[Don't worry, it made sense :D]

Argyle listened as she had begun to tell her story. When she had gotten to the part about playing hot potato, he thought it was amusingly childish, even though she was in fact a child when she played it. But as she went on, he slowly began to listen less out of boredom and more out of true interest. "Oh, I see..." was all he said before he returned to silence for a minute or two. He just kept his eyes on her but was more deep in thought than anything. Finally, he spoke again. "If you want, I could start covering my ears around you. My tail won't be so easily hidden though..." His own words surprised him. While the king cared about his subjects, though showing how much was another matter, he had never before cared so much about how he looked to them. Why was this girl so different?

The girl looked up at him in surprise. His offer was not something she'd expect out of him. Not that she though he was cruel, but he didn't seem that nice either. "No. You don't have to hide them. It's not your fault." Milli slightly blushed, "And I've gotten somewhat used to them." She looked at Argyle's eyes. They seemed somewhat kinder than usual. But still very tired, maybe that's why he offered such a strange thing. At that moment a book had decided to slip and fall off the shelf. It landed beside the girl, opened to a map of sorts. She jumped up slightly startled at the loud noise it made.

(Random book falls....I hope that isn't too unbelievable.)

[It's believable enough :)]

Despite himself, Argyle smiled. When the book came down, he too was surprised, but not enough to bring about a reaction. He calmly picked up the fallen book and looked through it. "I guess we found it." he said, a very subtle tone of disappointment in his words. "Thank you for your help Ms. Varia" He closed the map filled book and meant to only nod slightly in acknowledgment of her efforts. But as he passed the silver haired worker, he gave her a kiss on the cheek, something he himself did not expect. Instead of revealing his error, he acted as if nothing was wrong and continued on his way. However, a look of slight bewilderment was visible on his face. That look was quickly hidden as soon as he caught sight of his waiting guards.

Milli was just about to say "You're welcome," when Argyle had done the unexpected and gave the young girl a kiss. She blushed deeply as he walked away. Trying to shake off the awkwardness she felt right now, she decided to head back to her room. She waited a few minutes, so she knew his majesty would be long gone. She didn't want to bump into him again so soon after that kiss of his. She then told the librarian she was going to borrow the fairytale book.
He marked it down on his notebook and told her to come back soon. "It's nice to see youngsters like you still read these stories."
"I guess so." Milli shrugged, and went back to her room, somewhat puzzled at the man's remark.

____________

As the day went by, Olivia finally thought of a great idea to make her job of finding a cure so much easier. Since Reaviel knew about Ororon's secrets, maybe his work could help discover the cure. She'd have to test it first of course. Olivia was not one who trusted traitors. She had given some paperwork to Reaviel to work on the curse a few hours ago while she finished up a few loose ends in her other experiments. At the end of the day, she returned to the traitor's quarters.
"So, finished with that work I gave you?" Olivia said as she entered his room.
The young man scoffed, "I don't know where you found this, but yes I got it done. Not much else to do around here." He gave his finished paperwork to the professor. "I hope this is what you were expecting."
Reaviel was a little more agitated then usual these days, though it came as no surprise to those who knew him. He had been imprisoned as a spy. A traitor. There was no honor in that. And as he saw it, there was no honor in staying alive. But as there was nothing else to do. He still did research for the two professors. Having something to do, was better than nothing.

Olivia then returned to the secret lab and bumped into Shani along the way to her lab. "Ah just the person I was looking for." She smiled in a way that looked as if she was up to something.

Shani thought he had been caught and flinched when he heard Olivia's voice. The man expected another fiery reprimand and held onto the small potted plant in his hands tightly. But he was relieved to find out that her face did not show anger or any plans to yell. In fact, her unusual smile made him feel a little uneasy. "Er..Olivia dearest...Lo-looking for me you say? Not stuck on another spell problem are we?" he said with the nervous grin he was trying to pass off as normal. The little sapling in his hand was normal looking to anyone. That should have been enough to keep him calm. But he knew this was no ordinary plant, not even by his standards. This was a plant whose true nature he had to keep under wraps at all costs. But with this woman, this sharp as a tack woman, it was going to be a little tricky. He hoped she was too engulfed in her work to notice much. After all, this wouldn't be the first time she'd seen him lugging an odd plant.

