Bubblegum Pop

ADELINE VERLICE
Off With Her Head

Her thoughts were all kind of disheveled as she slowly walked along the streets of town, her first real outing in a while, preparing for an invitation she couldn’t decline. A party with her parents, how absolutely drab but she had to find a few things or she would never hear the end of it. Every step she made felt like a struggle as she went between a few different shops, looking for a perfect addition to so many things the woman already had but she was coming up empty. How to get someone something that already had everything besides being heiress to the family? She wasn’t about to go on some murder spree so their branch could be the successor of the Serenity library instead of whomever her Aunt was.

A sigh flared her nostrils, confused why this mysterious figure she never met was to take over when she was never here, never tending to the heirlooms. With her grandparents' health deteriorating from age, it was only a matter of time till that transition of power was given to the unseen entity. There was the occasional day she would think about trying to locate her, hearing she had returned to the college after another absence, and it made her fur prick. How many times had she may have met her and just never realized?

She had absentmindedly started to head toward the meadows of Melrose, the trail leading right to its heart, worn from many paws that had taken it before; herself included. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go there in general, it had been a while since she had checked in with the guild herself, she didn’t want them to think she vanished but then again when did she ever go out of her way to run on the time of others?

She would stop mid stride as she realized where she was headed. She didn’t have time for, she had things to do and a certain face to see. Kenzo would fill her mind like a tidal wave. She had avoided him for all this time, but she couldn’t anymore, going without him would be worse than not going at all. Completely lost in her own little world, she couldn’t make heads or tails of where to try next, there were only a few more hours left.

code by claerie

Note to self: set before I Miss the Green in Your Eyes

I.E.S
Let’em Wonder..

Illaria had left the north. After her intense interaction with Merrin and then finally making her way north to see Willow, she had headed back towards the college and was finally heading home… home. It had dawned on her then, that Rionna had become her home. Something clicked then, she’d never felt at home anywhere. At least not after her parents had passed. But here she was, eager to return to that town, hell that cottage just outside the city. She hoped she’d beat Nalik back, hoped she’d be the first friendly face he’d see. There was something mundane, like playing house, about being at his cottage awaiting his arrival from war that had her pace quickening. She would have sprinted the whole way if she didn’t have exhaustion nipping at her heels.

She was still making excellent travel time however. She couldn’t wait to breath in his scent, look into those intoxicating eyes and know he was safe. It was what kept her moving. She had just reached the point where she realized she’d accidentally taken the long was and was now entering Yorkshire rather than rionna when she began to swear. ”Well fuck, absolutely fucking spectacular” at this rate she wouldn’t make it in time if it wasn’t already to late to beat Nalik home.

She didn’t have much of a choice however, she’d have to stay the night here, because she was growing far too exhausted to keep going. So she continued down the road to Yorkshire and that’s when she spotted one of the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. Her pelt was made of beautiful burgundies. She was absolutely breathtaking even compared to herself.

She couldn’t help the polite desire to tell her that she was beautiful. So she moved towards the woman ”Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your day. But I just had to let you know that you’re simply gorgeous” she offered the woman a friendly smile. And was prepared to leave her back to her own business after that. Hoping that, she’d made someone else’s day.

”speech here”
@Adeline

How we got this Far

code by claerie

ADELINE VERLICE
Off With Her Head

She had to take a moment to herself, gathering her head to find something, anything that might appease a woman that could never be happy with anything she did. Maybe it was best she just didn’t show up with something to disappoint by bringing nothing at all as her eyes slowly fixed toward the markets once more, realizing she had lost track of her assistant and it caused a ripple to shiver along her back. Hopefully that half faced phantom would leave her be, her gaze flickering from one spot to the next in a nervousness she didn’t used to feel being in public, starting to wonder if she needed to actually start taking self defense lessons at the rate she was going. First that twisted man, then Nalik’s intrusion and threats that she didn’t know if she should take seriously or let wash over her back like she did the countless clients that threatened to slaughter her if they got free.

Playing games with lives was starting to appeal a touch less to her but she could potentially continue eradicating the Highlanders one by one. There had to be ones standing a death trial soon, surprised not all prisoners of war didn’t carry one by default. It was infuriating they got to walk free after already proving their crimes against the crown.

All those thoughts washed away in one fell swoop when a voice chimed like a beautiful bell to give her a blessing of sorts, causing her head to shift to a rather peculiar looking woman with a coat unlike one she had ever seen before. No attitude would fester onto her visage where it normally did at compliments, knowing well she was a beautiful sight that anyone should be blessed to see but for once it didn’t fan an ego boost. A quaint smile pulled at her lips, feeling more like it was something she needed as she had been feeling immensely ugly as of late where tear stains sullied her normally perfect face and her weight loss had made her far less curvaceous to show she was plenty well fed in wealth. There was a rare softness in her gaze as she took in this stranger for a few seconds.

Drawing in a breath to speak, there would be a far too familiar smell that would touch her nose and it made her fur stand on end, causing her gaze to shift in expectation to see that dark coat but they were alone. Attention would fall back onto the woman then, realizing his scent was on her, stale as it was, it was present. Her tail flicked, starting to wonder where this woman fell in the line of connections. She certainly didn’t look anything like a Verlice and where she wanted to jump to conclusions of the mother kind, she had a hard time believing a woman like her could have birthed Kenzo or any of his siblings. This couldn’t be the first wife and her paranoia festered a little as she stood there.

