PLOT - JL | Arrain tr'Verelan, Princess Xue'Daio - "Once Upon A Dream" Pt I/II

Posted on 241511.10 @ 4:51pm by Civilian Xue'Daio Nox

Red…

Xue had long since revered the color, the way it seemed to move, to breathe, to live. It was a symbol of power and of grace, one that demanded attention and drew the eye the moment it emblazoned something – anything. Just a single drop of it in a flood of other hues was enough. But red also signified pain, destruction, and decay. It lay splattered, more often than not, beneath and around the bodies of the Ascendancy’s enemies… And that was why Psy’Daio had demanded that her snow-skinned daughter wear the brightest scarlet to be found; as a show of absolute power and warning to those who looked upon her that the red that flowed within their veins could and would be spilled if the world she was poised to rule were challenged.

She hadn’t seen it that way.

She’d seen it the way her mother had intended… The honest reason why: humiliation.

The dress, so bright in color, was cut to draw attention without revealing anything and the fabric seemed more like a liquid than a solid. It clung to the moon-child’s body the way high dollar sports cars had once clung to the undulating twists of the Autobahn, cascading across her hips and breasts in a vibrant display of gold where the blood red chose to relent. The only reprieve it gave was a swept drape up along her right hip in a fashion that seemed oddly… Romulan. The race had long been known to seemingly take a page out of the Terran’s gilded age of Caesars’ Rome and the fashion, it would seem, had been taken up by the Stenellis. Regardless, the dress had no place on the body of a nineteen year old royal and the color, the choice, made that fact all the more glaringly obvious.

Her mother, it would seem, would have the last laugh with an implication that her notoriously chaste daughter was anything but – and it would be done before the eyes of strangers sent to judge every action of the Ascendancy.

Looking in the mirror before making her entrance to her own belated birthday party, one she hadn’t wanted nor asked for, she could only gaze at the way her body held the gown strung and hung across the curves of her flesh. Even her eyes had seemingly intensified, brought further to life by the sanguine satin, making her truly seem as if she were nothing more than a vision of blood stained snow. Beautiful… Ethereal… Had she not have spent the past week being broken by her mother’s cruelty, it was likely the young woman would have seen the irony gazing back at her through the looking glass; her mother’s blatant and austere failure in marring the magnificent rose her daughter, her thorn, had blossomed into in spite of whatever clothing she forced the girl to wear. Instead the normally private and reserved child of the stars simply wished to disappear.

That had been hours ago… Dinner ago… Several dances ago with Federation and Stenellis alike that felt the urge and desire to get their kicks by dancing with a Princess. She’d been properly put on display, passed around like some sort of party favor, and all to her mother’s demand and delight. Her discomfort had brought only joy to the aging Empress. A single look up towards the woman would reveal the gloating, smirking face of a monster masquerading as a proud and attentive mother – and Xue was powerless to do anything but continue to please and pretend that life was simply marvelous for the sake of her beloved Empire.

Another song ended, another sigh of relief passed Xue’s sultry vermillion painted lips, and her body slipped out of yet another set of arms and hands, giving her brief reprieve from the seemingly limitless barrage of mindless chatter and would-be suitors that may or may not have had too much to drink. Her eyes closed as the wayward chill of the sea-breeze passed through the open ballroom windows, twisted through the crowd, and finally reached to caress the contours of her beautiful face. It gave her strength as it cupped her alabaster cheeks and pressed its lips against her worried brow, granting her the strength to continue when she simply swore she could not… When she swore she would not. Only when it lifted, dying in the heat of the party, did she re-open the brilliant gateways to her soul and found the face of a man she’d never dreamed of finding comfort in, looking back at her.

Arrain Maec tr’Verelan.

He stood as a pillar of beauty merely two feet in front of her, effectively, though likely unknowingly, blocking the flight path of a Lieutenant she’d endured a dance with only twenty minutes prior who’d taken a few hits of liquid courage before deciding to try and double dip. Just when she wanted to admit defeat and lay her weary head on whatever chopping block her mother so desired in exchange for freedom from the bastardized soiree, Xue had found the conviction to continue even though her mother would likely make her pay for whatever moments of happiness she managed to steal from the awkward display she'd been forced to endure. What she also knew was that through their bond he could feel the trepidation filling every pulse of blood that rushed through her veins, that he could identify the shame and the pain that wrought itself across her every nerve. She knew that he could feel her will and resolve beginning to crumble under the weight of her mother’s hate… And perhaps the relief that his presence sent flooding in as a soothing elixir to her troubled and fraying psyche.

At that moment, the dark Prince, with all of his own shadows and secrets, was the only person she wanted to know or see… And there he was in all of his regalia. It was wrong, it was near treason… It was kismet. With Maec in the way, the officer was forced to disengage and wait for another time, that Xue silently prayed would never come, and she was left with spare seconds to study the young Romulan whose ornamental armor, like the fashion of her sanguine gown, only served to highlight the very best of him. His eyes, oil black, shone like diamonds and the fabric and cut did very little to dissuade or hide his powerful young physique – but it was the features of his handsome face that brought the first feather soft touches of a genuine smile to her lips and she was quick to greet him with a traditional bow of her majestic countenance.

