Second Helping's Round Table (The Good Guys)

[James Florian]

James sat at the bar contently munching away on the most delicious comfort food he had ever tasted. French Fries. Seriously where have these finely cut, salty, and fried potato pieces been all his life? This was like ambrosia to his taste buds. Each crunchy stick practically melted in his mouth and made him feel like he had gone to heaven. Why didn't his homeland have these delicious snacks! They needed to be added to every single restaurant's menus immediately. That would be his first course of action when he returned home over the summer, he decided. French Fries would be everywhere. The people would love James for bringing them this treat.

However snacks wasn't the reason as to why the prince was hanging out in the most coolest place on campus. There was far more serious things on his mind, the fries were just a distraction from the dark thoughts that would otherwise run around the heir's head. He nervously looked around the mostly empty hangout, irrationally afraid that the figures he saw running in the garden last night would appear and curse him for trying to follow them. Stop it, he chastised, they aren't here. That's the whole point of getting everyone here after all. He began to swing the stool he was sitting on back and forth trying to distract himself from the confusion he felt about the whole situation and not to mention his impending doom. He and Azalea, the princess he had snuck out with -stop it you dirty minded people, nothing happened- to see if they could find any clues as too the people were because neither of them recognized them at one in the morning. Realizing that maybe the two of them couldn't figure this out on their own, James and Az decide that the next day they would have their trusted friends -- Isla, Eli, Grove, Briar, and Admiral-- meet at Pride Rock to tell them what happened the previous night and try to figure out if the two royals were over reacting or not.

Well the next day was today, and James had told the guys to meet everyone down here, Az would drag Isla, to discuss something really important. Yes James was not all that good at teasing information. He just told everyone to come down here twenty minutes or so after classes, and they would all chat in the VIP section, which James dropped a pretty penny for to make sure they had it to themselves for an hour or so. Certain precautions had to be taken though to avoid eavesdroppers, and it wasn't like James was going to be shopping this weekend anyway. So he was fine spending the money in order to get an hour of guaranteed privacy.

Now all that he was waiting for was for everyone else to show up. So that's why James sat at the bar, munching on french fries, spinning slightly on a stool, and trying desperately to keep the dark thoughts out of his head.

[Azalea]

"The brave twosome back together again!" Azalea announced her arrival in the VIP lounge with a note of teasing in her voice. She had practically ran from the classroom, excited to share the adventure.

She noticed what James was eating. "Fries! Yum!" The princess had had them once or twice but she kept them strictly for special occasions. This counts, she thought, and quickly ordered her own.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, eager to get started. She hopped up and down in her chair a little as they waited for their friends to join them.

[Admiral]

Admiral was pretty excited to be invited to do something with people. He was man's best friend after all. Although it was a secret endeavor and Admiral had never had to keep a secret before. He wasn't sure how well he could keep a secret, but he would try.

He arrived at the bar precisely on time as a gentleman always did. And he was directed to the back room with the people in it. He bowed politely at the lady. "Hello, everyone," he said calmly, although he was so very excited to be a part of something undoubtedly cool. He took a seat. "No one else is here yet? I thought I was right on time." He checked his watch quickly, suddenly worried that he might have been late, but as predicted, he was on time. "Maybe their watches are behind," he suggested.

[Isla Triton]

Isla was painting when she remembered that she had a meeting thing to go to. Azalea had told her about it and she was willing to hear out what everyone said before she could make an informed decision. It was highly likely that she would help, since just about everyone at this thing were people that she knew or were friends of friends, but she couldn't say that for certain. Still, she was interested in hearing the facts and ideas.

She quickly gathered up her painting things and put them away while she put her easel with her painting to one side of the art room to dry where it was out of way, though not so out of the way that someone would accidentally ruin it. She rushed to put on all her layers and rushed to the bar where she found her friends. She smiled and waved, sitting next to Azalea and staring to peel herself out of a couple of layers. There was a telltale smudge of blue paint on her face. "It's so cold out. When is Spring going to get here?"

[James Florian]

When Azalea made her presence known, James swiveled around in his chair to face her. He laughed at the amount of energy she had, and the nickname she had come up with for them. Deciding to continue the joke, James responded with "Saving Seacombe Halpworth one french fry at a time." As he said this he picked up a fry from the little paper basket in front of him and brandished it as if he was about to use in a fight against some unknown villain. It calmed his nerves a little bit, if Azalea could be so lighthearted given why they were all congregating here, then maybe James was worrying over nothing. 

