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narcasse1641 words. G? PG for leering and the word ‘sex’? Shounen-ai. Fairly comedic.
Set almost a year after they've finished school. In the same continuity as this and everything here really.
Ludwig’s ruminations on the nature of being Strahl.
The Nature of being Strahl
Disclaimer: Meine Liebe belongs to Konami, Yuki Kaori and others.
++++++++++
Being Strahl isn’t quite what it’s always made out to be Ludwig thinks one early morning when he’s already decided that he’s too sickly to actually go to work. When they were at Rosenstolz it was held up as an end in of itself but what nobody actually told them was that it would involve pushing vast amounts of paper around their desks. At least that’s what Ludwig does for the most part anyway.
He shuffles paper about into various piles on his desk, drinks tea and stares out of the window all on a state salary. Occasionally he has to be forcibly dragged out of his office to actual Council meetings where he sits next to Orpherus and tries to sleep unobtrusively and often catches frequent glares from Naoji for his complete lack of interest in proceedings, but for the most part the business of being Strahl is a rather placid existence.
It occurs to Ludwig that perhaps he’s somehow prematurely reached middle-age. He goes to work and shuffles paper, complains about his aches and pains, drinks his tea without complaint and waits for Orpherus to come bother him.
“My back hurts. I’m going home.”
“Lui!”
“I’m suffering, my love. I think I should go home.”
“You always say that.”
“I probably ought to go lie down.”
“There’s a couch in here.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Lui, please. Look, if you actually stay in your office you can lie down with your head in my lap, how about that?”
“Hmm. I’ll consider it.”
Of course if Naoji does stay with him it means that he’ll have to pay some attention to work after all so he finds himself holding taxation documents up at an odd angle until Naoji takes them out of his hands and reads them to him instead.
“We could always… well…” A half-hearted leer is enough to convey his intentions.
“No.”
“Naoji?”
“You always want tea or sex, Lui. We’re at work so you really can only have one of those.”
“I can live without tea.”
Naoji glares. “When did you become such a pervert?”
If he’s in luck and Naoji isn’t feeling particularly ornery the conversation will stop there though on occasion Naoji is inclined to spend the next half hour berating Ludwig over the fact that he seems to turn everything into an excuse to say wicked things to Naoji these days. It’s almost worth it to have Orpherus wander in mid-tirade and presuming the worst, stumble right back out of the room entirely embarrassed.
Sometimes he lunches with Orpherus while they find a handful of things to discuss that aren’t work. Orpherus’ department seems to produce more things for him to complain about though; all Ludwig does is muddle over the mess of local legislation.
“I can’t believe that they’re really proposing that. It’s an outrage!”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t you agree? Lui?”
“Perhaps. That particular situation seems to involve far more beneath the surface than you’re taking into account, I’ll wager.”
“Do you think?”
“Oh, certainly. They don’t send anyone like that overseas without reason after all. There has to be an ulterior motive even if it’s just his ridiculous attempt at stirring up trouble for other departments.”
Orpherus frowns down at his plate. “They don’t ever tell me anything like that.”
“Of course not. Nobody ever tells anybody anything, least of all Naoji’s department. They like their cloak and dagger mentality quite nicely. Can’t even order in new bone-china without being entirely secretive about it.”
“Really?”
“I’d presume so. It’s the sort of thing they’d do.”
“But what about you?”
“My department is really less of a department in any real sense of it and more a collection of middle-aged men who like their lives untroubled and enjoy the views from the east windows of the palace. We’d be the last people to bring the revolution.”
Orpherus can’t help but laugh at that descriptor. “It’s nothing like they said it would be is it?”
“Not at all. Nobody ever told me that I’d be employed to do nothing for the most part.”
“Request a transfer?”
“Oh no. Why on earth would I want to do that? I like my nice comfy office and my fiddly taxation details. Not all of us can be involved in making grand gestures of state after all.” Ludwig winks at Orpherus and the other dissolves into laughter again.
