Prompt: #48 Sarcastic
Summary: Bad first impressions lead to bumpy relations.
A/N: I decided to go against the grain for this one.
Satira is Latin for "satire or irony, sarcasm, criticize".
Satira
If she had to hear one more asinine comment from his lips, she thinks she might just lose her temper and slap him. The visual itself is almost enough to make her smile in satisfaction in response to the blatant hostility in his gaze. Obviously, she had been too kind in thinking that having a decent conversation with him was possible. They had never had any discussion on any topic that had not ended with the both of them red faced and fuming. Actually, she was always the one red faced and fuming while he always looked calm and collected, which only irritated her further. The last "conversation" they had, had together had taken her an entire hour to calm down from. Did he have to constantly be so difficult? Apparently so, if the challenging look on his face was any indication. It seems as if it really is too much to ask that he be a little more agreeable given their current situation.
"No response?" he asks in that taunting way of his.
He had pushed her into a corner so to speak, where no matter what answer she gave him, he would have the upper hand. It was yet another reason for him to undermine her character. The fiend!
"Sometimes I wonder if you have nothing else to occupy your thoughts except to antagonize me," she says instead of answering. "If you need something to do instead of lounging around lazily, I could suggest a few activities."
When he did not utter a response, she looked up to see his expression and internally groaned.
Oh no, that look was not good.
"Indoor ones or out?" he asks, carefully leaning in closer to her face and he has that deceptively pleasant smirk on his face now.
It was these types of questions that got her into even more trouble. He had deliberately worded it to be taken either in a distasteful way or in a completely innocent way. She knew very well he was not innocent.
"As long as it means that you will let me alone," she answers neutrally.
She can see that he has barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
"And how, Princess, do you think you can find a place to accomplish that?" he asks with that undercurrent of sarcasm he has whenever he says her title. He always made a point of calling her that when he was particularly annoyed with her.
In a literal sense, he was right to think she was being stupid. There was no way he actually could leave her alone, given that they were trapped within the confines of this…whatever it was that this was that they were in. She had not been particularly ecstatic at the realization that she was to be stuck in such close quarters to the heir of the Nihilsomno throne. He had echoed those same feelings just as easily. Not even the prospect of escape was enough for either of them to let go of their lingering hostilities towards each other. She could tell herself that she had at least tried to be civil whereas he had never made any effort at all.
"By turning my back and you actually being obliging for once and ignoring me," she glares back at him. She really did wish he would ignore her because having his undivided attention was pushing her to develop violent tendencies where he was concerned.
"Is that what you want?" he asks in a strange voice that makes her look at him suspiciously. "For me to ignore you?" He clarifies in case she misinterprets what he is asking.
If she did not know how to interpret his looks so well she might have actually been fooled by the serious look on his face, but there was that mocking glint in his eyes that had her temper threatening to explode again.
"Yes," she says through gritted teeth. "I believe I would prefer if you did ignore me for a change."
He narrows his eyes at her as if he does not believe her which causes her indignation to flare. She puts her hands on her hips in an impatient, wordless gesture to display her resolve.
"Fine," he growls through clenched teeth and retreats from her.
She watches him smoothly glide across to the other side of this strange cave like place and sit down with his body turned in the direction of the opening. He glares at it and does not even acknowledge the fact that she is staring at him. Something that he had never failed to point out before. After a few moments of unchallenged staring, she realizes that he really was ignoring her. He was actually relenting to her wishes? That made her instantly wary of his intentions at first, but as he continued to sit there in silence she finds the temptation to sigh in relief overwhelming. Finally, she could actually think about something else besides the annoying man trapped in this place with her. Which ended up making her annoyed with herself for taking that time to think even more about him.
The day they had met had not exactly been a happy memory for her. It had been downright unpleasant. The tensions between the two parties from Nihilsomno and Tenebrae had been so strained already, she had thought at any moment someone would draw their swords. Thinly veiled insults behind insincere smiles had been exchanged until there was on need to even hide it. Both countries have hated one another too long to get rid of their prejudices. It was not long before both sides were openly glaring at the other across the table and to her shame, she had been glaring just as meanly as everyone else. Usually she could manage to keep the negative inside and be the reasonable mediator. Not that time though.
As soon as she had been introduced to Prince Noctis, he had made a not so polite remark about the style of her hair, of all things, that she had gaped at him. His complete lack of decorum had taken her by surprise. She did not think that a man who wasted so much hair wax to style his own hair like a porcupine as he did, had any right to comment on how ridiculous her elaborate hairstyle was. It had been an official meeting. She could not have gone with her usual free tresses. He, though, had always been known for his midnight spiky hair no matter the occasion. The direct offense had been the trigger to their near disastrous visit.
