27 Morning 1 of the Next 6 Months
The next morning everyone was baffled. The Lord and Ladies of Immisceo were covering their faces like they did yesterday. The children and the Claws were also hiding their appearances. 'Is there a requirement to see their faces?'
They were all sitting in the cafeteria for breakfast. The Leaders who automatically agreed to collaborate with the three sat at the same table as them, so the cliques were larger this morning.
"Ahem!" Chao cleared her throat and rang a bell from who-knows-where. "If 6 months is too long for any of you to spy on us, you are more than welcome to temporarily live with us until the offer expires. All our subordinates are open books so feel free to ask questions unless you're broaching on private topics. That's all. Enjoy." After speaking so politely so early in the morning, she gestured at her almairusks. Their allies tilted their heads before spitting air/saliva/juice etc.
Chao sat on Neutrum's lap while Serenus fed her. Afterwards, she was sleepy so Neutrum carried her off to the library to nap before getting her work done for the day. Serenus continued to eat her food and smiled ever so faintly at her guests when she noticed their bug-eyed looks. "They are exactly the type of couple I hated seeing when I was younger. Clingy and unapologetic."
"You're just upset that your husband has never carried you like that."
"Shut up! I'm not!" The Queen would have been convincing if she wasn't tearful, pouty, and red-faced.
. . .
At the kid's table, everyone was in arms.
"Pancakes are better!"
"I'm sorry did you say something? I thought I heard you say woh wah woh wah*!"
"What does that even mean? Are you stupid? Did your waffles poison your brain?"
"Don't talk about my waffles like that!"
June and Evan were just introduced to pancakes and waffles. So what does that have anything to do with the arguing? Well, everything. You see, pancakes and waffles are extremely similar with the difference being in the shape. Arguably, depending on how they're made, one can taste better than the other.
So here we have the prince of pancakes, AKA the prince of the Sands June, and the prince of waffles AKA, the prince of the Oasis Evan. Their argument runs pretty much the same as Mordecai and Rocky's** except no one went on a syrup trip to the cosmos. That would cause the plot to accelerate more than necessary.
So, the war between pancakes and waffles raged on while the French toast users watched on in apathy. "This is stupid." Luna glaced at the two roaring guys before turning back to her crepes. The tails had removed their masks and asked that Furvus put a barrier around their table so that the adults couldn't spoil breakfast with their nonsense. She raised the strawberry one to her mouth when Cometes spoke up. "Isn't it good that they're lively? Look. Noctis is enjoying the show and he's getting ready to spark another debate."
She gasped and whipped her head towards Noctis. "Stop being an instigator you cheeky little thief!"
He jumped in startelement before turning to her, "What are you talking about? I was just telling Inrigo and Ventus about how we need to move to phase 2."
"What?" She turned her head only to find Cometes eating her crepe. He looked up and met her eyes. Sheepishly, he laughed before taking her whipped coffee and caramel crepe and replacing it with his cinnamon coffee cake. "Coffee will make you shorter. Haven't you heard about that?" He tried distracting her, but to no avail. Her lips parted, mouth widening, "You just- but I- hic!"
She covered her mouth while a blush spread across her face at a visible rate. Some princes and princesses began staring at her, some unblinkingly, some blushing along with her. Seeing that, Cometes scowled and nudged Caligo. "Help me put out the forest fire."
Caligo and Meteorum snickered at his jealousy. "Luna~ if I can turn your mask into a frisbee, don't say anything and Noctis, Solis, and I will go hunting for some treasure."
When she heard treasure, Luna snapped back to reality. "Who's treasure? How much? If you need help with your frisbee, I'll be more than welcome to assist!" As she dreamed about the potential riches, she began drooling.
Meteorum had to stifle his laughter and bring Luna back. "Hey, riches are great, but do you need to use your saliva to break down your food before eating it?"
Looking down she finally noticed that she was drooling, so in order to freely daydream about money, she inhaled her breakfast and finished her fruit juice. "Ahhh! Now where were we?" Meteorum looked at his twin with pity as Luna didn't even notice anything related to him after hearing the word "treasure". 'My poor little brother! Ah! So heartbreaking! I may have said you worked fast and were sly in the past, but you're still going to have difficulties aren't you? Wahhh! It's okay! I'll help you whenever I can!'
Cometes looked over at his brother in confusion before it turned into irritation. 'Why is he crying? Oh. Stupid kid. Don't pity me! You'll probably have an even harder time than me with that personality of yours.'
People often said Meteorum was an open book while Cometes was closed off from others. Like the cliché of clichés, Meteorum hid himself as deeply as his brother did albeit in a different way. Throughout all of that, Solis was ending the war since it was going to be time for classes soon and they all had to get ready.
. . .
It should be said that the property was like a small city already. 100 leaders from kingdoms and 10 princes and princesses were living in the estate. There were 2 libraries, 2 swimming pools, a shooting gallery, a great meadow, a forest, several storages, stables, garages for vehicles, 3 dorms, a lake, several greenhouses, and little huts where some of the older retired folks lived. They were free to roam and do whatever they wanted as long as they had one person from the estate with them.
"What the cyka was that?!"
