Red and Black

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"You don't say?" Gwyn said, pitching her voice lower and huskier than its natural tone, and affecting just a bit of an accent, "that's fascinating."

The man in the shining abalone scales of a sea serpent had been a bit gropey when they'd sat down, but Gwyn had kept his drinks coming and her hands carefully intercepting his when they got too close to sensitive regions. Now he was a bit too deep in his cups to keep cupping, but also too far gone to talk much. A bit of a pity. He was from King's Landing, she was sure, and seemed to have some news of its goings-on. So it went.

"Excuse me for a moment, I think I see someone I recognize."

It amused her to use that old excuse in a party where no one was recognized.

She listened as much as she looked as she went back out into the throngs, looking for that snatch of conversation that implied something of interest was being discussed. Her eyes flicked to a few costumes she DID recognize, making sure each in turn appeared to be behaving well and being well behaved towards in return. No raven would ever visit a place like this without her flock, after all.

The Red Woman caught her notice though. At first because she was just interested in Essos and its people and ways, and even at an event like this it was a little unusual to see someone dressed up as a thing so foreign. But what was she doing now? Going up to talk to the master of the party, hm?

Not a lot of people were doing that. In theory anyone was free to, of course. Nathan was doing his share of mingling, but he seemed to be mainly the mingler, not the minglee. And why not? Most here had SOME idea that his skills and resources far exceeded the description of a 'whore.' Disguises felt precarious under his sapphire gaze, though Gwyn had noted that he was as free with his drink as anyone else here. Even she had been subtly finding excuses to be somewhere he wasn't over the course of the evening.

But here, this Red Woman just went right up to him, almost like one of the black armored guards occasionally did. Like someone who knew him. An agent? An admirer? Hmmm.

As for Nathan himself, she'd spent a fair amount of time weighing his presence here. And not simply his presence, but the manner OF his presence. Being unmasked sent several signals, didn't it? It was, on one level, an expression of dominance. I don't have to hide my face here. You do. Perhaps simultaneously an expression of contempt? You see what your hypocritical rules force you to do?

Yes, it worked on level upon level of social commentary and even satire. But she didn't think that was the whole of it. You didn't get to where Nathan was, being as young as he was, if you dawdled around to make grand but empty gestures that most present wouldn't even understand WERE gestures. No, he was here for a purpose, and he was making sure he was recognized as being here by a very large number of important people.

Hey hey, Red Woman...what do you know about that?

Gwyn waited for her to move on, and slowly made her way towards her, stopping to chat amiably or dispense enigmatic nonsequitors or even have a little dance along the way. She had time.

When the woman in red seemed between suitors, looking around the room as if seeking another diversion or target, the Lady Raven approached her from behind.

In a low voice, slightly muffled by her mask, she said, "If the tales of the far lands are true, this must be a familiar sight for you," over the woman's shoulder.

"I am curious though...is this the official raiment for the priestesses of the Red God? It must be awfully distracting for the priests."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

The Red Priestess turned round and smiled warmly, her scarlet lips glistening with freshly sipped wine.

"I took some... artistic license with the outfit," she confessed, with a coy smirk. "But, thankfully, nobody has complained yet. In truth, I was going by descriptions, as I've never seen a Priestess of R'hllor before. I met one of his followers once, and he was disappointingly... man-like. I do hear, as you say, that parties like this are common in the East, and in Dorne. They must be permanently hung over! Have you been to Essos, Lady Raven?"

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

But she knows the name of the Red God, and has met a priest. How interesting.

The Raven was black feathers layered lightly on white skin, with piercing green eyes peering from out the holes in a birdlike mask that otherwise covered her whole face. She and the Red Woman were otherwise similar in height and build, like long lost sisters,

"Ravens go where the wind takes them, and there is a strong wind that blows across the sea," replies the Mistress of Ravens. Her smile is clearly audible, though concealed beneath the beak of the mask. "But you're clearly well educated, if not well traveled." She broke off with a laugh then and took a sip of the wine in her hand. Her mask had a clever articulated joint in it that let her swing it up to reveal her chin and mouth...still pale white, with shockingly red lips.

"Forgive me. It's bad form to try to guess one another's identities...but when one dangles so shiny a bauble before a raven, well she cannot help but to peck at it."

"So, my well educated, young, unworldly new friend...what do you think of what you see here? I have mixed feelings, myself."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"There is nothing to forgive," the Red woman replied, with a handwave of dismissal. "If anyone here says they aren't curious about everyone's identities, they are lying."

She took another sip of wine while she formed her answer to the Raven's question.

"I have mixed feelings too. I have never been to a Bartheld party before, and I think my unwordliness meant I underestimated how debauched it would be. It is awakening curiosities and desires I did not know I had, and it's exciting, but I am also quite sure I'm going to at least three of the Seven Hells for attending."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

The Raven laughs again.

"Will the Seven divide you up between them, I wonder? This is the sort of practical questions that septons rarely dwell on. Can one experience all of the Hells at once? Would suffering in one distract one from the others? Or do they simply choose the one sin you are MOST guilty of, with perhaps occasional forays into the others?"

