Re: No More Nobles

[Alexander]

Alexander returned back to his throne, climbing into it and attempting to settle in. He didn't think anybody saw him awkwardly slide back into the beautiful, fairytail-esque throne, but with this many eyes in the room he had to take a deep breath and acknowledge that somebody probably did. Moments later, Melvin returned, looking just a little sweaty and his clothing just a little ruffled.

"Where did you go?"

"A gentleman has his secrets, young prince-to-be." He chuckled to himself mischeviously, as he sat for just a moment longer and took time to regain his composure. "Something you'll get to do when you get married."

"What is that?"

"Spoilers, dear prince-to-be." He took his glass off of the wooden table to his left and rose, banging a silver spoon against the glass and standing. "Attention! Attention!" He called out over the room, the clanging calling his voice to order. Alexander sat quietly next to him as a see of eyes rushed their direction, and a hush fell over the room.

"I want to thank all of you for coming to this event today," he called out with a broad, fake smile across his face. "I want to give some back ground to those of you who are unfamiliar with our world, and our customs. My name is Melvin Rhodes. I am a political envoy for the Castle of Dreams, and have been for over a decade. Twelve years to be exact. In those twelve years, nothing like this has ever happened." He paused, letting his words sink in.

"I'm talking of course about the Red Ball. Just about three months ago, our most noble citizens were slaughtered without remorse by a monster that paraded as a man. Our King, his dearest queen and even their children... we lost mothers, and daughters, and fathers, and son. Except... not all of our sons. One boy was lucky enough to have missed the event altogether." A lie. He knew Alexander was there. But, as far as he knew, nobody else did.

"Our prince-to-be, Alexander. No last name- he doesn't have one, but he does have a direct, if distant, blood lineage to our previous king. He is young, and has much to learn, but he is smart and capable. After this night, a night of ceremony and celebration, he will be the next Prince of Dreams." Another pause, just to let it sink in.

"Let tonight not be a reminder of bloody times. Let us not dwell on the Red Ball. Tonight, we celebrate our future. Tonight, we cherish those that are still here, with us, and those that have moved on, for they will always be with us in our hearts." A load of shit. Melvin didn't believe anything he was saying, but he could mimic a sincere man beyond reasonable reproach.

"In just a few minutes, we will begin the ballroom dance! Please, everybody clear the floor and would our couples who would like to participate come forward?"

[Guest]

After Tyler had finished speaking, Abigail casually walked back into the ballroom. Her dress blouse was unbuttoned, showing half of her cleavage, revealing a bright pink lacy undergarment. She had a few golden fallen locks around her vermilion colored face as if she had just experienced something wonderful. Sure she had done this type of thing many times but this time it felt... different.  As if she was soaring through the skies, the appealing woman looked around to see if she had seen her little sister. She remembered earlier when she told her she didn't want to go to the coronation but now the woman wanted to stay!

Abigail finally found her a red knit sweater standing right next to a tall raven haired man, maybe this was the 'Tyler' she was always talking and cooing about. Abigail squealed, she was so happy that Kia was gradually finding love, maybe not in the right places (A Halloween party? Yikes!) her little sister was never the type to have a boyfriend; She was immature, hyperactive, reckless, bossy, and impatient, she remembered their mother telling them that those traits represented an old maid or an unattractive woman, so Abigail was glad that Kia was actually coming into her own as a mature woman.

Thrilled to see that Kia was finally growing up, she strolled over to her and the young boy and placed an elegant hand on Kia's shoulder. "Kia, I actually don't want to leave, I want to st-" In midsentance, the young woman stopped as she glanced over at Kia. Her giddy grin turned into a scowl as she reached over and snatched the tissues that were sticking right out of her nose. "Sometimes, I wish you would grow up.." With a sigh, Abigail threw the bloody tissues right into a nearby disposable bin. Did Kia really have to embarrass her in public? Sheesh, there were times where she wished she had a younger sister that was just like her.

