And so I stand off like indecision's kevlar – allie

Cato's grin brightened his face as he noticed Elise. "Oh hello beautiful...I'm talking about the cotton candy," he teased, as he kissed her cheek, grasping some of the cotton candy and putting it into his mouth. Cassian stared at Elise for a moment, eyes wide, before taking the cotton candy for himself. 

The older boy gave him a look. "What do you say?" he prompted. 

"Thank you," Cassian piped up, still shy as he looked at his brother and then at Elise, taking a bite out of his cotton candy. 

"I bet I can beat you in at least half of these games," Cato chuckled. After all, most of them were probably based off things like hitting bottles off of a stack or something, right? How different was that from his usual training anyway?" His arm snaked around her waist naturally. "Where first, my lady? We should definitely ride the ferris wheel before the sun sets." 

Water guns, huh? "Whoever loses gets soaked I guess," he teased, as they headed over to the game. It was clear that Elise had a soft spot for kids, even if they were practically a teenager at this point. She was good with them, Cato thought affectionately, like an older sister, or what his friends would call 'wifey material.' However, when it was the two of them, it was like they were children again, jabs and good-natured insults flowing from each other as they competed to win. 

For Cassian, he had never really had much fun like this in his life. Most of the time, he was doing his studies or mingling with other children in a tightly controlled environment, as per his father's instructions, after all. Having fun wasn't exactly a common thing growing up, but...this genuinely made him feel carefree, as if he didn't have to worry about anything else. Even Cato was being nice today, he thought. Whoever this girl was, he liked her, Cassian decided. When she was here, his brother wasn't as much of an asshole, that was for sure. It was clear that the younger boy was starting to come out of his shell a little bit, laughing as he beat Elise in a round of games. 

The funnel cake was delicious. It felt perfect for this kind of carnival day, and as they met up with their friends, it seemed as if Cassian had found a couple of kids he knew somehow. "Nine at the fountain!" he had called after the younger boy, as he was finally released from his babysitting duty, at least for a little bit. 

"Sounds good," he grinned, "do I get to force you to sit through all the kiddy rides next?" 

"Yeah yeah," he rolled his eyes with a laugh, "all these games are rigged. You just know the system better than I do." He had been an accurate shot, but being an accurate shot didn't seem to be enough for these sort of games. There were often more than one challenge to them, and well, he was inexperienced. What could he say? 

"It's a lot of fun," he agreed, "I forget how big of a thing it is around here. I mean, I sort of wish I had more time as a kid to enjoy myself out there, to be honest. If we ever have kids, we're definitely bringing them to the carnival." He said his words absentmindedly, only just revealing that he had been thinking of this before. Elise would make a great mother, after all, and it wasn't like this was the first time he thought it either. She had been so good with his siblings, and the past few weekends had felt so natural that it almost felt like they had been doing this forever. 

"I feel like I'd enjoy the carnival if I won a few more games," he teased, "but I'm definitely winning one of those giant stuffed animals by the end of the night." 

He laughed. "If we have kids, I'm going to train them to play pranks on you," he smirked, "they can be mischievous like their father instead." His arm was across her shoulders now as the continued to wander the bright lights and attractions that littered the square. He was musing at all the prizes. After all, he had to find one with a perfect stuffed animal to win anyway. 

"Of course," he chuckled, "I think a giant teddy bear would look out of place in my room. Your room however? You can use it as a couch." 

The ferris wheel was next, and it was just absolutely picturesque. The sun turned the sky pink and pale blue, like the cotton candy that they had shared earlier. When he leaned in to kiss her, it seemed like the world was awash in warm colors, her skin was glowing gold as the sky and the sea turned shades of pink and and ochre, and gods, life had never felt as beautiful as now. 

