Conversational Sparring

“We’re alone”, Sqynd told him.
Marv leaned back on the tall, polstered throne, as his dark gaze scanned the empty space in front of him. She could see how his posture eased a bit, despite the fact that her chair was back to back with his tall and wide throne - despite the fact that the light barely reached the space in front of her to allow vision. She sat in the dark, shaded by his throne and by the curtains that hung low around the monarch to frame him.
She cocked her head to the side, shifting her legs on the leg-rest in front of her.
“Will you be leaving to your chambers?”, she asked him. Marv hadn’t said anything that would indicate his tiredness, but she knew his tells. When he calmly but continuously shifted and his immorn softly moved over his other layers of clothes. When the slightly cone-shaped monarchal crown faintly hit the wood behind him and made the faintest of sounds.
“In due time”, he answered her.
Not yet then.
She figured he might, he had been seemingly a bit distracted throughout the day. It wasn’t that she constantly watched him, but she did check in once in a while. He knew - he was fine with it. They had worked like this for years, close, almost in synchronization.
“What distracts you?”, Sqynd asked. She had some ideas as to what it could be, but she didn’t know for certain. Besides, as much as she could guess, she didn’t want to say anything that was built on an assumption.
He was silent for a bit.
“Currently?”, he snickered.
He was being playful - she liked playing. Nothing out of the usual.
Sqynd cocked her head to the other side, eyes focusing into the dark, yet her gaze focusing on Marv.
There wasn’t much to read on his face, however. When he put his guard up, she would have to guess from the context clues she had. So many eyes in the castle, in this room alone, and yet she wasn’t sure what exactly had gotten caught in the web of his mind. So many options.
Sqynd liked deliberating over such matters, just as much as he did. Why exchange information in a straightforward manner when you could have a little fun trying to read one another?
She let her fingers gently drum against the aell tree armrest,
“Zajlor’s party’s plans for tax change for Creqtis Harbor?”, Sqynd suggested.
“Perceptive as always”, Marv noted.
“Does it really matter much? Brakeshian boats will merely prioritize Jalia instead of the longer travel to Olaila. Surely that plays into your hand”, Sqynd noted with a grin. This worked out nicely for him - Marv would likely take advantage of this political excuse to cover up his other interests in Jalia. That mainly being his recent personal interest in their current ruler, Queen Juna Solistelluna.
Of course, this was mainly a treat for Marv himself, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have benefits for others.
“Should The Zajlor’s party manage to reach its goals, it will tell us about where Olaila are moving on their political spectrum. I think it will give us a better idea of the next rule”, Marv told her.
Ah, so this wasn’t about the queen whom he had started getting friendly with. Or at least, that wasn't his priority right now.
“You are not looking forward to having to deal with a more heavily yellow government, I take it”, Sqynd hummed. She didn’t see it having many negative effects aside them causing the usual troubles, the same old debates they had most every other year. Though she had to admit that their relationship with Olaila might take some more long-term damage with the different candidate choices that seemed to gather support.
“Brakesh will be fine”, Marv stated, as though he ever had to assure her. She trusted his rule and she trusted her own methods. She trusted their abilities.
“But?”, Sqynd asked. This wasn’t all there was to the matter - she doubted this alone could take up much of his attention.
“I would like to keep paying attention to Esjarmil Rainar”, Marv stated. Oh?
Esjarmil Rainar - the lead candidate for Zaylor’s party. She had been in the political scene for a handful of years now - less than the two of them of course, but she was still perceived as one of the more experienced and stable figures in the Olailaish politics. Being rather ‘politically yellow’ as they called it in Olaila, meant that Esjarmil had spent her time with more socialistic ideologies. Whether that sort of politics was good or bad for Olaila was a rather subjective matter, but at the very least it was so different from Brakesh that international affairs could result in some challenges. With how the current year was going, it sounded as though their recent domestic policies were leading them in a direction in which Esjarmil would have a good political standing. According to her own research and also accounts from Dyora, Esjarmil was seeing somewhat of a surge in popularity in her home nation.
For a good handful of years now, Olaila had swung between terms of yellow and purple government: neither of the sides really doing anything too extreme in terms of political movement. Though of course Marv and her preferred the purple wing, it hadn't exactly been anything worth paying much attention to. Their political relationship had largely remained the same, aside from a few hiccups.
Though all this certainly was good information about the politician, Sqynd hadn’t really heard anything about Esjarmil that had was cause for closer inspection - it wasn’t as though Olailaish politics had much influence on them.
“Any particular reason?”, she asked. Marv might very well know something she had missed, it was better to ask him so she knew what to especially pay attention to.
