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A flutter of excitement boiled up in Meridith's stomach when she saw the happy glow in her princess' eyes. In that split moment, she forgot about anything and everything that could have weighed heavily on her shoulders and stepped forward with opening arms to catch her sweet Sophie. She pulled her up into her arms, swinging her about in a small circle, before she kissed the top of her golden head in greeting. "My sweet princess," she said in joyful reply, patting the girl's hair as she pressed her face to her stomach. There was nothing better than being with her princess, she was sure. A smile pulled up onto her cheeks. Nothing better.

Feeling the tug of Sophie's hands, Meridith dropped to one knee, a regular princely action, and looked towards her princess now level with her eye to eye. There was a secret to be told, and it was with happy abandon that Meridith accepted the fantasy world of her princess and tilted her ear to hear the royal message. Though, usually in previous attempts, events like this were accepted wholeheartedly and without thinking. There would be an almost audible click as Meridith switched from the real world to the fantasy one, but it was with a bit of sorrowful regret that Meridith noticed she was still in the real world while her heart and body played the actions of the prince that she once used to be. She tried not to let it show on her face, letting only a glimmer of sadness shine in her eyes before she blinked it away, replacing it with playful excitement for her princess.

"A beautiful Enchantress? Lost? Why, there is no nobler quest, your highness," Meridith said with a smile and a furrow of her brows. She lifted up from her kneel and took Sophie's hand in her own, nodding at her with an air of promise, "Fret not, my Sophie, we will aid this lost Enchantress. It is our duty, is it not? As prince and princess of the land? Let us to her aid."

With her small hand grasped in her own, Meridith warily made her way through the crowd back towards Queen Chloe, keeping Sophie with her. She knew to keep her hands clasped with Sophie's at all times in a crowd. She had to protect her princess. Together, they weaved their way back to Chloe and came to stand by her and the curious enchantress. With the dignified grace of an imaginary prince, Meridith approached with a deep bow and lifted up with a humble flourish, smiling with an embarrassed furrow of her brow at Chloe and the green eyed girl.

"Prince Meridith and Princess Sophie, at your service," she announced, fixing her tote bag as she straightened back up, and tucking her violet hair behind her ear, "Hello, Queen Chloe. I've been told there is a quest to be had? One to help this beautiful Enchantress? Princess Sophie and I are at your behest."

Taking a moment to observer the girl who so daintily hid behind the hip of Sophie's mother, Meri tilted her head, in an effort to see her. She had such brilliant green eyes, and she looked so...So worried. Meridith's stomach soured a bit, from instinct, from sympathy, she wasn't sure what, but she knew that something was wrong.

Flora felt guilty for bringing it up, fights between friends made her feel bad and brought up bitter memories and no, she really didn't want to think about that today, thank you very much!! Grabbing at the napkins a little too fast and wiping at her shirt a little too viciously to distract herself, she felt a bubbling frustration in the pit of her stomach as the powdered sugar just left white streaks. If she cried over funnel cake in front of a stranger, how embarrassing would that be? Instead, she blushed a deep red and turned to the people running the stall nearby. One of them was serving a customer, but the other was just sort of standing there, and she asked, "Excuse me, may I please buy a bottle of water?" She just wanted to solve this little problem, and she felt like if she couldn't do it right here, right now, it was going to turn into a stumbling block that was going to ruin her whole day.

She realized with a stifled yelp that in her hurry to forget bad memories, she had been appallingly rude to the girl who had given her the napkins, and swiveling back to her, she squeaked, "Th-thank you, by the way! I'm sorry for being a bother, I-" Cutting herself off, she stared at the ground, clenching her hands into fists that were still pressed tightly against her messy shirt front. "Today just isn't my day," she finished lamely. She had tried her best to make it her day, but it had not gone well. It was hard to keep up with people who didn't live in picture frames, and she thought longingly of the UMA, which did not allow funnel cakes and was full of friends that she could rely on to stay put and pay attention to her because she was the only person that could hear them. "I, uh, I hope your brother is okay! I don't like fighting with my friends much..."

