I don't own anything except for my OC.

xxx

She crossed her arms across her chest and continued the battle of her dark colored eyes against his striking blue ones. "I suppose we'll just have to see about that."

The extravagantly cooked dinner and its fine crystal had already been set for the guests of honor. The dining hall was blooming with life, both undead and mortal as its inhabitants conversed loudly with each other at their seated positions. An endless amount of food and drink was being replenished atop the silk covered table, as the towering plates were adorned with both rich and extravagantly acquired cuisine.

A small group of Awakened soldiers had been invited as guard duty for the extra protection, as they remained standing on each side of the many archways leading into the large room. They had been called in for precaution for the extremely low odds that there would be another attempted assassination on some infamous person's life.

Joko had obviously still been miffed about his adviser interrupting the personal conversation he had been sharing with his healer back out in the hallway, and as a consequence, decided to seat him near the opposite end of the table away from him. He knew this would have greatly bothered his loyal little minion, as the leech had been nearly stuck to his side at any and all times.

Of course this only backfired when he learned Julianna already had an appointed seat near the same area. He was once again, stuck with the incredibly bothersome noble folk who asked him a near endless amount of questions and showered him with a near disturbing amount of praise. Even a megalomaniac such as himself could only listen to the same line of appreciation so many times before it became entirely dull and had lost its meaning.

It seemed the Prince's unknown agenda was to place the less-than orderly looking woman as far away as possible. But the round man would have chalked it up to the fact that there wasn't any possible room given he and his loyal nobles wanted to be seated near the great likeness of Palawa Joko who was sitting at the very head of the table.

Reluctantly, Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo had been at her ruler's right hand side at very least, though she wished she could have swapped places with anyone else as she had more than enough of her personal fill with the squabble of endlessly babbling nobles. She sighed loudly, not caring in the least at verbally expressing her distaste of seated location as she leaned backwards in her chair to scan the sea of heads for the familiar bob of blonde curls.

Far across the other side of the room, the healer and the lowly adviser sat right across each other as they were both sandwiched in between some random strangers that had the privilege to attending this banquet.

"Do I really have a need to be here?" Julianna asked suddenly, looking up to address the adviser sitting across from her at the finely decorated table. She hadn't much minded being seated so far away from the Scourge, as she currently still unsure about her emotions and what to think of him after her unusual encounter with him back out in the hallway.

The healer also still didn't understand what Joko's reasoning was for decidedly allowing her to participate in this supposed, last-minute dinner escapade. She had already felt incredibly out of place among the high-ranking nobles ever since leaving the desolate grounds of the Bone Palace, but it was even worse now that they were all seated within a smaller confined space and were facing one another across the table. Her tattered and dingy looking attire made her feel as though she were sticking out like a sore thumb within the rich looking crowd.

"Ah, not a big fan of the underbelly that goes on behind most politics?" Utumishi replied, rolling high his light blue eyes from her prior comment as he was displeased enough with his situation already. The last thing he wanted was to share a conversation with the burden of a pest as well, but it seemed the stars were not aligned in his favor tonight.

"No, I really can't say that I am", Julianna retorted back with a sigh as she slumped into her chair, digging her fork into her plate of steak and asparagus with sudden frustration.

"Well, it's not like you would be doing anything much else back at the Bone Palace", the balding man continued, an all-knowing look on his face as he tugged on his long goatee with a sly smirk. "Especially not trying something as foolish as escaping again, as well all know how that turned out for you."

Julianna halted in the assault on her plate and bit the inside of her cheek, fighting back the urge to snap back and cause a scene down at her side of the table. His words had stung and hit hard, even though there was an obvious truthfulness behind them, though she certainly hadn't wanted to admit to it. Her eyes moved down to her bandaged arm, staring at the wrapping as she thought of the scarab laying in wait just underneath her skin.

"I could be healing Awakened troops, or something more useful at least...", she muttered, shaking her head to look away from the physical reminder in her limb. Her other hand moved to grab her cup of graciously filled wine while she remained in her lazily seated position.

"That's what you'll be doing when we make headway into Twilight Oasis, was that not discussed with you before we set out?", Utumishi replied back with finality, sounding bored with the conversation now as he returned back to his own meal.

The woman ignored his crude comment, her eyes instead watching the deep pool of red in the cup as it was reflecting her exhausted looking face. She figured that if she wasn't already troubled by the constant memories that terrorized her on a near nightly basis, then she was instead being mentally worn down by other more pressing problems.

