"I want to do something for her," the prince spoke up from out of the blue, the idea suddenly coming to him. Turning to Edge and Christian, who were standing precariously on the balcony's edge, he asked, "But what should I do? I'm not sure on what to give her."
Edge shrugged, before randomly naming off things off the top of his head.
"Roses, chocolate, promises you don't intend to keep..." the little clock rattled off. Christian looked at him in disgust.
"Bro, that is so totally lamesville," he remarked, then turned to Prince Kurt. "The present that you give her has to totally reek of awesomeness, but it will also have to be something special to her..." His voice trailed off as he thought about it, before a light bulb went off in his head and Christian chirped, "I've so totally got it, dude!"
Prince
Kurt pranced about the hallways of the castle, leading Stephanie by the
hand and forcing her to skip along as well, which she did so rather reluctantly.
He skidded to a halt in front of a set of double doors, and did a full
one-eighty, turning around to face his guest.
"Steph,
I've got a present I want to give you," he began, almost shyly and looking
down at the floor to avoid making contact with her amused blue eyes. Stephanie
began to smile at the word 'present', but then the prince told her, "Now
I want you to close your eyes." Immediately, the wide smile disappeared,
to give way for a suspicious frown as Stephanie eyed him warily. Prince
Kurt pouted.
"It's
a surprise," he told her. "Now please, just close your eyes. I swear you'll
love it."
Stephanie still looked hesitant, before obligingly
closing her eyes. Prince Kurt grinned, and inched his way to the French
doors. He turned around right before he was about to open them, and waved
his hand back and forth in front of Stephanie's face. Noticing a slight
twitch, the beast prince frowned, before suddenly perking up and reaching
over to snatch the nearest object--which, unfortunately, just happened
to be a fluffy red-and-white Santa hat--plunking it right over Stephanie's
head.
"Hey--!"
As Stephanie screeched her protests, Prince Kurt, happily oblivious to
the shrill whining, flung open the double doors and led Stephanie into
the room.
"Now
you can open your eyes," he chirped cheekily, and waited. And waited...and
waited...and waited...
"Um,
Steph?" Prince Kurt asked tentatively, turning around. He then noticed
that Stephanie was still screeching her protests, the fluffy Santa hat
pulled tightly over her head muffling her voice somewhat.
"Oops,"
the prince muttered, before quickly yanking the hat off. Stephanie took
a long breath of fresh air, her hair all mussed and her face red. Turning
a poisonous glare on the guilty-looking prince, she hollered, "What the
hell did you think you were doing...Wow! What's this?" The young woman
took notice of the room that they were standing in. The sweet, exotic scent
of potpourri gave the place a distinctive feminine touch, as did the fresh
flowers and soft pastel decor. Rows upon rows of the trendiest designer
clothes were displayed stylishly all over the room, as Prince Kurt mumbled,
"I had Miss Molly order the latest designer clothes from a catalog...I...I
hope you like it." Stephanie, admiring the gigantic chamber, turned to
the prince with a bright smile.
"I
love it!" she squealed, and without thinking, flung her arms around Prince
Kurt and drew him in a warm, friendly embrace. Meanwhile, watching from
outside the doors, Edge and Christian tried to give each other high fives
as best as they could, chorusing, "Score one for the beast-man!", while
Miss Molly watched the scene dreamily and murmured, "How romantic."
Prince
Kurt happily tripped his way over to his bathroom, absently shaking snow
from his fur from where Stephanie had pelted him with snowballs after he'd
tried to get her to feed the cute little birdies frolicking near the ground.
As he made his way across the tiled floor, the prince tripped over an unseen
wire, and promptly fell facefirst into the gigantic marble bathtub, which
was filled to the brim with bubbly bathwater. As foamy water splashed all
over the walls and the hapless prince gargled obscenities through a mouthful
of scented bubblebath, the sound of tiny little brass feet could be heard,
and Christian tentatively poked his head into the room. Seeing that Prince
Kurt was temporarily helpless, splashing in a rather silly manner in the
mass of bubbles and scented water, he let out a shrill, piercing whistle.
"Now!"
the little candelabra shouted, and a flurry of enchanted household item
limbs attacked the prone prince, dunking him in the water, scrubbing him
and soaping him, rinsing him off, wrapping a towel around him, and using
a dryer to blow him dry. When they were done, Prince Kurt's hairs stood
on end, with little violet ribbons tied to every cluster of fur.
