Fantasy Emptying the Golden Throne

[StoneWolf18]

The door was opened and Valoire quickly turned to leave, slipping past her brother as Ada stated they were to work together.

The elf for a strange look on his face as queen would then leave as well, be looking to the prime minister although it was clear his mind was made up.

"Make an apointment." He grumbled, shutting the door in his face.

The next day, Val and Ada were in her room, discussing their meeting with Arthur when there was a knock the door. Upon opening it would be Roberta carrying a tray of food.

"Lord Walpole wishes that you ladies eat for once."

 

[CJWrites]

One of the trays she carried contained while the other contained toast, sausage, beans, fruits, and eggs while the other only toast, beans, and eggs.

Roberta put the much more lavish tray in front of Ada, put the other in front of Val, and placed butter, jam, salt, and pepper between them.

Little did any of the three know that the jam had been poisoned, while the antidote was in the fruit only on Ada's platter.

Ada looked guiltily at her place. "You know what, I can't eat all this on my own. You should have some of my stuff" she said dumping half her sausages and fruit onto Val's platter

 

[StoneWolf18]

The maid left as the two began to eat, not knowing the food had been laced with anything.

Val ate minimally. Eating mostly the eggs before she started on the toast. The amount of ham she spread was small, but still enough for after she swallowed to cause a bit discomfort. It had burned on her tongue and even did worse to her throat. It caused a strange look to pass over her face, although still managed to take a bit of the fruit before she was forced to stop eating until it passed.

"That was strange..." she muttered, glancing towards the jam and not bothering to finish the toast which it had been put on.

 

[CJWrites]

Ada stared at her toast too with a look of perplexed disgust. "What did they put in this?"

It had been hours before Arthur finally realized his plan would fail. He would have to think of another plan.

After breakfast, Ada went to her office to work on her algorithms, leaving Val alone.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Later that day Val and Wyn had visited Alcon and the nymph, now returning back towards the castle. They were having a small conversation about what they spoke to the other fey about when they began to cross into the street.

But apparently a certain carriage didn't mind slowing down or stopping.

They instead sped up, aiming directly for the woman who was narrowly pulled out of the way by Wyn.

Eyes wide she took a few breaths, the elf muttering "asshole" as he pulled her along.

 

[CJWrites]

Arthur was watching from around the corner, gritting his teeth, how did the driver miss? Well, that's what happens when he hired second rate assassins. He would need to think of something foolproof, something which didn't give him away or arouse Ada's suspicion. He pulled on his suit jacket, adjusted his tie and bowler hat and tried to carry on as if nothing had happened.

--

Ada was walking downstairs and about to open the door, with a stack full of punch cards in her hands. "Hey Ads,"

Hands reached around her and she shrieked, dropping the punch cards onto the ground.

"Al!" She yelled, "Look what you made me do"

She bent over to pick up her punch cards, now completely out of order. It would be a hell of a task to put them back in order.

"Geez... sorry..." Alex pouted. "But I was thinking, let's get lunch?"

"I can't" Ada said, "Alan and I are planning on discussing "

Alex's voice turned disdainful. "It's always you and Alan isn't it?"

Ada let out a high-pitched laugh. Alex was starting to get annoyed. "It's not funny!"

Ada looked around and whispered to Alex "Alan's a sodomite"

Alex stared at her flabbergasted. "That doesn't mean I want my sweetheart to be seen in the company of another man all the time."

"Are you going to turn into one of those people" Ada accused. "Just expect me to sit at home and be there for you, never do anything?"

"Of course not" Alex argued, his voice rising in volume. His frustration was beginning to show. "It's just now that we're finally living in the same place, I thought we could spend more time together."

"I've been busy!" She argued. "I haven't even seen Matthew in the last few days."

"But you have plenty of time to spend with Val and Wyn and all your Cambridge buddies"

"For work!"

"Well, life's not always about work! We're dating, right? There should be time for me in it. And Matthew too. Just because suddenly you're the queen you don't have time for us?"

Their raised voices seemed to be attracting attention.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Val and Wyn had been in a nearby room when the commotion began, the two sticking their heads out of the door to watch the argument unfold.

Wyn would exit, Val trying to stop him but ending up not being able to hold him back.

"Are you seriously saying all this?" The elf asked Alex with a glare. "Your girlfriend is suddenly queen and you don't understand how much work was just put on her, but are instead pouting about how she doesn't have time for you anymore."

Taking a step towards him, he finished "Would you rather her run this damned country or take care of your helpless ass?"

Valoire could now be seen in the doorway looking on, eyes wide at the outburst. She didn't know Wyn even remotely cared that much for her or the kingdom.

 

[CJWrites]

Ada's heart broke a bit. They had been dating for what. A year? And half that time had been spent with Alex in the castle. She spent all day on the analytical engine, about an hour a day with Arthur and the rest of the evening chit-chatting with Val. She had probably spoken more to Alan yesterday then she had to Alex in the last six months combined. Why didn't she want to see Alex?

