[IC] When Royalty Collides

[Manzanilla]

_.

It looked like everyone had arrived at the ball. He knew things were only getting started when he saw his brother blatantly flirting with one of the Princess of France. Even from his little corner, Henri could see that the French royal was having none of it. It wasn't going to take long for Elias to be asked to stop. He would have assumed that would be the first thing to happen in this ball but to his surprise, the two betrothed royals from Arcenia and Austernud. Henri had seen them approaching the same people when they met each other in the middle before reaching their destination.

It had all been quite a scene, really- it was almost amusing for Henri. It was no secret that those two disliked each other, but seeing them argue while trying to avoid making a scene was comical. It almost made him feel better about himself. Almost.

Henri had seen when Raiden and Ryn walked in together, while that came with no surprise the thing that Raiden had over his shoulders made him want to run. Asshole really wore something Henri had designed to a public ball then proceeded to smile at his betrothed- Beatrice. Henri didn't know if he was more upset about the coat, or that woman, or that he was taking it all too seriously. Henri felt like a foolish little kid, but he couldn't stop his feelings. Perhaps talking to someone would, and ever since Phillip's and Gen's arrival, he wanted to go over and say hello.

Watching everyone come in and make friends had already become boring, and he hadn't spent enough time inside the ball to excuse himself out for a smoke, so he took a very small sip of his champagne and forced his feet forward. He walked past the Prince of Asternud towards the royals of Maris and the Princess of Massylii. It looked like they had just finished talking to Cassandra O'Brien, so it was a perfect time to slip into the group and say hello.

"Princess Imani, Princess Gen, Prince Phillip- it's nice to see you all again." Henri greeted them all with their proper titles and bow. Both Imani and Phillip were in a higher status than him, so it was only appropriate for him to greet them like this. Stupid protocols and etiquette.

"Congratulations on the engagement." Henri looked at Phillip as he talked, giving him a small nod- his face turning red just the slightest. He couldn't even look at the man without being reminded of what he had seen months ago. Which only confused him more as to why the hell was Phillip set to marry Imani if he and Alejandro were clearly involved.

"I hope you don't mind if I borrow Gen? Henri continued as he glanced at Gen and smiled at her. "I haven't seen you in a few weeks; I would love to catch up." They had both been to busy getting ready for the ball to really talk over the phone or text one another- and speaking in such a proper way was getting tiring. He just needed his best friend.

[ayzrules]

Raiden had been too distracted by Henri's lost puppy eyes to notice Beatrice approaching them. It wasn't until she was standing in front of him and Ryn that he finally noticed her. He had to pry his eyes away from the blonde to look at his fiancée.

"Ah, Princess Beatrice, you look stunning as always." He pulled back from the table he had been leaning on to give the Princess of Königreich der Welten a propper bow. "We only had small talk," Raiden glanced back at Ryn just in time to see Quentin approach their table.

After Quentin's little introduction, Raiden gave the man an encouraging look before glancing at Ryn to give her the "use the dagger on me" look before turning his attention back to Beatrice. "We should leave these two to talk. Ryn, please remember we are at a ball." he teased before offering his arm his betrothed. "Shall we?"

In response to Raiden’s bow, Beatrice dipped into a slight curtsey, smiling and thanking him for the compliment. Then, Beatrice took a moment to properly appreciate both Raiden and Ryn's outfits - Raiden was in all black, his suit paired with an absolutely gorgeous embroidered overcoat, and Beatrice thought that Ryn’s one-shoulder gown (which was also sporting some stunning embroidery), while a bit more daring than something Beatrice would personally wear, was beautiful.

She glanced at Quentin, briefly - his outfit was a lot more elegant than Beatrice had initially expected, all things considered. “It’s nice to see you too, Quentin,” she replied, politely.

Beatrice had known that Raiden and Ryn were good friends, what with their couture brand, and she smiled at the light teasing, as would be expected of her. “Lead the way,” she said as she accepted Raiden’s proffered arm, giving him another small, polite smile.

With another smile to Ryn and Quentin, Raiden led the way towards the open bar. Now with Beatrice on his arm, he needed something stronger to keep him focused- or to take the strain of it all. "How was your flight? I was lucky enough to have the Raske siblings with me."

When they finally got to the bar, he waved down one of the bartenders and ordered an old fashioned with bourbon. The night was still young, but Raiden already felt the weight of it all weighing him down. He glanced at Beatrice and offered a kind smile. Being alone with her felt surreal. He never imagined himself with a woman at all, but standing next to her made him realize how fucked he was.

“My flight was alright,” Beatrice responded, falling into step beside Raiden as they walked to the bar. “Long, though. But probably not as long as yours.”

Beatrice waited until Raiden was done ordering his drink before speaking again, returning his smile with one of his own. “Are you enjoying Aciras so far?” she asked, as politely as ever, taking a sip of the drink she’d snagged on her way over to Raiden and Ryn. “I’ve only been a couple times, and would love to see more of the city.”

"I am. I'm staying at The Plaza hotel with Ryn and Rhys. I'm hoping to enjoy the city far more than being stuck in this palace." Raiden took a sip from his own drink, "Perhaps you can join us one of these days. Ryn was planning to see some of the clubs Aciras has to offer. It would be a perfect opportunity to see more of the capital city too." It would be a nice opportunity to see a more relaxed side of Beatrice.

Beatrice couldn’t honestly say that she approved of Raiden’s choice of friends when it came to the Raskes, but whatever. It was none of her business, and if she would have to deal with being around them for the next two months, then so be it. It would get...tedious, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Beatrice could put up with tedious.

“I think, quite honestly, that my parents would actually kill me if they caught wind of me going clubbing,” she replied, a wry look on her face. “So we’d have to be incredibly stealthy. But I can’t say that I’m altogether opposed to the idea, and I’d certainly like to see more of the capital. It’s quite lovely.”

"Well, if that's the case we can opt-out and do something more suitable." Raiden offered with a shrug on a shoulder. "We can always go on a trip around the capital. I heard Aciras is famous for its apple pie and its lovely gardens."

He didn't mind going out of his way to spend some time with Beatrice. If they got to know each other a bit more they could possibly come down to an agreement to dissolve their betrothal. Making it a mutual decision would get his parents off his back.

“I’d like that,” said Beatrice, flashing Raiden a brief smile. “I love apple pie, and gardens. My mom has always been into flowers, and I guess it rubbed off on me.”

Beatrice paused, and took another sip of her drink. This is...pretty awkward, all things considered. We barely even know each other. And I suppose it doesn’t help that I don’t plan on marrying him at all, she thought.

“Do you see a lot of other people that you know here?” she asked, after a moment of hesitation. “I don’t think I’ve seen Princess Vivian, yet, but I still have to congratulate her on her upcoming wedding.”

"I see a few I should probably get to greet them," Raiden nodded a bit, scanning the room to look at Leo, Cass, Chris, and finally Henri. He could tell Henri didn't want to be in this place. Even from across the ball, he could see his subtle mannerisms.

"Would you like to look for her?" Raiden turned his gaze back to Beatrice. "I can help you look," please say no. He wanted to make his way across the ballroom and talk to Henri, but leaving Beatrice would be rude of him. Although she seemed to be looking for an excuse to leave his side. Raiden didn't blame her.

Beatrice’s gaze flitted around the ornate ballroom as Raiden’s did the same. “Well, I don’t see Princess Vivian, so I don’t see why we should not go and greet the others,” she answered. “We can always go look for Vivian and congratulate her a different time.”

Beatrice surveyed the ballroom again, more discreetly this time. Out of all of the people in attendance, the person she wanted to speak to the most was Zheng, but she couldn’t. Not with this many people around, and not when she had someone she was already supposed to be marrying.

No; she couldn’t go find him alone, but perhaps she and Raiden would naturally cross paths with him over the course of the night. It seemed like the best bet, in any case, so Beatrice turned to Raiden and gave him a faint smile. “If there’s someone you’d like to talk to, we can definitely go and find them,” she said. “I’d love to meet more of the people here.”

Raiden hid the disappointment with a sip of his drink. "Of course." Raiden offered her his arm once more. "I can introduce you to a business partner and friend of mine." He glanced around for Cassandra, smiling when he spotted her. "She's a bright woman, I am sure you two will get along just fine."

Once again, Beatrice took Raiden’s arm. “That would be lovely,” Beatrice agreed, even as she sensed the - the reluctance? - in Raiden’s voice. Beatrice had heard of Cassandra, of course, but they’d never interacted (and frankly, Beatrice wasn’t sure how much she wanted to interact with the princess from Dal Riata, given that she was fairly certain that any political power Cassandra had would be negligible, considering how she was running her own company now. Nevertheless, Beatrice was nothing if not polite).

Raiden began to lead the way towards the familiar face of Cassandra. She wasn't too far off as she had been talking to the Maris Royalty and the Princess of Massylii. "Perhaps we could greet one of your friends as well, I'm afraid I'm not very well acquainted with many of the other royals." He glanced at the Princess of Arcenia and the Prince of Austerund as they continued to walk. It was amusing to watch them from afar.

Beatrice nodded in agreement to Raiden’s words as they walked. “I’d be happy to introduce you,” she replied, pleasantly. Beatrice followed Raiden’s gaze to Arabelle and Erik, arguing yet again. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, just a little bit. Really, both of them could be more mature about their betrothal, she thought to herself. Like, I love Ara, and Erik’s really not so bad. But seriously. Nevertheless, Beatrice still found herself suppressing a fond smile, despite the childishness of it all.

Beatrice thought that she had spotted Cassandra, just a little ways ahead, and was content to follow along with Raiden. However, before they could get closer to the princess from Dal Riata, no one other than Zheng himself appeared in front of them, presumably on his way to join in on the festivities.

Beatrice slowed to a stop. “Princess Beatrice, an honor to see you here. I do hope that Königreich der Welten and its queen are doing well,” said Zheng.

“Prince Zheng, how are you?” Beatrice said by way of greeting, giving him a polite smile. Zheng hadn’t been born into royalty, but the emperor of Liang had given him the titles, thanks to his service, and Beatrice knew court etiquette like the back of her hand. She knew to address him properly.

Beatrice winced, internally, at the entire situation. Here she was, hanging out with both the man everyone thought she was going to marry and the man that she wanted to marry (if only for political reasons). Zheng knew about her betrothal, of course, and how she did not intend to see it through. Raiden did not.

“Prince Raiden, this is Zheng. Prince Zheng, this is Raiden, my fiancé, she said, not letting any of her thoughts show on her face, her expression arranged in one of polite interest the entire time.

Dear God. We’re ten minutes in, and everything is already so awkward. How are we supposed to get through two entire months?

[NeoAJ]

---

_{A @NeoAJ and @HaleyTheRandom collab}

There is a certain feeling of helplessness that can drift over a person when witnessing an impending disaster. Like the reporter watching the Hindenberg collapse in flames, a Arcenian soccer fan watching the national team head into penalty kicks in a major tournament, or Lindsey Lohan’s agent, there were some instances when there is nothing that can be done to prevent a tragedy from playing out. That was the position Catherine found herself in as Arabelle crossed paths with her betrothed and things quickly descended into a shouting match. There was nothing she could do to stop it, and it quickly erupted into a powderkeg that threatened to consume everything around it. She pitied who happened to be in the direct line of fire. As it was, the sidelines provided enough cover that she could at least monitor the situation in case she had to play reluctant peacemaker. Instead it sounded like she would play sideline commentator instead.

”Tell me… do they do this often? And if so, how on Earth do you manage not to rip your hair out listening to them?”

Cat almost didn’t look over at the girl talking to her, but she did a double take at spotting the hostess standing at her side. All right, Cat. Play it cool. You’re a cool kid, be like one. They seem to fit in.

