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Acting Strange pt 5
The princess’s world became slightly unbalanced at the sight. All the old stories, the legends, the good-night stories that her mom – and Thea, even! - had read to her came back to mind.
A pelt, stolen by a prince, kept and taken and never returned. A long time ago, her family tree had gotten an unusual addition, it was said their eyes got wistful, looking at the sea and their ability to swim and dive had always been just the slightest bit too good, instinctual.
Nonsense, all of it. Those creatures don't exist. Centaurs and Selkies and Fairies and Werewolves and Leprechauns are all myths. Only in Fairy tales.
In front of her, a very real being clip-clopped back and forth, effortlessly, bowing a little, actually. It – he – actually said something, as well. Gaelic. Thea answered. Also in Gaelic.
Introductions, mostly, smiles were exchanged. 'Henoch', he's called. A short form, of course. No fairy creature would ever expose their full name.
Gabrielle just stared at all this. And stepped two steps back when 'Henoch' invaded something that she had declared her 'personal bubble around horses'. It's a lot bigger than usual. And a lot smaller than she liked it to be. Riding was enjoyable, sure, but those creatures still weighed ten times as much as she did, scared easily and did not give a damn about squishy beings under their hooves when agitated.
The centaur stopped and looked down at her, not entirely sure what to do, an unsure frown around his brow.
… being looked down on wasn't exactly a favourite pastime of Gabrielle's, it was enough of a challenge to step up and face the strange proof of... magic?!
“Greetings, Henoch of the Southern Isles. My Name is Gabrielle of Yaorn, heiress to the Jibril throne”, she curtsied as it was proper, her eyes never left the centaur's, though, “So... you are Briant's... companion”
She did enjoy Thea's shocked face, looking back and fourth between all three other parties. She usually was the one better informed with 'secret' gossip like this. After throwing her arms a way into the air, she just sat down and gave up, time to watch and see, apparently.
He, meanwhile, twitched a little: “Ah... yes... that... that is true”, there was a bit of a frown again.
“You've my own companion, Thea, right next to you”, she waved, there.
“I... did... so... everything is quite alright?”, there still was a bit of a frown going on.
Prince Briant then spoke up: “Well, everyone met, it's late... no one is scared, so... everything is... accepted?”
There was a bit of shrugging on all sides.
“It's... a lot to take in”, came from the centaur. Sure. That... sure, that one was the one with the most to take in. Yes.
And so the meeting was dissolved.
Thea and Gabrielle could return to their room... and sat together, cuddling, a hand running through royal hair...
It WAS a lot to take in.
“... Thea... I might be a Selkie”
She... continued to pet Gabrielle's hair: “Mmmh...”
Acting Strange pt 4
It was over. There had been a decision.
The impossibility of getting there would never be forgotten.
The amount of times even the tiniest discussion had been blocked was a bit too high to count.
One specific participant just... sat down – or left the room - and refused to talk. It was that easy. Of course it was also childish and became less freqquent over time, but unfortunately, it was also very effective.
There had been other battles over this issue. Battles mostly fought in the sheets... both parties had gotten a lot better at 'warfare' there. Over time. It also happened out of the sheets. Unfortunately this, too, was used for distraction and postponing of decisions.
Thea had hoped that talking about warfare PAST the decision – involving the beautiful garb and jewelry coming along with it – would help. She was wrong. But she learned that it was obviously possible to talk her princess out of clothes... and into a rather recreative mood. Worked really well.
Anyway: Her parents, too, tried to talk about it. And they were a little more effective. And so – about three month after her seventeenth birthday – Gabrielle gave in to the candidate Thea had tried to bring closer to her.
She had agreed to a meeting with her future spouse. Finally.
Everything had been packed, the princess promised her parents to be on her best behaviour and Thea got allowance to come with them.
So, 2 weeks of riding in a carriage later (Gabe refused after the second day and rode instead, as was predicted, but no one was particularly bothered), they had arrived in the foreign kingdom.
And it had been pleasant enough: The prince's parents, were very obliging the whole time. They, too, had a slight problem with getting their son married off.
