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His nails dig into the wooden cracks of the bench, absentmindedly. Vertigris's mind was elsewhere. Above in the clouds, maybe a hundred feet below the surface of the sea— who's to say. Not as if it mattered. It was peaceful; that was the point.
A quiet afternoon in the palace gardens, not a soul to disturb his daydreaming about a life far and away from this one.
Of course, such peace never lasted. However, he wasn't expecting to be interrupted in quite this way.
The sound of footsteps immediately alert his attention; an eyelid popping open with a sound clearly rung in his ears. The gills on his neck shivering with anticipation. His open eye glances to the side to be met with a shocking dash of red. Not an immediate cause for alarm— that would be if one of the guards had come around —but he hadn't seen this particular shade of red before. With a touch of effort, his head swivels to meet the colour head-on.
He blinks dumbly. There's a person there. A person he had never seen before. The person beside him blinks just as dumbly in return.
"Ah shit," the man grumbles beneath his breath. A noise that Vertigris could still very clearly hear. The man coughs, before a slight grin appears to tug at his lips and his eyes glimmer with sudden recognition.
"Vertigris Peg'asi?" His voice is a joyful rasp, almost fox-like in its tone.
Vertigris blinks at him again, like a deer caught in headlights. "Nope," he's quick to respond with a lie before standing up and turning on one foot away from the stranger. His legs begin to move in the opposite direction before the voice beckons him.
"Pffft. I don't think I'm that dumb as to mistake you for someone else."
Vertigris's brow furrows as he stops in place, only having gotten a few steps away. He thinks for a moment, and subtly twists his head back to sneak one more glance at the man.
Buttoned coat. Cuffed sleeves. Dress pants. Black as midnight. There was no mistaking the garb of a royal guard, yet this one seemed completely unfamiliar to him. He'd definitely remember that vivid flash of red.
Shaking his head himself, Vertigris purses his lips into a line before continuing his movement away from the other man.
"Hey!" He calls, the loud clomping of gold-plated boots growing louder.
Luckily for Vertigris, he knew the ins and outs of the palace better than anyone. What else is the youngest child of eleven supposed to do in his spare time? With little effort, he slips behind a snapdragon bush into a dimly lit underpass that lead to the other half of the garden. Maybe the stranger hadn't seen where he slipped away.
But that was a false hope as he would soon realize, legs pulling him toward a woman dressed in the most delicate of gowns— soft amber that shone even brighter in the light of the midday sun.
"Nerissa," his voice is a harsh whisper, alerting her to his presence with a quick glance up from the bundle of freshly picked flowers in her hands.
"Vertigris," she smiles, the softness of her voice a kind only offered to her youngest brother. "You know you're not supposed to be on this side of the gardens."
A scoff escapes his lips, "I know. But as long as someone doesn't tattle..." A grin sneaks its way onto his lips, "not that you would, right?"
"Never, but don't let Father catch you out here or it's beyond even my help to sneak you out of that situation," she laughs, skin creasing with affection. She places the flowers down on the bench next to her, before beckoning him over.
Playfully rolling his eyes, Vertigris shimmies onto the bench next to her, his eyes suddenly serious. "There's some weirdo following me."
She laughs at that, again. And there's a twinkle in her eye that Vertigris can't mistake for anything other than her rare mischief. "Oh?"
"Nerissa..." He trails off with an all-too-knowing tone.
"Oh come on! Don't be like that," she chides, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm not able to be around as much as I used to be and you know that, and it hurts me to see you so... alone all the time."
"Nerissa—"
"Vertigris."
With her tone being that of a true queens, he promptly shuts his mouth.
"Listen..." her smile returns, even softer somehow. "Just try to talk to him. I promise it won't be as bad as you think it's going to be."
His lips draw into a frown, "N..." his voice is almost upset.
"V," she shakes her head. "Give him a chance," she gives him one more smile before dropping her hand from his shoulder. "I've got to head inside. Why don't you show him around the palace?"
"I'm not supposed—"
"V, we both know that has never stopped you, don't pull that as an excuse on me now."
Vertigris huffs, glancing up at his sister with discontent. He doesn't say anything— yet seemingly satisfied —Nerissa picks back up the assortment of flowers before standing to her full height. She reaches a hand down to ruffle Vertigris's hair with affection, yet her eyes were focused on something else entirely. Gaze following hers, Vertigris is met with the same shock of red hair as earlier.
"Have fun," she hums, an almost devilish smile creasing her lips before she turns on a heel toward to the garden exit.
Vertigris wants to call out, beg her for anything but this, but by the time the words formulate on his lips... she's already gone.
"Vexx Serif, at your service," the man offers his hand, a seemingly genuine smile on his lips (at least from what Vertigris could tell). At a quick glance he notices the gills peeking out from the collar of his uniform. Kitalphan, like him.
Promptly ignoring the greeting, he shoves himself to his own feet and walks past this "Vexx" towards the side gate. A deft hand slips through the decorative grating and clicks the lock from the other side before pushing the gate door open. With furrowed brows, he glances back towards the other before sighing as he realizes the guard is certainly not going to let him go so easily. Especially not if Nerissa was involved somehow. "We're not supposed to be this side of the palace so..." he trails off, before begrudgingly beckoning the guard to follow.
"First day and you've already got me breaking the rules, prince?" Vexx laughs, catching up to Vertigris without much effort.
