Felidea Royal Court

[RPMate]

Tagor only shrugged as he was asked/forced into helping the four daughters in their scheme of foiling their fathers plans, and knew he'd probably be doing the same thing he'd been doing in the past few years.
He'd carry out their tasks light heartedly, at least the small ones that didn't hurt anyone, anytime the daughters did ask him to do something that was unreasonable or even had the possibility of getting them all into deep trouble Tagor would find away to get around it.
Usually this was done by distracting the current princess he was with something else or saying he simply forgot and apologize for it.

King Ramos however was a cleaver king, much older then any of them and possessing every trait he could see within his daughters.
Whatever the sisters planed Tagor was sure the king was planing something of his own to counter their's at every turn.
It was actually because of that that the king was as a good of a ruler as he was.

While King Ramos was to be respected Tagor and him had never really been on good terms with each other, and even though the king had assigned Tagor personally as a guardian over his own daughters, he could never approve of him as a true Feldean warrior, especially after the incident, which involved a fiasco against the dogs of war and had Tagor striped from his rank and repositioned as a simple guardian of they royal family.

Tagor scratched the back of his white mane as he listened in on the four sisters plans, his tail smoothly gliding back and forth calmly without any real direction.
What was the past was the past Tagor thought and he had to be ready for the now and be ready for whatever the future may hold.

 

[Kuuroinochou]

Enter King Ramos and Queen Amelia

"I swear Amelia those girls are trying to drive me up the wall. What part of be prepared to great your suitors did I not specify?" The gruff voice of King Ramos filled the room, echoing off the walls as it reverberated in his ear. He turned a crimson eye to his wife who sat idly trying her best not to find amusement at his expense. That failed miserably as she began to giggle covering her mouth to hide that fact. Ramos squinted his one eye huffing. "You do that on purpose m'lady." He growled then turned again.

It was at this time he was burning a whole in the carpet which sat upon stone floors. Pacing back and forth his tail waving in irritation, the King stopped abruptly before reaching into his back jean pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. "Ah my salvation." He sighed bringing the pack to his cheek to caress. The queen giggled again noting just how child-like he could be in his actions. His eye snapped to her instantly at the giggle to which she coughed trying to stifle her mirth. With his attention back on the cigs he slapped the box against his palm producing one cig where he removed it with his lip and returned the pack to his pocket. And as usual for the king he had no way of lighting the offending cancer stick as he patted himself in search of matches. Seemingly from no where a candle was raised to his cigarette as he eyed his wife. "M'lady, I thought you hated for me to smoke?" He questioned even as he lit the cig.

She shrugged returning the candle to the candelabra on the table. "I figured either I support your habit or you go behind my back and do it anyway." She smiled knowing just how stubborn he was about his cigarettes. No matter how many times she had stole his cigs and even ordered the townsfolk from selling to him; he had found other means. Most dealing with methods that were similar to a child throwing a tantrum. As such, he even sent a merchant to the dungeon for a week simply because he wouldn't allow the king to purchase cigarettes from his stall. Of course the queen found out and released the man compensating him and reprimanding the king for being such a baby about it. Eventually, she realized he would raise hell over his cigs so lifted the band and simply regulated his intake. So far so good... one pack in one month maybe he would quit soon.

Ramos shrugged stuffing his hands in his pockets as he continued to pace back and forth. They were in the tea room where he had asked the girls to meet at noon. The suitors would be situated in the castle first and meet the girls shortly thereafter... only there was a problem. NO GIRLS!

"Where the hell are they?" He shrieked the sound echoing off the large room once more. A breeze from the open window played upon his skin causing him to look out the window for a brief moment. Almost as if he'd forgotten his train of thought. He shook his head then turned upon a man who was standing at the door. "Go find them!" He seethed; though his anger was mostly annoyance. He was used to this by now but it didn't make it any less annoying. "Why do they insist on being so damn insufferable?" He questioned to no one. Amelia - the queen - spoke up. "Because they take after you, my beloved." Ramos snorted taking a long drag of his cig. He knew this but hated to be reminded. "It's so unfair! I blame this on my father, he cursed me. He told me I'd have kittens that would give me a run for my money. But this is obsurd; I'm tellin' ya Amelia it's the curse. If he wasn't already dead I'd go back and dig up his grave and kill him again myself."

The queen gigglesnorted unable to help herself. "That's quite graphic, my dear. You know your father didn't curse you. Those girls are a blessing so stop acting so childish." Amelia spoke up coming to hug her husband. "I'm not childish. How can I afford to be when I have to run a kingdom? And on top of that I have daughters who are blatantly disrespectful." He snorted but knew she was correct in a few things. He still couldn't help throwing his own kingly tantrums where the girls were concerned. Which was what he was doing. "I'm going after them!" He stated but was stopped by his queen who only hugged him tighter. "No you don't. Leave them be, the suitors haven't had time to settle yet."

"I don't care. I need to speak with the girls." And just like that he went to the nearest open window, stuck his head out and yelled. "DAMNIT IF YOU GIRLS DON'T GET YOUR ASSES UP HERE RIGHT NOW. I'M CUTTING YOUR ALLOWANCE FOR A DECADE AND MOVING YOUR ROOMS TO THE DUNGEON!!!" He huffed after shouting that, nevermind the suitors might hear him and consider him insane. He didn't care in the least. It was a well known fact this royal family was far beyond strange, each and everyone of them... well maybe not the queen but only time would tell for that. Amelia simply sighed patting Ramos on his head to calm him. "There, there... I'll send out a messenger to find the girls. Just calm down." And as promised said messenger was sent to find the girls and give them word, though she didn't doubt they had already heard their father from the window.

(( Amelia can be NPCed but she's not that big of a plot developer unless someone wants to make her that way. ))

 

[UnseenMaiden]

"We should probably go save whoever it is from her wrath before she hurts somebody."

A smile twitched at her lips. She was tempted to ruffle Wynn's hair as she used to when they were small, but she'd just fuss. Besides a time was soon approaching when they would no longer be kittens at all. They were getting far too old for such silliness.

"Alma! Wynn! Shh... there's a guy out there stealing my apples. Be careful he might try to steal your treats Wynn."

"my treats?!,"

Looking at her eldest sister, she frowned and sighed mentally. Now it was going to take forever to calm Wynn down. Though she was terribly curious to know what happened. She figured the stealing apples bit was real, but she highly doubted that whomever had done such an offensive thing was going to come after thempersonally next. Her sister was rather overprotective of the fruit after all, or anything else that she deemed was hers for that matter. Not like they all weren't. Even their father would get riled up if he didn't get the piece of meat he wanted at dinner. Both amusing and terrifing all at once really.

"Don't lie to her, Minx."

Of course her words went unheeded. Truth be told they rarely listened to her if they didn't want to hear what she had to say. It wasn't like she could make them listen after all, like Cameron could. No matter how annoyed she might get with her siblings, she couldn't bring herself to yell at them, dominating their attention with sheer volume.

"That's just not fair! Daddy's letting all these new people eat all OUR stuff. We're the royal family here; why do they get to put their dirty icky paws all over everything and we get stuck with the nasty leftover things that Chef made earlier? I don't want leftovers. I want the good stuff! I don't want any of these stupid suitors.... Tagor, make them go away. All of them. Tell them... tell them Daddy changed his mind or something."

She could've said a lot of things to that. Like how Wynn shouldn't eat nothing but sweets because they were bad for her. Or that when she was in the mood for it, the younger sister actually liked tuna. For that matter, Almathea liked tuna very well and preferred it to the overwhelming sweetness of the sugery pastries, she'd seen prepared for the welcoming banquet tonight.

Stupid welcoming banquet. Frowning to herself, she sat down, gnawing on a tuna torte and idly watching MaCavity as he had just found his tail to be the best friend he could ever have. She may have had a slightly different reason than her sisters and a lot more confidence that even if she was exposed to the suitors for the entire month, she still wouldn't be swayed. But that didn't mean she was anymore keen on having to sit through a formal dinner and make polite with who knew how many wealthy young men for the sake of state and country. It was so boring.

"Bleh. You slobbered on me, Almathea. I need to go get cleaned up. I smell like tuna now."

Looking over at her, she giggled as Wynn hurriedly tried to clean off the mess of spit and frosting on her face. It looked like she was going to need to have it properly washed to make herself half presentable again, the way she kept rubbing it in.

"Che. As if it would be that easy to do that, Wynn."

Surprised, it took her a moment to realize that she was talking about making the suitors go away, instead of Wynn getting clean. Which reminded her, she still didn't know what all this stuff about stolen apples was from. Raising an eyebrow at Cameron, her elder sister indulged her with details that sounded reasonably sane, unlike Minx a few moments ago.

"There was a male feli at the entrance of the castle.. Could be one of Father's chosen and potential suitors for any of us.. It seems Father had already acted so quickly on his words. He would not be the only one who would be coming.."

"Ah"

She'd already known they were coming. Idly she wondered if the one she had spotted was the one that had taken the apple. It didn't surprise her now. Nobles and their servants were always so quick to judge on appearances and Minx made sure to capitalize on this every chance she got with those peasant and servant garbs she wore. She almost felt sorry for the tom. He'd most likely fallen right into her sister's most common trap.

"Wynn, Minx, Almanthea.. We better think of some plan to foil Daddy's plans to marry us off.. Tagor, you are going to be in this plan, whether you like it or not. Anywho, we are not certain about what Father is planning.. He could already have a silly plan to get us alone with the suitors for all we know. What do you say though?"

"DAMNIT IF YOU GIRLS DON'T GET YOUR ASSES UP HERE RIGHT NOW. I'M CUTTING YOUR ALLOWANCE FOR A DECADE AND MOVING YOUR ROOMS TO THE DUNGEON!!!"

Almathea's ears twitched as their father yelled for them, the sound echoing faintly down the hallways and over the courtyards.. Then she waited for all of half a minute before clearing her throat.

"I believe we should probably indulge our father for a moment, before his threat becomes more than idle."

Her words were soft, calm as usual. Not that she wasn't nervous underneath it all. Tensions were high and she'd rather not have to spend anytime in the dungeons at all. Their mother would make sure that such a punishment wouldn't stick but it was still terribly unpleasant.

 

[RPMate]

Even Tagor flinched slightly, and had his ears fall to the sides of his head while his tail drooped, from the shout of the siblings father demanding their presences in the royal feats hall.

After a short time later Almathea was the one to break the silence and Tagor nodded in agreement with her, knowing that now if he didn't perform his duty as a royal guardian he'd be the one punished the most.
Unlike the princesses he didn't have the advantage of seeing any fatherly love and forgiveness as they did to get out of trouble, and it was already bad enough he'd be chewed out later for not having brought them sooner.

"I'll have to agree with Almathea on this one. Time to face the music I suppose. Sorry girls" He said then playfully started to usher all of the sisters in the proper direction.
Tagor was of course ready for any attempted run aways, namely from Minx and Wynn.

 

[Mephistophelily]

The sudden bellowing yell of their father from the castle caused Wynn's ears to fall back in a sudden panic, realizing now that their father was more than just annoyed with them- he was pissed. When he discovered Jinx's harrassment of the newly arrived suitor, it wasn't likely to improve his mood very much. "Nice job," she hissed, glaring at her oldest sister as Tagor herded them towards the castle. "Now we're all gonna be in trouble, miss 'don't-touch-my-trees'. I thought you hated apples anyways!"

