Southcoast island, Southcast city, Southcoast university: New beginnings (OPEN to Frideswide Revolutionaries)

Southcoast was, as usual, sunny, clean, bustling with life, and almost obnoxiously beautiful. The white beaches and horribly turquoise sea, the palm trees and light blue sky lacking any clouds, the breathtaking sunsets, the wildlife, and the marble city itself, a jewel so bright that it was almost painful to look at, made it the perfect spot for a vacation, but the number of tourists on the island was practically nonexistant. No one visited Southcoast. Why? Partly because Southcoast, the city, not the island, was entirely set up around it's university, the population entirely made up of students, both the actually studious and the actually obnoxious kind (sometimes they managed to be both at the same time). Partly because the university, founded by one Mrs. K. Mirren about 200 years ago, had claimed the entire, albeit small island as it's campus, and had very strict rules about anyone who was not a student or part of the university staff entering the island. Even the people working in the numerous cafes, bars, restaurants and shops were eyed suspiciously. As it was, Southcoast was perfectly shielded from the rest of the world, and the rich (the fees for studying at the elite university were outrageous) students here lived in their own little reality, some more than others.

A rare stroke of luck for Johan Frideswide, leader of his own merry little band of revolutionaries: hardly anyone even knew his name, even though he could vividly recall some of their families being decided enemies of his course of action. Still, just to be sure, he had adopted an alias. Here, he was known as professor Arthur Huxley, and had, in the last few months, become a rather well liked professor of history. How? Well, an almost outrageous amount of luck had it that the current headmaster, Mrs. Rosalind Mirren, was, while not a fan of him presonally, still a woman with a disposition to the dramatic, the risky, the scandalous. Oh, she had known him. She had read one of his books. Not the ones about revolution, no, the ones he wrote when he was still a historian. And his current, er, lifestyle, somehow appealed to her enough to let him have the job, as a cover, as long as he kept the alias he had introduced himself with to her, actually taught history, and, since the woman might be a lover of risks, but not, by far, an idiot, as long as he left the island within the next year. Johan, or Arthur, had been fine with all of those, teaching history even sounded like it could be fun for once.

Why was he here? For two reasons: Firstly, he knew that the driving force behind a revolution could often be the young, the impressionable, the passionate, the educated: students. Of course, the spoiled, careless examples of students present here were hardly revolutionary material, but he was sure that, if faced with the problems the government caused, they might just be convinced. They weren't stupid, after all. And it was hardly their fault that they were born into the richer, more fortunate castes of society.
Secondly: He had ben under the impression that a former member of his crew, a young boy named Uddo, was here. After the events almost a year ago that left his crew scattered, he had tried to gather followers again, and went after every hint he could get to find the ones that had disappeared. Uddo had been their doctor apprentice, a boy with raw talent and ambition, and only the best of intentions, Johan was sure. When he had heard that Uddo might be in Southcoast, he had been overjoyed. He had guessed that the young man had gotten one of the rare scholarships, and was now studying medicine at the acclaimed university.

Looking back on it now, it might have been a little hasty to think that only based on a first name and wishful thinking. "Uddo" had turned out to be a man in his twenties, one of the students, who's name was, indeed, Udo van Andel, who was studying theology, not medicine, and got the money to do so from his parents, nobles from west blue. The boy was passionate, yes, but that was the only similiarity between him and the doctor apprentice who had sailed with Johan. He was as careless as many of the others on this island, spending his free time in the bars, on the many huge parties, and, as far as one of his young friends, Sasha Devon, one of Johans own students, had told him, theology had not been his choice of subject, but rather his parents reaction to his hedonistic lifestyle. So both of his reasons for cmonig here had been letdowns. But Johan wasn't one to give up just like that. Though he had only two months left to stay on this island, it had proven to be a good base for their operations. Neither the marine nor the world government expected him to be here, and pirates mostly kept away, seeing as the only goods to find here were books and various kinds of gourmet food.... that, and the university security staff was simply too well trained and equipped to risk it. Even the purchases made in the shops were not paid for in money, rather, their price was simply added to the student fees. The only ships that landed here were the ones bringing more expensive goods: clothes, food, perfumes and the like.

And in the ten months he had already spend here, he had even managed to get a few of the students to think about his ideals. A handful supported them. And two had, from the beginning. Those two were sitting out in the sun with him now, in one of the cafes, while the masses of students walked by, using their free day to relax on the beach or go shopping. Johan watched them, sipping his tea carefully, and caught himself thinking, yet again, how many of them he could reach yet, if he had more time. They'd make powerful allies. Rich enough to help with financing the changes he wanted to bring, smart enough to understand and support his ideals, passionate enough to draw in new followers, powerful enough to maybe get things to change without there being need for any bloodshed. But as it was, only so many were in his own classes, only so many were ready to listen. It was frustrating.
"Professor Fride- I mean Huxley?"
Johan turned his head to look at the young man sitting opposite from him. Sasha Devon. The best example of "young, passionate, educated" on this island, most likely, and with just the right dash rebelliousness. It had taken him about five months to figure out who his professor really was, and when he did, he had gotten so overly excited that he ran straight up to him before class, stuttering and gesturing and wide eyed. It had taken him a good ten minutes until he had gotten the point across that he, indeed, knew who he was talking to. Some shock that had been. Of course, Johan had been sure they'd be able to talk about that, so he had invited him to coffee after class, and talked about it, they had. Sasha had been right with the things he had said from the start, absorbing all the things he said, listening more intently than Johan had ever seen him listen in class. After that, it seemed Johan had gained mroe than a follower: he had gained a straight up fan in that boy. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
He set the cup down, carefully, as such things could be dangerous for him to do.
"Yes, Mr. Devon?"
Students here were addressed by their last names, of course. Sometimes even as "master", but most thought of that as "way too stuffy, brofessor", and so, last names would do, and Johan was glad they would. Calling people "master" didn't sit quite right with him.
"What does this mean?"
Sasha pointed at a word he had written into his book himself only seconds ago. The whole table was covered in books, notes, folders.... The two students had asked him to give them an extra lesson, help them prepare for the exams next week. Of course, knowing Sasha, that was only half the story.
"Individuality, Mr. Devon. Please refrain from writing into those books, they're valuable school property."
"Yes..."
Said Sasha, clearly not referring to the last sentence. He leaned forward, until he was almost laying on the table, a wild gleam in his eye, and almost whispered now.
"But what does it mean?"
Johan raised an eyebrow. He had explained the meaning of "individuality" as one of the ideals he fought for, which was, doubtlessly, what the boy was hinting at (the eyebrow wiggling made it awfully clear that he didn't want him to explain the actual word) many times before. It seemed to be one of Sashas fabourite parts...
Before Johan could explain the concept once again (he was never afraid to speak of his ideals, even while he was under an alias, people might listen to him after all), he was interrupted by the third man sitting on the table. A mountain of a man, with the tan of a worker, the clothes of a lumberjack, and muscles almost as impressive as his bushy, dark brown beard. Despite his imposing appearance, his voice was soft, his wording blunt, but not rude.
"It means that every person is different, is their own self, and no one should have to be something they don't want to be."
Johan glanced at him thankfully, the man was a miracle, and not only in physique. He was one of the few students with a scholarship, and that despite his rather poor background. A philosopher, an artist, a truly softhearted man.
Sasha let himself fall back onto his chair, looking disappointed. He hadn't wanted the explanation of the concept, he had wanted the explanation of the concept from Johan himself. Grumbling, he turned back to his notes.
"You're such a killjoy sometimes, Gustav...."
Johan hated disappointing people, but Sasha could be a bit of a handful at times. There was no such thing as too much passion and energy, he only wished it wasn't all concentrated on creating some sort of personal cult around him.

"Aye, land ahead!"

Despite what her companion seemed to think, Marta didn't need to use the tarnished brass spyglass that was currently being waved dangerously close to her face to see the mass of land that lay before the crew. A dark blemish on the otherwise crisp white breaks of the turquoise waves, the beast of a cargo ship, the León Orgulloso, sailed straight on to its destination, path unwavering much in line with what the rest of their journey had been like which, Marta thought, had been strangely uneventful. Sure, the ship was unimpressive and it carried no flag of accosting design-- honestly, she couldn't tell what the pattern fixed in the center of the fraying beige sails was supposed to be in the first place. Some sort of compass?-- but she had seen raiders pounce with much less at their grasp. It was more of a blessing anyways as the ship was clearly to the brim with workers who thought they knew what fighting was. Speaking of which...

"Hey, hey, hey. Aren'tcha gonna look?" He was certainly persistent. With a small smile, she finally took the instrument from the boy's slightly clenched fist and peered through it. "It's pretty snazzy there, eh? Eh?" Although 'snazzy' may not have been the word she would have used to describe it, it certainly was something to behold. Well what she could see of it anyways. Pillars of gleaming white light was mostly what she could see in the afternoon sunlight, but a building here and there let on to that it was, in fact, civilized. A pleasant change from two weeks ago when she started this leg of her journey.

To be fair, she should have figured that somewhere called "Bulrush Island" wouldn't have been the most habitable of places, but she wasn't expecting the small village the islanders called a city to be completely overrun by their namesake. And the mosquitoes! Ugh! Hopping on with the crew of the León hadn't been as difficult as previous other ships due to... well, due to the fact that no one in their right mind would want to stay there unless they wanted to be swallowed up by the tall grass. (It's not something to joke about: there was probably a carnivorous mutation that spawned somewhere within the depths of the swamps.) But no ride is ever free and once more on the León, like many ships before, she had been placed in the ranks of deckhand, resigned to cleaning and cooking. It wasn't all bad (not bad at all if you asked her, but her 'whistle while you work' attitude usually gained her some befuddled stares and annoyed whispers), in fact she even made an acquaintance. An acquaintance that apparently liked waving objects in front of her face like a small child would when they wanted attention.

Archie Bailey latched on to Marta like a barnacle holding onto the side of a cliff, even more so when he discovered that he would get just a little extra more at dinner or she would come help him with his chores if he became exhausted. His tresses that used to shine like the gold on an engagement ring were now muddied by the weeks of physical exertion and ocean air, but the sparkle in his hazel eyes rejuvenated once more at his discovery despite the persistence of his sunburn. Being careful not to nudge the slick pink of his skin, Marta handed the spyglass back, "It's a sight for sore eyes." Shielding her eyes with her arm and taking one thoughtful look back in front of them she mused, "I wonder what's on there..."

"Eh, buncha researchers and stuff, I think. Old 'n crusty. Try not t'talk to 'em or you'll catch their boring." Obviously more interested in the adventure over the actual job they were hired to do, Archie called over the sounds of Marta's giggles up to the crow's nest. "Hey, when're we gonna hit land already?"

"Why don't you make yourself useful for once and stop wasting air on stupid questions."

Shrinking back, he shot her a faux cringe before shrugging it off. The two of them made their way over to the group that was slowly gathering on the lower deck to prepare to disembark, waiting for the captain's orders. Without much of a hitch from nature's end, the León finally docked at the port. Where the trouble came in, however, was with the 'welcoming committee' from lovely Southcoast City who was more than insistent on checking and double checking their stock before they even let the crew set one foot on the perfectly cobbled paths within. Textbooks. Tomes. Journals. Guides. Whatever else printed material one could name, the León had it on board and one by one the crew began to load armfulls of the literature into specially designated carts that would be wheeled to a destination only those in charge knew. During one of the trips to and from the cargo hold, Marta felt a little nudge from the elbow of her friend. On his insistence she looked over and noticed the captain personally handing over what looked like a very old, thick novel, the silver embossed black leather binding obviously giving way to age as several pages tried to make their escape. "Kinda weird, eh?" True, the captain didn't seem like the kind of man that would interact with people more than he had to but Archie was so quick to jump on anything and sensationalize it to an absurd level. She shook her head and the exchange from her mind, giving him a soft pat on the back to urge him not to let his mind wander, especially where that hawk of a captain was concerned.

Cart after cart filled and was shipped away to the bowels of the university never to be seen again, and about five papercuts and one banged knee later they had finished their task. For a short while, it was revealed, the crew had permission to visit some of the restaurants and stores close to the docks: a gesture that seemed generous given the manner in which they were welcomed to the island. Anyone would have to be a fool to give that kind of opportunity up and the speed the crew dispersed would not be unlike that of air escaping from a balloon.

"Prins, come on! I ain't got all day" the impatient tapping of Archie's foot at the top of the stairwell as he continued to wait for Marta was comically loud but it did not deter her, she who was 'just making sure' that everything had been accounted for properly. As she rose from the dark depths, she tapped Archie in the shoulder with a stray volume, her face seeming to say 'see? Isn't it good I did that?' Ignoring his eye roll, she squinted at the roads in front of her, "Did you see which way they went? They'd probably rather have this before they notice it's missing."

"Uh, they went that way."

"Yes, thank you, Archie," she replied, amused at his very general finger wave of directions. Before Marta got too far--already setting a course for the two stern looking librarians (or were they professors?) in charge of gathering the texts-- the blonde grabbed her by the arm, pulling her against his twiggy frame, not even screeching as he normally would of the contact on his blistered skin. Between them both they knew that once she set foot onto land never again would she return to the León, she would continue on her quest as they would indefinitely return to their own island and business. After returning the hug, she gently cupped his chin and stared him in the eyes, "Be good." That was it.

The first step onto this foreign land sounded with a sturdy 'click' against the soles of her boots. Taking a deep breath, she ventured on, increasing her pace with every step. Despite the two figures of authority she had come into contact with being nowhere in sight, it felt as though she was being watched from every angle and if they tried--even if they didn't--they would be able to see through her disguise. For now, her torso bore the dark red jacket of the Helios Shipping Company, but even that hung off of her in a way that made even the idea of her working there in and of itself unnatural and suspicious. She didn't belong there. She didn't work for them, but until she delivered this book she would wear their colors proudly. Such nice people.

By this point in her life, she really should have learned to pay more attention to what was in front of her and perhaps so too should have the person exiting a nearby general store, but what they did not learn from their past led up to them crashing into each other and both toppling to the ground. "O-oh, goodness. I'm so sorry are you ok...ay...?" The dark haired person sprawled out in front of her showed no reaction towards her apology, nor did they make any effort to make one of their now. Not even a complaint left their lips. No, they seemed all too enthralled with the book that now lay askew between them. Hopeful, Marta started, "Oh! Do you know where I might--" Before she could finish her question, the person snatched up the book and scrambled up to their feet, making as quick a getaway as they could, their bookbag bobbing against the back of their leg keeping the tempo of their escape. Fumbling to rise to her feet, Marta called after them, "H-hey!! That's not yours!!" Luckily, as the both of them ran down the street, weaving in between unsuspecting cityfolk and students alike, she managed to keep them in her sights. However, she was certain she was causing quite the disturbance. All she wanted was to return the book back to it's proper place...