The beautiful young woman turned to the boy right next to her little sister, well he wasn't as ugly as she thought he would be. He had feminine features with long shaggy hair that fell to her eyes, he was looking at the throne while eating a strange type of finger food. Maybe he was embarrassed to be seen with Kia? Sheesh, I would be too.. Abigail thought as she placed a hand on the tall boy's shoulder. "Hi, I'm sorry if my sister was bothering you," She would say with a reassuring grin. But there was something about him that felt familiar, the way the boy slouched, the muscle in his arms, the way his hair fell into his eyes when he is content, the eyes that could be bright and cheerful but can also be murderous if you messed with his loved ones...

"...Daddy?"

The words came out of her mouth very slowly that Kia looked up with her head tilted. Abigail suddenly remembered, she didn't belong here... She grabbed her sister's arm and ran into the crowd hoping the boy wouldn't find her.

`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kia grimaced as Abigail dug her nails into her arm as she quickly led her into the crowd of people. The coronation was starting as soon as the man Abigail had a crush on started talking. As they stopped and found a place almost in the middle of the crowd, Kia looked up at her sister and squinted her eyes, "What was that all about..?" She whispered to Abigail as Melvin kept speaking.

"Hehe...What?"

"You just called my friend 'daddy'!"

"Oh, that? Um.. yeah, it's just.. I miss home and I guess his muscular shoulders remind me of dad."

"Dad isn't all that strong!"

"Shh!"

"Sorry."

Kia turned back to the coronation and caught Melvin's words about Alexander missing the massacre, She arched an eyebrow knowing that wasn't even the truth, maybe the man was trying to cover up how Alexander was traumatized about the event. Who knew?

Claps were heard, glasses were raised, and tears were wiped away at the end of Mr. Rhodes speech, there was going to be a ballroom dance in a few minutes and Kia was excited. Hopefully Tyler wasn't too embaressed to dance with her, she caught a glimpse of Abigail fixing up her hair and buttoning up her blouse while wipng swea away from her brow with a finger. She wondered what all of that was about, but she didn't care, she watched the a few couples get on the dance floor with a sigh.

[Tyler Saikou]

Just as Tyler was about to open his mouth to Defend Kia from being considered annoying by other people, specifically her sister, Tyler's eyes widened...She spoke in Abigail's voice..his daughter's...He looked around in the crowd extremely quickly, pushing his way through as he did so. He knew something was up with Abigail...she looked too much like he did, and her voice changed..she remembered him..he needed to use his power over memory to figure this out. His memories of his daughter were very fuzzy..but he knew something about her was familiar.

He pushed his way through the crowd, making a path through the crowd, just barely passing by them without notice. He ended up on the outside edge of the crowd. He felt his left eye begin to twitch. Suddenly, he was deadly serious. His eyes took on a red hue on the outer edges. He shouldered past people as he made his way back into the crowd. He gave off this air of hostility, which made even the guards spread throughout the crowd wary of going near him. He finally managed to find them as Kia finished talking to her "sister"....but what he smelled the moment he got close..it made him clench his fist in anger, blood dripping down past his fingers and onto the floor. He could smell sex in the air..and it was coming off of Abigail...this was not acceptable. However, he plastered on a soft smile, placing a hand on each girl's shoulders. Well, this is quite the party now, isn't it? he asked with a smile, putting a bit more emphasis on the word "isn't" as he squeezed Abigail's shoulder slightly, letting her know that he knew what she had done, and that he didn't approve.

However, that was something to be handled another day, he held his hand out to Kia, letting go of abigail as the crowd broke off into dancers. May I have this dance, mademoiselle? he asked with a smile, using some of the french he had picked up while in La Cite Los Cloches to refer to his love.

[Laiya]

The woman resumed her stance at the back of the ballroom, grateful towards the little prince about him disengaging his discussion with her- he might just prove to be a good prince if he knew his way around his diplomacy like that. Alyx looked on, listening to the adviser speak about the event known as The Red Ball. It irked her, how he would talk about an event like that with a sort of flair, but she filed it down to making sure the Locals were none the wiser- it wasn't as if any of them were there. Which is the reason she held her tongue, among that being her repect for the little prince and not wanting to pile on something like that on him as he'd still be recovering from "The Red Ball".

