Feldae Royal Court: Part Deux

It was a typical day, in the typical kingdom of Feldae. Servants were about doing their daily chores, guards about running their daily rounds, and princesses were about... "Why? Why did you let her leave why!" Well being princesses of course. One named Minx was currently hassling her father about her younger sister's sudden want to become a royal ambassador. After months of dancing around for their father over his want and need to marry his four daughters off, one daughter had decided enough was enough. Subjecting herself to a way out that they both knew was something her father would approve.

"Listen Minx, Alma is a smart girl, she has a diplomatic air about her she'll do great as an ambassador. Keeping peace treaties, making appearances in your steed its a good thing even more so that she's also a princess. Our kingdom won't suffer at the hands of snobs if a princess is present to make deals. Besides she's not yet ready for marriage as I had thought it's better she gets her education and return to us with that knowledge THEN I'll marry her off." Ramos, king and father, spoke up. A smoke ever present in his hands as he began to light his beloved pass time.

"But daddy that's not fair! She gets to up and leave to study and we have to stay here... I want to leave too. I want to study abroad!"

"No." Was the kings simple answer. "Any studying you will do will be no less then a priesthood. You'll devote yourself as a priestess of the most high if you don't want to do that I suggest you stick it out and marry one of these fine gentlemen here."

"You're so annoying... I can't stand you." Minx snapped turning on her heels to leave. Just as she got to the door her father was upon her smiling devilishly.

"Aww is my little girl upset? Listen Minx you're the eldest its not fair for the burden to fall on you but that's how things are. Besides I'm throwing a big festival in honor of the mating season. Maybe you can find a guy during this time, preferably a guy I invited here. Just give it thought besides Cameron seems to have fallen for someone already you can practically smell him all over her... " The king growled he wasn't happy about that but what was done was done. All in due time he'd deal with that situation later it had been a month or so since his finding out and with Cameron seeming to have a different air about her he couldn't be completely off. "All I'm asking Minxy is to just stick it out. We can make a deal if you'd like?" Crap that wasn't what he meant to say...

"Oh is that so?" Minx didn't wait for him to renig and quickly jumped on the chance to weed her way out of this. "Fine I tell you what... I'll go to this stupid festival if I don't find a guy to woo me by then, this whole contest is off." She challenged.

"Ah no.. but we'll shorten the length of time from a year to six months. If that should happen." Minx thought about it eying her father with a glare but then figured something was better then nothing. Shaking hands she turned and left his office glad to have been able to make some leeway. Now all she had to do was keep from letting some no account fool woo her with pretty words. How easy was that insult him and move on.. no one could even get her to blush... er... well one could. "Fuck... Felix I have to stay away from him." She thought musing over a means to keep him at a distance throughout this stupid festival while managing not to seem too harsh on him. After all it wasn't his fault but she still didn't like it that any of these suitors were here. At least a good portion of them had departed since the event started. Now it was a matter of time before the rest of them followed suit.

When would this whole thing end? Minx grumbled to herself heading for her favorite place in the gardens. It was high time she got a nap anyway, with all the huffing and puffing with her father she got tired a lot easier these days. And half of the time she didn't even feel like arguing if at all... "I must be losing my touch." she mused snuggling into her apple tree she dozed letting the rest of the world pass her by.

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Felix, the blue haired potential suitor, had found himself seated outside, on a bench, under a rather large tree. It was a spot that he had become rather fond of because it kept him away from the troubles of the contest, which seemed to have increased slightly with Almathea's running off to become a diplomat. It was a clever plan, and he was surprised that Minx hadn't thought of it first. Of course, the news had spread like wildfire through the castle, and everyone knew about it. A lot of weird news had been spreading around, like rumors about how Cameron and Alex had apparently hooked up and were doing the nasty. It was something that Felix was not at all surprised about, since he had been expecting it from the two since they had first fought, but it was something that had caused a great deal of problems for him.

Things had been easier before when it seemed that Cameron was still available. Now that everyone was fairly certain that she had caught the snake that was hidden in Alex's trousers, people weren't paying attention to her anymore as a potential target. As a result, any of the suitors who had been left had changed their targets to Wynn, Almathea, and Minx. This had increased his competition in a rather unhappy way, and really he had been dealing with enough competition as it was, even if Minx didn't seem all that interested in any of these suitors and wanted them all to go away.

The problem was that the suitors who were left were less likely to go away. They had stayed here long enough and put up with enough of this that they could probably put up with anything, or they were the kind of guys who liked the punishment that the princesses were putting out there. This wasn't a big problem as long as they weren't all focused on Minx, but now that Almathea was gone, and Cameron had quite obviously been seduced by Alex, the situation for Felix had gotten very bad indeed. If these guys hadn't been scared away by Minx's plans so far, it was unlikely that she was going to come up with anything to get rid of them now. The only saving grace that he had was that Wynn was the kind of girl who was much easier to approach than Minx, because unlike Minx, Wynn didn't seem to be actively trying to escape the whole event.

With all of the other people who would no doubt be vying for Minx's hand, it was unlikely that he was going to get to spend as much time with her as he had been spending with her previous to this, and it was even more unlikely that any time they did manage to spend together would be uninterrupted. He sighed softly and licked his thumb before bringing his hand down to turn the page of the book to reveal the one below it. He was once again letting his eyes skim over pages of poetry while his mind worked desperately to attempt to form some sort of plan on how he would get all of this to work out in his favor. Really, there was very little that he could think of that could solve the problem though. If he couldn't spend more time getting closer to Minx, then she was going to slowly become distant as she fell under the onslaught of the remaining suitors. Not to mention that she was now going to have to increase her efforts to get rid of them by that much just to make sure that she didn't get paired up with them.

He frowned. Why had the king allowed something that would give Minx the shock into reality that would cause her to put up all of those walls again? Just when he thought he had a grasp on things, this had to happen...well, there was no point in appealing to the king to end things early with him as the winner of Minx. She wouldn't be happy with that, and he, knowing that, would never allow it to end in such a way. He was starting to regret that he was even part of this contest.

Off to Neverland...

It would have been a decent day if she could just sleep it away. Nothing was going on that was majorly important and she had no appearances to make as of late. However, it just so happened the contest of which she was party to had no pause button to utilize. It seemed no one understood the concept of a cat nap when it came to the princess beauty sleep.

"Aloha princess!" The call from a suitor ringed in her ear. Growling Minx shot one eye open, gray green orbs glaring down at the culprit. Her tail flicked back and forth with irritation as her ears flattened in warning. "May I have a moment?" The suitor called seeming not to understand the warning in her posture.

"No you may not, go away!" She growled rolling over and promptly ignoring him. Of course this was not a simple man. He climbed the tree taking residence in an adjacent branch. Minx sat up eyes blazing. "What part of no, go away didn't you catch?"

"Aww princess don't be like that. I came to keep you company, it must be lonely in this tree by yourself." How clever the feli thought he was. Would he supply her with company that she didn't want nor need? She snorted.

"I'm trying to nap, this does not require company and I am much better off sleeping alone thank you very much." Oh well this was one suitor that would have to learn the hard way. "I suppose a moment of my time is fine." She offered slipping over to the branch next to him. She gave a soft unlikely smile to ease him as she slipped up next to him. "So what would you like to talk about?" Of course she wasn't paying any attention to what he had been saying, letting the suitor get into great details about his wealth and his ability to cater to her needs... blah blah blah. She wasn't interested in what he could provide, she was a princess she had plenty of support. She didn't need some knight in shinning armor or some sap of a man running around with roses.

Just listening to him made her feel all cheap and dirty. It was time for a bath.. and did the suitor. "That sounds wonderful but I'm afraid you have me mistaken for some weak damsel in distress. I can take care of myself thank you very much but perhaps should be more concern for yourself."

The man blinked not quite following. "Pardon?"

"Your step. You should watch where you go sir..." And with that she gave him a delicate push that sent him toppling head over heels to the ground below. Dropping shortly after him she landed with a soft thud smiling as she dusted her hands off. "As I said, you should watch that first step it's quite a fall. If you'll excuse me I need to clean myself off, I feel a bit dirty after all that garbage spewing from your mouth. You'd do well to wash it with soap before approving me next time. Although it's probably best if you didn't approach me again. Good day." With that said, she skipped off giggling gleefully to herself.

