Normally Kita would try to put at least a little bit of effort into his appearance, due to attending such a high profile event. He has nice clothes, though obviously he didn't buy any of them. They were all purchased for him by the royal family. Not even just Alexis, his mother also bought Kita more presentable clothes, once she realized that he would be attending almost every event with her son.

Kita tolerates them. The people that go are rich and royal, so they aren't the best company. They all fall over themselves for Alexis' approval, but they look down on Kita. Unfortunately for them, the latter ensures the former will never happen.

Despite the fact he knows he'll get looks for it, Kita puts no effort into his appearance for this dinner. Sorry, but he just does not have the energy. He's tired and fed up and generally not in the mood to be participating in this. Alexis is so lucky Kita loves him, because he's really having a rough time.

Of everything he's feeling, however, there's one that stands out above it all: hunger. Kita is absolutely starving, but he can't keep anything down. Granted, he hasn't tried again after the eggs, but that's mostly because nothing is appetizing.

Kita takes another shower and wears his normal, comfortable but slightly worn clothes. He doesn't have a way to get there initially, but his parents will be in for the night, so he gets permission to take Bermuda. Then, once it hits the evening, he's on his way. Normally Alexis would've stayed with him so they could arrive together, but for some reason his mom wanted him at the castle before the event. Kita doesn't know why, but he also doesn't really care.

He's so ready for this to be over.

After his arrival, Kita leaves Bermuda outside in the stables with the other horses. There aren't many, most people having taken carriages. They're all wearing gowns and suits and looking like they have money. Kita looks like absolute shit, and he doesn't even care. He promises Bermuda he will be back for her later, then heads towards the entrance of Sinclair Palace.

There are a lot of people walking inside, and Kita doesn't really like being around so many people at once. Again, he usually doesn't care, but something is different today. He walks through the front door and down the few hallways, where everyone else is also walking, until he finally enters the large ballroom.

Kita immediately starts scanning the crowd for Alexis, who is basically his safety blanket for these occasions. He's never been more thankful in his life that Alexis always insists Kita not leave his side, because the last thing he wants right now is to be forced to associate with these people.

Kita eventually finds Alexis, towards the corner of the room, speaking with a man who is vaguely familiar. Kita immediately makes a beeline for him, ready to follow him around the rest of the night and talk to nobody. The food at these events is usually really good, so hopefully Kita will be able to keep that down. It would make the night bearable.

Alexis notices Kita only a few seconds later, from across the room. His eyes immediately light up, and Kita reaches him soon after. Alexis is visibly happy to see him, possibly because Kita's already almost an hour late—though clearly he's not the only one. Still, Alexis might've thought Kita wouldn't show up.

Upon Kita's presence, Alexis wraps an arm around him and pulls him against his side. Kita can't help but to frown, because Alexis isn't usually so touchy with him. He's a little touchy, but not like this. He doesn't casually touch Kita for extended amounts of time, which is what this is. Kita is just tucked into his side, and Alexis goes back to his conversation. People begin to stare after a moment, and Kita feels uncomfortable.

He's not uncomfortable because of the touching. It actually doesn't bother him at all, he could stay like this for hours. All the people around are making him feel self conscious, though. He keeps his eyes on the floor, face feeling warm for some reason.

At least five minutes go by before Alexis releases him, and his heart is beating faster. The guy he was talking to walks away, and then Alexis is facing him.

"We're ditching this place as soon as we can," Alexis notifies Kita, who is completely on board with that. He's glad Alexis doesn't care about him not dressing up, too. He didn't think he would, but it's still refreshing. Kita takes note that Alexis is standing really close, and he smells good. Kita finds himself kind of missing their previous position.

"Okay," Kita agrees. Alexis nods at him.

"Sorry about that," he says, probably referring to all the touching. Kita shrugs, not minding it at all. Should he? "I was right, she's trying to set me up."

Well that kind of makes sense. Kita doesn't really know what he has to do with it, but alright. He hadn't noticed before, but there are a lot of young women here. They are all very pretty and are dressed in clothes Kita could never hope to afford. They're also very obviously all eyeing Alexis up. Kita starts to feel uncomfortable again.

