bakerstreet | That's not my waist.

It's why I try not to drink anything stronger then water at those things. I hate being impaired when trying to protect Lelouch and Nunnally.

[Oh, Suzaku, if you only knew.]

[Of course, the mention of water and being impaired makes her freeze. Did he...]

[No, he would have said something about it. Would Lelouch have told Suzaku about... last night's incident? Not what they... no, he still would have said something about it if he knew. Still, it didn't stop her hands from tightening and her chin trembling.]

Y-yeah, I'll definitely stick to plain old water next time... [Not even going to say she'll stick to tap water. He'll definitely question her then.]

[He nods, completely and totally oblivious. He's also not looking at her, so he totally misses her reaction.]

That's probably for the best. And avoid the punch bowls too, I wouldn't put it past someone to try and spike them.

[So long as he doesn't say anything about her reaction, she'll just turn to looking at the floor, trying to breathe deeply and calm herself down. She learned a long time ago how to keep her crying quiet, a lot of the times for her own safety, no matter how much it hurt to hold in her tears. She took a breath to try and keep her voice from trembling too.]

I-It's silly, spiking a punch bowl. Someone is bound to be underage at a ball... o-or what if someone is allergic to the alcohol? T-they could seriously hurt someone that way. [Or even not have drinks at all, since it seems that not even the Emperor's personal stash of water bottles was safe anymore.]

Lelouch usually plans for that - it's why I usually stick with Nunnally during these sort of things, because he doesn't want her drinking anything that has alcohol in it. Plus to keep away all the drunkards trying to gain either his or her favor.

[She wonders if she should ask if someone was to slip something either to Nunnally or Lelouch that would impair them, even in something as innocent as water.]

And to probably ward off people that offer... suspicious drinks. N-not the alcoholic ones, I mean... other kinds of suspicious drinks.

[It's probably a good thing he doesn't know what Milly did yet, otherwise he'd be pretty pissed.]

That as well. Although fortunately, we don't get much of that.

[So, he doesn't know about last night's incident, as likely Lelouch hadn't told him about it. Maybe, after the dinner, she could talk to Lelouch about it, let him know what really happened. Though, he probably will be pretty pissed only finding about it after the fact.]

Y-yeah, very fortunate about that... [If only, Suzaku. If only.]

[No, Lelouch has actually been quieter then usual today, and sneaking off to make private calls. Suzaku had tried to ask, but Lelouch had told him he'd tell him when he finally had all the facts.

Whatever that had meant.

But Ryou's responses are making him wonder, wonder and worry.]

Are you sure you're all right?

[She doesn't know what to say. If she lies to him and the truth does come out, he's going to be pissed that he wasn't informed. Not the sex with his best friend and Emperor, never that, but the fact that something that was supposed to be safe... wasn't... he'd probably be beyond pissed, probably furious. It was hard to look him in the eye, nor to stop her lower lip from quivering. He's probably going to be set off no matter what she said now.]

...I don't know. I don't even know if it's my place to even say. [Nothing could be done about last night, of course. Nothing that she could do, anyway.]

Lelouch... His Majesty... He has reason to believe that his personal water bottle stash was tampered with at the ball last night. N-not spiked like the punch, but with a drug. He left a voicemail earlier this afternoon, saying what it was and that it wasn't harmful or anything. [She doesn't remember what it was called exactly. It was a long and complicated name that apparently no one could come up with a street name for. And she was sleeping and feeling bad at the time, so she didn't catch all of it. This was probably the part where he was going to be angry, so she's really not looking at him now, turning her head away, closing her eyes tightly, biting her lip, bracing herself like she was expecting him to hit her or something.]

[Suzaku's steps cease, staring at her for a long moment, trying to figure out if she was lying - she doesn't seem to be, and she has nothing to gain by telling him this. And it would explain Lelouch's secrecy today and why he deflected all his Knight's questions when asked.

It would be like Lelouch to do something like that.]

That... bastard. The least he could have done is tell me what the hell was going on.

[Oh, yes, Suzaku's pissed. But not at you, Ryou, more like at Lelouch, for hiding stuff and lying to him again.]

[She wondered if she should say that it wasn't just her that was affected by the drug, but Lelouch was too. Maybe that's why he didn't tell Suzaku about last night's incident. Though, with that reasoning, Suzaku should have been one of the first ones to know that something had happened.]

[Still, she probably did say too much, if Lelouch hadn't said anything about it. Maybe he doesn't have enough evidence to support it yet, or he doesn't even know who did it. But, that was still something that Suzaku could have been told about. Of course, that does upset her more. Anyone without context would probably be confused at the scene of the Knight of Zero looking pissed and the girl in front of him about ready to cry.]

I-I'm sorry. I don't know what he has told you a-and maybe I've said too much already... I just... [Can't help it, she hides her face, wiping her eyes with her hands, feeling the warm droplets against her hands. And she had already promised herself that she wouldn't cry in front of Suzaku once they had left her room, too.]

[Suzaku blinks at the girl in front of him as she starts to cry. Wait a second, what--?

He takes a step closer to her, leaning down so he was face to face to her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.]

Ryou-san... it'll be all right. I'm sure whatever he's doing, he has a reason for not telling me. He's good at that.

[And usually because Lelouch knows whatever he's doing, Suzaku would not agree with.]