She briefly thought back to the last time she had consumed such similar alcohol, as her face immediately burned with the memory that it had been back within Joko's personal quarters some time ago. That had also been the time when she enacted upon a rather bold display of tenderness towards the undead ruler. Or for lack of better words, had been when she unintentionally started the so-called shared 'game' between the two of them.

Julianna let out some incomprehensible mutter about awful, self-appointed monarchs before bringing the goblet to her lips as she indulged within a rather generous gulp. If there was ever a good time to drink her feelings away, then now was certainly a great reason for it.

Grand Vizier Utumishi looked up after shoving a mouthful of food into his mouth, looking incredibly unimpressed as he observed the scene across from him of his least favorite person. Suddenly something of a great, but devious importance struck his brain as he recalled a rather particular tidbit of information from all the countless previous dinners he had attended. The adviser looked from the goblet in the woman's hand, and then to the same exact looking cup near the head of the table that was currently within Joko's own clawed grasp. The two ceramic pieces were exactly the same, as was the drink that lay within.

As far as Awakened biology went, they no longer needed the function of eating and drinking. And as such, those actions among many others could still be partaken within if one chooses to do so. As for the case of alcohol and desiring the effect to experience inebriation though, it would require a high strength amount of drink to cause a lasting impression on the user. But because the undead's bodies were practically non-functioning anymore, it meant that there was a great lack of blood to run through their weathered and worn body parts.

To combat this, most royal houses and palaces carried varying types of alcohol that held a degree of incredibly high percentage as they were custom brewed. It was always kept around for the situations in which undead guests were being entertained.

And in this case, most everyone in the room was already well aware of the stronger alcohol available, and would limit themselves responsibly.

Except for one particular, naive guest.

"Oh, something you should probably know...", Utumishi began as he watched her, but quickly stopped himself as the idea of actually being kind to the woman was absolutely ludicrous as his intention would never be there. He snapped his mouth back closed, and laced his fingers together underneath his chin as a venomous looking smile marred his face.

Julianna paused from her drink, looking over the rim of the cup to the adviser with a raised brow. "What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, you know what? Never mind me, it was hardly anything of importance anyway", he replied all-too jovial, his grin only growing wider when he saw he woman shoot a pair of narrowed eyes at him before already returning to her drink again.

The adviser was all too aware that if the little lout continued pouring back the drink like she currently was, then it was only a matter of time before it all came crashing down. And it certainly wasn't helped by the bottomless amount of overly strong drink that would be provided.

But he had no intention of letting her in on that piece of information.

xxx

As expected, the naive woman had remained blissfully unaware of the strong alcohol content behind her drink. And it wasn't until she had hit her third glass of wine that she had hit the point of no return. Of course, she hadn't realized until it was too late since she had consumed all three glasses within a very short window of about thirty minutes. And unfortunately for her, its effects had suddenly hit her all at once like a rampaging Minotaur.

Utumishi had been somewhat surprised she was able to keep going even after her first glass downed, but he dismissed it as the fact that she was probably used to drinking the deplorable rum and grog offered back in the slums of Lion's Arch. He would have been even less than surprised if he were to find out the woman probably drank and fornicated with the pirates that loitered around the sea-faring city as well. He hardly saw the woman in a good light, and hadn't planned on changing his perspective on her anytime soon.

The short, fluffy haired woman sat slumped forward in chair, a considerably sized happy grin on her face as she used her palm to keep her face propped upwards. Her exhausted, freckled face was now blotted with a pinkish hue, and her dark eyes looked glossed over.

"You know something... I really... really don't like you Utumishi", Julianna drawled, the comment sounding displeased even though the woman was smiling like a fool.

"I must say lout, the feeling is very much mutual", Utumishi hastily snapped back, raising a brow towards his drunk cohort across from him. He knew she was well beyond saving at this point as he sat back and enjoyed the impending chaos.

"I'd rather talk to... a slimy Skale than you", Julianna drawled, struggling to think of the aquatic creature as she waved her hands around. She briefly thought back to all the infected Skale bites she had tended to back when she lived in Lion's Arch, and she cursed the creatures for their habit of biting poor unsuspecting travelers and merchants.

