royale-eclipse

[royale-eclipse]

Meigestu

“So what do you think of my proposal Mamoru-san?”

The fifteen year old peered at her curiously. The redhead stared unwaveringly back from her seated position at the diner’s table.

“Let me get this straight, Hiromi-san.” He paused. She remained quiet as she sipped her tea, and waited patiently to hear what he wanted to say.

“You want us to enter into a fake relationship until you reach majority to make the adults in your life believe that you are leading a stable life and getting in a good amount of  social interaction so they will stop monitoring your movements?”

She nodded in affirmation.

“What’s in it for me?”

She paused and considered his question, then delicately put down her tea cup to give him her full attention. Those vivid emerald eyes were fixed on him.

“I’ll provide you shelter from the fangirls, a convenient excuse to avoid the irritating girls in your classes, and the protection my reputation grants.”

And that was quite an outstanding offer. Peace and quiet until the end of his adolescence in return for spending time with the only girl in his school that didn’t fawn over him? Absolutely perfect. He barely had to think about it.

“It's a deal” A pleased grin spread across her pink lips as  her verdant eyes glittered with satisfaction.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” she said as she outstretched a dainty hand for a handshake. His own larger hand engulfed hers, and shook on the agreement ; sealing the deal.

“Odango-Atama.” Hiromi paused at the sound of the childish name calling. Surely not her Mamoru? The man had been a sullen boy since she had known him as prepubescent tweens. He had never, ever resorted to childish name calling. Light hearted teasing? Certainly, but full blow name calling? Never.

She quickly hastened her step, her stiletto heels clacking silently in the loud street. Then lo and behold, right there, before Motoki’s store stood Chiba Mamoru in all his 6 '2 glory.

Arguing with him, had to be the smallest blonde she had ever seen in her life, and judging by her attire, was a junior high school student from Juban.

When she was within hearing distance, she approached from behind the blonde, who truly had the oddest hairstyle she had seen in a while. (She completely and blatantly chose to ignore the fact that that hair shade and hair style had something niggling in the back of her mind).

She cleared her throat, just as Mamoru caught sight of her.

“Darling,” she greeted, as her painted lips curved into a small smirk. Amusement danced in her verdant eyes, when the blonde -taken completely unaware by her voice- whirled around in shock and with a dying screech building up at the back of her throat.

How quaint, that ridiculously long hair of hers seemed to perk up to match her shock.

A sheepish look made itself known on Mamoru's face, though it was expertly masked, she’d known him well enough that she could easily tell what he was feeling, even if the average outsider could not.

“Ah-Well-I..-! Bye!” That was all the blond managed to get out before she whirled on her heel and dashed away. For someone wearing heels, she was surprisingly speedy and agile.

The redhead watched her retreat with laughter gleaming her eyes.

She hoped the blonde would stick around, she would provide a reprieve from a monotonous life.

“Mamoru” He interrupted her swiftly with a sharp ‘Not another word’

 Obediently she clicked her mouth shut.

He refused to meet her eyes for he knew that he would find the evidence of her mirth there, she always found him losing his usual stoic composure amusing.

“Lets just go.” he held out his clothed arm toward her and she reached for it. Long manicured nails dug into his bicep as she adjusted her grip on him. He slowed his stride to match her step.

As she chatted his ear off the whole journey home.

Meanwhile, a certain blonde was about to be in for the greatest shock of her life.

Hiromi awoke in the middle of the night. She was unsettled, grasping for the terrible dream that was avoiding her, She looked upon his side of the bed to find it devoid of any life. The sheets were rumpled to show he had been there, but the bed had long since gone cold.

Knowing fully well that sleep past this point was simply a pipe dream. She threw on her sleep robe and made her way onto the large kitchen. A glass of water ought to clear her mind.

She made it to the kitchen undisturbed and was sipping on her second glass of water when he barged in.

