houseofcards_rp | [ota] time will tell....

He glanced up when Clive paused in the doorway of his office, his brows raising when he saw his expression. Well, Jordan thought, likely not a summons for dinner this time, and he set his pen aside as he flipped the folder on his desk closed.

He waited until Clive closed the door before speaking, though; there were some old habits that never died.

"Is something wrong?"

It'd been...far too long since they spoke. It was probably not the time for it, but Clive was going to have to face this one way or another. He was going to have to acknowledge it, one way or another.

Pulling her hair to one side, Amy fell into step with him, to his right and just a little behind him. "You're busy. I know. But we need to talk, and I'm hopin' we can do that now, or damn soon." And she could only hope that he wasn't going to push her away.

"No, not entirely." Clive said, shaking his head. "I was just on my way to town is all." He said, before smirking a little. "Thought I'd see if you wanted to walk with me and grab a drink. Been a while, and all."

And more or less, he just needed a sane person to be around for a while.

He slowed when he noticed her in the hall, and tilted his head a little. "We...could talk now. Not sure how long this trip to town could take." He said, licking his lips a little as he motioned toward an empty room.

"What's wrong?" He asked, closing the door behind them.

Not entirely, Jordan thought, was less than reassuring, but he just made a show of looking down at his paperwork and rolling his eyes expressively. "As fascinating as inventory reports are," he said. "I think maybe I can drag myself away."

Without shedding a single tear, he thought as he picked up his hat and keys.

"You look like you've spent a long day with the white board."

"You mean aside from the fact that, last I heard, we're still doing this dating thing, but we haven't made eye contact in almost a month? I-... Clive, I miss you. I do. But what are we doin'?" It was a fair enough question, she thought. She needed to know, plain and simple, if she even still had a boyfriend.

"I know you're not happy with me killin' Laila, or that I fought back against her cousins when they attacked me. It wasn't ideal, but it's what I had to do." And she wasn't going to apologize for it. "But you gotta tell me if that's the end of it, or if we're actually gonna keep trying this."

He finds her in office, long legs stretched out to side of desk, head tilted back and seemingly staring into midair. To those who don't know her, it might appear as though Katya shirks duties or may even have dozed off. Those who do realize she is more comfortable ordering her thoughts in head than on paper or machine.

She calls it security. When in good mood and with those she trusts as much she ever trusts anyone, she will own to paranoia and laugh at own foibles.

Now, though, her gaze snaps to Clive, showing she is not as lost in thought as she may seem. "You look like man on mission," she tells him, face lighting. "Tell me it is to whisk me away from all this and I will kiss your feet, though perhaps only metaphorically."

"Well, I have. It is a bit expected, really- given that my job usually involves a very large white board and a load of markers." Though to be honest, sometimes he was ever to tempted to just doodle on the thing.

"Have you heard anything interesting lately?"

"...I've been busy, Amy. It is the unfortunate effect of being King." Though he tried very hard to find personal time, it just didn't always happen. "I don't...understand what you mean by 'what are we doing'? Last I checked were were dating." Which, unfortunately, involved busy schedules.

As for the Laila situation, well. Everyone had to lay in the bed they made. Amy made that one, and there was little he could do to change that now. "Was killing Laila something you had to do?" He asked, raising a brow that suggested he highly doubted it had or every would have been 'necessary' in the grand scheme of things. "If I'd been out to end it, I would have done it when you told me, Amy."

Which did not change the fact that he had no idea where any of this was coming from.

"Oh, I figured you were in need of dinner and some win, my love." He said, flashing Katya his most charming smile. "Or, at least...time away from inclosed spaces." There was only so much work a Royal could do in a castle, honestly.

Or so his personal motto told him.

"I would be honored if you would join me."

"Maybe I should get myself one of those," Jordan murmured. It at least looked more fun than his usual day of strolling through the digitization sweatshop to monitor all the scanning.

Except when his days involved a few unexpected visits. "A few things," he said. "Word is that there are skirmishes at the Outposts, between the Clubs and Diamonds. I heard from one of the Spades who passed through that way, though it seems Elisha and Säde are keeping it quiet." The King of Clubs had gone to the Outposts on Friday, though, which was interesting. He wasn't one to make field trips out that way.

"Adam and Melanie brought back worrying news from Outside, as well," he added in a lower tone.

"You don't say?" He asked, a curious look slipping over his features. "Have you asked Hadyn about it?" Which might well be unfair, he knew. Clive could even just ask his younger cousin himself, but Hadyn wouldn't likely tell him anything. Not like he would his brother, at least.

Which Jordan, despite his attitude at times, always seemed loath to use to his advantage.

Still, anything that was going on on the outpost was worth knowing about. "What news did Adam and Melanie bring?"

