vatheon | bluh bluh huge ball

Characters: Vatheon
Location: That Castle
Time: Evening, on Sunday
Style: Any
Status: OPEN. Threadjack, threadhop, spam away!

[ Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen of Vatheon— whatever your newfound stature may be, Prince, Princess, Knight, or Peasant, you will all receive a message on your SFC on the eve of Saturday regardless:

You are cordially invited to the castle for this evening's ball. In addition, you are all welcome to try and solve the riddle if it fancies you. It just may break the curse!

The invitation is unsigned, but its intentions are clear. Maybe you hadn't quite noticed the sizeable castle in the distance of the city that had sprung up, but this message would surely garner your attention toward it now.

Should you arrive at the castle, plenty of attractions await you:

Ballroom ❧ A very large and beautiful ballroom is lighted up, complete with a playing violin orchestra. While the curtains will be drawn during this event, there is a windowed view and exit on one side of the ballroom that leads to:

Smee's Rose Garden ❧ A broad and colorful spanse of a garden, complete with many paths and turns. Plenty of roses are arranged in great arches, which provide perfect little places should you need some privacy with your sweetheart. Anyone familiar will even tell you that the garden was purposefully designed for just that sort of thing.

The Riddle ❧ There is an inscription located on a noticeable plaque set in one of the garden's benches. It reads:

Two are necessary to break this curse
Riled up, upset, what kind of love?
Only this kiss will stop it from getting worse.
Look for a winged one is push comes to shove,
Look for a glance slightly dark,
Search for a pair in reluctant love.
One answers a call; that's your mark;
One longs for patria though adverse.

Dining Hall ❧ Connected to the ballroom is an extremely long hall that stretches as far as the eye can see, elegantly arranged as the dining area. Expensive and exquisite cuisine seem to be on the menu— try something new? Chances are you won't be eating from a selection such as this again anytime soon!

Dais ❧ There is a noticeable raised dais that is easily visible via any area within the ballroom. It's locked off from guests, though— what is it for...?

Do enjoy. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Shizuo nods. He's glad for the physical contact from Zelda. There is nothing awkward about it - not now. He needs it as a contrast from what had happened with Izaya.]

He - he kissed me.

[And it was more than a kiss - some sick kind of blood binding that was powerful enough to tear through everything - Shizuo didn't want to think about that. He balls his hands into fists and grits his teeth at the memory, but the anger is short-lived - a small, tiny fuse. Because he had kissed Izaya, too. And yet - ]

It's confusing. I'm confused. I'm not made to think about things like this, I just don't. I hate it. I hate trying to make sense of nonsense. I think - I think Izaya wanted this to happen.

[But there's not a lot of conviction in that statement, because it's only what Shizuo wants to believe.]

He knew. He knew it wasn't me.

[She frowns delicately. Did he really think that the huntsman was that different from himself? Many people under the curse changed drastically, but to her, Shizuo had still seemed like Shizuo... if more open.]

But he woke you up, Shizuo. He didn't want you to be affected by the curse, to continue acting differently from normal.

[Her final thought goes unvoiced. Maybe Izaya didn't want to take advantage of Shizuo's kinder state.]

[A long pause, during which Shizuo's breath catches and he goes over, mentally, what Izaya had said. How Izaya had told him - ]

Oh - oh fuck. You're - but -

[Never mind that under normal circumstances Shizuo would not have sworn around Zelda. He feels like he's almost waking up a second time. Izaya had tried to tell him no. Izaya had tried to urge him away, to encourage him to find a princess - to wake up.]

You're right. [He says it miserably. Earlier, he couldn't even think about it, had been too wrapped up and Izaya had been so cruel - almost normal in the way he wished Shizuo the worst.]

You're right...

[She bites down on her lip, rubbing his back soothingly. All the blood pointed to them having fought, that much wasn't really up for debate. But why? Izaya said it was easier to hate Shizuo, but would he have been cruel about it? It seemed more likely that both of them would be terrified of the experience and run away from each other.]

