This story takes place during a lull in the plot. It's supposedly Easter, and Rose and Lissa are both at the Royal Court on a trip.
Lissa's POV
I stared up at the ceiling blankly, watching the fan spin by lazily. I had counted at least thirty six rotations since I first flopped down onto the bed, not that I was counting.
Thirty seven.
"ARGH!" I picked up one of the plush cushions and flung it at the fan, resulting in a rain of feathers down on me. Boredom had a limit, and I had just gotten past it. Who knew how boring the Royal Court could be on a Public Holiday? The Easter Royals Party was taking place later this night, and until then I had nothing to do, as all the shops and attractions were closed today.
I eyed another pillow, thinking that this guest room had too many of them already, as it was. They wouldn't mind if I disposed of another one for them, would they?
I sighed, and relaxed again on my bed. The urge was hard to resist.
Taking my mind off my boredom, I thought back over my conversation with Adrian that I had this morning. He had come over to talk more about Spirit, but our conversation had taken an unexpected turn.
"So tell me," I started during a break in the research. "What's up between you and Rose?"
He looked up from his drink, expression amused.
"Well, right now about three suits and two floors."
I tried to look for a Rose type comeback for his sarcasm, but decided to settle for a Lissa type roll of the eyes.
"She's pretty cute," he said after a pause. "But she's too damned obsessed with-"
He cut off his sentence, looking slightly guilty
"With?" I pressed. This was something new.
"Nothing," he stated, and I decided not to push it. If Adrian was going to let me know, he would have already. "But if only she would give me a chance..."
I nodded my head sympathetically, and gave him a little smile. I knew exactly what he meant, seeing that I knew Rose inside out.
"Hmm..."
"What are you thinking about, cousin?"
"I have an idea... But it would depend on Rose..."
He leant back in his chair, ready to hear my plan.
"She-"
A knock interrupted my thoughts. I jumped up off the bed, eager to end my boredom. I skipped to the door, and wrenched it open.
Rose was on the other side of the door, and I quickly organized my feelings so as not to give anything away.
"Rose! What are you doing here? Don't you have a meeting to go to?"
I let some of my surprise slip through, as I was not expecting her until later.
"I finished that just then, and I figured you were bored." She giggled. "Man, you were so bored that I nearly started yawning half way through the meeting because it rubbed off onto me."
"Good thing you came then. You just saved the life of another innocent pillow." I kept my voice even.
She side stepped around me, and through the door, which I thought I had been successfully blocking, so that she could not see into the room. Apparantly not.
"Lissa!" She exclaimed, looking at the carpet of down on my floor. I smiled at her sheepishly, and I could practically feel the guilt flowing through me into her.
"Why didn't you wait for me? I am in the mood for some serious pillow ass kicking!" Rose jumped onto the bed, and picked up one of the fluffy pillows. "Here goes nothing..."
I closed the door behind me just as the victim hit the fan. Soft feathers fell through the air. Rose jumped up to catch them, much like a little child. I laughed along with her, feeling very immature.
When the feathers finally settled down, I collapsed onto the floor, enjoying the comforting softness. Rose sat down next to me, mirroring my expression of bliss. But soon bliss turned to boredom, and we both grew bored.
Which is what reminded me of my previous conversation with Adrian.
"Hey, Rose?" I asked, getting excited. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, and knew exactly where my stationary set was. I was going to need it for this activity.
"You're planning something, aren't you Liss?" Rose teased, curiousity showing subtly through her features. "Well, hurry up. We haven't got all day."
I got up, and grabbed a sheet of plain paper and a fountain pen. I placed it gently on the floor infront of her, and bought a book to lean on. I tried hard not to think of my objective as I sat down next to her.
"Have you ever played the game MATCH before?" I asked, trying to sound innocent. I don't think I succeeded.
"No, I don't think so..."
"Wanna play?" I gave an attempt at puppy dog eyes.
"Yup! Sounds like fun!" Actually, anything that wasn't sitting around doing nothing sounded like fun. "How do you play?"
I smiled, and launched into my explanation. "Its a game that predicts the future!"
I heard Rose groan sarcastically, and I stuck my tongue out at her. "It's just fun, nobody expects it to come true."
"Wanna bet?" Rose interrupted, eyes gleaming. I nodded enthusiastically, trying hard not to think of my plan.
