[[ Hey guys! So I’m taking a hiatus for a while. I’m gonna be out of town for much of this week visiting my parents, and also stuff here at home is very blech so I need time to sort that out. Anyway, while I am gone, here’s what’s happening with my kids! ]]
Adrian is taking his sweet time moving to Dubai. After he and his government finally ratified the legislation for Romania to leave Equanimity and join Confluence, there’s been... well, there’s been a lot of very loud opinions. Surprisingly, most Romanians have had a positive outlook towards this shift, with Adrian’s approval ratings rising from 37% all the way to 61%. So he’s very happy about that. However, opponents of his government have been shrieking their heads off about how terrible this move will be for Romania as a whole, how it will ruin their international relationships, etc. So Adrian is taking a little break for himself after finally pushing this big policy through successfully, and is going to spend a week or so partying it up in Aruba. (If anyone else is in that area, he’ll be happy for the party company. ;) )
Sofia has been called back to Ukraine for a stint. Her father’s government is in a tizzy after their last Equanimity neighbor, Romania, left the alliance and joined Confluence. And he’s begging her to help come put out some fires that he doesn’t know how to handle. On top of that, her nonprofit is starting to sort their end-of-year fiscal reports, so she needs to take a break from hobnobbing with royals to do some actual work. Plus side: she doesn’t have to see her sister. Minus side: literally everything else about this.
Sorcha has been summoned home for some not-so-great reasons as well. Her little brother has gotten himself into some extremely hot water, which her mother and the Scottish government are desperately running interference on. Sorcha is one of the only people her brother has any respect for, so her family is hoping she will be able to talk some sense into him and help solve this crisis. Unbeknownst to her, her mother has also arranged for some dress fittings for her impending nuptials. Once Sorcha catches wind of this, you can be sure the Scottish tabloids are going to have another classic Mac Alistair feud to cover.
Finally, Aleks has chickened out on talking to Natasja just yet. Running into Rhiannon in Oslo freaked him out, so he did the only thing he knows how to do when he gets scared: run fast and far. Well, not too far. Just back to Iceland for some good old fashioned Icelandic Formula Offroading. He’ll make his way to Dubai in time, he just needs to “exorcise” the fear from himself in his favorite way possible.
[[ When I get back, I would love to either revamp some old threads or continue them, sort of like flashbacks. And start some new ones, of course. See you when I’m back on the 4th for uber-plotting! ❤ ]]
Who do you this is prettiest inside? Who's prettiest outside?
“Oh dear, what a minefield. Outside? I can’t pretend not to find any of the Portuguese incredibly attractive. They’re a family endowed with excellent genetics. That seems a bit crass, I apologize. I mean that they, as a whole, are very beautiful people. All of the de Bragança women are stunning, and their men are handsome. I presume if there are any of them who fall outside male and female, they are equally gorgeous. The Nassau-Weilburgs do give them a run for their money, though.
“As for the prettiest inside? That’s much harder. I will say at present I’ve been left in awe most often by the inner thoughts of @elysefz, who is always a delight to talk to among other things. Most of my erstwhile fiancees were accomplished and intelligent, else we would not have been engaged in the first place. And I’m coming to find at our dear Austrian king @kingxhenryk has some hidden depths under that pretty face and surprising right hook.”
&&. announcing his majesty, ( adrian constantin ardeleanu ), the ( 42 ) year old ( king ) of ( romania ). he is often confused with ( richard armitage ). some say that he is ( arrogant & domineering ), but he is actually ( protective & passionate ).
Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be here and bring Adrian in to play. As I’m still writing up his full bio at present, here are a few important things to know about him. Apologies for the roughness, I just wanted to get this out there so we could get started with plotting ASAP!
Adrian’s full name is Adrian Constantin Vasile Dragomir Ardeleanu, and his full title is His Majesty King Adrian I of Romania. His nicknames, which are only used by close friends and family, are Adi or Adri.
Adrian is the firstborn son of the late king Ștefan I of Romania, and was Crown Prince until his father’s passing in January 2018. His birth mother died of cancer when he was in his 20s, and his father remarried a few years later. He only had one sibling, a brother named Lucian, by his biological mother.
He is fluent in Romanian, English, Hungarian, and French. He’s also competent in German and Italian (the Romance languages come easily), and he knows some basic phrases in a variety of languages so he can make a good impression with other foreign leaders and diplomats.
Adrian is a very divisive figure in his country right now, and not for entirely positive reasons. For much of his life, Adrian eschewed the propriety expected of royal children in favor of a free-wheeling lifestyle. He studied and trained for his future position as king, of course, but he was vocal about how boring he found it. Some thought him irresponsible, but really he just didn’t have a solid grasp of how important the king was. It felt like a very remote, highly abstract notion to him—his father was always in good health and would probably live to 110 anyway, so likely Adrian would die before him without ever becoming king and it wouldn’t be an issue.
Because of this, Adrian developed a reputation as a sort of renegade socialite, always hosting or attending parties of some kind. Many of them were for philanthropic work, as he’s a staunch supporter of human rights activism across the world. But he really was there to hang out with friends, drink, dance, etc. Though this made him popular among the upper echelons of society, it gave the impression to most others that he didn’t care about his duties as Crown Prince and would not make a fit king. And truthfully, he sort of agreed.