Alan and Grace had come out to watch as well.

"We don't really make a good couple do we?" Ada asked, trying to smile.

Alex's face fell. "Wait, what are you saying?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe...." Ada trailed off. "We were just meant to be friends?"

Alex gaped at her, Ada just blabbed on.

"Because honestly.... I feel we are." She said. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry"

She ran off. Alex tried to go after her.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Wyn stood in Alex's path. "Let her go."

Val on the other hand wouldn't, quickly following after the woman wherever she would lead. "Ada! Wait up!"

 

[CJWrites]

Alex stopped, looking up at Wyn with a broken expression on his face

"What did I do wrong?" he asked quietly. It seemed he truly didn't know.

--

Ada ran to her room and let Val in before closing the door. She was breathing heavily and collapsed on one of the many couches. Tears were streaming down her face but she didn't seem to be crying.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Wyn shook his head. "Nothing that I know, just seems as if you two... weren't meant to be."

--

As Valoire entered and the door was shut, she slowly took a seat beside her sister. Embracing the woman in a small hug, not speaking.

 

[CJWrites]

Ada sniffed and wiped her tears.

"Thanks," she said. "I think I'm going to go to bed"

 

[StoneWolf18]

Valorie would nod.

"Would you like me to stay?"

 

[CJWrites]

Ada looked at her. She didn't know what to think. It felt right, almost liberating to not be tied to Alex. But at the same time it felt like there was something missing that she could never recover.

"Yeah," she said.

 

[CJWrites]

Alex and Ada spent the next couple of weeks ignoring each other. Ada spent more and more time in the basement with the machine or in her office working on her theorems while Alex kept Wyn until the late hours trying to figure out the inner workings of magic.

Matthew seemed to be the only one clueless as to what was going on between them. He had gotten temporary employment as an operator of the Analytical Engine.

"What's going on?" He asked Alan as Ada and Alex pointedly averted their eyes while they passed each other in the hallway.

Alan stared at him. "She hasn't told you?"

Matthew shook his head.

"And he hasn't either"

"Nope"

Alan frowned. "They cut it off."

"Oh."

Ada was pointedly working on her equations and it was getting late.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Val was slowly growing concerned with Ada's behavior, drowning herself in her work and avoiding Alex at all costs. While that wasn't necessarily uncalled for, it was still worrisome.

So she would eventually find where her sister was, following close behind.

 

[CJWrites]

Alan yawned. "I think I'm going home." He declared "Night"

"Night!" Ada and Matt chorused back.

Matthew's eyes were drooping. It was getting late and he was having a hard time staying awake. Neither he nor Ada noticed the moth fly towards one of the gears. The machine came to a screeching halt.

"It jammed?" Ada yelled. It seems she was still wide awake.

Matthew groaned. He wasn't going to get sleep today was he.

 

[StoneWolf18]

While entering the room, she winced at the sudden sound of Ada's yelling. Apparently something was wrong with the machine again.

"You all are still up?" She would ask, looked around at the various scientists.

 

[CJWrites]

Ada nodded. She opened the tray with the punchcards, but there was no paper jam. "That's odd."

She let the covering fall on its hinge, not realizing that Matthew had crawled underneath.

"Ow!"

"Oh my god!" Ada said. "I'm so sorry!"

 

[StoneWolf18]

At the sound of the 'ow' Wyn would peek in.

"Do you guys need some help or something?"

 

[CJWrites]

Ada frowned "It's jammed." She said sulkily. "But it's not the punchcards...."

 

[StoneWolf18]

The elf would frown, moving towards the machine. "Mind if I try?"

 

[CJWrites]

Matthew nodded but Ada started to protest.

"Hold on, this is a very delicate and complicated machine with lots of different moving parts, perhaps-"

But it was too late, Wyn had already put his hand on the machine.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Wyn hadn't ever enchanted machines before, and so when he decided to place his hands on it and try to enchant the damn thing...

Sparks flew, it belched maybe a little smoke, Val, Ada, and Matt ending up getting electrocuted because of it because of where they stood.

They crumpled to the floor, unconscious while Wyn instead appeared to regret his decision. "Well that didn't work..."

For the three on the other hand... it was a bit different. As they all remembered the shock and collapsing, a new scene suddenly filled their eyes as they suddenly crashed down onto the floor in a tangled mess of limbs.

 

[CJWrites]

Today's lecture was boring, Ali Muhammad decided. He'd joined this program to learn how to make video games, not to learn about Turing Reduction proofs and P vs NP, whatever that meant. At least the prof was hot.

Things were getting interesting when suddenly, two women in Victorian dresses seemed to appear right on top of her, flattening Abigail Byron to the ground.

"Abby!" someone shouted.