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Post by Shinko on Dec 1, 2014 20:04:22 GMT -5
Ophelia Braham sat down in the lesser meeting room of the Jade castle in Solis with a sigh, and began setting out the documents for the Jade representative she was to be speaking to. She really didn't want to be here. She'd promised Sieg she would try and talk to their mother after he left, much though she was reluctant to do any such thing, and she felt guilty for having gotten caught up with work and still not following up on that promise. And this was just... so stupid.It had started off as a relatively minor issue. Some Elacsites were putting in a new building on their side of the Elacs/Corvus border, just opposite where Nid'aigle was. No problems there, they could do whatever they wanted on their own territory. But then on of the humans in the nearby Corvid village of Kolanth had gotten wind of the fact that the building in question was destined to be a hatchery for cobras. A good bit of hue and cry had gone up in the elven city over having venomous snakes breeding (and possibly escaping) just a few miles shy of their city. Ophelia had dutifully gone to the Elacsites to petition against the hatchery, only to receive the reply that there would be no change in the plans- the adjacency to Nid'aigle had been chosen especially because a few years ago an elf had saved one of the Elacs snakes when it escaped. And to think I always teased Sieg about that stupid episode. Now I have one of my own. Karma, you suck.The twenty-seven year old half-elf woman had finished organizing the papers, and was now drumming her fingers on the table. Appealing to the Jades to help overturn the building of the hatchery seemed like overkill to her, but the Council of Elders had been adamant so here she was. She could only hope that whoever she spoke to took this issue seriously- more seriously than the person presenting it was taking it. Ohohoho! Look who finally joined the roleplay parade! Enter Ophelia, Sieg's little sister who some of you will probably recognize from my side fics. She's made a trip to the Corvid capital of Solis to talk to a member of Jade house about a very stupid issue the elves are having with Elacs. This can only end well!
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Post by PFA on Dec 2, 2014 1:55:16 GMT -5
"Reynold, I have a task for you." Lord Reynold Jade looked up from the book he was reading, to be greeted with the sight of his father, Lord Everett, standing over him. Though he tried to hide it, a smile ticked at the corners of Reynold's mouth. A task for him? Maybe it was important! He set his book aside, turning his full attention to his father. "What is it?" "I've just received word that a representative of Nid'aigle will be here shortly to meet with House Jade on some matter," Everett explained, "and I was hoping you would be able to speak with them." Reynold was unable to hide the smile this time. An important political meeting with the elves of Nid'aigle, and he was being expected to handle it! Father must have seen how well he'd handled the House affairs during the king's funeral and successor's coronation. He was getting the trust and respect he deserved, and Reynold, second oldest son of Lord Everett, cherished every minute of it. "It would be an honor," he replied proudly. "I won't let you down!" "Good. I'm glad to hear it," Everett said with a pleased nod. "Now then, be sure you're ready for their arrival; they should be here within..." --- On his way to the room where the Nid'aigle representative was waiting, Reynold made an effort to stand up tall as he walked, with a dignified look on his face. He hoped to present himself as capable and responsible, and vowed to handle whatever conflict the Nid'aigle elves had with intelligence and class. This was his chance to prove himself, and he wasn't going to let it pass! He finally got to the room, taking a deep breath to prepare himself before opening the door. Sure enough, there was the Nid'aigle representative—an elven woman, sitting at the table and looking... almost bored, actually. Reynold frowned, concerned by this development. She was already displeased and the meeting hadn't even started yet? Had he kept her waiting too long? No, he couldn't let this get him down. He could still salvage this! "Sorry if I kept you waiting," he said almost reflexively. Doing his best to maintain his calm and collected appearance, he continued, "I'm Lord Reynold of House Jade. I understand there is something you wished to discuss?" Say hello to Joffery's bratty younger brother, Reynold! Excited to be entrusted with an important political meeting with a representative of Nid'aigle, Reynold puts on his best responsible adult face and goes to meet Ophelia.
