Snippet #2017938

Relos Zaiphar

Once again, Relos allowed himself to wander the halls aimlessly as he made his way back to the room. He had plenty of information to reflect over, and the decent walk gave him plenty of time to do so.

When he entered the compound, he saw a few servants moving around, most likely returning to their posts now that the day’s excitement was over. Only a spare few actually paid him the slightest bit of attention, parting around the drifting prince like a gentle river around a rock. The few that did take notice of him only did so long enough to cast an angry glance at his back for being so obtuse. They had good reason, true; what fool walks the opposite direction while everyone else was walking the right way?

After a while of thinking about the future, he was stopped from further projection by a sudden intrusive thought. From seemingly nowhere, his thoughts turned to the one girl who had not been in his mind just moments ago: the one that he left in his room.

How was Lilla? Had she managed to keep herself entertained for the whole day, or had she died of boredom? With that amusing possibility in his head, he suddenly angled his way towards his room. He was ready to amuse himself a little with the conversation.

He entered the room quietly, having reached it after just a little more walking. He was pleased to find that he was able to find his way back to the place without having to ask for any directions. Apparently, he’d done enough wandering when the other night to impress it in his memory.

When he slipped in, he deftly shrugged off his shoes and put them under the bed. Once he was settled, he looked around. Seeing no sign of Lilla so far, he went over to her door and pressed the side of his head against her door, listening for any noise within. And sure enough, the sound of her feet kicking against the bed was just able to be heard by the prince.

He grinned, and went to go knock on the door to alert her to his presence. Just before he did, however, he heard Lilla’s voice through the door.

"Relos, I hope you're not doing something stupid."

His grin widened upon hearing the dancer’s voiced worry. So, she was worried about him, was she? Well, that was touching, really. He straightened up and leaned against the door frame, his head slightly bent forward to point towards the seam of the door, which he cracked slowly. When the door was open just enough to let in a sliver of light, but not enough to reveal the possibly compromising contents of the room, Relos spoke for the first time since entering the palace.

“Me, do something stupid? No, never! I thought you had some faith in me, Lilla.” He laid the sarcasm on thick, practically pouting over his last few words as he quipped at the unsuspecting girl inside the room. If he was lucky, he’d scare the crap out of her, which would certainly be entertainment enough. If he was unlucky, he’d piss her off, which would, in its own way, be just as entertaining. Either way, some entertainment was about to be had.

Lilla Rowan

His voice took her totally by surprise; she hadn't heard his footfalls nor the door open up a crack, and the light from his room should have caught her attention. Lilla had her eyes shut, oblivious to the sliver of warm light, and it wasn't until he spoke that she flinched and sat up.

"R-Relos!"

For a moment, she worried that she hadn't returned his poetry book, but after she frantically stood and glanced around her room, she realized she had given it back hours prior. There was several beats of silence before she stomped over to the door, yanking it open with a frown on her face.

"You scared me!" She said, over exaggerating her expression much like he had the tone of his voice. She struggled to keep the frown, the edges of her lips twitching. He was in a good mood... the meeting couldn't have gone as badly as she had been dreading it would be. She reached forward, prodding his chest much like she had earlier in the day. "I could have been getting dressed or something! You don't just do that!"

She was giving him a hard time, she knew, and her frown didn't last much longer. Her hand stilled against his chest, glancing up at him as he leaned against the door frame.

"They fed you, right? It's a little too late to request dinner..." she trailed off, becoming silent. She glanced him over, taking inventory as if the King would have truly set a finger on him; down his shirt and his sleeves, precariously gazing at his hands and checking for any form of nick on his pants. He was the same as he had left, his shirt a little wrinkled, but he was unharmed.

It was when she glanced at his shoes that she noticed her socks, and it didn't settle with the brunette for several blinks the state of dress she had presented herself in -- and that she was wearing his shirt. Lilla quickly made up for the lull she had created, hoping if she kept talking that he, perhaps, wouldn't notice the familiar taupe she was wearing.

"I hope the meeting didn't go badly... Judging by that smile on your face, I doubt it did."

---

Relos widened his grin upon hearing the gasp from inside the room. Quietly, he lifted one arm up tucked it down towards his chest: victory! Or at least, for phase one.

He heard his name being called in the room, and heard the sounds of her getting off of the bed and moving. He had figured that she was just going to the door so as to better communicate with him, so he was surprised (to put it simply) when the material that he was leaning his weight against was suddenly yanked out of place. He started to fall sideways, but managed to hazardously right himself before he crashed into a heap before Lilla’s feet.

Just as he was re-situating himself, he was nearly pushed back again by her sudden prodding finger on his chest. As she aggressively fingered his poor torso, she huffed at him, saying "You scared me!"

“Yeah, fine, I scared you,” he replied, staring exasperatedly at her. “But Lilla, you just almost killed me! Killed! I seriously could’ve died, and then where would we be?”

He matched her aggression with ire of his own; still it was not entirely serious, but things were slightly less humorous when one almost faceplanted. The comment about her possible state, though, proved to be too opportune a time to poke at her for him to remain glaring at her. Rather, his he cocked an eyebrow at her and said “Why Lilla, how do you know that wasn’t my intention in the first place?”

When she finally started to relax, coming down from her post-fight indignation, she leaned against the door. Relos eyed the spot where her shoulder and hip leaned against the frame and thought wicked thoughts. Oh, if only it swung further back…he so would. He refrained, though, both because it was impossible and because there was a limit to the amount of playful mischief one could make at any given time.

Instead, Lilla spoke up, asking him if they fed him. He returned his eyes to her face, a witty comment about whether or not she was Lilla or his mother on his lips, but it died away when he saw her eyes drift around him. It might have been improper if it wasn’t for the worried tint of her countenance. She wasn’t ‘checking him out’, it was more like she was…inspecting him, as if he had changed in the time he’d been gone. He felt his own face soften into a sort of amused smile as he leaned sideways as well, coming to rest on the parts of the doorframe opposite to her.

“They didn’t really feed me, but I’m fine. I don’t need be fed and watered like a plant, you know. And-“ here he ducked his head down a bit to look her in the eye, “-I’m fine, too. They didn’t torture me, Lilla. The princesses don’t bite…or, at least I don’t think three of them do. That yellow one, though; she makes me question, with those pointy teeth of hers…” He started to mumble towards the end of his statement, talking more to himself than her as his mind wandered back to the pavilion and the odd princesses.

Perhaps it was to be expected after mentioning the princesses, but the next thing she asked him was how the meeting went. To respond, he sighed, leaning back up and tilting his head backwards as he yawned to the ceiling.

“Boring, that’s how it was. The emperor had nothing interesting to say, at all. The only thing that kept me awake was the presence of the princesses, who are, may I say, infinitely more enjoyable company than their father. “

His smile returned as he finished, and he winked at her after his last word. With a chuckled, he added: “if I may be so bold as to say that the emperor is anything less than captivating…”