#there is something wrong (with either me or silvio)

[freckled-lili]

After completing Rio's Dramatic Ending Route, my feelings towards Silvio have upgrade from "passive dislike" to "absolute hatred for this guy".

#lili plays ikemen prince #ikemen prince #i'm sorry to all the silvio fans #but he's just like a massive ass #there is something wrong (with either me or silvio) #when the prince of the enemy nation #who routinely expresses his desire to trample over Rhodolite and conquer our MC #is way more endearing and lovable to me #than the dude who is a merchant prince

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Absolute Submission to the Queen

Translations may not always capture the exact nuances or tone of the original text. Expect grammatical errors.

Emma: *coughs, coughs*

Silvio: "Hey, what's wrong!?"

Silvio hurriedly approached me and placed his hand on my back.

Despite feeling guilty, I forcefully grabbed his shirt and pulled his handsome face closer.

Silvio: "!?"

Then I lightly kissed him, causing his face to turn bright red.

Even though it had been a while since we got engaged, it seemed he still wasn't used to being touched like this.

(I'm sorry, Prince Silvio.)

Emma: "If you don't do what I ask, I'll humiliate you even more."

Silvio: "You...!"

Emma: "Want me to help you change your clothes?"

I started unbuttoning his shirt, and he quickly distanced himself.

Silvio: "Fine, I’ll turn around, damn it."

Silvio: "But don't you dare stand up and change!"

His ears were still red as he turned away.

(..........)

(I might be able to tame him more than I thought.)

Silvio: "This profit margin is too low. We're overspending."

Merchant: "But the key to this business is to target the rich with high-quality..."

Silvio: "That market is already saturated by existing businesses. Investing in it won't lead anywhere."

(They're having a serious conversation, and yet...)

Silvio continued to examine the documents with one hand while readjusting his hold on me with the other.

(What the hell is even going on here!?)

He regularly hosted business negotiation meetings to invite promising entrepreneurs for business matchmaking.

However, I felt out of place in such a serious meeting, both physically and in terms of the surrounding gazes.

(Of course, I didn't want to interfere with his work, but I never expected him to carry me around like this instead of leaving me in the room.)

Even when I asked him to put me down, he flatly refused.

Seeing how worried he looked, I couldn't bring myself to refuse either, and as a result, I found myself in this embarrassing situation.

Silvio: "Emma, if there's something on your mind, just tell me."

After finishing the business meeting, our eyes met from a close distance.

Emma: "The current situation is what's bothering me the most."

Silvio: "You're still saying that?"

Silvio: "You injured your leg, so there's no helping it. Just stay quiet."

Emma: "Don't you get tired of carrying me like this?"

Silvio: "This is nothing."

Emma: "..........."

Silvio: "You look dissatisfied."

Emma: "You understand the reason, right?"

Silvio: "I dunno."

(I need to do something about this. Their stares are getting to me!)

I looked around, hoping to find something useful, and my eyes landed on the dishes laid out on the table.

(He's a bit of a shy one, so maybe...)

Emma: "Prince Silvio, I'm hungry."

Silvio: "Come to think of it, you didn't eat much this morning."

(I couldn't taste anything because you kept me on your lap the entire time.)

I swallowed the urge to say that and smiled.

Emma: "Could you please let me sit in that chair over there?"

Emma: "I'll sit still and behave."

Silvio: "Alright."

(He's surprisingly compliant.)

He quickly closed the distance and sat on the chair.

(Hm?)

I blinked in surprise when he suddenly placed me on his lap.

Silvio: "What do you want to eat?"

(Wait, wait, wait!)

Emma: "You're not planning to do the same thing as you did during breakfast, are you?"

Silvio: "Isn't that what Her Majesty the Queen desires?"

(Doesn't he realize people are watching!?)

(No, he's a tyrant, so maybe he doesn't care about being watched in the first place.)

Ignoring my frozen state, he skillfully cut up the seafood dish on the table and brought it to my mouth.

Silvio: "Here you go."

Emma: "I want to eat by myself."

Silvio: "Denied."

Emma: "I see."

(If that's the case, there's nothing I can do.)

I opened my mouth wide and let him feed me, deliberately brushing my tongue against his finger.

Silvio: "!?"

Emma: "It's delicious."

Silvio: ".........."

(I'm really sorry, but this is for my dignity.)

Emma: "What's wrong? Weren't you going to feed me?"

Emma: "Or have you decided to listen to my request?"

Emma: "A simple request to let me eat by myself."

Silvio: "You might actually have the Queen's talent in you."

Emma: "It's embarrassing to be praised by a tyrant."

Silvio: "Don't get embarrassed. Haah."

Exaggeratedly sighing, he sat up and gently helped me back into the chair.

Silvio: "This should be enough."

Emma: "Thank you."

When I received the plate handed to me, he looked at me with some dissatisfaction.

I felt like he would pounce on me the moment I put any strain on my legs.

(He really cares about me. He's just overly protective.)

I couldn't help but smile, and in response, he tousled my hair affectionately.

Even though it was a bit embarrassing, his care and concern made me happy.

Surrounding merchants: "..........."

I should have been concerned about how that scene looked to others, but I only heard the rumors a few days later.

Rio: "Damn it, I'm so jealous!"

Silvio: "Sorry about that."

Rio, frustrated, knelt on the floor and pounded his fist into the ground, leaving Silvio looking down at him in bewilderment.

Just like before, Silvio carried me with one arm.

Emma: "No, wait."

Emma: "Rio, what did you just say?"

Rio: "Are you making me say those cruel words to him again?"

Emma: "No, that's not it. Let me repeat."

Emma: "Did you just say Prince Silvio has completely become a dog tamed by me?"

Rio: "That's right. The merchants who were present at the last meeting are spreading the rumor that this flirt is your dog."

Rio: "Not just the merchants, even the servants in the castle are all saying the same thing, calling him a dog."

Rio: "But it's true, right? Lately, this guy has been clinging to you constantly, never leaving your side."

Rio: "He's been doing everything for you like a dog."

Rio: "I'm so jealous. I want to become your dog, too!"

Rio: "Hey, can I also become your pet?"

Silvio: "Idiot. I'm not generous enough to allow multiple pets."

Rio: "Stingy!"

Silvio: "Shut up! You better go do your official duties!"

Rio: "Don't get carried away just because you became Emma's dog!"

Silvio: "Stop barking, you damn dog!"

(...........)

(What should I do!? If Silvio continues to be ridiculed like this, I don't think I can tolerate it.)

Part 1╎Premium╎Epilogue╎Special Story

#ikemen prince #ikepri silvio #silvio ricci #ikepri #ikepri jp #ikepri spoilers #ikepri rio #ikepri translations #cybird

[xbalayage]

could I request “i hate them. i hate them, with their voice, and their perfect hair, and their deep eyes, and …” from the prompt list with silvio?

Silvio/Reader [His POV] Fluff WC: 968 A/N: This is a sequel to another fic I wrote called Bastard. I suggest reading that one first before this one. :)

I had returned home to Benitoite; I did what I needed to do for the old fart and didn't have anythin' much to report on. Truth be told, I saw and heard a couple things: like that woman definitely being Belle and the previous King was dead or I had finally found Valerio after all these years - but I hate the man enough to not tell him any of it. He can get his own hands dirty and figure that shit out. I'm not his damn dog. And of course he wasn't happy about it.

But it's been a month now, and I don't even get why I've been countin' down the days since I last saw you. I didn't even understand why that bothered me so much. I tried biding my time with my usual pleasures; but just like before, it never quenched the internal longing I kept feelin'. I'd drink alcohol like it was water, I'd chug water till the very last drop, spent time with any ol' woman or lady who'd bend over backwards for my time and attention. I'd rain them with my vast amount of wealth and they'd wag their tails happily, wantin' nothing more than to warm my bed at night.

It was never enough, I felt sick to my stomach and repulsed. I could never take enough showers to wipe their filthy marks from my body, never lettin' them stay past the night either. And fucking try as I might, my mind was still on you.

Ugh, I hate her. I hate her, with her voice, and her perfect hair, and her deep eyes, and ... shit, just get out of my head! You weren't even here and you were annoying the crap out of me! But -- is that what it was? I took a good long look in the mirror, I had a talk with my inner self and I realized something. This was fucking stupid.

I packed my shit and hopped onto one of my ships and set sail back to Rhodolite. I knew where you'd be, I'd bet my entire fortune on it. It took a while but the second my eyes set sight on the land known for their roses, my heart started to pick up in pace. Why's my stupid heart racin' the closer I get to seeing you? What I'm feelin' couldn't possibly ... no, it can't be. While in town, I decided to spend some money into the Rhodolite economy and buy roses. I wanted to buy more but my heart stopped the second I saw you from the corner of my eye. Finally, there you were.

And it's almost like you noticed me too, because those deep eyes met mine; ah shit, why's my face burning up and my hands gettin' all clammy now!? I couldn't find it in me to move, but you made that decision for me as your bright smile raced over until you were right in front of me. You... were right in front of me.

"Hello, Prince Silvio! What're you doing here in Rhodolite?" your voice was as sweet as I kept imagining it for a month straight. But before I could respond, you noticed the bouquet of roses in my hands. "What are the roses for?" Ah, I couldn't say they were for you. How would that make me look?

"It's not like I thought about ya or anythin', don't be gettin' the wrong idea. I just happened to have these with me when I ran into you. And I don't need them anymore. Here." I was quick to push them into your arms so you couldn't say no. They weren't gems or anything, this was the best I could get last minute and they were freshly picked. I couldn't comprehend how your eyes began to shine at the sight of them; I offered an easy smile. I missed you smiling at me like that. "Take care of 'em, will ya?"

"They're so beautiful! But why are you giving these to me?" Damn it, don't make me say it while lookin' at me all doe-eyed! Just when I thought I had the heat on my cheeks under control too. You're just too adorable, huh?

"Like I said, I just had 'em and it was just luck that you showed up. So I thought they'd do better with you than with me. Plus they suit ya, I'm not much of a roses guy. And--" I gave pause, just staring at you for a second, trying to find the words I wanted to say next. I closed my eyes to gather the courage. "I'm sorry, a'right? About.. before. I didn't mean it, and I wasn't tryna make you upset."

You looked at me dumbfounded like that was the last thing you expected to leave my mouth. I can't say I blame ya, I was outta line. I just want ya to forgive me, I don't think I could take another month not being around you. And as if you were reading my mind, you responded with that sickly sweet smile. "I didn't think you remembered or that it even mattered. I didn't expect that of you," you paused to smell the roses before continuing, "I accept your apology, Prince Silvio."

I smiled, genuinely smiled. You've got me wrapped around your little finger, don't you? "So, what do you say 'bout me takin' you out? I'm not in town for long, how about it?"

This heart racing feeling must've meant something because it never stopped the moment I was with you. It persisted the entire time too. My heart felt lighter however, my throat didn't feel as painful anymore too. Heh, is this what love felt like? I wouldn't question it for now - just being able to see ya again was enough.

taglist; @nightghoul381, @yvelk, @celiciaa, @drachonia, @alvieeru, @aquagirl1978, @here-for-gilbert, @widowbunny, @exhausted-courtroom-mom, @randonauticrap, @maries-gallery, @violettduchess, @strawberry-scum, @tele86, @lunaaka

#silvio #silvio ricci #ikepri silvio #ikemen prince silvio #ikepri #ikemen prince #ikepri fanfic #fics. #my fics. #mini drabble event.

[queen-dahlia]

𝐆𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧

𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟰

Note: Translation is not 100% accurate. Expect grammatical errors.

// : alternate translation | ⫘⫘ : flashback | 4:4 answer

The harassment caused by the hatred for Obsidian increased day by day.

Still, nothing was more vicious than being locked up in a warehouse, so I somehow managed to endure...

The preparations for the White Rose Festival were about to be completed without incident.

If it weren't for the whims of the trampling beast.

Leon: "I'm sorry, Emma, am I having a hallucination?"

Sariel: "I was also a bit deaf. Could you repeat that?"

Chevalier: ". . . . . ."

I was the one who summoned the three of them to the round table where the meeting was being held.

There is a reason why three of the busiest people have gathered here today, just before the festival.

(The seriousness of the situation is sinking in…)

(But we can't escape reality, let's go ahead and do it.)

Emma: "Prince Gilbert—"

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "I would also like to attend the memorial service."

Silvio: "Pff—"

Keith: "… Eh…"

This morning at breakfast time, which is becoming a daily routine, Prince Gilbert said something to me,

Silvio, who happened to be there, spit out the tea, and Keith dropped his fork.

Emma: "Prince Gilbert is... going to the memorial service?"

Gilbert: "What's the big surprise?"

Gilbert: "If Silvio and Keith are going to be there, I should be there too."

Silvio: "Stop. You will be stabbed."

Keith: "… I don't think it's a good idea either. It would be too much for Gilbert to attend the memorial service."

Gilbert: "A blasphemy against the dead?"   //   "A blasphemy to the dead?"

Keith: "I didn't say that."

Silvio: "Then, are you an insensitive, stupid prince who can't read the atmosphere?"

Keith: "No!"

Gilbert: "… I'm hurt. Comfort me, Little Bunny."

Prince Gilbert, who was showing off his gluttonous eating habits next to me, stops what he is doing and puts his head on my shoulder.

The sudden closeness of the distance made my body stiffen.

Emma: "… A-alright?"

I stroked his hair and swallowed Prince Gilbert's request to get him away from me as soon as possible.

The atmosphere in the room was outrageous.

Silvio: "…… Are you stupid?"

Keith: "Lady Emma... you are very brave."

Gilbert: "… Pfft… Haha…"

Emma: "Hey, you asked me to comfort you, so I had no choice but to do it! It was inevitable!"   //   "Hey, you told me to comfort you, so I did! It was force majeure!"

Gilbert: "Oh yes, it was inevitable... I never thought I'd be treated like a child at my age, but…"   //   "Yeah, it's force majeure… I never thought I'd be treated like a child at my age…"

Gilbert: "But I don't hate it… Haha."

(Let's not go crazy anymore.)

When I withdraw my hand, Prince Silvio clears his throat to regain his composure.

Silvio: "What kind of grudge do you have against Rhodolite?"

Even Prince Silvio and Prince Keith of other countries don't look good.

I am sure the response of the princes of Rhodolite will be more than this.

Gilbert: "No, no, rather, I like Rhodolite."

Gilbert: "The food is good, the roses are beautiful, and there's a little rabbit."

Silvio: "… Don't try to hit on her so casually."

Keith: "I have no idea what Gilbert wants to do."

Gilbert: "Fufu… Isn't it fascinating to see a man with a secret?"

Silvio: "If it's a joke, it's a joke. Yours is no joke."

Silvio: "Tell me what you're up to, right here, right now."

Gilbert: "Well, there's only one reason to attend the memorial service, right?"

Emma: "Would you... like to pay your respects?"

(The people of Rhodolite were victims of the Obsidian.)

Gilbert: "Of course. We have to show respect for the innocent."

Emma: "However, Prince Gilbert said before—"

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "There's nothing wrong with that, is there? There's no rule that says the Obsidian royalty can't participate."

Sariel: "Then will you pay your respects?"

Gilbert: "As long as it's just a heartless form."

Sariel: ". . . . . ."

Gilbert: "That's the kind of country Obsidian is in, ordering an invasion with words of memorial."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Emma: "—You said so yourself, didn't you?"

Silvio: "That sucks."

Keith: "… I've misjudged you, Gilbert."

Gilbert: "Ahaha, I've changed my mind."

Prince Gilbert looks up and smiles gently in front of me.

If someone who doesn't know anything sees it, it's a fraudulent smile.

Gilbert: "I want to give a reward to Little Bunny, who has been harassed countless times and doesn't give up even when she cries."

Gilbert: "If I attend the memorial ceremony, I can be the symbol of peace you want me to be, right?"

Gilbert: "Also, it's impossible for me to mourn as a representative of the country, but as an individual, I'm willing to do it."

Gilbert: "In any country, taking the life of an innocent person is a mortal sin."

(… Are you serious?)

I couldn't doubt it because I knew there was a good side to him.

Keith: "If you do attend the ceremony, I don't think the Rhodolite side would be happy about it."

Silvio: "If it were me, I'd probably slam my fist in his face."

Silvio: "The people of my country were massacred. I don't want a bastard like that paying respects to us."

Gilbert: "That's right…"

Gilbert: "But it's okay. Because I have Little Bunny."

Emma: "Eh."

Gilbert: "Can you ask?"

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Emma: "Is it too difficult?"

No matter how many times I explain it, the wrinkles between Leon and Sariel's eyebrows won't come off.

I knew what to expect, but the atmosphere was heavy.

Leon: "If it's an offer that comes from sincerity, there's no reason not to accept it."

Leon: "Figurative mourning is a desecration of the dead."   //   "The mere act of paying respects to the dead is blasphemy."

Sariel: "However, it is true that there are those in the public who welcome this as a sign of improved relations between the two countries."

Sariel: "There has been a lot of tension over the years, so Prince Gilbert's participation is generally not a bad thing."

Leon: "Then, do you agree?"

Sariel: "No. I have the same opinion as you, Prince Leon. There is no meaning in paying respects only figuratively."

Sariel: "Besides, I don't think that Prince Gilbert would attend just for the memorial service."

Sariel: "Without a doubt, he must have prepared some evil deeds that will blow our minds."

(It's Prince Gilbert who can't defend against such things.) **

(But on the other hand, I also want to believe.)

(He hates lying, so his desire to mourn the dead is genuine…)

(… Maybe I'm just thinking too conveniently.)

Sariel: "I'm sure Prince Gilbert will also be in great danger."

