Roleplay

He shot her back a playful sneer, though he had to crane his neck a bit because of the height difference between Lady and Blackfire. Wonder how she stuck up with the neck pain for so long. It was already making his own ache in sympathy. Regardless, he was going to be stuck with it until Blackfire decided to behave or Lady got home-sick for her own rider, so he'd see it to its end.

"Can a man not be cautious?" He teased. Kass seemed in a much less uptight mood now that they'd left the castle, eager to be away from his family and the nearly oppressive air of the castle. It felt good to be on the road again, even if it was a temporary and quick journey.

The prince was absent-mindedly stroking the pony's hair when he had the time, marveling at how smooth her mane was. He was starting to wonder why he hadn't switched horses before... "Say, have you ever ridden a dragon mount? They're going to be far worse than that bloke," Kass said, gesturing at Blackfire. The horse gave an offended whinny.

“Ah, well you know you should always be cautious. Not to sound a little like your mom, but you know. Safety is important.” Avery murmured, and shifted her legs in the saddle, sliding her feet back into the stirrups which she had taken then out temporarily. Somehow, she didn’t know how, she had bonded with Blackfire. Maybe it was because he was so terribly annoying that she had forced herself to be around him, or he had simply all of an attached himself, who knows.

“Nope. Haven’t in the slightest. I’ve seen them, never touched one. Which is why I’m riding with you, because I refuse to be left alone with one of those overgrown lizards.” She tried to mask the anxiety and fear in her voice as she used the nicknames, obviously terrified of them.

“Does Sebastian even know how to ride one of them?”

Kassian visibly paused, mouth half-open in an attempt to give Avery a reply. Ah. I hadn't really thought of that up to now. Did Sebastian? Kass had never really bothered to ask, seeing as the two didn't exactly discuss tracking dragons all that much in casual conversation, but it was a good point. If Tian couldn't, it was going to make the return trip an absolute nightmare.

"...You know, I'm not sure," he finally mused aloud. Blackfire audibly snorted and drew an offended scoff from the prince.

He shifted a bit atop Lady, attempting to ignore the glances from a passing cart of merchants that looked to gawk at either of the horses. Their top-notch care in the stables definitely made them stand out more than they had before. They looked more like expensive race-horses than travel companions. "Suppose we'll find out though. Do you think you'll be able to ride them? They're not exactly that hard, once you get used to them. Just takes a bit of tugging to keep them in line." Much like a certain ebony-colored horse still whinnying condescending.

“Well, I certainly hope this doesn’t come back and bite us in the butt. I suppose if needed we could always hire some people to help us out, sort of like a carriage driver, yes?” Avery sighed as she nodded, wracking her brain for possibilities and ideas. “I know they’ve had their moments when they were dangerous, before humans knew how to socialize with them, but as long as you pick good ones, we should be alright. That means you can’t pick one just because it’s bigger then all the rest.”

She rolled her eyes. She knew Kassian a little too well at this point. “Uh, probably not. But, if I’m clinging to you for dear life, I’ll assume that I’ll stay on fairly easily, since you know, I’m not exactly a huge fan of heights, I’ll be fine. I hope.” She seemed to pale slightly at the mention of heights.

“P-Plus I just feel safer with you…”

(got to call off work bc i've had a migraine since like midnight smh)

"You're... afraid of heights?" Kassian suddenly looked a bit concerned, though didn't stop Lady in hear they'd run into a merchant's cart. They were currently travelling through what looked to be a road-side carnival of sorts, camped out on some of the busiest trade routes in Revengrand. They'd set up tents and attractions for a few days before moving onto another part of the road. Temporary, but Kass assumed they were making enough money to keep the business going.

The pair had started to enter the large collection of tents, which made navigating the large road a bit trickier than usual. People were scattered everywhere to gawk at what looked to be performers and musicians. "You- you realize the mounts are going to fly, right? They're dragons, after all. They can catch a scent and then follow it in the air." It saved energy and time.