A bath, that would help to relax her a bit. Maybe not a usual bath but some place away from the castle... "Ah the springs..." It was always peaceful out there and none of the suitors really knew where it was at, save Alex and Felix but she doubted they would really remember and no one was going to be looking for her anyway. Rushing inside to gather some items she quickly made her way to the stables sighing inwardly to herself. "Beast?" The demonic horse snorted hearing his name called and glared down at his 'master' with disdain. "Look I don't like riding you anymore than you like being ridden so lets just get this over with. The springs you know where that's at?" The horse snorted again as if to reprimand her for such a stupid question. "Fine fine lets just go, quickly as possible before someone sees us. Who knows that mare you like might be around.. I'll let you be alone if you just be nice this once." Beast snorted thinking it over then gave a nod waiting for her to mount. "Thanks." Surprising horse and princess took off for their destination with little disturbance or inquiry from guards.

Enter the Prince / A Dip to Cool my Head

Johnathan sighed softly from inside his carriage, his ice blue eyes looking out the window at the scenery that they were passing. It was strange that he would be faced with a situation like this one just after he had faced all of that battle. He supposed it was even more strange that he found this situation to be infinitely more frightening. No one had been able to tell him what to expect from this little contest. No one had been able to say 'well, what has happened so far is ____' and that was just a sad state of affairs. How was he supposed to blend in with the crowd without knowing what had happened recently? More importantly, how was he supposed to know what he could get away with doing for his fun? There didn't seem to be much of an answer to that question. He brought his hand up, and let his chin rest upon his open palm. He really didn't know what to expect out of this whole situation. He knew what his first task was, though. It was a far less frightening, but infinitely more boring one.

He had been instructed that upon his arrival he was to approach the king and apologize for his tardiness to arrive at the contest, and explain in no uncertain terms that it really had nothing to do with his daughters, just to make sure that the kind fifn't become offended and think that the reason he hadn't shown up had been because he didn't think they were suited to him. Really, it was true, and the whole reason for him not showing up had very little to do with his daughters, and very much more to do with the fact that he really just didn't want to be wedded off just yet, but he wasn't supposed to mention that either. He had been told over and over again that this was some sort of honor, and just the fact that Kin Ramos had selected him was something special. He really didn't believe a word of it, but there was no arguing with his family.

He had even tried to escape this blasted event by heading off to battle. How could they send him after that? He had thought that by the ned of the thing they would at least listen to what it was that he had to say. It seemed even that was hoping for far too much. His eyes seemed to take on a bored look to them. This was not going to be an enjoyable event unless he found a good way to have fun and still fail. He supposed as long as there were enough suitors to have fun with and still not get through, he could have fun pushing them to the point where they chose to leave of their own free will. That would be terribly fun. It would also hurt his chances of getting through all of this unwed though. Maybe if he was careful to chose who he pushed around things would be okay.

The castle had finally come into view of the little window that Johnathan had been glancing through. Well, it wouldn't be much longer until he was there then. Once he was there he'd have to figure out what to do next. It probably wouldn't be all that hard to do. He probably wasn't really dressed for this sort of thing. He smirked softly at that. Maybe the kind would be so dissatisfied with his black clothing with the strips of fabric that he would decide he didn't want him around for this contest after all. That would be nice. Get sent home right out of the gate. He knew it wouldn't happen though. If any of the suitors had been eliminated by this point, it meant that they had likely distilled it down to a select few. Ramos realyl seemed to want his daughters married off, so if the number of suitors had taken a decline, it meant that his chances of getting out of the contest without quitting had taken a steep decline as well.

Damn.

As the carriage that he was riding came to a stop, he knew that he was out of time to plan his escape for the moment. He had to go in and face Ramos, who he had heard was a bit of a frightening man when he wanted to be. It remained unclear if this whole situation would spawn a situation where Ramos wanted to be intimidating and try and scare Johnathan away. Well, if he did, that would make getting out of this whole situation all the easier. Show up, get frightened by Ramos and told to leave, and then do just that. It was perfect. Because of how perfect it was, John knew that it was impossible, but that couldn't stop him from hoping.

John was ushered out of his carriage by the driver and a guard and once he had his feet on the ground, he was quickly lead into the castle. His eyes scanned the scenery around him. He couldn't really find anywhere that would offer a good place to hide. Great...now how was he going to deal with these princesses following him around and trying to win him over to make their father happy that they had found a good man who was also of royal blood. He sighed softly and brought his hand up, pressing his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose. This was just ridiculous. He didn't even want to be here. He didn't understand why his parents were in such a rush to have him married off. There wasn't much time to think about that sort of thing right now though.

He was pushed along rather quickly and just as quickly found himself before King Ramos. Great. He dropped down into a bow rather quickly, "King Ramos. Please allow me to introduce myself." This was going to go poorly. "I am Prince Johnathan Emmet Vanderblane. You invited me to take part in your contest, but regrettably, I was indisposed because of a rather nasty uprising of peasants within my country. Now that I have dealt with that rather unfortunate turn of events I have come here to attend your contest. I offer my deepest apologies for my tardiness, and hope that this does not reflect badly on my family, or our kingdom." He could only hope that all of this was accepted and he was dismissed quickly before he choked on the garbage that he was spewing.


-----


Felix sighed softly as he looked down at the book for a few more moments. He really hadn't come up with any bright ideas on how he was going to get all of these problems to resolve themselves. It seemed that there weren't all that many options that he was faced with. He knew that he could sit here, do nothing, and hope that in the end when the contest came to a close that the king would decide that he should be paired up with Minx, but that seemed to be a bit of a stretch. There were people here that the king really wanted to be paired up with his girls, and Felix really didn't believe that he was a first choice, at least not yet. The only things that he really had going for him were the fact that he was a nice guy, and the fact that he actually was interested in Minx more than he was interested in the throne that just happened to come with her. Really, he would have been even more interested in Minx if there was no danger of him ending up on the throne and having a giant target painted on the back of his head, or a sign on his back that said 'insert knife here'.

There were too many problems recently. Things like suitors not being able to chase Cameron, and now not being able to chase Almathea either were the big ones that had been on his mind. The even bigger one that he hadn't been thinking about recently was the fact that Minx was the eldest and as a result anyone who was looking for just the crown would go straight after her. He had too much competition, and too much of it was the kind of person who was good at scheming and planning, and had their eye on something that they weren't likely to give up on. He just wished that there was no danger that anyone would think that he was like that. His interest really was just in Minx, and not so much in the crown. He would have been happy with the idea of running away with her and just having a peasant life. He knew it wouldn't happen, but he was happy with that idea.

He sighed softly. He needed to come up with a good plan on how he was going to win her over...and he didn't do his best thinking when staring down at a book of poetry. His best thinking came out of sitting in a bath. He scratched his chin as he thought about it for a few moments. Well...he could always head to that spring. Other than Alex and the princesses, he didn't think anyone really knew about it, and it was just for a quick bath and thinking session. He could get all of that done quickly and then get back here to put his plan into motion, if he actually managed to form a plan at all. He smiled softly at that and snapped the book closed. Well, there was no problem with that plan at all. He pushed himself up to his feet and started to head off towards the spring. It would take him a while, but he was sure it would be worth it.

King Ramos was sitting in his study enjoying a smoke as the prince had walked in. Legs propped up on his desk he gave the young prince a once over practically ignoring his apology and going so far as wave him to silence. "Save it, you're here so just get in the game." He offered instead. He gave the boy another glance over curious as to his attire, well now, this one reminded him of himself at a younger age. A rebel prince no less? It would prove interesting he had a mind to think Minx would completely but heads with this one but Wynn might seem more suited to the wild prince type. He chuckled already cogs were turning in his head as plans began to form. For now he left them to simmer and form completely.

"Come come, I'll show you to your room. Has anyone given you any run down of what is expect?" He questioned a moment of silence was all he needed to continue. "Well that's to be expected. So far we are about a month and a half into the event. You haven't missed much just a lot of belly aching from my girls. Their growing used to having suitors about so are being quite snappish. You won't get a word in otherwise so just be persistent but not forceful." He growled frowning to emphasize his meaning. "At any rate there is my oldest Minx, she's named for exactly what she is. So if you plan to target her expect plenty of hissing and scratching, she's a wildcat. My second oldest is Cameron, she seems to have been smittened by a suitor already but that doesn't make her off limits. Until that ring is on her hand she's fair game just be warned you'll have a tiger on your case... but if you prove to be the bigger tiger I'm sure you could settle well with my tomboy princess." He went silent a moment then shrugged, "unfortunately Alma one fo the younger of the lot has left for her education. Clever little bugger but it was a good chance for her and I wasn't going to think twice. She's young we can marry her off later. Then the youngest Wynnifred... she's not to be taken lightly. I'll warn you know, she likes sweets no doubt but don't think that will win her over. She's probably the one I can't understand the most so if you learn something about her you're one step ahead of me." With his explanations spilled forth they stopped in front of his door.

