( ✦ i've seen you before ! )

[stranger danger]

✩ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐍 ✩
who? lars, open what? overwhelmed, sad where? ballroom, drawing room
──────────────────────────────────────────────

bad karma? catherine's lips also quirk up into a mischievous smile as she rolled her eyes. please, bad karma had nothing on her right now. she wasn't even quite sure if she believed in it after all this time cath knows she's racked up some of it, and yet here she was. happiest she could ever recall being, as long as she was alive.

"you know what this means, right?' cath asks, trying to conceal a tremble in her voice. "if it's what you wanted - we'd never have to be alone again, ever..." she trails, almost afraid to say the next part. because then, indefinitely, her feelings were revealed. "i know it's what i want," she says finally. a smile comes up to her face but it's slightly saddened, worrying. she knows how lars felt about royalty, he'd rather hang than have to spend his life with the people catherine has learned to rub elbows with since she was a child. and catherine couldn't live his lifestyle, not comfortably, and it was rather selfish of her but this ballroom couldn't be the only place they belonged together. there had to be a way for them to be able to embrace one day more.

and soon, the song did end, the men and women around them pulling away and giving fixated looks, bouts of dazed laughter, yet catherine didn't pull away, not yet.

"we still have...time," she says, finally, breathlessly, she didn't want the dream to end. "until a little after the festival to...figure it out-" cath sucks in a breath, her words wavering as she pulled away. for a moment she directed her gaze away from his and onto the floor, then back up. catherine rushes forwards and plants one last kiss on his lips, overwhelmed with a feeling she couldn't place. "excuse me. i have to go," she rushes off and out of the ballroom.

── (✩✩✩) ────────────────────────────────────────────

the rest of the night passed in a blur, maybe she spent more time socializing and maybe she didn't, even cath doesn't quite remember. she does remember entering her room and taking off all of her jewelry, make-up, and switching into her nightclothes so she could throw herself onto the bed and weep. what was she thinking? lars would never take her - no matter how much her own heart yearned for him, and what was this feeling? no one ever told her that she would feel this way. it was so swallowing, so dwarfing, that cath broke in the face of it.

the next morning had passed with little to no ceremony, catherine not seeing too much of anyone else, not eating breakfast because she felt far from hungry. now she sat in a drawing-room on the second floor, gazing out of the window. dark clouds rolled in, heavy and quick. the day felt grey - it looked like everyone was to be stuck inside today.

wc: 481

[Kendall Roy]

ARCHER . BEAUMONT
20 | ROYAL | LOCATION; His room/ballroom| FEELING; Sceptical| TAGGED; Liam|

Archie laughed quietly as he watched Liam take a sip of the drink, his face crumpling slightly
as he adjusted to the taste of the alcohol. The royal nodded along with the others comment,
"I have to be here, so, there's no point in finding out there's something I don't exactly want
to do, might as well avoid that when it comes." He shrugged, taking another another sip of
his champagne as they both stood in silence for a few moments. "Soul mates?" Archer replied
slowly, scrunching his nose as he looked Liam in the eye. "I think it's a load of rubbish. I don't
believe in anything like that, I'm not one for anything superstitious like that." He carried on,
Archer did desperately want to believe that someone out there was his "soul mate", but
there was no way he was going to tell anyone that, let anyone know that he had a shred of
softness. "But, of course people can believe it if they want." He added, quickly, not wanting
to invalidate Liam's feelings about it, if he believed in soul mates.

Archer felt himself relax, considerably more than when he entered the room. He liked talking
like this,casually, it reminded him of how things were, when Liam was still working with him.

The royal listened to every word that the other had spoke, processing the words over and over.
Looking at the Liam's arm as he rolled up his sleeved to reveal a tattoo, a molotov cocktail to be
precise, thick black line work, a small broken heart. Archer rolled up his own sleeve to real his
own mark. "I still don't believe in the whole soul mate malarkey, but, I've got one to." He stated,
attempting to make his tone as plain as possible. Did he still not believe in soulmates?

[ajohanna]

--➳.── ‘𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝚌𝚊𝚒𝚞𝚜 𝚔𝚒𝚝 ’
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
- - - gender: male | role: servant | tags: archer/open

folding his arms, liam listened to his response and a feint smile rose on his lips. archer had never been one for romance from what he remembered. it was drinking, working, parties and that's all he could muster up in his brain. yes, there were casual conversations between the two young men, but never a mention or word of any sort of relationship or crush or love. liam knew someone was out there for him. he had that gut feeling and recently, it's been a bit stronger than usual. it's hard to describe, but something is definitely up.

liam watched as archer as well rolled up his sleeve, a cup of coffee on his forearm. a joke is what he first thought. his heart stuttered for a few beats as the servant processed this in his brain. this soulmate thing couldn't be real. he was probably just overthinking, but who else around drinks as much coffee as he does? why on earth would archer have that on his arm? it was getting too late for these questions for liam to think about, so he pushed them away until he could ponder it more in the morning.
"that's odd. i wonder what they mean. it came out of nowhere. it can't be related to this whole soulmate thing..
could it sir archer?" he questioned the royal. his gaze wandered to the clock and realized the time. "it's getting late and i do have to be up early to get this place back up and running and in order." he said, giving off a laugh before dipping his head to archer. "have a nice night, sir. i'm sure we will see eachother again. it was a pleasure talking and catching up. i have to be honest, i missed this, sir." and with that, he paid his respects and turned away. he hesitated for a few moments before walking down to the servants quarters, away from archer.

