[OOM] Eiattu - Royal Apartments

[fighting_mad]

Plourr keeps her clothing loose, outside of the apartments (though there's really not much she can do to keep it between them much longer, not really), but inside -- not much need, is there? She's sprawled on her back across the sofa, her legs hanging over the armrest and her arm across her eyes. She got as far as removing her jewelry, changing her tunic (exchanging a flowing royal purple top for an old, fitted undershirt), and kicking off one shoe, before she flopped down on the sofa with an inarticulate noise of disgust, and stayed there.

State dinners are the pits.

Comments

[eiattu_pride]

"Sooner or later, we'll have to announce it."

He's watching her, brown eyes quietly serious, head propped up on one hand.

[fighting_mad]

"I know." She exhales. "It just -- it seems a little less kriffing daunting when only we know." She flicks a strand of his hair. "The whole planet..." She shakes her head faintly, teeth sunk into her lower lip.

[eiattu_pride]

"Hey." Bringing one hand up under her chin, tilting her head up so that she's looking at him, Rial shakes his head. "It'll be okay. We can wait, if you need."

[fighting_mad]

"No," she says, with a glance down at her stomach and his hand resting on it, "we really can't."

[eiattu_pride]

"Well."

There's a pause, and then he half-grins. "That's true. But it'll still be okay."

[fighting_mad]

"It'll be a whole lot of scrutiny," she says softly, eyes flicking to his chin and back up.

[eiattu_pride]

"Sure it will. But we'll face it together, and you'll do just fine." He traces the side of her face, gently. "My princess."

[fighting_mad]

She leans into his hand and nods once, quietly.

[eiattu_pride]

"Okay."

He brushes an absent kiss to her forehead and settles back, thoughtfully.

[fighting_mad]

"Credit for your thoughts," she murmurs after a moment, still frowning a bit as she brushes long hair out of his face.

[eiattu_pride]

"They're worth more then that." It's absent, he's evidentally thinking of something else.

[fighting_mad]

One eyebrow lifts, and she settles her head in her hand. "That important, huh?"

[eiattu_pride]

"It's me." With something of a 'duh' expression.

"They're always that important."

[fighting_mad]

"Oh?" she asks. "Like the time that you considered an army of salt shakers and toast?"

[eiattu_pride]

"That was so important."

Beat.

"The pepper shakers were vastly outnumbered, and the marmalade was coming up on the left flank."

[fighting_mad]

"Uh huh," says Plourr, pursing her lips doubtfully.

"If I offered you more than a credit for your thoughts now, I wouldn't be getting more breakfast battle plans, would I?"

[eiattu_pride]

"It's not breakfast now," Rial points out sensibly.

That's a roundabout 'yes', by the way.

[fighting_mad]

Plourr is fluent in parsing Rial-speak, by now.

She snorts, then one side of her mouth twitches upward. "How's a couple thousand sound?"

[eiattu_pride]

"Done." A pause, and his expression sobers, leaving him to glance thoughtfully away from her.

"There will be - for the child, I mean - the question of royalty. Whether or not he should inherit the throne."

[fighting_mad]

She shakes her head sharply, once, almost before he's finished speaking. Her eyes are serious and dark, inches from his thanks to the way they're tangled in each other. "Absolutely not."

[eiattu_pride]

Now he's looking uncomfortable, and not only because he can't move away without half-falling off the couch.

"Plourr, it'd be a good idea. You'd have a fixed heir, if something were to happen there'd be no chance for someone else to take the throne."

[fighting_mad]

She stares at him. "Rial, I saw what my eldest sister went through, I know what I've gone through, and I am not forcing the throne on any child of mine."

[eiattu_pride]

"It'll be open to attack. Vulnerable. There are hundreds of sun-clauses that'll let whoever damn well feels like it take your throne from you once you're dead and gone, so who's to say that you won't be even more of a target?"

He sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose. "All I'm saying is let it go down through the royal family. The eldest inherits, then the second eldest, and so on. Saves wear and tear all around. Plus, who exactly is going to take the throne after we're gone if the kid decides he doesn't want it?"

[fighting_mad]

Plourr sits up. It takes some effort to keep from knocking Rial off the sofa, but she manages it, and quickly, too.

She shakes her head. "I don't know. I don't know, we'll figure it out, we'll figure something out," she says, talking more to the air than to Rial as she gestures, "but I won't put that kind of pressure on a kid. 'Hey, here's responsbility for an entire planet, take it or we'll disown you'?"

[eiattu_pride]

Rial sits up as well, awkwardly. "It's your decision, I guess."

Maybe a hint of something bitter. Maybe a definite hint of something childish and annoyed.