He let his eyes linger on a tent larger than all the others, occasionally admitting flashing lights from within the canvas. It looked like there was a large show going on inside.

(Oh my. Rip- I shall pray for you. But at least you got out of work?)

“Uhm, yes I am afraid of heights.. are you judging me for that?” Avery furrowed hee brow as she sent him a teasing look. “It’s not very nice to judge people you know, actually kind of a royal thing to do though. It’s a genetical thing, I’ll take it?” Her teased, rather proud of what she had came up with.

“Duh, I know they’ll fly. But, I’ll be riding with you. We’ll both be sharing because there’s no way in hell that I’ll be riding one of those beasts by myself. The other one can follow us. Easy. What in the- what is that?”

Kassian had been readying something of a sneering retort, but Avery's caught attention made his eyes shift back to the large tent.

It was certainly a sight to behold, with all those lights and patterns. Almost like it was beckoning the two inside both to enjoy themselves and to spend an unruly amount of money on fair-food and trinkets. Nothing we'd need, certainly. Already don't have enough for this journey in my opinion. The prince had to admit the idea was attractive, though. Especially when Lady would trot and shake the small bag of coin in his left pants-pocket.

Glancing back at Avery only served to concrete the notion. He gestured a bit with his head to steer the two toward the layers of tents and off the main road. Lady had to swerve to avoid a merchant's wagon. "That, my dear, would be a travelling circus."

Has she never...? Gah, of course she hadn't. That horrid father of her's had had Avery cooped up on a boat most of her life. She wouldn't have the slightest clue what went on in a circus tent. Not that Kassian was much better, considering he never left the castle before the fateful night he'd been kidnapped, but at least he knew was a carnival was. "You know? Clowns, food, performers?" He glanced over with a soft smile. "Musicians, too. A lot of musicians."

(mhm!! definitely LMAO)

Avery sent him an utterly confused, lost look. “Circus? Interesting word.. never heard it before. New invention, yes? Ah, aren’t clowns more in nightmares? That doesn’t exactly sound appealing, paired with food.” She looked about, curious. Clowns wouldn’t ever be a favorite of hers. So if she ever had that rare chance of a possibility, well, she’d avoid the uncomfortable idea.

“Maybe sometime we ought to go, when we aren’t missing one of the crown princes? Because between the two of us, I think we both know we’re slightly screwed if Sebastian is dead.”

"Mmph, I suppose your right." Even so, Kassian still had the urge to coral the group into the tent on the basis of Avery needing new experiences. All she's had so far is traveling through the wilderness and living in castles. It was pretty close to his own childhood, and he severely regretted his earlier years. If it's something I can give her, I want too.

Kassian looked to mull over a further reply for a few more moments before speaking again. "You know, I do think that Sebastian ran away with someone. I don't think any one person would be able to get past our guards long enough to snatch him up like that." And Gods only knew he'd be putting up a lot more of a fuss if he was kidnapped. The room he was in would've been an absolute mess- not two trails of footprints calmly leading out from the castle's courtyards.

"How about it then, hm?" He said, turning his head back to Avery. He'd already started to nudge Lady toward the large, glowing tent; intent on hooking her up to one of the many temporary stables erected in places around the carnival. The pony gave a soft whinny of protest at the sudden change in direction but otherwise didn't fuss as she was turned off the road.

“Y-You know, I’m not so sure this is such a great idea. It could be dangerous, I could get kidnapped, you could get kidnapped, the horses could get stolen, someone could try and steal our money, we could get lost, you could lose me, I could lose you..” Avery continued to ramble, obviously nervous.

From the way this tent appeared, it seemed as if there was quite a crowd of people on the inside, and it made her uncomfortable to think of all of her worries. Most of them were legit worries, while others weren’t so much. “P-Promise me, you won’t leave me, right? And we won’t be spending the night here, or anything? You don’t know anyone here?”