Stirs were nothing new to Southcoast: often drunk students started brawls, decided to take the party to the streets, sometimes there were also such things as duels, mostly because of romances gone wrong (most of the students, no matter how cool and not stiff at all they wanted to come across as, had still been raised by very traditional noble families, and usually all kinds of conflicts were solved in duels to the first drop of blood, only after that had officially been forbidden did some of them try to talk about their problems instead. Still, duels remained very popular). As such, they were entirely expected and accepted.
What wasn't accepted were stirs caused by outsiders. Scandal! An outsider causing trouble? What would they think of next!?

Students drew back, practically jumped back, as the young maiden in the red coat passed- the red made it fairly clear that she wasn't a student, since everyone and their grandmother knew the colour of the year was light blue! Once out of her path, they continued avoiding to touch her, glared and whispered, obviously adressing more than just the speed at which she moved. The hostility towards outsiders was a sort of behaviour that was very widely spread in the students, though most only ever showed it in situations like that: outsiders causing trouble. They were not used to that at all! So much knowledge was thrown at them, but not even one word about how to deal with the outside world when they were released into it again. Well, with the exception of Johan's long, very much politically biased speeches, of course. They could use some of that experience, whatever they chose to do with their lifes. Sheltered as tehy were, who could blame them that they never really knew what was going on in the world, and much less how to deal with it.

Those and similiar thoughts about the psyche of his students were going through his head when he heard of the outsider. Messages like that spread like wildfire here. A speciality of Southcoast university: all of the scandalous, partly criminal things the students came up with? Nobody cared. But get one outsider to raise their voice a little, get them to walk faster than was required? Nobody move! Stop the presses! There is an element of danger here! Johan shook his head a bit. Well, he had seen worse, he supposed. Those youngsters, so smart, yet so stupid when it came to things as common sense...

He finished his tea and set his cup down, feeling the eyes of Sasha on him. And indeed, when he turned to look at him, he was staring, his eyes positively gleaming. The undercover revolutionary sighed. He knew this look.
"Ignoring all the implications of treating this poor human being, who, I am sure, has good reasons for whatever they're doing to cause such an uproar, like some sort of horribly fascinating attraction, and also ignoring the fact that we are most likely not going to catch them anymore since they seem to be a good while away and will have only so long until security will be brought in...."
Sasha's light eyes grew bigger and bigger. Johan had always had trouble resisting that look, it was just that pure, innocent curiousity, the wish to find out about something as of yet unknown. Who was he to refrain that wish? Besides, to be honest.... he was a bit curious himself. It wasn't often that outsiders were on the island, after all, and even less often did they cause any trouble, no matter how small.
His voice was only trembling slightly with excitement when he finished his sentence.
"...Would you like to go have a look?"

It took Sasha less than a second to jump up. He didn't even put his pencil down.
"Hell yes, professor Frideswide!"
A small thought in the back of his head told Johan that his name here was still Huxley, and that Sasha needed to start using it, as was the point of an alias, but he himself had been out of action for so long, and Sashas excitement was so contagious, that all he could do was produce a sound a little bit like a happy squeak before they both sped down the street in a way that did a great job making them look less like grown up (and, in one case, wanted) men, and more and more and more reminiscent of kids dashing for an ice cream truck, leaving behind Gustav and their paperwork.

The gigantic man shook his head. How Frideswide had spend years in hiding before, he didn't know. He simply didn't seem the type at all. Then again, he didn't seem like the type to bring about revolution and leaving the people who's rulers he had collectively slaughtered completely on their own to figure out how to deal with their situation. Or the type to sacrifice whatever was necessary to drive that fight. Yet the government would have everyone think he was. You can never be sure in those things. But there were some rather hard exams coming up, and he still needed to get all those dates and facts into his head. What use chasing those two now, just to maybe or maybe not catch a glimpse of some troublemaker? Enough of those where he was from. No books though. Barely any education. So that's what he'd concentrate on now.



Somewhere between the upteenth clothing store and the millionth small, cute cafe, someone called out to the outsider.
"Hey!"
It was a female voice, sharp and loud and a little bit stern, commanding not only attention but also obedience.
"Stop right now, or security will take care of it! Hey!!"
The woman pushed her way through the crowd, and, astonishingly fast, stepped right into her way, with obviously no intention of letting her pass at all. Her light brown eyes stared at her, sternly, much like a mother who had caught her child chasing the neighbours dirty dog yet again, one slender, pale hand extended in front of her, the other on her hip, standing with her legs slightly spread, and still managing to look indisputably elegant while she did so. Her dark hair was blowing in the wind heroically (and everyone could have sworn there wasn't even that much wind there) as she spoke again, somewhat less loudly this time.
"You're causing a ruckus!"

With each strike of her foot against the oddly pristine promenade she knew she was losing them: their legs were longer and their pace actually resembled that of someone that actually ran more than a couple times a month. As much as Marta wasn't particularly fond of fighting and life or death situations, the relatively peaceful travels she had recently certainly started to reflect in her own physical limitations. She had to keep going, though, she couldn't let them escape with what wasn't theirs. Even if they needed it for their studies, they could have just asked her and she would have been more than happy to let them use it as long as they promised to return it to its rightful place afterwards. No, they should have just asked! Setting her brow into determination, she tried to stretch her legs just a tiny bit further, speed up just a touch more, for what she hoped would be the final push. Just as soon as she so sure she was about to hit her stride (or a stride, at any rate) she was forced to stop rather abruptly by a woman who, oh gosh, she didn't look very pleased at all.

She tried, Marta really tried to put on an apologetic face, but it was difficult to keep eye contact with the woman when she was still trying to keep tabs on the thief. "Ma'am, I really do apologize. But-- please! I need to..." Her head bobbed and craned over the woman's shoulder and between the holes left by the bodies and limbs of people that were unfortunately blocking her view. It was to no avail: by the time she could get a proper view of the road again, the dark-haired pilferer was nowhere to be seen leaving only a trail of confused and curious people behind them. That... that was quite a bit of people actually, and when had this crowd started to form? A little confused herself and disappointed she had to shove those feelings aside: she wouldn't be able to take care of anything so long as someone was so annoyed at her presence.

That was the most confusing thing, truth be told. She was, perhaps, being a little loud, but wasn't this kind of thing normal? Even children ran and called after each other during play, so was it really that? It certainly didn't warrant the mass of people gathering to look at this scene she had unwittingly created. Maybe they were worried. Yes, that had to be it.

Stifling a sigh of resignation, she turned her sights on the woman in front of her. Surely explaining things would get them all to calm down. Scholars are logical, if nothing else. With a quick hand movement, she brushed the dirt from her skirt and straightened herself out. "I didn't mean to disturb you and I can't apologize enough for that. I was attempting to deliver something," she hoped that they could recognize the logo on her jacket, that would make things much easier, "when it was mistakenly picked up by someone else." She knew that she probably wouldn't be able to find that person now, but maybe there was another option. Peering at the dozens of people grouped around, she hoped that at least one of them would be able to help her, "Would anyone happen to know where I could find the..." she paused. Did anyone ever say who the delivery was actually for? Darn it. "The headmaster of this university, so we can get this matter sorted out?" If anyone knew about where the order was supposed to go, it should be the person in charge. She kept up her smile though inside her nerves were acting up. She hadn't technically lied as she did work with the shipping company, but if security went to ask the captain if she was with them, there was a good chance he would deny her. Not because there was any ill will between them, merely because 1) once she left the boat she didn't work for them any longer and 2) he didn't need any more trouble than he already had. If they could skip any run-ins with security entirely, that would be wonderful: spending a night locked up was not a desirable prospect and those kinds of people were so difficult to talk down. Her compliance with the woman should placate her at least to that degree, right?

Marta's question was greeted with a few laughters, some heartfelt, some more uncomfortable chuckles, from the crowd of people forming around her and the other woman. Of course, that outsider, how should she know. If nothing else, the sound made the woman interrupt the stare that she had been holding up for an impressively long time to quickly look around them and let out an annoyed sigh. Those people acted like they hadn't ever seen two girls talking about something before. But of course, the truth was far more uncomfortable with her. They were here to stare, for once, at the outsider, as if they didn't realise that made them look like complete morons! Ooh girl oooooh outsider! Shitheads! And then there was that other thing... It was like every single van Andel was expected to solve all their tiny little problems the same way. She turned to the crowd, making a gesture that looked like she was trying to shoo away birds.... hah, vultures, if anything.
"Move along now people, nothing to see! Get your fat asses out of the way, and I mean you with that, Ellie Fitzgerald! No duels today, I'm not even carrying a weapon, for fucks sake!"
A collective sound of disappointment, then a voice from the back of the crowd, suggesting something that they do something with something and mud instead. Whatever it was, it found great support in the ranks of spectators.
"Whatever that was, you should probably be ashamed of yourself, and if you had the balls to suggest that to my face, I'd have kicked your teeth out already!"
She flinched a bit at supporting the stigma her family was cursed with with those rude remarks hinting at violence, if one could call that hinting. Most likely not. In her defense though, she did pronounce all those curses, insults and threats rather clearly and correctly. Well, what was said was said, and the back of the crowd was already slowly dissolving when she turned back to Marta, peering at her, practically sizing her up before she spoke up, her voice on a more normal level now, her hand right back on her hip again (it seemed to be the natural place for it to be somehow).

"I can tell you already, miss, that you probably won't get that audience, as one might call it, with Mrs. Miren. And to be quite blunt with you, I do not even believe it would be worth it, since no one on this island pays for anything anyway. All additional costs are relayed directly to our parents or other guardians. However, if this single delivery really does trouble you so much, I suppose a meeting with one of the staff certainly could possibly help you...."
She ran a hand through her black, shining (how did she get it to look so healthy??) hair, obviously just to show off it's niceness in the bright sunlight. The dramatic pause took her a few seconds only before she continued.
"And since I am in a highly generous mood today, I might help you find one, even. If you do change your mind about the delivery, then I could always be your guide, you'll most likely get only one chance to visit Southcoast.... Have you sampled the university's coffee yet? It is quite delicious."
She didn't even try to hide that she had planned this from the very beginning, just as much as she didn't bother to hide that the nonchalanty in her voice was little more but a bad act. At least enough so to relay the message that she did, in fact, find it quite urgent to have Marta spend time with her. Right now!
She didn't even wait for an answer before extending her hand with a small smile on her red lips.
"Oh, how rude of me, do let me introduce myself. Lisali van Anden, psychology student, third semester."

The rate at which things escalated in this town was head-spinning: one moment feeling a little less than safe, then becoming a spectacle of some sort? What were they expecting from her? Did... did visitors to this town often engage in street brawls? That couldn't be true, what could possibly be solved by violence that couldn't be solved by words, especially somewhere that acted as home to so many academics. Here of all places debate should be the foundation of-- wh-what was that about dueling?! No. No, what Archie said earlier about Southcoast being a city of babbling elders did not ring true at all and by the time anything was brought up about something less than clean happening in the mud, Marta was too busy trying to understand what was going on to even ask what they could have meant and what exactly it would have entailed. Yet, no matter how lost she was in the discussion--or was it an argument?-- there was something about that woman's movements that commanded attention, and the 'disturbance' freely gave it.

By the time attention was turned back on herself, Marta could feel the bruise that was forming on the inside of her lip from her gnawing it so intently. The girl was angered, it was really only natural that she would allow such crass language to fall from her lips but... but it was just so uncalled for (and if she wasn't careful, someone may mistake her for a pirate sometime in the future). Given the topic, however, the look on Marta's face that rose right before she was about to chide someone could easily be interpreted as disappointment. "It's part of a package deal. Just imagine the children in a class getting their textbooks except for one, or even a specific study not being available for someone who was in dire need. Oh, it would just be terrible," Marta placed a hand against her cheek, fretting over the hypothetical, but oh so very real in her mind, scenarios; it would all be so over-dramatic were it not for the fact that she was being completely sincere. She could see it now, some student weeping alone in their room after hours, unable to finish that very important paper they were working on all because that one specific book was missing in action. Before the mere though of that student's tears caused Marta to tear up herself, Lisali inadvertently saved her from the embarrassment.

Of course! Of course she would take her up on that very generous offer, but first there was a matter that had to be attended to: one that she was ashamed to have forgotten despite the situation that seemed as though it had only been a dream now. Dipping into a small curtsey, she replied first with an introduction of her own. "Marta Prins, executive consultant at 'Chiffon's'," following with a gentle handshake reminiscent of someone that doesn't really shake hands all that much. Despite the perhaps less than perfect timing, it was clear that if Lisali wasn't married already, it would be happening soon enough: obviously she had quite the mind on her (quite the tongue too, but that was neither here nor there) and she had an elegance around her that suitors would find hard to ignore. 'Chiffon's' was a name known well across the Blues to young girls dreaming of lavish ceremonies and mothers who dreamed of the same, so really this move was to insure that when, not if, Lisali was wed, her patronage was to the correct place. The best place. Ah, no! She had to focus!

"If you could help me find someone, that would be just so appreciated. I think I'd get a lot further with someone like you helping me out." Yes, Lisali seemed like the kind of person that would get stuff done. That eager energy (that most anyone else would take for something close to desperation), her no-nonsense attitude. Definitely a lady who wouldn't let things distract her. Distractions would be very bad, especially when there were hypothetical tears on the line. Without a doubt bad. "I... actually haven't stopped anywhere in the city yet. Is the coffee really that good?"

Well, just a little detour couldn't be all that terrible, could it? Like her guide said, it may be her only chance to look around and it was such a very nice city, she would kick herself later if she didn't at least... look around a little bit. Just one cup of coffee, then back to business for sure!

"Right, right."
The woman who had introduced herself as Lisali returned the handshake with her own: strong and secure, but from hands that were soft and almost frail, not to mention treated with only the best manicure. Her smile widened somewhat, though her eyes seemed to search the street for just a moment before she returned her attention to Marta. It was just a moment though. Maybe it hadn't happened at all. Who was to say? Those things do change in our memory, small details like that. Escaped it, even. Like if the flowers on the balcony above them were red or blue. Who was to say in five minutes? (They were blue, the colour of the season was blue, of course they'd be blue, even Lisali's incredibly elegant dress was blue it was common sense!) Of course, it'd hardly matter at all in five minutes, so why pay any thought to it?

Lisali stepped forward and, seemingly not minding what a personal gesture it was, laid her hand on Martas back, gently urging her to walk along with her, as if to make sure she wouldn't just run off as soon as she turned her back.
"Oh, you do have to believe me, the coffee is among the best I have ever tasted. They even season it with spices sometimes, if you want them to. Everything from caramel to chili. There's a cafe at the docks that is well known for adding something to the brew that somehow makes it taste.... oh, it tastes wonderful, absolutely refreshing. They say it can cure even the worst hangover in a matter of minutes...."
The look in her eyes became a bit distant, the hand that wasn't making sure Marta stayed right next to her as they walked down the street was gesturing again, soft movements, not like the ones she had made before when talking to the students. It might be an elaborate trick. Or she might really be a coffee enthusiast.
After a few moments of staring off into space, the most relaxed look on her face, she snapped back into reality.