Do not feel badly. Your mind was tampered with, it's natural that you would not have noticed.

[But he does feel badly, because he realizes that Izaya had been kind, throughout the whole mess. Even after Shizuo stabbed him. And - waking him up, he had been so intent on making Shizuo realize that it was wrong. But there are still a lot of things that don't make sense, and Shizuo can't fully divorce himself from the idea that there was something more to Izaya's side. Izaya is never kind to him, always has ulterior motives. Shizuo can't reconcile his feelings, but that much was true - Izaya had wanted Shizuo to wake up.

He almost wants to laugh, again. He really is something of a monster, and Izaya knows that better than anyone.]

Right.

[But he's only agreeing for the sake of agreeing.]

Things can go back to normal now.

[Zelda's own words are repeating themselves in her head right now - "Those things won't simply fade away when the curse is over.". And they won't, will they? It's not something she understands, but she recognizes that Shizuo was happy when he was chasing Izaya that day when the confessions curse began, and that she hadn't seen him expressing that sort of happiness since. Whatever relationship the two had, it's changed. And so her next question is particularly important.]

Do you want things to go back to normal?

[Shizuo nods. Things are a pretty big mess right now. He misses the simplicity of what existed before. This is just - painful and wrong. There are a lot of things he doesn't want to think about, a lot of actions for which he's accountable.]

Yeah. I do.

[If they could somehow erase everything that had happened - go back to Ikebukuro with no memory of any of this, he'd accept it, easily.]

[Her heart aches for both of them - for Izaya, so certain that Shizuo hates him, and for Shizuo, so confused that he can't see that he doesn't. She couldn't be absolutely certain before, but if Izaya's kiss brought Shizuo back to himself... then there was something. She can't bring herself to try and nudge Shizuo in that direction right now, he looks too lost.]

Maybe this curse will be one of those that we think of as a bad dream, afterwards.

[Her voice is soft, a little hopeful. There were curses like that, she had read about that.]

Maybe.

[He gives her a small smile that he doesn't quite feel.]

Thanks. For listening.

[He remembers telling her earlier that evening that she is a good friend. He's glad he did.]

[She shakes her head.]

I will always listen. But for now... I think you need some rest. You have lost a lot of blood, I'm sure that makes all of this that much more confusing. I know where my home is still if you would like to come. It's closer than the lower district.

Okay. I'll come.

[He gives in easily, because he is exhausted, and though he knows where his home is, he doesn't exactly want isolation right now.]

[She stands up, offering a hand to him. While she can't exactly be much support, she can at least steer him away from any obstacles on the way back home. Thankfully for Shizuo, she has two extra bedrooms in her house and they won't be sharing.

Probably. She's pretty worried about him.]

[He accepts her hand without a thought to the contrary, and quietly follows her to her home.]

[She leads him right to one of the rooms in her house. It's changed a bit during the curse, but it's still quite accommodating. Zelda promptly herds him towards the bed.]

You go ahead and get out of that shirt, alright? I'll get you something to drink.

[Because his voice sounds rather hoarse. She steps out of the room, letting him get out of his ruined shirt and under the covers in privacy.]

[This is getting into strange territory for Shizuo, because he can hardly remember the last time someone took care of him like this. After things within his family became strained - well, there had been his brother, always calm and at his bedside. And then both Shizuo and his brother grew up, and Shizuo was never good at maintaining relationships - social or otherwise. He feels a little awkward and uncomfortable as he takes off his shirt and climbs into the bed, but calm, too.

And because he feels calm and safe, he's asleep even before Zelda returns.]

[Her footsteps are light anyway, but when she hears no noise coming from the room she makes an extra effort to be quiet. It makes her smile a bit that he's asleep already. She sets the glass of water down on the nightstand, reaching down to carefully remove his sunglasses for him and bidding him a silent goodnight.]

bluh bluh huge ball

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Brb for like an hour

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Awww Zelda...best friend ever

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