Sariel: "The ceremony will be open to the public. And then suddenly, Prince Gilbert will appear…"

Leon: "It would be no surprise if some people started throwing rocks at him."   //   "Wouldn't it be funny if someone threw a stone at him?"

Sariel: "… Rocks are still not very nice."   //   "… Stones would still be a pretty sight."

Sariel: "For security reasons, I really want him to refrain from attending the ceremony."

(Prince Gilbert must have expected this kind of thing from Leon and Sariel.)

(But he still "asked" me to do it... He’s so mean.)

Chevalier: "Nonsense. It's not even worth discussing."

Prince Chevalier, who had been silent all this time, said to dismiss our troubles.

(After all, Prince Chevalier is also against Prince Gilbert's participation.)

Chevalier: "If we refuse the offer from the Obsidian side, it will be taken as a sign that our country has no intention of friendship."

Chevalier: "I think he should be allowed to attend, even if it puts him at a slight disadvantage."

(…… Uh.)

Chevalier: "The soldiers of the foreign faction have extra strength when it comes to security. If we rearrange their deployment, we should be able to cope with the situation."

Chevalier: "… I don't think it's necessary, though. Eyepatch is not stupid. He will defend himself."

Sariel: "Prince Chevalier, it could be a trap…"

Chevalier: "It's a trap 9 out of 10, but it's not something you can set."

Chevalier: "He's probably aiming for..."

Prince Chevalier and I engaged in perfect eye contact.

Emma: "… Me?"

Chevalier: "Let him go this time, and you'll get a clearer picture of what his purpose is."

Chevalier: "What is he trying to ascertain through you?"

Emma: ". . . . . ."

Chevalier: "It's well worth more than the disadvantage."

(Perhaps Prince Chevalier can foresee what will happen on the day of the ceremony.)

Prince Chevalier lifts the corners of his mouth as if he were playing a board game.

He is not usually a person who shows his emotions, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

Chevalier: "Simpleton, you should also attend the ceremony on that day. I'll give you a role."

Leon: "Don't be stupid, Emma could be in danger."

Chevalier: "I'm not talking to you."

Cold eyes like a frozen sea prompt my words.

(I know it's dangerous, but I also want to know Prince Gilbert's intentions.)

(Also, in the unlikely event that Prince Gilbert harms Rhodolite…)

(I have to take responsibility to stop it.)

That's what I mean by being a friend of Prince Gilbert.

Emma: "Please."

Sariel: "Emma, don't overdo it."

Emma: "I'll be fine."

(… Oh, I said "I'm fine" again.)

I would be lying if I said I wasn't anxious, but I smile because I don't want to cause concern.

Chevalier: "It's settled. I told you I'd take care of this in the first place."

Prince Chevalier grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and pulled me close.

Chevalier: "You are in no position to do anything about it."   //   "You guys have no authority to do this, lose it."

(I didn't know there was such a story.)

Seeing the bitter looks on both Leon's and Sariel's faces,

It seems that Prince Chevalier had been doing a lot of work without my knowledge.

Leon: "When you said you were going to take care of her, I thought you were a harbinger of a natural disaster."

Leon: "It's not like I agreed to do something like this."

Sariel: "Me too... She's Belle, and her safety needs to be our top priority."

Sariel: "It is more important than countering the threat of Prince Gilbert."

Chevalier: "I don't care. What makes you think I would do something that would cause me to lose an important piece?"

Leon & Sariel: ". . . . . ."

Chevalier: "If anything goes wrong, I'll take care of it. Is that okay?"

Chevalier: "Simpleton, go call Clavis and the clown. We'll work out the details."

Emma: "Y-Yes…!"

I hurriedly followed the back of Prince Chevalier, who dashingly fluttered his cloak.

There is no anxiety or hesitation in his steps.

With his extraordinary foresight, he seemed to be already thinking about countermeasures against Prince Gilbert.

Leon and Sariel don't argue with Prince Chevalier for a long time, either.

It's proof that they trust you.

(He is a rational person, although he has a horrible side that sometimes makes him abandon his humanity…)

(He is also the only one who can counter the Obsidian threat.)

(Maybe this is the kind of His Majesty the King that the unstable Rhodolite is looking for right now.)

══════════════════

—On the day of the White Rose Festival, about which I had a premonition of turmoil, the sky was dazzlingly clear.

On a stage set up in the open air, the princes of the domestic and foreign political factions, as well as major aristocrats and distinguished guests from other countries, ascend one after the other.

A memorial ceremony for Blood-Stained Rose Day has been held in the past on the first and fifth anniversaries.

His Majesty the King, the princes, and other distinguished guests of the Rhodolite will offer a white rose at the Cenotaph, and they will all join in a moment of silence.

Normally, the ceremony is supposed to be solemn, but this year there was something unusual going on in the surrounding area.

(… I knew this was going to happen.)

People's attention is directed toward the princes of foreign countries.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, Silvio, the prince of an allied country, decided to attend the ceremony himself,

It seems that Keith, the prince of a neutral country, decided to participate because the victims had no enemies or allies.

The problem is Prince Gilbert.

(The Prince of Obsidian not only helps with the White Rose Festival but also attends the ceremony…)

(The rumors spread all at once in the past few days, so many people have gathered at the venue…)

Amidst all the mixed feelings of good and bad, the person in question is dignified.

Even in front of some of the guests who looked as if they were about to kill him at any moment, his refreshing smile did not falter.

(I wonder what he's thinking behind that smile.)

(… For now, I'll do my job.)

The role that Prince Chevalier prepared for me was to distribute the white roses that were offered as flowers to the prince and other distinguished guests.

As they stand in line to get theirs, I carefully hand them out one at a time.

After the Rhodolite princes finished laying flowers, the princes of other countries came next—

Emma: "Here you go."

Gilbert: "Fufu… Little Bunny, your smile is so tugging at my heartstrings."   //   "Fufu... Little Bunny, your smile is starting to fade."

Emma: "Because of this situation…"

I get so nervous that my hand shakes as I give him the white rose.

Various voices were heard from below the stage.

While there were voices wishing for friendship with Obsidian, there were also many rants of resentment,

All the emotions that made me want to cover my ears seemed to be stabbing Prince Gilbert.

Emma: "… Are you okay?"

Gilbert: "You know me, I'm a beast."

Emma: "… No beast can mourn."

Gilbert: "I'm a good imitator."

(He seems to be used to this kind of thing.)

(… How many times—just how many times has this person been stabbed in this way?)

(Maybe he deserved it, but still.)

(I don't know why... I'm confused.)

Prince Gilbert received the white rose from me and headed to the wreath stand.

The people, who had been lively until then, suddenly became silent.

(… It's Rhodolite's manners.)

Manners for offering flowers may differ from country to country.

Rhodolite, who takes care of roses, has particularly detailed rules around that,

But Prince Gilbert's movements are so beautiful that you can't complain about them.

(Really, he seems to be sincerely respectful.)

(Is he just a really good imitator as a person, or—)

Crowd: "Look, Obsidian has a will to reconcile, doesn't he?"

Crowd: "No, it's all an act. We should get rid of him now!"

Crowd: "Huh? You think that's acting? We should treat him properly!"

Crowd: "Don't be silly! Obsidian has no humanity!"

(Oh…)

Voices begin to rise from everywhere in response to Prince Gilbert's actions.

It was like a fire in oil, and you could see the scuffle from the stage.

(It's not just the anti-monarchy faction. Rhodolite is so disjointed right now.)

The commotion gradually grows louder, and the knights come in to control it.

Still, once the fire was lit, it would not subside...

Eventually, I could see some people trying to get up on the stage, overcoming their restraints.

(Any more than this is dangerous!)

At the moment everyone thought so, Prince Gilbert stood in the middle of the stage, and the sound of his cane echoed.

The small sound seemed to have been drowned out by the whirlwind of commotion.

And yet, people stopped moving as if time had stopped and looked up at Prince Gilbert.

It was a bizarre sight.

(It's not sound… It's the atmosphere.)

(I feel pressure in the air.)

The Trampling Beast laughs briskly.

Equally to friendly people as to a hostile one.

Gilbert: "Lords and ladies of Rhodolite."

Prince Gilbert's dignified voice dominated the venue.

Gilbert: "Ten years have passed, and Obsidian wishes to establish a new relationship with your country."

Gilbert: "If possible, let everyone here live a happy life."

Gilbert: "If you can give me a sincere response at the upcoming four-way talks, I will respond to that as well."

Gilbert: "Your country has already damaged our friendship once."

Gilbert: "I hope it doesn't happen again. On the occasion of the White Rose Festival, right?"

(… I want to be honestly happy, but I can't.)

The people, who had been quiet, come to their senses and begin to make noise again.

The madness created by hostility and goodwill was terrifying.

Gilbert: "Hehe... It seems that there are many people who feel uneasy, so let's show them a proof of friendship for starters."

After saying all he wanted to say, Prince Gilbert turns away.

I was standing at the edge of the stage.

Emma: "Prince Gilbert?"

I feel a chill run down my spine, and I brace myself.

(His eye isn't smiling…)

(… I have a feeling he's up to something.)

As I stepped back, a cold hand grabbed me and pulled me.

I could see Yves and Rio trying to run up to me in the distance,

All of them were blocked by the cold body of Prince Gilbert.

Gilbert: "What do you think is the easiest proof of friendship, Little Bunny?"

(… I don't know.)

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Yves: "Now Obsidian has become a hostile, abhorrent nation..."

Yves: "There was a period of time when we were trying to open diplomatic relations and establish normal diplomatic ties with Rhodolite."

Yves: "My mother then came from Obsidian to Rhodolite in marriage as a token of our friendship."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "Yes…"

Prince Gilbert's face fills everything—

(I don't want to know...)

Gilbert: "It's love."

#サイバード #イケメン王子 #ギルベルト=フォン=オブシディアン #ikemen prince #ikemen prince gilbert von obsidian #ikemen prince gilbert #ikeprince #ikeprince gilbert von obsidian #ikeprince gilbert #gilbert von obsidian #ikeprince jp #ikepri jp #ikeprince translation #ikepri gilbert route spoilers #ikemen prince spoilers #ikeprince spoilers #ikepri spoilers #dahlia's bad translation

[shatcey]

Valentine's day

The first character that came to my mind when I think of Valentine's Day was Charles Henry Sanson. Have no idea why. No, that's a lie. He loves everyone and is always ready to present himself to anyone. So… he is, in fact, the perfect Valentine's present.

But… MC described his smile as the brightest and most beautiful smile she had ever seen. But… If you look at him more closely, the smile does not reach his eyes. Even a person who is not very good at reading faces will notice that something is off.

Do you see it too?

So… I decided to combine all the beautiful and very real smiles that I love so much, in order… I don't know… to show how to do it properly. Charles, watch and learn!

Ikemen Sengoku is the richest for the real smiles. Almost all the characters smile so sweetly and tenderly that it is very difficult not to fall for them. Not my favorite, but undoubtedly an extremely beautiful Ranmaru's smile.

Keiji looks so good, no matter the expression on his face. I like him more when he lets his hair down… And his real smile is rare, so it warms my heart to see it.

The rarest smile Kenshin has. And that makes it even more precious.

And, of course, my favorites… Mitsuhide, Yuki, and the sweetest smile of them all is Ieyasu.

There aren't many smiles in Ikemen Prince that I really like.

The brightest smile has…. Gilbert, of course. He smiles so often that he polished it to perfection.

Clavis is the cutest, then he has a worried expression on his face. But it still feels like a smile.…

And my beloved Licht is famous for a smile that appears/disappears at lightning speed. At a drunken event, he let us see it for so long that it seems to good to be true.

And despite my deep and undying love for Silvio… I don't find his smile sincere. Don't get me wrong… I love it too, but I can't show it to Charles as an example.

Just like the Princes, there aren't many smiles in Ikemen Revolution I really like.

Loki has the most memorable smile. He's a Cheshire cat, of course, he has a beautiful smile. And Harr has the sweetest smile of all. It's still a half smile, but his eyes have such beautiful wrinkles (somewhere behind his bang… I'm sure).

Ikemen Villains

I like Liam's smile. It's so sweet. His eyes are still sad, but he looks genuinely happy. Perhaps the fact that he is an actor plays a huge role, but I think it's the perfect smile.

The rarest and most unexpected is Jude's smile. Someday my heart will burst with happiness looking at him…

Ellis, my beautiful angel… sometimes his smile is very creepy, but this one seemed sweet and sincere to me.

And my latest discovery Ikemen Genjiden.

I love Yoichi… I love him more than I should. And most of all, I like the character design. In my eyes, he is so perfect that I didn't understand how to choose another character until I found my second huge obsession (a bit lower).

This is from a recent event. Those eyes are full of adoration and a sweet sincere smile… He's too good.

And Yoshitsune (at first I called him Zombie… not anymore). The same, from the last event. This sweet smile and the way he looks at me… It's too much…

I believe there are more, but these two are at the top of my list right now, and I'm not particularly interested in looking at the rest.

And now… the most difficult. I don't like the smiles on Ikemen Vampire. They are either half-smiles (almost everyone, even my beloved Dr. Faust), or very excessive and obviously not sincere (Arthur, Dazai). That's probably why I'm not really fond of this game… Hmmm...

So… here it is… I've given you a lot of examples. Smile properly from now on, Charles! Happy Valentine's Day!

#cybird ikemen #ikemen series #cybird #ikemen games #ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ranmaru mori #ikesen ranmaru #ikemen sengoku ranmaru #keiji maeda #ikemen sengoku keiji #ikesen keiji #mitsuhide akechi #ikemen sengoku mitsuhide #ikemen mitsuhide #ikesen mitsuhide #yukimura sanada #ikesen yukimura #ikemen sengoku yukimura #ieyasu tokugawa #ikemen sengoku ieyasu #ikesen ieyasu #ikemen prince #ikepri #gilbert von obsidian #ikepri gilbert #ikemen gilbert #ikemen prince gilbert #clavis lelouch #ikemen clavis

[viatagrinner]

Silvio Ricci. Both Endings Bonus. The path to favoritism. Part 1

Our days.

I've always been longing. Never in my life have I been able to quench that longing/tryst.

Drinking large quantities of alcohol and one-night stands serve only as a temporary distraction. How could this be cured? I thought long and hard about this method. I couldn't find a way.

Until I met this sweet and sassy woman.

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Main Flashback. 3 years ago.

Prince Valerio is missing. Silvio looks at his other brother, Emidio.

(This guy... Did he set something up?)

Valerio has gotten involved with some dangerous business, and Emidio is acting suspiciously.

(Damn, I thought Emidio wouldn't catch him...)

King Alfio, their father, forms a search squad.

(Are you forming a search squad already?)

If Silvio or Emidio were missing, King Alfio would not even look for them.

The king asks his eldest sons about their involvement in Valerio's disappearance.

Emidio: I know nothing. What about you brother?

Silvio does not know either.

The King of Benitoite: ...There is no lie in these words, is there?

The King looked with a murderous gaze, like an enemy, not at the suspicious Emidio, but at his eldest son.

Silvio: Ha, you doubt me?

The King has already concluded.

(You're wrong, you old bastard.)

Emidio: But the one who is most pleased with Valerio's disappearance is my brother, right?

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Flashback in flashback:

It is a "celebration" of the death of Silvio and Emidio's mother, the queen, and a welcome to a new wife, Lydia.

Only Emidio, is sad about his mother.

Emidio: You are so good, Valerio.

Valerio: What do you mean?

Emidio: I don't even have to tell you, do I? It's just the way you wanted it to be.

Emidio: Aren't you happy, right?

Valerio: If I look happy, brother, you should have your eyes checked.

Silvio tells them to shut up. Emidio looks for support from his older brother, but finds none.

Emidio: You killed my mother, Valerio.

Silvio doesn't believe it. Their mother committed suicide. Realizing that Alfio might find out that she wanted to send him to Lydia, she chose death.

This is what Valerio, the man who learned the truth about the queen, said.

Silvio doesn't think this is a bad thing. Rather... if Valerio had not done it, he would have done it himself.

Emidio is outraged. Why protect their little brother?

Silvio: Valerio, you look sullen too. I get mad looking at you.

Valerio: So you wouldn't be sad if I smiled?

Silvio: ... Ah, still damn cheeky and refreshing.

Emidio: Brother, you are ridiculous. Valerio, I am not as kind as our brother.

Flashback in flashback is over.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Main Flashback. 3 years ago.

From that day on, Emidio became gloomy/spooky with Valerio.

The king wants to "talk" with Silvio alone. He doesn't mind. However...

Silvio: If you don't have time, don't waste it, go find Valerio.

King: Don't worry.

When the king winked, the royal guards waiting in the throne room surrounded the elder prince.

( ....The incompetent old geezer.)

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Main Flashback. 3 years ago.

Castle Prison.

Carlo, the squire and the prince's assistant came to the prison.

Carlo: ...Are you all right?

Silvio: Is that what "all right" looks like to you?

Carlo: Sorry! I'll take care of you right away.

The prince's body hurts. There's blood in his mouth.

Instead of interrogation, there was torture.

(It's more like he was trying to nail me than get information out of me.)

Helping the prince to remove his clothes, Carlo frowns. There is not a living thing on Silvio.

There are wounds and bruises all over his body. His clothes are stained with blood.

Carlo: .... Terrible.

Silvio: Not really. ....Even when I was a kid, I was beaten very badly in secret.

The king beat him. For his "bullying" of Valerio. But just remembering his miserable childhood, when he had no money and could not even buy love, makes Silvio sick.

Carlo: ...Why does the King hate Prince Silvio? For there is no proof!

Having smeared his wounds with the already familiar motion, for he has often been wounded during his maritime adventures, Silvio answers his assistant's question.

Silvio: It's common, isn't it?

Carlo: I don't understand, because the prince is a good man.

Silvio: Ha, dumbass. I don't think so.

