robbiestuart

[robbiestuart]

"Hello?" He frowned slightly. He was going to assume the girl was one of Effie's friends when the face clicked with the correct title... but he was still missing a name. Aurel's girlfriend wasn't much of a denominator, now was it? "Evening, if you're looking for the chap, I think I saw him run past me some minutes ago."

" oh, shi— uh, hello! " she greets a little too enthusiastically. running into wiebke's husband is the last thing she wants! if he's here, she's definitely nearby. ( @robbiestuart )

[robbiestuart]

Ten times worse? What kind of a statement was that? He should have not been throwing around numbers that meant nothing — their conversation was too serious to have room for vague measurements. Wiebke was sizzling. The conversation felt like a waste of time and it was only making the negative feelings inside of her run wild. They had filled her to the brim and she felt like he was a million miles away, unable to see, and failing to understand what she was going through. She had always appreciated his optimism and ability to remain relaxed but now those traits felt like flaws. Gross blatant flaws. This was an adults’ conversation, not a place for wild unserious statements like ten times worse. Wiebke’s gaze was cold and harsh as she waited for him to turn around and admit defeat. She had made her stance so very clear. Her German approach was too direct for him to be unable to understand what she had meant. Leave. Go. Let it be. Seconds ticked by and the pressure in the room felt nearly suffocating. She barely breathed. Her certainty in the two of them had been shaken time and time again — and each time he had taken her hand and told her it was all in her head. Not everything she thought was true. He was true. He was constant. He would remain. He would continue to love. But now he was threatening to take it all away. Threatening to leave her standing alone on a hill of bones. “I am a reason.” The two of them were a reason. The sort of reason that was in no competition with the burden of her political ambitions. “Do you mean that? Robert, you tell me immediately if this is a quip or a poor joke.” The sort that flew right past her. The sort she was unable to decipher due to missing a tonal change or a quirk of a brow. “This is not the sort of threat you throw to win a fight. This is irresponsible.”

[robbiestuart]

LEE PACE during the Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2023/2024 at Paris Fashion Week (July 3, 2023)

[robbiestuart]

@wicbkc:

Ten times worse? What kind of a statement was that? He should have not been throwing around numbers that meant nothing — their conversation was too serious to have room for vague measurements. Wiebke was sizzling. The conversation felt like a waste of time and it was only making the negative feelings inside of her run wild. They had filled her to the brim and she felt like he was a million miles away, unable to see, and failing to understand what she was going through. She had always appreciated his optimism and ability to remain relaxed but now those traits felt like flaws. Gross blatant flaws. This was an adults' conversation, not a place for wild unserious statements like ten times worse. Wiebke's gaze was cold and harsh as she waited for him to turn around and admit defeat. She had made her stance so very clear. Her German approach was too direct for him to be unable to understand what she had meant. Leave. Go. Let it be. Seconds ticked by and the pressure in the room felt nearly suffocating. She barely breathed. Her certainty in the two of them had been shaken time and time again — and each time he had taken her hand and told her it was all in her head. Not everything she thought was true. He was true. He was constant. He would remain. He would continue to love. But now he was threatening to take it all away. Threatening to leave her standing alone on a hill of bones. "I am a reason." The two of them were a reason. The sort of reason that was in no competition with the burden of her political ambitions. "Do you mean that? Robert, you tell me immediately if this is a quip or a poor joke." The sort that flew right past her. The sort she was unable to decipher due to missing a tonal change or a quirk of a brow. "This is not the sort of threat you throw to win a fight. This is irresponsible."

