Private Tales The Siege of Salesia

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
It took nearly the sum total of Kristen's willpower to whisper back to King, "We must endure."

Now, Kristen didn't mean to endorse the idea of disemboweling Vontaine right here and now on the harbor. Yet...the thought of King mayhap...roughing up Vontaine to a certain degree...was not wholly unwelcome. Kristen simply did not like men of Vontaine's ilk—philanderers who wore their sordid escapades on their shoulder like a garish cloak. What a trail of broken and dispirited women they must leave in their lecherous wake! Kristen refused to believe that any of the women aboard the Slice were better off in their current position, rather than as wife to her loving husband and mother to her adorable children.

And now Blair was subject to the fullness of Vontaine's questionable attentions.

Kristen stepped forward, reaching over and touching his shoulder (as if in a genial gesture) and lightly guiding Vontaine's arm away from Blair. Though she succeeded in this, her intervention backfired, as Vontaine took it as an invitation to hold Kristen's arm in his own, linking them together as though he were her suitor.

The near sum total of willpower Kristen called upon again, and she smiled...pleasantly, and asked of Vontaine...pleasantly, "Vontaine, it has been many a year now. But could you show us your vessel? I mean not to rush, but time is of the essence in our endeavor, I fear."

"Of course! Of course! And what a delight it will be. Oh, I do love showing off—a guilty pleasure of mine!" Vontaine said, walking arm-in-arm with Kristen now to the gangway and starting up it. "Say, when was the last gala the two of us attended, hmm? You were, Kress, you were nowhere near as tall then, if I recall. Oh! I think I remember a letter from—dohhhh, someone!—about your astonishing spurt of growth! And here you are, a lovely young woman now, blossoming like..."

And so Vontaine would go on as they ascended the gangway. King and Blair, at least, had a moment to themselves.

Fabien 'King' D'Amour Blair Rennick
 
Only on the graces of the Lady's patience did King not inflict great violence upon the good baron. He grit and ground his teeth, scowling after Ridgemont as Kristen once again captured his attention. The man was not fit to touch Blair, much less Kristen, and yet he seemed to have no sense of personal space.

King offered a hand to Blair, if for no other reason than to help steady her. It was easy to see how flustered she was.

"Let's get this over with..." he muttered to her quietly as he aided her up the gangway. "This is going to be a long trip, I can already tell."
 
Blair's first time on a ship, to be over a large body of water, was just darkness behind her eyelids. Grateful for Fabien's hand, the Stormguard did not let go of his hand and forced him to help her up as her eyes were shut tightly. Afraid to see something she would make her melt into the deck and disappear into the depths of the vesesl's belly, Blair stumbled and swayed her way up. Of course, the Stormguard were much like the Guard and Dreadlords in way of getting up to mischief by tumbling in the sheets, but Blair had older siblings that always protected her.

It meant she was as a result, sheltered and innocent. A sin to see such flesh... but she was no devout follower much like Kristen.


"Oh dear... oh dear..." Blair whispered to herself, feeling her boots find the top of the gangway and onto the flat and stable main deck. "Please tell me they are clothed."
 
At the top of the gangway, and once she set foot onto the deck, Kristen immediately noticed something. Not merely some, but all of the deckhands were handsome men, and extraordinarily so. Each and every one of them must have been chosen for his attractiveness, his stature, his arms which swelled with muscle and his face which pleased any eye to grace it. Some worked without shirts.

And then Kristen saw the naked man, working with the ropes.

"Oh god," she said, immediately shutting her eyes and turning her head away. Like all the rest, he was a feast for the eyes, a man blessed by his heritage and endowed with many things, and that, specifically, was the problem—that he was gorgeous to behold.

"What?" said Vontaine, and then with a glance he figured it out. "Ohhhhh, never mind Apollo! Yes, his name is actually Apollo—he's quite the foreign treat, isn't he? But his skin-kissed skin craves a little sunshine from time-to-time and who am I to say no? He's a popular one with the ladies, truly. Oh-ho-ho, you're blushing a little, Lady Kristen!"

"This is not at all appropriate," Kristen mumbled.

But Vontaine heard her, or at least had gotten most of her meaning. "Should we ask Blair the Beauty?" He waited not a second before turning and calling, "Blair! What do you think of my fine man Apollo, hmm?"

Fabien 'King' D'Amour Blair Rennick