"This is your room, use it how you need..." Arching a brow he said nothing leaving the sentence open. "Just don't let me catch you doing something you shouldn't. If you plan to marry one of my girls don't hesitate. But if you're not in the mindset for such a thing, then I suggest you stay out of their way and don't play with their heart. Although I do have a proposition..." With a crafty smile the king leaned against the door. "Nah I'll fill you in later. For now get cleaned up rest, lunch can be found in the kitchen just talk to the chef. Well good luck.." On that note the king skipped out of the room and down the hall and happy little pep in his step.

It was time to start planning for a festival.

Johnathan had followed Ramos as he had instructed for him to. There was something about this man that wasn't entirely what he had been expecting. It was strange. He had been thinking that perhaps the man would be angry for him showing up late, or make some strange comments about how all of this really was exactly what he had been thinking that it was. In the end, it seemed that Ramos had really been sucked in by the thought of his own game. It was strange. It almost felt like he was playing against his daughters instead of getting them married off to someone for their own good. It felt like he was doing this all as some sort of elaborate experiment because he didn't know what would happen, or who they would chose and wanted to find out. It was like a gamble or something, and for a moment, John wanted to see just what kind of poker face this man had. That thought had only lasted for a second though.

He listened as the story so far, as well as the rules, and a little pro-tip for playing the game were explained for him. Be persistent but not forceful, eh? Well, he was going to have no trouble at all with not being forceful, but that was more because he really had little interest in winning this game in any form. When the conversation turned to the players of the game, his ears picked up a little bit. This was the part that he was the most interested in, since it would tell him most of the pieces that he actually needed to know. The first player was the eldest, Minx. Well, he probably made a good choice for her, since he had a throne of his own waiting for him, and as a result if he chose her, she'd know that it wasn't for the position that came with her. That meant that he was going to have to be careful with the things he said around her in case she turned his words into some sort of secret confession of love. Probably better to stay away from her entirely, either that or make himself undesirable to her. He was sure he could manage that. The next player was the tomboy princess, who it seemed already had chosen her partner. Ramos didn't seem too happy about that, but it meant that chasing after her was possibly an even worse idea than chasing after Minx. While it had the possibility of him getting through the contest and not winning simply because she had already made her choice, it meant that he was going to be a target for this 'tiger'. He couldn't help but smirk at the comment that if he proved to be a bigger tiger he might win her over. It was just the flash of in his mind of the words 'bigger how', and that wasn't something that John thought was entirely appropriate for this conversation. When it arrived at Alma and her escape to become educated he smiled. A woman who had made a choice similar to his own, how incredibly interesting. The last option was the young girl who liked sweets. Well that was a bit of a challenge to think of a way of escaping it. He just happened to like sour things instead of sweet things, meaning he'd probably have left over sweet things and she might think he was trying to save them for her for some reason...troublesome.

Once they were at his room, John's eyes turned to Ramos once more to listen to what the king had to say. He blinked slightly at the mention of a proposition. Well, this might be interesting after all. He wasn't sure that the proposition was something that he really wanted to hear though. If the man was trying to convince him to take one of his daughters, it would be rude to say that he wasn't interested, and it would be dangerous too. Then again, if the king was proposing something a little bit more interesting, it might be exactly what he needed to make this game a little bit more fun. He had already come up with a plan or two of his own, but something that the king supported might be a little bit more fun.

He sighed softly when the king went off to do his own planning, deciding that he'd fill him in on the proposition later. There was always later. He wasn't in a particular rush to get anything done anyway. Things would get interesting soon enough.

The sweets-loving princess was not having the best of days. Settled along the stony side of the fountain, Wynn peered down into the water with a lazily waving hand circling through it. Her morning was ruined thanks to the Cook keeping to his promise to Mother; Miss Wynnifred was not to be taking any more sugary snacks from his domain without the Queen's permission. A rather irritating thing, especially after hearing the news on Alma's wondrous escape from all these shenanigans from their father. It made her wonder if attempting something similar would be worth it; if her father would be willing to part with two of them that easily... Of course, Almathea had a more promising reason to leave in Dad's eyes than anything Wynn could come up with. Off for studies? He'd laugh at that. Sure, she would thumb through poetry books and had a great interest in music, but to say that she was academically advanced was far from the truth. Claim she was off to study culinary? Maybe... but that would most likely get her yet another less-than-endearing tease from the King and nothing more.

Blowing out air between her lips, Wynn's tail darted lazily behind her as she stared at her own reflection, mumbling away about the lack of fun in the castle anymore. Cammie seemed to be rather preoccupied with her new buddy Mister Alex, making Wynn regret her own argument with the guy a few weeks ago. He was nice and all, at least. Cameron butted heads with him just fine; she needed that. It was better then her trying to rile everyone ELSE up like Minx did.

"Miss Wynnifred?"

Barely sitting up, she merely perked her ears, looking towards the guard peering around the climbing ivy on the wrought iron fencing surrounding the fountain. "Cale..." Scrunching her nose, she sat up a bit more on the stone wall, settled on her hands and knees as she stretched up her back. "What's wrong now? I haven't been near the kitchen, so Cook can't yell at me for stealing things. Do you want to smell my breath? No honey, no nip, no sugars."

"No, no, that's not why I'm here. The King has just greeted a late arrival to the competition... I thought, perhaps.. Perhaps one of the, ah-" Cale seemed hesitant on his words, as if uncertain on how to let them out. The flush to his face grew a bit more as Wynn got up fully from the fountain's edge, peering at him curiously. "Your sisters all seem to be preoccupied at the moment. Alma packing up, Cameron exploring with Mister Alexander, and Minx- ahh-"

"Being Minx," Wynn finished for him flatly, frowning as she ran her tongue against her inner cheek, letting out a soft sigh. "I get it, Cale. You think one of us should be the welcome wagon, and who better than the sugar princess?" Moving towards him, she shoved a finger hard against his chest, raising an eyebrow. "This better not be a play on dad's part involving you, Caley-poo. I don't want to be set up; I want to find it on my own. Dad's got guys up the wazoo in this castle. I'd rather find one that's not a jerk or a pervert... and those seem to be in short supply in this mess."

Cale simply chuckled, though a nervous smile still held his lips. "I wouldn't know anything on the pervs, Miss Wynn. If you come across any more of them, however- feel free to tell me. I promise you, though. This was nothing of your father's doing.... All my own. Forgive me if it seems to forward to think of you for this little greeting. I apologize if I have offended you or-"

"No, no, It's ok. I get it." She smiled again, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him. "Better to give him a nice welcome than let Minx get to him first. Poor guy might be clawing at the gates to get out of here after she gets done with him." Readjusting the skirt of her short pink dress, Wynn shifted up on her toes to plant a gentle kiss on the young guard's cheek. "Sorry I snapped at you. I just don't want to be in any more of Daddy's games than I have to be. Now, what's this guy's name?"

Cale paused with that, trying to remember, then held up a finger as he recalled. "Johnathan. Prince Johnathan... ah, long last name. I left the room before I could catch much more."

"Prince Johnathan Longlastname. Well, that's helpful." Giggling under her breath, she simply shook her head at him, then shrugged. "Off to find him then, I suppose..." Heading back to the castle, she started for the staircase, coming to a halt as she heard the rather giddy sound of her father. Dad... Happy? Ohh, that wasn't a good sign. Maybe she'd be better off hiding for the time being.