"What
the hell is the meaning of this?!" the prince screeched, forgetting his
Integrity and yelling at the candelabra that had been overseeing the whole
operation. Christian instinctively backed away several feet from the furious
beast prince.
"It
was totally all Miss Molly's fault," he spluttered, immediately pinning
the blame on someone else. "She was the one who so came up with the idea
to primp you up, which I said totally reeked of heinosity!"
Prince Kurt only growled, and shook his fur wildly,
ripping the tiny violet ribbons out with a vengeance. Christian sighed.
"Eh...I
always thought the whole gentleman look totally reeked of stinktitude,
anyway," he mumbled, and tottered off.
Stephanie strutted daintily out of her chamber in an elegant gold evening gown and high heels. She had put curls on her hair, and rather light makeup, allowing her innocent, girlish appeal to shine through. Meanwhile, way across, there was the sound of loud protesting, before Prince Kurt, looking somewhat silly in a peacock blue coat over a white dress shirt and a frilly scarf, was pushed out by a hoard of servants, a scattering of torn ribbons sticking to his fur in several places. The prince tripped his way down the set of stairs, looking somewhat uncomfortable in his crisp, tight-fitting black pants. Stephanie had to stop herself from doing a double take. This wasn't exactly Prince Charming, or a valiant knight in shining armor, she observed, as she watched the prince nearly fall flat on his butt. Shrugging, she mumbled, "Eh, close enough," and reached out to take Prince Kurt's hand...the one that wasn't rubbing his sore behind, anyway. Prince Kurt looked uneasy as she led him daintily to the dance floor and placed one hand on his shoulder while keeping the other in his own hand. The two then began waltzing to soft, classical music, Edge and Christian and their kazoos having been banned from the ballroom. Prince Kurt, meanwhile, was sweating bullets as Stephanie pulled him into the dance, struggling to keep from stepping all over her delicate feet and barely succeeding. Miss Molly and Terri, meanwhile, peeked out from behind the doors leading to the ballroom, sighing dreamily and making sure that Edge and Christian and their kazoos were nowhere near the dance floor. After a few minutes of dancing, Prince Kurt seemed to relax, and even started to enjoy himself. The two twirled around the ballroom, dancing the night away, before Prince Kurt slowly led Stephanie away from the dance floor and out onto the balcony.
Stephanie
seated herself daintily on the smooth, marble railing, and waited patiently
while Prince Kurt joined her on the balcony, fidgeting nervously and looking
in every which direction except her face. After several minutes of waiting,
Stephanie began to get impatient, and started fidgeting herself. Staring
in dismay at the fidgeting couple, Miss Molly hopped up and down to get
Prince Kurt's attention and mouthed Say something to her! Prince
Kurt squinted as he deciphered her unspoken words, before finally understanding
what she meant and saying cheerfully, "Okay!" The sudden word caught Stephanie's
attention, as she asked absently, "Okay what?" Prince Kurt turned around,
looking as guilty as a five-year-old child who had just been caught stealing
from the cookie jar, and squeaked, "Nothing." Stephanie let it go.
"Oh.
All right, then."
The pair continued to fidget, and the normally
patient Miss Molly felt like slapping her head, when Prince Kurt suddenly
brightened, and turned to Stephanie excitedly, looking like he'd just come
up with the world's best pick up line.
"So,
uh...are you happy here, Steph?" he asked cheekily. Stephanie turned to
face him.
"Yes,"
she replied simply, and returned to her star gazing. Prince Kurt blinked,
as if he hadn't been expecting such a short answer, and returned to thinking
up another 'pick up' line. However, by some miracle of God, the usually
self-absorbed Prince Kurt noticed that Stephanie held a longing, faraway
look in her clear blue eyes as she gazed at the sparkling diamonds in the
sky, and immediately asked, "What's the matter?"
"My...my
daddy," Stephanie admitted. "I'm kind of worried about him, ever since
he started feuding with Mom and Shane. I mean, he's always had me to stand
by him...and now he's got to face my mother and brother by himself. I wish
I knew whether he's doing okay against Mom and Shane."
Prince Kurt, meanwhile, sat there stupidly while
she poured her heart out, her words going in one beastly ear and traveling
right out the other. The only words he caught were 'worried' and 'daddy',
and he blinked rapidly.
