Surface Tension

[JustJoe]

The lady whom was a foreigner, squinted against the harsh light of an

[VadersBabyGinger]

-The Morning of the Grand Ball-

Penelope resisted the first attempt to wake her, than the second, at which point, her maid-servant just gave up, pulled back Penelope's covers, and started to change the girls diaper. Penelope resisted awareness through out most of the change, only really acknowledging the morning come through the massive windows in her chamber as the maid finished diapering her. The maid, aware that Penelope was finally moving, said, "Good morning your Grace." Penelope just waved, as she sat up in bed. Long, tangled, locks of blond hair ran down her back, and sprawled on the bed. The girl finally realized that she had been changed. This new maid was good.

"Well Maid," Penelope said, extending her arms to be helped out of bed, "What has my father determined I should wear today?" She looked around, trying to find the clock. There was the old fashioned one, but she couldn't read that, she needed the digital clock. Her eyes, finally found it. It read 11:27

[JustJoe]

The glow from Elemtheodrel's iridescent strands of hair brightened at the tips to a hot

[VadersBabyGinger]

"Toilet?" Penelope responded as if it was a foreign word to her. It was. She had heard it, but she had never really paid much mind to it. She had to search her thoughts to remember what it was, and then, it hit her, "Ohhh, you are the maid!" Penelope stood up and turned to her own maid, "Please inform the servant that she should not speak to the Princess, mother of the soon to be Crown Prince. Also, please show her to where ever you go for your..toileting..."

The aliens were strange, and the fact that a servant had been allowed to wander, spoke poorly for the discipline of there culture. Before the maid wandered off, "Also, find out her name. I would like to speak of her disrespect to her master."

_______________________

[JustJoe]

Elemtheodrel followed the maid servant down

[VadersBabyGinger]

Penelope turned to the envoy, standing up in a flash, then looked at her maid, "Please inform the alien that while I understand she is of another place, she must show difference to one of my station." Her response was obviously restrained, she may not of been wise, or politically savvy, but she was still a Princess, and she had spent the last 20 years learning how not to cause problems for her father, "If these questions are from her master, he is free to ask them of my father."

With that said, she nodded her head, and gave a sharp look at Elemtheodrel, then back to the made, "Also teach her to curtsy, so that she may approach me properly." She finally turned, and started to head down the hallway, another maid seeming to appear out of the woodworks to walk alongside her, and just behind. Penelope regretted having to speak to the alien like that, she seemed to actually be nice, and not trying to make fun of her, and she had made an attempt at difference, even if she had called her liege. She actually wished she could of stayed and spoke with the alien, but she was tired of being left out of things because she couldn't stop causing scandals. She was not going to devalue her father by speaking with a servant, no matter how exotic.

[JustJoe]

The moon was bright although it wasn't quite radiant white, there was a lot of light population from a metropolis which grinded away through the night aswell as the day. Elemtheodrel's module, her living quarters, was situated in a grand Park in the middle of the Capital's urban centre, she was invited to the palace as a guest not a resident. This arrangement suited both parties. The module was Culture craft, actually it was a part of the spaceship Elemtheodrel had arrived in and, she was assured, was waiting somewhere just outside the system should she wish to return. While the module was in the park it provided a propaganda tool for the Culture, a sort of expo pavilion, and the advantage for the Empire authorities was that the alien's accommodation was surrounded by one hundred square meters of easily monitored, clear terrain.

The transparent panel Elemtheodrel had been watching the moon through turned opaque as she decided she wanted a bit of privacy. Watching the moon and the sun were a novelity for her as she had spent her entire life on GSV, a giant Culture craft which voyaged the galaxy, not entirely unlike a never ending cruise ship. It had certainly been a fun way to live but not necessarily exciting. Here on an alien planet, where she was undoubtedly being watched most of the time and antagonising the natives could land her in perilous trouble, Elemtheodrel felt constant thrill.

[VadersBabyGinger]

Penelope looked out the windows of the car as it sped through the city. She could hear the annoyed conversation of her security detail as it cleared the path for her motorcade. The Princess had been surprised her father had allowed this trip, perhaps it was because she was forced to miss the engagement party of her own son, perhaps he was just tired of her bugging him, none the less, she was pulling up into the park where the alien was staying.

Although the moon was high in the sky, Penelope paid no mind to it, it was mundane for her. She didn't notice that there was an absence of the crowds at the edge of the park, who had all been cleared by her security. It was just a normal day in the city for her, cleared of all but those the Princess wanted or was meant to see that day. Her mother once said that the greatest power a high born woman has in that she only even sees precisely who she is supposed to see. Penelope never understood that, her isolation and expected obedience always chaffed with her. It is what lead to her affair with the Star Marshall. She was craving another adventure.

