Level_5

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

That was it! He was afraid of the dark!

He need not threaten lightly, then, if Frey's fear of the dark was all Asbel would be able to hold over the head of the prince. But before the phoenix could take back his threat, the door flew open with a flash of light and, startled -- as always -- by loud and sudden sounds, Asbel leapt away from the prince and ducked behind him to guard against the veritable explosion in the doorway.

But, ah, the newcomer was only the oracle, and Asbel relaxed enough to release his new death-grip on the back of the prince's now-seared shirt and to retreat with the deference due one of such repute.

Just behind the oracle, much taller than her and at least a head above his youngest brother, came the eldest prince, and Asbel could not help but relax, even though the twenty-four-year-old man gripped the pommel of the sword at his waist with the determination to use it if necessary.

The young man boasted the same beautiful orange eyes and silver hair of his youngest sibling, but his skin was darker from his long hours spent outside, and where Frey's smile was always one of cunning and ill-concealed evil, Prince Augustine radiated kindness even when (as now) his expression was pinched with concern and the anticipation of danger. Still dressed in the silver-enameled armor of the knights, and with the heavy starlit-blue cloak thrown back over his shoulders, the general must have just returned from a day of training.

"Are you alright, Frey?" the man asked. His grip on the sword loosened, though his pose grew no less relaxed. "Cassius thought you might be in trouble. He felt something wrong and told me you were here. What's happened?"

"My apologies, Oracle and Your Highness," Asbel murmured, though his voice felt too soft in the wake of her aggressive entrance. He ought to, perhaps, have condemned Frey as the instigator of the incident, but such a claim would be only half true: Asbel could have reported Frey sooner, or avoided the altercation altogether. To complain now would be an act of pettiness, which he was certainly above.

But punishment? He glanced, uncertain, at Frey, but the prince's demeanor was nothing to go by: even a spell of washing dishes would probably prove to be too 'serious' for the devil of a prince. And what could the royal family do to Asbel that they did not do already? Already he was more or less confined to a single room; already he was subject to minor and constant irritants; already he forfeit any hopes he had of flying, exploring, learning.

Prince Augustine may have been thinking along the same lines; his gaze (more copper than orange, perhaps) drifted from Frey to the phoenix and back again. "What punishment do you have in mind, Mighty Oracle? One is my brother and the other is my family's responsibility. If they need discipline, I ought to be the one to provide it."

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Yesss, I can do that most definitely. And Aren can be in the pool as well, though I don't imagine he's going to see a lot of use. (:

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

I can manage to not kill off NPCs, I promise. xD

And if you want to do it this time, I'd be grateful! I'll not be timid next time, cross my heart, but I want to see this in action before I commit to doing it, too.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Pet. The nickname had never bothered Asbel before. He'd been able to shrug it off as the snide remarks of a young man who was of little importance. But tonight, something in the prince's acidic tone dug beneath the surface of skin like a tick. The itch was slight, but as Frey spoke again -- Nothing but a pet -- Asbel bit back a flash of deepening irritation.

Frey didn't care about anyone but himself. Of course the brat would complain and expect everyone else to fix his problems for him. He was spoiled, selfish, utterly unfixable. What a bully -- what a monster.

Heedless of the young man's brief stint of near-politeness, of his half-visible worry, Asbel lurched forward even as Frey freed himself from the phoenix's grasp. Green eyes nearly glowed with anger as he seized the prince's arms, pinned them to his sides.

"All this because you are jealous of rooms?" he hissed, calm tone lost at last. "You care so little for anything beyond yourself that you are bothered by the state of your room?" Smoking fingers burned into the fabric of the prince's shirt. "Your family would love you, if you gave them reason. You would have servants, if they gave you reason. But you are petty and rude and selfish and I may be the same age as you, but I will never be so stupid as to think that I am all that matters in this palace. I give you and your family immortality, and I might very well take it away, you deserve it so little!"

Something sparked in his thoughts, then -- a lightning-strike of understanding. The dark -- was that really what had so spooked Frey when he entered the room? Was the prince afraid of the dark? Of all things, the dark?

"When you stop being an insufferable brat, I will turn the lights back on," he growled, his own glow flickering. "I could take away all the light in this whole palace, you know. How patient do you think I'll be if you continue to insult me?"

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

( Sorry for the late reply! It's been a busy week! D: I'll post tonight, though, ASAP! )

For NPCs, I'm used to the creator of the NPC being the one to control them, but if you'd rather have a shared pool, I'm alright with that as well. Do tell me if I ever use one of yours out of character, though, please.

