Chapter content: cursing, aliens, food, clash of cultures
Only Humans Blush
This day had been in planning for weeks. A festival had been set up for their guests' amusement, showing off the kingdom's specialties and their culture. Armored guards had escorted the party, making sure to settle any discontent as soon as it cropped up and avoid any offensive incidents. As the festival drew to a close and the sun began to set, the guest party was directed to the palace, where they would meet the royal family and enjoy a feast. Except, this wasn't a medieval castle, and only the visiting party was human.
Antonio wasn't human. Instead, his family and their kingdom's citizens were a species called Aevtaan. They shared the same level of technology and intelligence as humans, the visitors to their planet of Thelorne. It was fortunate that both humans and aevtaan could breathe similar air, and likely could eat the same foods.
Antonio stood waiting outside the door of the palace, and smiled as the foreign group approached, finally seeing them up close for once. Beige-brown skin, and oddly-shaped legs, although they wore the clothes that the ambassador had sent them. Simple, buttoned clothes, although Antonio smiled at seeing how they evidently thought the tail wraps to be head scarves. Antonio's clothes were adorned with many more crystals, tight wraps made of sparkling fabric in soft yellows and golds that complemented his deep amethyst-colored skin. Delicate jewelry adorned his tail and horns, and his hooves clopped on the path as he straightened himself. "Welcome," he greeted the group, speaking in the language he'd been told the humans spoke; English. "I am Prince Antonio. I hope the festival has been to your liking?"
The attention of the humans sharpened on him as Antonio introduced himself. Their eyes lingered on him, no sign of subtlety, taking in his appearance and the dark purple that contrasted with the blue of the commoners. The guards left their formation around the humans, flanking Antonio as the role of leader was handed over to the prince.
"My parents are waiting inside. We have food and beds for all of you, along with gifts, as a sign of our hospitality." All but one of the humans hung on his every word. The one odd human held onto a book of some sort, lost in concentration, a writing utensil scribbling away at the white paper. Antonio stepped over, beside the curious human. The guards once again took charge, leading the party inside.
Through the entrance hall they walked, shining crystals hanging from the arched ceiling, but the scribbling human didn't take any notice. He just walked along with the group, a shape taking form on the paper. A basket-weaver, sitting at her stool working on a tall basket. As he watched, hair pooled over her shoulders despite the scarf holding it back, some of it caught in her weaving, and glowing eyes were rendered in an unfamiliar style. Even so, he recognized her.
As they reached the large room that housed the thrones, Antonio noticed his mother, father, and his mother's lover stand up, but the human, again, noticed none of it. He and the human paid little attention to the following speech, catching the occasional word of welcome, of the possible alliances, of the many gifts already exchanged between the two civilizations.
A scholar stood to the side, translating the speech into English, the common language of the humans visiting here. Neither Antonio nor the curious human paid much attention to the scholar, both too engrossed in the drawing.
They were interrupted by a punch to the human's shoulder. Antonio tensed, wary of a fight breaking out, but it seemed that one punch was enough for whatever meaning to get across, catching the human's attention.
"What the fuck was that for?"
Finally noticing the entire room and the speech he'd just interrupted, he pressed the book close to his chest, sinking back, wilting under all the stares. "I, um. Sorry. I wasn't paying attention," the human mumbled, and Antonio watched, fascinated, as the brown face turned a deep red hue. He covered his mouth to hide a chuckle, unnoticed by the group.
"I swear, the only thing you know how to do is research," another human whispered to the drawing human. They looked so similar, these humans, the only differences being subtle changes in the hair color and that one carried a book. "Talk a little bit, will you?"
"I'm a scientist, not a social butterfly," Antonio's favorite human retorted. They didn't seem to notice the prince could hear them at all. "That's your job, so how about you fuck off so I can do mine?"
Was this conflict or friendly banter? Antonio didn't know enough about human customs to give the answer. None of the other humans jumped in, so he assumed, at least, that it wouldn't escalate. Another human, however, issued many apologies for the two. They excused his harsh language, which hadn't even been noticed until the humans addressed it, and the royal family hid their smiles of amusement behind cupped hands. English could sound funny sometimes.