Vertigris scrunches up his nose, the skin of his gills going taut as they tense along his neck. He elects not to reply, shutting and locking the gate once more behind them before slinking into another passageway beneath a heavy curtain of vines. The grassy garden floor quickly turned into hard stone as they walk, his own steps making barely a sound; although, Vexx's were like a loudly clomping horse; every step of his made Vertigris wince.
He wants to turn around and tell him to make some effort to quiet his footsteps... but he doesn't care much. Maybe if this guard gets caught in the secret passageways, he'll no longer be a problem to Vertigris.
They scale a small set of stairs before Vertigris peeks his head through a dark red curtain, eyes darting from one end of the hall to other. The coast was clear. Pushing the curtain fully aside, he steps out into the lifeless hallway before shoving the curtain back into place behind Vexx. For a second, he notices Vexx's brow tensing before smoothing back out to his usual fox-like expression. His own brow reflects that of the other man's moments earlier, some part of him wanting so desperately to know what his deal was—why he was here. Surely the King didn't assign him his own guard?
Not the eleventh child. No, that didn't make sense.
With a heavy sigh, Vertigris paces down the hall before stopping at a set of double doors. "This is my room, so... You can leave now."
"We've only just started and you're trying to slip away so soon?" Vexx's lips draw into a playful pout, eyes wide and glistening like a begging puppy's.
"Pretty much," Vertigris shrugs, pulling one of the doors open and taking one step before immediately tensing the entirety of his being as Vexx reaches for his arm.
"Pretty please show me around?" He pleads, pout sinking further into his freckled complexion.
Vertigris tugs his arm away. With grit teeth his voice comes out hiss-like. "No."
"Then let me inside at least?" He begs, "otherwise I'll just be standing out here the entire time, you know that right?"
With that, Vertigris blinks owlishly. "You're stalking me?"
"Wha— Jesus, no," Vexx bursts out into a laugh, "I'm assigned to you."
Nerissa. For the first time in his life he almost wants to strangle her.
"...fine," Vertigris sighs loudly after a moment of contemplation, knowing full well that if Celest or Arlo saw a guard outside his room... he'd be the subject of endless bullying about it for the rest of time. This was less of an annoyance. Somehow. "Just... don't touch anything..."
"As you wish, your majesty," Vexx grins, following after the prince into his room.
Vertigris scrunches his nose, "and you can... drop the names." he mutters, shutting the doors behind the both of them.
Standing there frozen— awkwardly —Vertigris taps his fingers against his thighs. He didn't like being watched... he didn't like anyone in his room besides Nerissa. And even then she didn't get to see a lot of his hobbies. Sucking in a breath he mutters to himself a quick 'just ignore him' before making his way to the large half-circle window that engulfed a fourth of his room.
"Woah..." Vexx murmurs behind him, and Vertigris wonders if he's actually been anywhere else in the castle at all or if this is his first day; there were far more impressive sights. From behind his state-of-the-art telescope, he takes a stack of folded up papers and begins to unfold them along the wooden floor.
Haphazardly taped together pages covered in pinpoint accurate scribbles of a star chart unfold across the floor, Vertigris carefully stepping over half of it to a section that was empty. He half expects Vexx to say something, glancing up to meet his gaze for half a second before dropping it. Yet, the guard's mouth stayed shut (at least with words, from what he saw it was instead agape with wonder).
Taking a thick notebook from the shelf below the curved glass, Vertigris flips it open to a page he had been working on the previous night. Settling down onto his knees, he sets the notebook down atop the taped pages whilst taking the pen clasped to the front of the notebook. Beginning to copy down his drawings from the night prior, he almost forgot there was anyone else in the room.
Until, of course, a small snicker escapes Vexx's lips.
Shooting him a glare, Vertigris can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Sorry, sorry. Just not what I expected from a prince," Vexx laughs, almost sheepish before his expression grows fox-like once more. "So... What exactly is it?"
Vertigris rolls his eyes initially, looking back down with the plan of not saying a thing. But a twinge of something in his chest— was it loneliness? —compels him. "...Do you actually want to know?"
The guard lets out an almost incredulous laugh. "Yeah? I wouldn't have asked if I didn't. If we're to get to know each other I should probably know about your hobbies, prince."
He winces at the nickname, but nevertheless, with a sigh, begins to explain. "It's a star chart of the sky of Goldis..." he trails off for a moment, "you can easily find one online but... it's all computer-generated, you know? I found an old hand drawn chart of the sky of Earth from over a thousand years ago in the palace treasury, and it was the most beautiful thing..." his lips curl up into a slight smile. "I wanted to make something like it..." he smiles to himself for a moment before his expression falls into a frown. "I don't expect you to understand or care."
"Pfft." Vexx grins, settling himself down unceremoniously next to Vertigris. "So... you draw what you see in the sky and then put it on this... map?"
Vertigris blinks—confused for a moment. "Uhh... yeah basically."
"Cool."
"Cool..." he echoes before putting the pen down onto the page, meticulously copying from his notes. He glances occasionally to the side to find Vexx watching. He couldn't tell if it was with genuine intrigue or not. In fact, a lot of things puzzled him about this guy. Too many things, considering the kind of person that becomes a royal guard is not... his kind of person. Turning his gaze back to his work he huffs silently.
"Is that Orion?" Vexx asks after awhile, pointing to a larger circle that Vertigris had drawn onto the chart.
"...Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I know some stuff," he grins his already-so-typical grin. Vertigris doesn't want to admit he kind of likes the stupid smile on his face; he kind of likes the company as opposed to the deafening silence that usually accompanied him.
"Whatever you say," he rolls his eyes playfully, a small smile beginning to tug at the corner of his lips.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.