Title: Meeting Prince Charmless…
Summary: After meeting the monster riding duo (which his guild still doesn't believe), Flavio thought he had seen everything. But this obnoxious little kid was something else…
AN: Thought it was about time we meet a new character :3 Enjoy!
There was a large plate of curry right in front of Flavio, and while it was delicious as always and he was honestly enjoying it, he couldn't wipe the frown from his lips as he ate. After they had returned from the labyrinth, he was dragged to the café and ordered to get something to eat to help with his 'light-headedness' and 'minor lapse into delirium'.
He wasn't delirious; they were making him delirious!
They still didn't believe him. They didn't believe that he had saw two explorers riding on the back of a giant moa, controlling it with its neck, and that two other explorers dressed as gunners were chasing them on foot.
Ok, so, if someone else had claimed the same thing he did, he might not fully believe them either. But it wasn't someone else, it was him, and it was beside the point! Unbelievable!
"You're still sulking, kid?" Bertrand asked him as he lifted his coffee to his lips and took a drawn out sip.
"I'm not sulking."
"You're pouting," Chloe pointed out almost smugly.
"I'm not pouting."
"It is a most adorable pout, Sir Flavio," Arianna complimented sincerely.
"No it's not."
"On par with his sneezes," Fafnir added with a slight smirk in his tone.
"Oh, yes!" Arianna beamed as she clapped her hands together in front of her. "Sir Flavio's sneezes are like that of kittens. Quite precious!"
"Pity I missed that," Bertrand idly commented, prompting Chloe to murmur a small noise of agreement next to him.
"Stop picking on me!" Flavio bristled as he slammed his hand on top of the table loudly, though no one flinched, which only served to raise his hackles further. "And I didn't imagine that guy riding a giant moa, ok? It really happened!"
"Yes yes. Eat your curry before it gets cold."
Flavio grumpily slumped back into his seat and shovelled a large spoonful of the delicious curry into his mouth.
He was about to shovel more food grouchily into his mouth when the door to the café was suddenly flung open in a dramatic manner, the bell used to alert for customers flying off from its position and tumbling across the floor.
Immediately, everyone spun around, tensing on guard to see…a kid with short green hair wearing a white cape and silver crown, and carrying a silver royal sceptre, lift himself to stand upon a vacant table and throw his head back on a laugh.
A loud, obnoxious laugh.
"Mwahaha! I, Prince Benedict Richardson the Third, challenge you to a duel!" the kid suddenly exclaimed as he pointed his sceptre in their direction. Actually, no, more directed toward Fafnir. "The victor shall gain the meat-shield I mean herald's unquestionable loyalty!"
…?
"...What?" Flavio muttered, breaking the thick silence that had fell over the entire café the moment the kid was done speaking. "Who are you talking about?"
"Is he looking at me?"
"It does appear that way, Sir Fafnir."
"What's a meat-shield? Can you eat it?"
"No kiddo, you can't."
The kid puffed his cheeks out in annoyance as he stamped his foot childishly upon the table he was standing one. "Your sharp-witted and caustic barbs will not cause me to falter! For I, Benedict Richardson the Third, is a prince of the highest quality! Heathens, such as yourselves, cannot penetrate my overwhelming and royal presence!"
Flavio felt his eye twitch and he frowned as he glanced back at his guild mates. "...Did that kid just call us heathens?"
Wait…Benedict…Benedict…where had he heard that name before?
"Hey Princey!" Regina was heard shouting from the kitchen area. "Get off the tables! What barn were you born in?!"
"Be silent, peasant!" the kid shrilled. "No one dares to speak to Benedict Richardson the Third in such a manner!"
Flavio felt his eye twitch again as he turned his attention back to the kid. "So we're peasants now...?"
"So that's Dick, huh?" Bertrand mused from the Flavio's left. "They weren't kidding when they said he was obnoxious."
Dick…? Oh, right! He remembered now. The Guardians told him a story about how a kid threw a major hissy fit on the first floor because he didn't like the way the ragelopes neighed like a horse.