All this put more pressure on his brother Lucian, who was second in line for the crown until Adrian produced an heir. A pressure which Lucian resented. He wanted to have the freedom Adrian was taking for himself, but instead he had to be the responsible one who actually took his duties seriously. Most people agreed Lucian was better suited to succeed Ștefan, but the king would not revoke Adrian’s title and pass it to his younger son.
But as he reached his forties, courting further gossip and disapproval with his refusal to marry (he had 5 engagements, 3 of which were made public, and was responsible for breaking off 4 of them), his father began pressuring him to start acting his age and prepare for his future as king. Adrian brushed this off for a while, until earlier this year when his father suddenly died. He and his doctors had been keeping the secret of his own worsening health problems from his sons and the public, and suddenly the spotlight fell on Adrian in a way he hadn’t been expecting. He was willing enough to step up to the plate, albeit in a very blase manner, but Lucian had other plans.
Before Adrian could be crowned king, Lucian staged a coup d’etat with over half the nobility and government behind him. Traditionalists, despite generally disliking Adrian, rallied behind his legitimate claim to the throne in an effort to provide the country with solid leadership in an already unstable world. In a matter of months, violence erupted across Romania which ended as quickly as it began. Riots broke out, the worst being Bucharest and Constanța between so-called Loyalists and Patriots, and were quickly quelled by state-backed militarized police (which Adrian loudly disapproved of to no avail). The coup ended in May with the sudden death of Lucian. The official cause of death was stress-related heart failure, but the timing caused many to suspect foul play. Regardless, Adrian’s coronation was finally held at the end of spring.
Today, people tend to fall into two camps regarding their opinions of Adrian—those who dislike his rule because they believe he had his brother killed, and those who dislike him simply because they think he is unfit to be king. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have any supporters; he actually has many, particularly among impoverished communities in Romania where his philanthropy has done the greatest good. But his lackadaisical approach to ruling rubs many the wrong way, and his untested rule is already marred by so much controversy that plenty of people decide they dislike him without really knowing that much about him.
For his part, Adrian does want to be a good ruler. He wants to help the world be a better place, but he’s still figuring out how this king thing works and if there’s any way he can make it more interesting because he finds it desperately dull. Sometimes, he oversteps in his quest to rule well and comes off as too heavy-handed, leading to backlash. But he’s learning and putting all his education and training to use. And hopefully someday soon, he’ll find the perfect balance of enjoyment and responsibility.
Since Romania is so vulnerable on the political world stage right now, he’s steering the country in a more neutral direction, trying to give his people time to heal from this year’s unrest while still honoring their membership in the Equanimity alliance.
That’s all I have for him at the moment. As for me, I’m Bree, 25 years old from the PST timezone, and I generally use she/her and they/them pronouns. Please feel free to message me with questions or plots or just to say hi. Can’t wait to get plotting!
“Short Skirt Long Jacket” by Cake. Her text tone is a snippet of the song’s bass line.
What contact photo my muse has set for yours:
He literally said “Hey Kitty Kaz!” and snapped a quick photo of her when she looked up, thoroughly unimpressed with his new nickname for her. He knows she probably would not have posed for a picture for him otherwise.
What my muse thinks of the way yours texts:
Adrian doesn’t really mind how Kaz texts. He understands abbreviations just fine, so her more casual way of texting is perfectly understandable to him. He thinks it’s funny how she’s able to convey her annoyance with him through texts. In fact, Kaz likely has stronger opinions on the way Adrian texts. ( Like his use of :) and :( and how he adds more )) or (( when she complains; or how he sends multiple texts at once instead of condensing, or sends her a wall-of-text when she complains.)
How quickly my muse responds to your texts:
Adrian is easily bored by things like staff meetings and reviewing policies, so he’s on his phone a lot to take the edge off how tiresome he finds it. If she texts him, there’s a good chance he’s already looking at his phone, and he’ll respond within a minute. The only time he makes her wait longer is if he’s asleep or if someone on his staff hid his phone so that he would focus for a while.
How often our muses text:
Adrian texts Kaz a lot. Not overwhelmingly, of course—she has a job, and technically he has one, too. But he definitely texts her at least daily, if for no other reason than to say hi and remind her of his presence for shits and giggles. Kaz does not text back nearly as often, and almost never texts first. He finds this hysterical.
How often our muses call:
Once in a blue moon. Adrian doesn’t take Kaz for the phone call type and so doesn’t usually go that route. He only calls her when he has a “legit” question and she won’t answer his texts. This always ends with her sighing heavily, him laughing, and her hanging up on him.
Does my muse purposefully miss calls from yours:
Never, mostly because they don’t call each other. Kaz has absolutely missed calls from him on purpose, though.
Last text sent from my muse to yours:
@ Kitty Kazia: morning ;)
@ Kitty Kazia: you left before i made pancakes :(
@ Kitty Kazia: and you promised to teach me mario kart :((
“Ah, now ‘pretty’ is different from ‘hot’. So I shall include my little micuță @kazialudolf. She cleans up very nicely when she wants to. I’ll also include @rhiannonofwales and a favorite ex-fiancée of mine @valofrussia. Some of the loveliest faces I’ve ever had the good fortune of laying eyes on.”
