51st Ash, 4622
The sound of orchestral music could be heard as the trumpets and drums battle with the symphonic sounds of the traditional Daravinic music that brought the room to life as the pair in the room appeared to be dancing in a competitive fashion; the male figure staring intently as his machismo was reflected in his stance, whilst the female flurried her skirt in a fighting fashion as they appeared to be parallel with each other at all times.
The moment Salen walked in, he could recognise one of the figures was Andre, who appeared to be taking dance lessons. But what for? Was he trying to impress someone that badly, or was it a common tradition in Daravin’s culture? Salen knew there were balls and galas that were arranged for the Entente, but he did not know that Valran and Entente were expected to prepare themselves for the tradition of dancing. At least he could watch, take heed and perhaps Voyage into the teacher’s mind to gain knowledge.
He channeled his ether for a moment and entered his daydreamy trance, entering the memory palace of Andre’s dance teacher which appeared to be a endless ballroom; the engrams were located on a pair of dancing shoes on the floor; he channeled his ether further casting Guidance to assure he finds the engram that contains the knowledge he is looking for. A long trek through such a mindscape was simple enough, until the lurching overcast of nightmare appears to linger around the memory palace.
An ominous feeling awakened within him, as if anxiety was awakened within him; he was beginning to experience the nightmare within a mindscape that could come true; the prospect that made a mind dangerous enough to delve into as he eventually found the Engram, which came in a form of dancing shoes, designed for Daravin’s culture. He proceeded to analyze the engramic structure of the memory, getting a taste of the type of dance she was doing.
Each dance had rules and certain positions to follow; for this dance it appeared to be similar to the Pasodoble, a competitive partner dance that followed the rhythms of machismo and elegance. It appeared to be militaristic in nature as Salen would watch the steps taken, followed by the parallel movements with one another. It was as if the dancers were in competition with each other like a bull and a matador fighting for who wins. It appeared to drive a lot about Daravin’s culture as he proceeded to take the steps further.
As soon as he had finished analysing the engram, the creeping overcast of nightmare suddenly caved in on Salen, shaking him to the core. He eventually stopped channeling his ether and removed himself from the trance, only to be awakened rudely by Andre slapping him across the face.
“Salen! What are you doing here…” Andre scolded out as he lurched over him angrily.
“I… I was just watching…”
“Why were you in a trance? I told you no…”
“Its ok, relax Andre… I see another willing student ahead of me…” The female chuckled as she cupped Salen’s chin, before pushing him towards Andre as if he was being partnered up.
“Today is Pasodoble time… Show me what you know…”
Salen was scared, he had only just analyzed the engrams of the dance teacher and now he was expected to perform the dance as if he wanted it to be perfect. He remembered the rules, the steps but putting it to practice was the difficult part. Andre grinned as he shook his head “Serves you right for nosing in on other people’s business… Maybe you should keep out of other people’s heads…”
“It’s not my fault I’m paranoid, you know yourself there are threats lingering about…”
“She’s been my teacher for years now… What did you learn from her mind?”
“Keep together, always keep parallel with one another, arms strongly together… Take advantage of his height aswell, Andre…”
Salen blushed as he couldn’t help but notice the big guns that Andre possessed, he was well ripped but he wasn’t here to flirt; he was here because he was going to endure the painful dance teaching that he must follow. He followed the pacing of the music, until the choir of soprano singers belted their high As with great fortissimo. He proceeded to let Andre carry the dance as he appeared to be following the dance with both the aggression of a matador and the grace of a keen dancer who had been professionally doing this; that’s until Salen lost his footing completely and slipped on the floor.
Andre sighed as the music stopped for a moment “Whoa… Careful, you are clumsy…” He held his hand out as if to help Salen up, before he pulled him from the floor. The female approached them both as she smiled “You both seem like a great pair of students… Who’s the nosy one may I ask?”
“Oh, this is Salen… I also work with him…”
“Salen… That name… It rings a bell…” She said with a deep narrowed of her eyes “Very well… I hope you two have a nice evening… I must go, but if you need anything… I’m just a shard resonator away… Ciao…” She uses her resonance magic to teleport away as Salen narrows his eyes.
“I don’t like the look of her, Andre…”
“Me neither, that’s why I invited her here…”
“I was in her mindscape for a while, she appears to know how to guard it very well with nightmares… I was looking into the dance she was teaching you…”
“The Pasodoble… That’s what it’s called, a tradition in Daravin as it represents the competitive nature and appearance of the Candor.”
“And… Pretty sexy if you ask me…”
Andre smirked at that remark that Salen had made, although his facial expression had changed for a moment as he knew something was wrong. He frowned as all he could think about was the events that transpired two days ago as he wondered if the younger male was coping well.