It sounded really stupid aloud. "Not that anyone does! But you know, um," Something inside Flora was flailing quietly in a circle, so she ended with "Yeah," and left it at that. Oh, if only she could clean up her shirt! She felt so stupid.

(( Lucette: Sidewalk, with Meilei and Priya ))

Lucette's look was one of utter distaste of the whole situation, and looked over at the new girl and sighed, "Do you think she's alright?" she asked the new girl, "Her clothes are ruined, would you be alright after that?" she still kept the tissues in her hand as Meilei ignored her, knowing that she would eventually come back for them. She glanced over at Priya, noting her interesting hairstyle. It was sharp and daring, she liked it she had to admit. "You also have unique hair. It's nice." she offhandedly mentioned, "Your dress is cute too. Though I do not think it goes with your hair well. Perhaps a darker dress?"

"This is an utter mess...", she muttered to herself, she would probably try and seek out the other girl later, and probably go make her apologize to Mismatched Socks; it was only fair. One should never ruin another's outfit when getting into a fight. It was a golden rule.

Lucette took out one of the tissues, trying to help Meilei get some of it off, ice cream was such a disaster to clothing. "It is okay. You do not need to thank me." Goodness, this girl couldn't walk around like this with this gigantic stain on her clothing, but where would they get a new shirt? Or something to cover it up in?

"If you would like, I can go find the girl later and talk to her., Lucette offered, though the girl would probably want to seek her out herself. It was odd that she would just flee like that after throwing the ice cream at Meilei. "Oh. My name is Lucette." she said, primly smiling at the two girls. In all this drama, Lucette had completely forgot to introduce herself. How rude of her!

((Lalita - Food Stalls, with Kamala and Tilly))

As Tilly made her offer, it was Lalita's turn to blush. She wanted confirmation of a job well done, or well enough done, at least. She hadn't been looking for a reward, and now she couldn't be sure if she was being offered one because she deserved it, or because she'd somehow hinted at wanting one. If she accepted, she would feel like a fraud, being paid for unfinished work. If she didn't, it was possible she would hurt this girl's feelings. "I'm not sure... I mean, I didn't mean to... I don't know..."

Dealing with people was much harder than dealing with crowds.

Kamala, however, had no such worries. "Funnel cake, yes please! With extra sugar, and, um... is there anything else you put on funnel cakes?" She tugged on Lalita's hand excitedly, wanting to order their treat already.

"I, um..." Kamala had accepted for her, but Lalita felt awkward. Was there a way to accept and decline at the same time, so that all of her bases were covered? "Maybe we could all share one," she suggested, "or Kamala and I could, at least, I think." It wasn't the answer she was looking for, but it was the best she could do. Lalita agonized over her decision, barely remembering to add "and thank you. For offering, and, um, hey, I think there's a funnel cake place over there!"

(( Jin Ae Lee - Sidewalk, near Food & Craft stands, with her friend Kalina Denisova and her sister, as well as Zoe Whiteflower and her brother. ))


"Oh, hi Zoe..." Jin Ae said, not wanting to lift her hand to wave to her friend in case... well, in case she needed it for something. "Uhhh..." she said, trailing off, unable to really think of anything polite to say. Luckily Kalina was a good talker and she didn't really need to say anything. She smiled absently.
A hand brushed against Jin Ae's and she startled faintly, blushing. Was Kalina touching her hand again? Twice, in one day! She took the hand, before hearing Kalina's sister speak.
"How come she's doing that with her hands?"
Jin Ae realized it was Sofiya who had grabbed and she mentally cursed herself again for being so stupid. She was unsure now, if the child was adressing her, or Kalina, or Zoe... "Uhhh...." she mumbled, embarrassed.

