~why's this chapter so formal? Haha, get it •_•
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"Skeppy, will you dim the lights please?" Eret asks from their seat at the dining table.
Usually Eret would just eat in the kitchen when not having guests over, but ever since Dark's return, he's been acting more... stereotypical monarch-ly.
"Yes, your highness." Skeppy says, bowing his head and walking from his station at the dining hall door to the lighting system.
More formal. That's how Eret had stated it. He'd said that the castles functions had to start being more formal. More formal and more traditional. Those were the king's orders.
So the staff had no real option but to start behaving more formal and traditionally. It was so odd, the change. It's not what any of them were used to.
None of them were used to the sudden coldness of the king, either. The king had always acted as though he were no better than the rest of them. He'd always held themselves more humbly. Never took themselves too seriously. Always made friends of the staff.
They knew it had to be something with Dark's return but they didn't know a lot of things. They had no idea if Dark was still here, if he had possessed Eret, if he were controlling Eret from the outside in some way. They had no idea what had happened in that dinning hall after they'd been told to leave.
"Is that better, your highness?" Skeppy asks after turning the lighting down a few notches.
"A bit more." Eret says, taking a sip of their wine, not bothering to look at his, once close, friend.
"Yes, sire." Skeppy says, bowing his head again before turning the lights down a few more notches.
"Much better. You may return to your post." The king says, no please added as has been with the recent changes. "Do you know when Niki has been scheduled to visit?"
"No, sire. Velvet has not yet returned from the prison." Skeppy says. "He'll be due back by sun down."
"Very well. I'm finished here. Tell the cleaner to get this. I'm going to the library." Eret says, wiping their mouth on his napkin before standing from the table.
Skeppy is quick to walk over to the table, pushing the king's chair in after he's started heading for the door.
The royal guard has not much time to pause before hurrying over to the door to open it for his majesty.
~~~
"Really?" Karl asks after hearing the order from the king.
"I know right. It's bizarre. But... those are the king's orders." Velvet says, leaning his elbows on the desk casually.
"Oh, congrats on the new job." Karl says, rifling through a few papers in the desk, pulling one out and placing it next to one of Velvet's elbows.
"Thanks, what's this?" Velvet asks, looking over the paper.
"Just an official paper thing, basically says the prisoner has valid reason to be outside the prison. Since Eret's not here, you can just sign it. I don't think anyone but myself looks at these papers." Karl says, handing the royal messenger a pen.
Velvet signs the paper and Karl takes it back, placing it in a different stack of, seemingly, disorganized stacks.
"What do you think has caused Eret to ask for a prisoner to tailor something?" Karl asks, looking around for something behind the desk.
"No idea. Things at the castle have changed apparently. They changed shortly before I was appointed. Something about being more formal and traditional. It doesn't effect me as much because I don't interact directly with the king very much. But it's tearing Skeppy up..." Velvet says.
"Oh... that's too bad. I thought Skeppy and Eret were really close..." Karl says, finally finding whatever it was he was looking for.
"They were. But ever since these formal changes, Eret doesn't treat Skeppy, or anyone, the way they used to. He's much colder according to Skeppy. And I believe his word on that." Velvet says.
"Dang... that kind of thing is never easy to deal with." Karl says, mind involuntarily drifting to thoughts of Sapnap. "Well, I'll go file these back there, just let me know when and where." He says, standing from his chair and offering a friendly smile.
"Will do." Velvet says, giving a small salute to the prison guard before heading off.
~~~
"When's this royal ball you speak of, old man?" Tommy asks.
The three of them were sitting at their kitchen table, eating dinner, when Phil told his two sons of the up and coming royal ball.
"Sunday... evening." Phil says, covering his mouth as he chews the rice Ranboo had helped him make while Tommy laid on the couch complaining about the amount of time it was taking.
"Looks like I have some ladies to woo in order to have a date to this royal ball." Tommy says, pulling the collar on his shirt that he didn't have. (The collar, not the shirt. He is wearing a shirt.)
"What ladies?" Phil asks, raising one eyebrow. "The only ones around wouldn't want to go with you." He adds in a joking manner.
"I'll just bring one of my many wives then." Tommy says. "And don't deny their existence. They are so very real."
"Whatever you say..." Phil says, a skeptical look on his face. "Are you excited for this ball, Ran."
"Yeah. Sounds like fun." Ranboo says after finishes chewing his bite of food. "Has there ever been a ball here?"
"No. Only festivals. And we all know how those tend to end..." Phil says, being cautious of what jokes he made given both children's experiences at said festivals.
"Yeah..." Ranboo says.
"Yeah, but those were because bad people were around. Now, no bad people are out and about so it should be fine." Tommy says.
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~foreshadowing? Couldn't be... unless- no... nothing bad will happen at the ball. I promise 🤞 :)... anyways, hope you enjoyed:)