A Clash of Worlds (Taliesin&redblood)

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Adrian grinned and laughed outright. That was entirely possible but he was hardly going to give up that easily. "Oh I would just go to yours then." He couldn't help the hint of seductive tone in his voice before he also turned back to the screen, mind entirely on the game. There was definitely a bit of a new learning curve when jumping from the easiest setting to the hardest. If he was a little less determined and if he hadn't been the one to lay down the challenge first he might have complained it wasn't fair but he was hardly going to back down now.

He was getting more and more tempted to cheat though and was having a hard time convincing himself that victory would be more satisfying if he won through actual skill rather than his magic.
 
Any hints of seduction would normally pass through one ear and then go right out the other, Paris wasn't one to noticed such things. Now though, his mind was blocking all distractions, the words didn't even get the chance to enter his mind.

While he had started to see Adrian as an enemy he couldn't look down on, the biggest threat now would be the computers as they were on extremely hard mode. Both keeping track on a unpredictable human and a somewhat predictable but hard beaten computer was harder than he had imagined. On top of that, they had much less lives on the higher levels and the battle grounds could randomly start moving and drop your character down into a pit, killing you. It would be up to skill, and a little bit of luck to decide whom would win. Unfortunately, Paris was caught by the dropping ground twice, and he was down on his last life.

"Damn it" he grumbled as he tried to stay away form the computers and Adrian in the hope that they would battle each other to death and then he could take care of the last man, or computer, standing.
 
Adrian was starting to feel beads of sweat at his extreme concentration. He had been caught by falling floors once and since then managed to avoid them but the computer players were definitely becoming a problem. He had picked up much the same tactic as Paris, sneaker was more his usual style anyway. So he tried to do the delicate balance of both staying away and leading the computer players to Paris but he died quickly in that attempt and muttered a soft curse.

He decided at that point the only thing to do was mutual loss so he mostly ignored the computers and stalked Paris around the battlefield, doing his best to have them both fall down and lose their final lives at the same time.
 
Paris figured after a while that Adrian had understood what he was up to and that's why he stopped fighting the computer characters and started chasing him. Once the prince decided to attack his friend, a hole opened up beneath them. It was impossible to even try to jump back in the middle of the attack, so he watched helplessly as their characters fell down. The game read GAME OVER in big letters as the two computers were the only ones left in the game.

The prince fell back on the couch and dropped the controller beside him. "You're a worthy opponent Adrian." He said, wondering a bit over how scary his friend would be after having practiced for a year or so. "Are you sure this was your first time?" He then asked, even though he knew it was. But it was slightly hard to believe that someone whom had never even heard of a video game before, could just come in and almost beat someone whom had grown up with it. Though it wasn't a game he played too often, so it wasn't like he were one of those insane players that could predict every move and beat the computers on hard mode within ten minutes or so.
 
Adrian was much more careful with his controller before leaning back himself with a content sigh. He had done the best he possibly could under the circumstances and he was totally okay with how that had gone. "Why thank you." He practically purred at the praise and smiled at his friend. A smile which became just a tiny bit strained when he realized just what had passed through his head. It took a moment for the 'friend' side of his brain to convince the rest that everything was still quite fine and the fact that he was enjoying himself this much was only a good thing.

"Well you knew I was amazing already." Adrian grinned and leaned over to press a quick kiss on Paris' cheek. "What did you expect?" He then 'realized' what he did and managed an impressive semi-fake blush. "AH- I shouldn't have done that. My apologies."
 
The kiss on the cheek came as a surprise, but oddly enough, it didn't bother Paris as much as it should have. Even when ambassadors from other countries came and greeted with a kiss, as was their tradition, it did bother him greatly even though it didn't mean anything. Now it felt like there was a great meaning behind it and he still weren't very bothered, actually he felt slightly happy about it. Why was that? His own feelings perplexed him.

"It's okay." He ensured his friend, though a small blush of embarrassment had entered on his cheeks too. "I'm quite used to it either way." Which was mostly the country Fernich's ambassadors fault, but he didn't mention that. There was a country that lived up to their stereotype. Wine, kissing and lots of flirting. Of course the ambassadors made sure not to offend the crown as they visited, but a hello or goodbye kiss was always to be expected. And of course he couldn't say no as that might be offensive to their culture. No wonder his father always left him to greet them.

