully know what she was saying or what she was hearing. She just commented on the bits and pieces she picked up, not really caring. "Do not be jealous, it isn't worth the energy,"she told him.

After a minute of contemplation on what else to say, she spoke once more. "Love is a state of mind, I don't believe that it really exists. And if it did wouldn't parents then allow their children to do whatever their heart desires? Isn''t love accepting the one you care about as they are and not trying to change them?" is what she said, thinking about her words as she spun her index finger around the rim of one of her empty wine glasses.

by **Meville Brightshade** on June 10th, 2013, 7:12 am

Having not really wanted to share the information in the first place, Meville only half understood or cared about what she was saying in regards to it. The foggy hazy of the alcohol made interpretation of her fluid, melodic Vani extremely difficult. From what he could discern, she had first repeated the word "goddess" then said something about "never". He thought it a bit funny they were having a conversation in their native languages, but neither one of them really had that great of a grasp of what was being said. At least, he assumed it to be a similar case for her. The girl had had four wines, the last being quickly downed a single raise to her lips. Neither one of them was at their optimal level of mental functioning, that was for certain.

She continued on to address his family life, expressing she was sorry about his mother. Whatever she had meant to say about his father, Meville was only able to understand was "drive him" and "to rub". Neither of these were particularly pleasing ideas when paired with the idea of his father, so Meville chose to ignore whatever it was she had meant. Though she seemed to be more engaged in the conversation, Meville figured she wouldn't mind him dropping the subject of parents. He did, however, feel a slight tug at his heart from her condolences. Whether she had meant it from the heart or not, the simple words were nice to hear. Or at least, think he heard.

He was able to understand "do not be" and "it isn't worth", but he was entirely unable to recall what nouns she was using at that point. Instead of making a fool of himself, he just smiled a knowing grin and smiled. That tended to work in most conversations when there was a minor miscommunication in which the receiver of the unintelligible message doesn't want to ask for a repeat. While he nodded, Lorelle took a moment to prepare for what she was going to say next. Despite their drunken states, Meville could still tell when it was an appropriate time to divert all available resources to a specific stimuli. He decided that moment was now.

Focusing extremely hard, Meville fixed his eyes on Lorelle's soft, beautiful lips and strained to hear each melodic syllable that escaped from between them. Though it was much less eloquent what she had actually said, Meville was able, through great effort, to understand the gist of what she had said. In Common paraphrase, she felt love wasn't something that existed, merely a state of... something. Mind, perhaps? Or being? On top of that, she felt as though her parents did not understand... love. She reasoned they would let her do as she pleased if they did, though Meville wasn't quite clear on the why regarding that. Her actual question was along the lines of: isn't love accepting without changing?

Meville took a few moments to process everything she had said, allowing a short while of silence to pass between the two while he prepared his own stance on the idea of love. As she ran her finger along the rim of one of her wine glasses, Meville stared into the bottom of his mug. What was love? "I believe..." He began, tapping the table with the bottom of his mug on the syllables of "believe", "Love is merely a foolish concept dreamt up by those who find themselves to be more righteous than their fellow living creatures." He glared into the small amount of liquid that danced as he tapped the mug again to "foolish" and "living creatures". "After all, what is love other than a label placed upon a feeling of lust to make it appear beautiful, when in fact, it is completely carnal."

He released the handle of the mug, turning his now fairly dilated eyes to stare into the shifting colors of the Vantha's. "What it should be is caring enough to protect and nurture a relationship with another person so much so you are willing to sacrifice anything for that person. Yet!" Meville let a puff of air go with a pft, "Most use it for what? Childish attraction or blind praise." Slumping back, he let his eyes fall slightly, no longer looking Lorelle in the eyes. "Of course, I can' help but hold the true idea of 'love' in my heart with a strange fondness. It's just so..." He perked up, his blue eyes and bright grin connecting once more with his companion's face. "Magical." How cliche. "I know I may sound the fool, but whether love exists or not... At least I am free to find it."

He let the sorrow and sadness creep into his eyes as his own words slowly revealed his own feelings to him. "You do not have my freedom to search for might not even exist." He shook his head, biting his lower lip before continuing. "Were that I could help you some how, some way..." The alcohol had given him the courage - or perhaps lack of good sense - to taker her hand in his. His warm hands closed over her own as his eyes burned with an earnest fire. "If there is anything I can do for you, just ask. You are a prisoner under the guise of your parents' 'love'. There is no greater jailer than the bonds of family, I'm sure." He had absolutely no idea what he could do to help. Meville was merely consumed by the all-powerful wish to do anything to help Lorelle accomplish whatever it was she wanted. He hadn't even the foggiest idea of what that might have been. His actions were fairly based off of nothing but confusion and inebriation.

by **Lorelle** on June 11th, 2013, 5:02 am

Meville didn't say much till the idea of love came up. Lorelle noticed this. She didn't notice much else as her head was spinning and nothing was exactly clear. His face was beginning to become disoriented and it was becoming harder and harder to focus on his words. They all blurred together and the fact that they were being said in common didn't help much. Lorelle didn't pick up on most of what he said.

He believed it was a foolish idea to make people feel higher than others? More special? Is that what he said? Lorelle shook her head slightly as she tried to really focus on his ever melding words. To make lust appear beautiful... Yes he said that. Or something like that. She was becoming increasingly confused, but tried not to show it. One word stuck out to her though. Magically. He seemed to think that the idea of love was magic. Sounded like something out of a romance novel. Still it brought a small smirk to Lorelle's lips. She really was a hopeless romantic at heart, even if she would never admit it.

The sudden feeling of skin touching her own snapped Lorelle's attention enough to really try and focus on something. That something was her hands as she looked down and saw them enveloped in his. Surprisingly the feeling of his hands on her own was not an unpleasant sensation. Maybe it was the wine getting to her, but she actually liked the feeling. She looked up at him and focused on listening to the rest of what he said. To hear his words and translate them in her head.

He thought she was a prisoner of her parents love. Basically what she told him but in different words. He wanted to help her. Help her with what? It took a minute to connect the dots. Help her with her parents? Help her become free? Was that it? Lorelle focused and thought hard on the subject, trying to decide if she was thinking about it right or not. In the end she decided she didn't care.

"You can help me," she said softly, "Show me ..." Her voice drifted off as she bite her bottom lip in thought for a tick. "Show me your kind's idea of love." She really didn't know what she was asking for. If she hadn't have had all the wine she might have been smarter about her words, but perhaps not. The truth of the matter was that she really wasn't more than a young naive girl her parents were still making all the decisions for. At the same time however she felt as though she was in her right mind, she wanted to experience something outside of the realm of what she was allowed to be shown in her own culture. Even if she was intoxicated and more than likely wouldn't remember it.

by **Meville Brightshade** on June 12th, 2013, 8:37 am

Continued

by **Noblesse** on July 27th, 2013, 5:36 pm

Meville Brightshade :

Lorelle Snowsong :

Additional Notes :

True nobility lies in being superior to your former self

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out. Heehee.

Flashback Cheated Courtship [Lorelle]