Magnetism (SG)

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca mentally breathed a sigh of relief when Glydre was recalled, but she didn't show it, giving a small chuckle at Alaric's statement afterward. Admittedly, her size-judging had been impaired by the fact that the Gligar had been more-or-less in her face. Also, you didn't tell a pokemon staring at you like that that you think he's tiny.

What Alaric said when they started on the path surprised her, and she grinned at the praise and his theory on why someone could possibly be frightened of the completely silent, non-blinking Gligar with the serial killer smile. "That's probably part of it. I deal with all sorts of pokemon, so I'm not squeamish over bugs and bats." Just psychics and pokemon that got just a little too close to being human. "He did startle me a little, so maybe that bothers some people?"

Glydre was also really freaking creepy, but if Alaric hadn't picked up on that by now, Bianca wasn't going to try to educate him. Too much effort for something that probably wouldn't work in the first place and just make him upset with her. If Alaric being upset with a woman was possible. Besides, a lot of people adored pokemon that other people looked at and wondered how anyone could. Bianca was one of them. "He should meet Azure sometime. I think they'd like eachother."

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric blinked. "..The Ditto?" At least if she'd stated the names and species in the same order. He thought on it a few moments. "That might be fun.. He sometimes clashes a little with other Pokemon, but mostly only males. Not sure how he'd feel about a Ditto." Ah, the one creature on the planet that could go with either gender and not freak the living hell out of him. ...Of course, he'd be lying if he said it didn't bother him even a tiny bit, but even that was very mild and only when he thought too much on it.

After a few moments, he grinned. "So hey.. It's a fair distance, and not much point in riding Boxer if we're not going to get there any faster, right..?" What no that wasn't mischief in his tone. And never mind that even if it wasn't faster it was less work. "Mind if I speed things up just a little..?"

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca thought on Azure a bit. She imagined, if Glydre had issues with other males (which she didn't remember generally being a problem with Gligar, but there were a few like that in every species), she could convince Azure to stick to female forms. As long as she specified female pokemon, of course; its sense of humour being what it was, Azure would probably end up looking like a human woman, clothing possibly not included.

Bianca's grip tightened just a little at the question, especially Alaric's tone. She had relaxed considerably since Boxer had first started walking, though, mostly because of the distractions of thinking about big cats and being freaked out by a creepy Gligar, ironic as the latter was. Bianca flashed a smile. "Sure. Go for it." She'd just have to hang on a little more, which didn't bother her at all.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Or a lot more. The moment Alaric was certain of where they were along the trail, that it was (probably mostly) safe, and that Bianca had a good grip, he leaned forward, kicking lightly to signal the Rapidash to change gaits. Almost instantly, they had broken off from a gentle walk into a charging gallop. This<3 This was what Alaric had been needing. Time and talking to Bianca had been great, but little compared to this rush- particularly knowing he did have an incredible woman latched onto him, and particularly because he may or may not have begun to daydream he was a knight rescuing this fair damsel trying to outrun a dragon.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Little did Alaric know that this fair damsel would have gladly let the dragon grab her and fly off with her if it got her off this wild ride. Practically throwing herself against Alaric, Bianca pressed her face against his back and hung on like her life depended on it. She wasn't even bothering trying to convince herself she wasn't terrified.

Why did I say 'go for it?' Curse my Arceus-damned bravado. We're going to crash and die! Bianca Musara, done in by a horrible horse-riding accident after surviving years traversing the wilds as a trainer, psychic assault by an Alakazam, and bathing the better half of her five cats after an encounter with a skunk. She knew she was exaggerating, even as her internal monologue carried on, but she still found herself seeing the only silver lining in this being that, at this speed, she'd be able to get off Boxer sooner. And never ride a horse again.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Little did Bianca know that her mental reaction was exactly what the immature jackass in him was trying to provoke in the first place. Well, almost anyway. He didn't want her to think she was going to die, but the rest. He got to ride (even if not quite as rough as he actually wanted) and get it out of his system, she ended up clinging to him ridiculously tightly forming the impression that he was the thing that could keep her safe, and when everything was just fine in the end he'd hopefully look like a total badass for handling the big lug so well.

