i break chains all by myself

chiamaka akia "rhiannon" taylor. thirty-two. daughter of the liberian president. too determined to slow down.

[ofrhiannons-blog]

brucemacalpin:

He had saved some time of his day to have a calm breakfast before locking himself up and getting to work. He was now busier than before and had to deal with the displeasement of the english people about him now sitting on their throne. It was common knowledge that it was temporary and he got offered the crown, he didn’t take it, a decision discussed and made by all the british leaders. Seeing someone walking by as he sipped his coffee he made a small nod of his head as a greeting. “Hi. Coffee?” he offered  out of politeness, seemed like the right thing to do.

rhiannon’s business meetings started running smoother ever since she visited home to set things straight. she found it very annoying that requests weren’t going through and miscommunication was at the top of the list of things going wrong with her organization. it was a relief to know that whenever she had a skype session, she knew things would be running better. she’d just gotten off of a call when someone gestured hello, and she grinned in his direction. “i’d love a cup, actually. thank you.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

invri:

“Sorry, could you pass me the salt, please.” It was stupid how delivering such an easy line could make her so nervous. Especially lately she would have preferred to keep her head low, be invisible and quiet. But not even she could stand bland food.

“yeah, of course. sorry, i was watching something on my phone, i’m usually not this unobservant.” rhi commented as she passed the little shaker, taking an earbud out with a sheepish grin.

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

levi’s hand lifted, skating up the side of rhiannon’s arm, over the curve of her shoulder to curl over the back of her neck. it’s a slow movement, just easing into it as he had with the kiss. he can feel her soften against him, mouth pliant under his. his fingers curve over the back of her neck, gripping gently to keep her in place. his kiss grew a little more exploratory, his other hand lifting to cup against her jaw, tilting her chin up a little to give them a better angle. 

rhiannon sighed against his lips as his hand came to rest on the back of her neck. her hands reached out to rest on his chest, fingers curling into the material of his shirt as his kiss changed from shy to exploratory. she moved as he tilted her chin up, teeth tugging at his bottom lip softly as she backed away momentarily to catch her breath, brushing her lips against his with a soft chuckle. rhi captured his lips with hers once more as she revealed in the moment, hands sliding from his chest to rest around his neck.

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

levi grins to himself, all teeth and scruff, eyes crinkling at the corners. he huffs a little laugh of his own, though it’s more muted than rhiannon’s, just a quiet little puff through his nose. 

“don’t speak too soon,” he teases, head cocking slightly to one side, half-turned at the waist to face her a little better. sitting side by side probably wasn’t the greatest positioning for a face to face conversation, but they made it work. 

levi can’t stop the laugh that peels from his lips, this slightly more forceful huff passing by mouth this time. “jesus, taylor. and i thought i was the corny one,” his tone is teasing, warmed with a kind of fondness he rarely voices for others. he’s already leaning in when he speaks, his voice softening as he closes the gap between them. levi’s hand lifts again to brush away another breeze-loosened stray, from the point of her cheek to back behind her ear. his mouth finds hers, still curled at the corners as he presses their lips together, kiss gentle despite the urge to kiss her senseless buzzing in the back of his skull. that could come later - let them test the waters first. 

rhiannon rolled her eyes at him, tightening the jacket around her shoulders to keep out the new breeze rolling in, shivering slightly.

she chuckled and shook her head, still not believing the words that came out. hey, the poor girl was stoned off her ass and still buzzed from the champagne she’d been drinking all night - sue her. “got you beat, then.” rhi murmured, smiling a touch before dipping her head a bit. 

she glanced up as he leaned in, letting him move the small strand of hair that escaped her hairdo. the feeling of his lips against hers surprised her for a moment, and for a second, she didn’t kiss back until it registered in her mind. rhiannon kissed him back just as soft, resisting the urge to deepen it until they were definitely on the same page.

[ofrhiannons-blog]

zoeysonderburg:

“If you’re randomly going to start talking about how this war shouldn’t be happening or giving opinions on other countries’ actions you should find someone else to talk to because I’ll pass.” her patience that day was on a too low level, enough that those were the first words she would tell someone who just stopped near her and didn’t even open their mouth yet.

“the opposite, actually.” rhi murmured as she took a sip of her tea, casually scrolling through her instagram feed. “i was planning on asking if you;ve seen all of those bomb celebrity halloween costumes.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

gaiafarnese:

“okay, you had a good answer, you had one of those smart politician answers and now i look like a complete oaf,” gaia chuckled. “but you’re so right. there’s a reason why pride is a deathly vice. i mean this whole portugal-spain fiasco is impossible.”

