RP:How To Perfect Our Union

Part of the Larketian Fault Lines Arc

Summary: Macon is angry that Josleen contradicted him in public.They argue briefly in the carriage ride back to the fort, and along the way figure out the finer details of their relationship’s rules, both as monarchs and a couple. The next day, the Herald favors them in their coverage of the bombing and they feel the thrill of another win.

In the Royal Carriage

The carriage ride back to Fort Freedom is quiet for a time if Macon is the one to speak first, which he is. Before he breaks the silence, The King is stewing and contemplating exactly what just went down. He imagines his quick thinking has provided some damage control as the crowd was only able to hear Josleen shout ‘wait’, contradicting The Fury Knight’s command, which perhaps the majority of the crowd hadn't heard the command itself either. Still The Crown not being on the same page is a poor optic. To an outside viewer it would appear that The Queen provided the king with the advice to take the vandal in for interrogation, that is much a much more favorable telling of events for the public to believe, and one that will be reinforced in the press, thankfully. This all softens the blow of Josleen’s outburst. When Macon finally speaks it is an unclear, simple statement, growled out into the coach. “Tha’ was dangerous,” for who exactly, he does not say.

Josleen broods alongside the King, her body language distant and tense. She stares out the window at nothing. Each subsequent second of silence amps up the tension until it uproots her nerve and leaves her on shaky ground. He's doing this on purpose, she realizes, and this realization angers her. She knew he would be displeased, but this seems excessive to her. In her mind she argues her position, defensive and righteous, arming herself with counterargument for whatever he will say. She can feel his anger coming, like animals know the quake will happen before the earth shakes loose. Finally he speaks, a tremor, possibly a threat, she doesn't know. She looks at him in silent expectation, awaiting his explanation. None is forthcoming. A tactic the King continues, she suspects, likely with the aim to unnerve her. She resents that, but hides her resentment as best she can. "What do you mean?"

Macon makes no effort during either time he is silent to counteract Josleen’s building resentment of the tactic he employs. When she finally speaks, he shakes his head and glances out the window of the moving carriage while he chooses his words. He delivers them after he has turned back to face his wife, leaning in towards her slightly, his voice low. “I will not ‘ave you actin’ agains’ me like tha’.” He points back in the opposite direction from where the carriage is heading. “T’them,” he means the civilians and also the guard and military members like Reinhardt here, “We mus’ be unified.” He makes it clear that, and perhaps she already knows this, his anger is directed towards her methods rather than the fact that she disagreed with his decision. In fact she was probably right to stop him and the mob, but that does not repair -how- she did it. An unpopular decision made by him, he explains, is only that. One made by her will be viewed by some as Frostmawian sabotage. She knows this unsavory fact already as well, probably, but he makes use of it to illustrate that it is dangerous for them, the King and Queen together, for her to do something like she just did.

Josleen stays put as he leans in and meets his gaze. She doesn't disagree with him, at all, but dislikes the tone nonetheless. They haven't fought, not like this, since Macon threatened to harm (or kill) Hildegarde if it came to it. Even that fight felt different. As a couple, they've been surprisingly similar in many respects: from enjoying gaudy interior decor and lavish spending, to being selfish with their time together and hoping for a child soon, to sharing a propensity to rule with an authoritarian air, though Macon prefers an iron fist and Josleen the witty pen. Therein lies the crux of this argument, and likely many arguments to come. "I agree we must be unified. I don't wish to undermine you, ever, in public or private. I am your wife and queen, and in that order." Although her tone reflects his in sternness, her gaze softens as she inadvertently reminds herself of her feelings towards him. "How would you have had me stop you? I felt I had to stop you, because killing that boy would not have just been an unpopular decision. It's..." She wisely swallows the word 'barbaric' and reconsiders her words. "I don't believe you wanted that boy dead. Forget the optics and popular opinion. I'm not discussing the politics right now. I'm talking about you, as a man. Did you want his death? Does that seem just?" She searches his face and recalls Macon's cool wrath after the brawl, after she was 'poisoned', and shivers. Josleen sees Macon as a good man with a dark character, and rejects the idea that it is his soul which is dark. Anything which threatens to prove the inverse true rattles her. "Would that death have weighed lightly on your conscience?"

Macon narrows his slate stare on Josleen and tilts his head slightly at the unspoken word and her final question. “I take no Larketian life lightly.” The king treats her question of how she was meant to stop him as rhetorical and offers no answer, moving forward to where he is forced to believe that she is right; the vandal’s death would not have been justice. They are in agreement that it would have been the wrong thing to do to kill the boy, or rather have the mob do it. As King, Macon has shown mercy multiple times in the past. Artia and Sabrina both have spoken out against him and escaped without injury. The difference between then and now, which The Fury Knight has been reluctant to admit, is Josleen. He does not openly blame her for his rush to harsh judgement both tonight and after the brawl, but it is definitely her that his blind fury is being employed to protect. He growls out his explanation with slight hesitation, uncharacteristic of The Furious King, “The boy ‘armed -you-. He attacked -us-,” and offers no clarification to follow. His emphasis places more weight on the first of those two accusations towards the vandal. This -is- different from the clash they had over threatening to harm The Silver Dragon. Then his goal was defending Larket and the kingdom’s pride, now it is defending his queen, which clearly clouds his judgement.

