[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

[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.

[fighting_mad]

She sucks a breath in through her teeth, then releases it. "No. No, it's not. It's our decision." She breathes sharply, in and out, again. "You would really want to do that?" She forces a breath one more time, and her voice is noticeably calmer this time, if tight. Her eyes are serious, and directly on his. "All I'm saying is that I want to give the kid a choice."

[eiattu_pride]

He could say a lot of things. He could be petty and angry and demand to know if she was the one who spent her entire life here and knows how it works, or if she's the one who has had to see people on the throne that don't belong there.

Instead he breathes, takes a second, and then nods slightly. "I - think it's the best course of action, for now. At least, the best course of action for Eiattu."

A moment, and then, "I don't know if it's the best thing for a child."

[fighting_mad]

"It's a kriffing terrible thing to do to a child," she snaps, and then she shuts her mouth.

She looks at him a long moment, and then she glances down and brushes her fingers against the back of his hand. "I really don't want to do this, Rial," she says, voice low.