[center][color=0054a6][h2]Prince Zhou of Liang[/h2][/color][/center] The only thing worse than waking up in the morning in a piss poor mood was to wake hungover, still mildly intoxicated. Just as Prince Zhou was finding out first hand. The fact of how unusually hard the hotel bed was didn't help. [color=82ca9d]"Sir, please."[/color] a hand pushed the lump of body sprawled on to the bed, "Sir! You must get up now!" [color=0054a6]"Shut up Liu..."[/color] the prince moaned through his pillow at his servant [color=82ca9d]"Sir! Today is an important day, I beg of you, please get up!"[/color] Liu attempted to pull off blankets that did not budge as Zhou muttered out something like a mix of curses and an dismissal of what Liu was saying, maybe comparing Liu's mother to a hamster in the process. Liu gave up and just walked around the grand room, wondering what to do. This wasn't the first time Liu had to drag the prince back to the land living, but Zhou had apparently decided to shackle himself the other world with chains of whiskey, wine and whatever the hell koumiss was. He had to admit, the thought of simply smack Zhou awake with a solid length of fish like he used to do but remembered that they were not living as 54i pirates anymore. [color=82ca9d]"You know what?"[/color] Liu dropped his professional butler mask and walked over to the nearest potted plant (which happened contain bamboo that Liu had brought for this expressed purpose) and broke off a good piece and held it like a mobster with a bat, [color=82ca9d]"Fuck this."[/color] With a mighty whack, Liu smacked Zhou with then length of hard plant, immediately causing him to howl in pain and shoot up, grabbing the bamboo stick. However, neither one of them had the strength or grip to out match the other, resulting in a very intense staring contest that involved some flexing of muscles; one could even see veins coming to surface on their faces as well. The two's epic battle was intense (for a staring contest) as they shot daggers from their eyes with a thousand mile stares, attempting to break each other's spirit by looking into each others souls (not that Zhou or Liu actually knew how to do that sort of thing). [color=ed1c24]"Hey! You guys dressed yet or are you fooling around again?"[/color] a voice danced past a door being knocked on by none other than Zhou's cousin/half-sister, Mai, (Zhou didn't actually know what she was to be honest, his father never provided him with a good explanation). [color=82ca9d]"We're do[/color][color=0054a6]ing stuff!"[/color] both Zhou and Liu shouted as they suddenly broke form and Zhou dashed about to quickly get ready less Mai decided to barge in. As Zhou broke speed records in the bathroom to make himself look presentable and brush his teeth, Liu was going at the same speed preparing his master's cloths; a set dark blue robes with heavy, but delicate gold embroidery of dragons and the heavens. A traditional set no doubt, but it had been recommend by his father to wear to show off some "national pride" or some stuff like that. Once again going at break neck speeds, Zhou slipped into his clothes and nearly kicked down the door on his way out. [hider=Basically Zhou's clothes] [img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/23/80/7d/23807df2d722d642331925f2fb61090f.jpg[/img] [/hider] [color=0054a6]"See you at the ball or whatever Rosie!"[/color], Zhou shouted as he dashed down the hall, ignoring all the rules of how to use "proper noble movement" as Mai would say or whatever. Along with Liu who had been following him (and returned to a very professional butler), Zhou dashed to the car where Liu opened the door and climbed in himself before signalling the driver to start the engine. Zhou didn't worry about Mai [i]too[/i] much, there was a reason why there where multiple cars he thought. [hr][hr] [color=82ca9d]"Here we are sir."[/color] Liu bowed as he opened the door for Zhou to step out, both of them having done some freshening up to mask the fact they were just running like madmen through a hotel. Zhou imdiately took note of his surroundings, feeling more than a little out of place. Everyone around him was of or related somehow to royalty; Zhou could guess where some of the people came from based on their dress or how they looked, but was pretty much clueless outside of that. The number of bodyguards was also staggering, [i]Are they really this paranoid?[/i] Zhou wondered as he turned to Liu, [color=0054a6]"Oi, we're still protected like them right?"[/color] [color=82ca9d]"Thank you for reminding me sir,"[/color] Liu suddenly snapped to attention and went back into the car, pulling out a suitcase and opening it, showing off a beautifully ornate straight dagger and a Liang military-issue smoke grenade, just in case he needed to make a speedy escape or be stealthy. But Zhou shifted his view around the suitcase as if something was missing. [color=0054a6]"Where's my gun?"[/color] Zhou nabbed the suitcase from his servant (after taking and pocketing its existing contents) and shook it around. [color=82ca9d]"Mistress Mai told me specificall [b]not[/b] to grant you access to firearms, much less your own personal model." [/color]Liu gracefully took back the suitcase. [color=0054a6]"Then how am I supposed to defend myself?"[/color] [color=82ca9d]"Sir, there's armed guards all over the place, you have a "herd immunity" from all the other bodyguards and I still have my own handgun. Unless you're getting scared since your martial arts has become so shit my lord."[/color] Liu snarked. Zhou seriously wanted to punch Liu right about now and almost did, he had bested Liu multiple times over when he was younger; the only time he lost was when he had been hit by a very solid trout. But, Mai's voice whispered into his ear from the wind, "Don't pimp slap people in public, its un-princely", something like that more or less. Resigning himself to take Liu's snark, he began to mount the stairs, trying to keep his head up and focused forward but couldn't help looking at all the other people. To think that he'd go from see shirtless criminals with huge muscles and scantly clad prostitutes to all these finely dressed men and women was a sort of "culture shock" to say the least. Briskly strolling to greet the king and queen as well as their child, Zhou put on his best "royal" attitude and bowed before them in the traditional Liang style and greeted them in with a heavy, but understandable Chinese accent, [color=0054a6][color=0072bc]"Greetings your majesties, I am Prince Zhou Mei of Liang, Grand Admiral of the Imperial fleet and minster of uhh.. trans-national imperial diplomatic political affairs of Liang. Pleasure to meet you in person."[/color][/color] Zhou patted himself on the back; he lost track of his though process half way through his sentence but managed to (hopefully) BS his way to victory! Ironhand would be proud of him! Mai... ehh... she'll live through it, ain't like she was there to bother Zhou about it. Now that the formalities was done, Zhou wanted to go an- oh. Of course. Zhou smacked himself in the face for forgetting that this was for his engagement to some random chick halfway around the world. He should probably meet her at some point... if he actually remembered what she looked like. The gears in his head whizzed about as his face grew into a grin as he came up with a plan. Sending Liu to return with a bottle of vodka, Zhou found a large wooden ladle, wrapped it with a bit of paper napkins and poured some of the vodka on to it before setting it ablaze, immediately catching the attention of some nearby people. However, this wasn't enough for Zhou nor the finale part of his plan; taking a swig of the bottle, he blew out a vodka mist into the torch held in the air, causing a fireball to bloom forth. That should help his bride-in-waiting to identify him, or at the every least attract some company to chat with. [hider=Summary] Zhou's ex-pirate/best friend/butler/bodyguard smacks Zhou awake with a solid piece of bamboo Zhou rushes into clothing upon hearing Mai's voice and rushed out to the car and part a head of Mai Zhou gets to the castle, takes note of the people and greets the king and queen Zhou becomes a mother fucking dragon without burning his eyebrows off. [/hider]