pike | nigel's mobile;

[ Nigel shakes his head silently as the first boot goes on. They're a bit rough for his tastes (growing up in preparatory schools meant shirts and slacks and ties were his personal preference by necessity), but for the meantime they'll do. Saya had similarly offered Nigel a jacket and shoes but neither had turned out to be a good fit. These were far more promising. ]

The cities are cities but there's plenty of England that's still farm and field. We're an old country compared to other parts of Europe and certainly compared to America, but it's mostly castles and the occasional keep. [ He stands, giving his feet a little stomp, settling his feet into the shoes. Satisfactory enough to get him to crook a passing smile. ] Where I go to school it's mostly just us and tumbled down walls running over hills. That's all.

[A pleased look crosses Rosella's face at the fit of the boots--it'd been a guess in the dark, picking them, but it seems she's gotten at least close enough to be acceptable, even if they are a bit scuffed from the wear and tear Duo put them through. But that pleased look instantly brightens at the mention of castles; most of the stories she's heard about England have been set in the city, and it's nice to hear that there are some parts that aren't so different from her own Daventry, after all.]

America is where Prince's Ton is, isn't it? That's the school my best friend goes to. Do you ever visit the castles in your England, or are they very far from your school? The alligators must like all the rain you get there, don't they? [And she leans forward a little eagerly, without quite realizing she's doing it.]

[ She is rather quaint, isn't she -- Nigel thinks absently to himself as Rosella leans forward into his space just far enough to catch her attention. Rules of attraction don't really cross Nigel's mind since they're not really something he subscribes to. Obsession, yes; destiny, yes. Everything else is biology, boiled down to chemical action and reaction. He wonders what sorts of changes Rosella's physiology might be going through at that very moment before exhaling. ]

Princeton -- if I remember correctly -- is located in America, yes. I've never been so the country as a whole is a bit abstract in my mind, as are Americans in general. [ His mouth quirks as if this was maybe meant to be a joke. ] As for castles, I've visited many of them. Both in England and abroad. I'm quite interested in the kings of old, you see. The order of knights and their role in history. Sovereignty, divine right. Those sorts of things.

[ His voice goes quiet, almost reverential as he speaks of these things and a look that Rosella hasn't seen yet on Nigel creeps now onto his face. It's as if he's enraptured with the idea -- which he is. Oh, he most certainly is.

It takes a moment to break him of his revere and when he finally emerges from it, his cheeks have gone a little flush again. Blinking, his eyes find focus on Rosella's face. Eventually it dawns on him to say something. ]

...no alligators, I'm afraid.

[She tips her head a little, pleased to see his once-impassive face finally seeming to take on life and interest. And really, she thinks, isn't it fortunate that he likes that one in particular? Because she can certainly talk about castles and knights and kings at great length--and it's even nice, in a way, since so few people in the City really seem interested in them. It's always made her feel a bit old-fashioned, liking and expecting that sort of thing; despite herself, she finds herself feeling a rare flicker of hope that she might've just found a subject they share in common. It'll certainly make living together (and forgetting the terrors of his face) easier, having a topic to bond over.]

And adventuring? My father was a knight before he was king, actually, and earned the throne through a quest. Those were always my favorite stories when I was younger.

[She pauses, looking a bit sheepish herself, and then finally laughs as it occurs to her to explain.]

We have them, in the moat. Alligators, that is, in the moat around the castle. Mother always told me to be careful of them, going over the bridge, or they'd snap.

[ Again, Nigel exhales through his nose that laughing sound. ] How much like a fairy story your life sounds sometimes, Princess Rosella. Alligators in the moat, [ he says half to himself and half to her. Looking down at the undershirt he's wearing, he pinches at the damp cloth measuringly and then decides he'd be better off without it.

He doesn't bother to show modesty because in truth Nigel has none to pull the thing off up over his head and quickly shimmy into the shirt Rosella's provided. The cloak then follows, though he takes the opportunity to fold his undershirt neatly before also tucking it away. As he goes about doing this, he speaks: ]

Some would argue the right of kings is in the blood, and should not be earned through deed for it violates the purity of sovereignty. [ Here Nigel glances up, some of that fire in his eyes again. ] But none should simply rest upon their laurels, and certainly not kings. That your farther earned his crown through deed and action should be commended, not scoffed.