"One day Lady Chao was feeling upset because someone had tried to steal her treasured boots from her while she was showering. So she demonstrated why everyone should avoid angering her."
"I might regret asking, but how did she do that?"
"Well, she created a small star, cut it, ate it, and infused some of the heat into the ground. As a result, she caused the space in this area to collapse on itself with the cutting of the star, and melted the area as well."
"How does collapsing work? Shouldn't this be obliterated if that's what happened?"
"She made a barrier to prevent the damage from spreading for both the temperature and collapse. When she finished, she was terrifyingly calm. Like the silence before the apocalypse."
"... I'll be going to eat some of the heavenly ice pear that Lianne won't stop talking about."
"I apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused. Please be sure to get a guide next time like they had instructed and be more careful."
He thought he had left with his pride intact, but the little maid ruthlessly ripped him to shreds. 'Inconvenience? Clearly I inconvenienced you! Like they had instructed? Are you calling me stubborn and thick-headed? Be more careful? OKAY! I KNOW! It was reckless of me. Even if you did show hostility, I shouldn't leave my guard down in a foreign environment. Aahhh! I'm a lowly imbecil! Lianne, you were right!'
"Thank you for the advice. I shall listen to it strictly. Have a good day Miss." Although he said it with a friendly smile, the twitching of his eyelid said otherwise.
"No problem King Bo. This is simply the task given to me by my Ladies and Lord. Thank them instead."
'YOU CLEVER LITTLE - AHHHHH!' This noble king was now screeching internally, and he remained this way until he reached his room and watched his wife in front of the vanity mirrors.
"Lianne."
"Yes dear. Please don't leave me for Lady Chao, Lady Serenus, or Lord Neutrum even though they are much smarter than I."
"Well, you certainly aren't smart, you silly man. I would have long left our Kingdom behind if I did not want to be there, and you wouldn't have found even a single clue as to where I'd gone either."
"I know everything there is to know about you."
"Only the "me" that you met dear. Before that, I was quite wild."
He imagined his Lianne wearing pants meant for men with her hair up in a ponytail out-drinking men in pubs. "She sounds interesting. I wish I could've met the young and reckless Lianne at least once." He smirked at her while she just sighed exasperatedly. "You seek out pain don't you?"
"No."
"Well, you pursued me and married me."
A Butler arrived with a platter of assorted cheeses and crackers, "The word for that is masochist."
"Mas-uh-kitst?" asked Bo.
"Someone who finds pleasure in pain."
"I already said I don't!" He groaned in protest but Lianne just grabbed the platter and snickered, "Well, it's not like it doesn't describe you. There are different types of pain you know?"
"Urgh." Embarrassed and irritated, Bo asked the Butler to take him to the library. "We can visit the green house later. Perhaps making a house green makes it a novelty."
. . .
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"
Inrigo was having a day right now. Only an hour has passed since breakfast. When he stepped into the main foyer on his way to class, he was greeted by a hyperactive June. "Good morning! I just remembered during breakfast that I never got your name!"
"Inrigo."
"That's a pretty name! Does your mask have anything to do with your name?"
"Yes."
June snapped his finger, "I figured that was the case. Hey, spend the day with me." Inrigo stared at him before walking away. This is why June is now haranguing Inrigo.
Solis has jogged up to Inrigo's side whilst June was still wagging his tail for his owner's attention. "Are we still doing that today?" "Of course we will." A huge face popped into Solis' view. "What are you guys talking about? Can I join you two? I can just watch."
Before Inrigo could reject, Solis answered, "Of course you can join us!" Inrigo's eyes widened as he whipped his head to look at the plotting Solis and cheerful June. "Yay!"
"What do you think you're doing?" He whispered harshly to Solis. "Nothing. I have to go see Ignis and Marianna. Go to the classroom first and tell Albus for me, okay? Thanks, you're the best Inrigo!" Like a whirlwind, he ran off leaving Inrigo frustrated. "What did he mean by classroom? You guys go to school?"
"Follow me. Someone will explain for you when we arrive." While Inrigo answered tersely, June blushed furiously in happiness as Evan said he wouldn't be able to spend the day with him. 'I can study how to be a cool guy up close now!'
'This is going to be a long 6 months.'
. . .
"So you want me to help you in your drug manufacturing?" Marianna stared at the short child in front of her in suspicion. "Why do you need to mass produce drugs now? Ignis doesn't need that many."
"Lady Serenus told me that we're going to have another slumber party. So the noble people are also coming, but as you know, they clearly aren't used to this."
Marianna blinked in realization. Ignis spoke, "So why did you call for myself if Marianna is the one who creates the potions?"
"Well," said Solis, "you can detect any irregularities in the medicine and control the flames while Marianna and I make the premade drugs."
Lawrence interrupted before Ignis could speak, "Why would there be any irregularities? Are you doubting Mari's skill? Do you want to die? Hmm? OW!"
Inside their mindscape, Marianna kicked him into the sky. "Shut up fool. The adults were speaking."
"Do you mean Ignis and Solis? GAH!"
"Understood." Ignis nodded after deciding to start production as soon as Marianna was finished beating up her man.