Frowning as they approached the main doors, Wynn's tail lashed about angrily, still blaming the majority of their father's rage on her older sister- even if each of them had actually taken their own part in angering the king. Stealing from the kitchen probably wasn't going to leave her too high on his list either, but she wasn't going to acknowledge that fact. It was all Jinx's fault. Wynn never did anything wrong!

Her stomach felt odd. What was this all about? Because the king was angry? But they had made him mad plenty of times before, and Wynn had never once felt sick to her stomach during those times. Or was it from the idea of meeting his 'guests'- the men they were supposed to pick as possible grooms? That was a good possibility. She wasn't all that interested in meeting with anyone right now. Maybe she would join in on her sisters' plot to throw a wrench in daddy's plan.

"Hi Daddy," she purred as they entered the banquet hall, trying to produce the sweetest of grins that she could... Only to lose it as soon as she saw the stern look residing on the King's face. Ouch.

 

[Silver_Identity]

Cameron's form flinched gently as they heard the familiar tone of their father, and he sounded not too pleased with any of them. What worse for her was, she remembered how she handled one of the suitors from before and she almost groaned out of realization. If their father found out about it, he would be so utterly furious with her and perhaps would give her just more than a long and annoying lecture. This did not look too good for both eldest daughters among the sisters. She knew both Minx and herself would be in so deep trouble, if their father knew what had happened.

"Yes, let us entertain our father before his anger brew even more." Cameron said with a defeated sigh and she followed her sisters, along with their faithful guardian to the banquet hall where their father and mother were. Their youngest sister tried to soften their angry father with her usual sweet smile but the trick didn't work on him this time. He must be furious with them, if that happened.

When their mother laid eyes upon Cameron, she walked towards her and began lecturing her about wearing the proper dresses as she was needed to look decent for the potential suitors who they would meet soon. "Mother.. Please. You know I despise wearing such clothes.. They are too uncomfortable for me to wear." Cameron replied just like that which made their mother sighed out of defeat.

When she turned to her father, she produced a small smile towards her father. It was not too often to see Cameron smile, and the rest of her family knew that. "Father. It's good to see you are well.." She nodded her head towards him, knowing her father must be having a throbbing headache when he saw how she was dressed as.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Vincent was dreaming, moving about slightly as he slumbered and occasionally whispering a word or two from his dream, that was until the kings shout woke him up and possibly struck him deaf at the same time, he jumped from the seat he was curled up on and landed on the floor with a thump

“I didn’t take the banana split, I promise!” he looked up with pleading eyes, still thinking he was in the dream for a few moments before coming to his senses “I so took the banana split” he chuckled to himself and popped his head out the window “the living hell was that? The hell are we, are we there already? Why didn’t you wake me?”

The guards shuffled on the spot, trying to think of an answer that would calm him down “well, its just, if we woke you then you might…” they trailed off, to cowardly to mention the incident from long ago.

“I swear, I kick one guy up for interrupting my nap time and you lot never let me forget it, you too are gonna get it for that” the guards groaned as the prince climbed out of the carriage, he probably didn’t have time to change, luckily the armor was shiny enough to pass for dress armor “im going for a walk” he walked through the gardens, taking a moment to admire them, they had some nice apple trees, but he figured there would be a feast of some kind so he didn’t take one.

Eventually he caught sight of a group of girls and a guard walking along, they were probably going to wherever he was meant to be, so he tagged along but stayed far enough away so that if he turned out to be wrong he could just move away without anyone noticing.

 

[Kuuroinochou]

Minx & Ramos

Minx's ears flattened as her tail fell flat against her legs. The king's loud roar was akin to a lion as he yelled his displeasures from the window. She looked up but knew he was possibly on the other side of the castle. Yet and still he managed to scream that far? She rubbed her ear irritably as she followed quietly behind her sister. What if he knew about the incident with that guy earlier. He had stolen her apples it was only right that she give him a hard time.

Though she couldn't help but to glare at Wynn who responded to her dislike of apples. "So I dont' have to like the apple. I just like the juice." Truth be told more apples meant plenty of apple juice. The task of chewing the grainy fruit was lost on Minx who tended to choke on the skin of the apple every time. Eventually she was forbidden in eating them though; Chef managed to find a better alternative for the young princess.

As they entered the hall, the king was sitting on his favorite chair at the end of the table. The chair was held to the side of the table where he drapped one leg over the arm rest, his elbow resting on the other and one arm drapped over the back of the chair. He had his familiar cigarette in his mouth taking a long drag of it as his crimson gaze bore into each of his daughters. Wynn got an annoyed glared at her attempt to down play him. He was not in the mood. He watched as Cameron disregarded her mother's advise for proper garments and used that as his cue to dig his claws. "Maybe if we put armor padding under your dresses you'd feel right at home." His eyes quickly shot to Minx who blanched. "And you... perhaps we should make your dresses from garments off the backs of criminals." Like hell he'd let that happen for either of them but with the way they disregarded their status was tempting him sorely.

Taking a long puff of his cig he eyed each girl again then stood abruptly causing his chair to scratch along the stone flooring. His eyes gazed upon Tagor who remained silent. It was easy for the guard to realize his anger with him. "Let me guess a magical dragon by the name of Puff, frolicked out of The Mist to attack the girls. You staged a daring rescue and brought them back safely. Oh wait!" He sniffed the air. "I dare say! I see no blood and I sure as hell don't smell any. Athough I do smell the ebbing anger waffing off Cameron and annoynace from Minx. Almathea seems a bit jitter while Wynn seems to be worrying over something or other. Care to explain?" He questioned rehtorically as he flicked ash upon the guards boot heading past him and his daughters only to stop behind the girls. They would not dare to turn and look at him. Walking up behind Almathea he placed one hand on her shoulder and leaned forward to whisper though they could all hear. "So tell me has anything interesting transpired that has caused you all to be late? Indulging yourselves in any of Minx's latest schemes, hmm?" He didn't expect an answer and clamped down on her shoulder not hard but enough to indicate that fact.

He then moved to Wynn, taking a sniff of her breath. "I figured. You can't leave chef alone for five minutes you gotta go sneak treats. You're going to get fat if you keep it up then no one will want you." He sighed licking her cheek affectionately, to show that he wasn't as pissed as he could be but wasn't forgiving her either. Being the youngest had its advantages but he tried his best not to let the kitten use them against him. "You know I'm going to punish you for that, right? I think a band on the imports of sugary confections for a month or two sounds reasonable enough." He mused.

His next target was Cameron where he came up behind her playfully punching her jaw. "Damnit kiddo, you can't wear a dress just once without being told? Once?" He asked, then sighed as he took another puff of his cig blowing it into the air. "Whatever, I'll get you a personal stylist so that way I can approve of your dress everyday. And you wont be allowed out your room unless its been pre-approved by me and me alone!" He said this in a sing-song voice almost prancing around her to stop at Minx until he growled. "And you! The oldest acting like a brat! Damnit girl I'm about this close to cutting down those apple trees. Don't know why we have them anyway... you don't even like apples." He snort.

Minx paled. She couldn't servive without her daily dose of cidar. "But daddy--" A black tail came from behind to place on the girl's lips as her father breathed. "Ah ah ah... I wouldn't advise back-talking the king." Minx pouted but remained silent; her eyes turning to her sisters but then looked forward as she tried not to interrupt their father.

"All I'm saying is that you all need to get your priorities straight. Downstairs are some potential mates for you, practically gift wrapped and you're all being so stubborn about it." He finally moved in their line of vision a cocky smirk on his lips. "I mean if my parents had thrown a harem into my lap when I was younger; you'd probably have more siblings." He sniggered but was punched in the arm; only to find Amelia glaring back at him. "What!? You know it's true, babe...er.. m'lady." He smiled sheepishly but quickly turned his gaze to the girls making sure none of them were finding any amusement at his expense.

"Look just go get cleaned up and dressed." Eyeballing Cameron and Minx then, "That means in a DRESS. If you don't know what that is, it usually consists of frilly fabrics that travel past the knee. And I don't mean wrapping yourself in ribbons, Minx." She looked away guilty as charged. Damn! And that would have been funny to see too. "If you need further help then ask KALI, I'm sure she's exceptional in that department." He paused for a moment to finish off his cig as he looked to Tagor though spoke to the girls at the same time. "Be back here within the hour. Not a moment later." His words were then for Tagor alone. "I trust you can handle that." Waiving his tail to shoo the lot away his attention was now elsewhere as he went to the window to look out at the carriages pulling in.

He smiled to himself satisfied with the outcome so far. "I hope you know what you are doing, dear." The queen chimed. Ramos, turned wrapping his queen in his arm by the waist. "Don't I always get what I want? This is just one of many fun ways to do it. Did you see? They thought I was pissed..." The queen sighed nuzzling Ramos' neck. "You really shouldn't tease them like that. They're still young." He only shrugged.

Though it was then he noticed the presence of another who had manged to remain silent thus far. "Hello." Ramos spoke ushering the would-be suitor into the room. He did not let his grip of the queen go however. "You must be here to court my daughters. I'm King Ramos, this is my queen Amelia, I'd like that thank you for traveling so far to attend this event. I trust you had plenty of time to prepare with the invitations sent three months in advance in all." Yep. He had this whole thing planned long before the announcement that morning. It worked out perfectly.

(( Lily her name is Minx not Jinx..lol. Also made an opening for Kali to jump in.))

 

[RPMate]

Upon entering the hall Tagor came to a kneel before the king and queen of Felidea.
This was something all guardians did until told otherwise but Tagor knew he wouldn't be given that privilege.
Especially now that the king was annoyed.

He scolded each of the girls in turn, which had almost become a common practice daily and then when he reached Tagor, it would of been planning obvious that he was in much deeper trouble then the girls. There was to be no excuses for a guardian to disobey or displease his king and Tagor had done this quite a few times already in the past.

"Let me guess a magical dragon by the name of Puff, frolicked out of The Mist to attack the girls. You staged a daring rescue and brought them back safely. Oh wait!" He sniffed the air. "I dare say! I see no blood and I sure as hell don't smell any. Athough I do smell the ebbing anger waffing off Cameron and annoynace from Minx. Almathea seems a bit jitter while Wynn seems to be worrying over something or other. Care to explain?"

"My apologizes m'lord." Was all he could say, having no excuses for himself.
"I take full responsibly for having the princesses late to this event."

The king then flicked some ash onto his boot which made Tagor's blood boil in being treated like some kind of ash tray but he remained silent, while his golden eyes and stiffened tail spoke his anger for him.

As King Ramos finished his speech to the girls Tagors ears twitched upon hearing another enter the room and while not moving from his spot allowed his eyes to wonder over to another male Feli, whom he had never seen before.

"Another suitor." Tagor thought to himself.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Vincent kept following along behind the group when they went inside, but stopped at the doorway, just hanging back as he watched them come face to face with who he could only assume was the king. He had heard of the kings… eccentricities, but he didn’t think he would be so at ease, but then he remembered he wasn’t in his own kingdom anymore, the last royal visitor had described his kingdom as stuck up, and he was now seeing why.

When the king identified the four women as his daughters, Vincent didn’t know whether to gasp in surprise or laugh at the rather comedic scene before him, the whole fiasco reminded him of the puppet shows and plays he had seen as a child.

He watched on in horror and amusement at the hilarious cruelty of the king, forgetting that he was meant to be hiding behind the doorframe because of it. When it was done he took a breath and steadied himself, blinking just as the girls exited the room and the kings face switched from being angry to happy, It seemed to him as if nothing had happened, for all he knew he did, luckily for him the queen called the king out on his actions and proved he didn’t dream it.

