PSL: or Arthur meets Ash. again.

[gavesugar]

[Continued from here!]

Sheila has been pacing the length of her chamber for an untold amount of time. Arthur is busy, she reasons to herself, and her urgent note - sent down with a giggling maid - wasn't very clear. Still, how will she account for this?

She casts a brief look of fond disgust at Ash. "And thou sits like a stone?"

On her bed.

Oh, Arthur will not be pleased...

Comments

[thisismyboomstick]

Well he's here now. So deal with it. (Nyah.)

He edges closer to Sheila, his 'don't talk, you get in trouble when you talk' instinct still intact. He might not be the most enlightened guy in the world when it comes to dealing with women, but using them as political bargaining tools just seems wrong.

[gavesugar]

There is so much lip quivering going on. So much. But she'll never let either of them actually see her cry.

"May'n't there be another woman better suited to the task?"

[multipasses]

Great. She's going to cry again.

Arthur doesn't do well with crying. At all.

He's at a complete loss for words. Have some helpless shoulder shrugging as he starts pacing the chamber.

[thisismyboomstick]

He crosses his arms and scowls, resisting the urge to start in on Arthur. DON'T MAKE SHEILA CRY, dammit.

"So who's she engaged to?"

There's gotta be someone they can reason with. Or beat up. Y'know... whatever works.

[gavesugar]

She won't cry. She'll worry her lip raw before she gives in and lets loose with her tears.

"'Tis Duke Henry."

Yeah, that should please Ash....

[multipasses]

Boom. There. Question answered.

He stops his pacing and gestures broadly, from Ash to Sheila, as if saying, There you go.

u mad bro?

[thisismyboomstick]

"Well... shit."

An accurate, if crude, summary of the situation.

"Could we talk to him? Maybe we could work somethin' out..."

Doubtful, but he'll take any chance he can get.

[gavesugar]

That makes her brighten suddenly. "Mayhaps! Ay!" Certainly there has to be a young lady of proper marriageable age and noble blood in the kingdom who would willingly mate with Henry - who is kind if not a tad bit of a blowhard.

[multipasses]

Arthur gives her the look. You know the one.

He sighs.

Then - just to humor her - he nods his head.

"Alright. I suppose. What is it ye had in mind?"

All the scowling and arm-crossing.

[thisismyboomstick]

"Not sure."

He hadn't actually thought that far ahead. What a shock.

"Maybe there's another way to keep your kingdoms at peace."

[gavesugar]

Sheila, however, has been thinking about this for quite awhile - yes, boys, be shocked over that little tidbit - and she already has a ready answer.

"Henry doth have a marriageable sister of a certain age- and thou hast not had any marital prospects of thine own."

[multipasses]

Way to throw him under the bus, Sheila. Whatever buses are. If they existed at this point in time, she would most definitely be throwing him under one.

Or a cart.

That would suit this situation just as well.

He doesn't even know how to answer this little problem-solver of hers. Because it's absolutely ridiculous. How dare she even consider telling him what to do.

More importantly, he doesn't want to marry Henry's sister.

[thisismyboomstick]

He doesn't want anyone to marry someone they don't want to, but if somebody has to... well, he is the king.

"Whaddya say, big guy?"

He's gonna get slapped for that one of these days. Or worse.

[gavesugar]

Sheila - who has slapped Ash AND thrown a rock at him - would say that Ash is behaving uncouthly but she's looking at Arthur with big shining eyes of Hope now. Come on, Arthur, take one for the team.

"Ye very well should! Eleanor art a lovely lady of great accomplishment." And in Sheila's eyes, she is.

[multipasses]

...Why has everything turned on him all of a sudden? He's the king, dammit, and that's exactly why they shouldn't be having this discussion in the first place. It should've been done and over with already, no excuses.

He's going going to play the strong, silent type while he fakes thinking about the issue at hand. Because that's really the only way he can figure to ignore it for the time being.

"I say... I shall give it some thought?" he finally says, the statement sounding more like a confused question than anything else.

[thisismyboomstick]

"Yeah."

He crosses his arms.

"Don't think too long. I'm sure Henry's not gonna wait forever."

[gavesugar]

"Which means that thou ought to...settle the bahns with speed." Sheila will just continue to shove this train up the hill okay. Her life depends on this.