The guards looked to Antonio, but he shook his head, gesturing for them to lead the way. He stayed at the side of the curious human as the group continued on to the dining hall. Gasps of pleasant surprise echoed as the humans took in the feast laid out before them, extravagant dishes prepared from ingredients from all over the planet. Yet, the humans hesitated, waiting until the royal family seated themselves before joining the table. Antonio ignored them, following the one human, as the one in question dragged a seat to the corner.
"Wha- Hey!"
The protest was ignored, as Antonio dragged the chair, occupant and all, back to the table. He took a seat right next to the human, the jewelry on his tail clinking as it slid through the open section of the chair, and he gave a smile in the face of the human's scowl.
"I have heard humans are wary of our street food, so please, eat with us now," he explained, piling both of their plates high with food. Much of the food was green or blue, being all plant foods. Using sketches they had been sent from the humans, their artisans had carefully carved bones into suitable utensils which would be familiar, yet extravagant, to the visiting humans.
Except, the human beside him didn't eat. He shot the food a glare, and buried his nose in his book once again, drawing stick in hand, adding details to the basket-weaver.
Antonio watched him closely, but served himself and the human food, ignoring how the rest of the table raised their chins to the sky, deep in prayer. He dug into his meal, carefully not to disturb his parents. The prayer soon ended, and servants stepped forward to pour pink drinks into tall carved crystal glasses beside each table setting. A wine, made from a fruit native to Ebrea. It was then that the king and queen started serving themselves from the plates piled high with food, and the humans minded the customs of the family, following their lead. ...except for the human beside him.
"Our scholars says you humans are plant eaters," Antonio said in English, speaking to the humans. "If that is wrong, we have fish and insects our chefs can prepare."
"We're omnivores."
Antonio turned his head to stare at the human beside him, having expected one of the other humans to answer him. "Omnivores?" he repeated, unsure of the word. The human looked down again, back at the book again, returning to drawing. "Please, that's rude," he said softly, and plucked the book from his hands. "We are here for eating, not drawing. If you cannot eat plants, would you prefer fish or insects?"
"It means we eat both plants and meat," the human snapped. "Bastard. What I'm doing is usually considered rude in our culture, too, but I don't give a fuck. I'm not very hungry anyways, and I'd prefer to do what I was brought here to do. Research."
Antonio's tail whipped in annoyance, jewelry jangling and nearly catching on the elaborate design of the back of the chair through which his extra limb was threaded. "You are around the King and Queen. Do not be rude around them," he warned, grabbing the human by the collar of the gifted tunic. "The only meat we have here is fish. If you can eat plants, then eat the plants," he hissed, giving the collar a quick yank to better get across his threat to the thick-headed human. "Eat now. You will not have another change to eat until daybreak."
"Then I won't eat until daybreak." With that answer, Antonio grabbed hold once more of the tunic collar. The human glared in defiance. What a human. "I've gone longer than a few hours without food. Besides, I'm more interested in what's going on around me to have an appetite. I have a job to do, and that's to find out things about your people and your planet. I have no interest in pleasantries."
Antonio stood up, dragging the human with him, who suddenly started struggling. "Find things out about us?" Antonio repeated, having eyes only for the human in front of him. "Then let's find things out."
The human screeched incomprehensible words at him, and he half-expected for him to spit white globs like a diseased animal. The rest of the aevtaan in the dining hall ignored the two. He was the prince, after all.
The sun gave way to a red moon, filling the sky. Floating crystals gave light to the streets. Curfew quieted homes, but one alien gave noise to an otherwise calm night.
Author's Notes
A challenge between me and a friend. I'm not sure what account she's posting to, or if she's even going to post, so for now, I will not link to her account. We decided to see if we could turn our roleplay into a sustainable story.
This story will not be updated in September, but maybe October, since I haven't written ahead, and I might not stay with this story for long.
Critique and advice on how to better integrate roleplay-style into more of the style of a novel is appreciated, because this a somewhat new thing to me.