"Hello."

His ear perked up and his eyes darted around, clearly he had seen it as too much of a play for his amusement and forgotten that he was standing in plain sight, he was still struggling with the fact that he was addressing him when the king ushered him further inside.

"You must be here to court my daughters. I'm King Ramos, this is my queen Amelia, I'd like that thank you for traveling so far to attend this event. I trust you had plenty of time to prepare with the invitations sent three months in advance in all."

Vincent felt as if he had forgotten his own name, but the memories of the situation came flowing back along with his manners and composure “yes, and might I say you have raised four beautiful and… unique daughters, and I am looking forward to meeting all of them officially, but where are my manners, my name is Vincent, prince of the kingdom of Erisium” he pulled away from them and bowed respectfully to each of them “and as far as the 3 months for preparations, well I made it with only one cut” he pointed to the bandages poking out from underneath the short sleeves of his leather and chain shirts “so it must have been enough time” he risked a chuckle and luckily both of them joined him, so they either found it funny or were nice enough to indulge him, either was good.

The king slapped him on his good shoulder and put out his cigarette “well you’re here, that’s what matters, and try to forget the whole thing you just saw, I only told them about this whole thing this morning” the queen put a hand on the kings chest to silence him so she could talk “they’re not normally like that” the king looked up and thought for a second, then looked back down at his wife “yes they are” she sighed, he knew she was trying to make their daughters look good in from of the suitors, he just didn’t care “but they will be on their best behavior from now on, that I can guarantee, well as long as certain royal guardians who will remain nameless stop indulging their attempts to get out of this that is” he turned to Tagor and glared for a moment before turning back, both Vincent and the queen following his eyes to the kneeling knight, the queen however rolled her eyes when she saw Tagor “oh stand up Tagor” she said, her hand making a dismissive wave to her husbands disapproving look.

“Besides” Vincent spoke up, eager to push through that little bump in the road “by the looks of them, if you had given your daughters three months notice they would have figured out a way to get out of all of this” this made the king laugh again, at least he was making progress with him so far.

“Well all the better for you ay?” the queen tugged on his shoulder “dear, we really must be getting ready, what kind of example would we be setting if you scold the girls and Tagor for being late if we turn up late a few minutes later?” this time it was the king who sighed “fiiine, we’ll go get ready” he rolled his eyes as if it were some massive chore “see ya Vinne, we’ll talk later” he waved and followed the queen out of the room, leaving Tagor and Vincent alone.

 

[Silver_Identity]

Her small smile spread a little wider when her father gave a playful and gentle punch upon the side of her jaw; it did show that Cameron have a soft spot towards her family. But the smile was wiped off rather quickly when she heard him saying he would employ her own personal stylist. What was even worse was, she had to make sure to show her father what she would be wearing for the day before she could exit from her room for the day. That just made her grit her teeth, knowing if she tried to talk her father out of it was a futile effort. Her black tipped tail stiffened in irritation, her black ears drooping over her head. A frown was etched upon her lips, and stayed upon her lips as her anger seeped into her blood. Whoever the stylist was, he or she would be receiving some temper lashing from her. When their father continued to talking with the eldest child, she almost winced when Minx tried to talk to her father but only to be silenced by his black tail.

Her mood didn't brightened up from the humorus display by her parents, but only worsened when her father had made it clear to both her and Minx that he wanted them both dressed properly, which meant she had to wear the silly, frilly garments after all. She scowled softly but she obeyed reluctantly, turning around along with her sisters and left the banquet hall in a defeated mood. It was there when she thought she saw another figure outside the doorframe. But whoever he was, she didn't care for the moment.

She looked over to her sisters, glancing at each of them and sighed softly, "I'll head to my room. After all, we all have to be wearing dresses, which means also including me and Minx.. And you know how much I despise wearing dresses.." She released a deep sigh at the end of the sentence and she went over to Wynn to give a gentle pet upon her head. She knew the youngest might be upset about father's scolding her, so she thought she might comfort her with a small yet affectionate gesture. She gave a nod to both Almanthea and Minx before leaving her sisters to head to her bedroom.

When she had arrived there, she blinked her crimson eyes when she saw a new face who was now her stylist with a few of her maiden-in-waiting. Her eyebrow twitched noticeably as she somehow knew her father must had already acted on his words so quickly or perhaps he had already planned for this all along. Sighing softly, she stepped forward to allow the maids to help remove the clothes she was wearing and to clean herself up in the large bathroom of hers.

After her bath, the female stylist was trying to suggest Cameron on what dress she should wear when she would be introduced to the potential suitors. She eyed many of the dresses, but none of them made her smile and only just made her scowl deepened even more. The stylist flinched softly as her crimson eyes flared. Ohh, she would find a way to get out of this, whether her father liked it or not. She only answered the stylist curtly which made the stylist quite frustrated with her fussy choice of clothes. But seeing that her time was running short, she decided to wear the least frilly and decent dress she saw. It was a simple strapless white dress with a black long ribbon tied around the area under her bust. The dress reaching down to the floor, and brush upon the top of her toes. The material was slightly uncomfortable for her skin though, but she endured it for now. She wore a matching black closed heeled shoes and she sighed deeply when she wore them. There was one more thing she hated other than wearing dresses; which was to wear the supposedly feminine shoes.

The stylist was ushering her to face in front of a long mirror, and while the stylist was telling her how perfect she looked, she was only concentrating on not scratching or removing the dress from her body. This was already a torture for her, and she was not liking this one bit. Her short black hair was brushed neatly, which irritated the female feli even more. To think she have to make herself look pretty to be presented to the group of suitors her father had asked to come. Speaking of her father, her father had entered her room just in time to see Cameron all ready with the dress upon her. Her father's crimson eyes grew wide but then an adoring smile was upon his face. "You look wonderful, kiddo. I'm certain you'll make the suitors' head spin." He commented and he received a deep sigh from his second eldest daughter.

"But.. Father.. This is so uncomfortable.. Especially the shoes.." Cameron began to whine softly; now being all fussy and her hands itched to remove the dress and shoes.

"Now, now. I approve this dress and I expect you to wear this when you meet with your potential suitors. And your mother would be so happy when she sees you soon. But don't be late. I expect you to be in the banquet hall in ten minutes tops." Her father hushed her down, and then leaving her so she could calm her boiling anger down. Her black feline ears fell across her head, wishing she could return to wearing her comfortable masculine clothes. After a few minutes of fidgeting with the dress, she decided to leave her room and to make her way towards the banquet hall in where she would meet with her sisters again, and probably all the male suitors their father called upon.

 

[Bluemage]

Felix smiled softly as he walked down the street, a small sac of gold tied to his sash, the reward for the delivery that he had just made. All in all, this had been a rather good day. He smiled as he walked down the street, his tail swishing behind him as he moved, his head cast slightly backwards to look up at the sky as he walked. His ears had perked up when he had heard the sound of a carriage headed in his direction. He blinked and brought his eyes back down to street level, in time to see one of the merchant carriages headed his way. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at it for a moment, "Hmmm...They didn't tell me that they were going to be sending someone to pick me up. How odd." He shrugged softly and slowly drew his hands out of his pockets, headed towards the carriage.

When he had arrived at the carriage he waved a bit to signal that he was there. He smiled for a moment and then was a bit surprised when someone else who had worked in their little merchant band had stepped out of the carriage. He smiled at the newcomer for a moment and then spoke softly, "Well. You didn't think I'd get lost, did you? Coming all the way out here to get me, like this?"

The man who had just exited the carriage simply smiled for a moment before responding, "We didn't think you were lost, but to be completely honest, we thought you might try to become that way." He motioned for Felix to get into the carriage, "If you would please get in, sir. You are scheduled to meet with the King today. As it is you are probably already going to be late."

Felix groaned and brought his hand up, his fingers running over his forehead while his palm covered his eye, "A meeting with the king? Why do I have to do it? Father knows I hate all of that diplomatic garbage." He groaned again, "Why can't he get someone else to do it? I don't want to go there to have what we can and can't sell and deliver dictated to us."

The man coughed into his fist to clear his throat and put an end to Felix's complaining, "That isn't why you are visiting the castle, sir." He Smiled as he looked up at Felix.

The blue haired feli stood there for a moment, trying to think of other reasons that he would be called to the castle. He hadn't done anything illegal...at least not that the king should have known about...and definitely not recently enough that he would be called up on it. He brought his hand down slowly, dragging his fingers against his face before settling on rubbing the tip of his index finger against his chin. He seemed to be putting a lot of thought into this, or at least that was what he supposed was the case, since the man who had just exited the cart began to search his person for a moment before pulling out the envelop that looked like it had been carried around in a few pockets since it had gotten to where it was now, opened it and pulled out the piece of paper inside, showing it to Felix.

Felix blanched as he looked at the invitation that he had received three months ago that told him that he would be going to the castle to be a potential suitor for one of the King's princesses. Felix brought up his hand again and slapped his palm to his forehead, "Really? That's today?" He looked up at the man with his blue eyes and watched as he nodded an affirmative at him. He sighed, and then reached his hand out to take the invitation from his hands, looking it over for a moment, "I don't see why they need me there. I don't really have what I'd think a princess would be looking for in a man, you know." He sighed and folded up the letter again, slipping it back into the envelope and then slipping it into his pocket. He supposed that the clothes he was wearing right now were suitable for an audience with the royal family. That was probably why his mother had forced him to wear his nice clothes for this one. He really didn't understand why people hadn't just told him what was going on. He would have gone willingly with all of it. He really didn't mind the idea of getting married to a princess. It seemed to have that feel of a fairy tale to it.

These thoughts, as well as the thoughts of what he would do and say while he was there were going through his head as he rode in the carriage, his things packed in the suitcase on the chair across from him. Other that the operator of the carriage, he hadn't been sent with any real escort, which went to prove that his family did know that he wasn't entirely against the idea, since they hadn't done anything to make sure that he didn't try to run away. Really, the only thing that he supposed he would have an objection to would be marrying the oldest sibling, since he had no intention of running the kingdom when the seat became open.

When the carriage finally arrived at the castle, Felix had stepped out under his own power, a small book clutched in his hands that he was slowly thumbing through, his cool blue eyes looking over the pages. He had tied his suitcase to his back with a scarf that his mother had no doubt packed for him since he was supposed to be here for a whole year, and there was no telling what kind of weather he might have to go through. He sighed softly, not terribly interested in familiarizing himself with the scenery, at least not yet. He was sure that he would have plenty of time to do that later. He inhaled the scent of apples, and smiled softly as he wondered what the changes were that he was going to be able to eat any of them, but he knew the value of things as a merchant, and wasn't about to go pick one all on his own...at least not until he knew how much they were charging for apples here.

He smiled and then slowly closed the book around a finger to keep his page. He looked up at a guard who was standing in his way and then fished in his pocket for a moment, pulling out the invitation to show the man that he did indeed belong here. He then walked in and looked around, wondering for a moment where exactly it was that he was supposed to be in this rather large place. Knowing his luck, he really was late, and judging from the other carriages that he saw...there was no doubt. He sighed softly and slipped the book back into his pocket, "Well, would you look at that...I'm here for a few seconds and already I'm lost."

