As she had worked on the ‘castle’, Katelynn admired the glow of the room and how he had set it up, all those pictures of rooms surrounded by twinkly lights nearly coming true before her. Granted it was candles instead but it didn’t make it any less romantic. With Christmas coming she could extend the romance in the bedroom by buying plenty of lights to decorate the room with.
Smiling, she got into position and called out a soft “Help..someone help me! I’ve been taken prisoner inside this castle by the evil army. Is anyone brave enough to fight them off and come rescue me or am I doomed to live out the rest of my life trapped here…?”
She tried her best to make it sound authentic and lonely rather than cheesy as she waited for Jack to make his grand entrance.
Jack did his best not to laugh. Really, she had a very good voice for the part – if he hadn’t seen that she was hiding in a pile of pillows, he could have believed she really was in trouble.
“Fear not, dear lady! Help is on the way!” With that, he made his way across the bedroom with dramatic leaps and twirls, making his cape flow as he went. If the costume had come with a sword, he would have drawn it, but for the sake of Jack’s pacifist nature (and for the sake of not knocking anything over), it was probably for the best he didn’t have one.
He reached her bedside, and crept into the pillow fort as best he could without disturbing it. “Princess, are you hurt? Don’t worry, you’re safe now. Th-the evil army has been vanquished.”
She cupped her hands together and brought them near her chest as her lips stretched out into the widest smile. It was from trying not to giggle and break character as she was having so much fun that it was bubbling over.
“Oh brave prince! I feared none would ever come to rescue me. I hope you are not terribly hurt.”
Reaching out, she began to gently run her hands along his torso, knowing this would be completely inappropriate in Old England in the 11th century. But it didn’t have to be accurate.
“Such a strong, handsome prince who has come to rescue me,” she flirted, smiling at him. Her cheeks were beginning to hurt from it.
As she ran her hands over his chest, Jack made a low, pleased sound that was almost a purr. It took him a moment to recover himself and get back in to character, but he went on, with a gallant smile, “Fear not, sweet princess. With my skill and swiftness, the villains left not a mark on me.”
His smile faded a little as, for a moment, he found himself thinking back to all the one-sided fights of his childhood. His tormentors had left plenty of marks back then, and sometimes being able to run fast was the only thing that had kept the little blue boy from being hurt worse. But – oh hell, he didn’t want to be thinking about all that now. He pushed those memories away forcefully, keeping only enough to help him act his part now.
“But, the battle was a long one,” he went on, “and I am quite weary. I’d very much like to rest for a while, in your company.” Feeling better now, Jack reached up and gently brushed some of Katelynn’s hair back. Like her touches and flirting, it would have been a very inappropriate gesture back in medieval times, but it felt very right now. “If I may say, Princess Katelynn … in all the songs and tales I’ve heard of you, none spoke of how beautiful you are."
Jack Maple 