Josleen sighs with relief when Macon postures defensively, listing his credentials as a merciful man who takes no death lightly and is as good as she wants to believe he is. She needs that reaffirmed from time to time in order to believe it, not only because of his practice as a death knight, but also because the last time she believed a man to be good, he turned out to be false. Macon's explanation, that she is the motivating factor in his aggression, sends a hot pulse through her loins and sets her heart alight. She slides on the seat close to him, one leg bent under her so she can face him. She caresses his face, and if he yields, kisses him deeply, whispering against him: "I like that." Plot twist: Barbarism is sexy when it's in service to her, and to them. Indeed, her opposition to violence is physical; she can't do it herself (at least not yet), but intellectually, she's no pacifist. After they've lost their breaths kissing each other, she apologizes. "I know you're merciful and just. I shouldn't have questioned that. It's just... the way I was fooled by... you know who..." she strokes him again to soothe, "It's hard to trust like I used to. But I don't doubt you. I don't. You saved me from him." [Pause for irony again.] "I don't know if you realized back there," she nods towards the smoldering estate, "but... the rage aura helped sway the crowd, the way Kelovath used the rage aura to control the fermin. Is that something you can control?" Based on her tone, it isn't clear if she is against this use or simply curious. At the very least, she doesn't seem to outright condemn it. The carriage stops at the fort and the guard knocks before opening the door. They didn't used to knock before Macon met Josleen, but have learned the hard way to always knock when the couple is in the carriage, even for just a short ride.

Macon is being sent mixed messages here, for sure. ‘Don't kill that kid, but I like that you wanted to.’ His growl at a reference to Kelovath is preemptively squelched by the contact she makes with him. Way to know The Rage Knight, Josleen. He nods while she points out the presence and effect of the Rage Aura on the crowd tonight, and begins to answer while idly harassing his queen via touch. “With the stone I was able t’...” The knock at the carriage door cuts him off for now. Good thing these two can't keep their hands off each other during short coach rides, or else the secret of the Rage infection might have been revealed to the guard that opens the door when Macon gives a grunt signaling it is safe to. Dawn is fast approaching, but, given that the king and queen were awakened in the middle of the night, their destination is most likely their bed. Once they are in private again The Rage Knight continues his answer to her question. He had noticed it happening while he spoke to the crowd, but without the stone he is unable to control the effect as he once was. He has told her in the past that he used the stone to unite Larket in fury, and she has seen a demonstration of that here tonight. He recalls being able to sway individual Frostmawian soldiers during the bridge battle (only after he had reached peak fury) to her. Other than that, he says, he has been unable to consciously control the residual effect the Rage Stone left him with.

Josleen readies for bed again, or really a nap, as Macon continues explaining what he knows about the rage aura, and what he's wielded wittingly, or not. She beckons him to bed once he is ready and siddles up next to him, idling stroking his chest and abdomen as they discuss the rage. "I don't like using -his- tactics... but... it's been useful at times." She briefly wonders if Queen Hildegarde knows how the stone can be used, and if she'll be tempted to use it. She doesn't share these thoughts. "Still, if you can't control the rage, we should be rid of it. It's dangerous, and we don't need it. You've gotten this far without it, mostly, and -He- had it, and look what happened to him." She smiles, oblivious to the fact Kelovath never had the stone, and Macon does owe a large portion of his success, indeed the crown itself, to the stone. "What will you do with the boy?"

Macon growls subtly when Kelovath comes up again. The King uses his hatred for the ‘Fallen Paladin’ to overpower any guilt he might feel when Josleen retells the lies he has told her. When he told them, his goal was to rid Larket of war and solidify his -rightful- place as King. Now, with those goals accomplished, they are almost only lies to his wife. Less justifiable and more weighty. While she speaks, he stares at her silently, nodding along with the sentiment that -if- he cannot control the Furious aura he puts out, then it would be better to be rid of it altogether. The Rage Knight smirks back at the bard when she smiles and before she asks what he will do with the vandal. The idea he came up with after she had shot down his initial order isn't such a bad one, he thinks. “We will hold him and question him to find the others that did this.” He won't go into detail about the methods of interrogation with her. Why would he? He's the king, he won't even be present. He is very busy. Worst case scenario, there is a mage at the Academy that can view memories that they can use. If she does have any further questions about the boy’s fate, Macon would like for them to wait, as he is pressing forward and kissing the Queen’s neck now.

Macon's answer satisfies her, for now. Interrogation isn't a sentence, but it is the logical next step. Besides, he gets her off the subject through kisses, a tactic she knows well and has employed with him before. No complaints from the Queen. She is seduced by his hunger for her. It worked the first time, still works now. And after what he said in the carriage, about overreacting because the vandal had harmed -her-, she's especially hot for him, and extra enthusiatic to pleasure him. Later that morning, Macon starts the day before Josleen. "Go ahead. I'll join you for breakfast soon, my love." She takes her time bathing, and, in a robe, orders tea in bed. When no one is looking, she walks into her massive closet with tea in one hand, and a watch in the other. She crouches in front of a row of knee-high boots and goes through them one by one to find what she's squirreled away: droppers, small jars, a rubber cup, beads, crystals, pouches of special salts, dried leaves, weeds, a syringe, a box of matches, and many pamplets rolled into a round wad and tied with a hairtie. She opens a dropper and adds 10 oily drops to her tea. As she sips the concoction, she begins a peculiar ritual. She heats a small, metallic black ball lightly with matches, then, 12 seconds at a time, presses the ball to her temples, nape of neck, breasts, inside elbows, wrists, navel, pelvic bone, back of knees, and ankles. Having finished the ritual, she opens another small jar of thick, waxy lotion and rubs it over her belly until its slick. Once it's mostly absorbed, she dresses for the day and leaves. In the hallway, she grows dizzy and takes a moment to gather herself, hand braced against the wall as her vision tunnels then expands again. Feeling better, she joins Macon for breakfast, smiling as if nothing strange just transpired. She reads their copy of The Herald just as a courier runs in with an addendum from the Herald's offices. It's about the bombing last night. The King is described as just, the Queen as merciful, and the vandals as hoodlums with fringe, radical, and dangerous ideas. She grins excitedly at him, then leans over to peck his lips in celebration. Another win.