Silvio: You're the only one who treats me like a "good person".

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Carlo is the prince's assistant and squire. They met ten years ago, when Silvio came to inspect the shipyard. Carlo was given out by other workers, and the prince protected him. Carlo has a brilliant mind. He is a scientist, an informer, an agent, etc.

Silvio often bullied Rio. And their father remembers it.

Silvio: Because I took away everything that was important to him.

But Emidio was even angrier.

Carlo asks about the reason for Valerio's hatred.

As a child, Valerio was loved by everyone, his father loved him, he had a loving mother.

Valerio's birth was a blessing to the Benitoites.

No one liked Silvio because of his character and the fact that he had no free time. His mother forced him to study.

It was all for the sake of her son's ascension to the throne... The king hated such an ambitious wife. And Silvio did not understand how such an evil woman could give birth to him.

But the prince did not say all this to his squire.

"Hated it, and that's all," was the prince's answer.

Carlo: But you get along now, don't you?

Silvio: ....Get along?

Silvio: ...We don't get along. I just don't have anything else to take from him.

Silvio: If he can do/get something important, I'll take it from him again.

Perhaps in the past the prince has done bad things because of hatred. Until there was a turning point.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Flashback in flashback:

Little Silvio couldn't figure out where his mother sometimes went in the middle of the night. One day he followed.

She had a meeting with a mercenary. He gave her some poison from Jade.

This poison does not kill. In some countries it is used for torture.

It turned out that the queen was quite chatty.

1. She does not want to kill her husband's mistress. If Lydia suffers, so does the king.

2. The queen will frighten and torment the minion until she gets bored, and as soon as she gets bored of this "toy", she will break her. Faster the queen will kill the son of the king's mistress.

3. Zhe does not care about adultery. Silvio's mother hates her husband.

4. She already had a lover, but her engagement to the king ruined everything.

Silvio would listen no more and ran away.

For the first time he knew his mother's true face.

━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

A few days later.

Ch. 21. Romantic Route

Lydia, the king's favorite and Rio's mother, was poisoned.

Valerio: Why doesn't anyone try to help!

Silvio can't look his little brother in the eye.

Mother: It's not that they don't want to help, it's that they don't know how to help.

Silvio can hardly contain himself, watching Rio scream in panic, and seeing how calm his mother and brother are.

Valerio: ....You're not...

Valerio: You're not human... No.

That evening.

Silvio felt guilty, he decides to talk to his mother. He tells her that he saw her with the mercenary.

She laughed.

The prince did not know at the time that people would call it crazy.

Mother: Silvio, you better think about becoming king. ...I can imagine the man's face. Do you want me to tell you something nice?

She, usually stern, gives her son a gentle hug.

Mother: You may not be the king's son. But this is a secret between you and me, okay?

No one and nothing could confirm or deny it.

Fortunately, he inherited the blue eyes that are the hallmark of Benitoite royalty, so no one could say that Silvio was an illegitimate child.

The queen convinced herself of this.

"The mother is a beast. And... born from the womb of such a woman, I too am a beast, and even my royal status, where a rich life without love is guaranteed, may be in jeopardy. This fact made my young heart tremble and instilled fear. I hate Valerio."

He hates, the king who is attached to his youngest son.

But.... He doesn't want to be like his mother.

Some time later.

Valerio is crying. Silvio has taken something from his brother again. He tries to teach his brother through violence to be strong so that he can stand up for himself.

Silvio: I don't have the strength to protect you from those bastards.

Flashback in flashback is over.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Main Flashback. 3 years ago.

Castle Prison

The ointment begins to work. Carlo wants to go to get the doctor, but the prince won't let him.

He needs clean clothes and a carriage. Silvio will look for Valerio. He hopes to find his brother before Emidio does.

If he is alive, of course.

Carlo: And if you don't find him?

Silvio: Then I will erase all traces of Valerio's life.

Carlo wonders, how can you do this? By bribery and changing documents, answers the prince.

Silvio does this so that Emidio does not find Valerio. It is good if he is found quickly, but if not...If he is injured. Silvio believes in his brother's strength, but wants to back him up.

Silvio: If there is money, a lot of things are possible.

The business he started with pocket money was a great success, and he put the money he earned into his next business.

Repeating this, he started making money as a child and before he knew it, he was the youngest millionaire ever.

With the money, he bribed a couple of people.

These people were looking out for Emidio, looking for Valerio, and trying to fix problems.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Flashback in flashback.

The prince's money has attracted some women.

Woman 1: Silvio, is there anything I can do in your room tonight?

Woman 2: No, tonight I am Silvio's partner.

Woman 3: The third woman offered some good wine.

Silvio panics. People used to avoid him, try to mingle with friendly Emidio and Valerio.

Flashback in flashback is over.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Main Flashback. 3 years ago.

Castle Prison

"I learned that a man no one loves can be loved by anyone if he has money".

"Money isn't everything,' is the nonsense of wimps who don't know how to make money."

The hatred for Valerio had subsided, but not longing. Rather, it was the money that made things worse.

Silvio and Carlo are about to leave prison.

Silvio: ...Take care, Valerio.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Three years passed

Silvio found Valerio in an unexpected place.

But along with relief came longing.

Main Flashback is over.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Silvio's Masterlist

#Hahaha....Cybird knows what we want #More half-naked Silvio 🤣😅 #Emidio is definitely Alfio's son... He's such an asshole 🤬 #ikemen prince #ikemen ouji #ikepri #ikepri translation #silvio ricci #ikemen silvio #ikemen prince silvio #ikepri silvio #ikepri silvio's route #ikemen silvio's route

[dear-mrs-otome]

Why Silvio does that? Because we know that he really does love Emma. Why push her away? That was the first time they kissed?

I've been thinking about this myself for a long while now, Nonny, because it is so baffling almost. I think I've parsed out at least what I consider to be the 'why'…but let me be very clear, none of my ramblings below condone his actions whatsoever. What he did to Emma was wrong, and no amount of armchair psychoanalyzing could or should excuse his behavior.

That said, if you're interested in the essay and my opinions, read on…

There's three influences on Silvio's action in this scene, I believe, and they all eminate from and manifest themselves in different but related ways.

Lack of knowledge/experience

Lack of tools

Lack of confidence

Let's tackle the biggest problem, #1, first. Fundamentally, Silvio is unacquainted with love - it's apparent from what he's said and what we've seen that he hasn't had a shred of romantic or familial affection in his life. He doesn't know how to recognize it, he doesn't know how to acknowledge it, and he doesn't know what to do with it. Like you said Nonny, the scene is all the more shocking because it's clear to anyone reading the story that at this point, Silvio is absolutely, 100%, head over heels in love with Emma. It's painfully obvious to everyone else around them from the way he hoards all of her time, the efforts and lengths he goes to on her behalf, and his obvious concern for her…but he's unable to articulate what his feelings for her are, and continues to attribute them to his original purpose of hassling Rio.

In a similar vein, he has no means of expressing his feelings even if he were to acknowledge them. Silvio's a man of interesting dichotomy - I would go so far as to say that's one of his defining characteristics almost, that he can encompass polar opposites within him almost simultaneously. He both loves and hates his brother Rio. He can be incredibly blunt and rude on one hand, and have impeccable clothing and mannerisms on the other. He can negotiate a deal with uncanny skill, but also brute forces his way through problems, doors, and relationships without an iota of finesse. A confident man but cripplingly shy and anxious as well. He knows of only two ways to get the things he wants, as even he himself says - to buy it, or to take it.

What he wants is Emma. But none of the methods he knows how to obtain what he desires with are or should be applicable to a person, let alone someone you love. He tries both of them in this scene, and they both blow up in his face spectacularly, because he doesn't know how to ask for something that should only be freely given.

Both the first and the second problems snowball down and crash into the third, exacerbating it. In most areas of his life, Silvio is incredibly confident and self-assured. But when it comes to interpersonal relationships or emotions, it's clear that he is horribly anxious and unsure of how to handle either. He knows he's handsome, has money and intellect, but doubts his charisma or that anyone would ever find him good or charming or appealing for who he is inside. He's convinced that Emma finding out the bad things he's done will sour her completely on him, that much seems obvious from how badly he seemed to not want her to find out and how shook he looked when he realized she had. He thinks that he has no redeeming qualities that would outweigh those sins (at least that she would be interested in) and to spare himself the pain of having to confront that he doubles down defiantly on the bad…and is 'rewarded' when she does exactly what he assumed, and says her sentiments for him in the past tense. A self-fulfilling prophecy at its finest.

Better to wreck everything while in control than let her see his honest feelings and have the 'upper hand'- because I suspect those honest feelings have been used to belittle and control him his entire life.

We find evidence later in a tiny flashback for how much her calling him a beast must have wounded him (as it should) when he recalls a time that Rio had accused him of being not even human…and how vehemently he didn't want to be a beast even then. I think he was so caught up in his own pain there for a moment he didn't realize how far over the line he had crossed, until Emma forced him to see it.

So. Our sequence of events is thus, in my opinion:

Silvio dreads Emma discovering how much of a dick he was in the past, because he doesn't value himself. Said fear comes true, and when she questions him on it, he defiantly confirms her version of things rather than being honest and admitting his envy of Rio and how it stems from his own lack of love. Rather than risk being vulnerable and owning up to his own feelings for her, because he's unable and unwilling to take that chance. This only seems to bolster his assumptions when she takes this VERY poorly, and in a desperate bid to retain what he wants, he employs questionable tactics that I think a part of him knows would never work - but if she's to leave or hate him already, what does he have to lose by trying? Or by making it a surety and putting an end to things that won't leave him questioning the 'what ifs'.

And yes, to answer your final question - that was the first time they had kissed.

#mrs o talks #spoiler #spoilers #ikemen prince spoilers #ikepri spoilers #mrs o loves salty seadogs #character analysis

[caffedrine]

Keith Howell -Chapter 02 -Summary

I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing. I don't trust me, and you shouldn't either. This summary is not guaranteed to be accurate, it's mostly written for myself to follow along with the route.

Contrasting with the bright sunlight of the day, Keith’s expression was gloomy and shadowed. With an expression of mixed anxiety and fear, Keith picked up the diary from the nearby desk and opened it to the place where the engraved rose bookmark was marked.

He still writes in short, barely descriptive sentences.

The handwriting was similar but different enough to make it clear that the diary had two different authors.  Keith reads his entries and mutters that once again, he’s pushing forward. Keith exhales guiltily, just as he hears a knock on his door. His butler, Liam, enters the room.  

Using the diary, they figure out that Keith has been ‘asleep’ for the past two days, starting with the tea party with Emma. Liam notes that the switches seem to be lasting longer and longer. Keith agrees, but it might work out better this way. Furrowing his brows, Keith looks over the diary even more.

He asks Liam how he was behaving while Keith was asleep. Keith probably doesn’t have anything to worry about . . . oh, no. Was he terrible to Emma again?

Liam assures Keith that they weren’t together the entire time. For now, it’s not a problem, there are no indications that he’s doing anything to her. If anything, compared to how she behaved during the goodwill party, Emma seems much less wary of him.

Keith is relieved and refocuses on the diary. He wonders if they’ve made any discoveries about who Emma really is. Not only the Princes of Rhodolite but Prince Gilbert as well were focused on her during the goodwill party. She might still be involved in the rumors about the weapon smuggling between Rhodolite and Obsidian, but when he spoke to her at the tea party, he thinks she was uninvolved.

Liam asks if there’s a reason to dismiss her from the rumors. Keith recalls Emma’s demeanor during the tea party, she had been honest and straightforward, and he hadn’t thought she was doing anything wrong. That said, it’s not a really convincing reason.  And then Silvio had been interested in her as well.

There is so much contradictory information to make a real determination. With Obsidian suddenly making diplomatic moves and attending the goodwill meeting, Rhodolite, Benitoite, and Obsidian might form a three-country alliance that would put neutral Jade into dire straits.

This entire mess gives Keith a bad feeling. Hopefully, the rumors turn out to be just rumors, but where there is smoke, there tends to be fire.

Keith looks over the diary further. It seems that today, Emma is planning on hosting him by bringing him to the main city this afternoon. Oh no, this is the first time he himself will be hosted by Emma, she will doubtlessly notice how nervous and odd he is. Doubtlessly she will despise him.

No, no, he must not give up. He can’t be timid now, even weeds are desperate to live until they are eradicated.

Come to think of it, Liam has something he needs to tell Keith.

Keith sees Liam’s expression and covers his ears. Whenever Liam gets a half-smile like that, it’s always bad news. Liam gently pulls Keith’s hands away and assures him that this isn’t a bad thing.  

Over the past few days, there has been a new rumor circulating about Keith and Emma’s relationship. Keith panics, he doesn’t care about rumors about him, but he hates the idea of them targeting Emma. It’s only been two days since they had that tea party together! How terrible it must be for her to be connected to a gloomy man like himself.

Liam agrees that for better or worse, Keith has a reputation for having dark and gloomy. Keith complains that there isn’t a single good point about himself. Contrary to his large, sturdy frame, Keith’s eyes dart around like a lost child. He asks Liam to tell him the contents of the rumors.

In another part of the castle, Jin asks Emma if there’s any truth to her and Keith falling in love the first time they met. Not expecting this direct question, Emma inhales her breakfast instead of swallowing and tries to choke up the food. Licht is concerned that she might be dying.

Yves yells at Jin for just surprising Emma like that while they’re eating. Jin defends himself; he didn’t expect Emma to react quite like that.

Leon asks Emma if this is the first time she’s heard that particular rumor. Emma admits that this is a new one for her.

It’s been a few days since the tea party with Keith, and Emma is trying to continue her duties as Belle. In order to choose the next king, she must interview and understand each of the princes. Spending time with them, including joining them for brunch, is essential to her duties. Today she was observing the domestic faction’s morning training and had joined them during their break.

Emma guesses the rumors started when someone noticed she was spending time with Keith, but they are false. She is simply hosting him during his stay in Rhodolite and acting as his guide. Licht throws her a bone by agreeing that it is an important duty.

After the tea party, with Sariel’s permission, Emma is now Keith’s exclusive host. Yves recalls that Keith stepped in to help her out just as Silvio was about to force her to be his host instead. Jin isn’t sure this makes sense, after all, it’s Keith they’re talking about. Leon argues that this is exactly what Keith would do; if he finds anyone in trouble, he always does his best to help them out.

Emma asks if Leon’s group is on good terms with Keith. Leon explains that honestly, it’s Licht and Yves who get along with Keith the best. Emma is surprised and sees Yves smugly smile and fold his arms. He and Keith often have tea parties or visit the city together.

A while ago, Keith visited Rhodolite Castle to discuss how to protect the refugees. He had looked hungry, so Yves had invited him to join himself and Licht for tea. It was then that they discovered that Keith had a sweet tooth, so they had spent the entire tea party discussing sweets and had become fast friends.

Jin complains that he also has a sweet tooth, but Keith only likes Yves and Licht. Licht reminds him that when they first met, Jin kept on talking about boobies.

Oh, right.

(Not these kinds of boobies)

Leon remembers that occasion, it had happened after the refugee discussion was finished. Licht finishes up the story; even though he had to endure Jin’s perversion, Keith had soldiered on eating sweets, albeit with a gloomy expression.

Emma finds the image of a depressed Keith shoveling pastries into his mouth oddly cute.

Speaking of Keith’s appetite, Yves wonders if he should switch up his recipes a bit. Maybe something with more potatoes in them that would fill up Keith faster. Emma realizes that Yves and Licht both care about Keith.

Jin explains that although Keith is often depressed and gloomy, he is a gentle man with a reserved demeanor. Leon adds that this is where the rumors started, since Keith is going out of his way to spend time with Emma, rumors of their relationship were bound to start.

It took ages before Keith started seeking out Yves and Licht for company and inviting them to join him for tea parties. But with Emma, it had happened almost immediately.

It is strange, since everyone agrees that Keith is shy and reserved, and Emma recalls her time spent with him until then. He had been kind and grateful to her for discussing Rhodolite with him, even though Emma was certain she was falling short. So far, she’s only told him about the basics any child would know. She wonders if he’s getting bored of her already.

With a refreshingly sweet smile, Keith assures her that they can stop there for now. He notes that she’s a little nervous and asks if this is her first time hosting someone. Emma asks if it was that obvious.

Keith assures her that even though she’s nervous, she is also very cute. He enjoys watching her, but he also feels like giving her a break until the next time. Emma is shocked by how unexpectedly straightforward Keith is.

Suddenly Keith notices and recognizes the book Emma has with her. Emma admits that it’s a recently published book and asks if he is familiar with it. Keith admits that he loves books and will read anything regardless of the genre. He asks if she feels the same way.

Emma had been so excited to find out that she had a fellow book lover, even if he could be oddly pushy sometimes. Well, that pushy side had been really weird.

But Emma knows better than to fall in love at first sight. Until she knew him well enough to understand his intentions, she wouldn’t even court the idea. Beyond that, she needs to ensure that he doesn’t find out that she is Belle.

Leon asks if Emma is going to host Keith today as well. She is, they will meet in about an hour and visit the city. Leon frowns at her answer and mutters that Keith may not make it in time. Emma asks if Keith has work that morning and Leon explains that Keith is visiting the castle pharmacists right now.

Since there was nothing for Emma to do after parting with the domestic faction after brunch until her tour with Keith, she heads to the infirmary. Peeking inside, she finds Keith surrounded by pharmacists in an animated conversation.

They are discussing medicinal herbs, with Keith praising them for their knowledge and organization. He is advising them on substitutions, additions to improve efficacy, and storage conditions for different herbs.  The pharmacists pepper him with questions, and Keith answers so clearly that even Emma, with no medical background, can follow his explanations. It now makes sense why he was talking to Silvio about medicine just after the tea party.

