>>5342058---LAOC---
Carter was not a happy camper. Given the miserable lot that he drew in his pre-Crucible life, he could say that his current life in the Crucible-era was better by a wider margin. And yet he couldn't help but feel the luck he had in his pre-crucible days haunted him like a ghost. His adventures kept on putting him through what appeared to be a constant sine wave of crushing misfortune followed by miracles that pull him out of the frying pan before dumping him straight into another dumpster fire of bad luck.
His core: shut down, his cute companions: locked up in his hive and in torpor, his reputation: dragged through literal shit on the skinternet while he's been made a wanted criminal, and his current status: handcuffed to the Judge/warden across the table at a market cafe in Laoc and treated like some exotic pet by passerbys.
Carter quietly cursed at whatever cosmic god there existed out in the universe for putting him into this predicament. Would it not kill them to send him on a quiet stress-free adventure?
The only saving grace was that all the attention that was being magnetically drawn towards him was deflected by the intimidating aura of the woman sitting right next to him, but even that has a silver lining.
Ever since the fiasco at Cradleton and the...aftermath of the riot, he couldn't help but start viewing Daughters in a different light. Were it not for the sensual lessons of a certain woman, he would never have begun to come around to respect and appreciate the subtleties of what made women so attractive to men as he began to focus his gaze on the woman named 'Sathriel' before him with an appraising eye.
For one, Sathriel was an utter consummate professional when it came to her self-appointed role as a Judge. She didn't even bother to make small talk to pass the time except scrolling through that black slate of hers in a language he can't read while sipping tea and intentionally ignoring him. An activity which ironically irked him. He was used to being talked or teased about by everyone else he had the fortune and misfortune of interacting with in the Crucible, and he always took comfort in the rare moments he was allowed to fade into the background, but this was just absurd even for him! The one time he wants to make small talk of his own volition and he gets the cold shoulder!
And yet, Carter somehow found Sathriel to be quite beautiful, handsome even. It wasn't merely because of the woman's Vitruvian trait, the was way Sathriel carried herself with a stoic demeanor, and the flashes of humanity and kindness she would show in the briefest of smiles.
The sound of approaching footsteps broke Carter's quiet reverie and drew Sathriel's attention towards the approaching woman, who was just as beautiful as Sathriel but dressed in a robe of flowing scarlet and rainbow fibers. A contrast to Sathriel's Black and Gold attire.
cont.