If someone wanted to compare the future couple, you could say they fit very well together. At lest their expressions on their faces upon seeing one another. They both looked like spiteful mice in a room full of hungry snakes: They knew what was inevitably coming, but they weren't going without a fight.
Thea didn't like it when they were left alone for half an hour. In a room. Only the bodyguards allowed in. Thea - pointedly - was not. Hrm.
She stuck close to the door for any signs of too-poisonous speech inside these walls.
But... no... the doors opened, and the two of them came out. Not looking love-struck, but Gabrielle was smirking.
And Thea was not sure if she liked that fact. The only answer as to what they had talked about was: “We're going to meet someone this evening”
That was it.
Thea needed to brush her hair properly, dress her perfectly right – these days, it always took a little longer... at least this did not change. The hope that it would loosen her tongue was unfortunately in vain.
Dinner was held... talks were had... pleasantries were exchanged... and then they left the hall. And went to 'meet someone.
Gabrielle, too, was nervous then. And offered one more explanation, at least, it was: “He said if they don't like us, we might just as well go”
Ah. A loophole. Another distraction. Another postponing.
Well. Too bad Gabrielle was loved by most people then, mh?
But... that... be that as it may.
Fact was: they were in the park. And the prince was with them. And they waited.
There were noises. Dry, clacking noises.
After a while, the clip-clopping of hooves came closer. A slow noise, though. Nothing threatening... except the fact that they DID come on a horse, but... well... no complaints now.
A silhouette became visible in the shadows... and then the person came into view...
And.. well... he... had long, black hair that fell over his borad shoulders in many braids. He wore a proper tunic, properly tailored to fit his wide frame.
The hooves were studded. The fur also a glossy, beautiful black, the tail in the same colour was also braided. Very well taken care of.
Oh, and he had darker skin. Several shades darker than Gabrielle, even. That was somewhat unusual, too. Yes.
Nice contrast with his tunic, it had quite a few white embroideries...
He looked a bit nervous, fiddling with his cufflinks.
…
Yeah, that... was a good description. Very nice. Very accurate. Just... with one problem:
This guy was a horse.
Like... not really a horse, he had a face and arms and everything, but... he had no legs. He was a horse. A horse-man.
'Centaur', was it called? If she remembered right?!
The prince that leaned against the next tree... smirked. Smugly.
And Gabrielle.... Gabrielle stared.
Acting Strange pt 3
Thea went to the princess' room and cleaned up.
Fluffing up the pillows. Putting any random object back to its original place. Straightening the clothes. Gettting the last two hair out of the brush. Disentangling the scarf-in-the-making that was thrown down because Gabrielle had wanted to show her something silly and small and not relevant to Gabrielle’s, but Thea’s interest.
Thea stared at it. And then flicked it out of her hands. Her mind said good bye to calm and reasonable. May the wool go wherever it wanted, she certainly didn't care.
… okay, maybe she did. If someone came in, that would look bad. Like... more-than-frownworthy-bad.
She cleaned up the tiny mess and stuffed it into its beholder – she guessed the old-tangle-new-tangle ratio might even be a little bit on the favorable side – and then... sat down. On the floor. In a corner. One could excuse that.
Alright.
Time to... to think.
Think about...
The princess’ love declaration.
A love declaration said princess had for some reason deemed unnecessary and already KNOWN by Thea.
...
Yeah. Sure.
She'd always been ~great~ with emotions, right?
...
Well. Shit.
This declaration - those words and emotions - that was a possibility that had never actually crossed her mind.
Sure, there had been people in the past that tried to court her for various reasons. But... that had been... silly. And ridiculous, really.
And now the princess had declared... this. An emotion.
But not the regular emotions. With which she was familiar. And that could be predicted. Nono, it had to be... love.
Towards her.
There was no point in actually denying it whatsoever. Or suspecting it was a false claim. It would make no sense. There was nothing to gain from a false claim. Not even material for teasing. The problem was... that meant it was true.
And that was a lot more... complicated.