The Boredom of a Prince

Johnathan had taken a few minutes to look over his room. He was more than satisfied with it. Really, he would have been more than satisfied with any situation that didn't call for him to sleep on the floor, since he had just returned from a rather unhappy campaign that had involved camping, and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. This was the perfect place to go if he ever needed to escape the contest, but he wasn't sure that these girls would be willing to let him retreat to this room, or if they would leave it as a safe haven. If they were overly excited to find their partners, and they decided that he was a good choice, the chances were that they were going to go after him simply because he was a good choice, and once they found out where his room was there would be no end to it. If they were against having him here, they would probably pester and bother him, and he wouldn't be able to escape them until he decided to leave the castle under his own terms, something that he was also quite aware that he was not allowed to do, thanks to the pressure from his parents to take part in this competition in the first place. He took a long breath and rubbed his temples for a few moments. Why couldn't that rebellion have laster a little bit longer? Angry rebels were easier to deal with than mysterious princesses any day. All he really knew was that he was playing a game. He didn't know the rules, all of the players, or even just what game it was that he was part of now. It was like playing chess blindfolded, and if you moved all the pieces around to different starting positions. Insanity. That was the best description for it.

He imagined that this was about how a puppet on strings would feel, only if the puppet had just recently been put on strings and wasn't entirely sure how far the strings would allow him to move yet, and hadn't given hope on finding scissors somewhere. It was very strange. At the same time that he wanted to escape he knew that this was a place where he could have a whole lot of fun just being himself. No one was likely to argue with the things that he did or said simply because he was a prince, even if it wasn't of this kingdom. He could probably convince suitors to give their consent to him beating them up without having to think too much about it. This was actually not such a bad place when he stopped to think about it. Still, the fact that he now found himself trapped in this place, and the fact that this could be the very last place that he found himself spending as a bachelor was kind of frightening. Even if he ended up liking any of these princesses, he doubted that he'd be able to accept it simply because the choice had been forced upon him so abruptly. It was a tragic turn of events really, because he was quite sure that none of the princesses were going to look all that bad when it came right down to it, and as long as they didn't have personalities that made him want to not talk to them, then they probably would have had a chance under normal circumstances. He supposed if something like that came up it was probably easier to deal with on his side than it would be to deal with on their side. He always had the option of escaping, or making himself seem horribly unattractive, and there was also the possibility that with so many suitors, the person that he decided that he liked might not be available if he sat back and did nothing.

That thought had made him smiled slightly and had inspired the beginning of a rather interesting plan. Right now he only had the idea, and he wasn't sure how he would execute it yet. Hell, he didn't even know if he had to execute it yet, but it would be the work of justice, and it would probably be an ocean of fun to go through. He supposed he might bounce the idea off of the king before actually doing it, but he wasn't sure if he should yet. All he knew was that the idea of turning the situation around and making a princess realize what she had and what she stood to both gain, and lose, the gods of love and justice might smile upon him and give him some way out of this without shaming his parents, or putting himself into a position with some stuck-up princess who had just been waiting to sink her teeth into someone like him. He twitched slightly at that thought. It really was kind of scary. He'd need to make sure that his plan didn't backfire or anything. He'd have to chose his target wisely if he was going to do something like that.

A long sigh slipped past his lips. He needed a book, or something to get his mind off of all of this. Maybe if he got up and headed out he could find someone who wanted to play chess. That was probably about the amount of pick-me-up that he needed. Humiliating a suitor was sure to lift his spirits and keep his attention for a little while at least. He could always head to the sparring grounds and try to beat up a few guards in matches, but that was just silly. Guards from places other than his own home never took him seriously, all worried about what might happen if he got hurt, and besides, this was the place that the guards called home. It would be infinitely more fun and more fair to humiliate a suitor, put them in a funny place where they were embarrassed to be there. Maybe if he did it enough he could get kicked out of the castle by Ramos for being a bastard to the other suitors. That wouldn't be so bad. He could even go home and come up with a quick lie about how it had all been part of his plan to make sure he won the contest. He looked like he was taking the thing seriously and trying to win, and he didn't gave to get married. Everyone got a happy ending.

It wasn't likely to happen that way. With a contest like this Ramos probably was encouraging them to try and get the other members of their group to leave by humiliating them. There was only so much boosting of one's self in others eyes that someone could do. Ramos would be counting on it. He sighed softly. This didn't help him with his boredom of the moment. He flopped down on his bed, staring at the ceiling of the room that he supposed he was to call his own for the remainder of the contest. There were just enough things to do that he didn't know what he wanted to do, but few enough things to do that he was sure that he was going to be bored of all of them by the end of the week. It was a pity that most of them involved humiliating suitors and he knew that if he did that too much he would suffer the consequences when he was forced to marry one of the girls because he was one of the few options left. Really, he didn't even know what the rules of this game were. He needed a helper of some sort. He wondered who he could trust as a helper. Would the guards and maids be in a rush to have the princesses get married off? He wasn't sure.

None of this had even begun to focus on the mysterious proposal that the king had offered but not elaborated on. That was probably the most frightening thing so far. Before he even had a chance to see the princesses he had already been offered some strange proposal that he didn't understand. It was bound to be some sort of 'since you're a prince, I'll make you an exception and you can pick one of my daughters to be yours' sort of proposal, and he really wasn't sure what he was going to say to something like that. He couldn't just flat out say that he wasn't interested, because that might be construed as an insult of some form. He'd have to come up with an eloquent way of refusing that wouldn't insult anyone. It was going to be difficult. Of course, there was always the chance that he'd find a girl here that he was interested in, but part of this game was the thrill of the chase...maybe he'd just say that to get out of being a winner so early on.

It still didn't help that he really didn't know what to expect out of this proposition. The king might have his mind set on just about anything. Who was to know what he had in mind? He sighed softly and just lay there in his bed, staring at the ceiling. There was nothing to be done about it right now. Right now he was resting after his journey. The rest of the story would fall into place soon enough, he was sure.

Bathing!

A refreshing dip in the springs was exactly what Minx needed to calm down. She had been on edge as of late with the continuation of this stupid event she wanted time alone, time to think and come up with a plan that would throw a serious wrench in her dads plans. Maybe so much so that everyone would just have to leave. Though she didn't want to do anything short of destroying the castle itself she had to find some means to an end for all this.

For now she would play her dads current game. Just take it all in strides. Don't get wooed during the mating festival and the event would be shortened. After that maybe another proposal would be offered to end this fiasco all together. That would work greatly in her favor.

Slipping out of her clothing, Minx took her time slipping into the cool spring. It wasn't too cold for the time of year a perfect blend thankfully it had a natural warming feature which she could enjoy. To the end of the spring was a waterfall that reached far into the sky. She swam over sitting on a nearby rock as she began cleaning through her long hair. Humming a soft tune she enjoyed some time to herself, showing a side of herself that wasn't at all like her, well at least no one would know about it unless she wanted to show such a docile calm appearance. No that wouldn't do, she had to be a strong hard hitting princess or other nations would assume her weak and take advantage of that fact to try and overthrow her upon taking her crown.

It was oddly funny that she already excepted her fate as Queen. That she had no problems with but she wasn't interested in a weak king either. And so early in life her father saw it fit to marry her off? So annoying. No it was best she lived her life peacefully, have a few adventures, travel around and see different nations. Maybe even join with another nation's prince after getting to know him and making sure he was of a strong heart, cunning and good looking. She chuckled to herself continuing her lovely tune while she washed through her hair under the gentle flow of the waterfall.

Sneak sneak sneak; slide on by. Daddy seemed far too lost in his own merry world to pay any real attention to the noises of the castle, something Wynn was more than happy to discover. Continuing up the steps to the suitors' quarters, she wrinkled her nose at the first few doors, the stink of over-used colognes and some of the suitors who would rather get by on their natural scent than attempt to bathe. Oh, yes; they were just wonderful.

Still, she had made a little promise to Cale. He was a nice enough fellow, and if he felt that this Johnathan was deserving of a kind welcome, she'd provide it. Not that she planned to linger any longer than she needed to; she had come to pick up her sisters' common practice of doing what needed to be done and just meandering off on her own. One thing that seemed to be quite genetic about all of them from their father was the rather short attention span to less than appealing situations.

Arriving at the newly arrived man's door, she gave herself a final check-over, licking the tips of her fingers and brushing them over the front of her hair before knocking on the young man's door. Waiting for him to answer, she tipped back on her heels, running her tongue on the inside of her cheek as she peered down the hall. So this was the suitors' hall. She rarely paid much mind to this side of the house at all, let alone when it was actually being used. She tried to remember what use it had before all these guys showed up... Storage? She giggled at the thought of one of the men rooming here coming across some of dad's unintentionally left behind items- a few old photos, perhaps some of those magazines he guarded from the girls so much...

