Relative Aid

Posted on Tue Apr 30th, 2024 @ 8:22am by Princess Royal Giana Orsini & Major Sacha Lavigne

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: The Pyramid
Timeline: Date 2371-09-16 at 1730
2189 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Giana was sitting quietly in her Pyramid apartment reading documents out of her government box. She was rather sure that was actually all she read anymore and would ever read again; reading for pleasure would never be a part of her life. Though the fact she had read the same three lines about eight times and hadn’t retained any of the information was likely the root reason for that feeling. She took a deep breath and focused on the paragraph, finally getting through it and lowering it down onto her desk. She would finish it later. Getting up, she moved over to the couch and stretched out while activating the large monitor situated over the fireplace from the controller. When it was inactive, it projected a hologram that blended it into the stone surround of the fireplace seamlessly. She began flipping through the offerings, but wasn’t looking for anything in particular.

She was waiting on Sacha to return from the meeting with his mother; he had been gone longer than he said he would be. She didn’t like that only for the fact she was concerned the woman was being… herself… though Sacha tended to not help himself in the matter by being… well, himself. She lingered for a moment on one of the news organizations that was again praising her interview with Sauerbraun. It had been quite popular with the vast majority of the population it had seemed, and everyone involved was quite pleased with the result including Giana herself.

The door to the apartment opened and Sacha entered. He had almost gone home after leaving Paris, but remembered he had told Giana he would pay her a visit when he was done. He walked in, immediately pulling off his leather jacket and throwing it onto the coat rack. He said nothing really, and walked into the living area with her and plopped down on the couch. He did lean over and kiss her on the cheek though, but then turned his eyes to the screen she had been watching like he simply intended to join her.

“Hey.” She greeted simply while she turned to him with a smile that immediately faltered. He wasn’t himself, obviously, so things must have not gone very well. “So… how’d it go?”

“I didn’t even see my mother. She was too busy, or some bullshit like that.” Sacha answered immediately. His silent irritation bubbling over into something of an emotional outburst. “She sent Genevieve down to talk to me in her stead. Gods, she’s such a stuck-up bitch. Can you believe that?”

“I mean I can; it's your mother.” She turned her attention fully to him and reached out for his hand. “What happened?”

“She’s mad I killed your brother and sent my big sister to remind me that their lives are on the line with mine. I guess my mother cares more about her power than she does about me.” he rolled his eyes and put his arm around her. “Big surprise there.”

“Are they stupid? You’re a hero.” Giana snorted at the notion, sitting up and immediately becoming angry herself in defense of her fiance. “She should be kissing your boots with the boost in popularity Paris is seeing just from what you did.”

“They just hate it when I shine.” Sacha said with a shake of his head. “Genevieve was happy I was condemned to distant military life. It made her the heir and she just fucking hates seeing or hearing about me.”

“Well they can go fuck themselves.” Giana pouted in a decidedly plebian way. “She’s apparently being a bitch in lords council too. Did you sister gloat about that at all?”

“What?” He asked, looking confused. “No. She just wanted me to talk to you about something stupid. What is my mother doing in the Lords?”

“What did she want you to talk to me about?” Giana scrunched her face slightly.

“Hey, I asked first.” Sacha said, smiling, despite the tension of the situation. “Yours is probably more important than mine anyway.”

“More likely yours is some sort of message for me.” She all but snorted, but reached over and placed her hand on Sacha’s knee. “Sacha, please… what did she say?”

He found it annoying that she was so insistent on hearing his news first. Perhaps it was because she was growing accustomed to being in charge more than ever before, but he noticed the tendency to do things like this with her. She wanted it her way; in her order.

“Ugh, fine.” He said, some of the wind going from his sails and the annoyance he was feeling about the situation flowing back into him. “Genevieve has been doing designs at some magazine company and basically wants to trade up. I told her to fuck off, but she seemed to think you’d want to hear about the ‘opportunity’.”

This wasn’t the way he preferred women to fight over him, and he wanted to be out of the situation as soon as possible.

Giana scowled outright then and just sat there for a few moments. Surely that wouldn’t be all it would take to get Sacha’s mother to stop supporting Montreve. It was likely a gesture to test the waters that she was even open to “exchanging favors” for vague promises.

“Lady Montreve is blocking the progression of our post-Giuseppe celebrations. Your mother is one of her supporters.”

“Why?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Who would possibly care about messing that up?”

“Someone who has forgotten their place in the world and thinks they hold power like they earned it and it wasn’t given to them.” Giana crossed her arms and sat back on the couch. “I can’t believe your mother is being so stupid; even for her.”

“I can.” he said, shaking his head and scowling at the wall across from them. “To be honest with you, though, Gigi, I’m not sure this even came from her. I wouldn’t put it past Genevie to be lying about the entire summons. Gods, I hate her.”

“Can I help?” She asked suddenly, frowning and looking at him while her hand went to his thigh.