[Now that we're kinda sorta getting further away from the beginning of the story, should we intro more enemies? While I've made up one of the main baddies and all, I don't know if you want there to be other threats aside from Wren and Ororon :)]

"Of course not." Olivia's smile faded at his words, "I don't get stuck on spells as often as you do. But that's besides the point. I have good news. I came up with a few ideas on a cure for the soldiers." The professor held the papers in front of her. She didn't hand them over right away since she had noticed the man was carrying around a quite normal plant. "I believe you can get your part of the spell finished with these. Now I haven't tested them out, so that'll be your job. I can spare a few of my assistants if you need them."

(Apologies for it taking so long. If it's not one thing it's another. >_<
Hm....other threats sound like a good idea. Maybe there could be an assassination plot, showing up another main bad guy or something. And we could have a meeting with an ally of Argyle's the next day or something.)

[Sounds like a good idea :) And no worries about taking too long. I accidentally fell into a chuck load of RPs again :sweat: So I've been busy replying to a bunch of 'em lately.]

"I see..." he replied with a grin, having taken the papers after shifting the plant to one hand. After giving the documents a quick look-over, Shani faced his co-worker with a look of eagerness. "Leave it to me." The professor turned away and took a step forward before turning around again. "Oh, I'll be needing four or five of your minions. Who can you spare?" He was quite happy to know his work would be eased with Olivia's ingenious ideas. The soldiers were already immobile in their shrubby states. Anything to help quicken the search for the cure was very welcome. The sooner they were done with them, the more time he would have to work on his latest oddball idea.

Olivia gave Shani the names of four of her assistants. She sighed when the professor had talked about the workers as minions. "That should be enough for the task I believe." With that, she headed off and continued on her own projects.

___________

"Shani!" Milli was scolding the professor for the third time today. "Not the red liquid, the blue." She sighed as the man paused in his action, "You really sure you want to help with this?" He seemed a little preoccupied to her, and she wondered if it was such a good idea for the man to be working on such a fragile cure for the wounded men. Although, it was almost done, but Shani seemed a little to impatient to get it finished.

___________

Darius, Queen Skye's ambassador, had come to Argyle's castle in the hopes of acquiring the king's assistance. The plant like man bowed in front of the king and made his request.
"You're Majesty, I have come to ask for your assistance in the recent situation we are having. Lord Kingsly has been sending his scouts across our borders. Those of which we caught were dealt in a quick fashion, but we fear an attack. As you may know, there has been a truce between My Lady and the Lord, but with Ororon attacking Digamma, we fear the worst."


(Yay more characters. And new day. ^_^
Darius is Queen Skye's ambassador. Also a plant man of course.
Lord Kingsly lives southwest of Diagamma. Near Ororon, and borderline to Queen Skye's land. If that makes any sense. Much much smaller land owned, and is somewhat under Ororon's rule. So both Kingsly and Ororon work together.
Milli is helping with making the cure/potion for the tree turning soldiers, and Shani, I assume, is preoccupied with his project. So I hope you don't mind me taking liberties with him. )

[Actually, this is pretty good :D And I think you got Shani right :mrgreen:]

"I was just thinking how they might be better off with furry tails." he replied with a grin. It was a joke of course but his assistant was right to scold him. He was making more mistakes than he should be. With a shake of his head, the odd professor forced himself to focus. 'Concentrate Shani. Remember experiment number 1515 isn't going to wait forever.' he thought to himself. Unfortunately, it would take two more unprofessional mistakes from him before he finally managed to work properly.

________-

Argyle closed his eyes in thought before looking at a map of Queen Skye's, King Ororon's, Lord Kingsly's, and his own borders. Along with the curse, his soldiers had only recently returned from the battlefront making a good amount of them unable to fight again for a while. He still had enough he could send to aid Queen Skye but that would mean cutting the castle defenses in half. Still, Queen Skye was a dear ally, one of the truest. "Tell her majesty that I will send soldiers to aid her in case Lord Kingsly does decide to attack. Should Lord Kingsly ask, please state that my men are only there to pick up an order of supplies and nothing more. I wouldn't want to risk breaking a truce Queen Skye already has just because my forces are there. They may stay there for as long as you need them and for as long as the 'supplies' are not yet ready for delivery." He turned away from the maps and looked back to the ambassador. "Will there be anything else Lord Darius?"

