Xaviers!

Basil Benson hadn't let his plan slip to a single, solitary soul. Not even Jezabelle Sherlock. Though to be fair he hadn't found a chance to sneak off to text her yet either.

His plan was simple. Show the prince around town like he'd said he would, with Drake Martin as a secondary. At the end of it, he'd take them to the pub for some lunch and a round of drinks, or two, or three or however many it took to get the would be suitor so shitfaced he couldn't avoid making himself look like a right arse by the time they returned to the school grounds, and Katarina could be rid of him once he'd shown himself to be an unsuitable suitor. He pretty much already had as far as Basil was concerned, but he understood there was some level of decorum Kat had to maintain before she could just boot him out.

And if it worked, it wasn't like Katarina could be blamed for it. She had no idea what Basil was doing right now, and no time to have coordinated such an idea with him what with Alex just showing up unannounced. If it didn't work for some reason, it'd at least buy the two ladies enough time to figure out a more solid plan than this one.

His bronze coloured 2012 Volvo S60 T5 wasn't exactly slumming it by most people's terms, but it might have been to Prince Alex. No way to tell really.

He drove the prince around the town, pointing out spots of interest with his leather gloves on his hands. He kept his eyes out to see if anyone besides his own wards had been following him today.

When he felt like it was getting way too tourist-y, he asked " Who's up for a spot of lunch?"

Drake was currently human, dressed in khakis and a black t-shirt bearing the red silhouette of a dragon in flight topped by his ever-present flight jacket. He hadn't wanted to but he wouldn't have been comfortable in the car without doing reeling in his wings.

"I could most definitely do with some food. Being a great and powerful dragon burns a lot of calories."

Basil would notice another car -- a beige Golf -- occasionally coming into his rear-view mirror. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but hey, Basil had some experience with what A Tail looked like, and how something so inconspicuous could be conspicuous in and of itself.

As for his royal guest, Prince Alex had started by politely feigning interest in Basil's Tourists Guide to Maldon, but had gradually stopped responding as he looked out the window, drumming his fingers on the armrest.


"Yes, lunch sounds good at this point in time," he agreed.

The tail had a tail too, of sorts.

Basil could see both the Golf, and his own 'security detail's' black sedan. He wondered how paranoid the two cars were making each other.

Basil thought about taking Alex to the Rose and Crown, but then thought better of it: If he got the prince too blotto, he could ruin the friendly manner in which the Rose and Crown had treated students up to this point.

He'd settle for a pub around the corner from Madame's house that he knew was clean and safe. He wasn't looking to get anyone mugged. He parked at the house, but it was just around the corner.

" A short walk from here." He said, leading the two gentlemen out of the carport under Madame Rosenhof's apartment, a three story affair in which the first floor was mostly the car port. It probably didn't seem like much from the exterior, a boxy little flat in a row of such.

"So how mutant friendly is this place," Drake asked, straightening his hair in the nearest reflective surface. He was completely oblivious to any tail other than the one he usually sported.

"Unknown. But it's fairly clean and safe and I need to know the answer to that question myself so that I know whether or not I can wander home drunk from there to here without an issue."

"It is a shame that there are still many places here in the West which discriminate against mutants," Prince Alex said, walking a step behind Basil and Drake. "This sort of thing does not happen in Symkaria."

"Oh? Are you a mutant Prince Alex?"

"Myself? No, I am not. I am your standard homo sapiens, genetically speaking."

"It doesn't happen where I'm from either, if only because there aren't any humans to speak of. But I was taught to be careful where I go while I'm here."

"Are you backing out Martin?" Basil's tone was playful, he was clearly issuing a challenge to the other boy.

"They didn't teach me that well," he grinned.

"Then fish and chips and a round of drinks will be just the thing.

What do you drink Your Highness?"

"Gin. Gin and Dubonnet," he nodded.

His gloves still on, Basil's hand began to fan in a fashion that suggested he might faint.

"Dear lord, a man after my own heart. If I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to court me with that answer."

"Yes, well, have no fear about that," he said, with a slight air of distaste. "I am here for the Princess."

