hrhmancns

[hrhmancns]

VICTORIA PEDRETTI as LOVE QUINN-GOLDBERG in YOU

#i prefer hiding in plain sight | face

[hrhmancns]

"Ignore him," she orders with a smirk, "Johannes slips in and out of masochism and melancholy the way others change fashions," Manon ignores her former lover, and focuses on the Slovak. "I'm much more interested in why you have such a vendetta against..." she glances as the bite and genuinely cannot place it, "whatever this is? DId you eat one too many as a child and get sick? Or is this some Slovak new year's superstition? I love those."

" christ, don't eat that, " blažej told the other, taking the cocktail bite out of their hand. " i don't know why they're serving these, these are... really bad. " ( &. @hshqstarters )

#blazej tag tbd #hans tag tbd #im sorry

[hrhmancns]

"Ski trips, hostage situations - they really are adept at keeping things interesting," Manon cuts in dryly, the proverbial they a notion she's still not fully wrapped her head around. She doubts she ever will, and then decides to not give the matter any further thought. "Sometime I wonder if this is not some deeply unethical sociological experiment, at least for those of us low enough in the succession to not matter," Manon flashes Blažej a conspiratorial grin before her fickle attention shifts to the English princess, head canting to the side a bit cruelly. "After all that - I can't imagine why you're still here, unless things in England are still just as chaotic." ( @nataliademarquis @blazcj or whomever wants to join )

" i didn't realize the program organized ski trips too... i'm starting to get why my brothers are happy to be representing us. " the beer in his glass somehow tasted better than ever before. the chocolates he had had earlier in the day had also tasted better than any other chocolate. things were just better in switzerland. blažej felt almost too content in the booth of the bar. " what's been the best trip so far and why ? " ( &. @hshqstarters )

#natalia tag #blazej tag tbd #im sorry for her but also not

[hrhmancns]

She notes the way he seems to withdraw into himself, a house without a foundation, only a quickly crumbling facade. Manon cannot let herself care too much, she cannot recall the spark that once lit his eyes, that annoyingly infectious curiosity that drove even her to want to know things. Instead she fights the urge to pick a fight, to ask him why he dare once call her a whore when his wife is wearing that. But Manon is not that kind of girl, at least not yet. So she holds her tongue for as long as she can. "Naturally," its agreable and neutral and utterly hollow. She knows him far too well, every line and tell, even the very set of his jaw - her self loathing flares to an all time high and yet she speaks truth anyway. "You don't seem happy. No -" Manon looks at him, tasing the bitterness of his words as if she'd kissed him, "don't fake it for my sake, I know you well enough to see through all the bullshit." She gives in, reaching for his cigarette with a causal intimacy. "So let's pretend we are strangers, no titles, no history. I'll tell you all my sins and you can share how she's made you so hollow. You can trust me, of course," she laughs and it's almost convincing. "Mutually assured destruction or whatever. But I mean it, Hans," sudden focus, the deployment of his name. "You can talk to me, clearly you need to talk to someone who knows you, and who would believe what I have to say anyway."

The cruelty of time lied in the spaces that seemed to remain unchanged. A suspension of progression or regression left the mind to trespass into places no longer existed; a mirage of emotionally left felt or songs unsung. Johannes acknowledged the sinking feeling that lodged itself between his shoulder blades. He didn't want to witness another collision of the present and past. Nor could he ignore the decisions made when she no longer stood an ocean away. Blowing our the flume of smoke, his hand whisking into the evening, he finally allowed himself to look at her. "I mean it," his shoulders drooped. It seemed that this fight would never truly end until one of them surrendered or died. "It is natural for my wife to finally choose to join me here." The bitterness on his tongue didn't go unnoticed. "I didn't know she would now choose to come."

#did i close my fist around something delicate | hans

[hrhmancns]

Another balcony, another major event in another foreign capital, and still Manon is drawn to the spector who wears his face. She can't decide who she hates more - Hans or herself. But they're always best in shadowy corners and smoke shrouded salons. "After all this time, I think I deserve better than fake niceties," she doesn't look at him, merely leans against the railing wrapping her arms around herself. "Oh I’m perfectly fine," she shrugs absently, "And you? I see you finally have company, you must be so pleased." A challenge, or maybe something else. Manon won't admit to either.

