tragedy.

♥ 273,229 likes @athenamav: spending my birthday with my favorites

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#( &; insta. )

#( &; dragan. )#submission #backdated

Dear Thena,

Min afísete aftó na páei sto kefáli sou . Chrónia pollá , panémorfa . Nai , to paradéchomai . Poté den pávei na me ekplíssei me to póso ekpliktikí eíste . Allá óchi me tin énnoia óti paírnete tin anapnoí mou makriá . Eísai aplá séxi . Anyways , egó écheis éna dóro gia dýo , giatí skéftika na tous áxize . Min anisycheíte , eíste akóma na párei to fýlo genethlíon. Egó den tha sas sterísei aftí tin ypérochi empeiría . I elpída aftí eínai mia megáli méra kai tha eíste se thési na koimitheí apópse . Aftí eínai i epithymía genéthliá mou gia séna .[Don’t let this go to your head. Happy Birthday, gorgeous. Yeah, I admit it. You never cease to surprise me with how stunning you are. But not in the sense that you take my breath away. You’re simply sexy. Anyways, I got you a gift because I figured you deserved it. Don’t worry, you’re still getting birthday sex. I wouldn’t deprive you of that wonderful experience. Hope this is a great day and you’ll be able to sleep tonight. That’s my birthday wish for you].

#( &; lijana. )#( &; astrid. )#submission

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From Lijana: Mixed CDs of her favorite 90’s songs, including, but not limited to:

Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) by the Backstreet Boys Men in Black by Will Smith I Don’t Wanna Wait by Paula Cole Barbie Girl by Aqua Thong Song by Sisquo Livin La Vida Loca by Ricki Martin I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing by Aerosmith I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot Say My Name by Destiny’s Child Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Something Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard Who Let the Dogs Out by Baja Men

From Astrid: A nice array of daggers. You never know when they might come in handy, whether it’s in self defense or waffle cutting.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ATHENA!!!!!

#moodboar #( &; never mix a hurricane with a volcano. )#( &; dragan. )

d r a g a n g j o r g j i: “Relationship w/ Athena” (moodboard 1/?)

I can give you all the LOVE I know I can (give) you all the s p a c e to grow I can leave you off to spin around I could pull you down until you got the time

It was rather ridiculous, he had to admit that, so he joined her and let out a laugh himself. The happy facade fell a little when she suggested poet as his backup occupation - whether it was a joke or not. “I don’t think I’d do well as a poet or any kind of writer, I’m leaving that to my brother. I need a real job. I hope you keep me around for other reasons than that. Like my wit, charm and natural good looks. Awh, for a moment I thought you were gonna say “sleep with me”. You almost sold me there, but.. now I might have to give it a second thought. Because that would just top the list of everything you just said - which are splendid by the way. Especially if you double my pay too and take me on trips.” He raised a brow at her. “So … that means you don’t want to see me shirtless? Since you haven’t taken it off yet? Now I’m hurt.” A light chuckle escaped his lips at her reaction. “Yeah, it’s a thing. Haven’t tasted it myself, thank God. I refused when they served it. Oh, shit. I don’t know.. Maybe a delicious seafood plate? With salmon, shrimps, lobster, crab, mussels.. you know? That’d be great.”

#( &; convo: matt. )#backdated

“Was that an insult to your brother? That his work isn’t a real job? Oh, speaking of, how is that asshole of yours that you’re taking care of? Did you win him over with your devilishly good looks?” she quirked an eyebrow in question, recalling the other male. “Well, of course. You can blame your good looks for not being able to keep me away. Your wit and charm caught me the first second we started speaking.” While her words were filled with sarcasm, there was truth behind it. “Who said sleeping with me wasn’t included in sleeping anywhere you’d like? I can’t blatantly say it out because it’ll sound a lot like prostitution, and that’ll put a bad image on me. Trips to the beach, to other countries, to villages. You can’t say ‘no’ to all of that,” she provided the offer followed by a shrug. “Gosh, Matt, why so eager? I’m here, being the naive, innocent person I am, trying to take things slow while you’re assuming that I’m ready to tear your shirt off. And good. I wouldn’t talk to you anymore if you had accepted that food. Well damn, you’re just removing all the animals from the sea, aren’t you.”

