Uncomfortable Emperor?

["Peggy Walker" <skysinger@hotmail.com>]

Jeon is at the table in the center. He stands over it, with both hands 
presses against its surface. He hulks over a filmbook viewer.

Ceile slips into the office, apparently remembering the trick Justine had 
taught her the night before. She has several crackers held in one hand, the 
other holding just one which she nibbles on.

Nadira is standing slightly off to the side, looking at a folder. Looks like 
it's been a hard day at the office for her.

For some reason, he looks up. He smiles brightly, "Ah, what a lucky fellow I 
am to see that the two smartest ladies in my entire Empire, one a Bene 
Gesserit Lady the other my Lady Love, are here now in my office."

Ceile offers Nadira a friendly smile before wandering her way along one of 
the trade routes on the carpet to stand beside Jeon, still munching on her 
cracker as she muses, "It must be easy, to be the Emperor and have another 
care for the situations you create..."

Nadira arches a brow at the comment upon entering, and looks faintly amused 
by it. Suddenly, her paperwork starts looking far more interesting.

Jeon winks at Ceile, "Come now, Actress Wench, you know better than that. I 
am only pretending not to be
burdened by the Huge Weight I have to bare." He smiles, and turns to point 
to a chair, "Need a seat?" he turns to Lady Finn, "Lady Finn, I've been 
doing some thinking. I've not been at all entirely fair to you, and your 
position."

Ceile frowns at the wink, obviously not very impressed by the answer she's 
gotten. At the mention of a 'huge weight', her frown deepens, and she looks 
down at herself, muttering, "I told you you'd think I was to fat." A 
preposterous comment, considering her figure hasn't changed an inch yet. 
Turning her back on Jeon, she moves to a chair and flops into it, resuming 
her cracker-nibbling.

Nadira manages a polite, "Is that so, Your Majesty?" This is one of those 
moments in Male History where
inevitably, no matter how much Nadira tries to warn him, even if she Voices 
him to get the point across, there's no way Jeon's going to have a clue 
about the emotional ping-pong of a pregnant woman nibbling crackers. So she 
just blithely decides to let him founder like all other males in the history 
of the universe.

Jeon turns his attention to his lady love. He realises he is in a conflict 
of time. On the one hand he has to quickly respond to her, to reassure her. 
On the other, if he opens his mouth and speaks he'll say a typically stupid 
insensitive man comment. So, he tries to balance them out, "MY love ..." he 
runs his fingers through her hair, "In no way are you fat. My terrible 
burden is governmental only. You are so beautiful to me, my love. You always 
will be." Something inside knows, knows, that he could have been Frickin 
Shakespeare and still -still- he'd say something to screw himself.

Ceile looks up to Jeon, still frowning. "Yes, you proved just how much of a 
burdon your precious government could be last night." she retorts quietly, 
taking another bite from her cracker as she finishes it off. "It is a good 
thing Justine was here." she adds.

Mentally the Most Powerful Man in God's Frickin Universe does a doh. He 
wonders how the hell he is supposed to justify not paying attention to her. 
Maybe he can pass the blame. Hell, Nadira might make a good victim, right? 
No, he can't do that to her after their last fight. How about blame someone 
at the meeting? No, she could see Jeon was free to end it at any time. Damn, 
this is a toughy for Jeon. So then he wonders if he should say something 
about wanting to go to her? Frick that, she'd see right through that. Ok, he 
decides to do what men always do when they have no other option, he 
whispers, "Ceile ..."

Nadira suggests lightly, "Would you like me to step out for a bit, Noble 
Born?" she asks the pair, though her tone seems to have a secret message for 
Ceile: Take Pity On The Poor Sap.
Ceile turns her face away from Jeon, taking another cracker from her stock. 
"No, don't Jeon." she says simply, standing again suddenly. She moves around 
her chair the long way, instead of cutting across beside Jeon, and heads 
towards the small drink bar. She looks to Nadira as she asks, shaking her 
head a bit. 'No, please don't leave on my account...the Emperor is perfectly 
able to work with me here."

Jeon groans and smacks his head on the table twice. Then he sits up and 
slaps his forehead repeatedly mumbling, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Oh he is 
in -agony-, the poor dumb bastard. Ok, he thinks, this is a military 
proposition (yes, starting off on a bad footing, already). All he has to do, 
he reasons, is figure out the rules of engagement, because he thinks he has 
figured the enemy is typical female moodiness. Poor dumb bastard

Nadira suggests serenely, "Ceile, there's some fresh milk in the kitchens. 
Shall I have some sent?"

Ceile slows, hrming softly as she turns back to Nadira. "Actually...that 
might be just what I want." she agrees with a smile. She nods, then, 
repeating. "Yes...that would be wonderful." she says, a bit more firmly. 
"Oh...and have one of the servants warm it a bit. With a bit of honey!" Her 
smile widens as she makes her order more and more specific.