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Post by Shinko on Dec 2, 2014 8:01:46 GMT -5
Ophelia saw the man come in, and equally reflexively stood to curtsey. "Not at all, my lord, I only just arrived a short while ago," she said formally, though behind the elven mask of good manners she was examining the Jade critically. He looked to be no more than a teenager- one of Lord Everett's sons, perhaps? That seemed the most likely explanation. Granted, Ophelia wasn't exactly the picture of wisdom and maturity herself- she'd not aged a day past nineteen thanks to her elven blood. Her face, framed by black hair that was still down to her waist even when it was braided, as now, was youthful and to the casual human observer she'd have been easy to dismiss as inexperienced and easy to manipulate or cow. It was only by looking into her deep, midnight blue eyes that one could see the steely spirit that her face gave lie to, the spirit that took nonsense from no one and had commanded the respect of those much older time and time again- though with no small amount of exasperation at her attitude. Trying to keep this in mind and not be further exasperated by being pawned off on a teenager, she rose from the curtsey and adopted a polite smile. "I am Ophelia Braham, translator and representative for the elves of Nid'aigle. I have been asked to come to House Jade on behalf of my people to appeal for your help in a matter which has been causing the folk of Nid'aigle some distress, but one which we have no power to handle ourselves thanks to... the involvement of powers whom we lack the authority to confront directly." The half-elf turned to the documents she'd set on the table, "The details are contained within these documents, which were compiled by our Council of Elders and translated by myself. You may peruse them at your leisure, but to sum the situation up, we are having some problems with our neighbors over the border in Elacs." She took one of her own documents out, a map of Corvus and the immediately surrounding territories, and pointed to a spot along the eastern border. "This is where Nid'aigle is situated, and this-" she moved her finger just slightly to the right so that it was on the Elacs side, "Is where the problem is. It seems some of the lords of Elacs have taken a shine to Nid'aigle after one of our knights- my brother, coincidental- saved a python of theirs from the Corvid swamps after it escaped some years back. So they have decided the elves as a whole are excellent snake wranglers, and trustworthy near-neighbors for a new hatchery of venomous cobras they mean to put in this spot." Trying very hard to keep her diplomatic poise and not apologize for how ridiculous the request was, she went on, "We tried to reason with them, and have them move their deadly reptiles to a place not immediately adjacent to the last city of a race already dying out, but as I'm sure you are aware the Elacsites are... stubborn. I have been asked to seek House Jade's help, seeing as you have more political clout with which to help them see reason." Opehlia tried to keep her face impassive, but she couldn't help just a trace of exasperation entering her voice once or twice when she spoke of the nobles of Elacs. Why, why, why did they always have to make everything difficult? The elven woman looked up from her map, waiting to see how the young Jade would react to this. Ophelia outlines her "important diplomatic matter" for Reynold.
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Post by PFA on Dec 2, 2014 14:00:50 GMT -5
...That's it? Seriously? Though he tried his best to maintain his mature and responsible demeanor, Reynold couldn't completely hide the look of disdain that crept onto his face as Ophelia described the issue. He was hoping for something important and meaningful, but instead he got the crazy Elacsites and their snakes. He took a deep breath to calm himself, increasing his efforts to remain cool and collected. Come on, Reynold, you can do this. It's still important... we don't want any elves being bitten by snakes. Ugh..."Yeah, um..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "We can certainly see what we can do about your... snake problem." Ugh, the words sounded stupid coming out of his mouth. Try not to focus on that, Reynold, stay calm... "We'll send someone to speak with House Ophid and see if we can convince them to relocate it." ...Just for that, I'm going to be the one who speaks with House Ophid, aren't I? he realized inwardly. Oh 'Woo.Reynold is disappointed, but tries to stay professional despite the stupidity of the issue. He's not very good at this, guys.
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Post by Shinko on Dec 2, 2014 17:09:20 GMT -5
Reynold's disdain for the matter was painfully obvious. Though Ophelia's gut-check reaction was to be irritated on behalf of her people, that the Jade wasn't taking their request seriously, the truth was she completely understood. She didn't exactly want to be doing this either, but the Ophids weren't giving her any choice. She didn't sit- it would have been impolite to do so while the Jade was still standing- but she did lean back against the table, allowing just the tiniest hint of a smirk to slide into her expression. "If it's any consolation, my lord, I've already been to talk to the Ophids without sucess before coming to Solis. From Nid'aigle to Copperhead, back to Nid'aigle and then here. The elves don't have very many nonmilitary translators, you see. So for what it's worth, I sympathize with whatever diplomatic hoops will have to be jumped through to deal with this." Ophelia drops the super-diplomacy thing somewhat to commiserate with Reynold a little about dealing with the Elacsits.