It quickly became apparent she wasn't about to try to talk- a little disappointing but there'd be plenty of time, he was sure- so Alaric concentrated on guiding Boxer through the forest trails and small clearings. This whole section of the forest was so clearly mapped in his head, particularly the closer to this edge they got. Not that he'd ever been aloud out alone to ride like this, but helping forge a lot of these trails was one of the few things he did get to stray out of the immediate 'yard'-clearing to do growing up. Had to make sure the horses got plenty of exercise and practice after all. Never knew which ones might end up under soldiers or what have you.

Eventually, the trip that had taken roughly forty minutes for Alaric on foot took some eight minutes on Boxer. At last, they broke through the last treeline to a large clearing, in which stood a massive and extremely old-looking (if with a few obvious more modern upgrades) stone mansion that could arguably qualify as a small castle. Not every noble anymore cared for such things, but for whatever reason his family had been very specific about keeping things traditional wherever possible, from preserving as much of the old home as they comfortably could to following strict naming traditions in every generation. His mom always told him his father would be the better one to explain, but given their relationship, Alaric had always just decided to be grateful for whatever it was and go on.

Rather than halt there, though... Alaric grinned wickedly as he directed Boxer toward not the gate but the metal fence that surrounded much of the perimeter. A second if that long before reaching it, the Rapidash sprang up in the air (possibly probably Bounce-cheating), clearing the five foot wall with room to spare before coming down and petering to a stop. It was all the overgrown child could do to stifle his shout. His heart was suddenly hammering against his ribcage and his nerves on end. Fuck yeah!<3 he screamed at least mentally, hugging Boxer a moment. Pretending to keep a totally calm air about him, Alaric asked teasingly (hoping his light pant wasn't too obvious), "Did you survive?"

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Eight minutes. Eight minutes of pure terror. Eight minutes alternating between I'm going to die! and I'm going to kill him! And then the jackass had to make Boxer jump something (she didn't know what, given that her eyes were shut, and she had to admit being in the air was actually a little less nerve-wracking for some reason, at least until he landed).

Bianca didn't move a muscle until Alaric spoke, after which she nothing short of jerked back away from him, nearly falling off Boxer, and shot him a glare. Her heart was pounding, and her every nerve was still screaming danger, danger at her. "You are crazy," she accused, slightly breathless, prodding Alaric with one of her manicured nails with each word.

Then, Bianca being Bianca, she burst into a fit of slightly hysterical-sounding giggles. "I'll make sure to return the favour if we ever go dragon riding," she said with a grin. Not likely to happen, since she didn't have a dragon anymore, but the image of doing barrel rolls with Alaric as her helpless passenger had an appeal right at this moment.

However, right now getting off Boxer was a priority, and she didn't wait for any offer of assistance to gracefully (if not quite as gracefully as she would if her body wasn't shaking a little from what she'd just gone through) dismount.

It was at that point Bianca saw the mansion, and she nearly fell over in shock. "Holy...You weren't kidding when you said 'big house.'" At that moment, two thoughts crossed her mind, those being Sweet Mew, he's a noble and How do you find one cat in all of that?

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric's eyes actually lit at the threat, but just as he was about to tell her he looked forward to it, she commented on the manor, and his previous thoughts flew out the window like a small bird. A sudden new realization hit him now, and he laughed a bit sheepishly as he slid off Boxer himself. "Suppose it might've been a good idea to make sure you weren't an adamant Rebel first... Ah well." He shrugged. Not like she'd be the first. Interestingly enough, most girls who ended up not liking him much did like at least part of his family, if they'd met them, so in the end no harm had ever really come of it. That, and typically any girl who made it this far was already quite aware he was so much more a lover than a fighter and therefore pretty harmless; Bianca was an exception, but again, he didn't tend to meet girls this close to home.

