07.08.3013: A Visit From Home
Summary: Reena gets vistors at the Khournas Embassy in Landings. Cousin Victor brings her beer and cigars, and Kaedin joins them.
Date: 08 July 2013
Related: None
Kaedin Reena Victor 


The Khournas Embassy — Embassy Tower, Landing
Stepping off the elevator into the Cindravale Embassy is to step into a slightly-ruddy hearth. The heat has been turned up a few degrees, and a dull red glow has been added with recessed lighting. The walls are fashioned out of grey volcanic stone, and the floor is brushed and warmed metal. All of the furniture here is made of similar brushed steel, warmed by imbedded heating elements, and shaped so that they enfold frames comfortably despite their minimal padding. On one wall are a selection of weapons, centered on a double-headed battle axe, but including another axe, two swords, and a warhammer. Another wall is decorated by the olive green scales of a drake skin, stretching from floor to ceiling and nearly fifteen feet along the wall.

The sitting room itself takes up about a third of the embassy's floor with a corridor branching off to the sleeping wing. The bedchambers are fairly standard to the expected comforts of a noble house, although they too boast the ruddy light and slightly warmer temperatures of Volkan.

08 July 3013

Victor has come to visit his cousin in the big city, but he's decided not to make a formal affair of meeting her in the Royal Tower. Instead, he's settled into the sitting room of the adjacent Khournas Embassy after arranging to meet her there. After all, in the Embassy, they don't scowl at you for puffing on a thick cigar, nor for taking swigs from a heavy, dark beer in an unmarked brown bottle. Vic's chosen a lounge chair of curved metal, letting his sprawl back comfortably while still remaining upright enough to drink beer. Best of both worlds. The rest of the six-pack, and his cigar case, sit atop the nearby table.

Reena makes her way into the Khourni Embassy and lets out a relieved breath when the Volkan-like atmosphere seeps into her pores. Warmer, redder, and harder than the Palace where she's been residing. She smiles broadly, and genuinely, at her cousin and moves in to give Victor a hug. "Cueball, you are a sight for sore eyes," she notes.

Victor hauls himself up out of his chair as Reena approaches, gathering cigar and beer alike in the same hand so that he can wrap the other one around her to return the hug. His hand comes up to cup the back of her head a moment, an affectionate, familial sort of gesture, and then he steps back, tucking his cigar back into the corner of his mouth and rumbling, "Have a seat, loosen the stick the Sauveurs are no doubt tryin' to shove up your ass." His teeth flash white against his dark skin, showing that the words are a joke, and he settles back into his seat, "Figured you could use a friendly face and something real to drink. Plus, I'm being held out of the damned battle on Niveus."

Reena grabs one of the beers and holds a hand out for a cigar too. "Everything in that palace is so…" she looks for the word she wants, "…fragile. I'm afraid if I look at anything too hard I'll break it. Including the men." She snorts softly. "I know what I'm doing is for all our benefit, but I miss home. I miss family. I miss a certain giant of a man who shall not be named."

After hunting sharks yesterday, it was mostly for the good of the food supplies, though there was fun in doing it, Kaedin makes his way to Landing, probibly going to see his non Orelle family, at least when they talk, he might actualy understand them. His first stop is the embassy, walking into the much more Volken like room, he offers a smile, it's not the sterile and false atmosphere of the Ring, which sometimes he dosn't mind, nor one of the lashes with the looming Occulus on the horizon. Spotting Reena, and then the lounging Victor. Speaking of men who wont break easy… "Fragile she says, try being in a labratory on the Ring… 'Don't touch anything with your meaty bear paws you call hands.. whaaaaa.'"

Victor draws on his cigar, blowing out a plume of smoke toward the vent carefully placed over his chosen chair, then reaches out to pick up the cigar case and prep a stogie for his cousin. The integrated clippers trim it appropriately, and then he offers the cigar and the torch end of the case out to Reena, letting her spark it up herself. "Image how Beth feels when she's walking around here. At least you're normal-sized." Given that Victor himself is only a few inches taller than Reena, he likely has a skewed view of 'normal-sized' in the family. The last point, however, causes Victor to narrow his eyes slightly. Then he just shakes his head, leaning back in his chair and raising his beer to take a swig — only to be stopped from commenting by the arrival of someone else. Eyeing the man for a moment, he removes his cigar from his mouth, "The Orelle from the card game. You ever get your kiss?" His voice is a throaty rumble, just a hint above a growl.

