Roleplay > Vignettes

A Palace of Music

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Achkaerin:
Moving In

It had been about a week since Val had been offered the job at the Marble Palace, she'd spent most of it on tenterhooks waiting to know if her background check had cleared, well in truth it had been more a question of when would it clear? As expected Jenny had been a little off put about Val moving out but she soon understood why, even if it had meant Val swearing her to secrecy, and now here Val was her bags packed and loaded into her car, her bike mounted to the rack on the back of the vehicle driving the little electric hatchback through Valtheim to the Marble Palace, stopping at the gate she went through the protocols and followed the directions parking up in what was regarded as the staff car park. Following that she unloaded her things, not being entirely sure what to do with them she started piling them up in the Palace's entrance hall, it was a fairly sizable amount of stuff, then Peter arrived "Ms Kirby?" the Emperor
"Yes?" Val asked from behind a rather substantive pile of shoe boxes before going bright red with embarrassment when she caught sight of who it was "Your Majesty I'm sorry... I erm..."
"It's fine." Peter said "Would you like the guided tour?"
"Thanks." Val said

"First rule around here is quite simple." Peter said as he showed Val around the first few areas on the ground floor "Everyone who lives under this roof is family as far as I'm concerned so we operate on a first name basis, when we've got Government Ministers, ambassadors and guests they'll be some formality but for the most part there are no titles you're Val, I'm Peter and so on." he opened a door "This is my personal favorite room the library."
"Wow." Val said "Quite the collection."
"Serenity collects cars I collect books." Peter said "There's a ledger over there where you can log books out."
"I may just take advantage of that." Val said
"The Palace is a home there's very little office space." Peter said continuing the tour "As much as being in a Royal Family may be being in a family business this isn't an office space we don't work that way, most of my day to day meetings are in my study, if it's a nice day I may have them in the garden - if the Morelanders are coming then it's definitely outside because we'll be using the barbecue. If it's a crisis situation the meeting will be in the Round Table Room, I do need to point out that you do now have a security clearance."
"So I get to know stuff?" Val asked
"Yes." Peter said

A few moments later they were touring the upstairs the tour just about done "And this." Peter said opening a door "Is your room." he stood aside and let Val step inside, it was beyond anything Val was used to, a double bed, windows giving loads of light, a balcony, walk in wardrobe, en suite, wall length mirror to one side, desk, television and shelves.
"This is mine?" Val asked
"Sure is." Peter said "Astrid's room is next door, Lisa's opposite her, you've got Kitty that's Serenity's bodyguard across from you, and Serenity's room is at the end."
"Thank you." Val said
"Oh and if you want to use the ballroom for dance practice feel free to do so." Peter said "I'll let you settle in."

Achkaerin:
The Smoking Gun

Life in the Marble Palace was currently anything but normal, with the Emperor in a coma it was down to Crown Princess Serenity to steer the ship, so far it hadn't been too much of a problem the various people in post knew their jobs and were very good at it. The most pressing issue remained Charles's web and unraveling it, finding Asuna and all manner of things related to that but the thing with life was that you had to expect the unexpected, Akasha's tweet had most certainly been ill judged but it had been handled and while the consequences had the potential to run for a while Serenity wasn't overly concerned after all she'd seen that movie a few times now. She was presently sat on the lounge sofa a copy of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in her hand - her daughter Lisa's class at school were reading it which meant so was Serenity for homework purposes. "Busy?" the voice of Kumiko Arkwright, the chief of staff, came from the doorway as she stepped into the room.
"Dinner at the Beavers." Serenity said "What's up?"
"You need to see this." Kumiko said handing Serenity a copy of the latest Heyran press release, Serenity read it and it was a good thing that she wasn't drinking anything at that moment because it would have likely been spat or snorted out.
"They released this?" Serenity asked "This isn't a mock up, they actually released this?" her eyes honing in on the third paragraph
"Yep." Kumiko said
"I should be grateful for the excuse." Serenity said shaking her head with disbelief "What are they thinking of?"
"I have no idea." Kumiko said "What do you want to do?"
"Given what they've just done." Serenity said "Have the research done, go through legal, and let's get this done."

Achkaerin:
The Conversation

One of the most important things in democracies across Mundus was the ability of the various elements to check and balance the others. This was often seen in powers granted that hopefully would never need to be used a break glass in case of emergency type of thing. Crown Princess Serenity was just coming back into the Marble Palace, having been out watching her troubled football team Leith AFC lose yet another game this season on the plus side at least it had served as a decent opportunity to introduce Euphy to the sport, she was taking off her coat as Sakura poked her head out into the hall. "You need to be in here." Sakura said
"What is it?" Serenity
"Our little Constitutional clouds are threatening to turn into a storm." Sakura said
"Oh joy." Serenity said "I'll be right there." she hung up her coat and followed Sakura into the study where her stepmother Renee, head of government Consul Michael Williams, his deputy Vice Consul Rhian Kennedy, the Royal Physician Maddy Dale, the Attorney General Robert Westbrooke and Royal Counsel Carla Fenchurch "What's going on?" Serenity asked
"Senators are getting a lot of questions about your father from constituents, he's in a coma, he's not steering the ship, you are." Michael said "People want to know the royal family's intentions."
"What are you recommending?" Serenity said
"Making arrangements for your coronation as Empress." Michael said
"Your father's been in a coma nearly three months, there's no indication that he's coming out of it soon." Maddy said "Medical miracles do happen but the longer he's in it the bigger questions about his capability get."
"National interest is served by change." Rhian said
"You know what you're doing, you're ready for it." Sakura said "And Simon would tell you the same thing if he wasn't flying a Wyvern around the Tokara Islands."

