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Masquerade - These Masks We Wear


Zephrun’s Imperium

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Pushing back her hair, Wendy smiled and watched her two kids run off with Nicolae. The moment didn't last long, though; someone had apparently spilled a bucketload of liquor up on the fourth floor and needed someone to mop it up.

"Take care of the work down here?" Wendy asked, handing some napkins to Monica.

"Yep. Seeya."

Wendy stretched and made a point of walking by the kitchen to get to the stairway, grinning at the kids and blowing Nicolae a kiss.

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57 minutes ago, Zephrun's Imperium said:

Nico walked the two of them down to the kitchens. "Cookie! I got two girls 'ere what need a glass of juice!" 

She scoffed. "Isn't that a little childish for your little whor-" The cook turned around and cut off. "Oh."

"Little what?" Ara asked, sipping her juice.

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Humming to herself all the way up the staircase, Wendy couldn't help but fidget with her hair. It was a lot quieter several floors above the ballroom, which gave her the chance to retreat back into her thoughts.

To think that I'd fall in love with Nicolae Kimby of all people. She thought to herself, blushing slightly. He was a good person: nice, tall, handsome... and he liked Katie and Arabella too.

Coming out onto the third floor, Wendy started striding down the hallways, still humming; albeit quieter. Halfway down, though, she realized that she was in the wrong place.

Fourth floor, not third, silly. She shook her head and turned around; and almost bumped right into a nobleman.

She jumped and yelped, then took a step back and asked, "uhm... can I help you?"

"Ye absolutely can, little miss." He hiccuped, leaning in; the man reeked of alcohol.

Wendy's heart began to pound, and not in a good way. "I--I'm sorry. I'm busy, and I need to go... do my--" She shrieked as the man grabbed her dress and pulled her towards him.

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And I cannot post the rest of that in good conscience or in a way that follows the Shard guidelines.


 

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This one is spoiled due to sensitive content.

 

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Riva got up from her seat and stretched. Her workplace was clean and she was hungry; it was high time for dinner. She wandered up the stairs to Caden's office and knocked on the door. "My darling dearest," she announced, waltzing right in, "it's time to eat so-" 

But her "darling dearest" was nowhere to be found.

That was no matter, of course. This was what servants were for. She tapped one on the shoulder, making the girl jump; being the Raveness was oh so much more than the title. Why did she need that silly thing anyway, she was plenty happy scaring people without it. "I'd like to know where my husband is," said Riva. 

"Uh, uh... I believe he's sparring on the training field right now," the woman whimpered. 

Riva left without a thank you. She'd never been down to the training field, so it would be interesting to see it. The sight that awaited her there was a pleasing one; Caden was shirtless and sparkling with sweat, a silver sword in hand as he fought three other men. Riva leaned against a column to watch the match. 

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The four men regarded one another for what seemed like an eternity as sweat dripped down Caden's brow, he couldn't afford to watch every little detail of his three opponents' movements, so he sufficed for watching them as a group. The general recalled how he had them drilled endlessly on working as a single unit to overpower their enemies, so watched for tells that he would recognize. A twitch of the arm there, a shift of a stance there, the men revealing their first moves while still deciding on them.

The men of the Praetorium Guard snapped forward, and their blades began to whistle through the air. Caden growled as he allowed himself to be pushed on the defensive, there being too many blades for him to defend against and attack. The men moved smoothly, one attacking the general directly, while the other two tried to get around his guard on either side. Caden shifted to his left quickly, advancing on that man and placing him between the general and the rest of the guardsmen as quickly as he could. He struck quickly and brutally, aiming to tear away the man's defenses before the other two could get in to help. The fight shifted as the man did everything he could to defend himself, waiting but a moment for the others to get around and flank Caden once more. They would continue this maneuver until they wore Caden down, knowing their numbers offered them an undeniable advantage. However, Caden knew this very tactic well.