“Everything been okay?”
“Not really… But I’ll get through it, one step at a time. I just… I can’t trust anyone and when I can they always get hurt…”
Andre’s frown deepened as he wrapped an arm around Salen comfortingly, before squeezing his shoulder slightly “I know how that feels…”
“Do you, though?”
“Back in the badlands, it was survival of the fittest… You couldn’t trust anyone, or you’d end up dead… You stole because you needed to, I hated doing it but that was life… I either did it or I’d die… That’s until I had the strange dream of some kind of castle…” Andre took a seat at the tables beside the ballroom, which was quiet and empty as it would be a perfect opportunity to get to know the man on a much more personal level.
“I also had that dream, did you wake up and deal with some kind of puzzle?”
“That’s the standard, once we are given this blight we have to prove ourselves… All Corvae deal with this fate, but there are other houses who we are in constant competition with…”
“I am aware… Do you know them all?”
“Scaeva is ours, the others are Vevarian, Hasheva and Demarik… Bewarely of their emblems… That’s how you’ll know if it’s our house or not… They can’t access our hideouts without them, did Dahlia not tell you this information?”
“Not at all, she kept all of this from me…”
“Dahlia betrayed Scaeva… Made her alliance with Demarik; if Corvo's ambitions change, they can do that but they will also suffer consequences in the future… It’s like a hornet’s nest; if someone doesnt like their queen, they will gang up and sting them where they stand.”
“I see… There's alot she’s kept from me, Andre… She even delved into my mind and tried falsifying it, but she couldn’t fully… There was no logical explanation to kill anyone…”
Andre thought for a moment; there was a reason why she had Tiberius killed, perhaps it was history repeating himself again. He narrowed his eyes as he remained in thought before he instantly had an epiphany of what was going on.
“Salen… You remember how Rene was masterminded to frame Cordelia? I know she plans on doing the same to you… Only it’s much worse; who is she planning to murder?”
“No… He never infor-” He paused mid speech as he began to figure out what was going on for himself “Shit! She murdered Tiberius because she needed a logical explanation to falsify a memory.
“That's it… Salen… Please try not to go after Dahlia until we are all present…”
“What is she planning on doing, who she planning on killing?”
“My bet is Rene…”
“We don’t know that yet…”
They both appeared to be uncertain as the events continue to unfold, the plot thickens…
The sound of orchestral music could be heard as the trumpets and drums battle with the symphonic sounds of the traditional Daravinic music that brought the room to life as the pair in the room appeared to be dancing in a competitive fashion; the male figure staring intently as his machismo was reflected in his stance, whilst the female flurried her skirt in a fighting fashion as they appeared to be parallel with each other at all times.
The moment Salen walked in, he could recognise one of the figures was Andre, who appeared to be taking dance lessons. But what for? Was he trying to impress someone that badly, or was it a common tradition in Daravin’s culture? Salen knew there were balls and galas that were arranged for the Entente, but he did not know that Valran and Entente were expected to prepare themselves for the tradition of dancing. At least he could watch, take heed and perhaps Voyage into the teacher’s mind to gain knowledge.
He channeled his ether for a moment and entered his daydreamy trance, entering the memory palace of Andre’s dance teacher which appeared to be a endless ballroom; the engrams were located on a pair of dancing shoes on the floor; he channeled his ether further casting Guidance to assure he finds the engram that contains the knowledge he is looking for. A long trek through such a mindscape was simple enough, until the lurching overcast of nightmare appears to linger around the memory palace.
An ominous feeling awakened within him, as if anxiety was awakened within him; he was beginning to experience the nightmare within a mindscape that could come true; the prospect that made a mind dangerous enough to delve into as he eventually found the Engram, which came in a form of dancing shoes, designed for Daravin’s culture. He proceeded to analyze the engramic structure of the memory, getting a taste of the type of dance she was doing.
Each dance had rules and certain positions to follow; for this dance it appeared to be similar to the Pasodoble, a competitive partner dance that followed the rhythms of machismo and elegance. It appeared to be militaristic in nature as Salen would watch the steps taken, followed by the parallel movements with one another. It was as if the dancers were in competition with each other like a bull and a matador fighting for who wins. It appeared to drive a lot about Daravin’s culture as he proceeded to take the steps further.
As soon as he had finished analysing the engram, the creeping overcast of nightmare suddenly caved in on Salen, shaking him to the core. He eventually stopped channeling his ether and removed himself from the trance, only to be awakened rudely by Andre slapping him across the face.
“Salen! What are you doing here…” Andre scolded out as he lurched over him angrily.
