A/N: Okay, yes, I realize that I'm not exactly the best at updating, but...eh. I'll do my best. I'd prefer not to make a schedule (sunday: wake up at 8:30 am. Type 30 min. Brush teeth. Dress...) because I just majorly hate schedules, but I swear I will do my absolute best to update regularly. Or at least once a month. Yeah. Goal of the year: Update all stories at least once per month.
Yeah, enough procrastinating. Time to get started!
CHRONO
Gee. Who'd've known anyone - even a guy - could eat so much?
In the space of fifteen minutes (the time it took me to finish a barbecue chicken leg, a ladleful of fried rice and two lamb ribs), he gobbled down four lamb ribs, three chicken breasts, one and a half turkey legs, a miniature mountain of barbecued chicken wings, three mounds of steamed and fried rice, half a plate of Caesar salad (at Azmaria's insistence), a huge piece of smoked ham, half a loaf of raisin-studded bread, half a roast pig, almost an entire chocolate cake (the cake was pitifully small, but...still), three slices of cherry pie, and a soup-bowl filled with French vanilla ice cream.
That guy was a mystery to me. Especially since, even after finishing all that, he still wanted to continue eating. The only reason Joshua didn't eat more was because: A) His sister, Rosette, scolded him, saying that it wasn't polite to finish all the food meant for the guests, and B) Azmaria threatened him with one of those little Azmaria-looks that look so vague but, at the same time, so menacing.
Just as I polished off a slice of chocolate cake, Joshua finally stopped eating.
"Ah," he sighed contentedly, leaning back in his chair. "That was goood. I'm going to give the chiefs a tip tomorrow."
I nodded absently, not really listening to what he was saying, and glanced up at the big clock at one end of the dining hall. My heart nearly stopped.
Eleven fifty-seven. Already? How?
"Uh, sorry!" I blurted out, bolting upright. "I...I have to go! Home! Now! Because I'm expected! Bye! You, know, my family's expecting me, so... Yeah! I'm leaving now!"
"What?" Azmaria looked at me in alarm. "But-" Then she looked past me and saw the time. "Oh. All right. Come tomorrow, okay?"
I didn't reply. I was already halfway out the door.
As I ran down the steps, I saw the carriage - which, for some absurd reason, looked almost exactly like an apple - with the driver sitting inside, glancing at his pocket watch and looking up at the doors worriedly. When I finally came into view, his face lit up.
"There you are!" he said when I fumbled my way into the carriage. "I was worried you wouldn't make it on time. Your cousin gave me orders this time, you know - one second past twelve and I had to leave, elsewise she wasn't gonna pay me."
"Yes, yes, yes," I panted. "Just drive!"
He obligingly cracked the whip. Two horse neighs and a few more whip-cracks later, I was on my way back home.
ROSETTE
"Aaah." I sighed and leaned back in my chair, happy - for now. "That was good. I'm going to give the chiefs a tip tomorrow."
Chrona nodded, looking around in a sort of absentminded way. She froze when she looked up at one end of the hall, and I almost felt tempted to ask, What? Are you afraid of the dark or something? because of how scared she looked.
Without warning, she jumped up and started stammering, "Sorry! I-I have to...go! Home! Now! Because! I'm expected! Bye, you know, my family's expecting me, so yeah, I'm leaving now!"
"What?" Azmaria shared a puzzled look with me. "But..." Then she looked in the same direction as Chrona had. "Oh. All right. Come tomorrow, okay?"
Either Chrona was too far away to hear, or she was too busy running to give Azzy an answer.
"What's up, Azzy?" I inquired, turning my head to look at the end of the dining hall. I didn't see anything except for people chatting and, in a few shadier corners, what looked like couples in lip-locks.
Note to self: Tell chiefs to serve only juice and water tomorrow. No more alcohol for our guests.
"Look up," she ordered as she shoved my chin up. I looked up.
Eleven fifty-nine.
"Oh."
"Oh," she agreed.
"Oh."
"What's up?" Joshua asked, sauntering up and looking absolutely ridiculous in his wig and gown.
Wordlessly, I pointed at the clock.
He looked.
"Oh."
"Oh."
"Oh."
"Ohhh."
"Yes, oh, oh, oh!" Azmaria snapped. "Hurry up and go upstairs, you two, and stop gawking at the clock like a bunch of primitive neanderthals!"
Me and Joshua looked at each other, grinned, and then turned back to Azmaria. Together, we chorused, "What those? Ar-ar-ar or gr-gr-gr?"
She scowled at us and flapped her hands to get us moving, almost managing to conceal the twitch at the corner of her mouth. "Go! Go!"
We burst out laughing - Azzy almost did, too, except she was much more skilled at controlling her facial features than we were - and ran upstairs.
Some taunts are just too tempting to ignore.
CHRONO
"Did you have fun?"