He was still in full costume and completely disregarded her existence. He pushed his way into their shared bedroom and locked the door.

She heaved a great sigh and dumped the rest of the water down the sink, before rinsing it and leaving it on the table to be put away in the morning.

She then slowly made her way back to the bedroom. Prying the door open, she waited until the lump on the bed turned to face her. His face was devoid of any mask, and that’s when she felt comfortable enough to approach him.

His eyes sparkled when he caught sight of her and he gestured for her to join him in the bed. She did this without hesitating, eager to attempt to return to sleep.

He opened his arms for her and enveloped her in a hug when she had finally shed the thin robe and climbed into the bed with him.

She pressed her face into his chest to breathe him in for a couple of seconds. His breathing was even but she knew fully well that he was wide awake.

She called his name.

“Hmmm?” It looked like he was getting sleepy. She could feel him stifle a yawn.

“How was tonight?” She asked softly. She tilted her head up to be able to make some form of eye contact with him.

He cracked an eye open and grouched.

“You know I don’t remember.” before promptly closing his eyes.

And she always found it weird how in the middle of the night he would suddenly disappear and reappear in some Edwardian attire with no recollection of where he had gone, what he had done, or the reason for his peculiar clothing.

She kept those thoughts to herself, as she shut her eyes and forced Morpheus to take her. If she was lucky, she’d probably get 3 or 4 hours of sleep in before she would be forced to wake up to start her day.

Meanwhile in the house of a certain blonde.

“I did it Luna! I did it!” An energetic little blonde cried out as she pumped her fists in the air excitedly, her long strangely styled hair twirled around her, seeming to share her mood.

As she spun and danced around in her pastel pink room.

A small black cat with a gold crescent moon imprinted on its forehead watched exasperatedly from its perch on the window sill.

[royale-eclipse]

Numbers In the Stars

“WHOOOAAAAAAH!”

The hall brightened in an explosion of colour, the audience perked up excitedly in their seats, anticipation tracing an electric path up and down their veins.

“Colossal we come these renegades in the ringggg!”

“WHOOOOOOAAAAH!”

The familiar voice brought over a bout of excitement surging through the crowd, they gazed with admiration at the ringmaster in the middle of the pit.

“Where the lost get found in the crown of the circus king!”

Here they held their breath in anticipation knowing exactly what was to follow. “Don't fight it is coming for you running after -WHOOOOAAAAAH!- It's only this moment don't care what comes after.”

“Its blindin', outshining' anything that you know (Shinin', shinin')

Just surrender 'cause you're comin' and you wanna goOOOOOOOOO?!”

The audience exploded in a burst of cheers, clapping their hands excitedly with the younger children eagerly mouthing along with the lyrics.

“Where is coloured in all the coloured lights”

And that was when she tuned out. She had heard the song multiple times during the rehearsal, and while it fascinated her each and every time, there was something else that was way more fascinating. 

She looked up, there, right there hiding behind the bannister, peeking shyly at the show going on below. Phillip Carlyle.

Oh how she longed to run her fingers through his hair, caress that jawline and stare unabashedly at those blue blue eyes.

At that moment their gazes locked and he flashed her a cheeky grin that left her heart racing and palms sweating, her cheeks heated up as she attempted to return the smile. His attention had already shifted however. She followed his line of sight and those bubbly emotions that had floated up within her popped.

Anne Wheeler

- trapeze artist extraordinaire. Her beautifully done pink locs bounced as she completed a complicated twist in the air, her arms outstretched. She was caught by her brother,fellow trapeze artist and quickly tossed onto his shoulder where she performed a backflip before landing solidly once more on one foot on his left shoulder- She was so beautiful admired and lusted after by many men, despite her ‘dirty blood’. Oh how she longed to be like her, her wonderful and perfect cousin.

“This is the greatest shooooww!!”  The last lyric was accompanied with raucous applause unceremoniously pulling her out of her bubble. She hastily beat her hands together clapping with the rest of them. She stole a peek at Carlyle, but his attention was fully focused on Anne, who upon closer inspection, was flashing a blinding smile to the man.

