For some reason - perhaps he’d been dropped on his head as a child too many times or all the liquor from his misspent youth was finally beginning to take its toll on what little good sense he had - Anton had made the stupid, reckless, ill-thought decision to spend time with other people. It was one thing to be in the proximity of other nobles; it made sense. They were all there to sue for peace, and he’d known he’d have to behave halfway properly for the length of their stay. That was fine; it made sense, even if he didn’t particularly enjoy it. But then he’d somehow thought to sit among a herd of elders who really, really had naught to do but criticise anything and everything under the blue skies, and Anton had been this close to opening his big mouth and successfully shoving his own foot in it.
Marching into the room, he collapsed into the first chair he found - utterly glad to notice Maria sitting next to him. She was an anomaly to the system too, wasn’t she? Another person who just didn’t quite fit in to the neat and tidy blueprint that the world demanded they follow. Bully for the lot of them, really. “Again, can you tell me why we’re here?” Anton started angrily, reaching across the table for a handful of grapes and stuffing one in his mouth with more force than necessary. It was barely midday and he was fully ready to lock himself in his chambers and crawl back under the sheets. If it meant avoiding most everyone, it’d do the job nicely. “I understand why, I do - I don’t quite get why the two of us had to be dragged alongside as well.”
