#witcher verse (interactions)

[a-byronic-heroine]

@moresaints liked for a Valentine’s starter

Kly rolled her eyes as she let Zelda wrap an arm around her middle and take her free hand in hers. These lessons were beyond tedious. And all for some silly festival meant to glorify some made up beings that blessed fertility or cursed mated pairs to a life of eternal enslavement to their infatuations. Humans were already fornicating and reproducing like mushroom addled rabbits; they needed no encouragement. It was one thing for the peasantry to dabble in this, but Zelda had announced that she too would be celebrating and dragging her entire court into the mess. A court Kly was a part of. 

She dug her fingers into the other woman’s shoulder when she lost her balance for a brief moment. Thankfully, the Kynge seemed to anticipate her newborn fawn-like clumsiness and corrected her. It wasn’t often Kly had to learn a new skill. And no matter how much she tried to explain that the Aen Elle didn’t do anything like this and Zelda shouldn’t either because it was beneath them, the human woman was infuriatingly persistent. Like a puppy. So, now she was trying to keep up with the Kynge’s waltzing steps and not look down at her feet. The things she did in service to this human were innumerable. 

She stumbled again, this time into the other woman’s chest, her face smushing into her neck. Her hand that was on the Kynge’s shoulder, wound around her neck to try and stabilize herself. “Go hifreann leat!” she hissed in Ellylon. “Why must we continue doing this?” she pouted petulantly as she lifted her face to meet the Kynge’s eyes. She never had shown the woman the deference a subject would a ruler. She offered the woman admiration in brief, private moments as well as the respect offered to one’s peers. Though the reason was now apparent to Zelda. She knew everything, for better or worse.

[a-byronic-heroine]

@moresaints asked: 🎁

Kly was convinced she would never understand these humans and their holidays. What was even the point of this “Yule”? She recalled during her time as Queen that Eredin reported that some humans left sacrifices and gifts during the cold, short days to try and appease the Hunt and called it Yule. Kly and all the other advisors had laughed at the foolish ways of the short lived, violent little creatures. But now that she was forced to live among them, these strange rituals seemed to have more nuance. Especially in the Kynge’s court. The nobility gorged themselves on feasts and had balls, music and dancing deep into the night. The palace was covered in strange crystal baubles and branches of evergreen adorned with red and white berries and other plants. They offered gifts to each other and the Kynge and whispered of elves and far that would snatch up bad people and eat them. All completely ridiculous and frivolous. It made no sense at all, though Zelda seemed determined to teach her and make her demean and lower herself into participating.

Gifts in her culture were seen as gestures meant for elves assigned to marriage. After the Aen Saevherne assigned elves for reproducing, there was a ceremony of the two families. Each of the couple would give their intended a gift showing their skill and ability to provide. A showing of what they offered in the offspring planned to be had. There were no other times gifts were given, so Kly was reasonably confused when humans just gave each other things. She personally refused at least four already though she suspected the servants were taking them to be put in her rooms, the bastards. She didn’t want their gifts. It was uncomfortable. Insulting to her, in many cases. The only exception was for Zelda. She was an admirable if irritating woman; Kly found her to be tolerable and good company.

She offered the monarch a small, singular cuff link. It was silver and gleaming though the design was plain. She deposited it into the woman’s calloused hand and nodded. “It goes on the sleeve. Dip it into any food or drink, and it will alert you to poison or toxins.” Kly was ever the practical one. She wasn’t about to promise Zelda a tract of land, any horse of her choosing or the finest wine of a Beauclaire vineyard or a hand forged blade encrusted with jewels. Land becomes useless, animals die, wine goes away, blades go dull and rust. A device charmed to alert its wearer to toxins or foul play in their meals? That had permanence and use.

She pulled a phial from her gown and placed a drop on the cuff link. Hopefully she would be too distracted to ask why Kly kept poison on her person. No doubt she’d scowl and pour at the Aen Elle’s reasons. The small device chimed faintly like the ting of a hand bell and glowed pale blue with magic. “It’s a magic I refined for personal use. I’m sure it will be of value to you.” Because she was a target of many assassinations. Most by people in Auberon’s own inner circle. Crevan in particular. She dipped her head. “I hope it pleases you and shows my usefulness.” She paused and blinked for a few moments. That was…a bit uncanny. She immediately defaulted to a close translation of the engagement gifting. She cleared her throat and shook the thought.

[a-byronic-heroine]

@paddyfuck liked for a starter

The Aen Elle grinned at the other woman as she flickered in and out of sight, teleporting in front of, beside and behind her in only a few seconds before vanishing again. She reappeared with a spectral dagger in her hand. She would not try to harm the woman; she had given Kly no reason to and this was, after all, just a bit of fun and sparring. Kly hadn’t fought to not-kill in ages. It would be an excellent test of her restraint and self-control. And it had been even longer since shed let herself have fun with magic. It had always been for survival lately.

“I never said I would play fair, now did I?” she purred. "You want to try and hit me first or should I try to hit you?"

[a-byronic-heroine]

@suresaint asked: [ DENIAL ] for your muse to angrily deny something my muse is calling them out on

Kly glared from the reflection of her mirror as she braided pieces of her hair in intricate netted pattern over the top of the rest of it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she growled, her eyes like icy daggers.

