Aggressive Expansion, Private Topic

[Siege]

Now we find ourselves in the Marquis's private room in the Lady of the Night, not as marvelous as one would expected, looked like a simple bedroom, normal looking bad with fancy covers, a desk with papers scattered all about, a wine cabinet and a large oak table surrounded by eight chairs. Before their deaths the lords of Alegrarse met here on occasion, though after the tragedy which brought about the death of them all the lively room had fallen silent.

But not now, now two beings sat at the once empty table, one shrouded in mystery and darkness another a rugged old man which who looked ready for war. They both had been waiting for the Marquis to finish with his guests and get this meeting on with though neither of them had anything better to do. The old man looked worried to a degree having caught wind of what the Marquis might be planning and the paperwork which was on the table before them both proved it. The other ghostly being could not be read and simply stood there staring at something though no one could be certain.

"Is he really planning on taking North Cliff?" asked the old man, finally breaking the silence which had fallen over the room. The ghost didn't move to respond, nor did it speak, it simply sat there as it had been. The old man sighed, there was no point in asking he knew the awnser.

"And the wolves, why is he looking to ally with them it is just gonna bring the Aesir down on our heads."

This time the ghost moved, raising what appeared to be it;s hand and grasping at one of the sheets of paper, there was a sudden surge of dark magic and the paper sudden became filled with holes. The old man was not shocked by this simply looking at the piece of paper, the holes made out a message in common.

"Then we will kill them." The Message read.

"You have always been straight forward, it works out in your line of duty but we can not expect it to be that simple this time, they are not street thugs."

Their conversation was then interrupted as the door to the room slammed open and the Marquis stepped in followed by the lovely little Tiffania, the old man rose and bowed his head in respect before sitting down as the Marquis waved at him dismissively.

"Did you send someone for them?" asked the Marquis as he took a sit, his eyes trained on the ghostly figure, it appeared that it shook its head but the old man could not tell. The fact that he sent for those two was odd alone, they held no standing in the city, well Ilm'iira had been the Marquis newest pet but other then that neither of them should hold any say in the meeting.

"Good, then we will get this underway once they arrive," replied the Marquis taking the response as a yes, or rather it spoke to him without the old man being able to hear it. He then turned his attention to the old man a smile on his face, "Also Johnny you know that you don't have to be so formal."

Johnny shook his head in response as Tiffania took up a seat next to the Marquis her eyes trained on the old man. She always unnerved him and enjoyed teasing him, just because he knew her true personality since he had been with the Marquis since the beginning. That knowledge alone gave Johnny a reason to fear the little girl a bit more then the Marquis, though the reasoning will remain a mystery for now.


((OOC: Private topic, only those invited can join or those who pm me a good reason on why they should be in this topic.))

[-Septicaemic]

Your cruel device-

Ilm'iira smoothly glided into the bedroom, fashionably late as normal, her attire was one that the Marquis was more than familiar with. Silk and leather armor. The Ilythiiri paused momentarily at the door and politely bowed her head to her company, but an arched eyebrow and a fracture of a smirk let the Marquis know that she was not the least bit sorry for being late.

"Pardon my intrusion and lateness, Master," she purred, closing the door behind her before striding across the room. Her heavy brocade robe chimed delicately as she took her seat, placing herself an arms reach from anyone at the table. Smoothing a hand over her brow, flicking her snow-white hair from her face. She lounged comfortably, but her posture was far from sloppy or lazy. If she could physically show her true age, she could have been comparable to a panther, but as she was now, a stranger could mistake her for a life-sized doll. Ilm'iira did not mind people underestimating her. It made her job all the more...sweet.

Your blood like ice.

[Siege]

"The meeting was sudden, am surprised you made it at all without some coax..." The Marquis held a smile at the beginning but then something caught his attention, his face slowly shifted, from a happy one to one of shock, then as the ghost apparently expected anger. Before the Marquis even moved the ghost had moved away from the table, the next second the Marquis's fist slammed down on the table and to the poor table's dismay it snapped like a twig beneath the Marquis's rage. Splinters flew away as the table snapped right down the middle, the old man pushed away from the table and eyed the Marquis, something bad just happened to get such a reaction out of the Marquis in his sanctuary.

