[b]Roleplay Title: [/b]
Hold My Flower
[b]Setting:[/b]
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[b]Characters Involved: [/b]
Belmarie Black, Valhero Mancini, Arius Mastema

Belmarie was in the arms of a wizard who asked her to dance. Being a princess, wizards often gave her attention, but this man was by far the most handsome she had met tonight. He spoke so nicely to her and Belmarie couldn’t help but blush at all the compliments he gave her. Many wizards that tried to befriend or date her had caused Belmarie trouble in the past because they were just trying to use her status as princess to their advantage, but this man was different, she was sure of it!

Meanwhile, Valhero messed with his phone out of boredom, leaning against a pillar at the edge of the dance floor. “I hope something interesting happens…” he yawned, before putting his phone back in his pocket. He was only here because Belmarie insisted he accompany her to the party, but now he was left alone because she had been asked to dance. “I could be training instead of this.” He complained to nobody, glancing over to the dance floor. But as if Oz answered his prayers for the party to become more amusing, he saw Belmarie’s half brother Arius approach Belmarie and her date, sparking the Mancini’s interest.

Arius calmly gripped the man’s hands and gently moved it off Belmarie’s shoulder and onto his own. “Excuse me? What do you think you are doing, interrupting us?” the man, now irritated, glared at Arius but when he tried to move away, he didn’t have enough strength to overpower Arius’ grip. “Brother?” Belmarie asked confused, and Belmarie’s dance partner stiffened at the realization that he had just yelled at a prince. But Arius spoke nothing and just smirked; grabbing the man’s other hand off of Belmarie’s waist. The prince slipped his fingers into the man’s and spun him around. Now facing him, Arius pulled the man closer, so close that their chests were now touching, and ignored the wizard’s questioning gaze. Belmarie watched as Arius initiated a dance with her date and before she knew it, the pair was getting farther from her.

“Arius, what are you doing?!” she exclaimed, but her brother stayed silent, and danced away with her partner. They disappeared into the crowd and the princess just gaped, confused about what just happened. Belmarie only snapped out of it by Valhero walking up to her, who apparently saw the whole thing.

“I c-can’t believe your brother stole your date…pffft ahahah!” laughed Valhero, clutching his sides and Belmarie glared at her cousin.

“It’s not funny, Valhero!” she spluttered, her face red out of embarrassment that her best friend was laughing at her dilemma. She couldn’t believe that Arius just swooped in and took her dance partner away from her without a word, in front of all these people! Now Valhero could barely keep his composure because he thought the entire situation was hilarious. “Yes it is! Oh Oz, always invite your brother Arius to these events Belmarie.” 

“Ugh, you boys are all idiots!” she growled, grabbing Valhero’s arm and leading them off of the dance floor. 

They stayed to the side, away from the dancers and gossipers. Belmarie ranted for an entire fifteen minutes straight about how unfair this all was, especially whenever she accidently spotted Arius dancing with her date, while Valhero’s punishment for laughing was to listen to the whole thing. He felt it was still worth it, though. “How could he ditch me for my brother, I mean, I’m so beautiful! Right, Valhero? Tell me I’m pretty!”

“Yeah, you’re pretty…pretty lame for losing him to Arius!” he teased, causing Belmarie to punch him in the shoulder. 

“You are impossible! You’re my best friend, so you’re supposed to take my side. Ugh, I’m getting a drink.”

As soon as Belmarie stormed off, Valhero suddenly felt a chill go down his spine. He jumped when he felt a hand grab his shoulder, and he spun around to find himself face to face with Arius’ red eyes. “Oh…it’s just you, “he sighed with relief, “Thank you for making tonight so much more interesting. Where did that man go?”

“It was no trouble.” He reassured Valhero calmly, ignoring Valhero’s question, “I could hardly allow that man to dance with my little sister, especially since he is closer to my age than hers.”

Valhero twisted his face in disgust, feeling glad that he had a wizard in his life who understood that big brothers needed to protect their little sisters from gross predators. “Was he really? Wow, it’s a good thing you showed up then. Also…you can let go of my shoulder now.” He informed awkwardly, but Arius made no movement and just stared at Valhero quietly, smiling. Valhero knew that Arius always acted like this but it never changed how uncomfortable he felt. He stared back in resignation, knowing that Arius would probably never change, so the two of them were just standing together in silence. Thankfully, the silence was broken by the princess.

“Brooother, how could you?!” Belmarie whined as she returned to them, a drink of punch in her hand, pouting as she took Arius’ hand and lifted it off Valhero’s shoulder, getting in between them. “Why did you do that, what if he doesn’t speak to me anymore? I didn’t even get to kiss him!” she pouted right in his face, but Arius looked unfazed by his sister’s complaints. 

“Oh, that is unfortunate. He’s a nice kisser.” He spoke unconcerned, and while Belmarie was busy being flustered over his statement, Arius grabbed the drink out of her hand and drank it as if it was his own. “Thank you for the drink, Belmarie, I felt quite thirsty after all of those heated moments with your date.”

“ARIUS!” she yelled, her face even redder than before. But her brother just smiled and handed the empty glass to Valhero before turning around, walking away back into the crowd of guests without a word.