 

[HotKittygirl]

With a sigh Kali flung the sheets over the impressively large bed. Ebon, feline ears twitched lightly as she moved about the square mattress. Her deep red eyes danced about the room curiously, taking in the atmosphere. She was always impressed by the daughter’s living quarters, if not a tiny bit jealous. They had a certain freedom Kali would never taste, but then again they were royalty. What was she? Just a common Felidae, nothing special. With a sigh she reached up and brushed those long crimson locks from her face before bending over at the waist and tucking in the sheets. Her ruffled skirt rose temptingly behind her, offering a hint of those dark colored panties that clung greedily to her backside. Her black tail swished idly behind her as she worked. With the sheets done Kali set about fluffing the pillows and returned to her wooden broom. With another deep sigh Kali set about sweeping. It was a dull job, but it allowed her mind to wander. What was it like to be one of them? Smart, beautiful, and free! Kali couldn’t truly fathom just what that freedom entailed. At least it seemed freedom to her, much better than the stagnant existence of a simple maid. She lost herself in her work, sweep, sweep, and sweep some more. Things were dusted and rooms organized. Clothes and items were picked up and put back where they belonged. It was almost time to do some laundry. With a soft mew Kali retreated from the fabulous private quarters and back to her own. There sat a large, woven basket piled high with soiled sheets and articles of clothing. It might take her the rest of the day to clean up, but already her feet her aching. Another mew and she collapsed onto the edge of her bed before she bent over and unlaced her shoes. They were kicked off and her little toes wriggled as she stretched them. Ah…she could take a little break…no one would notice, right?

 

[RPMate]

"Your will is my own your majesty, I will make sure they behave themselves this evening for "your" invited guests."
Tagor responded in the typical tone of a loyal royal guardian, but with a tiny hint of mock to his voice.
He would never admit to secretly enjoying the kings frustration over his daughters and their rebellious nature that actually reflected his own, and in a way Tagor felt that this was his own form of silent revenge for being sentenced to this position.

“oh stand up Tagor” The queen finally said which Tagor did so, rising calmly and being a little more then greatful to the queen for releasing him from one of the a most uncomfortable positions.

As the King finished his overly freindly conversation with Vincent and then parted with the queen, the foot steps of the entire royal family slowly faded into the distance leaving both Tagor and Vincent alone togeather.

A sudden heavy atmosphere fell over the room then.

Tagor's ears were lowered,
his tail lashing out violently,
his sharp golden eyes narrowed in a threatening manner as they moved over Vincents form, sizing him up while practically glaring at the young feli noble openly.

"I have some preparation to do." Tagor said in a low cold tone that was far different from his first manner of speaking to both the king and the girls.
He turned to leave then, only slowing his foot steps as he glance back towards Vincent.

"Please enjoy your stay here young prince.. we're all in for one hell of a year." Tagor said before turning again with a flick of his tail and leaving the room.

 

[Mephistophelily]

Wynn's ears were as low as they could possibly get as father scolded them all, a whine escaping her as he banned her treats from entering her lips. "Daddy, NO!," She howled, the most pitiful of looks she could muster coming to her eyes. "Not my sugar-!" With his lick to her cheek, though, she couldn't help but let her own tongue jut out from her lips a bit. At least he wasn't incredibly furious...

She didn't quite understand why Minx and Cameron had such issues with dresses. Wynn rather liked to get dressed up, equating the idea that fancier clothes meant a fancier party, which meant fancier food. It wasn't that she liked to pig out, but more the fact there was an abundance of nibbles. Her fear of losing out on something good was greatly soothed when it came to parties. Attention was usually evenly spread, but she still felt that twinge of jealousy if anyone got anything more than her.

With his dismissal of them to get preened and prepped, she hurried up to her room, happily flinging open her closet door and searching for the perfect dress. She had worn so many of these before- and some of them were even hand downs from her sisters. But to wear something one of them had worn before? Ick! Those stayed in the back of the closet. Deciding on just wearing one of her old favorites, a light blue dress given to her for her birthday a few years ago, she attempted to slip it on- and found that it was much tighter in some areas than it once was. Now what was this about? It hadn't felt like this before! Was daddy right? Had she gained weight?!

Impossible! It had to have shrunk. She'd have to ask Kali about that later....

But for now, she gave herself a checkover in her mirror. Not bad! Maybe this change in weight was actually helping her fill out better than she once did. Satisfied with her clothing, she turned her attention to her hair. Not much time for her usual preening of it, instead leaving her with a quick bun and a white flower poking out of it. There!

With an opal necklace about her neck and her shoes in hand, she hurried back to the banquet room in bare feet, grinning hugely as she almost collided with Cameron while sliding across the floor. "Whee! Hi! Did I make it?" She paused, her tail curling behind her as she glanced around. Her other siblings seemed to be running late...

"You look good!," She chimed happily, smiling to her sister as she inspected her dress. "How many people did it take to hold you down so they could get it on you? Did you scratch any of them? I don't know why you hate dresses so much, they aren't all that bad. Maybe if you-"

"Wynifred."

The soft yet warning call from the Queen caused Wynn to cease her questioning, looking at their mother with confused eyes. The Queen only smiled from her chair, resting her finger at her lips as she shushed towards her youngest.

 

[Kuuroinochou]

Huffing irritably, Minx hurried from the grand hall to her room. She missed the figure on her way out the door but only because her mind was thinking a hundred miles a minute. She had to come up with a plan quickly or she and her sisters would suffer the ill fate of marriage long before the years end. Sighing to herself she kicked the door to her room open startling one of the maid servants that had been called prior to her return. "My princess... your father has sent me to help with your evening wear." The timid maid spoke up her words spluttering out in a hurry. Minx was not so unforgiving to take her frustrations out on the maid. Smiling she gave the girl a pat on the shoulder. "I'll take it from here. I promise it will be suitable attire so daddy doesn't take his wrath out on you." The maid nodded stepping back but remaining in the room to help in other areas. Bathing, grooming and applying a mild coating of makup; mostly lip-gloss and a small amount of blush and eyeshadow.

Once the paliminaries were complete, Minx went about her closet in search of a dress that was suitable to her mood this evening. As she shuffled through the dresses, with every passing minute her room became a living disaster of dresses and various garmets. By this time the king had made his rounds ending at his eldest daughters room. He knocked and was let in by the maid who quickly bowed at his presence. "You may leave." He ordered and the girl did that staying low as she quickly exit the room. "Minx?" He called to her finding no sight of her. A soft thump could be heard from the dressing room (joint closet) where she quickly slammed the door behind her. "That's rude you know."

"So what! I'm not dressed yet!" She called knowing it was her father. "Seriously you're going to be late again. You know how I hate that." Minx made a strangled growl but chimed in. "Doesn't that mean you'll be late as well, daddy?" Ramos glared. Minx had a way of getting under his skin and turning situations around on him. Still he was always ten steps ahead of the game. "I'm the king. I can do whatever I want." Or so he thought. "I would imagine, daddy. I'm the princess... I can do whatever I want too." Ramos growled. "Only if I let you." And Minx replied back. "And you always let me. So what is all this about anyway?" Ramos took his seat on the edge of Minx's bed plucking at one of the dresses she had discarded. Apparently, this one would not be apart of her attire this evening. "I came to approve your dress." He hadn't said he'd give her a stylist for the fact Minx would wear a dress if the occasion required but he still knew her enough that she'd take this as one of many ways at getting back at him. "Why do I need approval. It's Cameron that hates dresses. At least I wear them from time to time. Who cares if they are common garbs?"

"I care, Minx. You look too damn common and I fear what would happen if one of the suitors mistaken you for some common girl." Ramos stated, again he was growing frustrated with the oldest, reaching into his pocket he pulled out yet again his trusty cancer sticks. Slipping one into his mouth while returning the pack to his pocket. He began to light it just as Minx stepped out of the closet. The dress she wore was a shimmering black sequin satin sheath strapless gown. Various lips sporadically placed through the gown were accented by pink
and silver hearts. The king choked on the smoke he inhaled beating himself in the chest to expel the offending pollution. "What the hell is that?" Minx gleed, spinning in her dress and silver stilettos. "It's a dress, daddy. You know, frilly fabrics consisting of a length past my knee that are not ribbons." Minx couldn't help throwing his words back at him and smirked even more when she saw the ever present twitch of his single eye. "You're pressing luck. Take that offending dress off. You're not some common bar wench." And again Minx pouted looking at the dress in the full length mirror she turned to her father. "I will not. You didn't specify the type of dress you said simply to wear one. Am I wrong to assume the king is growing senile. You know what they do with senile kings? And with not a single of your daughters married; plus the mysterious annulment of brother's lineage to the throne you'll have to suffer under your sister's rule." Minx knew the king hated his oldest sister. She was like a plague, always butting in where it wasn't needed. "I can have a messenger retrieve her."

The king shuddered visibly but then composed himself. "Shut up! You never let me live in peace. If you call her over here I'm forcing the marriage without your consent." He knew he could never do that. Not to any of his daughters but it was a close enough threat he could play for now. Minx glared at him almost threatening to tear up. If there was one thing the king was good at, he knew how to push buttons and intimidating doing it. She stomped her foot in a huff. "Fine! But I'm not changing! You can push me and my sisters around all you want but I refuse to marry and if I don't they surely won't!"

Ramos sighed irritably. "That's another thing. Why are you being so damn stubborn? Can't you at least let your sisters find happiness? Give them advise, point out some decent suitors or something... don't be so selfish that you would horde them to yourself like this. I'm not being unreasonable, you know. It's just you give me no choice but to force this marriage thing... I'm not letting up until you give up on your sick little plans. And I know you have some." Ramos stood abruptly sucking in more smoke before letting it puff out in a circle. "I won't say it again. Change!" Minx glared for a brief moment before admiring herself in the mirror. She hated wearing long frilly dresses but this particular one was actually quite nice. It wasn't constricting and it had a very appealing message for anyone who cared to pay attention.

Turning to face her father again she stood her ground. "I won't. I won't let them marry, I won't let you force me into marriage... and I will find a way to send every single one of those ill fated suitors HOME!" She whirled on her heels heading for the door but stopped short to look over her shoulder as her ears flattened and her tail lifted haughtily. "I'm sure you understand the language of dresses, daddy. It's how I feel about you, those suitors and this whole fiasco. Ta-ta!" Minx chimed snidely as she made her leave. Ramos arched a brow at Minx peculiar statement as he was preoccupied by his cancerous friend between his lips. After a moment he noticed Minx's dress as she walked out and couldn't help the sudden twitch of his eye. The message she left was loud and clear, with a single lip designed on the region of her ass. There was no mistaking how she felt... And shortly after making her quick escape she heard the roar of her father's disapproval. "MINX!!!! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW AND CHANGE THAT DRESS!" Minx simply giggled as she made her way to the dinning hall to greet her sisters and the suitors.

The queen had dressed and returned to the dinning hall as well only to find a rather intriguing surprise from the oldest daughter. "What a colorful dress, my dear." The queen commented though she meant that in more than one way when she spotted her rear end. Minx winked returning her attention to nothing and everything. She had won that battle but the war was yet over.

 

[Bluemage]

Felix sighed softly as he wandered around rather aimlessly. There really didn't seem to be any activity here, which he was slightly surprised by, since he had expected there to be quite a bit more activity in a place like the royal castle, but that was just the way things were, he supposed, after all, the place was quite large, so there couldn't be activity everywhere. He began to wonder if this was some sort of elaborate practical joke that was being played on him though. He smiled softly at the thought. That really would have taken a lot of work, and he had to say, it sounded like it would have actually been quite fun to plan. He couldn't really be angry at anyone who went to this much work just to prank him. He was almost excited at the thought that any minute, people would jump out and scream 'surprise'.

