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 Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:48 am
"Haha. Real funny, aren't you? Now, there is the small ordeal of me having to be a princess for my parents and my people, meaning that my husband -- should there ever, God forbid, be one -- would rule," he replied, his tone sour. Nic had just been joking, he knew, but he had hit a sore spot -- that despite Aurora actually being a boy, he would have to be the "princess" in order to uphold peace among his people. If it were to be let out that, in fact, he was.... well, a prince, then riots could break out. Or, at the very least, Aurora would become the laughing stock of the entire kingdom (and others besides). Either way, his pride was jeopordized in both having to pretend to be a princess and in revealing himself. In short, a lose lose situation in which the best choice was simply to follow his parents' wishes. At the very least their kingdom would be peaceful, then.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:48 pm
"Oh, come on. You can't believe you won't ever fall in love with someone," Nic said. He believed it must be the prince's fouled mood talking. Even if Aurora had encountered countless men who attempted to pick him up or who believed him to be a woman, surely there was at least one soul out there in which he would willingly accept. "Besides.. I think playing the role of princess wouldn't be so terribly awful. I mean, you still hold your royal title, but don't have to do much of anything. Just.. stand there and look pretty. Shouldn't be too hard for you, right? Anyway, it's like you said. Your parents won't be using magic to live forever, so that means you'll eventually have to move up a seat on the throne, leaving you as Queen, I guess. And isn't having a King sort of.. required?"
But the knight didn't wait too long for Aurora to answer that. He figured it may just make the other all the more angry. "But that shouldn't be for a long, long time. After all, the King and Queen look as young and lively as can be."
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:06 pm
Mint Thimble ((Welcome back! :3 And.... ninja Eisleeeeeeeeeeeeeey. ;____; <333 *went to that concert last night*)) William had been eating his breakfast. He had risen not too much before, intending to get a start in the early hours before it got too hot. His attention, however, was diverted from his breakfast by the explosion (well, compared to the silence, at least) of sound in the form of that red-head surfacing from the water and gulp down oxygen. From the looks of him, he seemed to have nearly drowned. William wasn't exactly in a conspicuous position -- he was situated more into the foresty part, away from the clearing, but he could see quite clearly, despite not being seen. As he examined the teen further, he realised that it must have been that redhead he had seen jumping into the water last night.... and... later with a tail.
Several moments of hesitation and then he stood slowly, the movement causing a small stirring sound from the bushes. And then he had stepped into the clearing, his countenance entirely visible. He didn't quite... know what to say. But he had to say... something. He paused several moments, biting his lip slightly as he thought.
"Are you... alright?" he asked at last, unable to bring up what he really wanted to know, though he was not without concern for the other's well being.
Well...
Youthful adult, what have you. Perhaps they were the same age. Perhaps not. Ryland was horrible with guessing human ages. Especially the females. They always tended to look... older than they actually were. And plastic surgery screwed everything up.
At the other's question, a look of disbelief .... or was it relief? overcame Ryland's features.
"Uh, yeah... I'm great."
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:13 pm
William nodded slowly, his expression sober. He stood there rather akwardly for several moments before he returned to the small patch of space he had previously been filling. He bent down and slowly rifled through a small rucksack he had been carrying. After several moments, he straightened up, now carrying a large, fluffy towel and a clean, dry shirt and pair of pants -- all of which, when combined, were far too large to fit in the bag, particularly the towel.
"Here," he said, his voice sounding rather soft and slow, a bit like dry leaves blowing through the trees, though without the scratchy rustling. He set the items down beside the redhaired teen, deciding that the other would likely prefure that than to be handed anything directly from him. People nowadays were highly mistrusting, and having such a conspicuous bandage slap dab in the middle of his forehead never seemed to help. Some thought it was domestic violence, others a curse. Thruthfully, it was somewhat a mix between the two.
"Hungry?" he asked after several moments, his hands resting idly by his sides. His face, though kind, seemed somewhat empty -- or, at the very least, as if he was trying very hard not to look too overly concerned. "There's some oatmeal left, if you'd like some," he offered with a small shrug.
Not a single question or demand for explanation. Truth be told, he was too nervous to ask, as well as not the kind of person who pried. Something like this, though.... he really did want to know what the deal with the fin had been, but felt too embarrassed to ask, or to even mention that sight.
