The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[Claudia Emerison]

"I--" Claudia cuts herself short, looking down at her book with a frown. "I can't possibly understand. How could I? Whatever else, I always knew Estelle didn't-- I can't grant asylum to V-- to someone's wife who doesn't exist anymore. And would be killed, eventually, by most definitions, if she did exist. Not even the Matriarch could... make someone that isn't real exist, err, whatever." She pauses there, then offers, "but it doesn't... Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be asylum, right?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I just need entry." Now her tone softens further, signaling to Zevran that she's made a switch, though she tries to keep a bit of an edge to it, to hold the transition to be seamless. "I'm willing to... negotiate. To take a position beneath mine, though not so far as to make me vulnerable." Not a maid or a whore, but I'm willing to work for it. Just... on my feet, please. Not my back. Never again.

[Claudia Emerison]

"Good, that... that helps," Claudia says, nodding. "What can you offer? Skills or talents or... whatever else? And your male as well," she adds as an obvious afterthought.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"My male is skilled in dance, etiquette, and seduction. He is also capable as a bodyguard and skilled at thievery. I am skilled in the arts of costumery, make-up, and performance. I have skill in running a household and managing servants, in horseback riding and gardening." After a hesitant pause, she adds, "my male and I are both... skilled in the arts of... the pleasure arts."

[Claudia Emerison]

Claudia's eyes dart to Zevran and a faint blush forms. Zevran smiles warmly, sensual lips curving invitingly, and her blush ignites across her cheeks and down her chest. "R-R-Really?" She clears here throat. "That's, umm, good. Yes, those are good skills. Umm. Any magic or, uh, alchemical, chemical, or engineering skills?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I am quite good at activating magical items and using alchemical weapons, and I have some training in ritualized magic, but otherwise no. I was born in Glaley, you see."

[Zevran]

The perplexed look that briefly shows suggests that no, she does not see. The sylph leans down and murmurs something, which gets a slight nod. "And you?" she asks distractedly, her blush still lingering as she addresses Zevran directly. Not quite an offensive, but a bit forward-- or dismissive-- of her.

"I've no true spellcasting or any education in the fields you mentioned aside from basic toxicology and first aid training. I know the long-form for a handful of sex-magics such as the common short-term sterility curse and a detection spell for sexually transmittable diseases. And the tattoos my ex-master-- Varisia purchased me, supposedly to free me-- oh-so generously graced me with protect me from most divinations and detection spells in addition to allowing me to temporarily imbue weapons with a small range of enchantments."

"Oh. Uh. That's kind of a lot, I think?"

Eyes narrowing, the tiefling says gruffly, "bodyguard? Sounds more like the opposite."

[Coquette Blacquin]

Coquette spreads her hands apart, palms up. "I cannot speak to what his former master used him for, but Zevran has never killed on my orders. He is my bodyguard, in place of my recently-- recently deceased former guard."

[NPCs]

In clear unconcern of drow culture, Zevran steps forward and slips his arms around his wife from behind, palms resting on her stomach. Claudia starts to say some, then frowns, then blushes again, this time with a somewhat softer look in her eyes. "So yes, he's an assassin," the teifling growls, a sickly green skein of threads growing down his arm.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Is that something you need?" asks Coquette, eyes bright and innocent -- and focused entirely on Claudia, as if to silently rebuke her for letting her servant get out from under her control. 

[Claudia Emerison]

"No, we've plenty of those I'm sure," Claudia says with an eyeroll, a gesture that makes it clear that while the merikos gnome is fully an adult, she hasn't been for half as long as Coquette has. "Pax, Lo'quin, pax; she's hidden and dodged, but no outright lie has she spoken here. Besides..." She hesitates, glancing from Zevran to Coquette. "May I speak with your male directly?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"You may, but only politely. I do not wish to see him riled up or angered. We are still fairly newly wedded." 

[Zevran]

"Grr. Yip. Protective bark," Zevran murmurs over her shoulder, just loud enough for Claudia to hear.

Claudia's snorted giggle fit is far more audible however, even after she slaps a hand over her mouth.

[Coquette Blacquin]

She swats him playfully, pushing his hands off her stomach. "Alright, settle down, you. Bad boy." She almost, almost, adds 'no biscuit,' but at the last second she chickens out. 

[Claudia Emerison]

Zevran offers a throaty whimper but releases her readily. "You wished to ask me something, Lady Emerison?" he prompts the still giggling merikos gnome.

"Right, yes." She coughs, clearing her throat to push down her mirth and nods firmly. "Is Lo'quin correct? Are you-- were you-- an assassin?"

"A very good one," Zevran confirms with neither pride nor shame in his voice. "Primarily through integration in my target's life rather than infiltration. I am skilled at sneaking and locks and such but I excelled at being invited in."

"...kind of like this?" Claudia points out a little shrilly, though she's trying to come off as cool and collected.