-----------------------

seven am. liam groaned as he got out of bed and put on his clothing, running his fingers through his hair then down his face, rubbing his eyes and giving off a heavy sigh. he walked out of his room and headed straight for, you guessed it, coffee; his pride and joy. he took in the sweet, yet bitter scent of the beverage before drinking it, sitting down at the table, his eyes glossing over as he thought about the night before. a coffee mark. i don't think it's possible.. or even true.. i'll just have to talk to him again and figure this whole thing out.. liam thought to himself, leaning back on the chair, staring at the wall, slipping into the abyss as he mindlessly continued to drink his coffee.

[ghast.]

( ♛ )t𝘓𝘈𝘙𝘚 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈
─────── ( servant ) ∙ ( 18 ) ∙ ( catherine/ open )





xxxxxthat nostalgic feeling continued to wash over lars, knowing it'd all be over soon. they'd have to go back to their respective rooms, and he'd probably never see her again. the odds had always been against him, the big man in the sky rolling with laughter with every misfortune he sent the boy, so why would this, the one time he was left without any complaints, be different? his luck was bad, and no matter how good he was at worming himself out of crisis, he'd never be able to lift the grudges that dude in the sky wavered.

holding her close, he swore their hearts beat in time, but he didn't say anything. he let catherine speak, pale brown gaze following her own.

'if it's what you wanted - we'd never have to be alone again, ever...'

never be alone again?

what sort of sick joke had he fallen into this time? had his naivety been too obvious? he couldn't spend forever with a princess, he wasn't destined to it. but the writing on their wrists couldn't have lied, could it? god, he hated himself for being so gullible, falling into another one of those snobs' pranks. he wanted to be with her, but he couldn't find himself kissing up to some big man sitting on a throne to beg for his daughter's hand in marriage. not now, not ever.

lars' train of thought was cut short as those around him began to flood back to their rooms, casually pulling the two apart. he didn't want her to go, not yet, but he couldn't keep the feeling weighing him down at bay. the feeling of dread, he longed for a life outside of servitude, but he didn't intend to become one of those who enforced the people that he had been a few months before. he leaned in to the kiss, hoping for more, that she'd wait, but when she was swept away he could only mumble out a quick, "i... i think i want it too,"

---

he couldn't sleep. the clock that stood upon his wall's hands spun, around and around, mocking him, while he blinked at it absentmindedly. the big man in the sky must've pat himself on the back with this one. lars only gave up his i'm-gonna-shut-everyone-out-because-i-feel-like-it crusade when light flooded into his meager room through the small gutter window, drowned out by rain but still present. he pushed himself up and out of bed, though he was in no rush to look pretty, knowing what lie in the unknown of the castle.

better to face your future than run from it though, right? he wasn't sure anymore.

[rose.bloom]

juliane barnes

mood. confused/conflicted location. ballroom tags. open/asher

juliane woke up the morning after the ball just as upset as the night before. the only comfort she found was in watching through her single window above her bed, the dark grey storm clouds rolling in. besides the fact that it meant she would be trapped in this mansion all day and would not be able to avoid, well a certain person, she enjoyed the rain, the quiet and stillness it brought. and if she needed anything right now, it was stillness and some time to think. she got out of her bed and un-clipped her small hoops she forgot to take off the previous night. jules quickly glanced at herself in the mirror, she wore nothing but a small cream slip dress, and the tattoo on her rib cage poked out from the low hanging sides of the slip. she threw a large pink sweater over it with long sleeves that covered her hands.

her feet were bare and cold on the tile of her room, but was too lazy to put on shoes, and started out of her room, with one place in mind; the ballroom. she didn't know why she was going there, closure she supposed. the night she had dreamed about for so long got stolen away from her because of one prince, and not in the romantic way she thought it would. supposedly her soulmate was still in the mansion somewhere, but who hadn't found their soulmate last night? she was the only one who left the night alone, well there was asher, but jules assumed he had found his soulmate by the end of the night, besides, if she knew anything it was that he wasn't her soulmate. how could he be, after everything he had told her last night?

before she knew it she was wandering the ballroom alone. her footsteps pattered against the cold marble floor and she walked aimlessly, enjoying the view of the approaching darkness.