Interlude: Darian's Day Off

Meg peered through the ajar door and sighed at the scene that greeted her.

Prince Darian of Miria lounged in her bed wearing an oversized T-shirt and boxers, her hair sticking up every which way, one hand buried inside a bag of shrimp chips while her eyes were riveted on the TV screen. Which so happened to display two spray-tanned girls screaming censored curses at each other.

That was, in fact, why Meg had come here; she'd heard the bleeping all the way from the parlor. She sighed again, but Darian remained engrossed in the drama.

Meg decided it was time for more drastic measures. She stuck her head inside the room and rapped on the door frame.

"Hm? What is it?" Darian said lazily, not even looking her way. The hand emerged from the bag with an impressively large chip in tow.

"Darian, what are you even watching?" Meg demanded.

"Hm...I don't remember the name of this show, come to think of it." Darian squinted at the TV. "One of those where all these girls compete to date some ugly guy. I'm not sure they even know who he is?"

"Of course they don't." Meg heaved another sigh. "They're only on here to get famous."

Darian nibbled at the edge of the chip. "Can't say they're succeeding. I don't remember most of their names."

"Then quit watching it, will you? Honestly." Huffing, Meg put her hands on her hips. "You have all the history and culture of Earth at your disposal, and this is what you choose to waste your time with? I feel embarrassed on behalf of my world."

"No, no, it's fascinating," Darian said, waving her hand. "Look at them. They're fighting so desperately to win the prize. You've got to admire their drive."

"The 'prize' is a fake relationship with a washed-up Z-list celebrity they've never heard of before they auditioned for the show. And a lot of money, I guess. That's probably their main motivation. You're a prince out to take your rightful throne and make Tielos a better place. How can you possibly find this compelling?"

"It's life or death to them, that's what matters. I think it's amazing. No matter the world, everybody's fighting their hardest to achieve their goals."

"If you want to see humans fighting their hardest, Lodo's got quite the collection of World War Two films," Meg said irritably.

"Oh, sure, I'll watch them after this." More bleeping burst from the TV as one of the girls yanked the other's hair clean off. "Ha! I knew it was a wig! You get her, Tiffany!"

Meg knew a lost cause when she saw one, but she still couldn't help but feel terribly disappointed in herself. She was supposed to be Darian's guide to Earth; what did it say about her efforts if the prince found reality TV the height of drama?

Oh, well. Maybe in the time being, she could sort through Lodo's movie collection. There was bound to be something in there just as exciting as Tiffany snatching another girl's wig.