Dirk was a heavy sleeper, but even he couldn't sleep through the sound of thudding through the wall next to his head. "Uuuuuuurrrrggghhhh," he moaned loudly, rolling his eyes as he heard Dave sniggering on the other side of the wall. "Dave Elizabeth Strider, you are seriously in for it later," Dirk sneered his own little retort, grabbing his pointy shades and pulling them onto his face. He looked down at the clothes he was wearing, yes, clothes. Dirk was nearly always in his uniform now; a military looking tank top, with pants plastered with the Derse symbol in pinks and purples, sort of like the old style commando print. He still had some of those pants, but he realised that these ones were way more fitting in his position as heir to the throne. Suddenly, there was a rapping on the door, three distinct knocks.

"Rise and shine, asshole", Dave taunted him outside the door, "We have a festival to attend to,".

The door swung open and Dave sneaked into Dirk's room; it always reminded him of some flat off of some of the lame comedy shows that John used to watch, what was it, Friends? Anyhow, Dave was able to pull down his shades for a minute and scan the room before attempting to sneak past swords, other weapons of war, a fucking bear trap and all the other war junk that Dirk had accumulated onto his floor. Most of the stuff, Dave thought, belonged in the castle dungeons, but Dirk had insisted it was spoils of war; the only thing these would be spoiling, was Dave's pristine suit, if he was unlucky enough to put a foot wrong. Eventually he made it to Dirk's bed, whipping the covers off of him and throwing open the curtains to reveal the sharp rays of sunlight which now covered the males' bed.

"Ahhh, my eyes!" Dirk joked, covering his shades with his hands, "The light bro, it hurts,". He opened one eye to see Dave standing there, his sword resting over his shoulder, the other free hand attached to his hip. Dirk groaned again, louder this time, pulling the covers back over him and rolling over so that he was turned away from the light, streaming through the open window. He'd only gotten about 4 hours of sleep and Dirk didn't really feel like getting up and having a heartfelt reunion with the sun just yet.

Dave, notably, rolled his eyes, to him, this out-spell of Dirks teenage nature was a manifestation of the salt that Dirk had harboured from last night. During the pre-summer meal, all the remaining rations had been brought together and the castle staff had enjoyed a nice dinner, albeit mostly vegetables and broth; however, Dave had to tell Dirk to eat the goddamn Brussel sprouts on his plate, lecturing him on how greens were important, especially if he wanted the strength to act within the military. Dirk had called Dave a priss, just over the vegetable incident but Dave had insisted that they wouldn't be able to get anywhere without a decent meal a week, plus the fact that no-one else was going to back up Rose, ever since they had been separated from their Prospitian friends.

"Come on, get up bro! Seriously," Dave started to get a bit annoyed, "You're going to be late if you don't get your sorry ass up soon,". Dirk contemplated Dave's words, but he'd also considered skipping the festival all together. Maybe he'd get up though, just to be an annoying wing-man for Dave, following behind him, commenting on his speech and nodding. He'd tell people secretly how much of a priss their Prince really was, it would be such a laugh! Dave sighed again, he could tell that his bro was plotting something, and he didn't really want to stick around to learn what.

"Look, bro, I'll meet you down in the Plaza, yeah, I gotta go find Roxy and Rose," Dave headed towards the door, not waiting for his brothers pleas to stay.

And with that, the other Strider boy was gone. Dirk tried to go back to sleep, his shades started to fall down his nose as he slowly rolled off the bed, falling on the floor and hitting the ground with a soft thud. Well, "That's one way to get up," he thought. Groaning, he picked his tired limbs up and out of the cover burrito he'd made for himself. At least he was already dressed, just throw on a jacket and he was done, except… Except his shades. In the aftermath of the burrito fall, his glasses had managed to slide fully off his face and gotten wedged underneath him. The black shards all around his covers told him, yeah, his fat ass broke them; now at least he had a legitimate reason to get up and go out into town.

After Dave had left Dirks hell-hole of a room, he walked through the castle, in the direction of the girls dormitories, playing with the hem of his shirt as he went; even though Dave had managed to keep his own stoic façade and face in these troubled times, he was still a little nervous to go out in front of all those people, especially with Dirk, acting like a 12 year old child. The people of Derse looked up to them, some probably even worshiped them, were completely devoted to them, and Dave didn't want to be seen to let them down. This last 6 months had been the hardest winter that any Derse citizen had faced since the war of their farther decades ago; Dave already felt so guilty for that, it was partially his fault that the negotiations with Prospit weren't doing so well, although him and his siblings were very level headed, sometimes they could be a little lazy and absentminded, once before, this had led to the worsening of relations. Dave couldn't allow the dampening of spirits in the Kingdom; as his shoes clicked on the iridescent tile floors he stood up straight again, his posture and expression, returned to its stoic nature. He nodded at the few maids who bowed and curtsied to him, each wished him good morning; some of the maids initiated a conversation, to which he only vaguely took part in.

Finally, he arrived at the girls' rooms; Dave knocked on Roxy's door, he called to her but there was no answer. He peered his head round the slightly open door, proved his initial suspicion that she was already up and out. He decided that the girls must already be helping with the festivities. The only thing now, before going into town, was to check up with Dirk. He exhaled, turning around and retracing his steps along the corridor back towards his and Dirks' room.

...

Inside, Damara's heart was beating inside her chest, she'd just managed to sneak into Roxy's closet before Dave had poked his head around the door. She'd held her breath, heart pounding into her head as she heard the prince's footsteps retreat back down the corridor. She quickly hung the last, ruined dress, and sneaked out unseen and unscathed, for now.