She soaks it all up appreciatively. This tells her a lot about what the life of a Bright is like, and surprisingly she's more attached to being a Bright than a noblewoman by now. It's still her birthright, her talent. And it's so much simpler than petty politics. 

She keeps an eye on how much she drinks, doesn't let anyone press too much on her. She tells the story of her recent miscast, such as it is. She asks Jeanne straight out whether she enjoys pain in bed, and doesn't mind what rumours may spread. 

Nobody reacts especially strongly to the pain thing. Nobody tries to press more drink on her more than halfheartedly.

"Hmmm. HMMMMM." She looks Liath up and down. "I mean, sure, you're hot. Depends how intense you get, maybe I'm up for that. Can you take it at all, or just dish it out?"

"I used to whip people. Don't have a whip right now, but I'd scratch you up, maybe some general rough treatment, slapping, spanking. I can take light punishment. Haven't been whipped personally."

"Yeah, we can blow off steam together. My room. All my shit's fireproofed, it's nice."

"Let's, then. I've been working twelve hour days for almost a month now and I need to vent."

"Hah. Take it out on me, intense is fun until it's not." Jeanne's room is in a much nicer building than Liath's. It's a whole suite. Lots of things are decorated with red. She strips naked with a little dance, then looks at Liath expectantly. "Come and get me."

She's good at this, and doesn't hurt Liath back much.

She comes and gets her. She's surprisingly delicate and precise, a little artful in the way she trails her nails down Jeanne's skin. Then she really engages, and gets to enjoy Jeanne's voice hitting a different note. 

Liath is attentive, and makes sure Jeanne gets to climax in exchange for her suffering. Personally, she's satisfied just with the ability to vent all her frustrations. She takes an orgasm if offered, though. 

Afterwards, she smiles, kisses Jeanne's brow, thanks her for the lovely encounter. And then she's off, feeling much better. She thinks she'll check out the Architecture club again.

Architecture club is open to her. The fellow architecture clubpeople are somewhat less open and friendly than before.

Predictable. But she'll persevere. She has the manners and the raw charisma, and she's got her unique architectural style as an in. Worth some recreational messing-around at least. 

Some people express interest and ask questions but nobody offers to sculpt or commission for her.

She maintains her polite façade but she can tell that Ancilla's already set the temperature of the room. 

It's annoying as hell. She finds herself tapping her foot - at which point she excuses herself. 

The day's over by then; she goes back to bed. 

Tomorrow, more classes, more time with the social club. She's still a lot less wound up than she was before. Jeanne was nice. 

Her control exercises teacher thinks she's ready to try Aqshy's Aegis again, if she feels ready.

She feels ready. She still wants to grab for as much of her birthright as she can.

This time, she holds the strands steady as she forms them one by one. First on one side, then another, then a third, then back to the first side. Balanced so they reinforce each other as the spell builds, and once complete, drawing a swell of aqshy into the center, that lenses out and-

A wall of semi-transparent flickering orange appears above her. The edges are wobbly and mirage-like, and it's a constant drain on focus and aqshy to sustain, but this is the form of the shield spell.

Excellent.

Back to work. And... she'd like to check out the history club after classes today.

The history club, fittingly enough, mostly consists of a small library. There is tea and snacks and people quietly reading. One of them asks if she's new.

She is new, yes. Not just to the club, but to history. She's never really studied it. What's their favorite subjects?

Their favorite subjects in... All of history? Well, this one studies the history of Demacia, including its downfall to the 15th Demon Lord (at least, the 15th since the fall of the Dwarves). This one studies maritime warfare and ship design. This one is trying to make the oral history of Mousefolk reconcile with the more well-established records of Human and Drake polities.

She'll listen more about the fall of Demacia.

The way their society was set up, obsessed with purity and discipline and purpose, made it remarkably well suited for fighting against a Demon Lord that would attack directly with overwhelming force. However, the Demon Lord found another way, twisting and corrupting the minds of high-level Demacian leaders, letting their growing paranoia and obsessions ruin the Demacian war effort and eventually cost the trust of their people. Reinforcements were directed straight into traps. Fortress-cities were cut off from communication and hope, and became irrelevant even if they held out.

Cunning. Something to learn from, there. What did the Hero try to do in response, or do they know?

The Hero at the time was off adventuring somewhere else, attempting to create a now-legendary artifact called the Dawnstone. Using the Dawnstone, they eventually killed the Demon Lord, but only after almost 2 more years of war. Demacia, among other places, was almost completely destroyed. Records, material, and people. Not least of which because most Demacians fought to the last to resist the Demon Lord. It ceased to exist as a polity and is only loosely a cultural identity. Tragic, really.

Indeed. And what happened to the Dawnstone?

Used as a trophy/weapon/badge of office by various people, eventualy vanishes from history, possibly while in the possession of an awakened golem pirate, or possibly after being stolen by a dragon, or maybe something else. It's REALLY not clear. The historical record is lamentably incomplete.

Shame. Any more recent history they'd like to talk about?