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Post by PFA on Dec 2, 2014 19:48:37 GMT -5
Reynold couldn't help but feel a bit relieved as Ophelia offered her sympathies. Clearly she found the whole ordeal at least as annoying as he did, and the temptation to continue bemoaning the stupidity of it from there came strongly. He refrained, though—that probably wouldn't be the wisest diplomatic decision. "You have my sympathies," he eventually decided on. "But yes, we'll see what we can do. With any luck, we'll be able to get the situation sorted out." A pause. Reynold shifted slightly, unsure what to do next. Was that it? Send someone to Elacs, and... that's all? He wasn't forgetting anything, was he? It seemed pretty anticlimactic for his important meeting with a representative of Nid'aigle, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. It seemed a shame for her to come all this way just for it to end here... "...Is there anything else I can do for you?" he eventually asked, a slight hopeful note making it into his voice. He just hoped she wouldn't notice. Reynold is hoping there's more to this important diplomatic meeting than snakes. He's also new to this.
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Post by Shinko on Dec 2, 2014 23:04:40 GMT -5
It was fairly obvious the boy had been hoping for something a little more exciting out of this venture. She smiled thinly, though the expression was a sardonic one. "We've nothing else to ask about, unless somehow you can find a way to flout years of political roadblocks to fetch back all of our citizens that Courdon has made off with over the years. But even as amiable a king as Rafael is, I somehow doubt he would go along with liberating all the elven slaves. Especially since they're so fond of helpfully reminding us that we're lax about sending their escapees back." She chuckled. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid this is what diplomacy is. A lot of petty nonsense trying to please the world and pleasing no one. I thought it'd be more exciting when I first took this job, but very seldom do you have particularly noteworthy tasks to handle- and when you do you aren't really in a position to enjoy them because you're busy being petrified that one small slip up on your part will bring the talks crashing down around your ears." The half-elf moved a hand back to tap the papers she'd set down for Reynold. "Minor disputes and endless bureaucracy- welcome to the rest of your life, my lord." Ophelia is amused and sympathetic, but has to be the bearer of bad news and tell Reynold that stupid nonsense like this is kinda what politics is all about.
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Post by PFA on Dec 3, 2014 11:26:43 GMT -5
She noticed. And now she was lecturing him on politics. This irritated Reynold—was he really that obvious? Even after all his effort to look professional and diplomatic? Surely that had to count for something. "I-I knew that," he mumbled defensively, before he could stop himself. "I was just trying to be polite." A pause. And then, "Well, if that's all, I'll let you be on your way. I'm sure you have other duties to attend to." It still felt short, for all the effort that went into it. But there wasn't much he could do about it, Reynold realized with an inner sigh. Careful Reynold, your brattiness is showing.
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Post by Shinko on Dec 3, 2014 16:56:37 GMT -5
Ophelia's expression went dead very abruptly, the mask of elvish politeness slamming back down over her features. "I'm sorry then, for trying to be personable and sympathetic," she said cooly. "I understand this is probably not what you were hoping to do with your day, since it is not what I would have liked to be doing either. But I apologize if I've overstepped my bounds, Lord Jade." Ophelia had to fight very hard not to curl her lips. Nobles- it was always the same with nobles. At this boy's age she was already looking after herself, having experienced the world's harshness and pettiness firsthand. But clearly this boy was not interested in casual conversation with a mere peasant if he was going to take offense to a remark she'd fully intended as a commiseration. Ophelia is unimpressed.
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Post by PFA on Dec 3, 2014 18:38:56 GMT -5
Reynold was completely blindsided by this response. What just happened? No, this wasn't supposed to happen! This was supposed to be his big chance, where he'd impress his father and the Nid'aigle elves with his proper diplomacy, but now suddenly she was upset and father wouldn't be impressed at all— "N-no, I..." he stammered, mind racing for ways to fix this. "I'm sorry, I just— I mean, it's not that— I-I didn't mean to upset you, I... I'm sorry?" ...And there went his mature diplomat demeanor; now he was stammering like a timid child. This was just not his day. Reynold tries to backpedal and does poorly.
