The Crown's Entrapment

Calypso was sweating bullets as he sat down in front of Aurelia for lunch. Sure, others might see the occasion as a simple and normal function, but to him, it was yet another chance for him to impress the one woman that actually caught his attention. This was his time to try and make himself presentable... To make her see that he was truly worth her time and effort.

[Just make sure you actually mean what you're saying,] Axel chuckled. [She's a very tough woman to please. She's going to see right through you if you ever say a single lie to her.]

[I know that alright?] Calypso scoffed. [Just let me do my thing. I can handle this.]

And with that, he went ahead and enacted his plans on trying to woo the ever-infallible Aurelia to his side. Sure, she had already said that she was going to give him a chance, but he knew well enough that her own words were far from what other women would've meant when they said they would give a man a chance. Unlike others, Aurelia meant her words in exactly what they meant...

She was going to give him a chance. That's it.

"A rather simple place for lunch for someone of your stature isn't it," Aurelia noted as they entered one of the nearest food places outside the castle that Calypso chose for his attempt. "I would've assumed that you'd choose something... more fitting your price range."

Calypso inwardly winced at Aurelia's first attack. It wasn't something out of malice, of course, but there was a reason why he decided they should have lunch in a more mundane place like where they currently were. On top of having delicious food for the price, it was one of the more empty places that didn't get a lot of patrons in the middle of the day. It was perfect for someone like his mate that clearly didn't like all of the attention, and that was on top of their date going uninterrupted for longer since there weren't enough people to recognize them.

"It's not the price that makes the food, you know," Calypso quickly replied as he pulled out a chair for Aurelia to sit on. "Here."

To his disappointment, Aurelia simply raised an eyebrow before pulling out her own chair. Leaving him hanging, she sat down in front of him with faint amusement in her eyes.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to sit down?"

Caught off-guard, Calypso quickly sat down in front of her, scratching the back of his neck as he did his best to compose himself. Aurelia just had to keep him on his toes... Then again, what else did he expect from her?

Soon enough, a server went and gave them their menus to choose their food from. Calypso, having already known the menu like the back of his hand, went ahead and ordered his own meals before quickly turning his attention back to his mate. He had to try and give her some tips, after all.

Calypso smiled as he began, "So, they have this amazing soup that-"

"I know what I like, Calypso," Aurelia quickly cut him off. "Let me finish my order."

That shut Calypso down before he could even start. He could only watch as Aurelia then went and dictated her simple order to the server before turning her attention back to him.

For what felt like minutes, Calypso stared dumbfounded as his mate clearly waited for him to say something. At every turn, she seemed to just want to shut him down, not even giving him a chance to get in and help as she did everything by herself.

[What are you doing?] his wolf scolded him. [You should be taking the lead.]

[You think I didn't try?] Calypso complained.

[Then try harder.]

Inwardly sighing, Calypso let off a seemingly nonchalant chuckle as he leaned into the table. With their order still taking a while to arrive, he could go ahead and try to make some conversation happen.

"So-"

"So you finally decide to speak, Calypso," Aurelia cut him off yet again with her signature cold scoff. "I was starting to think that I was sitting in front of a statue."

"You're not even giving me a chance to speak," he awkwardly chuckled. "It's kind of hard to start a conversation if the person you're trying to speak to just refuses to give an inch."

"Then wouldn't that be the conversation starter's fault?" she raised an eyebrow as she replied. "In my opinion, if you don't have anything productive to talk about, you might as well save your breath."

Calypso blinked at the utter rejection Aurelia just said to him. He hadn't even started yet and she was already telling him that it was a waste of time to talk to her unless he had something important to say. Well, that wouldn't do at all.

"How are we supposed to get to know each other better then?" he asked.

Aurelia visibly hummed in thought before she replied, "There are better ways to do so than to simply forcing it to happen. Observation, for one. Research is another..."

"So you're telling me to just watch you from a distance?" he almost complained to her. "Wouldn't that be-"

"Slow? Yes, it would," she nonchalantly snapped at him. "It's also less rude and a whole lot more beneficial to the person being observed, especially if they were also too busy to talk in the first place."

​ [She's really not making this easy, huh,] Axel remarked.

[Tell me about it...]

Calypso fought the urge to sigh as his mate went and crossed her arms over her chest. She sat lazily in front of him, looking at him as if she was judging his every word and move.

"Hmm... If you want to get to know me so badly, then let me give you something to chew on," Aurelia scoffed after another bout of awkward silence. "I'm a boring person. If I'm not doing work, I'm doing research. If I'm not doing research, I'm asleep. I hate the outdoors, and I hate exploring. Take that what you will."

He almost flinched at just how cold Aurelia just spoke to him. Their food hadn't even arrived yet and she was already making things too hot for him to handle. Still, he can work with this...