claim

“ morocco’s nice. yes. ” he couldn’t miss out on an opportunity to rub it in her face, could he ? “ how’s yasmin ? ” she inquired over the rim of her glass. was it morocco he was visiting or the crown princess ? the detail was far from inconsequential. the most annoying part about okeyo was that he would have been fairly easy to get along with had the circumstances been different. not too serious but not a complete clown either. exhibit a: his easy-going laugh. “ mh… what happens on new year’s doesn’t count. sounds pretty fair. ” the more drinks she had the more happened and when things started happening with minnie, she usually had a pretty hard time slowing the process. she had a lot to gain from a bit of good will. “ you’re not planning on doing karaoke though ? ”

“ why would you assume i have you number ? ” maybe because she did. but what was that but a piece of irrelevant information ? “ morocco… ” she didn’t like it. if the mwezis were successfully expanding their influence to north, the zulus had a lot of catching up to do. a friendship with uriah went a long way but he was no golden goose. opportunistic and, most notably, temporary. her eyes looked past him and she lifted a brow. hmm… maybe tekla would genuinely want to know. “ i think i’m fine. for some reason i don’t believe that anything worth knowing about would happen during ‘call me maybe’. ” she turned back to him. “ though if i caught you doing that, i might record it. it’d make pretty good blackmailing material. ” 

“ oh i did miss you. a lot ! ” bantering with him was a relatively entertaining way to kill time. she could admit that. “ no but in all seriousness, i’m nosy. where were you ? ” 

andrew watched as fumiko took her leave, a frown appearing on his face. “i didn’t even bring up the idea of skinny dipping so i’m not sure where the idea that i am keen on it came from.” he folded his arms against his chest, rolling his eyes at the newcomer. “boy? what, am i thirteen? this has all gotten absurdly out of hand. not the splash i wanted to make.”

@jclvni​ @okcyo​

jclvni​:

“there’s nothing brave about that. if anything it feels more about stupidity than cleverness but…” he pursed his lips. “i’m not one to turn down a dare. and if you are skinny dipping, your dress would be just fine. just saying.” he looked towards the other. “well, what do you think?”​

“ you think you don’t need to be clever to get the princess regent of italy to skinny dip with you ? ” his arms cross over his chest. stupidity, yes, but some wits and bravery were also required in the equation. “ don’t drag me into this. you were the one claiming to want to shake things up a bit, ” he lifts his hands in surrender before tucking them into his pockets. 

his fixation on skinny dipping is beginning to chafe. “ i understand why you are keen on stripping. ” only a year younger than her, but it felt like several more. “ women tend to have more at stake when they shed their clothes, if you don’t remember from last year. i’ll keep my dress on. ” sniffing delicately, fumiko turns in a swirl of pearls to find her friends. “ good luck with the princess regent – i only said into the pool, there’s no need to disrespect what she may prefer to keep private.  happy new year. ” ( @beaufort-a​ / @jclvni​ )

｡      “The guards probably did it.” He grins around the rim of his glass as a precursor to a low chuckle. “Connections can get confusing, I know, but she doesn’t have the honor. It would be convoluted considering her sister is married to a Hungarian prince and my brother has a Hungarian princess of his own.” 

｡      “No –– no,  you should’ve shown earlier. You missed out on what some might call ‘prime entertainment’ back in Canada and I don’t mean the broken window incidents.” The rumors were quite entertaining, to say the least. “Only three months too late,” he answers immediately at the gesture, “I never took the bitch-ass anjous as a very petty bunch but I’m starting to have second thoughts. Have you ever met the Bragança one? Goes byIsabela?”

he nearly chose to not hear him. maybe his suitcase was too noisy … why didn’t he put his headphones back on when he stepped on the elevator ? “ yeah. got some friends in spain. “

          “   look harder.   ”     it wasn’t entirely impossible to make someone essential yet disposable,   surely okeyo has done more with much less.   asali makes a face,   okeyo is nothing but coercive with his words   –   as unwilling as she is,   he has made his point.   as annoying as it is,   she knows he is right.   she presses a hand to her temple.     “   minenhle zulu is not who i am worried about.   uriah on the other hand   ;   poses no guarantee that he will work with us,   not kindly,    anyways,   if he thinks there’s nothing to gain.   what do you have in mind to persuade him ?   ”     apparently tanzania’s treasury had little appeal to the nation of drc.

“ unity and community ! two things i love. but i need the other person to match my energy. i’m not sure if you and kenya really have what me and botswana need. you’d need to convince me. can you convince me ? ” she didn’t have the slightest clue what a mwezi could say to make her even consider a partnership… but she quieted for a moment and with a pleasant smile on her face, expected okeyo to at least crack a joke for her entertainment. “ oh ? you think you’re in a better position to talk to him ? i don’t think so. ” she grinned at him. “ i most certainly am not, he has an eye for icy russians. can’t turn into one, can i ? ” no, no, she was sunny and positive ! 

     she rolls her neck,   feeling the tension pull the muscles there tight.     “  i’ve been playing nice,   practically kissing his ass at this point.   ”     her gaze deters from her cousin’s persuasive prose.     “   there must be someone else,   i’d feel more convinced with a guaranteed means.   ”     who knew when uriah would fuck them over again.