“Honestly,” she started. “The rulers of our respective kingdoms have been smart enough to keep them at bay given a couple incidents when they were younger. So it’s not often, but this is a pretty bad one.” It was true. Usually it didn’t get to this level of venom until things were a bit more private. Perhaps the flight took more out of her sister than Cat thought. “Usually I just have my headphones in. That or a steady supply of distractions.” She held up her drink. “That and I’m pretty sure bald is not my best look, so that keeps my hair in its place.”

Raven shrugged her shoulders slightly in response as she took a sip of her drink. ”Makes perfect sense, actually. How was your commute?”

Cat was doing her best to remain in pure Catherine mode, but in reality, seeing her sister go off the rails like that was the sign that the window was open a little bit. “It was… long. Really long. The longest flight I’ve been on. This is my first time in Aciras. I’ve heard so many things about the country.” She took a sip. “Although, I don’t suppose a lot of them would be found in a castle like this. No offense.”

The young woman couldn’t help but smile. ”None taken. I never quite liked the flights to Arcenia either. But no worries. Aciras is a large Kingdom, and there’s been a lot planned for the festivities. There’s a lot going on in the next few months aside from the wedding, so you’ll all be able to see some of the best we have to offer here. You’ll also have the best tour guide.”

Cat cocked an eyebrow at that last response. “Really? You know, I was wondering just exactly what to do with my time here. Knowing that there will be plenty of opportunities to explore the city, at all times of day, well that does set my mind at ease. Especially if I have a chance to let loose a little bit.” She winked at Raven, with rising certainty that the younger princess knew what she was after. “This tour guide you speak of, are they the trustworthy type? Because I don’t need to be led astray to let the tabloids have more fodder for their Monday editions. At least, not have fodder I wouldn’t want out there.”

”Said tour guide would politely tell the writers and camera men to fuck off while strolling through a back alley to one of the best bars in town.” She continued to watch the scene that was Ara and Erik unfold before her. ”But on a more serious note, you don’t have to worry about the tabloids here. Not unless they’re the up and coming ones that literally grasp at straws. The castle will be the safest place, of course. Your tour guide can’t promise you anything out in the city, but they’ve made it very clear to the press that they’ll have their heads if they catch wind of any slander.”

This was met with a nod of approval. Also, the swearing merely confirmed Cat’s suspicions about her drinking partner. She let out a happy sigh of relief. “Good shit,” she said as the rest of her meager glass of champagne was finished. She motioned to a nearby waiter for another one. Watching Ara and Erik’s blowups was a full-on sporting event. “I think visiting one of those bars would be awesome after this party given how things are turning. Unless my sister needs some emotional support after having to deal with the prince of Garbausterland.” She turned to Raven, doing her best not to get lost in those eyes again. “You’ll have to tell the tour guide we’ll be needing a lot of help to take our mind off this… unpleasantness.”

”Completely understandable,” Raven said, taking a large drink from her glass. ”Why is champagne customary at these things?” she scoffed. ”I need something stronger.” Luckily the waiter that Catherine waved over had arrived.

”I’ll take a margarita please, Julian. Get whatever Cat wants for me as well, would you?”

Things were definitely picking up at this rate if Raven was advancing the drink menu past the token champagne flutes. “Well, if there are some off the platter options, I’ll take a vodka seven. Cherry seven if you have it.” Cat told the summoned waiter, who gave a polite nod and hurried off. “I’ll have to get you to come to every royal shindig I’m forced to be at. It would be great to have a drinking partner who didn’t stick to the tiny glasses.”

”It would be an honor to be your plus one to any event. I’m honestly surprised that everyone showed up. Though why some of these people were on the guest list, I have no idea. I want to go ahead and apologize for my future behavior though. Two months of hosting these people isn’t going to be fun, so I’m sure you’ll see me completely shit faced on more than one occasion.”

Raven sighed. Everything she had said was true. Getting all of these people here on time, presentable and trying to keep politics out of the way was proving to be a pain in the ass.

”Don’t get me wrong. I love my sister. But sometimes I wish she would just hire a party planner.”

Catherine looked over at the Aciran princess and understood that pain. “Hey, I’ll need the tips soon enough. Believe it or not,” she motioned out to the floor, where it appeared Erik was reloading on alcohol to keep up the fight with her sister. “I’m probably going to be helping plan THAT happy union. So, I will take any help on that matter. All I have is my backup plan of causing such a scene that HurriKate trends instead of ErikFail or something, which is a service I can also offer to you so you don’t have to apologize for future behavior or anything.” She gave Raven a wink as she said that last bit. “The perks of not really giving a sweet fuck. At least, not unless my sister needs me. And right now, I think the distraction would be more valuable than me actually behaving myself.” The drinks arrived in front of the women at an opportune time.

Taking her drink from the tray, Raven took a sip and thanked the waiter before smiling at Cat.”I might have to take you up on that offer,” she said with a laugh. ”How… exactly did the whole HurriKate thing come to be, if you don’t mind me asking? I mean, I’ve heard things here and there, but you know you can never get a truthful story from the tabloids.”

Cat let out a sigh as she picked up her beverage. It wasn’t going to help her standing in trying to forget what happened, but maybe having someone like Raven know the whole truth would be better than the rumors floating around. “Basically, this snoop from the Lark caught me in the middle of kissing a girl that I was sweet on, keyword WAS, and they could not wait to post it. The Lark is such a kiss-ass rag for the Brunn conglomerate, and I’ve been on their shitlist for protesting the Brunns’ oil interests. So they run this whole HurriKate thing, asking how I can uphold royal honor, how could I be betrothed to anyone, you know, that bullshit. And fucking Candice runs right to them, starts smearing me all over TV. So safe to say, that was a quick end to that experiment.” She took a sip after finishing such a quick recounting of such a tragic tale. “But my parents were upset and kept me ‘sequestered for my own good’ until we agreed sending me here until the situation dies down was smart. I just wanted to get out of there. But yeah, you need someone to take some heat for you, I’m your girl.”

Raven did her best to try and keep the look of puzzlement and shock off of her face, but some of the signs seeped through before the had the chance to hide it. ”So you mean to tell me… that a royal liking the same sex is so scandelous that her parents will keep her confined to the castle for months on end?” she said, her eyebrows raised. ”That is beyond stupid,” the young woman concluded. ”No offense to your parents, of course. I guess I’m just lucky that the Aciran laws and people are a bit more open minded. The assumption that all royal weddings have to be heteronormative disgusts me.” She rolled her eyes while saying the last bit, raising the glass to her lips once again. ”Hopefully I won’t cause to much of a fuss, but if I do, it’s nice to know that I’ll have you in my corner.”

“I think it was more the media shitshow it became that they didn’t like,” Catherine admitted. “With that,” the younger princess pointed to the quarrel that was wrapping up for the moment. “Kinda being important and somewhat divisive and happening soon, I made an unnecessary addition to the opposition in their eyes. The Brunns, they hate LGBTQ anything though. Bigoted assholes. So, you know, extra fire. I swear, when Ara is queen, I’m having them booted from the kingdom. They can go to Tessia or something, I don’t care. But yeah.” She raised her chalice in response to Raven’s drink. “Happy to be here, and of course to offer whatever support I can in this time of celebration and stressing the fuck out.” The Catherine filter was fully disabled now. There was clearly no need for it with Raven and Cat was grateful to have someone other than her sister or Han to have that luxury with.

”I’d love to see the looks on their faces when you do, but for now I have to finish greeting the rest of the guests. It was a pleasure talking to you, Cat. I hope we get to do it again soon.”

“Right, of course!” Cat had to scramble to get the filter back up with Raven needing to fulfill her duties as hostess. “Well, the pleasure has been all mine, Princess Raven. I hope we talk again very soon. I want to learn all I can about this wonderful kingdom of yours.” Catherine offered a small curtsy, similar to the one she displayed at the entrance to the party, but she was careful not to spill her drink in the process.

”I’d be more than happy to show you around,” she said with a polite nod, the corners of her mouth forming a slight smile once again. ”Do try and enjoy the ball as much as you can. If anyone gives you trouble, feel free to just yell at me. I’ll be right over.” Just then her father came to stand beside her, whispering in her ear that she better get going. ”Annnnd that’s my official signal. I’ll talk to you later,” Raven finished, giving Catherine an apologetic smile before quickly following after her parents.

Catherine had already curtsyed, so she gave a half-hearted salute as Raven rushed off to her other duties as hostess. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She could have kept talking to Raven for most of the night. However, she had her own duties to attend to, as since Arabelle had spiraled off from her confrontation with Erik and was heading elsewhere, Catherine figured it was in her best interest to make sure the scene was confined to typical Arcenian-on-Austerund bickering. Drink in hand, she watched her sister carefully to make sure more cross words weren’t in the cards.

[Sugar and Spite]

_{A collab featuring Asher @HaleyTheRandom, Leonor @Pyxis, and Chris @Jetipster.}

Chris was thoroughly enjoying their standard game of ‘Toot or Boot’ - discussing the various outfits around the room from their vantage point - but was stopped short when a certain Notian prince entered the room. Just as handsome as he remembered from the last time they’d met - not that he could remember much - Asher had drunk him under the table. He’d woken up completely undressed in the Notian suite he was temporarily residing in for a long weekend conference on technology in conservation. Asher assures him nothing happened but that characteristic glint in his eye was there and Chris could still not help but wonder what may or may not have happened between them that night.

The tanned prince promptly finished his champagne and quickly reached out to swipe another two flutes from a passing server, thrusting one at his friend. “You’ve got this babe.” he quickly whispered, his hand leaving its protective placement on the small of her back - she was her own woman.

"Princess Leonor," he said, giving her a charming smile. "Lovely to see you again. You look absolutely gorgeous."

"I've got this," Leo repeated Chris' encouraging words confidence. Leo had this; she didn't mess up. Leo never messed up because then she would have to cry about it to Chris, and he had enough on his plate to deal with her- she downed the rest of her drink. No time to overthink.

"Asher, just Leo, please." She smiled and turned to greet him with a kiss on each cheek like they were old friends. There was no need for titles between them now, besides she hated being called Leonor. "It's good to see you too, you look very handsome yourself." Her eyes wandered down curiously before returning to his face with another smile.

Asher smiled at the pair, slightly nodding in head in response to Leonor. "Leo it is then. A pleasure to see you again as well, Chris. How are you two enjoying the ball so far? Did I miss anything interesting?"

'Very handsome yourself' huh? Get it girl. Chris returned the other prince's greeting with a glittering smile and a slight raise of his glass. “Likewise,” he returned the compliment. “We've not long arrived, so no drama yet...” he replied as he scanned the room noting the newly arrived selection of young royalty. He noted the various new arrivals and his heart-rate jumped at the realisation of how many people here he'd seen naked... But he had no time to mull over that with Leo's betrothed here. “But I doubt it'll take long...” nodding toward Alejandro approaching Han and then at the Dredalan contingent. “How was your journey Asher?”

"Oh you know. Long. Boring. I never really cared much for planes, but I suppose they're convenient. I actually quite miss Pangaea," he replied, taking a small sip of his drink as he scanned the room himself. A few royals had arrived after him as well. Some of the faces he recognized, others he thought he may know the names. "How was the trip for you two?"
"Our flight was fine, for me at least." Leo shot Chris a known smile. "This one over here was still recovering from all the drinks my country has to offer." She gave him a wink before turning her attention back to Asher.

"You should come visit my country sometime soon- after the wedding of course. Vivian's wedding, I mean." Not theirs. Leo still had no idea what was going to happen to their wedding. "Besides, my siblings do wish to meet you." Leo gave Asher an easy smile to hide how much of an idiot she felt after that.

The green eyes rolled and stomach roiled at Leo's reminder of his hangover, but he took another gulp of champagne in defiance. But it was nearly snorted out at Leo's awkwardness. Oh girl. “Leo, Asher already knows how precious I am the day after. He's been responsible.", he quickly interjected. "And I'd love to host you both in Hellenica sometime soon", he added with a hand on Asher's arm to show that he meant it. Damn that bicep. “You can pick up your wedding present while you're there.” With the Hellenicans renown for their nautical prowess, Chris had already commissioned a luxury yacht from the Royal Dockyard for the couple, taking care to combine both Notian timber and technology with traditional Teoko materials and designs. He had held off on construction for as long as possible but the last few weeks spent with Leo had made him realize that she was definitely going ahead and so he'd given his friends back home the go ahead to start the fitting.