"Ah, but my favourite is the one served in the cafe Rosa, closer to the university. It's only ten minutes away, I'd think, and I simply insist that you try it."
Sweetest coffee in all of Southcoast. Not everyone's thing, but Lisali simply loved it. If the caffeine didn't give you the energy you needed, then the sugar rush probably would. Even the thought made her shiver a bit, in a good way of course, like the warm shiver one might get when looking at a hot tub, with the rain hitting against the window outside and a nice, hot chocolate in their hand. That kind of shiver. But try as she might, she could not really get into the spirit. There was a gnawing feeling at the back of her head, persistently trying to distract her from her distractions. When she was a little girl, she had chewed on her hair whenever thoughts like this one came to her. Inwardly, she cursed herself, she knew she'd give in eventually, no one could run forever after all. But outwardly, her smile barely wavered as she asked, nonchalantly as ever:
"So, Chiffons. You're a wedding planner then?"
No, she hadn't wanted to let the conversation go down that path. But Lisali van Andel was nothing if not thourough in the things she was told to do, even if she didn't particularily want to do them at all. Blasted loyalty. Blasted luck! Her whole day, she tried to find something to distract her, and when she thought the perfect opportunity arose, what did she get? Fate was a cruel mistress indeed.

Such a comforting gesture that hand on her her back was that the anxiety which had built a tangled a nest in Marta's stomach seemed to release its grip and disperse into excitement. It wasn't every day that she was given a tour of a town, especially one as nice as this one and while she held an honest interest in seeing what this town had to offer in terms of content and character, she had to admit that the idea of relaxing for a while was more enticing than the draw of learning could ever be. When had the last time she actually pampered herself been? Well, it was no matter now: the prospect of having a girl's afternoon out with someone that appreciated the little luxuries in life and probably didn't gather enjoyment from discussing the various sizes of a woman's assets or running their blades through unsuspecting civilians overran any other worry she could have possibly been carrying. The missing book now but a lingering thought in the back of her mind.

"I had no idea Southcoast was full of coffee protegees." A wonder, truly, and her voice reflected that. It would be embarrassing to admit, but Marta probably wouldn't be able to tell one blend from another. As far as spices and cooking, put in paprika over all spice and she would be able to pick it out, however all coffees bore the same warm and deep, slightly chalky flavor to her unless it was made a mocha or other outward forces had their way with it. She would be relying on Lisali completely for this, so when the dark haired maid said that the coffee at Cafe Rosa was excellent, Marta was more than willing to believe her. More-so than that, she happily agreed to follow--rather, be led-- ten minutes out of her way to the cafe, images of a quaint little home with flower boxes hanging on the windows and small tables with understated elegance peppering the front filling her mind presumptuously.

Marta couldn't, and had no desire to hide the beaming pride that shone through her face at the mention of her mother's store, even more so that Lisali knew what they dealt in (as if there was any doubt). "You've heard of us, then? That's fantastic! Did you see our advertisements or..." For the sake of business she pried into what really could be considered a negligible matter: the advertising for Chiffon's, while not an all year offensive, was an aggressive and tactical battle plan during certain months of the year. At least that was how her mother described it as they called newspapers and printed out fliers late into the night. Dozens up dozens of patrons were drawn in by their assault, as evident by the coupons they so smartly tacked on to the bottom of them, but it was always nice to hear of their success from other sources. "Oh, yes! I am! A consultant, that is," the grin was only momentary. "Ah, well actually," her face fell, those green eyes of hers drooping to gaze only at their feet, "I haven't worked there for a couple of years, so I haven't consulted much of anything for a while." It was a shameful fact that, while devoted to love itself, she hadn't been attending to the job she loved most in this world. It broke her heart. Her current quest was important, but sometimes she wanted to give it all up and return back to that dreamy land of cakes, lace, and balmy breezes. It was a conflicting feeling, something Marta didn't like dwelling on especially not in front of a potential customer. Swallowing back her depression, she continued with a businesslike smile, "If you happened to know anyone who was in need, though, I'd be more than happy to help." Something about the tone she used seemed to imply 'Lisali, if you're getting married or even thinking about it, let me help you', but she wouldn't say that herself. Assuming such things was the mark of someone much less seasoned than Miss Prins.

Taking in another good look at the landscape around her, while certainly not as beautiful as that of Marrymore's, she concluded, "It really is gorgeous here, it would be a perfect setting for a wedding." Granted, there would have to be some serious effort put into keeping out unwanted, prying eyes and making sure a crowd didn't form (unless it was wanted--some brides liked the attention no matter how difficult it was to work around) and it really was suitable for only a certain type of person, but with the right flower arrangements, miracles could happen. "Do many happen? It would be such a shame for it to go to waste."

Try as she might to be polite and whatnot, Lisali couldn't help but grimace at the mention that this place would make a fine place for a wedding. Could she run nowhere?! This damn end of the deal took over all the parts of it that were supposed to be pleasing to her. Like, oh, getting to study here! People who thought weddings tasted of cake and cream and everything nice had to be idealistic idiots- Lisali used to think that too, until she figured they really tasted like lemons. You bit it, you grimaced, the sour taste made your hair stand on edge and burned in whatever wounds you might have, and after you swallowed, it left a weird taste in your mouth and a nasty feeling on your teeth. A lemon cake for her wedding, that'd be perfect. It'd be all nice and sugary outside, no one would suspect a thing until they took a bite and got a full dose of lemon in their mouth. Hah.

For all those bitter thoughts, it was astonishing that, after her small grimace, Lisali managed to keep a straight face, even with a small smile. She couldn't say she understood why anyone should chose weddings as their business of choice, but who was she to judge. And the poor girl seemed rather let down by not being able to work anymore.... Maybe...
"Ah, here we are, Cafe Rosa!"
Southcoast was pretty small, in the end, and it didn't take long to get from the docks to the university, the huge, imposing, fancy building that they now had such a nice view on.
Lisali guided her guest to one of the tables outside, why waste such a nice day staying inside after all? She sat down, careful that her dress didn't crumple, it was a rather nice dress, not to mention expensive, and there was no need to dirty or crease it more than it needed to.
Cafe Rosa was one of the more feminine Cafes in Southcoast (there were, in fact, masculine cafes too, just like there were bars that were decorated with flowers and curtains in matching colors, with nice, big windows that let in light and fresh air, if you actively looked for them), it's overall design breezy and sweet, kept in an art nouveau style overall, with the colours white and light pink (as was hinted by the name) dominating.
It's cliente was mostly made up of females, and it was generally well liked among them. It was a good thing Lisali was not only generally well liked, but also a regular. There was always a table kept free for her. If there hadn't been, the two girls would most likely not have found a place here, the social sciences students had their day off today due to exams next week, so the place was filled with chatteriing, tittering, and, in some cases, studying young guests, mostly girls, but a few boys as well, here and there.

Lisali straightened her dress a bit, trying to avoid the obvious next step she'd have to take to keep this communication nice and lively. What she wouldn't do for a guest. Even if that guest was supposed to distract her from the things they now talked about. Without looking up from her dress, as nonchalantly as possible, she said it.
"I'm getting married."
Felt wrong, sayng it. Felt like a death sentence she had accepted. This far, not saying it had given her the priviledge to act as if it hadn't really existed, as if she'd find a way to get out of her deal still. Another nail in her coffin, the biggest one yet, except for that time she had to meet her betrothed. Funny thing, he didn't seem that taken with the idea either.
"To a friend of my brother, actually. A... a friend of the family. Business, you understand...."
The van Andels had prestige, they had a big mansion and a family lineage that could be tracked down a thousand years into the past. What they didn't have was money. Well, obviously they did have some money, or her and her brother would not be able to study here. To be exact, her brother wouldn't be.
"I marry him, and his family pays for my studies here. A fair deal, wouldn't you say?"
Why did she tell her this at all? Lisali didn't know. She didn't know why she felt she had to tell this woman, who she had only just met, about how she had been sold like cattle so the family could continue living in their mansion, sipping their champaign. That wording might be a little drastic, but how was it different, really? Business, you understand.

She caught herself before she could spit out any of the profanities she was thinking. It might be okay with the other students (necessary, even, as speaking their language was the easiest way to get them to listen, she had found), but not with her guest. This was not a good subject for what was supposed to be a light conversation. She looked back up at Marta, all bright eyes and charming smile again.
"Oh, but never you mind my blabbering. I am so verry sorry that you find yourself out of work for now, and I'd be happy to give you the contact data of my mother. She insisted on planning the wedding, and would surely appreciate your services as an experienced consultant. They pay wouldn't be bad either, of course."
It was an automatic response, and no matter the smile on her face or the spring in her words, it still sounded rehearsed. While talking, Lisali took the menu and offered it to Marta. She knew what she wanted, she knew the whole menu by heart by now. Lots of nights spend studying left her in need of some strong coffee. Sh suspected that was one of the reasons why coffee was so well liked on this island. That, and hangovers, most likely.
Without even so much as pausing in her little monologue, she simply continued, face and smile as calm and polite as ever.
"I, personally, recommend the Mariposa brew with cream."
Not the sweetest coffee on the menu, and not the most expensive one either. You did get free ice cream with it though, and, for only a bit extra coin, the fluffiest waffles she had even tasted, topped with ice cream and strawberry sauce made from fresh strawberries on the spot. Ah, sweets. Nothing brightened her mood quite like they did.



"I think we missed her...."
And he was very out of practice, Johan had to admit. Even this little run across the town had drained his breath. In his defense, suits were not as good for running as his usual (hah, usual. Hadn't worn it in almost a year) outfit was, and it was pretty hot today, even though the breeze did a good job of cooling them down quickly.
Johan and Sasha had stopped running around like idiots, looking for the stranger, a while ago, and had been walking the streets in a much more dignified matter while trying to catch their breath. The young man next to him had already gotten back the spring in his step, but Johan still felt his back and knees aching a bit, and so they refrained from running more. Was this it? Was he finally getting old?? Wasn't it too soon for this???
The short panic inside him was calmed when the younger man gave hit him on the shoulder heartily. Johan jerked a bit, he had not been prepared for that at all! Not that he bruised easily... But it still hurt!
It sure was nice to see Sasha trying to lighten his mood though, and Johan smiled warmly while he inconspiciously held his shoulder (as inconspiciously as he could, which wasn't very inconspicious at all, to be honest).
"Come on, professor! You had second thoughts anyway, about looking at her like one would look at a caged animal, right? About it not being exactly polite to chase someone through town?"
The boy was starting to know him too well. It sure was nice to have someone around to do that again. To understand his worried, even if he didn't voice him. His crew had always collecitvely done that, and had inconspiciously tried to calm him again, even ith small things like him being worried that they didn't eat enough vegtables (it was unhealthy, and they couldn't only live off of fish!!). They had started eating all the green on their plates, even asking for seconds, making sure he noticed they did. Johan was almost ashamed to say how long it had taken him to realise they were doing it for him. He had just been happy they were doing it at all. Aaah, his crew. Sometimes he did miss them.

"Well, I suppose you're right..."
Johan looked at the people passing. Students enjoying their free time, relaxing for once, before they'd return to their studies. He spotted a small group of his own, and gave them a small wave, which they returned, hooting and laughing and, though Johan couldn't be sure, possibly a bit drunk already. He frowned a bit at the thought. That couldn't be healthy. He only hoped they wouldn't get themselves into trouble. Then again, hadn't they gained the right to relax a bit? Exams last week, exams next week, those poor people had been studying for days, most likely, they deserved a little break. In fact...
He turned to Sasha again, smiling warmly.
"Mr. Devon, what would you say you leave your paperork with Gustav for now and go visit that bar you like so much, ah, the ones where your friends were supposed to meet today?"
Sashas eyes grew wide at the mention (sometimes Johan wondered how big his eyes were when they were not going wide, they just always seemed to be largened by wonder, surprise, astonishment), and, as usual, he needed not even a second to give his answer.
"Oh hell yes! It's Marcus' birthday today, you know, and I've been studying for days, it was so straining.... Not that... history isn't interesting... it is! But you know, birthdays..."
He was fidgeting. Johan didn't quite understand why he was so nervous. Studying got straining after a while, that was only natural, and he fully understood why the young man would want to hang out with his friends rather than...
"You should totally come with me though! You know! Marcus is in your history course, right, and I'm sure he'd be like way happy if you came to congratulate him."
What? Oh. But. Paperwork. And. And. Wasn't he a bit old for student parties? While Johan still tried to piece together how he was going to tell this young man that he really couldn't come, he was grabbed by the shoulders again (and flinched again, this boy was surprisingly strong, and he was holding him pretty tight), and found himself stared at by his student, with the widest eyes and the most energetic, happy look on his face.
"You don't even have to stay for long. Just enough for like, one drink maybe? If you don't want to, I mean. Marcus won't mind, I'm sure he likes you! Come on, come on, come on, pleeeease?"
....who was he to say no?

Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. That image Marta had created in her head was put to shame by the design of the actual Cafe Rosa. Perhaps there was something in the back of her mind that whispered words of university towns not being able to fully expend effort into designing establishments such as this: education rarely gave way to frivolity, but then again, Southcoast seemed different in that respect. More and more she was wondering how it had managed to get that "stuffy" reputation that it seemed to carry off-coast. Of course, there was also the wonder if anyone in this town got around to do any actual studying as everyone seemed rather occupied in other affairs, but they would have to! Certainly they would be kicked out otherwise. The draw of these quaint places was that they were excellent for breaking from long bouts of pouring over textbooks and figures, by their very nature they were relaxing. So upon seeing the crowd, it didn't surprise the dusty haired woman: they must be exhausted from all the work, all the effort they've been putting into their classes. Look, some of them were even studying during their break, the poor dears. How could she ever think that they did not take their education seriously? She must learn to be less judgmental.

As she was maneuvering her own skirt into a suitable position for sitting, Lisali's statement caused her to forget what she was doing and quickly pull the chair closer to the table. Oooh, she had a feeling this would happen, and here she was without a writing utensil nor any spare piece of paper to write down details on. Her memory alone would have to do so hands in her lap, the consultant listened intently to any tidbit of information Miss van Anden was willing to give without prompt. Which wasn't much, certainly, but enough to work with. She had dealt with less: it was difficult to forget the time that the client had only given the location before leaving on vacation (who takes a vacation during the planning for the most important day of their life?!). It was a nightmare, to say the least, but with this she would be able to ask after the groom. Rather, she could, but there was something that needed clearing before she would even make one floral suggestion, one call to her endless list of caterers.

Remaining silent and ever watchful, she only took the menu to give its interior a polite glance before setting it down in the spot in front of her. She would just order whatever Lisali recommended; as the more coffee savvy out of the two of them, Marta would trust her indefinitely and if she put enough stock in it to recommend it to others, it must be good.
However, this little foray wasn't merely about coffee or idle chatter any longer, this could be the defining moment between what Marta's equivalent was to life and death. "I would be honored to help your mother in planning your happy day." She had to think about this next part carefully, it was such a touchy subject with some women. For a moment, her businesslike gaze broke and her eyes wandered to the other patrons, the other girls of which who knew how many were in this same situation, as she fidgeted with the corner of the menu absentmindedly. She she just come out and say it? Oh, maybe that would be the best option. Miss van Anden didn't seem the delicate type thus giving favorable odds that she wouldn't break down at the mere mention that something about this wedding could possibly be imperfect. She did always have her handkerchief on her if it proved otherwise, but if they could just avoid it entirely...