The adviser dared to shoot another curious look down the table towards where his benevolent king was still sitting. The short man wouldn't have admitted it, given he valued his own mortal life quite dearly, but he had become incredibly amused to have seen the increasing amount of disapproving looks Joko had been shooting the woman from the front of the table. It was quite obvious that the lich had quickly caught on to her inebriated state as well, and he was keeping a visual tab on her.

Utumishi's blue eyes moved back towards the drunk across from him after analyzing the peeved undead ruler's face for a short moment, grinning from ear to ear when another new idea blossomed within in his near-balding head. He surmised he had been oh-so wrong earlier about the stars not aligning in his favor, as this couldn't have been any better for him.

"Oh, but Julianna", he mused, looking back to the woman across from him who had dropped her dinner fork on the floor and was now struggling immensely to pick it back up whilst in a fit of less-than intimidating string of curses. She had been muttering something about Skales again, even though that conversation had already long since passed.

The nobles that had been sitting around had been shooting curious looks as well to the inebriated stranger near them, but none seemed to care too much as they continued divulging into their own bouts of meaningful conversation and ignored the obnoxious scene just nearby them.

"Hmm?" she hummed aloud, banging her head on the table when she moved to sit back up after finally retrieving the fork. A loud fit of giggles escaped her mouth when she acquired the new head injury, as the pain was dulled from the supporting alcohol content in her veins.

"I have a rather, marvelous negotiation to offer you with", he began, taking a long swig from his own cup of wine. "It seems our most elegant highness is in quite the sour mood right now, and I truly think you are the only one here who can make amends to that."

Julianna swayed from side to side in her chair as the complicated-sounding words from the adviser took twice as long to process in her clouded head. She blinked, a stupidly wide smile breaching her face as she registered who the man was talking about and looked to where said lich was at the head of the table.

She leaned on her hand as she watched him from the furthered distance, or attempted to as she had completely misjudged where her awaiting limb was and the action nearly caused her to fall sideways off the chair and table.

"The poor grumpy bag of bones?" Julianna drawled, looking back to Utumishi with a glazed-over look as she righted herself back up to the best of her ability. "He'll be so mad at me though. I mean, he's already pretty mad at me for leaving, hence this stupid bug in my arm."

The two closest sitting nobles nearly spat out their drink when they overhead the last bit of that conversation.

Utumishi watched as she scratched at the bandage covering her forearm, the short man grimacing at the thought there was a living creature under her skin. He couldn't imagine being burdened with something like that for the duration of his life, but he figured it was a more than worthy consequence.

He cleared his throat and adjusted his collar before continuing. "That's why I'm suggesting you go over there and remediate it", he continued. The adviser had decided he was going to have to stoop down to her level of immaturity and bullheadedness in order to achieve any sort of progress.

"Why?" she asked back, pausing at the binding on her arm as she looked back up.

"I mean, given the couple of situations I've happened to walk in upon, I've been left to assume that there was something of a closeness between the two of you. Unless of course I was completely wrong about the matter", Utumishi countered, knowing full well that this was his ace in the hole.

"Well", the healer said, drawling out the short answer before deciding on an answer as the inner fear she felt towards the lich had been completely and momentarily subsided. "I'll just show you, and you can take those words... and shove them way up where the sun doesn't shine."

With that final comment, the woman clumsily pushed herself out from the chair as she attempted to stand on her own. It proved to be more of a challenge than she thought, as she had to grip the backing of her own chair to steady herself.

Across the table, a keen pair of dark blue eyes had been watching the entire situation from afar, and they were growing darker with rage at each passing moment.

"My king, are you aware of the situation happening with our healer at the other end of the dinner table?" Wurmmarshal Ekolo whispered, her eyes looking back towards where a very drunk Julianna Fyre could be seen. The Awakened marshal's attachment to the woman had her slightly fearing what was going to potentially happen, as she knew nothing could bode well for the unruly behavior.

"Very much so...", Joko replied simply, his voice laced with clear annoyance in his tone. He tapped a pointed finger upon the table in agitation as he watched on.

"Do you wish for me to intervene?" Ekolo asked after a short pause. Part of her hoped she could be given the go ahead to deal with the problem herself, as she could feel her ruler's impatient wrath. He was like a coiled snake, ready to strike at any given moment.

"No", Joko answered, finally rising from his chair with an impassive look on his face as he decided upon a choice. "I'll go deal with our little problem myself."