His half-brother was not far behind...
He felt, rather then saw, his own Four come and flank him, facing the others. Lady Beryl had positioned herself to their back, a little to the side - well, it was only fitting, this was her Pavillion, after all...
And then, yes.
Prince Diamond of the Line of Endymion, Heir Appearent, appeared with a flourish, seemingly out of nowhere. Darien stood tall and still, wondering how the heck such a large imposing Car managed that 'suddenly appearing' trick. It might have been Pyrite's sorceries - but Darien didn't think so, somehow...
Prince Diamond was an utterly beautiful large hybrid luxury sedan - even Darien had to admit that his half-brother's looks were striking indeed. He was colored in his often-worn pearl white today, and shone like a, well, pearl, even under the somewhat cloudy skies. He also had rather disconcerting habit of running nearly soundlessly at times, when the urge took him - like now, that is.
And where his half-brother was - yes, the Lady Emerald had arrived too, following them at a short distance as she often did. The Lady Emerald was a rather good-looking two-seat convertible sports car, colored a deep emerald green today, just like her name. Lady Emerald was theoretically one of the Ladies-Of-Waiting assigned to one of the Courts many Grand Dames, but she spent most of her spare time following Prince Diamond around, as far as Darien could tell. Many female Cars in Court had tried to do that, but not for very long as a rule - Darien wondered what was different about the Lady Emerald, that both his half-brother and his half-brother's Four hadn't managed to send her away in tears yet. They actually seemed to wait around for her sometimes, nowadays, when she was late in appearing... Or some of them did, anyhow.
"Elder brother." Darien called out. "What brings you here, this good day?"
There, now, the minimum of niceties had been observed. Darien had acknowledged him as his eldersib, after all - not even Diamond could really cause an incident over somebody who was actually his brother by blood calling him that. Or so Darien hoped, anyhow.
"Why, nothing at all, younger brother." Prince Diamond called out. "And greetings and good day to you too."
Damn, Darien murmured inwardly, feeling himself go more stonish then ever. Diamond had actually given him what appeared to be a semi-proper if minimal greeting, while he himself had -
Darn, that didn't make him look good...
"Forgive my tardiness in giving you a proper greeting, brother mine."
"No matter." Prince Diamond waved a wheel around, laconically. "This is just a small matter that would soon be over, anyhow - Lady Beryl. Greetings to you, this good day."
"Greetings, Prince Diamond." Lady Beryl called out. "It is good to see you well, your highness."
"And the same to you." Diamond said, looking at her - not quite so coldly as he usually did, Darien thought. What was happening, here?
"To make things short, as we all have things to do this day - there was a certain matter of a...bet we had between us, I believe?"
"Ahh." Lady Beryl smiled, gently. "So we did, I believe!"
"So..." Diamond sighed, then, and waved a wheel at...
Darien blinked, then. Sapphire?
The Car in question was squirming just a bit, and looking rather embarrassed, now that he thought about it...
"Well? Is that blue enough for you, milady?"
Darien blinked, yet again. Wait, Lady Beryl had made some kind of bet with his half-brother, with the stakes being...?...
"He's..." Beryl chuckled. "Very blue."
"Indeed he is. I hope you can forgive the jewel highlights, Lady Beryl..."
"I think I shall. They make him look very...striking, do they not?"
"My thoughts exactly. - So. Honor is satisfied, then, milady?"
"I shall think so, your highness..."
"Well good, then." Prince Diamond turned away, giving regal nods to all the other Cars bowing in his presence - which were a lot of Cars, all things considered. Darien realized numbly that he was very carefully ignoring a pair of gap-jawed children and a old Car who appeared to be napping in place, all who sure as hell weren't following Court Protocol...
"Lady Beryl? You bet with..."
"Oh, it was nothing, my prince." Lady Beryl smiled, hugely. "It was high time that Prince Diamond outgrew that habit of making poor Sapphire wear whatever colors and patterns you were wearing, anyhow - I mean, black and silver just do not suit him, poor boy..."
Darien stared at her. So that was why Sapphire wasn't colored and patterned like some weak parody of him, today... "You're a lifesaver, Lady Beryl."
"Oh, it was nothing, my prince..."
"No, really." Darien grinned back at her. "And he looks pretty good in blue, too."
"Well, I did consider saying fuchsia polka dots, but I just couldn't bring myself to..."
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(Posted Fri, 24 Nov 2006 13:02)
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