"Aloysius Caesar," the shaman prince resisted the urge to sweep an elegant leg at the Siren prince. More curious than ever, he surveyed the prince from behind his glasses.
He walked over to the table, running his finger along the wooden surface, his eyes focused on his movements, before he spun around. He pushed his glasses further up his nose, looking at everybody in the room already. "We're all in this now," he spread his hands, knowing for a fact that everybody in here was probably resisting the urge to strangle him.
But Aloysius could handle himself. He already had the spells on the tip of his tongue, as he whipped out some cards. "Perhaps a little magic show will put everybody at ease?" he smiled lightly, gaze alighting upon each individual. A lot could be learned from simple expressions in people's faces.
He knew his parents would disapprove of him showing off trade secrets.
What trade secrets? They were simply flashy hand tricks. No magic...okay, maybe a little magic to make the card invisible or make the card show something different than what it actually was. But most of it was Aloysius and his dexterous fingers.
He put the cards away, seeing that nobody seemed interested. He sighed softly, before pulling out his coin and making it dance between his fingers. He wandered over to the window, leaving behind the awkward silence. He stood, coin still flipping and flashing through his talented digits. He didn't say anything else. They would all come around, he decided.
And when they did, he'd be the one waiting in the shadows, waiting to pounce and suck all their secrets out, leaving them dry. A dry smirk crossed his face, as he paused the coin, hand reaching up to touch one of the heavy velvet curtains. The coin resumed.
- - - x - - -
"So you do talk," Vale's voice was smooth, as he looked at the other inhabitants of the room. He stood up, moving to stand behind his sister. Bel had moved back into the messenger bag and fallen asleep. "I was afraid the other kingdoms had sent mute royals." His pale gaze flashed dangerously, even though his tone was playful...joking. "Valefor Atri. And the bad-tempered one is my sister, Allaysa Valent." Again, his tone remained joking.
He looked at Aloysius when the shaman offered to put on a magic show. A few moments passed, and Aloysius gave up, moving to stand next to the window. Vale was sure the tension in the room was thick enough to be cut through with a knife. He did a swift head count. There were still people left to come, the fallen angel noted.
He looked down at Allaysa. "Play nice Aysa," he murmured. "We're going to be here for a while and I can't have you killing the others before we make the alliances." His eyes remained expressionless, as he rested a hand on her shoulder, comforting and calming her.