“I… I was just watching…”
“Why were you in a trance? I told you no…”
“Its ok, relax Andre… I see another willing student ahead of me…” The female chuckled as she cupped Salen’s chin, before pushing him towards Andre as if he was being partnered up.
“Today is Pasodoble time… Show me what you know…”
Salen was scared, he had only just analyzed the engrams of the dance teacher and now he was expected to perform the dance as if he wanted it to be perfect. He remembered the rules, the steps but putting it to practice was the difficult part. Andre grinned as he shook his head “Serves you right for nosing in on other people’s business… Maybe you should keep out of other people’s heads…”
“It’s not my fault I’m paranoid, you know yourself there are threats lingering about…”
“She’s been my teacher for years now… What did you learn from her mind?”
“Keep together, always keep parallel with one another, arms strongly together… Take advantage of his height aswell, Andre…”
Salen blushed as he couldn’t help but notice the big guns that Andre possessed, he was well ripped but he wasn’t here to flirt; he was here because he was going to endure the painful dance teaching that he must follow. He followed the pacing of the music, until the choir of soprano singers belted their high As with great fortissimo. He proceeded to let Andre carry the dance as he appeared to be following the dance with both the aggression of a matador and the grace of a keen dancer who had been professionally doing this; that’s until Salen lost his footing completely and slipped on the floor.
Andre sighed as the music stopped for a moment “Whoa… Careful, you are clumsy…” He held his hand out as if to help Salen up, before he pulled him from the floor. The female approached them both as she smiled “You both seem like a great pair of students… Who’s the nosy one may I ask?”
“Oh, this is Salen… I also work with him…”
“Salen… That name… It rings a bell…” She said with a deep narrowed of her eyes “Very well… I hope you two have a nice evening… I must go, but if you need anything… I’m just a shard resonator away… Ciao…” She uses her resonance magic to teleport away as Salen narrows his eyes.
“I don’t like the look of her, Andre…”
“Me neither, that’s why I invited her here…”
“I was in her mindscape for a while, she appears to know how to guard it very well with nightmares… I was looking into the dance she was teaching you…”
“The Pasodoble… That’s what it’s called, a tradition in Daravin as it represents the competitive nature and appearance of the Candor.”
“And… Pretty sexy if you ask me…”
Andre smirked at that remark that Salen had made, although his facial expression had changed for a moment as he knew something was wrong. He frowned as all he could think about was the events that transpired two days ago as he wondered if the younger male was coping well.
“Everything been okay?”
“Not really… But I’ll get through it, one step at a time. I just… I can’t trust anyone and when I can they always get hurt…”
Andre’s frown deepened as he wrapped an arm around Salen comfortingly, before squeezing his shoulder slightly “I know how that feels…”
“Do you, though?”
“Back in the badlands, it was survival of the fittest… You couldn’t trust anyone, or you’d end up dead… You stole because you needed to, I hated doing it but that was life… I either did it or I’d die… That’s until I had the strange dream of some kind of castle…” Andre took a seat at the tables beside the ballroom, which was quiet and empty as it would be a perfect opportunity to get to know the man on a much more personal level.
“I also had that dream, did you wake up and deal with some kind of puzzle?”
“That’s the standard, once we are given this blight we have to prove ourselves… All Corvae deal with this fate, but there are other houses who we are in constant competition with…”
“I am aware… Do you know them all?”
“Scaeva is ours, the others are Vevarian, Hasheva and Demarik… Bewarely of their emblems… That’s how you’ll know if it’s our house or not… They can’t access our hideouts without them, did Dahlia not tell you this information?”
“Not at all, she kept all of this from me…”
“Dahlia betrayed Scaeva… Made her alliance with Demarik; if Corvo's ambitions change, they can do that but they will also suffer consequences in the future… It’s like a hornet’s nest; if someone doesnt like their queen, they will gang up and sting them where they stand.”
“I see… There's alot she’s kept from me, Andre… She even delved into my mind and tried falsifying it, but she couldn’t fully… There was no logical explanation to kill anyone…”
Andre thought for a moment; there was a reason why she had Tiberius killed, perhaps it was history repeating himself again. He narrowed his eyes as he remained in thought before he instantly had an epiphany of what was going on.
“Salen… You remember how Rene was masterminded to frame Cordelia? I know she plans on doing the same to you… Only it’s much worse; who is she planning to murder?”
“No… He never infor-” He paused mid speech as he began to figure out what was going on for himself “Shit! She murdered Tiberius because she needed a logical explanation to falsify a memory.
“That's it… Salen… Please try not to go after Dahlia until we are all present…”
“What is she planning on doing, who she planning on killing?”
“My bet is Rene…”
“We don’t know that yet…”
They both appeared to be uncertain as the events continue to unfold, the plot thickens…