Yakushi, the pharmacist guiding her, allows her into the room, and Emma lingers along the outer edge. Keith is in his element, animated and talking confidently about plants and their uses. It’s enough to make Emma also curious about medicine. Maybe her next book should be a picture book about plants.

Emma can smell a faint sweet scent in the room. Following it, she finds a basket of white flowers on top of a table. They are pretty and delicate, with a hint of pink to the otherwise white petals. She wonders if this is a medicinal ingredient. Huh, the smell seems to be getting sweeter.

Keith abruptly pulls Emma back, telling her to stay away from it. The flowers are known for having one of the strongest sleep-inducing effects among plants and can cause seizures unless regulated. They are known for having a unique scent that tricks the brain into thinking they’re sweet.

Emma is glad that Keith rescued her, but his breath on her ears is having a new effect on her heart. Emma can smell his scent, like trees deep in the forest, and she can feel her strength leave her. Even if she wanted to escape him, Keith’s hands are tight around her waist.

Keith abruptly realizes that Emma’s face is red and worriedly asks about her health. Emma explains that she’s just embarrassed to the point she feels faint. Keith assures her that she shouldn’t feel bad, pharmaceuticals are a difficult field of study, and it’s natural not to know about rare plants.

That’s not what Emma meant. If anything, Keith continuing to be so considerate of her is making her condition worse. She tells Keith that if he lets her go, she’ll be able to calm down.

It takes Keith a moment to realize what Emma means.

Keith springs back from Emma, releasing her immediately while apologizing profusely, his as pink as a rose. Again, he has acted like a barbarian, and she must be horrified at his behavior. Keith is really, really sorry.

Emma insists that she still needs to thank him. If it wasn’t for him, she’d be unconscious by now and would have given the pharmacists a surprise new patient to handle.

Unexpectedly, Keith notes that the flowers are beautiful. Emma is confused, and Keith explains that he thought she liked the look of those flowers . . .he’s misunderstood, she’s not interested, is she? Emma realizes that he’s referring to the flowers he just rescued her from, he must be trying to change the subject. She remembers him doing the same thing at the tea party a few days ago.

Keith is correct, Emma thought the petals looked a little pink and pretty. But she wasn’t curious about the plant because of its looks, she was wondering if it was some kind of medicine. Emma admits that she had been watching Keith’s discussion with the pharmacists, and was impressed by how well he handled all their questions. Seeing him like that made her curious about medicinal plants.

Keith’s eyes widen as if he’s at a loss for words. He hasn’t said all that much, he just happened to know the answers to the questions they asked. If anything, he was poor at explaining it, and he wonders if anyone else were to answer their questions, they would understand better.

Emma is confused, as modesty goes, this is a bit much. Is Keith not used to being praised for anything at all?

Keith’s words speed up, his gaze resting on anything other than Emma. He is happy that he was able to get Emma interested in medicine, if only by a little bit. By the way, why is Emma here in the first place?

Oh no! Is it already time for them to head into town? Was Emma tired of waiting so she came to pick Keith?

Emma assures Keith that there’s still time until their appointment. She just happened to be told by Leon that Keith was meeting with pharmacists today and had gotten worried. Keith is happy to know that he hasn’t caused her undue trouble, but he wonders if the way Leon had phrased that sounded a bit mean.

As Emma can see, Keith isn’t here because he’s ill. He’s here just to discuss medicine with the castle pharmacists about substitutes for some of their medicines. Recently thieves have broken into the herb supplier’s garden and now the castle has only half of the herbs they ordered. Emma is concerned, people need medicine, and this likely affects the pharmacists in town as well.

Emma thinks that the situation is odd, wouldn’t people be more likely to buy already prepared medicine and not the herbs? Did the thieves accidentally steal the medicine before it was processed?

Keith explains that before the herbs are processed, they can be used for many things, not just beneficial medicine. It might not be the general populace that the thieves are planning on selling the herbs to. The herb stolen could be made into a rare and pricey medicine not sold in ordinary stores.

It just occurred to Keith that Emma might think she’s talking to a farmer and not a prince. All he’s talked about is plants, which must be boring. Emma quickly assures him that if anything, she is amazed at his knowledge.

Keith admits that his home castle has a medicinal herb garden that he’s been helping out with since he was little. Jade is rich in nature, agriculture, and livestock. And among all the produce, medicinal herbs in particular drive their economy.

Emma realizes that she has made a large mistake. In her preparations to be Keith’s host, she has focused most of her studies on Rhodolite. Instead, she should have read up on Jade so that she could more properly attend to the Prince of Jade’s needs. Awkwardly, she tells Keith that she’s not familiar with other countries, all while wondering where Clavis’ nearest pit trap is. She apologizes for being rude and ignorant of his country.

Keith smiles gently at her and tells her that he’s glad. At Emma’s confused look, he backtracks with an apology. He just thought that maybe he was some use to her studies, and it made him happy. After all, she’s at court studying kingdom bureaucracy, right?

Keith tells her that even if she doesn’t understand something, she should not get discouraged. Emma’s still in the process of learning, she shouldn’t feel rushed and instead study at her own pace. He doesn’t feel like she’s been rude to him at all. In fact, if there’s anything she wants to know about Jade, or medicinal plants, he would be so happy if she were to ask him. Though, he might not be the best source since he has his own biases and weaknesses.

Keith is such a wonderful person. No, he’s too good to be true. Emma’s heart contracts and a new feeling of warmth envelops her body. Maybe this kind of reaction is normal for Keith. Emma rarely meets anyone so kind and encouraging as he is, and they’ve only known each other for a few days. Emma asks if Keith is really okay with discussing Jade and medicine with her in the future, to which he readily agrees.

Keith’s kindness is as warm as sunshine.

#ikemen prince #ikepri #keith howell

[automatonkisser]

omggg 4 and 9!!

HI thank u for the ask!! ^_^ sorry in advance i'm going to get insane in the membrane about them (doing this for dottore & silvi)

4: "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" - How might either of you show your affection for the other? Is it more verbally, physically, or a secret third thing?

secret third thing in the sense that dottore is the "i would kill for you. ask me to kill for you" part of the relationship except silvi would be like "omg really?? 🥺"

gfhjgf NO BUT SERIOUSLY i think both of them have a hard time showing genuine (romantic) affection and it takes them a long time to actually...develop & recognize these feelings for each other in the first place. because one of them is an automaton who doesn't actually understand human sensations and emotions and the other is a human who's been severely traumatized and sheltered from other humans. but if we're putting that aside and get to where they actually begin being affectionate with each other (and if u'll allow me to get a bit gay and insane for a moment) then um...well, dottore has literally been built to be a performer (which, yeah, also includes killing people) and to be eternally devoted His Lady Francine and his efforts to make her smile...and while the automata obviously aren't romantically interested in her (she's more of a revered holy mother figure to them), i like to imagine this behavior/"programming" at least partially extends to his partner. i think he'd definitely put on little shows for silvi all the time, trying to entertain him and make him laugh (which actually works in his case), go full on cheesy mode and recite poetry or maybe even sing for him, get him bouquets of flowers and fancy chocolates and all that....also lots of pet names preferably in french. like he's kinda "performing" romance in this almost ridiculous over the top chivalrous way because he's just Built Like That. he's just trying his best. anyway at the same time he also definitely won't hesitate to kill & make minced meat out of anyone who dares try hurting silvi...or disagrees with him. or looks at him wrong. AHEM well once he gets his domestication redemption arc in my au, he actually makes an effort to refrain from hurting any humans...but it's still better not to test him :)

he's not too great at dealing with physical affection at first, though. he does touch silvio when he first starts spending time with him, but it's more about seeing how he'll react and because he thinks it's amusing to see him get flustered or startle him. however, showing actual genuine physical affection and being gentle with another (very breakable) being....that's something he needs time to figure out i think.

silvio, on the other hand, usually has an easier time expressing himself physically than he does verbally. actually talking about his emotions (and admitting he has them in the first place) is very difficult for him, and he's used to concealing how he really feels. other times he's also not actually sure what he's feeling, so he has a hard time verbalizing it. physical affection, while not always being an easy thing for silvio either, at least comes to him a little more naturally. with dottore, this mostly shows through silvio allowing himself to relax around him at first, like standing/sitting closer to him, falling asleep near (or even on) him, leaning against him for support, fleeting little touches that just happen instinctively because he's still a human with a need for physical connection....considering dottore is a large, dangerous puppet that could EASILY hurt or kill silvio, these sort of gestures and the fact that silvio allows himself to be this vulnerable around him are pretty meaningful, especially during the time dottore hasn't really made his intentions clear towards him.

once they become uh. a thing or whatever silvio also becomes a lot more overt in showing physical affection - he can definitely be seen clinging to dottore a lot, hugging him, napping on him, asking to be carried around by him etc etc....it's very new for dottore but he doesn't mind obliging. on top of that, silvio is also very ride or die for dottore gfhfg...he might not be as physically strong or imposing, but rest assured that he WILL find a way to get back at u if u cross his beloved.

9: "The (After) Life of the Party" - What was the moment that made you realize you had fallen in love with your f/o (this can either be answered as an irl moment or a moment in a story-driven way)? And vice versa, what was the moment that your f/o realized they’ve fallen in love with you?

augh ok so irl it was. kinda funny because when i first began watching/reading the series i actually didn't pay much attention to him. like, i thought it was pretty exciting when the pionniers showed up but i had no strong interest in dottore in particular. or so i tought..........i remember seeing this art of him and it definitely awakening something in me as u can tell by my tags probably jddhws

anyway i also did get a message from my cherished mutual @dissonantyote (who also got me interested in k/arakuri circus in the first place) encouraging me to become abnormal about him which was enough to turn the switch in my brain. every since then i've been doing so great (giving a thumbs up crying shaking covered in blood) (no i DO love him a lot though and he actually makes me very happy he's just also controling my brain)

ANYWAY uh...in-universe i'm not exactly sure yet what moment it was for both of them yet. the interest they had in each other at first was born more out of selfish desires rather than anything even remotely romantic, and it had to develop into something more genuine and affectionate over time...very slowly. [mild? spoilers for k/arakuri circus ahead in case anyone cares] either way i don't think The Realization happens until after the point at which the pionniers (which also includes dottore in this case) have been rebuilt by faceless and are starting to question their old ways. also i don't wanna get into this too much because it'd get way too long but let's just say they are both also really not having a good time for various reasons at this point and they try and find solace in each other a little bit maybe.....and i like to think that there's some point at which dottore realized that, for whatever strange reason, he genuinely doesn't want to lose silvio and that he is not replaceable to him. which is a lot more than he could ever say about any other human lmao. for silvio it was probably kind of similar....but i'm still in the process of figuring that out and trying to work it into the story

#THIS GOT SO LONG SORRY. #s: eat your heart out 🫀 #letters 💌

[rhi1980]

Many Saints of Newark was a thoroughly enjoyable film. I don't know how much people who have never watched The Sopranos would enjoy it tbh, there were a lot of awesome callbacks (from moments talked about during the shows run to certain phrases that certain characters used in the show) that made me giddy with delight when they happened.

Almost all of the acting was A+. Alessandro Nivola was great as Dickie, even if the character himself was slightly dull imo. Leslie Odom Jr was fantastic as Harold and I would have liked to have seen more of his story. Michaela De Rossi was excellent. All of the Soprano family were wonderful, Michael Gandofini as Tony made me very emotional, Jon Bernthal was great as Johnny and again, I wish we could have seen more of him (fingers crossed that there's a next time), we didn't see nearly enough of Janice either. Corey Stoll was amazing as Corado 'Junior' Soprano and well, what can I say, Vera Farmiga was incredible as Livia (something I'm not even slightly surprised about, she's always incredible) and has one of the most emotional moments of the whole film (of course she does). We didn't really see enough of Paulie to see if Billy Magnussen did a great job or not tbh, Samson Moeakiola was great as Pussy and Ray Liotta was also fantastic. John Magaro sadly was the weakest link of the cast for me, that's not to say he did a terrible job, there was a moment when he was uncanny as Silvio, unfortunately, for the most part, he got the voice all wrong. Silvio is one of my favourite characters from the show and given how perfect the rest of the cast were at portraying existing characters, it was just a little jarring. Sorry John, like I said, there was one moment where it genuinely looked and sounded like they had de-aged Steven Van Zandt.

There has already been talk of a sequel to this prequel and imo, not only should there be a follow up to this film but I honestly think that there should be two more films as this one absolutely feels like the first part of a trilogy to me, there feels like there is a lot more to be explored.

There have been a few negative reviews and imo, I feel like the people who have criticised it were expecting either a film all about Tony's rise to being a mob boss or they were expecting something that was like non stop action. This film, much like the show has slower moments in it, it's about the characters, not big explosive set pieces, maybe if people went in realising that, they wouldn't feel so disappointed. I do however understand the criticism that says that it could and probably would have worked better as a mini series so that all the story lines could have been explored better but that's not really criticism as it just means that people loved what was done but wanted more.

Loved the film and can't wait to see it again.

#The Many Saints of Newark #alessandro nivola #michael gandolfini #vera farmiga #jon bernthal #corey stoll #Michaela De Rossi #the sopranos

[mordoriscalling]

Life (of) Surprise (4/6)

Jaskier lies to his family about being engaged to Geralt for the second time… and there are way too many surprises involved.

Part 4 of the Singer and the Sailor AU that no one asked for but I wrote anyway (again). The chapter count went up again because I just can’t stop writing this story lmao. 

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

IV - A Surprise Discovery

Geralt is certain that a stag do shouldn’t involve this much crying.

The evening started innocently enough. They have had a room rented at a fancy club and they’re drinking, talking and playing cards. Geralt would rather do this at home but Lambert and Eskel told him not to be so “tragically boring”, hence the current arrangement.

Geralt’s been spending the day with “the guys”: Eskel, Lambert, Aiden, Vesemir, as well as his soon-to-be brother-in-law Silvio and not-quite soon-to-be brother-in-law Nasir. Jaskier, on the other hand, is away partying with “the girls”: Rozalia, Amelia, Triss, Essi and Yennefer.

Geralt hasn’t heard from Jaskier in a few hours, so he assumes his soon-to-be husband (only two months left to the wedding, and isn’t that a thought) is enjoying himself. Geralt, for his part, is having fun too; the stag do isn’t a disaster at all.

Then, it gets better.

Because Eskel is crying.

They were talking about Essi, commenting on what a lovely person she is. Although she’s not exactly Geralt’s type (he’s into people who are more... feisty), he still agrees that she’s a great woman – loving, warm, intelligent and beautiful inside out. Vesemir commented that there had to be many people mourning the fact that she was taken.

Eskel, upon hearing this, started weeping.

“Should we tell him?” Aiden, sitting beside Geralt, murmurs to Lambert.

“Nah,” Lambert replies gleefully.

They watch as Eskel sheds tears, mumbling about how much he’s in love with Essi but he wouldn’t dare to ruin her current relationship because she deserves happiness and –

To be fair, they have drunk a lot at this point.

Silvio and Nasir are clearly holding back their laughter. Lambert doesn’t even bother and guffaws freely, to which Eskel pays no mind, so lost he is in his despair. Aiden hides his face in the crook of Lambert’s neck, his shoulders shaking.

Vesemir seems more tired and sick of their shit than usual, though sparks of amusement dance in his eyes.

“I wasn’t aware this relationship makes you cry,” he tells Eskel gruffly, playing along.

“It does!” Eskel whines, “I should be her boyfriend.”

Vesemir’s lips tremor but he manages to keep his cool as he asks, “And what’s her boyfriend’s name?”

Eskel opens his mouth to respond but he says nothing. His brow creases in thought – it’s visible how the wheels are turning in his head – and then the moment comes when something clicks in his brain.

“Wait,” he says, understanding slowly dawning in his face.

At this, everyone at the table collectively loses it. Geralt is laughing so hard he’s slapping his thigh. Silvio and Nasir are in convulsions. Lambert and Aiden are leaning against each other, wheezing. Vesemir has to wipe the tears out of his eyes.

Eskel is too happy at the discovery to even notice the amusement at his expense. “I am her boyfriend!” he exclaims with wonder. Letting out a joyful chuckle, he repeats, “I’m her boyfriend!” He reaches for the bottle of vodka on the table. “We should drink to this!”

At the same time, Vesemir answers, “No.” and Aiden replies, “Yes!”

Vesemir plucks the bottle from Eskel’s hands and says, “You’ve had enough for now, pup.”

Lambert starts arguing and Geralt rolls his eyes. He then proceeds to drag his older brother to the side and force a lot of water and some food into him. While he does this baby-sitting, the phone in his pocket rings. As Geralt pulls it out, he’s surprised to find Jaskier’s name displayed on the screen. Slightly worried, he picks up.

“Hey, my loveliest sailor,” Jaskier slurs, his voice unsteady and watery. “Can I –” A sniff. “Can I come?”

Geralt frowns, bemused. “Shouldn’t we spent this night apart?”

“Fuck that,” Jaskier grumbles, “I miss you.”

“You haven’t seen me in five hours.”

“So?” Jaskier asks. “I just... want to see you. Please?”

Jaskier sounds downright miserable. Geralt has nearly come to terms with the fact that he may never master the art of telling Jaskier no but he's not fully resigned to his fate yet.

“Okay,” he answers.

“Are sure, darling? I won’t come if you don’t want to, you know,” Jaskier babbles nervously, “I don’t want to make you do anything you–”

“Jaskier,” Geralt sighs, “it’s fine, come here and bring the rest.”

Ever since their argument three months ago, Jaskier takes extreme care not to do anything without Geralt’s knowledge and consent. He keeps asking about every little idea, fretting and worrying whether he’s not overstepping. Most days, that’s the reassurance Geralt needs to keep believing in Jaskier's words. It does get tiring sometimes, though.

