No Greater Taint Than Grace

[Alita Tress]

The air was cool and crisp in the Treno night, and the sky was starless as ever. The city streets was lit by the dull glow of many torches along ots cold stone walls. But it is not the streets where this chapter in life takes place, it is higher than that.

She clambered over teh rooftops with a surprising amount of ease, leaving the cried of "Come back Alita" far behind her. The initial climbing of walls had been hard, but once she was on the rooftops they flew under her feet like they had been made for her, formed specifically to the groves of her dainty feet.

She grinned manically as the gust of wind pulled at her hair, drawing it loose from its braid and setting it free to whip about her face. She laughed aloud as she jumped the gap between one roof and another.

She felt so alive.

She felt free.

Her usual flowing gowns and skirts had been replaced this evening with knee high boots made of soft leather, soft black leggings and a sleeveless cotten shift of a faded red colour. It felt better against her skin than any silk ever could.

She glided over rooftops, heading out of the noble area and towards the patchy thatch roofing of the slums. However, fate was not to let her arrive at her destination that night. In her arrogance, Alita did not check her footing and found herself falling sideways. She clawed around for something to grab, but her hands found nothing.

She crashed through a wekness in one of the buildings lower roofs. Curling herslef up to try and releive any damage she may cause herself.

[Faiz]

Faiz was sitting in his rather large library reading on of his many books. They were more like tomes really but the distinction mattered not to him. This one held the known history of Treno and he was about a quarter of the way through it. he would have read faster had he not needed these darn reading glasses. Still, they apparently made him look even more attractive. According to his house keeper Meena.

He loved his library. Since the city was perpetually stuck in night time he had created a small garden outside the library where special lights mimiced the sun for the plants. It went off when the sun - had it been there - went down. He had planted it himself and it always gave him peace to see the sprawling gardens at the back of his property. Since he was one of the most wealthy people in Treno his properties were along the edge of the city and his yard ended when it hit the city wall. The library itself was an extremly large affair with several floors, a hollow middle, thousands of books, several tables and chairs which acted as research stations and his little nook by the fireplace. It held a group of extremely comfortable chairs and a rug for Nix, his dog.

Currently Nix was layign at her master's feet snoozing as he read. It was a well established pattern for him and the border collie. She had always seemed to be slightly lethargic instead of high energy which had at first disturbed him. Nothing was wrong with her however, she was simply different and strayed from breed standard. He would much rather have her this way though, suited him so much more than a hyper animal.

He was carefully turning the page of the old book when there was a small creak in the roof. Curious Faiz looked up in time to see something fall right through and come crashing to the ground. Quickly he looked at Nix. She was interested with her head up and watchign the pile but not ovelry concerned. Nix was always right in these things. Faiz simply looked over at the pile that was only a few feet from him and studied it. It looked like it was a girl. On his roof? How odd. He slid the glasses down his nose a bit with his finger and looked over them at the girl, waiting for her to stand.

[Alita Tress]

Alita groaned and carefully propped herself up into a sitting position, bits of ceiling falling off her as she did. She blinked the fuzzyness from her vision and looked around, she appeared to be in a library, strange as far as she knew she had still been in the residential part of Treno. She cast her eyes farther, and they fell on a young man sitting in a rather comfy looking chair, and his dog.

It occured to her then, that perhaps she wasin the residential part of town. Oh dear....

Being careful not to make any overly exertful movements (She had just fallen through the celing after all) she stood up and brushed dust from her leggins. "My apologies." She said, using the same formal idiolect she did when speaking to any noble "You appear to have a weak area in your roofing. It would have give n your books havoc in the rainy season." She flipped her head sending her flaxen locks to shimmer down her back.

Alita studied the young man before her, the library itself was proof that he was a man of means, its expansiveness ruled out the possibility of him being new money, so he must be of one of the old families. He had a hard face, with sharp features and unreadable eyes, but the hound at his feet suggested a warmer side to him that his general appearance.

[Faiz]

Faiz rook the glasses off entirely and carefully closed the book her was reading. Eyes remaining on the girl he put the book on the small table beside him and set his glasses on top of the book. Nix looked up at him, asking if she could go say hi. He waved her over and up she went. He watched her wiggle and basically plead for pets for a moment before speaking.

“I was aware that there was a weak spot. It was to be fixed tomorrow...a good thing I suppose.” Although it would cost more now. Not that it really mattered.

