This is going Places

[yuemiru]

[So. Perhaps concurrent, or a little bit before the adventures of a certain beepsneeple prince, a young countess was called to a garden in the embassy. She came under protest but, end of the day, Haruhi made it clear that while his niece is afforded her free will and choice in most matters, he is still king and she still has to go to the goddamn garden.

It is a nice one, of course--landscaping is one of the few simple joys the royal family tends to themselves, and they have quite the skill for it--and out of the way. Private. The sort of garden marriages are arranged in. Yue, being so out of touch with things, doesn't know that, but about the time she gets there and starts casually exploring the little ins and outs of it, a certain visiting lord gets a note and directions.

If, by the time he gets there, the Countess of Izumi, Yue Long, is up a tree, well. We don't know what anyone expected. ]

Comments

[yuemiru]

...I'm honestly not sure whether His Majesty is paying you a compliment or insulting you with this, then.

[Sighing, faintly.] There are advantages to how he's chosen this, I'm sure. He never sets up anything for just one reason...Hotaru and Haruka are the same way. But I don't think I appreciate that any better than I appreciate he and Papa meddling in my lack of a love-life. No offense, but I wasn't precisely looking, either.

[owondarea]

None taken. Complacency among the ruling class has already cost this world so much, and though I honestly can tell you gravely undersell yourself from just this short meeting, I hadn't really considered letting my love life come to the fore, here.

[He sighs.]

I suppose we've nothing to do but grin and bare it for the moment.

[yuemiru]

Undersell nothing. I'm not unaware of what's said about me, Lord Calderon.

[She shrugs a little bit.]

Well, I was basically leaned on to provide you a tour, so. Have you had much opportunity to explore this city?

[owondarea]

No, I've only been here twice - once with my father, as a child, who took my older sister and I to with him on a business trip, and once last winter, where I had to negotiate trade routes with the Crown Princess -- it seems both our fathers want us taking the business over sooner rather than later.

[yuemiru]

I remember last winter. You, ah. Left an impression on her.

[And some perforation in Yue's eardrums. But she seems like she's considering something.]

We're unlikely to be called on until the evening, unless I miss my guess...do you have any hobbies besides political intrigue, or shall I improvise?

[owondarea]

I have a few, but I am curious to see what you come up with. And as you are well-acquainted with my last trip here: in my defense, she attempted a much more severe renegotiation than I was at liberty to accept, and well, I felt it prudent to prove I wasn't going to be a soft sell for anyone, even a beautiful princess.

[yuemiru]

Careful, Seijirou will hear you.

[Snickering a little bit.] You don't have to defend yourself to me! I know her temper better than anybody save that fox, after all. But if you're leaving it up to me...well, come on. It'll be a bit of a walk unless we take one of the trolleys, and they crowd fast this time of day.

[COME FOLLOW THE PRINCESS COUNTESS.]

[owondarea]

Very well, then!

[He will be glad to follow her, then, wherever she is leading them. One assumes the trolleys, but given how she's been he's not entirely unsure they're not about to be fired out of a cannon.]

[yuemiru]

[Cannons are for the second date, Alex.

Trolleys it is...she's taking him to one of the larger commerce centers. Or, rather, the kind of place where musicians and artists and entertainers hang out. There's live music, people dancing in the streets, and if he holds still too long someone's gonna try and draw him.]

Watch your hat and your wallet.

[owondarea]

I'm familiar with this sort of place, actually.

[And true, he's never really been to the city in any meaningful way, but put him anong musicians and he suddenly is a natural, it turns out. Hell if he weren't a foreigner and dressed so nicely he could easily blend in here.]