M11: Meanwhile... The Date

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Mission 11 - Part 2	Mission 11 - Epilogue	
The sun shines brightly above the Aetherian gardens, soft light dappling across the leaves in the trees. A natural grove of birch trees grows near the center of the gardens, with a spot perfect for a basket lunch underneath their shade -- and this is where Alaric, Tara, and Gaius arrive, with Tara eagerly slithering ahead, scanning the ground for the best location.
: (stopping at the foot of the largest birch tree) Ooh, thisss spot looksss lovely~! Let’sss set up the basssket here, shall we?
: (hefting a picnic basket in the air with his tail) Agreed, my love. Gaius, if you wouldn’t mind--
: But of course, milord. Allow me…
The bug hurries to take the basket from Alaric and set up the plates of various dishes while Alaric and Tara lay out a blanket over the newly-grown grass. Soon, the small feast is ready, and the two snakes settle onto the blanket as Gaius steps away from his handiwork with pride in his eyes.
: Yes, I do believe Boris has outdone himself this time. I will be sure to pass along your compliments to the chef, heh.
: (edging closer to Tara) Thank you, Gaius.
: My pleasure. (rocking back and forth on his heels)
: (exchanges glances with Tara then stares pointedly at Gaius)
: Sire?
: That will be all.
: O-Oh, my apologies, sire. I… I’ll just go then.
Gaius rushes away, almost tripping in his haste, and Tara giggles under her breath, half-hiding her mouth with the side of her hood.
: For someone as obssservant as him, Gaiusss can be quite obtussse.
: Well, at least he’s gone now, and we can enjoy our date.
: And I know jussst the way to do that~
She snuggles closer to him, and they’re about to kiss -- when Maeve abruptly appears!
: Th’re ya ar’, Tara! What’re ya doin’ ou--
: What doesss it LOOK like I’m doing, Maeve?
: Ummm…
: (pulling away from Alaric with a heavy sigh) Never mind. I told you thisss morning that I would be going with Alaric to the gardensss.
: Was THA’ wha’ ya said? Must’ve dozed off durin’ tha’ part, ya woke me up so early.
: It’s alright, Maeve, just… go.
: Ya got it, milady -- an’ Alaric, nice spread ya got th’re!
: Maa-eve.
: (waving over her shoulder) I’m goin’, I’m goin’...
The panda traipses away, and it’s Alaric’s turn to laugh under his breath, and Tara peers at him curiously.
: What’sss so funny?
: Just imagining you waking up before the crack of dawn to prepare for today’s outing. You are no early riser, my love.
: Well, I wasss exxxcited! You promisssed thisss date of oursss a long time ago, and I wasssn’t about to let you sslip away from it.
: I have no intention of slipping away -- you know how good I am at keeping my word.
: Hmm, you sssnake charmer, you~
He leans in, aiming a smooch on his wife’s forehead… not noticing Nimue silently wandering the gardens just beyond the nearby bushes. She spares the royal couple a passing glance; apparently, she didn’t mind them invading her garden. But before she could continue on her patrol, another figure runs in and bumps into her.
: (under his breath) S-Sorry, Nimue, didn’t see you there.
: (in an equally quiet voice) I find that hard to believe. I am much taller than you.
: Err, right… So… What are you doing?
: Inspecting the trees.
: Nicccholaasss!
: Geez, how hard is it to ditch a bird?
: (flying in) THERE you are, sire! I was so enraptured by my lecture on the history of agriculture in Aether that I hadn’t noticed you’d left right away. What on earth are you doing here?
: O-Oh, I was, uh --
: Learning about trees from Nimue!
: Truly?
: …
Without a word, Nimue turns away from the prince and bird, and continues on her route, occasionally stopping by a tree to take a leaf or twig from it. Nicholas and Charles watch her with confused looks on their faces.
: Oh, is she moving onto the next tree, sire?
: Oh, uh, yeeees? Yes. Yes, definitely, let’s go.
: If you must follow me, then do so silently.
: Oh, you mean so we don’t bother my parents, right?
: No, I mean I want you to shut your mouth.
: A-ah, right. Sorry.
The three leave in silence - well, relative silence, occasionally Darwing makes a comment, much to Nimue’s displeasure - leaving the snakes alone, never the wiser of the presence of the other ‘mons.
: So, Tara, you mentioned to me last night of an idea you had for when our citizens return back from Naklin, something to “warm their spirits”?
: Right, I did… I think hosssting a play would be a great way to entertain our citizensss. I have heard that some people are sstill anxxxious from their time in Sssazanami, and while the fessstival helped, I don’t believe it wasss enough. Then, last week, I noticced the Aetherian’s theatre, completely barren, and I thought, ‘well, we ssshould throw a play to lift their heartsss!’
: (nodding) Hmm, yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea.
: You think sso?
: I know so! After all, it was your idea that we have this--
: DUCK!
Alaric dives for his wife, pulling her to the side as a flaming ball lands with a poof of smoke in the center of their picnic! As the smoke clears, they can hear coughing, and Klutz flutters unevenly from the wreckage, waving a paw in front of his nose.
: Phew, I would NOT recommend eating THAT, yikes!
: (looking up) Oh, hi there, king and queen! How are you doing today?
: We were fine, until…
: (glancing at the destroyed picnic) Ohhh no, this was YOUR food, wasn’t it? Geez, I’m sooo sorry! Mindy’s latest experiment, it was all sparkly and tingly and I just touched it once -- only once! -- and zoom, I went flying up up up before landing down here!
: It’s alright, we’re only glad that you are unharmed.
: Heh, me too! (flaps away) Bye, lord and lady! Sorry again for the mess!
: How Bál deals with his subordinates’ antics I’ll never know… but come, we should be able to--
: Tara? Goodness, darling, what’s wrong?
: (tries to hide her tears) I’m sssorry, Alaric, I wanted today to go perfectly, to have a wonderful time with you--
: And I have! (reaches his tail tip to Tara’s cheek, wiping her tears away) One ruined picnic means nothing to me; it’s you that’s important to me. So long as you love me, nothing could keep us apart.
: Not even a Pokémon falling randomly from the sky?
: Not even that.
: Hmm, well, that’sss a relief. I supossse we should return to the castle now?
: (threading his tail around hers, gently pulling her away from the picnic wreckage) I was actually considering going for a stroll through the gardens.
: (leaning into her husband’s side, tucking her head in-between his collar and neck) That soundsss amazzzing~
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Mission 11 - Part 2	Mission 11 - Epilogue	
Category:Meanwhiles
Category:Arc 2
Category:Aether