Your Highness (Miguel)

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This whole Carnival thing really was thrilling, Cinderella was absolutely amazed by it all. The lights, the sounds, the smells, it was almost overwhelming how exciting it all was. She just didn't know where to go first, what stall to try out, what ride to go on.

Eventually she'd bought some candy floss (that's cotton candy to you Americans) and was making her way around all the stalls and rides, just to look at them, before deciding where she was going to begin.

It all made her so happy she almost wanted to sing, but luckily for everybody around her mouth was full of sticky pink sugar and that sort of got in the way, so instead she just hummed to herself as she strolled around.

[miguel]

Miguel was a massive fan of carnivals. They were chock full of opportunities to con people and fleece them of their hard-earned cash. Besides which - food. Miguel was currently stuffing his face with the larger end of a turkey leg, and it was obvious he was enjoying it from the sounds he was making.

Of course, all of that changed when he caught sight of Cinderella walking in his direction. He was a prince. A prince who was probably going to try to court the girl who was about to see him eating roughly half of a dead bird in an entirely un-princely manner. Thinking fast, he shoved the turkey leg into the hand of a person passing by him, gave them a smack on the shoulder and a little push to usher them along, and wiped his hands surreptitiously on the seat of his pants.

"My lady!" he said, waving frantically before remembering once more to maintain a princely demeanor, at which point he dropped into a bow instead. "It is lovely to see you here. Are you enjoying the festivities? May I carry your confection for you?"

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Cinderella hastily swallowed the candy in her mouth and smiled brightly when she spotted Miguel, dipping into a curtsey quickly when he bowed, trying to remember her manners.
She was glad to see him again, even though she'd decided he probably wasn't her Prince Charming, since it hadn't been love at first sight... but then, seeing him again, being so sweet and polite, she wondered if perhaps it was still a possibility.
Even if it wasn't, perhaps he would know the prince she was destined to be with, and anyway she could still be friends.

"Oh I am, it's just wonderful, are you enjoying them?" She replied happily "And thank you, but I don't mind carrying it myself."

[miguel]

Miguel didn't need to be anyone's prince charming, just so long as he could be a charming prince long enough to charm them out of their life's savings. He wasn't planning any life-long affair here. Just had to get her to trust him. And maybe marry him.

"I am indeed," he said, austerely, or what he thought was austerely (which probably sounded more congested). "Certainly, you may carry your own candy if you wish. I would not presume to take it from you."

How did a prince go about asking a lady if he could court her? He'd already established that she was single...and how long did he have to court her before he proposed? And how long after that could they get married, and how long did they have to stay married before he could take the money, grab Tulio, and run? Why didn't he ever figure these things out beforehand?

"So, are you still...socially unhindered, then?" he asked, in what he imagined to be a mysteriously subtle and hopelessly attractive manner.

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Cinderella couldn't help but giggle slightly at his heavy-handed words. Not meanly, obviously, but she thought he sounded a little overly polite.
"You don't need to be so very formal with me, I'm not important or anything." She told him sweetly, wanting him to relax and have fun while he was here at the fair.

"Socially unhindered?" She repeated, wondering what that meant, she supposed it could mean that she was still no longer working for her stepmother and thus had the opportunity to actually be social, but she couldn't recall if that had come up when they spoke last time. Eventually she figured out he must be asking if she'd found her prince yet, and she shook her head. Then realised that the correct answer was yes and nodded instead.

"Yes, that is, I haven't met my prince yet." she told him with a smile, even admitting failure was not enough to make her unhappy.

[miguel]

Miguel had been pretty proud of coming up with "socially unhindered" all on his own - it sounded very princely to him indeed. But then she didn't quite seem to understand him, which just made him feel bad. Well, not bad, per se, because after all he was only in it for the money, but...well, a little guilty because he was trying to charm her, and making somebody feel silly was not a good way to do that. He was massively relieved when she figured it out after a moment.

"Excellent!" he said, though he was still trying to figure why a lady such as herself would think she wasn't important. "Er...well, that is...because...well, I shall be quite frank with you, my lady, I am somewhat interested in courting you myself. In a very...proper fashion, with...meetings and the like, you know. Formal outings, and...eating candy at festivals. That sort of thing."

There, he had made his intentions known. Now all that was left was for her to say yes. And for him to woo her. And then...you know, steal her money and that kind of thing.