"You look lovely tonight," he offered softly in the warm orange afterglow of his cigarette. "Have you been well?" @hrhmancns

#did i close my fist around something delicate | hans

[hrhmancns]

"He should be thankful that you decided to show," Manon answered promptly, not even fully aware of whatever shit Olimpia Cröy might have against the Italians but absolutely here for the drama. "Because like - if he didn't invite you, that's just poor diplomacy and a really shit way to kick off his kingship." She shrugged, giving the Hungarian a smirk. "I mean either way, you kinda win - either he'd be criticized for the snub, or you all will be praised for putting diplomacy and whatever above past differences. And I genuinely love that for you." @olimpiacroy

" should we feel honored to be on the guestlist or should he feel thankful that we even showed up...? half of the people here have bad blood with the italians. " | @hshqstarters

#olimpia tbd

[hrhmancns]

Manon Powys attends the italian coronation

#hshqevent043 #again if youve seen this dress before no you havent #i prefer hiding in plain sight | face

[hrhmancns]

"And that is an excellent point," Manon shrugged, and pressed on anyway as he expected her to. Journalism, interesting, surprising. "I mean you could still write puff pieces for the Daily Mail praising each and every one of Antonia's hat choices," she smirked - a bit cruelly. "Or write some huge tell-all, if you really want to get into writing, people would eat that shit up," a light laugh, "Someone might put a hit out on you for exposing things but it'd be great for the plot." Manon was certainly not trying to distract for her own lack of answer by rambling on about his, definitely not what was going on.

"I'm not sure why you asked because even if I had said no, you'd probably ask the question anyway." He'd long since stopped paying attention to the movie. Besides, he'd already seen it a dozen or so times. It's why he'd suggested it. At her question, he pursed his lips. "You know, I'm not sure. I mean... I was sort of a normal person until I turned 17 and my father recognized me for who I was. I tried my hand at normal people things after university but journalism became pretty difficult when I couldn't even go to or from work without worrying someone. And what about you?"

#andrew tbd

[hrhmancns]

svrgic​:

❝ I’M ACTUALLY CUTTING down my caffeine intake but thank you. ❞ he knew the drink the person placed on that table wasn’t for him and they likely only wanted to take the empty seat across from sergi, that was just his way of saying he wasn’t interested in company.

“Congratulations,” Manon gave the man at the other end of the table a cursory glance and deadpan response. “Its mine, obviously, and I literally put it there to respond to a text, calm down.” 

#sergi tbd #im sorry for her but also no im not

[hrhmancns]

roxanadclcon​:

roxana raised an eyebrow, a little peeved but frankly, the other woman was just punishing herself. she had no sympathy for people with bad taste. “you’re more than welcome to be wrong in public. in fact, i think it’s courageous.”

“Courageous? Oh you shouldn’t have, you are far too kind.” Manon smiled sickly sweet, but her voice was flat. She was getting bored, something that happened far more often than not these days, and whoever the fuck this was only made it worse. “Now, as much fun as this has been, I am no longer in need of your attention, you’re dismissed.” She waved an errant hand and turned her attention back to her book.

#roxana tbd

[hrhmancns]

johannesgrunenberg​:

“Self centered? Your brother punched me in the face at a party and Gwen had all but hit after we spoke. I would love to know what you said that painted me in such a horrible light. I’m not a great man, never said I was, but all I did was love you. Was that wrong?” Johannes felt the sudden bout of pressure behind his eyes as he listened her once again harp on the righteousness of her warning to allowing the world into. How many times did he have to remind her that the issues came from their shared deception. If only their families knew about them sooner, maybe things would have been different. “I think the mistake we made was far beyond keeping it quiet, Manon. You were too young and I was too stupid to see that keeping the world at arms length was healthy.” Hell, I know it’s unhealthy but I continue to do it. “We did it wrong then and now. Maybe this was inevitable had they known or not.” He shrugged. “At least, you can’t say they don’t love you as deeply as you love them. You should tell them more often or you’ll end up like me and Max.” 

“Johannes, you know I would never want him to do such a thing,” she only ever deployed his full name when she was being utterly serious. “It was inexcusable, and Gwen has no right to be angry with you, she’s only doing so because she will always chose Arywn.” Anger was an electric, jarring feeling, filling up all of her hollow spaces with its frenetic energy and demanding to be felt. Manon decided she hated this particular type of anger, the heel of her hand pressed against her sternum in an attempt to sooth the erratic nature of her heart. “I don’t know what I said!” She snapped, “I called him in a panic and then he never, ever asked about you again. Never asked, not while I was in New York doing whatever I could to try to get over you.” Her eyes burnt with some unrecognizable emotion, far too bright with pain and weakness. “And we know how well that went.” 

“No,” she shook her head, “That wasn’t our mistake.” Manon looked away, like she always did when she was about to reveal some raw and utterly vulnerable truth about herself. “Being with you, in that house in Paris, it's the only time I can remember not feeling this overwhelming urge to run, to break something, just to prove that I could and that I was a real person, not some shiny ideal. That was our mistake, H, believing that people like us would ever be allowed to be whole and complete individuals existing just for themselves. That we would be allowed to make mistakes and choices and love and exist without judgement or scrutiny, without being on display.” 