No! No, this had to be done. For the good of everyone involved. With a revived sense of resolve, she leaned in towards her companion as if she were about to divulge the most scandalous of secrets, as look of concern washing over her. "A business deal is all well and good, Miss van Anden, but... do you love him?" Where this may be said in a joking manner between girlfriends, the look of her face and the tone of her voice made it seem as though Marta was speaking about the preservation of the human race after a meteor had wiped out all but a small group of people. Well, honestly she was. If people were not marrying for love, they were marrying for the wrong reason entirely. Some may call her 'idealistic' or 'meddling', but business had a time and place and it wasn't in matrimony! In fact, it just seemed to her like a method in which the families didn't wish to actually discuss and compromise with their business partners, and instead thought it better to doom their children to a life devoid of all the great things romance should entail. The wooing, the dates, long talks about nothing in particular: it all seemed to have such a hard edge to it, an unyielding, cold concrete corner when it was obvious it was not out of heart, but out of obligation that it was done. A grey blemish, a tumor on the very thought of love itself.

Though they had just met, she was more certain than anything that Lisali didn't deserve this sad fate and if necessary, Marta would plan for ship departures and traveling cloaks rather than wedding favors and bridesmaids gowns.

"Is this really what you want?" Despite her opinion on such marriages, she tried to keep her tone from being changed by them and was largely successful in that. There was no ire, no sadness. Only a familial sort of concern and slightly upturned eyebrows.. If Lisali was intent on going through with it, there was nothing she could do, but she was certainly going to make sure of it and the fact that the two of them were still in public with who knows who else possibly listening in would not deter her from this.

It took a moment or two for the questions to sink in. This woman was not deterred from her favourite topic that easily, it seemed.... If Lisali loved him? If that was really what she wanted?
.....Please. It was just too much. She couldn't hold it in anymore. A small chortle escaped her, which grew into full blown laughter, no matter how much she tried to stay serious. Various heads around them turned. Lisalis laugh was of a peculiar kind, not like what you'd imagine from such a high styled, elegant woman at all. It was loud, full, something you'd expect from a man twice her size, and had small breaks in it, filled with more chortles or the sound of her almost hyperventilating. As such, it was no surpise that it'd get a bit of attention, or be easily recognised, and always provided a nice distraction for students around her. Lisali herself didn't like it at all, of course. It was much less than perfect, but she was in her mid twenties, and had more than enough time to get used to it and replace it with a nice fake laugh she used on everything that wasn't as funny... as.... the sheer mention that..... Haha, oh god.

It took her almost a full minute to calm down again. When she did, the first thing she needed to do was wipe the tears out of her eyes (thank god for incredibly expensive waterproof mascara) and catch her breath again. Rarely laughed that hard anymore. Only then did she realise how incredibly rude that must've been. She straightened herself, cleared her throat, and tried holding her sides more inconspiciously (holy shit did they hurt worse than after than marathon all students had to take part in earlier this year... thank god the headmistress fount out what a bad idea that had been as soon as the complaints stareted coming in. That woman. Sometimes Lisali round herself sitting down and just thinking about how she ran this university).

"I... I really must apologize for that, it's just that no one ever asked me this and therefore I thought it was very clear that I'm not...."
She stopped herself. No one had ever asked her that before, and she'd never thought about it seriously. Just assumed. Assumed that she did not want this marriage because it's what her mother wanted her to do and everything that fury did had only ever just damaged her. And wasn't that why she had such a deep dislike for the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with? What had he ever done wrong, really? He was young, not what you'd call ugly, she had to admit, energetic, mostly high spirited and jovial, and seemed as opposed to the wedding as she was, even though he might not be as aware of it as she was. Wasn't his only crime that it was her mother that had picked him out? Well, that and that he obviously got along too well with her idiot brother. Aaand his enthusiasm made her head ache sometimes.... But could she really hate him just for that? Before she went and said something stupid, maybe she should take a moment to think about those questions?

Lost in her thoughts, she of course didn't notice the young student who had spotted her when she had started laughing and was now sneaking up to her in the most comical manner of someone who obviously never had to really sneak before in his entire life, motioning to Marta to be silent. Not that it mattered, since he didn't seem intent to let her ruin his fun either way, as soon as he was done motioning, he practically leaped forward to cover Lisali's eyes with his hands. She jerked, even gave a small shriek. What was going on was she being kidnapped who was- oh.
"Udo! Your hands are cold stop it!"
Only one person, one person in the entire universe would think it funny to sneak up on her like that. He hadn't even asked her to guess who he was! Then again, he hadn't really needed to.
She tried to pry aforementioned hands off of her face, which only made him laugh, a laugh similiar to hers, but with less of a case of "holy shit help me I'm hyperventilating". It might have been vaguely threatening, even, if it wasn't for everyone and their grandmother knowing that they'd been doing that from the moment they were born. Lisali was the smart one, so she made quips and sharp remarks, and Udo tried to keep up in any way he could with his dumb luck and humor that had stopped developing at the ae of six. Despite what one might think, it was a pretty even match.

After a few seconds, though, he let go of her by himself and nonchalantly took one of the chairs from another table (without asking the people sitting at that table, one might add), which he let himself fall on, but not without ruffling her meticulously styled hair first. It was obvious even now that Lisali's introduction to manners had been more efficient than his, by the way he was just slouching on that chair, one hand on it's back, one on the table, uninvited and not waiting for an invitation.
"I gotcha! Gotcha good this time!"
While Lisali was still fuming with rage internally more than she'd let on, trying to untagle her hair, something Udo seemed to not get tired of watching, he did notice Marta out of the corner of his eye, and, seemingly remembering that she was here too, leaned towards her, a gleaming white smile (that might look charming to some, inredibly dumb to others, and was truly a mix of both) on his face and a suggestive look to his eyes.
"Hey there, sweety toots, how's it hummin?"
He tried to go on, but was punched on the shoulder, hard, by one still very angry Lisali.
"I said stop it! God!"
The boy retreted, leaning back in his chair now, rubbing the spot she had hit. She seemed to be stronger than you'd expect, or just very good at throwing punches, he even gave a small "ow", and he was no pushover, one could tell that.
Lisali, who was done with untangling her hair, though it didn't look even vaguely as good as it had before, took a deep breath before continuing, smile back on her face as if nothing had happened at all (though one might think she seemed a bit aggravated still, that her voice was just a bit more tense and her smile just a tiny bit less perfect).
"Marta, may I introduce, Udo van Anden. My brother..."
"Twin brother. Hey there goodlooking."
"Younger twin brother. Udo, this is Marta. Keep your dirty hands off of her. I'm telling mother."

They had this sort of conversation a lot, one could tell (they really did, with practically every even vaguely goodlooking friend of Lisalis "Udo, this is ____, keep your dirty hands off of her, I'm telling mother.", which sometimes even became "Udo, ___. Hand off or else." or "Udo. Mother."). Such was life in the van Anden household. Udo didn't want to have to answer to his mother for his "egregious womanizing" (Cmoooon, that's just harsh, it totally wasn't that bad at all, right? Right?), so normally, he just retreated and pouted for a while whenever Lisali threatened to bring it up to her. Not today though. Today, he had a reparte!
"Oh yeah? Well I'm going to tell her you vanished on Esther when you were supposed to pick out dresses for the bridesmaids. How's that? Huh? Bam! Now I gotcha!"
With the way he slammed his hand on the table and how smug his smile was, and how little attention he gave to Marta during all of this, it was obvious this was not really about her anymore. Just once in his life, he was proud to have triumphed over his sister in questions of telling their mother about things they had done. And behold: Lisali did really not know what to say!
"That was- That- She was- I was just..... You can't do that! I hate you!"
Udos smile only widened at that. Finally. After all those years! Finally he was victorious in manners of blackmailing instead of pranking! Victorious! He was positively beaming with pride when he turned back to his prize, Marta, who he was totally allowed to hit on now, right?
He didn't even say anything anymore, just looked at her like a dog who had just done a mighty impressive trick. Or maybe more like one that had just won a pissing contest with it's most hated rival. Either way, done something really really great, and now expected to be praised, get a treat, maybe a pat on the head.

Had... had she said something odd? Though it had only been two simple sentence, Marta still went back and studied the words within while Lisali partook of her laughing fit. No, no she hadn't said anything abnormal at all. Perhaps it was the tone? Should she have been a little less forward? Maybe the laughter was that of discomfort. ...But it looked as though Lisali was having a genuinely good laugh. M-maybe she needed it: there didn't seem to be much room for humor-- scandal and gossip, but not genuine humor-- in the university town, at least that was the sense she was getting from the strange looks the two of them were getting from across the lawn. Yet, no matter how much Marta convinced herself that it was a wonderful thing that Lisali was letting out some of her pent up feelings, it couldn't make her ignore the tinge of hurt she felt. The refined girl was laughing at Marta's doctrine, her Ten Commandments (Well, it was really only one or two, but they were still important!) and her limp smile couldn't hide the fact that a small part of her had actually been offended. Before she could say anything to hopefully sway Lisali's perspective on the matter--not that she was a hundred percent certain of what she was laughing at in the first place-- despite the somewhat put-out tone her voice would have taken, the offender herself spoke. More importantly, apologized.

Releasing a small sigh, the smile returned to her lips and something new as well: anticipation. It was no doubt strange that no one had ever asked the girl about her feelings on her own betrothal before. It was more than strange, in fact. Even in situations of arranged marriages or marriages of business, the parents of those involved were typically aware of how their children viewed their future prospects (loud and angry or sharp and bitter were the two norms, of which it was difficult to determine which path Miss van Anden would take as she clearly had no issues with raising a fuss when she wished to make a point), and perhaps the feelings of her potential client simply didn't need words. Marta would just hate to assume those sorts of things however, and so when Lisali trailed off into a personal, silent introspection the consultant waited there patiently awaiting whatever it was she decided she was not.

Such important tasks these looks into their own feelings were, it was a pleasant surprise for Marta to actually see it occurring in such a timely manner. There had been times where a bride would simply not come out of her dressing room because she had determined that her beau wasn't the perfect Apollo of a man she had built him up to be and that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't be able to accept his previously 'cute' habit of flopping across her lap while she was reading and going straight to sleep for the rest of her life. Happiness is the core of a good wedding, but faking it helps no one in the end. The importance really couldn't be stressed enough and far be it from anyone to interrupt such matters.

So when this mystery fellow showed up, his antics were really quite unacceptable. Yet, all she could do was cringe back a little ways in her seat as Lisali was disturbed from her thoughts. Was this her husband-to-be? Oh. Oh god, certainly not. He couldn't be. They didn't match at all. If it did turn out to be the case, that this Udo was to whom she was betrothed, her hesitation on the celebration would be completely understandable. No, she needed someone with much more finesse, someone a little more refined. Maybe a professor? Was that looked down upon? (Even if it was, it didn't matter. If the love was true, all would work itself out.)

Against the first impression he had given her , she couldn't stop a blush from appearing on her cheeks at his bright smile and... mildly confusing come-on. Sweety toots?

However, Marta couldn't even get an "ah" in edgewise before the two siblings-- a much better turnout than fiancees, as she was sure everyone would agree --began bickering with each other and she was relegated to that of a gawking onlooker, not unlike the people that had gathered around her not even twenty minutes earlier. As the fight fizzled out quick as a sparkler she met eyes with the 'younger' of the two van Andens and his expectant face. Certainly he was not unpleasant to look at and with age his actions would probably become less obnoxious. It would be possible to find him a girlfriend, but did she have the time? This may be a full-time project and-- no! She already had promised her time to someone else, he would have to wait. Giving him a cordial smile, she turned her attention back to his sister.

Something was bothering her, something she couldn't put her finger on, but she thought as she talked. Her consulting put on hold momentarily for saving face. "Miss van-- Lisali, you didn't really leave that poor girl there alone, did you?" More of a rhetorical question really, as she didn't pause to hear an answer. "That won't do, not at all," she clucked, "We'll simply have to find her and apologize. I know that this may seem unfavorable--ah." There! That's what it was! Without any prompting, Marta leaned across the table, gently straightening out an unruly strand of midnight before it decided to make further mess of her companion's hair than her brother had already done. Certainly it wasn't as lovely as it had been before, such a shame, but at least it was her acting as a mirror of sorts and taking care of a few strays rather than going into public and having it pointed out. Acting as though nothing had happened, she continued her lecture, "It may seem unfavorable, but politeness is the most basic courtesy you can offer to someone and it shouldn't be denied, especially to someone who is only trying to help. In fact, we haven't ordered yet, we could go find her right now." Indeed, relaxing could come later and this was quite important! Were this a town where she knew where anything was, she would be kindly escorting (more like dragging) Lisali around until they could find the one she had wronged. She may end up doing it anyways: one should not treat their friends in such a way.

Now, after unintentionally ignoring his advances, she turned to Udo, a question that could be used for such mischief (the kind that went over her head until it was too late) flowing from her lips. "Would you happen to know where we could find this Esther?" One problem at a time, and this was definitely more easily solved than the conundrum of figuring out what to do with Lisali's wedding.

As angry as Lisali had been at her brothers sudden and impossibly rude interruption of hr thoughts, it had also been a bit of a relief, she had to admit. She liked facing problems, really, she did. Taking them head on was her favourite thing to do. It gave her such a good feeling when she came out on top again. Unlike her brother, who, from her point of view, had never done anything even remotely useful. All he did was drink and gamble and party their parents money away, the money they had given him to study, while she'd had to make a stupid deal to even be allowed to set foot on university grounds! It just wasn't fair. Not fair at all. But seeing as she wasn't one to whine, she kept those sentiments to herself,lived in the here and now, and tried her best to make the best of her situation.
Well, the way she acted with this particular situation might not be a stellar example of those characteristics. Such behaviour as running from her friend when they were scheduled to pick out bridesmaids dresses, and being relieved at her brother interrupting her thoughts were not like her at all. And she really was ashamed of doing those things. What was wrong with her?
Lisali was no idiot. She knew what was wrong with her. She was a psychology student, for gods sake.

Still, she had done those things she was accused of here, and her shame showed on her face when her hazel eyes were immeadiatly fixed on the floor as soon as she heard the tone in Marta's voice. She was being.... chastised here, wasn't she? Oh, she so hated that. Her behaviour in response to that hadn't changed at all since the days her mother had told her to stop breaking out of the playpen all the time: avoid eye contact, pout, play around with something, her fingers or her hair or a toy she happened to hold, and be truly ashamed of herself. So that's what she did now. With a small pout, even. The moment Marta had straightened that stray streak oh hair, she had hair hands in it, running her fingers through it's ends carelessly, in what, to the experienced viewer, was clearly not any attempt at straightening it more.
She was so deeply, truly ashamed of herself. What had she been thinking, abandoning poor, helpless, innocent, precious Esther like that?
Clearly a rethorical wuation to herself, since it was very clear to her what she had been thinking, as always. Esther was cute, she was younger than most of the other students, full of high hopes and dreams, all of them concerning the arranged marriage with what she heard was her own cousin (eugh, really, what was wrong with her parents??), which she talked about at lenght to her every time she met. She seemed to believe they were kindred spirits of sorts, and that her views on her fate must be shared by Lisali, who was also, sadly, going to be stuck with a man her parents had picked out for her. And as much as Lisali liked her and felt she needed to protect her, her ongoing rambling about marriage and obvious attempts into fooling herself into thinking she was actually happy with her lot did have the tendency to make Lisali's head ache at best, and to make her absolutely furious at worst. So yes, before she'd risk yelling at her, she'd thought it better to get out of her reach, and quickly. An act of mercy, really. Also, her ongoing ascination with weddings bordered on manic, and she really did not want to have to deal with that today.

