[It's an endearment that, in his head, he'd meant to sound teasing and a little bit patronizing; it's only after it leaves his mouth that he realizes there isn't much of a tease in it at all, and it leaves him drawing an uncertain breath, feeling momentarily like he's overstepped a boundary line that he shouldn't have.
Luckily, he's got the tale to fall back on, and he does so briskly.]
They wandered and wandered, until at last they came across a fairy's spring. And as they settled down to rest, the fairy appeared, and asked who they were and why they had come to her spring. So the elder brother explained the witch's treachery, and the curse that had befallen his brother, and told her how they were so very lost, and unable to find their way home.
Now, the fairy had never left her spring, so she had no knowledge of their castle, or how they might return to it. But as she looked the young princeling over, she realized — aha! This was a spell she recognized, and one that she knew how to break. But alas, she cautioned them, the price for breaking it was very dear.
[He strokes Noct's hair lightly.]
For three years, the elder prince would have to live in the forest, collecting the nettles and weaving them into cloth, and sewing the cloth into garments, until he'd managed to make a whole little set of clothes for his brother — a shirt, trousers, a cap, and even socks for his little feet. And in that time, he could neither smile nor laugh nor speak a single word, because if he did his brother would remain a cat forever.
no subject
[It's an endearment that, in his head, he'd meant to sound teasing and a little bit patronizing; it's only after it leaves his mouth that he realizes there isn't much of a tease in it at all, and it leaves him drawing an uncertain breath, feeling momentarily like he's overstepped a boundary line that he shouldn't have.
Luckily, he's got the tale to fall back on, and he does so briskly.]
They wandered and wandered, until at last they came across a fairy's spring. And as they settled down to rest, the fairy appeared, and asked who they were and why they had come to her spring. So the elder brother explained the witch's treachery, and the curse that had befallen his brother, and told her how they were so very lost, and unable to find their way home.
Now, the fairy had never left her spring, so she had no knowledge of their castle, or how they might return to it. But as she looked the young princeling over, she realized — aha! This was a spell she recognized, and one that she knew how to break. But alas, she cautioned them, the price for breaking it was very dear.
[He strokes Noct's hair lightly.]
For three years, the elder prince would have to live in the forest, collecting the nettles and weaving them into cloth, and sewing the cloth into garments, until he'd managed to make a whole little set of clothes for his brother — a shirt, trousers, a cap, and even socks for his little feet. And in that time, he could neither smile nor laugh nor speak a single word, because if he did his brother would remain a cat forever.