The blonde shrugged, a small smirk playing about her lips. “What can I say? You make your weaknesses rather obvious, my dear. If I ever really wanted to injure you, I’d steal every last waffle from the kitchen, both frozen and fresh, and refuse to share.” Astrid laughed. “I dare say he’d murder me right then and there, but at least I’d go out with a bang. Beaten to death by my ex-fiance’s shoe by the man himself.” The girl grinned, crossing her arms across her chest, silverware safely set on the table once more. “Haven’t you learned by now, Mavros? I always have a valid point. One of the true tragedies of always being right. I don’t think it’d do you any favors that you’re also an attractive woman. For some reason people seem to think that intelligence isn’t compatible with beauty.” At Athena’s response, Astrid couldn’t help but laugh, reveling in the assumptions that the other had about her. To Athena’s credit, she wasn’t far off base, the blonde having been called a snake on more than one occasion. “Sadly no. It’s currently a European bison and to change the national animal would be a waste of my time and resources. The amount of schools that would have to change mascots…. the national team’s logos… the royal seal. Really, it’d just be a mess. Perhaps if anyone actually cared much about the national animal I’d consider it, but I’d rather leave my mark in…. other ways.”

#( &; convo: astrid. )#backdated

She grimaced at how well Astrid knew her weaknesses, feeling threatened and vulnerable to the other female. “That would be so disrespectful. I will hunt you down and fight you if you did that. I swear, if you let anyone know of my weakness, you can say goodbye to those blonde locks of yours,” she fought back, pressing her lips together tightly. However, the small rug of a smile at the corner of her lips hinted at the lack of seriousness and how empty the threat really was. A laugh broke the tightly sealed lips of hers, imagining the blonde getting hit by a shoe. “What a way to kick the bucket. A princess who was seeking for a comfort food and companion to do so is found dead with the marks of the a shoes over her body.” She rolled her eyes and leaned back with a groan at the reality behind Astrid’s words. She had considered running for presidency many times before, keeping it as an option for her future plans, but deep down, she knew how unlikely it was for her to be elected into the presidency seat. “It’s because an attractive woman is needed for other purposes than to lead a country. What those purposes are? I’m not sure, but they’re fitting for the 19th century. And thank you, for calling me attractive.” She squirmed in her seat, taking on the role as a niave female who had just received a compliment for the first time. “A snake would be so much cooler. Imagine the schools naming themselves the ‘Cobras’ instead. Ah, enlighten me, dear. In what other ways would you leave your mark?”

Lijana nodded, swallowing some, not having had expected the other woman to ask such an obvious question. It was like Tatijana always said, the blonde was too impulsive and said anything that came into her head. “Well…. I had to go home to the funeral. My older sister…” Her voice grew quiet as Dragan’s admonitions were brought to mind, but Lijana swallowed hard, determined that she would still talk about her older sister, regardless of if she was dead and gone. “My older sister, Tatijana, died in the attack and one of us had to go back to the funeral. My older brother is the future king, so it was too dangerous for him to go back home, what with the war and everything, so I was brought back. I guess it means that I’m more disposable, but at least I got to say my last goodbyes…” She paused, not having been able to talk to anyone about any of this before, her brother shutting her down when she had tried to. “Then I had to attend to a few things before I could come back.” Lijana bit her bottom lip, shrugging a bit. “Anyway, I’m here now, so that’s the important part. Anywhere in this place that’s worth exploring then?” She attempted a smile, one that didn’t quite meet her eyes, but was better than nothing. “Yeah, that’s my older brother. Do you know him?”

#( &; convo: lijana. )#backdated

Athena keenly listened to the blonde explain her reasoning for coming to the castle so late. Her tongue was pressed against the roof of her mouth the whole time, being unable to form words for a response. She was praying the other female would break out in tears or would need her to comfort her, something she wasn’t sure how to provide. She grew up without siblings or someone around her who could have taught her how to comfort someone or give help. Rather, her ability to cope on her own only made isolation her method to deal with her problems, creating her own atmosphere of awkwardness as she sat there, her blue eyes settled on the blonde but the air was empty with her own words. “I heard about the attack. I’m sorry to hear that,” the words left from her lips, attempting to fill them with sympathy. “What was your sister like, if you don’t mind me asking?” she inquired, trying to utilize what she learned. She shared a similar void as the other, considering she also lost someone close to her, and the similarity softened her a bit. If someone had asked her to talk about her mom, she could go on a for a while, something she hoped the other would do as well. It was better than waiting for her to come up with a more sympathetic response for comfort. “The top floor is worth it. Rarely is anyone there, and there are many rooms that could lead anywhere. There are also tunnels here, but it’s easy to get lost which is a good thing.” Her question brought her eyebrows to knit together. Yes, she knew it, but she didn’t really know him, and now finding out that he had two other sisters only confirmed how she didn’t truly know him. “Yeah, he’s a friend.”