"I'm sorry! I mean it. Wike, I can't do it anymore if this is what you choose." He had not even realized how close to his limit they had come to. It was the revolting callousness that had brought clarity to him. The issue was not grey: it was black and white and no matter what they said, it would not change shape. What Wiebke was doing was wrong. Plain and simple. What he was doing was wrong. Plain and simple. He could only change his own behaviour. "I don't want to be involved in this. This war is unnecessary, it's self-serving, it's cruel, it's pitting me against my family. If you're a reason to stay then I'm a reason for you to stop. End it, I'm begging you, Wike." His palms felt numb, he tried flexing his fingers but it didn't feel like he could clench his fist properly. He was right at the edge of the cliff and he didn't have the slightest clue if he'd be forced to take one step forward. "This is an ultimatum. I'm giving you an ultimatum. I'm sorry." Could her plans truly be worth so much? A scrap of land and a few bonds and papers would not give her anything. He had offered her so much so many times already — she knew he was hers. For his fears to even exist seemed like pure insanity and yet here he was, holding his breath, praying to God that the depth of her feelings was what he had always believed it to be. "You promised me. You promised me an end. If we're being serious, you promised me an end that should have happened months if not a year ago. The moment this became an armed conflict, you should have ended it and kept your promise. So I can't forgive you if you now, despite my leniency so far, choose to go back on your word. It's gone too far. You've done too much already."

[robbiestuart]

LEE PACE for Interview Magazine (2023)

“(About Short Kings) “Absolutely! I don’t know. [Thumbs up]”

[robbiestuart]

wicbkc​:

Her nails dug into her sleeve and suddenly she was glad to be wearing something that covered her skin. Her jaw was stuck in place, she did not dare to say anything because she knew her words would have a thick accent that would give her away in a second. She was beyond upset. He was choosing to be righteous at the worst time when everyone else including lady Fortuna herself was turning on Wiebke. “It’s not greed. I am not one of those people.” There was a great difference between the likes of Arnauld d’Orléans and Verona di Savoia, and her. They were serving themselves and Wiebke… Wieke was… Her lips were pressed tightly together and she felt like squirming within her skin. The mirror he was holding in front of her was showing too ugly an image. He just did not understand. He could not understand. He could not comprehend what the win would feel like. How the blood, sweat and tears would suddenly be worth something. How the guilt she was harboring somewhere deep in her chest would disappear as the spilled German blood was suddenly not wasted. To be absolved of something so heavy and painful was just as good a reason to keep going as the feeling of a victory. “I’m not naive. I know the price. I know the price extremely well. I do not need you to tell me it. This conversation is not going to go anywhere if all you have to say is how selfish I am being. I know what I am doing. I am not convinced you understand how well I understand everything. I have made this decision. I have decided to continue this. I have had to make decision again and again this past year — every time there has been a set back. This is not the first time. I know.” She felt out of breath. “If you cannot tell me something reasonable, it doesn’t matter.”

“Is it because you got to play the hero in Alsace? What is the difference? Give me a real reason why your actions are different from theirs.” He wouldn’t allow her to twist and twist and twist the situation with comforting logic that made it alright. “If you can’t stand behind your actions, you should not be standing here fighting with me about this.” The mistake he had made had been to condone it for so long. Why had he allowed his foul feelings to marinade instead of starting this fight? “You’re not naive! — I wish you were! It would help me understand this more. It would make it easier for me to forgive you for all of this. Knowing you’ve made a measured decision each time just makes this worse! Ten times worse.” It made him feel hopeless. It made him look at her in different light. It made him wonder if his words mattered in the slightest. His heartbeat quickened. He flexed his fingers to rid them of the nervous tingling he felt at the tips. His breaths grew deeper and slower. He was so stupidly scared of his next words that it took every bit of self-regulation to keep his voice steady. “This is not reasonable but this is all I have to say: I will walk out of that door and you will not have to listen to me ever again. I will leave, Wiebke. If you don’t give me a reason to stay, I will leave. I cannot stay and I do not want to stay if this is how you operate. I can’t stay if the only reason would be Amie and Mattie.”

[robbiestuart]

wicbkc​:

“The Swiss are not your family — you don’t get to decide when you care about them and when you do not! You cannot win this argument with a flimsy statement like that.” Catherine would have more than enough to rule over with Scotland and Switzerland under her care. “Switzerland is not Scotland. I would never touch a single blade of grass in Scotland. If Switzerland really was close to your heart, this would not be happening. If Switzerland was treating Catherine in any other way than as a doll, I might have reconsidered my approach a long time ago but I do not owe them my loyalty.” If Catherine had settled in half a decade earlier and not at the beginning of Kaspar and Wiebke’s plans, her presence might have changed the course. The what ifs did not matter. Not this far along. “Stop. You are trying very hard to control me. You should know better than to be controlling. It is not going to work, I’m not some thick-headed little wife who is just going do as the man says. I would be pouring two years worth of work down the drain.”

