inspiteofdanger (inspiteofdanger) wrote in _fracture_, @ 2014-04-18 14:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | chapter 2, kai, lavel, mai |
Plan B
Who: Mai and Kai
Where: around
When: late morning
Mai had spent the morning looking for her sister, asking around here and there until she was finally pointed in the right direction. People were giving her looks sure, the fancy gown and the fact that she’d been called out as betrothed to the prince at the banquet wasn’t lost on anyone it seemed, but she pressed on until she found the familiar face she was looking for. “Kai!”
Kai had been having a pretty great day. She was still on a high from things with Ronin, and the weird place they were was fascinating. So, she hadn’t been stressing, which might have been weird, but for her it didn’t seem to be. As she heard Mai, she turned to smile at her sister. “Hey!” she said. “You look gorgeous, you know that?”
Mai actually smiled, feeling a weight lifted off her shoulders at the sight of her sister, reaching out to hug her. At least they were both okay. It wasn’t something she ever really worried about prior to winding up in a place like this and suddenly that seemed more than important. “Do I?” she asked modestly, though she did know it. People had been staring. “How’re you doing?”
Kai blinked at the hug, but returned it. “Hey, you okay?” she asked. “And duh. You know you do. You're workin that dress,” she added with a grin. “And I'm alright. How goes the betrothal?” she asked, trying to keep her face straight, but she hadn't actually managed it.
“Just thrown completely by this place.” Mai pulled away and smiled as if everything was fine even if she did have that urge to cling to her sister again. “It’s not going well, but I’m glad you think it’s funny. Ash is upset about it as well,” she said dropping her voice to a whisper.
“Why aren't things going well? What's going on?” she asked, glancing around for a good place to wander off to the side, and she spotted a little area near the castle wall that looked mostly unoccupied. Urging her sister in that direction, she walked there, hoping whatever it was was minor, and fixable.
“What’s going on?” Mai said, sounding shocked that Kai would ask. She let herself be led into the private corner, leaning against the wall once she was there. “I’m betrothed to marry a stranger at the end of the tournament. That’s a little alarming,” she said shaking her head.
“...and?” Kai asked. “Hon, it isn't like you really are a princess, or he's whatever it is he is. You two know this is whatever it is, you can work it out later. Besides, I thought you liked him?” she asked. “Hey, you get to spend a ton of time with him now getting to know him!”
Mai made a face. “I’m not betrothed to marry Ash, just some guy. Ash wants to challenge him.” She wrapped her arms around herself with a sigh. “I adore Ash. And I’m just starting to worry about what would happen if we get stuck here. What if we don’t wind up back at the hotel.”
She blinked. Okay, she'd gotten the rumor mill wrong then. She'd just assumed...right. “Ohhhh...” she said. “Shit. Er. Shit.” She paced around a little bit. “Er...is the person doing the betrothing here? Can they call it off? Possibly due to extreme persuasion from an overprotective big sister?” She paused. “Don’t think about not getting back to the hotel. That...we can’t think about that right now.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m apparently and obviously not from around here.” Mai sighed again and ran her hands over her face. “And now Ash literally wants to fight the prince for me and I really don’t know what to do.” And she hated that she found the whole fighting for her hand stupidly sexy. “How do we get back? And when? What if we’re here months or years or something.”
“God, um...um...” Kai stumbled over her thought process. “Run?” she suggested. “Find the nearest town, or something, get away from here? Because I don't want you forced into anything with some stupid prince, and something tells me it isn't like the movies here with the whole fighting for someone's hand thing. Because no.”
“That’s what he suggested, but he wants to make it known. Also what if we have to stay here to get back?” Mai’s words were tumbling out of her, frown on her features. “What if he gets hurt? For me?” That wasn’t something she was ready for.
“He wants to make what known?” she asked. “And I'd rather stay here forever, and not have you involved in shit you don't want to be than to get back. Which...okay, is a dick move to everyone else, but I don't care. You're my sister, I love you, and you getting married off isn't going to happen.”
“I lost track of it. He’s all but become this knight thing. It’s sexy as hell, but scary in the morning when I think about it.” Mai looked at her sister, tilting her head slightly and shaking her head. “I can do that to you too. I don’t want to be stuck here. I don’t want us to get stuck here.”
"I don't either, but if the possibility of rape and or murder is on the table, I would take it in a heartbeat, Mai." Kai looked at the ground, trying to think. "Is there any way to make you unsuitable wife material before this goes down?" She asked, trying to think outside the box.
“Rape? Murder? Shit.” She hadn’t thought of that. But she’d thought of Ash as winning. Hopefully at least. Mai raised an eyebrow at that. “Unsuitable like...tainted or something? How does that work?”
"I don't know," Kai said with a sigh. "Er...can you just try talking to the guy? With me present of course. And Ronin. And anyone else we can find to back us up... or! Act Super crazy! Like talk about computers or tell him the plot of Terminator or something!"
“The plot of Terminator? You realize we were kids and I cried when we saw that movie? Dad yelled at you for making me watch it.” Mai rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. “So sound...crazy. Or just tell him I don’t want to get married, which might not go over well since I don’t think he was expecting to get someone actually pretty.
“That's right, neither of you never could appreciate proper sci-fi,” Kai said, moving on. “And yes. That first, the whole 'nope, sorry pal' bit. Let's go with that option.”
“It was scary!” Mai only protested a tiny bit before moving on as well. “Alright, no I don’t want to get married and then see if something else works.” She sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
“Okay,” Kai said with a nod, nervous. “...okay. Er. So. When we doing this?”
Mai looked around and shrugged. “Tonight? I don’t see him much except at these banquet things. I guess that’s the best shot.”
“Okay tonight. I'll be with you, because at no point is it okay for you to go alone. So, you and me!” Kai said, drumming up some kind of enthusiasm even if she didn't feel it. God, this could suck.
“Are you sure about that? What if he gets angry? You could get hurt.” Mai was worried about her sister and despite the enthusiasm, she couldn’t get behind it herself.
Kai answered that with a hard look. Then she turned, not dignifying it with an answer. “Come on,” she said. “Let's go find something to do before we go break the news to your beau.”
Mai was going to protest again, but she knew that look. She took another step then tucked her arm in her sister’s. “Okay. Let’s do that.” And pray that things didn’t go miserably then they told the Prince the truth.