Foolish little me

With a raised eyebrow, he took her response in a stride. What reason did she have to hide her name? Other than the game of course. “Well, V, your performance was worthwhile. I do hope the noblemen and citizens have been paying you proper respect.”

As his ice blue glance grazed over their handshake, of which she had seemingly forgotten about, Gill awkwardly pat her hand to signal for her attention. “If you have time to spare aside from your performances, perhaps I can accompany you? --To seek out the mage or the prince, of course.” Abruptly adding the last part in, he cursed himself eternally. Even now, in his guise as a butler, he still couldn’t let go of his obstinate values and excuses.

“I’m glad I found you alright” she replied softly, her golden blonde hair shimmered from the yellow lights. Seeing the beautiful bouquet being held out to her made her heart skip… Such a gentleman…. “Oh my, thank you!♥” She lifted the flowers towards her face, closing her eyes, she smelt the bouquet. “They’re lovely ♥ ” Her eyes gazed up to meet his own once again.

Eve slipped one of her graceful arms around his in acceptance, it was so formal, she was feeling already kind of like a princess. What on earth was she thinking? There weren’t any happy endings like that in real life.

Stiffening for a moment at her touch, he tilted his head in her direction. How did she manage to play this off so smoothly? Perhaps he should just slip into his role and let his acting fill in the lines as he went. “Hmph. Well... milady, it delights me to know that my organization skills have met your approval.” Yes, that was fine. Just play the role as faithful butler until she notices what was up.

“Though... I must admit, my team of decorators did a fine job themselves.” He smiled faintly, eyes hovering over the fairy lights and starlit skies. He had a perpetually stoic expression, but when it came down to it, he had to admit that he was a bit sentimental about his line of work. As they strolled passed fireflies that dappled against the velvet stretches of sky, he found himself just a bit more relaxed than before. If only a little bit.

Leon’s attention was soon caught by the stranger asking him a question. He shook his head lightly and glanced back at the bag. “No, I’m afraid it’s not mine. It would be a great help if it was, but I believe getting it back to the appropriate owner is the right course of action.”

Despite his shenanigans, Leon was not a thief, nor a criminal. He had been a priest previously, and that life style was still partially engrained in him. So no matter how much he would have loved the extra money, there was no point gaining it if he did not earn it himself.

“Leon? Respectable name.” Gill rested his chin between the crevice of his fingers. “Forgive me, but I’ve never happened upon you during one of my city stops. Do you work around here?”

Leon acted as though he wasn’t exactly aware of who owned the bag either... “I’m guessing you don’t exactly recognize the bag enough to pinpoint the owner, though...” A slight impediment, indeed. Gill nearly could have sighed in exasperation, but he was in the presence of a stranger. 

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t known how though. He had nailed dancing techniques quite a while back, but he could never let himself feel whatever should have come out of dancing. There was far too much pride in his silly little head. But he might as well have given it a chance for Violet tonight. “Hmph-- F-forgive me for this, after all of it is done. I suggest we just take things slowly and just enjoy, okay?” 

“Thank you, I suppose.” He cleared his throat, trying to address his ‘superior’ correctly. With a stoic look on his face, Gill murmured, “His Royal Highness...” Gill stopped himself from gritting his teeth at the silly title, “...would probably be delighted to have your company. You’re rather good at your job, hmm?”

He was entranced; how did she manage to do that by simply juggling the orbs up and down? There had to be some kind of explanation for it, some strings she was pulling elsewhere, but at that moment in time it seemed as though she was making the orbs change color and pop out of existance in mid-air. After applauding her performance, he took to staring at his role card again for the umpteenth time. It would get let him narrow his thoughts down to a fine point; perhaps help him file through the perpetual flow of questions he had.

Letting out a silent breath, he held up his role card between his index and middle fingers. Flipping it around, he reread the words pressed boldly into the card: “You primarily work for the Prince, you should probably do as your told if you value your life.” A rather ominous way to word things, he had to admit. Perhaps it would be better if he never met the Prince at all. He caught the words “Lady in Waiting” on the card before rolling his eyes. Sliding his card back into his front pocket, rose a friendly hand to shake.

Cutting himself off before he made a tired sigh, he murmured, “Well the night’s been raising quite the social appeal. Though... it’s been doing a number on me.” Glancing down at his partner, he didn’t wish to bring to light any more negativity if he could avoid it. 

“U…U-Um…” Violet uttered out, her face turning a light shade of pink at the kind offer. This was definitely something she hadn’t expected. Dancing with her blind date was expected since it was supposed to be a date…but getting asked to dance by a complete and total stranger? Was he expecting something from her? She knew that the second she walked onto the dance floor, he would immediately be disappointed.

Still…being asked like this felt nice.

Steeling his expression to attempt to make sure they weren’t both blathering messes, he ended up giving her one of his professional smiles; the kind that he could whip out at a moment’s notice. Clearing his throat, he nodded at her stiffly. “Hmph. It’s... nice to meet you too, Violet.” His eyes caught hers for a moment; she was quite pretty in her own right, just simply bashful from the looks of it.

Eve glanced at the time, she was told to meet him at a certain time near the garden, a little quieter then her current location. Her golden blonde hair flowed stunningly around her waist as she swayed her hips walking to the garden in her heels.

Her heels clicked quietly as she walked along the stone path, the garden was lovely during the evening, it was a gorgeous night. To her surprise she saw a handsome man in… Well it looked rather like a butler suit? Shaking the thought away, she elegantly walked up to him, her mysteriously beautiful pink hues meet his blue ones.

As the woman zoned in on him, it hit him that she may have been his date for the rest of the evening. Dear Goddess, really? He’d rather be underwhelmed than over...! But this was never really a choice for him to make, was it? Letting out a breath once, he stilled his expression to one of professional sharpness. This was arranged; he had it all planned. So there was no reason for him to be alarmed by this pleasant surprise. 

“Hm. Good evening, Eve. You’ve... definitely found the right man,” His smile was faint and a tad lopsided, but it was an attempt nonetheless. Holding out the bouquet for her, he nodded gently. “Uh-- Ehem. These are for you.” 

x

Violet sat back on a bench right outside the plaza, watching everyone dance together from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t see anyone she knew, but the crowd was so thick that she doubted she could find them if she tried. Throughout the majority of the dance, Violet could count the times she had danced on one hand. She didn’t blame anyone. She was a terrible dancer who only learned through storybooks and had forgotten to even practice before she decided to come. Plus, everyone was having fun with their own respective dates and she didn’t want to come between any of them, even if she knew the majority were blind dates according to what she saw on the giant list.

Too bad he was a bit too caught up in trying to check up on all the citizens in the plaza to make some moments for himself.

Sighing, he strolled around the plaza, observing the dancers as they spun around the floor. Ducking out of the way of the crowd, he supposed he could possibly take a seat at a near by bench or something-- It didn’t seem like a bad idea in retrospect. But as he cut through to the edge of the plaza, his eyes paused at a lone figure, face up towards the clouds. The image itself was rather melancholy and the music just made it more so. Breathing in deeply, he made his way up towards her and coughed awkwardly.