He popped the Rapidash's ball out of his belt again and recalled him with a "Good boy" before replacing it. Turning his attention back to his dear pirate queen, he went on, "So I guess now's a good time to mention my father's a Count..." He waited a moment then, then feigned realization and exclaimed, "Oh hey Bianca! My dad's a Count!" And he instinctively flinched lightly as he nigh-giggled at his own horrendous joke. Once he settled, he did ask a little more sincerely, though still pretty lightly, "That's not a problem, is it?"

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca giggled at the bad joke, relaxing a bit. She was more laughing at the way he flinched and almost seemed to giggle himself than anything. She was still a bit in shock, though; despite the boasts of experience she sometimes made to people, nobles were something of a forbidden zone for her, if only because they were huge customers and Bianca did not want to screw things up with them, pun somewhat intended, for the sake of keeping her business afloat.

Bianca flashed a smile. "Sweetheart, I'll be a Rebel when my Zangoose evolves into a Seviper. Don't worry about it." Bianca just didn't have enough hate in her to hate all of nobility. What she did have already had targets due to her more-than-rocky relationship with her family and specific events in her past. Frankly, being born in Era, there not being high-born folks running things was a just plain strange concept to her.

However, that didn't mean it hadn't dawned on her that she'd agreed to sneak into a Count's castle. And like any person with two braincells to rub together and any knowledge of the current tensions, the thought of getting caught mildly terrified her. Bianca very quickly found herself at Alaric's side, wrapping both her arms around one of his and smiling brightly. "Sooo...you know where that big kitty cat of yours is hiding in there?" When frightened, think about cats. And make sure the Count's son doesn't let you out of his sight for a second so everyone knows you had an invitation.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

At Bianca's nearly as bad though more intelligent joke, a single syllable of an odd high sound escaped the young man before a hand flew to his face and held there to stifle it. She.. was so.. ridiculously awesome<3 If he hadn't been preoccupied trying not to giggle like a five-year-old girl, he probably would have ended up clinging to her instead. Fortunately, about the time he calmed down she saved him the trouble anyway, Of course, sneaking into his own house didn't spark the nearly the same concern; if caught, he'd just have to deal with some nagging or that unbearable jackass, so it didn't occur to him in the slightest Bianca might worry for any more if even that much.

Shrugging lightly, he answered, "Ah. I'm sure we'll find him. There aren't too many places he could really hide without at least someone knowing where he is. And.." The distant smile he took on now held a tinge of sadness. This was a fact he really hated to remind himself of, but one he knew he had to keep in mind. "He's pretty old now. Seventeen last.. May or March? I always forget what his papers say is his birthday." He shook his head a bit, laughing very softly. "Anyway.. He's not likely to be running around avoiding us, nn?"

Of course, once they actually stopped before the large door, he became suddenly more hesitant, memories of that morning becoming a little stronger and diswant of clashing growing so much stronger. Fortunately, their ride here really had done a lot to calm him compared to what it might have been, but it was still hard not to remember why he spent most of his time out west. Bianca was a two-edged sword here as well. While in ways her presence (and extreme levels of awesome win) did calm and please him greatly, he couldn't help but worry for the verbal beating she could take if they happened across his mother among other such consequences. .....Eh? Screw it. He really liked her, and he had warned her; if they lashed he'd just defend her. And if she still liked him after a day of crazies...<3<3 Just the thought of this brought a smirk to his face, and even as he reached out to grab a door handle, he craned down to steal a quick kiss. (Aside from his daydreaming, he did want to make sure she knew it wasn't just the opportunity for cat-spazzing he was interested in.) With a gentle smile and his typical deep but nonchalant tone, he asked, "So are you ready...?"

