Luca Valentino (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notaccurate) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
backyardbbq2015-03-02 01:12 am
notaccurate) wrote in backyardbbq2015-03-02 01:12 am
notaccurate) wrote in backyardbbq2015-03-02 01:12 am
Adventure 001: oh shit it's a facetwin
He was normally careful, and he always made sure nobody was watching when he did his thing. But this one time, a student had walked in right in the middle of cleaning a lab with a whirlwind of magic, and there was no way for Luca to silence him. That student was in the dean's office within the hour, and Luca was back home packing his bags even before then. He knew what happened to immigrants who were caught illegally practicing magic, and like hell was he going to wait for that kind of punishment.
But he couldn't just take a train back home to Italy, oh no. First he had to take a boat across the channel, and then he had to make his way through France, then Maldonia, and then finally through the majority of Italy to get back home. And, up until he crossed the border into Italy, he would be in constant danger of getting arrested. France was currently occupied by English troops, and though technically the Maldonian parliament and monarchy still held the power, everybody knew it was a sham. Getting caught in either of those countries meant getting sent back to England to face punishment.
Thankfully, though, his leaving early meant that he got to the docks long before word was sent to halt any Italian travelers. And fortunately Luca still had his passport from before he was married, with his original family name on it, so he used that instead of the one that bore the name 'Valentino,' which got him through checkpoints he really should have been captured at. He could only silently thank his mother for giving him such a common first name.
It was day five into his trip when he stopped in a small town in the southern part of France, not far from the Maldonian border. The town itself was unremarkable, aside from being the closest to the summer home of the Maldonian royal family, and with how that particular house had burned down about the time Luca had skipped out of England (a shame, he thought to himself, that the whole family had just died like that, leaving the youngest son to lead the country on his own). He hadn't had much time to think about it before then, but stopping in this small town so late at night gave him a chance to mull on it.
The train wouldn't be leaving until the morning, unfortunately, so Luca was going to have to find something to occupy his time. He didn't want to linger on the train, lest he attract the attention of any soldiers looking for him (by now his picture had made it abroad, so he had to make sure to keep his hat on and his collar up when he walked), so he took to the streets of this town, looking for some entertainment for the night.
Of course, this was where he actually did get recognized, but not as Luca Valentino. See, Luca happened to bear an uncanny resemblance to the crowned prince of Maldonia, something which he had noticed after seeing said prince's face plastered all over the newspapers. They weren't identical, but from behind or at a glance it was an easy mistake to make, which is exactly what happened that night.
Which was a huge problem since, you know, the crowned prince was supposed to be dead.
And it just so happened that the people who saw Luca and mistook him for the prince were the same people who had just murdered the royal family by burning down their house not even a week prior.
Such a misunderstanding might have been quickly cleared up, except that Luca was trying to keep from being recognized for other reasons, and when the men saw Luca hurrying away as soon as they said "HEY YOU", that made them even more suspicious. And more trigger-happy.
So, that is how Luca ends up diving through an open window of a random building within the town, trying to avoid getting shot at. He has no idea where he has just jumped into, nor does he know the occupants. But at this point, he cares more about his own life than offending someone else.
Hopefully the crowned prince of Maldonia isn't too freaked out by coming face-to-face with someone who has an uncanny resemblance to him. Luca might be freaking out enough for the both of them.]
gonna prose it up for my own sake, but feel free to jump back to brackets!
But above all, Prince Naveen of Maldonia was deceased.
Six months prior to now, Maldonia's era of peace and prosperity was interrupted by an invasion of English forces. Not through English troops, but a group of tenacious, determined English diplomats. They came with news of France, recently "liberated" and "improved" by the guiding hand of English policy. Maldonia was many things, but a military power it was not. England's wish to expand that same guiding hand into Maldonia's borders was one that the royal family could not contest.
Naveen might have made a case against it were he there, but while his father reluctantly shook hands with the conquering English forces, he was out with a girl. Two girls, actually. All three oblivious to the fact that their king was in the process of signing the country over to England in all but name.
By the time he returned to the palace, hung over and buzzing with the music from the dance hall he'd left only hours earlier, his parents were already packing.
To the summer house, they said. Just for a month or two, so they could work out terms with the English government through the nearby French embassy (for all anything French was truly "French" anymore). Naveen was expected to join them, to be an active participant in the discussions. He was to be king someday, his parents reminded him for what must have been the thousandth time, and a future king shares responsibility with the current king.
Naveen didn't have much interest in being a future king or a current king, but he wasn't in a position to dispute either. Besides. The summer house was one he remembered as a boy, and one that he remembered much better and more fondly as a teenager with money to spend and a keen interest in sneaking out after dark. With Raj left behind at the palace for his studies, Naveen got on the ship with his parents and said goodbye to his little brother for what he didn't know would be the last time in a very, very long time.
And for his parents, it would be the last time.
The night of the fire, Naveen snuck out for the sixth time in so many days that week. England's enforcement of curfew put a limiter on things, but there were still a few clubs where the French youth population went to enjoy music, drink, and dancing until dawn. At twenty-two, it was impossible for him to resist that kind of temptation.
And it was that lack of self control that ultimately kept him from burning in the blaze that consumed his parents and life as he once knew it.
The papers ran the stories immediately -- Royal Family Dead, Save 6-Year Old Prince -- with the same family portrait on the front page of every paper. Maldonia was draped in black for a week, France mourning lifelong allies, and the people of Europe wondering in private corners how accidental that fire truly was.