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Post by Shinko on Dec 3, 2014 19:08:53 GMT -5
Ophelia looked at Reynold in silence for a while, then she sighed. "Listen, and understand I'm not trying to be condescending here, just stating a fact- it's pretty obvious you're new at this. And let me emphasize that there is nothing wrong with that. What I was trying to imply before was that everyone has to be inexperienced at some point. I was, and I had to learn a lot on the fly and make things up as I went along and stammer through confrontations that weren't going like I wanted them to. Experience takes time to get." She waved a hand vaguely. "All I was trying to do with my commentary before was make a simple joke at the expense of a thankless job. I do sincerely apologize if it came across like I was talking down to you, because that wasn't my intention. But... try not to get offended so easily? There will be people who will make much more direct and overt comments than that which are fully intended to be insulting." Quirking an eyebrow she added, "And for the record, being twenty-seven years old with the face and body of a nineteen year old, I know what it is to be underestimated. And I will continue to be underestimated for as long as I live. I know that aggravation." Ophelia explains why she got annoyed with Reynold and tries to give him one more chance to cut the act and be up front.
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Post by PFA on Dec 3, 2014 22:50:05 GMT -5
Reynold was silent as he listened to her response, his expression shifting between worried, annoyed, and contemplative. He ultimately settled on the third, mulling this over for a minute. He did appreciate that she was sympathetic; this would have been a lot harder if she weren't. And it was obvious that his mature diplomat demeanor wasn't working on her... Finally, he let out a sigh, letting the guise fall completely. "...I wanted to be a good diplomat," he mumbled, a little embarrassed. "To show my father I could do it. ...I guess I didn't do a very good job." He could've gone on, to talk about how hard it was being the second child and how he was always trying to prove himself, but he knew this wasn't the time or place. She didn't need to know all of his problems, anyway. Reynold finally relents and admits he's not a very good diplomat. See, that wasn't so hard, was it?
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Post by Shinko on Dec 4, 2014 8:15:48 GMT -5
Ophelia shrugged. "I wouldn't beat yourself up too much, Lord Jade. I'm half-elf, and was raised in a city of elves. I don't know if you know this, but elven culture is rather strict about decorum, which basically amounts to keeping one's emotions, particularly negative ones, in check at all times. The elves have centuries to perfect their masks." The half-elf smiled a little, "I take it your father is Lord Everett? You come after him very strongly. I wouldn't worry too much. Don't tell him I told you this, but he did his share of stumbling when he was younger. I was told by one of the other Elven representatives who witnessed it that twenty-two years ago the Grand Duke of Bern saw to it that Lord Everett was feeling no pain at King Starmey's wedding... and not acting on the best judgement while inebriated, our Corvid lord returned the favor." Yes, I went there. ;3 You guys can now imagine there's an elvish diplomat in the crowd somewhere in Drunk Lords facepalming.
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Post by PFA on Dec 5, 2014 13:54:39 GMT -5
So basically elves are experts at what I was trying to do, and that's why she saw right through me, Reynold realized as she explained. Well, as far as first times go, I guess it could have been worse......Which was proved further when Ophelia went on to tell him that his father apparently got drunk at the former king's wedding. It took Reynold a few moments to realize that was what she meant, the thought of it being completely foreign to him. His father, the great Lord of Embers, inebriated? Surely that was a joke, right? Then again, twenty two years ago was before even Joffery was born... no, even then it was too weird to imagine. "I'll, uh, I'll keep that in mind," Reynold finally said, still baffled by the mental image. "...Anyway, I'll do better next time." Reynold: what
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Post by Shinko on Dec 5, 2014 19:46:13 GMT -5
Ophelia chuckled at the young nobleman's reaction. "Very well then, Lord Jade. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors, and thank you again for agreeing to help us with the erm... snake issue." She left the paperwork on the table for Reynold to pick up if he chose, and gathered her own materials. With a final curtsey, she turned to walk out of the room... but when she opened the door, she found herself face-to-face with another young man in Jade colors, and almost walked into him. She stumbled to a stop at the last second and blinked, staring down at him in confusion "Um... hello there... my lord?" Mystery guest! O.O
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