She shrugged, and her feathers ruffled.

"Well, at least you know you'll be in interesting company."

She looked around the room for a moment, then said, "Speaking of company, I noticed you made the acquaintance of our gracious host. Now there is a rare bird, hm? I haven't yet taken the chance to speak with him."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"He is indeed unique," the Red Woman replied, glancing over in Nathan's direction. "And, for tonight, the most powerful person on the island. Handsome too. I can see how he got so wealthy in his line of work. Charming, pretty, clever. I confess to rather a soft spot for him, and his heroic paramour."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"Hmm. Powerful, handsome, wealthy, charming, pretty and clever," the Lady Raven repeated. "This sounds like rather more than a soft spot, if you don't mind me observing."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"You may be right. Though I am not his type, so I will settle for the acquaintanceship and the view," the Red Priestess smiled. "There is no shortage of more attainable loveliness here. Is there anyone here who takes your fancy, my lady?" she asked, flirtatiously.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"A simple question with a complicated answer," said the Raven. "There are many things that brings a man, or woman, to my fancy. How they look. Their wit and charm. What they know. Who they know."

"So yes. There are very many here who take my fancy. It's why I came."

"Now if you're asking if anyone here is appealing to me physically...the answer is also yes, and that's far less complicated." While not obviously responding to the flirtatiousness, the intensity of the black-feathered avian's stare seems to acknowledge it.

"Tell me, what curiosities and strange new desires have awakened in you from this? Will this be something you take home to a husband? Or would that be unthinkable?"

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

The Red Woman chuckled knowingly, her sky blue eyes twinkling through the eye sockets of the glossy red skull.

"Oh, you are a sly one. Trying to find out how available I am, eh?" she replied, giving Lady Raven an appreciative look.

"The situation at home is very satisfying. I do have someone in my life whom I love very much. But, we both have curiosities that are not acceptable to indulge elsewhere. This is more a coordinated exercise in exploration. They are here too, and we have an agreement about what is permitted. Then, after this, we return home to our normal, pious lives as upstanding citizens, and confine our debaucheries to our own bedroom."

She had briefly moved into a more serious tone than intended, so she shook her head and laughed;

"You know how it is. You start reading Dornish sex manuals and before you know it, you're at a Bartheld party, drinking gallons of wine and pawing at nubile beauties," she giggled.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

The Mistress of Ravens echoed the laugh.

"I've no need to find out how available you are. You're here, you're as available as you choose to be. As am I. You're being very careful not to mention the sex of this person you love very much as well..."

She reached up to brush her fingers through her hair, a thoughtful gesture as she regarded the Red Woman.

"So here you are, at a Bartheld party. Is drinking that much wine and pawing nubile beauties something you've already done...or something you still plan to do?"

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"You have caught me. I was trying to keep myself as anonymous as I could, but I see you are too clever for that. I shall be a little less opaque. I have a husband. As for the drinking and pawing, I have done a fair bit of the former, and intend to do more. It's not often I get to drink wine of such high quality. The latter, I have done precious little of. Mostly looking, talking, some singing and dancing, but nothing intimate yet. I am sure the right person, or persons, will make themselves known to me in due course. If not, then I will have still enjoyed a raucous party and gotten to be freer than normal for a night. What about yourself?"

The Red Woman edged a little closer to Mistress Raven, subtly admiring her. Corrine wasn't sure what sort of women she liked. She knew she liked some of them, sometimes, but was not accustomed to thinking about it. Mistress Raven was intriguing and fun to talk to, and certainly what she could see of her was attractive, but was that enough? Probably not, if she had to ask herself that question.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"I have a husband as well," the Raven said softly, her eyes looking away from Corrine's at something across the room. "I'm not immune to temptation, but I think I'd enjoy any debauchery that much more if he was involved. It's a pity that can't be the case tonight, but of the many burdens one can carry, that ranks rather light in comparison."

Raven looked back at her scarlet counterpart then. "And I will admit, while there is entertainment to seeing the spectacle, I'm finding it too hard to stop thinking to appreciate it as other than that. I'm..." she dropped her gaze to her hands, and flexed her fingers as if trying to capture the words that eluded her. "...there is a kind of horror to this. Is there not? Do you feel it too?"

"I'm not on high enough ground to moralize about carnal pleasures, but is there no difference between indulging one's tastes and fantasies...and merely plunging one's face into a trough and guzzling the brackish water within? The line between may not be easy to find...but here on the other side, I sense its presence."

Abruptly the Lady Raven laughed again and put a hand to the 'face' of her mask, as if to hide it in embarrassment.

"On the other hand, it certainly gives me ideas. Not for here and now, but ideas all the same. I suppose I'm not cut in the shape of a Bartheld party, but I'm glad I came. It's given me...a great deal to think about."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"I think I understand. I feel the same. It does have something of a horror to it. And yet, one cannot help but look. Ideas will definitely be taken home. But thinking of the road not travelled plays upon my mind. My husband and I agreed to stay true to one another here tonight, just enjoying the general revelry, keeping any intimate encounters between ourselves, but being here makes me conscious of what I'm missing. I am very happily married, but have only known my husband, and he only me. It simultaneously makes me worry I've not lived enough, and worry that he hasn't lived enough. Sorry, I must sound awfully silly."

