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HSHQTASK012 - FINAL TIMELINE

#single! dad! rowen! moncada! rights! only!#anyways rip rowen forever in our hearts he ain't dead (yet) but he is dead 2 me #this is his final post .................... i'm crying all over the place again #hshqtask012

giorxcci:

“You’re a tad late, mate. Word travels fast when a prisoner is being released from captivity.” Gossip allowed him to come bearing a gift. One small box and an envelope wrapped by none other than Giovanni himself. Practice over the years perfected the skill. At the very least, the Italian learned to color coordinate paper with ribbons. “You can open the box now,” given the details he cataloged of Rowen, his missing father, his newly adopted title of Crown Prince; tradition mattered. There were items passed on and Rowen should begin a fresh legacy of Maltese heritage with a heavy finger. Quite representative of the role he’d have in the world, worth its weight in gold. “Open the envelope when you’re alone in your office following a long day of being Atlas. You pour a glass of bourbon,” he went on describing the ambiance, “–Then give me a call.” Gio despised goodbyes. They felt eternal. So he grins with an outstretched hand for a firm shake, “I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

“did you wrap this yourself? do you, like, have hidden depths i never discovered?” rowen jokes, as he takes the box and envelope. it’s a bit strange, he’d specifically kept it to himself to avoid things like this. he wasn’t good at goodbyes, not one bit. as sad as he was to be leaving, he was a little relieved that he never had to face gio’s wrath about rowen and his sister. “fine, okay, don’t be pushy,” he replies, as he eagerly tears the paper away. the ring isn’t what he’s expecting, but he loves it immediately, “holy shit, that’s - this is so nice.” he tries it on, and to his surprise it, fits perfectly. “thank you.” he says, eyeing the envelope, “i’ll... yeah, it’s - i’ll keep that in mind.” he reaches out to shake gio’s hand, offering a sad smile, “of course, i’ll - i’m sure you’re busy. i’ll - i’ll get going, i’m late for my flight as we speak.”

#gio & rowen #giothread013 #rip rowen this is his final reply ever :(((((((

nkrasimirova:

“spinning thing?” she guffawed, both hands on her hips as she took a casual leap around the maltese prince — quite literally, skating circles around him. “there are many spins… i don’t even know if i could still do them, actually!” perhaps she should be more cautious, figure skating is a contact sport whether the athlete likes it or not; the ice could cause more physical damage than any other person could! still, with one cheeky grin at rowen, nika immediately shifted her weight to one foot and extended another, before angling into a simple combination spin. the wind in her hair, a clean finish, and a smile — both hands fell down from an arabesque as she skidded to a stop in front of rowen. “ha! i can’t believe i could still do that.” she was laughing now, mirth spilling over. “you’re …well tell me what can you do? i don’t think i’m in any shape to skate, much less teach. i learnt how to do axels when i was eight or something, and i think the only thing my coach said at the time was-” she feigned a sharp, russian accent. “jump higher, and spin!”

“yeah the, um, the one where you go like this,” rowen tries to demonstrate, squatting and attempting to turn himself in a circle, unsuccessfully, “that one!” it was a poor attempt, but rowen always thought it looked fun as hell to do. he watches nika do it with more grace and balance than he every could and then shouts, “that - that’s exactly what i was trying to do! so you’ve got to start standing up, then? i can do that, probably,” he tries again, and five seconds later he’s flat on his ass on the ice, laughing harder than he has in weeks. rowen shrugs, as he pulls himself up, “i can skate fast, my dad tried to sign me up for speedskating one summer, but i picked travel hockey instead.” he pauses, “i don’t have any sticks or i’d show you my real skills, just imagine - me with a hockey stick and a black eye - and that’s rowen before the program.” he can’t stop the laugh at the russian accent, “god, my coaches were all too canadian to function, it was almost a caricature, sometimes,” he puts on a heavy canadian accent for the next comment, “all ‘let’s score some goals, eh?’ and shit like that.”

