[ VIDEO ] - [ Hydrogen ]

[goodnightsweetprince]

[ Well, if you didn't want to see a close-up of Prince Gumball's pink orchid face for the opening of this video then today is not your lucky day. After exploring the extent of his little pink amaranth iStarfish, figuring out its purpose, trying to get it to play techno music and dying in the first level of a game he found on it, he decided to use it to communicate.

However, he pressed record too quickly and started the video prematurely. After a moment, he pulled it away so the network can be greeted with a more normal shot.

Generally, when Gumball finds himself kidnapped or in another dimension or possessed, Fionna is efficient and heroic enough to save him within a reasonable timeframe. This time, it's been a while so he decides to take matters into his own hands to see what the hold-up is.

He is also feeling a little extra impatient given how...wet the current location is and how his pink salmon rainboots are nowhere in sight. ]

Greetings, citizens of Vatheon! My name is Prince Gumball of the Candy Kingdom. Though my stay thus far has been nice-- [ and he thinks that's being kind ]-- I worry about my subjects back home and their low tolerance for stress. If you could be so kind as to direct me to your nearest ship port or best place to create a wormhole back home, I would be delightfully grateful. Ideally, I'd like to return on the morrow but if one is not available, my previous requests are sufficient.

[ He holds up a wet and sandy towel between his pinched fingers. ]

Also, is there a towel butler around? I'd like to receive a new towel at your soonest convenience, I dropped mine.

Comments

[ex_knowledge575]

[ Annabeth can appreciate that. Intelligence doesn't always bring wisdom, and wise people weren't always necessarily intelligent. Still, she finds herself wanting to open up about Percy, even though she had only just met the prince. ] He is cheeky, but that's not all he is. Not by a longshot. I don't know, he's funny, and kind, and good to people, especially those who don't have it so good. He'll always stick up for his friends, to the point of sacrificing himself at times. He's a hero, basically. He... he completes parts of me I didn't even realise needed completing.

[ And now she's blushing a bit, but her expression stays strong as she smiles at the next bit, choosing to stay with the former topic for the moment. ]

Are you in love, Prince Gumball?

[goodnightsweetprince]

[ He's a little surprised by such a loaded question by someone he doesn't know at all but the way she sort of led up to it made it so he wasn't caught completely off guard.

Gumball smiles softly and thinks. Is he in love? The idea is beautiful and warm but fills him slightly with an unsure kind of feeling as well.

Of course he's not. ]

I definitely love my friends and I have love for the subjects in my kingdom. There are people I could be in like with but nothing more. [ sigh ]

Were you asking me or were you asking yourself?

[ex_knowledge575]

[ To Annabeth, it's not so loaded. She's quite objective about her emotions and able to look at them from the outside. She knows that they're irrational things and that she can't choose who she's in love with, but she recognises it for what it is. ]

Oh, I know I'm in love. I didn't even mean it to happen so that's how I know it's for real.

But why do you say you could only be in like with someone? That seems sad.

[goodnightsweetprince]

[ So romantic. ]

Does your love make your heart flutter like a delicate and innocent butterfly? Does it glow with every palp? Every. Single. Palp? Do you stand atop the rooftops, or in our current case, rocktop and shout...

Nay.

Sing the song of your love???

[ He's dramatic sometimes but he faces her question lightly, dismissing it. ]

It's somewhat complicated but situations are what they are and individuals are who they are so I think that being in mere ~like~ is being generous.

[ex_knowledge575]

[ Annabeth does that thoughtful nodding things, as if she hadn't thought about butterflies and palps before. ]

Well, yeah, I guess it does. Makes my heart all weird sometimes anyway. I don't know about the singing though. [ Mostly she just tells Percy he's dumb and then kisses him for five minutes. ]

I see, I see. [ Annabeth is wise enough to know what the Prince says is truth. He seems quite smart for a candy prince. ] Does that make you sad?

[goodnightsweetprince]

Sometimes singing is the best way to convey your feelings. It's vulnerable and it comes directly from the heart. But then afterward, you add fireworks and personalized lyrics and a snappy dance number!

[ His tone changes a little. ]

Certain situations, yes. But I've got too much else to think about so I try not to.

[ex_knowledge575]

I... wow. Your lovers are really lucky. [ She says it in the way of someone who truly doesn't know what else to say. Because what can you say to that? ]

[goodnightsweetprince]

Lovers...?

[ He emphasizes the pluralization of that world. ]

--sssss?

[ A bit more for good measure. ]

Oh my, Annabeth! Don't get the wrong idea of me! I am a prince first and my duties lie with my kingdom before I may allow myself the pleasures of the flesh! Besides, I know that I am not mentally or emotionally prepared for such a commitment. Or physically. Or spiritually. Or any other -ally.