"Those god damn bastards got me," growled the Marquis as he stood up and began to pace around the room, the ghost and Johnny looking at him slightly puzzled, he had not told them what just happened so they couldn't understand what caused his dilemma. The Marquis paused for a second to look around the room before sighing aloud, " The Aesir have made their move, too soon we are not fortified enough to refuse, our alliances aren't solid, our men aren't prepared."

"Marcus, what happened?" asked Johnny a concerned look crossing the old man's face, news of the Aesir was bad enough but something to unnerve the Marquis this much was not something to scoff at.

"We got about three weeks to either surrender to them or declare war, and either they were bluffing or this went to every city not allied with them," said the Marquis as he walked up to the broken table and gave it a swift kick, amazingly the table barely budged, it was a kick of aggravation this time not a strike of pure fury.

"Can we stall?"

"No, this is the Aesir they will just take it as a refusal."

"Then what options are left?"

"I'll think of something," said the Marquis as he looked around the room gritting his teeth, he needed something to take his aggressions out on, sadly that left the only person who was not at the meeting yet.

"Where the fuck is Isaac?!"

[-Rilian]

(OOC: Isaac can be vulgar, and he can't be safely considered PG13. Readers beware that he will talk about sex, use foul language.)

Some noble saved him from the Galam bullies. the Kingpin and his henchmen were disposed off, and a message sent back to his leaderless opperatives telling them just excactly what had happened. From that little event where Isaac had basically played the passive damsel in turmoil, hiding behind the counter and beneath the skirt tails of the bar hostess (mostly just to sneak a peak), the Marquis guy pulled in a whole new crime ring from the Yensa Corp. Now he had an in in their industry, and a secure trade route all the fuck-way to Ardania. Awesome as it was, Isaac didn't really care. Bothered the hell out of him, but the only dude that the ladies in this town were interested in seemed to be that flaunty floucey noble prick of trout with the big mouth and fat bicep.

Yep, Marquis was totally a cock block, probably because he had a huge dong. Whatever. The floosies would come around eventually once Isaac had a chance to turn on the charm when the Marquis wasn't around. He'd have them swooning, dripping, drooling, and giggling in no time. Oh yup. That's how smooth he was. That's how smooth.

For now, he just sat at the bar taking whiskey shots at the bar. Some old fella had been trying to talk to him about his old slave days. He ate sawdust for fiber and drank his own urine. Isaac didn't know that people could actually do those things, and he didn't give two shits either way. The old guy was boring. The hostess was boring, and she ruined another two of his cigarettes - once when he offered her a second (can't blame a guy for trying), and again when he had just lit up and flipped her off before moving on to one of her server girls. Chick was a bitch with magic. At this rate, he wasn't going to get anywhere, so he just drank himself stupid, hoping that he might pass out. That was the best way to wake up in some strange girl's bed.

"Another," he said. The Marquis was rich, so Isaac was going to take advantage of it. Everything was going on that son of a bitch's tab. It wasn't like Isaac didn't owe him. He respected him, probably. That didn't mean he couldn't also hate him. Competition was a bitch.

"And don't spit in it this time. Kinky isn't my style." The hostess grinned and poured him a stiff whiskey, then through in a special drop of the house's reserve liquor for extra bite. She slid it over the polished bar top, and smiled sweetly. Yeah, now she was being nice. Little whore. See, he'd turn every one of them eventually.

Then two men stepped out of a portal behind him. Isaac heard the twisting nether open up, and their shoes clomp on the hard wood floor. "C'mon guys. I'm under the city's protection. Can't I just have a few days off? I promise I'll go back to Galam and you can have all of my toes and seven fingers. I need the other three to work my way around the bar tramps, if you know what I mean. 'Cause two works sometimes, but you never know when you'll find a use for the third against an especially experienced specimen.

"We're here to escort you to the Marquis. You have nothing extraneous to worry about."

"Pff... Fine." He chugged the shot, and the men pressed their hands against his shoulder, then pulled him backwards into the portal.

