The Salle, Monday Morning

[bitchprince]

On Friday, Arthur had reached a decision. After the weekend, he wasn't in the best mood to follow through on it, but there were few reasons to let his mood interfere with what was, essentially, a duty of some kind.

The duty of survival. As Crown Prince, it was a real one.

Still, he thought, as he arrived in the salle, Dinah had best be grateful. And it was all tactics. His gut still twinged with the sting of clear betrayal, but his sense of morality was as confused on this subject as anything else ever was, and so he ignored it.

[[ open! ]]

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[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Nothing," she said, and it was less of a lie this time. "Nothing that should matter to anyone here. Perfectly ordinary. Only ... that I behaved in ways that are perhaps unbefitting a queen. Quite certain, they don't allow for one to be a lady."

Alice had little regard for the finer notes of etiquette, but this seemed a larger matter.

[raspberryturk]

Reno raised an eyebrow and tilted his head a little.

"You figure bein' a lady has anything to do with bein' a queen?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

The question surprised her, and she met his eyes. "I don't, usually," she admitted. "Queens must be ruthless and calculating, and propriety doesn't account for holding one's throne against all challengers. I know that I've long since past what is proper for a lady, but I shouldn't like to be an indecent queen."

[raspberryturk]

"And what you did somehow makes you less ruthless and calculating?"

What did propriety have to do with it? Reno's head was working overtime, trying to figure this out. "What's your idea of improper, Alice?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"No less ruthless or calculating," she said, setting her chin. At least she knew that for certain. "There was a soft place to land, and a quiet contentment, and those things aren't ruthless, but one hardly needs to be ruthless at all times."

[raspberryturk]

Oh, wow, Reno knew that tune.

"You worried about the fall, or the landing, or what people will think about you if they find out about either?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Closer to that one," she admitted. "Less what they might think, exactly. I suppose I'm wondering if perhaps their suppositions were correct, that such things are wrong or unspeakable or whatever else they would have said."

[raspberryturk]

Okay. He was sick of speculating, here.

"Alice? What happened?"

Because it was hard to be rational and helpful while grasping for straws, really.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

Alice struggled, within herself, for an appropriate euphemism. Except euphemisms were quite tiring, and she was going to make herself say this as plainly as she could manage.

"I took a gentleman friend to bed," she said, her voice determined. It had been her choice; wrong or right, she would not apologize for it. "Although it was his bed, so perhaps it would be more proper to say that he took me. I don't mean that I slept in his bed, either, although I did do that, as well."

[raspberryturk]

Oh, hey.

Reno was actually kind of proud of Alice, right then. She was so worried about propriety and so on, but she managed to just up and say it without a bunch of fiddling and blushing and trying to hide from it.

He thought on that for a moment.

"There ain't no shame in it," he noted.

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"It didn't feel shameful," she admitted. "But there are those who would disagree. He isn't my spouse. For that matter, I'm not sure what we are, if anything."

[raspberryturk]

"You feel close to him?" Reno gave his baton a little tap against his shoulder, mostly trying to figure out if the 'him' was someone he was going to have to keep an eye out for or not. "I mean, you got to know him, he got to know you, you didn't get pressured into somethin' you weren't wanting or nothin'?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"I do," she said. "More so now. I don't know what our interactions would be classified as, but I care for him, and I'm certain he cares for me. He's been quite honest about his other engagements, as well. No pressure; I made my choice, although it was perhaps impulsive of me. Which is how I always choose such things."

[raspberryturk]

"Hey, I got no right to go around tellin' people not to be impulsive, yo," came Reno's easy reply. "And anyhow, there ain't no crime in bein' close to the guy you care for."

He gave his baton another tap against his shoulder, and then shook his head. "You feel any less Alice for havin' done it?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"No," she said. "Alice-Who-Jumped, Alice-in-the-Music-Store, Alice the Orphan, Alice the Queen. I'm any Alice and every Alice. I think perhaps I'm ... different, though. Older. Not because my body touched someone else's, but ... because I decided that, and don't regret it."

[raspberryturk]

"Alice-who-lives," Reno said, not so much as missing a beat. "Alice, who is Alice, has been Alice, and will keep growin' into whatever Alice it is she ultimately decides to be. An' if that Alice is Queen Alice, who got close to someone she cared for and ain't got no regrets? All power to you, yoto."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"Alice-who-lives," she repeated softly, as though she was tasting the words. They had a light, fresh taste; clean and crisp on her tongue.

"I don't think I know yet how I feel about it, beyond that I don't regret it," she allowed. "Well, beyond the more obvious matters."

That it had been very enjoyable, to be blunt.

[raspberryturk]

"The fun parts?" Hey, Reno knew what he was talking about, dammit. "You be whoever you wanna be, Alice. What you do in the bedroom ain't anybody's business anyhow, so to hell with anyone who thinks it's got anything to do with how worthy you are somewhere else, zoto."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

She laughed, there, a blush covering her cheeks. "So you think I'm no less a Queen? Elizabeth I championed her virginity as a sign of her piety and virtue, but some say she indulged in private. Which I suppose is no one's business but Elizabeth's."

[raspberryturk]

"It's been my experience," Reno mused, "that the people who gotta brag about their virtuousness?"

... Are even more wild between the sheets.

"Ain't."

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

"I find that strangely reassuring," she laughed. "Elizabeth's reign was legendary. If she had companionship now and again, it certainly didn't harm her ability to rule."

[raspberryturk]

"Well, there you go! And you don't go around braggin' about how much better'n everyone you are, so you're already on a roll, zoto."

Well. It was good enough for Reno, anyhow.

"Trust me, Alice, so long as you keep bein' Alice-Who-Lives, and you ignore Alice-who-worries-about-what-other-people-think-about-propriety, you'll keep bein' a damn fine queen, yo." A little grin twitched at his lips, there. "I mean, would your Card Guard lie to you about somethin' that important?"

[notyourpawn.livejournal.com]

That required another curtsy, though a more enthusiastic and less distracted one than he had received earlier in their conversation.

"Never," she said. "If one can't trust one's Card Guards, one is in quite serious trouble indeed."