"I thought I recognised the name..." he muttered.
Benedict suddenly leapt off of the table and landed on the floor in the middle of the café in a dramatic fashion before he whirled his staff above his head with an overly eccentric flurry and pointed it in Fafnir's direction. "On guard, my rival!"
While Flavio felt himself tense from the sudden actions, Fafnir didn't flinch. He didn't even look interested. He rested his elbow upon the table and then placed his chin into the palm of his hand, his eyes half-lidded with indifference.
"No," he said flatly.
"Ah hah! A typical response from my heated rival!"
"I'm not your rival," Fafnir once again answered in a deadpanned and completely uninterested manner.
"Again, most typical!" Benedict shouted as he kept his sceptre pointed in Fafnir's direction. However, his eyes suddenly narrowed and his stance faltered. He then unexpectedly squinted his eyes at him and leaned forward, as if he couldn't actually see Fafnir properly.
And Fafnir still didn't move. Even when Benedict poked him lightly with his sceptre for a reaction.
Suddenly, Benedict's eyes widen and he threw himself back, falling to the floor and appearing as if he had just been scandalised in some manner. "You fiendish fiend! You dare to take on the appearance of my arch nemesis to lure me into a trap?!"
Fafnir rolled his eyes in a manner that could only be described as sheer distain. "You have an arch-nemesis?"
Bertrand snorted loudly as he folded his arms across his chest and looked at the kid with a small sparkle of amusement in his eyes. "What kind of rival would a twelve-year-old have?"
Someone who didn't see themselves as his rival, probably.
"Silence!" Benedict immediately shrilled as he leapt back to his feet and pointed a dramatic hand in Bertrand's direction. "I should have you know that while I indeed look adorable, I am truly a twenty-one-year-old handsome prince!"
No one believed him, least of all Bertrand. "Yeah."
"Do not mock the unmockable!"
Flavio furrowed his brow, puzzled. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Silence!" Benedict shouted once again, though his tone was a slightly higher pitch than before. He then spun around to face Fafnir once more and like he did with Bertrand, pointed theatrically at him. "You, man who is in cahoots with my rival, know this; I, Benedict Richardson the Third, will not fall for your trap again! This was nothing more than a slight miscalculation; it will not happen again! And next time we meet, you will not fare as well for my humble generosity can only go so far!"
With that said, he flared his cape around his shoulders in a high dramatic way, holding the folds with his arms as if he was some kind of phantom in the night as he stalked toward the door, again his movements flamboyant and overly dramatic. But he kept walking, even though the door was obviously closed, and walked straight into it. He fell back onto his back and sat there dazed for a moment before he leapt to his feet and spun around to face them as he flailed out an arm and pointed at the door.
"What kind of magical barrier have you put in place to entrap me, the highly regarded Prince Benedict Richardson the Third?!"
Flavio felt his eye twitch. "You walked into the door."
"I would do no such thing!"
Flavio dragged a frustrated hand over his face before he took to his feet, stalked the distance towards the door, passed a melodramatically suspicious Benedict and opened the door for him. "Barrier lifted," he said simply.
"Hmph!" Benedict huffed with his head held high before he pulled his cape around him once more and marched irritatingly smug through the door.
Honestly, Flavio was happy to see the back of him.
What a truly bizarre day. The monster riding duo he had met were at least polite, especially compared to this kid.
"I didn't imagine that one now did I?" Flavio asked as he let the door fall shut and he walked back over to the table where the others still sat, no doubt trying to comprehend what just happened.
"Your hallucinations might be contagious," Bertrand answered rather dryly, which was honesty a little frustrating.
"What does that mean?!" Flavio bristled before he paused and folded his arms across his chest in thought. "Actually, what the hell did just happen?"
Before anyone could answer, the door to the café opened again and Flavio couldn't help but wince, half expecting to hear that loud shrill of Benedict's voice again.
"Flavio!"
Flavio jumped slightly in surprise at the familiarity of the voice, of which was nothing like that of Benedict's. "Oh?" he muttered as he immediately spun around, spying a familiar orange-haired medic with a red-haired landsknecht. "Lynus? Axel?"