Orpherus for the most part is what others might describe as being rather high profile, the rising start of the Diplomatic department. It rather suits him when Ludwig considers it. Orpherus is capable of being exactly what the crowds want to see; it’s exactly the sort of stature that requires a generally acceptable private life which is something that Ludwig doesn’t exactly have. Granted there are rather more than a handful of unmarried Strahl with lifelong companions about but they are always careful to keep themselves out of scandals and so Ludwig must do the same, doubly so because of Naoji’s status. Of course they are afforded extra protection in that respect because the Intelligence department looks after their own and Ludwig barely has the faintest idea what it is that Naoji actually does anyway.
They have all been tremendously lucky in that respect, each one of them placed in positions most suitable. Camus spends his days most often either taking tea with the King or on assorted direct advisory committees and Ludwig barely sees him most of the time. At the start of the Council sessions at the official first session itself which was more royal speech-giving more than anything else, Ludwig had spied Camus sat down near the front and had several times almost given in to the urge to flick some small piece of crumpled up paper at the back of his head during proceedings. As it was, he’d listened to the empty speech given by the King and surreptitiously glanced at Orpherus’ face as the other listened with rapt attention. At least it had distracted Orpherus from the fact that he’d had to act as some sort of buffer between Ludwig and Eduard, quite physically at that time. Eduard might or might not have been paying attention to the speech at all and Ludwig had been certain that even though he couldn’t see Eduard directly, he could still feel the weight of Eduard’s glares.
Technically they belong to the same department though Eduard is there because of mathematical finesse rather than the necessity of keeping him out of sight and out of mind but of late they’ve been at odds over Orpherus once again.
That it is Ludwig’s council that Orpherus seeks out when troubled over his relationship with Eduard has caused them a great deal of misdirected antagonism since Eduard has been unable to keep his jealousy in check. Orpherus is quite lovely Ludwig can readily admit but he’s never really had any designs on him, not when Naoji has been his entire distraction, his absolute obsession. Not that Eduard was prepared to see it in that light with his own judgement clouded. Ludwig certainly hopes that the matter is edging its way towards a more reasonable resolution than this malicious silence that once broken threatens Eduard more with the potential of Naoji’s becoming somewhat homicidal rather than anything else.
“He thinks that you’re trying to steal Orpherus from him.”
“I know that.”
Naoji’s unimpressed expression had readily conveyed the question as to what exactly Ludwig was going to do about that then.
“I don’t know. There’s nothing I can do at the moment. It’s up to Eduard to realise that I don’t want Orpherus. What would I want Orpherus for anyway? I have you.”
“Eduard won’t be seeing it like that.”
“He’s letting his jealousy cloud his judgement certainly but it’s reached the point where it’s impairing his sanity too.”
“I could…”
“No. I’d really rather you didn’t, whatever it is that you’re intending to do. I don’t trust you not to give in to your delight in scheming which would probably end up with Eduard either exiled or dead. And that’s not going to help resolve matters at all.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. My dear, sometimes you really do worry me.”
Naoji’s solution to most things is always rather more permanent than Ludwig might like. He does nothing in moderation, it’s always ‘or death’ for just about anything he could think of.
“I could always-“ Naoji begins one afternoon over tea.
“Cake?” Ludwig interjects, offering the tray of teacakes and just barely resisting the urge to add “or death?” onto the end though Naoji eyes him suspiciously anyway.
It’s safe to say that Rosenstolz never promised that their being Strahl would be particularly easy or even anything more than partial hubris but nobody ever suggested that it would be quite so entertaining as well. Ludwig has been raised to think in terms of duty and responsibility after all. Spending his days with a dear companion was meant to be a familial responsibility, his time as Strahl meant to comprise entirely of his duty to the state and yet married life and his political career aren’t so terrible afflictions at all. He spends his days managing details much to his delight, the small issues and tiny pieces of legislation that are essential and often unnoticeable but are necessary for the greater function of the state. His home life is never dull, his bride wonderfully witty and sharp and often enough exasperated with him. There is a certain humour to proceedings that he would have never before realised, a sense of fulfilment and contentment that he never would have expected. Not a trick of fate or chance at all but simply the accident of his choices, so perhaps it may well be the case that Fortune does indeed favour the brave.
++++++++++
“Cake or Death?” comes from an Eddie Izzard routine. It was too funny not to use and I’m actually surprised that I haven’t used it earlier all things considered.