"You should ask someone to dance."

Alexis' face twists to one of displeasure, not liking that idea. Kita doesn't understand why he's so opposed to getting in a relationship. Kita just wants him to make his mother happy, the poor lady is having a rough time on the throne by herself. Alexis needs to take over, soon. Really soon, before her health suffers further.

"What?"

Don't get him wrong, Kita doesn't want Alexis in a relationship or married or anything. Again, that would mean less time with him. However, Eve keeps giving Kita looks, and he gets the sense that Alexis actually listening to her might help with that. It's not like she was ever against their friendship, but she sure never liked how close they were with each other.

Kita blinks up at him, thinking it should be obvious what he means. "Find someone you want to marry, and ask them to dance or something. It would make your mom happy."

Alexis stares at him for a long moment. "Okay. Wanna dance?"

Kita frowns, processing this. He was never one for dancing, so he doesn't understand—

Then, the real meaning behind Alexis' question catches up with him. He can't help the way his eyes widen, looking up at Alexis while his face grows warm once again. What is it with Alexis making jokes like that lately?

"Uh—I—" Kita stammers, watching as Alexis starts to look amused. Ugh. "Shut up."

Alexis scans the crowd, seeming to move on. This doesn't mean Kita does as well. He feels his heartbeat increasing, starting to sweat. Alexis gets a frown on his face, and Kita can't look away. God, today has been so weird.

"I'm gonna go see when dinner starts. I'm bored."

Then, he's gone, and Kita tries to regulate his breathing. What is going on?

Dinner starts pretty quickly after that, everyone going up to the food tables and filling their plates. Kita tells Alexis to only get him a small amount, taking a seat at a large table in the center of the room, where the rest of Alexis' family will be.

After getting them food, Alexis takes a seat next to Kita. His mother, sister, and his sister's boyfriend join them soon after. They don't talk much, but Eve looks displeased. When Kita and Alexis' sister make eye contact, she smiles at him. He does so back, but it's half hearted. He feels out of place, knowing the queen probably doesn't want him here.

Kita will occupy all of Alexis' attention for as long as he's here, so there's no hope of him talking to any of these girls. Eve and Kita always got along decently, and the lady loves Liz, but she never appreciated how much her son liked Kita. She always seemed to view him as some sort of distraction.

"So," the empress says, cutting up some of the meat on her plate. She's very pretty, looks quite similar to Alexis. She has more scarring from her monster hunting days, and skin half a shade darker, but he gets a lot of his features from her. "I met the princess of Idura. She's pretty. Really sweet girl."

Idrua is an empire to the north, known for its cold climate. It is freezing up there, Kita can't imagine living in such a place. Eve's description checks out, though. The Idruans are commonly regarded as being quite friendly.

Alexis doesn't reply verbally, aside from a noise of acknowledgement that sounds similar to a grunt. His mother narrows her eyes at him. Kita and Alexis' sister—Reva, who Kita has always gotten along with—exchange looks. There has always been so much tension between Alexis and his mother, when it comes to this topic. It never fails to be awkward for all present.

"Also, Princess Ginny of Loport is here. She loves reading. She's really smart, she'd be great for you."

Alexis does not like that idea, face twisting to one of almost disgust. It becomes clear why when he speaks again. "She has vampire lineage."

"That was a dozens generations ago," Eve defends, though she appears to have hoped Alexis had forgotten that. The fact she's still defending the girl is a telltale sign of how desperate she is for Alexis to marry. Usually any sort of vampire in your DNA would keep you from entering Amarath to begin with, let alone ruling, no matter how far down the line. Then again, the laws have lessened a bit over time. Also, if it was so long ago, the vampire in her would be less than 1%. It's still a deal breaker?

Kita can't help but to focus mostly on the look on Alexis' face. How disturbed he is at the idea of being with someone who comes from a vampire bloodline, one that's been over for hundreds of years in fact. It's still out of the question for him. For some reason, the concept bothers Kita.

"I'd rather the empire burn down."

"You do not mean that," Eve says, looking angry, and she's right. Alexis cares very much for Amarath, he's just being dramatic. Kita gulps, deciding to tune them out and focus on eating. He takes a bite of his potato, and has to put a hand over his mouth to keep himself from spitting out. It tastes absolutely foul. Everything he's eaten today has tasted like it's expired or something.