Her own joy dimmed slightly. She watched on as the circus bid a good night to the audience. 

They dispersed.

She stood stock still fully immersed in her own head,

‘What if I approached him? We could have a life together if I stopped being shy. I should be like Anne for once-’

“Charlelotte!” She snapped to focus.

“Yes, Mr Barnum.”

She looked up to meet his concerned gaze -he was unfairly tall- 

“I've been calling your name for the past couple of minutes, is all well?”

His penetrating brown gaze was fixed on her.

Darn It all! Why was she surrounded by untouchable and attractive men with such weighty gazes? Tucking a curly strand of hair behind her ear, she quickly mumbled out a false ‘‘I’m fine’' with a faker smile plastered on her lips. 

She could tell he wasn't convinced by the subtle tilt of his head, but she knew he wouldn't press the issue.

“If you say so,” he relented, lips pursed in displeasure.

They stood together in silence, waiting for the other to speak first. Predictably, her boss was the one to break the silence. She suppressed a small smirk, Mr Phineas Taylor Barnum was never good at maintaining silence, 

“Go meet Carlyle in the office, you two have accounts to go over.”

She nodded quickly.

“Yes sir,” and refused to meet his gaze for fear that he would see the truth in her eyes.

‘Mind reader’ she scoffed in the quiet of her mind, as she scurried up the stairs in the mus- sorry circus, and disappeared out of sight.

Why, Oh why did she have to go over the accounts with Phillip Carlyle of all people? Couldn’t Barnum himself take care of the accounts that affected HIS business? She felt an immediate stab of guilt at her thought process, he deserved a day off to spend with his family. He wasn’t duty bound to take care of his accounts or statements because that's what he paid her for.

Quicker than she would have liked, she found herself face to face with the office door. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves and raised a knuckle to rap on the door softly, she didn’t receive a response.

She waited two beats, and again gently knocked, yet still, nothing.

Her thoughts took over leaving no room for rationality.

‘ Great he knows and probably hates me.’

‘But how? Nobody knows i’m related to Anne,’

‘Oh no darling, he caught you staring and drooling over his jawline.’

‘Maybe he saw your ugly mug and wanted to kill himself, but decided that ending his wonderful life because of your worthless self wasn’t worth it and ran away instead?’

And there goes the deep thoughts, the ones that kept her up at night. She knew she was being irrational and that none of her thoughts bore a grain of truth; it's difficult however, to affirm those beliefs when you are fighting a battle against your own consciousness though.

Warm, hot breath against the nape of her neck snapped her out of it however,

“Hey,”  she whirled on her heel, hand to her heart, to find one Phillip Carlyle behind her rather than in the office as she had previously assumed. 

“He..y” She enunciated, trying to calm her racing heart. She watched him sheepishly scratch the back of his neck as he murmured an apology.

He was a sight for sore eyes, and he brought a smile on her face simply by existing in her vicinity. He was the sun and she the earth, she couldn’t help but orbit around him, her smiles bloomed and became a radiant sight to behold whenever he was near.

She took notice of the way his usually neatly done hair was messy and wild, a stark contrast to his usually well put together demeanour. But then again, she thought as her eyes trailed down to take in his flushed face and neck and the way his chest heaved from exertion; eyes alight with excitement. He was always like this after stealing a few precious moments with Anne.

Any joy she had previously held was quickly and brutally quenched by that single thought. So she grabbed all of her emotions, joy ,desperation and melancholy and shoved it as far down into herself as was physically possible and even a little further after that. Satisfied with her renewed composure, she gestured for him to take the lead into the office.

He did so with a cheeky grin and bow, that had her cheeks burning up once more, and for once in her life was thankful for her dark complexion which ensured that any blood rushing to her face remained invisible.

