Open Secrets [Day 2, LE]

[Riss]

"Game was..." she takes a glance to the server, hesitating with a thought. "We'll uh.. be a minute, actually," she says with a half-laugh and waits for the woman to walk away. Once she'd gone far enough she continues again, "I.. okay. So, the game was that you would walk up and say something true, rest of the rules really don't matter," she says with a flippant wave of her hand, a roll of her eyes as she starts remembering the events a little more vividly again.

"I.. tried to connect with him in that, sense I felt we could. Cause his hearts practically on auction instead of.. letting it go where it wants, and.. so was mine once. Cause I was born here, with a name.. one that carried respect. Less than some of the other houses but a name still, lands. Whole princess.. nonsense.." she glances away as if that would help her run from the admittance.

[Cynella Andrim]

"Ah, yes, I remember such games in university. It's a simple one, though usually doesn't involve blasters," she said, still shaking her head over such nonsense. Nonsense was quite a nice word!

But at the divulgence of it, Cynella tilted her head and blinked a few times. "Did I hear you correctly? You have... the same sort of background as I do, then? Or heritage or... something?"

[Riss]

"Riss Lanar, of House Lanar, in all her.." she leans back, spreading her arms open as if to put herself on display. "Roguish glory," she says, half chuckling as she leans back in against the table. "Ran away when I was young.. House fell while I was gone. Not much left to come back to, and.. maybe it's better that way," she says with a heavy sigh. "Just.. don't spread that around, alright? I prefer if people didn't know who I was. Got my reasons."

[Cynella Andrim]

Cynella interwoved her fingers as she listened to the tale. "My, I never would have guessed. Your manners... Aren't very ladylike. We must correct that."

She raised a brow. "Unless that's not what you want? I... Don't exactly see how this would be relevant to the dear prince otherwise. Are you hoping he'll reinstate House Lanar? Or perhaps... Are you going to be my competition in this quest to establish suitorship to both him and his mother?" she asked with a wink. "Or would that be too dramatic?"

[Riss]

"Too dramatic," she says, there's a dullness to the way she says the words. A more tired tone coming on, "I'm not even sure what I was originally doing.. he was fun to flirt with a bit, but one chance I really get to learn something and it blows up so," she shrugs. Glancing down with a tempest behind her eyes a moment, so many conflicting things. A shudder, "Doesn't matter.. right now. I'll figure it out eventually," she says with an almost too easy laugh.

"I just liked him. Like him.." she shrugs, passes off that thought too onto the bin of discarded thoughts. "I didn't want anything from him, not even from the start. Thought I'd come here, have some fun.. check in to see if anyone I knew was still kicking," she gives a flippant wave of her hand, "you know, all that boring kriff. Just.. saw him, we hit it off at first, and I thought.. thought I saw something in him I knew I had in myself. Maybe I kriffed it up, maybe I was wrong, I don't really know," there's a continued flippancy to her tone. "Find out when I talk to him again.

[Cynella Andrim]

Cynella raised a brow. "You like him in that way? But it's so soon." She lowered her eyes, searching her own feelings in regards to Prince Joran. It had never been the case where she'd easily fallen for another person. "I suppose you have the right attitude about it though. Can't let a mistake mess up the future, right?

"That being said, it does seem like you're interested. If you were to pursue him outside of the Queen's terms, then he'd be much in line with his brother, wouldn't he?" She tilted her head. "It really does seem like you are competing with me, my dear. However, I will also add that, if you were to be reinstated along with your House, then you'd be an eligible candidate for House Andrim's desires of me."

She sighed. "But I suppose familial duties aren't really your style right now." Or perhaps ever, though she wasn't going to try to dig into that too much when Riss seemed rather torn up about earlier antics.

[Riss]

"I'm.. not sure how much of that is cause I saw something that maybe I only thought I saw, but yea, he's nice to look at and charming enough," she glances to Cynella, regarding her a moment. "I guess it seemed like a fun thing? I felt.. I dunno, like maybe he'd understand or something. Like- "she hesitates on that thought, holding it back as she glances down.

A brief smile forming but then fading again, a shake of her head, "What was I saying again?" she asks, but then waves off with her hand flippantly to discard the thought. "Doesn't matter.. I'm not really looking for it. Just.. ya know, I get close to who I get close to. No competition in that."

[Cynella Andrim]

"You keep alluding to this 'thing you saw' but have not yet elaborated further," Cynella said with a soft smile. "Your insight is important also if I'm to be wed to him, after all. Though, I must admit, your revelation regarding your feelings is making it difficult for me to remain resolute." She shrugged. "I may be too old-fashioned but I wouldn't want my marriage to him to be open, so to speak, and yet I wouldn't want to be what separated star-crossed lovers!"

She sighed, a mix of solemnness and amusement. "That's just how it works, so I've heard. Admittedly, I've always envied of hearts so readily offered. Mine has been reserved for as long as I can remember."