"Prince Johnathan?," She called out, tapping the door once again, this time a far softer approach. "Prince Johnathan, forgive me if I'm imposing on you, sir. I was just informed of your arrival and I thought that... perhaps.. since you were a late arrival, I could give you a proper welcome. My name is Princess Wynnifred."

She felt so foolish. Introducing herself flat off to a suitor- well, at least this way she'd know immediately if there was yet another pervert running around the rounds, and easily pick him out to the guards to get him out of here- royal blood or not. Hopefully that was simply a fluke with the last fellow. Still, it bothered her terribly to think of more guys like him around.

Hello Princess / Secret

Johnathan sighed softly as he heard the knock on his door and got up. Had Ramos come back to discuss that thing that he wanted to talk about earlier? It seemed strange that he would leave and then immediately come back, but it was hard to argue with something that he didn't know what it was. He took a long breath and slowly pushed himself up off of the bed, staring at the door. Perhaps if he ignored the knocking it would go away. Did he really want to do that though? He sighed and slowly moved forward to the door, his hand coming up slowly. There was no point in keeping whoever was waiting on the other side waiting forever.

When the words came from the other side of the door and he looked up suddenly. So, it was Wynn who was on the other side? He blinked and brought his hand up, placing it on the door for a moment before slowly opening the door. His clear crystal blue eyes looked at the girl who had come to greet him for some reason. He watched her for a few moments, seeming to remain perfectly silent. Well, this was interesting. He wasn't sure what to say or do, but she was there, and that was different. Great...now the rest of the suitors were going to think that there was something going on between the two of them...well...maybe that was a good idea. He could get beat up and then he could just leave or something. He stared at her for a few more moments, remaining completely silent. Well, if he kept things going like this, she'd think he was creepy and wouldn't want to talk to him anymore anyway.

He spoke softly to the girl, "That dress looks nice on you." He stared at her for a few moments. That probably wasn't the best first thing that he could have said to the princess. That was a pity, but it was part of history now, "I'm sorry. I seem to have forgotten my manners. My name is Johnathan Emmet Vanderblane." He looked at the woman for a few more moments and then sighed softly letting his body rest against the door frame a little bit. His eyes remained on the girl for a few more moments, "So you are one of the princesses that all of these men are fighting over? Well, that must be quite a nice position that you're in. You get to pick whoever you want to spend the rest of your life in."

A long sigh slipped past his lips as he looked the girl over for a few moments. For some reason she was more lucky than he was. This was a bit depressing. He stared forward at her for a few moments, paying close attention to her movements and the way that she stood there. He smiled as he remembered something about the girl that her father had said. He smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small pouch of the sour candies that he carried around out of his pocket. He smiled and pulled out one of the candies, slipping it into his mouth, still smiling as he looked at the girl, "I hear you like candies. Want one?" He offered her one of his sour candies, not sure if she would take it or not, and pretty sure that since it was made a point that Wynn liked sweets she probably wouldn't like these. Oh well.

-----

Felix sighed softly as he finished his venture a place near the spring. He took a long breath and stared forward. Things were different and strange now. He could hear some singing. It sounded sort of like Minx, but that wasn't right. It was the sort of thing that had caught his attention though. He had decided that he needed to sneak in a little bit closer and get a better guess at who it was who the voice that he could hear belonged to. He smiled softly as he continued to sneak forward, trying to get to a better listening point. It had taken some work to get close enough to get a better point to listen to the humming, and the waterfall was still making it harder to hear. He was doing his best to stay to his hiding spots though. It was working out pretty well so far.

He tried to take a peek around the rather large rock, and saw what appeared to be Minx's back. He looked at the girl for a few more moments, trying to figure out for a few more minutes who she really was. Surely this had to be one of the princesses, and Minx was the only one who looked like Minx. He stared from behind his rock, completely awestruck by the whole situation and then suddenly went back to hiding himself completely behind the rock. There was no need to stare. He was fine. He would be fine. It would be bad if he was found out here anyway, especially while Minx was in there. She wouldn't have been happy to know that he was sneaking around and had seen her in the bath.

Wynn waved pleasantly as the eyes peered out at her from the crack of the door, doing her best to smile warmly. As it creaked open further, she folded her hands behind her, keeping the pleasantries grin upon her lips... Though it was approaching its limits as he simply looked her over, as though he were sizing her up for- something. Cammie gave that look to guards when she wanted to spar, she was sure of it. He... He didn't want to fight with her, did he? Oh dear, maybe she was the wrong choice to send up here.

No, that wasn't the look at all. She wasn't quite sure why he was looking at her that way, but it made her shiver, the smile wavering upon her face. Glancing quickly down the hall, she had a passing thought on perhaps the Prince being mute. Ohh, that would make things terribly hard, wouldn't it? Wait, Cale had said he overheard the Prince and Daddy talking, which surely meant-

She jumped slightly as he finally uttered his first words to her, a set of six syllables that completely through her off. "My... dress...?," she replied blankly, glancing down, then back up to him with a faint smile. "Um... thank you, sir..?"

As he fully introduced himself, she simply giggled, placing her fingers against her lips to muffle it. "Ohh, Cale was right. That is a long name, isn't it? I- uh.. what?" Fighting over? She looked up at him once more with those lost eyes, shaking her head gently. "My father hasn't been watching his own games very well, I see. My sisters seem to be more the prizes than myself. Minx brings the throne, and Cameron has her knowledge of fighting strategies. Almathea managed to escape this whole fun game..." A slight pout crossed her lips with the mention of her next oldest sister's avoidance of all this. "I suppose I'm more the consolation prize. Daddy doesn't exactly paint me out to be the most wonderful of the group. We may get to pick, but that means we need to get to know them first. I seem to do wonderfully at attracting the jerks and the perverts." She sighed, only to realize what she was saying could be taken in a rather offending way. "N-not that I think you're a pervert, Prince Johnathan! Or.. or that you're attracted to me. Or that- ohhh... I think I've already ruined this." Blushing furiously, she hastily looked to the floor, pressing her lips together as she closed her eyes. Idiot!

Hearing the movements he made in his pocket, she looked up curiously, smiling slightly when he mentioned the rumor on her candy addiction. "I do admit to having a sweet tooth," She agreed, shyly taking one of the offered orbs and slipping it between her lips. After just a moment, the true sour flavor of it hit her tongue, Wynn trying her hardest not to make too noticeable a face over the unexpected tart flavor.

Smiles All Around

John looked at the girl as she struggled not to have her face contort into an expression created by the sour candy. He knew that it was the reaction that she was going to give because to her candy was supposed to be sweet, and was not at all what he enjoyed out of candy. He continued to smirk at her trying to hold back the expression and chuckled softly at her before holding out his hand, "If you don't like it, feel free to spit it out." His smile was still upon his lips, "You're an interesting girl. You don't seem to have any of the reactions to any of this that I expected." He continued to hold his hand out for her so that she had a place to spit the small hard candy out to if she so chose to. It didn't really bother him since he had been in battle for a while and seen some rather unsightly things. A little bit of saliva and a candy was hardly something to turn his stomach.

It was hard to decide what entirely he had been expecting from the girl. He had supposed that what he had thought was that she would be some sort of preppy girl who jumped at the thought of marrying someone and was eager to find a life-mate in the group of hopeful suitors that had been invited here. Failing that he had suspected that she might turn out to be someone like himself who was disenchanted with the contest and really was just enduring it because they lacked the wonder of being able to chose what they did because of those blasted codes of conduct that were forced upon them by people who were higher up. This seemed to be somewhere in between the two, as if she had been one of the previous choices and then had decided that no one had an interest in her so it was safe to drop her guard because no one was looking for her hand anyway. Truly interesting. She sounded like the kind of girl to make a plan with.

His smile remained on his lips and his clear blue eyes continue to stare into her eyes, "I can't say that I'm really interested in this contest myself. I'm much more interested in marrying someone for love than because of the outcome of some silly contest. I'm simply here because, like you, I have little choice in the matter, but I'm looking to make this whole contest a little bit more fun." He chuckled softly his hard candy still caught between his tongue and his teeth as he thought about how they might come up with a plan. He'd need her knowledge of the grounds, and knowledge of the contestants so far if he was going to come up with a truly fun game to play. He wondered if she had any interest in that, "It was very pleasant to meet you, Princess Wynnifred." His smile spread a little bit further, "I hope that the theme of you attracting perverts and jerks does not continue. It would be a pity if you were to end up tied to someone who made you unhappy."