Of course, no one did that, and Felix found himself continuing to wander the halls. It was then that he had the brilliant idea of actually reading those papers that he had shown to the guard. There was a chance that they might hold the key to finding out where it was that he was supposed to be and what it was that he was supposed to be doing. He felt like a little kitten having looked over something as simple and obvious as that, but then again, he had been told that it might be a good idea to familiarize himself with his surroundings, so maybe it hadn't been a bad thing that he had found himself wandering aimlessly for all of that time.

Felix pulled out the envelope, opening it quickly and looking over the invitation, using his quick thinking by turning the envelope itself into a bookmark so that he wouldn't loose his place in the book, which he was beginning to think might be the only form of entertainment for the time in which he would be in this place, as the castle had so far been rather dull. He looked over the instructions for a moment and sighed. Apparently they would be introduced to the single princesses at some sort of feast. He sighed and looked up. That meant that there was a dining hall somewhere, but he couldn't be sure if he was even close. It could take him a few hours more of wandering before he even found the place, and he knew that if he arrived late, it would have been better to have not arrived at all. He sighed softly, and began trying to come up with a believable excuse as to why he would be late, since he didn't want to be 'voted off the island' on his very first night.

He knew that he couldn't really lie about carriage troubles, since anyone could see that his carriage was already there, and if anyone looked into it they would be able to ask the guards when he arrived, and that would immediately punch a hole in his lie. He supposed he could simply say that he got lost in the grand castle, and then comment some more about how grand it was, just to try and butter the king up a bit, but really, that might make him look like the castle was all he was interested in, not to mention the fact that it made him look incompetent, and really, he didn't need any help working on that one. He supposed he could say that he was accosted by someone who had snuck into the castle unawares, after all, narrowly avoiding a ninja attack was a completely believable story, wasn't it? No, he had to say, it probably wasn't, and if it was, he would have just set up all of the guards, looking for potential assassins who had carefully made their way into the castle without anyone noticing, and that would take them all away from their actual jobs, not a good idea, since he was sure that he was going to need the assistance of the guards, if not now, eventually, and he probably wanted to be on their good side.

He rubbed his chin for a moment and then looked over his shoulder and smiled softly at his suitcase, which was still strapped to his back. Of course. He had been looking for where he would be staying, and had been quite unable to find his room, so he had wandered around looking for it, and had arrived late to the feast. He frowned. That may have been true, but again, like becoming lost in the castle, made him look completely incompetent. This was really going rather badly. Even if he arrived with his suitcase he was going to look bad. He wondered if the other suitors had to deal with all of these problems. Maybe he could make it look like he had meant to bring his suitcase. He always had some goods that he could give the king. He had heard that the king was especially fond of cigarettes, and he did happen to have a pack of those, which he had carried around because he knew that eventually he was going to have to talk to the king. The questions that remained were, if he had the correct brand, and if the king would be able to accept them, since it was also common knowledge that the queen couldn't stand for his smoking habits.

He wondered for a moment if he should just skip the dinner now that he thought about it. He was going to look like an idiot when he arrived late, and he was going to save at least a little bit of face if he didn't arrive at all. It at least showed that he had the good grace not to show up late to a feast. Luckily for him, it was then that he was passing a door that sounded like something was going on behind it. He smiled softly, "Lucky day after all." He then opened the door a crack and peeked in. It looked like he had picked the right room, so he did his best to sneak in without opening the door enough that he would be noticed.

Of course, as with everything that happened with Felix, the moment he had mentioned his luck, it had changed. As he had tried to sneak in he had caught his suitcase, which did not contract and change form like the rest of him, in the door, which resulted in him pulling a little bit harder than necessary. This action of course, caused the door to open more, which released the pressure on the suitcase on his back, which caused Felix, who was still pulling, to stumble forward and trip, falling flat on his face, his tail sticking straight up out of a mix of horror, shame, and pain. He lay there, his face pressed against the floor for a few moments, and simply wanted to cry, having just made a complete fool of himself, just like he had thought he would. This was definitely not good luck.

He lay there for a moment before slowly pushing himself back up to his feet, and dusting off his jacket, pretending that nothing had happened. His blue eyes looked directly down as he slowly walked over to a vacant seat and sat down in it, doing his best not to look at the other people at the table, and not saying anything.

 

[Eazy]

Laying stretched out onto the large bed, even Alexander had to lean toward being impressed over the accommodations provided to him by his hosts. The mattress, pillows and the material covering them were just as comfortable when compared to what he had to sleep on back home, but were considerably greater in terms of size. He almost wished he could have stayed in the palace on occasion when he was younger. With enough pillows, the bed wouldn't only have provided enough space for a good pillow fort, it would have worked just as well as a pillow kingdom for a small kitten.

Giving out a large stretching out with all of his limbs, the feli heard a knock at the door which made his ears perk up just a bit before turning his head in it's direction, "Yes?"

"Alexander? Sir, I'm here to escort you toward the dinning room." The voice of a random servant called out from behind the door, pausing for a moment before knocking again and adding on, "Sir? Are you ready to go?"

"Crap!" Alexander let out before flipping backwards off the bed, tumbling a bit until his back bumped into the nearby wall, ignoring the slight pain as he called back in response, "Yeah! I'm, uh, just trying to tie my shoes! Give me a minute!"

Rubbing at his back a bit, Alexander started to make a dash over toward his luggage, opening each one then going through it before moving on to the next one. He couldn't believe that he'd let himself forget about needing to get dressed for the evenings events. It's not like his father didn't constantly try to drive the point into his head during the final hours before leaving home. Even if he wasn't interested in actually marrying any of the girls, he needed to at least keep up appearances if he wished to stick around here. Not to mention that, going by what he'd heard, it wasn't wise to do anything which may upset the King.

"Ah, here you are!" He said to himself in triumph while opening the suitcase which had his tuxedo wrapped neatly in plastic, giving it a slight look of displeasure before mumbling to himself while taking the clothing out, "Time to put on the monkey suit and start dancing for the people."

The young feli never did enjoy getting dressed, but he'd long since grown used to it thanks to the many dinner parties his mother held at their home. Although he often found himself 'accidentally' spilling something on it and having to leave early for the day. This time, however, he needed to get through the entire evening, all the while trying to act like he was genuinely interested in any of the Princesses. He started to think he should have put more consideration into becoming a stage performer at this rate.

After several minutes of changing clothes while inwardly cursing himself for agreeing to wearing this thing, Alexander begrudgingly looked himself over in the mirror, scrunching his nose at the tuxedo he settled on wearing. Settled on being the key words here, as his father constantly insisted on something which would capture a Princesses attention more, but the boy wouldn't hear of it. In the end, they settled upon one which his parents felt was simple yet elegant, and which Alexander himself didn't completely feel like scratching off with his claws the first time he tried it on. Of course, now he was having a few second thoughts about that at the moment.

"Alexander? Sir, it's getting late!" Called out the man behind the door again, knocking a few more times and trying to turn the locked door knob a couple of times.

"Okay, I'm coming! Don't start freaking out or anything." Alexander called back while making his way toward the door, unlocking and stepping out to greet his current escort around the rather large palace, "One word about the suit and I'll claw your eyes out."

"Uh, of course. This way, please?" The older feli said while leading the way down the hallway, the suitor following behind after stuffing his hands into his pockets, his eyes idly glancing around curiously as they walked along.

The sound of each male's footsteps filled the quiet halls for a short while, until the servant spoke up in an attempt at striking conversation, "You must be pretty excited about the night, sir. Have you had the chance to meet any of the Princesses?"

Letting a smirk show up on the corner of his face, Alexander tried his best to downplay the earlier meeting, "Oh yeah, I've bumped into a couple of them earlier today. It was an....interesting experience."

"Really?" The man asked with peaked curiosity, having dealt with the four girls many times in the past few years and being fully aware of both their good and not so flattering qualities, "Did either of them catch your attention as marriage material?"

Alexander started to making a coughing sound as he choked a little on nothing, trying to keep his thoughts on them to himself as they neared the doorway he was being lead toward, "Let's....just say I'm keeping my options open at this point in the competition."

The servant opened the doors for Alexander then stood to the side while the young feli male walked inside, his attention immediately shifting toward the impressive layout of the massive room, his head crooking back in order to take in a quick looking over of the entire ball room from top to bottom.

"Holy crap." He uttered lightly in total surprise at the massive layout, looking over the various people whom were already seated or going about taking seats, then turning back toward the servant which escorted him and asked only half jokingly, "You sure the King only has four daughters?"

"Far as I know." The older feli responded with a quick chuckle before gesturing toward the nearest available seats, "If you'll take a seat, please?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks." Alexander said while continuing to look around at the impressive surroundings, nearly coming close to bumping into the table on his way toward the nearest seat he could find.

As he began to pull up the seat, he finally glanced toward the section in which the Princesses were getting together, his attention immediately shifting toward what Minx had chosen to wear. Alexander rolled his eyes at bit and snickered at the girls choice in clothing, all the while grinning at her boldness. Even though he'd only met her once a little over an hour ago, he couldn't really say he was surprised at her current attire. If she were willing to threaten a suitor with being tossed into the dungeon, then he seriously doubted there was much she wouldn't resort to doing.

When Alexander finally did pull his eyes away from the attention grabbing garments, he soon found himself gazing toward another girl up there which had been wearing a white, strapless white dress. His expression shifted away from a look of amusement at Minx to one of near enchantment as he slowly looked over the young female feli standing near her. While he may have only been in this for a chance to get away from his parents while also keeping them happy, he had to admit that with a girl like her up for grabs, he may need to reconsider his outlook on this competition. She really did look fantastic in that dress, with a great physique and a lovely face which reminded him of....

"Wait a second." He muttered to himself while looking the girl over a little more closely, drawing back upon his recollection of the incident from earlier in the day, "Isn't that...."

His eyes widened in disbelief before quickly taking his seat at the table, drawing the attention of a random suitor who was the next seat over, "Hey, are you okay? You look a little flushed."

"I'm fine!" Alexander exclaimed as he sat there with his hands in his lap while staring straight across the room at nothing in particular, continuing to do this as he solemnly added to his previous comment, "I just feel very dirty all of a sudden."

The other suitor gave him a questioning glance, but otherwise dismissed the young feli, leaving Alexander alone to try and get those previous thoughts about Cameron out of his head while sitting in uncharacteristic silence, hoping something would come up to get his mind off of this.

 

[Silver_Identity]

It seemed she was the first to arrive, and that was rather ironic for her. She, being the one who dislike wearing dresses and here she was, wearing a white strapless dress, and to present herself in front of the many suitors in the banquet hall. The hall was surely looking quite packed with all the male feli who had dressed up in their finest tuxedos and suits. This was such a bother. She glanced around as she stood at the door, before she saw her mother already seated in her own chair at the family table. Walking slowly with her hands gripping the sides of her skirt, she walked up to her to hear her mother released a loud gasp and a happy smile adorned upon her face. "Ohh, Cameron. You look absolutely stunning. I wish you would wear such dresses like this more often.." Her mother's comment caused the second eldest daughter to grumble but soon her mother lifted a hand to stroke upon her cheek.

