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Post by Maestro on Aug 26, 2008 12:48:31 GMT -5
Bela was worried. She’d never seen Aunt Isea like this before. Usually, when something was wrong, the Scot would have gone to the cathedral, and when she re-emerged, would have been fine. But as far as Bela knew, Iseabail hadn’t left her room in a month. She had tried to keep checking up on her “aunt,” but Iseabail would never let her in. That in itself was worrying. Plus, there was that period of several weeks when Bela had had to lay low, herself. Thankfully, Miguel had taken care of things this time, so Bela was free to worry about her almost-aunt.
Things were getting out of hand: Iseabail had been possessed by the demonio del visitation, and she hadn’t been the same, what little Bela had seen of her, since. What Arabela couldn’t understand, though, was why the man that claimed to love Iseabail (“híbrido estúpido” she muttered darkly) had not been worried.
If he wasn’t the Crown Prince, Bela thought, I would go right over there and knock some sense into the híbrido’s head. She was still sorely tempted to do just that or perhaps give him a sound tongue-lashing in all the languages she knew. Since he had studied opera from a young age, he might very well understand some of the insults Bela had in mind for the idot.
No, inaction is too much, her mind protested. She needed to do something, as much for herself as for Iseabail.
But what to do? Ah, yes there was the question. It was possible (unlikely, Bela thought, but possible) that Armand didn’t know about Iseabail. Mabye he thought she was making his choice easier by avoiding him, but it wasn’t in Iseabail’s nature to do that. Unless, of course, she knew for a fact that that was what would make him happy. But screw what Armand wanted; he didn’t deserve to be happy unless and until Iseabail was. Okay, so that was sort of a plan: keep Armand from happiness until Iseabail got over him.
She hadn’t really been paying attention to where she was walking, or to put it more accurately, fuming, until she saw the castle gates. Well, what better time to go in and give Armand a piece of her mind than when she was already here. Storming up to the doors, she told the guards that she had a message for Armand from Iseabail and was admitted easily.
Bela had a maid direct her to the Prince’s room. Once she reached the correct door, she rapped sharply on it, fairly on fire with her anger. It was a very good thing for the Prince that she didn’t have any powers like his brother’s or Armand would be in trouble.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 26, 2008 21:18:08 GMT -5
Armand opened the door, caught in the middle of a rare moment of leisure. His hair, bearing the wind-tousled, messy Ira fashion, hung loose for once, past his shoulders. No black, no cloak, no weapon artillery. His long-sleeve shirt was even white--- his mother and sister had both kissed him for it.
One second of scrutiny and his eyes lit up with recogniton, and he began to smile, until he fully registered her stormy expression, and the smile faded quickly. Warily, he opened the door a bit wider, perhaps wishing he had some kind of defense tool on him. "Arabela," he said softly. "It's....nice to see you."
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Post by Maestro on Aug 26, 2008 22:03:59 GMT -5
"Oh, I'm sssure it isss," she literally hissed, stepping past Armand into his room. She glanced about, an expression of distaste on her face. It wasn't because of the state of the room, she could have cared less if it were clean or if a tornado had gone through it; it was the fact that this, this tarantula lived here. (You really thought she was going to think snake? She IS part snake.)
Whirling around to face him, her expression only got darker when she laid eyes on Armand again. "Do you have ANY idea what you have done, Princcccce?" she spat out, unable to keep that angry hiss from her voice. When she's this furious, it really comes out. Even through the sunglasses, it's possible to tell that her eyes are flashing danger to anyone that looks at her.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 26, 2008 22:09:24 GMT -5
Glad for the shield of her sunglasses, Armand took a step back, though not before closing his door. It didn't look like this would be a quiet visit. Then again, maybe he should leave it open so someone would hear his potential murder and rescue him.
He felt a bit defensive; as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to her, but his voice was only baffled as he said, "I....no. Though I can only assume you're here to inform me."
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Post by Maestro on Aug 26, 2008 23:29:39 GMT -5
"Sssssi, I am here to inform you, you híbrido," she growled, attempting to keep the hissing in check. It was a futile effort, which she discovered as she started to speak again. "Where have you been while Aunt Isssseabail wassss trying to get herssself back together after being posssssesssed?! You say that tu la ama, but I do not sssee evidenccccce of that."
She stormed over to the piano and played the ending chord of the Moonlight Sonata. "Ssssshe came to sssee you when you were almossst dying, but where were you when sssshe wassss in pain?! Híbrido. ¡Tu no merece su amor!" It was a mark of how utterly infuriated she really was that she started speaking entirely in Spanish, WHILE hissing.