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca let out something of a sympathetic whimper at the mention of his cat's age. Most of hers were fairly young, though she generally didn't know their exact ages due to all but one being strays she took in. Jezebel was the oldest, being just a little shy from her teens, and Bianca hated thinking about her age and how many years she may have left, even if the little black cat was such a temperamental little witch. The idea of having one special cat that was seventeen...

Staring at the big door was something of a welcome distraction from the unpleasant thought, and then the kiss...Alaric hadn't managed to make her forget about what had been on her mind when they initially encountered eachother, but Bianca could safely say it had been less than at the forefront of her mind for a small stretch of time...and that kiss put it back at home on her priority list again.

She smiled back at him, chuckling a little. "Oh, don't be so ominous. I said I wouldn't get us caught, didn't I?" Her tone was light, but her grip on his arm had tightened the slightest bit at the question.

He'd described his family as 'crazy,' after all and, well, crazy people who could potentially do something really nasty to her because they had money and she had less money, were a bit more frightening than the usual angry mother she could just run from and jump out of a window or something. Jumping out of one of the windows of that mansion seemed like a really bad idea, too.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric chose to take the clinging as more akin to cuddling than a sign of fear, and just laughed lightly. "You're not the one I'm afraid will get us caught," he half-teased. What no in no way whatsoever was he convinced she must be agile and stealthy because of the Isabela impression he'd gotten and the aforementioned fictional character being a highly skilled Rogue in her universe. ....Know what? He was going to have to show Bianca that if she hadn't seen.

Anyway, he couldn't stall forever. ...Well, he could, but that wouldn't really go well for anyone. So Alaric took a deep breath, cautiously pushing open the door. It made a light creak, but nothing too loud or conspicuous, and opened to reveal a moderately sized entryway opening up into a very large open room on either side. To the left looked to be a large dining hall, while on the right was something of an oddly positioned foyer with chairs lined along the walls between various ornaments. There was no immediate movement in either. All in all, things looked to be quiet.

Alaric breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah good. This shouldn't be too hard, 'ey~?" He looked back and forth between each side for a few moments, debating where to start their search. Finally, he stepped off a bit into the dining room, where he soon realized that a maid was cleaning down at the far end. "Oh hey!"

The woman looked up with intrigue at her young master's distinctive voice, only to deadpan when she noticed the woman on his arm. Hadn't he-...? Pretending she hadn't seen them, the maid promptly turned and began heading for a hallway at a moderately brisk pace. Alaric gave very much a D: face. "Hey, Sara!" He broke away from Bianca for a moment to hurry after her. "We just wanted to know if you'd seen Ka--"

"Alaric?" A woman's voice came from another hall, and the man in question froze, cringing hard as he slowly turned toward her. From the right side of the far end of the room came a heavyset but powerful-looking woman a little taller than Bianca and appearing around the same age with long curls the same gold as Alaric's hair. The expression she wore seemed equal parts irritation and skepticism. "That was fast. You get bor--" Her eyes set on Bianca then, and she deadpanned. "... Only you."

Alaric sniffed rather indignantly at this, borderline pouting and looking sheepish at the same time, but before he could reply a smaller voice did with "Wait what?" A small, modest-looking girl with white-blonde hair in a loose updo appeared from the same hall. She was certainly younger than either other woman in the room- the maid gone by now- or possibly than Alaric judging from looks alone. "What did he--" She too saw Bianca as she walked in, immediately facepalming. "Oh dear Lord.... Where did you even find her?"

Alaric cleared his throat now, by this point blushing a bit- more for what Bianca must be thinking of him now than the others's opinions- and turned to Bianca with a forced smile. So much for not getting caught. "Ahhh. Bianca, my sisters~ Linza and Ava." He motioned to each, naming them in order of appearance.

