When Thorn suddenly burst around the corner following after the humanoid shadow she can face to face with a man by a fire, which was hissing and popping due to something that had been placed into it—something that was long since burned beyond recognition.<br/><br/>The man was some strange mix between old and young.  His physical features suggested youthfulness, but some feeling about the man suggested almost a sense of timelessness.  A strange cunning could be caught in his eye as he looked Thorn over, neither with fright nor surprise.<br/><br/>“Evenin’,” the man said, “planning to gut me?” he asked with a grin, looking from one sword to the next.  “If not, I’ve got some drinks stowed away before the fun starts if you’d like some.”<br/><br/><hr/><br/>“True!” the demon woman responded with a laugh, “As someone once told me:  everyone is somewhere!”<br/><br/>The search took some time, the other Princes they asked had not seen him either, nor had any of the first circle demons that were scurrying about the former Imperial Palace.  Still, many diversions littered their path which made it take longer than it normally would have if Minha had not been so intoxicated, and accompanied by a demon of whimsy.<br/><br/>In time that whimsy proved profitable as she decided to take another path which led away from the frivolities of the celebration.  The air became almost unnaturally quiet as they left the larger buildings behind them.  Some few demons wandered here and there mostly ignoring the passing of the two superior beings.  The buildings yielded to a larger temple-like structure, mostly untouched from the wreckage of the reclamation.<br/><br/>The temple was decorated with artistically carved blue jade and flowing water.  The temple building itself was little more than a fanciful wall surrounding a placid park within, with a large, undisturbed pool of water.  Faint essence lights cast little reflections upon the surface of water, which is likely what had drawn the audience around the pool.<br/><br/>No less than ten Amphelisiae lingered around the pool of varying sizes shapes and ages.  The most veteran of them appeared to be missing one of its six legs, though that hadn’t stopped it from climbing a tree and laying in a branch overlooking the pool.  For now they ignored the presence of Minha and her demon companion.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>“<em>Uh, I dunno Skipper,</em>” the blood ape responded thoughtfully, “<em>Da lady looks familiar, dun she?</em>”<br/><br/>Despite the obscurity of the Coadjutator’s response he’d never steered Wave wrong before, so even if he seemed a little uncertain it was probably best to err on the side of caution.  Even less intelligent coadjutators were extremely helpful to their tenements.<br/><br/>Unaware of the Green Sun Prince’s inner dialogue she continued speaking thoughtfully.  “Wealth isn’t something I need…” she suggested with pursed lips.  “There are so many more interesting things to gather.  Perhaps I could take your name?  Or the memory of your mother.  Maybe your favorite color.  The love of a certain activity…”<br/><br/>It was obvious at this point that she was no mere human…or Exalt for that matter.  It seemed more and more likely that she was some kind of demon.<br/><br/>She reached over with her delicate fingers and plucked one of the flowers from her garden.  She raised it to her nose to inhale its scent with a smile.  “To prove that these are worth whatever you give me…go ahead and take a little smell…just don’t inhale too deeply.” She offered the flower up to Wave.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC Notes</div><div class="spoiler_body">Mechanically speaking, she can accept a number of things, most of which are immaterial.  You could give her an intimacy, which you would be unable to reform until you got it back from her.  Anything you give her is effectively gone for good.  Giving her his favorite color would mean he no longer has a favorite color, for example.</div></div><br/><hr/><br/>In truth, the scents around the tent was more like burnt flesh mixed with some kind of exotic incense.  The inside of the tent was a fair few degrees higher than outside, due to the well-bred Fire Aspect woman within.  Caramel colored skin that almost seemed to glow with inner, elemental fire.  Her hair was a bright red that seemed to flicker and lick at her bare shoulders and neck like flames licking the fuel that it burned.  Her eyes glowed like embers, glaring first at the other Infernal and then at Serpent as he joined in.<br/><br/>The pavilion was decorated after the lush style of the Imperial Palace, as if the reclamation had never happened.  The nobles had similar styles for their bedchambers, or pleasure rooms.  The Dragon-Blood was dressed to match her environment.  She wore thin silks (some of which were now slightly singed around the edges) that scarcely concealed her body.  She was held captive within the tent by a thin chain that was fastened to her ankle, it allowed her to move about freely within the tent, but seemed to keep her from leaving.<br/><br/>Ironically she seemed to have the bearing and breeding of someone who would have originally owned one or several of these rooms, likely filled with concubines and servants of her own.  She held herself with poise and dignity—if also a fury that only the privileged know.  The anger in her eyes dimly masked a slight fear that the burned Infernal hadn’t caught, though Serpent could faintly sense.<br/><br/>“Tsh,” she hissed with disdain, “bring a friend because you aren’t man enough to handle me on your own?”<br/><br/>Bombarded with two insults, one after the other (and one significantly more magical than the other), the Infernal’s face turns red.  “Y-you dare?!” he says at first to Serpent, though he was quite obviously cowed by the insult.  The arm holding the wavecleaver was already lowering slightly.  His confidence about the situation seemed to have disappeared, what little of it there already was.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC Notes</div><div class="spoiler_body">By my reading of Golden Years Tarnished Black, he would have to bring up some memory that the target has about something in the past, the burn on his face is too recent in my opinion to work.  However I'm going to roll with it.  You've effectively broken his spirit verbally, if you want to coax some further details from him you can probably do even more damage to his poor psyche  ;D</div></div><br/><hr/><br/>The slave’s cock unconsciously stiffened as it was touched and examined by the beautiful man Sonneillion.  He couldn’t bring himself to reply just now, as if he knew he shouldn’t say anything yet, instead he simply did what he could to be what his current master wanted.<br/><br/>He listened to the Bitch Queen while walking with him towards the festivities.  The things that he said made sense in some way, he had never considered the possibility that the Yozis were the victims of this world, though he couldn’t help but have a slight niggling of doubt in the back of his mind, nibbling at his consciousness like a hungry mouse on a giant wheel of cheese…<br/><br/>The unexpected comment moments before entering into the courtyard caught him entirely off-guard, sending a startled stiffness through his spine and a metaphorical trap snapping down on the mouse’s neck.  The idea that he wasn’t worthy of him was something the slave couldn’t quite accept.<br/><br/>By the time he’d overcome the shock he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and cleared his throat before raising his voice so that the courtyard could hear his words.  The tingling sensation of essence being pulled across his skin to his voice accompanied the slightly frosted breath he exhaled with his words, there was very few that couldn’t hear the slave’s words within the courtyard as the wind itself carried his words to each and every ear as if he had been standing next to them, “Now arriving, his Majesty the Bitch Queen, Sonneillion.”<br/><br/>Hoping that he’d done well he remained ready for whatever his master’s next command might be.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC Notes</div><div class="spoiler_body">Players that can hear the announcement:  Serpent and Thorn.  Minha and Waves are currently too far away to hear.  Any other players jumping in can choose if they heard the announcement or not.</div></div>