"He said one of the guards had been reassigned to the Castle outside the normal schedule. Jose Silva," Jordan added. "Low-ranked. But then he also said Elisha had gone out there, so I think that means it's more serious than it first appears." He didn't like using Hadyn, it was true - at least not regularly. But occasionally, he didn't mind asking questions.

When it seemed harmless.

"A problem with one of our suppliers. Not the weaponry suppliers," he said, flicking a glance at his cousin. That, he imagined, would be taken care of; Victor Fox was efficient. "The one we use for medical supplies in Austria. He's been talking."

"Time away, certainly. Declan will disapprove if I stay in office too long." Today she wears flats and slips them back over her heels as she stands. "And I will always eat." Eat when you can; sleep when you can. She'd learned lesson years ago and has yet to find them wanting.

A Royal's best work often occurs outside of office. David had spent far too much time closeted within his. One corner of her mouth lifts. She and Clive both know how much can be accomplished with easy smiles.

"What did you have in mind?"

Hadyn was ever the useful tool, it seemed. He nodded a little, before licking his lips a little. "See if you can find out what it was about, and pass it on. I'll have Victor reaffirm our people's discipline." And if nothing else, it would get the man out of the castle for a few days, as he'd probably attend to it personally.

"Talking?" He asked, though, looking back at Jordan. "Should Victor keep going, once at the outpost?"

"How about...Thai? Or Sushi?" He asked, smiling softly as he offered Katya his arm.

"A little bird has told me some of our suppliers have been talking." One, to be precise, but that was something that could spread.

"I'm going to see if the Diamond - Liliana something - has loose lips. She spends a lot of time at the Four Suits." It wasn't any hardship for Jordan to do the same, and he made a good sympathetic ear...even if he did say so himself.

He started to nod his agreement at sending Victor, and then paused. In a way, he'd like to handle it himself, but he wasn't sure Clive would send him - it wasn't like Jordan was really an enforcer, and he hadn't handled Maddox Hobbs well. "Send Julien," he said, after a moment, and glanced at his cousin. "As a test. I imagine training more advanced Spades is enough of an occupation for now, but surely he has skills that could be better utilized." And if they weren't utilized, it was possible Clive might find his throne threatened.

"So busy that you haven't found five minutes in almost a month to spare?" It was her own damn fault, truly, but she'd been certain that he was avoiding her. That he was so disgusted by what she'd done that he couldn't handle the idea of being near her. "I'm pretty sure people who are dating actually try to find time to date, sugar."

She'd made her bed, and she was okay with laying in it. She'd lost Ethan, as anticipated. She was prepared to lose Clive over it, too; it's just that she preferred to be alerted when she'd lost people. It simplified things.

She wasn't going to apologize for this, though. "It was," she answered with some steel in her voice. "You probably won't ever understand why, but I had to. Part of my job as a guard is being able to protect this castle and this Suit, no matter the cost. That means being prepared to die for it, or to kill for it. It means being capable of fighting to the death to defend it all." And that's exactly what it had been.

"...You didn't say a word the rest of that night, Clive. You were pissed, even though you were quiet about it. I'm not actually a complete moron, y'know."

She was an insecure woman, particularly in relationships. This one had been going so well until she challenged to Five, but since then, there'd been...nothing. Not a kiss, not a smile, not a fleeting brush of fingers. Nothing. And it was wearing on her, making her doubt him and second-guess herself. Not good or healthy, but true nonetheless.

"Thai," she answers at once. "I like things spicy." She takes his arm, not remarking on his information save for huffing a few strands of hair from her face. "I should not be surprised when confronted with humanity's self-destructive tendencies, yet here I am. Which supplier?" Surely not one of their weapons contacts. A certain Ten had put the fear of Victor into them long since.

"The medical supplier, or one. Jordan has even suggested we send Julien to handle the situation." It was not a suggestion that set well with him. "I'm not certain this one has had the pleasure of meeting out esteemed Ten."

"That is....What the hell are you talking about Amy? There are two people in this relationship, and in case you've forgotten, I've brought you dinner during your shifts on the guard, and left you notes as well as called. So so not, do not but this all on me." He said, holding up his hands before he shook his head.

"You're right. I was angry, but why shouldn't I be? Do you think I ever doubted you had it in you to do what needed to be done? But to think that proving you can kill by taking a life in a challenge did anything to prove you were more capable than you were before? You're being naive. All that did is prove that yes, yes you can kill- just as you have done before." He scowled a little before he scrubbed a hand through his hair.

"...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.

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.

"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."

Heels were loud on the stone floor, signifying an incoming hurricane. Ivona rounded the corner just as Clive stepped from his office, spying her target and approaching without care for formality or decorum.

"Did you not receive my message?" she began without preamble, hand on a hip. "Or is your new secretary simply that lax?"

[ota] time will tell....

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Does he wear knives on his forearms?

He does noooot

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