He hadn't even noticed when they landed, still feeling hazy and dazed when she was pulling him towards a photo booth. A photograph. A memory to keep forever. "Only if you let me make funny faces," he laughed, as they headed towards the photo booth. He handed the photographer a couple of coins, enough for two images, as he practically grabbed Elise by the waist, pulling her towards the background painted like the colors of the carnival. Their first image was just of them smiling, laughing, carefree, as he pressed a kiss to Elise's cheek. The second, of course, was Cato making a weird face towards the camera, totally ruining the photograph of any type of romantic notion that had been in the first photo. 

The man handed them the two little images and he shook them both to get them to reveal the images faster. "Which one do you want," he laughed, "or should we just randomly pick one?"

Cato chuckled, taking the other one. It was cute, and he was certain this would go in one of the frames he kept by his bed. He grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear and kissing her on the cheek once more, as they headed back to the booths. 

"You never told me what your favourite animal is," he laughed, "how am I supposed to win you the best stuffed animal if I don't even know what your favourite is?" 

He looked around. "That tiger's cute," he hummed, "or the bear...you know, classic. How about that....to be honest I have no idea what it is. Lizard? What are those pink things on its neck?" 

"Penguins?" he grinned, "well, one day we definitely need to see those up in Guivre." Cato looked up to the stuffed tiger. That was his favourite. He was already about to head to the booth when a squeeze of his hand caught his attention. He turned back to Elise, brows raised as if asking her what was up. When she explained, his expression changed to one of concern. 

"Are you feeling okay?" he frowned, "maybe you just ate something weird or caught a cold...I know the stomach flu's been going around. If you're still feeling sick, we can go see the doctor or something?" He was concerned of course, but stomachaches were stomachaches, and not all the seafood in Vela was always fresh, after all. There could be a million reasons for why she felt sick, hopefully it'd just pass. 

"If you need to slow down or sit or something, tell me, okay?" he squeezed her hand again, "we can go back to mine early too, if you need to." 

His father was supposed to be in Nyre for the weekend, something about a summer camp, or a technological issue needing to be fixed. A short trip away while his mother was supposed to be in Kama, visiting some family. It was only natural that Cato had invited Elise over once more. The weekend had gone as well as any. They had spent half of it lounging by the pool, the other half just in each other's company. He had noticed that Elise was a little more quiet than usual, but he assumed it was just her father and his constant insistence that she met suitor after suitor. It didn't matter, he knew she'd talk to him if it was important, right? He had planned on asking her later on in the evening.

He had not planned on his father arriving a day early. 

Oh he was in trouble. He was already breaking so many rules. The 'no pyjamas downstairs' rule. The 'every guest must be accounted for' rule. The 'no mingling with commoners' rule. Practically jumping up from the couch, his wide eyes were full of trepidation. His father had never punished him outright, but he knew what the man was capable. Cassian practically crawling out from the basement with his clothes soiled and dirty said enough about the terror he could inflict. 

"Father," he exclaimed, "I thought you were arriving tomorrow morning." 

"Clearly," the man sneered, the displeasure clear on his face, "and what have I told you about dressing appropriately in the house? Are you not going to introduce me to your guest?" 

Cato had to stifle a shudder at the icy tone in the man's voice. "I'm sorry," he spoke quickly, before looking to Elise, alarm in his expression, "father this is Elise Monroe, a classmate of mine. Elise, may I present to you Lord Rotherhithe, the duke of Vela and the head of the Rotherhithe foundation and the Rotherhithe security company." His voice had shifted to the formal one used in all of the delegate meetings, a nonchalant, masked expression upon his face. 

The man's expression didn't change, he simply peered at Elise with a certain disinterest, or perhaps even disgust. "What are you doing in my family's home?" 

Cato knew he fucked up. Oh he fucking knew that this was something Elise was going to be angry about. Maybe if he had been a braver person, if he had been more well prepared for this, then he'd have introduced her as his girlfriend, but the look on his father's face spoke a thousand words. He held back a grimace as the girl disappeared into his room, presumably to grab her things. He was about to go after her, but his father stopped him in his steps. 

"Cato, what is the meaning of this?" the man's voice was eerily calm. 