It was not about the additional tasks. And behaviours. Hell, she had no problem with being close to Gabrielle. Never had been. Never will be: She was an exceptionally beautiful woman, certainly. No, there would not be any problems with anything physical whatsoever.
There was no problem with trust, either. They had saved each other's behinds on more than one occasion. Come to think of it, the last time had been a horse-problem. Beings that weighed half a ton and belonged to the princess STILL could get spooked. And it WOULD have gotten her injured if Thea had not stupidly jumped in front of it when it did it's horse-thing of standing on two hind-legs to grab the lost reins and PULL. There had been no skill involved. And Thea probably had used up her luck-reservoir for the rest of her life, but... well, the horse had stopped and Gabe had jumped down and had grabbed Thea's face – right, there had been blood – and then, with a smile, Thea had announced a tiny nap was necessary. Sorry. And the nap had happened.
… and that had been where the weird behaviour had started, really.
If that was the reason, she might be better off with a bodyguard, though. But... it might not be the only reason, so... not questioning her emotions, just... yeah, the whole trust-thing was probably not an issue, either.
But... she was supposed to feel the same, wasn't she?
So. Love.
It includes trust. Right, that was already checked.
Did she feel better if the princess was around? Well. It certainly was better than being alone. And she was definitely preferable to anyone else.
Did she want to spend the rest of her life with her? It... had actually been the plan, yes. Always had been.
Would she be sad if she were to disappear? … she'd jumped in front of half a ton of death to make sure that didn't happen. Not a single person in the world could have claimed it had been her 'duty'. So... yes, definitely. It would be horrifying if she were to disappear.
Now... was it simply because of her job and the necessity to earn a living here? Well, she'd learned to write. She'd learned to calculate. She'd learned to be anything a maid is supposed to be. And she’d kept a bit of money for the potential case of being let go for being too... casual. So... no, she definitely didn't stay just for the job.
… did the princess go on her nerves? Well, yes, of course. But never enough to actually get angry. Plus: Everyone did.
Was she afraid of the lady? … eh... heheheheh. Ahm. Well. No.
Would she look forward to spend more time with her? Mh. Actually... yes. That... would be a yes. Even if it was barely possible... they spend most of the time together, anyway, just not... at night...
Thea sat there and felt how she started to smile. Into the empty room, feeling very cozy with the thought. Peaceful. Fluttery. In stomach-areas.
… well... that certainly was a start, was it not?
She was interrupted in her thoughts by the door opening, it caused a quick scramble until Thea was back on her feet, just to see it was... only Dori: “...no sleeping on duty, T. One day someone will catch you”
An unsuspecting nose was poked and a few scrolls were handed over to the 'personal maid'. Thea looked at them quizzically.
“Last job of the day for me, biggest job of the day for you: Good luck finding a husband this time!”, she winked and closed the door on her way out.
Thea stared down at the scrolls.
She... did not feel angry about that, though. Mh. She was not exactly happy... and somewhat averse to the idea of Gabe being with a husband, but... it was a necessity. It was more of a feeling of a ‘hassle’, than actual jealousy.
… God have mercy on his soul if any suitor treated her badly, though.
Thea became aware she'd crumbled the scrolls a little.
Uhm. Well.
There was a little time to... evaluate those again. Dinner would still take some time, after all..
After dinner, the scrolls were neatly put away, the wool had been disentangled and she continued to work on that scarf to bridge time.
The princess came in when a row was finished, spotted her maid, nested on the bed - many skirts always made sitting down into an adventure - and then looked at her: “And?!”
… how very elaborate.
“... it's going to be a scarf”, she held it out to show the progress, too.
Gabrielle frowned... irritated. It was something Thea almost got to appreciate, now that she was almost sure what it meant: “I did not want to know that... I know what you are knitting”
“Dori's done with her chores, she might want to kno-”
“Thea. This is not what I want to know”, she looked almost sad then, which hadn't been the intention. That was a change: Seriousness was not usually welcome when they interacted...