Still, instead of telling Marta all of this, when chastised, she had no choice but to whisper "Yes", since that was the only word her brain could come up with in such situations. Oh, she really was bad at this, it made her so angry. Even when the professors criticized her work, all she could do was agree, then write a strongly worded letter afterwards, because facing people head on in such situations was actually impossible. She hated that trait, so much.

Udo watched the whole ordeal with a slightly amused, slightly ashamed look on his face. He wasn't really sure what to feel here. On the one hand, hsi sister was so utterly defeated and almost humilitated here, and this was a complete vicotry for him. On the other hand, his sister was so utterly defeated and almost humilitated here, and it was his fault, in a way. He wasn't the smarter of the siblings, he understood, but he could vaguely grasp her feelings about this, and about Esther. Really, even sending her to go with the girl had been cruel of their mother, either that, or she hoped Esther's blabbering would change Lisali's mind about this whole wedding thing. She obviously didn't know her that well. Udo had been hitting her with toys and pulling her hair since they came out of their mother's womb together (of course, this transformed into other ways to be annoying later, though when he saw a fitting toy, the urge was still there), he knew how she felt, what she thought and how she reacted to things better than anyone (though it was hard to undertand what she thought sometimes. Sometimes Udo found himself thinking things like "Bet she's thinking over how the third Franquessian law contradicts the assumption made by Wendel about the human psyche and ability to teach" only to get confused when he realised he did not know either of those, and had, in fact, never heard of the blokes who came up with them before. What he didn't know was that Lisali got equally confused about why he was able to come up with a fully functioning catapult for used diapers that was almost impossible to track despite it's size, yet he still needed his fingers to add sometimes.).

Had he been a different man, he could have written sonnets, nay, epics, about their relationship, and his conflicting feelings, the neverending rivalry between siblings, their love and hate towards each other, and so on. But being himself, he settled for smiling like the confused idiot he felt he was, not sure what else to do, really. That was, until Marta mentioned something horrible! No food! No coffee! No Rosa special blend #34 with extra sugar! The look on his face almost comical when he turned his head to stare at Marta. It was pure shock. Had there been any way to take back his blackmail threat from before, even though that had meant that Lisali would have beaten him, he would have done it! Of course, that'd also have meant he would have been forbidden from hitting this little creampuff on again..... hm.... well, he'd still have thought about it. Sweets were serious business. Their parents always had wondered where the twins had gotten that from. Or how they managed to keep their figures (in Udo's case, all the stupid competitions he did made for an unexpectedly effective training. In Lisali's case.... well, to be fair, she wasn't a stick... if you were really critical, you might even call her a bit on the chubby side. Let's just say they both had the metabolism of an insect an be done with it).

As it was though, he couldn't take it back, and being angry at this caramel cookie was just impossible. Seriously though, what a babe. Still, his pout was more than obvious, and, much like Lisali, he too began starin at the ground. They really did look alike, the raven hair, the hazel eyes, the light skin and the few, very few, freckles... that and the pout...
"She was at Fitzgerald's Dresses and More.... but she must've moved on by now, little chocolate flake."
A lame attempt at getting Marta to change her mind. Come on, what did he expect? Even he wasn't that dumb, and, to spare them the long hours of walking through town looking for her, he actually used his brain for once.
"'s close to the bars on the docks, maybe she like went there or something."
He didn't feel the need to explain how he got this idea. It was totally clear after all, right? Esther would doubtlessly want to go to the bars to ask around where Lisali went..... or like, get drunk out of sadness, whatever. Udo wasn't a good judge of character, really, he was just applying how he'd behave in her spot. Naturally, neither Lisali nor him moved an inch. Marta would have to drag them to move them from their beloved Cafe and the sweet delights it promised!

At the pitiful sight of the twins, she couldn't help but feel a little pain in her heart for them. There wasn't exactly a good reason for it, the fact of the matter was that Lisali absolutely and unequivocally brought this upon herself and actions do indeed have consequences. Truly a lesson that should be made mandatory to learn while one is still a child, but somehow some others still manage to mature and grow up believing that the world is theirs with no worry to the outcomes of whatever it is they choose to do. A lifestyle that compliments no one. Especially not someone surrounded by such a number and variety of intellectuals. It seemed, however, that Marta didn't have to stretch her worry to that extent as the 'older' van Anden seemed completely aware of the problem she had created. And the previously all-smiles Udo? She knew well the hivemind that siblings gained between each other, no doubt he was feeling some guilt over it. But... it was as though he was more disappointing than remorseful. Maybe it was just his way of showing remorse? No matter, this could all be taken care of soon and then they could get back to the tour of the city. Marta couldn't help but feel that there was something else she should be worrying about in the midst of this family's drama. It would come to her, it always did.
"Oh! That sounds like a perfect place to start!" No one in their right mind would be as excited about a simple apology as Marta seemed to be, but here she was, replacing Udo as the group's beacon of joy. It was a bit of a show: their looks were getting to her, she had to do something to try and cheer them up. Smiles were infectious, weren't they? Her chair scraped across the pathway, signaling the inevitable, as she kept her expectant gaze on the brother. "Would you mind terribly coming with us?" Again, it wasn't exactly a question so much as a request that that made with the presumption of being filled, only giving the courtesy of the raised intonation at the end of the sentence. Resting her palms on the edge of the table, she waited expectantly for the two to rise from their chairs and join her. Any second now they would push out their own chairs and lead the way towards where Esther may be. Yes. Any... any second now.

She waited a good minute and a half before realizing that the twins were rather set on staying exactly where they were.

Her mouth puckered into a pout of her own: why were they being so difficult about this? There was no longer the pride issue between them, that battle was long over. Would it really be so bad to apologize? No, that couldn't be it: just earlier Lisali had agreed that this was the course of action that should be taken.

Walking behind the two, she kept chatting pleasantly towards the both of them, not allowing the topic to be changed. "You see, I don't really know where that is exactly. It would be so lovely if you show me where that is. I'm sure someone must have seen her." Marta positioned herself in-between them and silently slid an arm under one of each of their own arms, interlocking them. She had dragged many a child in her life (it was mostly dragging them into hugs, though), so the theory behind the method could be considered solid. However, upon trying to lift the both of them out of their seats at once it quickly became clear that this wasn't going to work out. It didn't keep her from trying a couple more times, though. "So... if... you could just... please... help me...out..." Her cheerful tone was beginning to become tainted with weariness at their stubbornness to be proactive about the situation. After the fifth time, she finally gave up, moving her hands back to in front of her, clasping them in thought as she re-strategized.

The two sibling didn't even look at each other, only the ground. Maybe Esther wasn't the issue here.

In her experience, it was always more difficult to make the siblings themselves apologize to each other than before their friends. There was this one time her youngest sister, Ebony, was hosting a sleepover for a small group of her friends when Aiden, the youngest brother, burst in with two of his own friends uninvited and let loose a slew of salamanders within the sparkly purple room. Aiden had no issue, though ashamed and embarrassed, apologizing to the guests for his actions, but he just could not get the words across to his sister. It went so far as to not even working together until mama stepped in and told them they were acting ridiculous.
For a moment, a familiar loneliness began to sink in, thinking of her brothers and sisters only intensified the reach of said loneliness. She could see the younger Prins' so much in these two and in the end she just wanted to help them out any way she could, the only way she knew how. Maybe these two needed a 'mama' of their own. It wasn't like she was trying to take the place of their mother or anything like that, but being at their age and to behave such a way. Crouching down the tiniest bit to be on eye-level with Udo, she urged him sweetly, "Actually, it would be so nice of you if you'd apologize to your sister. Wedding preparation can be very stressful, ne?"

Hopefully this would be the bridge to cover the gap in the action they were not currently taking. Once taken care of, the two could put their past conflicts aside and work together to find this friend of theirs. It was so simple. Never did it even cross Marta's mind that the problem wasn't emotional, but over the destroyed promise of getting something sweet to enjoy. However, unless the twins made a compelling case, it was clear the consultant's pleas wouldn't quit until everyone was made up with and Lisali's social life was harmonious once more,

Udo was not used to girls who were on a certain intellectual level and not completely, obviously desperate even so much as smiling at his tries to get to know them, much less actually be somewhat friendly towards him (Esther had, in a way, been friendly enough by telling him she was verry sorry but that her heart belonged to her betrothed, but that wasn't the same). That alone was enough to distract him from his painful longing for a few seconds. And when she looked him in the eye, oh man, he swore he was highfiving himself on the inside while his heart skipped a beat, then beat quickly and irregularily enough to make any doctor who'd have checked it declare him as good as dead.
When, after a few seconds, the meaning of what she just had said sunk in, though, it still wasn't enough for him to not have the mind about him to be utterly confused. Apologise?
He looked at his sister, who, since she'd obviously heard Martas words as well, was looking straight back at him, though she had been smart enough to understand Marta's train of thought, and was not looking half as confused as he did. She didn't expect him to actually do it, of course, but seeing him give in to some girl who was obviously just.... no, no, let's not go as far as saying she was using him, that was just the jealous older sister talking. And hell, she got it if she tried to use him, right?
Either way, Udo looked back to Marta, still not understanding why he would apologise, but fully understanding that giving in to her would even the score between him and his sister.... And just as he'd caught up with her!
Then again, he could feel this macaroon was special (even though he felt this way towards every woman he crossed), yes, so special, how could he say no to those eyes??
He crossed his arms, sullenly staring straight ahead, not looking at either of them, while he spoke through his teeth.
"Sorry, Lisali, you're in a lot of stress and I should-"
At that point, he made the mistake of looking his sisters way, and the triumphant gleam in her eye made him stop right away. No! No wa he could do this! No way! He didn't even know what he was apologizing for, but apologizing in itself was off limits to them! Their apologizing score had Lisali slightly in the lead (in their entire life, the score was: Udo had aplogized to Lisali 43 times, Lisali had aplogized to him only 36 times! Only because she was more careful about how she one upped him, damn it!), and if he wanted to ever catch up, he'd need to stop apologizing for a while!
But what to do, how to tell dear, sweet Marta? Oh man, who cared?? This was more important than some girl, even though that girl might become the love of his life at some point, who knew, oh god, this was very bad.
Faced with this trick situation, Udo did what he alwas did: The first thing that came to his mind. Luckily, it wasn't as retarded as the usuall were this time.
He almost jumped up, all new found energy (though in his heart, he was still a bit sad about the wonderful snacks he was missing), his chair falling over behind him.
"You know what, I totally just remembered where Esther could be, dude!"
There was no dude present, but for all Udo cared, dude was a completely gender neutral term which could be applied to objects as well if necessary ("Dude, I just like, tripped over this little bro because it broke out of the dude walk, how wasted am I?! Totes talking to a plant, like whatever!").
He wasn't lying either, it was just a completely random hunch, but he had seen Sasha on his way to annoy Lisali (who he knew was at the Cafe Rosa when he didn't find her at the store for dresses, where else would she be?), and knowing Esther, she'd probably go to him to cry (their parents were working buddies or something, what did he know, anyway they had like known each other for a long time or something)! God, was he good today!
"We should probably like, head there right now, before she runs off again!"
he grabbed Marta's shoulder to underline how urgent this was. So proud of himself, yes. Lisali snorted, she saw right through him, of course, but screw her. Probably just mad because she didn't get that apology.
Still, she got up, straightened her dress, and put her hand on her hip, as always. Oooh, she had taken the challenge.
"Oh dear, are you sure about that?"
They glared at each other for a bit. No, Udo wasn't sure about it. In fact, Lisali was willing to bet against it. And it would be such a victory for her when they went there only to find Esther had already moved on!
After a while, she motioned towards the street.
"Do lead the way, my dear, we'll see if you're right."
Even? Hah, not for much longer. Of course, now, there was no way Udo could still retreat. He had brought this upon himself. And, how utterly expected, he didn't retreat. In fact, he seemed so hellbent on this new competition that he forgot all about Marta until he was halfway down the street already, at which point he stopped rapidly and hurried back to offer her his arm. No reason to let this chance pass, after all.