"So, are we done with beating each other up or do you want to test another game?" He asked. It was kind of weird that a calm person like Paris only had games which was violence themed to his XB5 console, at least that was what everyone else had told him. On the other hand, he didn't have a single one of those kind of games to the virtual reality console, which he often pointed out. It did make it more even. Horror games or roleplay games were much better suited for virtual reality, while first shooter games felt better if it was played on a normal screen. He had tried one shooter game in virtual reality once, but he just died over and over again. He would most likely make a crappy soldier in real life.
 
Adrian raised an eyebrow, wondering for a moment just how Paris was used to such a thing. He supposed it could also be a friendly action, as Adrian was currently passing it off but it usually had more meaning than that. It made him want to find whoever had been moving in on his territory, as he was now somehow thinking of Paris, and show them a bit of the not nicer magic's. He forced himself to let it go for the moment and focus on what they were doing right now.

"That depends if you want to see me reach drastic levels of competitiveness." Adrian pulled his legs up on the couch and turned to the side so one arm was hanging off the back and he was facing Paris. "As you already found out I get quite serious." He smirked. "So up to you if you want to stir the dragon further or take it easy for the rest of the night." More gaming may or may not be a good thing for Adrian, he would get very competitive yes, and use pretty much any tactics necessary as he got more worked up. He also may get a little too worked up and have a problem again though and Paris had already had two near misses tonight.
 
Paris laughed and picked up the remote control to the TV to turn it off. "I think I'll spare myself from having a heart attack. A more intense match than that and my parents might have to prepare my funeral instead of my coronation." It was slightly funny how he wouldn't get the crown before his parents were either dead or too old to continue as regents, and still they were already planning both Paris's marriage, coronation and every one of his birthday's. Though, now a days, the king usually became old enough to see his son or daughter take the thrown. There came a time in life when they just wouldn't have the energy to run a kingdom.

"So, what should we do? A walk in the garden maybe? The night sky is lovely at this time of the year, it's best to take the chance to see it before it disappear throughout autumn and winter." He suggested. Even though they had pretty much poisoned the air with all the cars, there were still some beauty even in their nature. He had heard that the stars were much better shown outside of the cities where there were no lights around, but even where he was, they was pretty damn beautiful. At least if you caught them at the right season, as winter and autumn were cloudy almost 24/7. Either it rained or it snowed.
 
Adrian had to muffle a laugh of the sort that might send him off the couch again. His mind had immediately went into the gutter with what else he'd like to do to give Paris a heart attack and that was in no way helpful right now. "Well we certainly can't have that." He stood up and took a moment to stretch before answering Paris's question, mostly because he was seriously starting to wonder what was going on in Paris's head. A moonlit walk in the gardens? Was he really so innocent that he did not see the connotations in that?

Adrian was really starting to think it was an invitation. There had already been a few moments where he felt like things said or done were leaning in that direction but this was simply too much. There was no way he was going to bother holding back if Paris was going to be this obvious about it. "It sounds wonderful. Let us enjoy the garden then." He finished his stretch and turned back to Paris with his most winning smile, holding a hand out to help the other man off the couch.
 
He gave his friend a smile back and accepted the help up from the couch. It had been a long time since he had just walked in the garden for the purpose of watching the scenery. It was boring to do it alone, and his mother never seemed to have the time anymore. They used to do it constantly when he was a child, but with the year their relationship became more distant. Which was to be expected of parent and child.

"You couldn't have chosen a better time to come here, the flowers started to bloom earlier this week. It looks amazing." Anyone who knew Paris understood that his obsession for flowers and plants had no boundaries. He had even tried to take over the gardeners work once when he were in his early teens. His mother had always been thankful over the fact that her son's rebellious phase had consisted of becoming a gardener during his spare time. At least he hadn't made any scandals yet, as some other royal families or aristocrats teenagers had done. Even though it had made it to the news, most people had liked that their prince was such a caring person, not even the flowers could escape his loving character.

Paris pulled the other man's hand and didn't let go as they walked out. For him he simply showed the same affection as a child did to their friends, for others it might be seen as something completely different than a friendly gesture when he were at that age.
 
Adrian chuckled softly. "Well I had little to do with when you decided to be born, so perhaps I should be thanking you instead." He was starting to get an inkling that perhaps Paris liked flowers. Just a little mind you. It also gave him ideas for future presents, though such tame things were barely able to flit through his mind before surprise took over as he realized Paris had never let go as they started walking. His previous impression of Paris as rather innocent was having problems reconciling with the new 'bold' Paris he was seeing now.

