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Iobel writes to both parents with the news.
Kalars writes back; she has his utmost sympathy, but if she doesn't want a visit he doesn't need to be there for his own sake.
Raney doesn't write back; she just turns up the next day, dwarf caiman familiar tucked under her arm.
She wants to meet her son-in-law.
come_midnight
royal_obligation
Edarial listens to her layout of the situation, raptly. He frowns when she is on the fourth method, but does not actually comment until she is done.
"I am not planning on taking child-rearing advice from either of my parents, and would not be planning to try to cut you out of raising a child. Whether it's actually our child by blood or not doesn't matter. If we say it is our child I would prefer we treat him or her like it and - give the child the best chance at life possible," he replies, because that part of it is easiest to answer.
Then, the next part that should probably be addressed before anything else - "Also, I am not asexual. Zevros does not know me as well as he thinks he does." Awkward pause. "I am not interested in sex with someone that I do not have a - proper relationship with."
Edarial tilts his head, then asks, "What do you mean by 'not even abstractly interested'?"
"I am not planning on taking child-rearing advice from either of my parents, and would not be planning to try to cut you out of raising a child. Whether it's actually our child by blood or not doesn't matter. If we say it is our child I would prefer we treat him or her like it and - give the child the best chance at life possible," he replies, because that part of it is easiest to answer.
Then, the next part that should probably be addressed before anything else - "Also, I am not asexual. Zevros does not know me as well as he thinks he does." Awkward pause. "I am not interested in sex with someone that I do not have a - proper relationship with."
Edarial tilts his head, then asks, "What do you mean by 'not even abstractly interested'?"
come_midnight
"A proper relationship meaning what? And - I have commented at least once on being convinced that you weren't attracted to me, I suspected that much even before Zevros spread his apparent misinformation. This as opposed to it being the case that you might have been more - inclined, if I were not a walking reminder of unpleasantness."
royal_obligation
"... Dates, flowers, romantics, actual love? That sort of thing, I haven't had it but I am smart enough to recognize when I want it. Just a business partnership bothers me."
Another awkward pause. "I - am... Somewhat attracted to you. If you were wondering. You are attractive, at least superficially, but I am not going to try to - you seemed like you hated me. So I was not going to bother you."
Another awkward pause. "I - am... Somewhat attracted to you. If you were wondering. You are attractive, at least superficially, but I am not going to try to - you seemed like you hated me. So I was not going to bother you."
come_midnight
"At least superficially," snorts Iobel. "I did hate you, I was simply mistaken in doing so, I'm glad you didn't... bother me, but I was further misinformed by the absence, I suppose."
Cricket mutters something and she shushes him.
Cricket mutters something and she shushes him.
royal_obligation
"Well if you'd like more than superficial attraction I will have to actually get to know you," he points out. "I do think you are smart and have excellent goals and good ways to get there, but that's hardly - something to try and base a relationship on."
royal_obligation
"Er. Well, that's sort of a problem, because I don't have any idea. There is a reason why Zevros thinks I'm asexual - I haven't been with anyone before. If you want me to guess - decent sense of humor, good conversation, actual chemistry, similar values... That kind of thing? But it could be inaccurate, I don't know."
come_midnight
"Okay." Beat. "This doesn't tell me much about your opinion of the options. Or if you have a fifth."
royal_obligation
"It was more important that you have updated information on me, first," he informs her.
"Option one is viable, though I don't think we should rely on it overmuch and I am a little - disturbed by experimenting on what would be our child. If it were a proven method that I knew worked, yes, we should go with that, that lets us have an heir without issue. But it's not proven, so I am skeptical."
He conspicuously skips option two.
"Option three I have no problem with, aside from worry about something happening to the child if its lineage were outed. If the other options aren't viable, we should try it, but when thinking about creating a new life, I am extremely concerned about - that new life's welfare.
"Option four I can do but I think I like it the least of them all - the child would grow up with the stigma of being a bastard. I don't want to inflict that on an innocent life for the sake of convenience."
Pause. "... Option two is probably physically possible. If we try it, though, I would at least want to make an effort beforehand in seeing if there is anything to us besides being able to run a kingdom efficiently together." He then fidgets.
"Option one is viable, though I don't think we should rely on it overmuch and I am a little - disturbed by experimenting on what would be our child. If it were a proven method that I knew worked, yes, we should go with that, that lets us have an heir without issue. But it's not proven, so I am skeptical."
He conspicuously skips option two.
"Option three I have no problem with, aside from worry about something happening to the child if its lineage were outed. If the other options aren't viable, we should try it, but when thinking about creating a new life, I am extremely concerned about - that new life's welfare.
"Option four I can do but I think I like it the least of them all - the child would grow up with the stigma of being a bastard. I don't want to inflict that on an innocent life for the sake of convenience."
Pause. "... Option two is probably physically possible. If we try it, though, I would at least want to make an effort beforehand in seeing if there is anything to us besides being able to run a kingdom efficiently together." He then fidgets.
come_midnight
"I may have some difficulty simultaneously trying to see if we like each other's senses of humor and trying to find a suitable affair."
royal_obligation
"Then I will leave it up to you, which you go with," says Edarial. "It's you who would be carrying the child, after all."
come_midnight
"Do you have an idea of what meandering timidly in the direction of option two would look like in terms of concrete actions, possibly with a timeline attached?"
royal_obligation
"Er. At the risk of sounding corny - dates, talking, walks through pretty gardens, the bestowal of silly presents... That kind of thing? I have no idea what the timeline would be, though."
come_midnight
"Corniness is far from a significant problem," Iobel assures him dryly. "Do you think it would take more than one tragic miscarriage to have a good idea of whether this would work?"
royal_obligation
Fidget, fidget.
"... You're being incredibly clinical about all options available, which seems the best to you?"
"... You're being incredibly clinical about all options available, which seems the best to you?"
come_midnight
"I have nothing nonclinical to go on," she points. "I'm assuming you know more about political instability and what will and won't exacerbate it than I do or I might produce an opinion on that basis. But how am I supposed to know how much I might like someone with whom I might have an extramarital affair before having met him, or whatever? All the options are potentially acceptable."
royal_obligation
"Okay," he says.
He was kind of wondering if she found him to be anything more than a clinical option on a list, but... Well.
He was kind of wondering if she found him to be anything more than a clinical option on a list, but... Well.
come_midnight
"And as you keep pointing out we don't know each other well enough to have a proper relationship, so of course I'm being likewise about you. I'm willing to try if you are, but I'm not going to fabricate an emotional connection that has not developed."
come_midnight
"Depends on what we'll be doing. If you had dinner in mind, tomorrow morning would be very peculiar as a choice of timing."
royal_obligation
Edarial snorts. "Just a bit. Okay then - what sort of... datish... thing seems like it would be fun to do?"