Jeon stands up and smooths his trousers, though his brow remains creased. He 
walks over to Nadi, pulling on his dolman to straighten it. He focuses his 
questioning eyes on the Bene Gesserit lady.

Nadira gives Jeon a mild look, which is of course, completely not-helpful. 
Insert evil cackle here, as Nadira summons and orders a servant.

Ceile continues to eat her plain crackers slowly as she moves back to the 
chair she'd just recently vacated, silent again.

Well, at this moment in time, Jeon is bobbing in indecision. Should he try 
to pursue the matter further with Ceile? That could easily backfire and make 
matters worse. Ok, how about talk shop with Nadira? Big mistake, she's mad 
at Jeon for talking shop when he should have been paying attention to her. 
Ah, arrange the family atomics to go off  right in his frickin head, that at 
least is a problem he could deal with. Then he remembers something his 
father used to tell him, 'Jeonnie, every morning I make my marriage work by 
waking up, rolling over, looking at my wife, and saying I am so sorry.' The 
Emperor begins, "Dearest, I am so sorry."

Ceile arches an eyebrow slightly, spinning her chair slowly to look at Jeon 
for a long, silent moment before she asks, in between bites, "What are you 
sorry for?"

Nadira lets out a small sigh of relief, then tsks at Ceile. No need to make 
it harder for the poor dear.

He shudders, and his palms get sweaty, maybe this is not the right way? The 
Emperor reassures himself that he has embarked down this path, he has to 
commit all his forces, "It was so very very wrong of me to ignore you when 
you were feeling so bad. It was so wrong to press on with business as if 
nothing was happening to you." Mentally he closes his mental eyes, and 
crosses his mental fingers.

Ceile nods slightly, a half-smile creeping onto her face as the Emperor 
proves, at least to her, that he knows what he did wrong, and has an inkling 
of common sense. Or is one damned good guesser. "Well, thank you." After a 
moment, she cocks her head to one side, still half-smiling. "Do you have any 
idea what's wrong with me?" she asks, sweetly. Maybe too sweetly...

Nadira chirps before Jeon is forced to reply, "Oh look, your milk is here!" 
as it arrives, and takes it from the servant, offering it to Ceile. Over her 
head, Jeon gets a look that clearly states, 'You owe me BIGTIME'.

He physically and mentally swallows. He looks at Ceile, carefully ... 
feeling sick ... mood swings ... She lost money on a sporting bet? No no ... 
It's on the tip of his mind ... He continues to sweat until it hits him like 
a lightning bolt, "You're pregnant!" As its out of his mouth, he realises 
she just might hold a grudge for doing this to her ... And he realises he 
should have probably shut up and paid attention to Nadira.

As her milk's arrival is announced, Ceile turns her chair to accept the warm 
glass from Nadira after setting her leftover crackers on the table. 'Thank 
you..." she offers before blowing lightly on the white surface and turning 
back to Jeon. "Congratulations, your Majesty." she replies before taking a 
sip. "Perhaps you aren't completely absorbed in your state affairs."

Nadira says diplomatically, "He /is/ the Emperor of the entire Known 
Universe, Ceile. You shouldn't be so hard on him." she then adds, "And you 
my lord, should really be more attentive. She could be carrying your heir, 
should it be a boy."

Jeon chuckles, trying to pretend its a joke on her part, right. He looks at 
Nadira, signalling that he wants to speak to her, but also hopes his 
demeanour shows its not urgent. He rocks back and forth on his heels, 
smiling. Then a solider walks in, wearing the uniform of a Sardaukar. The 
Sardaukar keeps his eyes down, not looking at Jeon. He approaches and 
whispers to the Emperor. Suddenly the Emperor looks like a child just 
offered two tonnes of candy. He nearly kisses the soldier-messenger, when he 
thinks better of it. He turns to nod at Nadira, "Yes, you're absolutely 
right about my needing to pay more attention to her. And I will love my 
child whatever sex. Indeed, whether he's a boy, or she's a girl, I will make 
my first born child my heir." He grins, "Now, if you'll excuse me, for but a 
brief moment, while I get rid of this little appointment as quickly as I 
can?"

Ceile simply nods to Jeon as he asks for permission to do something, knowing 
full well she could put up any excuse she could think of and he'd still be 
obliged to go. Instead of saying anything, though, she consoles herself with 
a large sip from the steaming, honey-sweetened milk. Then, she turns to look 
up at the Bene Gesserit. "I know full well what he is, don't worry." she 
assures the other woman.

Nadira smiles back. "I know you know, but he doesn't know that you know, and 
I know you're taking advantage of the fact that he doesn't know."

Jeon decides to get the hell out of dodge. He marches so fast he's 
practically running. He smiles at the door, waves to Ceile and bolts from 
the room.

And the minute the Emperor leaves, the Bene Gesserit bursts into giggles, 
followed quickly by Ceile.

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