Naveen was getting drunk in the privacy of his latest paramour's apartment -- she was at work, of course, a concept that eluded him -- when solitude turned suddenly to surprise.
"Faldi faldonza!" He shouted, cringing back with surprise and considerable fear. After all, it was impossible to ignore the rumors of how the fire got started and what it was meant to achieve. Naveen was a little too preoccupied with his own grief to consider them too closely, but was enough to startle him onto his feet. Sheets made for terrible clothes, but at least they covered the important bits.
"Who are you!?"
Nah, brakets didn't quite work for me, gonna prose it up too :3
But at that moment, Luca was still pumped full of adrenaline from running for his life for the last half-mile. He felt like his chest was going to explode, and the panic was still in him, so much so that he almost missed recognizing just who Naveen was. Thankfully he didn't though, as he probably would have torn off through the house, leaving poor Naveen behind to be discovered by the soldiers.
"It's you," Luca said, pointing a finger at Naveen in an almost-accusing manner, "You're the prince!"
It was hard not to recognize Naveen, even naked; his face had been all over everything for the last few days. Even here in France people were mourning the death of the Maldonian royal family, as the countries had always had close ties.
Before he could say much more, he heard the shouts of the men running down the street. They were getting closer, and if Luca didn't move, he would soon be discovered. But if hejust left Naveen here, he would be found instead of Luca, and it was Naveen that the soldiers were after in the first place.
It took Luca all of two seconds to decide what to do. Even when he was worried about his own life, he couldn't leave someone else to die in his place.
Luca shut the window he had dove through, twisting the lock on it. It would only be a minor delay to the soldiers, but it would buy them time. Then he looked around on the ground for anything Naveen could throw on quickly (a naked man would draw even more suspicion, and Luca wasn't articulate enough in French to come up with lies quickly). He settled for a pair of pants and a long coat, and he grabbed them and threw them at Naveen.
"Put these on," he said, speaking in English. He wasn't sure if Naveen knew Italian or not, and he wasn't confident enough in his own French skills to be able to explain what was going on. "And shoes, if you have them. We need to go, now."
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"Excuse me?" Naveen answered in English, surprised to hear it out of the man's mouth. Nonetheless, he started pulling on a shirt. "Who are you, where did you--where is it we must go?"
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About five seconds later, soldiers ran by the window, shouting in English about how 'they just saw him' and 'he couldn't have gone far.' Since the window was closed, they ignored the house Naveen was in entirely, not even looking inside. But it was definitely English soldiers, their uniforms were English.
It took Luca about a minute to actually find shoes that looked like they could be Naveen's, what with it being dark and there being another occupant to the home. But hopefully by the time he found them and came back, Naveen would be dressed and ready to go. If not, well, Luca was not above yelling to get him moving.
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Or did he intend to look for him at all? The rumble of English soldiers -- here, in France, even with the occupation... -- made his blood boil. Part of him wanted to jump out and chase them down with questions, but what little good sense he had funneled into pulling up his trousers.
By the time Luca returned, Naveen was dressed, albeit a little rumpled.
"If I go with you, you must tell me why once we've reached safety. Yes?"
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The question wasn't unexpected, and Luca probably would have answered it right then and there, if he hadn't heard the sounds of dogs barking in the back alley. Dogs were even worse than soldiers, now they would have to find a way to cover their scent too.
"I promise," Luca said, offering the shoes to Naveen, "Just stay with me, and please trust in me for at least a little while."
A second later, Luca heard a door being kicked in. It wasn't one to the house they were in, thankfully, but it was close. They couldn't risk going out the front door. "Ah...does this house have roof access?"
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Any number of threats were possible. But at the sound of a door kicking open, Naveen realized that he didn't have it in him to care. Cautiousness was never his policy, and while the painful memory of his parent's home burning before him was enough to instil a sense of self preservation, the scales were tipped in Luca's favor for the moment.
After all, the man wasn't trying to kill him at this moment. As long as that remained true, the details didn't matter much.
"Ah... it depends what you mean by roof access." Naveen didn't pause to explain himself, motioning for Luca to follow. "Hurry!"
The 'roof access' in question was a single window upstairs, opening out onto the neighbor's roof... provided they could jump the several foot distance.
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"Please tell me you have a sfeer," Luca said, looking back to Naveen. A sfeer, the ability to extend one's own boundaries and do magic, might be able to help them across. Or, well, it could get Naveen across, at least. Luca would still have to make the jump, but the last thing he needed was the crowned prince dying from a fall while trying to run away from the military.
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"I am sorry, I do not--no, no, I don't." He looked down at the road below, then back to Luca. "But I can throw you. Come!"
He gestured to himself and his larger arms, ready to assist in whatever misguided way he could.
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"Here, I will go first," he said, and he climbed up onto the window, stepping just outside of it. Then he used his feet to push off of the side of the building and hope for the best.
Thankfully, most of himself landed on the roof with a dull 'thud', so he only had to scramble to turn and get his legs onto it entirely. Then he stood up, and he held a hand out to Naveen, to hopefully get him to go next. "Come now, I made it across, so surely you can as well."
At that same time, the door to the house Naveen was in was suddenly kicked open. Though they might not be visible from where the men are, a pair of soldiers have entered the house and are searching the first-floor rooms.