“I heard rumors that Ms. Rainar may or may not have an undisclosed connection with the Daklaire”, Marv elaborated, his fingertips pressing against each other as he stretched his fingers.
“Our silly Daklaire?”, Sqynd asked with a soft snort. Well, well, well. Wouldn’t that be an interesting rumor? “Do you think there’s a high chance Esjarmil was involved in the corruption scheme then?”, she inquired. That was seemingly where he was going with that statement. She didn't question his judgment on his sources, nor why he assumed there was a connection. He had reasons to make that connection - they would probably agree.
After making a career of following loose threads and unraveling antique tapestries of secrets, both of them had gotten a good sense of what to look into. They’d rather run into a handful of deadends than miss something. Some ended up being true, some didn't.
Everything always ought to be taken lightly, yet also a potential threat.
“I think it is worth keeping in mind when hearing of her party’s plans going onwards, especially if she will be just as, or even more politically influential than she is now”, Marv noted amusedly. She agreed.
Their little Daklaire had been laying rather low when they had given him a warning shot - after that Sqynd hadn’t really kept up with him much - after all, where was the fun if you didn’t give him a little headstart disguised as privacy?
“Well then. I shall be paying a bit more attention to her”, Sqynd hummed. It wasn't like she was too busy herself at this moment. She could do well with some smaller tasks herself to keep her engaged.
The corruption of Daklaire hadn’t marked or affected the nation of Brakesh all that much, after all, they kept eye on it. They watched most people long before they became an issue. Digging dirt on others, especially one's foes, came like second nature for them. Anything noteworthy was archived in reach of both Marv and her, even anything noteworthy on other members of the Ogben family.
Bad blood seemed to commonly manifest as a hereditary illness. One ought to be careful.
“So? I do not believe that’s why you are in the mood for conversing”, Sqynd chuckled. Marv made an amused, yet agreeing sound as well. “What do you wish to talk of?”, she asked more directly. She should have enough context now.
“Queen Juna has mentioned interest in supporting some of the Olailaish new ideas for legislation. This is not an issue, but I get the feeling that The Jalian rule, and her majesty as an extension, does not like collusion”, Marv said.
So this was in part related to the Queen.
Sqynd laughed softly, “I see”, she said. Ah, now she was getting the picture. Marv had information to draw on - as they always did - but in typical brakeshian manners, these were not exactly political methods that Jalia generally approved of. And with nothing concrete to draw on, Marv could hardly present his suspicions in good faith. Well, he could, but his current fixation, Queen Juna, might not take well to it. And messing around with a figure of such influence was risky. Sqynd could easily understand why Marv had wanted her to look further into the matter.
“I will absolutely believe that you have asked me to look into foreign political collusion and corruption over the fact that it might hurt your girlfriend~”, Sqynd teased humored.
“She is not my “girlfriend””, Marv snickered back. He didn’t bother denying the rest because there was no reason to.
If he told Queen Juna and she thought it in poor taste, that might cause trouble for his personal goals. On the other hand, if he didn’t say anything despite knowing and taking advantage of the situation to grow politically closer, then that wouldn’t exactly look good either. If it were to be discovered, of course.
And Marv did in fact want to look good. He had recently taken a liking to the current monarch of Jalia, which Sqynd had to admit, was really amusing.
She had noticed him change. His opinions and morals were rocks on the Brakeshian shore - seemingly unmoving and unchanged to the rest of the world, yet shaped by the repeating motion of the waves licking them rounder and rounder.
Sqynd wasn’t sure how she felt about it all if she was honest. It would be good for many reasons if he could remain cold and prickly. But only if he could. If this made him happier or more motivated, then productivity wise it seemed like a fair trade.
And, well-
She did enjoy seeing him content and happy.
“Do you have any plans of marrying Brakesh and Jalia together?”, Sqynd asked him. Might as well gauge where he saw this going so she could plan ahead.
Marv shifted in the seat as she watched his eyebrow lift slightly.
“You are asking whether I will marry Queen Juna?”, he asked.
“More so I am asking if it is what you want” Sqynd said, “We cannot promise a marriage between the two of you, but depending on what you want from the relationship, we can probably arrange it”, Sqynd hummed amused.
Marv sat in silence, his fingers slowly rubbing against his chin, “vrutjor mor”, he said.
Sqynd made herself comfortable, adjusting the pillows behind her, stretching and cracking her neck.
“I’ll assume you desire the Queen herself and not so much her political power”, she stated, feeling quite confident in that estimation. The way she had seen him act made her think as much at least. “If you simply want her for her body though, then I suggest you focus your attention on platonic and sexual interaction, even putting up boundaries that signal a lack of romantic interest.
