(Yep! Do you want to start?)
"You call me a monster? Then you know nothing." O/O (Closed but y'all can stalk)
(Sure, sure! ^-^)
Yesterday's attempt to speak with Cicada had been a failure. Quentin blamed himself as much as he did the Princess. His approach had been sloppy at best, and he swore to himself to straighten it out today. Or at least try to. Although how he intended to do that… well, he hadn't gotten that far yet.
He tugged at the cuffs of his shirt, humming to himself as he walked down the dungeon halls once again. A few guards accompanied him, and several others lined the hallways, armed and stoic. He came to a stop in front of her door, spinning on his heel to face the barred door. "Good afternoon, Princess."
(Thanks!)
Cicada had been waiting for something, anything to happen to her from her leaving Prince Quentin at dinner and now. Nothing had and it almost disappointed her. She glared up at where the prince now stood and though they had just seen each other a day ago, Cicada was in more pain than the prior day as she was still adjusting to the new holes in her wings. Her eyes narrowed at him as she stayed silently, back to stage one the prince went. Maybe even a stage zero if that was possible.
(Yep yep! ^-^)
Quentin stood in silence for a moment, as if awaiting her response, but none came. He cleared his throat and straightened himself a bit. "I came to apologize for yesterday's little… ordeal. I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot." He licked his lips once, his gaze momentarily dropping to the ground before meeting hers. "I don't expect you to accept any apologies from me, as you clearly hate me, but I would like for it to be stated that I don't hate you. But I'm not fond of the way things are currently, so whether you like it or not, whether you intend to help me or not, I am going to attempt to right it to the best of my ability."
Cicada paused taking in his words. He wanted to apologize for yesterday, but he didn't seem to want to admit to anything. Then again he did seem nervous at the moment catching his gaze drop to the floor and the minuscule movements. She kept her eyes glared at him, "Prove it. Prove that you want to attempt to right it. If you really do, actually enter my cell."
Quentin hummed softly, as if he were considering this. He folded his hands together, tapped the tips of index fingers together, thinking. He nodded to one of the guards, who promptly unlocked the door and opened it for him. He stepped inside, though he remained out of her reach due to her bindings. "Here I am, Princess."
Cicada watched him as he contemplated and then finally he entered. She hadn’t been expecting him to do so figuring he was as spineless as the rest of his family seemed to be. Though he had done what she had asked she still didn’t believe what he said. He had hesitated telling her he probably only said what he said for diplomatic reasons. She found no intent behind his words. Her voice held a very sarcastic and mocking tone to it, “There you are. So what do you want today your highness, breakfast with me?”
Quentin smiled lightly, tilting his head subtly to the side. "That wasn't what I came to offer, but if you'd be interested in joining me, I wouldn't be one to decline you."
"I wasn't offering either," Cicada retorted her eyes narrowing at him. She had assumed that's why he hd come down, but apparently she had been wrong, "But I am intrigued as to what you were going to offer."
Quentin paused a moment, tapping his chin. "My apologies, first off, dear Princess. As well as my condolences for your kingdom. And… an offer." He tugged at his sleeves and smiled. "Well, more of a gift, really. How would you like to get out of this infernal dungeon and into more… acceptable living quarters?"
"At what cost?" Cicada responded narrowing her eyes further towards him. His apologies still didn't seem quite genuine, but they were better than yesterday's. Then he was offering her a way out of this cell and into possibly an actual room. She didn't think he would give that away for free considering she had valuable information.
"No cost," Quentin responded. "Though I'd appreciate it if you didn't constantly act like I'm the devil himself." Truth be told, she was making this more difficult for him than he'd anticipated. That's why he felt like he was being forced to play the long game here. Simply forcing anything on this woman would never do. Their first encounter proved that much. It had to be something more strategic than that. "Of course, I can't give you free reign– at least not until you ease up on the death glares– because right now I'm fairly certain you'd kill me if you had the chance." He said this with a light chuckle, though he wasn't joking.
Cicada let her face relax just slightly. She would kill him if given the chance, though the fact he laughed almost caused her to glare again. She tried to sit up but hunched back over as pain shot through her wings from the movement. If there was one thing she hated, it was the fact she had to look weak in front of him. Her eyes looked back to him at a glare while she gave him a wicked grin, "Glaring is just my way of saying hello. So I won't stop that, but. But I'll take your offer as long as you get these pins out of my wings."