The Red Priestess' vibrant blue eyes meet Mistress Raven's apologetically.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

The shape of Raven's eyes behind her mask was clearly smiling, maybe even grinning.

"Not at all. In fact, I think that's one of the least silly things I've heard since I got here. But I think what we're seeing here is not living. It's like a mockery of living. Mistaking the forest of living for the trees of living. Living people eat...so lets eat A LOT. Living people fuck...so everyone fuck now! But although eating and fucking are things people do when they're alive, they aren't the things that make life mean something."

The Lady in black reached out to rest a hand on the Red Woman's shoulder. Whatever tension had been between them was evaporated by now. It was a gesture of friendly companionship.

"You strike me as someone who follows her heart. I think you have nothing to fear here. Do as you feel, and you'll have no cause for regret. If that means laying with some of the willing partners here, well you'll have some of those experiences you wonder about. And if it means drinking and eating and flirting until you get home and then knocking your husband's breeches off...well, that's a night well spent too."

Saying it that way almost made Gwyn regret that she herself wasn't going to be doing any of those things. She'd come for different prizes, and played a different game here to win them. And Baelon wouldn't be home when she got back. That thought was a pang, but she kept it from her face out of long and automatic habit...even though the mask would have hidden it regardless.

"Enjoy the party, dear."

Enjoy it for both of us.

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

The Red Priestess nodded, with a sincere smile, and patted the hand upon her shoulder.

"You are very right. And wise. I do follow my heart, to the chagrin of some of my peers and family, but I've never regretted following it. My head, however, is forever second-guessing. That's partly why I have been pouring drink on it. It gets in the way sometimes. I hesitate to say much more in that vein, lest I give myself away, but you have brought me a peace I was seeking tonight. Thank you."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"You're welcome. Oh, before you set off to sail to new horizons...one last question."

The Raven drew her hand back.

"Why do you think Nathan decided to throw this party? Did you happen to ask him? It's been...on my mind. I'm curious if there's an occasion behind it."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

The Red Woman's head tilted a little in curiosity, and a little "Huh..." formed on her lips.

"You know, that thought had not occurred to me. I suppose, to my mind, it's an act of defiance. Lord Davain is too straight-laced. He doesn't see the financial and networking value of these parties. I'll wager a great deal of secrets are being traded tonight."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"And yet, Nathaniel supported Davain's bid for lordship, didn't he?" the Raven mused. "Buyer's remorse, maybe? Why do you think he's elected to go unmasked?"

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"A display of power? A judgement on the attendees, perhaps? We need to hide our faces, but he does not."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

Gwyn reached up to scratch absently at the side of her mask.

Hear how she makes questions of her answers. Like a student unsure if she's learned her lesson. She doesn't know what I want, and is guessing. Like at the tourney, when I was speaking with...

Corrine.

Her eyes widened behind the holes of of the raven's eyes, and for a breath she couldn't even think. Her mind desperately offered platitudes...it was a guess at BEST, this could be anyone, it could be... But no. She knew it, FELT it. There'd been an odd sense of familiarity from the start...a natural cadence of speaking they'd both fallen into without ever realizing it. If she'd been surprised to find some man of the Vale here before, NOW she was so startled she could barely stand!

An instant later and she felt wild hysterical laughter bubbling up from within her, and she had to hold the beak down over her face to keep it from bursting out.

Dear gods she guffawed in her own head, We were flirting with each other!

Had it not been for the mask, that sweet, wonderful thing that covered her entire face, the game would have been up right then and there. Oh gods what cruelty that she could never tell ANYONE of this, even Baelon. The best joke of her life, and it was forever hers alone to cherish.

Finally she shook her head gently. "Yes...but also no. His mind plays more than one game at the same time, I think. We may not grasp the other games until we can see more of the pieces, more of the boards. But that's not a question for here or now."

She reached out a hand to cup the 'cheek' of the red skull mask.

Two skulls in one evening? Had they planned that, she wondered, or were they just that close?

"Go find what you're looking for," the Raven urged.

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

That stifled snort of barely contained laughter. That sounded so much like a child trying not to giggle at a sept. It reminded her of her cousins. Her heart twinged to think of those times gone by, the three of them co-conspirators in mischief. What would Gwyn & Dyana make of this party? Of Corrine's attendance too.

The Red Woman instinctively touched the hand that cupped her masked cheek.

"Thank you. Sorry I could not offer more insight. Master Mason is a true man of mystery. I don't think even Bold Ser Jon knows all his hidden depths."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

The Raven finally gave voice to some of the merriment still buzzing in her skull with a laugh.

"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm sure they've both done quite a bit of exploring of one another's depths by now, don't you?"

"Good night..." Ah gods, she'd nearly said the name. It was just as well this encounter was wrapping up. Gwyn wasn't sure if she could keep it up much longer under the circumstances. "...lady of the flame."

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

"Good night, Mistress Raven. I hope you find the answers you seek."

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

"I always do, dear. Eventually."

(Hee hee...scene?)

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