"I–" he stammered, "she's a friend–actually, she's more than that, I just thought–" 

"You thought wrong," the man's voice was ice, "did you think you could just invite someone over without permission? I trusted you, son, to do the right thing. You know what your duty is to this family. You are our pride and joy, and you are the one to take over the name of our house and to bring it to greater heights, are you not?" 

"Yes, of course–" 

"Then why are you fooling around with a common girl? Monroe, is she not the daughter of the merchant down in the city?" the man didn't even give time for Cato to respond. "She has no title, no honours, no reputation, did you think she'd make a good match for you? A Rotherhithe? You are the eldest son of the most powerful name in this city. Only lower lords marry for something as common as money, Cato." 

"I–" he gritted his teeth, "it's not about money, I–" 

"Then what? I don't need you having bastard children with common whores, we don't do that in this family like the other lords and ladies you hear rumours about," the man spat, his gaze flickering to the top of the stairs where he knew she would be emerging from, "you must know that everything you do reflects on all of us. It reflects on your brother and sister. It reflects on all of us." 

"She's–" he tried to interject helplessly. 

"Nothing more than for your amusement," his father was cold, "you must know she likes you for your name, for what you can provide her. So what if you're in love with her, do you think she shares the same sentiment? Or is this just a ploy she's using to trap you, to legitimise her claim to a title, something people like her always desire? Think, Cato!" The man's voice was raised now. 

"She's not like that," he spoke weakly, "father, please...if you give her a chance..." 

"You are to be married to a queen!" the man snapped, "that was what you wanted. The royal guard, the kingdom, the queen that I've introduced you to, all of that, you're willing to throw away? For some summer fling? If so, you must be more stupid than I've raised you, to throw your life away for a garden variety rat–" 

He cleared his throat, once again glancing up to the stairs, before his dulcet tones returned to normal, a silky smoothness that spoke volumes in its tone. "Cato," he replied with a small smile, "you should escort Miss Monroe off our property, and I enjoyed meeting her. Please send my greetings to her father and tell him we had a good time hosting her, and that she would do well to be more careful about which gardens she visits, or...perhaps which men she allows to visit her gardens, in the future. We wouldn't want to have us a little...misstep, would we?" It was a thinly veiled threat that Cato understood. 

His father would never approve. He'd never be able to be with her. If he was to choose her, he'd lose everything right here and right now. He looked up, crestfallen, to where Elise must've been standing, knowing that she probably heard every word that had been exchanged between them.

He knew she had heard everything. From the look on her face, he knew there was no saving this, at least not without some type of sacrifice he'd have to make. It wasn't a decision he could make, not like this. Not here, not now. His expression was almost desperate as he turned to the girl, wishing there was some way to make it up to her. Some way to ask her for more time. 

Cato didn't know what to say. The walk to the gate was silent as his father watched them leave, before closing the door behind him. What could he say, to make up for everything? To reassure her when even he didn't know what the future held? He was angry at the situation, guilty at how he couldn't say a thing, and helpless. Helpless at the fact that there was no way to truly solve what was on the table, that he had lost the chance to persuade his father to let him do what he wanted, just because he had made a mistake like this. He had thought that maybe, there had been a chance, to slowly get the man to see why he wanted this, how amazing Elise really was, how she was smart, and funny, and clever, and ambitious...everything that could help the Rotherhithe name advance forward. 

Instead, he was now in the straights between scylla and charybdis, forced to choose between two poisons when he was far from ready to do so. 

"Elise," even his voice sounded desperate, strained, as they arrived by the gate, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was going to be back today, I thought...I thought we'd have more time to persuade him. I swear, I just need more time. I...please just let me try again. I swear, I meant it when I said I love you. I just...I don't know what to do." 

It was a pathetic excuse, he knew, but it was the truth. Perhaps she'd take his hesitance as a sign that he didn't love her enough, but how could he choose? When he barely knew what was out there? Would her father let him marry her if he didn't have the Rotherhithe name to his own? Would they have to run away, forever be estranged from the world they knew? What option was there?