Seeing that Az had a particular fondness for the fried comfort food, James was about to offer to share the ones he already had, but she beat him to that by ordering her own. Yay more for him. As they waited for the others to appear, James asked her with a light laugh"Az just how do you have so much energy after last night?" The two of them had spent a good hour or so scouring the gardens and school grounds for any signs of the magic casters and James was exhausted because of it. All day he had struggled to stay awake, and he was only so bouncy now because of the fries and the soda next to it. Yet she was all perky before she had even ordered the food. James wanted to know her secret, lord knows he could use it on the next late night adventure he was bound to embark on. 

When the question to where everyone was, he shrugged at first. "We're pretty early. I came straight from class." He said as he lightly kicked the leather schoolbag tucked between the bar and the stool as proof of how he had rushed here. James didn't really have a problem with it though, if he had made a pit stop at the dorms there wouldn't have been the guarantee of the group having the back room to themselves. However he spoke too soon for as soon as James finished his sentence the human puppy dog Admiral came through the door. James waved to him since he was taking a gulp of the fizzy drink, the prince had guessed that he would one of the first to show up given his loyalty streak to his friends. When he put the drink down he answered Admiral's question, "They're probably just dropping their stuff off in the dorms, or painting." He added the last part with a small smirk as Isla came through the door with a blue paint streak on her cheek. James laughed a bit at Isla's question about when Spring was coming and he replied with the only answer that appeared to be true given the snow drifts outside the bar, "Not soon enough." He then also pointed out the paint smudge to her by saying while pointing to the general area where it was on his own face, "Isla you've got some paint over here." 

Remembering then that he was a host of this little get together, he held out the basket of french fries to Admiral and Isla with the question, "Do you guys want some?" It was insane how quickly he was relaxing. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the bar, or just the fact he was surrounded by his friends. Speaking of which, "So we're only waiting on Grove, Eli, and Briar at this point correct?" He asked the steadily forming group around them. Hopefully he didn't forget anybody. 

[Azalea]

Azalea laughed at James' antics with the fries. "I don't know" she shrugged when he asked her about her energy. "I think I'm just excited. I haven't had a proper adventure in a while". It was true, she missed her late night escapes on her carpet back at home. The rush she got from flying across the lakes and trees under the stars was almost what she was feeling now and it was that which kept her bouncing in her seat.

She smiled broadly as Admiral and Isla arrived. She greeted her roommate as she removed some of her protection from the cold. It was warm enough in the room, but Az checked the fire was burning well, mostly out of habit. "Spring shouldn't be too long. So they say" she reassured her friend, as they settled into comfortable chatter waiting for the others.

[Grove]

Grove shuffled into the bar quietly and trying to take up as little space as possible. Students were all over the place and it was kind of loud. He didn't like places with lots of people but he knew that whatever was going on was important to Jim so he was going to have to suck it up and deal with it.

He slipped quietly through the crowd towards the others. He recognized Admiral from the ball. He seemed as delighted to be there surrounded by all the people as he was at the ball. And Isla was there, paint smudged and all with another girl he recognized a bit but didn't know. He slid into a seat by Jim and stole a fry. "Thanks."

Isla slumped at James' reply. "Not soon enough. And then next thing you know it'll be summer and equally unbearable." She huffed, swiping at her face to get rid of the paint. "Ugh, paint. The stuff gets everywhere. Clearly I was in the zone." She dug around in her bag for the mirror she kept tucked away in there for such emergencies. She had found the mirror shard when she was young and her mothers had had it encased in driftwood so it wouldn't cut her. She pulled it out and began to wipe the paint off of her face.

Admiral watched everyone come in with fascination. He loved watching people. He grinned at Grove and was inexorably pleased when Grove smiled back at him. "Cool. I can't wait to find out what this secret meeting is all about. I've never been asked to keep secrets before!"

[James Florian]

So Azalea didn't know why she was a rocket today after last night. Ah that's too bad for James, looks like if he wants energy levels comparable to Azalea he was going to get a good night's sleep. As if that was even possible between the stables and the amount of homework he got every night. He'd be lucky to snag more than six on any given night. Just one of the many joys of being a teenager in highschool. When the topic of adventures came up, James blurted out "Yeah, I understand the feeling. This is my first real adventure. So beyond the whole nervous pit of doom forming in my stomach there's this little kid jumping up and down in anticipation." It was true, being sheltered all his life kind of prevented the opportunity to deal with danger himself. At the first sign of possible harm, he was whisked away to a 'safe location.' After all the heir to the throne had to be protected at all costs. That didn't stop the mini-adventures James and Grove had in the forest when they were on their own though. It was a strict no guard zone. However even then his best friend and uncles still tried to shield him away from some of the dangers of the forest. So this was the first real one. Hopefully James wouldn't screw up. It made him wonder what type of adventures Azalea had been on. 