Alyx was curious to what the prince would think of this, if he even cared- no, he'd HAVE to care; this was bringing up bad dreams and nightmares, she told herself. Taking a moment of silence and reverence, she bowed her head in respect to the fallen. Maybe had she more power, she might of stopped this- maybe not. That...man...had more power than she knew how to understand, she was right to stop Kia from doing something stupid and focusing on the event rather than the one whom caused it. Although she felt it might be time to leave for her, she decided to stay a little bit longer; this little dance may have proved interesting to witness, especially as she looked towards Kia and Tyler. Her lips would curl into a slight smile, how much those two reminded Alyx of children at that moment.

[Guest]

Kia beamed when Tyler had asked her to dance, They had been through so many hardships with each other. She had even beaten him to a pulp once, maybe he did deserve a dance/ As she was about to grab his hand, she stopped and looked at the prince. Why wasn't he dancing with anyone? Didn't he have a special sweetheart? She actually wanted to see if he was okay, maybe he heard her talk to him n the hospital. Maybe he knew that she ate half of his sandwich, She turned to Tyler and awkwardly crossed her leg behind another, bending down as if to bow. "Sorry Tyler, We can dance later, but I wanted to speak to the prince," She stated, she pointed to Abigail who was fixing her hair as if to wait for Melvin to dance with her. "You can dance with my sister, Abigail, Tyler, Tyler, Abigail. Nice you're both acquainted, gonna go~!" And with that the teenage girl gently pushed past a few dancers to get to the throne.

Kia ran up the steps and quickly curtsied to the new prince, plastering a smile on her face, she blew her bangs so he can clearly see her eyes. "Hi- I mean, your majesty, may I have this dance?" The teenager held out her hand to Alexander, waiting for his reply.

`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Abigail scowled when Kia had left her with Tyler. Abigail rubbed the shoulder he placed his hand on and approached him. "Curtsying wouldn't be necessary," She said in a flat tone as she took his hands and led him to the center of the dance floor, A bit pissed that Melvin didn't ask her to dance. Maybe he was a gentle player, but he wasn't half-bad in bed. "So, what're you doing here?"

[Tyler Saikou]

When he was shot down in favor of the prince, Tyler couldn't help but grit his teeth. She wanted to dance with the prince, that was okay. But..he didn't trust himself to hold his tongue around Abigail. As she asked him what he was doing here, he simply glared at her. What I'm doing here is simply attending the coronation. Butt what are you doing here? Why, your fucking at a public event! He said, venom dripping from his words. To say he was angry would be a massive understatement. If she was who he thought she was, she had quite a bit of explaining to do. What, did you not think people would be able to SMELL that shit? He asked vehemently. He was furious. He was starting to see more and more of his daughter's appearance in Kia's "Sister". It was making him wonder..maybe she was more related to him than anyone knew...

[Alexander]

Alexander sat through Melvin's address with an alarming amount of poise. While it made him sad, for he truly missed his mother, as far as he could remember he wasn't there. He silently bowed his head in memory of the lost, and raised it when Melvin was done speaking. He fixated on the death of his mother for only a moment, before Melvin brought him back to reality. "Young lord," he almost seemed to coo, "you have a visitor approaching."

Alexander raised his head to great the young woman from earlier- the one that he had recalled meeting somewhere, but could not quite place his finger on where. She immediately asked him for a dance, her hand outstretched and her eyes expectant. Alexander could almost hear his mother chiding him silently, When a young lady asks you to dance, unless you are spoken for its impolite to say no.

Alexander placed his hand in the young woman's as he stood up and smiled warmly. "Of course, miss," he replied confidently, masking the fact that he was terrible in social situations quite well. Yet, as he placed his hand in hers he became aware of raised voices in the room. The man of earlier, Tyler, seemed to be yelling at another guest. "Oh, dear," his voice seemed to trail for a moment. "We can dance, but I have to tend to this first," he told her, giving her a disappointed expression. Alexander did enjoy dancing quite a bit- he was really good at it. Getting to demonstrate his skills for the young lady would have been divine, and it would be, but for now he had to wait.

