Snow White

Roderich and Gilbert had left the school with Toni and, as Roderich has finally learned, Francis. Roderich had assumed that Gilbert hadn't known the boy's name, and had been simply calling him "Francy-pants" because he was French. He was wrong, apparently, but it didn't matter much.

"Oh, hey! There's Elizaveta!"

Gilbert pointed to a little girl, who seemed very grumpy at that moment, wearing a flowing green dress and floppy sunhat. She's sketching something, using a book as a flat surface while she stands, and she keeps erasing erratically while she grumbles to herself.

Roderich noticed the way she stands is not regular for a girl.

Roderich wonders if she is a girl.

Either way he doesn't really care, so long as she's nice.

"Hey! Hey, Liz! C'mere!"

She looks up, and Roderich sees that she has eyes to match her dress, just as light. Her annoyed expression smoothes into calmness and gentle joy, and she walks over.

"Hi!"

She sticks out a hand immediately towards Roderich, and he's surprised by her forwardness. He grasps her hand, and her grip is firm and controlling, while his is loose, and he feels like this is usually not the case, but he doesn't find himself willing to complain, or care, for that matter.

"Hello."

"My name is Elizaveta. People here call me Liz! Roderich, right? Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too, Elizaveta."

Roderich is being further surprised by her aura, everything about her screaming "authority." He believes she'll grow to be a very important person in the future.

"Hey Gil, you weren't lying, were ya?"

Roderich furrows his brows and looks at Gilbert, who is equally confused.

"What? I never told you anything about Roderich."

"Darius told me."

"I never told Darius either."

"Well everyone's been talking about it!"

Gilbert's even more confused now.

"Everyone?"

"Yeah!"

Elizaveta is beaming now.

"Everyone's been going on about how you kept boasting about finding the most prettiest person ever! And everyone kept saying you were probably lying! But I believed you!"

Gilbert is shocked now, and he looks at his friends. Francis was gone, and he saw Antonio turning tail and running for the play yard.

Those sneaky little gossips!

Gilbert turns to Roderich, ready to say sorry, but then he sees Roderich just staring at him in absolute surprise.

"...You said that?"

Oh dang.

"Er, well... I told Toni and Franny some time ago...?"

Gilbert didn't know if Roderich was either really mad at him or really happy... or possibly both. But either way, Gilbert had announced something very embarrassing, since this was something he said back from the beginning, and he thinks of Roderich as an actual person now, not a fairytale princess.

But Roderich made no expression, and he continued to make none for the rest of the ride home.