He walked along in silence for several moments while he processed the fact that he was walking hand in hand with Paris through his garden in the middle of night. His brain had suddenly hit the confused button and kept coming up blank. Eventually though, his brain caught up with his body and once they reached a more secluded area Adrian gently tugged Paris to a stop with a wide smile. "You really are quite stunning. I never would have expected this from you." As he was speaking he stepped to face Paris directly before gently cupping his face and leaning in for a kiss.
 
They had almost reached Paris's favorite place in the garden when Adrian stopped them. He turned to face his friend and was surprised over how close he suddenly were. It became even more surprising when Adrian put two gentle hands on the young prince's cheeks and started to lean in.

How many thoughts could have rushed through his mind within the next half second? Probably a couple of thousands. But even though he knew they were there, he couldn't really grab them and see what they were about, so his conscious mind remained blank for a few seconds, until Adrian was so close he could practically feel his breath against his lip.

A hand stepped in between their lips, and to the young prince's surprise it was his own. "Maybe we should stop the joke here before it goes too far." His laughing voice sounded slightly nervous as he weren't too certain of what was going on. He was fairly certain that Adrian just wanted to joke with him because they were in the garden during the night, which for most people would seem awfully romantic. He hadn't thought of that fact before, but now when he realized it, he could understand if his friend would want to tease him for being so oblivious.
 
Adrian couldn't believe it when he felt the hand between them and realized that yes, Paris was that whatever. The confused part of his mind from earlier eased, but it was overtaken by a dangerous tidal wave of emotions, the chief of which was very briefly hurt. He dropped his hands and pressed his lips together for a second before offering an apologetic smile and a soft chuckle. "Yes, perhaps we should." He took a large step back, turning away from Paris and back towards the path. The hurt was being overtaken by anger, which was easier to deal with but Adrian was on his guard now. There were no incidents like earlier today while reading the 'wikipedia'. He was now showing that when it counted he had the rock solid control needed for a master mage.

"Well then." He waved his hand expansively, though he didn't seem quite as energetic as before. "I have a feeling we were about to reach somewhere special." Oh the multiple meanings in that statement that Paris was going to miss entirely. If Adrian was being rational at the moment he would have decided then and there it was time to pack up and find a less…whatever person of royalty. But even in just this short time he found himself hurt and confused on the inside and such a thought didn't occur to him. He may really want to go sulk in his room until Paris apologized for being whatever but never once did he think to just pack up and go somewhere else.
 
Paris was very confused over his friend's behavior, he felt as if there was something in Adrian's feelings which he was completely oblivious too. For some reason he felt as if he should apologize for something, but he had no idea why. Maybe it would be best to just let it go. If something bothered his friend he was certain that he would talk to him about it.

He nodded his head and gave a friendly smile, though even he felt slightly less energetic at that point. "This way." He motioned, but for whatever reason he did stay a few steps away from Adrian this time. Weird, nothing had really happened between them and still he could feel a growing wall. Maybe it was his imagination that took over a bit.

They entered the part of the garden that grew roses in different colors. When all of them bloomed they made beautiful images. But that wouldn't be visible during the night. Even so, Paris thought they were even more beautiful during the night as they almost shimmered in the moonlight. While roses wasn't his favorite flowers, the rose garden was definitely his favorite place in the garden. "This is it, the rose garden." He said, noticing how dull it seemed when saying it out loud. "It has been here since medieval times, around 700 years ago when this castle was first built." He explained. "It is said that the king of that time proposed to his one true love in the middle of the garden, completely surrounded by roses. Years later, they died at the same spot."

"Some say that those whom confesses their love at that very spot will live happily and be forever bound until death do them apart. Others say that the roses are forever cursed by the first king and queen, if you ever confesses your love to someone close enough to the roses, then they will hear you and your love will end in tragedy." It was a story his mother often had told him. It didn't mean much as their people didn't believe in curses, it was just a story. "But I think the last one is kind of humbug, my father proposed to mother out there, and so far they're pretty happy." He wondered slightly if he ever would find someone whom he would love enough to take to that very spot. Or if he would fall for the pressure and marry someone just for the sake of marriage.
 
Adrian noted the distance but honestly couldn't say whether it was he or Paris who was doing it at this point. He was continuing this walk because to not do so would probably make things worse. He only half listened as Paris started talking, having no interest in history while he was so deeply involved in his own thoughts and emotions right now. He also really didn't want to hear about such dour things as 'true love'. He didn't believe in such things, he couldn't even remember a time when he had. Relationships were a work in progress, if you were into that sort of thing anyway.