Reena lights up the cigar and takes a long pull from it, blowing out the smelly smoke with a sigh. She slumps into a chair and sips her beer. "I did, and I took a walk with Young Lord Volen as well. Neither amounted to anything. I am still very much on the market, dear cousin. I could fancy being Lady Volen I suppose. He's at least in the Navy, but that whole business between Volen and Grantham has pretty much put an enormous wrench in those works." She glances over as Kaedin enters. "Speak of the kissing devil," she quips with a grin. Then she looks back to Victor. "How is Thalo doing?" she asks, her expression almost a pout.

Kaedin smiles as the two as he walks over, already lighting up a cigarette. "Ask her." he says as he nods to Reena before sitting down. "Have there been any heavy drake activity in the mountains/ I mean, more then usual?" He asks, of course, he is going to stop by the drake complex and ask them as well, but he would rather avoid another lecture from his aging uncle on the subject.

Victor raises one eyebrow in question at the mention of the Volen-Grantham thing, shaking his head, "Mother. Fucker." There's a long-suffering sort of sound to the statement(s). "The Hostiles are on our fucking planets, and people are still bitching about what this House did to that House? Besides, the Granthams are just helping us." He pauses, then smirks, "Well, and apparently your brother's helping himself to one of the ladies, but what else is new?" He considers Kaedin's question for a long moment, taking a pull of his beer and ashing his cigar into the recessed ashtray on the table, "Haven't heard anything like that." Looking back to Reena, he shrugs one shoulder, "Yelling at people, smashing things, the usual."

"Well the Lady in question is somewhat of a hostage and has been for some time, and happens to be the Young Lord's sister so," Reena lets that trail off into the ether with a wave of the cigar-bearing hand. "Thus here I am. Father will end up marrying me to some decrepit old widower for mining rights or something. I don't suppose you can beat some sense into Thalo, make him a war hero, and get father to let me have him?" she purrs at Victor sarcastically. She looks over to Kaedin at his query. "I haven't heard anything, but I've been stuck here for the most part."

Kaedin mumbles. "Kadmus…" he says with a frown. "The man has a stick so far up his ass that his breath smells like fuckin hickory." he says, taking a long draw from his cigarette. "Though it could be just him being pissed that My family hasent fixed the situation yet, but I didn;t delve any further int othat fiasco, I've got more important things to do." Like war stuff.

Victor shakes his head at Reena, "Oh piss off. You know the boss-man," he probably should call High Lord Jevon something more formal, but this is, well, at least half family, "isn't going to stick you with some old fuck." The purring word cause him to shake his head, chuckling richly, "The Wall's already on his way up. Just a matter of time and…" he smirks over at his cousin, drawing on his cigar again and blowing the smoke upwards carefully, "patience." Setting his own beer bottle down, he gestures to the four remaining ones, an apparently invitation to Kaedin, "More important? So what happens when Granthams and Volen get put next to each other in a shield wall? This is a fuck-all poor time for people to be hanging onto old grudges."

Reena flicks the condensation from her beer bottle off her fingers at Victor. "Is that what this brew is? Piss?" she asks, before taking another swig and a puff of her cigar. "When have you ever known me to be patient, cousin? I was holed up in the Academ for too long and now I'm back and I want it all, right now." She sighs and then shoots Kaedin a look. "He has a right to be angry. I can imagine how I'd feel were it my sister in Lady Devon's place."

Kaedin nods a thanks as he takes a beer, opening it with the muscle on his arm. "I could talk to Uncle Esiah about seeing what he can do, I mean everyone should be focused on the matter at hand, if the rest of the Volen feel the same as Kadmus, then there could be a problem." he says as he takes a sip of beer. "At least the rest of the Houses of the Lashes has their heads on somewhat straight."

Victor drains off the last of his beer, giving Reena a jokingly-scathing look, "Don't hurt me like that. This is the good shit, Master Farnol's homebrew." Indeed, it's a rich, dark beer that's probably close to 10% alcohol. The look between Reena and Kaedin causes him to shrug, "If it's just the Young Lord Fishie, then he just needs someone to smack him into line. If it's the whole damn House though," he points his cigar at Kaedin, "you lot have trouble and a half." Smirking back at Reena, he points out, "And if it was us, we couldn't have gotten our asses kicked."