Just as the men were closing in on Caden's flanks, he performed a large sweeping motion with his blade to ward the men off, but instead they smelled vulnerability as the general lowered his guard. They moved in rapid succession to strike beneath Caden's blade, just as he nearly finished his sweep. However, instead of stopping, he let the momentum carry him forward as he lunged towards the man in the middle, catching him off-guard as Caden batted away the flat portion of the man's blade with his arm, tackling him to the ground. 

The second the man touch the ground, Caden knocked his head with his knee, and rolled to his feet, grinning at the two other men as they tried to strike as wolves fighting in a pack, defending their downed man. He shifted his stance to face off against the man on the right, lunging towards him and driving the two men apart. He cleanly deflected a blow from the left before shifting back to his right, committing himself to a brutal attack that left him open to the man to his left. He swung his blade to strike at the man at his right, but shifted his footing at the last moment when he heard the whistling of a blade to his left, redirecting the momentum to strike the man firmly on his padded blade arm while he was trying to recover from the heavy swing. He dropped to a knee, gasping in pain while the man to Caden's right suddenly started a desperate offensive to redirect the general's attention. Caden met the man blow for blow before easily overpowering the one man in a few moments, causing the third blade to drop to the ground.

General Praetorium stood for a moment in his sweat, catching his breath while his men quickly got to their feet before saluting their commanding officer. 

Edited by The Ward's Guard
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Ack I don't wannnnaaaaaaa

Someone smacked the nobleman upside the head. With what, Wendy couldn't tell, but it got him off.

The first thing she did was gasp for air, shivering in and out the moment the other mouth was pulled from hers. Wendy barely heard her savior yelling a million insults and threats at the drunkard, and couldn't even mutter a thank you as they tossed a blanket over her; she was too busy trying to hold back screams. A rush was running through her body from when--

No. Don't. She couldn't think about that.

"Did he hurt you, dearie?" Asked an old woman's voice.

Wendy suddenly found herself shaking. Her back ached from being thrown to the floor, and the man's unkempt fingernails had ravaged her shoulders and chest, but all of that was dull in comparison to the terrible, false 'emotion' that she'd just been subjected to. First there had been fear, then terror, but after that... just sheer helplessness on an impermeable backdrop of... what that man had been after.

"Come on, child. Here isn't any place to be." The old woman knelt down at Wendy's side, her face out of focus; or maybe just seen through sweat and tears. "He didn't break your legs, did he? I know that you're scared, but you really can't just be laying half-naked in a public hallway."

Hands, arms--everything, really--shaking, Wendy forced herself to sit up. She tried to say something--anything--but the only sound that came out was a sharp whimper.

"If I were young I'd carry you, but... well I'm not young." The woman readjusted the blanket so that Wendy could clutch it around herself. "Please, dear. My room's not far."

Wendy stood. It hurt like hell, and her whole body was trembling, but she stood.

"That's it. Come along." The woman put her arm around Wendy's back, as she wasn't anywhere near as tall as the waitress. "You're a lot tougher than you look; though I suppose you could say that about anyone who'd gone through that. I'm so sorry dear; I wish I could've seen you sooner. Or before it."

"Thank you." Wendy managed to croak.

Opening the door to her room, the old woman looked up. "Please, none of that. You've got nothing to thank me for. Now you go on in there, and... well, the stuff I have will probably be too small on you, but I have a few robes and such that should be fine. You can stay here as long as you like; I'm making tea and I can't sleep on beds anyways."

"Th--" She stopped herself. "Okay, ma'am."

"Louis is fine." The woman lead Wendy over to her wardrobe. "Is there anyone I can get for you? Someone you trust?"

"Nicolae." She answered immediately. "Sir Nicolae Kimby. Please."

"Aye, that's a good boy." Louis patted Wendy on the back. "You change first, and I'll get you your tea; then I'll go find him, alright?" Stepping away to give Wendy some privacy, Louis muttered, "poor thing..."

 

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