“Thea, I love you. It... should not be that hard to get you to answer to this. So... now without evading answers like a weasel – even if I love you for that, too – answer me”, and so the sixteen-year-old princess sat on the bed, looking down at her with intent. Eyes bright and grey and a little too big, she almost resembled a girl again, yet her jaw had a determined set to it...
A slightly twitching, lopsided smile was all Thea could summon up while she did her best to look the future queen in the eyes: “Oh, princess... I've loved you for a very, very long time...”, she shrugged, “I guess we could try where this goes, mh?”
This time, she held her arms out so Gabe could jump into them and land in her lap securely. The second time this day. And get her lips captured. The second time as well.
It was different this time, though. Caused more warmth in her stomach. And less surprise. And her hands snuck around the princess’s waist, bringing her closer... and the other went into her hair, making a bit of a mess out of the carefully combed hairdo. Enjoyable to do all the same.
The hand not ruffling hair was ruffling clothes... and carefully moved along very soft skin. Thea sighed. Because this really, really was more enjoyable than it had any right to be. Her mind went a bit swimming, with the princess’s hands doing just the same on her, but after a little while, her went lower and squeezed the maid’s behind.
A laugh escaped her upon that, breaking the kiss, but keeping her close, pulling her closer, even, against her chest, running her hand over the royal hair...
Gabrielle let it happen. And they both calmed down, heartbeats a little too fast on both sides.
This was going to be... a strange thing. Most likely.
And everything was peaceful. Until Gabrielle’s heartbeat apparently had calmed down too much... and she rubbed her cheek against Thea’s chest and... groped the other breast.
It certainly least startled Thea out of the peacefulness they had on the floor, letting words tumble out of her mouth without meaning to: “Actually, we need to talk about your future husband, too”
“... what?!”, maybe the princess did have the right to look betrayed when she looked up, then.
Acting Strange pt 2
After almost a minute, there still had not been a strangling, only two fists crumbling and un-crumbling her maid's skirts.
“You... are not usually that slow, Thea. You... you know me. You know what I mean when I do things, you understand me. It's... can't you just make this easier for me, at least a little?! I think I did enough!”, she was basically fuming a little, but looked away from the older woman. Seriously. The last months had been... somewhat distressing.
“Milady... I think in this particular case... I can not actually draw any conclusions without overstepping my boundaries”
Gabrielle's frown deepened, the skirts stayed crumpled: “You tried to feed me WORMS once!”, they had been washed, it had been something of an experiment, but... WORMS! Without warning! Thea would not know a boundary if it bit her in her trained behind!
“I... did, certainly. And I apparently learned my lesson. From then”, she did look too amused for this. Especially scratching her throat like that. And looking to the ceiling. It... was not right.
But also typical. And there was this little crinkle to her eyes, when she was way too self-satisfied. But hadn't meant any harm. It was... a bit too easy to forgive.
But still.
A princess should not have to sit on a maid's lap, certainly blushing like a tomato, and have to wait until said maid finally said something of a proper ANSWER!
… at least this arm around her waist still was there.
Her voice still turned icy: “Well. Thea. If you... don't want to 'overstep your bounds', then... to lift this burden: You now have my full permission to react to the fact that I fell in love with you. So do it. Now!”, it had been an order. Orders were easier to finish than normal sentences.
They also made Thea stop scratching her throat. And look at her. And... actually blush. This strange blush she did: On top of her bony cheeks and the tips of her ears. Her mouth former a tiny 'oh'.
And then she cleared her throat, looked away, to the crumpled skirts, and then back up into Gabrielle's eyes and took a breath to say something. Just to shake her head and grab the princess' chin between thumb and forefinger and leaned forward and kissed her again.
The kiss was not too passionate. Both participants were a bit too tense for that. Gabrielle not for a lack of trying, really. After the first three seconds of surprise, she tried to melt into the kiss and make use of this nice angle Thea had them start this kiss with.
But then she had already broken it again. And leaned back, drawing a tiny, disapproving mewl from the noble in the room.
