The peace that formerly reigned in Terra Nova has eroded, now little more than a memory. War ravages the continent. Disputes divide kingdoms; ideals divide families. The quest for power consumes absolutely and indiscriminately. None are immune to its allure.
Who will rise and who will fall? Only time—and ambition—will tell.
UPDATES
05.26.2023
2 month character creation hold for all existing members begins 6/5/2023. Ended 8/5/2023.
10.29.2023
Change in how times flows. Was 4 IC seasons, now only 2 IC seasons per 1 OOC year.
5 whole years of Heir Apparent goodness! When I started the site, I knew I was hunkering down for the long haul, but I never could have predicted the numerous twists and turns this roleplay site has seen. Hundreds of plots, characters, and members have come and gone, all leaving marks on the site. I am so very thankful for those who have invested. Because you keep coming back, keep getting on, and keep writing, Heir Apparent has the legacy it does today. Three cheers to us!
Post by Aldrich Abbott on May 10, 2023 6:34:43 GMT -5
He had noticed the change in behaviour from the group as well. Aldrich looked at Berengar when he got up from his chair and told him he'd be right back. The man nodded and returned his focus to the group.
He had preferred to stay tucked away in the shadows. Catching troublemakers was difficult if they noticed that there were authority figures around to keep an eye on them. Sometimes prevention was better than catching someone in the act, but with the recent increase in chaos, Aldrich liked the different approach of letting the chaos start, and then interfere. It set a better example. Now the people would just wait until the soldiers were gone to do what they normally would have done.
But it didn't bother Aldrich too much. He just sat back and kept an eye on things from here. It was an odd thing to say, but he felt like - even though Ber had a uniform as well - his appearance was a bit more intimidating than Stormcrest's. The kid still looked young, and something about a mustache just screamed authority and "do not mess with me". Still, if he had been a customer at the tavern, he wouldn't want to end up in a situation where he angered Berengar. Looks didn't have anything to do with skills and authority. Especially not in a context where Berengar could use this authority.
Some guy in the group elbowed his friend and gestures with a head movement at the soldier at the bar. "Watch out, Goody Two Shoes is watching us." Then a bit louder, so Berengar would hear, he added: "You best stop telling us what kinds of gross things you'd do with the King's wife if ya could." The friend burst out laughing and pushed the other in a friendly manner. "Stop it, Frank."
Aldrich also heard the remark and simply groaned. Youngsters that thought they were funny were the worst.
Abbott’s preference for sitting back and letting the troublemakers hang themselves on their own rope was certainly more useful in the big scheme of things given that it more easily led to the arrests of those agents of disorder and chaos. Berenger Stormcrest, however, did not make a habit of looking at the big picture. He did not care about the possibility of stopping future trouble that would case someone else a headache as much as he did simply preventing a fight from breaking out in there here and now, when resolving it would be his problem.
Though he couldn’t necessarily hear the words, the soldier noticed when awareness of his presence rippled through the group of five, and Frank’s comment earned him little more than an unimpressed blink. Ber was young, too; he recognized when someone said something purely as an attempt to get a rise out of him because he played the same game. Besides, if they apprehended everyone who said anything remotely disrespectful about the monarchy, they’d have half the city - at least - in the dungeon.
Frank seemed to take the lack of reaction as an invitation to carry on, but an elbow from the other side stopped him.
“Cut it out, Frank,” the long-haired man said, rolling his eyes before downing a portion of his ale. “You’re drunk and you’re not as funny as you think you are.”
“Oh, and you would know all about funny, huh, Marcus?” Frank shot back, turning on the other man. “Cornelia, what was that he told you yesterday? Somethin’ about—”
“Don’t drag me into this,” The witch seated beside Marcus said over the long-haired man’s protests. “Both of you are idiots if you’re picking a fight with one of ‘em standing right there.”
Frank waved her off. “Look at him,” He said, gesturing toward Ber, who had been able to hear every word of the conversation thus far. “He’s just a kid. Doesn’t even look old enough to shave.”
This time, Ber did roll his eyes, and he turned slightly to take a sip of the water that had been placed next to his arm on the bar.
“Hey kid!” It was still Frank, utterly determined, it seemed, to make an ass of himself. “Lighten up. That was funny. Or are ya too scared of Mustache Man in the corner over there to laugh a little?” He turned and waved at Abbott.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on May 13, 2023 15:10:33 GMT -5
From where he was sitting, he couldn't quite hear what the group was talking about. What he did notice was the body language, as they were taking the piss. Nothing unusual, people always tried to provoke soldiers, and he had gotten used to it by now. That didn't mean that it was any less annoying and childish, though. Aldrich's eyes back and forth from the group to Ber and back. As long as the young man didn't step in or show visible signs of being fed up, he would stay seated. He trusted that Ber would know when to intervene.
