Office 14, Tuesday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

So, all the work Karla had wanted to get done last week had been co-opted by chaos-spewing...whatever it had been...and the ponification of her daughter. Which meant she was back on the island today, hoping that the island would be kind enough to give them some downtime and she could actually work a little bit. Kayla had been left to spend the

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[glacial_queen]

Every conversation with Karla often involved a thousand questions. Her world was very, deeply bizarre to most people. And Lucille's questions likely only grew when Karla held the ring finger of her left hand over her teacup and let fall three drops of a clear liquid fall from...what looked to be the underside of her nail.

"In my world, every member of the Blood is born into a caste," she explained, stirring those drops into her tea. "I was born into three, for example. I am a Healer, a witch whose Craft can be used to heal bodies, a Black Widow, who does the same for the mind, and a Queen, which means I can heal the land as well. If I had not been born with that ability, I could not be Queen of Glacia, even though my mother was. I have the political office I do because of the kind of Craft I was born with."

A gross simplification, yes, but she figured it was enough to give Lucille the basics.

"Males are born into three different castes: Warlords, Princes, and Warlord Princes. Warlord Princes are the most dominant, aggressive, and dangerous of the three, and are second only to Queens in social status. As for why a witch would choose a Warlord Prince..." she shrugged. "It depends on the witch. Some fall for a man, regardless of his caste. Some like the prestige of having a high-caste man as a lover. Some enjoy having that aggression, danger, and sexual hunger on a metaphorical leash. I am a dark-Jeweled triply-aspected Queen. If I did not have Warren, a Warlord Prince is likely the only caste of male that could handle my own intensity and the power dynamics involved."

She took a sip of her tea, grimaced, and then drank again. "But while I'm glad to keep answering questions about Kaeleer, I don't want to ignore your story completely, either. So, Christabel's journey will include her learning about and indulging in those needs and passions your society tries hard to repress?"

[crimson_sister]

"Your world is very different from mine." That was an understatement.

Lucille's eyes followed what Karla was adding to her tea, while stirring her own. She was curious, but wasn't going to ask, as whatever Karla told her about herself and her world unfolded more questions.

"I believe so," Lucille said after sipping her tea. Karla had been quite right about the taste. "She should travel to a different place, where she is less confined, but her newfound freedom, and new experiences might cause a distance between her and her love. Especially if she... finds pleasure with other men."

[glacial_queen]

"My world is very different from most people's," Karla agreed with a laugh. "And that's before we even get into the talking unicorns and the dragons."

She noticed Lucille watching her, and answered the unspoken questions the girl likely had anyway. "My snake-tooth," she said, turning her hand over and extending it towards her. As Lucille watched, what did indeed bear resemblance to a fang from a viper slid out from under Karla's nail, coming to a vicious point just slightly beyond the tip of her finger. "Part of being a natural-born Black Widow. Around puberty, my body started producing its own poisons, there's a venom gland at the base of my ring finger. It gets more potent as I age. I am resistant to most poisons and immune to those I've encountered already. Black Widow training includes consuming small amounts of poisons to build up our tolerance and increase the toxicity of the venom we naturally produce. Our bodies also require more poison to stimulate production, so every month, a few days before my moon-time, I make a cup or two of hemlock tea and add three drops of my own venom to regulate the gland."

Come to her, aspiring baby poisoner. The Medicis had nothing on Karla.

That explanation over with, Karla turned back to the important matter at hand. That is, the one not involving her hand. "Two questions for you," she said. "First, why does Christabel require fidelity from him if she does not offer it herself. And secondly, why pleasure only with other men? If this is truly a tale of self-discovery, finding pleasure with other young ladies is certainly an avenue to explore."

Hashtag TWSS.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille leaned closer to get a better look. "Black Widow? Like the spider?" And then there was another question. "Is that what killed the man at the wedding?"

And then back to her story. "She doesn't require fidelity as much as expect him to be incapable of unfaithfulness," she said. "That is different, isn't it? And..." Lucille struggled with the next suggestion, "...if that's not to her taste?"

[glacial_queen]

"Like the spider," Karla confirmed, though mercifully refrained from explaining more about it. She didn't want to set the girl's head spinning. "And yes, though I needed poison almost immediately afterwards because I drained my venom sac on the idiot. Fortunately, I am rarely without my blend of poisons."