"Yup."
"Did you see the princess? And Azmaria? I heard they're both gorgeous! Were they?"
"Yup."
"How was the food? Top-of-the-line, I'm betting - and the wine?"
"Yup."
"And did you see any silk gowns there? What designs were there? I so want one! I'll ask Poppa for one tomorrow!"
"Yup."
"Chrono, are you even planning on answering any of my questions?"
"Yup."
Too late, I realized what she'd said. "Uh... uh... I mean, maybe?"
She sighed and finished wiping a bit of blush off my cheeks. "Honestly, Chrono. Sometimes, I even wonder why I'm doing this for you."
"Oh, I have no idea, either! So why don't you just stop making me go? That'll work out best for-"
She shot me an icy glare. "Don't be ridiculous. After my hours spent bargaining with your brother? You're going, like it or not."
I sighed and slumped back down in my seat. "I'm thinking definitely not," I muttered.
"Oh, don't be so pessimistic," she advised as she walked around behind me and began yanking pins out of my hair.
"Ow! Mary!"
"Oh, don't be such a wussy," she told me as she yanked out another pin and a hank of hair along with it.
I squeaked.
"Anyways," she continued, pulling out pins and stripping me bald all at once, "how's your relationship with the prince? You say he likes eating? Did he eat today?"
Despite the pain, I smiled. "He sure did. He filled up and finished, like, fifteen plates in as many minutes. Pretty impressive. He probably could've won a ton of eating contests, if he'd wanted-Ow! Mary!"
"Sorry." She wove a bit of hair out of the clasp of the hair pin, then put it down. "Fifteen plates? How big?"
"About as big as your Turkey plate for Thanksgiving."
She continued with her task, silent and much less painfully than before. I didn't complain.
"What about dancing? Did he talk to other girls much?"
"Nope." Figuring this was a safe, hair-saving topic, I chatted, "He always complained about girls and how stupid it is that they're all the same, and how they're only after the crown they might get if he chooses to date them. He complained a lot about dresses, too - how stupid it is to have so many petticoats and tight bodices and corsets and all that. I totally agree with him on both counts."
I rattled on and on about things we'd talked about and things we'd done together as Mary finished undoing my hair. Not once did I turn and see the curious look on her face, or the set of her mouth that only ever showed up when she was thinking - hard - and plotting.
ROSETTE
"No way in hell are you guys getting me to go to that third ball!"
I huddled up in a ball on my bed and shuddered. Azmaria sat down next to me and patted my arm comfortingly.
"Now, Rosette," she began in a soothing, comforting voice, "I realize what a traumatizing experience that must've been for you, and I promise-"
"Traumatizing!" I shuddered. "I've been branded for life!"
A basic rundown of what had happened last night after the switch-back: Some creepy guy who was probably well into his forties came up to me and said a bunch of stuff along the lines of "marry me and I'll give you all the food and gold and jewelry and stuff you could want". I refused, obviously. Well, the food part was kind of tempting, but I refused. Then he asked if we could go out on a balcony. I accepted out of politeness, and then once we were out of everyone's view, he grabbed my face and did his best to cover it in slobber, which I guess was his attempt at making out.
Fortunately for me, he got my hand instead. And then I'd screamed bloody murder and started kneeing him between the legs and kicking him and stepping on him with my very pointy and painful high-heeled shoes.
He probably wouldn't be back.
Like, ever.
"At least it was only one guy for you," Joshua muttered. "Try having thirty girls try to throw themselves onto you at once."
I gave him an exasperated look. "I have."
"Oh." He shrugged. "Bad luck for you, then, I guess."
I felt tempted to kick him right then and there and give him a taste of what the middle-aged man had gone through. Azmaria's next words knocked that thought out of my mind.
"Find, then, don't go. Chrona will be really disappointed, though."
I froze. "Huh?"
Azmaria hid a smile behind her hand, disguising it as a yawn. "Chrona, remember? She'll probably come tomorrow, and won't she be disappointed when you're not there? Or when Joshua's there as you and he's acting all weird around hi- her for some reason?"
I grumbled. I pouted. I crossed my arms and glared like a little kid. It made no difference.
"Fine," I mumbled. "I'll go."
A/N: Okay, that took me, what, three months? Ah, well, I'm kind of proud of it. (Not too sure about the neanderthal part, though...but whatevs. If nothing else, hopefully my awful writing was at least somewhat humorous.) And if there are any spelling mistakes, then I'm sorry, but this computer's being super-slow for some reason, so sometimes when I'm typing it comes out wrong and I can't even tell because of how long it takes to load...
Yeah, never mind. If anything's the matter with it, go right ahead and flame at me. On that note, you should review if there's anything good about it. Deal?
So, yeah, review, rate, comment, follow, favorite, and all that stuff if you want to. And thanks a bunch to those who do!
