Isolde, ladies and gentlemen
Orion waited for Isolde to introduce herself to the table.
A quick little, "Hey, my family's named after a cereal grain, my mother's a model, and I can peek into the deepest, darkest depths of your soul! What tax bracket are
you in?" would’ve been perfect. That'd give our explorer something funny to work off of, and boom! Instant bonding.
Instead, for what felt like an eternity, he clapped his hands together, shifted his weight from foot to foot, and swung his torso to and fro—anything to distract himself from the severe lack of introducing happening.
Kim and the others were looking their way expectantly, and the silence was becoming so thick it could have been cut with a butter knife. Orion was a firm believer that silences were only awkward if you let them be, but even he was struggling with this one.
Just when he felt like he was going to spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment, Isolde finally decided to make a move! Unfortunately, it wasn't the move he'd hoped for.
Like a fifth grader who'd just been told that the Tooth Fairy was on vacation, she turned an impressive shade of pink and squeaked out a plea to be left alone. Then, she scurried over to find a seat next to Kim, where Orion had been sitting when he and Tsugikuni first arrived.
Orion blinked, his mind racing to catch up with the situation.
"Oh geez..." Orion sighed, dragging a palm down his exasperated face. In all fairness, this would’ve been a big leap for her, even if she had stuff in common with these guys. She
did seem pretty timid until...until...
If a lightbulb popped up over someone's head every time they had an idea, then Orion would have had the sun itself floating above him in that moment. Just as he formulated a game plan, he heard a comment about spherical objects whispered directly into his ear—confirming his suspicion. Orion had a feeling that
he was behind that sensation earlier.
"Pretty funny?" Orion echoed, unimpressed as he turned around to meet Miles, who was laughing his head off. "Yeah, maybe when we were five! Get with the times already, eh?"
Kim had put it best, and though a part of Orion did see Miles as somewhat of a kindred spirit in terms of appearance and temperament, he needed to be taught how to channel all that creative prankster energy into something cool, something worthwhile—like setting up an intricate web maze for the faculty to navigate during their morning coffee runs. Nothing says 'good morning' like a surprise labyrinth!
Still, it seemed Miles had been taken down one too many notches by the Princess' reprimand. Dude looked like he was ready to paint his eyelashes black and start a garage band.
"Don't sweat it," Orion smiled, hanging his arm around the webslinger. "Just keep learning from your mistakes, and one day maybe you'll be as good as me!"
After a few moments, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Okay, might have oversold it there. Let's be real—I'm a once-in-a-generation kinda thing. You could always be number two, though! The Vegeta to my Kakarot! The Donkey to my Shrek! The Pinkie Pie to my Twilight Sparkle—NOT that I know anything about that show for little girls, I mean why w-would I? Hahaha..."
It was in the midst of his clearly Oscar-worthy denial that a distinct mix of yellow and blue flashed across his peripherals. When he looked at Isolde, her glance wandered as she hid behind her sleeves. He frowned. Why was she so...shy? She was a walking lie detector, for Pete's sake!
For all his...quirks, Arachna-man over here seemed like he was his truest, most authentic self regardless of who was nearby.
In fact, the wallcrawler in question had started mumbling to himself like some kinda nutbag! And speaking of nuts, from across the cafeteria, it looked like it was someone's birthday and they wanted opinions on their suit—Miles' opinion specifically, if the trajectory they were moving at was any indication.
At this point, Orion didn't even try to fake his surprise. First a crack in his skull and now this; this Miles guy would certainly make life interesting, if nothing else.
"...Yeah, that's all you, buddy." He patted Miles on the shoulder and turned back toward the table, hoping that whatever was going on behind him would vanish and disappear completely. He turned his attention toward Isolde, putting the final pieces of his plan together.
Today, he was going to help Isolde bring out her true self a little more—just like a certain someone had once done for him.
A New Game
It was ironic that this entire plan necessitated that Isolde kept quiet and played along, given that the whole aim here was to get her out of her shell.
Regardless, Orion had found that life's little ironies and humors were what kept the magic alive. That's what he had convinced himself of by this point in time anyway.
He leaped over to Isolde's side and faced the table.
"This right here is the one, the only, Isolde Baaaaarley!" He declared as if announcing the name of a heavyweight champion. "She's the heir of the honorable house Barley!"
Orion shared eye contact with everyone at the table before continuing.
"As a lady of such high esteem, she sees it fit to speak through me, her...um...new retainer during her time at Karma! Anyway, the reason why she brought me over here is simple." He drank in the moment, before delivering the bombshell.
"She wants to challenge us to a duel! In fact, she isn't challenging just anybody, she's particularly after YOU!"
There was only one person at the table who could work here. Tsugikuni and Jake seemed too cool-headed to get riled up by something like this, and Miles was...apparently unconscious, if the lightning-fast basketball that just crashed into his head was any indication.
Though they'd barely exchanged words, Orion instantly knew that she was the only one who might accept such a challenge.
"You, my fair lady, have been challenged to a duel!" He spoke to Kimiko while pointing dramatically at her. "And not just any duel, a duel of the mind, to test your wits against my lady's!"
Orion could feel the anticipation building in the room. This was his moment, and he was determined to make it memorable.
Taking stock of their reactions, Orion turned back to Isolde and winked imperceptibly as if to say, "I got this!" And he really, truly believed he did.
"The rules of the game are simple," he began, putting on his best butler voice that he'd been mentally training for a few minutes now. "You are to craft three statements about yourself. Two shall be true, and one shall be false. If my master is able to deduce which of the statements is a lie in... ten short seconds, you are declared the loser!"
Okay, ten seconds might've been a bit much. But he wouldn't have said that if he didn't genuinely believe in Isolde's abilities. Now that he thought about it, even this wasn't enough - he needed to add some stakes.
"If you lose, my raven-haired highness, you are to... well, you are to verbally admit that the Isolde family is the most honorable house in the world! F-Furthermore, you are to join me as one of her retainers, known under the humble moniker of
'The Barley Bunch.'"
Yes. Good. Keep going, O-man! Fan those flames!!
"And, in the impossible scenario that you win the game, my master will... let's see...."
Orion glanced slightly nervously at Isolde before gritting his teeth, bracing himself. If this whole thing went south, he knew he'd never be hearing the end of it. Heck, if it went exactly as planned, he'd never be hearing the end of it. Such is the life of an underappreciated genius.
"In the unlikely event that you win, my master will personally release $5,000 of her own wealth into your hands as a boon for besting her. And... and the luxury cat bed currently in her possession will also be gifted as an add-on!!"
He spoke the second part so quickly that he dreaded if Kim would ask him to repeat. He couldn't bring himself to look at Isolde, instead opting to look straight ahead. The money was one thing; he was sure he could find ways to gather that amount of cash, as large as it was.
But that second item...
This was bold—even for him. But for some reason, that dumb old cat bed had gotten Isolde excited. It had, even if for only a moment, beckoned the
real her out of that unassuming shell. He silently prayed it would do the same for her now.
"D-Do you find these terms agreeable? Or do you admit my lady's intellect to be leagues above your own?"
Interactions: Isolde (@Inkage) , Kim @Godjacob , Miles @D34N.U5R , Tsugi @Cryronn the Mudkip , Jake @Void_Nugget ,