And so the police had questioned her while she daintily sipped at tea filled with enough poison to fell an elephant.

"Hmm." She'd get back to the 'incapable of faithlessness' later, that was a very odd belief to hold, but Lucille's second answer intrigued her far more. "Why not?" she asked. "It is a voyage of self-discovery, isn't it? Can she be so sure it is not until she's at least indulged? It is very easy to cross the line between a passionate friendship to just passion." Trust her on this, Lucille, she knew. "Why should you limit who she finds pleasure with or how?"

[crimson_sister]

Thomas was being miserable at an English boy's school.

"Do you find use for the poison at home?" Lucille asked, trying to make it sound as casual as she could. She took another sip of her tea and look down into her cup. The only one she could think of when Karla mentioned passionate friendship was Cassandra, and that was obviously not remotely possible. If she let her fictional self have such experiences, she would stray too far from the truth.

"I think Christabel would rather think of her friends as the sisters she never had," she said, not thinking of the implications that statement might have for herself, even if she had chosen not to include it in the story. Better to try and leave that subject.

"As she is from a remote area in my time, it is likely that her true love would object to her dalliances. She doesn't love those men, but I haven't decided yet if she will tell him or let it be a secret. Perhaps her experiences of physical love would later benefit them both even if he doesn't know."

[glacial_queen]

Oh sweetheart. If that was what 'Christabel' was banking on to keep her swain faithful, she was adorably naive.

"I have found it useful a time or two," Karla said easily, resolutely not thinking of Ludmilla's final hours. "Though these days, do I have to resort to poisoning someone myself, something has gone horribly awry."

She had people for that. You know, assuming she didn't just flat-out kill them. Which she also had people for.

"If that is the way you imagine Christabel, then that is the way she is," Karla said. "Sisterhood is a very powerful bond and if Christabel is unused to friendship, she might be loathe to take chances with it. So, who will she dally with?"

[crimson_sister]

Lucille could be quite naive. She would have liked to ask whether Karla had used to poison people more often in the past, but that was unwise, she assumed.

"Handsome and charming gentlemen," Lucille said.

[glacial_queen]

Karla would answer, if she did. She had secrets, but her personal body count wasn't one of them. It also wasn't a number she could tally accurately. She'd lost count over the years.

"Well, that's only to be a given," Karla said with an amused snort. "Though there is something to be said for the occasional bout of good hate-sex with someone incorrigible." Not that Lucille knew anyone like that, surely. "But that's not a good enough answer. Does she have blandly charming males lining up to allow her to avail herself of their charms? Or does she have to find these men? Where? How? Do they approach her or does she take matters into her own hands?"

Speaking of matters into one's own hands...

"And how does she entertain herself when she is alone? That is an important part of any lady's journey of self-discovery." Pun very intended, yes.

[crimson_sister]

The puns were lost on Lucille.

"Hate-sex? I have not heard that expression before." Or considered the possibility, really. Don't give her ideas, Karla. "As for those she favours, she meets them in places she frequent, and there is a mutual interest. They are not bland, quite the opposite." This was important. "Gradually she overcomes her inexperience with society and challenges the conventions she has been taught, and expresses her interest to those who catches it."

"She," Lucille thought she should invent something here so that the story differed from reality "likes painting and dancing."

[glacial_queen]

That was unfortunately. Clearly, Lucille needed more experience herself in that arena.

"Perhaps you've noticed there is great passion in hatred," Karla explained, because the narrative wasn't the boss of her. "Think of someone that makes you fiercely angry, if you know of any such. Think of the physical reaction you get when interacting with them. Someone who makes your blood boil can also make your heart race. There are plenty of people who have gone from yelling at one another in anger to yelling in passion. Such encounters are usually fierce, abrupt, and rather rough. Interpersonal chemistry can spark into attraction or severe dislike, but, either way, it tends to linger. And when tempers flare, sometimes it ignites."

[crimson_sister]

That did make sense, in a hypothetical way. "Do you think it would be an appropriate experience for my heroine?"

Lucille decided she couldn't reject Karla's suggestions, even if she could not relate them to her own life. She might have enemies, but she would not turn it into something like this. Unless the player sees a good opportunity for being mean.