Post #1750810 in Elphanor: Tipping the Scales of Fate, a roleplay on RPG

Ai and her new found friend Duke Kai, whom she had deduced was not actually a duke and was instead a guard here at the castle sent to keep her entertained for a yet unknown reason to her, had used every olive in the bowl and currently the standings of successful shots were at 2 Ai, and 38 Kai. Obviously he had done this more often than a duke would find time to do. Either way, this was entirely unfair. Once she had gotten through pouting over her excessive loss they returned to the ballroom floor.

There they got their own glasses of alcohol, another piece of proof that he was not in-fact a duke, hers was a 22 year old scotch and his was a whiskey of unknown age. After an hour or so she and him were tipsy enough to find humor in the similarity of their names.

“Admit it, you asked me to call you Kai because my name is Ai!” the young selkie exclaimed between chuckles and sips of her drink.

“Not entirely, people do actually call me Kai, it was an unintended pun.” The two snorted in response. They were probably drawing more attention than they should have been considering, she was pretty sure, they were both just simple but very attractive commoners. Oh well, at this point she hardly cared; she had been drawing quite a bit of attention from the moment she walked into the room. Kai had mentioned something about the likelihood of her name being Quen so perhaps she would be a future queen. As unlikely as that would be it was still a humorous comment. Adding to the joke she referred to Kai as her loyal subject once or twice.

Their fun, nonetheless, was interrupted by some very rude trumpeters and the entrance of the Grand Ole’ High King. Alexander, was it? Something of the sort. With his entrance came the full attention of the crowd including Ai and Kai’s. Emanating from the crowd came this overwhelming aura of anxiousness. She got the vague feeling she was missing something. Something big. Something important that affected her in some way, shape, or form.

She swore if something happened that messed with her life, Badic was going down so hard he would be dead before he hit the ground.

The King started stereotypically, "Let me start with a thank you for all of you being here tonight for this special occasion,"

“You’re welcome,” Ai responded under her breath. The next part was something about getting the princes and princesses getting engaged to someone, “suckers.” She lifted her glass up to take a drink and right as the glass reached her lips the word commoner echoed in her ear and she froze.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. Who’s to say there aren’t more than six commoners hidden amongst the masks? Yes that was it. She wasn’t the only commoner from Airis, ha, of course.

She took a couple of sips of her scotch and started to squirm in her hair as he said he would announce the engagements. Then Badic stepped forward and she began clutching the glass a little too hard, "I will now announce the arranged couples, please step forward and remove your mask and stand by your fiance : Prince Xei Val Airis of Aria and Escasriet Xandar; Princess Rima Cybelle Vallombrosa of Gia and Kordoshi Sai; Princess Ariadne Quinn of Tibolt and Sado Oxbaren;” so far so, good, no name and already halfway through.

Then the moment of doom, ” Prince Nair Romanth of Iroldak and Ai Quen.”

“Prince Nair Romanth of Iroldak and Ai Quen.”

“Prince Nair Romanth of Iroldak and Ai Quen.”

“Prince Nair Romanth of Iroldak and Ai Quen.” The glass shattered in her hand. Oh, Badic was dead but that would be after she escaped the grips of this kingdom. She stood, wiping the glass off her hands as she began to make her way to the doors she entered through.

“Ai, where are you going?” Kai asked. She ignored him, a slight stinging sensation began to pass through her hands and began to go up her arm. She had cut herself and she hardly cared, not yet. “Ai, you can’t leave.” He gripped her hand and she squeaked and turned around and gripped his hand.

“Let go!” she grumbled, “You’re hurting me.”

“I can’t let you leave Ai.” With those words he began to drag her to the place where she was apparently supposed to stand. She gripped his wrist harder and began to grimace, it seriously was hurting, and she must have had glass pieces in her hand. It wasn’t long before they reached the designated spot; he was obviously a taura if he was that strong. With an innocent smile he pushed her forward removing her mask as he did so.

“Oof.” The curious glances she was receiving almost made her laugh, what stopped her was the man that stood next to her. He smelled heavily of alcohol and would have seemed twice her age if it wasn’t for the youth that could be seen behind his beard. So this was her ‘betrothed’. Lovely, a drunkard who no doubt was like every other lecherous drunk in the room, just what she always wished for. Immediately she looked ahead eyes fixed on anything but a person. She would get out of this if she had to supposedly 'kill' herself. She absolutely refused to marry someone that would no doubt keep her out of the water and force her to conform to the rules of her society.

Snippet #1750810

located in Ballroom, a part of Elphanor: Tipping the Scales of Fate, one of the many universes on RPG.

Setting

Characters Present

Footnotes