Isaac and the complete bar stool drifted out the other side, and the portal pulled away from the three men. They were somewhere new, and the technicians expert had his back turned on whoever it was that he felt starring at his long, tired, hunched back.

He hoped that this wouldn't take long. "I'm here. We can have a party now, right?" Ugh. Yep.

[Siege]

The Marquis immediate response to Isaac's entrance, also his response to almost everything else that annoyed him, table. Yes table is the answer to everything and in this case the Marquis's poor little broken table was used as a instrument of fear like many of its brethren which the Marquis had encountered in the past. One hand grasped the edge of the table and with a mighty swing it went flying across the room. Lucky for Isaac the Marquis was not aiming and the table would sail over his head and slam into the wall behind him. The two men who had escorted Isaac to the meeting already vanished, their portal also gone leaving Isaac only one way out of the room, probably served the bastard for being late.

"What the fuck do you think crawled up the Aesir's ass to make them declare war on everyone," roared the Marquis raising a finger towards Isaac, he had noticed the man's cufflinks in the past but never mentioned them, might of just been a fashion statement but right now he just needed to vent, sadly for Isaac he made a very easy target and was probably one of the few people who could take it in stride, probably why the Marquis kept him around.

((OOC: Tables everywhere should fear the Marquis.))

[-Septicaemic]

One look could kill-

Ilm'iira stood and elegantly swept herself back as the table fractured and splintered and only after he had thrown it against the wall did she take her seat once more, smiling as if nothing had happened.

"I do believe your aim is off today, Marquis," purred Ilm'iira, crimson eyes flashing with something that could only be described as playful, but in reality, she was a little disappointed that the Marquis had missed the little troublemaker. "However, if you wished to leave our little flower intact," she guestured towards Isaac, "then, bravo." Polietly she gave a small clap, two fingers contacting with her opposing palm.

"An easy answer, Marquis. Divide and conquer. With the recently fallen Empire, morale is most likely low, bretrayal high, people turning on one another like rabid dogs. What is left is easy prey, those nations that remain unaligned with the Aesir. Although, it is a tactic I would expect more from my people rather than angels. However, I suppose that even Gods can be merciless.

May I be so bold as to suggest a tactical retreat and surrender of Alegrarse City?"

-My pain, your thrill.

[-Rilian]

"Shit man." Table. Fuck-chair. Splinters - what the fuck?

See, wood was valuable in the desert, right? So the Marquis wasn't just mad. He was raging! That's what Faerie' called it when someone was unreasonably angry and could be soloed out from the group as being that way. His old boss used it to make fun of peeps, and if ever there was the need for a little humor in the room, it was pretty much now.

"Don't have a nic fit," he said, sliding his long fingers into his pocket to pull out one long cigarette. Isaac couldn't think of a worse time than this to be making idle jokes at his nobleman host. Powerful, violent, charismatic apparently, but mostly just buck ass violent at the moment. Isaac's capacity to think of worse scenarios was probably also an affect of him being scared quite shitless, not that he was going to let on. He'd just clench his butt cheeks, tense his back, and try his very best to wear that handsome lady killing mask of his.

He didn't even try to answer the questions yet. Kinda too scared to say anything else. Didn't want to step on toes if the Marquis wanted attention while he screamed some more, ya know. So he say quiet with the cigarette pinched between two fingers. His gangly arm trembled, but just a little. Man he liked that arm. Fingers crossed on the other hand that the dude wouldn't just blow it and the smoke to kingdom come.

[Siege]

At this point the Marquis grwled and grabbed ahold of the back of one of the chairs, he would fix what Ilm'iira pointed out. He had indeed missed, another hefty throw responded to Isaac's comments. As this happened the ghost had taken its seat again and took the time to glance at Johnny who was shaking his head in disappointment at the Marquis's outburst. The ghost then decided it would be best to end this little argument as quickly as possible. Thus some very odd happened, Issac was replaced by the ghost and the ghost was replaced by Isaac. The said chair which was thrown at Isaac hit a target though luckily this target did exactly believe in getting hit by a chair. The chair passed through it and slammed into the wall, luckily the chair survived the encounter unlike the table.

