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 Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:49 pm
Andromeda was in the garden like she said she would be, albeit she was working. She did not notice the prince's approach. Atop her head sat a large hat that kept the sun from tanning her skin. Naturally she had an olive complexion and her skin darkened rather quickly when exposed to the sun. Her clothes were all brown that day, except for a cream colored apron and even that was covered with dirt.
As she dug through the vegetables, she placed them in the large basket that was placed beside her. There were smudges of dirt on her face as well and her shoes laid forgotten at the back door to the kitchen. It was early and she thought that he, being a prince, was not going to be up at such an hour.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:46 pm
Nathaniel spotted her with ease, and watched her as she concentrated all her effort on the vegetables she was tugging out. He couldn't help but a crack a grin after seeing her. Finishing his apple, he grabbed a pair of gloves, and walked over to her. He cracked his knuckles and stretched and said softly, "Morning beautiful." After watching her for a while, he had picked up on how to pull out one of the vegetables. He wrapped his hands around one and pulled, merely falling back on his butt.
The gloves were absolutely no help. He threw them off with a pout and walked over to pull out the vegetable again. It didn't seem to budge. What did she do it make it come out so easily?
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 1:59 pm
-posting on this account because currently at work-
Hearing his voice made her jump and the beet that she had been working so hard to get out flew out of the ground and landed promptly on her head, knocking off the wide brimmed hat. Pink tinted her cheeks at the blunder; how embarrassing! Yet it seemed that the prince was not paying attention. Instead he had knelt down and, to her surprise, he was working on pulling up vegetables.
His blunder made a grin cross her lips and she, after placing the vegetable that had practically brained her into the large basket, scooted over to help him. She had forgone the gloves as well and her fingers were dusted in a fine coating of moist dirt.
"You actually have to dig you hand into the dirt," she instructed him. "Grip it at the base and give it a good yank upward with both hands."
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:24 pm
He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought of actually digging his nails into the ground for just a mere vegetable. Reluctantly, he rolled his sleeves up and dug his fingers into the dirt, wincing every time he felt it go deeper into his nail and managed to pull out a vegetable. ”I got it!” He squealed gleefully. He dropped it into the basket and stuck out his tongue at the vegetable, declaring victory.
”Is this what you do all day?” He asked blowing a lock of hair away from his eyes.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:32 pm
"Some days," she told him. She was wrist deep pulling out another vegetable. "Its not that bad, really, once you're used to it and I actually enjoy getting dirt on my hands. Makes me feel accomplished."
She would have rather spent her day with the flowers and herbs. They did not require as much care as the fruit and vegetables and were simply beautiful. It came up easily once she dug in and she placed it in the basket along with the others.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Your nice clothes will get filthy and I am sure you're not used to getting your hands messy."
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:58 pm
He scoffed. He wasn’t going to be told what to do by a little servant girl. He smirked and said, ”Real men don’t mind getting down and dirty.” He leaned forward to pick at another vegetable. His eyes suddenly widened and he stumbled back letting out a whimpering noise. He pointed a shaky hand to where the vegetable and stammered, ”A-A s-spider..” His eyes were wide with fear, and his face had lost all the colour it once had before. He seemed to get as far away from the spider as possible.
”KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT !” He squealed impatiently, like a small child wanting something done quickly.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:05 pm
Andromeda rolled her eyes. Real men weren't afraid to get down and dirty but the prince was pampered; he likely never even touched dirt before let alone buried his hands deep within the soil. His reaction at the spider, however, was priceless. The servant girl began giggling, pressing her hand to her mouth to stifle the sound.
"Why on the moon would I want to kill that spider?" she asked, crawling over to where the spider was. She recognized the type almost immediately. "I put that spider there. There a quite a bit in the gardens, actually. They help keep down the population of bugs that harm and eat vegetables. There are also snakes to keep down on the moles."
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:14 pm
The prince looked like he was about to faint. Spiders? Snakes? What other vicious creatures did this girl put in here. He immediately brushed his hands against the nearest cloth and said with a stubborn pout, ”Hurry up, I wanna go swimming.” It was a beautiful day, but even then the Prince was not in the mood to spend it outside. He’d rather stay indoors today, and that started with swimming, one of his most favourite pastimes.
He picked up the gloves he had thrown on the floor and went back to place them in the shed. As he headed back to where Andromeda was, he was stopped by the maid from last night. He held back the temptation to roll his eyes at her and merely asked, ”What do you want now?” She giggled innocently and said, ”Just for Sire to fulfil his part of the deal.” She looked over her shoulder at Andromeda and said softly, ”There are a few rumours she shouldn’t hear, but you didn’t say anything about that now did you?” Nathaniel looked at the girl in disbelief. He knew of her ways, but this was taking it too far. Blackmailing the prince, you don’t do that, ever. Especially, not when he’s in a bad mood.