"Don't worry Your Majesty, you're not my type either." He replied with a cheerful tone, stepping ahead of the group to get the door for them all.

Basil did have some decorum after all.

"Hrm," the prince said, pausing at the door and waiting for Shane to go in first. "That is good."

"More tequila for me then," Drake said as he went inside.

"Ooh! I wonder what the odds are that they can make a habanero martini. Or maybe an El Diablo."

"Only one way to find out!" Basil replied.

The trio made themselves comfortable, and Basil ordered Fish and Chips for both himself and the prince, assuring him that it was the thing to try at the pub. He'd let the prince figure out his own drink, and would order himself a Beefeater's and tonic.

Due to his invisibility, Basil had developed a some weird little ritual with the waitress that he had down pat by now which involved his ID, a compact mirror, and a lot of flirting to get her to give him a drink.

"I will say, I am not overly impressed with the decor," the Prince said, curling up his nose slightly as he took in his surroundings.

"With enough alcohol, it won't matter if it's upscale or not," Drake smirked. He proceeded to order, managing to score a tequini with a jalapeño pepper on the side. It was as close as he could get.

"It's just not used to entertaining royalty I suppose.

Speaking of which.... You and Katarina eh?

Are you betrothed?"

"Welllll," the Prince hedged.

"Well, not yet, per se. Not as such. But she is unpromised, which I don't have to tell you is unusual given her age and stature. She has resisted the charms of many to this point, I shall tell you, but that can only last for so much longer."

Basil wasn't entirely sure what the 'you' meant. He definitely was categorizing Basil as different from the others he had met so far... perhaps the prince just meant because he was vaguely European in that was that all Brits are and therefore a bit more familiar with the ways of royalty.

Like most of his words, Basil's next ones were chosen very carefully.

"Why do you think it can't go on much longer?"

"Well, she has turned 18, and 19 isn't too far behind," he explained. "Traditionally, a young woman, heir to the throne, would have had a betrothal during her sixteenth Maslenitsa at the Opernball, or on Dragobete at least. Ah, but our Katarina is a late bloomer, no? And the rose that blooms last is the most beautiful of them all."

"Maybe." He conceded, but only momentarily.

"But what if she doesn't take a prince? It happens...Occasionally. What happens then?"

"Well, I doubt she'll have any trouble there," he chuckled. "And, on occasion, royalty has found love outside the traditional royal families. Makes some extra work for the genealogists and archivists, I will tell you, but it has been done before.

And of course, there's always a Conclave of the Royal Council if needs be," he said, as if that explained everything.

The phrase 'Royal Council' was familiar to him, though he wasn't entirely certain how Alex was suggesting such a thing would be implemented. He decided not to pry further as to not tip the Prince off that he might not be in favour of this plan.

"Is she a good woman?" He asked, perhaps a seemingly strange question.

"She is our Golden Girl. Our natural treasure, as it were. But surely, you must know her as well."

"We're friendly acquaintances. My Madame helped her with a problem she had once, but I don't know a lot about her personally. She doesn't exactly run around telling people of her social status. "

"Ah, she is modest as well," he nodded, vigorously.

"I will admit, I do not see the appeal of living in a hovel as she does. I am left to assume it is so she can feel closer to her people's plights."

Basil wasn't as insulted by the hovel comment as most students. He kind if agreed with the assessment.

"I believe there's some truth there. She is... curious as to how common folk live it seems."

"Yes, well, I suppose that, too, can be the purpose of education. If you are to be a leader, it is in the best to know who it is you shall lead," he said, nodding as if he had just come to that conclusion himself.

"And what about you? Do you want to marry Katarina?"

"Well, that is why I am here, is it not? It took some doing tracking her down, after all," he nodded, decisively.

"So is it love or politics that brings you this far? I can never tell with you upper-crust types."

"You say that like there is more than a knife's edge between them. "

"One is the heart, the other mind. Pretty big difference if you ask me. But that isn't to say it can't begin at one and end up at the other."

"The only things in life that begin at one end and end up at another is the food we eat," Alex quipped. "And it is amusing to see that you do not see the interwoven complexities of the court."