"Anyways, the rules are simple. You choose a list out of things, such as who you will marry, how many kids your going to have, which country you live in, etc. Then, we choose a number from one to ten, and read down the list, crossing off every said number. Then, the last item remaining in each category is what will happen to you."
"I'll let you draw it up then, expert," Rose grinned, handing me the pen. I uncapped it, and wrote Rose's name neatly up at the top of the page.
"What's that for?" She asked, looking at her name in the blue ink.
"We're predicting your future – so we put your name at the top."
"MY future? We already know my future! It's your future that matters right now."
She had a look of seriousness on her face, so I laughed out loud to break up the tension. "Its just a game, Rose!"
But I still wanted it to work out like I planned it.
"Fine then," she grumbled, as I went on to write the letters M, A, T, C and H underneath her name.
"Those letters stand for Mansion, Attic, Toilet, Cottage and House," I answered Rose's question before she asked it. "It's where your going to live!"
"I'm going to live in a TOILET?" She shouted in mock fear. I threw some feathers at her.
"Well, that depends on your luck in the game, doesn't it?"
I drew a wonky line underneath it, and looked up at Rose. "I need five guys." I said, trying to keep a straight face.
"Don't we all?" She replied, also trying hard not to laugh.
"How about we put down Eddie? He seems like a nice enough guy." The first name didn't matter that much, anyways.
"Only if you put down Christian," she joked. "It's only a game, after all," I mock scowled at her, before writing both their names down on the list. After another thought, I wrote down Mason's name as well. He seemed like a Rose kind of guy.
"What about Dimitri?" she asked thoughtfully, after looking at the list.
"Guardian Belikov?" That was surprising. I honestly didn't understand her way of thinking at all. But, if she wanted to put down her teacher, then I wont stop her.
I wrote his name down under Mason's, and added Adrian's name under that. Before she could argue, I drew another line, signifying the end of that list.
I wrote the numbers 0 through to 4 in another list, and drew another line under that.
"Do I want to know?" Asked Rose.
"The number of kids your going to have," I replied suggestively, "You and Eddie may be busy."
"Hey!" Rose cried out in indignation. I waved the pen at her tauntingly.
"Till death do you part."
She pulled a face at me, and I looked back down at the piece of paper. If everything went according to plan, I thought, she wouldn't have to worry about being closer to Eddie then as friends.
The next list I drew up consisted of the place where she was going to get married, and after much debate and consideration our list consisted of: A church, Someone's Backyard, St. Vladimir's Academy, Vegas (her idea, not mine), and the Royal Court (that was my idea).
"Are we done?" Rose sighed, deciding that the set up took too long.
"Just one more list. I promise. We just need to figure out where your going to live."
"Russia," she blurted out automatically. I stared at her in surprise. I hadn't had any idea where that came from, but wrote it down at the top of the list regardless.
"What about back in Montana?" I replied, aiming for something closer to home.
"Siberia!" She replied gleefully, probably oblivious to my suggestion. I put down all three places, before answering her.
"What's wrong with Montana? You aiming for somewhere colder?"
"Siberia is not an Arctic wasteland," she stated knowingly, and I shook my head slowly. From when did Rose know anything about something that had nothing to do with either guys or guardians?
"Hey! Don't give me that look! I know exactly what your thinking right now!"
I giggled. "I was just astonished that your knowledge extended past America."
"Right past America and even to Australia." She said proudly. Not wanting to admit my geological knowledge wasn't that great, I sneakly added Australia to the list.
And then, for good measure, I added the Royal Court down again.
"Are we done?" Rose glanced at the list, and then at me. I handed her the list and the pen.
"Cross off every seventh item." I said.
"Seventh? Why seventh?"
"I like that number..." I tried hard to control my feelings. If she knew what I was thinking right now, she probably wouldn't be playing this with me right now.
"You know," Rose started counting down by seven, "This reminds me of one of those mathematical games, that can be solved mathematically."
She crossed Christians name off the list first, as I knew she would. If only she knew that that was exactly what I was doing...
"You suspect me of choosing the results before we started playing?" I tried to sound incredulous. "It's just a game Rose! I didn't put any thought into it at all."
She nodded thoughtfully as she crossed the number three off the kids column. "Sure I believe you Liss."
