[ this is a match made out of politics, made out of convenience. a match made by his father the king who he might despise but can't quite make overt moves to overthrow. yet. he is a prince and he is very aware of his power and limitations, his abilities might be considerable but so is the bureaucracy and court and his heritage that might as well tie him down. he is the prince and his father is the king and his father wields the political power to do with him what he'd like--for now.
anyway, arranged marriages are hardly news for nobility. non-arranged unions from something like love, whatever that is, would be the rarer situation. those might as well be something out of stories.
he doesn't have any delusions that something like this would be anything like love in stories.
they're at some party, a horrible high-class affair with women in elaborate gowns and men courting them like birds of paradise. his father introduces him to yaoyorozu before sweeping off to speak with their queen--his own queen is noticeably absent, but she has been from the kingdom for more than a decade now. anyone can speculate as to what happened to her but few people would know the truth. anyway, the lack of a queen hasn't stopped his father from wanting to expand, and the yaoyorozu country is where his ambitions are. so setting his son up with the princess is the next step.
yaoyorozu is quite beautiful, todoroki isn't blind, he can recognize this much.
he mostly kind of feels bad that she's stuck with him for the evening. ]
[Momo's been prepping for this her entire life. maybe not for this specifically, but it's a fate she had accepted and resigned herself to a long, long time ago when she was taught about what it means to be the only daughter of the royal family. she could never be like her father. her mother, yes, and her own mother had been the daughter of a nobleman before she was married off to King Yaoyorozu, so of course Momo would follow the same path and become the queen of some other country one day.
she learned that it just wasn't something to be questioned. and without questioning she became quite content in her lessons, becoming a brilliantly polished gemstone ready to be sent off to the most powerful marriage candidate when the time came.
and the time did come, at last, and years of suppressed anxiety suddenly begin to bubble up bit by bit. Momo realizes what this means. the path she'd been diligently walking along is coming to an end. now she'll be living her life away from the comforts of her homeland, away from her parents and what very few friends she had among the nobility there, to be tied to someone she had never even met before. it's a very scary thing to a girl who had only tasted politics through books.
her father had mentioned the prince's scarred face to her before they arrived. even so, she finds herself staring for maybe a split second longer than necessary before letting her eyes wander to the other side of his face.
that was impolite, she scolds herself. the dress she's wearing suddenly feels too stifling.]
I— [she clears her throat, and offers a small smile.] It would be an honor, Your Grace.
[ she seems... a little shyer or more uncertain than what he'd expect from nobility. then again, all the other royals he'd know would be slightly power-hungry assholes, his father who is a very power-hungry asshole, and his sister who is the only sane and decent person he knows.
even his sister isn't like yaoyorozu, though. he seems a little surprised by her, but even he's not entirely sure why, he just cocks his head slightly puzzled over their light meal, a dinner he hasn't even touched. ]
You don't have to call me that. [ she's staring at him... he doesn't really realize it's because of his burn yet. ] Todoroki is fine. [ ...... last name basis even to a future spouse apparently. ]
If you don't want to, we don't have to.
[ he's slightly clueless, but even he could kind of tell this much. ]
[it's not that she doesn't want to, Momo isn't nearly that reluctant, but... they're still complete strangers. his suggestion at being addressed by his last name doesn't really help. a warmer reception would have been nice, but what could she expect? maybe she'd been bracing herself for the worst, for the prince to be a mini version of his notorious father the king. this is better than the alternative, but still cold.
she picks at her food just to look distracted. no, wait, that's not very polite either is it. setting her utensils down...]
I'm certainly not opposed to the idea. [which is to say, she doesn't really mind either way.] ... Would you like to?
[if they're both putting up fronts for the sake of formalities, she'd at least like to have a little bit of honesty to make things more bearable.]
[ ... well, if she's asking his opinion, he might as well be totally frank. ]
No. [ does he LOOK like he'd be a decent dancer?? actually he might be all right at it, he has decent coordination but it's far more for combat use than... dancing. even he looks like he's aware that it might end painfully or at least awkwardly, more awkward than this already is.
this is his face at the idea of dancing. ] I don't really care about it.
[OK... WELL... THAT'S FINE... he's being honest, that's good, awfully blunt sure, but still... good?! she resumes picking at her food, letting the conversation lull into silence for a while with not much more than a polite affirming nod. no dancing, then.
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anyway, arranged marriages are hardly news for nobility. non-arranged unions from something like love, whatever that is, would be the rarer situation. those might as well be something out of stories.
he doesn't have any delusions that something like this would be anything like love in stories.
they're at some party, a horrible high-class affair with women in elaborate gowns and men courting them like birds of paradise. his father introduces him to yaoyorozu before sweeping off to speak with their queen--his own queen is noticeably absent, but she has been from the kingdom for more than a decade now. anyone can speculate as to what happened to her but few people would know the truth. anyway, the lack of a queen hasn't stopped his father from wanting to expand, and the yaoyorozu country is where his ambitions are. so setting his son up with the princess is the next step.
yaoyorozu is quite beautiful, todoroki isn't blind, he can recognize this much.
he mostly kind of feels bad that she's stuck with him for the evening. ]
Do you want to dance?
no subject
she learned that it just wasn't something to be questioned. and without questioning she became quite content in her lessons, becoming a brilliantly polished gemstone ready to be sent off to the most powerful marriage candidate when the time came.
and the time did come, at last, and years of suppressed anxiety suddenly begin to bubble up bit by bit. Momo realizes what this means. the path she'd been diligently walking along is coming to an end. now she'll be living her life away from the comforts of her homeland, away from her parents and what very few friends she had among the nobility there, to be tied to someone she had never even met before. it's a very scary thing to a girl who had only tasted politics through books.
her father had mentioned the prince's scarred face to her before they arrived. even so, she finds herself staring for maybe a split second longer than necessary before letting her eyes wander to the other side of his face.
that was impolite, she scolds herself. the dress she's wearing suddenly feels too stifling.]
I— [she clears her throat, and offers a small smile.] It would be an honor, Your Grace.
no subject
even his sister isn't like yaoyorozu, though. he seems a little surprised by her, but even he's not entirely sure why, he just cocks his head slightly puzzled over their light meal, a dinner he hasn't even touched. ]
You don't have to call me that. [ she's staring at him... he doesn't really realize it's because of his burn yet. ] Todoroki is fine. [ ...... last name basis even to a future spouse apparently. ]
If you don't want to, we don't have to.
[ he's slightly clueless, but even he could kind of tell this much. ]
no subject
she picks at her food just to look distracted. no, wait, that's not very polite either is it. setting her utensils down...]
I'm certainly not opposed to the idea. [which is to say, she doesn't really mind either way.] ... Would you like to?
[if they're both putting up fronts for the sake of formalities, she'd at least like to have a little bit of honesty to make things more bearable.]
no subject
No. [ does he LOOK like he'd be a decent dancer?? actually he might be all right at it, he has decent coordination but it's far more for combat use than... dancing. even he looks like he's aware that it might end painfully or at least awkwardly, more awkward than this already is.
this is his face at the idea of dancing. ] I don't really care about it.
[ then why... did he... offer...?? ]
no subject
now what???]
So... what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
[if not dancing...]