This was why he avoided arguments with Wiebke — aside from the fact that arguments were not much fun in Robert’s opinion, she was better at arguing. She had stuffed his mouth with flour and any word felt like sputtering dust into the air between the two of them. It was also then that he understood the problem: he was attempting to argue with logic when it was just about... ethics. Robert cleared his throat and placed his hands on his hips. Had he been outside, he would have been kicking rocks around as he gathered his thoughts again. “I’m not trying to control you. I’m telling you to choose me instead of greed.” It was a bold accusation but as days had turned into weeks and weeks into months, her fair undertaking had changed forms and he couldn’t see anything but ego and greed. “Your stubbornness is going to have people killed. It already has. Your personal goals are not worth that. No one’s goals are. Not yours, not Kaspar’s, no one’s.” Who cared if she lost a million or a billion? Who cared if potential revenue was going to be poured down the drain? Who cared about the hours of work she had spent on this instead of her family? “So don’t talk about control when I’m trying to tell you you’re turning into someone I don’t even recognize.” Someone he could barely find worthy of loving.

[robbiestuart]

wicbkc​:

“This is not the time to give up. This is just a– a… a setback. We’ve worked incredibly hard on Basel and Alsace. Holding Basel helps us to hold Alsace. Our investments, they—” Looking at Robert’s crestfallen expression, she couldn’t continue. Her words, they were lies. She knew it as well as he did. Basel had turned from an investment into a vanity project so slowly that she had not even realized it. By the time it had been time to accept it, she had needed to defend it twice as hard to everyone around her. “We cannot give up on Basel. It’s out of the question. It’s possible to get help from north — Arnauld d’Orléans has enough enemies to grant us at least one ally. This is not the end. This is just a tight spot.” Her jaw ached from the flexing her muscle had done. The tightness didn’t disappear even when she consciously attempted to relax it. She shouldn’t have been speaking to Robert. The realization creeped up on her like a wet cloth. Wiebke had always experienced fear as something cold and moist. Robert would try to paint terrible pictures of the future in an attempt to sway her. Wiebke would not be able to differentiate between exaggerations and the truth. “You…” The accusation was on the tip of her tongue. You are trying to trick me. She held it in remembering the one time she had actually uttered the words. The look of disappointment wasn’t one she could stand to see again. “You are not going to agree with me. I will continue this with Kaspar.”

He couldn’t bear to listen to it! Each reason weaker than the one before. She had no ground to stand on and he had to wonder how she could even stand there before him. How was she speaking so lightly? Guilt should have been rotting her insides and shame should have made it impossible for her to look at him. “You promised me. I don’t care how much money has been poured into Basel, I don’t care how difficult it is to return with nothing, I don’t care about any of your reasons. You’re waging a war against my family. My family and I’ve let you do it because, frankly, I’m not too fond of the bloke, but it’s Catherine. It’s Catherine’s family, her son, her daughter. You don’t even fucking want Basel. You don’t fucking need it.” That was the most insane part about it all. Didn’t Wiebke hold enough fondness towards his niece to stay away from Basel? It required nothing! Nothing! To stay peaceful. “I give a lot more about Catherine’s husband than Kaspar. So let’s forget about what Ka-ßßß-par wants and let’s think about you and me.” His index finger flicked between the two of them. “I want you to leave Basel. You finally have a reason to bow out gracefully and cut your losses. Take it. You can save face.”

[robbiestuart]

wicbkc​:

“Robbie.” Her voice was sharp and humourless: she did not want him cracking jokes. Her eyes were pinned on him. She was talking to him because she needed someone to help her reach clarity. She needed to expand her view and find a solution — and if not that, she wanted more people to be furious with King Wilhelm. “I need to solve this. What can we do with our resources? I know they are not being used in an optimal way. I just don’t know where to start. I’m scared of underestimating the enemy forces and losing what we’ve worked hard to gain. This is too much pressure, I can feel myself being stretched out thin.”