(( Olivia: Approaching the Cafe de Magica Food Stall ))

Olivia made her way through the line of stands, eyes casually wandering across each banner and sign as she passed them. She had never asked Gloria where exactly the Cafe De Magica Stall would be, and stopped in her tracks as she pushed a loose lock of her hair behind her ear in thought. She could always ask someone, that seemed the fastest way to find out, and since there were so many people blocking the full view of each booth it seemed the easiest as well. Placing her hands on her hips she allowed her rosy gaze to sweep over the crowd around her once more in an attempt to select a stranger to question, but just as her eyes reached the edge of her vision she noticed a hand waving just past a small group of people. "Oh," the Louis girl gasped, quickly pulling an about-face to see who had motioned in her direction, and in fact she should recognize the brunette as the people obscuring her view walked past. She had nearly missed it, bright colours and all. Olivia smiled over to her friend in return, giving a small wave before hurriedly approaching the table. "Wow I feel stupid," she chuckled, obviously embarrassed, as she neared the amber-eyed girl," I pretty much walked right by you. Sorry about that!" She then, noticing the other person behind the counter, raised her brows in curiosity.

" So do you...uh.. guys, 'guys' being plural," Olivia lifted a finger to zig-zag between pointing to Gloria then Hanna back and forth," ...need any help? Not going to lie, I'm surprised you're here, DeWitt. You never seemed like the customer service type." The blonde gave a smirk, quite obviously just poking fun.

It was then that she realized she was interrupting an interaction with a customer, the small girl beside her whom she never really stole a glance at. " Oh, wow, I'm sorry! Don't let me get in your--," as Olivia turned her attention to the child beside her, she paused again in surprise. Another familiar face. " Flora! Well, I am embarrassing myself all over the place today," she laughed, bopping herself on the forehead as she knit her brows," Sorry I missed you, kiddo--- You doin' alright there...?" It was only once the teen had gotten a good look at the girl that she'd realized she was blatantly distressed, the streaks of sugar on her shirt and the napkins clutched in her hand probably explaining why.

[ zoë whiteflower ] - on the sidewalk, near to the food and craft stands, with her little brother, Jin Ae Lee and Kalina Denisova and her sister.

Zoe nodded at Kalina and smiled at Jin Ae, quietly taking the notepad and flipping through its pages. Recognizing her own handwriting and the random scribbles she made on the bus ride there, she took out her pen and scribbled a few words of gratitude to the girl. It's been a while since we've last seen each other. How have you been? It was summer, after all, and Zoe didn't make friends that were concrete enough to talk to them everyday. Besides, she had work to worry about.

Before she could hand it to them, however, Alto's hand grasped his elder sisters, squeezing it tenderly and tugging on her arm, motioning for her to bend down. "I'm hungry," he whispered in her ear, making her purse her lips. Her hands made two fists in front of her, going up and down twice. She pointed at him and gestured at him as if asking him to give her something, her fingers shaking up and down like jazz hands. Could you wait until I finish talking to them? She motioned at him and he rolled his eyes, again, nodding.

Alto looked at the girl with a blank look.

"Are you stupid?" Alto asked the girl roughly, frowning at her. Zoe froze. "She can't speak. Her voice broke or somethin'." He said bluntly, and Zoe's face changed immediately in to many different expressions— from friendly and happy to confused, then to anger and finally irritation. Her fingers immediately went to work: both of her hands moved at him as if clicking two castanets together, then rapidly swung into the the basic alphabet of the word 'the'. Lastly, she pointed down at the ground and made a motion as if asking, 'why?' What the hell? Why did you say that? That was uncalled for! Frustratingly, he replied as well, but this time, with his own hands. She's stupid! It's obvious you can't speak! Shut up! Now I won't get you ice cream! His face fell. She pointed at the girl and did the same motion she had before— a hand on her chest, rubbed in a circle motion. Apologize.

His eyes darted toward Sofiya and then to the floor as he grumbled a word of apology in a way that could convince anyone that he was forced to do it. She puffed her cheeks, then looked to the girls. Scribbling in her notebook, she wrote a few words of apology in it to them— I'm sorry my little brother insulted your sister like that. It was rude of him. She patted her little brothers head softly, a shy look on her face. Please forgive him. She wrote, and handed the book to her friends. She really hoped one mishap wouldn't ruin their relationship. Alto wasn't a bad kid, he was just too blunt for his own good and pretty rude when he wanted to be. Too dependent on her though, always asking for her opinion. But she didn't mind.

He was her little brother, after all.