Lynus hurried over to him and unexpectedly hugged him around the neck. Flavio was startled at first, but he soon recovered and hugged the medic back with a smile on his lips.
"Thank you for this morning," Lynus said as he pulled back but kept his hands on Flavio's shoulders and pouted slightly. "Jhon told me everything. You should have told me."
Flavio kept his hands against Lynus' side as he rolled his eyes. "Oh please, if the positions were reversed you would have done the exact same thing."
Lynus' pout dissipated and he smiled as he pulled back. "Ah, I guess you're right."
"Hey," Axel said as he came up right behind Lynus and placed a hand on his shoulder as he reached out with his other hand toward Flavio, as if he wanted to shake his hand. "I truly appreciate what you did for Lynus."
"Not at all," Flavio immediately said as he grasped Axel's hand with his. "From what I heard, you took care of it."
Axel's lips twitched into a half smile as he released his hand. "Macerio, right? He finds the whole thing hysterical."
"Oh, you were eating?" Lynus suddenly asked with an apologetic tone. "Sorry for interrupting."
Flavio smiled at the medic and shook his head. "Oh no, you're fine. We…already had an interesting visitor."
"We just met Dick," Bertrand unexpectedly piped up from behind him.
Axel glanced over Flavio's shoulder toward the protector and an expression that could only be described as empathetic appeared on his face. "Aren't you lucky? Ah, I guess he thought Fafnir was Rahas."
Flavio frowned at the thought of the dark hunter. "The squirrel? But Fafnir doesn't look anything like him."
"Benedict needs glasses," Lynus informed him with a shake of his head. "Rather urgently, actually."
"He does this to anyone with white hair," Axel added with a shrug.
"Yes. You see Benedict sees Rahas as a rival for a man called Simmons', and his, ah, affection, I suppose you could say," Lynus finished with a smile before he tilted his head questioningly to the side. "By the way, squirrel?"
Flavio couldn't help but feel a little agitated that Rahas seemed to have a love life – if that was what Lynus meant by affection. He shook his head slightly, however, to rid himself of a surprising feeling of annoyed jealousy and turned his attention back to Lynus.
"Oh, well, the first time I met Rahas he was perched in a tree like some kind of deranged squirrel," he said before he scrunched his nose up disgruntledly. "And he rudely called me a scrawny chipmunk."
A flash of realisation appeared on Lynus' face. "Oh, so you're chipmunk?"
Flavio felt himself bristle at the nickname. "Anyway, speaking of strange encounters," he said, hastily changing the subject. "You guys would believe me if I told you I saw a guy with blue hair and a twelve-year-old looking hexer riding a giant moa in the labyrinth, right?"
Axel's eye unexpectedly twitched and he looked exasperated. "Guild Cosmos…"
Lynus, however, smiled and clapped his hands in front of him. "That's Simmons!"
There was a pause of silence for a moment.
"Wait, so idiots like that exist?" Bertrand was heard asking.
"Unfortunately," Axel answered, the corner of his mouth twitching into a half smirk before he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest and looked over at Lynus. "At least they're leaving the ragelopes along."
Lynus nodded his head as a look of concern spread across his face. "A giant moa isn't much better. He's probably at the hospital right now."
Flavio, however, simply felt justified and turned around to face his guild. "Told you I didn't imagine it!"
"Don't get smug," Bertrand retorted simply as he began to drink his coffee again.
"Well," Lynus said with a laugh, prompting Flavio to turn toward him again. "I suppose anyone who hasn't had much to do with Guild Cosmos would find it odd. Cosmos is…a special guild, I suppose you could say."
Axel arched an eyebrow at the gentle-smiling medic before he snorted softly. "Only you could mean that nicely," he muttered before he turned to give Flavio a rather pointed look. "Though, once you meet them, it's hard to get rid of them. So you're luck's ran out, it seems."
Flavio wasn't entirely sure what to think of that…W-was that…a warning?