“All right.” Jaskier’s voice goes from resonating from the darkest depths of sadness to cheerful as the sun on a spring day in the span of those two words. “We’ll be there soon, my dearest.”

Geralt hums and hangs up.

After fifteen minutes more of trying to turn Eskel into a more or less functioning human being, Geralt witnesses the other stag do party members arrive. Jaskier opens the door to the room with a bang, his arms spread wide and a grin on his face.

“Geralt!” he exclaims and walks towards him with a prominent stagger in his step.

Before Geralt knows it, he has his arms full of drunk Jaskier. His fiancé peppers kisses all over his face and mumbles something nonsensical while Geralt holds him up, a smile tugging at his lips under all the loving attention.

In the corner of his eye, he can see the rest greeting each other, apart from Yennefer and Triss, who are watching him and Jaskier with a judgemental and an amused look respectively.

“Why are you here?” he asks Yen as Jaskier finally stops kissing him and embraces him instead.

“He was crying about how much he loves you,” she replies with an eye roll.

Triss snickers. “He was telling everyone about it, and I mean it. He wanted everyone in the club to know.”

Geralt stifles a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. Yennefer and Triss laugh. Jaskier raises his head and blinks up at him owlishly.

“Something wrong, my gorgeous sailor?” he asks.

Geralt really bemoans the fact that even a single look from Jaskier can affect him considerably.

“No, siren,” he sighs, “We should join the rest.”

They ask the staff to bring another table and more chairs, and soon, everyone is sitting comfortably, talking, playing and drinking. Everyone except Essi when it comes to the last part, at least; Geralt quickly notices that she doesn’t touch any alcohol. She claims that she simply doesn’t feel like drinking but Eskel, who sits beside her, starts fretting, concerned that she’s ill.

“I’m fine,” she assures him.

“You sure?” he asks, “You haven’t been feeling well recently. Maybe you should see a doctor?”

Geralt’s the only one watching the exchange, as everybody else is occupied with the ongoing conversation about the rules of Monopoly. He sees hesitation in Essi’s face. She bits her lip, seemingly considering something for a moment, but then looks up at Eskel and smiles. “I think I should,” she replies, “seeing that I’m pregnant.”

Geralt freezes in shock. Eskel’s brain visibly short-circuits.

“The fuck. But we –” he stammers out, “Why, I mean, how –”

“I don’t know,” Essi answers, her eyes wide and apprehensive, “I really have no idea.”

Eskel nods slowly, his expression still absolutely flabbergastered. “Fuck,” he says, with much feeling.

Essi looks at him closely, uncertainty colouring her lovely face. “I know this very unexpected and you never wanted a family but perhaps we can... talk about it? We don’t have to keep it but I –”

Eskel seems to finally snap out of his shocked state. “Essi, no,” he says quietly, taking her face in his hands, “I never let myself have a family, but now that the baby is here... Holy fuck,” he breathes out, one of his palms moving to touch her abdomen. “There’s a baby here?” he asks, his voice cracking. She nods with a watery smile, and he takes her into his arms. His whole frame is shaking now, and there’re tears in his eyes. “A baby,” he chokes out. His tear fall but his whole face is alight with joy.

Suddenly, Geralt’s throat is tight. He knows that Eskel never considered himself a father material because of all the issues he’s been battling since his childhood, just like Geralt and Lambert. Although he was quite a ladies man in his youth, he never allowed any relationship to get serious. Years passed like this, and Eskel’s now in his early forties, which is rather late to become a dad. Essi is six years younger than him, so it’s not early for parenthood for her either.

Yet, they both seem so happy now, and Geralt can’t get enough of seeing his brother like this, smiling and crying as he holds Essi and kisses her.

The rest of the table finally catches on that there’s something important happening. Then, the news is out, which brings their celebration to new heights. Jaskier is so happy and satisfied with himself that Geralt suspects his chest may soon burst from how much Jaskier puffs up with pride.  

“See?” Jaskier tells Lambert, “I’m a better matchmaker than you!”

“I made a marriage happen!” Lambert replies.

“I made a baby happen! Beat that!”

Lambert scoffs, the picture of unimpressed. “Maybe you and Geralt are gonna have kids too.”

“We’ve already got two,” Geralt answers without thinking.

Jaskier lets out a shocked gasp, staring at him in disbelief, and Geralt slowly understands what he said.

It’s not that it’s not untrue – they do have two children under their care. The thing is that neither Ciri nor Dara is very likely to call Jaskier their dad. Technically speaking, Jaskier will soon become Ciri’s step-father, but Ciri sees him more as Geralt’s partner. In Dara’s eyes, Jaskier is a supportive, parental figure, but it'd be foolish to think that the boy could ever consider himself Jaskier’s child. Geralt knows that Jaskier realises how silly that wish is but he still seems to hope for it, deep, deep down.

“Geralt–” he says, tears welling up in his eyes.

For a stag do – even two of them at once – it’s too much crying involved.

***

“Shoes off, Geralt, honestly,” Jaskier complains, “Are you doing this on purpose every time?”

Geralt only grunts. His head is spinning, too much to be pleasant, and he doesn’t trust his mouth to form a dignified enough answer. Jaskier’s very drunk too, so he doesn’t comment on Geralt’s response, or lack thereof.

The two of them slowly make their way towards the bedroom. Jaskier’s house is rather large, though, and they’re many objects and corners they stumble into. The rucksack they’re causing makes them snicker but their amusement is cut short when walk by the living room – Ciri and Dara are there, sitting on the couch in front of the TV and observing the two of them with delight.

“What are you two doing up?” Jaskier slurs out, “It’s...” he looks at his hand, where a watch should be, but there isn’t. “It’s late.”

“We found an interesting show on TV,” Ciri replies innocently. Geralt doesn’t believe it for a minute.

“Well, sleep is important!” Jaskier exclaims, gesturing dramatically with the hand he doesn’t use to hold on to Geralt. “Go to bed!”

“Yes, Jaskier,” Dara answers.

“Young people like you should get a lot of sleep.”

“We know, Jaskier,” Ciri sighs.

Jaskier would go on about the significance of sleep for teenagers if he was allowed, so Geralt starts dragging him away. Before they disappear behind the corner, though, he turns back to Ciri and Dara, shooting them what he hopes is a withering look.

“Show’s over,” he growls out.

Ciri and Dara have the decency to look chastised.

Arriving in the bedroom successfully takes them a few more minutes. When they finally do, they go straight to the bed, not bothering to undress. Then, they’re kissing, messy and eager, but their bodies have a problem rising up to the challenge because of the copious amount of alcohol flowing through their veins. Jaskier breaks the kiss quickly anyway, saying that he’s about to be sick, and rushes to the bathroom.  

After Geralt is left alone, he tries to process all the holy fucks of the day, primarily the reveal that Eskel is going to be a father and by extension, Geralt’s going to be an uncle. Then there’s the very fact that he marries Jaskier in two months. Geralt also has a memory of seeing Yennefer and Triss kissing during the party, and that is a lot to unpack as well.

The world is spinning as he lays in bed. He registers Jaskier returning and laying down beside him before he falls asleep.

It feels like no time passed at all when Geralt and Jaskier are waken up by noise. The loud thumping bores down into his skull, causing awful, throbbing pain. He sits up, groaning, and Jaskier does the same with a whimper.

Then, they hear Jaskier’s voice sing the first verses of Her Sweet Kiss and, suffice it to say, Geralt has had enough of that gods-damned fucking song and its techno remix especially.

“CIRILLA!” Geralt bellows.

“DARA!” Jaskier yells.

After a torturous minute, the music is turned off, but there’s no blessed silence. Instead, bright laughter reaches their ears. Geralt huffs, irritated, and checks the time on his phone. The fact that it’s one in the afternoon and that there’s a glass of water placed on his bedside table redeems Ciri and Dara slightly.

“Fucking hell,” Jaskier moans, messaging his temples, “I love my life.”

Strangely enough, there isn’t an ounce of sarcasm in Jaskier’s voice. Geralt turns to watch him closely, taking in his pale face, chapped lips and the grimace of pain twisting his features. “You do?” he asks.  

Jaskier looks at him, the blue of his eyes as beautiful as always. “I do,” he answers softly, “My life is so much better with you in it.”

Warmth explodes in his chest and Geralt moves closer, kissing Jaskier on the mouth, the cheek, the nose, hoping to convey what he finds himself unable to say. Jaskier responds to the affection with a happy hum, angling his face so get more kisses. Geralt indulges him gladly, pecking him on his forehead, his brows, under his eyes, down his neck.

“So much better indeed,” Jaskier purrs.

Geralt chuckles. “That is thanks to Lambert.”

“Oh shut up.”

Jaskier’s grumble is so grumpy that Geralt can’t help but laugh. Jaskier carries on grouching about being better than Lambert, and it keeps making Geralt laugh.

He couldn’t be more glad that he’s stayed.

#myfic #geraskier #geralt x jaskier #the witcher fanfiction #modern au #The Sailor and the Singer AU

[the-original-b]

Archangel Chapter 11: Talent Scouting

Format: Prose / Fiction, multi-entry

Part in Series: 3 of 9 (Previous Chapter | The Beginning)

Word Count: c. 2,600

Summary: Khai pressures Krueger to contain a rapidly deteriorating state of affairs.

Krueger stepped through the glass doors of the Sixth Avenue office—dressed in a commando sweater and dark jeans with classy shoes under his pea coat—and headed towards the conference room.

Danielle straightened up behind her desk as she noticed him walk past her. “They’re waiting for you inside, Mr. Krueger,” she said.

He thanked her with a nod and proceeded down the hallway, past Khai’s old office which CJ Silvio now worked out of, and entered the conference room to join her and Everett to discuss their next steps after the events at Pharaohs a few days ago. Visible on a computer monitor at the end of the table was Hayden.

“Gentlemen, Miss Khai.” he greeted them. “Is Mr. Desmoulins joining us?”

“We’re ironing out the connection now,” Khai noted. She wore a dark suit with a white blouse and black peep toe pumps. “It’s one thing to set up a video call, but another entirely to set one up with him.”

“The man lives in military grade encryption,” Everett added. Today he wore a conservative blue suit with a pale gray shirt underneath.

“It’s how he’s stayed invisible for so long…” she added sotto voce. She tapped a few more keys on the laptop Hayden’s face was on. “Got it,” she said, turning the device toward the other men in the room. “Brandon, can you hear us now?”

“Loud and clear,” Brandon voice confirmed through the speakers.

“Perfect. In the room you can see I’m here with Mr. Krueger and Henry Everett. Also joining us via teleconference is Mr. Hayden.”

“Hey, everyone.”

“Greetings,” Hayden said. “Good to see you’re all well.” He folded his arms atop the desk he sat behind.

“Same to you, sir.” Khai said, sitting down and facing the laptop. Krueger and Everett took their places standing behind her. “Have you heard any updates from Dana and Charles?”

“No, and that’s what concerns me. Karin’s seen a steady increase in the Dragon Tears’ popularity in her territory, but she and I have been in regular contact; and Herman’s reported no problems in his area. The others have had their hands full for months, and now that I haven’t heard from them since last week the rest of us are more than a little concerned.”

“That bad?”

“It isn’t just the drugs, it’s the problems they invite. Police budgets have been slashed nationwide, and the hardest-hit cities have turned to the private sector to compensate.”

“Castle Security Solutions,” Krueger noted. “I’ve seen a news story on them the other day.”

“It’s no coincidence they’re expanding while the Dragon Tears become more popular,” Khai noted.

“Are you suggesting they’re connected, Miss Khai?” Hayden queried.

“I’m saying there may be a causality, sir; that somebody stands to profit from the expanse of one or both of the two forces choking the Partners today.”

“I agree,” Everett added. “And thanks to Krueger, I think we know who.” He looked at the monitor. “Mr. Desmoulins?”

“Special Agent Peter Cross,” Brandon said. “Born August 14th 1966, UT San Antonio class of ’88. Eight years with the FBI, then transferred to the DEA in ’96. He spent three years there, then moved to ATF. He changed hats a third time and joined the CIA in 2002, after which the records stop.”

Krueger arched his brow. “The United States Government?” He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to one foot.

“We don’t know that for sure, but it does make sense,” Brandon mused. “If the CIA is sponsoring an effort to destroy the Partners, they’d want somebody like Cross at the tip of the spear.”

“Not their wheelhouse,” Khai commented. “That’s more the FBI’s job.”

“Also doesn’t make sense that his story stops after his start with the CIA,” Everett noted, his hand on his chin. “I get the feeling there’s more to this Peter Cross than the records show.”

“Especially since the buyer named him,” Krueger added, just loud enough for the others to hear.  He leaned on the back of a chair to Khai’s left. “Is it possible he’s changed sides, started working for another criminal organization?”

“Possible, but not likely; the only other major player in the region is the Company,” Khai said. “And after the ordeal with Osiris, they’re hardly on my radar these days.”

“Mine either,” Hayden said. He brought his knuckles to his lip as he looked away from the camera, breaking eye contact as he considered the new information. “Do we know if Cross is operating in the Tri-State?”

“I found an office in Long Island City,” Brandon said. “Registered to a Rook Capital. He’s listed as Operations Manager.”

Krueger and Khai shot each other looks.

“Then I think that’s where we should start,” Hayden concluded. “Mr. Krueger, head to the Rook Capital office tonight.” Hayden lowered his hand again. “Surveil the building and report back what you find”

“Understood,” Krueger said.

“If I may, gentlemen,” Brandon suggested, “I think I have a better idea. I wrote a script that clones a computer’s internal drive and writes it to another location. I call it the Intruder.”

“The one used at Miles Orham’s cabin?”

“The very same. I think we can use it again here, but we’ll need an access point for it to work.”

Hayden nodded. “I agree,” he said. “That is a better idea. Mr. Krueger, if you can gain entry to the office and upload Mr. Desmoulins’ program into their server room, I believe we’ll gather all the information we need.”

“I’ll get it done, Mr. Hayden,” Krueger said with a nod.

“Excellent. We’ll reconvene after we’ve made more sense of the data.” He reached for something off-camera. “Good day.” His visage disappeared immediately afterward, and the four remaining people on the conference call shared a moment of silence.

“I’ll make the needed modifications to the Intruder,” Brandon finally said. “Krueger, can you come by later today to pick up the drive?”

“Absolutely. I’ll get the address from you while I’m there as well.”

“Awesome. Let me know when you’re on the way. Mr. Everett, Liz, take care.” And just like that, Brandon Desmoulins disconnected from the conference, and Khai shut her laptop before turning to face the two other men in the room with her.

“Well,” she said.

“It sounds self-explanatory to me,” Everett said. “We plant the Intruder, wait for it to do its job, and decide our next steps after we analyze the data.”

“We might run out of time before then.”

Everett shot her an inquisitive look.

“Rook Capital… Rook, the chess piece.”

“Castle,” Everett concluded. “The private contractors?”

“Not a doubt in my mind.”

“I caught it too,” Krueger added. “It can’t be coincidence that Cross is part of their office in Queens, he has to be connected to the private contractors coming up in cities across the country.”

“All the evidence points to that,” Khai said. “And if all is as it seems then there’s no time to delay here…” She stood up from her seat, adjusting her glasses. “We have to kill him.”

“Liz,” Everett said, raising a hand to chest-level. “You’re talking about killing a possible U.S. Government agent. That’s a sure-fire way of drawing attention that we cannot afford.”

“It’s also the only way we can guarantee avoiding the same thing that’s happening to Dana and Charles right now, and to stop whatever’s brewing from destroying the whole organization…” She took a breath, placing her hands on her hips and shutting her eyes. She opened them again and met Krueger’s gaze. “Milo, go see CJ in the armory.”

“Liz,” Krueger began.

She started toward her desk at the head of the conference room, by the window overlooking Sixth Avenue. “It won’t be easy, but if you can get in and out before they know what happened, I think we can slip the noose before they get a chance to tighten it.” She took a seat and woke her desktop computer.

“Liz, I was ordered—”

“It’ll be tight, but there’s a safe house in Sunnyside, on 40th Street. You can lie low there while things settle down—”

“Liz..!” He got her attention.

Khai looked away from the monitor to face him.

“That isn’t the job,” he specified. “You heard Mr. Hayden, this is strictly an infiltration assignment.”

“I did,” she said, “but it may be too late to do anything about whatever facts we dig up by the time we analyze them all. We need to solve the problem before it becomes one.”

“And I agree with you there,” Krueger said, leaving his place at the table to approach her. “But this is different—you’re talking about having me remove a possible Federal Agent.” He stopped barely two feet from the edge of her desk, then placed his hands onto the desk top. “A long time ago I stood right here in front of your predecessor, and promised to kill him in his sleep if he ever ordered me to do something I’m not comfortable with.”

Khai didn’t take her eyes from his, even as she leaned back into the chair and uncrossed her legs. She wasn’t even aware of the distance she tried to create between them until she blinked, realizing what she was actually feeling wasn’t shock, but fear.

“I don’t want to have to revisit that threat.” Krueger finally said. He maintained his flat tone, deadly serious. “Least of all to you… but if I have to, I will.” He straightened his posture again, looking down at her. “I was issued an order, Liz. And I don’t intend to deviate from it.” Krueger turned on his heel and headed toward the exit, his hands in his coat pockets. On his way out of the office he acknowledged Danielle again and passed through the glass doors to the elevator down to Sixth Avenue.

Everett shuffled uncomfortably after Krueger left. “That wasn’t something I should have been in the room for. Sorry, Liz.”

“No, you’re fine,” she reassured him. “Really…” She let a quiet sigh escape her lips. “You know, that’s the closest thing to a fight he and I have had in the almost two years we’ve been together… I was always nervous about that, but now I think I was scared of the wrong thing.”