“Yes, I can. Because it's all so fucking performative - he plays the part of the protective older brother, but not when I actually might have needed him, no - he does it when it will have the most impact for him, of course. When it makes a good story.” Manon hated how Hans was always able to coax the truth from her, maybe it all went back to that intoxicating thing about him and his ability to make her feel like a real, whole person. Not that feral creature pacing the length of a gilded cage with unnerving grace, cloaked in beauty and clinical, distanced rage. “If you feel like that, then why are you still so caught up trying to win his approval?” 

#did i close my fist around something delicate | hans #something about kelly makes me write novels

[hrhmancns]

"Can I ask you, like, an annoyingly maudlin question?" The campy 80s horror movie was reaching its climax, the actress's screams background noise in their meandering conversation. Her legs were draped casually across Andrew's lap, his hand resting on her thigh such that she'd been absently toying with a loose thread in his sleeve for the last half hour. "What do you think you would be doing with your life if you were just like, a normal person?" @beaufort-a

#andrew tbd #i hope this is ok!

[hrhmancns]

text to: washed up footballer (@alexcnder)

manon: losers on the internet are making edits of you set to taylor swift again manon: really getting mileage out of that last shoot manon: i'm still not entirely sure how wandering through rainy moors like a heartbroken minor character from an Austen novel relates to football or real madrid, but the girlies are EATING it up manon: the mud was a bit much. what a slut.

#sasha tag tbd #texts from manon <3

[hrhmancns]

roxanadclcon​:

“and no one is forcing you to ruin it.” she replied with ease. she should probably be less of a bitch on her first week. “it’s excellent coffee. you should try it first. appreciate the craftsmanship.” 

Manon gave her a slow, wicked grin. Maintaining eye contact, she deliberately drank the entire thing without a word, taking her time to insure the other knew exactly what she was doing. “And you should try to care less about what other people do that has no direct impact on you,” her voice was as saccharine as the coffee had been, candy coated poison. “What is it they say? Choose your battles? At the very least, you should pick a better hill to die on.” 

#roxana tbd #brunette manon is now canon

[hrhmancns]

johannesgrunenberg​:

“How badly have you painted me out to be to your siblings? I know you live to make me miserable but why now?” @hrhmancns

She’d fallen asleep in the shade, her mind still in New York where she’d ran to in some attempt to find her old self again. Or at least gain some semblance of control. Manon started at his voice, sapphire eyes flicking upwards to find the stern lines of Hans’ face looming over her. She wondered if he remembered, if she looked half the ghost she felt to him. 

“And here I thought I was the self-centered one.” She stretched, shifting upwards such that he could sit on the end of her chaise, if he wished. “They, along with the king and queen, only seemed to care about me when I was a potential threat, or at least interesting enough to garner attention. I thought I’d made that clear to you when I begged you to keep it just ours.” Manon ran a hand through her hair, then curled up further into herself, tucking her knees into her chest like some sort of defense. “I was twenty four and overwhelmed and you were my whole world. I thought you understood that sharing it would only ruin things, and every single thing that’s happened between us since I left has only proven my point.” She took a shallow breath. “I wanted to trust him, childishly wanted my brother to care about me for me, and not because I might be a liability. You cannot fault me for that.” A pointed look, his own history and secrets whispered into her skin on those nights when he tasted more like whiskey than himself. “And I told Gwen the truth, and only my reasons for leaving. I said nothing of you, she only found out specifically because of Arwyn.” 

#did i close my fist around something delicate | hans

[hrhmancns]

roxanadclcon​:

she stared as someone dumped yet another sugar cube into their espresso. “that’s too much. it’s going to be terrible.” she muttered, much too loud for public. @hshqstarters

“No one’s forcing you to drink it,” Manon scowled lightly, planning to thoroughly enjoy the sugary drink. A habit she could trace back to one person, and something she’d rather not think about. 

#roxana tbd

[hrhmancns]

alexcnder​:

            “ you don’t drink and you came anyway. ” he looked at her with a speculative disposition, fingertips gripped the thin stem of the glass and without missing a beat, he assumed, “ you’re hoping for a show. ”  the discontent for the taste of wine that coated his tongue was impossible to hide. “ and i thought you liked to be the one everyone was looking at. ” she at least alluded to such behavior. ( anyone. from anywhere. or no one. )

She offered a small smile, one that was a little too sharp around the edges. “An important part of learning to perform is knowing how to watch.” Manon shrugged, “and no, actually, only in circumstances of my choosing.” Nodding at his grimace, “you don’t like wine either, it seems? Or are you just out on Spanish reds?” 

#sasha tag tbd