“I mean it. Leave Basel so you do not lose Saarland and Alsace.” Every day mattered. It was possible with enough time and advisors, she’d be able to find the perfect spread of resources — but there was no time. There was no peace of mind that would have allowed her to sit at her desk and mull over the options. “You told me, you promised me Basel would only go as far as it made sense. It no longer makes sense. You’re compromising Saarland for Basel. Basel that...” He had never quite understood her explanation, but because the words had been Wiebke’s, they had been convincing. “You don’t need Basel. You never needed Basel. You promised it’d end the moment it cost too much. It’s been costing too much for a year now! And even now when Saarland and Alsace are on the line, you’re thinking about holding onto it, tooth and nail.”

[robbiestuart]

How could she expect his sympathy? Wiebke and Kaspar were, with cruel calculation, tearing the ground of Europe apart. Alsace had been a lesson. The king of France had deserved a slap on the wrist because he had clearly forgotten the sense of right or wrong that had still existed around him. Basel... Basel had been selfish but Robert had been able to see why Wiebke had needed it — but she had forgotten that her and Kaspar’s rebelliousness did not echo thorough Germany, and only King Wilhelm had the resources to play chess with the king of France. Wiebke could not deny the king and his position, and still expect the man to support her fight. “Leave Basel. There, I solved it.”

“If we take men from Alsace, the French will make a move there. If we take men from Basel, we loose the footing we have there! He knows all of this. His majesty knows all of this and still he’s not allowing Benedikt to send men to Saarland. Kaspar’s running out of time and I’m running out of patience. Can you believe him? He knows we will lose and he’s refusing the others to aid us.” [ @robbiestuart​ ]

[robbiestuart]

“If you go into the freezing lake, you’ll be too distracted by the pain and discomfort to worry,” Robbie suggested. His hand blindly searched for her forearm by flapping around her sunbed until it finally met the warmth of her skin. He gently squeezed her arm. This felt almost normal. He could pretend he was at peace. “They know how to swim. Have a little faith. You know–” His speech was cut short by the loud buzzing of Wiebke’s phone. “I thought you left that at the house.” 

“I’m not relaxed. I’m trying to be but I’m not.” And feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin just made her want to apply more sunscreen and keep skin cancer away from her. “Oh no, should they be going that far out? It’s deep there.” Her eyes were glued on their children. “Do you see a lifeguard close by?“ [ @robbiestuart ]

[robbiestuart]

kcliningrcd​:

“I’d have to agree. Primarily because it’s like Jekyll and Hyde when I’m drinking white versus red wine. I’d like to think I’m a lothario but if anything…” He trailed off as he swirled the wine in his glass. “I just end up redfaced and saying something I shouldn’t.” He paused. “To dangerous lovers I guess.”

“Jekyll and Hyde!” He grinned at the man as he raised his glass to acknowledge the small toast. “Can you believe me when I say I got through even sixth form without having to read it? The concept never spoke to me and I think I would have died of boredom.”

[robbiestuart]

“I have a love and hate relationship with wine. I think the best of my drunk–” He whispered the word. “– stories happened because of wine — but the worst of my hangovers happened because of wine too. Wine’s like a dangerous lover.” ( @hshqstarters​ )

[robbiestuart]

catherinestuart​:

catherine kept her mouth solemnly shut. as much as she wanted her uncle to tell her mother off, queen mary certainly wouldn’t think twice about pushing her brother to do things he was uncomfortable with just so it will benefit her. “i think we’ll still have quite a bit to go until the babies stop being babies.” although, oftentimes catherine might take her eyes off freddie for a mere moment and return her gaze to find him having grown twice his size. “it’s still funny to see freddie hover — well… hobble — over elsie like a tiny bodyguard.” she couldn’t help the bright smile that spread across her lips, although a terrified bout of laughter immediately spilled out from her mouth at her uncle’s question, it “ah— no… that would be—” disastrous, horrifying. queen mary would no doubt shut the entire show down if they even considered the idea. “—no. his girlfriend was in the last series. i’m not sure if you know anything about the show… but the people who go on it tend to not make the most suitable company, let alone partner. mother wasn’t particularly pleased with the idea of having a daughter-in-law who enthusiastically licked chocolate and whipped cream off a naked man’s chest on telly.”

