After the... debacle with the tea Erik found himself sitting back down on the table. Marie was chattering away about flowers, pointing to her favorite ones in the garden. He was mostly focused upon how he could come out of this with as little bodily harm as possible. He had already been nearly drowned and they had only known each other for a few minutes. So far he wasn't liking his odds. He desperately looked towards the entrance to the garden, praying for Lucius to return.

It took him a moment to realize Marie had stopped talking and was looking intently at the air in front of her face. After a moment Erik realized exactly why that was. A little black dot was buzzing in the air in front of her face. A little fly by the looks of it, though little to her was no doubt bigger for him. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she raised her hands up, poising them to strike. Erik moved to cover his ears though it was too little too late.

Her hands smacked together loudly, like a thunderclap of flesh. The fly slipped through her fingers and she clapped at it again, a frustrated frown upon her face. Erik felt like his eardrums were about to burst from the continuing series of slaps above, even covering his ears didn't entirely mute it. He squeezed his eyes shut as the clapping continued, her hands slapping together again and again.

Finally it stopped and when he removed his hands from his ears Erik first thought he had gone deaf. Until he heard a buzzing nearby. Sitting almost right in front of him was a fly the size of a dog, rubbing its little legs together as it regarded him with alien eyes. A shadow fell over both of them and it took one look up for Erik's veins to freeze with fear of the purest kind. Smooth creamy skin was poised above, the creases of Marie's hand visible as her fingers were squeezed together to leave no escape for the little bug.

Her motion was automatic obviously, not exactly thought through as her mind was set on killing the fly. "Wait Marie-!"

That was all Erik managed to get out before the giantess smacked her hand down upon the table, all of her strength smashing the tiny prince between the hard wooden table and the soft flesh of her palm. The movement crushed down upon him hard and fast, compressing him flat against her hand. It was somewhat yielding though the force was certainly not. Were it not for his natural durability the prince had no doubt he would be a smear upon the table and on Marie's hand. As it was, once her hand lifted and light flooded his vision once more he groaned in pain.

"Whoops! Sorry about that! Are you okay, Prince Lostrem?" The young woman asked, concern in her tone.

Erik wanted to scream at her and yell that of course he wasn't okay. He had been torn away from his research and sent out from his homeland. In the last twenty minutes he had been nearly drowned and then crushed flat by her. That was the very definition of not okay! The homunculus managed to compose himself with a heroic amount of willpower. He managed not to scream at the princess.

"I... am fine. Homunculi are naturally durable. It would take a lot to squish me." He said.

"Oh! I think someone told me that. Good! I got the fly, by the way." She said, looking rather proud of herself.

Erik took in a few deep breaths. Right so Marie wasn't very bright, had almost unintentionally killed him and seemed to get distracted easily. Not exactly something Erik could see himself living with. With a wife like that he'd constantly be afraid she would step on him or obliviously roll over in her sleep and smother him. Still, he had to admit she was indeed very beautiful. Perhaps he just needed to look at things from a different perspective.

Like how if he just sucked it up and went with her he could end this little run around he had doomed himself to. A selfish thought perhaps but Erik was still considering it. For the sake of his research he could be made to put up with a lot. The princess was looking towards the flowers again. Well she seemed to be captured by simple things at least, which was a good trait he supposed.

"Want to take a closer look at the flowers?" Marie inquired.

Looking at flowers was... safe. Erik didn't see how that could go wrong at least. So he nodded in assent, forcing a smile to his lips. The princess reached towards him but he held up a hand quickly, backing away from her slowly curling fingers in alarm.

"Please, milady, just present your palm. Grabbing can be a bit painful." He informed primly.

"Oh, of course! Sorry. Not used to handling homunculi."

That much was obvious. At the very least she was trying to treat him as an equal, which was a mark in her favor he supposed. He suspected most might think of him as a doll or lesser because of the height disparity. It was common enough that most homunculi avoided leaving their homeland. Marie hadn't done that though. Instead she offered her open palm with a lovely smile that melted at Erik's annoyance a bit.

He stepped onto her hand and she lifted it up off the table, standing and moving to a nearby rosebush. Her hold was a little unsteady but kneeling down made it manageable. Erik admired how soft her skin was, like a feather mattress. He leaned back and allowed himself to be carted around, the sound of Marie's babbling voice soothing at his nerves. She seemed happy enough for the company at the least.

She moved from flower bed to flower bed, pointing out her favorite ones. Whatever else Erik could say about her she knew her plants well. It was probably best she had been born a princess though in his opinion as she was a bit too... dense for other fields. Mean to think perhaps but the prince was still a tad understandably irritable after the tea incident and the crushing. Not everyone could match his genius he supposed. Some were born with untold beauty and others actually had brains behind their- why as Marie breathing like that.

The princess had been sniffing daintily at a few flowers but now her nose was wrinkled and she was taking in great gasps of breath. Almost as though- oh dear. Erik's eyes widened and he braced himself. Apparently flower watching was not nearly as safe as he had first thought. It almost looked like it passed for a few moments as she held it, not taking another deep breath for a few moments.

