A Game of Thorns

[mikangirl]

Who: Residents of House 6 and anyone who wants to find an excuse to be involved 8|a
What: Inconvenient Fairy Tale Side Effect #19
When: 5th September
Where: House 6
Summary: On day three of The Sleeping Navigator, the thorns finally arrive. Hope the house occupants didn't want to leave any time soon...
Rating: PG for swearing and violence against plant life?



[So thorns aren't really meant to grow that fast, right? It takes all of fifteen seconds for them to surge from the grass surrounds and wrap the house with a thick and impenetrable wall of spiky death.

...well, spiky inconvenience, anyway. Watch out, because they might make a few attempts to sneak into the house, too, and that could really mess with the paintwork. Violence against thorns is encouraged, but be careful: try cutting the main wall down and they'll spring back twice as thick a moment later, and those thorns are painful.

Meanwhile, Nami's dreaming of the best mikan cocktail ever made served up on top of her own personal mountain of gold. What's that? Wake up, now? Please.]

((Whether you're a resident of house 6, a visitor at house 6, or just passing by and want to take pictures, this log is open to you. |D))

Comments

[avaricious]

One date. As a small reward for rescuing Nami from the clutches of a thorny slumber.

[Emphasis on small. He's asking for one night of her time.]

[markofthebrave]

[She lowers her voice, because Sanji and Trafalgar might kill him, and she needs him to go kiss Nami.

What is her life?]

Are you serious?

[She is completely dumbfounded right now.]

[avaricious]

Well you don't have to make it sound like such an awful thing.

[He's mildly offended now.]

[markofthebrave]

No, that's not it!

[Ling is attractive, and sometimes even nice! She's just--]

Why would you want to date me? You barely even know me! Is this some kind of a joke?

[She's so flabbergasted, she's barely thinking of Aang and Masaomi. Barely.]

[avaricious]

[Though he delivers his response with the same smile he entered with, there's something a bit more sincere about his tone.]

It's not that strange, Katara. After all, you are an exceptionally beautiful woman. But more importantly, you're strong and bold, have a caring heart, and always dedicated to doing the right thing. And this is just what I've worked out from barely knowing you. I'm sure whatever else that is under the surface is probably even better.

1/?

[markofthebrave]

[Blink. Blink, blink, blink,.

Oh. Um. Wow.]

[markofthebrave]

[And then? She immediately feels horribly, horribly guilty for even feeling flattered. And that guilt will appear very clearly on her face - her eyes cloud with it and she glances down for a moment in shame, her lips tugged down at the corners.]

Ling - that's really sweet, but... things are really complicated with me right now.

[And she blinks, because the pain associated with this had been buried with everything recent, and now it rushes back and she just feels--]

Done!

[markofthebrave]

[---trapped. So completely, totally trapped.

And she shifts her weight back, one hand going to the opposite elbow, and she feels very small.]

I can't do anything like that.

[I can't.]

[avaricious]

[He's a bold prince and he can see she's hurting. After seeing Aang and Masaomi's conversation about her, he doesn't need to guess why. Partially he's doing this because he likes to mess with people. But also? Well, it's for her sake too.

So taking a big chance, he reaches over to nudge her chin up. A gentle smile replacing his typical mischievous one.]

I'm not asking you for marriage. Just a single date. There's nothing less complicated than that. Besides, that way, if Nami does fall in love with me, it'll be too late for her to do anything about it. We'll already have made our deal. And she'll be off the hook.

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[She inhales sharply when he reaches over to touch her, but her gaze is filled with more turbulent emotions than occupations when she looks at him.

"Just a single date. There's nothing less complicated than that.

I can't.

"Operation: Your Happiness. We'll make it a top priority.

I - shouldn't.]

[markofthebrave]

[She tilts her head back, pulling her chin away from his hand. But she's smiling, just a little--

Because when he puts it that way, she can.

And it's something so different, so incredibly wild and different that...

This is a terrible idea.

But - Nami -]

Okay. You've got a deal.

[avaricious]

[Good. He's glad. He can only guess what's going inside that head of hers, but something tells him? He just did a good thing. And now, he's going to go do another.]

Excellent! Well, lead me to her, Katara. I'm feeling heroic.

[He straightens himself up, big smile, and prepares to do the deed.]

[ledbythewind]

[Except that as it turns out, Ling isn't the only royalty on the premises at the moment. Blame Law for that (or thank him, depending on how you see things). Richard too is making his way in and towards Nami's room and... oh. Law hadn't mentioned that they'd already found themselves a prince.]

It looks like Nami is more popular than I'd realized.

[markofthebrave]

[Somewhat startled, Katara's gaze shot over to the door - again, the thorns were behaving, so strange - and even though their current positions are probably quite innocent, Katara takes a step away from Ling anyway.]

Oh - Richard!

[avaricious]

[Ling deflates a little as he sees Richard. He doesn't know this guy, but he looks pretty fabulous. And older.]

Well she did come highly recommended. What are you doing here?

[ledbythewind]

[Richard gives a smile and a nod of greeting to Katara before turning his attention back to Ling.]

I suspect the same thing you're doing here. Let me guess: answering the call for a prince?

[markofthebrave]

[Maybe she's off the hook here?

Is she happy about this or disappointed?]

Yes, exactly! Why don't we all go towards the living room before the thorns stop behaving.

[avaricious]

Agreed. If my kiss doesn't work, you can have the second try. After all, I did get here first. So as a prince of Xing, I'll do my duty in kissing her.

[He DOES have a deal after all.]

[explaining]

[The thorns curl away from the doorway and Guy pokes his head in, looking a little lost.]

Uh- am I supposed to be in here? The thorns kind of...moved.

[markofthebrave]

[...]

Guy?

[She really needs to start paying more attention to the journals again. She hadn't even known you were back!]

[ledbythewind]

... they let you in?

[Cue Richard just sort of pausing and staring, because it most definitely was not that easy for him.]

[avaricious]

It seems the thorns grew tired of being so easily defeated.

[... yeah, Ling is missing the point there. He has no idea who the hell this guy is.]

[explaining]

I just came over to help. I heard the thorns were overtaking the house and- well. Are they supposed to move?

[He looks between all of them, and offers Katara a smile. He'll greet her properly later.]

Is Nami still here? Is she okay?

[ledbythewind]

They didn't move for me-- Law had to cut through them to get me in. How strange...

[He also thinks he remembers that part of the story too, but since he's not 100% certain, he won't say anything just yet.]

[markofthebrave]

[Meanwhile, Katara's busy remembering That One Love Experiment and a conversation with Buffy about blood and magic and kisses.

...she shakes her head.]

Well - if they let you in, then maybe you'll be able to help. [She flicked her gaze towards the window.] The thorns haven't gone away, so let's go in and see how Nami's doing.

[Unless you guys think we should all wait here to see who else is going to line up to kiss Nami?]