“Nothing is set in stone yet. I can’t just implement laws without the approval of parliament. Just because someone is king does not mean they can do whatever they’d like. And once they see the improvement of crime rates, they’ll be much more inclined to stay with me.” Dragan fought to liberate his jaw from her clutches, delivering a scowl in response. It was frivolous to argue with her about such a ridiculous topic, but Athena always did have a way of inciting a challenge between them, not that he was innocent in the matter, though, to him, he never seemed to posses the same influence over her as she did him. “That would be more believable if you didn’t sit on said face as many times as you have,” he rebutted. “Trust me, they are already used to an-.. interesting ruler.” His tone fell flat, barely audible, yet his eyes trailed off into an oblivion. For a moment he lost himself within his own mind, a plethora of words depicting the vile nature his father held accompanied by a collection of memories he yearned to purge from his conscious. A shiver traveled down his spine causing his body to faintly shudder and a hint of dismay established itself on his facial features. It was as if the scars, who were a constant reminder of his torment, had ruptured as a result for allowing fear to intrude. In an instant, his attention was transferred to the woman in front of him. In an attempt to fill the silence, he cleared his throat awkwardly. “I won’t need a video. You’ll crack and allow me to come regardless of what you’re saying now.” A smug grin presented itself, her words doing nothing but enlarging his already sizable ego. “Mhm. And yet when I came back, you just somehow magically end up in my bed instead of theirs. But go on, keep going with how much better they are than me. I don’t think so,” he admitted, a casual shrug following. “I’m sure you’ll be a great leader.” The spiteful retort from Athena initiated an invisible fortress to surround Dragan as he readied himself for the feud commencing between them. For the first time with her, his rage blanketed all rational thoughts. His tongue bled from his teeth drilling themselves within. “It’s none of your business what happens to me in the future because you aren’t in it. Unless you’ve caught feelings suddenly and believe I’ll be riding off on my white horse with you into the sunset,” he spat, a combination of animosity and sarcasm staining each word. “Then do it. I’ve replaced you before and I can do it again. Surely you have someone who can try to compensate in my place.”

“Which dinner? The one given to you by the kitchen or the one I provided? You always did have a knack for swallowing” he snickered, throwing a quick wink. “Oh, I have no shame in admitting I wanted to pin you up against the wall and grace you with a warm welcome, but there were others in the hall. I figured you would rather have privacy.” Although meant to tease her, it was utterly true. Perhaps it was the time and distance, but seeing her after being gone for such a long time evoked a want to hold her once more. His eyes watched as she removed the topping from his finger, the blue growing darker. “Kucka,” he answered, his voice raspy from her previous action. As he was brought out of his haze, a blush crept through after realizing he had admitted to calling her a bitch all those times before. “Shit,” he mumbled, beaming an innocent smile in her direction. “I did say you look beautiful today, right? So because I added whip cream it’s a dessert. Dooley noted. Still you have to admit it was awfully kind of me to bring you food. I expect all of them eaten and complimented because I hate cooking. Cleaning I’ll do to a point, but cooking requires patience which is something I lack. How do people do it? Seems impossible in my eyes.” He shook his head in annoyance, not understanding how others enjoyed the task. Her point was received by him and he tauntingly shook the can as if to ready it for his next attack. His eyes searched her body at a languid pace, conflicted where he should begin. It surely did not help she was now straddling him, provoking his lower region to rise. What started out as a lighthearted experience was replaced with lust. The hand that remained free lightly ran down her figure, his fingers imitating water trickling. Tilting his head, he examined his options further before determining the perfect location. “You’re right, I am in control.” That same hand, which had ended up digging into her thigh, shifted to behind his head as he feigned self control. However his eyes betrayed his expression, the normally clear blue irises becoming coated with desire. He kept his gaze forward, a smirk forming. “So take it off,” he demanded, pointing the canister towards her shirt. “Now.”

#backdated #( &; convo: dragan. )