"Now, now. Please smile, for your mother. I do not want you to scare any suitors with your frown." This comment made her sigh and she forced a small smile upon her lips, though the right corner of her lips twitched noticeably. ".. Well, that's a start." The Queen sighed before gesturing for her to take a seat at the table.

But before she could do so, the youngest daughter had already arrived and she sighed softly when Wynn asked her torrent of questions. "Thanks, Wynn. You look good too, baby sis." She returned the compliment and fortunately, their mother had hushed her down which she gave a grateful smile towards the Queen. Soon after Wynn, it was her eldest sister who had entered and she almost smirked at the dress she was wearing.

"Minx, you have to tell me the name of the seamstress who had made that dress for you." Cameron commented, expelling a slight chuckle though she received a sigh from their mother.

However, she did heard someone tripping over and she glanced over to the entrance door to see a particular clumsy male feli now sprawled over the floor. She almost sympathize with him, but remembering he was one of the many suitors their father had called, she refrained herself from doing so. At least the daughters now know one of the suitors had a potential to be quite clumsy, and they could use it to their advantage. The said male feli recovered himself quite quickly, but he looked embarrassed with himself.

She turned her attention away, her crimson eyes glancing over the tables which were now filling up with many male feli, and now she had to wonder about how many potential suitors their father had called upon. Looking at the numbers right now, she had to say, their father must had gone to some extreme measures to ensure his daughters would find one. She looked over to her sisters, whispering to them in a hushed tone, ".. Father must be very serious when he said he would find us a suitor.. Look at all the male feli present now." She gestured her hand towards the growing number.

She stood close to Minx, wanting to speak to her while her eyes wandered around to see the many faces of people who were searching for vacant seats, while some of them were already seated. When her gaze fell upon one particular feli, her eyes widened slightly to see it was the same rude fellow both Minx and herself had encountered. But she found it rather odd, that his eyes were transfixed towards her direction. She, herself, couldn't help but exchange a look with him for a few moments as he looked handsome in a tuxedo, but she quickly brushed the thought away. Actually, she was scolding herself for even complimenting about how he looked now.

Before she turned her head away, she noticed his sudden strange behavior and he looked rather nervous. Fortunately for him, Cameron didn't suspect anything as she only expected him to stick with the bargain they had agreed upon. As she wanted to be seated, a servant stepped forward to pull the chair back and she seated herself down, adjusting her skirt while she sit and the servant pushed the chair forward for her. She only hoped this event would go by quickly, so she could return to her room and change into her normal attire as quickly as possible. Her feet were starting to hurt slightly, from wearing the heels anywho.

 

[kittenofdeath]

Vincent

The room certainly got stuffier when the king and queen left, Vincent got the feeling that Tagor wasn’t exactly happy with the situation, or with him being here.

"I have some preparation to do."

“Oh yes, I should probably go get changed out of all this metal” he tried to strike up some polite conversation, but gave it up quite quickly when he saw the look on the bigger mans face, him walking away didn’t help either.

"Please enjoy your stay here young prince.. we're all in for one hell of a year."

“Sadly” he muttered to himself, his tail swinging around to his front. He grabbed it and brushed the blue fur, picking out a few lone bits of dirt that had found their way in to it, the day was going so well until that happened.

“Sir, may I escort you to your room?” a random servant caught his attention from behind him “the events are about to begin and you should prepare”

“Too right, too right” he trailed off, still picking at his tail for a moment “lets go, like you said, I wouldn’t want to be late for this thing” he followed the servant along and eventually found his room, luckily they had brought up his bags so he wasted no time in getting changed in to a suit that was fitting of the occasion.

Once he was done he headed out the door to be greeted by yet another nameless servant “this way please sir, we are about to begin” he bowed and began to lead the prince to the hall.

Once he got there he was momentarily taken by the size of the hall, taking time to admire the art on the wall and the like before finally sitting down next to a man with dark hair “hello” he said, rather unenthusiastically, his eyes now drifting to the beauties at the end of the room, they were so different from what he had saw of them earlier, they actually looked like princesses now, rather attractive ones to be exact.

Michel

A thin trail of smoke rose up from the hidden tunnel entrance, if anyone was watching they would probably see it, but it seemed that Michel’s hunch was correct, all the people paid to watch for this sort of thing were off doing something for the ball “perfect” Michel muttered as shifted his cigarette to the side of his mouth and opened up the secret passage, waving for the three men with him to dash from their hiding place. He held it open for them as they went inside and let it shut once they were safely inside, taking a second to flick his cigarette butt out the door just as is slid closed.

“How the hell did you know about this place” one of the men asked, the other two looking at Michel for answers as well, he hadn’t been all that straight forward with them about the plan or his motivations.

“Uhhh, a friend of mine told me about it, lets just get moving” he ushered them further in and ignored their muttering protests, he didn’t want to explain the fact that he was a prince of this kingdom to anybody, especially not those three, he owed them money.

“Right, we’re here” he pushed open a trap door above them and peaked out, it opened up in to the cellar, luckily it was empty “lets go” they all poured out of the trap door and pulled the packs from their back and put on the various disguises inside them. Michel pinned his hair out of the way and covered it with a brown wig, then dressed in an exquisite blue outfit, as long as he didn’t let the king or queen see him he would be fine, maybe Minx too, hell, if it lasted long enough he might even bring her in on the act.

“Let’s go over the plan” he pulled up a stool and sat down “I’m prince Clayvor, and you lot are my minstrels…”

“Why are you prince?” one of them asked “yeah, why you?” “I could be a prince, easy” they all looked at Michel with a rather mutinous look “it seems we’ve all gotten the short end of the stick on this deal” Michel shook his head at them and pulled one of the bottles from the rack, uncorking it and taking a swig.

“Boys boys boys, you’ve all played at fancy occasions, you’ve all seen how many dam forks they have, name one” he issued the challenge and went silent, passing the wine around the group, all of them thought as hard as they could, but the best they could come up with were big fork and little fork “ya see? Any of you go in the ball room and we all get ousted as fakes, then there no more free ride now is there?” the three shrugged and eventually gave in.

Once they were all ready they headed up out of the cellar, moving rather stealthily until they got to the main courtyard where they split up, Michel heading off for the main hall for the banquet and the other three going off to find a room to stash their gear.

The hall was smaller than he remembered, but the layout was the same, he looked up to the main table, his father was absent so far, but his sisters and the queen were already there, for a moment he was speechless, they had certainly changed over the years, hell, if it wasn’t for the hair colours he would have a hard time figuring out which was which.

He headed for one of the few remaining empty seats and sat down, just across from a dark haired man in a suit and a blue haired man in yet another suit <how… traditional of them both> he thought as he waved politely “I see you’ve noticed them too, quite the lookers huh?” he said to the blue haired one, startling him “names Clayvor” he held out his hand to him.

“Vincent, lovely to meet you” he shook Clayvors hand and turned to the dark hair man next to him, offering him the same curtsey.

 

[Kuuroinochou]

Minx

She sighed for the umpteenth time since entering the hall. Sitting next to Cameron, both of the oldest daughters were always made to sit with their father. It was not tradition... it was punishment. That insufferable man liked to put the eldest daughters on display more often then not; in hopes they'd get hitched or at the very least make fools of themselves. Either way the King found amusement in it all. Thankfully he had yet to show. And then again Almathea was running behind as well. Minx looked to the other side of the table with worry but knew the girl would show.. hopefully she wouldn't pull another disappearing act.

Again she sighed. Minx was not amused by this, the dress although to die for was beginning to ride in areas she didn't like. She did smirk however at Cameron's request leaning over to whisper, "The seamstress actually lives in town, can you believe it. Don't tell daddy or he might burn the place down in spite." Nodding, her attention moved from Cameron to the hall, the sea of male feli was enough to make her gag. This couldn't have possibly put together so soon. "I'm beginning to think daddy is a monster." Minx commented to no one inparticular but Cameron would hear her best. "Can you imagine! All these suitors in the spand of hours... daddy's sneaky. He did this in advance. He had too..." she practically whined but kept her composure. She wouldn't look like a fool in front of so many people.

Speaking of fools, one particular blue haired gentleman thought it would be best to sneak into the hall undetected. However, it seemed fate had other plans as he spilled onto the floor. A hand shot up to Minx's lips as she tried stiffling a giggle. Always finding entertainment at the expense of others, she couldn't help it. Though he managed to pick himself up quickly she still giggled only to compose herself moments later when he looked around. Her eyes trained on him a moment squinting ever so slightly. What an interesting shade of blue... she squinted more and noted his eyes were the same color. "Okay I'll bite. Clumpsy is handsome but that's about all I give him. But maybe we can use him..." She trailed off already thinking of ways to use his misfortune to their advantage.

Her attention shifted to a familiar face as she tried remembering where she'd seen this one from. A flash of an apple came to her mind and quickly she blurted out. "The theif!" It was only a mild blip just under her breath where those at her table would hear. "Would you look at that, he actually cleans up. Now I have a strong urge to throw a rotten apple at him." Could you tell she was still a bit sour over the previous incident? Even so her sea green eyes roved over his form with a mild sense of approval but just as soon as her thoughts went to things of complimentary means she shifted gears and found her gaze upon two other individuals.

And upon looking at one her heart skipped a beat. A very familiar one but other than that she couldn't understand why. And it was here that the gentleman in the blue suit would have Minx's sea green eyes burning holes into him. She began bitting her lip a real indication of her mind hard at work.

 

[Bluemage]

Felix sighed softly as he looked around for a few moments. It was just his luck that everyone here looked far more dressy than he did. He sighed softly. Now not only did he look like a fool for the way in which he entered, but he looked like a fool for the way in which he had dressed. His simple black dress shirt and pants were really nothing when compared to the suits that all of the other suitors had chosen to wear. He had definitely underdressed for this whole thing, and as a result, had no doubt that he looked too casual. Well, at the very least he would attract attention.

He smiled softly as his eyes looked over to the woman with the black dress with all of its shiny sequins. He wasn't going to attract as much attention as that, which was lucky, but he knew that he was probably going to attract the wrong kind of attention. He sighed softly and looked over the table again. The only person who's attire was even close to what Felix had chosen to wear was the man who had just arrived, and even he was wearing that poofy thing at his neck, and a nice jacket over his dress shirt. This was, without a doubt, a disaster. Felix let his head hang a little bit and stared at the table. He was definitely going to be prematurely voted off the island. Worst luck in the world, without a doubt.

He looked up slowly when he had heard the man in the blue jacket say something about how the women were quite stunning. Felix turned his head slowly to look at the princesses for a moment. He had to admit, they were quite a sight, but then again, that was the way princesses were supposed to look, wasn't it? It felt to him like it would probably get boring rather quickly if they all looked like that all of the time, and never let loose. Then again, he wasn't really one to talk, since he was dressed up like he had already let loose. He sighed and decided that he had better make up for his attire by sitting straight and everything.

Normally, Felix wouldn't have cared about all of this stuff. The problem was that at the moment, the blue haired Feli felt like he was going to stick out like...well, like something that stuck out. At the moment he couldn't think of an appropriate sticking out thing that wasn't sexual, and he had to say that he was feeling rather lucky that nothing like that was happening to him at the moment, since he already felt awkward in his own skin. He sighed softly, this was not going to be fun.