#nikolina & rowen #nikolinathread005

lucianabxlla:

At first, Luciana was set on not speaking until he was finished but his lack of a proper explanation made it impossible for her to hold her tongue. “You just couldn’t say it back?”, she asked him. As an attempt to remain casual despite the tears forming in her eyes, Luciana just shrugged. After all those weeks of preparing herself for his confirmation of the assumption she made the second he walked away from her on the night that she expressed how she truly felt about him, she thought that she’d be ready at this point. Unfortunately, as she stared at him while waiting for an answer, she realized that she wasn’t ready at all. Still, after everything that happened between them in the past year or so, she did not want them to keep things from each other anymore. That is not how she wanted this to end. “I’m sorry to hear that.”, she mumbled once capable of speaking again. There was a tiny voice in her head advising her to tell him that she needed him here with her too but it felt like a selfish thing for her to say so she decided against it. “So much for you having full control of the things in your life. Are you going to be okay?” More than anything, that’s what mattered to her.

“it’s - no, it’s not -” he wants to scream, this is the part that hurt the worst. it wasn’t that he didn’t have feelings for luciana, it was that he couldn’t stop the voice in the back of his head that scared him half to death - she deserved better, always had. it was that simple, in his mind. surely, it would be easier to just say that he felt something, that the reason was that he was some sort of coward - but he knew she’d push back against it. he knew she could convince him to stay. so he lied about his own heart, yet again, “you - you’re amazing, luci, really. it has nothing to do with you, i swear. i just... can’t say it. i’ve never been good at keeping promises, and that - it’s - it felt too much like a promise.” that was good enough, in his mind. “i’ll - yeah, i’ll be fine, i promise.” he gives luciana a small smile, trying to reassure her of that. he wasn’t certain if that was true either, “i guess it’s just... time. i’ve been running from it since the moment they found me, i’ve got to grow up sometime, right?”

#luciana & rowen #lucianathread017

@giorxcci

“i just figured you should hear it from me, before i just disappeared into the night, never to be seen again... or whatever,” rowen nods at gio, “i mean, it’s not like we’re that far away. if i do anything too stupid you can just fly over and kick my ass. nonstop flights from rome to valletta are like an hour and half, max.”

#i hope this works for whatever idea you had #be quick though mickey i s2g #gio & rowen #giothread013

serpcntine:

the words struck serafina into silence, and it was a strange sort – very often, rowen said things which gave serafina pause, but this was something wholly different. it was not the usual kind of silence; there was no playful irritation or bewildered, wide-eyed shock. there was no dropped jaw, no scandalized gasp. it was, instead, an immediate melancholy, a strange, yawning pit in her stomach. her heart swooped and dropped, and she dug her nails into the palm of her hand. it was stupid. there was no reason to be this upset; they could keep in contact in all manner of ways, and there was nothing stopping her from jetting out to malta for a weekend to visit. still, it felt sorrowfully like the end of something, and the loss of a friend from the program – especially now, as her siblings invited tension in with a smile – was nothing to scoff at.

“i don’t think you’re an idiot,” she said, and just this once, it was true. he needed to leave; his people needed him. maybe it was time for one of them to grow up. had she been alone, that thought might have evoked a rueful smile, a bitter laugh; grow up, serafina were words she’d heard a thousand times, and she knew rowen had heard them just as many. she’d gotten to thinking that it was advice which neither of them would ever really follow. “i was sorry to read about your cousin, and i – i knew you would need to go home sometime, but… i didn’t realize it would be so soon.” her voice wavered and broke, and she forced herself to soldier on. “but you – you won’t be alone, i promise. i’ll call and visit and i’ll drag everyone along with me, too, and – if you get too lonely i’ll just have to suck it up and marry you like my mother wanted.”

“you should,” rowen says, trying to keep his voice light. it’s the truth - he knows how stupid he is, how out of his depth he’s been in these last two years. he wasn’t meant for this - he was meant for spending the rest of his life talking about glory days in shitty hockey bars, not ruling over people who knew just how unprepared he was. “i didn’t either, but i -” how was he supposed to say this? that his grandmother had given him some choice, and he’d finally made the right one, “she needed me, and i don’t - i can’t just leave my people out to dry. i think she might have let me stay if i asked, but i just couldn’t this time.” he was sure sera would understand. he takes a few seconds, trying to swallow back the lump in his throat, “i know, it’s just - it won’t be the same,” rowen was too social to be all alone in a place he didn’t know enough about. at least here - he could fall back on being the idiot kid they found in canada. in valletta, he’d be something else entirely. the next statement startles a laugh out of him, “god, no. if we tried to run malta together - it’d sink into the ocean. then my leaving at all would’ve been pointless.”