She did know.

She had thought she was carefully and methodically eliminating threats to Zelda’s life, but apparently she and the human woman spent so much time in each other’s company that she was beginning to pick up on Kly’s mannerisms, cues and methods. So what if five nobles and ten servants were dead? Humans bred like vermin. It would only take a few years for them to be replaced with hopefully much more loyal peons that the Kynge could use to further her reign. So what if they died very violently and painfully? Their lives were already so dismally short as is. Kly was doing them a service.

“Perhaps, if I did kill them, you should trust I had a perfectly good reason for doing so, Your Highness,” the moniker was said with condescension. “When have I ever done anything that wasn’t in your best interest? Honestly, I find your suspicion insulting. When I came to you, I told you I would do what was in my best interest. And our interests are aligned. Now, if you’re done throwing accusations,” she snapped waspishly. “I’m in the middle of something.”

[a-byronic-heroine]

@suresaint asked: [ DANCE  ]  for  your  muse  to  take  my  muse’s  hand  and  start  dancing  with  them

((So uh, had to reverse this because Kly doesn’t know how to dance. The Aen Elle as a society don’t do it because its pointless and frivolous and can evoke emotional responses which are taboo, so she has literally zero idea how it works ))

“I don’t have time for whatever it is you want, Your Highness. I-what are you doing?!” Kly snapped as the Kynge took her hand and dragged her away from her reading. Thankfully, the library was empty and none of the human refuse heard her very caustic and irreverent tone of voice towards the monarch. 

She nearly collided into the human woman’s chest as she wrapped an arm around her middle and took her free hand in hers. Then she just started moving her legs and Kly did not. She grunted as they ended up colliding with a bookshelf, nearly crumbling into a head on the ground. Then she realized she’d seen something like this before among lower humans. They’d do it when they were happy or inebriated or celebrating something. Some sort of archaic mating ritual where they followed a set in stone movement pattern.

“Stop that,” she snapped as she felt her legs moving again. She tried to mirror the movements the way she’d seen humans do. It only ended up with her taking the both of them to the ground. She winced as her back hit the ground and the Kynge’s body pressed into her front. This was ridiculous. What was the point of this anyway? What did this little ritual gain anyone? Fighting, she could do. It was useful. So was politics and killing. This had exactly zero purpose. Like most human customs. 

“What is the meaning of this?” she huffed petulantly with a pronounced pout now that it was obvious she was inept. She may find the ritual stupid and useless, but she didn’t like not knowing something. She glared up at the Kynge, but she doubted it had any effect of the woman laying over her. It never did.

[a-byronic-heroine]

@suresaint asked: 💋 mwah

Free Smooches || Accepting

She had asked the Kynge to meet her with the intention of proving a point to herself. She worried that since living with the monarch, she had grown soft. Didn’t see the woman as just a tool like she had originally intended. In fact, she found herself dangerously fond of the human woman. Such softness wasn’t a trait her kind would ever have tolerated. She would’ve been assassinated or executed for such an obvious failure. As soon as she heard the door to the library open, she turned and marched to the Kynge and grabbed her chin in her fingers and glared at her.

Kly leaned in and just barely brushed her lips across the woman’s. She expected to feel nothing, maybe even disgust. After all, Zelda was a human. Even if she was a woman with an intriguing intelligence that often drew Kly to the woman’s company. She didn’t feel those things though. She felt her face heat up as the woman infuriatingly pulled Kly into her orbit without even doing anything. Her eyes fluttered shut as she leaned in closer, tilting her mouth to slot over the monarch’s for more access to lips that tasted like wine. Her stomach felt as if it was falling to the ground. Like these strange emotions had disemboweled her while her heart fluttered erratically in her chest.

The Aen Elle woman withdrew and swore in her mother tongue. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t what she had planned. She had allowed herself to be compromised. She was a failure. But…if being a failure felt like that…perhaps she could learn to live with that.

[a-byronic-heroine]

@feybled liked for a starter

The Aen Elle woman laughed in the sorceresses face. "Wait, wait, so you tell me not only have your kind butchered the art that is magic, you have also butchered yourselves in some contrived attempt to use it better?"

If anything, this cemented the teachings of her kind. That humans were nothing more than infantile monkeys, and to them magic was a club to beat the ground with. And they thought that club-beating was so impressive. The Aen Undod had foolishly offered them magic, but the humans had squandered the lessons by killing their teachers before they learned everything. Thus, their methods were archaic and completely unfounded. That sorceresses must remove their reproductive means to use magic was completely asinine. A folly only humans were fool enough to come up with.

"And you want me to help you undo this?" she inquired, still giggling to herself. "What makes you so certain I am willing to help you? I'm certainly able, of that there is no question."

[a-byronic-heroine]

@suresaint asked: “I don’t fumble –– I improvise.”

Kly smirked approvingly at the woman. “Very good, Your Grace. You should never admit error.  Certainly not to anyone of lower rank like myself.” She folded her hands in front of her middle, shifting something in the sleeve of her gown. “A ruler is never wrong; it is everyone else who is incorrect. It’s important that you project to your lessers that you are beyond reproach. Any one of them could become your enemy, after all. Loyalty is a fickle concept, especially among those as short-lived as humans.”