He forces himself to get it down. He then continues eating, ignoring the way his stomach is turning. Luckily everyone is too focused on the His argument between Alexis and his mother to take notice of Kita's state.

Kita is able to eat half the food on his plate this time—his record for the day—before he feels it all coming right back up.

Kita excuses himself, to a concerned look from Alexis, and exits the room hastily. The nearest bathroom is upstairs, and it is absolutely agonizing to ascend them. It doesn't help his stomach situation at all, and he barely makes it into the bathroom before he's puking his guts out. For the second time that day.

Some of it gets on the floor, as well as the toilet seat. It's messy, and gross, and it tastes even worse on the way back up. By the time it's over he feels nauseous, drool and tears all over his face, dry heaving.

Kita stands up shakily, walking to the sink and washing his face. He rinses his mouth out with a lot of water, since there's no toothpaste at his disposal, and tries to fix his clothing. That isn't as important, since he didn't look that great to begin with. Afterward, he grabs some toilet paper and attempts to clean the puke that got on the fancy tiled floor.

When it's all said and done, he's able to do a pretty decent job cleaning up his mess, though he looks like hell. He's also even hungrier than he was before, which is quite a feat. Once he deems the state of the bathroom as clean as he can probably get it, he gives himself one last once over in the mirror.

His hair is a mess, so he tries to run his hands through it in an attempt to fix it. His eyes are watery, but there's not much he can do about that. He fixes his clothes the best he can and ignores how pale and malnourished he looks, before deciding to head back to the party.

It's difficult to keep his balance on the way back to the ballroom. He has to steady himself on the wall consistently, getting a couple weird looks from estranged party guests and employees. He ignores them all, and eventually is able to successfully navigate his way back.

He notices that something is different immediately. He's not sure how long he was gone, but it had to have been at least thirty minutes. When he enters the room again, the lights are low and everyone is dancing. Those who are not dancing, have their attention set solely on one specific couple who are.

Alexis is dancing in the very middle of it all, with a girl Kita doesn't recognize. The way she's dressed makes him think she's the one Eve was mentioning before. The pretty and nice one from Idrua.

Wow, okay. Of all the things he could've come back to, Kita was not expecting that.

Again, Alexis has never really shown interest in anybody. It's so strange to see him dancing with a girl, and Kita can't see his face very well from this angle and all the people, but he doesn't seem to hate it. He appears to be tolerating it all. Eve is seated at the very front of the room, watching it all happen with a glass of white wine in her hand.

She looks happy.

Kita cannot relate.

He's never seen anything like this. He's never really seen Alexis be nice, generally, to someone who wasn't his family or Kita—and even his family is a stretch. He's so professional, so uncaring about anybody else. It's strange, seeing him dance with her, and Kita doesn't know what to do with himself. He thought he'd have Alexis as his safety blanket, like always, but apparently not.

Kita can't go hang out with Alexis' sister, either, because she's also dancing with her boyfriend. The floor is full of couples, the only people not dancing are the ones who are single. They're standing around the perimeter, talking amongst each other and watching.

Kita feels out of place. He feels uncomfortable. He wants to leave, but he doesn't really know why. Maybe just because he has nothing to do? Maybe because he feels and looks like shit? That's not it, though. There's this feeling he has, that he's never felt before, and it's distracting. That's the real reason he wants to leave, this overwhelming emotion of... sadness? Betrayal, maybe? No, that's not it.

Kita can't leave, though. He can't do so without raising suspicion. So, for lack of a better thing to do, he decides to just go hang out with Eve. Eve who, for the first time all night, is actually alone.

Kita takes a seat next to the woman, and she watches him, appearing content. It's been awhile since Kita has seen her look so happy. Of course, happiness for Empress Eve isn't smiling and cheering or anything. Her happiness is an upturned corner of the mouth and a look of approval.

"Don't they look so good together?" She asks Kita, referring to Alexis and the princess. Kita purses his lips, folding his hands in his lap, and feeling the overwhelming urge to disagree.

He doesn't.

"They do."