“Fortune favours the brave” is the famous quote from Virgil’s “Aeneid”.
Set almost a year after they've finished school. In the same continuity as this and everything here really.
Ludwig’s ruminations on the nature of being Strahl.
The Nature of being Strahl
Disclaimer: Meine Liebe belongs to Konami, Yuki Kaori and others.
++++++++++
Being Strahl isn’t quite what it’s always made out to be Ludwig thinks one early morning when he’s already decided that he’s too sickly to actually go to work. When they were at Rosenstolz it was held up as an end in of itself but what nobody actually told them was that it would involve pushing vast amounts of paper around their desks. At least that’s what Ludwig does for the most part anyway.
He shuffles paper about into various piles on his desk, drinks tea and stares out of the window all on a state salary. Occasionally he has to be forcibly dragged out of his office to actual Council meetings where he sits next to Orpherus and tries to sleep unobtrusively and often catches frequent glares from Naoji for his complete lack of interest in proceedings, but for the most part the business of being Strahl is a rather placid existence.
It occurs to Ludwig that perhaps he’s somehow prematurely reached middle-age. He goes to work and shuffles paper, complains about his aches and pains, drinks his tea without complaint and waits for Orpherus to come bother him.
“My back hurts. I’m going home.”
“Lui!”
“I’m suffering, my love. I think I should go home.”
“You always say that.”
“I probably ought to go lie down.”
“There’s a couch in here.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Lui, please. Look, if you actually stay in your office you can lie down with your head in my lap, how about that?”
“Hmm. I’ll consider it.”
Of course if Naoji does stay with him it means that he’ll have to pay some attention to work after all so he finds himself holding taxation documents up at an odd angle until Naoji takes them out of his hands and reads them to him instead.
“We could always… well…” A half-hearted leer is enough to convey his intentions.
“No.”
“Naoji?”
“You always want tea or sex, Lui. We’re at work so you really can only have one of those.”
“I can live without tea.”
Naoji glares. “When did you become such a pervert?”
If he’s in luck and Naoji isn’t feeling particularly ornery the conversation will stop there though on occasion Naoji is inclined to spend the next half hour berating Ludwig over the fact that he seems to turn everything into an excuse to say wicked things to Naoji these days. It’s almost worth it to have Orpherus wander in mid-tirade and presuming the worst, stumble right back out of the room entirely embarrassed.
Sometimes he lunches with Orpherus while they find a handful of things to discuss that aren’t work. Orpherus’ department seems to produce more things for him to complain about though; all Ludwig does is muddle over the mess of local legislation.
“I can’t believe that they’re really proposing that. It’s an outrage!”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t you agree? Lui?”
“Perhaps. That particular situation seems to involve far more beneath the surface than you’re taking into account, I’ll wager.”
“Do you think?”
“Oh, certainly. They don’t send anyone like that overseas without reason after all. There has to be an ulterior motive even if it’s just his ridiculous attempt at stirring up trouble for other departments.”
Orpherus frowns down at his plate. “They don’t ever tell me anything like that.”
“Of course not. Nobody ever tells anybody anything, least of all Naoji’s department. They like their cloak and dagger mentality quite nicely. Can’t even order in new bone-china without being entirely secretive about it.”
“Really?”
“I’d presume so. It’s the sort of thing they’d do.”
“But what about you?”
“My department is really less of a department in any real sense of it and more a collection of middle-aged men who like their lives untroubled and enjoy the views from the east windows of the palace. We’d be the last people to bring the revolution.”
Orpherus can’t help but laugh at that descriptor. “It’s nothing like they said it would be is it?”
“Not at all. Nobody ever told me that I’d be employed to do nothing for the most part.”
“Request a transfer?”
“Oh no. Why on earth would I want to do that? I like my nice comfy office and my fiddly taxation details. Not all of us can be involved in making grand gestures of state after all.” Ludwig winks at Orpherus and the other dissolves into laughter again.