"Also, we'd have burned Grantham to the ground by now and there would no longer be such an issue," Reena agrees with Victor. She shrugs. "As it is, however, I'm placing my chips on Thalo to get father's notice and approval. If he'll have me of course. I am not entirely certain if he fancies me, or I've just cowed him into things." She smirks.

Kaedin snickers as he looks at Reena. "I hope you mean figurtivly, half their damn moon is on fire." he says. "And in a fight between Volen and Gratham, my money is on Gratham." he says as he takes a long drag from his cigarette. He looks at Reena now with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, Thalo… I though you said you wanted to marry a Young Lord?"

Victor nods his bald head at Reena's agreement, settling back into his chair to enjoy his cigar, "I don't think the Wall's worried about marriage or much of anything but killing the fuck out of Hosties." His lips skin back from his teeth, providing a feral sort of grin, "I can relate." Shrugging over at Kaedin, he responds, "Makes it easy to light up the other half. After all, 'Ground into the Ashes.'" House words are House words for a reason. Drawing on his cigar again, he shrugs at Kaedin's question to Reena, "What can she say… she likes 'em big." His dark eyes flick over to his cousin, silent laughter dancing within them.

"Young Lords with an interest in me seem to be in short supply," Reena quips at Kaedin. "And I have been enamored with Sir Thalo since I was about five. If I can't get a husband who can raise my status, I'd at least like one that can raise my temperature with a glance." She grins. "Plus think of how strong his children would be." She grunts at Victor's comment. "I can't deny that. I am Khourni."

Kaedin smirks. "Well, Ravage… I mean, Barton was claimed by Talayla. So that douesn't leave very many big men left.' he says with a smirk, he isn;t included in that, because he has the whole 'gimmie grandchildren' comming from one side. "And Killing Hostiles is a good thing, I could probibly do with a few more… hundred notches on my sword."

Victor shakes his head, looking back over to Kaedin, "That's one thing about my cousin… she sees something she wants, she chases after it. Even," he coughs into his hand, obliterating whatever number he was going to say, "years later." Kaedin's words draw a low chuckle from the Khourni man, gravelling out, "Notching your weapon or your armor's a good way to create a weak point and get your ass killed, Sir Orelle." Apparently, he's forgotten the man's name since the card game, and just hasn't bothered asking for it again, "And who cares how many you kill, so long as it's somewhere past 'enough'?"

Reena's datapad makes a bleeping sound and she glances at it. She snuffs out the cigar with a sigh and gets up, hiding it in a drawer somewhere in the room for later. "Her Highness Ophila has need of me. But it was good to see you Victor. Hug your brother and my siblings for me? And tell them I expect more visits to keep me sane. Good to see you again, Sir Kaedin. Best of luck on the battlefield." She drifts out.

Kaedin shakes his head. "I was being sarcastic, well, about actualy putting notches into my sword, not about the killing of several hundred." He says with a nod. "You showing up to help the Arboren? I'm pondering it, it is sort of my element anyway."

Victor shrugs his shoulders, "One thing at a time. We'll see how I'm feeling after we crush the metal motherfuckers in the Black Wastes." He nods to Reena as she departs, "I'll at least punch them for you." Looking back to Kaedin, he adds in, "I'm a bit shocked you're not on Niveus today. I'd think the Orelles'd want to help their vassals clear out their lands."

Kaedin chuckles. "I'm about to head out, was going to see if any of my father's side of the family wanted to come out and play as well." He says finishing his beer and setting the bottle down. "Anyway, you take care, maybe I'll come back -not- as a fuckin iccicle." He says as he gives a rough salute with an arm over his chest before he moves to head out.

Victor nods again, returning the salute with a relaxed sort of ease from his sprawl across the metal lounge chair. "It wasn't so bad once you got fighting. Slippery as fuck. Be sure to have your suit AI highlight cravasses so you don't fall down them. Hard to spot when you're running or fighting." Pulling his cigar from between his lips again, he offers up, "Kick some shiny metal ass."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License