Darius bowed, "No sir. Unless you would like to discuss compensation. Queen Skye is prepared to pay for your services." The man had actually expected Argyle to refuse help at first. Agreed he was a good ally, but he wasn't always so nice. Skye knew this, and told Darius what she would offer as payment. That, and the ambassador knew she never took anything for free.

_________-

"Uh...no." the girl smiled as Shani gave yet another silly excuse. Even during difficult projects, he always joked. Which was fortunate, at least he never scolded like Olivia would. Milli sighed as they got back to putting the finishing touches on the potion.

After only a few more mishaps, Milli and Shani had finished up the potion and we ready to test it. Thankfully, the potion worked. The effect was a little slow, but to be expected when plants were involved. While Leon and Sarah helped administer the potion to the rest of the soldiers, Milli noticed the professor's impatience. "Shani, we can do the rest ourselves. Why don't you go do, whatever it is you want to do next?" She was curious, but figured it was just another pet project of his. He seemed to have a lot of those she noticed.

Without hesitation, the king answered. "Yes, as a matter of fact I would. Because we are at a time of war and given both our countries' current predicaments I do not expect the payment anytime soon. Perhaps by next year's Ball. The payment is this: 50,000 of your soldiers must serve under me for half a year. I also require several pounds of crystals from the Sacred Trees. Make that 15 pounds from each tree. My researchers have been whining about them non-stop this past year." He kept his steely gray eyes on the man after he had finished, waiting to see his reaction to the price he asked for. "As I said before, the compensation need not be given right away but I require them by next year."
__________________-

"Very well then, I'll leave the rest to you all. Take care." he said with a wide smile and a more than eager tone. It almost seemed like he ran to his office after he handed the vials of antidotes he had over to Milli since he was already out of the central lab in a matter of seconds.

"I wonder what he's doing this time..." Leon said, thinking out loud as he helped a cured soldier onto his feet. Because they had been immobile for so long, standing up again was a shaky experience.
______________-

"And how is the east wing?" Kraz checked off the status on the north wing as he waited for the guard's reply.

"All clear sir. The next shift had just come in." said the guard. He and his companions stood straight as soldiers should when he addressed the knight.

"Alright. All that's left are the west and south wings." the black haired teen replied, dismissing the group and moving on towards the western side of the palace. He wrote down notes on the east wing in his papers as he walked. Kraz didn't need to look up to know where to walk. Years of going through the same halls for security checks allowed him to memorize every turn of his route.

Darius smiled, unprovoked by the somewhat high price. This was where his job came in. "After the danger has passed, we can provide the 50,000 soldiers to serve for half a year. The crystal's are a different matter. As we also need them for our uses, we can give you the worth of ten pounds from each tree, but no more." He looked at the king, hoping he would see the reason with his words. "We cannot take it from each tree as not all can be harvested at once."

____________-

"Knowing him," Sarah said, "It'll be some weird project that'll end up making a big mess like always." She turned to the soldier she had just given the antidote to. "Feeling better?"
The man nodded. Most of them were a little shocked with the experience. All were quite glad to be alive though.

Milli smiled, "Let's hope nothing explodes then. Be a bad idea with wounded soldier's about."

____________-

A young boy had accidentally bumped into Kraz while the teen was making his rounds. The boy, a kitchen servant, apologized profusely as he picked up the many papers he had dropped.

[Im' sorry for the month long absence *bows* I got caught up in a whole bunch of other websites :sweat:]

Argyle narrowed his eyes at the man for a moment, evaluating him before finally consenting. "Very well. My researchers will have to make do with just that. Thank you for trusting us with your people's safety. I hope you journey back home will be free of danger."
__________________-

"Young man, please watch where you're going next time." the knight scolded, helping the kitchen worker with a stray paper or two. Before handing the last paper to him, Kraz examined it's contents before asking, "What's this?"

[And so short a post :gonk:.....]