She sent a quick prayer to the Heavens, hoping desperately for the patience needed to handle what would surely be a long conversation with the person who holds her affections without making said person aware of her affections. What a tough task indeed.

She stepped into the small office and closed the door behind her.

If one were to ask her when exactly she had fallen in love with Phillip Carlyle, well, she’d be hard pressed to form a proper response, because really, what could be said?

She herself hadn't even known, that was 

until her heart started swooning at his presence, until her smile became more radiant with each glance he threw her way, until her world shattered when she saw the love he held for Anne reflecting so splendidly in his eyes.

Though to be perfectly honest, that look only made her fall deeper into her feelings for him. ANd wasn't that a kicker? The man who held her heart openly displaying his love for another in a way that only made her love for him shine brighter whilst simultaneously shattering the very heart she had placed in his hands -the fact that he was completely unaware of this fact seemed to make it all the more cruel. The Phillip Carlyle she had come to love was not one who would knowingly and willingly cause harm to anybody around him-.

She thought all this as she stood in an empty circus. There was absolutely no one in on that day. Barnum had decided that the circus was to be closed for this day only to allow his colleagues a chance of rest, they had been performing for the whole week non stop, and in his words.

“I cannot possibly in good conscience allow you guys to work yourselves to the bone, how will you live to perform on the stage if you are worn down and broken?” His way with words had the whole ensemble agreeing to a break immediately.

So here she was, alone, by herself, alone in the big wide circus. She huffed a sigh, all the better for her to be able to practise the abilities taught to her by Aunt Wheeler. 

She looked down at her body, she wasn’t exactly dressed for the occasion, but if she stripped down , she would be perfectly able to practise her trapeze and contortion skills.

So without a second thought, she pulled off her petticoat, and the first outer layer. She unfastened all the buttons of her inner dress and allowed it to fall in a heap at her feet. She did not stop undressing until she was left standing in disgustingly scandalous shorts and a spaghetti strap chemise which she tucked into said shorts.

 She took a brief moment to be thankful about the relatively warm weather as she began prepping her warm up routine for her contortions.

She started with pulse raisers to get her blood rushing, and for the longest time ( fifteen minutes really) the only thing audible in that auditorium was the sound of her steady breathing.

Then once satisfied with her pulse risers, she fell into her stretches. She started off with a simple split- which she fell into easily- before upping the challenge when each flexibility stretch proved to be too easy.

She came to the end of her warm up roughly a half hour after she had begun, and adrenaline (which she had suppressed for DAYS) began to resurface.

She began running towards the centre of the pit, and when she felt as though she had covered enough distance. She took a huge leap, before curving her spine in the air in what she dubbed the Scorpion, and then quickly straightening herself to land in a wide split.

Then -in a move which she had spent years honing- she pushed herself up with the strength of her legs alone, before bending over backwards towards the floor as she placed her hands to the floor and curved her spine once more forming a tall bridge. From there she kicked her right foot into the air, and with very little effort, propelled the rest of her body back into a standing position.

The euphoria of it all pulled a jagged grin onto her face. 

The sound of slow clapping -coming from behind her-however, quickly wiped the expression from her face.

She was barking out questions before she had even fully turned around.

“Who are you?!” “How did you get in?” “This place is closed off to the public!” She demanded.

Her stance quickly changed as she geared up to run, her flight instinct always prevailed over her fight.

She whirled on her heel to face the intruder, another list of demands on her lips, when her breath was stolen from her chest.

Carlyle stood there in all his glory, he was massively dressed down, devoid of the usually stuffy clothing he seemed to favour, as he took in her countenance with a gleam in his eye she had only ever seen directed at her darling cousin.

It had been months since the incident (well to her it was an incident) and she still couldn’t bring herself to fully look him in the eye.

“That was outstanding! Absolutely marvellous!” The gleam in his eye had an invisible flush rising to the apples of her cheeks.

“Thanks.”