ˑ⋅ . inquiring minds

    wendy’s gaze narrowed as she tried to read the shaking screen, but to no avail much like aurel’s wishful thinking. “ that sounds cold, ” wendy deadpanned but then gestured over to xiuying. “ this also sounds like it’s going where she thought it was. wet cold and naked, terrible combination. actually . . . ” wendy shifted in her seat, “ poor xiuying does look cold right now. you’re cold, right? and aurel should be a gentleman and give his jacket so you’re not cold. ” ( @jinxiuying​​​​ )

    she should have worn a pant suit. it was the thought that replayed in wendy’s mind the minute she had heard ariel mention the dress fiasco. “ maybe a half dress situation? ” she chimed in, “ two losses instead of one for a dress. ” wendy followed suit and somewhat hesitantly placed her own two cards face down. “ depends on who shuffled these. ”

    “ very unethical and as a journalist, ” she didn’t take the noted stance on it being boring to heart too much, “ i can’t condone it. but hypothetically speaking if you were to lose it let’s say. ” wendy reached into her purse for the device she then held out to the swedish princess. “ you wouldn’t want to press this red button, ” she directed an index finger to the side button on the rrecorder, “ and you wouldn’t want to place it near the toilets. you know that lobby just before where people usually talk? ” now wendy wouldn’t outright declare she’d done this before but there had been some questionable things done for purely journalistic purposes in the past. “ and make sure nothing blocks the audio. ”

    wendy bit the inside of her cheek as she looked over to her former friend as if she wanted to say something but no words came out. she had folded not long into the game and resorted to being an onlooker with the rest gathered around. “ it’s a better view from over here, ” wendy noted after the second glance over to fanni, but the phrase “ if you want to switch, ” was drowned out as one of the players boastfully declared all in and pushed what stacks remained in front of him in the pile. 

    “ not drunk enough. ” wendy proceeded to down whatever was left of her drink for good measure. “ this only works if i get to dare you after. ”

    wendy nodded in agreement as she entertained astrid’s take on the evening. “ i wouldn’t call journalism gossip, but i get it. — what gossip are you looking for? just fights? who is secretly seeing who, that type of thing? you’d be surprised what a tape recorder can pick up. ” wendy turned to the princess, “ not that we should use it for that sort of thing, at all. ”

arriving at the casino de monte carlo, monaco for new year's eve in an alexander mcqueen form-fitting, long sleeve, white gown with a plunging keyhole neckline, because she didn’t learn the first time. 

    “ you don’t think the zipper would look weird in the — ” wendy reached to feel the back of her dress but one look at femke’s expression and she didn’t even have to finish that thought. “ not as bad as this right now, right.” she gave her dress fiasco another glance, being mindful not to move. “ okay, sewing. let’s yeah, let’s try that and if not, femke either way you’re about to be the designer of a new style all together. ” she glanced off to the left, “ toilets then? better work station with the mirror and i’m not taking you away from anything, am i? ” 

    wendy did as told, moving her arms but her focus wasn’t on the tape or her own dress but lisette. “ i guess it wasn’t the first thing on my mind tonight. ” wendy trailed off as her eyes narrowed slightly. “ that’s, that’s your collection, right? your new one? ” and since lis was here . . . “ i’ve been looking to do a piece on fashion, namely your brand actually. it’s just, it’s amazing that you did well i mean this, ” she attempted to gesture to lisette’s attire without moving too much. “ i read about how you got started, just self made. it’d be inspirational to write about it and maybe throw in some promotion for your men’s line via print. ”

    wendy’s mouth fell agape at all the pointless items held in the boy’s pockets, the most questionable being the latter of the objects and the most disturbing the one he put in his mouth. “ prince george, ” his reputation unfortunately did precede him. “ i — no, none of those. ” wendy turned only slightly to make a small gesture with her index finger. “ there is food that way if you’re hungry. ” and while wendy should have stopped while she was ahead. honestly, there was no need to question him about the objects but she was a curious one and with a slight raise of her brows the journalist found herself asking, “ actually, the bag you had, nothing in there to help? ”

    “ does anyone have fashion tape? ” wendy clutched her purse against her chest. the one thing she hadn’t accounted for and she could blame her lack of event attending over the years for it — a fashion emergency covered in sparkles and over-prepared in all the ways but the ones that mattered. “ or any tape really? ”

    “ no — i, i get that, ” wendy admitted despite her own glittery attire that did in fact contribute to the disco ball overkill in the room. “ it also makes it very difficult to find anyone, ” her eyes surveyed the people nearest, “ at all. actually, have you seen a man who looks worried? just perpetually worried. oh, tall with dark hair and a very distinguished nose. ” no one could ever say wendy didn’t know how to describe her brother, luca. 

winter wonderland christmas ball 25.12.21. 

    the book was lowered, slowly but lowered, closed shut and slid onto the closest shelf to her as wendy observed the features of a woman scorned. many a political figure would hold such an expression around the journalist she’d come to find but none as painfully so as natasja. though maybe that was just because wendy already knew what feelings the icelandic woman harbored for her, disdain.  “ i mean, nothing is off the —yeah, uh good. ” she quipped. “ fine and you’ve been out the public eye for a few weeks, politically i mean, i saw that advertisement for it was a designer brand, wasn’t it? but was that recent? you looked less . . . stressed. ” she paused for a long while and looked to her left then her right, the library remained empty. “ so, you’re researching for something? ”

    with little effort, wendy shifted the frame a centimeter at most to the left before she too had stepped back to admire or critique the image that was now placed in the apartment. “ it always matters what the expert thinks, ” wendy noted with light eyes squinted at the painting once she had turrned her attention away from louise. “ it looked very different online. ” the brunette took a few strides to the left nearest the window and gestured to the empty space by the wall. “ here is where i was going to put my little garden away from home. i think can get the girls to help plant. ” since wendy did owe luca and by the dark circles under his eyes it was clear he needed a break, even if was just an afternoon off. “ did you want to go art hunting with me? ” louise was a better option than wren anyway — even if he was doing his room as well there was a less likely chance wendy would end up with a glowing rainbow mirror or glittery frog painting. “ and if it’s not name brand enough, like a uh household name in the art world, we can say it’s some up and coming artist from japan. ” her brothers would believe it at the very least. 

    “ this is going in your apartment? here? ” wendy titled her head slightly to the left as she peered at wren’s screen but his entrance piece had only come as a flash of colors muddled together that had the elder of the two question the item as, “ was that a horse statue? ” she’d reserve her objective judgements for the grand reveal later on, though her involuntary facial expression betrayed her. “ this is a room renovation for your followers? ”