Kingston Rulington/Relationships

Family
The Rulington family (and Merbind) has historically held a healthy suspicion towards the story of “The Light Princess”. Kingston has inherited this distaste, and despite his current tension with his family, the dislike for the role is one thing they can agree on.

This is not to say that he’s distant from his family.

The Rulington family is really close, but they can be overbearing. Kingston’s parents mollycoddle Kingston and his sister because they’re afraid of the dangers they face. While Merbind culture states that guppies who come of age must travel across the sea alone, Kingston and his sister had not made the voyage yet, even though a large percentage of their peers have already done so, and his eldest brother (who doesn’t have a legacy) did so at his age.

In the past few years, Kingston has been increasingly tired of being overprotected and has expressed his frustration about being infantilized by refusing to speak to his family. "Everything is done for me because I’m not expected to live through my story, and I don’t need to learn the skills"

- he’s not wrong in that assumption

Kingsley “Leah” Rulington
He has a twin sister who would be taking the role of princess makemnoit. Leah’s a neutral because she’s resigned herself to her fate. As kids, they used to blame each other and argue over who got the role first, dooming the other, but they realised that being their destiny was not a choice and they were both screwed over by the system — at least until legacy day.

Now, she acts as a bridge between him and their parents, but as someone who understands both sides of the situation, she’s frustrated by the lack of communication. She thinks that Kingston is being overdramatic with his silent strike, and has told him so.

They’re really close though, and like to explore cafes in Ever After while gossiping.

Friends
Despite Kingston’s lack of verbal filter, there’s surprisingly few people who dislike him. He has his own brand of charisma (due to his confidence) and is hilarious when he chooses to socialise because of his dramatic reactions.

Ember O'Lantern
One of Kingston’s closest friends, Ember prevented Kingston from getting scammed on their first meeting, which pretty much sums up their relationship. While Kingston is pretty decent academically, he isn’t very streetsmart. On the other hand, Ember tends to be more streetwise than book-smart. Together they make up one functional human!

Kingston tends to bug Ember to go with him to explore places like haunted houses, claiming that the risk of ghost possession is not worth the experience and adventure, and that Ember’s presence probably repels spirits by some kinda halloween magic. Her response? “The spirits will be blinded by the brightness of your pants instead... so it will be fine.”

Honestly, Kingston thinks that Ember is a cute friend, and would fight to protect her. While he tends to be judgemental, he finds it hard to judge Ember because he relates with her, and is able to see where her decisions come from. They are both reserved people who like to keep to themselves and find it hard to open up to others. This understanding of the other underscores their friendship, and ultimately, they bros.

Ilari Stepanov
Kingston met Ilari at a royal social gathering held by the seniors (as much as he feels apathetic towards politics, his family insisted that he attended the first meeting at the very least, and he was curious about interacting with fellow royals for the first time). For some reason Kingston wasn’t privy to, the upperclassman was interested in taking him under his wing.

Despite being a “prince” for the past half decade, the mannerisms did not come easy to Kingston, and he found it hard to adapt to the royal society. Most importantly: to break the rules, you need to be familiar with them. Hence, he appreciates the guidance Ilari offers, and greatly respects his knowledge and experience.

Kaden Radcliffe
Kingston got to know Kaden through Ilari, when he approached Ilari for advice regarding princely matters. Kaden, who was hanging out with Ilari by chance, offered really helpful guidance, and Kingston walked away from the encounter under the false impression that the upperclassman was a prince. (Spoiler: he’s not)

It took a long time before Kingston realised the truth. Regardless, he’s still in awe of the next Karen’s knowledge of both the royal and the real world, as well as his literature skills.

Cosmo Galante
After meeting two out of three members of the royal squad, Kingston only met Cosmo when they invited Kingston out on a hike. Initially surprised by the new face, Kingston quickly warmed up to the cheerful and optimistic prince. He really admires Cosmo’s sense of humour, and enjoys bantering with him.

He also takes advantage of Cosmo’s athleticism by frequently dragging him (and the royal squad) out for hikes and cruises.

Ting An Light
Even though they’ve never directly interacted, Kingston has a high opinion of the future villain, and admires her sense of responsibility and communication abilities. He knew of her through the future nurse, when they were added to “the Light Princess” group chat. Kingston is still unaware that Ting has a bad impression of him

Apollo Logica

 * they’re roommates
 * Kingston is a nerdy jock and gets annoyed when Apollo spouts nonsense in an assured tone ー his first reaction would be to trust Apollo’s confidence, but he then takes a second to process the thought and double takes at what he agreed with, which gets on his nerves
 * helps Apollo research material for his debate speeches because shell no are you getting up on stage saying this drivel

Romance
He doesn’t know. Feelings are confusing and he’s still figuring it out.

Enemies
Kingston is surprisingly non judgemental, despite how much he complains about stuff. The issue is that he is quite self-centered, and gets disproportionately annoyed when he’s inconvenienced.

Adeline Light
Whoever said ‘keep your friends close, and your anemones closer” might be onto something re: Addy’s and Kingston’s relationship.

Though Kingston strongly dislikes his future princess and thinks that she acts too frivolously for how impactful the story is on him and his family, he often runs into her. To be fairest, he tends to complain about her and tries to start an argument, but since Addy doesn’t take his comments to heart, the atmosphere turns really awkward. However Kingston is the more stubborn one of the two, and Addy’s usually the one who leaves first. He counts it as a win mentally.

Honestly, the irony is that Kingston and Addy are really similar people, and they would’ve enjoyed each other’s company outside of destiny. In another universe where they were friends, he would’ve thought highly of her free spirited nature and sense of humour.