[ota] time will tell....

[wouldbetrump]

Clive had spent the morning in his office, not behind his desk but...rather in front of his dry erase board. It was covered in a web of links and possible solutions to various inter-suit issues that peppered their troubles.

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he licked his lips a moment.

Leaving his offices, he didn't pause to speak to many. No, no...The King of Spades was intent on tending to his business of the day as quickly as possible, it seemed. But what that business was might well have been up for debate.

Comments

[wouldbetrump]

"...Julien," he said, giving Jordan a skeptical look before shaking his head. "I'll speak to Katya about it." But he was personally loath to give Julien anything.

[falsepretences]

Jordan just looked back at Clive steadily. Sometimes his cousin was so smart that Jordan wasn't entirely sure how he figured out some of the PR tangles...and sometimes it was painfully obvious that he'd never grown up in the bosom of the Bernard family.

"Julien is essentially a tool, one that works best when aimed at something," he said. "I won't deny he's also an emotionally stunted asshole, but that's why you should throw him a bone. If not this, then something else minor, or else his resentment is likely to convince him that he'd be a far better King. For instance," he added, and then shrugged. "Use him and distract him, Clive. Otherwise someone else will. Just my opinion, though."

Still, Clive was older than Jordan was. He remembered what had happened the first time Julien had found himself a Queen, and there were plenty in the Suit who could replace Athena in his...Jordan hesitated to say emotions, considering who they were talking about.

[wouldbetrump]

"Thank you, Jordan." Clive snapped, stopping them both to look at his cousin. "I am, well aware of what Julien is. And Tool or not I am not going to just...send off on some task without at least having a conversation with the Queen."

[falsepretences]

He raised his hands up in defense, or defeat. "It was only a suggestion," he said, though there was a bit of a sardonic light in his eyes. It wasn't as if Clive used him particularly well, after all. Other than making sure that Katya wasn't the only one with spies, Jordan was kept harmlessly away from anything even vaguely important.

Or interesting, for that matter.

"Did you know Ethan and Avery went on vacation together?" There, he thought, was a subject less likely to get Clive's pride riled up.

[wouldbetrump]

"....No. I did not know." He said after a moment, giving Jordan a critical look for a moment longer before turning to move on. And there was a difference between knowing you could trust someone, and not knowing how much you could actually trust someone. Helena and Jeremy could have made his life simpler if they'd been placed in key places. But in that same token, they'd have been at more risk.

Trade offs could be a bitch.

And he trusted Jordan, but he wasn't so foolish as to believe that Jordan had not been raised to be King. And should Vivienne decide they should trade places? All the power in the world would not save Clive Kelly from the Machiavellian workings of the Bernards.

[falsepretences]

That would involve Vivienne speaking to Jordan more than she currently was. Not that she was giving him the silent treatment by any means; he and Hadyn were still expected to make their appearances at family dinners and the like. But he had not really been embraced into the bosom of the family so much. Understandably, really.

Laureline had been her favorite, after all.

"To his villa in Italy," he said, though, shrugging slightly. "The rumor is that romance is brewing, but I'd doubt it. Ethan doesn't date, and Avery's only experiment with dating in the last five years was Uncle Davin." He was just as glad that was over, really. There was something inherently awkward about one of your childhood friends sleeping with your de facto father figure.

[wouldbetrump]

"Thrilling. If they are dating, all the best to them, honestly." It would do for someone to be happy in this whole mess of things. "And really, I adore Uncle Davin, but they weren't that great of a match. He's far too settled."

But at least it wasn't likely to end up with anyone's head being snapped off by suggesting they needed to do something with Julien. He was the elephant in every room Clive stepped into.

[falsepretences]

"And the last thing Avery is is a settled type," Jordan said with a shrug. Uncle Davin and Avery had worked better when it'd been flirting that wasn't going to go anywhere.

Clive needed to deal with his elephant, but Jordan wasn't exactly in position to suggest that without being a hypocrite. He still hadn't bothered to deal with the fact that he'd betrayed his mother, really, nearly a year before. He didn't know how he was supposed to, when everyone who wasn't a Bernard assured him he'd done the right thing.

His sigh was more of a soft explosion of breath and he lifted his shoulders. "Well, that's the news, anyway."

[wouldbetrump]

"Yes, I suppose it is news." And not particularly important news.

"Come on, lets get lunch." And talk about the European Football league, which had to be the safest topic at the moment.