Flying back over to Armand, she stood face-to-face with him, regardless of the fact that she was several inches shorter. Somehow managing to switch back to English, she hissed, "If you do not sssomehow make it up to her, I will make your life missserable, Princccce or not." And that was a threat she could and would follow through.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 27, 2008 23:48:25 GMT -5
She was somewhat hard to understand with her hissing s's blurring into her other words, not to mention the Spanish she kept throwing in, but he knew enough of the language, the idea came over plenty clear.
When she said Iseabail's name, something impossibly cold gripped his throat, squeezing oxygen out of his lungs and making his head spin. "I was leaving her alone, I thought.... that was what she would want..."
Opera was one of the great loves in his life, and he'd gone without it to make things easier on Iseabail.... and on himself, since he wasn't sure he could handle seeing her every day.
"She's in pain?" he asked, instantly concerned. The need to protect her, to ease her suffering, pressed on him like a weight, but then he remembered.... it wasn't his place to do so, he'd given up the right.
"I... what?" he managed helplessly. "How?" What could he possibly do?
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Post by Maestro on Aug 28, 2008 1:31:45 GMT -5
She could barely keep herself from literally hissing (no words, this time) long enough to actually take in what he was saying, but when his words registered, she laughed. "You really think, Princccce, that Isssseabail would want the man she loves (even if he IS the worst híbrido I have ever met) to walk out of her life without ssssaying anything?! Without one word of explanation?!" Bela shook her head, scoffing. "You really are lessss intelligent than I firssst thought."
When she had first met him, Bela had actually liked Armand; she had even thought he would be good for Iseabail. Now, though, she wished she had never laid eyes on him. At his question, her eyes narrowed again, perceptible even behind the sunglasses. "Of coursssse she'ssss in pain, stupido; you don't exactly get possssessed and get off without anything." Taking another step toward Armand, she punctuated each of her next words with a poke, backing him into the wall. "Issseabail. Hasn't. Left. Her. Room. In. A. Month." And to really get the point across, she repeated, "An entire month." Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at Armand, eyes on fire, though shielded from view.
"How the hell am I ssuppossssed to know what will make her happy? You're suppossssedly in love with her; ssshouldn't you know better than anyone elsssse?!" What could he do that would harm Iseabail more, at this point? "Anything you do will be better than sssimply ssssitting around." She shook her head, laughing mirthlessly again. "Are you honessstly trying to tell me that you didn't know sssshe hadn't been peforming? Didn't know ssshe hadn't been ssseen let alone heard anywhere? What kind of perssson are you, even if you do have "a hard decissssion," that you would not sssstop to sssee that Issseabail was all right?"
Although her voice was getting softer, Bela had lost none of the fire she had stormed into the room with. Quite the contrary, this quiet vehemence had all the passion of her infuriated shouting; it just showed that she cared. "What would you have done if I had come here to tell you that Issseabail wasss dead?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 28, 2008 19:06:27 GMT -5
Ouch. With some effort, Armand managed to keep his chin high, though a muscle in his cheek twitched with the strain it took to reign in his inherited pride and temper. Bela clearly cared for Iseabail, but did she think that he didn’t?
“I suppose you think I’m ignoring her because I’ve forgotten, or perhaps because I have better things to do,” he said in tight voice. “That I just dropped her and moved on, but I can assure you it is quite the opposite.”
Every day he missed Iseabail, the opera house, everything… and every time he saw Zizzy he had to hide it from her, so she wouldn’t be hurt too.
“Forgive me for not hitting her over the head, repeatedly, with what can’t be,” he continued, though his forced even tone wavered slightly. “I didn’t think she would want to be reminded, and certainly she will move on sooner if she isn’t patronized day after day. And do not,” his voice dropped icily, “question my love for her in front of me.”
You couldn't, as much as he'd like to, brush aside love for someone like unwanted dust.
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Post by Maestro on Aug 29, 2008 0:47:47 GMT -5
"Then why don't you let her know that?!" Bela hissed, anger flaring again. "For all ssshe knowsss, you were playing her! For all ssshe knowsss, you gave her hope only to tear it away again for ssssport!" Iseabail probably knew that that wasn't the case, but right now, Bela wanted to hurt him. She wanted to hurt him like he'd hurt Iseabail.
