Kingston Rulington

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Kingston Rulington is the next prince of “The Light Princess”. As a citizen of Merbind, Kingston has a distaste towards the story and what it represents to his country. As a merman, he thinks it is an insult to drown for a princess who doesn’t love him. And as an strong-willed person, he refuses to be tied down by a destiny he has no attachment to, and is therefore very much a rebel.

Personality
As a prince in a minor story who did not inherit his role, Kingston blends into the school environment. The politically savvy students might note the pedigree of the Rulington family and the economic might of his home country, but more often than not, the next prince from “the Light Princess” tends to keep to himself and avoid his peers in school

As a result, people who are un-fin-miliar with Kingston are often surprised when they get to know him better.

Contrary to how he might initially appear (graceful, sagacious, sofishticated), Kingston is actually really hextra. He’s highly findividualistic, and has a strong sense of self since guppy-hood. As a result, he doesn’t see a need to “fit in” with others, and would rather be entertained by himself instead of changing his behaviour under pier pressure.

While this confidence is largely admirable, it can occasionally cross into the realm of arrogance. Since Kingston and his twin are the youngest kids, and given the threat destiny poses to them, they are spoilt by their parents and elder brother. Kingston is used to, and anchoraged to put his own needs first. As a result, he tends to swim to the beat of his own drum.

Kingston’s refusal to follow the rules of society has been a constant since childhood, and he only grew more rebellious since learning about his destiny.

Born a middle child of the ruling party, Kingston initially expected to live a life of relative freedom — at least until he was chosen as the prince from “The Light Princess” at age 10. To prepare for the royal life, Kingston was pulled out of school along with his sister, and forced to undergo a rigorous homeschooling program designed to catch him up with years of royal behaviour and eel-tiquette. While Kingston obediently followed the instructions, he has always hated the drastic change in his life.

Even though Kingston strongly dislikes his destiny, it is undeniable that he shares quite a few characteristics as a prince from the trope. Much like the princes from yore, Kingston is adventurous and not afraid of the unknown. He enjoys exploring uncharted areas, and immersing himself in vastly different cultures, and his greatest desire would be to travel the world.

Unfortunately, he is the greatest obstacle to this want. Kingston is a very sheltered lad, and even though he’s relatively intelligent, he’s not very street smart, and can be surprisingly naive.

Kingston can be also too hasty with his words and offers his thoughts unprompted, despite the intensive cramming of princely etiquette and manners. Hence, he often gets on the wrong side of authority figures (which is ironic, since his family comprises of bureaucrats and members of the administration). As a result, despite his low profile at school, it was no surprise to people who know of him that he identifies as a rebel.

Travelling
Though travelling has to be his first and greatest passion, Kingston doesn’t quite remember how he started liking it, but concludes it must’ve been in his childhood? He recalls celebrating his 5th birthday in the cold reaches of Fortseva with Leah and his mom on her diplomatic trip, but he has an impression of going on a ship even before then. Regardless of when he started travelling, Kingston is sure he will never stop.

Even so, he’s been growing quite disenchanted with travelling as of late. Constantly going to the same places: capitals, cities, sceneries, as well as with the same people (read: his chaperones) can get wearying, even as Kingston appreciates learning new parts of such places and people, he secretly longs to run away somewhere unexplored by his lonesome, or somewhere different.

Sailing
This kid is rich and lives in the ocean, of course he’s going to try sailing. Kingston enjoys feeling the breeze on his shoulders and the feeling of mastering the boat. However, the constant waves and sameness do get boring after a while.

Theater
A theater aficionado, Kingston can be found religiously attending the school’s plays. However, he’s more of an observer than someone who participates -- he doesn’t want to know how the play is constructed, and just wants to appreciate the play as it is.
 * Kingston does occasionally sing, but he has inherited some kinda siren touch somewhere in his family, and his voice can be intoxicating for people who aren’t immune to it.
 * Kingston is verbose and enjoys spoken word poetry. Performing it, that is. He doesn't have much patience for listening to others if there isn't a guarantee that he's heard as well, but when he does pay attention to others, he can offer some pretty insightful critique into their use of cadence and meter.

Appearance
Kingston’s a rather short guy on land, and is around Cerise Hood’s height. Even so, he often looks taller than he is because of his larger than life attitude.

Due to genetics, Kingston has less merlanin than Leah, and is more golden brown. He has a light sprinkling of freckles because he often sails under the sun and forgets to apply sunscreen.

How the Story Goes
A king and queen had a daughter after many years, and the king forgot to invite his sister, Princess Makemnoit to the christening. Unfortunately, Princess Makemnoit is a spiteful and clever woman, and after arriving without an invitation, causes the princess to have no gravity.