Everett followed her eyes darting across the top of her desk. He noticed her reach for a pen and absentmindedly tap its point on an old post-it note. He’d seen that look on her face before, and could practically see the gears turning in her head as she worked through what must have been a problem she’d revisited and resolved dozens of times already. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” she declared, trying to convince herself more than him. “Yeah, it’s just… easy to forget who he is sometimes.”

“A good-hearted man?”

Khai looked up at him and, after a brief pause, exhaled. She shut her eyes and put the pen back down, then brought her hand back up to remove her glasses and rest them by the pen. She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and first finger then pinched the bridge of her nose before allowing her hand to slide down her face to her mouth as she opened her eyes again, staring ahead blankly.

Everett looked over his shoulder to the conference table and headed over to retrieve a chair which he placed in front of Khai’s desk. “Don’t tell me,” he began, sitting down. “You’re considering ending your relationship with him; you’re listing the pros and cons in your head and trying to come up with any good reason to let him go on your own terms before you’re forced to make that choice.”

Khai quietly laughed and shook her head. “That obvious, huh?”

“You may as well be an open book,” he returned, smirking.

Khai relaxed her smile and brought both her hands together, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers. She shut her eyes again and placed her face into her palms, exhaling slowly. She interlaced her fingers again, looking over her knuckles at him.

“And now, you’re realizing he’s not only the best thing to happen to the Branch, but also to you.”

Khai nodded. “I know,” she said. “And as much as I try to rationalize and poke holes in the pros, I can’t find a single reason to make it worth breaking up with him in the end.” She dropped her hands and turned her head to look him in the eye. “But I’m scared, Henry,” she admitted. “I hesitated even bringing him to the Brooklynite that night. I didn’t think I’d fall for him…” She shrugged. “But I did. A kind, charming, good-looking guy with a tragic past; I didn’t stand a chance,” she laughed. “I ignored my doubts and let myself get closer to him. No matter how many times I think I made a mistake with him, then realize I didn’t, I still feel like I’m going to screw this up somehow. And that terrifies me.”

Everett gave a half-suppressed chuckle as he considered his next words. “Forty years ago, I think I heard those same words come out of your father’s mouth when he tried to talk himself out of proposing to your mother.”

Khai laughed again. “I guess the apple plopped straight down,” she jested. “What did you say to him?”

“I told him he was the smartest person I knew. Then I chastised him for not being able to see the obvious choice,” he added with a smirk. “You inherited his brilliant mind, Liz. The two of you work through problems the same way—you consider all the approaches, all the variables, and by the time you reach your solution you realize you knew the right answer from the beginning.” He shrugged. “This is no different. I think you made your decision before we even started talking about this.”

Khai opened her mouth to offer a rebuttal, but stopped herself when she realized he was right. Sure Krueger caught her off guard with his parting words, but he said what he did because of who he was and—more importantly—who he wasn’t. Khai rested her cheek in her hand as she considered Krueger, weighing his numerous good qualities against his few bad ones. She tried to justify splitting with him in light of any hypothetical and actual threats to their relationship, and a soft smile washed over her face as she realized she couldn’t.

“There’s a reason you invited him to dinner that night, Liz” Everett concluded, leaning forward. “Remember that.”

~~

Krueger headed down Sixth Avenue and crossed at 51st Street to head toward the garage where he parked his car. He slowed after he made it across the street, then sighed as he stopped in his tracks. He stood off to one side to let others pass him as he slid his hands into his coat pockets and stared absentmindedly into the sky, re-playing his meeting with Khai, Everett, Brandon, and Hayden in his head over and again as he considered the information. After a while he fished into his coat pocket to find his mobile phone. “Ich werde es bereuen,” he said to himself as he dialed the number when he found it in his list of contacts.

“Mr. Krueger!” CJ Silvio’s voice on the other end answered. “What can I do for you?”

“I need something precise and powerful.” he said. “Last-minute.”

“How powerful are we talking?”

“Hole-puncher.”

“Uh…” Silvio shuffled audibly on the other end. “I think I can put a list together. Rifles or handguns?”

“The latter. The quieter the better.”

“Oh, well that narrows it down… I’ll have to see if we have any of those left in the armory.”

“Meet me there in thirty minutes.” Krueger ended the call and headed for the garage on 51st to his car.

(Masterlist | Chapter 12)

#fiction #original work #original content #original fiction #prose #story #creative writing #drama #crime story

[rainforestgeek]

The Past Comes Back To Life

Part 3 of Why Are You My Remedy?

Part 1  Part 2

Ao3 link          Ko-fi

-

Pidge hadn't cried since that fateful day. She didn't even cry at the memorial. What was wrong with her?

Lance and Hunk had both bawled, rivaled only by Coran in terms of tears shed. The memorial was a whole affair, filmed and streamed across the universe, thousands of people in attendance wearing a strange mix of pink and black. The paladins all followed the Altean tradition of wearing pink in honor of - of the dead. Their dead friend. Only Lance had abstained, clad head to toe in black.

There were too many people.

Afterwards Pidge went home. She completely disassembled her computer and put it back together. She dumped all her spare robot parts on the floor and sat in the middle of the mess, day in and day out, tinkering and experimenting. She drew piles of rough schematics. Half of them got balled up and thrown in the trash can's general vicinity. She only left her room to shower, eat, and go to the bathroom. She didn't leave the house at all.

Sleep didn't really happen. Pidge felt herself fade in and out of consciousness at times but every time she got into bed, she stayed wide awake, all alone in the silence. One night, she put on her shoes, pushed open her bedroom window and climbed onto the roof.

Sitting up here felt strange without Matt. This was their special place growing up. But she was grateful for the solitude as she gazed up at the familiar constellations that felt so alien after years in deep space. She'd gazed upon dozens of skies with the other paladins while Allura and Coran showed them the constellations they remembered.

Her closed up for a second.

Pidge's relationship with Allura had been shaky at times. They were just such profoundly different people. Yet, they'd been the only two girls on the ship and that almost inevitably forged a bond between them. Whoever said girls were the de facto drama queens was a filthy liar: Pidge and Allura had several times retreated to the holographic observatory to get away from the boys' melodrama (which Coran had shamelessly, if not intentionally, encouraged) and just talk about space. Or sit in silence.

"I had a friend back on Altea," Allura confided softly. "Rora. She was the daughter of one of my father's courtiers. We used to run about the palace as children searching for secret passageways and pretending to be knights on a mission to rescue captured princes."

Pidge laughed a little to herself. Allura's childhood games sounded refreshingly backwards from the ones on Earth.

Her blue eyes got sad. "Once we were older, I spent all my waking hours under my parents' and Coran's tutelage. And about a dozen other teachers grooming me to become the next queen. Every now and again Rora took me to her home to lie in the juniberries in her garden. She was..."

Allura trailed off. "She was like a sister?" Pidge asked carefully.

"Rora was my sanity. A little bit of calm among the politics of my existence."

Pidge waited, trying to figure out what to say. She watched projected star systems spin slowly around them. "Matt was - is - like that for me, too. School was really lonely and I don't know how I would have gotten through it without him."

Cautious, she reached out and slipped her hand in Allura's.

"I'm grateful to have you in my life, Pidge."

For the first time she felt her eyes tingle. Pidge let herself cry silently.

"I'm sorry I was jealous. It should not have ended like that. I mean I don't think you were good for him but you were good to us. To me. Hey, remem - do you remember when you got the mice to put Hunks hair into cornrows in his sleep? You were so proud of that prank - and rightly so, you even had Keith laughing.

"Honestly, I didn't get why you wanted to be a paladin. I still don't. I know Shiro was gone and Voltron had a duty to fulfill, but. You always put duty in front of everything else. But you flew a goddamn castle! You commanded us when we needed it, you were essential for winning battles and quick escapes. Why did you give that up to become Lance's replacement and take orders from Keith?" Pidge stopped to catch her breath.

"I wish I could've helped you not be so lonely. I'm so, so sorry for avoiding you these last few - " her fists clenched. "I'm sorry for being so fucking petty while you held the weight of the universe on your shoulders."

She prayed her friend could hear her.

The window opened behind her. She heard someone clamber through. It didn't sound like Matt. Maybe her mom or dad came up to check on her? They never much approved of Pidge and her brother's habit of chilling out on the roof.

Pidge swiped at her tears and cleared her throat. Hopefully there wasn't enough light for the intruder to see her red eyes.

Lance's voice startled her. "Hey, Pidge. Your dad gave me a key."

She glanced to her left at his shoes, the same ones he'd worn every day on the Castle. They were fraying at the seams and the rubber sole beginning to peel away from the fabric at the sides.

"Why are you here?" Pidge tried and failed to not sound grumpy.

He sighed deeply, still standing next to her. He didn't sit down and she refused to look up at him. "I don't want to be alone. It's too much, just...everything."

"Hunk's better at comfort than I am."

"Hunk wants to talk about it." Pidge didn't need to ask what it was. "Shiro wants to talk about it. My whole damn family wants to talk about it, even Silvio and Nadia. I don't want to talk about it. I want to not be alone and not talk about it."

"So why don't you go find Keith?" Pidge muttered.

"Oh," Lance replied, "our oh-so-much older and wiser leader also wants to talk about it."

Yikes. "Well, I don't want to talk either."

"Fantastic. Let's sit here in companionable silence and grieve inside our own heads." Lance sat down then laid down. Pidge stayed curled up, arms around her knees. Her eyes stayed fixed on the inky horizon line. It was raw; they were two cranky, open wounds side by side trying desperately to heal. Tension lay so thick between them that she could almost taste it in the air. Pidge found it strange that Lance wanted no comfort, but...she understood. One can only hear so many I'm sorry's and other well-meant platitudes before screaming.

A moment passed - it could have been seconds or an hour or five minutes - and Pidge blinked against her stinging eyes one too many times. The darkness blurred from tears welling up so she scrunched her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry in front of Lance. The tears came anyway. They squirmed past her eyelids and slid down her cheeks. Her lungs shuddered every time she breathed.

Lance must have heard the ragged breaths, or seen her body shaking. Pidge started at his hand on her upper arm. "Pidge, come here. Lie down."

After God only knew how many lost hours of sleep, Pidge could only acquiesce. She settled next to him slightly on her side, facing away from him. The roof tiles dug into her shoulder but she was determined to have some semblance of privacy. Lance pulled her against him, sliding one arm under her neck and resting his other hand on her waist, where his thumb rubbed back and forth to soothe her; the leaking dam broke completely. Pidge sobbed.

She hated the electricity his touch arced through her.

But Lance was here with her, wasn't he? He sought out her company instead of any of his far more tactful friends or family. That had to mean something. She didn't care if he wanted her as long as he trusted her.

Unbidden, a picture of Allura popped into her head. She was winking dramatically at Pidge, teasing her about something. She could imagine - in another life - that Allura'd smirk at Pidge and prod her for information about her little cuddle session with the Blue Paladin. It was enough to make Pidge's head hurt and stomach twist into a knot.

"I miss her," she murmured. She felt him tense. "That's all I'm gonna say. But...Lance?"

"Yeah?" His voice was soft next to her ear.

"Thank you."

He squeezed her hip, where his hand rested. "Any time."

#plance #plangst #allura #allura and pidge #platonic pallura #voltron season 8 #vld season 8 #voltron season 8 spoilers #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #pidgance #flirtyrobot #smartwater #fuckplant #angst #hurt/comfort #plance fic #fic #fanfic #why are you my remedy?

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m staying (1)

Life of the party

Book: The Royal Romance, Book 2

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, and a steamy scene right at the beginning. This is absolutely NOT appropriate for people under 18. This also alludes to disturbing content about consent. No assault scene, but allusions are present. 

Word count: about 5,000

Notes: Welcome to my version of Book 2! This picks up pretty much where we left off, the day after the Decision Ball, starting with Amara’s POV. This contains some plot, but mostly lots of fluff. I guess I needed it, after the drama-packed end of Book 1… But don’t worry, drama will come back eventually ;)

*****

Amara smiles softly as she sees Drake’s eyes open ever so slightly. She’s been up a while, and barely got any sleep, but she doesn’t care. Her heart is full, and her mind is determined. She warms her hands on the cup of coffee she snuck up from downstairs, and takes a sip.

‘Babe?’ Drake calls for her as he opens his eyes with difficulty. 

‘I’m here,’ she says, walking back towards the bed to embrace him.

‘Hmm,’ he murmurs, leaning into her kiss. ‘You smell like coffee.’

She chuckles. ‘Want some?’

‘Please.’

Amara snuggles up to Drake as he sips from her cup. There, she thinks, that’s what she wants. This level of intimacy, forever. Drake puts down the cup and, now with two free hands, pulls her in for a warm hug. 

‘I’m so glad we’re here,’ he whispers. 

She smiles. So is she, at the end of the day. What was she thinking? Last night, they ended up celebrating so loudly that they woke Hana up, and she joined the five of them downstairs for lots of hugging and some champagne. When was the last time Amara had felt this much warmth in a room? Besides from her dad and Nancy, and of course Mia, over the past two years… not much.

She kisses Drake more deeply, and asks, ‘So… now that we just have to wait for the engagement tour to start, what are we gonna do with our time?’

Drake laughs. ‘Wow, I don’t know… a whole five days just to ourselves? Pff, problems problems…’

He kisses her neck, and Amara leans into the moment, taking in every second. She needs to remember this. The good. For when it becomes tough again, inevitably. She needs to soak it all in.

Drake hoists himself up until he’s on top of her, and she sees the familiar glimmer in his eyes. The want, the tenderness, the sheer adoration… all of it, all together. Everything he feels for her, everything she feels for him in return.

Amara’s breath catches. Does she deserve all this? This wonderful man, always there for her, even when he knows all of her flaws, all of her mistakes? Maybe not all yet, the voice in her head says. Maybe he will still have a few surprises. 

She shakes it off. Stop being so insecure, she thinks. Don’t create problems where there are none, not now. 

‘You ok?’ Drake asks, in between kisses.

She nods. Of course she’s ok. She’s with him, right here, right now, and that’s all that matters. She needs to silence that bitch voice in her head, pestering her with self-doubt that she really, really doesn’t need.

‘I’m great,’ she smiles, before kissing him some more.

He smiles back. ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he whispers. ‘I love you, Amara.’

His lips go down, and down, and trace a loving path from her neck to her breasts, then to her stomach… ‘I love you too,’ she whispers.

His lips are between her legs now, making her shiver like he knows how to do so well. Her back arches, and he kisses her core passionately, like there’s no tomorrow. She moans quietly, until she can’t keep it in anymore and needs a pillow to muffle her scream. ‘Fuck,’ she laughs breathlessly. ‘Drake, that was so good…’

He smiles broadly. ‘At your service, Suarez.’

She chuckles and guides him back on top of her. He lets out a low groan, almost a purr, as she wraps her legs around him and presses herself onto his length. In less than a few seconds, he’s already teasing her entrance with the tip of his cock, and she can’t wait to have him all to herself again.

*****

‘Wow,’ Drake says as he lies back down. ‘You really know how to start the day, Suarez.’

Amara laughs. Drake wonders if he’s ever heard anything more entrancing than her laugh. ‘Shower and coffee?’ She asks. 

He nods. ‘Please. I can already hear the commotion downstairs, Max is definitely up to no good.’

Amara cups her ear and listens carefully. ‘Um… Drake?’ She grabs his arm and bursts into laughter. ‘Is that a goat?’

Drake clearly makes out a bleating sound. He can’t contain his laughter either. ‘Sure sounds like it. Alright, let’s get in the shower so we can investigate this, Detective.’

*****

Amara isn’t surprised to see a baby goat in the living room, but she can’t help but squeal anyway. ‘Oh my God Maxxie, what did you do?’ She screams as she joins Hana in petting the small, delighted animal.

Maxwell pours coffee for Amara and Drake, shrugging. ‘I went to the Farmer’s Market this morning in Ramsford, I wanted to show Michael, and get some produce. My favorite vendor, Gustavo, was there, and he was selling baby goats. I thought this little guy would be a good companion for my peacocks and our two sheep.’

Amara’s eyes widen, the little goat’s head in her arms. ‘Hold up. You have sheep?’

Maxwell giggles. ‘Yeah! Have I never told you? I have five sheep, in the back of the property, they live with the peacocks, and our property manager, Silvio, takes care of them full time! Have I never told you, Little Blossom?’

Amara laughs, ‘No, you certainly have not. Can we please see them today? What are their names?’

Maxwell gloats in anticipation. ‘Well, there’s five of them, right? So, I named them Bobby, Jonathan, Antoni, Karamo, and Tan. Some of them are girls but you know, gender’s a construct.’

Hana and Amara share a look, and both burst out laughing. ‘That’s the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard,’ Hana says, wiping a tear.

Maxwell beams. ‘Right? So, what are we gonna name this little guy?’

Drake, coffee mug in hand, squats to pet the goat, and Amara can’t help but notice the wide grin on his face as he plants a little kiss on the goat’s forehead. ‘It has to be an awesome name, as handsome as this little fella, you know. We can’t name him something boring, this guy deserves the best name.’

Amara gasps. ‘I know! I have the perfect, handsomest name ever.’

Hana smiles. ‘What is it, babe?’

Amara looks the goat in the eye and solemnly declares. ‘Bradley Cooper. His name has to be Bradley Cooper.’

Drake almost chokes on his coffee and Michael laughs wholeheartedly. ‘I see the obsession is still going on,’ he says.

Amara shrugs. ‘Not an obsession. Just the recognition of the best actor of his generation, y’know.’

Drake raises an eyebrow. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but… we’re talking about the man who starred in The Hangover, babe. Think about that. Think about how terribly this movie has aged. Think about Ken Jeong emerging from the trunk. Think about Bradley Cooper’s line when they’re waiting for Ed Helms outside of his apartment.’