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Cinderella was immediately thrust into a rather awkward situation, and strangely it was one that she'd never been in before - but one was rarely courted by boys when you spent your days covered in soot and cleaning the house.
The problem was that, while Cinderella deeply and ferverently believed that there was only one person out there for her, and that person was her one and only true love and she would know him the very second they met.... she was also utterly loathe to be anything but perfectly nice and polite to everyone she met. How did one turn down an offer of courtship without being mean about it? She did so hate to disappoint...

"I...I...I'm not really sure that I'm... I mean... me? Goodness, are you sure there's not someone else you'd rather..."
It wasn't just that she didn't think him her true love, there were other concerns that, though she didn't know how, she was quite sure would become a problem somewhere down the line. "I mean, really? Me?"

[miguel]

Oh, damn, he was scaring her off. Too strong, Miguel! Coming on far too strong! Time to back things off a little, make her scared that she's losing you. Reel her in slowly.

"Well, actually, there are several people, I'm just going down the list," he said, casually leaning over to nick a bit of her candy floss. "I had such a wonderful time with you at the dance, though, that I decided you deserved to be quite near the top."

He kept walking towards the section of the carnival where there were all the little games that tried to cheat people out of all their money. Miguel, being quite the con artist himself, was confident that he could out-con these amateurs, and held his arm out, beckoning towards the various prizes.

"Would you like to play?" he asked. "Tell me what your heart desires, milady, and I shall win it for you."

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Cinderella wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse, and then she decided her feelings didn't matter because she was so amazed at the idea that someone could have a list for that sort of thing. That someone would be so unsure of who their true love was that they'd have a list of potential candidates.

Bemused, she followed him to the games, answering his question in a distracted sort of voice.
"Oh, really, that's too kind, anything would be so sweet of you, but you don't have to..." That was when she figured it out. Of course Miguel would have a list while he was still unsure. Confident she knew what the problem was, she beamed at him "Don't worry, it's obvious that none of the girls on your list are your true love, you'd know your true love in a heartbeat. You mustn't lose hope, you'll meet her someday."

[miguel]

Miguel didn't think he was going to find his one true love anytime soon. Honestly, he hoped he never would. How was he supposed to go around conning people out of their money if his emotions were all tied up with some pretty young thing? It wasn't practical for someone like Miguel to start thinking about true loves. It would be like...a weight loss coach developing an obsession with donuts. Self-sabotaging and all that.

"Do you really think so?" he asked. Because, even if he wasn't looking for his true love, she was clearly looking for hers, and if he was going to woo her and win all her money, he had to be what she wanted him to be. Which was, apparently, her true love. "I think...I believe in true love, of course, but I believe that sometimes...sometimes you can walk right by it and not even know it's there until your destiny calls you to it. Someone you never thought of might have been waiting, and then...when the time is right, your eyes are magically opened, and you suddenly know that it's been them all along."

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Cinderella started shaking her head, because of course that didn't make any sense at all, how could you possibly not see your true love if they were right beneath your eyes... only... well, the more he said it, the more she wondered if perhaps he had a point...

After all, if it worked that way, it didn't mean that you could miss your true love, because if they didn't stay right under your nose the whole time it would just get silly, and of course you wouldn't run off with anybody else because you'd know that they weren't your true love, until eventually the time was right, as he said.

"I... suppose... you're right..." she said eventually, "But... well, you still have to simply wait and have faith. If you went around courting people who weren't your true love, wouldn't it get awfully messy when you did find them?"

[miguel]

"Exactly!" Miguel said, exaggerating his own satisfaction with her acceptance of his explanation. "Wait and have faith. But faith works in mysterious ways, my dear. Sometimes faith requires us to do a little homework. If you don't put yourself in all the situations where you might find your true love, well, why should faith do all the work for you, you know?"

He put on a deliberately thoughtful face, pondering his own words for a moment. Intellectualism was appreciated by the ladies sometimes, and while he didn't want to seem like a nerd or anything, he didn't want to appear stupid either, so some healthy consideration was in order.

"Love is always messy sooner or later," he told her. "That's what makes true love so special. Because there are so many messes and broken hearts, that when you finally find it, it's a treasure above all others."

Except for gold. And money. And such.

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Cinderella didn't want to be cruel, since he seemed quite enthusiastic about his explanation, but she just wasn't sure it made sense.
What if your true love moved on? That wasn't just messy, that was tragic, how were you supposed to fix that?

He was just so certain though, and she had no idea how to let him down gently that she wasn't entirely certain about what he was saying, or even how to agree with what he was saying but not that it would be a good idea for him to go courting her, since that did seem to be his aim after all.

"...and you're quite sure that someone could still find their true love and live happily ever after even if they'd been courting someone they didn't think was their true love?" she asked, to clarify and perhaps buy herself a little time.