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:07 pm
Nolas "Oh, come on. You can't believe you won't ever fall in love with someone," Nic said. He believed it must be the prince's fouled mood talking. Even if Aurora had encountered countless men who attempted to pick him up or who believed him to be a woman, surely there was at least one soul out there in which he would willingly accept. "Besides.. I think playing the role of princess wouldn't be so terribly awful. I mean, you still hold your royal title, but don't have to do much of anything. Just.. stand there and look pretty. Shouldn't be too hard for you, right? Anyway, it's like you said. Your parents won't be using magic to live forever, so that means you'll eventually have to move up a seat on the throne, leaving you as Queen, I guess. And isn't having a King sort of.. required?"
But the knight didn't wait too long for Aurora to answer that. He figured it may just make the other all the more angry. "But that shouldn't be for a long, long time. After all, the King and Queen look as young and lively as can be." ((Ahh, sorry, I'd forgotten that I hadn't replied! 8D;; )) Aurora rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just because it's easy doesn't mean that I want to do it. After all, it's easy to jump into a big patch of mud, but I wouldn't want to do that," he said, doing his best to keep a level head. He was doing quite unbelievably well, too -- he wasn't yelling or wearing out his voice in any way; just talking like a normal person, if a bit tersely. "Anyway, I suppose I shall just end up marrying someone eventually... probably just someone who I can at least somewhat get along with that doesn't bear magic... which pretty rules out about everyone I know, because I don't really get along with much of anyone aside the fairies, and they're too old, anyway," Aurora remarked with a small shrug.
"You get along just fine with Nic," Flora piped in. Apparently, this interjection was not at all welcomed, what with the way Aurora was glaring at his fairygodmother. "Just shut it, will you?" he asked, his tone highly annoyed. "Aye aye, Captain," she replied, rolling her eyes.
The castle, all this time, had been growing steadily nearer. At some point, the elephants had begun their ascent to the cliff and they were now nearly upon the palace. Soon enough, the king had called a hault to their travel. He had his wife slipped easily off their elephant's back with no apparent assistance of any kind. Aurora, on the other hand, allowed Flora to conjur two stairways of thick, woven flowers for Aurora and Nice to descend. Aurora took the steps easily, not even glancing at his feet on the way down. Once safely on the ground, he raised his arms above his head and stretched, a slight popping sound comming from his back. The upwards stretching, his torse elongated as his arms reached for the sky, served to lift his shirt slightly, revealing an inch or so strip of perfectly pale, milky, beautiful skin spreading across the length of his slender waist. It was only visible for several moments, as he soon settled back down after having stretched.
"Honeylovely, once we're in, we need to start planning for the wedding!" exclaimed Celestine brightly. Aurora rolled his eyes at Nic in silent disaproval before sidling over to the other male. "I suggest we stay scarce for a while. Anything you'd like to do here before I find some way to get us out?" he asked, his voice inaudible to everyone save Nic, as he was whispering as best he could into the other's ear (the difference in height made this considerably difficult).
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:27 pm
At the fairy's, Flora's, comment, Nic averted his eyes toward the castle, pretending to be in some sort of deep concentration. The slight pink that tinted his cheeks was the only sign given that he had even heard what they were saying. He chose to remain silent after that, not wanting to further embarass either himself or Aurora. Hearing it from the prince's eccentric parents was one thing, but from Flora, one of the people closest to Aurora? For some reason, it had a different effect on him.
Relief hit him when the elephant finally came to a stop at the castle. With the most careful steps he could muster, Nic descended the flower stairway slowly. Two more steps to go, and the knight looked up for the first time only to be greeted with the sight of an uplifting hem of shirt. Those final steps were taken in a stumble where Nic barely managed to keep his footing when back on solid ground. His legs felt rather wobbly. He assumed it was from the ride atop the beast.
"Well.. Not particularly, no," he said in an automatic whisper to match Aurora's own, eyes darting from the Queen back to the boy beside him. There would be a tinge of guilt to plague the knight, leaving Celestine during her time of excitement, but remembering the cause of such had him asking, "Where do you suggest we go?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 5:41 pm
((I ♥ Nic. 8D <3333 ))
Aurora glanced up at the small commotion as Nic fell. He made no comment, though, for once -- he had quite a bit of sympathy for the knight, after all, as he still remembered his dismount from atop his first elephant. It had't been easy at all -- however he, unlike Nic, had had a fairygodmother watching over him to make certain he did not scar any of his pretty little features.
