The Trickster's Test {Prinxiety}

Chapter 22

Third Person

"Land ho!"

The shout, that Virgil would have originally guessed would be met with cheers, was easily dubbed the most irritating wake up call he'd ever heard. And if Roman's frustrated groan and lack of audible response from everyone else was any indication, the feeling was mutual. Not that he wasn't more than ready to be back on solid ground where he wouldn't constantly feel like he was about to fall over, but for once he had actually been naturally tired enough to sleep through what had remained of the night when the party had ended. He already predicted they'd see about half as many people as usual above deck and awake before docking.

Although, it could have been worse, he supposed. He remembered the whole night except for the last couple minutes or so before falling asleep, which was way better than most of the sailors. He would be surprised if Remy made an appearance at all without the prompting of Janus or Emile. Then again, he didn't think he'd had anything to drink, but he must've; there's no way he would have slept in the bed with Roman, but that's where he'd ended up. Once again it could be worse, but in his eyes having his arm trapped in the grip of his companion like a stuffed toy was still pretty bad. He was clearly the first to realize their physical arrangement, and much like when a cat falls asleep on you, he resolved to not move until he too noticed.

In the hall, someone went by knocking loudly on seemingly each door they passed, coercing another displeased noise out of Roman, mumbling something about mashed potatoes before cracking his eyes open, "That's not our problem, right?"

"Probably not, but if you're gonna go back to sleep could you, like, release my arm first?" Virgil asks, not really knowing how to phrase that in a not awkward way.

To the envious puzzlement of the prince, Roman simply released his grip without a hint of embarrassment. Instead of questioning it and looking like the opposite of a normal human, he sat up while he had the chance to, "I could have been anything I wanted, and of course the job I choose brings me here," He laments, his words muffled by grogginess and the sheets half his face was pressed into.

"Fate's a b!tch," He translated unsympathetically, it was too early for his dramatic wails.

"While I'm fairly certain you're being sarcastic, I can't help but agree with your assessment. Aren't you supposed to be the great times a hundred grandson of a god or something? Can't you tell fate to screw off for, like, five minutes?" He asked, voice taking on a slightly tinny tone that did nothing to make Virgil feel bad for him.

He attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes, planning to go above deck and make sure they hadn't accidentally gone the exact wrong direction without anyone noticing, "You're thinking of the Raythen royal family, which is almost certainly a complete lie," One that would help keep their family in power and citizens in awe of them, Virgil realized.

"Are you sure? Because your eyes have me as mesmerised as any of Salime's victims," He winked proudly at his reference to the Goddess of love, otherwise known as the Maiden of Enchantment. And the suggestion that Virgil could receive the affections of anyone that looked into his eyes was enough to darken his cheeks as he frowned.

"I'm ignoring you," Virgil decided. The idea of leaving their room alone suddenly sounded much less dreadful than it had moments before, so he didn't bother looking back before leaving.

- - -

"My crew can handle the unloading and docking of the ship, so as soon as we get the ramp down Remy, Roman, you, and I will get going before they do. We'll probably stop by a couple of places, borrow some horses from an old family friend, and from there go straight to the castle," Janus looked over the bustling movements of his crewmates from the side of the ship while explaining.

Virgil was, admittedly, a bit distracted as he listened, staring in slight awe at the large vessels around them and bone arches that supported the docks. He didn't know what sort of creature could produce such a massive structure, so he suspected they were probably made of ivory made to resemble bone. Past the pale gates he could see brightly colored rooftops, the colorfulness of the kingdom rivaling Persaya.

"We should arrive before nightfall so we won't have to worry about finding a safe inn to stay at," He continues, a smirk spreading across his face as he looks up at something. As a shadow swept across Virgil, he followed the Correans gaze only to see someone land on the deck, rolling to keep from getting hurt by what must have been a pretty long fall since the closest thing above them was a beam that supported the mainsail, "Wow Eryn that was such a good idea, jumping down like that," Janus congratulated falsely, tying down the rope that Eryn had used with the hope of landing smoothly.

"Thanks," He had learned long ago that it was way more fun to treat Janus's obvious deceit as honesty rather than be offended, and a lot easier on his pride, "Remy's flirting with a merchant on the opposite end of the docks by the way."

"What a surprise," Janus rolls his eyes, "If you'd like to retrieve your guard, I'll meet you both on the pier after I ensure that Remy doesn't get arrested for assault," He doesn't wait for Virgil's response, making his way down the landing with a confident stride.

Now, Virgil wouldn't say that he had lost Roman, because that would make him sound irresponsible. However, he didn't find him in their shared room as he would have guessed, so he had little choice but to look around. There were only so many places he could have wandered off to in such limited space, especially since he would have seen if he'd come up to the deck. Granted, his first instinct hadn't been to check what could only be described as a gambling ring near the bottom ship, and still didn't really think it should have been.

"What are you doing?" His confusion and potential disappointment temporarily beat out his anxiety as he spoke up at the sight of an overly focused Roman playing cards.

He looks up, attentive expression wiped off his face as he brightens, "Learning to play poker! It's really fun and I get to act while playing so they don't know what my cards are, and I'm winning!"

The woman next to him snorts, "You've got a pair of twos and eights, you aren't winning sh!t," She tells him, brushing her light hair out of her face, and while Virgil was pretty sure he saw a card hidden in her sleeve, he couldn't be bothered to mention it when she'd made such a good first impression on him.

"Hey, I may have only learned to play ten minutes ago, but I'm still pretty sure looking at other people's cards is cheating," He accuses.

"If you don't want me to look then you shouldn't be holding them so far away from yourself, you've probably flashed your deck to the whole table unless anyone's gone spontaneously blind," She looks around at the rest of the players, all of whom either looked unamused of exaggeratingly checked their eyesight by holding up any number of fingers towards each other to confirm that they had not, in fact, gone blind.

"Virgil I get the feeling that I am being bullied right now," Roman informs him.

"I can see that," He observes.

"You're no help."

"I know."

A/N: Been a while since I've done the hyphen timeskip thing, little surprised I haven't needed it