Well speak of devil, James thought as he saw his best friend work his way into the VIP section. "Hey Grove." He greeted him as he made his way over to James. The Prince playfully swiped at his friend's hand when he reached for the french fries, and said with a growl that sounded more like a house cat than a lion, "Those are mine." Though the smile in his eyes revealed he wasn't serious and Grove could have as many fries as he wanted. Suddenly remembering something, James reached into his pocket and pulled out two orange squishy things. He handed them to Grove and said, "Here, I borrowed these from the dragon fighting class. They make things quieter." Okay more like stole the earplugs, but he would return them tomorrow, and it helped Grove with his anxiety with large crowds by making things sound quieter. So no harm, no foul right?

James laughed at Isla's response as he handed his buddy the earplugs, "Hey at this point anything is better than that wretched snow." Sure he would be saying the same thing when summer came around, but snow was public enemy number one right now. Heat was the most wanted item during these cold months. James didn't really have a response for the paint stuff since he didn't have anything to compare it to. The history books didn't leave more than an occasional paper cut and the horse smell that lingered on his clothes when he came back from the stables was either solved with change of clothes or a splash of cologne if it wasn't that bad. Nothing too bad, just minor inconveniences at most. 

He did say something though when Admiral was practically bursting with excitement over the chance to keep a secret. Suddenly he grew a bit concerned over if the puppy dog would be trusted not to open his mouth if questioned by a villain later. "Yeah Admiral, it's a really big secret. You can't tell anyone about this later, not even to us if other people are around." He also put a finger to his lips in the universal shush sign to reinforce the notion of not telling anyone. Last thing they needed was for Ari, Louis, or Cyrille finding out why the heroes and heroines were getting together far away from their prying eyes.

[Eli Triton]

Apparently, getting lost in your hobbies was a Triton speciality, because Eli was deep underwater in the pool and practicing holding his breath when he should have been watching the clock, or, indeed, not even swimming at all, because twenty minutes after class was not enough time for a quick dip, however much he convinced himself.

He surfaced with a gasp, followed quickly by a fervent curse word when his vision cleared enough for him to spot the clock on the wall. He was late.

Toweling himself off in record time, he threw on his clothes and ran down to Pride Rock as fast as his legs could carry him. He only tripped, oh, once or twice.

So it was that he burst in, gasping apologies, with his t-shirt clinging wetly to his torso and a streak of mud across his hip where he'd fallen, once almost everybody was already there. He smiled sheepishly, running an awkward hand through his shorn hair, and waved nervously.

"Um, hi, sorry, sorry. I'll just... sorry." he mumbled awkwardly, sliding into a seat beside Isla, red cheeks nothing to do with his breathless run.

[Briar]

When James invited him along to the meeting, Briar was certain he'd made a mistake. It was a trick, perhaps, or simply just some strained princely politeness and he would be horrified if the fairy actually showed up. He'd heard about what happened when certain fairies weren't invited to things, maybe James had too, and he was just making sure.

On the other hand, maybe... maybe it was actually a genuine invite. Maybe it was a situation that Briar would have something to offer. Maybe their encounter in the paddock had gone some way to mending their somewhat awkward relationship as roommates.

Or maybe it had just served to terrify him more and this was some strange prank or jest, it wouldn't be the first time somebody had invited him to something just to make a fool of him, and though he'd come a long way from the clumsy child he used to be, the thought of it still worried him.

He'd walked most of the way to Pride Rock before he changed his mind, and most of the way back before he changed it again. Eventually, he made it, dithered outside the door for a few moments longer, and then walked inside.

A crowd of people met his sight and he almost bolted there and then. Especially when he spotted Azalea amongst their number, they had not exactly started off on the right foot and he was still wary. Muttering a gruff hello to them all, he made his way to a seat, sitting with a scowl on his face and watching them.

[Azalea]

Azalea smiled and waved when Eli arrived. He was still wet, from a swim she assumed and looked a little flustered to be later to arrive. She knew how it was to get caught up. She never knew what time it was when she was off exploring, so she wanted to make him comfortable. "No problem", she reassured, "We're still waiting on one..."

Her sentence was interrupted by the arrival of the rather large fairy she had met on the playing fields previously. Not the best of starts and she noted that he looked as though he wanted to run away from her. She thought that perhaps if they got started, then the subject matter may hold his interest.

"All here now" she continued, barely missing s beat, "so we'll get started. James and I have brought you here because of something that happened at the school last night. And I warn you now that it may turn out to be innocuous so we believe it to be best if we keep it between ourselves as a group for now."

The princess paused and looked at her companions. A mix of friends: old, new and... Still to come?

[Admiral]

Admiral nodded happily when James informed him that it was a big secret and he had to keep it. Of course he had o keep it. He knew what a secret was, he'd just never kept one before. Although he'd never been in a school before he came here either, so there was a first time for everything. And secrets were exciting. "I won't tell," Admiral said attempting to sound serious, but mostly he just sounded excited about everything. 