“oh please, i’m hardly like a politician.” rhi said with a laugh. “i just know what the simple answer is. if their leaders were able to communicate and speak about the issues at hand, the situation would hardly be anything more than a playground fight.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

“we really are. the fuckin’ hugest,” levi continues, grinning at rhiannon giggles. it was a musical little sound, quite pleasing to the ear. he was glad to work that out of her - all too often she seemed stressed. stress was a byproduct of the lives they lead, so it was nice to see her so cheerful. 

“i know, i know. i always ruin the mood,” he jokes, mouth curling up at one corner. “and now i’m just bringin’ you down to my level. i hope you can forgive me one day.” 

he falls silent after he makes his little joke, though he keeps his eyes on rhiannon. he lifts a hand, using his thumb to sweep a flyaway back from rhiannon’s temple, smoothing the stray hair back into the bulk of her little ‘do. it’s not a usual kind of touch between them - while they were always physically familiar, friendly and affectionate with their touches, they did have their boundaries. this strayed a little left of them, though, erring on the side of intimate. levi didn’t stop himself, though - he didn’t even think about it. he was past thinking about it, at this point - the weed and the drink emboldened him, removed that low lying anxiety that still sometimes haunted him. 

“i’m glad we got to hang out tonight,” he says quietly, head dipping in a little nod, small smile on his mouth. “it’s uh… nice.” 

“hugest.” rhiannon emphasized before breaking into a fit of laughter again, unable to control the humor she found in the situation. she tried to keep herself contained, placing a hand over her chest and taking a few calming breaths with lingering giggles trailing behind.

“don’t apologize. i don’t mind it down here.”

rhi stilled when he swept a piece of hair back, surprised at the difference in touch. it wasn’t like they’d never touched before - a big part of their friendship was very physical as she was always subtly finding a way to get her hands on him. this was different, though. there was always a little line that they hadn’t dared cross yet, but this gesture said otherwise.

rhiannon smiled when he did, leaning in a little closer to him. “i’m glad we got to hang out, too. everything’s been so hectic lately, it’s nice to forget everything and...” oh boy. “y’know, be with you.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

“guess that makes us the asshole, then?” levi jokes, shaking his head a little. he chews the inside of his cheek for a moment, pulling his gaze from rhiannon’s to take another sip from his now-mostly empty glass, setting it aside as she speaks. he turns his head once he’s sure the glass isn’t going to get knocked over, meeting rhiannon’s gaze again.

“you’re stoned,” he tells her with a lopsided little grin, tone almost chiding. he can’t really talk, though - he wasn’t the biggest of smokers any more, so he was definitely starting to feel it. he takes the roach from her, taking the last half-drag before he drops it into the dregs of his drink - no one really wants that warm, backwashy bit. yikes. 

“i’m really leadin’ you astray, huh?” 

he laughs a little at his own joke - the idea of him being some bad boy leading rhiannon astray was pretty funny. 

“a little bit, yeah.” rhiannon laughed. “we’re huge assholes.”

rhiannon couldn’t even reply back, giggling in response to his statement. she hadn’t been high it what felt like forever, and when she was, it was obvious. her eyes were squinted since they felt so heavy, a hint of redness coloring the whites of them. rhi sighed when he took the roach, pulling his jacket around her a bit tighter. 

“of course you are. we’re supposed to be all sophisticated inside, but look what we’re doing.” rhi was only joking, as if the half smile on her face didn’t give it away. “can’t believe you.” 

[ofrhiannons-blog]

gaiafarnese:

“i just — i just.” she let out a frustrated sigh and pursed her lips. her point was difficult if not impossible to put into words without sounding like a complete ditz. “everyone says they want peace and harmony and what’s good for their country but they still keep intimidating or attacking others. i liked the way things were one, okay no, two years ago. how did we get here?”

“it’s a lack of communication with stubbornness. we won’t ever move forward unless we have more conversations and a willingness to compromise.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

levi laughs a little, though the sound is quiet, half-hearted. he still doesn’t really vibe with the whole royalty thing - he remembers being just a regular kid, even if that was thirty years ago. he knows he’s lucky, even if he doesn’t often feel that way - it’s something he tries to remind himself of constantly, lest he get too comfortable. 

“definitely not. we’re lucky,” he says with a little nod, passing off the blunt again. his fingers tap absently against the swell of rhiannon’s hip, stroking the soft material of her dress. his thumb rubs in little arcs against the ripples of fabric.