"Mmm, well, I'm actually hungry... so I think I at least shall have something to eat, if you don't want anything. And then I suppose we shall go somewhere that isn't quite so... hot as this place," he said, having completely abandonned the whisper. His voice was kept quiet, though -- but he hardly needed it. Celestine and her hubby Hugh were fully engrossed in one another, their various ideas and schemes building off one another as they made plans for the wedding.
"--And 'Rora Honey must simply wear the most extravagant wedding dress! We'll have to get the seamstressed working if we want it tomorrow, unless Flora would like to whip something up... and a tiara, of course, and she'll have her hair done and make-up!! Oooo, Handsome, Mommy is just sosososoSo excited about our lovely's big day! And we must get pictures and display them later! And for the honeymoon, we need to get an island prepared. Or maybe an entire country. Don't you think that would be nice, Sweety? Now, we must see to the guests and the gormet and, oh, a thousand other things!!"
Or, rather, Celestine rattled on, her mouth moving a mile a minute with no apparent need to take breaths in between, while her husband nodded and added small comments, though the latter was quite well. To be frank, she was building off over her own excitement.
Aurora glanced at the pair and sighed. "Arrrgh. I hate it when she does that..." he grumbled under his breath. "Maybe I should tell them that we're going to elope. I'm sure Mother would think that that would be plenty romantic and then I could just get out," he muttured under his breath, a heavy scowl forming on his perfectly cherry-red lips. His cheeks, too, were tinged with pink, the porcelein pale skin flush with a dusting of pink satin. He wasn't looking at Nic -- his eyes were fixed upon the palace, the next-to-black hues hidden beneath a veil of long, platinum bangs and a cover of long, thick golden eyelashes.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:28 pm
It was if the mere mention of eating caused Nic to realize that he too was rather hungry himself. In fact, aside from Indi's little offered snack, he hadn't eaten for quite some time. Before he had time to really confirm his own want for food, he overheard Celestine's mention of an island- no, wait- a country for a honeymoon suite. He knew royals to have quite the influence and power, but enough to clear out an entire country for their darling "daughter's" pleasure? It was easily too much to believe.
Nic followed Aurora's gaze up to the magnificent castle while listening to his rant. "With all due respect, Highness, you did just 'get out' of that tower of yours. I would think after that whole ordeal, you'd be at least somewhat joyed to be back home," the knight said, remembering that moment of happiness he saw in him when he ran to embrace his father earlier. "Maybe you're underestimating your life here a bit. Beautiful scenary, laid-back lifestyle, and parents who obviously love and care for you very much. And if you don't mind me asking.. where do you really plan to go from here if you leave?" Concern overall tinted the dark-haired man's voice, as his eyes had long before drifted back to the young prince.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:47 pm
Aurora flushed, his cheeks burning a bright red. Still, he would not turn his head to look up fully at the other, although dark eyes did glance up towards the man for a scance moment through a fringe of incredibly beautiful golden eyelashes. He really... was, secretly, happy to see his family. But they were... just... just so... weird. It was embarrassing. While he knew that no queen or king could really be... normal, Celestine and Hugh were quite... exceptional.
"I... I... did miss them..." he admitted after several moments, his cheeks burning brightly. He shifted slightly in an embarrassed fasion. In fact, he was so embarrassed that his ears were even turning a lovely shade a crimson-pink. Finally, he tilted his head up to look Nic fully in the face. His cheeks and ears were still quite a bright red, the hue perfectly matching his rose-red lips, which were parted slightly in thought. His dark eyes were wide and it was possible, from that distance, to aknowledge their true amethyst hue. It seemed, for that minute, despite all the anger that Aurora could display, there were also such gentle expressions that, every now and then, appeared on the prince's countenance. Now, his eyes were... soft -- tender, even. He really did look as if he truly loved his parents -- despite all their weirdness and the way they had made him dress as a girl for the entirety of his existence.