You’d first have to get to know her sexuality a bit more in-depth, I suggest looking into her dating history if she has anything more publicly available. I do not suggest fostering more romantic feelings, due to the risk that she might be romantically interested in you - if that’s not what you’re interested in, it can be politically costly. However she might only be sexually interested in people she is also romantically interested in, and if that’s the case and you still wish to go through with this, it will take a bit of finesse. I doubt I’d have to explain to you the pros versus the cons of that. Romantic baiting and sexual coercion is not a good idea”, Sqynd added for good measure, though she had no reason to doubt his decision-making.
“I am no fool”, Marv snorted lightly.
“If you’re romantically interested in her, but only short-term, then I suggest you also try to lay the groundwork for that and signal your intentions for a “less serious” relationship with your word use. Misunderstandings could be costly in this matter”, Sqynd noted. “If you need excuses or reasons to appear more “heroic” or reliable in order to heighten your chances of her romantic interest, then staging something would be easy enough, provided you know what values speak to her. All you have to do is ask.
That said, I get the impression that you are trying to be rather– “honest” in your approach. After all, were you not, I could think of ways for you to use your current little dilemma with Esjarmil to your advantage. I’m sure you already know, so I am guessing your lack of pursuing that option is because of the image you wish to establish”, she continued.
'Honesty' wasn’t a bad strategy. It limited the playing cards, but on the other hand, when dealing with certain people it gave and undeniable boon. For the Jalian monarch, yes. It made sense, Juna Solistelluna clearly valued such.
“However whatever we stage doesn’t have to be all arranged and “underhanded”. We could figure out where she might want something we can provide, and then you could generously offer it. Out of affection, or something, yes?”, Sqynd chuckled.
“As a show of good faith”, Marv laughed softly back, tilting his head slightly to one side.
“If you want a long term relationship, then I would use mainly the same tactics. Explain what you want out of the courtship. Long term commitment works the best if you have a strong connection and are consistent about your efforts of meeting her wants, which can change over time. Of course this is merely in case you want her to be content and loving you as well. If that doesn’t matter to you, we could orchestrate some way to snare her in and keep her locked in the relationship. After all, there’s little reason to be wary of the political consequences, if you’re good at forever staying in control”, Sqynd suggested, then paused to gauge what he thought.
He was silent, he didn't seem to necessarily entertain the idea, nor outright discourage it. Marv was simply considering all she had said, now that she had presented more or less all her ideas.
"I am uncertain what length of relationship I am looking for", he finally said. "It would be interesting if this were to continue long term, but I might just get bored", he admitted.
She had thought about that too - imagining Marv being continuously interested in one singular person for the rest of his life, wasn't how Sqynd had imagined his future. She did get the impression he quite liked The Queen though, it was a somewhat a different fixation than his prior interests.
"I am currently more interested in gaining her affection. Emotionally and politically, I don't care for trapping her in a relationship that's 'unhealthy' for her", Marv decided.
"Your mother would be disappointed to see that you aren't as much of a copy of grandfather as she insisted upon", Sqynd jested with a chuckle.
Marv laughed.
"Your words did give me some things to think of. Should my plans for this relationship not work out, I will prefer having a good civil relationship to lean back onto", Marv elaborated.
It was better too, if he could manage to make it so.
"So thoughtful", Sqynd said, fingers gently drumming against the wooden sides of her own smaller throne, "No reckless and emotional decisions, with little care for the world around you? I have to admit you do take some of the chaotic fun out of it~", she teased him.
It was for the better. But it was also a bit too "proper" for the questionable history of decision-making their lineage had, was it not?
Marv grinned,
"Drama will come naturally", he said. He was right. Queen Juna could feel the exact same way and they could be perfectly happy for the rest of their lives, yet some would certainly see issues with it. Marv was a globally controversial figure to say the least. And Queen Juna?
To many she was a blessed celestial gift to Midjord, their pure mother who was wise but too overbearing. Marv wouldn’t live up to many other’s standards.
Sqynd would surely get the entertainment she sought in due time. The sole fact that The King of Brakesh was eyeing a Solistelluna should be enough to cause a stir amongst people, not to mention nobility. And then of all the Solistelluna’s, he of course picked the current monarch, one of the more nationally beloved.
“If you need strings pulled, you know where your spider is”, Sqynd mused, as she stretched her fingers and they gave out several cracking sounds.
Marv nodded. His posture straightened up slightly, signaling that he was satisfied with the conversation and that he was planning on getting up from his comfortable seat. He had other matters to attend to, and she now had more strings that needed to be spun and placed in the right spots.
“I appreciate it, Sqynd”, he told her, “For indulging me”.
Of course.
“You’d do the same for me”, Sqynd told him simply.
She watched him grin from the dark, as he rose from his seat, “I would”, Marv confirmed.