He let his hand slide out of hers, giving a slight nod to her as an acknowledgement, before he headed towards the loud man who had earlier introduced himself as King of Halloween Town. That still baffled Alexander- how could one be a King of a town? It made no sense, but then again there was Disney Town... but at least it was surrounding a castle! How could one be a king without a castle? That was the important question. Well, an important question.

He strode right up between the man who yelled at the girl, cutting him off. "Well now," he stated in the most authoritative tone he could muster. "I'm not sure what the traditions are for Halloween, but we do not yell or curse at our parties. What happens behind locked doors is not your business. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." If the trio had payed attention, the would have noticed eyes locked onto them. There were a few whispers about the soon-to-be-king already laying down what etiquette was supposed to be, while other murmured in disgust at the man being so vulgar and loud.

[Guest]

Kia grinned when the new prince accepted her offer, but was quickly interrupted by a male yelling. She turned around watching as the prince walked over to Tyler. "Really Tyler, gosh dammit why...?" She whispered under her breath as she watched him tell Tyler to leave. The teenager heard whispers and felt some of the people stare at her, Abigail, and even Tyler. She bit her lower lip and crossed her legs awkwardly, she hated the awkward silence going on, but at least the music drowned it out (She made a mental note to thank the orchestra).

[Tyler Saikou]

When he was asked to leave by the other world leader, Tyler simply looked at him with a blank stare. There was no real emotion there, not anger, not disappointment, nor anything that could be seen as emotion. He only had one thing to say, and it was meant to confuse. You know..I remember when you were interesting to be around. But, I shall leave. The one I wished to dance with is spoken for anyway, so there is no point in me being here anymore. He said simply as he seemed to vanish, having bolted towards a gap in the crowd, and out the open door of the ballroom. He was gone in mere seconds, a portal having opened at the end of the hallway leading to the ballroom. He ran for one reason. Only one person would be able to see that he had done so. To anyone else, he would have seemed to have vanished. He was gone. He would not be coming back to visit the castle. He had decided that the leader of the world was very much lacking in several aspects. Though, to be fair, it was not his fault. He was raised to be a certain way. He could understand that. He just didn't like it, not one bit.

(TOPIC EXIT)

[Alexander]

Alexander raised an eyebrow as the man spoke, seeming to imply some kind of connection. The strange implication wasn't on the world leader. Did Alexander know the man from somewhere...? No, probably not. Alexander would remember somebody that rude. Certainly somebody so salty, to be sure. He seemed bitter. Mad, even. Was the girl that offered to dance with Alexander...? Oh my. Well, that was quite a predicament. And yet, despite how quickly these thoughts approached him Alexander would have no time to reply. In the blink of an eye, the man was gone.

"UH... well then," he made a slight grimace. "Glad to see you were so eager to go." He immediately became aware of the crowd of people looking, and raised his hands to them. "The situation is over, please return to the festivities!" Within seconds, they were back to the gossip, still somewhat silent among each other. Alexander turned his eyes to the young woman, bowing solemnly. "I apologize, miss. He was being quite rude to you. I want to apologize. He won't be allowed to set foot in this castle again."

[Guest]

Kia frowned when she saw Tyler running out of the castle, Why was he yelling at Abigail? Did he want to dance with her so badly? Suddenly, Kia started to feel a bit guilty that he was banned from the castle it was probably her fault that he's gone... She turned back to the prince and and smiled, "It's okay, thanks for that.. I...um appreciate it," She said as he apologized, she instantly grabbed his hand and attempted to drag him down the steps. Sure it was rude and very unorthadox to do that to royalty but he KNEW her. Not intentionally, hopefully he remembered her.

She blushed and bit her lower lip as another song played, she was raised by wealth but that didn't mean she knew how to dance. The teenage girl looked around at a few dancing couples and imitated what the ladies were doing, she stood on her tiptoes and placed one hand on the boy's shoulder while slipping another one into his hand. "So, Alexander, is it?" She inquired, meeting his eyes. "How was your day? You like being prince so far?' Kia loved hammering people with questions, it took a long time to gain her confidence back in the past three months. She caught a glimpse of Abigail wincing and struggling to sit down as if her bottom was on fire, poor gal.

