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 Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:13 pm
The opportunity to visit the great Galilean moon was treated as a once-in-a-lifetime invitation. Ganymede had recently awoken, or so the news was, and word traveled quickly to the tiny moon of Kallichore. Sibyl was alerted to the idea of traveling to the great moon by the council very soon after and was quickly ushered to prepare for departure. Ganymede was known to be very ornate, very outwardly impressive. They had all the gold and gems and jewels and more. No one on the moon could even comprehend the wealth that Ganymede possessed. Would she impress? Would she be frowned upon for not dressing the part?
Sibyl sat in her small room in the castle, fretting over which dress to wear. All of Kallichore could not produce something she thought the people of the largets moon in their system would appreciate. All her garments were simple, as were the rest of the population. They simply did not have the resources or technology for especially intricate designs and ornate dressings. One of the old men of the council came in, clucked at her and went away, signalling she should be ready soon. Sighing, Sibyl picked up a dress of bright red which clung to her neck and shoulders. The red was one of the colors of the planet, so what better way to introduce herself? An equally bright shawl clasped with a small metal brooch hung about her shoulders. Sibyl's deep green hair was done up by one of the young girls who worked in the Archives, tresses piled up on the senshi's head and bound with a small burst of native flowers.
Surely this would be enough, wouldn't it?
Sibyl had no makeup to speak of - neither did the rest of the moon, but her tattoos about her eyes were a symbol of how far she had come. Red-brown swirls like lattice arced from the corners of her eyes out to her hairline. Upon her rudimentary vanity lay a large bouquet of flowers picked from her own gardens, wrapped in vine and sinew and paper as a gift for the new Ganymede. The young woman smiled upon it and cradled it like she would a child.
Now the journey would truly begin.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The journey to Ganymede was a long one, but not at all unpleasant. Sibyl waited anxiously for the carriage to arrive at the castle. Everyone was so pleasant on Ganymede and there was so much to see! So much gold, so many sparkling jewels... the senshi of Kallichore was distracted by all the things there were to look at. The inside of the carriage was impressive, the dress of the natives was utterly amazing... When the carriage finally stopped, Sibyl was jolted out of her thoughts concerning how many gems someone could fit onto a dress while still being able to walk.
Tidying herself up, the carriage door opened and a wash of color exploded in Sibyl's orange eyes. Daintly she stepped out and heard a gasp. This man in front of her must have been the... oh, what was it? The chancellor? The servants who helped her out of the carriage seemed alarmed as well though Sibyl could not understand why.
Was it bad manners to arrive barefoot?
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:25 pm
Bad manners? Perhaps.
Highly unsanitary? Indeed.
The Lord Chancellor did his very best not to look as if he’d smelled something utterly revolting the moment this woman set foot from the crriage, but his expression appeared somewhat strained as he stared at the woman who must obviously be the senshi from Kallichore. Being that Kallichore itself was such a small moon in comparison, the Lord Chancellor hadn’t truly been expecting much to begin with, but then it would have been rude to admit as much. Unimpressive the Kallichorans might be to a man and to a people who were used to such opulence, but peace within the Jovian system was still foremost on the Lord Chancellor’s agenda.
It wouldn’t do to appear too insulting.
“My lady,” the Lord Chancellor greeted her with the shallowest of bows—she was a senshi, not matter where she he came from or whatever she looked like; she was deserving at least of that small bit of respect. Regardless, he hoped his voice didn’t sound as artificial as he thought it did. “I am Lord Albert Berengar, Lord Chancellor. I am afraid His Majesty the King is currently absent from the palace, but he wishes me to welcome you to Ganymede in his stead. I also regret to inform you that-”
“Wait!” another voice called, high and quiet with distance, but it drew closer and clearer with a series of ‘tap, tap, tap’s from a pair of heeled shoes.
Another figure approached, slight and blond and somewhat disheveled from activity. He wore a white jacket with red and black accents, with black pants and matching boots, his gold cords and medallions hastily fastened in place. His fair hair was similarly unkempt, a few strands falling out of the bejeweled plait it had been styled into earlier that day, clinging to his flushed cheeks and curling around his face, somewhat damp with sweat.
