Only a few people really have anything I can provide a direct reply to, so I'll cover those before going through the general list of thank-yous, all in no particular order...
It's good to see you again, WD! T-sama seems to accept a desire to send dark chocolate in the place of the real substance. (During this time of the year, that's probably for the best.) Meanwhile, I'll just continue to wonder how this manages to be a sweet story.
PixieChalk, you probably have no idea how happy I am to see somebody say this is smoothly written. You would be best off contacting me via AIM to get any unpostable chapters from me directly. I'm not sure yet if I be also posting Blue Lotus anywhere that allows lemons.
Thank you for the dark chocolate and the interesting review, Small Lady! I'll be happy to continue... I hope I manage to continue to keep you from feeling like bashing Amelia. I don't know if I can continue to keep Zelgadiss sexy, though. He seems the type to go into shock if anybody suggests to him that he's being sexy, even though he certainly does seem to try to be sexy (and quite successfully, too) a few times in the anime!
Lauren-sama, you ask a lot of questions. I think that, though, the first question should be if Zelgadiss has any idea what he really wants in the first place. Don't expect any of your questions to be answered in a certain way anytime soon. Thank you for the good wishes!
Now to cover the rest of you quickly... Blue Quartz, Cookie, and particularly la, I hope this is soon enough for you. Alea Seikou, thank you for the support & your interest! destructive sorceress, that's particularly interesting considering I've not gotten to see Moulin Rouge (yet). Drake, that was my dark chocolate! Tenniyo, thank you for the dark chocolate -- and for being the first reviewer of story!
Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own it; they and a lot of other people do. I'm not making any profit off of this story.
By Ryo Hoshi
Chapter 2 First Impressions (2)
Amelia watched as her customer walked towards her, too frightened by both his appearance and his expression to move. He seemed to realize that as he got close enough to touch her, as his eyes darkened and he turned to leave. Amelia realized that this wasn't good at all; if he left now, she'd probably end up losing what she had been so lucky to get and end up among the regular girls once her virginity was resold.
"I'm sorry, sir!" She grabbed his sleeve carefully, in case he might react forcefully to her trying to keep him there. "I wasn't expecting you to look so strange. Please don't go!"
He turned, his expression unreadable, and Amelia had to force herself to not back off. She had to convince him to at least give her a second chance, and if she continued to let her fear of his appearance control her so much she'd never succeed.
Still, he did look scary. His blue skin, with its strange look and occasional grey bumps, wasn't like anything she had seen before, even among the mazoku and dragons she had sometimes met back before she had been sold. His hair wasn't as unusual, as she had seen a few people with silvery hair before, though not with the same kind of metallic shine. Still, her mother had always said, 'Don't judge a book by its cover,' so she shouldn't have assumed anything about him simply from his appearance.
"Please...please, sir, I don't want to lose this job... Just give me a chance, please, I'm sorry I wasn't more polite..." she pled as he reached to detach her from his sleeve.
He paused as his hand closed on hers, apparently having just noticed her expression. He sighed and let go of her hand. "Alright. I will..." he said, clearly reluctant.
Zelgadiss cursed himself as he watched the girl take another sip of champagne. It was bad enough that he had given in to Daisy's begging. He wasn't sure which was worse of what happened after that, that she had turned out to be a virgin or that he had almost slipped a hand into her panties by the time he had thought to ask her how much experience she possessed.
When he realized that she might beg him some more once she realized how uncomfortable the idea of taking her virginity made him feel, he decided to distract her by teaching her how to serve champagne properly. Zelgadiss found it somewhat strange that she had quite good manners, but not the good manners of a high-class courtesan. He had heard the stories about families of good breeding but bad funds selling daughters to brothels, though, but he hadn't really thought that they could possibly be true.
That was turning out to be something of a mixed blessing. She was distracted from her customer's sudden disinterest in sleeping with her, but Zel was starting to become more comfortable with the idea of taking her virginity as he drank.
It was only a matter of time, alcohol tolerances, and alcohol supply now before he gave in, and he knew it. Amelia seemed to have a lower tolerance than him, since she was already flirting with him, so he had no hope at all that she might help him resist.
Zelgadiss cautiously opened his eyes, and blessed the girl for leaving the curtains closed. He wasn't sure he was happy about waking up alone on the couch, though. He knew that, with his hangover, not having her in the room and making noises would be for the best. Still, he felt abandoned.
What did we do last night? He could remember it slightly, and he knew that the stickiness he felt on his thighs should mean something to him... The girl moaning and writhing underneath me, while I was too busy enjoying her to be too concerned about her feelings...
Oh, damn. No wonder she left me. Zelgadiss wondered if he should try to get up, and maybe find a sink and clean himself up so he could leave. He didn't have any appointments, since Rezo had insisted he leave the day free, and he'd prefer to just stay there, but...
He knew he'd not be comfortable, and that he should leave. He closed his eyes, promising himself that he'd leave as soon as his head stopped throbbing so badly.
He heard the door open quietly and soft footsteps approach him. "Are you awake yet, Zelgadiss-sama?"
"I thought you had left..."
There was a soft laugh, and he heard a tray get put down. "I just wanted to get a few things done. I thought you might like some breakfast, Zelgadiss-sama, and something to clean my blood off of your thighs. I know I found it uncomfortable..." She paused. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have realized that you would have a hangover, too." A hand gently brushed against his forehead, and he heard hear murmur "Declary."
He felt the hangover fade away, and suspicions return. She definitely was unexpected, if she knew magic... Only old money families, talented individuals, and temple children learned magic...
Still, that could be worried about another time. Now, he needed to figure out how to get himself out of there quickly, without offending her.
Magic is used in this world, but lessons are expensive so it's not that common for people to know how to use it. Old money families have the money to pay for the lessons; in many ways, one of the marks of old money is that all members of the family with any magical talent have gotten their talents trained as completely as possible. Talented people tend to have a patron paying for their lessons, the usual method of repayment being that they work for a certain period of time for their patron. Temple children get their lessons for free, both because the temples are the primary source of magic lessons and because they are almost all going to become members of the clergy and thus need to know magic.
(I will cover the temples in more detail another time.)
Comments, questions, suggestions, and requests would be liked a lot. So would dark chocolate.
