[b]Roleplay Title:[/b] Hold My Flower
[b]Setting: [/b]Year 1138
[b]Characters Involved:[/b] Valdeimos Mancini, Valencino Mancini

It was time for his lunch break and what should have been a relaxing hour immediately went downhill ten minutes in. The bell chimed as a familiar blond walked through the door. “Valdeimos!” he heard a happy cry and Valdeimos cringed. He set down his food on the table and turned to the restaurant’s entrance. There stood the most recent annoyance in his life, his normally reserved brother Valencino. Valdeimos saw the poorly veiled excitement in his eyes that he had become accustomed to seeing over the past few months.
 
Valencino walked over to his table and Valdeimos kept a strained smile on his face. He had no doubt that his brother would give another endless spiel over the peasant girl he started to date months ago. It was always “I bumped into Miss Morgana again today, I had a pleasant conversation with her!” or “Miss Morgana looks more radiant with every meeting!” or “I just thought of an excellent place to show her, Valdeimos, do women enjoy going on dates to places like this?”. He refused to drop his compassionate persona but Valdeimos did his best to say subtle insults about her when he saw openings. He wanted to dissuade Valencino from his frequent visits because all he did for an entire hour was talk to him about her. To his dismay, no manipulations he tried succeeded in stopping him. Valencino either took his hurtful words as sarcasm or a joke.
 
“Hello, Valencino, it is nice see you.” He greeted in a polite tone, as his brother invited himself to sit in the chair across from him. “Are you here to talk about your girlfriend again? Do try to remember to breathe this time. You speak on and on about her without rest, it’s a wonder you don’t pass out from lack of air. Mother would be furious if she found out you wasted your breath on some commoner.” Then Valdeimos gave a fake laugh, “Kidding. You’ve described Miss Morgana to me so often that, even though I have yet to meet her, I can tell she is a wonderful person.” He lied as he took a sip of his water.
 
Valencino just smirked at him amused. “Well, then I am sure you will feel delighted by my news. I plan on proposing to her!” he announced, and Valdeimos got caught so off guard that he spit out the water he had been drinking in shock. Valencino grinned as he dodged the liquid with a shield spell, his experience as a protector aiding him in staying dry.
 
“Alright there, brother?” asked Valencino who tried his best not to laugh at his brother’s loss of composure, but Valdeimos did not care. Memories long forgotten had returned to him. An image of a dark haired girl flashed into his mind and he immediately felt a surge of bitterness in his heart.
 
“Oh…yes. I was just surprised. You have only known her for a short time, after all, and marriage is a big step. Are you sure even love her?” he asked with genuine concern for his brother. He immediately wished he could take back his question when he saw how offended Valencino looked. “Of course I love her!" his brother answered immediately, with slight anger, ready to defend his love for Morgana. Valdeimos knew from experience that if he did not pacify him, Valencino's talks about Morgana could continue for hours. “How could I not? I know you have never dated any one, so you don’t understand my feelings for her! I know she is from the lower class, but love should not discriminate and I don’t care about that. She is kind, beautiful, and-”
 
Valdeimos ignored the tirade. He had heard most of Valencino’s descriptions of his “beloved” girlfriend during previous visits. Instead he became lost to his own thoughts. Was Valencino in a right state of mind? Even with hearing endless speeches on how much he adored Morgana, Valdeimos did not understand. Why would his brother allow himself to even think about marrying a girl who was not a noble? The dark haired girl from his past came to the forefront of his mind once again, ready to haunt him. “Love should not discriminate” struck a chord with him and Valdeimos felt the bitterness in his heart return. Valencino was mistaken in his assumption that Valdeimos did not understand him. In fact, he knew for sure that he understood more than any of their siblings would.
 
“Enough! Okay, you love her. I’m happy for you,” he replied halfheartedly, not that Valencino noticed. Unless the dislike for her was blatant, like their parent’s opinions, it was like Valencino was oblivious to the idea that someone would not approve of the relationship. “How are you going to propose then?” he asked with some hesitance, expecting another long winded speech and a grand idea to woo the peasant girl.
 