“Well. It. Was was an unusual thing to hear. And one that needs discussion. After dinner. Because it was bad timing for this, princess. Your parents miss you. And whoever is visiting right there and then. I lost track. As I was supposed to, so!”, she grabbed Gabrielle by her shoulders and put her back on her feet. Doing the same to herself in the process.
“Weee are going down. Now”, and so they did, Thea shoving her Lady down the latch and then the floor and... yeah...
“And I'll give you to your dress-maid-servants and you eat and if you want to talk about it still, I'll await you in your room, just as usual”, and with that, she put her through a door and smiled and closed it. And there were already people that wanted to dress her.
...
…
…
Thea had not actually answered.
WHAT the!
Acting Strange
Princess Gabrielle had been acting strange, lately.
It was almost a bit spooky.
Especially since Gabe did not talk to Thea about it any more. Gabe used to tell her basically everything. But the last three months? They basically talked over the weather and sometimes over the plans for the next week. Plus orders, of course.
But well, that was probably also 'proper noble behaviour', who knew. Maybe one of the visiting nobles had seen them talk more than two sentences and even smile, too. Could have ended in a lecture from her parents to cut that out, certainly. But that HAD happened before already with the result of the little princess coming and kicking the shelf and saying “There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune” about her parents (Please cut down the late-night reading of Shakespeare, milady, who has given you those books anyway, really)... and Thea was rather certain she had kept her face trained emotionless and smile-free, anyway.
But that was not the only thing. For example a thing during a picnic in the parks, the guards stationed in strategically important positions and out of sight (Yes, princess, the guards need to accompany us, The rules demand it so. Besides: Horses get stolen, Milady does not wish to lose her own after she is finally allowed to keep it, no?)
They had sat there and done the usual flower-crown-business. And if she admitted it or not, Gabe liked it. If it was for the smell or the pretty colours or the peace of Thea shutting up (Sorry, talking and working results in messing up. I can only do one at a time. I can sing, if you want to (none of them wanted that, though))? The maid would never know, but... she liked it.
But this time, she picked up a flower herself. And then came to her maid while that one made the crown. Thea startled a little when she noticed the flower only in the last possible second, it had been almost in front of her eyes, there. Startled or not, she picked the flower out of the hand and properly thanked Gabe for it and apologised for the startle and everything. But it didn't seem enough: The princess had looked like she wanted to say something for a second... and then just shut up and frowned the rest of the day.
The colour-choice was a bit off, too, actually. Didn't fit to the rest of the flowers – and her – but whatever floated her boat, really, not going to question her mistress.
And another thing: they had always bathed together. Always. Hell, she had bathed her when she'd been barely able to crawl! But of course able to pull her hair. That had actually landed her with that life-sentence: Silver locks. The only thing to calm the crying baby princess. Not that she was complaining, of course, but... yeah, they had bathed together since forever. Now? Getting her back washed actually has her skittish. And she's not looking at her anymore. And if she does, mentioning it results exasperated complaints about random things. Plus: She wrapped herself a lot faster into her towel. And shoved one on Thea as well.
Well. Maybe noble embarrassment actually kicked in after all this time.
The next strange thing that happened was... interrupted sleep. One night, Thea woke up from a noise above her head and jerked awake, basically ready to receive punishment, but the next thing she saw was the face of 'her' princess. Frowning at her: “This is where you sleep?”
“... it's where I like to sleep during summer. Did you at least tell Edna? Sue?”, there was a lot of eye-rubbing taking place. And being careful not to fall off the roof.
“Jane, actually. She's tucked away in my bed and ordered to send anyone away... in the right way...”, right, that was the third look-alike for the princess. Well, no one would miss her, then.
“Ah... good... so... what brings you to the roof, princess?”, it was not actually that easy to get up there. If it was, Thea wouldn't use this exit. It was frowned upon to stay on the roof, after all.
For a few seconds, she'd just stared at her. Frowned again, that strange, impossible way and then looked away, exasperated: “... 've needed some air”
“Mmmmmhmh...”, at this moment, Thea had been awake enough to crouch instead of lie and reached out an arm to pull her lady up: “C'mere then, stars are nice tonight, orient yourself. I'll get a blanket. Back in a bit” and disappeared the way Gabrielle had come.