There were many words to describe Zuzen Bjarnesen. Coward was the one most popularily used, along with dangerous criminal (hahahaha, god, those people had no idea), dirty run away, not really that much a threat, and "how did he even make it into the crew?". Now of course, those hadn't quite caught on here, seeing as he had not been so stupid to tell anyone who he was, what he had done, and, most importantly, who he was here with. When asked what he was even doing here, he mostly replied with "Oh, paperwork. Stacking, copying, you know, real boring stuff. Not really much to say about it.", and managed to make it sound boring enough to not have people ask more questions. One of the professors had even given him a check once, real payment, how was that for a good cover, huh?
Naturally, he didn't really work for the university. That's not to say he was lying, of course. He wasn't that good an actor. Which was why, during the entire last fourty five minutes (he'd been checking the clock on the wall frequently), he'd been extremely tense.
"Oh Jaime...." He jerked violently at the mention of his alias (the crew had decided that him getting used to a less girly sounding name would be entirely too hard for him, haha, fuck you guys, it was Zuzen, damn it, not Susan, most of you can't even write so don't get sassy! Of course, it still stuck). He'd have liked the breathiness in the female voice, that he had her arm around the shoulders of the girl it belonged to, that she was getting a bit tipsy and was in such a vulnerable state right now, if there hadn't been that tiny little problem that he knew who she was. Not that he was opposed to women he knew, no. Only women he knew from the days he'd like to keep a secret here. Especially women like this one.
"Thank you sooo much for listening to me, you're such a.... such a good friend."
He forced a smile on his face that looked more tormented than pleased.
"You know me, Esther..."
Ouch, bad choice of words, bad choice of words!
"Y-you know me as the totally innocent guy for paperwork who's working at this university and never liked sailing around with dangerous people!"
Suave, Zuzen. Now if only she was tipsy and sad enough to miss his horribly specific denial....
He looked at her hopefully. Her brown hair covered her eyes as she stared down to the ground of her glass. Oh please, god, let this be a good kind of silence.
She raised it and motioned towards the barkeep.
"Another!"
Automatically, without really thinking (and probably overcome by relieve that she wasn't calling security right now), Zuzen sternly put her hand back down.
"You've had e....."
Shit.
"I mean, I think you shouldn't drink this much, it's only midday, it can't be healthy. Of course, it's your body, and I'm not going to tell you what to do with it, like, haha, would never tell anyone they do something wrong, right? What am I, some kind of r...... rrrrreally stern parent type?"
Great safe! Oh god, he couldn't deal with the stress! He had come here because he'd hear there was a birthday party, and that David or Daniel or whatever his name was was a stand up guy, really nice! And now what? He found himself dealing with this little menace. She knew something was going on, he was sure of it! From the moment he had seen her name on that list, he had told the captain: Let's not go there, Uddo might be there, but that von Rosberg kid is definitely there, you know how dangerous those are. But had anyone listened? No, of course not! And now here he was, arm around the shoulders of one of their enemies, hoping she didn't know a lot about her fathers business.
His entire body tensed when she looked at him, tears in her eyes. Oh god, oh no, the last one had been too obvious, hadn't it, why could he never shut up??
He readied himself for what was to come, closed his eyes and held his breath, expecting the pain, or the screaming. He wondered if she'd get her hands dirty herself?
There was an impact, all right. But not the impact of her fist on his face. Instead, it felt a bit like being tackled. Zuzen had not expected this, he almost fell off the barstool he had been sitting on, his breath was pushed out of his lungs and when he opened his eyes, he looked down on her short, brown hair. She had her arms around him, and was vehemently sobbing again. She was saying something which he didn't quite understand, seeing how she was saying it to his chest, but he thought he'd heard the words "mess", "sorry", "abanduhrefn" (though whether this was a word was arguable at best) and "Lisali" (her friend, right? He'd seen her before. Really goodlooking lady, choice behind, too bad her family was obivously a pawn of the government).
Unsure what to do, he raised his hands and awkwardly patted her on the back. He wished she'd stop hugging him so tightly. He wished she wasn't almost sitting on his lap by now (it made it so much harder to push her away and run). He really, really wished someone would interrupt this ordeal, he had come here to drink and have a few laughs, not risk his life and chat with the enemy, damn it!
For once in his life, and it was almost suspicious because being himself, and being with the captain meant he shouldn't have this kind of luck, one of his wishes was granted when two newcomers walked into the bar. One, he had no idea who he was, but he looked like exactly the type that'd be all about joining them without any idea what that actually meant, the other, he had rarely been happier to see in his life. Damn, the man looked so different in a suit. Just noticing. Handsome. Sophisticated, even. If he'd wear it more often, they might get the bourgeoisie on their sid- okay, no, point gotten, no one wanted the bourgeoisie on their side. Except Johan.... which only left one possible explanation: He hadn't thought of it. Somehow, this didn't even surprise Zuzen anymore.
He took one hand from the girls back to wave at him, gain his attention, no matter whether they were supposed to know each other or not. Before the captain could make any move, though, he was distracted from his dire situation by a small group of drunk students loadly greeting him, some offering him a highfive, which he of course had to return (he'd never turn any form of friendliness down, that man), some skipping the high fives and going straight for hugs (which he also returned). Without an chance to protest (which he likely wouldn't have done either way), he was quickly dragged towards the rest of the party, obviously expected to join in and congratulate the birthday boy. Curse those students and their parties. Curse them!

Did she blink, because Marta was sure that she had missed something. No longer was she looking at Udo, but an empty space where both the boy and a chair used to be, and she had heard an apology--she knew she did!--but for the life of her she couldn't complete it in her mind. There was no way that he hadn't finished the apology: just a glance at how happy they both looked would be all the proof needed for that conclusion. He must have been so happy to make up with his sister that he simply could not contain himself. How wonderfully sweet of him. And Lisali! Why, turning to look at her Marta could once more see that glow that had been there when she had first seen her, a look of triumph. A look that spoke clearly to her of problems solved and a bond restored. If only all conflicts could be solved so easily, if only others could be as agreeable as these twins.

What would have happened if it hadn't been Lisali that came across Marta earlier? It seemed like fate, really, how the two of them were solving each others' problems. Truly fortune was favoring her today which is why when Udo mentioned another spot where Esther could be found (and allowing the "dude" exclamation to slide. No one he was speaking to was a 'dude', but his energy, well, it was contagious) not a thought went through her mind that he may just be talking out of his ass to show up his sister. So quickly it was settled that he would instead be taking them to... wherever it was he was thinking.

Briefly, the thought passed through her mind that she should ask if this mystery location was anywhere near the dress shop--they may as well double check to be sure-- but just as she opened her mouth to do so, Udo had sped off., waiting for neither Marta nor, more importantly, his sister Well, honestly! He didn't even clean up after himself.
Her disgruntlement barely had time to settle. By the time she had set the chair back to its upright position the boy had returned and completely made up for it with his charming offer. It was true that Marrymore had it's fair share of chivalrous, polite, well-to-do boys and in a town where it just seemed normal to always be around someone's waist or hand-in-hand she had of course run across such gestures before. However, it also didn't change the fact that a wide majority of the men she had any contact with were clients and thus already devoted to another. Having someone, someone not brought up with ideals of her town, do something as simple as this, startled her. So caught off-guard once more, she looked a little more pleased than she should have. Whether this was a reflection on the people she had been traveling with previously or a pleasant contrast with the way the people of Marrymore usually viewed outsiders it wasn't certain. What was certain, however, was that when the three of them began (once more, for some eager boys) finally searching for Esther, it was Udo's arm Marta was holding.

He was still, however, her client's brother so whatever urge she may have had to lean her head against his arm or giggle like a charmed schoolgirl would have to be repressed. He most certainly had a beautiful and intelligent girlfriend already, best not to rock the boat any more than she already had.

Now seemed as good a moment as any to bring up the question that had been floating around in her mind previously. "Would this place happen to be near the dress store? It would be awfully convenient if it was." However, even as she waited silently and politely for the answer it seemed as though her mind no longer held a vested interest in actually finding how far the actual distance between the two establishments was. Being so lucky with the reconciliation that happened earlier, under those mocha tresses she was already planning the most effective method of apology for Esther. Though she had heard, well, literally nothing about her as a person, Marta had to assume that she was decent: no one was complaining about her or sympathizing with Lisali's ditching with a 'Oh yeah, I wouldn't want to be there with her' at the very least. Inviting Esther to come back to Cafe Rosa with them afterwords would be a nice gesture, rounding out any rough edges that could possibly be left, but it would truly depend on how insulted the poor girl was.

Her worries on this matter was not what popped out of her mouth next, though. "What did you have planned for your bridesmaid dresses, if I can ask?" The actual prospect of the wedding was still in contention, but seriously, Lisali must have at least thought of it.
Once a girl gets to a certain age, they start planning, dreaming about the details of their one, very special day. Brides came into Chiffon's with pages, sometimes even scrapbooks filled with designers, fabric swatches, venues, cake samples (that was only once luckily, and that bride seemed to understand why having crumbs fall from her belongings and onto whatever happened to be nearby wasn't exactly an ideal situation), full of dreams. Something as simple and vital as bridesmaid dresses would have to be one of the first things she planned out. Taking into consideration all she knew about the van Anden girl, they would most likely be toned down, a step above simple so she herself could stand out, the skirt... gosh, what season was she even getting married in? That could be the difference between cocktail style and something more elegant. Very important, she would have to remember to ask that. "Blue seems to be a popular color..." she trailed, not realizing just how much more touristy this statement would make her look-- although her constant staring at each store, plant, person that they passed probably did more to give that away. The trends of the island were lost on Marta, but she was ready to strongly advise against choosing the sky-like hue. More prepared for this was she that she barely was paying attention to where she was going nor how much she was leaning into Udo just so she could get better focus on Lisali.

Lisali had been more or less content with just walking, quietly, to wherever Esther would doubtlessly NOT be. Udo wasn't bright, everyone knew that! Even when she looked over at him now, god, she winced. This girl was just the worst enabler to him, it was almost funny. Look at him beaming at a girl not turning down his chivalry: Lisali knew what this meant to him. He had had girlfriends before, short romances, drunk make outs, one or two whores, she suspected-her brother was known for being a party animal, and while there was a shortage of a red light district, many of the waitresses inofficially offered their... company. Some wished to get themselves pregnant, even, no doubt. Seed wedding to a rich man with a bright future? There were worse prospects. Of course, it could just be her being cynical, but she was positive that Udo had exchanged glances with the waitress at Little Fernando's more than once. Stupid boy. Stupid, stupid boy. Either way, sex obviously wasn't new to him. But he was like their father: he was a hero, on the inside, not like an actual hero, but one straight from the stories: idealistic, strong, young, and just a little naive. But the world wasn't a story, no one sat down and seriously wrote him a pure romance with a fair maiden he saved from a dragon, and no matter how much he wanted to be an old school knight in shining armor, his penchant for romance and chivalry (she wondered how much of it was subconcious, really) made him look like a fool in the real world. So Marta taking his arm? It meant a lot to him. In a way, she was thankful. A little worried, of course, since it was obvious that those two would never actually get married and live happily ever after, come on! That's not how things worked! and Udo's heart did break easily, he just never understood... oh, oh, that look he had given her right now, he was so full of it! Oh god, he was so smug right now! Goddamnit! Just because a lady doesn't find you totally weird doesn't mean you get to hold it over your twin sister!
Lisali rolled her eyes and focused on the road ahead of them again. She'd break his heart, for sure, and then she'd be able to hold it over him! Not that she'd actually told him so, but.... He'd knew she had known! Yes.

A grim smile spread on her lips, unusual for her, but she was so lost in the prospect of what would happen that she let her cheerful facade drop for a bit. Not that she didn't know how horrble it was to wish for her brother to get his heart broken again, she'd doubtlessly be so ashamed of herself once she was done laughing at his stupidity.....
In her day dreams, she heard Marta's question, but barely recognised it until a few seconds later, when her brother so helpfully repeated it for her.
"Yes, dear sister, what did you have planned for your bridesmaid dresses?"
Screw being ashamed. He had it coming. All of it. That asshole knew what she thought of the wedding, and how much she didn't want to start preparing for it! Of course he knew there were no plans! The plan had been to say okay to whatever Esther thought was nice (she was a bridesmaid after all, wish of her mother, and on top of that, she had horrible taste in clothes). Well, that had been before Lisali had decided to bail instead....
No way she'd admit that though. Time to improvise!
The old, nice smile back on her face, she turned back to Marta and her brother, who looked so happy to have this girl by his side, much more so to have her so close to him, that he seemed a good two inches taller, and had a smile on his face that was bright enough to light up the dark whites back home (the van Anden's had made their money with those mines until salt became less valuable. When they had collapsed, there hadn't been the money nor the drive to rebuild them, so they had become known as "the dark whites" in their hometown, white for the salt, dark for both the literal darkness, and the "dark sunday", the day they had collapsed and buried the few miners and foremen working there on a sunday inside. Not all corpses had been found). No, she definitely could not let him have the upper hand now.
"Oh, you see, light blue is the seasonal colour. How to explain..."
Not that she needed time to think, she was well versed in the fashion of Southcoast. But the short pause gave her more time to find a good answer for the bridesmai dress problem.
"Ah, it's late spring now, bordering on early summer. The colour of spring this year was light blue, welcoming, innocent, dreamy. Summer will be red: Light red for the hot times of the day, wild, energetic, heated, passionate, and then, for the evening, burgundy, deep, rich, elegant...."
It could all be read on the bill board near the main entrance of the university! And a girl had to prepare for the new fashion, didn't she? Lisali had already assembled quite a few new dresses: thin fabric, elegant cut mostly, and a few widely brimmed hats, as sh was sure they'd be fashionable this year, the summers could get rather hot and sunny, and what better to protect a students head from overheating?
Damn it! She had gotten lost in fashion again, and stopped thinking about the bridesmaids dress! What now??
"But of course, the ceremony will not take place here, so having them be the seasonal colour would be nonsense! Our parents will have us brought to Merouge, have you heard of it before?"
Of course she had, she was a wedding planner. Merouge: expensive little island, a lot like Southcoast actually, but known for it's cultural riches and beautiful sunsets-which made the sea appear deep red, it was said, though whether it got it's name onl from that was arguable at best, especially considering it's capital, Sang. That same capital was supposed to be where the ceremony would take place. It made Lisali shiver just to think about it, and at the same time, it filled her with a little bit of smugness: Considering the dark histor of that place, wasn't it just the perfect place to seal this wretched deal once and for all?

An excited breath left her at the mention of the small island. "Oh, yes." Her pleasant memories more than audible in her response. She had indeed heard of Merogue, though there was a slight bit of embarrassment in the fact that she had never actually set foot on its lands. But pictures! Oh, she had seen the most lovely pictures in the pamphlets the store had received from their partner, those pamphlets that did their best to hide whatever grittiness and unsavory actions lay in the silent memory of the ever shifting sands behind platitudes of cultural significance and traveler testimony. Crimson hues did well to contrast and extol the saintly whites and cremes of gowns: that type of drama was the one thing Marrymore did not excel in. Storybook, princess, tradition, and stereotypical were words that were most often used and if a sunset wedding was desired, it was because the warming oranges and yellows surrounded the couple with comfort, as though Mother Gaia was bestowing her own blessing on the union.

Of course, with all trends and untested waters there were always the few, the experimental that hoped to recreate what wasn't in their power to give. For a while, there was an influx of technicians who believed they could bring the burgundy passion out of the water by dying it only to have their plans turn into clouded dreams or simply wash away with the tide. No, in the end it was much easier to strike a partnership with the few businesses that had already staked their claim in Merouge than to keep chasing an unreachable goal.

The idea of Lisali, clad in... hrm. Ballgown certainly wouldn't suit her, especially not in that environment-- the poofiness would only detract from the inherent mood of the place. Still too was an empire wasted gown: too sweet, too fantastical for the level-headded, realistic van Anden girl. Personally, Marta would love to see her in a mermaid style--just enough definition in the form to be flattering, room for embellishments, dreamy but still very elegant-- so until otherwise, she would imagine the dark haired girl in that and try not to get too terribly attached to the idea. The wedding itself was still very up in the air, after all. But, the idea of Lisali clad in that mermaid gown amidst the deep warm hued sunset was enough to send a shiver of her own down Marta's spine, but rather than out of disgust it was out of perfection. In her mind, the wedding was coming together, whether it be for this particular groom, or someone (someone better) in Lisali's future.

"Oh, if you do decide to go through with this, you simply must look up Eternal Flame. It's this small store on just off the coast--" is what she guessed, only having read the directions of their business pamphlet-- "but they do fantastic floral arrangements and decorating. Mention my name, they'll treat you well."

Taking no concern to how much she was babbling on, she continued. "But light blue wouldn't do any of your dear bridesmaids any justice, they'd be rather out of place among all that red. Of course, you know that. No, no, what we should want is-- look at me getting ahead of myself, I don't even know the colors you chose." It was an implicit question, but quickly glossed over. She was on a roll, she couldn't stop herself now! "For a general sense, let's go with a shimmery black or a silky crimson. You need to think about how much you want to stand out as the bride, you are the star of the show and needn't share any of that limelight if you don't want to. Now, by using the red dresses you'll be able to have them all show off how well the dresses will look, but when the sunset rolls in they'll fade against the backdrop, and you and your groom will become the focal point. And if you use the black dresses, you of course will still shine the brightest, but your friends will also be there shining alone with you. It's really quite a beautiful sight. Both colors are rather flattering to all types of figures and while black isn't exactly the most orthodox of wedding colors, giving the setting I really think it could work! Column style might work nicely, especially to enforce the contrast..." her excited tone trailed off into her own self-indulgent mumbling, but it only took a brief moment her to shake it out of her system and return focus to her customer. "This is all just an example, though. Something to get those creative juices flowing! But, I'm sure you must have some ideas of your own."

