(* --- nails digging deep. )

tywysoges-g·:

“You know, they’re not as scary as they look.” Gwen teased with a laugh. “Depends on what’s tripping you out. Is it the name? The texture? The smell? I have a trick for each one, but you have to let me know.”

❝ Of course the French get to be picky about their food.❞ To be fair their cuisine was one of the few redeeming things about them. ❝ You should trust Gwen she never disappoints.❞ She winked at her friend.

“I…” Mimi trailed off. For some reason she hadn’t even considered that. She supposed she’d simply assumed that Arnauld had already planned for all of this. That he was thinking six moves ahead of the rest of them, seeing something the rest of them couldn’t, yet…But Francois’ implication and Henri’s tone seemed to suggest otherwise. “You think he doesn’t care, anymore?” She repeated more to herself than Francois, and frowned. “–I mean,” she tried to reason, grasping at straws, “surely that’s what Fanni’s for? What the wedding is for?”

“Well…” She tailed off again, into an uncomfortable shrug. “It’s just…Henri seemed worried about that meeting. I know you say there were no firm plans made at that point, but…” But public opinion and international courts would ask why even a soft plan was so much as entertained. “Have you spoken with anyone else in the programme?” Anyone outside of the family, she means. “Do things feel as tense for you as they do me?”

FRANÇOIS SHRUGGED. it had never been his place to question arnauld, even in mimi’s presence he hesitated. “ i think he cares but he cared about winning more. ” françois would admit that he had never been too good at seeing ahead when it came to the ballgame that politics was. but even he felt confident in saying that arnauld had done something that people would find very hard to accept. impossible even. it would be bad optics not to give a horrified reaction and condemn the act. “ hmm. ” he paused. he had not really thought about the wedding. “ will it really fix things ? won’t it just make it worse ? first he kill civilians and then he throws a massive party filled with the people who conspired with him. ” someone from the pr department would have an opinion on it, and another one would have a way to twist it. “ i guess they’ll start posting cutesy stories soon. make people more interested in his personal life than his professional. ” distractions were their best weapon. “ worried that he might get in trouble because of it ? ” françois asked. somehow he had never even thought about consequences. it had never crossed his mind that arnauld would let anything bad happen to them. there was this bubble around him that made françois feel nearly untouchable by harm. arnauld’s perceptive eyes spotted risks and his deft hands dealt with them swiftly. “ i’ve only talked to family. i’m not very interested in getting into arguments with people who think they understand anything about being on the field. ”

“ I THINK I PICKED AN AMAZING TIME. This way there are so many less people talking about me. Sometimes i do enjoy being the least interesting member of this family.” She joked putting down her phone after sending the last email. And finally turning to give him a kiss on the cheek. Hopefully she had a few hours before all hell broke loose again. “Likely. I’m very persuasive. And I was right it was fine.” It was likely no one had even expected her to be on the air at that time. What really mattered was she was here. She would spend a few weeks with Chico and her cousins and concise Stella to stop being an idiot and then she could go back. “Plus if I didn’t come then i don’t know how I would have fitted it into my schedule. Mama sent you a gift it’s over there.” 

“Of course,” she gestured for the hovering waiter to bring another wine glass, and took a swig from her own. “Who cares about his image, I’m more concerned with someone setting fire to his apartment.” An exaggeration she hoped, but after what had happened to Windsor…”Although I’m sure the icy atmosphere in the building would put it out. –That’s why I came here for a few weeks.” She gestured around the hotel bar. She’d stayed behind after a visit to the hotel spa with Henri, and taken up a suite. “I couldn’t take the awkward elevator rides.”

“–I’m worried for you, too,” she added, looking to Francois. “Were you in the meeting?”

" IT'S NOT THE IMAGE I'M WORRIED FOR PER SE, it's the fact that he stopped caring. " his relationship with arnauld was too formal for him to ask the man an intrusive question about his mental well-being, but it didn't stop him from worrying. " i should get a room too. i don't have the patience for repetitive conversations. what do people want me to say ? that i'm sorry the ugly side of a war got televised and documented ? " it often frustrated him how little people tended to think about soldiers. most of them had ended up in an uniform for questionable reasons, and none of them wanted to keep fighting a slow and frustrating war. " you're concerned for me ? " his brows rose. " i was. in the first one, at least. not much was decided in that one. i thought the idea got buried, but i guess i was wrong. " he wasn't sure how many people had decided to allow the bombing. had it been just one ?

henri hummed to himself. he spent a moment looking at his cousin with an appraising eye. high praise for someone that françois had only spent a day in the woods with. shared trauma, henri supposed, but… “politically,” he agreed, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. the tone of his voice said all that it needed to. “of course.” he shook his head and waved a hand as if to clear all mentions of louise from the room. the situation had been unfortunate, but it had, at least, somewhat mended his relationship with his brother. “we do have a fair number of cousins, don’t we? i hadn’t realized until we were all in one place.” they weren’t savoys, at least; henri didn’t think he’d be able to cope. “you haven’t been stressed out in months? tell me your secrets, please. i feel like it’s even worse here than it is at home.“

her head turns at the sound of a voice,  she peers over before smiling widely at the sight of françois.  she walks back toward his door,  lightly laughing.  “ please don’t feel burdened by it!  it’s a small gift,  really.  it’s just a comme des garçons tie — now that you’re in japan i thought it was fitting — japanese designer,  french name and all. ”  if he thinks this is a lot,  maybe she should cancel the overly priced humidifier she ordered for selene…  “ but..  if it’s still too much for you to accept,  you can buy me dinner some time and we’ll call it even! ”

“that’s all you really need to know.” politically, at least. socially… not knowing the others was a faux pas at best, but françois had never been the socialite of the family. that role had always fallen to henri and giselle. “that’s true,” he said, offering his own shrug. the chinese political system was far beyond him. he sighed. “the crown princess, naturally. it was… awkward and uncomfortable, to say the least. but arnauld is alright, which i suppose was the best i could hope for.” he shifted, trying to come up with a conversation topic that was less dreary. “earthquakes aside, how are you liking the program so far? tokyo is certainly a change of pace from the last two locations.”

“Single,” Mimi sighed, throwing herself across the entire length of Francois’ sofa and leaving him to take a chair. “Why? Do you want her? –I think she might be gay, but when’s that ever stopped anyone?”

“ SINGLE ? ” he repeated, brows hiking up on his forehead. a booming laugh escaped him as he fell back into the comfortable arm chair. “ i would never dare to say no to someone as beautiful as her... but that wasn’t why i asked. i just saw her at the reception the other day and couldn’t believe she was still in the picture. i thought you guys would smoke her out now that your dad is a bit... under the weather. ”

“it’s not like you could’ve known what would happen,” he offered, hoping to ease his cousin’s mind at least slightly. “the middle one…? aren’t all the chinese princesses middle ones?” a pause. “no, i’m wrong – the eldest one is well and truly eldest, isn’t she? their system is one of the outdated ones, i think. eldest son and all that.” he waved a hand, shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts away. “well, anyway, i hope she’s doing alright. the one you teamed up with, i mean.” he looked down and his hands, sighed. “i wound up in the woods looking for arnauld. and i found him with the princess of belgium, which was… wonderful, i’m sure you can imagine.”