But then one of the guys addressed Berengar directly, and because he had raised his voice, Aldrich was able to hear what he was saying. He didn't wave back when the kid waved at him, but also didn't get up. Berengar was old enough to deal with this himself, but Aldrich actually remained seated for another reason. He didn't want to baby Ber. He didn't want to embarrass him by stepping in. So the lieutenant just took a sip from his whiskey and nodded at Ber to Lt him know that he could do what he needed to do.
For all of his hard work, Frank found himself rather disappointed in the lack of response from both the lieutenant and the soldier. Like a child upset at being ignored, he doubled his efforts at being obnoxious, striving to get some sort of rise out of the kid who remained frustratingly stone-faced.
Ber, for one, had long since started to regret his decision to come over. He had simply wanted to remind them of a military presence, and given the way that Frank was using it to poke fun at him, he considered them successfully reminded. If he was going to suffer through someone’s company, he preferred Abbott’s silence to a drunk man actively throwing insults at him. Grabbing the cup of water on the bar, he turned and started to make his way back toward the lieutenant in the corner when something hit him in the back of the head.
“Frank!” The hiss was low and shocked.
The unexpected contact made had Ber faltering in his step before he stopped and turned to look down at what had just fallen to the ground: a balled up wad of parchment that looked as though it had been in someone’s pocket. Eyes narrowed, he picked it up and, after a glance in Abbott’s direction, looked back at the table in question. “Who was the idiot who threw this?” Though clearly displeased, the words weren’t aggressive, and even as he asked them, his gaze settled on Frank.
With a self-satisfied expression on his face, Frank leaned back in his seat, hands behind his head. “Don’t know, kid,” He claimed, though the smirk on his face said otherwise. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Post by Aldrich Abbott on May 24, 2023 8:24:14 GMT -5
The sigh that left Aldrich's lips when the ball of parchment came into contact with Berengar's head could be best described as a disappointed old man's sigh. He ran a hand down his face because this wasn't even annoying, this was just childish and stupid. He got up from the chair and groaned while stretching.
He didn't feel like going along with these losers' little story of not knowing who had thrown the parchment. "Alright, let's go", Aldrich said while grabbing Frank's upper arm with his right hand. He looked at Ber hoping the young man would realise that Aldrich had seen who had thrown the ball at him. "Drinkin' is al fun and games, aye? But ya don't have to start getting on a soldier's nerves, that'll get ya a night in the dungeon."
Going all the way back to the palace with an annoying drunk, just to come back here to continue keeping an eye out wasn't what he wanted to do, but that was the whole problem. Other soldiers let behaviour like this slide, because they didn't want to bring someone to the dungeon for 'just' disrespecting them, and then the youngsters didn't know how to properly behave.
Before Ber could properly accuse Frank himself of throwing the wad of parchment, Abbott appeared and did so himself.
“Heyyyy, it’s Mustache Ma— Woah, hey now—” Frank greeted the lieutenant as he stalked over, grabbed him, then began pulling him out of his seat. He looked between Ber and Abbott. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” Drunken concern had entered his voice. “We were just having some fun, right, kid— uh, I mean—”
Ber looked at him, eyebrows raised as he pocketed the wad of parchment to throw away later. “What would I know?” He said lightly, holding the drunk man’s gaze. “I’m just a kid who’s not old enough to shave, remember?”
When Frank expressed his displeasure at the response, Ber ignored him in favor of glancing upward to Abbott. Ber also wasn’t in the mood to drag a drunk man to the castle to sober up, and the other man already had his hands on the perpetrator. Surely, a lieutenant could handle a single drunkard by himself, even one as annoying as Frank.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Jun 4, 2023 17:39:32 GMT -5
Aldrich barely managed to keep a grin from forming on his face when Berengar made a quick witted remark to put Frank in his place.
The man looked at the Private and sighed. "You stay here, I'm gonna give this kid a place to sleep for the night. I might be back later, or are ya fine by yourself?"
He would wait to hear what Ber had to say before he would start to drag Frank along with him to the dungeons.
That worked out far better than he had expected. Avoiding a walk to and from the castle and ridding himself of Abbott’s company? Yes, please. Keeping the anticipation from his face, Ber gave a resolute nod. “I can handle this by myself.” And, as Abbott left with Frank, he would.