He waved at Eli when he came in, and then at the big tall guy that followed. He didn't know that guy, but he seemed nice. Maybe a little skittish, but nice. And then he turned to Azalea as the meeting seemed to be getting started. He concentrated very hard on her words because it was important to everyone here to not be distracted by the enthusiastic dog.

[Grove]

Grove rolled his eyes at Jim and chomped down satisfyingly on the fry with a small smirk at his friend. He held out his hand and looked at the orange things that Jim handed him. They might make things quiet but he had no idea what to do with them. "Thanks," he muttered staring at them with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

He listened quietly to the conversation around him, though he didn't say anything. He looked up and nodded in Eli's direction when he came in looking flustered. And he offered a wave and a small smile to Briar when the fairy man came and sat with them too. It was good to know that he was one of the good guys.

Grove said when Azalea said that she and James had found something strange because it meant that James had probably gotten himself in trouble. Again. He'd only just started school here and he was in more trouble than Grove could keep him out of. He'd probably get another letter from Snow asking him to keep a sharper eye out for him. Grove wasn't sure he liked the sounds of this plan.

[Isla Triton]

Isla frowned at James. "Excessive heat is just as bad," she complained. "Why can't the weather be temperate? It's much nicer." Having a smaller range of temperature was much easier to handle and adjust to. It was just one more reason why being a mermaid was better.

Isla raised an eyebrow at her cousin as he stumbled into the bar, looking flushed. He'd clearly just run all the way here after having been in the pool, but she said nothing of it. He seemed embarrassed and Isla didn't want to make it worse. "Glad you made it," she told him, patting his arm reassuringly. "You're not that late."

Isla turned to look at Azalea. She knew her roommate had been out of bed last night, but she hadn't been awake when she left. She wasn't too sure about keeping to themselves, but she would hear them out before she raised her concerns. She was intrigued to say the least.

[James Florian]

Being best friends since a few weeks after James was born --he knew the story of how he and Grove had met, the Queen retold it often because of the sheer aww moment it involved-- definitely had it's perks and one of those was being able to figure out what's going in the other's mind by just looking at their expressions. James could tell from Grove's face that he had no clue what earplugs where. "Oh! Those are earplugs, just stick them in your ears and then everything is muffled. You can keep them. I'm sure the professor won't notice that they're gone." James said with a slight shrug. The class only needed them whenever they took practical tests anyway. They won't be noticed until inventory check at the end of the year and even then nobody would Grove would have them. So it wasn't that big of a deal right?

By that point everyone had filtered in, James smiled broadly and gave a small wave when his fellow prince wandered in sopping wet. Leave it to Eli to find a way to go swimming in twenty minutes. That kid was a fish in a prince's body and no doubt it wouldn't be long before he sprouted a tail, dived beneath the deep blue waves, and never be heard from on the surface again. He also smiled when his roommate wandered into the room, It turns out after their encounter in the paddock, James was no longer terrified of Briar persay, but they still weren't close friends just quite yet, maybe it was the fact his tattoos still put the prince on edge slightly. 

"Of course you won't." James said to the puppy dog/human with a big smile. He still found it weird knowing that Admiral was actually a canine, but yet completely human here. It made no logical sense, yet here he was. Oh this school seemed to have it's own set of logic rules spefically designed to confuse James. "I'm just making sure, we don't want any villains catching wind of this." 

James could practically hear Grove's accusing thoughts when Azalea started to talk about why the two of them asked everyone to come down here. No doubt the lumberjack was thinking James was causing trouble, he was going to get hurt again, and there would be hell to pay when the raven haired lad's parents caught wind of what was going on. However this wasn't like the last time he broke the rules! The last time he had pride and anger making his choices, this time it was the need to protect his new home that made him decide to sneak out. Two completely different causes, yet the end result was always going to be the same. James is stirring up trouble again. James was always stirring up trouble. 

"Before you start freaking out, it's not like the last time Grove." He said quietly to his friend with his eyes downcast. He sort of felt guilty, but he didn't know why and odd enough he only felt that shame when he looked at Grove's accusing yet worried glance. Looking at his best friend, James wanted to apologize for getting himself dragged into this mess even though as Azalea said it could turn out to be practically nothing.

Swallowing these feelings, James looked at the rest of the group as he continued where Azalea left off, "As Azalea said, last night we both were witnesses to a strange event that occurred in the gardens," He took a deep breath before continuing, "Two figures clothed in black were sneaking around. Neither of us could recognize who they were, but it was pretty clear they weren't from here." He then looked over at Azalea, inviting her to tell either the next part of the tale or why it was so blatantly obvious that they were not a pair of pupils. It was her choice, or she could always just insist that James tell the tale himself. Though given her personality James highly doubted she was just going to push the responsibility off to him.