Do Not Freeze [Claire]

Coding By: [THEFROST]

As her servants received the announcement, they began to haul open the hefty doors that blocked off the outside world from the castle. They’d already received instructions to lead Sofia to the dining hall, where a cozy, somewhat lazy scene had been prepared. They took note of the additional party, but said nothing. After a few minutes of walking they arrived before the Queen, who sat upon what could be likened to a throne, but was not her actual throne, which resided in a different portion of the castle. Claire looked over the newcomers, and then, after a moment, dismissed the servants who had led them to her.

“Well, you’re more beautiful than I expected. So elegant as well. A welcome change from the usual riffraff who wander through. If you wouldn’t mind having a seat?”

As she said this last sentence, Claire gestured to a similarly elegant chair that had been prepared across the table from herself. Generally, the dining halls were massive, however, on this occasion she felt that a more intimate approach was more fitting, so she’d had the large rectangular table exchanged for a much smaller, square table. It remained, however, that she’d only prepared a fitting seat for one of her two guests. With a snap of her fingers, two more servants entered the room. After a brief explanation, they hurried off to retrieve a suitable bit of furniture to accommodate her other guest. This took but a matter of moments to accomplish, after which she gestured for the accompanying woman to have a seat. They were both very similar, but she knew that the one she’d invited was not the one who possessed fox ears. The ears did intrigue her a bit though, perhaps she would experiment with that later.

“I welcome you to my country and castle. I hope you will enjoy yourselves as much as possible.”
After having said this, she paused for a moment, and smiled warmly towards her two guests. So far, she had used none of her innate ability. Perhaps she would save that for later, if the situation arose. At the moment, she felt more inclined to learn about other powers opinions of herself, the goings on in other parts of the world, and the general opinion of the woman before her. Due to all of these factors, she restrained even the natural aura she gave off, and allowed those before her to be completely unaffected by any of her powers.

“I’m glad you’ve chosen to come. Although there will be time for more casual interaction later, at the moment I would like to know your opinion of my people, and of myself. I hope that isn’t too forward of a subject to begin with, but I like to know where I stand before I engage in significant diplomatic conversation. ”

So far, Claire had been very formal. That was just her nature. She was the prophesied Queen, and as such she had to conduct herself in the most presentable of manners, especially upon a first encounter. With that being said, she generally became more receptive to outsiders after a certain amount of time had passed.

Coding By: [THEFROST]

Claire smiled charmingly as she listened to the other woman speak. Not only were the contents of her words pleasing, the way in which she spoke them was as well. Certainly, another welcome change. She had been dealing with too many unsophisticated individuals lately, so this was refreshing. As the one with fox ears interrupted Sofia, Claire looked to her briefly. It was apparent that she was in some way related to Sofia, but Claire’s information evidently wasn’t all-encompassing, as she hadn’t heard of this one before she’d invited Sofia. The fox ears intrigued her momentarily, but eventually she turned her attention back to the woman she’d originally invited, and began to speak.

“Your words are much appreciated.”

As she was saying this she noticed that Sofia was bowing to her, while the woman beside her remained upright, and greeted her casually. Amusing. Almost immediately, however, Sofia pulled her down into a bow as well, pulling on her dress to do so. Claire couldn’t help but laugh at this, although she did enjoy the momentary view. Her laugh was elegant, and carried the effects that it always had. While she didn’t intentionally use any ability to cause this, it had always remained that her laugh was incredibly enticing, and would generally create a sense of longing. She wasn’t quite sure why this was the case, most likely it was just a side effect of her actual power. Afterwards, she continued to listen to Sofia speak, and had little reaction to her saying that she did not know much about the Sueki. That fact couldn’t really be blamed on her, afterall, they had been fairly reclusive for a great deal of time. Only now were they finally making their entrance back onto the world stage, under her leadership. She was actually quite pleased with the pace at which she’d been able to propel their assets, gaining control over Romania being the crowning achievement. She hoped to soon spread that control to other, neighboring countries. Because she was confident that all would soon know of her people and their achievements, she felt no anger or negative emotions when others confessed that they currently knew very little about them. At the same time, she noticed that the woman’s companion had been taking in her form with her eyes for quite a while now, which prompted her to glance towards her momentarily, and give her a wink. She then immediately turned her attention back to Sofia, as she completed her thought.

Directly after Sofia had finished speaking, the one with the fox ears spoke up as well, which did admittedly surprise Claire a bit. She hadn’t expected this one to be very vocal in their encounter due to the impression she’d gotten earlier. That impression quickly changed, however, as the fox-eared woman finished speaking. This one wasn’t exactly what she appeared to be on the surface, Claire had already deduced that much. How many more surprises she had up her sleeve was hard to determine, but Claire hoped to learn more about her as the day went on.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m sure you will soon know all that you need to about myself, and my people. After all, that’s why I’ve invited you here today. I can tell you the history of my race and the significance of certain things in our past in a few moments, however, we may as well wait until the food and refreshments arrive, wouldn’t you agree. I always treat my guests to cuisine of the highest caliber, although I regret to inform you that the selection may be rather limited, in terms of a balanced diet.

As she said this she smiled very widely, revealing the glistening fangs that resided in her mouth.

“I am carnivorous, after all.”

She paused for a moment after she said this, evidently thinking something over.

“I am curious about one thing before we get to all of that though. Who exactly is your friend here? ”

She eyed Sophie’s body lasciviously as she said this, returning the favor from earlier. She had grown more interested in this other woman the longer their encounter had gone on, and now her curiosity had reached its breaking point. It also gave her a few ideas. Something to try out later, perhaps.