“i’m great, i know,” he jokes weakly, turning his head after a moment to look down at rhiannon, where she was tucked up under his arm. “simply the best, y’know. to quote tina turner.” 

“we are. i know so many people who wouldn’t dare complain about any of this.” she murmured, taking the blunt back and adjusting her grip on it before bringing it to her lips, holding the smoke in momentarily as she looked up at the night sky, admiring the twinkling stars she was able to see.

rhiannon grinned as she released the wispy smoke, almost unable to see it after inhaling it for so long. “you are.” she stated softly, the effects of her high creeping up on her as her gaze dropped to his lips before flickering up to meet his eyes. 

[ofrhiannons-blog]

pxjosephine:

“ there’s a ghost in my room. -okay, maybe not a ghost, but definitely a goblin. something or someone keeps stealing my socks! i can’t keep pretending that i’m wearing mismatching socks on purpose. ”

“maybe that’s a sign to keep wearing mismatch socks. i hardly ever wear socks that match nowadays.” 

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

“the struggle’s real out here, huh?” levi intones, voice lit with a teasing sort of lilt. his mouth curls, hand still rubbing circles into her back, palm broad and warm against the soft fabric of her dress. he turns his head away a little to take another hit, flicking away gathering ash when he pulls the blunt from his lips. 

he hums. “yeah, yeah. can’t complain too much though, can we? we’ve got it pretty sweet, all things considered.”

levi lets his arm slip around rhiannon fully when she sidles up against him, hand slipping from where it’d been parked under his jacket to instead rest on the curve of her hip. his thumb pets there a moment before he offers her the joint back, having filled his lungs once more. 

“at least it’s pretty nice out tonight,” he muses.  

“it is.” rhiannon replied jokingly. “it’s really real.” 

she sighed and nodded. “no, yeah, you’re right. i don’t know many people that have the luxury of living on an island and being treated like, well, royalty.” 

rhiannon took the blunt back from him, placing it to her lips and taking a deep inhale, letting the smoke fill her lungs before ghosting it entirely. “yeah, it’s lovely out tonight.” she murmured, putting the blunt back to her lips and taking another pull. rhi didn’t lift her head from his shoulder, just enjoyed the feeling of being laid up against him for a moment. “good weather and good company.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

princessncdia:

Talking to the right people went a long way for Nadia. In this case, it led her with a joint in her hand and rooftop that was ready for the picking. Most people were asleep at this hour, having no reason to be out. Or alone doing whatever it was that other royalty did. Taking a slow steady hit, her lungs filled with smoke. They burned. There was slight tickle– forcing her to exhale. It’s a good thing she had because otherwise, she would’ve choked. The sudden intrusion behind her caused the hairs on back to stand. “If you wanted a hit, you could have just asked,” she joked, trying to hide the obvious panic of being found.

rhiannon could hardly ever sleep these days. she was always so concerned about everything happening back home that she found ways to keep working on anything that would contribute. unfortunately for rhi, her mother told her to relax for the night instead of fussing over something she could only control from so far. that lead rhiannon to walking around with no real destination in mind, though it eventually led her to the rooftop. she grinned as soon as the familiar smell of weed wafted through the air, and her smile only widened when she saw her friend. “i was just wandering about, that’s all.” she replied innocently.

[ofrhiannons-blog]

pyrestacks:

          safely maneuvering across a busy hallway with a drink in your hand ?  difficult.  doing all that while semi - high for the first time in your life ?  damn near impossible.  so ,  here he was :  pouring a glass of red wine painfully slowly ,  in a mesmerized haze as he watched the thin ,  rich liquid fall into the cup.  it reminds him of the time his dad broke his nose against the marble counter-top in the kitchen and the red spilled out of his nostrils like a never - ending , stinging waterfall ;  how long he bled ,  how much his bones ached ,  how deep those stains settled in the lines of his palms.  when he reminisces in this way ,  he is reminded of how soft the world seems compared to that sanguine - stained childhood.  once he’s re-entered the half - haze of the present ,  theodore realizes he’s over - poured a considerable amount  (  it’s more than three - fourths full ,  and he’s pretty sure wine’s not the sort of drink you chug.  still ,  it’s frederick ,  so who knows what he does in his free time  ).  content at this snail’s pace ,  he begins the slow trek back to prince frederick’s chambers and lets muscle memory guide him ,  retreating into lazy thought on his way there.  

          suddenly ,  a body collides with his and half of the cup is spilling all over the both of them.  mortified ,  drenched ,  and minutely sobered,  theo sets the glass aside and begins hurriedly cleaning the other up.  

