<A> Come Forth, Your Highness (Rio/Caelia)

[A Wandering Esper]

Where was her cousin ?

Caelia was pouting most horribly. She had the teahouse all ready, her stuffed bird sitting on one of the cushions, but Akakios was nowhere to be seen. Had he gotten lost into those boring books again ?

Lame cousin was, indeed, very, very lame. She should have gotten Isidore and Kyrie to come with her instead ! Now who was she supposed to have a tea party with ?  

[Meepfur]

Sunlight, after two and a half days of sleeping and skulking around inside, made him feel like a vampire again. An overdramatic comparison, perhaps, as there wasn't actually any burning or turning to ash involved, but still, it was an odd feeling. Standing there, squinting unhappily in the sun, Rio seriously considered going back inside for another day or three, but his aoidei would just kick him out again.

So he sighed, ducked his head, and shuffled towards the nearest teahouse. Maybe tea would help wake him up. Tea with lots and lots of sugar.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Caelia would pause in her grumbling when she heard footsteps - ah, maybe this was her cousin after all ! But, no, it wasn't, it was someone she didn't know. A pretty someone she didn't know, but nonetheless, someone she didn't know.

Still, far from being deterred by it, Caelia would give Rio her best smile. Maybe he could be her prince. He'd probably make a better one than her boring cousin anyway. "Hi !" She waved as Love came inside the teahouse.  

[Meepfur]

At that precise moment, Rio was not feeling especially princely, and looked slightly less so than usual. Disheveled, and not for fun, Love God reasons. But even half-awake and in desperate need of caffeine and sugar, he was as susceptible as ever to the smiles of adorable little girls. Probably a side effect of having one himself.

He smiled right back, expression and mood lifting considerably. "Good afternoon, Miss," he returned, blinking sleep and sun out of his eyes to have a better look at his company and surroundings. Stuffed animal guest, teacups, this was a set-up he recognized! "Oh, are you having a party? I didn't mean to interrupt."  

[A Wandering Esper]

Caelia, unfortunately, was well aware of just how adorable she was, and she knew how to use it to the max. "You can come with me ?" She said. "I think my cousin ditched me anyway." She pouted.

Definitively superior, no matter how Rio thought otherwise.  

[Meepfur]

Rio's smile widened, and he executed a little bow. His hair might be a bit of a mess, but he could still be polite! "It would be my pleasure, my lady. If we're to attend a party together, might I know your name? Mine is Rio."

"Ditched you? That's not very cousinly. I hope they have a good excuse."  

[A Wandering Esper]

"He's probably reading and forgot to stop." Caelia rolled her eyes. Even that much she seemed to pull off as adorably as possible. "He does that all the time."

And she wasn't supposed to be outside alone, and she wasn't willing to get in trouble for something that wasn't her fault for once ! But clearly she wasn't alone anymore, so no problem there, nope.

She made a show of pouring him a cup - it was juice rather than tea, obviously, but at least it was sugary.  

[Meepfur]

"It is easy to lose track of time when you're reading, but still, that's no excuse for standing up a lovely lady." Folding his candy wings behind him, Love settled himself on the unoccupied cushion. Juice, was it? Well, he wasn't about to complain! "Thank you very much."

"I see one of your guests did arrive on time," he noted, indicating the stuffed bird.  

[A Wandering Esper]

"He's boooooooring." Caelia certainly wasn't shy about making her opinion known. "At least his kitty is fun. Haven't seen him for a bit. Guess he's busy."

"Yeah, because I carried him here." Carrying her cousin wasn't that easy an endeavor. "Oh ! My name's Caelia." Augury belatedly remembered that Rio had asked for her name. Clearly ranting about the downside of older, boring cousins took precedence to that.  

[Meepfur]

"I'm sure he's interesting in his own way. Who is your cousin, if you don't mind my asking?" In a more aware state, he would probably have been able to make a good guess, but it was a little early in his day for thinking. He was still more or less on autopilot.

"Pleased to meet you, Caelia." Rio inclined his head politely and lifted his cup of juice to his lips.  

[A Wandering Esper]

"Kios." Caelia would answer, unaware of the implications of what she was saying, lifting her little plastic cup to drink from it.

Truth was, Ankou himself would be the first to admit he had no idea how anything as adorable as Caelia was related to him.

"You make a better prince anyway." Caelia deemed.  

[Meepfur]

"Kios is your cousin?" As far as he knew, Echo didn't have any siblings - currently - but Nergal did, which meant... "Are you Ankou's daughter, then?" Although it was also possible that Kios wasn't really her cousin, in the same way that he wasn't really Adi's. They'd done a good job of making this complicated, hadn't they?

"Oh, why thank you." Rio sat up a little straighter and flared out his wings, always happy to receive a compliment. "I've had some practice, though, so I have an advantage."  

[A Wandering Esper]

"Uh uh !" Caelia answered with an eager nod. "Do you know them ? Daddy is really really busy." As he always was, honestly. At least her daddy had an excuse, he was doing things. Kios just sat there and read. Always, always, always.

"Maybe you could teach him. That'd be really nice and I think he needs it." Caelia said, obviously amused.  

[Meepfur]

"I do indeed, though I haven't seen your father in quite a long time. Not that I've seen much of anyone lately, I'm afraid." He'd been busy chasing werewolves and fretting himself to death.

He couldn't help but chuckle at Caelia's suggestion. "Next I see him, I will have to offer him lessons."  

[A Wandering Esper]

Ah, good ! That'd help. At least Caelia hoped so.

"That's okay. I'll keep you company, okay ?" His little plastic teacup was refilled in much the same way it had been before. The little pink teaset obviously had seen quite a few outings and Caelia's cup had an indentation that looked like... a beak mark, perhaps ?

Hm.