[Riss]

"I wouldn't go.. that far," she chuckles, there's an awkward tinge to it as she crossing one hand over the other. Glancing for the server for a couple seconds before she remembers she originally sent her away, which meant waiting longer. Riss sighs at the thought, but returns to the conversation with a brief smile, "Don't worry about me in that regard. It's more like.. I think he's neat? Maybe? I'm.. not sure, every chance I've tried to take to actually get to know him any better eludes me or goes up in flames," she shrugs.

"Anyway.. it's just something in him I saw maybe you've felt too. That, despondence you get when you hear folk talking about you like you're just a bartering chip in whatever game they're playing," she furrows a brow. "You know what I mean, right? Like you're just supposed to give your heart to someone cause other folk tell you you gotta, that it's the right thing? When we were all talking with Yolostranza or whatever her name was I thought I saw that dimmed gaze in him about it but.." a brief chuckle she shakes her head. "Just projecting again.. I think."

[Cynella Andrim]

"My goodness," Cynella said, shaking her head. "Were you keeping this from me when I asked you to support me? You do have noble duty in you after all!" She beamed, grateful for that and that the server had not yet come to burden her with more food.

"But yes, of course I understand the sentiment. My parents sent me here as a bargaining chip themselves." She shrugged. "It comes with the life. It's the least I can do for them after all they've given me." A faint smile. "But I know not everyone sees it that way."

[Riss]

"Case and point," she says, letting that truth ring for a little while. Giving her time to flag down the server from before and order them a couple of desserts. Of course, she let Cynella order what she claimed to want first and then Riss ordered two desserts for 'herself' because she was sneaky like that sometimes.

Despite her earlier apparent need she doesn't actually order a drink yet.

[Cynella Andrim]

"In a way, I'd say it boils down to what he values more. His duty or his heart." Cynella smirked. "I don't think I've connected with him in the same way but I do have my charms as a potential wife. And we don't need to consider the others, do we?" she concluded with a wink.

She ordered a small sampling of the fruit to lead with. "You're really going to eat all of that yourself?"

[Riss]

"Far as I'm concerned, right now you're the only one in the race," she returns a smirk to the wink.

Watching as the server leaves before she shakes her head, "Only if you're gonna make me eat it all alone," her smirk starts to grow slightly devilish as her Master plan comes together. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you?" she suggests with a teasing tone.

[Cynella Andrim]

"You're the one who invited me specifically based on this occurrence," Cynella said, closing her eyes with a coy smile. "

However, the news of dessert broke her teasing composure. "What?! No, no, you're going to take the rest home. You surely have some way to store it back on your ship."

[Riss]

"Half- at least?" she looks to Cynella. Puffing up her bottom lip, she gives her the 'ol impossible to resist puppy dog eyes. Riss was.. surprisingly good at making it look hard to resist. Just when she would possibly sense a break she'd add in a sniffle for good measure.

[Cynella Andrim]

Cynella bit her lip and then signed. "You're really a lot to handle. If I partake in this, you're going to have to tell me more about this." She glanced around, again wondering if any would spy on them. "Let's start with this: was it your plan all along to come back here? Or was this a strange twist of fate?"

[Riss]

"Oh, I like these terms," she says with a bout of chuckles as her smile grows all the more bright. Resting her forearms down one over the other on the table she leans in a bit, a shake of her head, "Coming back to Alderaan was a plan, thought I'd vacation here for a while. See how things were going back home, ya know? Everything's pretty.. tense right now so I got real curious," she flashes a smirk in there.

"But.. then," she chuckles, "like Kat always says, I always tend to find trouble and.. oh, I found a lot of it.

[Cynella Andrim]

"I did say if," Cynella said with a soft sigh. Still, she made no sign of retracting the offer. "I suppose I'd feel the same way in your position. And later... if I marry into an Alderaanian House, then I'll want to return to Kuat to check it out whenever I can."

She tilted her head. "But you mentioned trouble. Something tells me that this isn't your usual 'trouble.' " As in, not the silly antics that she unfortunately found endearing.

[Riss]

Elbow down on the table, cheek leaned against a fist she looks to Cynella, "Don't.. worry too much about it but, I'm a Lanar, you know that now. My father, well- most of my Family were pretty hard against the Thul. We helped get them kicked off the planet in the first place, actually. Nice little nail in that banishment coffin but when Thul came back they were," she gives that half-groan to suggest it wasn't great, "less than happy. I wasn't home when it happened but everything's gone so," she shrugs.

"Anyway, point of bringing that back up again is that Thul didn't stop there. They want all the Lanar blood dead and put a contract out on it, like the one's you asked me about last night. They're real, and I've got one wrapped about my neck," she says, bringing her other hand and cupping it around her neck for emphasis. "Mine and my brother. But I've got a plan on getting out of it. One that's even good now.. might help some people besides just me."

[Cynella Andrim]

"Say, if you were to be reinstated, that would place you under my parents' requirements for a suitable spouse of mine," Cynella said with a wink. "That is, of course, assuming you want the former." The latter, well, she left that part unspoken.

"Ah. More about House Thul. As it so happens, I'm going to lunch with Ziandra Thul tomorrow. We'll see how that goes after all that I've heard about her." She tapped her fingers on the table. "So perhaps me eyeing around hasn't been baseless paranoia. How can I help protect such a noble yet rogueish friend of mine?"