#serafina & rowen #serafinathread004

caecusheir:

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a cruel joke or a lie. It was true. She had seen everything in the news. Charlotte and Liara had already talked with her about everything that was happening, and going to happen, with Malta and Rowen. And, indirectly, Cecilia. She wanted to be selfish and tell him that he doesn’t have to go. He can be king and be here at the same time–but that wasn’t true. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a perfect world and things just didn’t work that way. Her best friend was leaving and the chances of him coming back were slim. Sure, she had Raymund and there could be other people to befriend, but they weren’t Rowen. They weren’t her best friend. They weren’t the person who knew her secrets without her saying, or the person who talked her through the hardest times. They weren’t there to walk her through the same mess of discovering a new fucked up world. They weren’t the ones who blacked out with Cecilia the night of graduation or the ones who sat in a cell with her for a night after a birthday run to the bars.

Tears stung at her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. Not that she had to be strong in front of her best friend; they’d seen each other at their worst and at their best. Her hand was gripped tightly on the doorknob and as she opened her mouth, nothing came out except a staggered breath. For minutes, it was just silence as Cecilia tried to gather what to say. What was there to say?

“You’re gonna be the best king Malta has ever had. Imagine the history books you’ll be in.”

“i’ve still got some time before that,” rowen says, his voice steady. he had time to learn, he kept reassuring himself. he’d be king eventually, and maybe he’d even be ready for it! maybe he’d figure it out before he got to that point, but the likelihood wasn’t high. he might end up the same kid from halifax he always had been - a little too proud to change his ways and a hell of a lot too stupid to be in charge of an entire country.

as much as cecilia’s faith in him helped, it still managed to hurt.

“you’re going to be great here, too. you’ll - there’s so much you can do. and i’ll be right there - you can come visit once a month at least. i’ll even set up your own rooms in valletta, it’ll be just like when we were kids having sleepovers again,” god, how rowen wished he could be that kid again. he knew cecilia never felt the exact same - her life had been so marginally different from rowen’s - but those nights spent watching terrible movies and laughing at whatever stupid thing had happened at school the past week had been the best part of his entire life. he wished he’d appreciated it more - that he’d appreciated having cecilia by his side more - while he still had it. now, the final bit of comfort - the final person that still felt like home was going to be left behind. rowen didn’t know how he’d survive, “it’s - we’ve still got some time, too. i’ll - let’s get drunk and sleep on the floor like we used to back home?”

#cecilia & rowen #ceciliathread015 #anyways i'm crying again #rip rowen 1996 - 2021 forever in our hearts

lucianabxlla:

More than anything, Luciana wanted to skip through the awkwardness and discuss the elephant in the room but Rowen looked and sounded nervous enough without her rushing him. While she did not regret saying the words that caused them to be like this around each other, she hated that this was the outcome. If only the apology he gave, one that she expected him to give but believed he did not need to, was enough to at least hate it less. “It’s fine. I’m sorry for giving you a reason to run away.” were what she chose to responded with even if there was something else that she’d rather say. “It’s really not your fault.” That much, she believed. It was her mistake to give more meaning to what happened between them after all. I’m leaving the program - now, those words, she did not expect and that was obvious as she just stared at him for a while. “When? Why?”

he stops himself for a second, “no, it’s - i still shouldn’t have run. no matter what, i just -” he can’t really explain it, but he hates that she’s apologizing for liking him in the first place. it makes him feel like shit, because the truth is: he does like her, just not enough to make promises like that. not enough to settle down, or even consider it. every time he gets close to something, he panics and removes himself from the situation. he hated how predictable he was - he could see himself doing this from a mile away, maybe that was why he avoided luci as much as he did in the last two months - trying to delay the inevitable. “i - my cousin died. and he was the last person left in line, after me. malta needs me there,” that’s the complete truth, laid out in front of them, “i don’t - it wasn’t really a choice i got to make. i had to grow up sometime, right?” he offers a small smile, but it’s still just on the wrong side of sad.