He sat there like that for a few more moments before deciding that really, his best chance at not looking like a complete idiot, was probably to not stare at the table like he was...well, and idiot. He turned his head slowly and looked back to the princesses, trying to decide by their attire and stature which one would be the most appropriate choice for him. He eyed them carefully for a moment or two. Judging by height, the princess in the white strapless dress seemed to fit the oldest spot. He turned his eyes over the rest of them for a moment. If he had to guess, the one in the sequin dress was a middle child, based just upon the fact that her dress was so loud. It almost seemed like a cry for attention, and oldest and youngest children usually got all of the attention that they wanted, so she was probably a safe bet. Unfortunately, it was difficult to place them by age after the one in the white dress, but really, his only interest had been to find the eldest one so that he could avoid courting, or falling for, her. Things were relatively safe, now that he was fairly certain that he had placed her, and knew who he should be avoiding.

He looked over the remaining girls. If he had to guess, the one with the sequin dress would be the most susceptible to courting, since that dress was most likely a cry for attention. It was like an invitation to the suitors. Felix turned his eyes back to the rest of the suitors for a moment, wondering how many of them would target her. It seemed like the safest bet, and even Felix found himself wondering if perhaps he should focus his attention there. He looked to the other women for a moment though. The fact that the sequin dress mad her a target made her more difficult to capture though. If he focused all of his attention on that one, and so did everyone else, then that meant that she would simply pick the one that she liked the most, and there was no guarantee that would be him. He brought his thumb up and gently caught it between his teeth and bottom lip as he thought about the best way to go about this.

The immediate problem that he had arrived at was that if he focused all of his attention on one of the princesses, it dropped his chances immediately, unless he was lucky and picked one that was receptive to this whole idea, and that wasn't being chased after by all of the other suitors. At the same time, if he spread himself out too thinly, which could happen fairly easily, he wouldn't spend enough time with any of them for them to get a feel for who he was, and if they wanted to be won by him. This game was almost like chess, where if you didn't plan your moves out far enough ahead of you, you would be doomed to find yourself trapped in a corner with no moves left.

He turned his head to the other suitors for a moment. Perhaps he could get a few pointers from them on what it was that he should do. He doubted that most of them would really help him out on this one, since they were all aiming for the same targets, but surely someone in the group would have bumped into them and would have an idea of which ones were the best ones to go after. He thought about asking for a moment, and then decided that now probably wasn't the best time. He would be better to save his questions, and his planning sessions for a later time, when he wasn't being watched by everyone like he was now. Because of his decision, he found it easy to turn his head back to the princesses, and just smiled as he looked over them for a moment, still fairly sure that his original assessment of the situation, that he wasn't going to be able to win any of them, was probably the right one. It made it a lot less stressful when he had already defeated himself, because from there he could only go up.

 

[UnseenMaiden]

"I'll have to agree with Almathea on this one. Time to face the music I suppose. Sorry girls"

"Yes, let us entertain our father before his anger brew even more."

Nodding her agreement, she let herself be prodded along towards where their parents waited. She was silent on the way there. Which wasn't at all unusual, but she did wonder how they were going to dismantle their father's plans. Wynn for example, had never been wooed to her knowledge and to suddenly be surrounded by what she was sure would be handsome men, focused on earning her favor. Well it could all be rather overwhelming for a girl. She wanted her suitors to find someone to be happy with, but she didn't want them getting hurt in the process.

There was no debating that their father was in a foul mood when they all filed in, Tagor kneeling in front of the monarchs as was his duty. It occurred to her from time to time, that such a thing was odd. Why must they abide all of these rules and regulations? Not just the guards, but nobility and even commoners themselves. Did it truly matter if she addressed someone improperly and unbefitting of their position?

Of course it did. Somehow. They'd all grown with these codes of conduct hammered into them and it had been this way for centuries, she was sure. Still, at time she found herself growing vexed with all of this decorum. Her sisters rarely understood, except for Cameron at times. They too hate the places that had been designated for them in life, but they did not hate it for quite the same reasons. It would have been rather grand of her to say she wanted equality, but that wasn't it exactly. She wanted someone beyond her family to talk to her normally without addressing her as highness or lady or speaking to her plainly without fear of persecution. Though granted that sort of vengeance was more Minx's department than anything.

"Hi Daddy,"

"Father. It's good to see you are well.."

Their father only glared, taking a drag from his cigarette, something her mother wholeheartedly disapproved. She didn't jump as he suddenly stood. She was too used to this display of bravado. Though it didn't mean that she didn't feel every inch the little girl she was years ago, ready to be scolded for doing something wrong. Even though, technically she hadn't done anything yet.

"Let me guess a magical dragon by the name of Puff, frolicked out of The Mist to attack the girls. You staged a daring rescue and brought them back safely. Oh wait! I dare say! I see no blood and I sure as hell don't smell any. Athough I do smell the ebbing anger waffing off Cameron and annoynace from Minx. Almathea seems a bit jitter while Wynn seems to be worrying over something or other. Care to explain?"

She visibly colored as her father pointed out her nervousness. It only made her feel worse.

"My apologizes m'lord. I take full responsibly for having the princesses late to this event."

"So tell me has anything interesting transpired that has caused you all to be late? Indulging yourselves in any of Minx's latest schemes, hmm?"

Of course the fact that he chose her first to directly reprimand didn't help matters. As he whispered into her ear, she was suddenly reminded that he was her king as well as her father. She opened her mouth to say something, but he squeezed her shoulder, silently commanding her to keep her words to herself. Their plan, she knew there would be, was likely to border on something akin to treason. As his child, she trusted him not tobe so cruel, but he was just as stubborn as any of them were and she still didn't relish the idea of being punished for just wanting to keep a promise and her sisters, their freedom. Slowly he went through each of her sisters in turn, showing that he could and probably would punish them for acting like this.

"All I'm saying is that you all need to get your priorities straight. Downstairs are some potential mates for you, practically gift wrapped and you're all being so stubborn about it. I mean if my parents had thrown a harem into my lap when I was younger; you'd probably have more siblings."

Almathea bit her lip in an effort to not laugh as her mother lightly punched his arm. She in turn was reprimanding him, though for what she wasn't entirely sure. They exchanged one of those secret looks as her father was sheepish for a moment.

"What!? You know it's true, babe...er.. m'lady."

Only for a moment though. Soon he was pinning them with stern stares once again.

"Look just go get cleaned up and dressed. That means in a DRESS. If you don't know what that is, it usually consists of frilly fabrics that travel past the knee. And I don't mean wrapping yourself in ribbons, Minx. If you need further help then ask KALI, I'm sure she's exceptional in that department. Be back here within the hour. Not a moment later. I trust you can handle that."

The last bit she heard only as she left the room with her sisters. She knew it was directed to Tagor only. In a way, she felt sorry for him. To be their bodyguard only had to be a harrowing experience. It was not as if their father held any particular fondness for him. Though she knew he had to at least respect his skills, or else he would have no trusted his children's safety to the Feli male.

"I'll head to my room. After all, we all have to be wearing dresses, which means also including me and Minx.. And you know how much I despise wearing dresses.."

She did smile now. She never quite understood Cameron's abhorence for dresses. She'd liked to play dress up often enough when they were little. Though as the years went by and she had focused more on fighting and the like, she had begun to wear the trappings more befitting a man. She did understand the practicality of that, but wouldn't Cameron still want to look especially pretty at times, even if it was only for herself?MaCavity whined in her arms and she giggled, ruffling his ears.

"Come on, fussy puppy. Let's go get you fed and me changed."

Almathea had on a decent dress before, but it wasn't exactly Her Royal Highness Princess Almathea Margeruite material, when it came to a banquet with many influential members of other kingdoms and families. First impressions and all of that. Her room was quiet and it seemed Kali had been in her, for she had decidedly not put that pillow there this morning. Kali, yet another unfortunate soul that had the sole purpose of dealing with the four royal daughters. She would have liked to say that she'd clean after herself and be more responsible, but cleaning was something she was neither skilled at nor wanted to be.

MaCavity scrambled out of her arms as soon as she knelt down near the floor, nearly sliding into the wall before he came to a stop next to his bowl of food. Shaking her head, she laughed at the eager puppy's antics as she shut her bedroom door behind her and undressed, before opening her armoire. The dresses contained here were her own creations. Most were simple enough, but a few were a bit more elaborate, made by another but enhanced by her own needle and thread. Humming to herself, she pulled out the outfit she wanted. She had embroidered it herself over a few months ago and while her stitchwork wasn't the best in the land, she did have a certain fondness for this particular pattern.

It did bother her sense of propriety with being in two pieces, but it covered all the appropriate places, so it would do rather nicely. A knock resounded on her door, just as she was brushing her hair. She'd cut it a month ago in a rare fit of her own personal rebellion. Now she faintly regretted the decision. She missed her long hair and was much too used to being able to do more with it than just making sure it was free of tangles. Sighing, she placed the circlet onto her head and stood up to face the door, not knowing who it could be.

"Enter"

She was surprised to note that it was her father. He himself wasn't ready yet, but given the chiding he'd delivered to them earlier, she wasn't entirely sure of whether to act the daughter or the subject and bow. Instead, she opted to smile and incline her head. He didn't say anything for a few moments and in a way, she kind of felt that was because he had nothing to yell at her for at the moment.

"Umm, father, was there anything you wished to say?"

It was never mentioned, but she often felt like she was the least remarkable of her siblings. She wasn't fierce and strong like Cameron. Nor was she clever like Minx. Or bubbly and fixated on sweets like Wynn. There was no standing out from them. She was just quiet Almathea and throughout this entire ordeal, not one person had asked her how she felt about it. They just assumed she agreed with everything her sisters wanted.

"I'm just checking to see if you're ready and to warn you to stay out of Minx's schemes. I know you'll go along with her ideas anyways, but try to find someone to make you happy, for your sake."

With that, he was gone and she was left staring after him with a mixture of surprise and shock on her face.It wasn't that unusual, but she guessed that with recent events, she'd actually forgotten that he did care about his children after all. Sighing, she figured that she'd wasted enough time and left to go actually greet the suitors that would be living with them for the next year. Except MaCavity followed her, something she didn't notice until she was almost to her destination. The puppy gave her a little bark when he noticed she had caught him nad wagged his tail. She couldn't stay too mad at him and smiling, picked him up and walked back to her room. Except it wouldn't quite do to leave him there alone, since he obviously wanted company.

"Kali? Kali.."

She knew the maid's quarters were somewhat near, but had never actually visited her room before. It took catching another maid and asking as to where she was before she gently knocked on Kali's door. There was no reply. It was possible that the girl just wasn't there, but she slowly opened the door anyways. Sure enough, there was Kali after all, sleeping. Poor dear must have been completely tuckered out.

"Well MaCavity. She's not exactly a playmate, but you can go sleep too you know."

Searching around for some sort of stationary, she came across an inkwell and a bit of paper. By the time she left the room, there was a neatly scrawled note detailing that she hoped that Kali wouldn't mind having the puppy around for a bit and that she'd pick him up as soon as she could escape these 'festivities'. This was why she gave an apologetic smile to her mother for being late as she slipped into her own seat. Looking around, she tried to catch up on what little she may have missed before their father's imminent arrival.

Her elder sisters had been wrangled into dresses after all, though she was sure Minx's lip-covered attire wasn't exactly what their father had had in mind. A smile lingered on her lips as she took in the look on Cameron's face. She knew that look, though it was the first time she had seen it on her. The beginning whispers of infatuation. Some lucky tom had caught her sister's eye. Apparently the same had happened with Minx as well. Oh boy. The defiance was being torn down around their ears and on the first day too. Of course it wasn't like any of them would admit to their crushes. She almost had half a mind to tease them about it later. It would be amusing after all to see them blushing.

