bakerstreet | That's not my waist.

[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.

[She nodded in return, heading inside of the quite ornate room. Everything in the palace was ornate with so much attention to detail, it was a little overwhelming at times. It took another wipe of her eyes to see some of the smaller details more clearly.]

[After a few moments of looking around, and having one look at her face in the mirror told her that she probably wasn't going to be presentable anywhere in polite society. Not with the way she looked.]

[Still, she had promised Lelouch that she would be there. And, if it really was just her, Lelouch, Nunnally, Suzaku, and a few of the other Knights, it shouldn't be too bad. She hoped so, anyway.]

[Getting to work, she turned on the cold water faucet, splashing it on her heated face, letting it calm the redness there. She patted her face dry and hoped that whoever owned the bathroom didn't mind her using the hair brush and small pins there. She didn't really mess up her hair from using Suzaku's shoulder to cry, but it help her feel a little better in facing the people at dinner. Still bare-faced, still looking like death warmed over and miserable, but she wouldn't go back on her promise, nope.]

[Figuring she looked at least reasonably presentable, she exited and bowed just the same as before, this time apologetic. She was delaying him in getting food, after all.]

...Sorry for the wait... again, Kururugi-san.

[Suzaku had taken up position outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall and waiting. He really wasn't in any rush - dinner for them was a rather informal affair, since it was one of the few times the group of them had time to relax.

Although, to be honest, tonight was already slightly different, with the inclusion of Ryou. Suzaku didn't really know her, other then knowing that Lelouch and the Black Knights had picked her up somewhere and that he had taken her along when they had finally abandoned the plan of the Zero Requiem, had come clean as to what was going on to their close friends, and Lelouch was ruling Britannia as the Emperor he should have been and not the Demon King he had wanted to be remembered by.

Atonement wouldn't be found in death, Suzaku had known that he would never find it that way, so it didn't seem fair to allow Lelouch that escape either. Both of them would have to face everything that they had done, to themselves, to each other, to their families, to their countries and find atonement through actions then surrendering their lives.

If Lelouch had taken in Ryou, then there was a reason and since she was Japanese, it probably had something to do with either her family being gone, or, like in his case, they had disowned her for whatever reason. Although, considering that she hadn't gone the Honorary route that he knew of, it was more likely that they were gone.

Which reminded him, he should probably ask Nunnally how Kaguya was doing. He wasn't close to cousin and she didn't particularly like him very much, but she was family - the only part of his that would even acknowledge that he still existed.

The moment Ryou stepped out of the bathroom, Suzaku straightened up from his position leaning against the wall. He made sure not to comment on her appearance. Girls usually slapped boys when it came to that, didn't they?

Or maybe that was just Kallen.]

Don't apologize. [He gave her a small smile.] And you can call me Suzaku, you know. If you're going to be around here and hanging around Lelouch, then we'll probably end up seeing a lot of each other, after all.

[It might have just been Kallen. And a lot of the girls that she knew were quite finicky about their appearance. Then again, most of those girls had been raised in a society where your appearance and how you presented yourself mattered greatly. She'll probably want an honest opinion and she won't slap you for it.]

[It was sort of true, most of her close family had been killed in the Invasion, her father went the Honorary route, but she hasn't seen him since she was ten. And then there was the other reason for being disowned, one where strange things started happened around her, people turning up missing or in comas, long lapses in memory for those events.]

[She had a mix of reasons why she was with Lelouch. Probably the majority of which she couldn't divulge so openly, even this far into the Royals wing.]

O-oh. I...I didn't know that it okay... or even proper, to call you by your first name, Kuru- I mean, Suzaku-san.

[Suzaku waved a hand dismissively.]

Why wouldn't it be? Most people around here do. Unless you're one of the guards or something and then it's either 'My Lord' or 'Sir Kururugi.'

[And really, even after all this time, he wasn't used to that.]

Besides, I've been calling you 'Ryou-san', haven't I? It's only fair.

[Well, he was one of the Knights of the Round, the Knight of Zero in fact. He has a lot more weight to his name that she does, not to mention his other titles.]

[Then again, so did Lelouch and she called him by his first name. Even though she knows Lelouch a little better than she does Suzaku.]

[Palace politics were really confusing sometimes.]

I-I guess so...

It's a little difficult to remember who to call by what name and where that name is appropriate to use. I guess... when we're in the royal members' wing, it's okay to use first names?

[Suzaku found you were usually safe it everyone was addressed with a neutral 'My Lord' or 'My Lady', to be honest. It was usually his default response if he was faced with someone he didn't know.

But yes, they were. That was something he could agree with her on wholeheartedly.]

Among Lelouch and the others, yes. If we come across Schneizel or Cornelia, however, it's usually safer with a "prince" or "princess" added on. Although Schneizel usually isn't around much and you can usually drop it around Cornelia once she's been around you a few times.

[Maybe it might be easier for her to observe what the people she did know were doing and followed suit. Lelouch or Suzaku, or even Nunnally and Milly would know what to call someone, so it was probably better to follow their lead.]

[Or just follow Suzaku's approach with the 'My Lord' and 'My Lady' thing.]

O-okay. I'll try to remember that.

...Would be okay to call the other Knights by first name? [It might be uncomfortable for her, at first, but she will try hard to get the right name and title if she can.]

[Either/or would probably be best, given their circumstances.]

In a setting like this? It would, yes. Personally, I don't care if you want to call Suzaku all the time. I would consider you a friend and among friends, titles are rather stupid, if you ask me. The only place I would advise against it would be if Lelouch is holding court, but the chances you would be at something like that are probably rather low. Then, a simple 'Sir' would suffice, I think.

[Okay, amongst friends, it's okay to go with a first name basis. Use titles only if finding yourself with a high ranking official you don't know, or if you somehow find yourself in a court session and have to be formal.]

Sir Kururugi if I ever find myself in some sort of court session or in the presence of an official I don't know, Suzaku any other time. I think I can remember that.

slow dancing

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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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