       “  oh ,  god  –  i am so ,  so sorry !  ”

rhiannon had just finished eating a quick lunch by the beach, a simple and relaxing way to handle the stress she was dealing with from back home. it was hard to leave the foundation she’d created in someone else’s hands, and it was particularly hard to continue running it from so far away. almost everyone she’d left in charge constantly texted her asking about how certain things should be handled and ran, so separating from her phone for long was out of the picture. she was in the middle of replying back to one of her staff members when she collided with someone, the dark wine soaking through the material of her dress.

“no, you’re fine. accidents happen.” luckily for rhiannon, her phone only had a couple drops on the screen, nothing appeared to get into a speaker or microphone. “you don’t have clean me up, sweetheart, i’m okay. i’m walking home, anyway.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

levi shrugs at the thanks, scratching his cheek a minute. “don’t mention it, rhi. i’ve got a little more paddin’, so you need it more than i do.” he ended up divested of his jacket more often than not on nights like this, whether to his daughter or a friend. sometimes even his mother - he always tried to look out for his mom where he could. 

he hums. “that’s life though, i guess. we better get used to it, huh?” he queries. he’d already spent a lot of time in situations like this - in his youth his father had often tried to engineer moments between him and other royals of a similar age, hoping to set levi up with a princess or a duchess - someone worth marrying. levi had, of course, not gotten involved in that - after the birth of his daughter his dad fell back for a while. 

“that’s a plan,” he replies softly, tone teasing. levi takes the blunt to draw on it once more, inhaling deep. his free hand rested against rhiannon’s mid-back, circling there as if to generate a little more warmth for her. he taps aside ash, exhaling through his nose before taking another hit. the motion was relaxing, the deep inhale, pause then exhale. it was all very familiar, calming him where he itched with too much social interaction. 

“and this dress is made from the thinnest fabric ever. the layers don’t do shit.” 

rhiannon shrugged. “i hate that’s just what we’re subjected to, y’know? we’re still people, regardless of who are families are. some of these people need a reality check.” it was insane to see how fast her life had changed once her mother became president. some of her friends were no longer her friends because of her new status, though it never changed who she was.

rhi took the glass from him, taking a sip to alleviate the inevitable dryness that followed smoking. at least for her, she always ended up with cotton mouth. she sighed softly as levi’s hand circled on her back, shuffling a little closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder. this was the best she’d felt in a while, especially at one of the social gatherings thrown for them. while rhiannon enjoyed other people’s company, sometimes it was all too overwhelming for her, but being outside with levi was the perfect remedy.

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kyungwon-rhee:

kyung won shook her hand, smiling eagerly. “i’m kyung won. the pleasure is all mine.” they were always more than glad to make new friends. they could only count their close friends on one hand, but they hoped to make that number grow some day. a waiter passed with a tray of champagne flutes. “e-excuse me,” kyung won flagged him down, meekly. “may i have one?” the waiter looked at them, somewhat confused. he offered the tray wordlessly. “oh, right,” kyung won muttered, blushing. “i forgot i can just… have one now. would you like one?”

rhiannon was happy to make a new friend, especially considering she didn’t have many friends outside of levi, his daughter, and her own sister. she usually kept to herself and did her own thing, which obviously made it that much more difficult to make friends. “sure, sure, i’ll take another.” she’d just finished off her other fluke and the waiter took the empty glass once she picked up a fresh one. “what do you usually do here? you seemed nervous to get the champagne.”

[ofrhiannons-blog]

kawananakoax:

levi pushes his hair back from his face again as he blinks over at rhiannon. he sets the joint between his lips, holding it there as he shrugs out of his blazer. “here,” he says through clenched teeth, reaching out to drape the velvet jacket around her shoulders. “can’t be too warm in that.”

once it’s settled around her shoulders he pulls away again, taking one last drag on the blunt before he offers it to her once more. he hums. “feels kinds disingenuous, huh? like it’s all political power moves. but not uh, actual human connection. or whatever.” 

he cuts off his rambles to sip at his drink again, before he offers the glass to rhiannon. 

rhiannon glanced over at him with a grin, slipping her arms in the jacket and tightening it around her chest. “thank you.” she murmured, already feeling warmer wrapped up in his warmth. “i thought i was gonna shiver to death.”

she took the blunt back and placed it to her lips, taking a drag and letting the smoke settle in her lungs before releasing it. “yeah, it’s actually frightening to see how quickly people can shut off their humanity just for personal political gain. can’t stand it.” she took another pull from the blunt, offering it out to levi at the same time he offered the glass.

“we’ll switch.” she suggested, taking the glass from him as she passed the blunt back.