"Well I'll have to if I expect you to go anywhere, now won't I?" Quentin stepped out of the cell– because clearly he wasn't going to stand around in there whilst she was being released. "But I do recommend looking into some new methods of greeting people," he said with a smile as he nodded for the guards to get her and unpin her wings. "Glaring usually makes people uncomfortable, and I'm not sure how I feel about making friends who look like they want to rip out my throat with their bare teeth." He was joking, but also not.
Cicada once again wanted to cry out in relief as the pins were removed. She was forced up to her feet, but at the very least it was much easier to stand than it was yesterday. A wicked grin made it to her face as she was guided out of the cell and towards the prince, “Well maybe I have my reasons to glare at my enemies in greeting don’t you agree? So I won’t stop yet.”
"As you wish, then," Quentin responded with a casual shrug. He turned on his heel to lead the guards and Cicada out of the dungeon, up the stairs. "Hopefully you'll come to see that I mean you no ill," he said as they walked. "Especially once you see the nice room I have prepared for you."
Cicada followed (was pulled) after him most her chains still on. She looked around taking in every turn and passageway for… later. Her eyebrow raised at the mention of a nice room. She figured it wouldn’t be much larger than her cell, but at the very least have a bed, “We’ll see.”
Quentin hummed casually as they continued along, finally reaching a hallway. He led them down it and stopped in front of a large door with more guards already standing by. "Please, don't try to escape or do anything crazy," he asked calmly. "I really don't want to have to put you back in the dungeon, so I won't as long as you be good." He smiled and opened the door.
The room was actually very large and very nice. Granted, the windows had been barred over– undoubtedly to ensure she wouldn't escape through them– but the bedroom was well decorated and massive, with a huge bed dominating one corner, a couch, and some other nice furniture throughout.
"Ta-da!" He gestured excitedly to the room, beaming as he turned back to face her.
Cicada stepped only slightly into the room so she could get a sense of its massive scale. She hadn’t been expecting something like this. It took a lot of effort not to appear in awe of the place. As she looked around she quickly started to figure this was possibly bigger than her old room when she lived in the palace. Her eyes wandered back to the prince as she chose the words for her response carefully, “It is nice. I suppose maybe you don’t have any ill will towards me.”
Quentin beamed at this. "Make yourself at home, Princess." He stepped back and nodded the guards towards her, and they removed any remaining shackles she may have had. Of course, the guards still filled the distance between her and Quentin– as he still believed she'd kill him if given the opportunity, and he was no fan of dying. "You like it, then?" he inquired hopefully.
Cicada rubbed at her wrists as they were freed. The skin was red, raw and throbbing and it hurt like a bitch. She didn't have the energy to take on the prince and his guards at the moment. But she despised how pleased Quentin was at her reaction. It felt like she was playing into his hand and she hated that, but she couldn't be completely dishonest either, "It's, adequate. Better than the cell."
"Hm." Quentin hummed, smiling with delight. "I'm glad you think so." He paused a moment, intertwining his fingers together. "Since you don't want to have to have breakfast with me, I suppose I'll have the guards bring you up something to eat," he said, almost regretfully, as if he were hoping she'd be willing to eat with him rather than here by herself.
"That's fine with me," Cicada responded nodding her head once. She hated the regret in his voice. Of course, she didn't want to eat with him. She didn't want to eat with him the previous night and she didn't want to eat with him now. Either way she would gladly take whatever the guards bring her rather than eating with him.
Quentin nodded a bit and disappeared. The guards stepped out, too, closing the door behind them– but they stayed outside and stood guard to make sure she didn't try to escape.
Meanwhile, Quentin ordered the chef to prepare her a meal.
(Alright so wdyt should happen next?? :3)
(Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, sorry I've been working on an essay so my brain is idea wiped. Buuuuuuut having the pair be forced closer together in some way might be fun :3)
(Lol meeeee toooooooo. I understand the pain XD. Yes, we need to force them together. More interactions. More forced interactions.)
(So many more forced interactions. All the forced interactions XD)
( XD INFINITE FORCED INTERACTIONS. Essentially just grab both of the characters and lock them in a room together and tell them "okay you people are going to interact or we'll kill you so have fun." Problem solves. But fr tho I'll try to brainstorm something that can happen and when your brain comes back to life you can try to brainstorm and then we'll flood each other with brilliant ideas. XD)
(Yes, that is a wonderful plan. It's been dead for days now, so don't expect anything anytime soon XD)
(Mmmm idea came to me. Maybe there's some type of event and his parents are demanding to see that he made progress with her. So both of them are forced together throughout the whole thing.)