Go With The Flow (Azalea)

[Eli Triton]

Eli paused at the door to the cafeteria and took a deep breath, this was always his least favourite part. The cafeteria was always so busy at lunch time, but he had classes right before and after today so he had no time to go anywhere else, the cafeteria had to be braved.
He wished it was a pool, even a big deep sea full of rapid currents and rocks would be easier to navigate than this room full of people, for some reason his body just worked better underwater, it moved the way it was supposed to. Out of water... he just couldn't get it to behave.

Clinging his backpack close, he waded into the sea of people, dodging between crowds and tables as best he could - which is to say he had to apologise at least ten times and he nearly tripped over twice - until he reached the counter. Browsing through the food on offer, he was grateful at least that the quality was pretty good. Not nearly as good as anything available in the town of course, but still fairly tasty. Meal collected, he paid and turned back to the room at large. Now came the difficult part...

He moved slower than before, trying to watch the crowd, his tray and his feet all at the same time, it hardly gave him a chance to look for a spare seat. His foot caught on something and he almost went down, managing to catch himself at the last moment - apparently his luck was with him, because not only had he avoided spilling any of his food, but the thing that caught his foot was an empty chair. He slid into it gratefully before he actually managed to injure himself, putting his tray down with a sigh of relief.

Only then did he actually look up at the person already sitting at the table he had literally stumbled across.

"Oh!" he smiled brightly "Hello!"

[Azalea]

Azalea hated eating lunch by herself. She always felt so *watched*, like people were waiting for her to drop her fork on the floor or otherwise make a fool of herself. Absent mindedly, she played with the cap on her water bottle, spinning it around on her tray. Today was a busy one and she was really just picking at a sandwich between classes, so she supposed that it wasn't really that bad.
She was just wondering whether her next teacher would notice if she hid some sweets in her book-bag, when she was startled by someone clattering into her table.

"Hi!" Azalea grinned at the graceful entrance made by the boy now sitting opposite her. She had been daydreaming again and the company was welcome. She moved her tray a little, and tucked her bag back under her seat to make more room. "Busy today, isn't it? I think there may be an argument over dessert soon" she added, motioning to the growing crowd of students at the counter across the room.

[Eli Triton]

Eli was glad that there were royals here who weren't as stuffy and stuck up as some of the ones back home, because he certainly wouldn't have survived if they were. Instead, there were plenty of charming, lovely people for him to make friends with, and it made everything much more bearable

"I hope we can escape before the riot breaks out," he joked, laughing slightly, glancing at the crowds of people. Despite joking, he genuinely hoped it didn't get too crazy before they got a chance to leave, he came here to eat so he had time to get to his next class, it would be counter-productive if it ended up making him late. At least he had his food already.

Turning back to Azalea, he smiled.
"How's your day going?"

[Azalea]

She laughed at his joke, leaning back in her chair. "It's ok. Nothing interesting on this afternoon, but attendance is mandatory. I was just wondering if I could get away with sneaking in some snacks to my next class, actually."

Briefly she glanced at her watch; she still had time. This lunchbreak was turning out to be better than she had expected. Company and no need to inhale her food. Which she would never do, because she's a princess. Right. Sometimes even princesses had back to back classes.

Azalea smiled at Eli. "flying lunch for you too? What princely duties have you got going on afterwards? Dragon riding? Horse taming?" she teased gently.

[Eli Triton]

Eli nodded understandingly. For villains, even mandatory classes were not all that mandatory, or at least they didn't get in quite as much trouble if they skipped. Princes and Princesses, on the other hand, were generally judged a little more harshly for breaking the more important rules - villains were supposed to break rules, they weren't.

"You could probably get away with it," He shrugged, smiling "the teachers all like you a lot, I reckon they'd let you off." He didn't blame them, Azalea was always such a lovely person, it was hard not to like her. In a lot of ways, she was a perfect princesss.

"Aren't they supposed to go the other way round?" he grinned "Although dragon riding does sound like a lot of fun... I have..." he paused, digging through his bag for his schedule and checking it "Oh great... ballroom dancing. Perfect." His least favourite class, it almost always ended with him treading on somebody's toes.

[Azalea]

"Maybe" she laughed, "sounds better my way though".

"What's wrong with ballroom dancing?" Azalea smiled, knowing full well that the princes tended to hate it and have a general lack of natural grace, "isn't that how you're meant to meet your one true love and sweep her off her feet?" Azalea added a wink here so that Eli would know she didn't really think that.

"I have curses class. It's an hour or so on how to react appropriately when one is cursed." She laughed. "I'd skip if I thought I'd get away with it."

She checked her watch again and slowly started "tidying" her tray, moving things round to look like she was thinking about leaving, but not really committing to the idea.

[Eli Triton]

"It does," Eli agreed with a grin. The question about ballroom dancing made him pull a face, the distasteful expression getting even more obvious when she mentioned meeting his one true love. He shrugged, smiling ruefully.

"Nothing's wrong with ballroom dancing itself, it's more what's wrong with me when I try ballroom dancing," he amended "and the only way I could sweep a girl off her feet would be to push her into a swimming pool, and that probably isn't condusive to 'true love'."

"That seems like a strange class..." Eli frowned. Some of the classes in this place were so bizarre, and the ones for the girls seemed even weirder and more pointless than a lot of the ones he took "How does that even work? I mean what if it's a sleeping curse, you can't do anything about that, right? So why would they need to teach you how to act?"
That said, maybe if somebody had taught his mother sign language before she lost her voice, maybe his parents' story would have gone a whole lot quicker.