 

[Kuuroinochou]

Ramos (some Minx)

Sighing the King wandered the halls of his palace wondering where he had slipped in raising the girls. While he was very proud of their strong will and ability to make decisions for their selves, he wasn't so pleased with how out spoken they could be. Each one potrayed a personality trait that he himself fostered. It was harder because they were female; it made it harder for him to resist their every whims but he had promised himself long ago that he'd pamper his kids while remaining strict in his rules. So he wondered where he had allowed them to slip through the cracks. His feet carried him to his personal chambers where a servant girl waited bowing her head low. "I will be dressing myself, my dear." The girl nodded allowing him to enter before closing the double doors behind him.

Ramos glared at himself in the mirror for a moment before slowly shrugging out of his shirt letting it flutter to the floor. His shoes, socks and pants came shortly after, followed by his under pants before heading to the adjacent bathing room where his bath awaited. In the back of his mind he could hear Minx reprimanding him for being late to his own event. He snorted but smiled as he slipped into the soapy warm waters. It didn't matter if her were late, nothing got started without his approval and for that alone he indulged himself with a relaxing bath washing himself thoroughly. He took great care in grooming himself a trait he wondered if any of the girls had taken from him or not. Chuckling slightly at the though he hurriedly got himself cleaned then rinsed himself off. Grabbing his robe from a hook near the bath he wrapped himself within heading into the main room where his clothing had been laid out on the bed prior. The maid must have returned while he was bathing to pick his attire for the day. He had to admit she knew how to dress him and smiled at how elaborate yet somehow laid back the garments were. He reached out to touch the fabric shivering with delight at the satin fabric that lined the cape he would be wearing. He had a weakness for capes; something he admired about his father long ago. Hurrying to dry himself off he began to dress making sure the suit fit to his form perfectly. One thing he did like was dressing up; it often portrayed to the public a sense of snobbishness but as soon as he opened his mouth and began his usual antics those in his presence often wondered if he were insane or not. Ramos simply could not run a kingdom on complete stuffiness though he did have strict rules about how one was to carry themselves in his and his family's presence.

Viewing himself in the mirror he smiled approvingly of himself before reaching for his cape which trailed rather obsurdly against the floor. It was quite a bit of fabric but as stated, he loved to dress up. The soft fabric shimmered in the dim lighting of his room as he looked it over admiringly. The bat wing designs etched in subtle ways throughout the suit and cape were perfect for his current mood. He felt like being mysterious and misunderstood. Often bats were treated that way, fairly docile creatures but scary if provoked. Aside from his mood the reason behind the outfit was to intimidate all of the potential suitors. If they cracked in his presence he definately had no need of them; truth be told they would all be judge on the daily by things they did, how they acted and most importantly the way his daughters vibed with them. These three main factors were top of his list but he knew in the end if his daughters took a fancy to a guy even if he failed in other areas he might bend. That, however, was a big MIGHT. Removing his usual eye patch he replaced it with a formal one, on the patch was his family's crest etched in silver with edges in gold plating. His hair was combed wildly about his head and as usual the small marking of red was lined around his eye; why he wore make up was anyone's guess but he had grown used to the notion over the years and as a result kept the fad going.

With a satisfied sigh Ramos sprayed himself with a light catnip inspired cologne his wife's favorite fragrance on him and one that would cause the girls to slightly perk in attention. Though they wouldn't know what it was from. He loved these hidden games and couldn't wait to see what would transpire. Making his way to the hall he stood behind the double doors awaiting the grand annoucement. Part of him wondered why he even bothered with traditions like these. He'd have been better off kicking in the door and annoucing his own presence with a tuck and roll action then come out guns blazing... he coughed. Too many cowboy stories back in his day, oh well.

With a florish of whimpy music (the king made a note to change his entrance theme; it just wasn't befitting his personality. Too many trumpets -- he wasn't some angel come to life), the messenger announced the king. "All arise, Your Majesty, King Ramos has arrived." Ramos bristled... that was weak. He'd have to fire that guy and find someone else with a better opening. Something more masculine not so much nasal induced. The doors opened on both ends to allow his entry to which he walked in with an air so unlike himself. Even so he rushed his entrance a bit heading striaght for the girls who all looked lovely; even Minx despite her dress. He smiled giving each of them a warm hug making sure to linger long enough for them to get a good wiff of his colonge. It would likely start things off with a bang, he smirked to himself then turned to take his seat next to Minx and Cameron while the youngest daughters were seated near their mother on the other end. He did this more to tease the two oldest because it simply would be too boring sitting there like some stuffy king if he didn't get a chance to poke fun. Today he would try to be more merciful but that was stretching it a bit "Ahhh, right on time." He breathed knowing many would think otherwise; he gave Minx a sidelong glance daring her to say something. She did not but the quick tap of her tail at the back of his head spoke volumes. Ramos shook his head in annoyance but looked out over the sea of suitors. This was what it was all about -- a room full of men vying for his the attention of his daughters.

Reaching out in front of him he took hold of the wine glass which had been filled with his favorite red wine. Minx had cidar and everyone else their choice in drinks, while the suitors all sampled what the king favored most. Lifting his glass he stood to his feet clearning his throat and gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "I'd first like to thank all of you for coming. I know being of such short notice you hadn't much time to prepare." He lied but that was only for the girls not too know. Continuing on, "But now that you are here I'd like to humbly welcome you all into my home and trust that you will be on your best behavior. Don't worry I'm not a stiff but I do have morals so please adhere to them. Throughout your stay here there will be various events I have set up to better get you aquainted with my daughters on a more intimate level." His single eye flared with a warning glare around the room with his next words, "That does not mean you make take advantage of
these options. If anyone, and I do mean anyone is found stepping their boundaries; returning home is the last of your worries." He allowed the room to drink this in before continuing. "Now then I'd like to make a toast, to my daughters and my lovely queen. You all have made me a happy man all these years. I hope that the years forward will be filled with just as much happiness and good cheer. To my daughters I hope; truly hope you all find what you are looking for. Married or not but to be honest I prefer to see you all hitched and out of my hair, for good. So hurry and pick yourselves a mate!" He laughed and with that he raised his glass awaiting everyone to join in. Minx only glared up at her father but rose her glass as well. Everyone drank in unison to which the king turned to his two oldest daughters.

"Stand." He said. Minx looked to Cameron with concern but did as told. "To start off this days events I'd like for my daughters to introduce themselves formally so there are no confusions in the future. I present to you the tomboy," He held up his hand over Cameron smiling proudly of himself, "...And the prima dona, be very afraid." He chimed in a sing-song voice as he presented Minx next. He leaned in to both girls giving them each a sweet kiss on the cheek lingering long enough for them to get a wiff of his catnip colonge and to speak to them. "Do yourselves a favor and don't piss me off this evening. Just bare with the events taking place and there might be a reward for your efforts. I put a big emphasis on might." He gave them a gentle squeeze. "Oldest first..." Ramos chimed standing idle for a moment before taking his seat.


Minx glared at her father galled that he would call them out like that. The tomboy and the prima dona? That was so dirty! She almost had a new found sense of respect for her father with that one but sucked it up and turned to the sea of suitors. Everyone looked well dressed, presentable before the king, well all except one who seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Oh yeah, that was the feli that tripped all over himself to get here. She couldn't help a slight smirk. Her sea green eyes roved over the lot of them as her ears twitched and turned in thought. Finally she figured out what she could possibly say though it was probably another one of her many schemes to appear unappealing, "Well you may address me as Mademoiselle de Ramosu Minx Valéry Giscard d'Estaing...ack!" Glaring down on her father, she whinced at the pain shotting through her sheen when he kicked her from under the table. He only favored her with a sickeningly sweet smile though his eyes burned a warning. Don't push it with me, missy. She sighed then turned to address the crowd again, this time a bit milder. "However, Minx is more befiting. I am the eldest daughter first in line to the throne. My hobbies consist of bathing in the sun, tending to my apple tree garden," Her eyes glared at Alexander without fail. "I tend to endulge myself in a game of chess in my spare time and I like to go exploring." She finished her introduction making polite curtsy before taking her seat. Ramos nodding approvingly of her introduction. Minx preoccupied herself with sipping on cidar while Cameron went next although it was beginning to get a little stuffy. She fidgetted a little sipping more of her drink while flashing a glance around the room.

Ramos smirked knowingly to himself. It would appear the catnip colonge was making its rounds. It was only a matter of time before all of his girls were feeling a bit funny. He couldn't wait to see the dibacle that would become of this next new game. He leaned over smiling to his queen. She looked to him then the girls and took a quick sniff. An eyebrow arched in question, "You didn't." She breathed just enough for him to hear alone. He smiled. "But I did." Amelia sighed shaking her head, that catnip colonge was very potent but an adult feline could handle it better than kittens. "Just keep an eye on them I don't want an incident." Ramos leaned back watching the sea of males. "They wouldn't dare not in my presence." She glared. "What if you aren't around, that stuff is too potent for kittens it won't ware off so easily." Ramos only shrugged. "I trust Tagor's abilities even if he pisses me off... nothing will happen." He looked out over the room smiling to himself as he vaguely listened in on Cameron's introduction. His attention stopped short on one young man eyeing him suspiciously. It was the instinct in him that caused him to be so intent on this paticular feline in the blue suit. "Hmm?" The queen looked to Ramos concerned. "Something wrong?" He shook his head, "Not yet but my kitty senses are tingling." The queen coughed looking away in slight amusement. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just keeping my eye peeled is all." With that his attention faltered to other things as he turned to Cameron smiling proudly of her pretty dress.

 

[Mephistophelily]

Wynn smirked as the rest of the family arrived in the ballroom, making a face at Minx before settling into her own chair, placed next to the Queen. As their mother turned her attention towards the two older sisters, Wynn shoved a hand into the bustline of her dress, producing a few wrapped candies. The king had banned any new sugars from reaching the sweet-toothed princess..... But her current stash of treats were still within her grasp. With a grin, she opened one, popping it into her mouth as the arrival of her father was announced. Trying to hide it in her cheek, she stood up as he came to the rest of the family, hugging him in the same manner as her siblings. "Ooh, I like your cologne Daddy," she cooed, sniffing his neck. It was familiar, like something he had worn a few times before... One of his holiday mixes? She couldn't remember exactly, only that she equated that scent with very rare occassions.

As he introduced her older sisters, she couldn't help but giggle. The bit about Cameron wasn't that surprising; nothing more than a statement of the truth... But as for Minx- between hearing him actually say it and the look on her face, Wynn was already laughing.

"Wynifred!," her mother hissed under her breath, elbowing her lightly. So -that- was why she ended up next to her... She had already predicted Wynn's behavior.

"Okay, okay... Sheesh." She rolled her eyes, slumping in her chair slightly as she listened to Minx's self intro and hobbies. Again with the apple trees! "Don't forget being a royal pain in the a- ow!" Her muttered comment was cut short by yet another elbowing. Mother could hear just about anything. "Sorry."

Her eyes drifted about the room as she lost interest in the speeches happening beside her, instead looking to see how many people had arrived for this thing. So they were supposed to find a suitor in this group, hmm? Wynn toyed with the candy in her mouth, twisting it with her tongue as she looked them over. What made them come here, anyways? Half these guys probably didn't even know which princess was which. It had nothing to do with love, and everything to do with them being in the royal family. Selfish bastards-!