"Anywho, I better go mingle and leave you two to talk." He gave Leo's hand a squeeze and Asher a smile. "See you both in a bit yeah?" He used chasing a passing server for another glass as his excuse to duck out and wove his way through the throng of rich, famous and royalty.

"Chris hasn't really ever been able to get away without a dreaded hang over has he?" Asher said with a smirk. "But yes, I'd be more than happy to visit both of your Kingdoms. From what I've heard, your family is quite great Leo, and your kingdom one of many colors and festivities. I've always wanted to spend more than a few hours in Nevarrea. It seems as I'll have the best tour guide." Once he had nodded in response to Chris's parting, Asher proceeded to keep talking to Leo as he moved to stand beside her. "I'm sorry that Notia is such a cold part of the world. Maybe you'll be able to help bring some life into the barren land that it is. Perhaps I could talk to some of our lab technicians and have them engineer a rose bush that will grow there."

Leo smiled at Chris as he left before turning her attention to Asher. "Notia is a beautiful country as it is now. I'm sure your country will grow on me- who knows, I might end up enjoying the cold from time to time." She brought her flute of champagne up to her lips to take a small sip. "Though, a rose bush that could grow in such a cold place does sound lovely." She looked at Asher briefly before looking at little scene happening not too far from them.

Arabell and Erik. While it was surprising to see them talking, it wasn't surprising to see the expressions they wore in their faces. Even from her spot, Leo could see that neither of them were remotely happy to see one another. It made her feel glad that Notia and Nevarrea had no bad blood between each other. No bad blood between her and Asher. There was nothing, and Leo needed something.

"I'm looking forward to the next two months." Leo said, keeping her eyes on Arabell and Erik. They would make a cute couple if they got past their countries history. "A two-month celebration for a wedding-" she chuckled "Not even my country would be able to go for that long."

"Honestly I don't think mine could either," Asher responded. "Seems a bit 'extra' doesn't it?" He took a moment to finish off the rest of his drink. "Would you like to walk around with me? There's a few people I'd like to introduce you to."

"I think extra is the right word for it. As much as I love to party, this just seems too much. I rather enjoy smaller events. I like the intimacy you get from those." Leo downed the rest of her drink and handed it to a passing server. "Lead the way." She gave the man next to her a smile and offered her arm to him. "Your Highness."

”My Queen,” Asher said as he returned her smile, taking Leonor's arm in his own.

[ayzrules]

 

Han had made her way into where everyone had congregated. She could see all sorts of familiar faces, as far as her eye could see. She had the pleasure of doing business with some of these kingdoms. Some kingdoms she was quite fond of, and maintained a relationship that was beyond commerce and diplomacy. And some other kingdoms.. well... let’s just say that they had some fuckery going on that Han didn’t exactly approve of.

Currently, the princess of Tuyen Phu was waiting patiently for a rather special someone. A prince of Castilya. He was supposed to be a rather special person to Han, but quite honestly Han was only trying to be with him because her parents told her to do so. As much of an independent royal she was, she had to listen to the word of her parents as long as they lived. She stood at a table, her head propped up on an arm as she waited for him. But lo and behold, he was already there, much to the indifference of Han.

“Prince Alejandro. A pleasure, as always.” She said, before looking down at her dress, “Why, thank you. You have a very beautiful… gold… to your body.”

Alejandro beamed at her, not particularly put off by her general, uh, lack of coherence (at least, with regards to his outfit). “Oh, thank you,” he replied, adjusting one of his earrings. “I love the color of your dress, too. Pink is so gorgeous.”

Alejandro paused, took a tiny sip of his drink. “Are you enjoying Aciras so far?” he asked, pleasantly. “I hope your flight wasn’t too long - it would have been much longer than mine, I imagine, and I was pretty exhausted when we finally landed.”

Han chuckled softly. It was sweet of him to consider her fight here. The flight to Aciras was a rather long one, but the reason for flying far outweighed the tediousness and bother it took to get here. There were many opportunities for her here, one of which was right in front of her right now.

“Oh, it was long. But, it was not bad at all. Not much turbulence on the way here. Some jet lag, but I’ll be okay.” Han mused, “What about you? How was the flight from Castilya?”

“Mmm, it wasn’t horrible. But my hair was a mess after napping on the way over,” answered Alejandro, flashing her another grin. “The jet lag is awful, I agree, but I’m sure you have it worse than I do.”

Alejandro took another sip, using the movement as an excuse to flick his gaze towards Phillip. He was with Imani, of course - oh, but that gown of hers is lovely - and Gen (whose gown was also lovely), and he saw that Henri was talking to the trio as well.

Alejandro would have loved to go up to Phillip, say something not very PG-13 to him and then fuck off to somewhere upstairs and behind closed (preferably locked) doors, but obviously, that was not going to happen - not right now, at least. He let his eyes slide back to Han as he brought the delicate glass away from his lips.

“Have you visited Aciras before?” he asked. “I have, a few times, but I’m afraid that I still haven’t seen very much of it.”

“I have… but I unfortunately also have the same case as you.” Han had been to Aciras a few times on diplomatic matters, but she unfortunately never really took the time for herself as her schedule was filled with more pressing matters, “This kingdom is beautiful. I would love to explore it sometime.”

“I would, too,” Alejandro agreed. “I mean, I’ve been to the palace, obviously, and some of the other cities - mostly for the fashion shows. But I’ve never really had a chance to see the rest of it.”

“How does Aciras compare to Tuyen Phu?” Alejandro continued with a laugh, mostly to keep them from lapsing into an awkward silence. “Well, what you’ve seen of Aciras, anyway.”

“Aciras is bigger… but obviously I prefer Tuyen Phu.” Han smiled, “I’ll always prefer it.”

Alejandro grinned, nodded in agreement. “But of course,” he replied, laughing lightly. “The food here, for one, is different. And that’s just for me, coming from Castilya - I’m sure it must be even more so for you.”

“I have never had Aciran cuisine before, so I cannot say. But, I hear this place has some very good food. I’ve seen some of it on television. Some good places I’d love to try here, but I don’t think it quite does food like we do, or like Castilya.”

“Mmm, I see,” said Alejandro. “I’ve had some of the food - obviously not all of the different kinds, but I’ve had some of them - and while it’s good, it’s just not the same, you know?”

Alejandro scanned the assembled crowd, again. “Have you seen Princess Vivian anywhere?” he mused out loud. “I haven’t seen her around at all, and I do feel bad for not congratulating her on her engagement, yet.” He laughed, a tad sheepishly. “She and her family are the hosts of this event, of course.”

Han had just finished thinking of a response to whatever Alejandro was saying before she was asked about Princess Vivian. Come to think of it, she hadn’t really seen her either. She wasn’t present at the door when she had arrived here. “I have not. I only saw Princess Raven and the King and Queen. I would hazard a guess that she is… making her rounds?”

“I see,” Alejandro replied, “that makes sense, yeah.” He let his eyes flit through the room, again. “Do you see anyone that you’d like to talk to, here?” he asked, smiling and raising an eyebrow. “Seeing as we’re expected to be social, and everything.”

“I would like to see Prince Erik, but it appears that I do not see him… maybe he is preoccupied?” Or his skinny dick havin’ ass is just too busy with a pussy that don’t pop for him. “What about you? I’m sure there are some you’d like to see. I do not mind tagging along.”

Alejandro let out an amused huff. “Probably,” he admitted, knowing that Ara and Erik being together was some tea. “My friends Phillip and Imani are right over there,” he said, tilting his head in their direction. “If you don’t mind, we can go find them.”

Prince Phillip and Princess Imani… Han was familiar with them, but she hadn’t interacted much with them. But, better late than never, right? Might as well go start. “Sure. Just lead the way.” She held her arm out for Alejandro to take. Was that the thing to do with her future husband? She wasn’t sure.

Alejandro grinned, easily sliding his arm through Han’s. He started walking in their direction, noting that Gen was walking away with Prince Henri as they began navigating around the other small groups of people.

Imani was wearing a stunning off-the-shoulder gown, and as they approached, Alejandro could see that Phillip was wearing a blue ascot. He smiled to himself, inwardly, already wondering what the fabric would feel like under his fingers.

“Prince Phillip, Princess Imani,” Alejandro said by way of greeting, opting to include their titles, as they were in a public setting. He unlaced his arm from Han’s so that he could kiss Phillip (though they were more of pecks than kisses, in Alejandro’s opinion), once on each side of his face, his hands lingering for perhaps a second longer than they had to before he drew away. Then, he gave Imani a brief hug - they were close enough friends that Imani was comfortable with it - and threaded his arm through Han’s again. “How are you both? This is my fiancé, Princess Han,” he continued, inclining his head in her direction as he spoke.

[KZOMBI3]

with just a touch of Morrhys
collab with @OfWindAndRain

---

Maeryn studied Raiden as he and Beatrice walked away to be on their own, leaving the Tessian prince in her presence. She managed a glare in his direction at his comment about this being a ball and to be on her best behavior. Though she thought it best to heed his words and maintain some semblance of royalty while under the eyes of the attending.

An incident between Erik and Arabelle was beginning to take form a short distance from where the Maeryn and Quentin stood, sipping drinks as they listened to the delicious scandal. At least, it was delicious for the Raske princess-- Quentin was too busy staring up at the chandeliers that occupied the airspace above them.

She had to refrain from rolling her eyes at being left in with his company. It wasn't that she disliked the guy. Quite the contrary, she thought he was interesting and knew he was harboring a side of him that few were privileged enough to witness. However, she knew that he was famously known for never shutting up and would almost surely expect a conversation from her, it was like an unspoken rule the last time they were in each other’s presence that talking was one of the furthest things from their minds. Furthermore, if their past interactions had any weight in the present she didn’t know if she was up for matching his energy appropriately. And for that, that energy, she was at a loss. At least for the moment.

Ryn couldn't put her well manicured finger on it, but she found herself drawn into his presence, despite how idiotic he looked staring upward in a room full of the most important young men and women in the world. It unnerved her. How could she? Princess of the Damned - aptly named she supposed - be taken in by the antithesis of everything that she was and has been? How had they been caught up in one another before all this anyways?

'Who is he to me? Really? Betrothal aside...' she thinks to herself as she sipped on the amber liquid, watching as he lifts his lemon-grape juice and takes a swig, puckering in distaste and humor. His mannerisms are strange indeed, but no stranger than her own... Actually, on second thought, probably stranger, just not as violent. 'What is he thinking? Does he not realize what I could do to him?'

The Flayer’s skin prickled with goosebumps as Quentin, with surprising grace, sidled up to her and laid his hand on her back. Perhaps it was intentional that his hand landed on her lower back where her skin was exposed to the air. Maeryn Raske felt Quentin’s hand tense and then lightly press harder down against the small of her back, where the Tessian’s hand met her dress- and directly pressing the sheath that housed one of her many blades against her spine. Not only did he discover the blade, but with how the light danced in his eyes as he turned his gaze to her, it seemed to have enhanced his excitement with catching up with her.

"What do you want?" Maeryn practically hissed under her breath in the midst of the chatter of the mingling royalty. The two of them were virtually invisible despite the hissy fit taking place just adjacent to them. That was largely due to the fact that the beginnings of a world war was deemed more important than both of them combined, and that the majority of the room had a bone to pick with one or both of them. He was even giving her that damned goofy smile.

"My betrothed is an incredibly beautiful and dangerous Princess of a most infamous land. Why wouldn’t I want to-- now hear me out-- possibly and, you see, quite literally risk life and limb to get to know a lovely lass like yourself. We could even compare knives later-- I bet mine are bigger than yours." There was far too much unashamed pleasure in his eyes at saying that awful, awful phrase. Enough of it that it caused a faint tingle of a blush to creep across Maeryn’s skin at how genuine his words were.

