Chaos in the Castle

@ katahdin

Charles let out the smallest hum in response to Maisie's words at first. Though once he was sure that the woman against his chest was sound asleep, Charles whispered. "I like you too, Maisie," It was not long after that Charles was sound asleep. Even throughout the night, he kept her close to his chest.

It was not until later in the morning that Charles started to stir under all of the blankets and the woman against his chest. In truth, he was actually beginning to find himself quite hot. Though it still took him a minute or so to open his eyes as he was comfortable under the the weight of Maisie and the blankets over him. "Good morning." Charles mumbled, wondering if he was going to get a response.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie let out a tired groan as she felt Charles stirring next to her, her eyes fluttering open to peer up at him when he wished her a good morning before she tucked her face back into his chest. Like she'd predicted, it was the nicest night's sleep she'd had in ages, and to say she was reluctant to get up after how cold it had been in the night was an understatement.

"Five more minutes.." she mumbled against his skin, her arms tightening a little around him. She was a bit too warm under all of the blankets, but some of the top layer could easily be discarded, and they could continue to lay around like this for however long they wanted.

@ katahdin

His eyes slowly glanced down at Maisie as she mumbled against his chest. Part of him was surprised that she wasn't ready to jump out of bed with him now that the morning had come and neither of them were freezing. Though he did not think much on it, assuming that the princess was just comfortable where she was and perhaps just not a morning person.... not that it was early in the morning anymore but that was not the point. Waking up could be difficult no matter what time of day.

"Okay, five more minutes." Charles agreed. One arm re-wrapped around Maisie, lightly holding her waist as he kept her pressed into him. Though one hand found freedom as it started to pull off some of the layers that were on top of them. It was a bit too much to handle as Charles didn't like getting hot but he was able to settle down again when all they were left was one blanket atop them.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie hummed in approval as he agreed to five more minutes and wrapped his arm around her again, letting out a happy little sigh as he pulled off some of the layers of blankets that were boiling them alive. She never liked waking up in the mornings, although she had to admit that waking up next to Charles wasn't the worst.

"Did you sleep ok?" She asked softly after a few minutes, looking up at him sleepily as she shifted a bit to get more comfortable, although she stayed curled up next to him, not ready to move away or get up for the day quite yet.

@ katahdin

"I did." Charles murmured back to her. "Once we were warm it was a lot more comfortable." He let out a small sigh of satisfaction. Though he slowly turned his head and glanced at the side of the tent. It was late morning now...

His eyes turned back to the sleepinv beauty besides him. Charles wtarted to slowly run his fingers through her hair like he had done the night before. "We should probably get up and have breakfast."

@ Sweet.Persephone

"I'm glad. It wouldn't be fair of me to get such a good night's sleep while you were miserable." Maisie murmured sleepily before yawning, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. She hummed though as he began to run his fingers through her hair like he'd done the night before, closing her eyes contently as she leaned her head into his touch.

"I know you're right.. but it's so comfortable here." She murmured, taking a few moments to enjoy the moment before she opened her eyes again, offering him a little smile. "We'll probably have to get the fire going again, since it's probably mostly coals by now.. But what would you like for breakfast?" She asked, reaching up to brush a bit of his hair away from his eyes.

@ Sweet.Persephone

"I'm glad. It wouldn't be fair of me to get such a good night's sleep while you were miserable." Maisie murmured sleepily before yawning, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. She hummed though as he began to run his fingers through her hair like he'd done the night before, closing her eyes contently as she leaned her head into his touch.

"I know you're right.. but it's so comfortable here." She murmured, taking a few moments to enjoy the moment before she opened her eyes again, offering him a little smile. "We'll probably have to get the fire going again, since it's probably mostly coals by now.. But what would you like for breakfast?" She asked, reaching up to brush a bit of his hair away from his eyes.