The car came to a stop, and the door to Penelope's car was open. A gaggle of maids formed a small line, as one helped her out of the car, and fussed about the sapphire blue gown she had changed into. It was what she had planned to wear to the ball, but decided the ornate gown would be a good first impression on the ambassador. Her diaper had been changed before she left, although as she felt herself wetting it, it was no longer dry. She was ok with that, men in her experienced preferred the diapers wet. It meant the woman in it was obedient and did not resist her station.

A security agent was stepping up to the door of the module to knock, when Penelope waved him off, instead walking up to the door, her high heeled feet sinking slightly into the soft turf, and then placed four firm knocks on the door to the module.

[JustJoe]

The Culture ambassador wasn't expecting guests but she knew she was expected to be hospitable to her hosts at all times. She fixed her gown a little more conversatively and was contented by the fact the module

[VadersBabyGinger]

Penelope while shocked, was surprised to see a woman here. The incident in the hallway long forgotten as one of her many run ins with the lower classes, but it slowly came back to her as she stepped inside the module. She was going to let the faux pas from earlier pass though, she was interested in experiencing this outsider, and maybe sparking up some scandal. As much as she hated the outcome of her last scandal, she loved being a fly in the soup more than

[JustJoe]

A wry smirk was directed by the Culture woman towards Shim. For it's part, the drone elected silence though its cold metallic exterior made it impossible to deduce whether it was quitely fuming or indeed pleased it didn't have to commute with an organic possessing only a chemical brain.

Once the scornful princess's words were directed towards Elemtheodrel the ambassador's neatly narrowed brows dipped towards

[VadersBabyGinger]

"I see you are already scheming," Penelope said, sitting down in the open seat, and taking the wine, "You are more like us then you think." She curled her legs up under her, tugging her dress up a bit to reveal her knees and the lower half of her legs, before she kicked off her shoes. She smiled after sipping the wine, to her it all tasted the same, "I have my own plans, but I think we rush things discussing them to soon, but I wish to remain regent when my father dies, and you may be able to help me there, and I am certain it would aid you greatly."

She leaned in a little closer, sipping another long slip, "My experiences in the family have been limited to the palace more or less, I am not allowed out much, I tend to get in trouble, even pregnant," she said with a giggle, one of her feet moving towards the ambassadors leg, the toes tickling the leg a slight bit. "Tell me a little about yours?"

[JustJoe]

Elemtheodrel politely resisted the urge to ask just how soon Penolope thought she might be Regent, though obviously it implied the King, whom the Culture ambassador had not yet had the pleasure of meeting was excepted to die before his grandson was old enough to succeed him.

Whatever the case it sounded like an invitation to an alliance. Given how sickly she felt at the idea of make dominated society, acquiescence to the Princess sounded favourable to Elemtheodrel.

The Culture woman smiled at the revelation of the princess's rebellious side, although she couldn't truely empathise. Her's was a world of less consequence. She never risked an unwelcome pregnancy for example, such was the ability of a Culture person to regulate their own chemistry. Of course that was also the careless nature which accompanied Culture persons, she simply assumed the child was an accident.

At the request to speak about her own life, Elemtheodrel's eyes sparkled and her reddish purple hair took on bright pinkish highlights.

"Better yet your grace, I can show you."

She touched at a silver bracelet around her wrist, her terminal. She spoke to it in the short simple syllables of her own language and a viewing screen flashed into the space as the lights simultaneously dimmed. The screen displayed some bright pinpricks, and amongst them, a cylindrical object lit by its own lights.

"I was born on a GSV. A General Systems Vehicle. Um, a very large starship, like a traveling city. It called itself Fate Amenable To Change."

The view cut to a landscape of alpine meadows beneath a clear bright sunless sky. There were hundreds of people, bizarre, exotic and misshapen people, even beast like creatures at leisure. The air too was full of people floating or zooming around in light aircraft of as many colours as the flowers in the meadows.

"There's me." Elemthodrel gestured with a giggle. "On a picnic blanket an man who had feathered wings protruding from his shoulder blades was lying atop and kissing a young woman with bubblegum pink hair. The view zoomed away then cut again.

[VadersBabyGinger]

Penelope smiled, it was a calm calculated smile, a diplomats smile. She leaned closer, her hand moving to lightly rest of Elmthodrel's hand. "Are you a business first sort of girl, or a have fun, and maybe do business later type?" she asked, with that same trained smile, her free hand slowly unlacing the front of her gown, almost absent mindedly. She was thinking that this was going well, although she was nervous that this could also backfire on her. She was making a huge gamble, one that would anger more than a few if she pulled it off.

She decided not to focus on that right now, she just wanted to have some fun with this new ally, and see if she was willing to play the game she'd need to play.