"And... I do... want to spend time... with them, but... it's just so difficult. I mean... they're planning a wedding for Christ's sake. My -- our -- wedding. And don't you at least want to be away for that?" His speach, too was unusually haltering, and much quieter than it was usually. "I just wish they could be happy to see me instead of happy to see me and... a potential husband. Even if I'm... not gonna marry you," he said, a small pout forming on his lips. He was beginning to resemble his usual self more, though he seemed decidedly more calm than usual. He must have truly hated the tower -- and missed his family and home -- to have held a soft countenance for such an extended period of time.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:25 pm
Cautious fingers settled upon the material of the fluffy towel and a sketchy frown creased Ryland's usually smooth brow. What kind of strange boy appeared out of nowhere with clothes and a towel for him? And yet, the same boy who he thought he saw in the lake just the night before? It was an act of kindness from a stranger that the foreign prince never encountered so far from home.
Taking the towel from the pile, he rubbed it decidedly through his soaked ruby locks. Pleased, he looked back up at the oddball of a youth and muttered something about nice absorption.
Pulling the simple shirt over bare torso, his eyes then settled on the pants with a hint of desire. However, a stronger sentiment of suspicion overwhelmed him at the mention of food.
As docile as the other male looked, he was ... too kind. Too forward. Too strange. And what was with that bandage on his forehead?
Standing abruptly and dropping the towel back into the pile that was set beside him, the merprince replied, "Thanks for the hospitality, but I must be going. Goodbye." Keeping looks between them to a minimum, he started back past William into the thicket.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:41 pm
William nodded slowly, a rather blank expression on his features. Well, what had he expected? For this strange person to tell him why, exactly, he had had a... a tail? Well... he had been hoping, at least. For all that Will would restrain himself from asking, he did have rather a great curiosity (though not really the imagination to match it).
"Careful where you step, then," he advised. "There are some marshes over there and you could easily fall in if you're not careful," he continued, his voice slow and kind in a rather off-hand fasion. He was doing his best trying not to sound overly interested in just what was going on with the other. He had strode back over to the place he had been making breakfast -- there was a small fire burning from within a pile of blackened stones and sticks. Atop that, a pot was dangling by a hanger made of five peices of wood and some rope. There was some oatmeal bubbling within, the slightly nutty, slightly sweet aroma of cooking wafted through the air.
"Ah, it's nearly done..." he murmured, looking rather content, a smile spreading across his lips. Truthfully, though William had come from a wealthy family, he had always been a rather simple child. It was the small things that pleased him most. He raised a hand slowly to his forehead and pushed back a set of long, dark brown bangs, which had begun to fall in his eyes. At the same time, his fingers brushed lightly against the bandage. It wasn't enough to dislodge it, but it did shift slightly... The brunette winced slightly and used his index finger to press the center of the bandage back in. It hurt when it moved and, what was more, a small amount of blood had welled up behind the cloth. He frowned slightly, brow wrinkled, but let it be. He wouldn't be able to take the bandage off and redress it with clean bandages until after the other had left.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 9:59 pm
Stepping deeper into the bushes and dismissing the other, Ryland shook his head and muttered to himself, "Swamps, marshes... whatever. Weird kid acting like he owns the whole freakin' forest."
It wasn't long until the prince realized that he was well off the trail he'd originally taken to the lake. In fact, he was completely lost. Furthermore, these nasty little insects kept clinging to his now sweaty skin for a few seconds before he could swat them away. Being born a merman, he was hardly accustomed to this human process of sweating, but unfortunately in the case of his curse he'd been given a few of the more unfavorable traits humans had during the course of the day as well as just the two appendages he now walked the land on.
Schlump.
Leg nearly buckling, the prince grasped onto a tree branch as his foot was caught ankle deep in a muddy mire. He struggled to yank the foot back out, but it seemed the more he strained...
that his foot actually sank to mid-calf?
'What the heck?' he thought, completely puzzled by the earth's funhouse trick. Indeed, the prince of the sea was far from being familiar with the earth-bound concept of quicksand.
