#support: l'arachel dimitri / noble hart

[aglaean]

It's a little awkward, he thinks, at first, due to the nature of their first meeting. She had thought him so astounding, but it was merely due to him fudging the truth to discuss her interests.

On top of which, he fell so easily during such an important battle. What a house leader, what a shining prince.

He smiles as he approaches, and he extends a carafe of juice to her. "Hello, Princess L'Arachel. I...I wanted to express my sympathies, that your bout did not end in victory for you. ...And admit that my own ended in failure..."

It is hard, to keep the smile on his face, but he manages. "I'd like to apologize - perhaps if I had been...a better leader, we might have been able to scrape a victory for our teams, but as it stands, I have much more to learn yet."

He wants to please her, wants to impress her, but it is hard, he realizes, and he is young. There is so much that he hasn't done, hasn't fought.

His grin becomes lighter, more genuine, after a moment. "Perhaps, er, our alteregos might have, ah, slain the villains! And brought us...glory?" He laughs, but it is sincere. "Thank you, Princess, for fighting for the Lions today."

A flask hovers in her vision, and attached to it is the arm of her monster-slayer-in-training! Delighted, L'Arachel takes the offered juice and a hearty swig in one smooth motion. Her lips are still a little cracked from the alternating swirl of fire and ice, but the cold tang of apples soothes their tiresome aching somewhat.

'Dimitri! Ah, that is to say,' Before her very eyes, Uncle hovers, spectral, his eyebrows knitted in a familiar warning - titles were such a hassle, but she supposed they had to be put to use sometimes. Even if she wished they were half as fun as they ones she created herself. 'House Leader!'

A sigh escapes her lips at the memory of her short-lived brilliance on the field. But, perhaps it was for the best. Had she been permitted to unveil her full magnificence... Well, it certainly wouldn't have been much of a 'mock' battle!

'To say admit makes it sound like a crime!' She gasps, with a little more involvement than she had perhaps intended. But really, a crime would be so very thrilling! And then she could once more don the mantle of truth-teller and-! But, his face does not echo a taste for mystery in the present moment, and so she stands.

'What you and I have done today was no failure, Dimitri. To suggest ones such as we can fail!' And here she wrinkles her nose, as if suddenly accosted with a bad smell. 'This battle was but a taste of our potential, and our foes should be wracked with thankfulness to have been fed so well!'

Smiling indulgently, she digs into a pocket in her jacket and produces a slightly crumpled piece of paper. 'We cannot know why the Gods will what they do, but adversity is essential to the formation of a true hero!' She toys with the wrinkles in the slip for a moment; a rare expression of hesitation on her features.

If she'd known she would be parting with such a treasure, she would've secured a better copy!

The mention of alter-egos barges into her musings and for a moment she nearly loses grip on the paper in her excitement. 'Ah!! Yes, The Beautiful Princess of Peerless Beauty and, um, pray tell, what is the name of your heroic mask?' Doing her best impression of someone trustworthy (an impression that she believed with all her heart to be simply the truth) she leans in close, her voice dropping to a stage whisper. 'I won't tell a soul the identity of who lies beneath it!'

Allowing him time to deliberate, the wind ruffles the sheet in her hand, elevating its already eye-catching details, flashes of bright pink and curling text, to her attention. 'We all have much to learn, Dimitri. I am sure it will shock you to know that even I have knowledge yet untapped!' She says, a prompt for compliments very much explicit. 'But this is a school no? I believe that learning is the most exciting part.'

And, grinning, she hands him the sheet of paper, as if written within it was the answers to the deepest and most pressing questions of life itself. 'Here, use it to inspire even greater deeds in the future!' Inside the folded sheet, a scrawled image of herself, framed with text providing an encouraging rallying cry for a particular day of the week, seemed to smile too.