[Azalea]

Azalea almost laughed at Eli's expression when he spoke of dancing, but she managed to stop herself. She wouldnt like to laugh at a friend for their shortcomings. "I'm sure you just need practice" she reassured him, "and a patient partner. You'll get better."

She did laugh at the image of him pushing some poor girl into a pool though. The idea was absurd and yet almost plausible. "I agree, that might not win her heart too easily. It might be better to try a different method."

When the conversation switched to her class, Azalea groaned. "It's exactly as you imagine, and not a bit useful. Lots of tips on long life makeup Incase you're asleep for 100 years and on having well trained animal friends that can run to find your prince. We did the swan curse last week. A good princess should be able to alert her prince to her misfortune by batting her eyelashes. You just have to hope he knows morse code, I guess" she laughed.

[Eli Triton]

"A patient partner with steel toecaps," he corrected, laughing "It's okay, I can get away without doing a lot of ballroom dancing at home, I have enough siblings to take the pressure off me."
He was pretty sure that would change as he got older and his siblings got married off, or left for other reasons, the focus would slowly swing round to him, but for now he could avoid it.

"Maybe not," he agreed "I'll go back to the drawing board."

"But they don't teach us morse code," Eli suddenly looked stricken. What if Isla or another relative or one of his friends was in trouble and they tried to communicate with him via eyelash batting or something equally ridiculous, but he couldn't understand it? "That doesn't make any sense! Why would they teach you that, but not teach us how to understand it? Or maybe I just missed that class..." Maybe he'd just have to study it himself.

[Azalea]

"I really wouldn't worry too much, Eli," Azalea tried to reassure him when she saw his slightly panicked look. I don't understand the logic myself to be honest but I think it's something to do with sticking to the storyline"

Azalea thought of the books that were still in her bag, the ones she had snuck from the library. Books full of counter curses and useful things like conversing with animals and correcting transmogrified objects. After all, A princess is no use to anyone if she's a talking candlestick forever. It occurred to her that they might be of use here.

Leaning across the table, Azalea pulled her book bag up onto her knee, shielding it from the prying eyes of any teachers that might be passing by.

"Can you keep a secret?" she whispered.

[Eli Triton]

"Sometimes I just wonder what this place is actually preparing us for." he sighed awkwardly, he didn't feel ready to go princess rescuing, he wasn't even sure he WANTED to go princess rescuing, and that was a worrying thought all on its own.

He was suitably distracted from his encroaching melancholy by even the hint of something intriguing, so when she turned furtive and asked if he could keep a secret, he almost forgot about his worries in the face of his curiosity.

"Cross my heart," he promised, leaning in "What is it?"

[Azalea]

A smile lit Azalea's face, she knew it had worked to stop Eli worrying. She slipped a book from her bag and slid it, face down across the table.

"I'm teaching myself. The advanced stuff." Azalea knew she wasn't supposed to have this material. She could get into trouble for potentially not sticking to the storyline. Eli was trustworthy though. It occurred to her that perhaps the boys could do with some extra knowledge too. "Most of the girls aren't that bothered, but I like to know as much as I can."

She relaxed and sat back in the chair. "Helps with the tests too" she added with a laugh.

[Eli Triton]

Eli reached out for the book with a questioning look, he was about to turn it over to look at the cover when something about her furtive manner stopped him - and her words only confirmed that it was probably best to keep the exact nature of this book hidden. He tilted it slightly to glance at it himself, eyes widening slightly before he quickly turned it face down again.

"You don't worry about getting in trouble?" he whispered, leaning forward slightly so nobody overheard. He couldn't deny that the idea excited him, he had inherited his mother's disregard for rules he didn't find overly important, and he's desperate enough for any new knowledge that he almost wants to start reading the book right now. Still, he wouldn't want his friend getting in any bother.

[Azalea]

Az smiled as she saw his reaction to the book. A pleasant mix of intrigue, fear and excitement. It mirrored her own emotions when she found that dark corner of the library that held these books, and more like them.

She considered his question. "A little." She answered honestly, "but I'm pretty careful. In fact, you're the only one that knows. If I was to get caught, I'm sure my mother would be furious, but she'd still back me up."

Azalea paused a moment before continuing. " I think it's worth the risk. I just don't want to be the damsel in distress all the time. I feel so... Worthless in that sort of role. I would hate to be a burden on my friends if something bad did happen. I shouldn't need to be saved. I'd want to fight it properly, that's all." She concluded with a shrug.

[Eli Triton]

Eli almost beamed with pride when she told him he was the only person she'd told about this, and he nodded slightly with the assessment of how her mother would react - his mother would probably be the same, she'd be mad he was in trouble but she knew as well as anybody how the lure of foreign knowledge could tempt people.
"I promise I won't say anything." he told her sincerely. He'd hate to make life difficult for her when she'd trusted him with something so important.

"I think it's a good thing, I mean what if your prince doesn't get there in time? Or what if he gets hurt or needs you to save him instead, I mean just because they teach us to follow the stories, who knows if it's really going to go the way it's meant to, and who knows if we even want it to?" he agreed, talking quickly and quietly in case anybody was listening in. It wasn't quite a detention worthy offense to go against the school's status quo in a lunch time conversation, but it still wouldn't be looked on too kindly by a lot of staff members.