He was no longer certain how much of this was actual concern for the girl, and how much was just him playing his role. He knew that getting kicked out on the very first day would seem far too obvious, which is why he had hoped to last maybe a few weeks or a month before saying anything, but everything that he was saying to the sweet toothed princess felt so natural. Well at least he was pretty sure of one thing. She seemed nice enough, coming all the way here to say hello to him. She didn't need to do that, and if she was attracting perverts it probably wasn't such a wise idea. On that note, it probably wasn't such a good idea to invite her in. She might get the wrong idea and think that his mind was on something that it wasn't...not that he didn't like the looks of the princess, he just didn't like the looks of Ramos when he had talked about what might happen if he did things in his room that he shouldn't have, and having Wynn rush off to him, saying that he was a pervert...well, that might escalate tensions between the two countries, and...damn it...it looked like planning his escape from this contest was going to be more difficult than he had originally assessed it to be.

A loud clang echoed throughout the practice field as two swords connected in a dangerous V-shape before the two swords disconnected with both participants breaking away from each other to make some safe distance between them. One particular participant was, of course, the second eldest daughter of King Ramos, Princess Cameron as she was doing her daily training with her sword skills.

But this time, she wasn't sparring with either one of the guards like she used to before. This time, she was actually receiving training from one suitor as her father had hired this particular suitor to train her in improving her skills with the sword. Her father had a different intention whatsoever to have this suitor become her tutor, of course, in which her second eldest daughter was aware of. But heck, she was actually enjoying the training and she could see she was indeed improving.

"Alright.. That would be enough. You are indeed getting better with your sword playing, Princess Cameron." The male suitor spoke with a friendly smile on his face as he then slid the sword back in its designated sheath. The princess followed in suit and a rather wide smile formed upon her lips, a small flush touched her cheeks as she couldn't help but indulge in the small compliment the suitor gave her.

"Really? You think so? All that training really did paid off, after all." Cameron spoke with much friendliness towards Lucius. After that one month of training with him, they both got along rather well despite the discomfort of one other particular suitor.

"Yes, I do see some great improvement. Your footwork is getting more graceful, and your swinging more consistent. In no time, you may be up to my level, Princess." Lucius continued with his compliments and nodded gently towards her before coming closer to her and giving her one friendly pat upon her shoulder, his friendly smile continued to linger.

Her own wide smile continued before both princess and suitor had a small chat of their own as they headed out from the field to head back to the barracks for the moment to place their weapons in their proper places. The onlookers might mistaken these two to be rather too friendly with each other as they walked beside each other towards their destination. And it seemed the tomboyish princess had warmed up to another suitor among the large number in the castle. Even the princess was taking a liking towards the twins who usually followed the male suitor around.

"So then.. I will hope for your presence for our next lesson, Princess." Lucius then said before he took his leave as he head back to the castle with the two loyal twins behind him. As for Cameron, after she was done with all she needed to do at the barracks, she went back into the castle and into her bedroom as she wanted to take a long bath before she had to go for a special appointment.

It had been a month since her and Alexander had become more than just friends, but of course, both of them agreed to keep this blooming relationship a secret. Despite that, even after a month, she wasn't too certain of her own feelings with Alexander despite she knew she had such a great liking towards him. Although they do still get on each other toes at times.

Sinking herself into the water of the bath, she wondered if she would be daring enough to call themselves as a couple. She was a bit afraid of what her sisters might think of her if they ever find out. The tomboyish and defensive one among the bunch was the first one who got herself entangled with a suitor so soon. Emerging from the water and pushing her lengthened black hair back, she wondered whether she could admit to herself that she felt something deeper for Alexander than just a liking. Once more at the thought, she pulled herself into the water and scrubbed her hair clean. She didn't want to think too much at this point.

After she was done with her bath and drying herself up, she wrapped her bathroom robe onto herself as this time, she actually took the time to pick out the wardrobe she would wear for the day. In truth, she did realized she had become more concious of her looks ever since the development between her and Alexander. Before long, she dressed herself in a long sleeved cream shirt with the sleeves being slightly puffy at the end, along with some matching slacks. On her feet, simple leather boots for now.

Sighing a bit as she then realized she was even combing her hair, making sure that every strand was in place before she headed off from her bedroom and out of the castle to enter the stables. Once greeting with her faithful stallion and giving him some affection, she then brought the stallion out of the stables and mounted onto the saddle.

With her crimson eyes, she was looking out to see if anybody was watching her and then being satisfied that no one was, the stallion galloped off as both rider and creature entered into the deep forest. Their destination was obviously her 'Sanctuary'. She had actually made an agreement with Alexander before that they would usually meet at the 'Sanctuary' so they would not bring any suspicion and also to allow them to have their own quality time together without any disturbance.

Before long, they had arrived to the field filled with flowers and she descended from the saddle, her crimson eyes already catching a familiar figure laying down upon the soft grass. ".. I can see this time you didn't get lost while getting your way here." She joked and the corners of her lips lifted into a smile as she then came forward to stand somewhere close where the form was laying upon. "I hope you didn't wait for me too long.." She continued and a flush touched her cheeks slightly, and at first, she looked rather sky as she gazed down.

"And waste a candy? Oh no, dear Prince. I shall suffer." Wynn made another face atop her original sour reaction, giggling as it retreated from her features. With his comment on her less-than-expected take on the events taking place around her, she merely shrugged. still holding the smile. "With the way our father is, my sisters and I have learned to expect the unexpected. Anymore his antics and strange games are just another day in our lives... though I have to admit, this one is certainly one of the more unique things he's come up with."

As he revealed his own reasons for being in the castle, she gave a quick nod, her eyes widening as he explained more and more on the details. "Exactly! Ohhh, why can't Daddy understand things like that?! I'm sure that somewhere in his head, he can understand that love is a necessary thing in a marriage... After all, he must love Mother, with the way he looks at her, the things he says to her- But why is he trying to force us to choose someone so randomly? There are guys of all sorts here, yes. But you were all basically forced to come here. Not exactly the most romantic of settings, especially with Daddy peering over our shoulders whenever he feels like it."

She blushed a bit, realizing that she had just spouted off quite a number of things to the Prince, a man who had just arrived and probably hadn't even managed to unpack. Still, something he had said left her curious... he wanted to make the game more 'fun'. Not being one to turn down something interesting, her tail was left in a quizzical pose, but the young feli princess did her best to keep from inquiring further. No, no, that was something for a later time- Even if it did drive her insane for the time being. Let the man get settled... Let him get used to the place before you drive him mad with your pesterings, Wynn, she reminded herself firmly.

"Not to worry, Sir. I don't think attracting anyone of that sort will be happening again anytime soon. Between the reactions of my sisters and the guards' immediate expulsion of that man, I don't believe that any of the others will be trying the same approach. Unfortunately, I think that has also left me with the label as Princess Priss." She blew a strand of her from her eyes only moments before rolling them. "I'll leave you to your luggage, Prince Johnathan... It was nice to meet you."

Johnathan looked at the girl, watching her closely as she talked and explained her views on the entire contest. She had a good head on her, that was for sure. He was a little bit worried that she was going to go to some guy who wasn't going to appreciate her. He smiled softly and brought his hand up, tracing his fingers through his hair for a moment as he listened to everything she had to say. He nodded slowly to her, knowing that everything that she was saying was true. This whole contest was really strange, and didn't make all that much sense, but maybe they could come up with some sort of crazy way to make things better. He smiled softly as he thought about how he could make things more interesting.

He brought his hand up when the girl turned to leave him there and brought his hand up as if he was holding it out to reach for the girl, "You really want to rush off?" He smiled softly looking at her and slowly bringing his hand down, letting it rest at his side, "I'll bet that with someone as smart as you around it would be easy for me to find the best way to make this contest the most interesting." He smiled as he looked at her. He knew that the girl would be interested in anything that he could say or do that might change the contest. It seemed that she was bored and unhappy with the way that things were going. He wanted to see what he could do to change all of that. The girl would be on board with it, and he knew it. She'd be eager to help our, or maybe she wouldn't but either way, she'd probably stick around for a little while.