She went down and crossed off Russia next. I saw her sigh dreamily, and I knew that I wasn't the only one keeping secrets. Maybe she had some hidden infatuation with that area.
She got to the bottom of the sheet, and skipped up to the top again. She put a line through the word toilet, a look of satisfaction filling her face.
"Come on Rose! You would have had lots of fun living in a toilet!" I joked.
"Nah, not enough room. You wouldn't like it either, because I will be your guardian and you will have to live in the toilet with me."
I sighed in fake relief.
Rose continued narrowing the list, making sly comments every now and then. I played along, waiting for the end of the game. I wondered if she would still keep the bet she made. About it coming true. Because if she did...
"Sweet!" Rose cried out, as she crossed out the word house. It meant that the only word left in the MATCH column was mansion. She drew a big blue circle around the word, and I smiled inwardly. I already knew a mansion that would suit her perfectly. And it came with a very nice flat mate...
Rose, oblivious to my musings, continued to count by sevens. She looked down at the list, then swore in a language I didn't know.
"What does that word mean?" I asked, curious. I didn't know she was bilingual.
"Not sure. But I heard Dimitri say it a couple of times." Her voice fell a little, but I dismissed it.
"Guarding Belikov swears?"
"Sometimes. Anyways, it doesn't matter. What matters, is that I'm going to get married at bloody St. Vladimir's!"
I adopted an appropriate expression, but my mind was elsewhere. It was true that I had planned that out – it would mean having a minister that knew all the guests, and all their customs. Where as an innocent human minister...
Anyways, it was conveniently close to home. Yes, that's why we decided on it.
"I hope I'm going to have a good husband," Rose continued, "Coz I'm going to have four kids with him." I looked down at the list, and saw the fresh line through the number two, and the pen poised over the number four.
I glanced at the clock on the wall absent-mindedly, and then gasped. "Rose! Hurry up! We have a party in half an hour and were still not ready!" Time really did fly by.
She looked up at the clock as well, and gave it a death glare. She returned to her list, and counted down quickly. She crossed out both Siberia and the Royal court, leaving her now with Australia.
Oops, miss calculation on my part. Oh well, maybe it was meant to be.
The only category left now was guys. She quickly crossed off Mason, and was now left with Dimitri and Adrian. I saw her subtly cross her fingers, before counting off slowly.
She lowered her pen, and slowly put a circle around Adrian's name. She looked up at me, mischievously. "Me and Adrian, huh?"
I laughed, pretending it was a coincidence. "Well, at least I still get Christian."
"Until next time..." She said in her scary voice. She glanced up at the clock again.
"Holy crap! I need to get ready!" Rose ran out of my room, and I giggled to myself. She probably had her sight set on some hot court guardian. She also probably was planning on taking a long time to get ready.
I closed the door after her, and shook off my clothes. I put on a dark red strapless dress, and a black coat around it. I slipped on my red heels, and ran to the bathroom. I finished applying my make up quickly, before I heard a knock on the door.
Adrian's POV
The door opened.
"Cousin, how beautiful you look tonight." I looked down at Lissa in her formal outfit, a goofy smile on my face. "Do you by any chance have any roses in your room tonight?"
She laughed, and invited me in. I stepped onto into the room, and my new shoes sunk about a foot into the floor. I looked down, and saw the whole floor covered in feathers. And white material that looked suspiciously like it was once a pillow.
"What happened to your room, cousin?" I asked, looking around the room. Every surface was pretty much covered with soft white down. The cleaners were going to have fun with this room.
"Long story. Anyway, look what Rose and I did." Lissa retrieved a sheet of paper from the floor, and handed it to me. I read through it pretty quickly, recognizing the game from my own childhood.
"And guess what she said before we started," Lissa continued excitedly, "After I told her that it was just a game, she made a bet with me. That it would come true. And she doesn't ever lie to me."
She had a proud look on her face. I had an urge to hug her, but restrained myself.
I continued to examine the sheet instead. Mansion. 4 kids. Married at St. Vladimir's. Going to live in Australia.
And there was a big circle around my name.
But I knew that Rose still hadn't changed her feelings towards me. That she wasn't about to honour that bet.
Because although my name was circled, I noticed that she hadn't crossed Dimitri's name out.
Hope you liked it! I can turn it into more of a oneshot, if you want. Please Review, tell me what you think!
~Hope~