"Oh,
yeah, you're worried about your daddy," he mumbled, praying to God that
he'd gotten it right. Apparently, he had, and Prince Kurt brightened up
and said, "Oh, it's real easy to check up on your dad."
Stephanie brightened.
"It
is?" she asked hopefully.
"Well
sure," Prince Kurt told her, and led her up to the 'forbidden' West Wing.
Pulling the magical mirror from the pedestal, he told her, "This mirror
will show you whatever you want. Just tell it what you want to see."
Stephanie brightened.
"Really?"
At his nod, a mischievous look overtook her features. "You mean it can
even show me, say, the men's weight room?"
"Well,
um, uck, you know..." Prince Kurt stuttered, not quite expecting her answer,
as Stephanie turned to the mirror with unholy glee and voiced her request.
Prince Kurt waited patiently while Stephanie drooled over the mirror, tapping
his feet and fidgeting occasionally. Finally, he cleared his throat and
asked, "Erm...shouldn't you be checking up on your dad?"
Stephanie blushed, and quickly cleared her throat.
"Uh...right,"
she muttered, grumbling under her breath about having her fun spoiled.
"Magic
mirror, show me my daddy," the young woman requested. Instantly, a bright
green light flashed from the mirror, momentarily blinding Stephanie, and
when the lights dimmed and the swirling mists cleared up, Steph saw clearly
her father making an announcement at a press conference about how he was
about to close a historical deal by purchasing WCW, Inc. Stephanie's gloating
smile was cut off short when her brother Shane interrupted the press conference,
walked boldly up to the dais, and elbowed Mr. McMahon out of the way. Taking
the microphone, the dark-haired McMahon emphatically announced that while
his father was busy gloating, he had gone to Atlanta and bought out WCW
from right underneath Vince's nose, while Stephanie watched on in horror.
"Oh,
no! Daddy!" Thankfully, she kept her screech down to a low volume, much
to the relief of the beast prince standing next to her. Prince Kurt blinked
wide blue eyes at her distress, and guessed uncertainly, "I'm assuming
that something's wrong with your dad?" Stephanie ignored him, and continued
to screech obscenities into the mirror, all of them directed at her brother.
Prince Kurt began to look nervous, as he slowly and inconspicuously started
inching away from the raving madwoman...erm, young woman.
"Uh...maybe
you should go now, Steph, and help out your dad," Prince Kurt mumbled nervously,
wondering whether his servants had set him up with a deranged psychopath.
"You know, since your dad obviously needs you more, I...I think it'll be
a good idea if I let you free so you can go to him."
Stephanie thankfully stopped screeching out insults
at Shane's gloating visage in the mirror, and turned to face Prince Kurt
with a sweet smile on her face.
"Really?
Thank you so much for understanding," the youngest McMahon whispered tenderly,
all signs of the screeching, deranged half of her personality flying out
the window. Prince Kurt blushed, and looked shyly down at the ground with
an Aw, shucks expression on his face, as Stephanie gave him a light,
friendly hug. When she tried to return the mirror, the prince told her,
"No, keep it. That way, you will always have a part of me." And that
way in case you don't return, I'll have an excuse to come get you,
he silently added. Stephanie smiled sweetly, before hurrying off to change
and leave, turning to the mirror and growling, "Oh, you are so gonna get
it, Shane!"
As
Steph strutted out of the room, Edge scuffled in, a wide grin on his face.
"Dude,
you so totally swept her off her feet," he gloated. "Man, we are gonna
be back to our totally reeking of awesomeness human selves in no time."
Prince Kurt looked guilty.
"Um...I
don't really think that's gonna happen," he mumbled in a voice barely above
a whisper. Edge looked shocked.
"But...but...but
why not?" he choked out in a strangled whisper. The prince sighed, and
looked out his window.
"Because
I let her go," he admitted softly. Edge looked as if he didn't know whether
to faint dead away or pound Prince Kurt to the floor.
"But...but...but
why?" he squeaked, apparently having decided to go with Choice C--neither.
"Because
she scares the hell out of me sometimes!" Prince Kurt whined. And then,
in a quieter voice, he admitted shyly, "And also because I love her, and
I don't want to see her miserable and screeching obscenities."