Lavish. Ornate. Was it truly such a great occasion? Maec could read faces well – even these aliens had the same subtleness that his people carried. Political mannerisms. Laughter was a good cloak beneath which fear or anger hid. He could see… and in some odd way feel, the lack of sincerity surrounding those around him. In many ways it was like those Terran circus circuses he had read about - all acts and routines to give a show. A celebration? Not quite. Not quite at all.

And her... He glanced wearily at the demon princess. Xue. He could feel her eyes on him. How? He wasn’t sure but it was an instinctual emotion. That prickle at ones neck when they felt the energy of observant eyes – except this was not a passing flicker but a constant ebb of energy.

What is this feeling? He wondered this even now as he looked at her. His hands began to sweat as his heart pulsated strongly. This feeling was so strange to him and yet from what he had been told it was… adoration. How could he have fallen for an alien? How could he have fallen for this monster? They had to be wrong. Love? Impossible! Yet… his eyes lingered on her still. As his mind paused on Xue, he failed notice the pair of dancers nearby and was suddenly thrust forward when the lead slammed into him from behind. He tried to steady himself by clumsily pushing his leg in front of him in hopes of slowing his movement but it was too late to stop from careening into the princess. He twisted on impact and wrapped an arm around her to keep her from falling as he steadied himself. The celebration abruptly ceased as silence enveloped the ballroom. Eyes fell upon them like swords and daggers. Maec absorbed the hostility in stride and produced a guile smirk as any Romulan would be expected to wear, “Excuse me Princess.” He wanted to tremble but forced himself steady, “Since I am here… Should we share a dance?” What are you doing?! His mind screamed, but his face was only an arrogant mask against the hostile horde.

The blow was something Xue had hardly expected. With her eyes firmly held by his, the dancers weren’t seen, nor cared about, however perilous and precarious their position on the open marble dance floor. Maec being thrown forward only registered after it was too late, after even the most studious of steps wouldn’t have saved her, or him, from the imminent collision. Instead, with wide eyes, she watched him begin to fall and reached to catch and steady him as best her diminutive frame possibly could. Like a leaf trying to slow the fall of a tree, the young Princess was quickly swept into his embrace, and as a tangle of arms and legs they finally came to rest in the most undignified of positions. The blow was strong enough to knock loose a single silver curl, sending it on a free fall across her delicate face, and quickly forgotten in lieu of all things more important. With a hand on his arm and another fanned out over his chest, Xue could feel his wildly beating heart beneath the body warmed expanse of his plated chainmail. She could hear the feverish pitch of the verdant blood rushing through the great artery in his throat as he fought against the tide of panic. Even behind his smirk and the stoicism that had steeled itself across his magnificent face, Xue could see it in his eyes, feel it in the arm still hooked tightly about her waist. The hush over the crowd had turned to murmurs, and from the corners of her peripheral vision she could see Stenellis and Starfleet alike all waiting and watching; each side ready to defend their own against perceived ills while the Ael’Riov remained focused on the red Commodore and his men snickered at the Romulan boy’s great folly.

They were pathetic. All of them.

A mob of fools fat on food and drunk on wine, all of them arrogant and high on their own sense of subjective pride and glory… All of them standing for everything Xue silently wished would come apart at the seams – and somewhere in that mess lay her mother, undoubtedly seething along with the rest of the court, about the Romulan who’d dare touch and hold their Princess in such a way. It was then she realized something; she wasn’t afraid of the contradictions anymore, or their thoughts, or the way tradition mocked and jeered at the very thing she’d come to hold most holy. She found her head nodding, half in acceptance of his offer, half in consolation that everything would be alright. “It would be my honor.” Not her pleasure… Her honor. A word that would set the Stenellis court ablaze with scandalous whispers as their sanguine glad Princess failed to pry her nubile young body from the grasp of something as vile as a Romulan.

Maec led her to the dance floor as disquiet washed over the ballroom like a summer rainstorm. He could sense the hostility in those sharp gazes- he returned them with an insolent smirk. These people were too much like his own and he had been trained well to deal with such types. That seething anger would be useful later…that is if one of them didn’t try to kill him later. Always a possibility when it came to aristocracy. His gaze then fell upon the Empress- those eyes of hers showed a terrible ferocity that she was carefully keeping at bay. He smiled at her- tempted to let the sea spill from its banks.

And hate there was. The Empress watched on from her high perch, feeling the pink blood in her veins begin to boil at such overt insolence being displayed for the Gods and mortals pleasure alike. She nodded to the Romulan as he held her daughter in such an intimate and possessive fashion. If it was a challenge he wanted to declare, it would be one she wholeheartedly met. To attack him outright would have meant catching fire by way of Starfleet and the formidable Phoenix that had, albeit wordlessly, shown that Starfleet would defend the arrogant little cur. It was a fight Psy’Daio wouldn’t and couldn’t risk – not even with Vrith tr’Bak sitting pretty beside her. His time would come later, and the spark he cradled ever so protectively would be extinguished right beside him. Kiv’Watt, however, had chosen a much different path upon seeing the evening’s excitement play out beneath his ever watchful eyes. He knew, without looking, that Psy’Daio’s anger had been stoked to a feverish height – just as he knew what now needed to be accomplished.

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TO BE CONTINUED...
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Arrain Maec i'Ahaefvthe tr'Verelan
Chief of Security & Tactical
Exchange Officer
USS Enterprise

&

Xue'Daio Nox
Crowned Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Lady of Aleine
Regent of Apsha
Stenellian Ambassador to the Federation