What are these Things? (Open)

[James Florian]

        So after getting lost no less than three times, James managed to stumble across a cozy looking room with a rather uhh odd, assortment of furnishings. It made James do a double take as he entered the room as it suddenly became painfully obvious just how different Seacombe was from his home. After all the castle didn't have boxes that appeared to have the face of it covered in a smoky colored glass, nor did they have the tables that appeared to be similar to the old dusty maps that his former teacher pulled out whenever they were going over some ancient battle that he "needed" to know; complete with inhuman looking figurines of course. Also the green tables didn't appear to be his first choice for writing an essay on because for some odd reason, it was fuzzy. which is not how tables were supposed to be.
 
        However it was what the raven haired lad found in holes that were around the perimeter of the table that gave him a rather large clue as to what the room as used for. Strangely enough, when James reached his hand into the empty space he pulled out a cool, ceramic ball that had a stripe painted down the middle. His eyebrows knit together in confusion. Why on earth where these indoors instead of being outside with all the other sport equipment. (Since the only time something like this was used, was when he was outside.) Strangely enough it reminded him of all the times he had gone out to the courtyard to play games with similar balls when he was a child, and almost immediately the purpose of the room became clear to him. This was an entertainment area, and he realized that he was a fool for not understanding that sooner.

        Still after finally figuring out the purpose of this strange room was that apparently connected the two dorm halls to each other, James was still confused about the actual purpose of some the items in the room. Such as the Glass box, history lesson as well as the the fuzzy tables, and the other odds and ends in the room that just didn't seem familiar in the slightest. Why couldn't this room be like the entertainment areas back home with a few tables for card and board games, as well as three walls covered with books? Were the other royals so out of touch with how modern society that they demanded all these weird things things be added? What if that meant this Prince was now among Barbarians? Maybe his mother was right to suggest keeping him back at home, now thanks to his stubbornness he might become uncivilized due to the nature that these other students may be naturally inclined to...

        Every single instinct in him told him to leave the room, and continue his search for his childhood friend, but just like his mother all those years ago, curiosity of the objects now that he had a vague idea of their purpose overrode every single shred of common sense within him. After placing the ball back in the netted pocket with a small klunk, James walked around the room looking at and trying to figure out just how the various items worked. It was a new experience for the seventeen year old as he both succeeded and failed in learning about what was before him. Despite the few successes, practically everything left one question burning inside of him that he accidentally said out loud.  

        "What exactly are these strange things?"

[Deleted]

Gwynedd was still vaguely amused over the mix-up. When Mother had decided to sign them up for both Prince and Princess classes - partially because they both wanted to know what was in both of them, and partially because it fit right along with Gwynedd's out of the ordinary gender identity - they had expected a bit of a hectic schedule, trying to cram them all together and possibly getting the homework done (though the teachers really couldn't be stricter than their Summer Country tutors), but overall, very simplistic. They wouldn't explain to anyone why a Prince would be in a Princess class, or vice versa, and people would eventually let it drop.

At least, that was before it turned out that the school thought they were a pair of twins.

Would that make it more confusing, for other people? Probably. Gwynedd couldn't really find it in themselves to care much at this point, though - it would be entertaining, give them more places to sleep, give them more freedom (no specifically sticking to one dorm, after all, they could freely wander between the two), as well as the opportunity to mess with people, which could be interesting. Just claim that they were identical twins - which would help, they were very androgynous, and had already had their gender questioned twice - and they would be good to go.

There was more to life than plotting out their schemes, though, and Gwynedd found their feet bringing them down to the in-between area, the 'lounge', the games area. They had briefly stepped into it while touring the area - Father had come with, just to check it out - and now it was time to venture back.

Of course, Gwynedd hadn't really expected another person to be in there, though.

Stopping in the doorway and blinking in surprise, the Prydainian surveyed the utterly confused male - Prince, he had to be a Prince - with a bit of bemusement. Gwynedd was a large contrast, in comparison to his handsome, clearly royal looks. Skinny, tousled hair, barefoot, with patched, worn clothes, a smudge of dirt rising across their cheek to their forehead, and completely, and utterly, androgynous.

Well. This would be fun.

"...They are for games," Gwynedd spoke up, after a moment, stepping inside, the golden, lit-up bauble that was Golden Pelyndryn bouncing around his shoulders before zooming up to examine the other Prince, circling his head, before returning to Gwynedd. "Very strange games, but games."

[James Florian]

    James nearly jumped out of his skin when he when he heard someone behind him. He had been so focused on trying to figure out what everything was, that he had forgotten to stay alert to what was going on around him so this wouldn't happen. After all wasn't this school for villains as well as Royals? No doubt there was at least one person in the dorms who would stab him in the back just out of spite. History proved that time after time unfortunately.