"Achoo!"

The diminutive prince found himself covered in spittle a flecks of disgusting greenish snot a moment later, the force of the sneeze knocking him onto his back. He tried to brush himself off only succeeding in smearing it in more. He spat out whatever had managed to get in his mouth and wiped away anything that had gotten in his eyes. His hair felt sticky with Creator only knew what.

Marie dabbed at her nose with her handkerchief her eyes widening when she noticed Erik's situation. "Oh dear! I'm sorry about that, here let me see if I can't wipe it off..."

Erik was about to protest, however soon enough his whole vision was stolen away as he found his entire body wrapped in cloth. Marie twisted it around his squirming form, wrapping him up in it completely as she rubbed at him through it to try and clean him up. The unfortunate prince was tossed around and battered by her titanic fingers, occasionally nearly suffocating in his prison of cloth. He tried to cry out but it was no use. He was trapped as his captor diligently tried to dry him of snot and spittle.

She managed to get everywhere. His head, his legs, between them even. That last big he was made very aware of, causing more than a few unwanted responses from his body. He had never thought very long and hard about what he enjoyed in women aside from physical beauty. That side of his life was most certainly very stunted. However he got the feeling that being aroused from being tossed around effortlessly by the massive woman was most certainly not normal. That along brought up a confusing swirl of emotions that mixed in with the pain and discomfort in a confusing manner. He should be able to figure this out; he was a genius after all! The youngest Master of Illusionism ever!

After a time Erik felt the cloth unraveling around him and he ended up lying out upon his back in Marie's hand, breathing heavily. His body felt so battered and bruised that it wasn't even funny. The giantess looked satisfied with her work though Erik already suspected his once pristine clothes were still stained and now were ruffled and wrinkled. He didn't even want to know how his hair looked.

It was in that moment that Lucius and Marie's servant returned both bearing trays with small little cakes upon them. The princess bounded over to the table and set Erik down, sighing in contentment as her treat was set down before her. The rather ragged looking prince sent a glare at the first sign of a little smirk from his retainer. He made a mental note to come up with an illusion so horrifying that the man wouldn't sleep for weeks. He was barely resisting the urge to do so to Marie herself for her... 'help'.

With their delivery completed both servants left the royals to their own devices, heading back into the castle to give them privacy. Erik didn't want privacy; he wanted witnesses for when this woman killed him by accident! Alas once more they were alone and Marie picked up a knife to cut bits from her own cake. The sight of her holding anything sharp was enough to make the tiny prince fear for his life.

She noted him not touching his food. "Do you need some help?

"NO! I mean, ahem, no thank you." He said quickly, his eyes never wavering from that knife.

Marie shrugged and happily bit away at pieces of her little cake, pleased with her sweet treat. For his part Erik resigned himself to tearing off bits of it with his hands and eating those. A pity he lacked telekinesis of any kind, physical magic was unfortunately not his thing. It was improper perhaps but if it was eating with his hands or having this dim witted princess move a knife anywhere near him he would choose eating with his hands.

They ate mostly in silence which was more than fine with Erik who took his time with his food. Noon quickly fell into afternoon and Erik found himself wishing the sun could move faster. He wondered what ill fate was in store for him next. Was she going to accidently knock the table over? Maybe drop him to the ground and step on him by accident? At this point Erik feared the worst. He knew right now that there was absolutely no way he could spend an extended period of time with this princess if he wanted to continue breathing.

After their meal was finished up Marie smiled brightly at Erik. "I like spending time with you, your grace. It is a pity it is only for today. You seem pretty smart and are patient and a great listener!"

Erik opted not to point out that the word was genius, that his patience was very nearly at the end of its rope, and that he remembered perhaps half of what she had said. He really didn't want to be mean here, it was obvious she was being earnest but she was just so... oblivious! Not exactly a great start to his journey. Still she had tried to be a good host at least.

"Thank you, Princess Delacour, you are quite something yourself. However my journey is long I suspect and my father wishes me to make my choice very carefully. I would not do to offend the others I am to visit." Erik said diplomatically.

She sighed. "I understand. I hope to maybe hear back from you of course! Maybe to visit Eteria instead?"

At that Erik immediately had the mental image of a burning city of slag and ruined libraries while the princess jumped around slapping at a big fly. He suspected that her getting anywhere near Eteria was a rather... unwise idea. Still he offered an agreeable smile and nodded politely to the blonde giantess. It was time to wrap up this first little meet up. He still had a whole slew of potential ones to get through and now it was really starting to sink home just how difficult this was going to be.

An hour later as the sun was dying in the sky his carriage was rolling away from the castle. Lucius chuckled across from him when he relayed the events that had occurred, earning a very sharp glare from the prince. One that sobered him rather quickly. Erik slumped back upon his cushion as the carriage rolled along, dreading whatever was too come next. Then again, after that little debacle how much worse could it possibly get?