[If only it was just about the drugged water bottled incident. If only it was just that. Maybe that's another reason he didn't tell Suzaku, in case telling him about the incident somehow allowed that other incident to slip out. Neither of them wanted that to happen and she wasn't about to add that on top of telling what was wrong.]

He.... He still should have told you something. H-he found out what the drug was and n-now he's probably looking for the culprit. [All of this likely falling under things that Suzaku could do to help the situation. She continues to wipe her eyes and sniffle a bit, still upset.]

S-silly me... I thought I had already cried enough today...

He was probably waiting till later to debrief me. I'll question him after dinner, without mentioning you at all, I promise.

[He gently moves to wrap an arm around her shoulders.]

It's all right. Someone took advantage of you, you have every right to be upset.

[Of course, it wasn't just someone taking advantage of her with the drugs. Technically, in a way, so had Lelouch, even if it was somewhat mutual consent. The fact that something like that had happened, something that even the Spirit didn't stoop so low as to do, it still hurt. She pulls in closer to him, laying her forehead on his shoulder and holding onto him, trying not to ruin his shirt with her tears. Who even knows if what she's doing is even allowed. She had already cried on Lelouch's shoulder today, though she didn't know if this was even okay with Suzaku. She'll at least keep her sobs quiet, just like she used to do when hiding from soldiers and had to keep quiet, to at least keep herself safe.]

[Hope she doesn't mind, but Suzaku is going to awkwardly wrap his around around her in a hug.

Hey, he's not used to crying girls, okay? But he's going to try, dammit.]

[~~The number of things I called Lulu in the comment header before settling on that one. The English language is so full of words to describe people like Lelouch XD]~~]

[Hey, she's not used to crying in front of people, and she had done so much of it lately, before the ball, the morning after it, and now. She has been crying a lot lately. To the people that were familiar to her, like Lelouch and Milly, and now Suzaku who was somewhat of a stranger. Well, it certainly became a lot more awkward.]

[It only was a minute or two, but she finally did cry herself out again, sniffling and wiping her eyes. She felt she probably looked like a complete mess. Even has a hiccup or two.]

Sorry... that I cried on your shoulder. We barely even know each other and it was rude of me. I do apologize. [Also back to that formal language.]

Don't. Something is upsetting you and far be it for me to deny a young woman a shoulder to cry on. What sort of Knight would I be if I did that?

[But she wasn't going to say what really was bothering her. She couldn't. She'll likely take that secret to the grave. No one else was going to know outside of her and Lelouch. No one else.]

N-not a very good one, no. Knights are supposed to help people, n-no matter how big or small the problem is. [Knights are supposed to be the good guys, that helped people and rescued princesses and young maidens in danger and served Kings and all that. It was true for Britannian fairy tales, at least.]

[Suzaku was more then willing to allow girls to cry on his shoulder if it helped, even a little.

Ryou's words make him smile sadly.]

Yeah. That's what we're supposed to be.

[Charles kind of ruined that, in a way. And while they were still the Emperor's personal guards and army, Lelouch used them mostly for protection - and for keeping things calm and under control when he had no other choice.]

[But she was just not used to openly crying so much, okay? And she really did hope that she didn't ruin his shirt by crying on it.]

[Although, the Knights being good guys was usually a fairy tale, she at least could tell that Suzaku was a decent sort of guy.]

T-then... I should thank you instead... for letting me use your shoulder...

Don't, I hope it's what any sort of decent guy would do.

[He pauses for a moment. Awkward much?]

Would you like me to find you a bathroom or something...? So that you could, ah... what's the term girls use? Freshen up?

[Being that's he's pretty sure that the other will want to at least try to make herself presentable so that the others don't know what happened.]

[Well, Lelouch did let her cry on his shoulder, and his had been... bare.]

[No, don't think of that. She didn't want to be set off again. She only wipes her eyes again in response.]

...A place to wash my face, yes. [Since she didn't have any makeup on, just a wash should be fine. She wasn't carrying any makeup either, let alone know how to apply some of it. The best she could do was lip gloss.]

[She didn't grow up with a lot of female figures around, okay, Suzaku? Not to mention, being Japanese in a war-torn country at the time didn't exactly help matters. And, Spirit bent on revenge left even less time for her to learn how to be proper lady.]

Edited 2014-01-28 04:48 (UTC)

[Well, he wasn't thinking make=up or anything like that. He just thought that perhaps she'd wanted some place to dry her tears and gather herself that wasn't in the middle of a hallway. And well, he was a guy, so he kind of thought she wouldn't want him around while she did it.

He nods, leading her towards an unoccupied bathroom. Considering that this was a palace, there were plenty of them.]

I'll wait for you. Take as much time as you need.

slow dancing

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Two threads and there's mention of water, both with Suzaku XD

XD

Now Suzu is connected to water... somehow.

WELL. Cancer is a water sign

And Ryou is an Earth Sign while Lulu is a Fire sign

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Hopefully, once she's Empress, she'll tell things to Suzaku when Lulu is being a secretive bastard

Maybe. >.>

She'll at least try to keep him in the know. At least if and when his monarchs get drugged... again

yay. someone who will tell him things

And letting him get used to the baby prince before leaving the two alone together.

oh yeah, that too

Depend on your future Empress being the nice one, Suzu, cause your Emperor is kind of a dick.

yeah, he kinda is, isn't he

Sorta... kinda... yeah.

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