"How does it happen?" Serenity asked after a few moments
"First the Senate votes on validity of the charge." Robert said "It's incapacity, it's obvious. Then it goes to the Noble Moot to determine, if they vote to impeach then your father is removed from the throne, that is the constitutional process under which we act."
"If things get that far it's then all the usual pomp and ceremony around the process." Carla said
"What do you think?" Serenity asked looking at Renee
"Your father could come out of it in six months or in six years." Renee said "You've always got my support and his whatever happens."
"All right." Serenity said "Do it."

Achkaerin:
Changing the Colours

The somewhat weird thing about this whole process was the amount of symbolism, they weren't even into the coronation pomp and pageantry yet but it had already started the previous day had seen a pantheon of nobles flying into Valtheim, this was due in part to how members of the nobility had in recent years been used in ambassadorial roles abroad coupled with the rules that gave each member of the nobility a vote, so what could be likened to the prelude to a Papal Conclave had played out. Now though it was less about the preamble and more about the decision of the Noble Moot, in fact it was more about when the decision would come not what it would be - it was expected that the outcome would be the impeachment and subsequent removal of the Emperor. Kumiko Arkwright as Chief of Staff to the Royals, was the person expecting the call she was stood out in the courtyard area and she wasn't alone a section of the Royal Guard, the soldiers that stood guard over the royal residences, dressed in their blue and white dress uniforms, a significant change from their usual green jackets or dress whites, it was all down to the ceremonial duties list, certain events required certain uniforms. Commanding the Guard was the responsibility of Cianna Higgins, she was only a few weeks into the role and hadn't expected this to be her first duty. Kumiko's phone rang "Yes?" she asked as she answered it "Thank you." she looked at Cianna "Captain proceed."

Cianna nodded "Parade will form." she ordered, within seconds the section of the Guard was formed up in three columns, two of fifteen and a middle of five, the middle of  those five carried a box. "Draw swords." came the next order followed by the swift and careful drawing of blades "Shoulder arms." the back of the blades rested carefully against the soldiers shoulder "By the right" Cianna said "Forward march!" the Guard marched from the courtyard, out of the main gate and down the path, Cianna marching alongside, their destination was what was affectionately called 'the Lighthouse' but was officially speaking the Djana Azurewind Monument, a half size stone lighthouse though more a beacon with two figures around it, one male one female, engaged in a sword duel, the depicted man was Caleb Elsif, the depicted woman was Djana Azurewind, the first and for a few more days at least only Empress of Achkaerin, Djana's free hand held a flag pole from which the national flag flew. The whole thing stood on quite a sizable roundabout, it was quite the tourist attraction and somewhere the Royal Guard added to with a posting. The march time was about five minutes, on arrival , the Guard came to a halt and turned to face the monument, Cianna's eyes took in the scene, the roads had naturally been temporarily closed because of this but the pavement was lined with people.

"Exchange the Colour." Cianna ordered, the members of the Guard stationed at the monument proceeded to lower the flag, which was met with a sword salute from the rest of the Guard, then the flag was folded and placed into a box, now the middle rank of five Guardsmen marched out and swapped that box for theirs before returning to their position, now the Guards raised the flag of Rosemoor before Cianna ordered the return march back to the Palace.

Achkaerin:
The Oath Breaking

As Head of the Royal Household Kurt Ayanami didn't have many defined roles outside of the day to day running of the Palace, but today was the most solemn duty that he would ever undertake. It was called the Oath Breaking, in simple terms one part of a the Emperor's or Empress's coronation was the ceremonial affirmation of the various constituent realms of the Empire to the new Monarch's rule it wasn't surprising it was simply a nod to a tradition of the Noble Moot from centuries earlier but it was where the nobles for those realms presented the new Monarch with the swords of mark, each Monarch had their own set, and while replica's were kept for display in the Royal Museum, the originals were destroyed alongside the crown and signet ring and it was this act of destruction that was called the Oath Breaking. The Ceremony took place in the Royal Families private temple on the grounds of the Marble Palace, the reason for this was the presence of a furnace on an underground level. Kurt dressed in all his ceremonial finery, a spatha style blade at his side, led the parade of several members of the Household staff down the aisle to the front of the temple, each carrying one of the items to be destroyed. Once at the front the parade formed into a horseshoe, Kurt in turn took each of the swords from the person carrying it and laid them on the platform that was essentially the lift down to the furnace, then he did the same with the signet ring before taking the crown and placing it on top of everything else. Taking a deep breath Kurt drew his own sword and banged the pommel of it on the platform that was the signal for it to be lowered down. Putting his sword away Kurt waited a few moments before leading the procession back out of the temple.

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