Downtown Druid

Jacopo grimaced as he lifted his lion mask up from his mouth to eat. He’d wanted a rat mask, as rat’s are of course the best thing to be, but Vampa had said it didn’t fit with the image that he needed to be projecting. The food he was eating appeared to be a baby bird covered in sauce. He enjoyed the crunch of its bones as he bit down and began to chew, then took another of them. It was the best of the dishes that had been prepared for the masquerade, maybe any of them he’d been to recently. The food had been the only good thing about them.

He noticed a number of men and women in one corner snorting healthy amounts of dust off of a silver platter. In another room he’d passed earlier, he’d hear the sounds of vigorous lovemaking involving no less than seven participants. Overall, the nobility of Uptown seemed to be just as debaucherous and lusty as everyone else, which is what Dantes had told him they’d be, as had Vampa. The only difference was that they did their drugs and laid their mates on far nicer materials before they did their best to use them for all they were worth.

“Bold to eat so much of the priciest dish at the expense of the others around you,” said a man smirking behind a fox mask.

He drew a few laughs for his comment which he seemed to bask in.

Jacopo had fallen into one of the thousands of social traps that existed for the nobility of Rendhold. He decided to handle it in the same way he’d handled the other incidents.

“Shut up tiny man,” he said, grabbing another of the small birds and chewing it slowly.

That drew laughs as well, along with a few sharp intakes of breath.

“How dare you, you… mutt.”

“How dare I eat food?” he asked, drawing more laughs as he shoved yet another tasty bird into his mouth, flicking the remains of its feet at the man’s coat.

The man in the fox mask huffed a bit then walked away, leaving Jacopo to finish all of the birds before deciding to try a few of the other foods. Initially, Dantes had helped him to navigate a number of conversations and confrontations with tact and grace, but Vampa had suggested a different tact, letting him act like himself. Nobles loved novelty, and Jacopo was the most novel person to join their ranks in a long time.

When he was finally full, he walked through the center of the dance floor, forcing a number of people dancing to dodge around him as he crossed. He reached the wall where Vampa was standing next to a number of other bodyguards, many of whom had been hired only recently due to all of the Uptown killings.

“We came. I ate. People saw me. May we leave?”

Vampa shook his head. “Not until you meet with the hostess. She’s on the Justice Committee. Ask her to dance, she apparently has a fondness for tall men.”

“Fine. If it will allow us to leave sooner. Which is she?” he asked, looking from right to left.

“The plump half-elf woman sitting at the table over there. The one everyone is talking to. Her name is Lysandia, but her friends call her Lys.”

“Fine,” said Jacopo as he began to move toward her, but Vampa grabbed his shoulder.

“Don’t put your hands too low. Her consort is a jealous man and it’s not worth the trouble.”

Dantes, in the back of Jacopo’s mind, wanted him to question how Vampa could possibly have figured all of that out, but Jacopo didn’t have the patience to wait for an answer to that question. He walked out of Vampa’s grip and toward the woman.

Vampa had had him and Vera practice dancing often over the last several weeks, and Jacopo was quite good at it. Vampa still insisted on giving frequent examples of certain moves using Vera in spite of Jacopo’s competence though, which Dantes found quite funny when watching the practice through his eyes.

When Vampa reached Lysandia, he gave a half bow, and extended his hand toward her.

“Dance with me,” he said, more as an order than a question.

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“Me?” she asked in a slightly confused tone.

“Yes.”

The ladies and gentlemen that had been flocking around her like birds all giggled at his boldness, but to their surprise she stood up and took Jacopo’s hand.

Jacopo dragged her to the dancefloor forcefully, causing her to gasp, and swiftly wrapped her up in a dancing stance as the music started up again. The music was to a fast beat, and while initially Jacopo found himself leading the woman ably, as she regained her balance and composure she began to lead him. The steps weren’t too complicated, but the music sped up as they moved, forcing them to increase their tempo constantly to keep up.

After a few minutes of increasing pace Jacopo noticed the woman was actually gesturing to the band as they danced, controlling the tempo with subtle moves of her fingers. The other dancers on the floor had cleared a large space for them to move, and while the surrounding attendees had been busy engaging in conversation only a moment ago, they all began to watch Jacopo and Lys’s dance instead.