When she came back, the princess sat there, huddling herself in a tiny heap, but looked up at the stars all the same.
Thea put the blanket around her and took a place slightly down the roof. The princess huddled in the blanket and asked questions about the stars which Thea answered happily. Stars and Math had always been her thing. One good thing from that strange occurrence was that they had a longer talk again. Even if it was more like a monologue from the maid's side.
There were a few worries about more suitors exchanged and a little update about the parents. Any inquisitions about her change in behaviour were immediately blocked, though.
And in the end, the royalty left the roof again. But not before telling her to be careful. Which was also new. Well, since about three months.
So... the next day, she asked the maid to help her with the taxes of the kingdom. She called her over – over breakfast, papers out, and asked about the taxes. And how they are calculated. And if there are any irregularities there.
That, too, was very odd: She hated Math. But sure enough, they looked it through and Thea explained in gentle tones and many smiles what went on in the different calculations and that there was actually nothing wrong with the calculations, but rather with the cross-references, nothing to worry about. (Thea sometimes wondered if it had been healthy to look over all the Math books her majesty had ignored, but it had been either that or staring holes in the air and this had been so fascinating)
In the end, all questions were answered, she had done some of the equations herself, everything was explained... she had done her work.
“You... shouldn't know how to do this”
“I was always with you while studying, I've picked up a thing or two...”
“You're impossible!”
This could only be answered with a shrug and a laugh, really. What else was there to say. After all, she decided to frown and stare and gnaw her lower lip again. There was a room to clean and a floor to swipe. There was time for cryptic comments later.
Now, at the end of the week – after getting fruits basically shoved at her when the majesty didn't... want them? It was somewhat confusing, she usually liked strawberries – she was dragged into the attic and the doors locked. That was a bit worrisome? Not usually, but they had not done this since, well, three month ago, and this time she scowled and didn't look like she had a mischievous plan.
A book was thrust into Thea's hands.
“... Shakespeare, really?”, there was disapproval in her voice, a young lady should not constantly read this kind of thing.
“Shut up. Open at the bookmark. You are Beatrice!”
She shrugged and raised her hands in defeat. Of course, of course. After a bit of a rocky start, they were at this exchange.
Gabrielle, as Benedick, went on to say: “A miracle! here's our own hands against our hearts.|Come, I will have thee; but, by this light, I take| thee for pity.”
How very charming... Thea was almost glad to answer: “I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield| upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life,| for I was told you were in a consumption.”, at least one could give this a most sarcastic tone...
And suddenly – most likely she'd come closer while Thea had been stuck on the text, she had not read it before, after all – Gabe was almost in her face. Enough so that she needed to straighten herself a little, giving her lady some space.
But this noble lady did not let her, but instead grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling her down: “Peace! I will stop your mouth!”
There was only time to notice that there was a bit of red on the ladies cheeks before she... kissed her. Quite forcefully, actually. The whole pulling-while-pushing-against-Thea actually ended in the latter landing on her bum. With two arms full of princess on her lap.
...what?!
It wasn't as if her lips had removed themselves from her own either. Actually, there was an arm around her neck now, too.
Well, she’d better wrap one around the waist of this overenthusiastic princess as well... And calm this kiss a little. Breaking the kiss. Pecking on them, nuzzle her nose, leaning forehead against forehead.
There. Good.
Thea was greeted with this strange scowl again. Mrh.
“... so... what was this all about...?”
Her scowl turned into a frown. Including a stare, too. And then she sat back down - on Thea's knees, incidentally, but no one was complaining. Only hurt a little, really – and said, in an exasperated voice: “You are IMPOSSIBLE!”
… well. They. Had that already. Right?.
She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she kind of just furrowed her brow and made a questioning noise. She had a feeling princess Gabrielle had an urge to strangle her.
_________________________________________
'I'm a princess and your my maid and...this is wrong in too many different ways to count' au from auprompts on twitter... probably not how it’s supposed to be done?! I DUNNO?!