@ katahdin

Charles let out a small hum in response, not wanting to agree or disagree that he was comfortable. He was, of course, but for some reason he didn't really want her to know that... "That is definitely true. I put it out last night to avoid the fire getting out of control. Of course it was still hot and burning a bit but... well I am sure by know and with hold cold it was last night that it is out completely and we will have to make a new one." As she asked what he wanted for breakfast, Charles glanced to the side for a moment before giving a shrug. "What did you bring?"

Not wanting to wait a moment more, Charles' slid his arms off of Maisie and slowly started to sit up in their makeshift bed. He was careful not to cause her to fall off of him or anything of the like. But he wanted to make it clear that he was getting ready to move now.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie huffed a little in irritation as he sat up, but rolled onto her back to allow him to get up without being in his way, humming tiredly as she stretched. "I can make the fire again if you want, since I did it the other day. As for breakfast, I brought some oatmeal that we could make, and then some canned fruit if we wanted something sweet. Nothing fancy or special like a fresh caught fish, but better than nothing."

She smiled up at him teasingly as she spoke, sitting up herself after a minute to start folding up the blankets that he'd removed, dividing them into two piles since she figured he would want to go back to sleeping separately now that they weren't going to freeze to death.

@ katahdin

Once Charles was back onto his feet, he pulled his shirt back on over his head. He then grabbed a pair of pants and pulled them on over his boxers. It was a good thing that he took both of them off last night as Charles felt like that was one of the reasons they were able to warm up so quickly. Though it felt a little weird being almost naked and having to pull his clothes back on in front of her. But it was what it was.

"Oatmeal and fruit sounds great. And I can get the fire going if you still need some time to wake up." Charles glanced back at her with a grin before he stepped out of the tent, putting his shoes on as he did so. Once he left it, he zipped it back up to keep the bugs out before walking over to the the ash that used to be a fire the day before. Charles sat down on one of the rocks and started to work on lighting it back up so they could make their breakfast. They would have to boil water first so it might take some time but at least there wasn't much for them to do.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie had turned away from him to give him a bit of privacy as he got dressed, taking her time folding up their blankets and tidying up in general. She turned back to him with a little smile at his teasing, making a face at him as she giggled. "I'm up, I'm up.. It's not my fault I'm not a morning person." She said as she stretched, giving a little nod as he agreed to their breakfast plans.

"Alright. I'll be out in a minute, I just want to put on a new pair of socks." She said, waving a little as he headed out. She took a minute do as she'd said and put on a new pair of socks before heading out of the tent to join him once she was done. She grabbed the oatmeal and little cups of fruit from the food bag, along with a bottle of water and their cups before moving over to sit next to him. "Get it going yet?"

@ katahdin

"Just a little fire so nothing impressive." Charles mumbled beforw hw lightly blew on the flames. After he had done that a few times, the fire had grown ans was not beginnig to catch onto the logs and other burning material that he had put in the campfire area.

The man then leaned back and gave his work a little nod. "That should do it. Now it just needs a minute or two before we can set a pot of water down for our oatmeal." His eyes shifted to meet hers with a grin on his face. "What do you want to do today?"

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded as she watched him get the fire going, returning his smile as he looked over at her. "Hmm.. Not sure. Breakfast first, obviously. But then maybe we could go for a walk, or if it gets hot we could swim. We should also probably figure out when we're going to go back, or try to figure out how to get out of this marriage.." she sighed, rubbing at her eyes.

Once the fire was going well enough Maisie set the little pot of water next to it in the coals to heat up, putting the oatmeal in after a bit. "Do you have any ideas?'

"Yeah those are some good ideas....and we should figure all of that stuff out as well." Charles glanced down at the fire for a long moment. He didn't want to have to worry about going back or what they were going to do about the marriage. Though it was not an option to keep pushing it back. Well, the tearing down the marriage thing he was fine talking about now. It was the going back home part that Charles just wanted to let simmer for a while.