    He straightened his posture after leaning over the Foosball table trying to figure out what the purpose was, and what he saw gave him a small shock; even though he had grown up with seven miners for "uncles" and most of his hiding places during childish games involved tree trunks or little hideaway caves. The person standing in the doorway looked as if they had been quite literally raised by wolves. Why if he didn't know better James would've thought that this dirt caked, and barefoot teen called the woods outside home, and only ventured into the buildings to spook the students.  If that was the case then they had succeeded; James definitely was thrown off guard. 

    It also didn't hurt that the little golden light that was circulating his head was hurting his eyes, so out of pure instinct he swatted his hand at it, but luckily for the little nuisance his hand didn't make contact. It fact it zoomed back over to the kid who was still standing in the doorway. James did have to admit the light made it rather hard to look at them, but at least it didn't affect his hearing...

    "Games? What sort of games would you play with a battle map?" He said in disbelief as he gestured to the foosball table. He remembered being reprimanded for just simply picking up one of the little toy soldiers during history lessons. Now it had been turned into a game? Whatever happened to Chess or even Checkers? Hopefully the rest of the school wouldn't be as confusing as the lounge was turning out to be. 

    Realizing that he was no doubt appearing to be rude by not introducing himself, James collected his confusion, shock, as well as the disbelief and momentarily buried it inside of him as he said "I haven't introduced myself have I? I'm Prince James and you are?.." He also threw in a curt bow as well in case that this woodland creature just happened to be another royal or someone with connections to power. However he withheld his surname because he had been warned that villains were also attending the academy, and there was no way that he was just going to hand over where he was from so that they could cause trouble for him; just in case if they were a villain of course. Unfortunately his mother had already learned the hard way what happens when you hold the door open for the very person who wants you dead. 

    However just as he finished talking James suddenly realized why he felt a bit weirded out by the kid in the doorway. He couldn't tell if what gender they were. It was scary how they looked like both at the same time, and no doubt James had opened a can of worms by adding his customary title in front of his name. At least hopefully by learning their name he wouldn't be left in the dark for much longer as to if he should refer to them as a "he" or a "she" 

[Deleted]

With a small shooing motion, Gwynedd sent Golden Pelyndryn off to examine the corners of the room, to delightedly chase any bugs it might find - there were no rats here, much to its disappointment, it enjoyed chasing the rats - giving the other a few moments of patience to take them in. Given the contrast, the Prydainian royal wasn't surprised in the least - especially since they didn't look like royalty.

It probably is what accumulates when your father was a former pig-keeper, your mother was hardly a princess, dressing in rags and being mistaken for a scullery maid frequently (and her barefoot habits and dirtiness rubbed off on them), and one of your Uncles was a small woodland creature, with the other being a King in patched clothing who didn't care about, well, being a King.

The question brought forward a bit of a snort - playing games with a battle map? - and caused the royal to step forward and breach the distance between them, if only slightly, so that they could look over at what they were gesturing too. Ahh. As much as Gwynedd lacked the correct names to put to things - in truth, they were foreign to them, as well, but being exposed to numerous cultures did help in recognizing the uses of basic things - they could tell that wasn't a battle map - it was a game. They weren't sure how to play it, precisely, but... it was a game.

Something that Dalben would like, no doubt.

Before they could formulate a correct answer, however, the Prince spoke up once more - this time, introducing himself. Prince James. Interesting. Not a name that they recognized - certainly not from Prydain, not one of the minor princes, Gwynedd would have recognized them (and they would not have reacted such to their appearance, it wasn't that abnormal there), so from a different realm... as expected. Ah, time to introduce themself, though.

Gwynedd swept into a half-bow, half-curtsy - legs bent as though they were to go into a curtsy, pulled back, but placing a hand across their chest diagonally and bowing. "Princess Gwynedd, child of High King Taran and High Queen Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad, daughter of Regat. I am of the blood of Llyr Half-Speech, the Sea King. Enchantress of Prydain." The words were smooth ones, practiced oft but rarely used, with nary a stumble, though Gwynedd had to mentally hammer in use enchantress use enchantress use enchantress until the world finally left their lips. Thankfully, they did not make a mistake - though it had been nerve-racking. Either way, the theatrics were done, thank goodness, so they could return to their conversation.

Disregarding their previous distance, the royal carefully stepped towards the Prince, side-stepping him and reaching out a hand to grab onto one of the wooden handles, carefully twisting it to move the strange figures in the table forwards and backwards. "See? A game. It is not a battle map, you cannot fully move them."

There. That was easy enough.

[James Florian]

It was a relief to James' eyes when the little ball of light moved behind him instead of circling his head like a hoard of gnats or blinding him by floating behind the strangers head and illuminating them similar to the paintings he's seen of angels. Oddly enough the sight reminded him of the fairy tale about the Little Match Girl. Especially the ending when she's reunited with her grandmother, and it was probably the only tale that could put the Prince on the verge of tears every time he read it. It was just that heartbreaking. 