To his surprise, Valencino seemed nervous and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. “Ah, I have no idea. I need advice, to be honest.” He admitted, a tad bashful.
 
Valdeimos frowned and looked at him with disbelief. “Moron, I’m not even married. Why not ask someone who went through this, like father or Valora?” he asked, feeling out of his element. Valdeimos felt bewildered over getting asked for love advice. His only relationship ended in disaster.
 
“Well, father and mother hate Morgana. And ask Valora, are you kidding?” he scoffed, “She proposed to Valentiano with a necklace made of claws from a bear she fought or something! And can you imagine asking advice from any of our brothers? You’re the only one I can depend on when it comes to her.”
 
Valdeimos conceded to his point. It was absurd and the biggest plot twist of his life, but he could see the wisdom in asking him for romantic advice out of all of their siblings. The only thing he could see Valentine married to was his job. Valroya would rather die than commit to marriage and asking Valtreks or Valhallen would go nowhere. Valencino most likely thought the rest of their brothers were too young to get any helpful advice from. Valdeimos at least cared enough to try to listen to Valencino and never once complained over his spontaneous visits to his work. Oh, if only Valencino knew the truth and how unsuited Valdeimos was for this. “I’m the worst person to ask romantic advice from.” He replied, serious in his tone.
 
Valencino sighed and looked dejected, but still hopeful at him. “You must have some idea though, right? Don’t a lot of people propose during dinner here, since this is such a high class restaurant? I know I need a ring but I just want to have the most perfect, romantic proposal for her! My beloved Morgana deserves nothing but the best.”
 
Valdeimos frowned. This conversation was bringing out his forgotten, painful memories. Every time his brother spoke about Morgana, Valdeimos could not help but think of the dark haired girl he tried to forget. Raava Rixore: the woman he fell in love with despite his better judgment. His pride and shame drove him to keep her a secret from everybody. Unlike Valencino, he could never bring himself to propose to her because she was low born and he knew his family would have disliked her just like how they currently dislike Morgana. The thought that his little brother disregarded Morgana’s social status and loved her so openly made him feel jealous. If he had let go of his pride maybe Valdeimos could have been in his place. The spiteful part of him wanted his brother to fail in his proposal; but, Valdeimos would never wish anything bad on his beloved family. So, he ignored his bitter feelings and let himself think of Raava for the first time in a decade. He thought of her smile, the feelings he had for her, the things she adored…what would she have wanted from him? How would he have asked her to marry him? What would have made her say yes? It brought him great despair to think about what could have been, but for his dear little brother, Valdeimos would try to think of a suggestion for him.
 
“What about…roses?” he finally suggested, thinking of the past. Raava’s favorite flowers had been roses. One day Valdeimos had managed to get a bouquet of roses grown in the royal garden from his cousin Bellerophon. Her happy expression when he showed her the roses had been the first time Valdeimos considered serious commitment to her. But thoughts of marriage terrified him and he immediately discarded any thoughts of it. If he had proposed to her, Valdeimos liked to think he would have given her a ring tied to a rose. It was a nice fantasy. “Most people like receiving flowers.” He explained, feeling the regret over remembering Raava. “And it worked for Bellerophon, too.”
 
He felt nothing over the fate of his cousin’s tragic love. But he saw Valencino wince at the thought of the prince’s comatose fiancée so neither made any more comment about him. “That is true.” Valencino agreed, and a thin smile formed on his lips. “I can present her with some flowers when I pick her up for our date, and…”
 
As Valencino began to think of scenarios Valdeimos let his thoughts roam once again. While he did care for his brother and mostly wanted him to succeed in his pursuit, it still was super annoying spending his breaks listening to him talk about Morgana. He glanced at the clock. He still had thirty minutes left to go and sighed. Valdeimos took a bite out of his lunch as he listened to Valencino speak, letting his brother distract him from thoughts of Raava.
 
He hoped he forgot about her quickly.