While Jacopo was doing his best to keep his hands in the proper place despite the increasingly fast movements and closeness between them, Lys had no such compunctions. Her hands caressed his side, squeezed his arms, and even navigated lower than his tail would be, had he been in his usual shape.

By the time the dance had ended he somehow found himself dipping her, his right hand high up on her outer thigh, and his left hand supporting her by the small of her back. She was glistening with sweat and panting heavily. Jacopo heaved her up with ease, he wasn’t very tired, just relieved he no longer had to keep track of the woman’s feet as they moved.

There was applause for them from the crowd, and Lysandia pressed herself into him.

“That was quite a dance Mr. De Fosse. Would you care to join me for a private drink.”

“Yes,” responded Jacopo, unconcerned with how she knew his name. Everyone seemed to know everyone at these events, which made the masks seem all the more foolish. He was thirsty from all of the effort, and being away from the other nobles would be a welcome relief. As he followed closely behind her toward the back of the chamber he could see a number of men and women whispering and pointing at them, but didn’t know what they were talking about, nor did he notice Vampa attempting to get his attention in the distance.

Lys walked him through a few hallways, and into a large and lavish bedroom. The bed was larger than any he had ever seen, Dantes on it would feel the same as he felt on Dantes’s bed when in rat form. It had an elaborate series of canopies that he imagined would be fun to climb or roost in, and the rest of the room was filled with heavily upholstered and cushioned chairs and couches.

Lys moved over to a small table out of which she pulled a decanter and two glasses, the top of her dress seemed to have come unbuttoned, likely during their dancing. She handed Jacopo a filled glass, and gently tapped her own against it, smiling at him with a twinkle in her eyes.

“To a fantastic dance.”

Jacopo didn’t respond, simply taking a long sip of the drink. It helped remove the dryness from his mouth, but with that came a powerful burning sensation. It wasn’t quite the refreshment he’d expected.

“It’s been a while since there’s been a man around here as forceful as you,” she said, circling him in a way that reminded him of a cat.

“The men here are weak,” he said simply, giving what he believed was an accurate assessment.

“Not you though, you’re very strong. Very direct too.”

“Yes.”

She lunged at him. The movement was so quick an unexpected that he found himself with his back on the bed and her body on top of him. She moved her face toward his in an attempt to bite him, but he grabbed her by the wrists and flipped her, ending up on top her.

“Oh!” she said in a tone that was very different from what he’d expected. He suddenly realized he had misread the situation and quickly sifted through Dantes’s mind to try and understand what was happening.

Dantes felt his desperation and did a quick pass on the situation. “She’s trying to mate with you,” he sent, only keeping his amusement in check by because he knew how important she could be to their plans.

“But she’s pink, like a baby, and not nearly hairy enough.”

“I’m sorry she’s not a gray skinned dwarf, but she’s not bad looking for a two-leg woman by any means. I can drive if that would make this more painless for you.”

Jacopo considered that for a moment.

“Don’t keep me waiting in anticipation any longer. I want you to ravish me,” said the woman, writhing under him.

Luckily, whatever gods were in charge of situations like this, saw fit to give him an out.

A young man burst into the room, and ran toward them.

“Milady! What are you doing?” he asked as he went to tear Jacopo off of her. The man was surprisingly strong, and nearly as large as Jacopo himself, though appeared a bit younger. Jacopo let himself be removed without fuss.

“I’m trying to bed that handsome man, and he seems just as interested in the prospect as I am.”

“I am your consort, Lysandia! That is my duty.”

“Your duty seems to be bedding the maids lately.”

“I…I..”

Jacopo began to slowly head for the door.

“YOU!” said the man, pointing at him and going closer. “You have insulted my honor as well as my lady’s. I demand satisfaction!”

Jacopo stared at him blankly.

“You wish to have what she was trying to get from me?”

“How dare you!?”

“He wants to duel you.” suggested Dantes, not even trying to keep the mirth from his tone.

“Fight him to the death?”

“Yes.”

Jacopo sighed in relief. “Oh, a duel? I can do that. Want to die here or somewhere else?”

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