Amara thinks for a second, and shrugs. ‘It’s not like Bradley wrote the movie, Drake.’

Drake throws his hands up. ‘I give up. Max?’

Maxwell grins widely. ‘It’s perfect. Welcome to the world, Bradley Cooper-Beaumont. We love you.’

*****

‘So? What did you think of the Fab Five?’ Maxwell asks anxiously.

‘They’re soooo sweet and so cuddly,’ Amara exclaims.

Hana nods. ‘I love how they just run towards you as soon as you get there, and how they instantly adopted Bradley Cooper!’

Drake chuckles. ‘Will I get used to that goat’s name, ever?’

Michael pats his back. ‘Let time work its magic, Drake. It shall pass.’

They both laugh. Amara smiles at the sight of her friends and family getting along, and without even realizing it, reaches for her phone in her pocket. Still no texts. Well, some from her dad, with whom she’s been texting since he woke up, but none from anyone else. Her heart sinks a bit. She contemplates writing another, but she promptly gives up. She doesn’t want to stalk her, either.

Drake swoops in from behind her and grabs her hand. ‘Whatcha doing?’ He asks, all the while knowing exactly what she’s doing. 

Amara shrugs and squeezes his hand tight. ‘Nothing. Checking my phone.’

Drake brings her hand to his lips and kisses it. ‘She’ll come around. She’s stubborn as fuck, but if there’s one person who can do no wrong in her eyes, it’s you, Suarez.’

She smiles faintly. ‘I don’t know about that.’

*****

Olivia turns her phone over, one more time, and when she sees nothing on the screen, turns it face down again. She takes another sip of coffee and a bite of her eggs, angrily.

‘Still mad?’ Rashad asks as he plants a kiss on the top of her head.

Olivia shrugs. ‘I’m not mad. It’s just funny how the bitch thinks my advice is shit when I deliver it, and then two hours later, she decides to do what I told her to do.’

Rashad raises an eyebrow. ‘So...you’re mad that she took your advice? I don’t follow.’

Liv rolls her eyes. ‘You’re pretending not to follow. It’s annoying.’

He chuckles. ‘Well, you’re right, I’m following. I just don’t understand your logic.’

She snorts. ‘No one does.’

Rashad thinks for a second and takes her hand. She doesn’t flinch. ‘Liv, I think you’re mad at her out of principle. But think about it. She went through something shitty last night, and had a gut reaction. Can you blame her?’

She shrugs again. ‘Yes.’

Rashad chuckles. ‘Alright. I guess you can.’ He starts pulling his hand away, but Olivia holds on to it, without meeting his eye. 

She sighs. ‘For the record,’ she says, looking down at her cup of black coffee, ‘I didn’t come here because I needed you. I’ve wanted this for a while, now we’ve finally boned, end of story.’

Rashad’s smile falters. ‘End of story?’ He asks worriedly.

Olivia bites her lip. That’s not what she meant. At all. Fuck, how is she going to spin that one without seeming too eager? ‘You know what I mean,’ she says. ‘I mean that I don’t want to talk about that whole Suarez shit. I know what you’re thinking, that I came to you because I was sad or whatever.’

Rashad shrugs, a shadow still over his eyes. ‘Honestly, Liv, I’m glad you came to me, and I just hope you don’t regret us having sex for the first time in these circumstances.’

She snorts. Why does he have to be such a good guy? She needed comfort last night, that’s true. Not that she would admit it, but she did. She felt betrayed by Suarez, who she considered to be...ugh, not worth putting words onto it. She takes a deep breath. ‘I’m fine. And, if you must know, it was fucking hot. No regrets here.’

He smiles a little and digs into his eggs.

She did fucking love it. They did need to break the tension. No regrets.

Still, it feels a bit...anticlimactic. Is it how it feels to have sex with someone you actually like? Sure, she had sex with Liam many, many times over the years, and ugh, boy, did she have feelings there. But he was unavailable. It was noncommittal.

Here and now, as they share breakfast, and she’s wearing no makeup, while Rashad looks as comfortable as ever in his sweatpants, Liv can’t help but feel… too safe?

Maybe she’ll tell Suarez about it, sometime, when she stops hating her guts.

Who doesn’t listen to Olivia Motherfucking Nevrakis? 

*****

Liam hasn’t slept. At all. He watches the sun rise on his country, as he sits on his balcony in his boxers and dress shirt from last night, his head full of regret. He replays the events from after Leo left last night, in his head, and cringes at the memory.

Madeleine getting impatient and knocking on the door of his study. Their small talk. His discomfort. Her advances. 

His attempts to create a diversion by offering her a drink. Her insistence at having a nightcap in his suite. 

The knot in his throat as he caved. 

His inability to say no any further. 

It would have been suspicious if he had said no, right? She would have known he was up to something. She needs to feel comfortable and safe if they want to successfully investigate her and break the engagement. Right?

He swallows his saliva, and takes a hesitant peek in his bedroom, through the French windows. She’s still sleeping, soundly, sprawled in his bed.

He had believed her. Like an idiot, he was convinced that she was the only one who still cared about him. Until the ball, until his stupid eyes were open by the picture of Amara’s assault.

He closes his eyes tight. It’s not a big deal, right? Everyone forces themselves to do things they don’t want to do, sometimes. 

Even that. Even something that you’re supposed to completely want.

Right?

*****

Drake stands in front of the stove, and flips the pan expertly. He can get used to this: cooking for his friends, with his girl keeping him company. Amara is sitting on the counter next to him, and playing with the ingredients as they chat about life.

‘This is gonna be so good,’ she says. ‘Have you made this before?’

Drake chuckles. ‘Sausage and peppers? Of course. It was a staple of the Walker household.’

She smiles. Is there anything more heartwarming than her smile? He thinks not. ‘Did you cook for your family, always?’ she asks.

He shrugs. ‘I did, sometimes. Dad was always in charge of grilling and he taught me how to take care of meat and fish. I love cooking fish above everything else. It’s delicate, precise, and so satisfying when you get it right. Mom was more into baking, and making hearty dishes like mac and cheese. Efficient stuff when you’ve got two kids that you need to feed quickly.’ He laughs. ‘And boy, did we need to be fed. Sav and I were always big eaters.’

Amara smiles a bit wider. ‘That’s really sweet. So were we. I remember Mom making chilaquiles, and Sergio and I were so impatient to eat them that we would literally wait in front of her. She’d roll her eyes and be like ‘Chiquitos, you’re not gonna make me cook any faster.’ When she baked, it was the same. I’d just stare at the oven hoping it would bake faster.’

Drake steps away from the stove to plant a sweet kiss on her lips. He loves when she shares memories like that. They both need it. ‘Did your mom cook mostly Mexican specialties?’ he asks.

‘I’d say half and half. She liked hearty American food like your mom, too! And my dad, well he grew up in Pennsylvania with Puerto Rican parents, so his comfort food is a mix of both.’

Drake smiles. ‘Sounds delicious. You’ll have to tell me about your favorites and I’ll find recipes.’

She gasps excitedly. ‘I could even send you my mom’s. Sergio and my Dad numerized her cookbook years ago, because when she passed away, they both picked up the slack in the kitchen and wanted to remember her this way.’

Drake’s heart pangs. ‘That’s such a sweet initiative. I’d love to see some of her recipes. I’ll try to cook Marisol-style!’ he says excitedly.

Amara’s smile that ensues could melt Drake’s cold heart, if it wasn’t completely melted already, all because of her. She says in a breathy voice, ‘I’d love nothing more, babe.’ 

‘Hey guys, need any help?’ Michael asks as he walks in. ‘I guess I mean...Drake, need any help, as Amara just stares at you without helping at all?’

Amara giggles and throws a dish rag at him. ‘I’m here for moral support!’

Drake chuckles. ‘I’m all good, but you can look in the fridge if anything appeals to you. Max bought a bunch of food this morning, in between buying farm animals, y’know.’

Michael laughs. ‘Yeah, full disclosure, I was with him, and I could have stopped him but...the goat was too cute.’ He reaches for a bunch of radishes and a head of lettuce in the fridge. ‘And to be perfectly honest, it felt good to be out and about in a very normal setting. No sash people, no viscounts and dukes and whatever, but just a farmers market.’

Drake smiles. ‘I feel ya. Well, in this case, we should all go out tonight, somewhere in Ramsford. Suarez, what do you say?’

Amara joins her hands together. ‘Yes! It would be awesome! Plus, Michael’s only here for a few more days, we need to make them count.’

Michael makes an excited face as he washes the lettuce. ‘Seriously? That would be great. A normal place with normal food?’

Drake looks at Amara with a victorious look on his face. ‘My man,’ he says softly, pointing at Michael. ‘Yes, a normal place and all. Ramsford is good for that. We’ll see what Max recommends, I have a few favorite places but he knows more.’

Michael smiles widely. ‘He is the life of the party.’

Amara chuckles. ‘Oh, you’ve noticed?’

*****

Drake’s lunch is a success, as always. Amara enjoys every bite, as well as conversation with her friends. Even Bertrand is in good spirits, and got over the whole goat debacle quickly. He doesn’t like when Maxwell spends money, but ever since they stopped paying off Albert the blackmailer, they are a bit more comfortable.

Hana nods excitedly at Maxwell’s suggestions for bars and restaurants. ‘That sounds so great!’ she exclaims. ‘We’re all going, right?’ she asks, looking at Bertrand.

He chuckles. ‘It’s really sweet of you to include me, Hana, but I think with all this um… drama, as you youths say it, I need to get some rest tonight.’

Amara rolls her eyes. ‘Us youths? Bertrand, you’re barely older than Michael. Calm down.’

Bertrand smiles. ‘I suppose so. But Amara, with everything we’ve been through, I just want to be in my robe and relax.’

Amara nods. ‘I don’t blame you. Your robe looks very comfortable and, most importantly, has a lot of tassels.’

Bertrand blushes. ‘Um, yes, indeed it does.’

Maxwell bites his lips to stop laughter from coming out. ‘Alright, let’s leave Grandpa Tassel alone tonight then, but Bertrand, we’re not taking no for an answer tomorrow, we’re doing something. We need to enjoy Michael’s company while he’s here.’

Bertrand nods solemnly. ‘Yes, you’re right. We need to honor our guest.’

Michael smiles facetiously and makes quick eye contact with Maxwell. ‘Thank you, Bertrand. Your hospitality means a lot.’

Amara can’t help but notice the brief looks of complicity between Maxwell and Michael. She hadn’t seen Michael be so social in years. Even before Sergio passed, Michael was always the studious one, the serious one, while Sergio was...well, also the life of the party. Hmm, she thinks. Could this be something?

‘Amara,’ Maxwell insists, ‘did you hear me?’

She shakes it off. ‘Oh, sorry, I was in my thoughts. What is it?’

Maxwell looks at Drake, and at Amara again. ‘I was asking, do you want me to invite Liv tonight, or not? She would definitely like the vibe at Zeno’s, but I don’t want to include her if you guys are still...tense.’

Amara’s smile falters. ‘No no, invite her. If I’m the one texting, she won’t answer. We need to put an end to the bullshit.’

Maxwell nods. ‘I’ll ask if Rashad wants to come, too.’

‘Oh, the sexy smoldering guy from the ball?’ Michael inquires. ‘He and Olivia seemed very close.’

Amara smiles. ‘Yes, and yes. They’re kinda dating. See? You’d make a good detective, too.’

*****

Maxwell reflects intently as he focuses his eyes on his closet. ‘No, not this,’ he murmurs.

Michael sits on his bed, feeling awkward about having to, once again, borrow clothes. ‘Max, seriously, I can wear what I have.’

Maxwell turns around and smiles at him. ‘You can, you’d look good in anything, really. But I want to give you options!’

Michael smiles. ‘Thank you. I really need a clothing intervention. I do dress like a lawyer,’ he says, looking down at his outfit made up of beige chinos and a plaid shirt. ‘If we’re going to a hip place--’

‘We’re not,’ Maxwell interrupts. ‘Whatever you’re comfortable with will be great. But I have some clothes that would look better on you than they do on me. Let me find them…’ He digs deeper in his closet. ‘Ah!’ he says victoriously. ‘Here it is. The shirt.’

He presents an emerald green shirt to Michael, who almost recoils in fear. ‘Jeez, Maxwell, it’s very green. I know I wear these colors sometimes, but… isn’t it a bit much?’

Maxwell smiles as he holds the shirt against Michael’s face. ‘No. It brings out your eyes. You can wear it with your chinos, or jeans. You have jeans, right?’

Michael nods. ‘Yes.’

‘What cut?’

Michael raises an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure what this means.’

Maxwell smiles. ‘It’s ok. I have jeans that you will like.’

*****

Hana and Amara are sitting outside in the sun, a margarita in hand and Amara’s nail polish collection sprawled out on the table for them to choose from. Amara looks out to the pool, where Drake is swimming laps. She doesn’t even realize that she’s staring at his body as he gets out every now and then to take a sip of his water.

Hana smile mischievously. ‘Amara, honey, do you need binoculars?’

Amara shakes her head. ‘Oh shit, Hana, I’m sorry. I promise I’m not a perv. He’s just so…’

Hana laughs. ‘Oh, I know. I’m gay, not blind.’

Amara chuckles. ‘Alright, back to business. What are you wearing tonight?’

Hana nods seriously. ‘I’m gonna go with my coral sundress, with my light brown wedges.’

‘Great choice. You wanna go for a light nail, or a metallic?’

Hana thinks intensely and finally says, ‘I think I’ll go with your gold polish. Is that ok?’

‘Of course, great call. I’m gonna wear my ripped jeans and a yellow top, so I’ll go with the light gray. Good?’

Hana smiles. ‘Perfect. Amara, I’m so glad you stayed. I don’t know what I would have done without you here.’

Amara takes her hand. ‘Same. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve found my people, why did I want to leave?’

Hana smiles broadly. ‘Right? I feel the same way. I know my parents are leaving me tons of messages, but I’m not ready to listen to them. I want to enjoy my time with you guys, and go on the engagement tour.’

‘Plus, the tour ends in London, and you know what that means,’ Amara says in a sexy voice while wiggling her eyebrows.

Hana blushes. ‘I do know what it means, since you’re not being very subtle.’ She smiles and twists the nail polish open. ‘We’ll see what happens. For right now, I’m happy to be here.’

‘Agreed.’

She continues, ‘On another note, did you catch all the little looks between Maxwell and Michael? They’re totally inseparable,’ Hana whispers.

‘I was just thinking that. It’s nice to see Michael be close with someone. Who knows where it might lead, but it’s just nice to see, you know,’ she says, avoiding eye contact.

Hana paints her nails intently. ‘I can imagine. Michael seems to relax a bit, and tonight will help too.’

‘What are you guys plotting about?’ Drake asks as he walks out of the pool and towards the nail painting station.

Amara chuckles, ‘Nothing babe. I’ll fill you in later.’

‘Don’t come out yet, Drake, here we come!’ Maxwell exclaims, running towards the group on his bathing suit. Michael follows slowly, shyly covering his body with a towel.

Amara sits up and asks eagerly, ‘Maxxie, did Liv get back to you?’

Maxwell, still running, cries out, ‘Not yet, Little Blossom. But I gave her all the info and she’ll know where to find us!’

Amara looks down at her nails, silent. Drake sighs and puts his hand on her back comfortingly. ‘She’ll come around, baby. I promise.’

*****

‘Looking good, man,’ Drake says as he catches Michael looking at his reflection in the hallway.

Michael jumps up, startled. ‘Oh! Thanks, Drake. Is it too much, though?’

Drake shrugs. ‘I don’t think so. Green looks good on you.’ He walks to the drink cart and pours two glasses of whiskey. ‘Here you go,’ he says as he holds one out to Michael.

‘Thank you.’ He smells it. ‘This is good stuff.’

Drake smiles. ‘It really is, huh? Max doesn’t skimp out.’

Michael smiles and sips. Drake takes out his phone and looks at the text he just sent out.

I know she hurt your feelings, but she came around and apologized. Don’t let your fucking pride take you away from a friend. We’re both new at this opening up shit, I get it, it sucks to be vulnerable, but it’s also fucking satisfying to be surrounded by people who care. Don’t fuck up.

He wonders whether he cursed too much, but oh well. It’s sent. 

And read, without a response.

He sighs and looks up. ‘Sorry, Mike. Hey, what do you wanna do tomorrow? I can take you on a tour of Ramsford in my Jeep if you want me to show you around.’

Michael’s face lights up. ‘I’d love that. I want to call Callie tomorrow when she’s awake, but otherwise I’m all free.’

Drake smiles. ‘Good.’ He glances at his watch. ‘I guess we’re the fastest ones to get ready around here. When I left Amara, she was agonizing over which earrings to pick.’

Michael chuckles. ‘Max picked my outfit, so I have absolutely no merit in being quick.’

As if on cue, Maxwell appears on top of the stairs, Hana and Amara on each side. ‘Gentlemen, may I present you the two most beautiful women in the world!’

The girls chuckle and roll their eyes, they all yell out to Bertrand to wish him a good night, and they get on their way.

*****

Amara fidgets in the car, her hand in Drake’s. She is sitting in the middle, between Drake and Michael.

‘You ok, babe?’ Drake asks. ‘Nervous?’ he points to her shaky leg.

Amara promptly stops. ‘Sorry. I’m fine. I’m excited to have fun, I promise.’

Maxwell glances at Drake in the rearview mirror, a worried look on his face. Amara notices it right away. She knows it means Max didn’t hear back from Liv. She hates that she feels so nervous about it, and she especially hates that Drake and Max are, once again, worried about her. She sits up and takes a deep breath. She needs to grow a pair of ovaries and stop being this fragile little bitch who is always in danger of having an anxiety attack. 