“What?” She feigned a gasp in amazement, her eyes widening in exaggeration. “A king can’t do whatever he’d like? He’s not a dictator? That’s crazy,” the sarcasm was evident behind each syntax, her exaggerated facial features only confirming her facetious attitude. “They’ll be more inclined to stay with you due to fear. Way to win them over, king,” her tongue pressed hard against her teeth when sharing the last word, putting emphasis on the name for him even though she knew the title would be his not too long from now. She tried to hide the defeated smile forming on her face, her inability to argue back due to the truth behind it. Blood rushed to her cheeks, heating it to a shade of light pink, only encouraging her to not comment on it. She popped her lips, unable to form words or a remark to throw back at him. The quick rate of the silence that erupted over them brought her to tilt her head to the side, waiting to see if he was going to elaborate more on his comment. Realizing she had lost his attention, her smile faded into frown, the creases on her forehead hinted at her worry of what had overtook him. She yearned to question it, to learn what was causing him to lose focus, but she knew it wasn’t her line to cross. “What’s wrong? Hmm? Thinking about the sisters I didn’t know about? ” She inquired in the midst of the awkward silence, drawing a cheeky smile onto her face again. “Yeah, we’ll see about that, but the lack of invitation will prove you wrong. Well, your sheets are a lot softer than theirs, so you can thank your bed instead for that.” She sucked on her inner cheek, only sending him a shrug instead of a ‘thank you’ because she lacked the acceptance and agreement behind it. Her recent fear had been situated on her ability to be a good leader, one better than her father and their past presidents who had brought the economy down. Even if she was able to be elected, the responsibility of not disappointing her people only discouraged her, doubting her own attributes. What was once light and soft turned to a shade of blue that a storm possess, boring into his as a fire ignited behind them. Her tongue curled inwards, keeping words that could lead to regrets at a later time. His stance caused a rise of her temper, one that she had spent years hiding from. “Forgive me for caring. I won’t ask anything about your future from now on then,” the bitter words fell from her lips, her tone filled with hostility. “Kalá [good]. I wouldn’t want to be in your future.” His sarcastic remark provoked a bitter laugh from her, as if all of this was foolish. “You wish. If I was riding off into the sunset, it wouldn’t be with you.” His challenge felt like a knife pierced through her skin, erupting a sharp pain within her chest that she tried to ignore though it was hard with the knot forming in the pit of her stomach. Her glare and tightened facial features hid her inner feelings. “Who said I haven’t already found someone? Who said you aren’t a replacement for someone else? But I will. If you can find someone to replace me so easily, I will.”

His sexual innuendo provoked her to nudge him with her elbow, bringing her to roll her eyes. She caught his wink with a glare and a shake of her head. “As if that has stopped you before. And plus, there’s no such thing as privacy in this castle. You do one thing, and everyone knows about it the next day.” She smugly smiled at what her action had evoked in him, taking pride in the influence she had on him. Just was she about to inflict more of an effect on him, his translation of the work distracted her momentarily, recalling the familiarity of the word in whispers from his tongue. “Oh, is that it? Seems fitting for a person like me, doesn’t it? You said I look lovely, but I’ll take beautiful as well.” She shook her head at his attempt to save himself from calling her the word, disregarding his facade of innocence with a roll of her eyes. “You should’ve added fruits on it, but I won’t complain. The gesture is enough itself. Wait, you cooked it yourself? I thought you made the kitchen staff cook it. Hold up, did you poison it then? Not that I would mind. If I’m going to die, it might as well by while I’m eating waffles.” She curled her lips inward, preventing the appreciate smile about to break through. Having to cook almost her whole life, having someone cook for her because they wanted to created a warm feeling in her stomach, a sense of gratefulness forming along with it. “ Cooking is relaxing. It’s fun watching how a mix of ingredients can create something new. You just hate everything.” She impatiently longed for his next target, eyeing the can in his hands as he shook it. Eagerness reflected against her light hues while she melted underneath his touch, the prickles of his finger sending chills down her arms in which her own bed couldn’t warm. “You should try saying please. It’s a very magical word that could get people do many things,” the words broke from the lips that were now forming a challenging smirk to match his own. After pausing for a few short seconds, Athena’s fingers reached the hem of her shirt, stripping it off over her head and tossing it to the side before pressing her back against the mattress, ready for the coldness of the cream to come in contact with a portion of her skin.

He paused at her words before responding. Although he knew to only take them at surface level, they were still able to trigger a questionable feeling which developed the more he overthought them. “If you want them to follow you, you’re going to have to win them over. After all, it will be my devilishly handsome face that will be taking over. You’d have to drag them by their feet to convince them to leave me.” For a moment he felt a minor pang of guilt for doubting her intentions though quickly dismissed the notion that she truly cared about his opinion of her was. As a peculiar way to make amends, the blonde raised his hand in mock surrender, feigning a look of resignation. “Hey, I said I can respect that. Are you saying that your lavish parties differ from everyone else’s? That’s a sight I’ve got to see. Oh wait, I’m not invited.” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Now I have the feeling the only reason an invitation won’t be passed my way is because you’re all talk and no action. Afraid?” With a scoff he mumbled bitch in his native language, topping off the entire look with a flick of his middle finger. “I’m not the one who will go crazy. Have fun with your vibrator seeing that no man could truly replace me. Maybe I’ll send you some batteries for Christmas. Well seeing that royalty is allowed in their position of power until they die or a revolution happens, perhaps I will wait till you’ve finished your terms. I’d hate to see you impeached, it wouldn’t be a good look for you.” Unlike their usual routine where the subject would then be dropped due to its escalating nature, Athena instead keep it afloat, only agitating the prince more. His stance was rigid, all his facial features being coated with irritation, a sign the Gjorgji temper would soon be released. “Péta to. Tóra [Drop it. Now].” He spoke in her native tongue to demonstrate just how serious he had become. The muscles in his jaw ticked as she continued, his eyes set ablaze with impatience. “Why do you care what happens to us?” he snapped. “What do you feel ashamed all of a sudden? Don’t want to be known as my whore by her, is that it? A little too fucking late for that. But by all means, if you’d like to close your legs up for shop, nothing is stopping you here.”