"I doubt he knows anything Marcus, he hasn't left the city in some time," said Johnny attempting to resolve the situation before it escalated any further. The Marquis growl quietly as he glared at Johnny those his anger didn't last towards his old friend. The Marquis sighed before walking over to retrieve the chair from where it had landed behind the ghost. The ghost moved aside for the Marquis moving back to the table and took up another seat which was not currently occupied.

Now the Marquis was stubborn but he was a big enough man to know when he did something stupid, this wasn't the time for him to be throwing a fit. He had to think of something, had to counter act the Aesir's claims.

"My apologies for the outburst... I just got word that the Aesir are giving us the option to either surrender or die, in our current state fighting back is nigh impossible and if we do surrender we will have to conform to their rules and regulations which would make running our current operations difficult and it would put us under their watch... simply I am in need of some suggestions."

((OOC: The Head Mediator used shadow switch.))

[-Rilian]

"I don't know jack squat about their plan. Left that organization a while ago. And I'm no narc, so I'll just sit here fat and happy as long as ya keep feeding me." Back in the day, Isaac's allegiance had run deep. He was raised Aesirian, but a stone's throw away. A crazy bastard from the tough end of Galam. Faerie' chanced upon him one day, had a few drinks, and in no time he was being shored up and down with new techniques that the then small-time pyro could only have dreamed of. Bombing became his profession, and he gave the Fire Bringer his best no bullshit salute whenever he had the chance.

But that was a long time ago, too. Since then the old crones at the top of the pillar had gotten soft, less excited, complacent, boring. Faerie' was out of work, according to what he told his boys below, and that meant that there was nothing for Isaac to do either. No kegs to arm, no fires to start... Fucking sweet mess that was sitting at the bar day in and day out, hitting on the same city floozies every evening. Whatever, man. About one year into that shit and he decided to hand in his resignation. Well, he went AWOL. Looking for adventure under new employers was common among men his age, he had heard. And now here he was sitting at the table of the head crime boss (he assumed) of this blister hot, piss sucking casino royal in the middle of the fucking desert.

Aight, he thought. He could cope with this. They hadn't actually treated him badly so far.

"Hell, I'll even help you if you're willing to spot me the cash for materials." It was only fair to offer. Isaac slid the cigarette back down into his blazer jacket alongside the brown vials (nitro).

"Not like you don't have your own guys. I'm just so SO fucking excited at the thought of sitting in the same damn bar again tomorrow and trying to pick up the same fucked-up-colorful sand bitches that I hit on yesterday. You've got a real unique harem, ya know." Just a little sarcasm. Just a little. He could probably stand it for another week, because in actuality those girls were really interesting to look at. Different entirely from Ardanian stock.

[-Septicaemic]

I want to love you but I better not touch
Don't touch -

Ilm'iira slid her crimson gaze towards the now seated Isaac, mildly surprised at the shadow switch, but not overly amused by it. "Please, flower," she purred, curling up on the seat of her chair, robes quietly chiming, "the cost of materials are of little concern for the man who holds the reins of an entire city." She smiled, showing a lot of teeth against soot-black skin. "Personally, I rather enjoy the idea of working with you again."

Her gaze shifted towards the Marquis as she dismissed Isaac. "Milord, admit surrender and then, consume them. Rot their righteous angels and blind devotees from the inside out with the sins of flesh--flesh tainted with Dark Magics and poison." She smiled again, but it was a small twisted thing that showed no teeth. "Or feed them to the Hassan Black Sand Frogs."

I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop.

[Siege]

The Marquis fell silent, staring at half of his busted table for a minute or two. He was in a pickle and in all honesty was considering surrendering without a fight and aiding the Aesir, though he knew that would be for naught they wouldn't let him keep his rule over the city and things would change, for the better in some opinions but for those who lived in Alegrarse they would turn for the worse.

"I'll give you the money you need and access to my trade connections, just lay your plan out on the table first Issac before I accept anything, " said the Marquis finally coming back around to his senses. He then looked at Ilm'iira and nodded his agreement with her statement though he knew it would not be as easy as what she just described.