There was a nagging voice in the back of his head that told him now was a moment to tease Paris a little, ask him if he considered ever doing so with anyone. He quite firmly ignored it. He didn't think he would be able to keep himself under control if he prodded the wound like it while it was so fresh. Instead he glanced around the garden and seemed to conjure some sort of powder which he tossed into the air, covering the roses briefly before shimmering away into nothing. "Indeed. There is no curse over this garden." Though Adrian was very tempted to take care of that little problem. He managed another smile, slightly more real this time. "So you may speak as you wish around these without fear of repercussions." He moved over to sit on a bench, taking the garden in with a melancholy expression. "It is quite beautiful, I can see why this area would be your favorite."
 
That nagging feeling didn't leave Paris's mind. Had he truly done something to offend his friend? It was hard to apologize without knowing what he had done wrong, and it felt embarrassing to ask in case he was just paranoid. Maybe if he left it alone for the night the feeling would just go away.

"Yeah, but it's not like I have many places to choose from." A small sigh unintentionally escaped from his throat. Being stuck in the castle, and only doing small tours within the country didn't give him many favorite options. There were so many places he wished he could visit, but as the only heir to the throne, his parents was quite paranoid. If someone would wish to kill him, then they would most likely try it out when he weren't in the palace. The further away and the less protection he had, the higher was the risks. There were people whom wanted to get rid of the whole royal family so that the nation could get a chosen president instead. But the majority of the population refused that change.

As his mind made its way back to reality, Paris couldn't help but finally responding to that nagging feeling. "Did I... do something wrong?" He asked as he itched the back of his ear, a bad habit, he always did that when he were in an uncomfortable discussion.
 
Adrian was slow to respond to his question. He really did not want to deal with this right now, and preferably not ever. Failing that he was definitely taking his time to decide on the best response. He was angry right now but he would definitely be unhappy with himself in the morning if he blew everything because a passing moment of irritation. Finally he sighed softly and stood up, turned so he was only half facing Paris. "Do not worry about it. You did nothing wrong, it was simply a cultural misunderstanding, only to be expected after all." He kept his voice calm, betraying no hint of his actual emotions. This had to be handled carefully so he did not give away his intentions either. "If anything I am at fault, but it is of no concern for you."
 
So that was why. A misunderstanding. Relief showered over Paris as he now was certain that he understood. They must have some tradition similar to the ones in Fernich, where closeness wasn't a big deal. It wasn't too much of a deal even in his own country, but kissing each other wasn't part of the daily ritual.

"I see." He started, and continued after a short pause. "But it definitely is a concern of mine. You are visiting from a country far away, and it is my duty to make sure that no guest will feel uncomfortable because of the differences in culture, or other reasons. Titles aside, I still do feel concerned when my friend is feeling upset." He knew there were little he cold do about it, as their cultures were ridiculously different from each other.

"Usually I do learn how someone's culture works before they come here, so that I can make them feel at home. But as you know, it isn't too easy with your people as we don't know anything about you. So I would love to hear about your culture and learn so that I don't do mistakes like this in the future." Knowing that he might have hurt his friend's feelings because he was too uneducated in a certain topic was annoying, and he felt bad for it. Hurting Adrian was the last thing he wanted to do. Hurting anyone at all was the last thing he wanted to do.
 
Adrian felt some strong relief that his careful phrasing has panned out. At least somewhat. Now Paris wanted to learn more about his culture and no doubt would be looking for some sort of clue as to what had happened between them. Of course, considering what had happened with Paris perhaps it really was just a cultural misunderstanding. He sighed softly and turned to face Paris fully once again. "I can try. It is hard to describe customs and thoughts that are at the almost intuitive level at this point. Honestly it seems I have more to learn than you do on this."

Adrian thought desperately of some way to sidetrack this conversation. "Anyway, you really just wanted to come out here to see more magic didn't you?" He flashed a coy grin, hoping to land on a sufficiently tempting subject.
 
The change of subject was surprising, but very welcomed. Not because he wanted to change the topic, but because the topic it was changed to was one of his favorites. His brain didn't even bother to wonder why it was changed so hastily.

"I did not." Paris said truthfully, as he hadn't really thought about it before Adrian brought it up. "But if you want to show of your amazingness so badly, who am I to stop you." Wow, now he even bent words in a way they could not be bent. There was a lot of excitement in the young prince's voice, even though he tried to hide it for the sake of the joke. To see magicians perform the art of illusions by tricking the audience eyes to let them see what was really not there was always fun, especially when you hadn't figured out the tricks yet. But to see real magic being performed right in front of you eyes, where no tricks was used, that was breathtaking.
 
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