#luciana & rowen #lucianathread017

ohrcymund:

Raymund let out a sigh once Rowen finished filling him in on what was going on. “Well, shit.” It wasn’t eloquent but it seemed accurate given the situation. “I can’t say I’m not bummed out but it will force me to find friends.” He was never good at words, especially in a tough situation. “Look, I don’t know what you’re going through and I’m not gonna pretend like I do but don’t you have options? Abdicate and shave your head and move to Whitehorse? No one ever checks Whitehorse.” It was honestly the stupidest idea that he ever came up with but he didn’t know what else to say. “Yeah, yeah I wish I was that kid again, but we’re not. If it will make you feel better though, we can get a group together and have a pick up game.”

“’well, shit’ about sums it up,” rowen agrees. it hadn’t been easy, these last few days, coming to terms with the fact that he was meant to go away. he thought he might travel with the program until the day he was coronated, but that was the naive part of him, the bit that was constantly in denial that he’d ever have to actually become king. now, it was fully an inevitability - there was simply no one left to take the spot. “god, i would if there was another option,” rowen states, “i’ve thought about buying a fishing boat and moving into that old, abandoned house north of halifax harbor? the one we used to say was haunted. but now that my cousin’s dead, i’m the only one who can become king. if i abdicate, there’s not another options.” he’d run out of time, out of options, out of everything, “it’d just be three of us - nobody wants to skate here. believe me, i tried. you and cecilia can play one-on-one once i’m gone, though.”

#raymund & rowen #raymundthread003

nkrasimirova:

it had been years, but with how giggly and bubbly and drunk she was starting to be it only took one more little push before she gave up and laced on borrowed skates. it was almost like coming home, and nikolina choked back a silent sob. “look at me now- what am i doing rowen? i’m lacing up these disgusting skates on-” she remained ‘annoyed’, although the bite in her words were neutralised by the bright smile upon her face. “if i fall on my ass you have to promise not to take pictures and post it, okay? it’ll ruin the tiny bit of respect people still have for me.” she stood then, balancing upon the thin edge of the blade as if she was born to do it, and her heart started to beat loudly in her ears. one step, then two, before she was met with the ice — and when she pushed herself onto the empty rink, nika let out the most exuberant laugh that ripped through her chest. “look at me! the ice princess!”

“they’re not that bad, nika!” rowen exclaims right back, digging into the ice with his own set of skates, as he watched nika lace the old ones they’d found. it was nice to be out here - he’d been trying to talk nika into skating with him since the moment he’d realized who she was. it felt like things coming full circle, truly - his last night here, and he was going to get to skate with a gold medalist. “i don’t even know where my phone is. i think i left it in my room,” rowen comments. the drinking had started there - thank god for drivers, or hey wouldn’t have made it to the rink. luca watches as nika steps onto the ice and he can’t help but smile, “yeah! i can’t believe i actually talked you into this!” honestly, he couldn’t believe any of it. sometimes when it was tired and drunk enough, all of this felt like a dream he might finally wake up from. but after tonight, he’d be waking up in a palace of a country he was meant to lead - and that thought sucked, so he dismissed it again. “okay, teach me how to do the spinning thing - i’ve been trying to figure out how the hell you do that move for years.”

#nikolina & rowen #nikolinathread005

@serpcntine

“i’m leaving next week,” rowen says, the words tumble out of him quickly. he hates goodbyes, he’s terrible at them - and yet he’s been forced through way too many of them in the past few days, “i’ve avoided going there for too long, and it’s - with me now being the only heir they - they need me there,” he takes a second to breathe. why did he always manage to get overemotional around sera? “and i don’t want to go, not really. it’s - i have to, i know i have to but - but i like it here, with everyone. i don’t want to be alone again,” he pauses, “please tell me i’m an idiot or something, like everything’s normal, it’ll make me feel better.”

#serafina & rowen #serafinathread004 #yeah that last line made me ugly sob so it's. i hate myself????

@ohrcymund

“so yeah, that’s - that’s what’s going on,” rowen finishes with a flourish of his hand, “sorry to leave you here with all of these boring royals. at least you’ve still got cecilia.” he pauses for a second, and laughs, completely humorless. he hates to say it, but he’s terrified of leaving here and actually becoming royal. it was so easy to pretend, in the program. “you remember how easy life was when we were just idiot kids trying to find the next game of pickup?” he asks, the question rhetorical. of course raymund remembers, but rowen’s not sure if they remember it the same way he does. he’s not sure if anyone thinks the best moments of their life were spent goofing off on a pond that was barely frozen enough to skate, “do you ever wish you were that kid again?”