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 10:19 pm
"Owowowowowowow!" William exclaimed under his breath, the corners of his eyes tearing up slightly. His mouth was set in a small, but deffinate downwards curve. It always hurt to remove a bandage. He had watched as the rehead moved away through the trees, waiting until the youth had vanished from sight and out of earshot before he carefully pealed the bandage off. The pain was excruciating. He winced heavily as the bandage came loose and the long shaft of an arrow suddenly materialized in the center of his forehead. He hadn't been able to take it out yet... he needed someone with good knowledge of healing spells for that, because the arrow's tip was formed purposefully to imitate a bee's stinger -- the sharp end was thinner than the base of the stone tip, but once that had penetrated completely through, the shaft was too thin to allow William to simply pull it out without taking out an extra chunk of his skull along with it. A small amount of blood oozed from the wood, but it was highly minimal. William mopped it away slowly with the corner of a rag that had obviously been used for that purpose before. Then, before any more of the thick, red liquid could surface, he quickly applied a new, clean ensourcelled bandage, a slight hiss of breath comming from between his gritted teeth. That hurt, too.
The oatmeal was finished quickly. There really wasn't all that much of it and Will could eat quickly when he felt like that. The pot was cleaned easily, as well, requiring no more than a simple wave of his hand before it was packed away in his tiny satchel, along with his portable fire.
"Let's see...." he murmured slowly to himself, a thoughtful expression on his lips. "I... fell asleep facing this way... and the lake is over there... and the sun...." he continued on for some time before finally concluding, "So I must be needing to set off in that direction!" he said finally, setting off in the direction he had come from. It was no wonder that he had been travelling these woods for such a long time.
William whistled as he walked. He didn't seem to at all notice that he had been in that exact spot before, or that he had passed that tree the day prior.... To put it simply, he was entirely clueless, as well as without a sense of direction.
Shlop shlop.
He had stepped accidentally into a marshy area -- although he wasn't quite so misfortunate as Ryland, who had stepped immidiately from dry, hard ground to muddly slush. William, on the other hand, had stepped onto a rather intermidiate state of ground. He stepped back easily before the spot cave into the marsh and then began to proceed, now testing each step before putting his full weight there.
He was travelling the outsirts of a particularly large marshy area, now. He figured that it might help him find something... maybe a landmark, because he couldn't remember which way moss was supposed to grow to direct one towards North or whatever that direction was called. He was humming rather absently as he walked, each foot comming down carefully before he strode onwards.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:54 pm
In that moment when Aurora turned to face him, Nic was struck into an awed silence. While there was no denying that during the prince's angry and pouting stages, he was beyond adorable, but this was something completely different, and in his opinion, surpassing them all. For lack of a better word, he would have described this rare look as vulnerability. So innocent and serene, almost like the first time he had laid eyes on the prince as he slept in the tower.. He had to force himself to remain rooted to the spot in which he stood.
"Aurora," Nic said softly, as if somewhat stuck in a daze. His eyes, for just a moment, seemed to look past the other's countenence, into something deeper. But the continuous chatter of Celestine in the background seemed to be his line back into reality, jerking him back into the present at starling speed.
"They are happy to see you," the knight offered confidently. "You're mother is just excited is all. After all, the whole reason you were in that tower was to await someone to rescue you, right? She's just glad it's finally happened. The only reason your parents are even acknowledging me is because I helped you out. Trust me, I'm sure if you just give them some time to let things wind down, it'll be only you at the center of their attention, as it should be."
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:39 pm
Aurora nodded slowly to the other's statement, choosing not to voice the thought that it would never be just him -- it would at least be Aurora, the nation, everything else in the world, and most likely five to a hundred suitors. But he didn't say that. He knew that... Nic was... trying to be nice. And he would feel like an utter jerk if he said something like that because, after all, Nic had only ever tried to help him in the short time they had known each other. And Aurora felt that that was something... something like what a normal friend would be like. He had had way too many weird "friends" in his lifetime and he was quickly developing somewhat of a soft spot for the knight, simply because he seemed normal and sensible. Of course, he'd never admit he had taken a liking to the other.
His thoughts were interupted, however, by a call from his mother. "'Rora, deary, let's hurry on home! Hina is waiting -- and, well, you two haven't seen each other in so long. You really must go visit!" she exclaimed brightly.
Aurora scowled slightly and rolled his eyes, the moment of softness lost due to his mother's words. With that, though, he began on towards the castle, reaching his hand back to circle as best it could around Nic's wrist (although the slender, pale digits were quite tiny) as he tugged the other on with him. He was currently grumbling something under his breath that was along the lines of, "stupid frog," and "I don't want to see that jerk."
((*skidaddles away for a party* I will make Hina's profile later! I bet you can guess just what Aurora is implying. 8D;; ))
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