Once Upon A Time (open)

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna walked along the road of the Marketplace, she was really looking for anyone or anything to do. She was caught in memories. Remembering walking around town with her mother as a small girl, her older brother rambling on and on about some girl he fancied. She'd tell him to shove it, that that was 'disgusting'. He'd tease her about one of the boys she dreamily talked about frequently.

Their life in Camelot had been simple and wonderful. Their father worked as a craftsman, their mother raised them well. They never wanted or went hungry. It was perfect, until that one day.

Anna hadn't been paying attention to her path, and she ran into someone. "Oh! Sorry!"

[Dante Grixis]

Dante slowly walked through the crowded market place. He glanced at the several stalls, he didn't really need anything or want anything for that matter, he just needed to get out of that dirty house in the slums he called home. He had no current contract and nothing to do. He was making a feeble attempt to burn off the hangover from the night before at the bar. He was pretty sure he had gotten in a fight with someone.

His cowl was pulled low over his face, shadowing everything from view but his mouth. He felt someone bump into him and quickly apologize. He looked down and saw the woman who had ran into him. She appeared to be of noble status, a black mark in his book, but she was stunningly beautiful so he let her status slide.

"Quite alright miss." He said kindly. "What brings you to the market this fine day?"

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna was surprised when the man she bumped into started a conversation. "I'm new here, I'm just checking it out." She lied, with a kind and gentle smile. "How about yourself?" The scowl on the man's face was slightly off putting but she let it slide. Not everyone could look cheerful all of the time. She did most of the time but it was a ruse. Noone wanted to house or aide a scowling lady. It wasn't attractive. Men could get away with it, because they were accepted to have moods.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante pulled his cowl off and smiled at the woman. "Just enjoying the day. I'm relatively new here as well. Fresh out of Spain." He began walking the same way as the woman and gripped his head momentarily. His head was throbbing. "Where are you from?" He asked. He moved around and through crowds of people. He wasn't sure what his intentions with this woman were, or why he was walking with her but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna was glad she had practiced her story so well, that it just dribbled off her tounge, "Dravlen, it was a fine kingdom to the west. But it has met an untimly demise. There were few survivors."She put on her saddest voice, looking down at the ground as she walked.

"Spain you say? Why Camelot for?" She noted that he held his head like it was in pain.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that."

He paused momentarily at the question. He couldn't tell he the real reason for his exile. He could never tell of his affiliation with the assassins that took out the King of Southern Spain. Especially to a noble. He struggled to come up with a response, an excuse. "Well, my father was a merchant, and he wanted me to scout out the possibility of expanding his trade." He replied with a warm convincing smile.

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna nodded, "Thank you."

"A merchant? What a nice occupation. What do you sell? Anything in particular?" Anna wanted the conversation off of herself and onto this man. "What did you say your name was?"

[Dante Grixis]

Dante bowed slightly with a sweeping gesture. "Dante Grixis at your service ma'am." He said and smiled at her.

He quickly though of an item to sell. "My father is involved in the spice trade. He imports it from the Far East and exports it to other parts of the world. It's a very profitable trade." He said.

"And you miss? What does an ex-noble do around Camelot." He wanted to get the subject off him as quickly as possible before he got tangled up in his own lies. It would be a shame to have to kill this woman to hide himself.

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna frowned slightly when he questioned her reasons. "Anna Glenn, sir. It's a pleasure to meet your Master Grixis." she dipped a half curtsey as they walked. "I came to Camelot because my kingdom has connections with the Pendragons. And they have been good enough to take me in as a guest." She hoped Dante didn't notice her frown that crossed her face quickly.

Anna was terrified at being found out. That her soul purpose in Camelot, was to.. Well, yes. She didn't even think about that in fear that it'd come out. "How'd you get that scar?" she motioned to the scar on his face, yet again trying to take the subject off of herself.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante ran a hand absently down the deep red scar that trailed from his forehead to his chin. He usually didn't notice it now that it was fully healed but every one in a while he though about it. He got it when he had to fight off a guard back in Spain who had seen him kill a man. That had been the only injury he had gotten, the guard died on the floor of the bar.

"Marauders tried to rob one of my father's caravans once. We had to fight them off and I got this pretty little thing in the process." He replied and chuckled darkly to himself.

He started to doubt the woman's real reason for being in Camelot, but he wasn't about to ask her about it. After all, she didn't strike him as the type who killed people for a living. She wasn't like him.

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna was shocked at his story, "How terrible! Did you get those rouges?" She was glad that, this time, he hadn't questioned about her. So, to try to evade being asked something else, she prompted it.

"I knew quite a few traders in Dravlen, they had such dangerous lives at times. I never thought spice trades had it rough."

[Dante Grixis]

Dante smiled. "Well, saffron is worth its weight in gold and more." He replied. "Yes, we got the thieves, some of the other guards hunted them down."

Now that Dante's headache had ebbed away he could think clearly, that would make lying easier. He was surprised how easily she had believed the lie, but perhaps she had her own things on her mind. Dante couldn't tell, and he really wasn't sure he wanted to know.

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

"That's news to me, sir. I was unware just how valuable saffron is. But then again I am certain you may not be aware of how dull the life of a nobel is. I would love nothing more than such an adventurous life." Anna admitted, trying to sprinkle in enough conversation about herself to counterattack her lies. And make them more believeable.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante laughed. "I'd would imagine so. I would hate having servants following me around everywhere I go." He replied and smiled at Anna. Dante looked around at the stalls and realized that if he really was a merchant here would be prime real estate for trading your items. This place was so full of people buying and selling that you couldn't help but make a good living.

["Lady" Anna Glenn]

Anna laughed, "Very annoying. No privacy. Constantly followed. But now, they're all gone." She replied matter of factly, trying to seem like it hurt but that she wouldn't let it show. To prideful.

"Are you to set up shop here?"