“Did Nalik send you to spy on me? Or is he having an affair and about to ruin his image even more?” she asked sharply, hoping she didn’t just gain a new stalker. Maybe if this stranger was romantically inclined to her father-in-law, that would be enough to scare the woman off in thinking Adeline a lover and save her own hide from a poor choice of man. A prostitute was another option that popped into her head, feeling like she was something exotic some would scoop up without a second thought, but she didn’t feel like thinking of the laws that was breaking.

There was a thought they had no connection at all, and the woman just happened to bump into him and if that was the case, she was about to feel a wave of embarrassment like no other.

code by claerie

I.E.S
Let’em Wonder..

Illaria returned the gentle smile of the woman before her. Her last few weeks had been nothing other than stressful. And a well meaning conversation was overdue. She just wanted some peace and quiet for a while. But that clearly wasn’t in her cards, and never truly had been. So when the woman’s fur began to stand up, she wondered if she’d said something wrong or upsetting. That hadn’t been her intention and least of all, anything she wanted to deal with. Her emotions and nerves were shot. Between Merrin and then Willow, Illaria was reaching an all time low on… emotional stability lately.

And then she said the most absurdly rude thing she’d ever heard. She wasn’t a lackey and she wasn’t going to take time out of her busy schedule to hunt down and spy on another woman for Nalik. That wasn’t gonna happen unless it was Merrin and because she needed another verbal smackdown. But she continued with something that had Illaria’s fur bristling. Clearly this woman knew the Verlice family enough to know nalik by name but also to know of the wretched woman he was legally bound to.

”I can Promise you that he most certainly did not send me to spy on you. Nor would I entertain such a request” her tone was less than impressed while she stared at Adeline. She was growing ever more tired with the accusations being thrown at her lately because of him. But that was no fault of his, no, he couldn’t help that people just couldn’t mind their own business.

”As for the Affair. I’m confident that Merrin doesn’t care Seeing as she’s in love with another man and hasn’t played her role as a wife in many years. His image is fine. I’ll let him know that the red woman was worried about it though.” She snapped back. Not liking the not so subtle insulations this woman was throwing on a man who was off fighting for the king.

”speech here”
Adeline

How we got this Far

code by claerie

ADELINE VERLICE
Off With Her Head

A sigh escaped her as this stranger prickled up like a porcupine, starting to wonder how many women this man could actually threaten into submission enough to defend him so quickly, her gaze like that of twin beams wanting to cut into her as much as she just wanted to walk away. Her sleep had been horrible as it was, depression taking its toll on her overall zealous behavior that usually kept a glow on her features that only housed a dullness in the current moment. The lawyer within her body didn’t feel like a fight, not after Nalik had drained the last bit left she even had the other day, starting to more and more just go back to bed and die there for another week to do nothing but mope in her own self pity over rejection.

Though the words that were hurled back made her feet stay in place, far less uneasy around another fem, finding the unique coated woman to be far from intimidating even at her larger stature. Mutations were usually from inbreeding so maybe that’s how she got her strange appearance. Even with the tossed back retorts of herself being worth more than what Adeline had proclaimed, she sure sounded like a beaten lackey that only knew its master’s bidding, so quick to flounder for a morsel of his attention..

She hadn’t said those things to piss her off in the first place but it seemed her mouth was only good for doing that even when full of good intentions as her lip twitched in annoyance at the building hostility of the other. The name uttered about the only thing that would catch her attention out of everything else, wondering if that was the first wife’s name. Merrin.

In an instant seemed flattery was all but forgotten.

“Are you quite done, peasant? Your lyrics went from a songbird to that of nails scratching on ice,” she sighed, hardly phased by the other’s mouth. A small smile would pull at her lips as she realized one thing, even in her drunken stupor she generally could at least remember other’s scents if not their faces. Usually. “Yes, be sure to tell him Adeline Verlice sends her regards and that his hussy, whatever your name is, is spilling way too many secrets out into a marketplace. I’m sure he will love that, Ryker too,” she chuckled just a little. “I’m kind of sad you weren’t Nalik’s plus one at my wedding, you might have made it far more fun by being the entertainment,” she said with a swish of her tail before slowly turning to go back to her business.

-exit Adeline-

code by claerie

I.E.S
Let’em Wonder..

Illaria rolled her eyes at the term peasant. It didn’t bother her much to know that this woman was clearly spoiled and would likely hit rock bottom one way or another. With no one to blame but herself. Women and men like that, barely knew how to take care of themselves. Leave her out in the real world with nothing and she’d never make it. Best she keep herself locked away as a bitter trophy rather than being her own person.

”and you’re beauty is marred by the bitter ugliness you carry on your silver spoon, child” she shook her head. Maybe Willow was right after all, was Nalik changing her for the worse? Where she was once passive and quiet she was quick to mouth off and stand her ground.

”if only it were actually a big secret.” she shook her head. ”me too, I would have loved to give my condolences to the groom for being saddled with, someone so, tactless”

Illaria let her turn away, but seeing as she too had to enter deeper into the city. She passed by Adeline and with a flick of pure dismissal she left behind the bitter woman to ruin the day of whomever was unfortunate enough to interact with her later.

-Exit-

”speech here”
@Adeline

How we got this Far

code by claerie