John picked at the bottom of his shoes, there wasn't really much to do in the castle, and the heaviness of the recent events was having a sound effect on him; the usual jokester mood that he would adopt to uphold the atmosphere had dropped to an all-time low. What didn't help was that he was stuck in his room, alone and bored; he understood the terms of leaving the castle, and that this was for their own safety, but guards watching every move you make kind of put a damper on any tricks he tried to play on the commoners or the children. Nevertheless, the rules were in place and he followed them compliantly, although, that didn't mean he had to like them. Ever since the war broke out again between Prospit and Derse almost two years ago, he had been stuck going from meeting to meeting with royal advisers and diplomats along with some of the leaders of the army. He hated these talks as much as the others; no-one liked the fighting and they all solidly agreed that it needed to end, but as soon as they ended up getting close, one thing would lead to another and all their work would come crumbling down, pulling the two Kingdoms further apart than they were before. A small dispute had manifested itself over time, to become a large, out of control bowling ball of problems that just kept toppling over whoever tried to stop it. John missed being able to talk to his other friends, he missed Rose, and of course, he missed Dave; he also missed the smiles that used to frequent the court only now replaced with furrowed brows and worried and tired eyes of the people. He just wished this all could be sorted soon, wished that he didn't have to worry about the Kingdom's final outcome in all of this; maybe this meeting would be the one, the one to end it all.

John sighed, staring down at his shoes and decided that he should get up and explore the castle for a while, before settling down to the meeting. He clambered up off of the floor and walked over to the closet in the corner of his room, he fetched his cape and slung it over his shoulder, not wishing to wear it before the meeting; sometimes it could be really annoying and in his clumsiness, he would trip over the length, making a fool of himself in front of the maids, and once, even Dave, to which the memory made him blush slightly. John pushed the thought back in his mind, strid- uh, pacing, yes, pacing towards the door. He opened it hurriedly and started in an aimless walk around the castle.

Days before, the castle had been basking in the light, the flowers had been in full bloom and insects buzzed in the dry air but now everything was eerily quiet, although it was mid-morning, the Kingdom was oddly deserted; not many people would be up today, as cold, wet air descended onto the streets and into people's homes. John felt sorry for the maids and the workers of the castle who had to get up and keep going, despite the dreary morning, so, whenever he passed a maid, engrossed in her work, he smiled and waved, saying "Such a dreary morning, don't you think? Thank you so much for all the work you're doing!", before moving on into a different part of the castle.

It wasn't long before John reached the end of the corridor, which opened out into a large balcony, overlooking the front castle gardens and the Plaza and streets below. He wished that it was always summer, although he wouldn't wish an eternal winter upon either Kingdom, not that there could ever be one; however, visiting Derse, and the sun with it, would be out of the question. John sighed and looked over his own Kingdom, contemplating whether to hold a feast tonight, to keep the spirits of the people up, but, that could seriously jeopardise the lengths the supply's would last, and John was not in the mood to have another repeat of the previous winter, where citizens were more than half starved by the time that the seasons changed. He didn't want, didn't need to think of anything more at that moment, so he pushed himself off the railings and continued to walk around the castle corridors, not particularly thinking of anything. That was, until he reached the corridor to the meeting room; suddenly all of his worries and fears from earlier rushed back to him, ruthlessly pulling him back into the harsh reality which was his current situation. He checked the small, trickster watch on his wrist, the one with fake arms as arms to tell the time, and saw that the meeting was set to begin in under an hour. John liked being on time to things, even if sometimes he was fashionably late, but he'd never really been the person ever early to a meeting; even so, his slow, aimless footsteps echoed in the deserted hallway as he approached the large, open door frame that was the meeting room. He quickly placed a smile on his face, one of his signature happy-go-lucky smiles, and tried to keep a positive attitude; someone like John was needed, he thought, to keep the other royal's spirits up in the face of adversity, and surely now, this was the biggest adversity that any of them had ever faced. However big the challenge of today's meeting, John was ready and rearing to go, and he had enough optimism to go round, however, it might just have been the last bout of optimism he was able to muster; everyone was tired and strained from the situation and it needed to be stopped, and soon, otherwise the whole kingdom was set to fall apart.

...

Dave sat up in his bed. It wasn't that early but the rays of fresh sunlight beamed through his open window and curtains. He was thankful that he had his signature shades, and fumbling on his desk, he took hold of the frames and brought them to his face; the darkened lenses stopped him squinting from the harsh sunlight as it was and oddly strange feeling, 6 whole months with no light and here he was, sat in his bed with the outside showing no sign of any dreary winter, only looking like it had forever been summer. Dave stood up, still pyjama-clad, and walked over to the window, he pulled up the heavy frame and leaned out, looking upon the busy streets of the Kingdom; there were people everywhere, every single house on the street of the Plaza had its doors open as people rushed with tables and chairs, seemingly from nowhere. "Right, shit, the festival", he thought out loud to himself. He assumed that the people had been greeted with the same friendly light as he was, and it was also likely that Dirk would be waking up soon as well.

Dave stretched and ducked his head back into the window, leaving it ajar, letting the warm summer breeze whip round his curtains, breathing a fresh new life into him and his room. Walking over to his closet, he opened the extravagantly decorated purple door and started to sift through the clothes stored away in it; he knew he had a formal outfit somewhere, one made especially for him and for an event as large as this. Dave already had some pretty fancy clothes, ones with fancy-ass collars and itchy tight pants to which he hated, however, it seemed like a small price to pay in return for being a royal. After a good amount of sifting, Dave found the suit he was looking for, a deep purple material which shimmered in the light, decked out in gold accents and the country's sigil emblazoned on the front; the pants were a slightly darker shade of purple and the hanger also supported a long cape of the same material, which draped over his shoulders and trailed a good foot behind him as he walked. One thing that never changed was his shoes, the same basic slip-ons that he was comfortable with wearing; every time the maid tried to slip in a pair of pointy, uncomfortable man shoes, he threw them out the window, it served her right, he would conform to the itchy pants, they were bearable, but his pumps were staying, no matter how annoyingly old they were to her or anyone else for that matter.

Once dressed, Dave grabbed his sword from the table next to him and reached for the crown that was perched on a hook attached to his dresser. His crown, he only took because of the celebrations, as a royal, going out into the streets was a big deal and he needed to keep his stoic façade to the people, reassuring them that their leader was strong enough to keep the whole land safe. His sword was tucked neatly onto his belt; he never went anywhere without it, even before the war began, it was just comforting to know he was well equipped and ready for anything. After everything was perfect and he had flattened his hair for the final time, Dave went to the wall behind his bedpost and banged on it loudly. A loud grunting noise followed, well if he wasn't already awake, Dirk would sure as hell be awake now.