Jealousy wouldn’t be a strong enough noun to describe the emotion that prompted him to curl his hands into fists, though he knew it was rash seeing that he too had someone to keep his bed warm in her absence. Still, hearing about it did not sit well with him or whatever puzzling sensation smuggled its way to the pit of his stomach. “Give me their names and I will,” he gritted through an artificial grin as an attempt to shield his envy. “No. I only detected two things from you; delight and arousal. I mean, I’ve always known I’ve had that effect on you, but you could have at least tried to hide it.” He mentally pondered at whether or not he was also speaking to himself as he teased her. With a lick of his lips, he removed more of the whip cream from around his mouth and attempted to grab the sheets underneath them to wipe off the rest. The plan was soon foiled by Athena’s smug grin from her creation that now sat on top of his face. He chuckled at her reaction and swabbed some of the cream from her chest followed by raising it towards the opening of her mouth. “Can’t say we have fucker, but we have bastard. It’s kopile. A dessert? Just five minutes ago waffles were a breakfast food and now they are dessert. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to keep track of how your mind works,” he sighed melodramatically, a phony pout lining his lips. Before he had time to truly take action once more, the can was snatched out of his grasp. Dragan’s first reaction was to cover his face with his hands from her wrath, but instead they clutched onto her thighs after her intentions were revealed. He followed her instructions, lifting his upper body from the mattress and took the opportunity to seize her mouth. His tongue lapped up the whip cream from her mouth and then severed the connection with a smirk. A hand freed itself, sneaking its way to the bottle and swiping it from her. “Delicious. Hm, where to next?” he questioned as his eyes scanned her figure.

#( &; convo: dragan. )#backdated

“As if that’s hard. For starters, I’m not the one advocating for a public punishment. That’s enough to get half of your population to follow me. And,” she started before her fingers gripped his jaw, leaning in and looking around his face as if to inspect it, “you’re overestimating how handsome your face really is.” Releasing her touch from his face, a laugh escaped from her mouth as she shook her head. “Your brooding nature will do its job for me and convince them to leave you.” All she could do was shrug as her response, choosing to not add more on to their conversation about her intentions. She didn’t want to spend more time expanding on her desires to help others out. “How unfortunate for you to miss out on the party of the year. I’ll be nice, however, and get someone to film the party and send you a video of it. You ought to feel special.” Athena didn’t have to know the language of the other to know what he said was an insult aimed at her, which only planted a smirk on her face. She rolled her eyes at his prediction, scoffing at him. “Don’t let that head of yours get too big, Dragan. I have a list of guys who can be an effective substitution for you, ones that are present in this castle right now as well. But batteries are appreciative as well. I’ll probably get impeached three months in office, so waiting for my terms to finish won’t be an issue.” As soon as the Greek words fell harshly from his lips, Athena bit back any further questions that could cause a rise in the temperature of his blood. That was until she was met with the questions from him and the lack of answers for her questions. The change of demeanors, body language, and tone contributed to the adjustment of the atmosphere. The ease of her eyes and relaxed body state that indicated she dropped the topic immediately tensed up, narrowing her blue eyes onto him as if to burn through his body. “I don’t care about what happens to you guys,” she snarled back, her Grecian accent breaking through her words. “It’s about your future, and I was just curious. I was talking about you and her, so why am I brought into this?” She flinched at the name, causing her teeth to grind against each other in irritation. “I don’t give a crap about what she thinks of me. After all, she’ll have many more whores to deal with once you guys get married. But hey, you’re right. Nothing is stopping me from zipping up my vagina to end your temporary source of pleasure. Maybe then it’ll give you a chance to seek your fiance out for gratification instead.”