"I was never planning on staying out here too long.... That being said, I don't want to go back too soon," Charles said as he let out a small sigh. "A walk could be a good idea. Or swimming if it is hot. I am fine with either."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded a little in agreement, letting out a little sigh as she moved to stir the oatmeal in the pan as it heated up. "Agreed, I want to go back soon, but not quite now.. And like I said yesterday, I might have a few ideas about how to get out of the marriage, but I'm hoping that things don't have to come to what I've thought of.."

Once the oatmeal was done she pulled the pan off the fire, mixing in a bit of brown sugar before dividing it up between their mugs, passing him his before setting the open can of fruit between them. "I figured it'd be easiest to just share the fruit straight from the can." She explained, offering him a spoon with a little smile. "But yes, I'd be happy to go for a walk or a swim, or whatever you wanted to do."

@ katahdin

"Thank you," Charles said as he took the hot oatmeal from her. He shifted in his seat slightly before pushing the spoon into it. "Well, I still think it is for the best if we go back separately. Even if it is only a day apart." His eyes shifted to glance over at Maisie for a long moment. "And you need to go back first. Not that you couldn't be fine out here by yourself but... well I just know what I am doing a bit more. Plus, like I said, whoever goes home first will get more sympathy."

He let out a sigh. "You should either go tomorrow or the next day. We don't want to push them to the point of doing something really dramatic." Charles shook his head a bit. Though he would not be surprised if their parents were already at that point. "Well, lets see what the temperature is like here in an hour or so. Then we can decide what to do for the day."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie hummed a little as she took a few bites of her oatmeal, nudging her knee against his. "I'd say probably only a day apart, since I'd feel awful if anything happened to you while I wasn't here. I don't think I'll get much sympathy, though. But I hope you do when you come back. And just think, you'll have all that ice cream waiting for you when you get back." She offered him a little smile before going back to eating her oatmeal.

"I can go tomorrow. I'll head back tomorrow night, so hopefully no one will see me or expect me." She said, nodding in agreement as he suggested they wait a bit before deciding what to do today.

@ katahdin

“A day apart it is then,” Charles said in response. Though he wasn’t positive that he would hold up to his part in it. An extra day or two would be nice. Plus the further apart they came back, the less likely their parents would think they were together. Besides, Charles wanted to piss off his parents after everything that happened but.... we’ll he also knew it would be rather mean to leave Maisie there by herself to deal with everything. He would have to think about it.

“Yeah, tomorrow would be for the best,” Charles said with a light sigh. “Unfortunately we’re not on vacation where we can go back whenever we want. Though I am not sure you’ll be able to sneak your way back in at this point,”

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded in agreement, remaining mostly silent as they ate their breakfast. She knew Charles would probably wait and come back a day or two after she did, but she'd be lying if she said that she wouldn't be worried for him the entire time he was gone, and she'd much rather take the brunt of their parent's anger than him.

"I think I'll be able to sneak back. At least hopefully I'll be able to. I may not be a survival expert like yourself, but I do have some tricks up my sleeve." She teased with a smile, setting her empty mug down once she was done eating. "So.. Any ideas yet on how to get out of the marriage, assuming our parents don't kill us when we get back, of course."

@ katahdin

Charles rubbed the back of his neck as Maisie mentioned sneaking back into the castle once again. "Well....I don't really think you need to sneak in, to be honest. As long as it is not obvious that you came from the forest." The older man let out a long hum before giving her a bit of a shrug. "Maybe it will be best if you sneak in. Then you can take a shower and hide everything. Well, I suppose that it will be what it will be."

Once he finished up his meal, he set down the cup and leaned back a bit. "I used to have a couple of ideas but as this just keeps going on, it is more and more clear to me that it will have to be something drastic." Charles let out a sigh. "We need to find something in between threatening to abdicate and just doing nothing." After a moment, a large smile moved over Charles' face as he turned to her. "Hey, any chance that you love someone? Like romantically? Maybe...someone you would want to...I don't know...have an elopement with?"