"Avelina," the younger corrected him with a sigh. She tried to force a smile of her own after, though her irritation remained clear. Linza on the other hand made no secret of judging Bianca with her eyes and waiting to judge more. Really, even Alaric didn't tend to bring a girl home this quickly, especially the family's home.

[ Avelina | Linza ]

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Well, the way the maid looked at her didn't seem indicative of anything at all. Bianca squeaked a little when Alaric pulled away, and she quickly scurried after him, already seeing her worst fears regarding this attempt at stealth coming to fruition. It was almost a relief when he froze in place, despite the circumstances.

Sisters. Alaric had sisters. And their comments made her mouth twitch into an amused smirk and look at Alaric with a raised eyebrow. 'Only you?' You are not getting out explaining this. At his introduction, she flashed the women a friendly, if still mildly amused, smile. "Pleased to meet the both of you."

Part of Bianca was a bit afraid, but her stance was relaxed, though trying not to look too casual because these were noble ladies, but not going out her way to look overly formal, either. After all, they'd just caught her sneaking around the mansion with their brother. If she acted too suddenly formal and polite it would just look like the act of a terrified girl.

Her gaze flicked to the younger of the two; she was downright adorable, irritated expression or not, and those doe-eyes almost reminded her of her own little sister. "And to answer your question, Avelina, he found me after I fell out of a tree." She chuckled faintly. "Kind of a long story."

The other woman, Linza, was much more intimidating, but also a little bit...intriguing, to be honest. Bianca met the judgmental gaze with her own calm, friendly one, eyes taking in her face and those blonde curls, before they moved downward to take her in fully. There was a definite strength to her, and what little extra weight she seemed to be carrying did nothing to ruin that nice--

Bianca realized she'd been looking at Linza's figure, and her eyes snapped back up to her face. Sweet Mew, Bianca. Rule number one: If you're interested in a guy, don't ogle his sister. She very quickly looked at Alaric again, pretending her moment of weakness never happened, and flashed another smile. "I'm not getting thrown out, am I?"

[Admiral Striker General]

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[ Avelina | Alaric | Linza ]

Any attempt at a pleasant look from Alaric fell flat when Bianca mentioned the tree. Certainly she'd nearly fallen when Tyson pounced on her, but... He'd waited to see if she intended to elaborate, though he somehow completely missed her rather thorough study. The girls, however, both did notice, or at least suspected it. The thought unnerved Ava a bit, but as it had at least seemed to be her sister and not her the woman was so interested in, it was also mildly amusing. While rather against anything of the sort, she wasn't nearly so skittish as her brother, and watching him get riled was almost always fun. Linza raised an eyebrow, smirking a bit herself when the girl's gaze so quickly turned to Alaric. Well if that wasn't meant to look inconspicuous... "Pleasure's all mine..?" she asked a little skeptically, a very light hint of allure in her tone, wondering if the girl would pick up on it or not.

Alaric meanwhile gave a weak syllable of a laugh and shook his head. "No, of course not.. But don't lie?" He sighed a bit, then turned to the other girls, probably the calmest he'd been without depressing overtones since bumping into his new friend. "And stop giving me that look. We happened to meet in the woods; I found out she was a cat person, and we were right here anyway practically. I wanted to show her Kado."

".. Uh-huh," came the response from Linza, followed by a look of 'wut' from Ava. Alaric just rolled his eyes and sighed in return. Trying to convince them he wasn't a total shameless slut was like trying to convince Honey exercise was good for her or his mother that not every girl on the planet was going to go psycho eventually.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Lie? Bianca blinked a bit. That wasn't a lie; he had found her after she fell out of the tree. Okay, so she hadn't hit the ground, but hanging upside-down by her legs counted in her book. She supposed specifics didn't matter. Her humour had fallen flat and that was that. She sighed softly. "Sorry."

Bianca's gaze flicked back over to Linza for a moment, a bit curious. Bianca didn't tend to miss allure in someone's tone, especially when they'd caught her attention already. She still knew she probably shouldn't do anything about it, though.