She needs to enjoy life, dammit. It will be hard enough to sneak around and investigate while on the tour, the least she can do is enjoy her five days of freedom, and make the most of Michael’s presence.

Breathe in, breathe out. 

Maxwell parks in downtown Ramsford. ‘Alright guys, I’m designated driver tonight, you bitches go crazy, I’m there for you!’

Amara smiles broadly. ‘Max, I can bet you that we’ll end up taking Ubers back. No way you’re not getting lit.’

Maxwell laughs. ‘You may be right. This is a 24-hour parking lot, detective. Either way, we’re good. Let’s go!’

They get out of the car, and Amara walks with Drake, her hand still in his. Zeno’s is a cool bar, not too hip but definitely nice, with an outdoors section full of greenery. As they walk in, Amara finds herself relaxing. This is definitely normal, with young couples all around, and too many people for them to get noticed. Maxwell picked the perfect spot.

‘First round on me,’ Drake announces ‘Everybody tell me what you want!’

Hana requests a margarita, and everyone follows suit, except Michael who wants a lager. 

Drake smiles. ‘Babe, help me carry?’

They make their way to the bar, their bodies close to each other. Amara holds Drake’s belt loop so they don’t get separated by the crowd. This place is really happening.

They plant themselves in front of the bar, and Drake orders for everyone, and opens a tab. Amara nuzzles in Drake’s arms, taking advantage of the crowd pushing them together. She buries her head in his chest.

Drake chuckles. ‘You’re not afraid of being seen?’

Amara smiles, ‘Not really. Too crowded. Plus, it’s not my fault if people are forcing us to get close.’

‘Good excuse,’ he whispers in her ear as he squeezes her shoulder.

‘You look hot tonight,’ she murmurs. ‘I love you in black.’

‘And I love you, period,’ he says softly.

‘You guys are sickening.’

Amara whips around instantly. ‘You came!’ she exclaims.

Liv rolls her eyes and adjusts her top. ‘Of course I came. Walker threatened me via text.’

‘I did not,’ he protests. ‘I tried to convince you, that’s all.’

Liv snorts and orders two double vodkas. She pauses and says, ‘It’s not all for me. Rashad’s here with me.’

Amara smiles. ‘I’m glad.’ She hesitates, then throws her arms around Olivia and pulls her into a hug.

‘What the hell are you doing, Suarez?’ Liv asks disgustedly.

‘Hugging you. Lean into it,’ she replies.

Liv rolls her eyes again and slowly hugs Amara back. ‘Fine. That’s your one hug. You used it up.’ She pauses. ‘And never fucking blindside me again like you did yesterday. You made me be your friend, now you have to act like one.’

Amara lets go of her and grabs a couple of glasses from the bar. ‘Agreed. I fucked up, I’m really sorry. Now, can we please get drunk together and show my brother how shit gets done in Cordonia?’

*****

Taglist:

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Thank you for your encouragements, everyone! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist :)

#that's not why i'm going #that's not why I'm staying #drake x amara #drake walker x amara suarez #drake walker #amara suarez #dramara #drake x mc #drake walker trr #drake walker x mc #trr drake #the royal romance #the royal romance fanfic

[viatagrinner]

Silvio Ricci 24 + Normal Story.

A meeting of merchants with Silvio.

Silvio: Guys, I brought you a big deal that could change the country.

(It takes the power of the merchants to prove the king wrong...)

Silvio says that if they succeed, the merchants will make a huge profit, but they will make an enemy of the current king.

Silvio: If you are afraid, leave. This is different from ordinary negotiations.

No one moves.

Silvio: ... If you start trading with Obsidian, you will move your business there, won't you?

The Obsidian market is huge at the expense of the population. And merchants will be able to make big profits. However...

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Flashback:

Silvio, standing on the balcony of his secret residence, asks the girl if she has any tricks to become popular. MC answers in agreement. One has to be honest.

MC: What does prince Silvio think about, what does he wish for... It's not about money, but you have to touch people's hearts. I believe that people are not moved by money, but by the heart, regardless of profit or loss.

Flashback is over.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Silvio thought for a long time about which side to join, but "one sassy woman," the "damn little brother" who was saved by Rhodolite, in the end many merchants who fell in love with Rhodolite... All this determined his choice.

Silvio: "I did it because I wanted to." In the end, it's all personal.

He promises them prosperity.

Silvio: So, everyone, hurry up and lend me your power.

Silvio: If I become king, maybe I'll reconsider my relationship with Rhodolite, won't I?

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

While Silvio confidently recounted his plan, MC watched him from her hiding place. And she couldn't take her eyes off him.

(Impossible.)

(Impossible to say that I would fall in love with someone like him.)

She still doesn't like the prince's treatment of her as a thing and the fact that he is trying to turn her into a weapon against Rio, though she senses that there is something else behind it.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

The jeweler is first in charge of Silvio's request. He and his firm will be happy to help trace the route of the items and prove that the items came from Obsidian. Although the jeweler half-jokingly, half-seriously asks the prince to "not let it die" on him.

The bookstore seller is a longtime friend of the auction organizer.

Someone knows some of the Obsidian merchants.

In short, everyone agrees to help.

Merchant: Only Prince Silvio, please work hard. I don't want to sail on a sinking ship.

Silvio: Who are you talking to? I have never sunk a ship.

The cooperation, which is tied to more than just money, is getting better. Silvio is happy. However...

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Carlo appears before he can say anything; Silvio speaks instead. The king is already looking for them. There is an official request from the kingdom of Benitoite to arrest the prince.

Silvio: It was clear that sooner or later it would happen.

But that's not all the bad news either.

The royal knights are on their way.

Jeweler: It seems rumors of a rendezvous have leaked out.

Silvio knew it was coming, but his authority demanded that he show up himself.

Jeweler finds similarities between the prince and the king. He too went to great lengths for "personal feelings" when he wanted his second wife to be accepted at court.

Silvio: ........

After giving out quick instructions, Silvio, grabbing MC, fled.

━━━━━━━༻❀��❀༺━━━━━━━

In the woods they were pursued by knights. It's very hard to escape.

MC: I have an idea....

Silvio: Rejected.

MC: But I haven't said anything yet...

Silvio: So you are going to surrender to the knights?

The prince sighs irritably. The girl tries to convince him that if she surrenders to the knights, she will buy time for Silvio. If she does not shut up, the prince will kiss her.

MC: I will have my revenge.

*Fight with each other*.

Silvio: No matter what you say, I won't let you go! Remember that!

MC: This is not the time or the circumstances.

The girl thinks that if the prince treats her like a thing, his property, then let him treat her that way until the end. Things are used.

MC: You know that running away with me is not the wisest decision, is it, Sir Silvio?

Silvio stubbornly walks on, holding the heroine's hand.

Silvio: Shut up! ....I really had no problems until I met you.

MC:..... Hey... That's my line!

MC: Forced me to be the host, and even though I said I didn't like it, you took me everywhere I went...

Silvio: Who was the one who always made me feel uncomfortable by cheekily biting me everywhere I went?

MC: Silvio was the one who made me uncomfortable first!

Silvio: You started it! No matter how much I give, all I get, is not an affectionate attitude.

Silvio: If I take my eyes off of you even for a moment, you start flirting with that damn dog...

MC: I feel bad about the way you said that!

Silvio doesn't like her touching him. MC objects, he touches her too.

Silvio: That's good of me, but it's disrespectful of you!

MC: That's not wise!

*They argue further*

Silvio is offended that the girl makes the same frightened face she did when she met the "scowling bastard." [Chapter 9]

???: There he is! I found him!

Silvio: Hey... Look, they found us because you shouted.

MC: No, Sir Silvio shouted, didn't he!?

The prince picked her up and went... MC wanted to say something, but she saw that they had come to a cliff. Dead end on the way.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Other people's footsteps are getting closer and closer. Silvio has been in worse situations, like being surrounded by pirates.

The prince rolls up his sleeves as if preparing for battle.

???: Guys, go take a look over there. I just got a report.

(...That voice.)

The expression on Silvio's face turned grim, like a demon's.

It's Rio.

He spread his arms out to his sides, and MC rushed to embrace him, but Silvio's hand grabbed her collar.

MC: Oh, that hurts!

Silvio: ...So you're the one leading the search.

Silvio: In other words, the enemy.

Rio said he talked to his father.

Rio: "There's some misunderstanding about MC. I'll take it from my brother and prove it, so please let me lead the search. Why did you put MC in danger, you damn old geezer? I'm going to make you bow down to MC, so remember that".

The heroine is stunned by Rio's uncharacteristic words.

Rio offers to let the girl go. He knows of Silvio's plans from Carlo. Rio won't stop his brother, but he won't let him endanger MC either.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Rio's plan: MC sits in the shelter that Sariel has prepared for her. Rio himself, meanwhile, will seek proof that the girl is not a Obsidian spy. At the quadripartite negotiations, he annuls the renunciation of the alliance...

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Rio takes the girl's hand, but Silvio grabs her other hand.

Silvio: I won't let you interfere with my plans.

Rio: MC is not important to this plan, is she?

Silvio does not believe in Rio's plan. Moreover, it does not matter who protects who protects the girl. That's why Silvio takes on the task.

Rio does not agree, if Silvio becomes king, he will "tie MC to himself with an order." The younger prince is afraid of that.

Rio: MC is not your tool, not your thing.

Rio: .....Let her go.

Silvio: You let her go.

Rio: I... I said it before. I love MC.

The girl is important to Rio, he wants her to be happy.

Rio: MC is different from everything you've taken away from me. She's a living person.

Rio draws MC to him, Silvio retreats.

Rio thinks that his brother, once he gets the girl, will throw her away because he only wants to torment Rio.

Silvio remains silent. The heroine is saddened to see if Rio is right and all the prince's kindness is just a lie.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

She's about to follow Rio, but she can't. Silvio hugs her tightly from behind.

He asks what MC wanted to say before they came to the cliff.

MC: ...Do you like me?

Silvio: I think so.

Silvio: I wouldn't go on such a venture just to annoy people.

Silvio: ...Because the only way I know how to get something is to buy it with money or steal it.

Rio gives voice to this. But this makes Silvio furious.

Silvio: Unlike you, whom everyone loves, no one has ever loved me...

The tyrant peels off his skin, and beneath it is a squirming beast that seems to be afraid of something.

Rio: The fact that you're being arrogant makes it hard to talk, and you should have been honest from the start, you idiot!

Rio: I'll ask a simple question, so that even an idiot like you can understand... Can you say that you like MC more than I do?

Silvio: I can't.

Because Rio has changed a lot. He used to try not to stand out, not to command the knights, not to protect the girl.

Silvio: Although I too...

Silvio blushes and sighs deeply...

(I want to know the tyrant's true intentions.)

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Normal Story

Silvio: I can't help it if I'm in love with you! You can't blame me!

Silvio, who was hugging the girl from behind, jammed his face into her shoulder.

Just this action almost made her heart burst.

Silvio: Ah, why the hell is such a woman...

MC: That's my line!

Silvio is a tyrant, treats her like a thing, makes her wear a collar... And yet kind, considerate...

Silvio calls the girl an "bastard" and says he feels even worse.

Silvio: She's sassy, she's not pretty, she bites from time to time, she's a damned woman who can't even entertain a noble guest...

Silvio: I didn't expect to be so hooked.

It didn't sound like a compliment.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Rio: Well, have your worries dissipated?

And it's also becoming clear that Rio purposely pissed off his older brother so that he would confess his feelings.

Rio says Silvio has been on so many dangerous voyages, but he's come back every time. He gives the go-ahead to Silvio's plan and to his relationship with MC.

Rio takes his knights away.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Silvio's Shelter.

MC brought food again, but the prince is asleep. From morning until evening he wrote letters, read reports. The poor guy fell asleep right at the table. The girl wakes him up and asks him to go to bed.

Their faces ended up next to each other.

At first they looked at each other, but then Silvio was blown away like the wind and, grumbling, ran away from the girl.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

MC wants to touch him. He gets angry and blushes, but she needs him to get used to her.

Silvio: Don't be so selfish.

The prince picks her up and puts her in his lap.

(....Help!)

Silvio: You're going to come to Benitoite when this matter is settled, right?

MC: As you may have noticed long ago, I am the daughter of a commoner.

Silvio: It doesn't matter, and that's not what I'm asking.

MC: First I want to make one thing clear. Am I prince Silvio's property?

She still wears the collar and is not allowed to take it off.

Silvio: If you don't want to be treated like an object, hurry up and be my woman.

*Kiss*

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

After a passionate kiss, Silvio smiled weakly.

MC decided to kiss him, too, but she had no experience.

MC: I already told you. I told you I love you, even though I don't want to.

There is no longer a "host" and a "thing," but only a "lover."

Silvio: ...Ha, you're finally getting cute.

Silvio: I'm going to make you the king's woman. Do you feel grateful?

The girl panics a little, but Silvio asks her not to worry.

Silvio: Well, I don't want to let you go, even if you are afraid.

After stroking MC's hair, Silvio removes her collar.

━━━━━━━༻❀✿❀༺━━━━━━━

Silvio's Masterlist

#ikemen prince #ikemen ouji #ikepri #ikepri translation #ikemen silvio's route #ikemen prince silvio #ikepri silvio #ikemen silvio #silvio ricci #ikepri silvio's route

[dokidoki-tae]

Sorry if this is to political, but how would La Squadra deal with a s/o in the United States. Like a long distance relationship. Trump has rubbed me the wrong way. I just want to call Formaggio to bitch about this vile man. Like this stale Cheeto of a man doesn't understand that people immigrating is normal.

Politics is fine. I follow politics quite a bit because it affects my way of life, my family and friends, my community, and other disenfranchised communities, so I see it as my responsibility to pay attention to politics. But I’m actually pretty curious about the views they would hold if they existed in real life. They probably experience Silvio Berlusconi’s leadership (Italy has a president though? How does that work?). But Italy seems to have it’s own “complicated” relationship with immigrants and people of color too :/

This would be easier if I understood Italian politics though haha Italians give me your opinion on American and how it compares to your elected officials

Risotto: He doesn’t know (or care) much about American culture, but he wonders if you are around or experiences the amount of violence against minorities as he hears about on the news. What chances do you have in getting shot, he might wonder. He calls you to make sure you are alright whenever an incident happens. He’s never followed another country’s news, but here he is. He’s no stranger to what happens with the rise of fascism. His beloved country was a victim of it and he worries that you will directly experience it, and it does worry him. He tells you ways you can take precautions to be safe. It will probably stress you out more, but he has to teach you to watch out for yourself because he’s not there.

Prosciutto: He hates the long distance because he can’t check up on your mental, emotional, and psychological health regularly. He has to settle with calling you when he wakes up (the end of your day) and calls when you wake up (the end of his day). He always asks how things went. He wants you to use him to let out your frustration. He hates how stressed you get because of the state of your country. He understands since Italy has had its fair share of idiot leaders who he regularly complains about to the others. Eventually, he’ll ask if you’re willing to move to Italy to escape the toxic environment. He wants to be able to comfort you and be able to actually protect you.

Pesci: Doesn’t follow politics even in his own country, so he doesn’t understand how you’re feeling. In his mind, politicians lie, tell people what they want to hear, and are not good people. So you shouldn’t be surprised by it, right? It’s something he’s heard many people say before and what he learned through history. If you send him clips though, even he’s stumped when hears Trump speak. At first, he thought the translator was bad at his job, but no that’s how the man talks. He feels sorry for you for having to deal with that. He’s there to lend an ear because he doesn’t know what else he can offer to comfort you. He does always tell you to be careful though just in case you run into a bigot.

Formaggio: He doesn’t pay attention to politics either, and he bases all his judgment of what’s going on in your country based on your rants. He listens to you open up your heart to him about your anger and frustrations and fears. He never suspected this kind of thing was going on because he’s run into American tourist, and they always seem pretty happy and unconcerned. If you were to tell him he’s similar to, say, Mussolini, he’s going to understand immediately and might open himself up to rant. He’s another one to suggest to you to come to Italy because their food is better anyway. Italy also has its share of bigots but Formaggio promises to beat the shit out of them if they say anything to you.

Illuso: If he comes across American news, he finds it quite entertaining because it’s just so outlandish and ridiculous to him. He’ll make fun of your country’s politics and how ludicrous things are over there. You’ll have to be vulnerable to get sympathy from him because he doesn’t quite grasp the severity of human rights being stripped away from your or your loved ones. If you tell him that, he’ll become more serious and hear you out. He won’t make jokes at your expense especially if you’re genuinely concerned and scared about the things happening in your country. He too will offer to open up his room for you to live with him. 

Melone: IMMA be real with you. Melone doesn’t seem to have the highest regards when it comes to women, BUT I don’t think he approves of your president's vulgarity. Melone has lived through Silvio Berlusconi leadership to know where your country might head. He will give warnings about the dangers of that sort of man being elected again. Overall, he won’t care too much about what happens to your country; he’s only concerned about you and will do what he can to take your mind off the things happening in your country. 

Ghiaccio: Doesn’t really pay attention to American news, but when he somehow comes across it, he’s going to call you and scream, “WHY CAN’T YOUR DAMN PRESIDENT FORM A SINGLE FUCKING SENTENCE.” And you’ll be able to hear him punching something. It might be enough to get you to laugh, but he’s genuinely distraught about how this man got elected. He stereotypes Americans as being stupid (gee thanks) and your president is pretty much confirming his beliefs (but you’re enough to remind him that isn’t true). Don’t tell him about the electoral college.

#risotto nero #prosciutto #pesci #illuso #formaggio #melone #ghiaccio #jojo hcs #my writing #shay replies #Anonymous