Orpherus for the most part is what others might describe as being rather high profile, the rising start of the Diplomatic department. It rather suits him when Ludwig considers it. Orpherus is capable of being exactly what the crowds want to see; it’s exactly the sort of stature that requires a generally acceptable private life which is something that Ludwig doesn’t exactly have. Granted there are rather more than a handful of unmarried Strahl with lifelong companions about but they are always careful to keep themselves out of scandals and so Ludwig must do the same, doubly so because of Naoji’s status. Of course they are afforded extra protection in that respect because the Intelligence department looks after their own and Ludwig barely has the faintest idea what it is that Naoji actually does anyway.
They have all been tremendously lucky in that respect, each one of them placed in positions most suitable. Camus spends his days most often either taking tea with the King or on assorted direct advisory committees and Ludwig barely sees him most of the time. At the start of the Council sessions at the official first session itself which was more royal speech-giving more than anything else, Ludwig had spied Camus sat down near the front and had several times almost given in to the urge to flick some small piece of crumpled up paper at the back of his head during proceedings. As it was, he’d listened to the empty speech given by the King and surreptitiously glanced at Orpherus’ face as the other listened with rapt attention. At least it had distracted Orpherus from the fact that he’d had to act as some sort of buffer between Ludwig and Eduard, quite physically at that time. Eduard might or might not have been paying attention to the speech at all and Ludwig had been certain that even though he couldn’t see Eduard directly, he could still feel the weight of Eduard’s glares.
Technically they belong to the same department though Eduard is there because of mathematical finesse rather than the necessity of keeping him out of sight and out of mind but of late they’ve been at odds over Orpherus once again.
That it is Ludwig’s council that Orpherus seeks out when troubled over his relationship with Eduard has caused them a great deal of misdirected antagonism since Eduard has been unable to keep his jealousy in check. Orpherus is quite lovely Ludwig can readily admit but he’s never really had any designs on him, not when Naoji has been his entire distraction, his absolute obsession. Not that Eduard was prepared to see it in that light with his own judgement clouded. Ludwig certainly hopes that the matter is edging its way towards a more reasonable resolution than this malicious silence that once broken threatens Eduard more with the potential of Naoji’s becoming somewhat homicidal rather than anything else.
“He thinks that you’re trying to steal Orpherus from him.”
“I know that.”
Naoji’s unimpressed expression had readily conveyed the question as to what exactly Ludwig was going to do about that then.
“I don’t know. There’s nothing I can do at the moment. It’s up to Eduard to realise that I don’t want Orpherus. What would I want Orpherus for anyway? I have you.”
“Eduard won’t be seeing it like that.”
“He’s letting his jealousy cloud his judgement certainly but it’s reached the point where it’s impairing his sanity too.”
“I could…”
“No. I’d really rather you didn’t, whatever it is that you’re intending to do. I don’t trust you not to give in to your delight in scheming which would probably end up with Eduard either exiled or dead. And that’s not going to help resolve matters at all.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. My dear, sometimes you really do worry me.”
Naoji’s solution to most things is always rather more permanent than Ludwig might like. He does nothing in moderation, it’s always ‘or death’ for just about anything he could think of.
“I could always-“ Naoji begins one afternoon over tea.
“Cake?” Ludwig interjects, offering the tray of teacakes and just barely resisting the urge to add “or death?” onto the end though Naoji eyes him suspiciously anyway.
It’s safe to say that Rosenstolz never promised that their being Strahl would be particularly easy or even anything more than partial hubris but nobody ever suggested that it would be quite so entertaining as well. Ludwig has been raised to think in terms of duty and responsibility after all. Spending his days with a dear companion was meant to be a familial responsibility, his time as Strahl meant to comprise entirely of his duty to the state and yet married life and his political career aren’t so terrible afflictions at all. He spends his days managing details much to his delight, the small issues and tiny pieces of legislation that are essential and often unnoticeable but are necessary for the greater function of the state. His home life is never dull, his bride wonderfully witty and sharp and often enough exasperated with him. There is a certain humour to proceedings that he would have never before realised, a sense of fulfilment and contentment that he never would have expected. Not a trick of fate or chance at all but simply the accident of his choices, so perhaps it may well be the case that Fortune does indeed favour the brave.
++++++++++
“Cake or Death?” comes from an Eddie Izzard routine. It was too funny not to use and I’m actually surprised that I haven’t used it earlier all things considered.
“Fortune favours the brave” is the famous quote from Virgil’s “Aeneid”.