For Ryn, it was something of a 180; and she didn’t ever expect to get used to it. She by no means received it when people spoke to her, but now that she was betrothed to Quentin of all people… this likely wouldn’t be the last time. And she wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good thing or not.

Taking another sip of her little glass of fire, she flagged down a member of the staff and ordered another to parch her suddenly nervous throat. Obviously playing distant and cold wasn’t going to work, he was too cheerful. Besides, if history was to go off of, she knew exactly how he liked to be played. Clearing her throat, she turned her focus and gaze back to Quentin, her empty hand lay flat on his chest as she picked lightly at the buttons of his pressed shirt, “Bigger you say? Mmhm, you’d think I would have remembered that the last time we were together ~.” Teasing him would be her best option, and from the sudden tension that seemed to ever-so-subtly infuse his body, she was right. Nonetheless, he only gave her a wide grin and a wink.

With her new drink in hand she turned on her heel and began a slow, deliberate walk towards another table where her twin was located. If her intention was to make his eyes gravitate towards her legs and other flattering rear features, she was spot on-- Quentin found himself staring and… well, remembering. She made sure to accentuate her gait and expose more of her leg as she went about her way.

Meanwhile, the older of the twins was standing off to the side, his own glass swirling in his grip, clenching and unclenching, repeating the process as he observed his sister interact with her betrothed. Rhys didn’t like the way he was touching his sister and how close he got to her, more so at the sight of her touching him. Although, he was relieved to see her finally pull away and make a beeline to join him.

“Ah, sweet sister, so glad of you to finally make an appearance,” a sip and a kiss on the cheek, his breath warm and tinged with spices. He breathed into her hairline before pulling away, “Enjoy your time with your beloved?”

Maeryn pulled away, a knowing smirk on her lips as she leaned to rest her elbows on the table, “As a matter of fact, I did, and I plan on enjoying much more playtime with him~.” She couldn't help but think of all the ways she could bend this green cowboy to her will.

Morrhys rolled his eyes before scouring the busy room before them, trying to ascertain information of those gathered via simple people-watching. "When do you suppose the party is going to start?" He didn't wait for the look his sister was about to give when he corrected himself, "The real party. You know what I meant."

Ryn only resorted into shrugging at her brother’s complaint before noticing her fiance checking her out from where she left him, “Regardless of your evening, dear brother, it looks as if mine will be filled with fun~” with that said and Quentin’s intent stare, Ryn felt as if her evening wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[lady horatio]

_.

Phillip was in the middle of half-apologizing to Imani—"I'm sorry; I know Cass can come on a bit strong. She means well. She doesn't get to let loose that much, so when she can..."—when a blessedly familiar face appeared. Gen couldn't help it; she felt herself brighten with Henri's entrance.

Phillip and Imani each greeted him in turn, Phillip smiling at Henri's final question. "I think Gen would like it if you borrowed Gen," he said, shooting her a fondly teasing look.

Genevieve, who had, in the mean time, grabbed both Henri's hands in greeting, rolled her eyes at her brother. "I'll see you guys in a bit, okay?"

She turned, giving Henri's fingers a gentle squeeze as she murmured, "I'm so happy to see you."

Henri gave Phillip a small smile followed by a slight nod to Imani as he was led away by Gen. "It's been too long." He pulled Gen in for a brief hug once they were further away from Gen's brother and Imani. "I was going to come up as soon as you guys walked in, but you guys went straight for Imani- and I was kind of hidden. But whatever, how are you? Was your flight shitty too?" Henri continued with a smile on his face, "You look amazing by the way, your braids are so cute!"

The hug was brief but tight, and Genevieve would have held a bit longer if she could. She was very particular about who she allowed in her space and how much, but it was common knowledge amongst her close friends, a small circle though it was, that once she really liked someone, she was given to being quite affectionate.

When it came to Genevieve's personal boundaries, Henri was not just hug-approved; he was very much encouraged.

"Agreed," she said, as they pulled away. "I've missed you." He knew that, of course, just like he knew he'd been the first one she'd called the moment invitations went out to make sure that he would be attending the wedding festivities.

"Phillip and I are both fighting jet lag," she admitted, but beamed at the praise, what felt like her first easy smile of the evening. "Thank you. Do you like the rhinestones?" Henri was just the sort of person to appreciate quirky little touches like that, not just as a part of Genevieve's armor, but as a fashion statement, too.

"I missed you too, Gen." Henri held on to her hand as they continued to walk. Her touch always seemed to calm him down and ground him to his surroundings. It was like a little confidence boost that pulled him out of his corner.

"Love them! And of course, your lipstick too." Henri looked at the many crystals woven into Gen's hair and over her head. "You look beautiful, Gen. Wouldn't expect anything less from you." He squeezed her hand gently.

Genevieve felt a flush of warmth and squeezed back. "You know that you clean up nice, too." Her lips curved up, a soft and private joke. "You're the only guy here I'd want on my arm." Henri had had so much on his plate the last few weeks, and his moods had been so much more volatile. They would talk about it; they would talk about it all when they got the chance, but it felt so good, for the moment, just to feel his hand in hers and see him smile.

"You have to be my escort, at least for a while, so Phillip stops taking pity on me." What she wanted to say was, "Be my date?", but she knew Henri well enough to know he might want to escape the party early if he could manage it. And she knew, without wanting to bring it up before she had to, that his newly-announced betrothal might complicate matters.

"I'll stay with you as long as you want." Henri smiled as they made their way around the tables, "You know you're the only one I want to be around tonight, or ever." He did not want to be close to Raiden or see his face. Not with Beatrice hanging on his arm. Or Fareeha. Henri did not want to see her either.

"Oh? What is this?" Henri stopped when he heard Elias walking up behind them, a glass of whiskey in one hand. "Princess Genevine. It's so nice to see you again," He gave her a proper bow. Elias smirked when he glanced down at their hands- laughing when Henri glared at his older brother. "I do hope you give my little brother some time to greet his lovely betrothed, I can't let him be rude to the woman he's going to marry."

"I will, thank you for reminding me." Henri's hand tensed up in Gen's as he tried not to wince at the whole, marrying a woman thing. It made him believe that Elias knew- what if he knew? He could use it against him. It wouldn't surprise Henri one bit if that were the case.

"Prince Elias." Genevieve inclined her head in greeting, though her stomach rolled. Was Elias serving her a deliberate slight in getting her name wrong, or had he just forgotten it? Unable to tell, she chose to ignore it. She also kept Henri's hand tight in hers—to pull away would be to imply they'd done something wrong, which they hadn't.

"I don't think the lady Fareeha will be offended that Henri stopped to talk to an old friend," she said calmly. And then, though her instincts screamed to let it die there, she added, "I'm sure she understands that men and women can be friends and nothing more—even if the concept is foreign to you."

Henri tried to keep his face controlled as Elias made a complete ass of himself. "Brother," Henri forced a smile, "Really you shouldn't worry- besides you should worry about the image you are painting for our country. Princess Genevieve and her kingdom are close allies to ours. We shouldn't regard them for a newly formed betrothal." He gave Gen's hand a slight squeeze.

Elias looked at them both, a smile still in place. He leaned into Henri as if to whisper, but his voice kept the same level."Christian, you should be the one thinking of our country. Don't be selfish- "

"I like the way you try, really." Henri looked at Elias as he pulled back with a raised eyebrow. "Should I throw a stick?" He kept his face neutral.

Elias scoffed at his younger brother then looked over at Gen. "You should watch it, Henri, we both know who will be the next king." His face had turned a shade of red that was rising quickly from his neck to his cheeks.

It was an empty threat. One that held very little meaning to Henri. "If you excuse us, Princess Genevieve and I have a few other people to talk to." He didn't give Elias time to answer as he led Gen away from him. Once they had left Elias behind Henri turned to look at Gen. "I'm sorry the biggest royal asshole is my brother. "

“Don’t apologize to me,” Genevieve said, reaching with her free hand to give his arm a squeeze. “You’re the one who has to live with him.”

Not for long. Henri thought as he gave Gen a small nod. "Let's just forget him and his stupid face."

[ClocktowerEchos]

Ｒａｉｄｅｎ　Ｚｈｅｎｇ　＆　Ｂｅａｔｒｉｃｅ

---

---

Finishing his greetings with the royal hosts, concluding with a short, polite bow. Without much direction, he let himself calmly meander through the great halls but he didn’t let himself relax too much. A dozen things were racing through his mind at any given time, seeing how the air vents could use fixing, how the chandelier could “accidentally” drop on someone by their chains, how many roof tops could a gunman trace a line through a window, and how stunning that painting was over there.

Marching over in his shiny boots, he looked at the painting. A Field of Flowers by Edward Jorenns, a beautiful piece portraying a woman, her white dress and sun hat blowing in the wind, atop a hill of flowers from a dutch angle. Zheng remembered hearing about this piece, mostly because one of his college friends wouldn’t shut up about how much he wanted to buy it at an auction or something. He’d always thought the whole idea of auction to be foolish, but now looking at the piece up close, Zheng could start to see why people put so much value on art like this.

From down the hall, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a pair of people walking down, one Beatrice Mei Koing and one Raiden Zhao. Putting on his best smile and straightening his military jacket, he did his best nonchalant walk over and tipped his hat when Beatrice finally noticed him approaching.

“Princess Beatrice, an honor to see you here. I do hope that Königreich der Welten and its queen are doing well.” Zheng bowed slightly as he approached closer. He noted the slight way Beatrice looked uneasy at this whole thing, even though she was doing a wonderful job hiding it while introducing him to Raiden. Zheng just stood by until Beatrice was finished before offering a handshake to Raiden, “The illustrious Zhao Raiden... I am honored to finally meet you in person. I have heard many wonderful things about you and your pet rabbit.”

"Ah yes, I think at this point, my rabbit is a lot more famous than me. Everyone seems to know him so well." Raiden met the man's hand and shook it firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Zheng." He had heard a few things about the Prince and how he had gotten the title, which only made him respect the man even more. "I admire what you have done for Liang so far- I only hope to have as much dedication as you have for your country."

Beatrice kept her expression arranged in one of mild, and polite, interest. It was….pretty fucking ironic, really, that Raiden and Zheng were standing there talking to each other as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

She laughed softly at Raiden’s comment about his rabbit being more famous than he was. “Well, Tao is quite charming,” she pointed out lightly, smiling at the two of them. “Anybody who tries to claim otherwise is wrong.”

Zheng simply chuckled as Raiden finished his firm handshake, returning his own hands behind his back and smiling hearing the prince’s admiration, “It is good to hear such words Prince Raiden, thank you for your kindness. What I do for Liang is for its protection, and I know its heavy price.” Zheng flexed his prosthetic hand open and closed next to his side while looking down at it before shooting a look at Beatrice, he wondered if she even knew about the circumstances around his little robotic arm.

Taking a deep sigh and nodding towards one of the many food tables, Zheng shifted his feet and pointed towards one that had a trio of small pyramids of crackers, cheeses, pickled vegetables and spreads, “Hors d'oeuvres? It is one things I am personally looking forward to is the food here. Unlike you Prince Raiden, I am not fortunate enough to have brought along a fair princess to dance with.”

Raiden gave Zheng a nod. "We must do what we can for our countries and the people. It's a burden we all bare here, but I wouldn't have it any other way." He wasn't a stranger to sacrificing personal life for the crown and the people. Raiden had only gone along with his betrothal with Beatrice this long to find a way to be selfish in the safest way possible and dissolve it when he knew the consequences would be minimal. Though, he really admired Zheng for what he had given up for Liang.