However he was undeniably curious about how they received such a strange object. No doubt the little golden sphere would be undeniably useful to hundreds of people. After all he had feeling that just having one would prevent the need to spend a fortune on candles in ones lifetime. At least he knew that his "uncles" would find the thing useful, since they would no longer run the risk of causing a cave in, or running out of a light source when in the mine shafts when it came to using candles. Not to mention the other people in his kingdom that could use it as a dependable light source to either guide the way home, or chasing away nightmares. He could just imagine how countless lives could be changed if everyone had a floating ball of light during the dark winter nights. 

However he didn't dare pry into how the stranger in the doorway came to own the light source, because it was clearly one of a kind and could not obviously be replicated. Also it didn't also didn't hurt that the Prince didn't wish to reveal the fact that he wished to know for his seven uncles who were related by name only, and not by blood or marriage. Which unfortunately he had learned many years ago was rather strange for royal heritage. Granted the seven little men -and Grove- didn't hold the title of dukes or lords, but if it wasn't for their kindness for taking in Snow White when she had a bounty on her head, neither she or James would be breathing at this moment. Now if that wasn't the definition of family, then what is the point in boasting about who your Great Great Great Grandfather was? Family was supposed to be the ones there for you when you were in trouble, and that's what those seven dwarfs did; and no power hungry, materialistic, backstabbing thief who claimed to be of "Royal Blood" would ever change that!

The Prince had to take a deep breath as these thoughts raced through his mind. He hated it when people questioned his relation to Uncle Doc and Grove. Their cruel and ignorant comments always made James want to destroy whoever spoke poorly of his family and it happened far too many times for it to be just a slip of tongue or merely an accident. However it did surprise him how people believed that just because people had the title Duke or Lady in front of their names gave them a free pass to slander the Royal Family. If it was up to James he would just send all those who dared to call his uncles "vile creatures" or "ungodly beings" into the woods for a cold night. Let them see how terrifying it is to be forced to hide and how grateful someone can be when they receive shelter from the true monsters. Let that thaw their vain and provincial hearts, 

 Realizing that he was starting to descend down a deep pit of hatred for absolutely no reason at all, James focused on what the stranger was saying instead. By the time they--she had finished their introduction James was relatively calm once again. After he just needed to remind himself that obviously this Princess Gwynedd was not going to be one to judge the fact he had seven little men for uncles. Well at least he hoped she wasn't like that. He had enough of those fools who couldn't even see in a sense they were slandering their own bloodlines by refusing to accept the seven dwarfs as relatives of the royal family. Thank heavens that none of those brats were attending the academy with him.

As grateful as James was for realizing that he was freaking out for nothing, he could help, but panic somewhat at the mention that this princess was also an enchantress. His eyes widened slightly and his knuckles turned white as snow as he clutched onto the foosball table, while as one thought began to race rapidly through his head. Enchantresses were witches, and witches were evil. Enchantresses were witches, and witches were evil. Witches were evil. Every instinct in his body screamed "Run! Run away!" however his feet stayed firmly in place. After a few irrational moments, common sense once again took control of the pathetic excuse for the Prince's brain. Enchantresses were the good magic casters. This Princess was not a witch, This girl in front of him was not going to be like his step-grandmother. Gwynedd was not going to try to slip him poisoned food or curse him at  moments notice. Enchantresses were good. Not witches with warts and ravens on their shoulders. They were the good ones. 

Feeling embarrassed by his not so regal reaction to the news that she was able to control magic, James began to apologize while filling the holes in his own introduction "My apologies for reacting in such a manner. Where I come from we are strongly cautioned against all magic casters due to an -uhh- unfortunate history." He also added another curt bow, "The Son of King Florian and Queen Snow White, and heir apparent to the Brevenian* throne at your service." Hopefully he wouldn't have to delve further than this to explain why he freaked out at the mention of enchantress, however he wouldn't exactly have a problem with sharing his mother's story. It just difficult to condense the tale. James was also curious about where she had come from so he asked, "Where is this Prydain? I'm afraid I never I heard of it before..." Regardless James had a sneaky suspicion that wherever it was Grove would feel right at home there judging by the state their princess was currently in. 

However the question was quickly forgotten when a red shade took over his pale cheeks. Now that he was no longer a bucket of a emotions, James could clearly see just how foolish he was too insist that it was a battle map of all things. He was clearly embarrassed of his error, especially when Gwynedd herself came over to show him that it was merely a game. "I guess I need to think a bit more clearly before opening my mouth..." He muttered as he saw how Gwynedd moved the pieces by turning the levers. After a moment of just seeing the game in a different light -which was not a confused one- he asked her "So now that I see it's a game; what exactly are the rules? Since clearly it's not chess." He already looked like a fool in front of her for not recognizing the foosball table for what it really was, so it what would the harm be in appearing to be a clown for a few more minutes while learning the rules instead of embarrassing himself in front of other students who had been here for years and who no doubt knew the game like the back of their hands. No doubt they wouldn't think twice about making the new student look foolish for not knowing how to play a simple game.

{{* Couldn't find an actual name for their kingdom so I just made one up.}}