Coding By: [THEFROST]

Claire smiled as Sophia reacted to her provocation. She always took interest in a woman who could return the same sort of energy that she gave out. This, however, was not the time for that. That would come later. With a small amount of effort she focused on the matter at hand, and sat patiently as the other woman began, and then continued to explain herself. She was, of course, intrigued by the way Sofia manipulated reishi to illustrate her point more effectively, but she didn't comment on it, at least not for the time being. She was too focused on listening to the other woman's words, and viewing the almost magical display she was putting on. It was a rather captivating experience. Of course, it helped that she had always been naturally curious about the world around her, and how others viewed it.

She was, in fact, incredibly intrigued by the story that Sofia was relating to her, and for good reason. She hadn't encountered anything like it in the past, which was in itself enough reason for her to be interested, but that wasn't the only reason. It was something that would have captured her attention regardless. First of all the name "Seal of Eris" meant that she had, at least at some point, been connected to Mana. Although Claire had come to understand Mana more thoroughly since their first meeting, it still remained that she was in fact a demon. She wasn't so narrow minded to believe that all demons and anyone connected to them were her enemy, but it still remained that demons were one of the largest factors in her own races decline. A decline that she was only just beginning to lead them out of. It left a bit of a sour taste in her mouth when she thought of it, but she could set that aside for now, especially when there were benefits to be garnered from doing so. Initially she had despised Mana, at this point she didn't know what she felt towards the demon, but she could at least understand the reasoning that drove the chaos.

Perhaps more interesting that the seal though, was the fact that Sofia had essentially created a being out of her darker half. For a moment Claire stopped to think what such a being created out of her own desires would be like, then smirked and dismissed the thought. After all, there could only be one of her. After a moment Sofia had finished speaking, and Sophie began to add her own bit to the story. Although her addition was much less lengthy, it was no less interesting. She was beginning to get a feel for both of the women before her, obviously helped along by the fact that she could tell a lot more about someone based on a short interaction. As she was thinking this, servants began to scurry about setting up a fine selection on the table. The main dish was, as always, roasted lamb. The scent it gave off was absolutely divine, the closest thing she'd ever experienced to a meal of blood. After that came the smaller dishes, such as turkey, chicken, pheasant, and goose. She was not much a fan of pork or beef, and so she didn't keep them on hand. She did, however, keep a selection of fine wines in the cellar. She called one of her many servants over and instructed her to bring something that would suit the lamb. With that taken care of she turned to Sofia once more.

"I appreciate you telling me all of that. Quite an interesting story, to say the least. I enjoyed listening to it. I hope you'll enjoy mine as well."

Claire smiled after she said this, and began to collect her thoughts. There was a lot to convey about her people, and she intended to do so in the best way possible. As she was doing this the servant returned with the wine she'd requested and served all of them without speaking. Claire dismissed her politely, and then began to speak.

"I suppose I'll start by telling you of our race as it was in its earliest days. We roamed the earth freely, fearing nothing. Humans were easy to feed on, and were not yet so well organized. This was our world, and we truly didn't think that would ever change. All good things must come to an end though, I suppose."

Her smile became more wistful as she spoke her last sentence, and she paused for a moment before continuing.

"The humans did eventually become more of a threat to us. They developed ways to fight us, they learned of our strengths and weaknesses, and utilized that information far more effectively than we thought them capable of. After a time we became more secretive, and the race split off into separate branches, which specialized in different things, in order to more easily deal with the climate and the humans that lived there. At that time, we still felt that we were superior, and perhaps that is what led to the state of the race now. We were too confident in our ability, and placed little stock in the ability of our adversaries. "

After this she paused once more to drink from the glass before her. The ruby color of the wine reminded her of blood, although the taste was all wrong. Perhaps later.

"While we stagnated the humans came up with ever more creative and destructive means. Eventually our firepower could no longer compare. It didn't help that so many other races were intruding on our turf, causing the humans to develop even more quickly, and to be even more aware of what was happening around them. The years leading up to, and directly after, my birth were probably the worst for our race. During that period of time our numbers dwindled into the dozens, and to go into hiding was the only solution. Thankfully, that time is over, and the dawn of a new era is upon us. I hope I haven't bored you with such a long speech, but hopefully you can understand why I became carried away relating our history to you."

Having finally finished speaking, Claire took a bite from the lamb that had been set upon her plate. She ate as royalty should be expected to, wiped her mouth with a small napkin, and then asked a simple question.

"Have I told you everything you need to know about my people, or do you have questions?"

Coding By: [THEFROST]

"Ah, I see we think similarly. It's nice to find another who I can share my own point of view with. I was a bit worried you'd take offense to parts of my story, to tell you the truth. I'm sure you know the ones."

Another smile, ruby lips outlining the stunning ivory of the fangs tucked safely behind them. For the moment, as least. She took another small bite of the food that lay before her, as elegantly as she had the first time, as she listened to the rest of what Sofia had to say. As she did so, something piqued her interest.

"Oh, has it been a while since the last time you've eaten? Are you on a diet?"

She looked Sofia up and down as she said this, perhaps lingering over certain, more interesting, areas for a bit too long, then spoke up once more.

"It doesn't look like you need to be, or perhaps that just means it's working."

Claire very much doubted that this was the actual reason, but the thought made her giggle, so she had presented it as a possibility. She was also curious as to what the actual reasoning was, however. She took another small drink from her glass of wine and awaited whatever response she would receive. Based on what she'd heard so far, she expected it to be at least marginally interesting. All in all, she was already happy that she'd invited the Quincy woman to her home. She and her tag-along had brought a nice atmosphere to the castle, which while not dreary by any means, could have used a bit more excitement lately. As their conversation continued, however, she began to grow hungry for a bit more than lamb. Oh well, at least there were plenty of emotions in the air for her to feed off of.