He looked down at her coldly and said simply, ”If that’s how you feel. Then you’re fired.” Her eyes widened and she managed to choke out, ”W-what?” Nathaniel said it loud and clear for her now. ”Your fired. I don’t want you ever near this palace, and let me assure you that you won’t get a job at any other Gemstones palace. Now leave, immediately.” Her eyes teared up and she ran away sobbing. Nathaniel walked back to Andromeda, his mood even more sour than before. He leaned against a nearby tree and waited for her to finish up.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:31 pm
Andromeda made quicker work of the vegetable garden than usual. The tone of the prince's voice didn't go unnoticed. There was something wrong with him. That or someone had put in a rather poor mood. A frown pressed her lips as she thought about this. What could make someone as fortunate as he so upset? She chewed this over again and again and again as she worked.
Finally, by midday, she had gotten all of the good vegetables sorted from the bad (the ones full of bug bites and soft places were tossed into a smelling compost heap just beside the shed).
"I just have to take these into the kitchen for the chief and, if I am to swim, I need to rinse off first." she informed him. "You don't mind waiting another few minutes, do you? I mean you've already waited until this long."
The maid figured that he would want to meet her at the pool that was located inside of the house and her heart constricted. She didn't exactly have a bathing suit and she wondered if any of the other girls in her room did. So with a wave she headed out to hand the produce to the staff of the kitchen and to make herself halfway presentable.
However, before she could reach her room, she was stopped.
"Hey! What are you doing hanging around the prince?!"
She turned around and wrinkled her nose. It was Rena, a scullery maid that was a few years older than she was. The woman pushed a loose strand of bluish black hair out of her brilliant green eyes. Andromeda was always struck by Rena's beauty but the woman's personality was lacking, like most of help at the palace.
"That is none of your concern." Andromeda shot back. "Besides I am not hanging around him; he's hanging around me."
Rena lifted an eyebrow. "Why would he be interested in you?"
"It doesn't matter. Why are you not doing your chores like you're supposed to? These walls look pretty dusty to me."
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:38 pm
Nathaniel shrugged and headed towards his room but heard voices of another maid and Andromeda not too far off. Curiousity got the better of him and he turned the corner and stopped behind Andromeda. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and asked, "Is there a problem with me being interested in her Rena? For I surely am. More interested than I have been of any other maid in this household." He grinned coldly at the girl and said softly, "And to think that even such beautiful people like you Rena, could become so ugly with jealousy."
With that, he moved his hand down to Andromeda's waist. Just before he took her away, he plucked the vegetables from Andromeda's hand and gave it to Rena. "Be useful and take this to the kitchen staff. Make sure it gets there in mint condition. I've fired one maid today, I won't hesitate to fire another." Without waiting for her reply, he steered Andromeda away from her room.
As soon as they were out of ear shot he let go of her and stood in front of her. "Is this how they all treat you?' He asked calmly, but his eyes were filled with silent fury.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:48 pm
The smell of sun and dirt was still upon Andromeda and, for that reason, she was stunned that he would get so close to her. She watched in amazement when the Prince told the other maid off, who promptly left to do what she was told. No doubt the woman was dying a thousand deaths inwardly.
As soon as they were out of eyesight and earshot, he let go of her.
The question he asked made her shake her head. "While I have never gotten along with most of the other maids, it is only now that they press me like this. Normally they just ignore me."
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:57 pm
He clenched and unclenched his fists as she told him this. With a groan his ran his hand through his hair, and then suddenly turned on his heel and punched the nearest wall. Without turning to her, he grit his teeth and said, "Here I am only thinking about myself and how I can talk to you more, but the more I do, the more they'll pester you." He sighed and then looked at her and said, "It's probably better if we don't go swimming today." With that, he turned on his heels to leave.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:01 pm
The confusion and hurt on her face was clear. He was the prince. Why should he care if she was pestered? Andromeda only found slight annoyance in it. Women would be women, after all, and jealousy of such attention was only to be expected.
"Wait..." she said slowly. "Please don't stop seeing me because of few girls can't get their heads out of their butts long enough to see the actual situation between us. Why should we stop doing what we want because they can't control their emotions?"
(( I need to shower. Should be back soonish. 15-30 minutes at most.))
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:18 pm
"Jealousy's an ugly thing." He said softly looking over his shoulder. "I wouldn't be surprised if any of the male staff was jealous of me." He smirked then turned around to face her. “Do you really care so little about what they think about you?” It surprised him how much she didn’t care about gossip. The prince himself practically lived off gossip. His reputation, both good and bad depended on gossip. Depended what people thought of him. It all did. If he was to be king one day, it would all end up with how much his kingdom liked him. It had to be about that. This servant girl didn’t think like that though. Even though she was a servant who should be looking for the love of anyone she could find, like the rest, she didn’t think like that. He turned to leave again and said, ”Let’s go.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:41 pm
It was tense as he spoke. Yes. She cared that little what they thought. There were, on occasion, some times she wished that she was better liked or had more of a support system within the palace. Anyone wished for that from time to time. For the most part she just could not worry herself with other people's opinion of her. She knew the truth about herself and that was all that mattered in the end.
"I am sure no man in the palace is jealous of you right now." she informed him with a grin and she followed after him. "I still need to rinse off and get my bathing suit... erm, or whatever clothes I can pull together for this."
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