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Only slightly away from the Snow Palace at Holdine Strane lives the nobles of the court. Those who do not have or even some that do have areas they are in charge of find refuge from the rural life here. Court life and intrigue abound. It is here that nobles young and old, rich or poor have townhomes that allow them to be near court.

He didn't know how much longer he could cling to this damned thing for. There was frequent jarring, which didn't do much good for his ever-weakening grip. Plus he was just getting bored.

Luckily, there was a hatch right next to his face. And a pothole sent his forehead slamming right against that hatch.

"OW, b***h!"

The three card playing coats on the other side of the steel heard a thud against the hatch.

"Excuse me..."

The petite woman pushed past a few servants wondering what was going on. She shielded her eyes and looked up at the procession. "Interesting...." A few people looked at her strange dress, but no one of the servants would recongize a Companions honor dress unless they were from her home country. It wasn't poofy like a formal gown, but draped her body seductively, showing off every curve. Her hair wasn't done up properly but falling in softe tendrils down her back. On her feet were something that appeared to be sandals. She looked far too coolly dressed for up north, but then again, Companions didn't usually go out walking on the streets. There was one slit on the side of the dress, going clear up to her hip that revealed the butterfly tattoo. Good thing the public was watching the parade and not her, since it was almost grounds for indecent exposure in this day and age.

"Pardon..." As she stepped out into the street, only to see yet more soldiers...The question was whether to make a run for it or not. She needed to hurry...There was a break before the purple wrapped 'thing'. But she had enough noble know how to avoid that, and tried to blend in with the crowd for the moment, even though even as small as she was, there was no way she would ever blend into a crowd.

"I swear to god, someone's knocking on the hatch. I'm gonna check it man." The off duty coat muttered.

"Just don't ******** up the cards, I want to rub this game in your face somemore." He said as the third one backed him up with another laugh.

"Yuck it up." One continued to mumble as he crawled under the table. With a few turns of the hatch wheel, there was a suddenly an opening in the ground... And a young boy was looking at him.

"The ******** are you?"

~-------------------------~

The woman in the dress would soon be rammed into by a man trying to follow the parade. He wore a strange coat, black leather down to his knees and strange red trim. The coat sleeves only went to his elbows, revealing a white dress shirt below. Under the coat he was similarly monochrome, wearing a black vest, tie and pair of pants. The only colour on him was the crimson markings on the coat.

"I'm so sorry miss."

When he turned around to apologise, the colourless theme continued. His hair was white, not badass silver, but old lady white. It was almost as if someone had sucked the colour out of it. It was neatly trimmed to a medium-short style, with slightly longer bangs desperately holding on behind his ears. One side had lost it's grip while he ran, falling just above his similarly grey eyes.

He couldn't be more than 25, but the bags under his eyes screamed someone much older. Though there was still something about him that didn't scream the same repulsion you would feel at a old young man.

"So very sorry." He went back to running after the parade.

It was big. It was loud. Alci had to stop a minute to see what was going on. Sides, they were far enough off from the Zima house that likely no one would notice them.

"Hold on, I want to check out what's happening," she said to Nicholai, leaving him behind for only a moment to weave through the crowd. She had an ability similar to Owle's of being able to sense people's minds...though it was far, far more limited in range than Owle's was. She had no fear that she wouldn't be able to find the boy again.

Course, Alci couldn't have guessed that Mistress Zima was somewhere in the vicinity, also watching the parade. No telling whether or not they'd run into each other, or if they were even near enough to run into each other.

-------

Dimi wasn't the only one looking to grab someone. The Infernal known only as Bones was also stalking the parade...sort of. The red haired, casually dressed woman was weaving through the crowd like a drunk kid on a sugar high, her skeletal wings twitching behind her, whacking the people she passed. Her eyes were a deeper red, a sure sign for anyone who knew her that she'd been eating those weird herbs of hers again. As though anyone needed the extra sign with her behavior.

"I like you!!!"

The exclamation was the only warning Dimitra would have before Bones was on top of her, throwing her arms around the small Companion in an affectionate embrace, even as Dimitra held the mysterious man. Bones attempted to give Dimitra a sloppy kiss on top of it all.

"Your dress is pretty...and you're pretty...you're missing something and you haven't even noticed..." All this in a singsong voice.

"Leave your boyfriend behind and let's run off together!" Bones finished dramatically, attempting to drag the smaller woman away from the man she was holding.

And Bones...screamed, fell down on her back, and started writhing about on the floor in pain. Flailing her arms, legs, and wings about dramatically while yelling her head off. After a moment, she was still...

Only to start yelling and flailing again the moment someone went to investigate the body.

Dimitra didn't stop and look back. In that manner she was ruthless. However, the commotion had attracted several witnesses, but they were more in awe of her dress then of her actions. Finally, an upper servant noticed the butterfly on her hip.

"It's a Companion!" The shout went up in the street, and Dimitra cringed. "Oh ********..." Slowly, she began to walk away. At least her arm was better after finally finding that potion. But their topic of interest in her was what was most strange.

"Is it true that the Imperialist are coming back?"

"I heard they were opening up the Winter Palace."

"My cousin got hired for the cleaning crew."

"I saw the purple!"

"And a Companion. The courts must be coming back. A coin in every pocket! Bread in every stomach. Oh, what a rich time!"

"Oh ********..." That was the only thing on Dimitra's mind. She backed away into an alley. She needed to get away from here and how. Once the crowd went back to watching the parade, Dimitra sighed a breath of relief. And then a man was behind her, leaning over her shoulder.

"Hello Diamond..."

And a sack was thrown over her head and she was thrown over someone's shoulders. Too shocked to scream even while they jostled her and ran down the street, thankful the troops were going in the other direction.