So earnestly Marta wanted to help that it completely escaped her what kind of position this kind of talk could have put Lisali in, especially in front of Udo. Their competition was much too subtle for her to catch onto, especially while she was otherwise occupied, so if anything Udo's words came off as a sibling's natural curiosity, if not even concern. This is not even touching on the fact that if they were to meet Esther, the topic of conversation was sure to reach this point once more, so better to have some sort of idea laid out, ready to explore rather than grasping at loose threads.

Yet, she did get the sense that Lisali was a little less than comfortable discussing these things. At that her heart truly pained: the fact that her wedding was planned shouldn't lessen the, well, fun of planning these things. Even if she didn't get married to this particular fellow, the experience was something to cherish. Perhaps she was just too embarrassed to mention such things in front of her brother. What else could she do to prove that her brother had her back? "I'm sure whatever you decide on will be beautiful, don't you?" Punctuating her sentence by lightly tugging on Udo's arm, she hoped to illicit a response that not only showed his support and understanding of his sister's wedding process, but to further solidify the mend to the relationship that started with the apology.

Looking back on it, maybe nudging the talk into the direction of Merouge hadn't been such a good idea. With every word, Lisali tried harder to not imagine what her... ugh... her wedding would be like, and with every word, she found herself picturing it more despite that. She had a vivid imagination, though right now she wished she hadn't, and she had to admit, on some level, if it wasn't her in the dress, the picture she was getting was beautiful, really. But it was her who was wearing the dress, and that made her gag, quite literally, though she tried to hide it under a small, polite cough.
She didn't know how much longer she could go on without screaming and running away. Whoever up there had decided that she should change Esther's company for this woman's clearly had a jolly good time right now. At least she could tell Esther to shut up.
The only thing giving her comfort was that she'd only have to do this for maybe another minute before they reached that goddamn bar Udo was leading them to, she knew the one, quaint, a little more rundown than the other places on this island, she suspected that it was actually it's shtick....

"Oh yes, beautiful, don't you think, Lisali? Positively gorgeous, right?"
God, Udo, how primitive. Sarcasm, really? So the new defense against having to disagree with girls was sarcasm now? He must be so proud of figuring that one out. She rolled her eyes. His words actually made her more comfortable, gave her something to focus on that wasn't her upcoming demise (what else would this wedding be, really), and she might even be somewhat thankful for that. She knew Udo meant it that way, too, on some level. Had he really tried to be mean, he'd have added something along the lines of "What were the dresses you and dear, sweet Esther decided on, again?". He hadn't. A small show of mercy on his part, which she appreciated, even though he was still very much beaming with smugness, his voice dripping with false sweetness. One of their many rules: if the other showed mercy, there was no shame in taking it, and showing mercy was so rare a thing, Lisali could even drop his stupid self contentness. Of course, that only counted for real mercy. Fake mercy was another matter, if you took that, you were an idiot and left yourself wide open for attacks....
But this was the real kind. It was easy for her to come up with a void reply to it.
"Oh dear, I'm flattered by how much trust you put into my abilities."
Her voice was as sickenly sweet as his was. Taking mercy was okay, but that didn't mean one would have to slow down.... In fact... the next opportunity to show him up was right ahead of them.
"Brother dear, look there! Isn't that the place you were so sure Esther was at?"
Indeed, just down the road, there it was. She knew he had meant that one, what other bar could he mean? And his train of thought had even made sense, of course Esther would always run to Sasha's side to cry. Two little details he had not thought of though. Flaws she had noticed. Lisali's smile widened. No, Esther was nowhere in sight. And neither was Sasha. He'd have been sitting with Gustav, and that professor he seemed to be so in love with. In fact.... he was so busy latching onto his professor.... him and Esther had grown apart a bit. She didn't want to be a bother, and he made it clear that she was when she came to him with his troubles, too busy idolizing someone who clearly didn't even want it. That, and of course, Esther was pouting a bit. Understandably so. Being replaced wasn't easy. Of course, Udo hadn't been perceptive enough to notice the change in the dynamics of their relationship, so he wouldn't have known: Esther wouldn't go running to Sasha anymore, especially when it came to problems concerning her. She was too thoughtful for that. Sasha not being there was a nice bonus though. Seeing him right now wouldn't have been good. It would do the opposite of what it should.
"Wherever is Esther, Udo? I cannot seem to see her anywhere!"
Her smile widened as his smile fell. Ooh, yes. He'd had his fun, now it was time to uneven the score again, putting her in the lead.

Udo, who had been quite happy with being able to tease his sister, a girl by his side, found himself in a somewhat less happy situation right now. Sure, he still had sweet Marta with him, and he was sure her view of him would not change just because Esther wasn't there..... But Esther wasn't there.... and he thought his idea, he running to Sasha, had been so great. And now what? Sasha wasn't there either! Man! He had been with Gustav and the brofessor just... just half an hour ago... And Gustav was still there, he was hard to miss. Not only was he a good bit taller than everyone else, but his beard was so mightily impressive that one could pick him out even in the greatest crows.... that, and he still wasn't wearing the damn seasonal colours. Which was kinda badass of him, just running around in his old lumberjack looking shirt, not caring what the others thought.... You had to have a lot of confidence to wear that shirt. And that beard. And those muscles. Man, not that they talked much, but only based on that, Udo considered him a real bro. And one could call out to real bros.
"Gustav!!"
He waved at him wildly. He'd be able to tell them that Esther, Sasha and the brofessor had totally just all went to the restroom at the same time, making him win this, yes! He almost forgot Marta was still holding his arm, and could stop himself from running towards the bear of a man just in time. Instead, he simply walked a little faster, a smile on his face that was half happiness to see a bro, and half hope for victory after all.

Gustav looked up from his notes when he heard his name being called. Could one not study in peace here? Keeping that scholarship wasn't easy, and he had a wife and two kids he wanted to offer a better life to back home! Despite Gustav being only twenty one (and not looking the part), his oldest was already five, and would need to go to school next year. He needed this scholarship. He needed a job to give his children a future. Of course, that didn't keep him from looking for the source of the cry, and he found it walking towards him in quick strides. What a merry little group.... It took him a moment to recognise... Udo and Lisali van Anden, wasn't it. And their friend, who he was sure he hadn't met yet. How nice to see them broadening their circle of friends, especially Lisali, she had often seemed a bit lonely to him. He got up from his chair, a basic courtesy (which, considering his size and build, could jsut as easily be seen as a basic threat), as they approached, and nodded at them.
"Udo. Lisali."
Then, he turned to their companion. While Udo would have needed a minute or two before realising he wanted them to introduce them, Lisali yet again proved yet again that her manners were impeccable. Most of the time. Not that Gustav would notice that, he didn't have a good grasp on those things, when he tried to be polite, it always seemed a bit clumsy. Like right now. Did he offer his hand now, or later?
"Gustav, this is Marta, a travelling wedding councellor, Marta, this is Gustav, a promising student of history and sociology."
Now was the time, right? Gustav offered his hand, huge and callused, and smiled at the girl encouragingly. Being an outsider wasn't easy around here, she'd surely be happy about all the friendliness she could get.

There was a sense that something hadn't quite gone to plan. A feeling that perhaps behind their words, the siblings were still holding onto something that didn't translate exactly to such things as "reassurance" or "support". It was just a tiny feeling sprouting in the back of Marta's mind though, so very easy to put behind mental glass and ignore, and so when both of their responses sounded amiable she took it at face value. Why wouldn't she? Although she did have to admit not getting an answer to her question once more--and even in spite of the examples she was giving!-- was the teensiest bit maddening though the only outward expression of this was her leaning on Udo slightly less than she was previously and the degree the corners of her mouth were upturned flattening: it looked much more like she was mellowing out than becoming discouraged. If only she could talk with Esther, then she was certain they could all figure this out. However, that didn't seem to be happening any time in the near future.

Was this really where he thought Esther would be? Certainly there was a... a rustic charm to the place, and she could tell that the small bar's interiors would be rather cozy. A diamond in the rough sort of thing, surely. As she saw it now, it didn't exactly seem like the type of place one would find a young girl who had been faced with unfortunate circumstances. She squinted her eyes, trying to pick out someone that even looked like an Esther, but still no luck. It was ultimately a move to buy some time as she figured that either one of the two van Andens would have picked their acquaintance out from a crowd--not that this could be called a crowd-- and she really, really would like to give this fellow that had been so courteously leading her around the benefit of the doubt. There had to be -some- reason this quaint establishment would be higher up on the list of 'locations where Esther may be' than the more obvious dress shop or places near the dress shop. She wouldn't have time to dwell on those possibilities however, as her attentions immediately focused on what the boy was doing next and the change in pace which, luckily, had only made her stumble an barely noticeable amount.

She had looked down only momentarily to make sure where she was stepping would be stable enough to catch her unsteady jerk of a footstep. When her eyes returned to what was in front of her, she was a little confused. In her viewing just moments earlier she had, of course, seen him but hadn't though this bear of a man any more than another patron. They seemed to know each other... which was good. He must be one of their professors! How lucky! Maybe he would-- wait a second. The surprise on her face was undisguisable: a student? Surely Lisali must be joking. Clearly this was a man who had already seen the hardships and trials that life had to offer. He had overcome them all and returned to this island to share his wealth of knowledge with the new generation, hoping to inspire them to live fulfilling lives while teaching them from the mistakes he made in his past. His eyes had such a weariness about them, but also a determination. Plus, his beard was fantastic.

Well, who's to say that a teacher can't also be a student, Marta reconciled with herself: stranger things had happened. Plus, she didn't want to start another friendship off with a strange first impression.

And goodness, didn't he just seem as sweet as a peach! She was more than happy to return his handshake, finally unhooking her arm from Udo to give the larger man a more fulfilling handshake, both hands clasped around his. His hand felt of worn leather and though outnumbered, still seemed as though it could swallow up both of her petite palms. It was this presence like a wall that he reminded her of the blurred, faded memories of her own father, much in the way that seeing a black cat could remind one of a panther in the right light. "It's a pleasure, Gustav. I hope this isn't too much of a disturbance," she made mention, tilting her head slightly towards the pile of notes. Thanks to her training, her words sounded warm and friendly, normal, as opposed to the thoughts running through her head of 'oh my god can we be friends I really think we should be friends and then we can all be friends wouldn't that be great!' "You all are friends, then?" The building joy in her voice now only barely restrained-- her training, while effective, never seemed to last too terribly long whether that be to her benefit or not.

As she listened for the answer and fall back in line with the other two she made sure to nod at the appropriate times. Gosh, she wished she could just learn everything she could about this fellow, she really did. Gustav must have the most interesting stories to tell--the fact that one of his specializations was history only served to enforce this assumption--and Marta could feel in her heart that hearing about even a few of the moments in his long-lived life would only serve to benefit them all. But! But there just wasn't time for that right now. Oh, it was so awful she could just cry (no, she couldn't do that! Not here, of all places!)

The questioning look she sent to Lisali-- Marta had maneuvered her way to a side where Udo wasn't privy to her whispers despite how obvious she was being about the entire affair in the first place-- came out as more remorseful than she intended. There were many things here Marta simply didn't wish to do: she didn't want to bring a halt to their meeting, she didn't want to be rude, she didn't want to make Udo feel any worse than he probably already felt by bringing them to a dud of a location. "You haven't happened to see Esther at all, have you?" she murmured to the other girl. Hopefully Lisali would have a better idea of where to find this apparently illusive bridesmaid. There couldn't be that many places she could have ran off to. ...Could there?

What a friendly girl she was. Gustav barely noticed how her hands disappeared in his, he'd had a lifetime of getting used to his size, after all. People were naturally taller where he came from, he had observed, but even among them he was considered extraordinarily big and brawny.
"Oh?"
He glanced at the notes and books covering the table, only some of them belonging to him, the ones that were organized in a somewhat more orderly fashion than the other loose papers and open books. Those two were lucky it wasn't windy today.... and that he had used one of his own books (they might need theirs to be opened on the same page once... if they ever returned) as a weight to keep them from being blown away, should the occasional breeze come.
"No, no, don't worry, you're not interrupting. It's nice to have some company."
They were interrupting. He wasn't looking for comapany. No need to be rude though.
"Aaaw yeah!"
Somehow, his words seemed to cheer Udo, who Gustav noticed had been looking less than happy when Marta let go of his arm to greet him up a lot.
"Yeah, we're such bros, cookie!"
So he was trying to get her attention back. He really liked her. He always did that thing where he adressed people as candies.... when he thought they were sweet...
Gustav looked from one to the other. He hoped the van Anden boy wasn't bothering this girl too much. From what he'd heard, he had the tendency to be rather clingy. Of course, he himself couldn't testify to it, since he didn't know him that well, and they were definitely not "bros", though it was nice to see he seemed to like him well enough. Of course, he wouldn't say anything about that. No need to slow the boy down, he hadn't done anything wrong yet, and didn't look like he was about to either. In fact, they looked like they were pretty close to one another already. How nice. Maybe they were to be wed too? It sounded like something the van Andens would do, a double wedding for the twins. And if one of the brides was a wedding planner, all the better..... No, he shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. Still, the longer he thought about it, the more curious he became. was or was it not impolite to ask.....

Udo didn't like it that Marta let go of his arm. Though of course, Gustav was married and could therefore not pose too much of a threat, he had never seen that man even look at a woman in more than a friendly, polite way, he was basically a saint! Not that they talked much....
He didn't like it either when she whispered to his sister... What was there that he wasn't supposed to know but she was? Had he done something wrong? Had his sister somehow influenced her to not like him anymore? Was this.... was this a contest for who she liked better? He needed to get her attention back! In this moment, Lisali answered Marta, her voice at a normal level.
"No, indeed, I do not see Esther anywhere, so it looks like dear udo must've been incorrect in his assumptions. Who'd have thought?"
What- How- How dare she?? Even though it was obvious that Esther wasn't here, and that meant he had been wrong, he couldn't just let that one slide!! Not after his idea had been so ingenious!! While he was still fuming with rage though, Gustav's curiousity finally got the better of him.
"Are you two to be wed as well?"
Both van Andens turned to him, their faces dumbstruck. Funny how the right signal word could affect people....

Marta had thought it common sense that when one spoke to someone in whispers, the reply should also be whispered. There was no way she could think of that Lisali wouldn't have known such a thing-- unless she was the type to speak in normal volumes in the middle of a show too? Oh, this was not what she wanted at all! She should have kept her question to herself, obvious as the answer was. Every muscle in her body was practically screaming at her to at least give Udo the grace of a sympathetic look, she couldn't bring herself to do it. No, all it seemed like she was able to do was wring her hands and don the expression most similar to dogs when they know they've done something wrong. "It... it was a nice thought..." she mumbled so quietly Lisali may have even had a difficult time hearing it, despite being right next to the girl.