The change in his body movements prompted a challenging smirk to accompany her quirked eyebrow on her face. “It’ll be a long list. Give me a few days to remember their names and write them down,” she commented, though half of it was a lie. It wasn’t too long of a list, though it might be considered ‘long’ to others, but the truth lied behind her being unable to place a name on their faces. “Are you sure that delight and arousal was from me realizing what was for dinner that night which happened to occur as soon as I saw you? I was shocked you didn’t immediately undress me when you first saw me and was actually able to utter out a few sentences. How much control did you have?” She wouldn’t admit to it, but once his face came into her view that day, it was more delight than arousal, along with a mix of anger but she had expressed that earlier. Feeling the leftover of the whipped cream leave sticky spots on her face, she attempted to wipe it off of her forehead with the sleeves of her sweater. A shower was definitely needed after this. She pulled all her hair to one side, giving it less chance to be attacked with their choice of weapon for the day. She leaned in as he brought some of the cream towards her mouth, capturing his finger between her lips and sucking it off. “Kopile,” she repeated after swallowing the whipped cream, her tongue trying to get used to the word. “And what about bitch? Whipped cream is a dessert, but those,” she gestured towards the untouched container of waffles, “are food that can be eaten whenever during the day, especially at two in the morning.” She positioned her legs on both sides of his body, trying to get her figure in a comfortable position. What was planned as a distraction for him become a distraction for her as she felt him remove the cream from her mouth, changing the smirk into a smile as he did so. Focused on that action, she forgot her plan to spray his face with the cream, and her chance to do so was faltered as soon as the can left her hand. She inched forward, trying to get a grip on the can before groaning as she completely lost it. “You have the can. You’re in control, so you tell me,” her tone softened as she lowered herself halfway down to the mattress beneath them.

“Your country can love you all they’d like. It’s my country you’re going to have to try to win over.” Though in her defense, he knew it wouldn’t be that difficult of a task for her or anyone seeing that his father was currently king. A genuine half smile appeared though he ignored the eerie sense of pride that gathered from her words. Although they were merely bantering as usual, he still felt her charity had some truth behind it. “At least its not for selfish reasons, I can respect that. I still feel a lavish party is over doing it. And no it’s not because I want an invitation. I’ve been paraded around balls and formal events for the majority of my life and it will only increase once I sit on the throne. One less won’t make or break me. You’re trying pretty hard to convince me to see you. Will you miss me that much? I’m flattered. Yes because they have a trusted council behind them. Allow me to establish myself and then perhaps I will visit you for an extended period of time.” A glare was sent in her direction followed by him crossing his arms over his chest. Simply speaking of her provoked an immense feeling of irritation, especially since it reminded him that nothing in his life had even been decided by himself. He spoke through gritted teeth, the earlier playfulness they shared vanishing on his part. “No. She won’t be my wife. End of discussion.”

He rolled his eyes, brushing her with a wave of his hand. “You probably thought day and night about me. It’s alright. You don’t have to admit it. The way your eyes lit up the first time you saw me since I left.” Which was partially true, since Dragan himself knew the excitement that flourished as she reached his line of sight, yet again it was another secret he kept to himself. His laughter filled the room, covering her squeals of protest in the process. However his tight grasp on her was short lived as she scrawled on top of him, looking up at her with a heavy smirk. “Don’t you da-..” his warning shifted to a gasp after her hands made contact with is face. Once again he was brought to laughter, though this time it was infused with shock, taking his free hand to clear a portion of the cream from his line of vision. He lightly pouted at how quickly her mouth left his before he had a chance to capture them. With a nod, he teasingly shook his head as if disappointed in her actions. “No,” he began, utilizing the whip cream canister he held in his possession to spray the cream towards her neck and down to the exposed portion of her chest, “you look cute.” He took the opportunity to install their past pattern and lick the whip cream again except he took his time before removing his tongue. “Such a waste, Athena. I made this breakfast for you to throw it away.”

#( &; convo: dragan. )#backdated

“Uh, why do I need to win your country over? What can they do for me? I already won you over, so I pretty much have their hearts,” she blatantly stated, a smug smile decorating her face. Though it shouldn’t have been a surprise, she was still bothered by how unexpected it was for people to hear her goals that didn’t revolve around her. With the facade she put up, her desires to help others came as a surprise. “Whoa, look at that. Me, not being selfish?” A false gasp rattled through her lips. “This only occurs once in a lifetime. And a lavish party is not over doing it, and you can’t say anything when you don’t know what this lavish party entails. Alright, but have you ever been to a Cypriot party? It’s nothing like yours, nor does it look like it comes out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald book. This party will make you change the customs of your royal balls,” she overexaggerated, providing him a wink to further elaborate on her festivities. “I’m just being nice and making sure that you’ll get the chance to see me so you don’t go crazy. And how long is that going to take you to do? I’ll be impeached from office before you establish yourself.” His defensive response only encouraged her to keep poking at him and his future. She knew there was a line to not cross, but curiosity provoked this persistent inspection from her. “So you’re going to break off the engagement somehow? You can’t keep doing that to all your engagements. Have you even tried to make it work with her?” She wasn’t sure what was pushing her to ask him this questions and stimulate this form of pressure on him, considering if she was the one with her husband picked out for her, she wouldn’t try to make it work either.