"Ill, If the Aesir gain a foot hold here it would take a lot to remove them, we would probably have to suffer while praying their main force would eventually leave to deal with one of the larger cities on Irdania, once that is done we could forcibly remove those who remain with some assistance from coming allies. Most of all our plans could not leave this room, for if they did we would all just be killed." The Marquis just assumed all of this, it was possible they would be killed anyways upon the Aesir's arrival surrender or not. He had no army to turn over to the Aesir so they might expect something, hard to force a bunch of mercs to go and play a army in order to save the city. He was in a sticky situation and in the end it came down to them just patiently waiting for the moment to strike, the fact they had no army was really getting to the Marquis at this point but it was too late to deal with it now.

[-Rilian]

Plan? Pff, holy fuck. This guy thought that there was some sort of plan? No way, Jose. That's not how things worked. Like, you could hire Isaac to go and do things for you. He was good at following orders. If you left him alone in a room with his toys, though... Well, pretty soon that room would be in about a million pieces and he'd be running off down the street in no particular direction, and all just for the hell of it.

Live life fast, enjoy the speed, and ride the momentum to a glorious fiery finish. That's what the game was.

That and the sexy little tidbits that he found along the way, like the dark skinned elfy-thing that was so fond of the Marquis.

Isaac combed his fingers through his hair and gave her the slowest wink that he could muter with his current attention span.

Not that he didn't know how to pay attention.

He could sit still if he wanted to.

Chairs flew through the air when thrown.

He couldn't sit still in a flying chair.

Flying never seemed like a boon to him, because it really kept you out of the hectic turmoil on the ground, and precision was everything for a bomber.

Captain.

Finger strudel.

Let's dance!~

"Ya know, I don't have a damn thing for you right now. And honestly, I don't know if I ever will," he shrugged. Maybe he could play himself off. Put a little down-key to his earlier offer, cause it just sounded like more work the more the Marquis went on about it. Keeping it cool. Keeping it real. Making sure that everyone knew that he just didn't give enough of a god damn about the situation to do more than have some fun with it.

"See, you give me a target, and I'll make sure it lights up like a Nazcan festival. Other than that, I can't promise jack. I'm just one guy with no magic, no fruity set of wings, and a hell of a big saloon bill."

[-Raven]

((Tristan’s diplomats are here! :3 I apologize for the awkward post. The top half of the post is more for character development and Aeon’s trip here, so if you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to. And I’m sorry for having Aeon just sort of barge in. I was lacking any sort of good idea for a good entrance, and I felt we should get into conversation sooner rather than later! If there are things you would like for me to change in this post, let me know and I'll edit it.))

It had certainly been a long trek from Tristan to Alegrarse.

While Aeon didn’t feel fatigue like normal humans, her joints were certainly stiff and moving slowly. She needed time to meditate, but unfortunately, there was no time for that. Making her way through Dragon’s Maw Ravine was hard, but now walking through an immense desert was far worse. She quietly cursed the Aesir for his move against the neutral states. She was perfectly content with staying within Tristan and living out her life like she had been for the past year or so.

How silly to volunteer for this journey. Enoch had been in contact with the Alegrarse government for some time, so it would only make sense for him to go, wouldn’t it? Aeon sighed and shook that thought out of her head. They all worked as one unit – they were all fighting for the freedom and preservation of Tristan.

All neutral cities, for that matter.

She had to be spending far too much time with humans, because their habits and thought processes had begun to rub off on her.

The sun was setting in the distance, filling the homunculus with relief. There was more than one reason for this relief:

1) It would get her out of the heat.
2) Alegrarse was near impossible to see during the day, or so she heard.

The city was supposed to be magnificent; a place to get away from the troubles and hardships of the world. She was always curious, however, why exactly someone would place a city in the middle of a desert. It seemed like a miserable existence to her, but at the same time, she would never truly know until she experienced it.

The city in the distance began to glimmer as the sun began to set. She continued forward, hopefully with Lao close by. She had been a little dazed this entire trip and kept to herself for the majority of the time.

~*~

The Lady of the Night was an enormous tavern; it was something far larger than what she would even consider a tavern to be like. She stood amazed as she looked at the large building, taking in its size silently. Her vibrant, red eyes looked to each softly lit window. People walked around her as she stood silently, but they all seemed to pay to mind to her.