[Carefully averting her gaze as he changes, she tries not to smile at the mention of fairy tales. It's a comment she hears often, once people hear about her home and the things her family has done. Her father has his own fairy godmother, even (and is allergic to fairy dust, as a matter of fact), and she herself once cleaned a house for seven dwarves and kissed a frog to turn him back into a prince. But she won't mention that now, though it does bring a hint of a grin to her lips despite her better efforts.]

Well, that's rather how it is in Daventry, too. But the king before Daddy, King Edward...he didn't have any children, you see. That was part of the problem, really, why things were so awful. He needed an heir and made quite a few poor decisions in trying to get one. Daddy was his best knight, and in the end he told him that if he could save the kingdom from peril, then he'd be made king as his reward. And he did, so...that was just how it went. And I'm terribly glad it did, really. The kingdom really was doing very badly, before Daddy became king.

True kings are a rarity, Rosella. In my world, they're all but forgotten and those that wear crowns upon their heads or would claim royal blood are little more than figureheads that stand on ceremony and do nothing else besides. Men of influence and power and honor have been relegated to the history books, passed into legend like fairy tales.

[ When Nigel speaks these words, they come more quickly and more surely than any other point he's made thus far. Where once he was still and occasionally stoic, he is now animated and bright eyed. A spread smiles across his face and there is color rising in his cheeks and in his lips once more. It's as if the topic flushes him with new life and enthusiasm in such a way that no other topic can. ]

That you have lived and breathed such things. [ Nigel shakes his head, looking somewhat amazed. ] Is truly worth something great indeed.

[She can't help but blush a bit at that, part from his sudden enthusiasm and part from the reverence he accords to her life before the City. For Rosella, who has spent the better part of her two years here feeling slightly odd and out of place--never quite lining up properly with the modern world and the expectations that come with it--it's both flattering and refreshing to hear someone not simply legitimizing her experiences, but venerating them as well.

Terrifying though his face may be in her memory, for a moment she forgets all those fears and simply basks in the rare experience of being seen not as a silly oddball sort of princess, but as a real one.]

I'm...I'm very flattered you think so. The City isn't much like it at all, you know, and--well, I do like modern things very much, but it's never...home.

[For one thing, she's much less shy in Daventry than she tends to be here in the City, much less eager to please and likely to second-guess herself for fear she's misunderstood something. Daventry is home, and she's never felt out of place there. Not the way she so often does here.]

[ Veneration is a very good word for what Nigel seems to be doing. And unlike some of his odd stares, his slightly off-kiltered way of speaking, this seems to come as natural to him as breathing. This sort of talk formed the very foundation to his existence -- the teetering kingdom of history and delusion that made the sum-total of his self-worth. ]

The modern world has technologies to offer. Various conveniences that make like simpler and more streamlined. But all things worth doing require some sacrifice of effort -- something the modern world has no patience for. Modern priorities lack so much of the conviction that the kings of old once had.

[She can't quite keep the look of disgust from flickering across her face as Nigel mentions the word technologies; it's the sort of word that always seems to go hand-in-hand with machines, and her innate abhorrence of the mechanical--a sentiment that all people from her world share, and yet very few in the City seem to--is one that she's never been able to shake, no matter how much time she spends in a place where they come so readily accepted.]

They're ugly things anyway, machines. They're...unnatural.

[But she soon shakes that off, not wanting to linger on unpleasant thoughts, and the smile returns to her face.]

Mother and Daddy always taught me much the same, you know. The duty of a good ruler is to serve the people, no matter what, and if danger should befall the kingdom... [She pauses suddenly, but only for a moment.] Well. If there's a sacrifice to be made, the ruler is the one with the duty to make it. The people and the kingdom come first. That's what it means to be a proper princess...or king, or queen, or anything of the like.

[ As quickly as Rosella manages to shake that feeling of repulsion, Nigel's attention cannot help but catch on it, as if it were the sort of thing he'd been waiting for all along. The corners of his mouth tighten and then curve in a smile-like way. His voice is distant though his attention is focused. ]

I think it was very fortuitous that we met, Rosella.

nigel's mobile;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;