“Wait, wait, wait, I’m here!” he said, skidding to a halt beside the Lord Chancellor, a bit out of breath but smiling brightly at their guest all the same.
“My Lady,” the Lord Chancellor tried again. Something of an annoyed tick had developed in one of his eyebrows, and his smile appeared even more strained than before. He gripped his walking stick tightly between his hands. “May I introduce Sailor Ganymede. Ganymede,” he said, somewhat firmly, “our guest, Sailor-”
“Kallichore, I know,” Liesel interrupted. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you!”
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:46 pm
The man before her was quite kind, Sibyl thought. Or quite rigid. The people of Ganymede were the complete opposite of her people - they were opulent and splendid and very, very strict in their movement and dress. Their dresses and hats glittered and sparkled like a cloak of stars on each and every person. How did they move around when their clothes seemed so tight? The people here must be very muscular indeed! "Why thank you, Albert of the Berengar family. You have your mother's charm and your father's wits. You bring your family great pride." Sibyl tittered happily to the chancellor. "I hope the great king is well and his lady, the queen. She will have a bounty of health and happiness in the coming year." The tapping of heels caused the visiting senshi to turn with bright eyes landing on a young man not much shorter than she. He was dressed wonderfully like all the people of Ganymede and the chancellor introduced him as senshi himself. Sibyl tried to contain her excitement. It was rare that she could visit such a large and lovely moon. Usually she was relegated to negotiations and visits with smaller moons - neighbors and the like. Not that she minded. But this? This was like a small town girl visiting the big city for the first time. And Sibyl stuck out like a sore thumb. A barefoot sore thumb. Pushing that all aside, she bowed deeply to Ganymede and presented him with a huge bouquet bursting with color she had brought all the way from her tiny moon. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Ganymede. My council told me as much as they could about you and your splendid moon but their words do not do it justice. It is like a sea of sparkling gems!" Orange eyes traced Ganymede's elaborate outfit and then the castle behind him. "Your moon is filled with such interesting things, and your carriage is quite lovely. I hope I get to see more of it!" She turned and gave a bow to the chancellor. "Everyone here is so very pleasant."
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:08 am
Liesel tried not to laugh at the look on the Lord Chancellor’s face. Luckily, he was able to hide his amusement behind the bouquet of flowers he was given, pressing his nose into them to inhale their scent and disguise the quiet chuckling he didn’t quite manage to restrain.
The Lord Chancellor did not look pleased. He didn’t look especially put out, either, but he was obviously not as comfortable with this visit as he might have been if their guest had been someone more… cultured, Liesel supposed was the correct term—at least in relation to things and people on Ganymede. The Lord Chancellor certainly didn’t seem insulted quite yet, not like he had when Valhalla had visited, but then it wasn’t that hard to insult such a stodgy man, so that could very well come quite soon.
“Please, do come in,” Liesel said brightly, ushering the senshi from Kallichore forward with a sweep of one of his arms.
Indeed, the castle stood behind him, spread out over numerous acres of land, not quite the high structure with turrets and towers one might expect to see on other worlds, but it was glamorous in its own right—the most glamorous place Liesel had ever seen, actually, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to travel far and wide yet. In some ways he could understand how out of place Sailor Kallichore might feel. He didn’t come from such a small moon, but his life before coming to the capital had been spent in the countryside, where things were quite a bit less sumptuous.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here as soon as you arrived,” he apologized, moving to lead Kallichore toward the entrance to the palace. “They only told me you were coming yesterday,” he explained, without any mention of who ‘they’ were, but the quick glance he shot at the Lord Chancellor seemed to imply that it was people of his ilk. “And I was stuck in lessons all morning. I still have lessons even now that I’ve made my debut. And then I went riding before I heard you were here and I rushed back as fast as I could!”
The tick that had developed in the Lord Chancellor’s brow continued, and he nudged Liesel in the back with the jeweled top of his walking stick, but Liesel kept going as if he hadn’t been interrupted at all.
“Would you like something to eat?” he asked. “Or other refreshments? It must have been a long journey. Are you not tired? I can have someone show you to your rooms. Or if you’d like a tour of the palace, I’d be delighted to join you. I’m still getting used to the rest of it. I was only ever allowed in certain parts of it before.”
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