She had received word that the Marquis was here, and that was the man she needed to find. So, wasting no more time staring at the tavern, she walked in swiftly. She scanned the room, looking for the man Myuna told her to look for. After asking a few people for his whereabouts, she was eventually guided to a room. A few people were meeting within.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said as she finally entered the room. She took in the people before her before turning her attention to the man the met the desired description.

“We come from Tristan on behalf of Queen Myuna. We are here to ask for assistance,” She was blunt and to the point, but she felt it was needed. The Aesir was on the move, and they needed to be as well.

[-LaoTzu]

Sand, rocks and dirt. He hated, no loathed them. And the desert they crossed on so many different levels.

But he was here not to complain about the journey, the entertainment, or even why he was sent to Alegrarse in a political compascity. So he decide to let the Lady do the political manuvering while he chose to do what he was good at, the strong arm in case of a fight. Or case there where raiders, which he wish there where so that he would have something to do or even someone to kill. But at least everything was simple, so far.

He wanted Alegrarse to agree to some simple or some sort of turns that would allow for a unified front against Aesir, wither or not it would be direct or indirectly against Aesir. But he had already voiced his opinion on how he thought they should deal with Aesir and their "god".

The trip from Tristan to Alegrarse was massively short of any terms that would define it as adventurous, fun, exciting, or even humorous. His partner / peer was barely human by most standards, so it made conversation from his perspective ackward at best. So Lao just kept it to a minimal.

Alegrarse, didn't impress him when he walked into town. They needed more various defenses in his perspective, but that was his perspective. He was not to be impressed by the town or it's inhabitants. He was here to get the job done and then to leave. He really wasn't interested in the entertainment, either by day or by night.

Lao followed Aeon into the tavern known as the Lady of the Night. It was the largest he had been in, but he still wasn't impressed by it. But he was mildly entertained by the next turn of events as he watched and followed Aeon asking people where the gentleman we were looking for was and found the room that he was in. Lao was impressed how she had made quick work of it. And thought that this Aeon might be a worthy person to keep around.

Lao followed Aeon into the room inwhich the gentleman sat with others. Lao was still armed, he was comfortable with it. Regardless of this fact Lao nodded with approval and agreeance of what Aeon had said.

[Siege]

The Marquis sigfhed quietly, as did Johnny, this man was a complete idiot though he was a useful one in some cases. In the end the Marquis simply waved it off and laughed quietly, being surrounded by fools it made this situation feel a little bit lighter to him.

"I will keep it in mind friend."

It was then that two people barged into the room saying that they were diplomats from Tristan. The Marquis turned and looked them, he was not in the best of moods and the scowl he gave them proved this. He liked the Enoch character who had been keeping contact with him with letters. These two he did not know and they decided to barge in without even bothering to knock on the door and be invited in. He glanced at the fool who lead them here and the man quickly darted away knowing he had just done something wrong, that was why he kept only female's as companions for the most part they know their place well enough not to try and overstep it without proper reason.

"First off it is a pleasure to meet you second, secondly if it is about the Aesir we are surrendering and unless you are here to greet us as new members of the Aesirian empire I don't want to hear it."

The Marquis was being cautious at this point, he didn't know these two and didn't want to openly speak with them about anything until he could confirm they are indeed from Tristan and secondly confirm that Tristan hasn't surrendered or has done so with rebellion in mind. He also had to look at the head mediator, it wasn't happy with thier entrance either and already a thin blade of energy was extending from it's hand. The marquis shook his head and the creature put the blade away, they needn't make hostile actions quite yet.

[-Raven]

He seemed aggressive, on edge. Rightfully so, though, Aeon thought. She took a soft step forward, hesitantly. She was on foreign ground here, and her entrance was anything but graceful. Surely they would have been considered rude, but they needed to spread their message as quickly as they could.

“Lord Marquis,” she said with a bow, “Please, excuse us once more. My friend and I are both aware that we could have made a far stronger entrance,” Apologizing was not Aeon’s strength, but in order to make amends, she knew it had to be done. “Please, hear what we have to say.”