His sisters' reaction to Alaric's explanation would have earned some laughter on Bianca's part, if only because that was exactly how she'd expect someone to react to her saying she'd brought someone home to see her cats, but the fact that Alaric wasn't smiling made her stop herself. Bianca looked between the two women (while trying very hard not to let her gaze linger on Linza noticably longer than Avelina).

"What, does Kado not get many visitors?" she asked. The confusion was genuine; she'd honestly got the impression that Alaric liked showing off his cat, though she had a pretty clear idea of what they thought she was really here for. "I mean, if he's seventeen, I understand if you don't have everyone pawing all over him all the time..." Hopefully fact-dropping Kado's age would help. Honestly, if Alaric had been laughing and shrugging this off, she wouldn't have cared if his sisters didn't believe him, but, as it was, she found herself wanting to defend him, and it was the weirdest feeling.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Avelina | Alaric | Linza ]

"Mmm?" Linza raised an eyebrow, then shrugged a little haughtily. "Meh. So the cat really was part of it," she conceded. Doesn't mean that's all you were planning, but part of it.. She'd keep this to herself for now, though. She wasn't completely cruel, after all. Just bitter. On the one hand, she understood where he was coming from, though on the other, it wasn't fair in the slightest that Alaric could date whoever the hell he wanted. Still, as much as the petty child in her seethed over it, the mature woman did realize it was better at least one of them could have a chance at being happy. ...Not that Alaric didn't have a fucking talent for blowing every legitimate chance..

Alaric rolled his eyes. "So there. Nyeh." He stuck his tongue out at her for a moment before chuckling softly. Linza, in return, glared and took a threatening step forward, making him cringe in fear despite the good five yards of distance between them, though he was also suddenly nigh-giggling. Linza sighed and shook her head, but then gave a smug grin; while Alaric, now in a much better mood again, turned back to Bianca. "To be honest, I only come home a few times a year anymore. Maybe once a month at best.." He shrugged a little sheepishly.

"Six months at worst," Ava reminded him. While that had been a long while back, she still remembered far too clearly just how worried they'd been getting. It wasn't like he ever just called.

"And every time he's got a different girl." Linza wasn't going to go so far as to make her baby brother sound like a sex-hungry jackass, but the poor girl at least deserved to know if she didn't by now that he was a total womanizer.

... "Thank you for the loving support," he muttered dryly, though he kept up a half a smirk. "Give me a little credit here. At least I've never claimed I didn't fail at longterm commitments." And at least he could poke fun at himself about it.

"Or at life," she commented just as bone-dry.

He glared. "Bitch."

She grinned. "Jackass."

Alaric laughed a little too girlishly yet again. "Love you too."

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca found herself looking at Linza again, which wasn't nearly as conspicuous because she'd spoken this time and it made perfect sense to look at her. As long as she kept her eyes at face-level, which she was a good girl and did, even though that little voice in the back of her head saying she could be interested needed to shut up.

The whole exchange was really rather amusing to Bianca, if nothing like her relationship with her own sister (and she really shouldn't have found that threatening gesture made in Alaric's direction as attractive as she did, though she knew she wouldn't have if Linza had actually hit him), and Alaric's explanation of not coming home much, with the addition from Linza about women didn't bother her in the slightest. Why would it? She was worse on both counts, she was sure.

Bianca giggled a little at the final exchange of names. "I think I'm going to have to call my sister sometime today." She grinned at Alaric. "I'm worse about seeing my family than you are, to be honest." Mostly because said family, with the exception of her sister and niece, didn't want her around, or at least not without severely changing her attitude, which would happen sometime south of never. "Though I don't tend to have men with me when I do," she added, glancing at Linza again.

