[X] Friends with Benefits. Your...reconciliation ended up with a great deal of booze drank on both sides. And when you woke up beside Emil on your bed, you knew that you two have crossed an invisible threshold. And honestly? Neither of you cared about it. You two helped each other through thick and thin. His expertise in political matters and connections helped you while your skill in administration and accounting helped with his atrocious spending habits. Of course, you kept your rivalries with him, in all sorts of things. +1 Reputation Score. +3 Infamy Score. Starts with a Normal Companion Bond with Emil.
---
"....Oh. Now I get why you're drinking this early." You watch as Emil paled considerably, the further along he read the paper. His countenance is probably the same one you made when you read the paper. "I suppose you're not letting me some shots of the cider."
"Knock yourself out." You said as you savour the taste of the wine in his glass more. "I'll take it out of your tab."
"Sure thing." Emil said as he grab your shot glass and poured the cider down. "So... Winslett Hertz, I guess someone does not like you much."
You sigh. The price you pay for love is tough and high. A good deal of the Three Named hate you for (the rumours of) taking advantage of Emil, attributing your romance to nothing more than a honeytrap scheme. This goes doubly so due to Emil's prominence. This vehemence also extended to your family. Your father had written shortly after the scandal exploded out, that he had taken several duel challenges from outraged Three Named, all in the name of teaching you a lesson and to punish your father for 'improper parenting'.
Your Patron had to work overdrive to smooth out ruffled feathers when three of the duelists were sent back to their households with their limbs severed. It was poor bad timing for their lot that Uncle Gunabatu happened to visit several days before the challenges were sent. Even without any Ides usage, your surrogate uncle was more than a match for the sent challengers.
But if the rebuke from the nobility were harsh, your fellow Two Named peers and the general public were even more incensed. The severity of the assault was doubled as outrage mixed with jealousy mixed with more outrage. You can say for certain that while Three Named might curse your name behind your back, it takes certain minds to give you the 'honourable' nickname of 'The Whore of Pennsbrooke'. The constant harassment and open insults were something that you could do without. It had... caused some grief, to put it bluntly.
There was no denying your skill, however. Between your Patron, Emil's subtle insistence, and your ardent hardwork, you had managed to, at the very least, alter the tone of that nickname.
"Now who could possibly hate me, Emil? Come now, I'm the Management Mistress of Pennsbrooke~ Every damn officer cadet in here owes me for my assistance in paperwork after all~"
"And now you're definitely drunk." Emil pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging it as you continued drowning your mouth in wine. "I suspect the posting order is influenced in part by my mother, blessed be her icy heart."
"You sure it isn't Francesca? I have a feeling that it is Francesca." Emil paused in his musing after hearing your undoubtedly slurred words.
"No, it's not her... I don't think. Unless she has gotten subtler when I wasn't looking anyway." The price of love had continued to mount in the form of one Francesca Leyton-Feult. She is not a Mage, but she is gifted with an Ides Anomaly, just like Emil had. It was common practice for Three Names to betroth children with Ides Anomaly, in the hope that the offsprings that have their own Ides Anomaly.
And well, she is smitten with Emil. But Emil does not reciprocate. That, first and foremost, is the Problem. With a capital P.
Because when you have a Three Named duelist with an Ides Anomaly that allows her to paralyse any Mage that she gazes upon. And when that duelist just so happens to be utterly jealous of you, you can't help but to somewhat fear for your life.
"I am unconvinced." You said flatly.
"Well, okay, you shouldn't be. I seriously doubt it is her. But..." Emil trailed off, gauging your reaction.
You already dread what he has to say. "But what?"
"But you might end up meeting her face to face soon. She had wrote to me yesterday that she'll be sent to the Marden Front.... Just like you."
"Fucking great." Was the most eloquent summary you can say, before muffling your head on your pillow, and lightly filling it with slightly hysteric screaming. Emil didn't say a word as he patted your head. The comforting gesture was appreciated and you decided to stew in that position for a time.
"...."
"...."
"I need to do something to unfuck this, don't I?"
"I don't think you can, at this point."
"Well, I still need to try at least." Blearily, you stood up. Being the more sober of you two, Emil helped you up and stopped you from tipping over drunk on the floor. You start to weave a Formulae as he holds you steady.
Getting Undrunk:
Magical Potential -> [1d70+8] -> 14 + 8 -> 22
Practical Understanding -> [2d25] -> 22 + 24 -> 46
Your inebriation had definitely made you draw not as much Ides as you could've. The coalescing winds and the flapping of the phantasmic wings in your hand were fainter that you'd have hoped. But well, you always make due with the hand you're dealt with. Your channel your compacted Ides into your body, or more specifically, your liver. You completely ensconce your liver fully... as you start to pump it to overdrive.
Next, you course your Ides to your heart and your bloodstream, quickening the pumping of blood and blood pressure using the Formulae in order to hasten the process of your alcohol-carrying blood moving into your reinforced liver. You feel the faintest keening sound of something inside you ripping. Your drawn Ides weren't enough to fully protect your veins, it would seem. Fortunately, you had prepared just enough Ides to rewrite and undo the damage.
All this process happened in less than five seconds and at the end of it, you blink as your vision clears up. You then breathed a sigh of sober relief at your sobriety.
"Using Ides to sidestep hangover is uncouth and risky, you know?" Emil said as he poured himself more cider.
"Well, you're not buying me any Ides Code substitute for it."
"You did ask me to not spend my money on trivialities." He said flatly.
"Treating your girlfriend is most definitely not a triviality."
"You also asked me to not fall for any haggling trick easily."
You pouted at that before straightening up. "I am going to find something to get myself unfucked or at least, get my mind off of it."
"Uh-huh."
"You're not leaving out of my room?"
"Nope. You go on ahead. I'm going to finish this damn fine cider. Have fun~"
"Yeah, yeah." You exited your dorm, smoothening out your trousers while thinking. 'To where should you go now?'
[] Visit the Chaplaincy. It's never your first go to spot in times of troubles, as your drunkenness earlier shows, but it's always a trailing second or third option.
[] Visit the Officer Mess Hall. A great deal of people had left for their posting orders, but there are others left, others who might be able to help you in your predicament.
[] Visit the Training Hall. You might well focus better after a few round of training. You might also find people to train against.