[Alexander]

Alexander wasn't used to be being so abruptly pulled, but given the stress of the previous situation he wasn't being overly judgmental about it. His black hair bounced on his head lightly as his crimson eyes surveyed the ballroom, with other couples already dancing. Alexander was able to immediately know something about all of them.

They were young. Some of them were nobility, though he knew none of them, and before the massacre it was likely most of them were just peasants or something similar. That didn't bother him, either. What bothered him was their age. They were all around Alexander's own age- fourteen, fifteen, sixteen- kids made to take the places of their lost adult counterparts.

Didn't it bother anybody else?

Melvin seemed indifferent to it, but Melvin kept his thoughts to himself on a lot of things. The other guests didn't seem to mind- did they see this as weakness or opportunity? A million thoughts raced through Alexander's mind, before he found himself involved in a dance. It was admittedly his name and that alone which snapped him back to reality.

"Oh, erm, yes," he replied awkwardly, regaining his composure. "Sorry if I came across as distracted just then. I was worrying over something." He forced a chuckle as he sighed. "It's... weird, honestly. I don't dislike it, but I feel like they could have chosen more wisely? I really... I have no bloody idea what I'm doing, to be frank. Ha.. ha..." His face was a conflicted expression of relief and confusion.

Yet, he stayed oddly composed, still dancing in rhythm despite not looking at his feet or really, focusing on the dance at all. He was vaguely aware of it, not needing to pay as much attention because of his experience and skill at doing it. "How about you?" Alexander smiled earnestly this time, almost as though shifting the conversation brought about the loss of a great weight. "How have the celebrations treated you?"

[Guest]

The boy seemed to be distracted at something, Kia took note of this because he was looking around the ballroom with a questioning look upon his face, "Sorry if I came across as distracted just then. I was worrying over something." He added with a chuckle, before answering her . ""It's... weird, honestly. I don't dislike it, but I feel like they could have chosen more wisely? I really... I have no bloody idea what I'm doing, to be frank. Ha.. ha..." She raised an eyebrow as they kept up the pace of the music, The teenager wondered why the boy was so unsure about becoming a prince. Maybe responsibility wasn't his forte? "What? Nonsense! I think you'll do quite well with ur- princely things!" Kia claimed with a small laugh. "Why are you so unsure of yourself?"

Alexander knew what he was doing with the elegant dance, so Kia followed along but accidently stepped on his left foot. "Whoa, sorry about that, I'm not so use to dancing!" She apologized nervously, hopefully he doesn't arrest her for something like missing a dance step, "How about you, How have the celebrations treated you?" He asked her, She was glad to answer such a question even though he had just used the same question back at her. She wasn't an expert at the art of conversation, all she did was ask questions and expect answers. "Oh, it's- um good, I guess? The food is good, kebabs are an excellent choice for finger foods, don't you think?"

[Alexander]

Alexander wanted to reply to girl's assessment of his character with something along the lines of "but I don't even know what those duties are" on impulse, but he held his tongue. He had asked her a question, after all. He should let the young lady speak her mind. In the process of deciding this, she stepped on his foot and he almost stumbled. Instead of falling though his leg froze and he held his balance.

He smirked, a little flushed from the error. That was almost really embarrassing, he thought to himself as he let a light chuckle escape his lips. He regained his composure and replied back to her. "Yes, I would have to agree. To be blatantly forward, I've a bit of a fascination with hors d'oeuvres as a concept. I just find them interesting, and I'm not sure why. Espcially the toffee bites," he explained. "It's... a little non-traditional, but the chef thought that a younger crowd would enjoy them, and he was very excited to try his hand."

Alexander stand on rhythm with the dance. The tempo slowed somewhat when the music changed, and Alexander attempted to lead Kia to adjust accordingly. He shifted the topic of conversation back to him being the new prince. "Well, I mean, it's complicated... but also not? I guess its just that I'm worried about having an entire Kingdom on my shoulders. It wasn't so long ago that I was only concerned with my health and happiness. Now, I have to take care of everyone. It feels so big."

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