And if there's one you want me to put in now, speak up or I won't get the hint, ha ha.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

The prince's whispered response was nearly too soft to hear, and Asbel leaned closer, wary, to hear his response. The answer, when he heard it, brought a thin, tight frown to his mouth. Of course Frey would want to be the best of all his siblings. Of course the youngest would be so desperate for that which would be so difficult to achieve.

"You can't--" The prince yanked his arm, freeing it from Asbel's slight grasp, and the phoenix panicked. If Frey got away from him in the dark, he could do anything -- and Asbel lurched forward, grabbed, as chance would have it, the prince's collar. No, that was too aggressive a hold -- he let go at once and caught instead the young man's face: a hand against either side of his jaw, warming the sharp bones beneath his fingertips. Perhaps the prince would not be so quick to squirm out of a hold that could damage him more severely.

"You," he replied, voice again low and steady despite his fluttering pulse, "You humans are not born with talents. Gifts are not rained down on those who do not develop them. All you have done, Prince Frey, is teach yourself to be callous and cruel. If you want anything out of your life besides that, you teach yourself to do something different. Put your tongue to a better use: be a diplomat. Unwind the need for an army altogether. Fight demons outside yourself." He tightened his grasp, tilted the prince's head, and forced Frey to meet his gaze. "Bullying in the dark? Harassing your servants? You are a prince. You are better than that."

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Ah, that's alright! I'm not upset or anything at all, I promise. And don't worry about being busy; it's definitely that time of year.

I'll see if I can respond tonight, toooooo~

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Despite the apparent fear in the prince's expression, the young man's responses were sharp enough, and Asbel doubted Frey was truly frightened. Though his rapid breathing and the rioting pulse beneath the phoenix's fingertips suggested otherwise. What was the prince so afraid of, if not Asbel? Why would the bully, the brute, the insufferable child be afraid of anything?

"What I want doesn't matter," he retorted, tone smooth even as Frey's sought to cut. "I owe the debt of a lifetime to your family, and even if you are a brat and a nuisance, I cannot go back on my word." His fingers tightened around the prince's wrist -- hot as his temper flared, if not hot enough to blister. The corona of light around his body brightened momentarily, though he did not seem to notice.

"And you lie to me. If you wanted only money, you would be happy. Yet you make my life and your siblings' lives miserable. A happy man does not spread discontent." Asbel pushed the prince back a step, squeezing his wrist in unrelenting intensity. Neither one of them would leave this room until this mess was sorted. "So tell me plainly, prince -- what do you want? If not friends or fellow kindness, then what?"

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

The phoenix recoiled as Frey made to embrace him a second time, but the prince pulled away on his own, and Asbel was left with only the warmth of a wrist in his grasp, the shadow of heat on his chest and shoulders from the prince's unintended embrace. What had that near-hug been? An attempt to fight back against his captor? An instinctual reaction to attack a rebelling castle pet? Then why the retreat?

But Frey had, briefly, come across as panicked. Surely he wasn't surprised to find that Asbel had more magical talents than just turning into a man. Surely the dark did not frighten a young man who made it his mission to frighten all other beings in the castle. Or perhaps...

But as the prince's tone deepened in sincerity, Asbel tightened his hold. Surely this was a trick after all. Frey was no more afraid of the dark than his siblings. This new heated posturing was residual anger still -- not true shyness or true respect.

Yet the honesty -- whatever the source -- the honesty was unquestionable, and the phoenix slowly loosened his fingers from the prince's arm. He retained contact, fingertips against the prince's racing pulse, just in case he needed again to deflect Frey's advances.

"The value of the gold is not diminished by the value of the fountain," he whispered, almost gentle. "And the pirate's perception of the gold is not the fault of the fountain." He hesitated, intending to leave his answer there, but words rose unbidden in his throat: "And as long as I've known you, Asbel, you've only been gold in looks; the rest of the time, you are cruel and sharp and that adds tarnish all its own."

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Though he sat on the floor at the foot of his bed, listening with all his being, Asbel did not hear Frey's arrival until the prince was halfway past the threshold. The phoenix leapt to his feet, and nearly bolted for the open window, as much good as that would do. But no-- no. If he did not hold his ground, this would never end and Frey would be completely out of control forever. There was a possibility, a very real possibility, that Frey would only stop when Asbel was dead.

So the phoenix rose as Frey strode closer, his expression stone and his body still. Then a hand-- a hand on his shoulder, and Asbel closed his fingers around the prince's wrist to forestall further contact. The lights, with a gesture, he extinguished and the room plunged into darkness. Only his own glow, as faint as distant starlight, could he not put out.

"Tell me what you want from me." His voice, though soft, was not gentle. No longer as tame as a hearth-fire, he would brook no further assault. His hand warmed around the prince's wrist, though not yet hot enough to burn. "I will not hurt you, but neither will you hurt me, Prince Frey."