Fortunately, she wasn't allowed the time to fully slip into her 'I will do anything for you to forgive us' mode and was instead shocked out of feeling guilty all together. W-wed? To... to Udo? Such a bold question! Oh... oh my. She'd given the wrong impression, hadn't she. It had just been so nice for someone to actually pay her some mind, and he was cute. It was just that... Udo didn't... she hadn't led him on, did she? Face completely red, she tried to shoo the fluster from her voice to varying degrees of success. "Oh! Oh, n-no. I just arrived on the island earlier today, actually, and they've been... helping me out!" With an extra hard wring of her hands and a laugh she tried to make pleasant but ended up on the cusp of hysteric she concluded, "I'm sure that Mister van Anden would rather be with someone more his age."

In the general public opinion, Marta would be hard-pressed to find someone that actually believed that twenty five was as ancient and age as she was making it sound. Even if the entire world shifted its perception on age momentarily, there wouldn't be a one that would dare call her old. Not because it was extremely rude (which it was!), but because she still looked as baby faced as she did when she was eighteen (and she hid her wrinkles well, but that's a lady's secret). But it didn't matter. In her mind she had come to terms with the passing of the "golden days" of her youth and fully accepted that she had to transition into being a responsible adult, a mother to the world. She did have her slip-ups, however. Like this. She wasn't perfect, and not nearly as close to that zenith as her own mother was, but sometimes it was nice to pretend that she was still as carefree as she had been those long six to four years ago.

A-ah, she shouldn't be dwelling on such things now!!

"U-um, but speaking of weddings. You wouldn't happen to know a girl named Esther, would you? We're looking for her." Nervously, she looked back and forth between the twins: she didn't want to speak for them, but they really should find her. Especially if she was still on the move! Maybe Gustav would even come with them, even though that seemed rather unlikely.

Silencing both van Anden's at once was quite a feat, though Gustav didn't know that. It wasn't really clear to him what he had done, though he realised that he had done something. After seeing all three of them so flustered, he was a bit confused. Weddings were the most normal thing where he came from, you got married young, before one of you had the chance to die, then worked together to survive as long as possible. The place he was from was considered one of the poorer regions of the world, and the winters were really harsh, so mostly, no one had that much time on this world, and definitely not enough time to take years courting someone and spend long hours on romance.
Still, he supposed he had done something offensive someway, and he definitely hadn't meant to. Though he frowned a bit at the words "his age", he chalked it up as a misunderstanding of some cultural thing he didn't know, but intended to learn about to avoid such situations in the future. Though Marta was very polite about it. What a nice girl. He should apologise right away.
"I'm sorry if that wasn't... appropriate. I'll try to avoid such things in the future."
Now, Esther..... Esther..... who was that again.... wasn't that one of Sasha's friends? The small one with the brown hair?
"Well, I don't....."

Before he could finish that sentence, Udo snapped back out of his wedding induced trance. Weddings. Where Lisali had been in a less than pleasant mood by the mention of the word, he secretly dreamed of a wedding, his loving, gorgeous bride all in white, tears of happiness, sunsets.... What his sister lacked in sense for romance, he more than made up for. Only secretly, of course. Weddings weren't manly and cool at all. Plus, if he mentioned he'd like a wedding, maybe their mother would start making arrangements again, and he wanted to marry out of love only! Preferably after he saved his princess from the fangs of a monster! But those were all far off dreams for him, he was barely twenty three, and besides, when he saw the right girl, he'd know, for sure. He had thought he had found the right girl quite a few times already, but everyone could err, right?
Anyway, the words that had been said while he had been off into fluffy sugar candy land were now, slowly starting to sink in. Completely shocked, and not paying any attention to him interrupting Gustav (those words ahd not yet sunk in), he turned to Marta.
"You mean you're underage?!"
No way this could mean anything else, right? He kept blabbering on while his brain registered the next few sentences that had been said.
"I mean, that wouldn't really be a problem, like, not that I'm into that, not like I want to like, get married right now or anything, I mean, you're underage, so I'd totally wait, but...."
On Marta's other side, Lisali groaned at her brother's stupidity.
"Oh god, shut up!"
Just listening to him stammer was bad, and then on top of that he also had to blush, how old was he? No, that was not only a bit weird, not only headache inducing, but downright degrading. She'd do anything to make him stop...
"We're here for Esther, god!"

His sister's harsh words made Udo snap back to reality, reality being his contest with his sister, which he was about to lose.
"I..."
Before Gustav could put put the last nail into his coffin, Udo interrupted him yet again. Talk about rude.
"Woah woah wait, hold up right there! I'm pretty sure Sasha was here just like, fourty minutes ago? And where he goes, you can be damn sure Esther will go... when she's like.... down..."
The last words were added with a quick side glance to his sister that, for once, didn't seem all that hostile. Not that she even seemed to care all that much, she seemed to find her nails much more interesting all of a sudden. In fact, she remained awfully quiet about all of this, which finally gave gustav a chance to answer.

Luckily, the huge man was also immensely patient. when the siblings started talking again, he simply waited. he was sure the conversation would come back to what they wanted from him again soon. And it did.
"Sasha was here, but he left about twenty minutes ago with professor Huxley."
The brofessor! Udo rolled his eyes. Ever since Sasha had started talking to him so much, he'd cared less about his friends. And Lisali, but he had a feeling she liked it that way. Like, he liked him, the brofessor, he was a real bro, hence the nickname, but.... what was so special about him that Sasha obsessed over him the way he did?
"Don't know where they went, but they hear there was an outsider causing trouble and wanted to go have a look. And the professor left his baby den den mushi, so you can't ask him either, I think..."
He pointed at the small snail with the deep red hull, fast asleep on one of the books.


Lisali saw her chance there, and she quickly took it. Not that she had grown tired of Udo, noooo...... actually, she had. She wasn't in the mood for more fighting about her wedding, and since it was obvious that she'd have to apologise to Esther, and couldn't deal with two wedding-happy girls and her annoying to god brother at the same time, there was only one way to keep the situation under control.
"Great! That means he'll come back for it! One of us should stay here and wait for him, surely he'll know where to find Sasha and Esther."
Surely he wouldn't. That whole idea was so stupid. Sasha and Esther obviously hadn't been that close ever since he started obsessing over that weird professor of his.
She reached around Marta's back and softly pushed Udo towards the table before the other girl would have any chance to chime in and claim the guard spot for herself, no matter how unlikely that was. Then, with a bright smile, as if nothing had even happened, she continued.
"Good to see you're being so enthusiastic, brother dear. Just call me when they show up, okay? See you then~"
While Udo was still searching for the words to protest, she turned from the table and murmured to Marta.
"Take my arm and let's go to the place where we met, now!"
There was an urgency to her voice that could not be denied, the same kind of authority she'd had before, when she'd met Marta for the first time. It was painfully obvious to her that Mr.Devon and professor Huxley would have gone looking for her, really, how many more outsiders causing trouble had there been today?

'Underage'. The word floated around in her mind, enveloping her like a fleece sweater or, more apropos, sunbeams on a cool morning. She had such a strong desire to hug the intangible words to her chest, but that would be weird. Yes, definitely weird. A woman was always fighting against time especially in concerns to her looks and Marta had conceded her battle once she left her home island; she may have done a touch up here and there, but nothing so extensive as some of the high-class women with their serums and strange doodads that claimed to fix problem areas and cosmetics for every season. She didn't know for certain if he was just being kind or earnest, it didn't matter. Those twenty-five years of hard work and misfortunes seemed content to hide behind her outward appearance. Were this another time, another life, she would have seriously considered his 'proposal' of waiting for her--though it reality it would definitely be her waiting for him. There was no way he could have been older than twenty and he still had the rest of his education to take care of. She couldn't get in the way of that. This was neither that other life or time however, so even thinking about such a thing was merely a cruelty to herself: she could only hope that he would find someone deserving of his charms later on in his life

Fortunately, Lisali's barking knocked Marta's heart out of whatever romantic, fluffy track it was about to go down (there was definitely a cathedral involved) despite the protests of her mind, and brought her back to reality. Yes! This was about Esther, she herself has said that not only a moment earlier. Goodness, she really needed to stop herself from going on these little tangents, no matter how beautifully the picture played out in her mind's eye.

Instead, her mind wandered towards what kind of irresponsible professor would leave their den den mushi in a location where they obviously weren't. That kind of destroyed the point, didn't it? And what if a student called with an urgent matter? This Professor Huxley didn't seem to take his job very seriously, especially if he was taking his students out gallivanting to gape at every new person that arrived on the island as if each boat that docked was bringing in new exhibits for a zoo. And now that meant they were looking for three people instead of one, too, unless... Unless Huxley came back to grab it! Yes, Lisali was right, there was no way the professor wouldn't return to pick it up, he must have just been forgetful (after all, professors were still human despite their super-human intelligence level). Udo must have realized this too when he stepped up, volunteering to wait for Huxley's return. There was a tiny mewling of disappointment within her-- she was going to volunteer so she could get to know Gustav a little better--but it was probably for the best this way. Why, Udo was probably friends with the professor as well, and much better to be met with a friendly face than with that of a stranger.

With that thought in mind, Marta held no reservations about taking the other girl's arm, although she wasn't exactly sure why hushed tones were necessary: if Udo was to call them when the professor arrived, wouldn't it only be natural for him to know where they were? Or maybe he already knew. That could be it. Hesitating the moment just before placing her hand around the van Anden girl's arm she turned her attention back to Udo. "Thank you!" Framed in a appreciative simle, that simple phrase was she had to say before she absolved herself of any residual guilt she had for leaving him here (well, maybe a tiny wave to the both of them would be necessary too). The weight off her shoulders, she took Lisali's arm, as instructed, and prepared to 'go to the place where they met'.

It confused her, though, that Lisali would automatically think that's where the three people they were searching for would be. Certainly not every visitor would pass through there. But no matter what she thought! Lisali had a plan and she would give it as fair a chance as she did Udo's, although she would be lying if she said she didn't hope it would at least turn out a little more successfully than his. Letting out a small sigh Marta stated, "I hope this outsider isn't causing too much trouble," completely oblivious to the fact that it could be, in fact, her to which Gustav was referring.

Was this girl even for real? Lisali glanced at her quickly, no, she looked serious. Get rid of one Esther, get a slightly different version? Except of course this one didn't have the enormous daddy complex the other one tried to hide so hard. But putting aside her slight grudge with Esther, the naive little girl did have... something.
With a slight smile, she turned back to the road in front of them.
"you're doing fine, dear. On a local scale, at least, as you can see things have calmed down."
Incredible. maybe she should actually be angry with Gustav, without his stupid uestion, would either of those two numbskulls (lovable nubskulls, but still) even have gotten the idea.... No, wait, she was confusing them with her now, of course they'd have had the idea. Udo, at least. The thought that he'd work himself into this silly idea again was... was what? Annoying? yes, yes it was, he did that so many times, yet he never learned. Infuriating? Yes, why not. H as being naiv, and in the end he'd get his heart broken anyway. Worrying?
"Hey, you, uhm..."
Her eyes were fixed straight on the road ahead of them, ah, over there, that was the Chez Marie, one of the Cafes around here catering to those who wished to study... Lisali herself had been to it some times, though the coffee was a little bitter for her tastes. Incidentally, it was also close to where she had met Marta. The urge to not say what she had meant to say came over her when she sensed the opportunity to avoid it.
"Oh, look, we're here! Fabulous! Let's ask around and.... yes, let's ask around."
She let go of Martas arm and quickly headed for a smaller group of students she knew. Her, sticking her nose into Udo's romantic entanglements? Hah! Why would she? Let the boy burn his fingers, maybe at some point he'll learn that fire is hot indeed!
"Anna, Charlotte, Deborah! How are you?"
Maybe not the best choice when it came to short answers, they were known gossips, horrible, really. She knew for a fact that she was a hot topic though, the sort of rumors about her and her fiance.... tch, tch. She might have created some of them herself, like the one that he wasn't really into girls, or that he was actually a girl in disguise, but that was not important now. As a hot topic, she was greeted by loud cheers and giggling and two kisses on both cheeks from each of them. She hated that custom. Too time consuming. Oh, but no need to be impolite.
"May I introduce? This is Marta, I met her earlier today, you recall, I am sure? Marta, those ladies are Anna..."
A small, chubby thing who seemed to be the heart of the party.
"Charlotte"
Tall and somewhat average looking, which she desperately tried to make up for by using huge amounts of make up and jewelry.
"..and Deborah, the local gossips."
Everyone with a mind for those things could tell she was the tag along here, looking slightly lost between the other two in her simple clothing and her simple style and her obviously rather simple mind, judging from the look on her face. Everyone was wrong, Lisali knew, this woman was the brain of the party, a monster who could destroy anyone with just a few words, a natural born gossip queen who people should be careful about.
As soon as she had finished her introduction of the three, the chattering and giggling started again, followed, after a single second, by the three putting Marta through the same ordeal Lisali had been put through. Kiss right, kiss left, three times. Poor, dear Marta. New on this island, meeting a strange group of people, and suddenly it was all kisses and hugs and entirely too many insincere smiles.


Upon hearing Marta's parting words to him, Udo's heart skipped a beat. He started to feel all fuzzy and warm inside, and when he let himself fall onto one of the empty chairs at Gustav's table, he didn't even have the mind to be angry at Lisali anymore. A long sigh escaped him.
"Aah, Gustav, I'm in love."
Gustav, who had sat down again himself, raised an eyebrow.
"You think so? For how long have you known that girl?"
Romantic thoughts weren't exactly encouraged where he came from. Marriages were business, a lot like the ones in higher circles were said to be, actually, only not for things like prestige or bloodlines, but for simple, clean survival. He hadn't really loved his wife until they'd been married for a few months. Hell, he had been intorduced to her the day of their wedding, the first time he had seen her, she'd been waiting at the altar. But it was fine. Love needed some time, and he really could have done worse. In fact, now that they had two children and the third on it's way, he was very happy it had been her and no one else.
Of course, Udo's thoughts on romance were entirely different, and his voice almost sounded a bit snappy behind all that dreaminess.
"That doesn't matter in love! Have you never heard of love at first sight?"
Of course he had, he just didn't really believe in it. But by all means, if the boy thought so highly of that lady, he didn't see why they shouldn't be married. Or, no, wait, things worked differently around here. They'd be dating first, right? Well, whatever it was, it sure wasn't his place to berate him on romance, and really, he did have to go back to studying.
Udo didn't seem to be waiting for a reply either way, as he just went on rambling.
"Oh, but can't you just see it? Me, saving her from the clutches of an evil pirate, and in her thankfullness, she promises me her hand, or something, oh man, how awesome would that be?"
Sounded a bit antiquated and highly unrealistic to Gustav, but he just politely ignored the young boy while he finally concentrated on his books again.