Chapter Text
"I want to go to university."
Jackie Tyler, beloved queen of the kingdom of Powell, turned around to address her daughter. "You want to what?"
Rose smoothed down her deep green skirts. "I know that we're not supposed to do that. But I'm young, you know, and I want to go to London."
"Blimey, Rose, that's across the bleedin' ocean," Jackie said quietly, and Rose winced at her language.
She lifted her chin. "Mother, it would be a good experience," she argued, "And how am I supposed to rule Powell if I have not learned anything about the rest of the world?"
"We'll talk to your father at dinner."
Dinner, at the Powell Palace (no pun intended, but certainly one people giggled over in the towns) was an elaborate affair. Rose dressed in her deep blue gown, with the help of her maidservant, Sarah Jane, and a silver tiara was placed on her head. She looked rather nice, as she always did, but she craved to go to university.
She was allowed many freedoms. To flirt with who she liked, speak to who she liked, anything, go where she liked. But she felt so sheltered. She found that Uni in London excited her, and if had been so long since she had been excited about something.
"Do you think they'll let me?" Rose asked wistfully as she touched the diamond pendant on her necklace.
"Perhaps, my lady," Sarah Jane said kindly, "I hope for your sake that they do. You light up when you speak of it."
Rose smiled. "Yes. I keep my expectations low, however."
Sarah Jane grinned. "A wise thing for a future queen to do," she said, "Now, come now, we'd best get you fed so you can ask."
**
She sat straight backed at dinner, trying to be the epitome of grace, as she had been taught to be. She had been raised using the right forks, and always doing the right things. It had been good, in the beginning, but she felt repressed. Really, really repressed. She remembered what her mother and father had said about not speaking when spoken to, and so she waited for her father or mother to say something.
It was quiet, as though her parents were privy to torturing her. The only sound was the clinking of silverware on china plates, and she shifted a little awkwardly. She wanted to say something, of course, she did, but of course, she knew better.
"So, I hear from your mother that you wish to travel to London," Pete, the King, said finally.
Rose jerked up and nodded. "Yes sir. I wish to study there."
"And what would you study?"
"Art, sir."
Pete hummed in the back of his throat, not giving a single thing away. "Wife, what do you think of this?"
"What do you think?" Jackie replied, putting Pete in a corner, as she always had.
He looked at his wife a little helplessly. "You only go there to study?" He asked, arching a brow at Rose.
She had prepared for this, even if she had to wipe her hands on the napkin in her lap in a subtle fashion. "I think it would be fascinating to study the people in London as well, father. There's no caste system there, and they dress very casually all the time. It's very interesting. I should understand the world if I am to become queen, don't you think?"
"You make some excellent points, my dear," Pete said solemnly. He turned to Jackie. "I would like to hear your ideas with no deflections, love," he said, smiling.
Jackie grinned back at him and turned to her daughter. "Your points are valid. I think you shall be allowed to study for a year. But!" she lifted a finger, "You will not tell anyone who you are. It would only put you at risk. We'll arrange the rest. Sarah Jane will go with you. And you must stay there the whole year, holidays included. No giving up. Is that understood?"
Rose nodded, beaming happily. "Yes! Yes, oh, yes, it's understood! Thank you!" She started to launch up to hug her parents but then fell back in her seat, remembering herself.
Pete rolled his eyes and held his arms out. "Oh, come on now, then," he said, and Rose smiled widely, running over to hug him and then her mother, kissing them both on the cheek.
"We reserve the right to bring you back here at any time," Jackie said, waggling a finger at her Doctor, "So don't you even think about buying a house or something stupid like that."
Rose laughed, despite herself. "Yes, ma'am, I think I can do that."
Jackie nodded and smiled over at her daughter. "Alright, yes, yes, we'll organize it all for you. Now, eat your peas."
******
Rose ran straight back to her room to pack when everyone was notified that she would be leaving. The castle was alight with confusion and the servants tried to talk with her, to figure out what she was thinking, mostly.
"Princess Rose, do you even have proper clothes to wear in London?" one woman from the kitchen asked, worry written all over her face.
"Yes," Rose assured her, clasping her hands and smiling warmly. "I've been gathering up the clothes I wear on the weekends here just for the event that my parents might allow me to go to London. This could be very good!"
"Oh, I believe you, Princess!" The servant woman said, a smile on her face. "Best of luck to you."
"Thank you," Rose squeezed her hand and disappeared from the hall, rushing to her room.
Sarah Jane had already heard the news, and was already starting to pack up Rose's things in a large trunk. Rose rushed to help, packing up pairs of jeans and hoodies and t-shirts that she had never worn before. She had a ton of them, for the weekends, like she had told the servant, but her father didn't like when she wore them. Powell was a very classical country, and the monarchy wore gowns or suits at all times, or, for as long as someone was laying eyes on them. The casual clothes would be a nice change, Rose thought, and she felt her heart skip happily.
"It looks like you and I are going to be roommates, Princess," Sarah Jane said, smiling.