"I'm not much of a dancer," Raiden smiled at Beatrice, "I hope you can give Prince Zheng a chance to dance, perhaps? I'm afraid my feet don't know right from left when I'm on a dance floor." It was a lie, of course, but Raiden didn't do much dancing anyway. He knew how to dance perfectly, but one thing was dancing in a club, and the other was waltzing in a ballroom. It would also be the perfect opportunity to sneak to Henri and finally talk to the man.

Beatrice caught Zheng’s sidelong glance, and duly ignored it, because what the hell was she supposed to say in front of all these people? Oh, sorry my dad’s a dickhead, but no worries because my mom and great-uncle are going to put you onto the throne and then we can somehow get my dad to stop trying to annex Liang????

She did, however, let her smile turn slightly sympathetic as she glanced over in his direction and murmured her agreement to what both of them said about doing what they must for their countries. “I would love hors d’oeuvres, and whatever else they have,” Beatrice admitted, smiling again. She was slightly taken aback by Raiden’s suggestion that she and Zheng dance (it seemed - improper, perhaps?), but...maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea, if the music was loud enough to obscure whatever conversation that they may have.

“I would be happy to dance with either of you,” said Beatrice, laughing softly. “Provided that we find some snacks first, of course.”

With a smile and a nod, Zheng lead the trio further into the ballroom towards white draped tables with silver platters, stacked high with refreshments and delicacies; he presumed the full meals would be served later once everyone had been settled int. With a plate in one hand, Zheng gracefully pluck various selections of cheese and meats onto his plate with tongs.

Raiden let Beatrice stand in front of him. "I think I will pass the snacks," He eyed the various meats, cheese, and fruits on the table, but nothing seemed appetising to him., Instead, he waved down a passing server and asked for some whiskey on the rocks. Raiden knew his stomach wouldn't do good with food now, and alcohol was the only thing that would calm his nerves for now. After receiving his drink and thanking the server, he made his way back to Beatrice and Zheng.

"Are we all set, then?" Raiden glanced between Beatrice and Zheng, a natural smile playing on his lips.

Beatrice followed along as Zheng made his way towards the food, aware of Raiden walking beside her the entire time. When they arrived at one of the tables, Zheng grabbed some snacks, and Raiden went for another drink.

Beatrice decided to opt for snacks, as well, figuring that a bit of fruit couldn’t hurt. “Oh dear, it looks like I’m so boring that Prince Raiden can’t wait to be rid of me,” Beatrice answered, her soft smile making it abundantly clear that her words were nothing more than a light-hearted joke.

“I think we’re set, if you also agree, Prince Zheng.”

Raiden glanced over at Zheng then at his betrothed, wondering is they had met before the ball. While it wouldn't be unusual, he did find it interesting. It would be a good opportunity to excuse himself while both of them talked and snacked. "I will have to apologize since I have to excuse myself." Raiden looked at Beatrice. "I have a few things to do before we go back to introductions," he turned to Zheng, "please keep the princess some company. I'll try to be quick." He gave them both a curt bow before turning on his heels.

It only took him a few seconds to spot Gen and Henri walking around the dance floor, hand in hand. He couldn't wait for Henri to be alone, so he'd have to introduce himself to Gen before anything.

[Venus]

<sub>You used to captivate me by your resonating light
Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me.</sub>

The tragic passing of Prince Quincy Seara Lloyd of Mbrëmje in a helicopter accident just a month shy of their wedding day had left Princess Marcela Castillo of Aragonia in a state of deep despair. The spark in her brown eyes had disappeared, her smile became a myth, and her once proud, arrogant demeanor was reduced to a shadow of itself. Grief had consumed her whole, tearing her down in ways she’d never thought possible. After attending her lover’s funeral, Marcy had decided to step away from the limelight in order to heal the immense pain of her broken heart. In fact, it had been a full year since the last time the young royal was seen before disappearing from the public eye…

That was, until tonight.

Receiving the invitation to Princess Vivian’s wedding had been a bittersweet moment for Marcy. At first, she’d felt faint inklings of joy for her good friend’s upcoming nuptials, feeling happy that she’d found her soulmate. But then came that pang in her chest as she remembered Quincy, and all feelings of excitement and happiness were once again replaced by pain, grief and a sea of tears. The invitation was soon left forgotten somewhere in her apartment, purposely away from sight in order to avoid any more unwelcome memories. It went without saying that she would not be attending the event…

Or so she thought.

After Marcy had declined the invitation, it was decided that her father and stepmother would be the ones attending the wedding in representation of Aragonia. As fate may have it, both royals came down with the flu two days before they were scheduled to fly to Aciras, and were quarantined by their doctor. Because the couple’s children were underage, the responsibility of representing her country fell on Marcela’s shoulders. And despite numerous protests, Marcy soon found herself all packed up and on a plane to Aciras.

The preparations for the night of the welcome ball had been a blur for Marcela. A team of stylists, hair and makeup artists were tasked with making the sole Aragonian princess look her best. She slipped on the long-sleeved, V-necked lavender blue dress her stylists had picked out, the matching white heels and the complementing jewelry before taking a seat in the makeup chair. After encounters with makeup brushes, setting spray, blow dryers and hair spray, the stunning diamond and gold tiara was gently placed atop her head, and Marcela Castillo finally emerged as a new woman.

It only took a few minutes for the brunette to arrive at her destination. As soon as she’d stepped foot inside the ballroom, she could feel the eyes of the other royal attendees digging holes in her back, and hear their whispers buzzing around the room-- probably outraged at her untimely arrival or shocked at her mere presence. But just as she’d done before, Marcy didn’t let any of it bother her. Instead of cowering away like she would’ve done months before, the young woman kept her head held high, carrying herself with the confidence and poise that characterized her even when her life had fallen apart.

[Cerces22]

&

Cassandra's phone decided it was not going to stop buzzing in her handbag. She looked around and saw that Phil was preoccupied before she pulled out the device. She tapped on the screen bringing it to life, she had seven missed calls, five voicemails, twelve texts, and one game notification.

She listened in on her voicemails, all of which was from her assistant who was upset that the production of the new watches coming out next year were delayed due to a bug in its programming. Cassandra rubbed the bridge of her nose while she tried to brainstorm how to fix the problem. She called up her assistant who sounded on the verge of a panic attack.

"Oh Miss O'Brien, the programmers said that it will set the release back at least seven months. The board wants to release on time with the issues and patch them out later."

"Rayleigh, breathe, tell the board that we are going to hire more programmers to make up the time difference. Also alert them that as a company, and my own personal philosophy that we refuse to release a product that is dysfunctional. Our reputation is built on that and no amount of money is worth selling our souls for. If there is a problem tell them I will call tomorrow morning and we can have a meeting to discuss the issues, now I must return to the party. Do not call me the rest of the night." Before Rayleigh could respond, Cass hung up the phone and took a drink of whiskey from a server.

With Raven having departed to attend to other hosting duties, Cat was left to her own devices. Her parents would argue that this was a dangerous thing, hence the reason for Cat being at this shindig. But what trouble could a girl cause with nothing more than a vodka seven in her hand? It wasn’t even being rapidly drained, for fear that with Raven gone, there would be no more left and she would have to switch back to champagne.

Although that fear was mislaid given that whiskey was now starting to circulate apparently. Huh. Guess Raven wasn’t kidding. They aren’t messing around at this party. The tray made its way over to someone the Princess of Arcenia actually did recognize. It was hard not to with the news Princess Cassandra made when she came out as a princess. Cat was barely in high school when it happened, but it was shocking in the royal world. The Lark definitely had a field day with it. She remembered her parents gossiping over it at the table on one of the rare occasions the family actually had a meal together. Before everyone started scattering. Cassandra’s tech company seemed to be doing all right too, if what she remembered from her classes at U of L were anything to go off. That being said, she only nominally paid attention during those ones. Well enough to take notes, but not well enough to really care about the material.

Still, she had a whiskey, and she shared a similar aesthetic to Han, so there had to be some common ground that she could find. Even when Cat was made up like a porcelain doll. Hannah did what she could, and she did an amazing job, but it still wasn’t Cat’s preferred outfit. She felt so out of place next to the royal from Dal Riata, who looked pretty damn good considering everything she must have went through. Cat took another sip of her drink. Hey, you can do this, all right? You can mingle. You did a fucking great job with Raven, you can keep this up. You might be able to get out of here sooner than later. You can do this. You’re a goddamn princess for the evening, all right? All right.

Catherine cut the short distance between the two, unaware of the corporate tongue-lashing that had just been delivered. Her filter was still up, the face of the perfect royal, but it surely wouldn’t last long given Cassandra’s reputation. “So, it’s nice to see someone else embrace the alternate drinking options available,” she offered to the princess. “I mean, one can only tolerate too much champagne before they risk floating away, am I right?”

Cass had barely put her phone away before someone else walked up to her. Through her frustration she had to scrape her memory for who this woman was. It hit her after only a moment of trying to push through the fog of whiskey clouding her brain.

"Yes, the good shit does help me not want to fire greedy corporate elitists that seems to think they can sabotage my baby while I am imprisoned in this…. Celebratory festival." Cass said while raising an eyebrow towards the Princess of Arcenia. She extended a hand towards her to introduce herself.

"Cassandra O'Brien, hopefully we won't have to switch to champagne. It's painfully boring and all of it tastes the same. And really how can they pass up the opportunity to serve Crown Royal to actual royalty. Prob could of got some good ad revenue."

Catherine took the hand that Cassandra held out and gave it a firm but quick shake. “Catherine Almore,” she replied in return. “And yes, you would think being close enough that Crown Royal would have jumped all over this. Of course, it’s no Jameson or Estelle’s Touch, but it’s a passable drink for sure.” She held up her own beverage, the fizz still lingering in the clear liquid. “I can’t say this keeps me from firing corporate elitists, but it definitely gives me the strength to fight them,” she laughed before muttering under her breath, “Fucking Brunn bastards…”

"That's right, you’re the royal that enjoys protesting my competitors. I must thank you for that, I hear you know how to properly whip up a crowd. I would offer you a job at Janus, but I fear that would hurt your social justice warrior princess image." Cass said placing her glass down.

"But I would be remiss if I didn't at least offer you a personal all access tour to any of my properties. I too am very conscious of the environment and it wouldn't hurt to have someone of your stature to come and give the company a once over anytime to make sure we are on the cutting edge keeping the planet sustainable." Cass knew she had a small chance to get Catherine's stamp of approval, but if she did get it, then it would help sales, and if she wasn't happy than she would have a new project to update.

Now Catherine was expecting a lot of things at this party, but a job offer definitely wasn’t one of them. Not that should would have been in position to accept an actual job offer anyway, but it was apparent that Cassandra at least knew she did something. Even if it didn’t sound like she knew about the recent developments to her image courtesy of Cassandra’s competitors. Of course, that meant she was more than happy to keep protesting them for free.

“That sounds like a lovely idea,” she answered. “I would relish the opportunity to see just how you’ve managed to build such a powerhouse company in such a short time without cutting any environmental corners. Of course, I’m not sure of my ability to whip up a crowd anymore, if that’s what you’re after. I haven’t had much of an opportunity recently thanks to… certain developments… in my homeland.”

Cass look at Catherine a bit confused, and then laughed as she finished off her whiskey.

"Oh sweetie, I wasn't asking for you to come check out the place because of your reputation. I was asking you to come because you seem like the kind of person that won't kiss my ass. Running Janus is a lot of work, even here when I am "suppose" to celebrate some royal I never met I am working. The problem is, everyone thinks they need to appease the boss and it is infuriating. You wouldn't do that, specially if my decision was terrible for the ecosystem." She said matter of factly.

Catherine’s eyes widened a little bit at that admission. “Well, if that’s what you’re after… I mean, I definitely have a reputation for not giving a damn about what the boss thinks,” Once again, Cat’s filter started to slip ever so slightly. “That is why I’m here, because of that exact reason. Bosses weren’t pleased about what I did, so I got shipped off. So yeah, you need someone to tell you exactly what they think, I’m your girl.” Cat tried to find something she could offer an immediate opinion on, but she was hard-pressed to find one on Cassandra. “Shoot, I’m a lot better giving opinions on stuff that isn’t just a bunch of royal shenanigans.”