“Light of spirit, by my charms,

Light of body, every part,

Never weary human arms—

Only crush thy parents’ heart!”

As the princess grows up, she never cries and is unable to see the seriousness of situations. The court philosophers are unable to propose any solution which the king and queen could morally and ethically adopt.

Soon, it was learned that the princess regains her gravity in water, which led to the proposal that the curse would be broken if the princess cried. In the meantime, a prince came across the princess swimming and thinking that she in drowning, tried to rescue her. The princess scolded him for doing so, and the prince falls in love with her. The prince and princess go swimming constantly.

When Princess Makemnoit learns that the princess loves the lake, she sets to drain it, as well as all water in nature. As the lake drains, the princess becomes sickly and despondent. It is later discovered that in order to stop the lake from drying up, a living man has to block the hole the water is escaping from.

The prince volunteers on the condition that the princess accompanies him while the lake fills up. While initially unfeeling, the princess eventually desperately saved the prince after he almost drowns. She brings him to her old nurse, who is a wise woman. When the prince finally awakens the next day, the princess falls to the floor and cries. The curse was broken and it rained, filling the kingdom once more with water. Princess Makemnoit died when lake water flooded the cave she lived in.

How does Kingston come into it?
Princes from “The Light Princess” are chosen, and the role is not inherited. Due to some sort of magical coincidence, Merbind’s presidential children have been chosen for the roles of the next Prince and future Princess Makemnoit.

Kingston’s views on his story
Kingston’s one of the students who people were unsurprised about when he joined the rebels. He has never made it a secret that he detests the role, but what might be surprising would be the multiple layers for his dislike.

First of all, “the Light Princess” is seen as a dangerous story in Merbind, due to the loaded history between the two countries, especially with what happened to the prince of the story two retellings ago. Accordingly, Kingston is wary of the story.

Furthermore, as a merman, Kingston hates the idea that he’s expected to drown himself for someone, and is incredulous that the administration expects him to do so. Because of his dislike for his role, Kingston’s dislike extends to the story as well, and he’s capable of finding many superficial reasons about the story to diss.

Ultimately, the most important reason for Kingston’s distaste would be that he’s someone who values his freedom, and detests the idea of being tide down.

Parallels
Kingston Rulington = an obnoxiously posh name. There's some history behind his surnname on West-awayian/Merbind, but on a meta level, the name was chosen to fit the "Prince" theme.
 * the prince loves the princess enough to sacrifice himself. Kingston’s a pretty selfish kid and this contradicts what was written in the story
 * The prince was introduced travelling to Lagobel, Kingston likes traveling
 * The prince is really picky and arrogant. Same
 * There's sea puns! have fun reading this page and spotting them HAHA as a side-note, there's some neat stuff in him being a merman and being selfish

Trivia

 * He’s very verbose and likes to sing.
 * He’s actually an astronomy nerd. Kingston is very knowledgeable about the positions of the stars and has tried navigating by celestial bodies.
 * Not a prince by birth!! While Kingston hates being forced into the role of “prince from the light princess”, he does appreciate the fame of being kinda famous (even though he’s in a minor story)
 * here’s his pinterest!!
 * A scent that describes Kingston would be: Voyage d'Hermes! Unexpectedly, it's not related to the sea, but is described as a contrast between energetic and homely. This touches on how Kingston himself wants to travel, but is tied down by obligations/ immaturity.

Specific things he likes:
 * The smell of rain. Even though it is just as wet as the ocean, the experience of rain is so different from what he’s used to. Kingston can often be found by the school lake when it rains.
 * those moments when you’re alone and you breathe in the fresh air and feel a sense of peace settle over your bones.

Specific things he hates:
 * He can never get used to the way his family members slip into double speak, or when people have multiple meanings behind their actions. Kingston is smart enough, and aware of how to parse out the hidden intentions, but he doesn’t like to be constantly suspicious of others’ actions.
 * He really doesn't like being disrespected (or rather, thinking that people are patronising him). His parents and siblings kinda treats him as a kid, and he reached his development milestones later than peers his age. He kinda?? has a complex about his maturity (and lack thereof)
 * Hot weather. He drinks water constantly to battle dehydration but it still feels really uncomfortable?? And on that note, Kingston can’t get used to how the temperature changes so quickly on land (temperature's pretty constant in the ocean).
 * scientific fact!
 * he dislikes dry humour, and accidentally makes puns.
 * the king from the story hates puns tbh

Quotes
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