Faiz stood and looked out through the hole in the roof. It was actually quite impressive considering such a slip of a girl had fallen through. His eyes went back to her and he considered her. What did one do with a girl who had fallen through your roof? He was quite sure that etiquette did not cover this situation. A most grievous error. So he thought about what kinds of people would travel along the roof. Usually it would be someone up to no good. So did he call the police? He was loathe to since she looked innocent enough. She was polite as well and he had the clear feeling that she had had no intention of falling through his roof. Making a decision from years of doing such things he spoke.

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

[Alita Tress]

Alita crouched as the dog padded over to her, a dopey grin coming over her face. She loved animals, they were so much better than people, they were loyal. "Hey there, whats your name pretty?" She cronned, scratching the border collie behind its ear.

It would appear that she was completely ignoring Faiz, mesmerised by the bundle of furr before her. Would, if she had not answered him. "I'd love one" she said, not taking her eyes off the dog "does she have a name?"

[Oliver Lucraft]

Ah, Treno, the dishevelled land of no social mobility and the truest displays of human rot. How beautiful was it's fur lined people, with coats of silk and gold literally tripping over the drunkard in the street. Oh, he was sounding awfully sarcastic or satirical, no, no, he actually liked the divide. It was far easier to pick which side you fitted into rather than that fuddy-duddy grey middle class that so infested Alexandria and Lindblum.

Those poor bastard got everything they deserved, there was absolutely no need to feel pity and molly-coddle them. They would never learn that way. The proper thing to do was let them fight the world and rise like heroes from the mirth; he knew people, it could be done. Well, he knew one person, Edgar Handson, a lovely man who was nimble with his fingers and had a little help financially because his father was in comparison fairly well off and well... It was still their fault for being in poverty.

He flicked his hair, the curl on his head bobbing. He'd forgotten his top-hat yet again. Oh, it made his heart sink and send a thousands suns into the vanquished oblivion. He could feel the pulse of all the screaming souls, empathising at how the end of the world was coming. He chuckled a little, his melodramas always lightening his heart, just a little. Still, it would never patch over the shame, oh the shame of forgetting his hat.

Flicking his tail and nodding towards one of the fatter nobles, he pulled out a letter from his pocket. Scanning down the list of noblemen, he nodded in recognition of Arias. Ah yes, strange name that family, delightfully foreign with a tongue he almost certainly didn't speak. Not quite Harris but not quite Fabool, he liked it, it had a sense of flare.

And, looking around the generic hordes of peacocks and penguins, pigs in suits and bloated humans in velvets, you really needed a sense of flare to stand out here.

Reaching the address he had scribbled hurriedly on the crumpled paper, he raised a hand, rapping the door twice in quick succession. He quickly prepped himself, brushing dust off his suit and adjusting his cravat.

[Faiz]

Faiz watched the girl play with and pet his dog as he rang for some tea. When that was done he went and crouched beside her, reaching out to scratch Nix behind her ears. Unknowingly Faiz agreed with her point of view on animals, they either loved you or they didn’t. Nix loved him and was probably the only one to ever show him the emotion untainted. Sure his parents had loved him, but they also had loved the part that they wanted to create. Which was fine – it was human. But he preferred Nix’s love, free and unconditional.

“Yes, she has a name. I don’t normally give it out, but since she has taken such a liking to you I’ll make an exception.” The dog in question yipped and wriggled so that her belly was in the air waiting to be petted. “Her name is Nix.”

Goddess of the night sky. He had net her in the streets of Treno and she had been watching over him ever since. A flash of sadness went through his eyes before he pushed it aside and stood. Nix was getting old. She had more than a few years left in her certainly, but he tended to see the end of things before the beginning.

Faiz looked up at the knock on the front door and Nix leapt up and lowered her head, her hackles raised. He knew her signs by now and waved her to stay. Nix being like that meant the person on the other side of the door was nervous. Fortunately the front door wasn’t hideously far away as his butler was on vacation, and he was far too lazy tonight to answer a far away door. He turned to his other guest.