Now, what Bianca meant by that was that she didn't take men near her parents, because she knew they would hate anyone and everyone she spent time with on sight because they weren't the man they'd wanted for her (who had moved on already, for Arceus' sake). But, well, even Bianca didn't know exactly how her words could be taken on occasion.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Avelina | Alaric | Linza ]

All three heads turned to Bianca surprised, though not all for the same reasons. "Well that's a little hard to believe," the young man commented, though whether he meant being worse than him or not having men all over her was debatable.

"I'm sure she misses you.." was Ava's quiet though slightly sharp comment. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl she'd never even met if they were close at all, knowing how she hated when Alaric just disappeared for so long. However, more than that she couldn't help but feel a little contempt toward the woman who was causing it, and, in turn, reflect the spite she had trouble holding onto toward her brother toward the much more acceptable target in Bianca.

Linza... couldn't help but grin. Oh she could play with that.. She debated taking it as a cue to flirt, certain that would ruffle a few feathers, but just before she went to speak another idea hit her, and one much better indeed. With a slightly mischievous look toward Bianca- and then to Alaric and back as she spoke- she asked, "So I suppose he was just feminine enough to make an exception~?"

"WHAT?" Without even catching onto the full implication with that, the young heir stood there with jaw dropped as he looked to his eldest sister, half traumatized and half flabbergasted.

[/blockquote][/td][/tr][/table]

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca shrugged a little at Alaric's comment, though she paused a moment to look at Avelina, her smile fading a moment. She could have said something about her not thinking that way if she knew Bianca better but...well, Kate told Bianca she missed her. Frequently. The only reason she went back to Orion and dealt with her parents' wrath at all was to see Kate and Lily. She opened to mouth to say something...

And her jaw dropped fully open at what Linza said. She shut it quickly, letting out a snort of laughter as she realized what she meant. "Oh, Legends...I walked right into that, didn't I?" she said, her body starting to shake a little as she tried to keep herself from outright cracking up. "Th-that's not exactly w-what I meant when I said that..."

Once she calmed herself now a little, Bianca added with a smirk. "But 'exception' isn't quite the right word for it when there's not much of a rule to start with." Linza had already implied something similar, so why hide it? She was hardly ashamed.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Avelina | Alaric | Linza ]

Linza had taken quite the joy in her poor little brother's outburst, and Bianca's initial reaction only served as icing on a very delicious cake. Hehe.. Maybe she'd misjudged the poor girl after--.. or maybe not? Her laughter tapered off and she blinked a bit in surprise beforing purring back, "Oh really?"

Ava had been pretty amused as well though she did her best not to be obvious about it, but Bianca's admission made her twitch a little. Alaric, on the other hand, flinched and froze outright. If the subject hadn't come to this, his initial though at Linza's question might have been 'ya rly'. As it was, it was more, Christ almighty, why? Why is nearly every girl I instantly like so much-.... Whyyyy...? (Well.. It rhymed with why, anyway.) And he really, really didn't want to be rude about it. It'd be a lie to say it didn't bother him, but he was all right as long as he didn't have to see it. But Linza, the bitch- and she was probably the only girl he'd call that outside a pure blind rage- she just had to go and poke at it, didn't she? He so very much didn't want to make Bianca think (or let her know) he was such an intolerant dick, but.. Well...

He literally had no idea at the moment what he could possibly say in response to that that wouldn't be a bold face lie or potentially offensive, and of all the things Alaric was known to be, a liar was not among them. Not that he could've pulled it off believably if he'd wanted to. After several moments of stunned awkwardness and the realization he'd actually completely blanked out of the conversation briefly, literally not having the slightest clue whether or not Bianca had replied or how, an thought hit him he literally took a second to thank God for, ridiculously simple as it was. Rather rushed and clearly uncomfortable but trying his best to tone these both down, he asked, "SO, had you seen Kado today?" Her forced a painfully fake and even cheesy smile, slightly twitching occasionally as he put most of his effort into holding it.

It was actually Ava who rolled her eyes and looked rather annoyed in response. "Care to take a guess?"

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