Tell it to the Flowers

It wasn't uncommon to find Cyril wandering the gardens. But usually the wanderings brought him joy. Looking at him it was clear to see that he was simmering over thoughts brewing in his head head. Yes, lately he had been worrying himself with the recent disapearance of his younger sister. She seemed to have wandered her way right out of the Capitol City and he really just didn't like it.

Despite the fact that they kept her cooped up like some bird most days he was sure that she could manage herself out in the world. Her passing out in the gardens was definitely concerning but that didn't mean he doubted her.. it just left him more concerned. Hence why he had been out the past week looking for her. And now he was back here, pacing the gardens with little to nothing to show for it.

Almost out of habit his hands fished through his dark wefts to straighten out any strands that might have gone array. Maybe appearance meant more to him than normally when he was panicked? Maybe he was more just depressed? Who else was he supposed to relentlessly annoy if not for his little sister? She was so fun to tease sometimes.

Not when she was missing though.

Obviously.

Unlike Cyril's sister, Hakkiem and the rest of the nobility had free range. Leaving the grounds was another thing entirely, which made the concern all the more important. Skipping up behind his liege he tousled that black hair while pushing the man's head forward before settling beside him on the oyster shell path. "Too quiet, too quiet!"

His hair was a bold shade of gold, glinting in the sun. He was tall with broad shoulders set on a lanky pole of a body. He stretched, sweat still fresh on a slightly red face. He had run here from fencing practice from the look of his garb, half princely red and half ugly beige and stained, padding, almost like he couldn't wait to get out of there. He was far more interested in another sort of combat, something sneaky and more personal in his opinion. The only thing cool about fencing... was the wobbly flexibility of the rapiers, like design-failed slingshots. "What's up, you skipped out again, man..."

Cyril ducked forwards at the intrusion. Not enough to avoid the sudden "attack". Still, a huge grin played on his face as he nudged a playful elbow into Hakki's ribs, pushing him sideways. He made sure that huge smile never left his face as he tried to slip him into a headlock to hopeful return the favor of hair tussling.

"Quiet? Me? Well that's a first if I've ever heard one," he'd exclaim. If Hakki broke himself away from the grip he wouldn't pursue. If he didn't he would simply let him go, stepping to the side. Cyril would then tuck his hands behind his neck, interlocking his fingers as if to act as some kind of cushion for his head while he rocked back on his heels.

Skipped out? On what? He looked Hakki up and down, realizing suddenly that he could be refering to fencing practice. He winced slightly, realizing his mistake.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head with a bit of a huff, "I'm just worried about her... has my head shaken up a bit."

"Grah!" His laugh mixed with a chough as the elbow got him in the ribs and he found himself in the headlock, getting his gorgeous hair messed up. Granted, it was always a little messy and the smooth strands were easy to reset with a combing of his fingers once he had been released by his good friend. "I covered for you, but I got paired up with that lunk from Uhrwerkstadt..."

He frowned as Cyril gave his reasons, chocolate eyes wrinkling at the corners as he gave an expression of concern. "How'd she even get out? Double gates and a bridge separating the manor from the rest of the city. She wasn't exactly ever left alone either. Someone had to have seen her and not said a thing. Her gaggle of maidens still claim ignorance."

The guards were lax, with just a couple to patrol and react as necessary but beyond that the place was not very guarded except by its plain difficulty in accessibility. "Think they'd let us go hunting? Or did they really lock down the rest of us?"