“Please excuse me for a moment. Should the tea arrive before I return then please have a cup. Nix here will keep you safe.” And keep her from leaving. Nix straightened and woofed happily. She loved tea and play time. He turned to leave and spoke over his shoulder. “Perhaps you can tell me your name and why you were on my roof when I return.” Quickly he went to the door and opened it. He used his body to block the way in and had his right hand resting lightly on the hidden katana he kept by the door. He looked his guest over with a critical eye and, finding that he didn’t know him stood there. Slowly his eyebrow raised in question. Why was this man at his door?

[Alita Tress]

Alita stared after Faiz, wondering what kind of person this man would be. This man who sat with his dog in a great library, rather than going out and making what Alita could only describe as a torture like no other: Small talk.

Nix pawed at her leg and Alita snapped out of her thoughts and continued petting the dog. "How about you show me what books your master has, eh girl?" Alita said to the border collie with a chuckle as the dog licked her face and bound off in the direction of one of the lines of shelves.

Alita followed the dog as it trotted down on of the great bookcases and around its corner until she came to a dimly lit crook, the books here looked as if they were read more often than the others, as many had been taken from the shelves and piled up together on the arm of a comfy looking chintz chair, where Nix was currently sitting, panting.

Alita couldn't help but smile, compared to the rows and rows of books, lined up like soldiers with spit shined boots, this seemed much more intimate a place. She ran her finger along the tomes nearest her and read their titles. Gulliver's Tales, Alice In Wonderland, I Want To Be Your Canary. Fiction to lose yourself in.

Alita curled up on the large chair beside Nix, who licked her cheek once then lay her head down on Alita's lap. Taking the first book on top of the pile beside the armchair, she traced her fingertip over the title on the cover.

"The Taint of Grace"

The title stirred something within her, her lips soundlessly forming the words. Grace, something she had been accused of never having.

Nobility and grace came hand in hand, it was in the way a lady held herself, the way her words rolled off her tongue, the clothes she wore, and the way she painted her face.

Alita had always felt like some kind of sacrifice when her mother plastered her in bright colours and dress in extravagant gowns, made her walk with a book on her head or any other of the silly things she was forced to do. But there was no deity to please, no death at the end of that torture, only a sense of entrapment.

And now that she thought about it, there truly was no greater taint than grace.

In the brief moment that she hesitated to open the book, Nix barked and leapt from the chair, to trot back the way they'd come. No doubt hearing her masters footsteps. Alita placed the book back on its pile and and walked briskly after the dog, pausing only a second at the corner to glance at the book on its pile. She wondered what words were woven in its pages, but knew that she was probably being very rude to wander around his library as it was.

[Oliver Lucraft]

Who did that young master Arias think he was? How dare he not even say a word to him? All he had received was but the raise of an accusing eyebrow. Had his father taught him no manners? Well, he supposed not, since he was dead.

A slightly triumphant smirk overcame his features. Okay, yes, his father was dead too, but he had died at a good old age of natural causes, and at a time when the money he inherited was far more important than the emotional stability he gained from some old coot. It was actually quite the fashion that fathers be dying around this time; he had noticed a number of his friend's wallets swelling significantly in the past couple of years. Strange fashion that, he wondered when the mother's death would become the new trend?

Oh god, he was going off subject again. He was always being scolded for it, bah. Sticking out his hand, he grabbed Faiz's, shaking it vigorously with a strong and soft grip that would move millions. If only he had two million hands to shake those million's, ah well, not everyone could have the pleasure of his grace.

"Mister Arias. Faiz, it's been a long time. I remember you when you where just a child. I was a good friend of your fathers. Such a terrible shame what happened to him, but he died a noble death."[/b]

He raised his hand and brushed it through his hair, ears suddenly swivelling forwards and a look of nervousness flushing across his face. Dogs, there was a dog barking. A swirl of sickness crept into his stomach, and he swallowed hard, pushing back his foolish fear.

"I have something of urgency I wish to discuss with you. It was a matter that was central to your fathers heart, something I am more than certain he would one day want to know his son to know about."[/b]

He brushed his hair again, flashing his teeth in a smile quickly, "It's awfully chilly out here, shall we discuss this inside?"[/b] Then, suddenly realizing how rude he was being, "Oh, and, I am Oliver Lucraft, chancellor of the exchequer to Queen Garnet til Alexandros XIV."[/b] Oh god, he loved the sound of that title. The very sound of it seemed to bloat his arrogance and his ego, causing his back to straighten further and his head to raise ever so slightly. Status was everything, after all.