"Which is exactly what I need. Most people look at me and see a princess that is their boss and are intimidated by that. Also, forget those clowns, they are obviously threatened by you. So really piss them off by working with an up and coming competitor, we can scare them together." Cassandra laughed again, getting someone like Cat to help her would definitely piss off the board. But she owned the entire company and refused to take it public. They could cower in their seats all they want, it would entertain her.

Cat lifted a glass in response. “Well if it will get me out of Arcenia for a bit until my sister’s wedding, then sign me up!” She laughed nervously, not really wanting to abandon Arabelle just to escape her overbearing parents, but hey, there wasn’t any need to close the door on an escape hatch just because. Besides, her parents might actually approve if she was working with the Dal Riatan royalty and “showing some aim in her life”. Either way, Dal Riata had a decent scene from what she heard from the few that showed up in the Larne nightlife. At least, that’s what she thought Niall and Siobhan were talking about. It was tough to tell with them.

“Yup, once the wedding occurs, then I won’t have to worry about those bosses at all. They will have no powers and me and my sister can banish the Brunns from the kingdom, and then I can do whatever I want. With whoever I want. It sounds lovely.” Cat was lost in her own temporary daydream for a moment, but quickly snapped out of it when she realized where she was going with that. “I mean, not that life isn’t lovely now, but… it could be improved.”

Hearing how Catherine wanted the Brunns gone gave Cass an idea. One that brought a devilish grin to her face. She could use Cat's hatred to further herself a little bit.

"You want the Brunns gone? Well instead of just banishing them, cripple them. Tie their hands in a way that allows me to swoop in and make a hostile takeover. Once I control their company, than if you like what you see in Dal, you will know I will turn their company around and fix it. I will be taking advantage of the situation of course, but it will further economic growth and better environmental standards."

“Well at the very least I know the Lark will stop spreading that homophobic garbage if your company took control of it,” Cat stated matter-of-factly. “That in of itself would be a vast improvement on the situation in Arcenia.” She thought for a second as she had another sip. “I’ll have to see what I can do. I don’t have a lot of ins there at the moment, but again, after the royal wedding, I know they won’t have nearly as much support from the crown as they do now, and that may be your in. If that word gets out that they pissed off the family too much, that might allow you to come in and ‘save them from themselves’. But I dunno. I’m not a savvy businesswoman like you, so I don’t even know if that would work.”

"Well me being homophobic would be extremely hypocritical I would think." Cass said with a laugh. "But I don't know if I would call me savvy, more like a bull in a china shop. I see what I want and if what I put my body, and mind through to get to where I am now is any indication. I am an extremely patient woman. But enough talk of business, I am here to pretend to enjoy this and possibly get really wasted. Be nice to have company for a bit if you have no other plans at the moment?" Cass asked raising an eyebrow.

And with that the filter was down. No need to pretend with the Dal Riatan either. The list of acceptable people to be real with was expanding, and Cat was all for it. Granted it wasn’t much of a stretch to think Cass would make that list, but hey, confirmation is always nice. “Hey, I’ve got nowhere else to be for… The Arcenian princess looked down at her wrist. “Two months or so. And my sister appears to need some cool down time after nearly igniting another Great War on the ballroom floor. So yeah, I think I can keep some good company. Gonna need more vodka though.”

Cass waived down a waiter and snatched a couple glasses of whiskey and handed one to Cat. Taking the shot relatively quickly, allowing the warmth to spread through her body. She grabbed another glass.

"Bring us a bottle of whiskey and vodka when possible, I plan on needing to be half carried to my empty bed tonight." She said to the waiter who bowed and walked away. She then turned back towards Cat. "Let's raise a little hell, really piss off those back home!"

“And two bottles of Cherry 7-up!” Cat called out to the departing waiter. She held her glass and looked at Cass. “What? I don’t drink vodka straight like some Austerundian barbarian. C’mon now. Like them, it’s got no taste without it.” She finally downed the offered shot of whiskey and had to stifle herself to contain the burning sensations that now passed down her throat. “All right, I can’t make any more of a scene than my big sis did, so let’s do some shit!” She didn’t give it the full-throated bellow that her new drinking partner did, in case her sister was around. However, it was clear that soon reactivating the royal filter was not going to be an option. And that suited Cat just fine for now. Now that there were clear goals to be had in Aciras.

[Melo]

Erik tried to imagine a calm lake in his mind. A scene of serenity to bring peace back to his mind. However, the lake evaporated, and its vapours seemed to leave his ears like steam. How dared that woman talk to him like that! She was insufferable, she was. And how dare she insult his amazing suit like that! Damn her and her entire family.

He considered himself lucky he only had to deal with her and her harebrained sister. He could see Catherine from the corner of his eye. Apparently she, and whoever the woman was that kept her company, had forgotten they were at a royal event and not a common house party. How refreshing it was, to see that she was as ill-behaved as rumours went. A familial trait, Erik was sure.

”Jolly good show, brother.” Sindri smirked at Erik. And with that, Erik already regretted approaching him. That said, Erik wasn’t fool enough to think he would avoid his sibling’s mockery. But could he not, just this once? No, that wasn’t Sindri. He was someone who could go from sweet to insufferable in the blink of an eye. Erik reckoned it was retribution for putting him in that suit, though it really did suit him. Sindri despised the formality of it all. However, currently it seemed Erik and his betrothed were simply fuel for his boundless love for comedy. His face definitely wasn’t as regret-stricken as it had been on their flight here.
Sindri was a reasonably tall man, barely seeing eye-to-eye with Erik himself. Sindri was broader than Erik, however. His usually messy shoulder length brown hair had been neatly groomed for the occasion. He had a handsome face blessed with an impressive jawline .

Sometimes, just sometimes, Erik had the urge to strangle him. ”Oh for the love of… Please, SIndri, don’t.” Gods, why was his smirk so aggravating. Erik presumed it was time to schedule in far more formal events for him. See who was smiling then! ”Where did you leave Arvid?”

Arvid was the younger twin of the duo that made up Erik’s younger brothers. A much more serious lad than his brother, but no less prone to mischief. Erik felt his wits quiver in his absence. He had left one attendant, Reinhild, to watch over the two. And she was standing right behind Sindri. He feared what trouble Arvid would get himself into alone. Despite being only four years younger than the crown prince, it often felt as if the twins had never really left childhood.

Arvid sniffed smugly. ”Chill, he’s with Radcliffe”

And frankly, Erik did feel relief with that. Radcliffe was a retired general and now Erik’s teacher for military matters. Erik had gotten to know him while he was serving himself, and the man was a drill sergeant that would make the actual drill sergeants shudder. Yes, perfect company for Arvid. With any luck, the man would impart some common sense into him.

Erik sighed in relief. ”Good… yes, good.” God, he was still so on edge. Curse that Almore woman! ”What about you? Is the reception to your liking?”
Knowing his younger brother, he would find the whole thing dull. But his answer positively didn’t quite meet expectations. ”It’s… well I guess it’s alright. Food’s good and I’ve chatted up some nice folk.” The way he phrased it almost sounded like a question, an uncertainty. As if he wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to enjoy it. Perhaps Erik was seeing his younger brother finally mature a little? Now wasn’t that a sight. ”I’ve been keeping an eye out for… well… anyone. You know, I guess I might try to make mom happy.”

One of the primary reasons his brothers had been allowed to go along with him was so that they might make their impression on the royal scene. Not being first in line had given them the God-given luck to not be betrothed yet, and their mother thought that perhaps it was time for them to go out and look beyond the horizon of the Austerian borders. Erik had been given the ‘great honor’ of assisting them.
Their mother didn’t seem as pressed to arrange marriages for them. Erik wasn’t sure whether this was due to lack of necessity, or because of the train wreck that was his own engagement. Certainly, Erik did envy their freedom.

”Shouldn’t be hard to do better than you, at least.” Erik took back the thought about him maturing. The insufferable little fucker. Erik sneered at him, then composed himself.

Erik didn’t really have any good options in mind for his brother. Out of his mind he could only list a few princesses who weren’t betrothed already. Raven and Han both were betrothed already, although he found the choice of men questionable for different reasons. Though that would not be an opinion to share openly. Erik knew Catherine was available , though he didn’t wish that fate upon Sindri. Or maybe she wasn’t, but Erik did not care to believe what the tabloids apparently spouted. He only heard such things second-hand anyway.
Well, Marcela was single, but it didn't take a genius to know that was a very, very bad idea.
Lastly he could think of Gen. That was about the only good option he could think of. Maybe it was worth bringing up to Phillip sometime, as a talk amongst brothers? Finally, maybe he could have a chat with Raven. He imagined she knew every guest at least somewhat? She might know other candidates. It was certainly worth a shot.

”I’ll see what I can do to help.” Erik said tiredly. He required some distraction to keep him from the bad thoughts. If his mind stuck with Arabelle for any longer he might be inclined to punch a wall. And he had a feeling the Aciran castle’s walls weren’t going to spare his hand.

”No need to rush it… No seriously.” Sindri said, his voice glazed in unease. He shifted his feet uncomfortably. A funny sight for a big guy like him. However, Erik thought it was quite a good idea to shift the attention of the people to another Austerian’s love life. Arabelle might’ve gotten a lucky break with her sister being in the picture right now, but Erik wasn’t quite that lucky.

Erik smiled at him. ”No, leave it to me.” He took a sip from his wine glass and disappeared back into the crowd.

[Aewin]

_{A collaboration between @jetipster & @Aewin}

Having neared the argument as it reached it’s finale Chris dove in as the Arcenian Princess was storming away. This was going to require some damage control and he knew that he couldn’t let his parents, or their good Arcenian friends, down by letting this scene continue. Having scooped up Arabelle’s arm into his with a smile and a “Your Royal Highness”, he forcefully yet gracefully steered her toward a large bouquet that he swiftly pretending to examine. “What the hell was that?” he muttered through a forced smile as he leant to smell the nearest orchid. “I know you don’t like him Belle but was that entire calamity really quite necessary?”

Arabelle was utterly fuming after her run-in with her ‘precious’ fiancé. Why did the Gods have to torture her? Is it because she didn’t attend Sunday morning church service with her family enough? The only comfort Arabelle had was knowing that the quarrel was somewhat quiet - only the immediate crowd could tell something was amiss, and Arabelle was sure she was friendly with most of them.

However, it appeared that her comfort was entirely a sham, because not long after the altercation she was spirited away by a friendly face. “I did nothing!” Arabelle argued. She kept her voice low, to maintain Chris’s hunky-dory facade as she appreciated the orchids in front of her. “All I wanted to do was check up on a friend. He started it by calling my concern for a friend frivolous.”

Chris placed his half-empty flute on a passing tray and took both of Arabelle’s hands in his own. “I know how these things go…” he whispered. He’d taken many of the phrases his father and brother had used during their years of disagreement out of context and it had never helped. “Misheard comments have caused many past disagreements for our families in the past. I’ve met Erik and doubt he’d call concern for a friend frivolous. Are you 100% certain that that is exactly what he said?” His green eyes locked with hers.

Of course! That was exactly how she remembered it going! Arabelle nodded solemnly. She already thought low of him, but to dismiss her concern for a mutual friend was a low blow. “I only told him I wished to talk to Princess Genevieve.” And to go away, but that was the first thing she almost always told him. She suppressed the urge to groan as she was reminded again of the encounter before. How could he be such a fool? It was irritating knowing she would have to spend the rest of her life with such a person. “Please tell me your evening is going better than mine.” Arabelle sighed, in an attempt to stop lamenting so much.