“Yeah, definitely. I had dreams about you, and I was calling out for you every night. You can even ask the guys that shared my sheets with me about how often your name was being called,” her tone dripped with sarcasm. “Are you sure it didn’t light up in anger when I saw you?” The ambiguity and teasing were techniques of hiding her true feelings and emotions. When she heard of his reunion in the castle, elation consumed her. Seeing him, however, brought her a form of relief, one that could’ve been expressed through an embrace she thought about giving him but substituted it, instead, with arrogant comments. Athena leaned back, giving herself a wider view of her masterpiece of his face. Laughter erupted from her while blues eyes scattered around her bed to look for her phone to capture her artwork. Her search came to a halt as she felt the topping against her skin, sending chills down her body. Her chest vibrated underneath his tongue as chuckles joined the atmosphere. “Hey, you started it!” The childish phrase fell from her lips. “How do you say ‘fucker’ in Macedonian? Oh look, this dessert is throwing those weeks of working out away,” she commented, her hand tangled around his arm and giving it a light squeeze. With her empty hand, she stole the can from him, turning it upside down and spraying some of it into her mouth. “Alright, open up,” she demanded with a mouth full of whipped cream.

He released the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding, appreciative she moved on from the topic. Most would raise a brow at their dynamics, perhaps even calling their interactions a hoax of true engagement. Yet neither spoke with opposition and they kept on with the so called facade. A chuckle was sparked by her words and was accompanied by a shake of his head.“I’m sure your country feels exactly the same way. A fundraiser for who? I don’t believe people are going to want to raise money for their government to survive. That’s a cheap shot. Ha! As if I wanted an invitation. Your parties will lack any real substance anyways. No, but it is called running a country by not visiting another country to simply see your lovely smirk. You do know Snap Chat exists, yes? Oh my dear, if I’m visiting you, it will take far more than hour.” Pride and arrogance permeated his tone until she brought up his fiancee. A transformation of expression occurred as blue orbs turned into slits. “Don’t call her my wife. I’d rather marry you than her and that’s saying something. To answer your question however, you are her most favorite person. Always asking about your health,” he grinned in a lighthearted tone, eyelashes playfully batting. “That’s too far. Then I’ll seem regressive.” Her reaction caused his smile to widen, fulfillment and joy spreading throughout his chest, though he kept those emotions to himself. “I felt as if I had to make it up to you. You know, leaving without warning or telling you. There are plenty of scenarios that possibly could have crossed your mind and I surely did not help by not contacting you. Take this as my apology,” he shrugged, yet the smile still tugged at his lips. “Sure you do.” His chest vibrating underneath his body as he chuckled before scrunching his nose as her finger applied whip cream to the tip of it. Quickly his expression turned playful, deciding to administer his revenge. “You asked for it.” With the whip cream bottle, Dragan seemingly held Athena around her waist tighter for physical contact though disproved that notion by swiftly pushing her back against him as he fully laid down and began spraying the whip cream onto her forehead. Once finished, he widened his eyes as to imitate an innocent expression yet laughter slipped through no. “Whoops,” he topped it off before putting one more line of whip cream across her lips before licking it off. “You look cute.”

#( &; convo: dragan. )#backdated

“My country loves me, okay?” It wasn’t completely a lie. A section of the country did while the others felt the same way about her as they did with her father. “A fundraiser for the poorly educated people in Cyprus, of course. You’d be surprised what people are willing to do for a lavish party. Don’t underestimate me, Gjorgji.” She scoffed at his words, shaking her head lightly. “Don’t lie to me. You know you’ll be waiting for an invitation to be sent through your mail. I’ll have you know that you won’t get one, but your people will. I’m sorry I’m not of a royal and my parties can’t be like yours. Queens and kings have gone on a vacation for a long period of time, and they still call it running their country. Right, but is seeing my face over a screen the same thing as seeing me physically?” She captured her bottom lip between her teeth as soon as she noticed the change of expression when she brought up the person who he was engaged to, noting how he felt about it. “She’ll be your wife one day. Unless you screw up that engagement like with Astrid’s. That sounds almost like a compliment, yet it still makes me feel offended. Hah, sure. I bet she does. ‘How is Athena doing? Have her lungs failed her yet? Why, can it fail her quicker?’” Athena imitated the other female, pressing her hand over her heart and batting her eyelashes, her voice raised at a higher pitch to mock the female.