He smiled still holding his hand out to the girl. He wasn't sure what he could do now, all he really knew was that he wanted to talk to this girl, and have her help him come up with a good way to make things more interesting. He smirked as he looked at her for a few more moments and then spoke softly, "Of course if you'd rather not stay here and do something else...I guess that's cool too..."

Wynn hesitated in the doorway as the Prince raised his hand to her, looking back at him curiously. Smiling as he continued, she simply gave a shrug, clicking the remnants of her candy against her teeth. "Oh, I suppose I do know a few different secrets about this whole thing. And I bet the hidden passes all over the castle and its grounds could lead to some very fun things..."

Johnathan seemed different than the last few fellas she had talked to. For one thing, he certainly wasn't arrogant. Most of the guys who had spoken with her worried more about themselves than even bothering to ask Wynn her name, referring to her either by one of her siblings' names... or attempting to guess it and being horribly wrong. 'Mint' was the worst she had heard. 'Mint'? Where the hell had he even pulled that out of?!

"You've already made my day far more interesting, Prince Johnathan," She confessed with a smirk, turning back around to face him. "I"d love to see what else we can do with it."

Still, she had her worries over her father. If he were to find out that Wynn had entered into the newest arrival's room in just a few minutes of talking with him, he might go ballistic on the poor guy. "Would you like a tour of the castle? My father most likely gave you the rushed version that everyone receives... He really has no patience anymore. Everything is go, go, go. I think this contest is more of a strain on him than he thought." She laughed at that, the idea of his big plan backfiring even in the slightest rather amusing to her. "I can give you a more relaxed tour."

He watched her for a moment as she mentioned that he had already made her day better. He smiled softly as he looked at her for a moment, trying to think of what he could say to that. He hadn't been told that by doing nothing he was able to noticeably improve anyone's day before. There was something strangely enjoyable about hearing that he had made the girl's day better. He smirked softly and pushed himself up, slowly following after the girl, as she instructed. He smiled as he looked at her carefully as they walked out. He smirked softly and followed her, getting ready for the tour of the castle.

"I actually didn't receive a tour of your castle at all. I arrived late, so I assumed that it was just normal given my circumstances. Your father also seemed to be a little bit preoccupied with some sort of scheme that he was putting together. He told me that he would likely talk to me about it later." He smiled as he looked at the girl for a few more moments, watching her carefully, and paying attention to all of the things that she pointed out on the journey through the castle. He smiled softly and followed the girl on the journey.

He slipped his fingers into his pockets as he continued to walk along behind the girl. He didn't know what else to say. He supposed he could come up with a plan for how they could make the contest interesting...though now that he thought about it he was going to be given a whole lot of things to think about anyway. Ramos wanted him involved in the contest or he wouldn't have said the things that he had said, and if he was part of Ramos' schemes, then this was going to be interesting. He took a long breath and looked at Wynn for a few more moments. He knew that with Wynn and his own plans things would become even more interesting even quicker though. That would be interesting. It would be nice to have his own plans and see how things went, and it would be good to have someone who knew their way around and knew the things that were going on to help him do it.

He wasn't sure how the girl could be helpful other than the ways she had already mentioned though. He knew that there were other ways that hanging around with her could benefit him, but he didn't know what they were. He smiled softly as he looked at her and considered it all for a few moments, "Well, if I knew what groups here would make good couples if they could get over each other, I'm sure we could have some fun playing match maker with everyone..." He smirked softly as he looked at the girl for a few moments, thinking about it, "Of course there is a certain benefit that we get from hanging out together. As long as I'm around I can't imagine any of those perverts chasing after you. That's something I'm sure we can all appreciate." He took a long breath wondering why he had actually said that. The girl wasn't going to agree. She was going to think that he was trying to win her over or something. Was he trying to do that? He wasn't sure. He didn't think he was, but maybe he was. He wasn't sure anymore. Interesting.

He was enjoying spending time with her, but really, she wasn't treating him like he was a prince, and that was refreshing for him. He was sure that the rest of the princesses would probably treat him close to the same way, but something about the sweet liking princess suggested to him that there was a very different experience that he was getting here, something that he wasn't going to get with any of the other princesses. That was actually rather interesting. He let out a soft yawn, "Anyway...I'm sure that someone who has been involved in this game as long as you have knows a thing or two about interesting things that are happening around here. Surely you've come up with an interesting plan or two of your own on how to make things more interesting, or how to make sure everyone gets down to the happiest ending." His smile was still on his lips as he looked at her, thinking about it carefully. There were certain to be all kinds of things that they could do to make this contest more interesting.

"No tour at all?," Wynn repeated in disbelief, her eyes wide as she looked at the Prince. "Ohhh, Daddy certainly is slacking...." She paused as he mentioned father having another scheme in mind, and that he had plans to include the newly arrived young man in these plans. Well, that didn't sound very good at all. Maybe if she got closer to him, she could find out a bit more on this plan when Dad revealed more to him?

Ohhh, how fun would that be; to team up with Daddy's supposed new ally to completely turn the tables on his plan? She wondered, from everything Johnathan had already told her, if he would be up for such an idea. To have him in on it would be far easier than trying to play with the Prince... and besides, Wynn wasn't sure if she could truly pull such a thing off. Minx? Most likely.... a trick or two on a fella's mind would be child's play for her oldest sister, but for the youngest of the group, sometimes it was harder than she thought. Of course, it could have been her own doubts that made the task so much more complicated-

Aahhh, but thinking like that only made her even more confused.

"Oh, yes, yes! There are a few that could be just wonderful together, if they could stop hissing and swatting long enough to realize it themselves," Wynn agreed, clasping her hands together as she nodded. She paused as his other statement sunk in. He was right- If those nastiest of nasty suitors saw that she was already spending more time with another caller, they would think she was off the chasing grid, wouldn't they?

"And it would also make Daddy think that his contest is moving along further than he expected," she added with a smile, glancing up at him. "You're very smart, Johnathan. I wouldn't have even thought of such a thing! I've just been... well, hiding." She blushed a bit at that. "I know, not a very brave thing to do. Well, they weren't being very chivalrous towards me, and if they didn't want to play nice, neither do I!"

She sighed whistfully as he spoke about happy endings. "I really do want my sisters to find love. They're just so stubborn that- it's very hard. Mother says that everyone has someone. But did Daddy really expect that that Mister Magical for each of us was going to show up at this thing? it's like he's forcing us to just shove a finger out and decide 'he must be it, I guess'." She scowled with that, folding her arms over her chest. "Mother told me that Father had woo'ed her. Truly won over her heart in his own way.... What do we get? This simply isn't fair. There's no wooing at all. Just disgusting displays of how macho they think they can be, or how big a fool they can make of themselves. That's not impressive at all... It's depressing."

Taking his hand suddenly, she led him to the staircase that led back to the kitchen. "Come with me! You need a true tour, and I want to give it to you! We'll start in my favorite place... the kitchen!" She grinned with that, shaking a finger at him playfully. "And not for the reason Daddy most likely told you. I have a secret door there," She whispered in a hushed voice. "It leads to a chamber that runs throughout the whole castle and can get you into almost every room! I found out about it from our captain of the guard when I was little... My sisters and I used to hide there when Daddy was mad at us."

Johnathan had followed the girl on the little tour. He really wasn't sure what to expect out of a tour. It wasn't like the girl was going to tell him all the secrets about getting around the castle, and all of the places that she would hide when she didn't want to get seen. That would just be silly. For all she knew he was working with her father. She really wasn't going to trust him, and he knew that. He was surprised as a result when she told him that they reason she wanted them to go to the kitchen first.

Really, he had thought that if she was going to take him to the kitchen it would be some sort of thing where she would see what kind of guy he was magically from what kind of food he picked for a meal. He had somehow pegged the sweet loving girl as some sort of plotter who was going to try and figure out exactly what kind of guy he was but without asking him what kind of guy he was directly. It would all be about cleverly trying to figure out who he was with questions that had nothing to do with who he was. He imagined it being very tedious as she gasped a lot as she thought she had realized who he was...and eventually he'd just start picking things that he wouldn't normally pick in order to play with her a little bit and see what she thought when he picked unusual things. He smirked at her but really, that wasn't why she was brining him to the kitchen.