Her subdued nod told Chris all he needed to know. She couldn’t be 100% sure of what exactly had been said in the heat of the moment. He’d been there before. Too many times… He gave her a reassuring smile and turned them to face the room once more. “I’m sure we can catch Gen later” he said softly, “I mean we are all stuck here for the foreseeable future. ” He quickly realised that wasn’t exactly comforting so quickly grabbed another passing glass and attempted to ease the tension. “My evening?” he rolled his eyes and started to gesture around the room... “I’ve already slept with all the possible guys out there, all of whom now no longer talk to me. My best friend is with her betrothed who she knows nothing about and all of my other friends are also at one another’s throats over these political matches.” He downed half of the glass and stifled a burp. Is this my 2nd or 3rd glass? It can’t be my 4th… right? “So I’m having a gay old time Little Belle!” he laughed, the sarcasm palpable. “At least you’re getting married to a gorgeous guy,” he nodded toward Erik, “I’m forever destined to be the gay-best-friend-of-honour and never the bride-groom.”

Arabelle couldn’t help but be somewhat amused. Chris wanted what Arabelle had, but Arabelle desired the freedom that Chris had. It was like neither of them could be happy with their current situation. Delicately balancing the glass of wine she still had saved for Geneveieve, Arabelle gave Chris a sincere one armed hug. “You said so yourself, we are all stuck here for the foreseeable future. Who knows what may happen? Last I heard, the Prince of Estea is still single!” Estea was a small nation off to the east of Arcenia, and as far as Arabelle was aware, the prince was very single, and very attractive. “Or, if he is not to your fancy… I give you permission to take Erik. He may have a good face, but I doubt we’ll ever be compatible. Maybe you’ll have better luck with him.” She gave Chris a playful nudge.

Chris smiled at the hug and playful nudge. Mission accomplished. As for Arabelle’s comment… if only. What he wouldn’t give to be able to marry a handsome prince like Erik but given that the pool of potentials were in the room and already discounted, there was no chance of that. But he’s also jump at the chance to give his little Belle the freedom she desired, that she herself as just a teenager had helped him achieve in his formative years. “Ha! Don’t tempt me. I daren’t even imagine how our parents would react to that happening!” he pantomime whispered with a wink.

He examines her betrothed from across the room. “In all seriousness Belle, and I know you won’t see it this way, but you could be far, far worse off.” He held up a hand before she could reel off another rant about ancient grudges. “Hear me out.” He cocked his head as his appreciation of the Prince continued. “Personally, he’s well-bred, handsome, and well-built. I’ve only ever found him to be courteous, intelligent and quite humorous. Pragmatically for you he’s not only all of those things that anyone would crave to have in a partner but who’s position would also set place you both down in history books.If you can spin it as an un-political marriage it’ll be an incredible story of how love and common sense conquered petty party politics, something we could all definitely do with right now.”

He broke his serious turn with a shrug. “Anyway, what do I know. You’ve only got the small hurdle of your eternal fire to get over right? Just hope he hasn’t fallen for my irresistible charm like so many others before then,” he added with a nervous laugh as he registered the faces of Alejandro, Raiden and Henri once more as he scanned the ballroom.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Arabelle knew Chris was correct. She - no, they both had to stop acting childish and start putting the prosperity of their kingdoms first. It was the same thing Pops had reminded her before she boarded the flight to Aciras. It was childish, but putting down her pride for a man that wasn’t willing to do the same was difficult. Seeing him only made her build the wall around her much higher than before with every train-wreck of a meeting.

“I mean… you’re not wrong. I cannot deny that, my friend, but…” She sighed, feeling weary. The conflict was too much for her. Her pride was both her strength and going to be her downfall. Perhaps she should consider taking an oath of silence when in Erik’s presence? Although, Arabelle was near certain that the Austerian prince didn’t need her to say anything to act like an utter prat. “I wanted to try… I just wasn’t ready to see him so soon. I’ve already postponed the wedding once, hoping that either I can catch feelings or figure out a way to escape this but, as you can tell, neither have been a success.”

Chris’s nervous laugh rang in her mind, making her forget her woes. She could easily push away her problems with Erik in favour for cheering up a friend! She watched him as his face scanned the ballroom curiously. Didn’t he say he’d hooked up with all the possible men? “Is there anyone you like, out of all the men in this room?” Arabelle wasn’t aware of the sexualities of the men in the room. She wondered if her question was a dangerous one. The last thing she wanted to do was force Chris into outing someone that wasn’t ready yet.

Maybe he’d been a bit harsh. Chris reached around to mirror Arabelle’s one armed hug and drew her close. “I didn’t mean to sound like one of our parents,” he replied in an apologetic tone, “You know I don't believe in arranged marriages.” He looked back across the room at Leo and Asher but they were now out of view and his heart fluttered. How was it going? What was happening?

He was brought back to the present by his friend’s question. “Oh Belle” he said before taking another sip, “I’m not one to kiss and tell…” He let the sentence dangle for a moment before whispering conspiratorially, “but I will say that your Erik is one of the only young royals here who hasn’t ‘experimented’.” A mischievous glint shone in his ears before fading at the reality of the many betrothed couples before him.

Arabelle couldn’t tell if she was happy or surprised by the news. At least Erik was honouring their betrothal by not fooling around behind her back, unless Chris meant that Erik has yet to experiment with the princes of the world. Gah, what did it matter - it wasn’t like she cared, really.

Still holding her tight Chris whispered into her ear as he pointed back across the room, “What about Sindri?” he murmured with faux huskiness “Then we’d be family but I would have the fitter brother...” He gave her a final squeeze as he laughed into his glass. “Keep it up Little Belle.” he said as he walked away in search of something carb-filled.

At the mention of Sindri, Arabelle snorted into her free palm. Sindri was a good looking man, yes, but he was far too much brawns for her taste. And Austerian, but that was obvious given her incompatibility with Erik. The idea didn’t seem terrible, however. She watched as Chris walked away, wondering whether she should encourage that joke or not. Perhaps she should.

But first… Now that Chris had helped calm her mood, she was ready to check up on Genevieve, who was still being whisked around by Henri somewhere in the ballroom.

[Sugar and Spite]

Everything was going surprisingly well for Asher. Since arriving at the Aciran castle he had managed to not look a fool, hit on multiple people or get completely drunk. He had to be setting some sort of new record for himself.

While the fact that he wasn’t up to his usual shenanigans didn’t particularly bother him, he couldn’t help but feel like things would be going even easier if he happened to slip into his natural element. Maybe he would do so later. As for now he had to focus on Leonor. One of his main reasons for being here was to prove himself worthy of her, though how that would work out exactly he had no clue. Arranged marriages were a pain in the ass. Asher had always said he would prefer to marry out of love, but royal protocol didn’t exactly allow for that.

Things could be worse, he thought. Leonor could be ugly, or ill mannered. Gods forbid she was the hella bitchy type.

Taking Leonor's arm and walking around the room with her, Asher had the chance to introduce her to a handful of people. He wasn’t that close with said people, but it was polite to try and speak to everyone - not just the people he was on excellent terms with. They had the chance to wish Vivian congratulations on her wedding. Leonor seemed to be having a decent time.

In the middle of congratulating Vivian, a certain feeling settled over the room. Whispers seemed to pop up from every corner as people stood on their tiptoes to look over other people's shoulders. Asher turned to see what the fuss was about. When his eyes landed on her, his facial expression briefly shifted to one of shock.

Princess Marcela Castillo of Aragonia had arrived.

”If you could excuse me for a moment, my lady.” he said to Leonor. ”There seems to be something I need to attend to. I promise I’ll meet back up with you as soon as I can.”

The young man flashed her a quick smile before politely excusing himself from the conversation, heading in the general direction of Marcy. As he did so, a rush of thoughts entered his mind.

He hadn’t seen her in ages, and the last time that he did they hadn’t ended on the best of terms. He had more or less ghosted her. Asher had done his best to reach out around the time of Quincy’s death, though had heard nothing back. Rather it was because she was still mad at him or because she simply had a lot going on at that time, he didn’t know. Either scenario would have been perfectly acceptable.
He took a deep breath as he continued to walk over.

This was about to go either barely decent or shit show horrible.

[lady horatio]

Phillip's mouth curved up in a smile as Alejandro kissed his cheeks, a greeting that had been customary long before they'd shared anything but platonic intimacy. He had to remember to use the Castilyan prince's title, to say, "Prince Alejandro," instead of a casual, "Hey, Ali," like always.

He inclined his head when Ali pulled away and gave him room to hug Imani. "It's good to see you." Briefly, Phillip's smile flashed into a grin. "Though it's hard to miss you."

To Han, Phillip gave a half-bow. She was one of the few people present that he'd never met, so even though he would hazard a guess that she wasn't so formal herself, it would be best to err on the side of caution until he knew her better. "It's nice to meet you," he said. "And I know it's the thing to compliment everyone's clothes, but your tattoos are incredible."

[Rodiak]

Imani was glad to see Alejandro's familiar face approach them. She recognized the woman hanging by his arm as Princess Han. She knew quite a few things about Han's country, with it a potential trade ally in the near future. Imani had to make sure to make a good impression on the princess.

"Prince Alejandro, it's nice to see you." Imani said after their hug. It all felt so formal, but that was how these things went. "Princess Han, it's nice to meet you finally. I'm Princess Imani of Massylii." She felt so out of place, acting like this with Phillip and Alejandro around her. She was close enough with both men to greet them by their names only. Protocol this. Protocol that. It felt like it was too much to even follow sometimes. It made greeting people such a hassle.

"Prince Alejandro, your outfit is stunning." Stunning did not give justice to Alejandro's outfit; it was more than stunning. "Princess Han, you look amazing as well. I do agree with Phillip is correct. Your tattoos are incredible." Imani had leaned in the slightest to glance down at the princess' arms. Imani was too much of a chicken even to consider getting one tiny tattoo.

[Bee]

---

Seeing Phillip and Imani before her was a pleasure. Right off the bat, there were compliments to be flung around, which definitely brought a smile to her face. Han was never opposed to someone complimenting the tattoos she had gone through so much and scoured the Earth to get on her body. It was quite a controversial thing according to her parents, but seeing the reactions of relevant people so far had proved otherwise. The more traditional, boomer-y types were vocally opposed, but they were soon to be dead and rendered obsolete in her society anyway.

Watching the both of them greet her, she returned a bow to the both of them and placed a hand on her heart. [color=FF8E00]"I am very honored to be in your presence, Princess Imani and Prince Phillip." Han had heard of Massylii before, and they were on her radar as a trade partner. They had something Tuyen Phu wanted, and Tuyen Phu had something they wanted. It was a very clean cut, fair deal. She wasn't as sure with Prince Phillip's kingdom, but she was sure that there was at least something there.

"You both look absolutely lovely today." She smiled, "Surely, today's got the makings of a good time. I hope we all enjoy ourselves here. I certainly will."

[Sugar and Spite]

Her conversation with Catherine being over, Raven was pulled from the scene from her father.

"How are you enjoying the party so far," King Robert asked.

"Oh, everything seems to be going great," she exclaimed enthusiastically. "I've spoken to a handful of people, though Princess Catherine and I's conversation has been the best so far."

"Do you really think it's the best idea to be speaking to her?"

Raven laughed coldly, grabbing another glass of champagne from the waiter to her right. "What's that supposed to mean? Our countries are allies, her sister and I have been friends since we were little. Quite frankly Cat and I have been to some degree, just not as much due to our small age difference."

"I meant the scandal surrounding her. Besides, you haven't even said hello to your betrothed yet." the king said in a hushed tone.

"First of all, Catherine is a very good person." Raven began, not bothering to keep quiet. "Her sexuality - whatever it may be - is no reason for a scandal. The only reason there even is one is because her Kingdom has an organization of bigot cucks. And dare I remind you that your own daughter is Panaromantic, father?"

"Oh please, you know I've never cared abo--"

"I'm not finished yet," she growled, knocking back the rest of her champagne. Betrothing me to Morrhys Aleksander Raske of Dredlan is the biggest laugh Arcenia has had since the great King Arthur split is pants at his coronation. While I've always been friendly to the Raske twins, I don't wish to marry one of them. And I won't. My whole life I've told you that I want to marry for love. That it may take a little longer than an arranged marriage, but I would do it. That I would chose the best fit for both me and my kingdom. Then all of the sudden, you want to betroth me to Rhys?