“Ah! That’s the common mistake.” He shook his finger at her as if he had caught her in a blatant lie. “You can prove me wrong in a few years.” The women in his family had that tendency — so he would be waiting for the day. “It’s nicer that way. I don’t know what I would have done with Ams if she had become a jealous older sister.” Or if Mathias had developed a more abrasive personality. He truly needed the peace among the siblings when there was none to be found between him and Wiebke at the moment. “Was the chocolate at least Cadbury’s?” He could only laugh at the situation. He was mildly concerned for his nephew but this had to be one of his wildest stunts so far — and Robbie could only imagine the headache his sister was experiencing. “And I assume everyone except me has tried talking him out of it?”

[robbiestuart]

Lee Pace as Joe MacMillan HALT AND CATCH FIRE (2014 - 2017)

[robbiestuart]

catherinestuart​:

her eyes scanned the letter with one critical sweep, the perfunctory language that she was so used to under the official letterhead of ‘her majesty’s state office’. “she want you to talk to the duke of inverness and tell him he should vote against the new amendment coming through the house of lords next month…” not in so many words, but catherine got the gist of it. “she thinks you’re still his best mate, or something.” even married and with his own family, queen mary still demanded as much of her brother as she does her own children. “maternity leave? i can’t, it’s already driving me mental. ah— there’s something else as well. it’s about georgie.” she handed back the letter back to him, as she fixed him a knowing look. “she thought maybe you can get through to him — tell him to straighten up and all that. he’s been on holiday with that girlfriend of his for god knows how long, mother doesn’t want his life to be a never-ending gap year …do you know the show love island?” 

“Mhm... Should I tell her the last time I saw the chap he had some strong opinions on my wife.” He tapped the table a few times, going over the wording of his sister. “I’ll give him a call and see how he feels. Can’t be helped. What the queen wants, the queen gets, aye?” He’d have to prepare himself for the phone call, forget every word the duke had said about Wiebke, and remember how good a guy the man could be. Had been. “The kids are babies for only a while. Make sure you don’t miss it,” Robert warned Catherine. He said it lightly: it was the sort of mistake everyone decided to make themselves. He would not be able to turn his niece’s head. “Georgie?” He grimaced before even hearing what the issue was. He saw a bit too much of himself in the boy. The tragedy was that Georgie didn’t have Robert’s parents. He had Robert’s sister. A tragedy on its own, Robert supposed. “I know of the show Love Island. I know it’s harder to get on it than it is to get accepted to Oxbridge. He’s not thinking about applying, is he?”

[robbiestuart]

wicbkc​:

“I don’t want to travel,” Wiebke hissed. How could he not see how dangerous traveling was these days? And just for some short holiday? “It’s too big a risk for something so unimportant!” Her body stiffened the second she had time to process the harshness of her words. “No — I don’t mean unimportant. I mean… I mean something that frivolous. Anywhere outside of home and this place is unsafe. There is absolutely no way our security team could prepare properly for a whimsical trip to a lake. No. No, no, absolutely not. This is not the time to take leisurely trips because we feel like it. It is not.” The mere thought had her shaking. It sounded so reckless! He was not this reckless! They were not this reckless.

“Wike...” It was one of those moments when he did not know if touching her would worsen the situation or improve it. She might flinch away, he’d watch her face twist further, and he’d feel more alone than before. “It’s not frivolous. It’s not unnecessary... You’ve been away from home for a long time. The kids miss you and one week as a family is needed. If we start making plans today, we can do it safely. Especially if it’s kept a secret.” Pressuring Wiebke into agreeing would not work, but he felt like he’d be doing everyone a disservice if he folded too quickly. “We can enjoy the summer at Nymphenburg too. We could host a small summer party? Invite the Roths and Zimmermans. I’m a bit sick of these people here. Even you have to admit that being able to have a good conversation over some good food and wine would feel really good. If you don’t mind me being a bit dramatic: it’d cathartic.”