Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

When the drinks were splashing across the tables and the bards sang in a perfect cacophony, Joselia heard the whispers of her mother–a faerie most reserved and the very same as her patron. A pure dark fae whispering into her ears, thoughts most profane–a stark contrast to her aged advice that she was known for offering.

"Something the matter?" Raven asked, his gaze shifting from Diane, who had just tossed a glass with him.

"N-nothing," holding her head, she forced a smile on her face and brought her glass of wine closer to her lips. "J-just a voice in my head–"

"The faerie?"

"How did you?" Joselia blinked with a look of shock most apparent.

Raven simply turned his finger to Will-O–mingling with the crowd and keeping an eye on the expectant mothers while sharing her senses with Raven through the mana-fused eye of his.

"I’ve been around faes and faeries long enough to sense one outright," a flash of void-like dark appeared before the hero’s gaze. A crackling of silver cut through the darkness, revealing a memory of Umbra, the mother of dark faeries and the deity from whose flesh he was made. "I...I can see beyond that veil of hers. Whispering violence against me. I had a monster like that in me until not too long ago–although your faerie can’t be that disruptive if you’ve managed to crown yourself as the council’s head."

"I...y-yes, mother has been upset about you since you came here. Like two swords in one sheath, I’m sure that you’re aware how much faeries dislike each other."

"Believe it or not, as much as it says so in stories and books–I’ve managed just fine with others of fae ancestry." For a moment, Raven’s eyes wandered through the crowd trying to find Liliyana, but with her disguise and Amedith’s masking of their auras, even he couldn’t separate the two from the crowd. "Well, you get my point. Apart from a blood faerie patron which caused us a lot of problems a while back, we’ve managed just fine."

Humming in silent agreement, Joselia’s load lightened quite a bit. She was expecting Raven to hold the same animosity towards her and the children of fae, the elves, as she and her people had towards them. Alas, such wasn’t the case, dispelling the doubts that had popped up in their heads.

"I’m glad to hear that, lord of champions..."

"Enough with the pleasantries," pouring his mug of whatever alcohol he was drinking into her half-full glass, Raven smeared and laughed with his right hand going over Joselia’s shoulder. "Drink up and enjoy; this may be the last time you can before your enraged god sends some monster to raze this place to the ground."

Joselia’s body froze and so did her mind; her eyes remained glued to the wine glass now mixed with some other form of alcohol. As the liquid swirled within, so did her thoughts and feelings stir inside of her. Although for a moment, as her gaze lifted and reached for Brien, she was overwrought to find him surrounded by numerous women at the bar counter.

’Hmm, we’re supposed to mingle, after all.’ Lifting the glass she brought to her lips, and following in her footsteps, her servants decided to join in with the celebration as well.

"To our alliance, Raven..." She said, calling him directly by his name, at last.

Smiling at the woman, Raven nodded, and the drinks began pouring, and no more reservations were left to be had. Regalia and Reina quickly became the quintessential example of drunk sailors, cussing up a storm and flinging their drink everywhere. After all, a little sea madness was common amongst the sea faeries.

Helga and her children had already left for bed; she obviously didn’t want them to witness a group of drunks hitting on each other or hitting each other. Aelin, Brenna, Rose, and the rest were no different either; after just a couple of drinks, Will-O reminded them of their pregnancies, and they were hauled off to their bedrooms.

Amidst the crowd, Aradin’s group lay quiet as well. Drinking in a corner, all of them keeping an eye on June–the grieving mother. A week’s time was all she had to wait before the invasion of Nerva’s lair, but even that felt too much, and so she tried to drown herself in liquor.

"Aurora..." Even so, the visage of her young baby daughter stared back at her through the foul drinks. Her form had already changed; she had grown quite a bit if Raven’s feverish nightmare were to be taken as reality. Playing with what remains of Nightsilver’s soul combined with the hatred towards gods, that is to say the demon lord. "I won’t allow her to be twisted by that witch, for her to become the demon–"

Covering her mouth, she stopped herself from finishing the thought. Aradin quickly blanketed his arms around her, and with a gentle tug, the man carried her away to their room instead. But not all was gloom and doom in the tavern; even amidst the darkest hour, the monster girls, including the centaurians, were inspiring joy and curiosity with their presence.

Mino especially, with her ass in the hero’s lap and her face buried in the nape of his neck, adored him in a drunken stupor while Maine sat across the table, having shifted her body into a humanoid with two legs instead of her lamian tail. Devouring a whole leg of the bihorned sheep while others egged her on, Maine stretched her tongue outward, and her jaws twisted and turned until the whole thing was down her gullet in a single gulp.

"What’s next? The whole of the sheep? BRING IT THEN!!" Being admired for her absurd gluttony for once, she was enjoying the attention and continued to entertain the audience.

Meanwhile, both Amelia and Ophelia talked to the civil servants–answering their curiosities and building relations for a better political understanding between the two nations. As for Arche, most ignored the arachne–keeping her distance. She still reeked of the corrupted waters that Aradin and not too long ago Raven reeked of as well, but in a different way.

"I feel like she would get along well with that spy woman we met on our first meeting," cutting through the silence between them, Raven placed a hand over Joselia’s to get her attention. "One of the women you offered me–I can sense something dark about her. An assassin? How about we discuss that somewhere private? It feels like a delicate matter after all, offering an assassin to the man you want an alliance with."

Though a smile remained on Raven’s face, a trickle of curiosity bled right through. Joselia caught onto it quickly, noting how the hero was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but even so, she had to play along and present her case.

"My companions will keep your people company." Grabbing her by her shoulder, Raven got off the chair and began tugging her along. "Bring your servants too if you feel uneasy. Mino and a few others will be accompanying me as well."

"Of course," she responded, her tongue a little loose from before, thanks to the strange mix in her alcohol.

Drunk the hero and his companions may have been, but their plans hadn’t changed one bit. The benefit of the doubt was all that the consulate had; beyond that, the truth behind their words would be proven before the night was over–one way or the other. Be that as it may, in interrogating chains or at least for Joselia, in bed with her interrogator...