Rose beamed. "Yes!" She felt her smile fade. "But what will we tell them?"
"Not many people in London know much about Powell," Sarah Jane said, "We can say that I'm your bodyguard, or someone sent with your family to watch over you."
"I think that's a good one, the family thing. If you say bodyguard, they'll know that I'm... I don't know, somebody," she smiled timidly, "I don't want to be ousted. I just want to study art, and be normal."
"Your talent will take you far, my Princess," Sarah Jane said warmly. "Now, we've got some dresses for you."
Rose frowned. "Gowns? No, no, I-"
"No, other dresses," Sarah Jane said, showing Rose a short blue dress with a skirt that would flow down to the knees and had little pink decals on it. "The University students go to parties, you know.
Rose gasped. "I love it!" She said, grinning from ear to ear.
"I've sent for several different ones for you, different styles and colors, but no gowns. All casual," Sarah Jane grinned at her charge. "I think you're going to do very well, Princess."
Rose hopped up and down a little, her skirts fluffing with the movement. "Alright then, let's get ready!"
****
John Smith was a Uni student who worked very calmly in a pub when he wasn't in school or at his flat that he shared with two other students. It was a rusty old pub, and of course, some grimy people came in and did grimy things, but for the most part it was seen as classic and the people who entered the building, for the most part, were kind and gentle.
It was well lit and he was very much enjoying being a bartender, since he was having quite a lot of fun getting to know the regulars and chatting them up. He was surprised at how much he got propositioned by the older women who had no place else to go, but that was alright. He was also getting very good at deflecting them.
"We've got a new exchange student coming into Uni this year," Jack, one of John's roommates, said when he was coming to pick John up.
"Really?" John asked as he cleaned out one of the glasses that had been left on the counter. "Who told you that?"
Jack gave him a dubious look and smiled as though to say "how do I get all of my information?"
John rolled his eyes. "You're not sleeping with the headmaster, are you?" he asked, not that he would be shocked at all if the answer was yes.
"Don't be ridiculous," Jack laughed, "I slept with the headmaster's sister. She knew all about it, and I'm very persuasive." He eyed John suspiciously, "Real pretty girl, apparently."
"Alright, and?" John asked. "What's your point?"
"My point is that you haven't had a girlfriend since you started going for your doctorate," Jack said slowly, as though he was trying to be gentle with John's feelings but in the end wasn't going to be too torn up if they got hurt.
"So, who cares if I haven't had a girlfriend?" John groused, putting the next glass away probably a bit new roughly. "That's not the most important thing in the world."
"No, but it's nice," Jack said.
"You've probably dated every girl on campus, not to mention a few others," John snapped, leaning on the bar. He arched a brow. "I'm surprised that you're not going after the exchange student before she gets here. Do you have her number? Are you pen pals?"
Jack laughed, a hearty sound that echoed through the almost empty bar. It drew the attention of his coworkers, but at John's 'what can you do' shrug, they turned back to their cleaning of the tables.
"To answer your question, no, I don't know anything about this girl, besides that she's pretty and blonde and most likely got a great body."
"You don't know that," John disagreed.
"Maybe you should jump on her while you can, John. If she's hot and foreign? Every guy on campus is going to be after her," he said.
"Where's she from?" John asked, doing his best to sound disinterested. And of course, he was... Wasn't he? He really didn't need a girlfriend. He didn't have time for one. If he had one, they'd be bored with him immediately because he would blow off dates and forget anniversaries... It wasn't worth it, not really.
"The Kingdom of Powell," Jack said, adopting a posh accent to say the sentence.
John snorted. "No, she's not. Someone from Powell, coming here? First of all, that's so far. Second of all, they have an education system there that's probably way better than London's."
"You don't know, have you been there?" Jack asked mockingly.
"Well."
Jack looked at his watch. "Are you almost ready? I've got a date."
"Listen, you were the one that said it wasn't going to be a problem for you to pick me up while ol' Bessie is in the shop."
"Yeah, well, ol' Bessie is a little bit old. You need a new car."
"She's served me well," John said proudly.
"Alright. Let's just go."
John bid his coworkers goodnight on the way out, his mind preoccupied. Term stared in three days. How was someone going to ship out from Powell? And why?
He was good at dissecting things, breaking them down and making them make sense. This didn't make sense though. Powell was a very rich monarchy that was too far from London for it to make a small difference on which facility to go to school at.
"Ooh, now you're thinking about that girl," Jack said, waggling his eyebrows as he started the car.
John rolled his eyes. "Come on, I am not," he said, "I'm thinking about the logistics of her arrival, that's all."
"Oh yeah, you'd love to hear all about her logistics."
"Oh, my God, Jack."
Jack chuckled and started driving them back to their flat. It was quiet for a few moments before he finally said quietly, "Just promise you'll try to light up this year, won't you?"
John nodded. It was his last year of Uni, after all. Then he'd have his doctorate in Astronomy. He could do whatever he wanted. "Yeah," he agreed softly, "Maybe you're right."