#raymund & rowen #raymundthread003 #anyways he's depressed

@nkrasimirova

this whole night was a terrible idea - but at least he had skates on for it. it was comforting, almost. sometimes being on the ice felt as close as he’d ever get to feeling like he was at home again. and when he was drunk like this, apparently this little trick worked even better. it had been his stupid idea - after the last time he failed to get nika onto the ice with him. he’d played a game of guilting her while they were slowly making their way towards blackout drunk, “come on, it’s my last night here! skate with me, just this once! it’ll be fun, and i probably won’t remember it in the morning.”

#nikolina & rowen #nikolinathread005 #well!

@lucianabxlla

“this is... i know this was sudden, but -” he’d rehearsed this a hundred times, yet the second he actually needed to know what to say, he couldn’t remember a single word. it was always like that with luci - he never could quite figure out what he was meant to do, or how he was meant to handle things when it came to her and how he felt. and now he was here, trying to fix the mess he’d made and say goodbye at the same time.

“i’m sorry, about what happened at the wedding. i didn’t - i shouldn’t have run away. i don’t -” he takes a second, to suck in a shaky breath, “it’s - i’m sorry, that’s - that’s all i can say.” he takes a few seconds to let that sink in, then reaches out for the water the waiter had brought a few minutes before. the next statement hurt even worse, “but i’m... i’m leaving the program, and - and you deserved to hear it from me, after everything.”

#luciana & rowen #lucianathread017 #yeah i hate myself 4 this

@caecusheir

he’d just gotten throught the fifth phone call of the day - and now he was here.

he seemed to always end up back at cecilia’s door when things got bad. he remembers the moment he found out he wasn’t who he thought he was - the way cecilia had to basically hold his hand on the flight out of halifax, and rowen knew this was the only place he could go. cecilia was the only one who truly understood him, anyways. she was his best friend after all, and after in just a week - he’d be truly alone for the first time in his life.

he knew he was living on borrowed time, and now that had ended. yet again, the rug had been pulled out from under him and he was left scrambling for purchase, unable to right himself. he felt like his world was turned upside down, so he does what’s familiar. he knocks the same pattern out on the door, some old canadian commercial jingle he can’t remember the name of from their childhood, and waits for her to answer.

it’s hard to hold everything in for those few seconds, and he feels like he’s about to explode the second the door swings open. he doesn’t bother with greetings. she doesn’t need them - she’ll spot that something is wrong just from the look of him.

“i’m leaving,” rowen states, his voice measured and as strong as he can make it, “in a week, maybe two. i can’t buy anymore time, they want - they need me in malta.”

#well! that sucked!#cecilia & rowen #ceciliathread015

TUESDAY, APRIL SIXTH. 8:01 AM GMT+2.

in a short statement delivered during an impromptu press conference in the courtyard of the grandmaster’s palace in valletta, dowager queen henrietta moncada announced the death of the second in line for the maltese throne. according to the queen, he died of an apparent overdose in his private beach house just outside of valletta. the mp is survived by his wife of seventeen years, but has no children.

“we’re saddened to hear of another loss in our family, and we pray for his wife to find peace in this very difficult time,” the statement read, “we will be moving forward with several of his policies as lined out in the last parliamentary session. he cared about his country, first and foremost, and we hope to honor his memory by doing the same.”

this leaves crown prince rowen moncada the only remaining known heir to the throne, although his parentage has been argued by emmanuel and his supporters in the months prior to his death.

just a week ago it was revealed that the crown had ordered a dna test of the prince, in which rowen was proven to be the closest blood relative to the dowager queen and late king of malta. this test also revealed the name of his father, missouri-born jonathan spires, who is currently sitting at number nine of the fbi’s most wanted list for fraud and alleged involvement in organized crime.

we will update this article as more information becomes available on the maltese government’s next moves.

#hshqtabloid #or is this a times post #it deadass only matters for rowen so JFLSJDKLFj #we'll say tabloid

@arayamahidol

“oh, fuck!” rowen exclaims, as he manages to drop all of the (very important, apparently) papers he’d been carrying. he hears the footsteps and doesn’t bother looking up to identify who they’re coming from, “uh, sorry - just. go around? if there’s shoeprints on these, my grandma’s going to kill me.”

#araya & rowen #arayathread001 #* tiktok voice * well. this is what it looks like.

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