keep the home fires burning
After living in Novus for as long as she had, Israfel liked to believe she had a knack for spotting newcomers.
The means of arrival for newcomers varied, she knew; some arrived through the ship ports of Denocte, some by flight, some by portal, some by just waking up after being dead for years… It varied, but no matter one’s method of arrival, the following confusion and uncertainty remained the same.
“Well,” Israfel began with a drawl, letting her pace slow, lackadaisical and lazy as she ambled through the dry brush of the plain to move closer to the opalite stranger, “I guess let me be one of the first to welcome you to Novus, stranger.” She smiled, cocksure yet genuine, and ceased her approach only when she stood a few feet away. The last thing she wanted to do was alarm or concern, or frighten, this opalite lady, with her melodic way of speaking. Meek, perhaps? Or just nervous. Isra wasn’t one to judge, nor did she particularly care to at this moment.
It was the woman’s following inquiry, stammered and shy, that had Israfel halting the breath in her lungs. ’Are you a goddess?’ Something pulled at her heart, recalling days when everyone knew what she was and who she was, but those days had died with a world so very far away. Still, a tint of melancholy curdled the ivory maiden’s smile and she shook her head with a breathy, tumbling chuckle.
“No, no. Not anymore.” Vermilion eyes drifted for a few quiet moments out across the expanse before them before they snapped to attention, focusing back on this dark maiden and her ivory points, and the glittering accents of her pristine features. Mesmerizing, really; while her heart and desires lay elsewhere, Israfel knew when to appreciate a captivating individual. “Thank you, though. Your words are very kind. My name is Israfel; I live in the Night Court. A pleasure.”
The courtly words felt strange on her tongue, but she needed the practice. So recent of an ascension to Queen needed to have some sort of ‘proper’ speak, right? Israfel strongly doubted she could persuade anyone within Denocte to trust her as their Queen if she went off vulgarly spouting ’fuck’ or ’suck a dick’, or ’get fucked’ all the time, after all.
