War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

Momo’s face sours. ”Indeed. Evidently my time at Sorina Academy was much too liberating, given that almost immediately after, it was Irori this, Irori that, on and on about how I had forgotten scripture— I haven’t, by the way, my father is just much too over worried about nothing. This is one of the first times he’s let me leave the temple in a while. I had to swear to him that I would keep the word of Irori close at heart during my intrapersonal dealings, whatever that was supposed to mean. Can you believe it?”

”Oh, goodness, that sounds like a bit of a nightmare,” Adelaide answers with feeling, almost wincing at the controlling description. ”I’m so sorry you have to deal with that. Would it be in poor taste to comment it sounds like he needs to focus his efforts of mastery within, instead?” She doesn’t know much of religion, not having studied in that arena so much, but Adelaide does know that Irori’s focus is essentially on self-mastery.

Momo snickers, covering her mouth with one hand to hide her grin. ”It’s a wonder Irori’s powers still come to rest in the family. We worship him, but can you imagine the irony if a different God was the one that gave us power? It would be delicious. Father would be beside himself.”

Adelaide smiles, pleased her joke landed. ”I’ll admit, I’m not terribly familiar with a wide pantheon of gods, so I’m having a difficult time imagining a specific possibility. It does seem like it would change your life fairly drastically, though. I am curious, though - what does your day to day training entail?”

Corey fidgets in his place in line. Finally, unable to take it anymore, he turns around, looking at Josie. "Scuse me Josie, Ah hate ta be rude, an' if it's outta line you just tell me an' I'll shut up right quick, but, uh... why d'ya got all them feathers in yer hair an' on yer face?"

”Rise with the sun, then spend an hour in devotion to Irori. After, we have morning tea: I almost always am the one brewing it. We meditate for an hour. After, we study herbology, and various different kinds of herbal medicines and remedies. Lunch comes. We eat a sparse meal.” Momo responds, some of the words coming out quickly, scathingly. ”There is a half hour of free time. After, we spend more time studying scripture and meditating. Dinner is had, and it’s actually a meal. We have a few hours to do whatever we want, though recently father has been pushing me towards calligraphy. After, we meditate for an hour and then sleep.” Momo sighs. ”Repeat every weekday.”

"Sounds entirely too tedious for a woman of your talents, Lady Momo," Sarina says, entering the conversation with a smile, cradling a small scorpion in her hand. "I'm quite glad you were able to find the freedom to join us on this outing, the world would certainly be all the lesser if you were to remain cooped up forever."

”Hello, Lady Sarina,” Adelaide greets her with a smile. ”Oh, who’s this?” She nods to the scorpion.

Her mind wandering, it takes a moment for Josie to realize that someone was actually talking to her. Flustered, she replies, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Corey. Was off in a completely different world. It's a fair question to ask, I do look a tad strange. The shortest answer is that I'm an Aasimar, and not entirely human. The slightly longer one is that somewhere back in my family tree, a feathered celestial called a garuda made present its blessing, and that blessing was made manifest upon my birth." She spouts off an often recited explanation, usually told to curious children who were brave enough to ask.

"This would be Derea, my familiar," Sarina explains, holding up the scorpion a bit higher for Adelaide to see.

Adelaide waves her hand to Derea, who waves a claw back. The young woman giggles.

Corey's eyes grow wide. "Really? So yer part angel? Wowee, ain't that somethin'. Yer family must be a long line of amazin' people then."

Momo eyes the scorpion with trepidation, but agrees, ”I’m quite wasted in that temple. I’d have had half a mind to have snuck out were I not allowed to go here.”

"Only half a mind?" Sarina asks, her lip curling upward in a half smile. "From knowing you at the Academy, I'd have thought you wouldn't have let anything stand in your way of attending an event like this."

Momo sighs, and responds, "As much as I complain, the alternative is far worse, isn't it? Disobedience would likely mean days of meditation, and no chance to head to more events like this."

"Yes, that's true. Unless you were to disobey so thoroughly as to make your father kick you out," Sarina comments. "But, I trust you to have the judgement to know when more drastic measures are needed."

Momo nods, and falls into an uncomfortable silence. "How is your family, Lady Adelaide?" Sarina asks, shifting the focus away from Momo.

Josie grimaces. "Ehhhhh, not really. My parents are both human, after all. They just had a weird kid and got lucky enough that it was the kind of weird that people compare to Aroden instead of being malformed or compared to Asmodeus or called 'mongrel'." She shrugs.

Adelaide frowns slightly at Sarina's advice to Momo, but given the Karthis family, perhaps such ideas are unsurprising. She shifts to a smile when the conversation does. "Quite well, thank you," she answers. "Lady Morilla has been quite busy leading up to tonight's vote, but busy is one of the best ways to be in life. How have you been, Lady Sarina?"

"I've found myself far more financially constrained as of late, but I find it a cheap price to pay for my independence, " Sarina says with a shrug. "My family and I have had a falling out, you see."

”Given what I’ve heard about them, that doesn’t sound too surprising,” Adelaide answers, shaking her head. ”But I’m sorry for the sudden misfortune all the same. Do you mind if I ask how it happened, or would you rather not talk about it?”

"It's a simple enough story to tell," Sarina says with a wave of her hand. "They wanted to marry me off. I refused. So, they ousted me. Fortunately, I was able to contact some friends sympathetic to my plight, Lady Martella among them, otherwise, I might have found myself without recourse."

"Well shucks, Ah'm sure that ain't true. After all, they raised you didn' they?" Corey grins. "Must mean they're doin' somethin' right."

The grimace that Josie's face held before is now muddled by confusion. After a moment, she puts herself together enough to say, "I'm not really sure what point you're trying to get across."

"Ah." Josie re-centers herself and continues, "Well, I appreciate the sentiment. Though, just to give you fair warning, assuming the best of people isn't necessarily the best practice when dealing with most nobles. Or people in general, really, but especially nobles."

Adelaide nods. ”That’s one of the more irritating facets of our current society, really. I’ve been pointedly invited to events recently where the host’s son was close to my age.” She rolls her eyes at this. ”None of the suitors have been able to keep up, anyway.”