(no problem. I'm glad you're back though. :))

Darius bowed, "Thank you for your help. And may your war soon be over." With that he left the throne room and was quickly on his way back to Queen Skye to tell her the good news.
_______-

The boy, embarrassed from the scolding, answered the knight's question. "Nothing really. Just a few papers I was asked to bring to Olivia. The prisoner Reaviel thought it would make it easier than just waiting for her to come get them." The kitchen servant took the papers from Kraz. "I should be going then." He bowed politely and started to head off, not quite heading directly to the laboratories in the basement.

Kraz raised an eyebrow as he watched the kitchen boy run off. He didn't notice that the direction he was heading off to wasn't exactly the kitchen since his mind had returned to his own duties he had to perform. The knight glanced at his papers again before heading off to the western side of the castle.
____________

Seeing as he had no further meetings to attend to until noon, Argyle decided to take a short break and made his way down to the kitchens again. Normally he would have a servant bring him whatever he wanted but he was feeling tired again. He couldn't afford to doze off while he waited. The king already had his mind set on a certain tea as he walked past his office doors. Then his thoughts wandered off to her. 'What's that girl doing right about now?' he mused, not realizing that it wasn't just the mint beverage he had on his mind.

As soon as the boy was sure the knight wasn't following him, he quickly made his way to the broom closet not to far away. Once there he found his safely hidden messenger bag, quickly changed for a mail-man(boy) uniform, and stashed the papers safely into the bag. Making sure it was safe, he practically waltzed out of the closet, and made his way through the front doors.
None seemed all the wiser as the young boy made his way past the guards, and off to his rendezvous to confirm the assassination to take place later that night. He was only a messenger between the places. No, the maps of the palace would be sent to his superior. After that his job was done. And he'd be glad of it. Being in that palace was quite uncomfortable for him.
______________

The secret laboratory was slowing down their bustle from previous days work, now that the most important part was done. The antidote was working quite well on the soldiers. Milli was in charge of making more batches as the Leon and Sarah administered it to the more critical soldiers first, working down the line to the less severely cursed. One good thing about this particular spell was that it worked slowly.
Unlike Argyle, the young girl's thoughts were revolved around her work at the time, but soon before lunch came around, she was beginning to wonder about that fairy tail she read about the cursed prince. It was beginning to sound a lot like her own life. But it couldn't be. Fairy tales we're real, but there was truth in them.
She made plans to at least return the book after she got finished in the lab for the day. "As long as Shani doesn't make any explosions with whatever it is he's planning," she thought to herself.

[Aaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :gonk: I'm so sorry white!!!! * bows a bajillion times* I'm so so sorry!!! I didn't mean to just drop our rp like that! I thought I managed to tell you that I was going back to college for the fall semester :cry: Really really sorry *bows* Do you still want to continue it? I'd understand if you didn't :cry:]

(It's okay. Actually didn't see this until know. Show's how much I've been on lately. I'd love to continue. Currently all my other one's have dropped. >_< I'd just have to remember what was going on. :XD)

[You and I both. Looks like we gotta re-read a whole bunch of stuff :XD But I can sorta remember what we were doing last. Just gotta figure out what the heck I wanted Argyle to do :sweat: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays by the way! :hug:]

Once again, eyes were on him while he quietly drank his tea and acted as if this was a normal thing. But seeing the king in such a civilian area as the kitchen couldn't help attract the attention of the servants passing through. "The way they stare Tristan. You would think they have never seen me before.", Argyle said calmly, scaring off a few nosy office workers hiding behind a half opened door. No doubt they have come to see if the rumors about him being there personally were true. Things were starting to get a little annoying. If they had time to listen to gossip, they had time to work. Sighing, the king stared at the doorway and finished his mint beverage. This was the second time today he had gone down to the kitchens. The chain of meetings that started at noon had only ended a few minutes ago and the sun was now hanging low in the horizon. Everything seemed to be in order for the day. Kraz reported no suspicious activity so far and the deployment of troops to aid Queen Skye was already made known to the other generals. The spy was cooperating with no problems yet. The soldiers who have been turned into plants were now back to normal and recovering in the medical area. All that was left, it seems, was how to push back the invading forces. Another few days and they should be able to retaliate. Until then, Argyle had to sit back and wait.