“An ‘I’m sorry’ could’ve sufficed, you know. Honestly, I didn’t even realize you left until you came back, but apology accepted,” she teased, not wanting to admit the true effect his departure left on her. Of course different scenarios and reasons crossed her mind, attempting to find a valid reason for his sudden leaving. For a vivid and imaginative person as she is, the reasons were various in positive and negative ideas. She didn’t spend a plethora of time to dwell on them, however. She ultimately regretted putting the whipped cream on his nose once she saw his revengeful expression, causing her eyes to widen and her lips to part in protests. Through a pattern of ‘no’s’ in between giggles, she attempted to get out of his grip but she was no match for him, especially with her size compared to his strength. A light shriek rushed past her mouth as soon as she felt the cold cream against her skin. Removing herself from his grip finally, she sat up, shifting her body around to face him and pouted in defeat. “Apology not accepted anymore.” Cupping the whipped cream off her forehead in her hand, she shared it with her other hand. “Come here,” she insisted before crawling over him and wiping the cream off her hands and onto his face. Imitating his own action, she spread some of the cream across his lips, leaning forward to scrape it off with her teeth. “You look so much cuter.”

He cleared his throat and took her hands in his. “My dearest Athena. I hope you do realise that you will always be the most important reason why I want to visit Cyprus. Without you there will be no light left in the land. Without you there will be no happiness in any man. Yo– okay, I’m done,” he chuckled and dropped the dramatic attitute and voice, while also letting go of her hands. “You’ll give me a job just like that? Sure, if you can give me better work conditions and paycheck than my current employer. Ah, so that’s what’s it about? Love, if you want me shirtless all you have to do is ask. Or take it off yourself, I’m not gonna stop you.” A cheeky grin appeared on his face and he shook his head. “Fasolada? Sounds interesting. I think maybe the alien thing could fix it. The Brits are always angry, but the Norwegians always complain. And they eat boiled sheep’s head. Gross.”

#backdated #( &; convo: matt. )

As her hands came in contact with his, she tilted her head to the side, waiting in anticipation for his words. She listened to him, nodding at each sentence with admirable eyes. As soon as he finished, she dismissed her facade and burst out in chuckles. “This is why I keep you around. You also almost rhymed in that beautiful speech of yours. I’m pretty sure you just found a backup occupation as a poet. And yes, like I said, I need to keep you around. Not only do you get to see me, you get to hang out with me and sleep anywhere in the building. Those conditions are a man’s dreams. How much does your employer pay you now? I’ll pay you twice that much with additional frequent beach trips. If I wanted to see your shirtless, I would’ve already taken it off myself. But hey, if you want to go to shirtless, I won’t complain.” She shrugged, a sly smile accompanying her face before it was also joined with a scrunch of her nose at the mention of the food. “That’s a thing? Definitely gross. Okay, so you’re about to get executed and you get one last meal. What would it be?”

“I didn’t think I had to say that. I thought you knew you’d be the main reason why I’d even consider visiting Cyprus. The waffles would just be a plus. Sorry, love, if you didn’t think you were the most important thing of you and waffles. Huh, that’s also a very good plan. I don’t know what your official food is now, but I bet some people would get pissed off if you just chose to change it one day. Like I think both the Brits and the Norwegians would be angry if someone took away their national food. ”

#( &; convo: matt. )#backdated

“But I’d like to hear you say it yourself. It sounds like music to my ears when you do. I need to be constantly reminded that I’m more important than waffles. You know this, Matt. You have to remind me every day just how special I am. Not only does Cyprus have waffles and me, there are amazing cliffs. Look, if you ever need a job, I’ll hire you, and there’ll be no interviews. It won’t even be a vigorous job. You just stand there, shirtless if you please, looking pretty and eating free food. Though, you’ll have to tackle a person once in a while. Our national dish is fasolada which is a traditional soup, so yeah, they’ll get pretty pissed when I make a not so traditional food our official dish, not unless I make them love me by exposing the information on aliens tot he public. The Brits are always angry, though.”

“Why don’t you start with the waffles then move on to the alian topic as soon as possible? That way you can eat all you want of the official food while you search for alien info. Hell, I’ll visit if the official food becomes waffles.”

#( &; convo: matt. )#backdated

“I’m so offended right now, Matt. You should be visiting to see me, not for the food. I’m going to ban you from my country just because you said that. I’ll even make sure you won’t be able to buy any waffles from anywhere in the world. While your suggestion is very smart and satisfying to my belly, maybe if I can find out the secrets of aliens, people will realize to not mess with me and then not get angry when I choose waffles as the best food in the world.”

“I’d find someone else. Think Dragan enjoys being woken up at 2 am by an intruder throwing his own shoes at him?” The blonde chuckled, knowing full well and good that that was just a good way to get herself killed. “You’d like to think that way, but I’m sure that’s what a lot of people in America thought as well. I never thought I’d say this, but even all the Germans can’t be that irrational. These things have a nasty way of cropping up and taking a long time to disappear.” Astrid laughed. “At least make it something more interesting, Athena. Something that’s far more fitting for your personality. A vulture at the very least.”