“Personally, I don’t know. I kind of just want her to leave me the hell alone.” He said with a shrug, looking at Giana with a frown. “I don’t even know if your company is even hiring new designers.”

“Technically we are always looking for new talent but…” Giana shook her head and reached up to touch his shoulder. “I can see about taking your sister on if you think it will make her more tolerable.”

“I think she does good work, but it depends on how comfortable you are having her use our engagement as an occasion to direct attention to herself.” He said, shrugging. “I think she just really wants to be famous.”

“She’d just be a blip on the radar until the novelty wears off which would be like two weeks.” Giana shrugged and shifted closer to him. “I don’t like your sister, but I want to make you happy, baby. If you think this would make your life easier I will do it.”

Sacha gave her a grin and grabbed her hand. She was dedicated to making him happy in this moment, it seemed, and he appreciated that.

“I don’t know. If I know Genevieve, she’s got a plan. But yeah, it would probably get her off my back for a little while. Do what you want though it’s your company.”

“And you’re my fiance.” She shrugged. She was getting mixed messages from his physical reaction and the words he was choosing, but decided to go along with the physical. “I’ll see what I can do about it. Anything else happen while you were there?”

“I walked up to my father and he managed to look me in the eye and say my name before he walked away again.” Sacha answered, clearly not liking that either. “He’s got no balls whatsoever, and I try to pretend he isn’t there. He doesn’t make it hard.” He chuckled at that. “But fuck them. I’m here now. How was work today?”

“Fine, but I swear the documents in the box never go down no matter how many I read.” She said, moving on from the topic of his family since he was sensitive about it and seemed to want to. She shifted to press against him, resting her head on his shoulder. “What about you?”

“After my visit with the ice queen, I called the CEO and confirmed I’d be back tomorrow. There’s probably a pile of assignments on my desk, but I don’t know. I told my PA I’d break his nose if he told me about any of it before I stepped into work tomorrow.”

Giana gave a short giggle at that and reached out to take his hand. “Well, hopefully he doesn’t land himself a broken nose then I guess.”

“He’s got me going to some conference on Mars next week to schmooze a bunch of old people with lots of money in their pockets.” He said, shrugging and pulling her closer to him. “It would look better if my PA’s entire face was attached.”

Giana moved and naturally shifted into his lap where she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Do you need a new PA?”

“No, he’s fine. He’s a good kid and he is super focused on his work. If I fired him, he’d probably kill himself. Though maybe I should get someone with a bigger nose.” He said, laughing then and stretching his legs out to rest his feet on the coffee table. His hand drifted to her hair and he played there peacefully. He moved to her scalp and scratched gently. “Easier target.”

“So mean.” She chided, but obviously not serious about it at all. Her eyes closed halfway and she let out a sigh. “I should probably do more work but I don’t want to.”

“You should get Paolo to come over and summarize it for you. I bet he’d even have fun with it.” He said amusedly. “Better yet, don’t you have a staff who could read all that bullshit for you?”

“Sure, but it’s better if I do it myself more than rely on that.” She pointed out and lifted her head. “I’m still worried about Paolo. He hasn’t been himself.”

“What do you mean he hasn’t been himself?” He asked, looking at her with careful concern. “What, is he upset about Axanar?”

“Of course he is.” Giana said, her voice a bit harsh but she seemed to realize it and gave a sigh, nuzzling into Sacha’s neck. “It has been very hard for him… maybe you should talk to him?”

“Well, what’s wrong with him? Is he eating? Keeping up with his studies?” Sacha asked, showing nothing more than relational curiosity and a hint of concern. He and Paolo weren’t close, but they shared the bond of a pretty traumatic event.

“Not… really? He just doesn’t care about anything and nobody can seem to make him care. He’s become very cynical about everything and thinks the world is just the worst. He’s not even talking to Amalie.” Giana frowned.

Sacha’s frown deepened. He didn’t love seeing people in pain, but he didn’t exactly jump at the idea of talking to him. It seemed odd and unlikely to do any good in his mind.

“Did you talk to him? He barely knows me as anything more than the teenager who sneaks into his sister’s apartments at night.” He chuckled. “He probably thinks I’m an idiot.”

“He doesn’t think that at all, he really looks up to you.” Giana said with mild earnestness in her voice. “I think he’d probably appreciate a visit.”

“Okay, I’ll make the time and try to go see him.” Sacha said. He didn’t know what he was going to say when he got there, but he did want to help the kid.

“Thank you.” Giana smiled brightly and kissed him and without breaking it, she shifted over into his lap so she was straddling him. Once they did part, she smiled and wrapped her arms around him. “Now… who wants to work off some stress with his fiance?”

“Me!” he exclaimed, grabbing her arms right away in a comically overstated flurry of enthusiasm. His hands moved down to her bottom and pulled her even closer to him, squeezing gently as he did so. “I do! I have so much stress to work with too.”

“I knew I found the right man for the job.” Giana laughed and then kissed him again. For now, everything else in the world could wait, it had been too long since they had just been themselves.

END