[Sorry for the wait again :sweat:]

After they finished up the work in the lab, Milli headed up to her room to grab the book she needed to return to the library. Before she got to her room though, she decided she'd stop by the kitchen and ask Tristan to send up a plate of cucumber sandwiches and a kettle of hot water for tea to her room in an hour or so. She figured she'd probably stop quite a lot before she actually reached her room in the large palace. She'd probably even see Lily walking in the hallways. When she opened the door to the kitchen, she was quite surprised to find the young king sitting at the table facing the doorway. Milli blushed, remembering their meeting a few days prior, and quickly looked down at the floor.

Before too long of an awkward pause could happen between the two teenagers, Tristan, noticing Milli's slight shyness, briskly walked up to her. "Good evening Miss Varia! I'd hug you but, looks like you've still got your work clothes on. And you know those chemicals you have in that lab don't mix very well with my food now do they?" He wagged his finger at her, but then smiled and continued to speak with the young lady, hoping to keep her mind preoccupied, "So, I'm sure you came here for something?"

(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :hug: Sorry for taking so long. >_< And I left some space so Argyle cold speak somewhere if you want him to. :))

Though none of the previous workers who have come in to catch a glimpse of the out-of-place king have caused him to skip a beat, the unexpected arrival of Milli sure did. The first words out of Argyle's mouth surely would have been a brusque "What are you doing here?" But thanks to the head cook's quickness, the king had time to think about what to say. For now though, Argyle quietly waited for the girl to reply to Tristan's question.

Meanwhile, a province and a half away from the capital, glowing green eyes looked greedily over the battle scarred landscape. King Ororon and his army had finally reached the heart of Lior, his men finishing off the last members of the Governor's family as the poor man himself lay cold on the streets of his town. "I guess we should thank that wretched Wren after all. Without his accursed help, we'd never have made it past the cannons. But don't think for a second that he should be trusted. Keep me informed of any of his soldier's moves no matter how insignificant!", the hulking figure growled at his followers before scaling a nearby house in one jump. A wide, fanged grin crept on the man's face as he stood, taking in the view before him. Just past the mountain range in the distance would be Divan, the last province before the Digamma capital. "Just wait you brat! Soon all of this will be mine!!" A vile laugh echoed through the ransacked and burning town, high above the unfortunate Liorians' pitiful and futile cries for mercy.

[I don't remember if I've already posted a description for Ororon but I can't find it anywhere :sweat: He's still far away so your assassination attempt is probably going to happen long before I ever bring him up again :yes:]

Milli regained her composure while Tristan sought to make her comfortable. She tried her best not to concentrate on the young king in the room, and raised her head. "Oh, right. Um...could you send up some cucumber sandwiches to my room in a couple of hours? And some hot water?"

Tristan smiled and nodded, "Why of course!" He started to wipe up his working table, "Are you sure you don't need anything else? You're such a small little thing. I'd hate to think we were starving you."
The girl blushed and protested, "No! You know I have some raw cooking materials up in my own kitchen." After being away for so long, she had come to miss parts of the country life. And so she decided to cook some homely dished from time to time. Today was one of those days.

(*blinks at short post* Hm...I don't think so. But I'll look. ^_^)

"Looks like she doesn't like your cooking that much Tristan. She'd rather cook her own food." Argyle joked. Seeing as his cup was now empty, it was almost time for him to return to work. "So how has everything been Miss Varia?" The young king had meant to ask "How have you been" but he found it a little difficult to say the exact words. All the same, he didn't bother correcting himself.

The sound of two giggling girls approaching was abruptly halted as soon as they reached the door. The source of the giggling never entered the kitchen. However, an audible "Ssshhh! Quiet down! They're busy in there!" could be heard whispered from the hallway.

[Errmm, I'm sorry. I'm suffering from writer's block as well :XP]

Milli was about to retort Argyle's joke about the food, but then he surprised her with a question. "Um....things are going good." She wasn't quite sure how to answer that question, "The soldiers are on their way to recover. They should be ready to go back on the field in a few days." Being the polite country girl she added, "How are you?" The giggling girls were ignored by Milli, she acted as if they were never there. Although there was a noticeable pinkish hint to her cheeks.

Wanting to make himself scarce, Tristan moved to the other room in the kitchen. It seemed like the two might want a private moment. "I'll just start making that dinner for tonight." He said, not quite caring whether either of them heard him.

(I think it's going to be a few more short posts, then I have a longer one. We might skip a few days then.)