"Would you calm down," Robert hissed. "You're making a scene. You have to marry Morrhys. You're promised to him. It's the best your mother and I could do for you. You will marry him, Raven."

The young woman laughed. "You humor me father, you truly do. But at the end of the day, I'm the one that has to say my vows, and I will not be saying them to Morryhs. Thank you and mother for trying, but you should have asked me first before arranging one of the biggest things about my life. Not all of us are hopeless romantic doormats like Vivian. Quite frankly you should be yelling at her for not being a better hostess. All of these people are here because of her, after all."

"You really do have a flair for the dramatic, don't you?"

"The dramatic truth, yes," she said with a smirk. "But I do believe I inherited that from you."

"You really don't intend on marrying Morrhys?"

"No father, I haven't for months."

"Fine, but you'll have to tell your mother."

"Oh she's known since even before the arrangements were finalized. May I return to our guests now, father?"

"Go ahead," the king said with a defeated sigh. "Just try not to yell at anyone else."

And so she did. Raven made her way back out into the crowd throwing smiles, waves and 'oh hi, how are you's everywhere she could. While the conversation she had just had with her father was not at all how she planned to tell him about how she felt about her betrothal, the princess was more than glad to get the weight of what she needed to say off of her chest.

[ayzrules]

Alejandro beamed at Phillip and Imani. "You know that I'm glad to see you two as well," he said to Phillip and Imani, resisting the urge to make some kind of not PG-13 remark at Phillip's next words. "And Imani, oh, thank you. Your gown is absolutely lovely."

Alejandro couldn't resist complimenting Han on her tattoos, too. "I agree with both of you," he said, grinning. "Princess Han, I love your tattoos."

He glanced back at Phillip and Imani, his eyes pausing at Phillip - he had to remind himself not to let his gaze linger - before flicking towards the princess from Massylii. "How were your flights?" he asked, because it was the polite thing to do (and nobody would accuse Alejandro of not being polite, when he was in public. Even if people like Phillip thought he was ridiculous and insufferable behind closed doors, or whatever it was that Phillip had called him the last time they were together). "And Phillip, how is your sister? I haven't had a chance to talk to Gen yet; does she like Aciras so far?"

Although Alejandro was used to the formality of events like these ones, it was strange being so formal with Phillip, after everything that had happened in between them. And besides, Alejandro and Gen were friends - but again, he was nothing if not polite when he had to be, and Alejandro hadn't been sure if Han knew that Gen was Phillip's sister.

[Manzanilla]

_{A collaboration between @Rodiak, @lady horatio & @Pyxis}

Raiden could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and his knees weaker as he got closer to Gen and Henri. While he had never been the nervous type, he was definitely anxious about the conversation that was about to take place. His abrupt departure from Beatrice and Zheng had been left behind, with little to no care about it. He wasn't going to marry that woman either way, and by the end of the celebrations, he needed to set things straight with Henri. Raiden's end goal was to make things as they were before. Both of them agreeing to stay together until he found a way to come out to the public eye while not losing his title and position. He took a sip from his drink for the extra courage and made his way to the duo.

"Princess Genevieve, Prince Henri, it's nice to see you two." Raiden glanced over his shoulder to see Prince Elias walking away from them towards the bar. He could tell their conversation hadn't been a pleasant one by the way Henri looked. He wanted to reach over to hug the smaller man- knowing well enough that Elias was a huge asshole.

"Henri," Raiden leaned in closer, lowering his voice a bit, "Can we talk? In private? I want to talk to you." He knew that Gen was aware of their relationship, but he didn't want to drag her into this.

Henri had been too busy thinking about the ways to avoid Elias for the rest of the night when he heard Raiden's voice. He froze up immediately, hands squeezing Gen's. He turned his head to look at the taller man. He hadn't expected Raiden to approach them this early in the ball. Henri was happy to see Raiden despite the conflict between them. He held his ground and fought off the urge to jump in the man's arms or yell at him.

"Prince Raiden..." Henri's cursed himself when his voice cracked just the slightest. He didn't know what else to say. He didn't want to be alone with him, not yet. Henri wasn't ready to hear whatever Raiden had to say. After prying his eyes off Raiden, he looked at Gen- hoping she would help him. Anything would help.

“I’m sorry, Prince Raiden.” Genevieve’s whole body was pins and needles, stomach knotting—and if her tone toward Elias had been cool, it had nothing on the register her voice had dropped into now. “But as you can see, Prince Henri is otherwise engaged,” she said, pointedly. She tightened her fingers around Henri’s, keeping his hand close to her side.

The double meaning was unintentional, but she didn’t regret it too much—not when Henri was shrinking next to her, wavering and uncertain; not when this man she didn’t know was trying to pull him away from her without so much as an “excuse me.” If Raiden wasn’t even going to bother introducing himself, Gen saw no reason to linger on pleasantries any more than duty called for. What had possessed him to approach Henri now, in public, where he was least comfortable? What made him think he was entitled to a private aside, to special treatment?

And she hated how much it bothered her, but damn it, how dare he act, however implicitly, as if his claim on Henri was somehow greater than hers?

To say the least, Raiden was taken back by the tone of Princess Genevieve's voice and overall attitude. Henri had told him about her in the past. He had imagined the girl to be docile in nature, much like Henri, but he hadn't expected this. Although her response had been polite and he couldn't shake the feeling of hostility towards him. Raiden cacked off, a small apologetic smile in place, and gave them both a nod.

"Well, my apologies, Princess Genevieve." Raiden gave them both a bow, eyes trained of Henri. "I'll leave you two to continue your conversation. I hope we can talk soon, Henri. It's important." It was clear that Henri wasn't ready to have a much-needed conversation with him. Raiden understood that. Perhaps he could have handled the situation better from the start, but he was always prone to mistakes. With that, Raiden turned around and began to make his way away from them like a dog with his tail tucked between his legs.

Henri had been frozen throughout the whole encounter. He was glad that Gen had acted so quickly of he would have just turned around and walked right out of the ballroom without looking back. Yet, as he watched Raiden turn his back on them and walk away, he almost wanted to reach out and stop him. He wouldn't do that, of course. Henri was a coward. He had depended on Gen to drive Raiden away, depended on her to drive Elias away too. It was like he was just a burden.

After Raiden was far enough, Henri let out a long and deep breath- like he had been holding his breath for a long time.

"Thank you, I don't know what I would have done without you. I- thank you. Holy shit." He looked at her, squeezing her hand back. He could still hear his heart pounding in his ear even as he turned to face Gen. He had never seen this protective side of Gen before. Their little encounter with Elias before had seemed to fuel the fire Gen had inside. Henri was glad for that fire.

"I think I need to go outside." He needed something to stop the rush of thoughts he could feel coming. He didn't want to burden Gen with any more than he already had. He had to be there for his friend too, and him breaking down was not going to help.

“I’ll go with you,” Genevieve offered, watching Henri’s face in concern. She’d just told Raiden that Henri was with her; it would look strange for him to go off by himself...and she worried that “by himself” was not the best thing for him to be right now.

Genevieve glanced, once, in Raiden’s direction, feeling a twinge of guilty nerves despite her irritation. “And...I’m sorry if that was too much.” She probably should have been more diplomatic, to save Henri stress, if nothing else. “I’m not trying to make this harder for you.”

”No, you were perfect. Raiden- he can be overbearing sometimes. I’ve learned to handle him, but in situations like these, my head just goes ‘bleh’ and fucks me over.” Henri gave an exasperated sigh as he began to lead the way to one of the few doors. It annoyed him that he couldn't handle his own personal things without either breaking down in angry tears or just freezing in place. If Raiden had caught him alone, Henri would have just stood there until the taller man dragged him out to the gardens and finally have his talk. He was just glad that Gen had been able to drive Raiden away and give Henri time to think thins over, not that he had already done that so many times before tonight.

Once they finally exited the ballroom and into the gardens of the Aciran castle, Henri finally let go of Gen's hands. "I'm sorry- and thank you," he repeated, looking away from her when he felt his chest ache. He hadn't expected this to happen, at least not so early in the night. Right now, all he needed was time to gather his thoughts back and think. Think real hard about what he wanted.

“No problem.” Genevieve squeezed Henri’s arm, trying to give him space while still letting him know she was here. She had his back. “You know I’ll stick with you. And we can always hide behind Phillip if we need a social buffer. You know he can talk to anyone.” And, more importantly, not even Elias would be stupid enough to be rude in front of Phillip.

She looked at Henri’s averted gaze, chest pinching. “In the meantime, do you want some water or anything?”

Henri glanced back at Gen, giving his friend a reassuring smile. It was going to be fine, these two months would be okay if Gen was there with him. "I think some water would be nice," He wanted to smoke just enough to be able to go back in the ballroom and see Raiden's face again. Besides, he knew how Gen felt about his habit of smoking and how she was trying to get him to quit. Henri really didn't know what he would do with himself without Gen. "Thank you." He couldn't say that enough.

“No problem,” Genevieve repeated, with a hint of relief. This, at least, was something she could do. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere, okay?” When he agreed, she ducked back into the ballroom.

[Manzanilla]

_.
Things so far seemed good. Asher was as polite as ever, and every person he introduced to her seemed pleasantly surprised to have them join their conversations. Leo would have said everything was going perfectly- and yet she couldn't shake off the feeling of emptiness between them. Every few minutes, she would catch herself drifting away from their conversation, or she would stare off into space as if her mind was leaving her body behind to escape the heavily perfumed ballroom. Once or twice, a question had to be repeated by the others for her to snap back and realize she was supposed to be having small talk about the Aciran celebrations.

Wedding this, wedding that. The talk of weddings and happily ever afters were drilling holes into Leo's brain the more Asher dragged her around. They were talking to Vivian when the princess herself questioned Leo and Asher about their own wedding. Leo had been off in a distant memory of Dredalan when the question was dropped and made her snap right back. It had been asked so many times before, but coming from Vivian, it all felt too real for her.

”If you could excuse me for a moment, my lady.” he said to Leonor. ”There seems to be something I need to attend to. I promise I’ll meet back up with you as soon as I can.”

The question didn't have to be answered now. With Asher gone so abruptly, she was free to excuse herself. Her eyes trailer behind Aher, her eyes were distant. When they finally focused on his destination Leo couldn't help but let herself smile. So that was it, wasn't it?

"You'd have to excuse Prince Asher," Leo turned back to Vivian just as two other Princess from some small European countries approached their little group. "I'll have to excuse myself too, Princess Sun and Princess Rebecca seem eager to talk to you, Princess Vivian." With that, Leo excused herself away from the group towards the bar.

While the embarrassment of her betrothed pretty much bailing on her in the middle of a conversation was already fading, she couldn't help to feel a bit defeated. Asher's quick departure had been rude- pretty fucking rude. Whatever, Leo didn't care for the man. All that mattered was getting along with him enough to marry him- or wait until he called off the whole engagement. She'd never hear the end of it from her mother if that were to happen, but at least she wouldn't be getting married to a guy clearly hungover by another chick.

All of this was just one long drag. Leo should have just rejected the invitation and convinced Chris to stay back in Nevarrea and lounge all day by the beach. Just smile, nod, and survive. She thought as she reached the bar and ordered a dry martini. Leo's mother had convinced her that the only way to really serve her people was just to marry some prince, fuck said prince, have his babies and just be happy with it. Leo didn't want to marry a prince. Or anyone- not yet at least. Just thinking about marrying someone was giving her a headache.

"At least I don't have to entertain him anymore." Leo said to herself after thanking the bartender for the drink. She could have been back home right now with a pretty lady in her arms after a long night of dancing and drinking. Instead, she was here watching the guy she was supposed to marry walk to the princess who'd lost her own prince.