⭐the confrontation

The crowd that had gathered on the market streets certainly was eye-catching; not only was it composed of a large group of unique looking individuals, among them stood the distinguished, diamond-ranked Genasi, Ramses - who had the bridge of his nose pinched, and an irate expression visible on his face. In order to understand why, all one needed to do was follow the gazes of the others - most of whom were staring pointedly at a Satyr man and an Eladrin woman sneaking about in the shadows.

A sigh escaped the taller Genasi as he first looked to his aquatic companion. “I am… terribly sorry about this, Setaria. I’ll let the lot of you handle your comrade, while I attend mine. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your evening, and I do hope to see you again soon.”

A flustered but pleasant smile took to Setaria’s visage as she gave a nod to the Fire Genasi. “Oh, it’s alright! But yes, thank you. You do the same, Ramses.”

Ramses flashed a grateful smile to Setaria, though once he turned to approach Ilathya, his expression swiftly became stern and filled with annoyance. Once he was standing in front of her, Ramses crossed his arms and maintained his silence, allowing a simple perk of his eyebrow to convey the entirety of his question.

A nervous, embarrassed laugh escaped the Sun Elf as she averted her gaze. She flashed a skittish smile while her hands linked together behind her back; she kicked with her foot, feigning innocence before speaking. “Ramses, how was your dance with that little lady? I take it you had fun? I, for one, absolutely did – and… and what a coincidence it is to see you here in the marketplace! I, too, thought that a change of scenery would nice, and thus did Tempo and I decide to visit the marketplace–”

“Ilathya,” Ramses interjected sternly. “Cut the act. I know what you’re like. Why were you following us and eavesdropping? Knowing you, it was probably the first idea that you had.”

“It was not!” the Sun Elf exclaimed. “It was Tempo’s idea, thank you very much!” Only then realizing that she had exposed themselves, Ilathya covered her mouth with both hands as she quickly turned her back to Ramses.

A sigh escaped Ramses as he gave a shake of his head. “See? You couldn’t even hide the fact that you were doing so. It doesn’t matter whose idea it was. You still decided to go through with it. So now my question is – why?”

As though to shift gears, Ilathya turned in Ramses’ direction again as she dramatically pointed a finger at the Genasi’s face. “Why? Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? I was looking out for the poor girl! It doesn’t take a hawk’s eye to see how naive and innocent she is! Why, to go off on her own with an older, sleazy man without a care in the world! It goes without saying that she needed a chaperone, and so, I took it upon myself to do so!”

Silence hung in the air between the two of them for a moment as Ramses simply processed her words in shock. Soon after, however, his lips curled into an incredibly unamused and disgruntled frown. Sleazy? Unbelievable. “Yes, because I would have robbed her pockets or broken her heart in the midst of dozens of people. Also, need I remind you that you’re almost thrice my age?” he snapped back, tone dripping with sarcasm.

With yet another dramatic flourish of her arm, Ilathya pointed to her Genasi comrade. “Ah, but who knows where you might have lured her? A man’s heart can be as dark as night itself!” She remarked before speaking up again, her tone adopting a pout. “Also, don’t compare your age to mine. It’s hurtful. And my age has nothing to do with this conversation.”

An irate huff escaped Ramses, along with a shake of his head. “Kord’s balls, you’re insufferable.”