To Battle Pride's Expression

Notes:

-Amusement, Contempt, Contentment, Embarrassment, Excitement, Guilt, Pride in achievement, Relief, Satisfaction, Sensory pleasure, Shame.

-There are at least three recognized "strains" of society- the Beasts, who are the servants and enforcers of the Expressions; the Expressions, who number eleven and are the leaders of the eleven realms of the land (all of which are based upon one of Ekman's list of eleven emotions)- additionally, they must come from the (rather limited) pool of Dedicants who have either been released from their Beasthood or succeeded from it in some other fashion; and the Dedicants, who are the citizens of a certain emotion's realm. There are also the Undecided- those citizens of no realm who have not chosen an Expression to follow yet-, but they are both unrecognized and without rights.

Chapter 1:

"I hope you don't fear me," rasped the Beast in a quite gravelly voice. Smiling softly, the Beauty reached out to touch his face, tracing the line of the scar running down from the crown of his head down past his hairline, through his right eye, over the hump of his chin, and out to the base of his neck, right where it met his right shoulder. "Part of being beautiful, my dear Beast, is the ability to see the beauty in others even when they cannot." The Beast, visibly surprised and slightly disconcerted, asked of the Beauty, "What do you mean?" The Beauty grinned lopsidedly- but it was lopsided in a way that happened to add to the grin's charm, not detract from it- and asked a question in response, "Was it torture, or was it self-inflicted?" The Beast was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but felt compelled to answer his companion's question. "I suppose you could say it was something of both- that is a brand, my good Beauty, and it marks me as a servant." The Beauty nodded as if she had expected this answer, smiling again with even more sincerity. "To serve is to give of oneself, Beast, and to reveal that- no matter who you are- to another is a beautiful act." The Beast himself smiled softly at this and nodded a shallow but genuine nod.

"Dare I ask," mused the Beauty with her finger upon her lip, seemingly almost uninterestedly but not quite able to pull off the act, "who it is you serve?" The Beast frowned darkly and looked away, sighing grimly. "He did not wish me to tell you- I will be punished most severely for doing so- but I feel as though it is your right to know, my good Beauty. I serve Pride, the Most Proud In His Achievements." The Beauty's eyes contracted for the barest of moments- an instinctual reaction of the fear she felt coursing through her- but she composed herself posthaste. "And, do you know what he wants with me?" Asked the Beauty simply, though she had a sinking feeling she knew. The Beast spat upon the floor of the compartment they were in- it was a carriage with padded walls to protect against eavesdropping- and said bitterly, as if he were unable to stomach the taste of something he was eating or drinking, "Pride, the Most Proud In His Achievements, wishes only what is his to take: that is to say, he wants your hand in marriage, so that he can consolidate even more of the Eleven Realms into his rule."

The Beauty looked to the Beast crestfallen- it was even worse than she had thought!- and looked down to the floor. Just as she was about to start crying, she replayed what the Beast had just said to her in her mind. "What? What is rightfully his?! You cannot believe that!" The Beast looked up to her, straight to her eyes, a dangerous glint in his own as he said with a steely voice, "Do not take me down this path, Beauty- I do not wish to tread it. What I believe is immaterial, I am but a servant." The Beauty looked to him, then, and she knelt down by him, putting her hands onto his and looking straight at him. "I will not ask you to betray your master, Beast. You haven't quite said it, but I know you would if I did. And despite you most likely being my only chance out of this unholy matrimony, I will not make that decision for you..."

Turning his hands to clasp the Beauty's hands into his own, the Beast stared straight into her eyes, his own saying without verbalization that she could not make that decision for him, but that he already had. Taking his hands back to himself suddenly, the Beast stands just as quickly before drawing a dagger from a semi-concealed sheath in his left boot and using it to cut a small square in the padding at the front of the carriage. He raps his knuckles against the newly created patch of bare wood, and calls out in an incredible roar, "Stop the carriage!" The carriage slows down for a few moments- the hesitation is palpable as the driver obviously is unsure of whether or not to follow the command- but as the Beast roared out again, "Now!", the carriage stopped. Raising a finger to the Beauty to wait where she was, he went towards the back of the carriage, stowing his dagger back in its sheath just before the doors swung open.

Two armed guards- both humanoid, clad in suits of plate, and with hand-and-a-half swords drawn and tower shields at the ready- stood outside the carriage peering in, intent upon ensuring that there would be no breaches of security. "Sheath your weapons, Dedicants."
Commanded the Beast of the two guards, "You are in the presence of an Expression, after all." Both of them looked scared at this, having not been told who they were transporting, but the guard to the Beast's right- an older guard and obviously senior in rank from the demeanor he showed- scoffed at the Beast and said, "You've no right to give me orders, Beast." The Beast looked at the two with an evaluatory gaze and nodded. "That's how you want to play it, eh?" Asked the Beast of the two guards. They looked confused for a moment, but that did not last long as the Beast promptly brought his left arm out in a stiff-armed jab to the left guard's neck, which was not guarded by a gorget. The guard, killed instantly, crumpled downwards, but did not reach the ground- the Beast had clenched onto his shield arm right by the hand, and brought it up to deflect the slash from the hand-and-a-half sword of the guard to his right up and into the roof of the carriage, where it got momentarily stuck. This was enough time for the Beast to bring his forearm into the unguarded elbow joint of that guard, compoundly fracturing his arm- the force was such that some of the bones in the guard's arm pierced through the plate sleeve as they broke.

Screaming in unconfined agony, the guard simply didn't have the werewithal even to respond as the Beast brought his whole body to slam against the guard. His sword arm, already broken at the elbow, was torn apart at that joint as the guard was forced away from his sword and onto the ground. The guard, simply unable to handle the immense pain, automatically did the only thing he could to preserve his mind and sanity- he withdrew from the realm of consciousness into a sickly sweet and oblivious stupor. Checking to make sure that both guards were out of the fight, the Beast withdrew from their bodies after a few moments in a satisfied manner. "We go," was all that the Beast said to the Beauty. Stunned and in disbelief, the Beauty nodded and rose, following the Beast not out of her own choice, but merely automatedly going through the motions, almost drowned in her own shock.