He was surprised to find that she seemed to trust him already on some level. That was strange, because he had already shown himself to be a schemer who could come up with plans that weren't always all that good for the people that he was supposed to be plotting and planning with. Now he felt like he had a loyalty that he was going to have to keep up, and it wasn't one to Ramos. Really, Wynn had told him that they should plan and plot together, but she had given him something more than just her plan. She had given him a secret, and he was actually rather touched that she trusted him with something like 'this is the place where I sometimes go to hide from my dad'. He watched her carefully trying to figure why she was telling him this kind of thing. Did she want him to become her brains? Was this some sort of payment for services rendered? Really he hadn't done anything yet, other than point out that his hanging out with her might help her avoid the eyes of those unsavory fellows that she wanted to avoid the eyes of already. He had just pointed out that it was going to happen...it wasn't like she needed to thank him for something he was already going to do anyway.

He sighed softly and thought about how this chamber might be useful. There were certainly a lot of ways when he thought about it. He looked at the girl carefully and spoke very softly for her, trying to be quiet so that no one wandering the halls would overhear, "You know about a set of passages that can get you to almost any room in the castle? That sounds like something that some of these suitors might be really interested in...and a lot of them for completely the wrong reasons." He watched her closely, knowing that she would be able to figure out what he meant without having to think about it too hard. If they could get to almost any room in the castle through these passages, he could argue that the girls weren't safe even in their own rooms. He assumed that their rooms were one of the places that these tunnels didn't go to, or that there was some sort of trick to it that only the girls knew about. She wasn't likely to tell him if there was a trick to it, and he was probably better off not knowing.

His mind had already started working over ways that he could use the passageway to his advantage. If it did go to their rooms and there was a trick to it, he could use it for matchmaking by picking the suitor who was the best suited for whatever princess and dropping them in that room so they could find themselves in a situation where the good kind of sparks might fly. He was interested to see what would happen in a situation like that, just because it was something that wasn't ordinary, but he also knew that there was a certain danger involved in that.

From what he had been told when he had been brought here, the game was working out with Ramos coming up with silly events and festivals designed to get everyone together and show the best side of everyone or something. It seemed to him that if they were going to play matchmaker, doing so at one of these festivals designed to do just that was probably the best idea. The atmosphere was already set up and everyone would be there. Most of the plan would be done for him, he just needed to build a trigger incident to cause things to happen, and that was easy enough. To do that all he had to do was show the girl that the guy who wanted her really wanted her, or show both of them that they weren't so bad together after all and they would fight for each other even if they didn't know they were going to do it before they did. All that took was challenging one of them, and he had become an expert at challenging people and making them do things that they didn't expect themselves to do. It was amazing how hard someone would fight for something they never even realized that hey wanted when they were faced with the threat of it going away or being taken.

The prince brought his hand up, tracing his thumb over his lips. There was the trick question that he hadn't considered yet. Things would not be anywhere near as interesting if the story didn't have enough players. If any of the princesses had already found their prince and just hadn't told anyone about it, then it was just going to be one guy and one girl, and that was not a very fun cast to play with. That meant that he was going to have to include Wynn into the story some how just to keep things the most interesting, but that was going to be tricky, and she probably wouldn't like it very much if he did it in too much of a sneaky way. There were other ways to find the answers that he needed from her though. A smirk crossed his lips before he spoke, "Oh, Wynnifred. About the matchmaking part of the game that we were going to play. Have any of these suitors caught your eye at all?" Either someone had caught her eye and she was now going to spend too much time being bashful and shy about it to answer, or no one had caught her eye and she'd probably just be matter of fact about it. It would be interesting to see which one it was. He continued to smile as his eyes stayed on her to watch every reaction.

Peeking around to be sure none of the castle staff was in the line of sight, Wynn proudly led the Prince across the kitchen floor, glancing back at him as he spoke in a hushed voice. She smirked at his hesitant words, knowing full well that certain less-than-chivalrous suitors would certainly have a field day with such information.

So why did she trust him with it, only moments after meeting him? Something about him seemed trustworthy, especially after hearing his feelings on this whole situation. True, he had confessed being a trickster, wanting to plot out a way to toy with this whole game; but she had a feeling inside that told her this was safe.

Or it may have just been the fact he gave her candy.

"I know what could happen," She whispered in reply, peering into the doorway before looking back at him with a smile. "Especially with those nastier fellows. This passage was on my top list of getting away from some of them... But really, the main reason I've ever used it is Daddy. Or to snag a midnight snack or two." She blushed with that, shrugging as she approached the bare wall between the cabinet and a shelf. It was a rather simple thing to find, really; a slight shifting over of the large wooden cabinet, and behind that could be found the discolored brick.

She was about to press on it when Johnathan called to her, glancing at him over her shoulder rather lazily- until his full question was brought out. Her eyes widened a bit with that, her mouth opening... and nothing coming out. "M-Me? Oh, no, Mister Johnathan...," She finally replied, shaking her head as she pressed on the brick, sliding it away enough to grip the one below it. "It seems I've nothing of value to the majority of these fellows. And to be honest, I had always had my heart set on finding someone on my own that most of these men simply- they simply do nothing for me. A few friends? Certainly. But to create that spark in my heart? No... None of that has happened."

Tugging the makeshift wall's door outward, she slipped into the small cubby of an entrance, turning about as she stooped to beckon him after her. "It does get bigger as we go further in," She explained in a whisper, moving aside so he could enter as well. "There are many different places this can lead to...."

His question, however, remained on her mind as she led him into the walkway, the tiny carved space growing into an area more welcoming of a standing position. She actually preferred not having one of the current suitors not trying to play these odd games with her; it left her more of a chance to see what was happening for her sisters- the two that still remained in this twisted game of father's. She still had a slight twinge of jealousy towards Almathea for her miraculous escape from going further into this mess, but knew that she would have simply no chance of doing the same. She was of no use in political issues, aside from playing welcoming party for visiting officials. She still remembered Mother's words on sending her out; let the innocence of youth greet them. Armed with flowers and nip sprigs, a letter from her father and primmed in her most elegant of dresses, she was reminded to smile widely and escort them up to her father with the guards.

But her use now in such things? Not as much as it once was. Her adorable innocence seemed gone, unbeknownst to her father that it was spent on the same young guard who led her back the castle earlier today; Cale. Of course, this little secret was kept between herself and the man in question, both of them knowing that revealing such a thing would certainly mean trouble for them both.

"Look here," She whispered out in a barely audible breath, shifting a small brick in the wall beside them and pointing into the hole left behind. "This is my Father's study. That big oak armoire in the corner? His liquor collection; or at least, the majority of his favorites. He's also stored some of his cigars in there...."

John smiled at the way that the girl seemed to be completely helpless at the mention of her having her eye on a suitor. The only reason she'd have a reaction like that was if there was far more than she was actually telling him, and that piqued his interest. He made a note of it. He wasn't just going to drop the subject like that. He would remain quiet for now though. He might as well try and enjoy the tour. He was sure that it was going to be rather educational, especially if at any point he found out that there were ways of looking in on specific rooms. This was not a good secret to be sharing if at any point it let him look into, or sneak into one of the princess's rooms. He knew that, and he knew that she knew that, so if it came down to something like that, the biggest question was why. Why would she share her hiding spot with him? Why would she share with him the secret that would let him sneak around and take peeks wherever he wanted? This was...strange. It was like she had heard that he had plans to mess everything up and then had decided that she'd offer him whatever help she could in messing things up. This was the second clue that he had needed to arrive where he needed to go on his earlier question.

When they arrived at their first stop and the girl pulled away a brick so that he could look in on the room that had been hidden behind it, he smiled. So this was the king's study? Well, he definitely knew about this hiding spot if there were places that took them where they could look at the king. He couldn't imagine a king having a place like this in his castle and not knowing every detail about it, including what kinds of people were getting into it and when. Maybe this had been some sort of clever trap to be rid of him, but he wasn't entirely sure what the point was. He wasn't here to cause problems, and he wasn't even interested in the other things that could be found here. This wasn't even really a vacation for him. He supposed that he was one of the few suitors that could really empathize with the princesses if they really weren't interested in suitors. He had all of these castle things at home. The only difference today was that he had to deal with the princesses and other suitors, and he didn't really want to deal with any of that any more than he had to.

As they moved on again he let his smile spread across his lips. It was time to return to their conversation from before, "So your eyes are set on someone who isn't a suitor then. Interesting." His eyes remained on her watching her every reaction, "I have to admit it wouldn't have been as interesting if you had admitted it right away though."