<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/d8/Dhampir_Sorceress.png)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Mephis<del>Daphoinos</del><br/><strong>Race:</strong><del>Ḩ̸̉å̴̱l̷̤͒f̷̺̎-̶̨̚E̴͖̾l̶̯̓f̷͓̒</del>Dhampir<br/><strong>Age:</strong>20<br/><strong>Class:</strong>Sorcerer<br/><strong>Status:</strong>Adventurer, Divine Mark, Harlot's Mark, Slave of Lord Victor Balebrook, Traitor to Atlantica<br/><hr/><em><strong>“I’m sorry…. I didn't mean to yell at you like that…”</strong></em><br/><br/>Mephis not only allowed Thistle to hug her, but also returned the hug with one of her own. Honestly, she was starting to feel rather bad for having let her own emotions slip like that in the first place. She had been annoyed, it was true, but she didn't actually enjoy making people feel bad. Between that bit of her own guilt and the other tensions in the room, even her own ever-present hunger was forgotten about for the moment.<br/><br/>Of course, it didn't take very long before another curveball was thrown the dhampir's way...<br/><br/><em><strong>“MY BOOBIES!? But But But, the magic! They could see? You tricked me?”</strong></em><br/><br/>"Uhh... N-no, I did cast the spell, but..." Caught a little off-guard by the sudden shift in the conversation, Mephis floundered for a moment, struggling to come up with a quick explanation that wouldn't just sound like an excuse. Then Hiroshi spoke up, providing just the explanation she was looking for.<br/><br/><em><strong>"Nay she did not lie. It is however able to fail for those of sharp senses. I know it well and how it works."</strong></em><br/><br/>"It is as Mr. Hiroshi says," She then continued, feeling relieved for the save. "I did not expect that anyone here would have senses sharp enough to pierce through my illusion. I am sorry. Is there anything I can do to make up for my mistake?"<br/><br/>As for the other big tension in the room... Mephis looked to Josephine again. She'd avoided answering the woman's question when asked about her current master's whereabouts, partly because she was worried that the armored woman was angry enough that she might well try and kill the man. She wasn't interested in dying herself right now, but also...<br/><br/><em>Miss Josephine, please don't work yourself up into a blind fury on my behalf. Do you recall what I said earlier, about having more freedom to pursue my own happiness now, as a slave? There are... loopholes in the slave binding, technicalities one can take advantage of if one has the right magic, which I do. For these past two years that I've been a slave, I've been the one choosing my masters, not the other way around. Even Victor... Lord Balebrook. I'm the one who chose him, though he himself doesn't realize it.</em><br/><br/>This was what she didn't want Cain to find out. He would be compelled by his own high rank in the Guild to report it, and then the Guild itself would likely come together and do something about it. Maybe what they did would be limited to her alone, or maybe they would make some changes to the entire slave binding process to close those loopholes she was taking advantage of. Either way, it was something she wanted to avoid.<br/><br/><em>If you must be angry, please save that anger for the people back in Atlantica who are truly deserving of it. I have quite a bit of anger for them myself, as well as plans to do something about that anger. And if you might be interested in helping me with that... Well, I'll tell you everything in private later. For now, I think it would be best if we all focused our efforts on saving the women of Alana's village.</em>