“Tristan has surrendered, but not as you may think,” she looked around, weary of any prying ears that could be listening. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to detect anyone who may be using alternate means of spying. She felt no one’s presence, but that didn’t calm her down completely. She knew there were far stronger psychics than she, but hopefully their presence would be a beacon for her.

“The Aesir now runs Tristan territory. One of his messengers should be meeting with Queen Myuna shortly – if they haven’t already. Tristan has a plan to reclaim its territory. But we can’t do it alone.”

“Attack from the inside,” she said, “that’s our only hope.”

[-LaoTzu]

Lao waited tentively for a response from the man in charge. Lao wondered if the man would have either the guts, grits, or balls to join up with Tristan's plot against Aesir. Or perhaps they would crumble under the heel of a foreign dictator. Or perhaps this fledgling city, could muster something to strike out at Aesir.

Lao became increasingly more relaxed as he stood there waiting for a response. He looked around the room at the various people and wondered how long it would take for them to get back to Tristan and if the trip would be as "fun" as the last one they took.

OOC: Sorry for the short response. At work.

[Siege]

The Marquis listened to the girl's words, they were truthful, honest and over all very fool hardy. When she finished he simply laughed, he couldn't expected everyone to act as Enoch did. Overall they were lucky that he wasn't overly fond of the Aesir or they would be fleeing for thier lives.

"Or I could turn you over to show my loyalty and have a toast with the Aesir as you city burns."

A moments pause, Johnny cringed at the thought and the ghost, well it did nothing as expected. Then the Marquis laughed aloud at his own joke, it was a option yes but sadly there was paperwork proving he had relations with Tristan so in giving them up he might make himself a target.

"It is a good plan though right now I would wish to keep my allegiance with the Aesir, if they prove themselves to be incapable I will work with your city and bring them down. Right now we can only wait and see cause we are all incapable of fighting the Aesir if they arrive on our doorsteps with thier armies."

[-Septicaemic]

Honey why are you calling me so late?
It's kinda hard to talk right now-

Ilm’iira laughed gently at Isaac, her crimson eyes narrowing into slits. “You would not promise Jack?” she purred and tilted her head at the man. “How disappointing. I would prefer a man who could indeed deliver.” Cutting her playing and toying short, the Ilythiiri lifted a brow at the intruders and thoughtfully tilted her head to the side.

“Excuse my rudeness, but I am inclined to disbelieve you. High Advisor Enoch mentioned nothing of you or your presence here,” she straightened, heavy robes chiming lightly. “What you propose is heresy. You do realize this, no?” Reaching into her robes, Ilm’iira procured the letter, unrolling the thin parchment in her ebony hands.

She handed the piece of parchment over to The Marquis.
The letter read:
Dear Marquis,
My heart is not eased by the turn of events and I thank you for your compassion concerning Tristan. Let it be known that I will do all in my power to aid the people of Alegrarse as you have aided my own.
Much thanks,
Enoch Litonael

“Tread lightly, milord, you never know who could be listening,” the Ilythiiri whispered lowly before taking her seat once again. Folding herself on the cushion Ilm’iira tilted her head back and sighed lowly. This was all—boring.

“You must understand. We are a city in the middle of a desert with no legitimate armed forces. We must tread carefully. It is nothing personal, High Advisors and we are not ungrateful for our favorable trade relations. Please, rest while you are here and have some tea,” she rose and moved to dismiss herself. “I will return shortly with refreshments and a … table.” Ilm’iira smiled at the last word.

-Honey why are you crying, is everything okay?
I gotta whisper ‘cause I can't be too loud…

[-LaoTzu]

"Aeon, I'm going to leave you here. I think these negotiations are best in your hands, and I feel as though if I stayed here I'll be getting in the way of things."

Lao said speaking softly to Aeon. He didn't really care if the others over heard him. He had faith in Aeon, wither or not she realized it. Lao then turned and walked out of the room and the negotiations. Soon he had left the building and found himsel in the streets of Alegrase. He headed straight to the stables. Their he found horses and a young human boy tending to one of the horses. Lao spoke to him saying,

"Here is something for the horse your working on."

Lao then flipped him a few gold pieces and saddled up the horse. Lao then mounted the horse and took off towards home, Tristan.