The rest of the visit so far had not faired much better. She considered herself a forgiving person. It had always been easy for her to try and give someone a second chance and give them the benefit of her doubt. Never one to lean towards pessimism, she tried to always be an optimist. However, Noctis had such an abundance of snide, taunting pessimism, that she had lost her optimism quickly. Not only was his manner contagious, he brought out a side of her that she had not even thought existed. She did not think she liked it either. It did make sense, on a certain level, that he would have some animosity towards her people. What she did not understand was why he seemed to target her specifically or why he never showed the least bit of restraint when he did. He had not even tried to be civil. Not that he was malicious, which was probably more aggravating. Every response, every statement, every question seemed to have too many hidden meanings. She felt the constant threat of a skull splitting migraine whenever she spoke to him. Now, she was stuck with him and only him for company in this terrifying space that they currently occupied. Who knew how long they would be stuck together!
One would think that his disposition would be a little bit more favorable since they were both in the same predicament. Assuming he was a rational person, which did not seem likely when he had not stopped his antagonistic behavior in the least. The first thing he had made sure to ask once they had both realized they were stuck here and alone, was whether she had anything to do with it. As if she wanted to be here with him! She could think a dozen other people she would rather have been stuck in this situation with that were not him. Even after she had given her indignant reply, he had not been convinced. That is, until she accused him of the same thing and he had merely shrugged his shoulders and given her the most infuriating smirk before saying, "I am sure you would love to think that." The urge to slap him was so profound, she had to dig her nails into her palms to keep from actually doing it.
What she could not control, as angry as she had been, was the activation of her powers within the confined space. He had to agitated her that it had happened without her wanting it to. The entire place had lit up a golden hue as her rune flashed and crystals floated about her with their orange gleam. He had not even looked alarmed when it happened and she knew she had been alarmed that it had happened without her consciously wanting it to. Not looking the least bit perturbed or intimidated, he had merely stood there and given her a smug grin, which felt worse than his usual smirk from.
"Is this what you consider foreplay, Princess?" he had asked with a raised eyebrow.
She had responded with an unladylike slack jawed mouth and the light around her vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The excess bits of Crystals scattered onto the floor and echoed in the hollow space. That had been awhile ago and the antagonizing had continued off and on ever since. She does not know just how long they have been here. From what she could see from where she sat of the outside, it was such that it was not clear whether it was still day or not. They had been out early in the morning when the storm had trapped and separated them from the rest of their party. If Noctis had a watch on him, he was not offering to check it and she was not about to initiate another conversation for the sake of asking. She knew his response would undoubtedly be something irritating.
So she settled for sighing out loud and pulling her knees up to hug them to her body in an attempt to keep warm from the chill. She was absolutely not going to mention that she needed to use the toilette and she was absolutely not going to acknowledge that fact that her stomach felt as if it would eat the rest of her organs in hunger. Of course, her eyes immediately flew towards the only possible place within the cave. It was a far off corner and offered just a little bit more privacy than anywhere else. The fact that it was also behind a slightly high boulder was another bid in its favor. Not only was it a complete indignity to have to resort to exposing the lower half of her body, it was also entirely humiliating that Noctis would have to hear her as she went about her business.
It was not an hour later that she was almost desperate to relieve herself that she did not care that Noctis would most likely make another disparaging comment in response. A quick look at Noctis told her that he was continuing to honor her request to ignore her, which did not comfort her at all.
"I could take it as an insult that you find more interest in a rock than you do me," he comments.
It has been so long since he has spoken that his voice sounds strange in the quietness around them. Not only does the sound startle her, it takes her longer than it should for her to realize that he had been lightly teasing her.
"I suppose you think it is because I am afraid of the dark," she mutters angrily in response.
"Not at all," he says. "It is the fact that you have not ventured over to my side of the cave that clued me in."
She could at least be grateful that he could still distract her from her urge to relieve nature for a few minutes. Otherwise she is sure she would do something she would regret. Like say, slapping that handsome face of his.
The sounds of something scraping along the floor hurts her ears as she tries to see what he is up to. There was no real light where they were anyway, but most of the cave was still visible and he had not been entirely wrong. She had avoided venturing towards 'his' side of the cave to see what was there. Her side was at least a little brighter than his. A moment later, the scraping sounds stopped and the sounds of something large and heavy sliding at the back of the cavern made her get to her feet. She could hear the sounds of whatever it was crack lamely against a spot completely devoid of any light.
"Not much privacy but it is the least we have," comments Noctis and it surprises her to note that he is standing beside her.
She looks at him and then squints to see what he has done. He had managed to somehow move the boulder to an even darker spot to allow them more privacy. When her eyes meet his again, she is surprised.
"If I am to mock you, it will be on my own terms, Princess," he says with his customary infuriating smirk before he strolls away towards the outside of the cave. "My terms do not include insulting you for seeing to something as mundane as that."
Could he ever say something that did not sound so insulting?
"I am off to see if I can find something to eat," he says as if it was something he did regularly. "Do try to not get lost."
It is in her to scoff at him. Just as soon as she had begun to even think he was not so disagreeable, he had to say something like that! Well! She would have voiced a snide remark in response if she had not been so grateful that he had even thought to accommodate her modesty in such a way. He did not wait for her to even sputter indignantly at him before he was gone in the middle of that fierce thunderstorm outside. She resolutely tried to believe that he would deny her any food that he did manage to find. To believe he would not, would mean she might actually have to start liking the condescending jerk.