For what can't be? "How do you know it can't be, híbrido? Did you give it a chancccce to sssee how thingsss would work or did you jussst run to Zizzzzy? From what I've heard, you went to her when sssshe was in trouble; why not Isssseabail?" Laughing again, she shook her head. "Anyone that knowsss what happened would question your love for Isseabail."
It was amazing that she had managed to stick to English for this long. Of course, Bela wasn't thinking about that; all she was thinking about was how much she wished she could show Armand how horrible Iseabail looked. "Do you remember Issseabail? How beautiful she isss?" Bela asked, knowing he would. And then, because she wanted to be sure, she added, crossing her arms, "Describe how she looksss to you, in your memory and I will correct you on a few thingssss."
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 29, 2008 20:00:51 GMT -5
Whether it was his anger, or buried guilt, or simply the pain of everything finally bubbling over, Armand's cool patience had snapped. The nearly silver blue of his eyes hardened to steely gray, narrowing to dangerous slits.
"You have no idea what you're talking about," he said. He wondered what about the air made it so difficult to breathe--- to get it in and out through his lungs. "You come in here to preach to me about a situation you're not involved in at all. I don't owe you any reaction or response."
Thinking about Iseabail was hard enough without having a knife repeatedly jabbed into a still fresh wound. But one point he had to clear up, "I was not... playing her." He sounded slightly horrified at the thought. She couldn't possibly think that, could she? Surely she would credit him with more than a.... fling.
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Post by Maestro on Aug 29, 2008 20:42:46 GMT -5
Bela knew that she was probably going too far, but this was one case that she was willing to get herself injured for someone else, if it came to that. She shook her head, laughing incredulously again. Honestly, he just didn't get it, did he?
"I have no idea what I'm talking about, hmm?" she said, hands on her hips. "I am one of the only people that hassss ssseen Isseabail in an entire month!" She glared again, narrowing her eyes. "Do you want to know what sssshe looked like? Ssshe looked terrible. Her hair, which isss ussually lovely and pretty, is stringy and thin. She's pale, horribly pale, not like she usssually isss, but asss though she has never been outssside in her life. I have never ssseen her so thin; it iss literally frightening."
Although she just wanted to cry for Iseabail, her anger at Armand wouldn't let her. She could cry later, when she didn't have to be strong, when Armand understood. "And I'm not involved? Every time Issseabail is in pain, her family is in pain. That's how it is with us. How it alwaysss hasss been."
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 29, 2008 21:00:41 GMT -5
"That's not what I meant," he muttered, frustrated. Of course she knew better than him how Iseabail was now, but she couldn't hope to understand their relationship, what had happened between them until that point.
He flinched as she spoke of Iseabail's apperance as if she'd physically struck him. He tried to block the image out of his head, but it rose, no, seared into his head despite his best efforts.
"I'm sorry," he croaked hoarsely. "I know it means nothing to you, but you can't imagine how much I wish...." He cut off, inhaling sharply. "I can't comfort her. What would I say? I would only make her pain worse..." He closed his eyes against an inner source Bela couldn't see.
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Post by Maestro on Aug 29, 2008 22:24:27 GMT -5
"You can't leave her in the dark without sssaying anything!" Bela insisted. "Ssshe needsss to know and has a RIGHT to know...," she trailed off, trying to keep her cool. Well, as cool as she could. She still fuming, but she could at least try not to become even angrier.
Bela didn't exactly know what to say. She knew that Iseabail needed to see and speak to Armand at least once more before she was able to move on. Perhaps she needed to make things more final in her own mind and say goodbye, but who was Bela to judge that.
"Go see her," Bela said, voice soft for the first time in a long while. "You may not owe me anything, but you owe her an explanation, at the very leassst."
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 29, 2008 23:12:46 GMT -5
An explanation? His mind spun. He didn't want to imagine the fresh hurt such an encounter would entail, but Bela was right about at least one thing... He owed Iseabail.
"Fine," he whispered, still looking away. "I'll see her." He paused. "Please go."
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Post by Maestro on Aug 29, 2008 23:18:25 GMT -5
Finally. Still, Bela was still going to keep in mind that plan she had thought of. If Iseabail wasn't able to heal properly, Armand would never be happy.
"Fine," she said, taking a step back. But she would make sure that Iseabail looked her best before Armand saw her. It wouldn't do for him to see her in her current state. And at the same time, maybe it would be better. Either way, Bela would warn Iseabail.
Without another word, she swept out of Armand's room, feeling slightly better. Her heart still wrenched for Iseabail, but at least she had accomplished something.
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