[He doesn't have an immediate answer to that, looking away from her after a moment. He doesn't want the crown and he wants her, why does it have to be so complicated? Why does anyone have to suffer?]
Do you really believe that? Is being with me really like a prison?
[ Mako hesitates. No, not in that way -- she loves him so, so much; but to be together exacts such a high price from the both of them. ]
I love you. I love you very much; but there won't be a single media entity who wouldn't condemn us for what you're about to do. [ Because think about what it looks like, Raleigh; a king abandoning his throne, his people? ]
[Yeah well-- fuck the media, how about that. Raleigh's had a hate/love relationship with them his entire life, edging towards hate almost every time except for when he was this stupid eighteen year old kid and lapped up the attention.
It's definitely in the hate side of things now. And it has him rolling his eyes, and sighing and people are going to be saying shit about him, them for their entire lives, no matter what he does. That's just how it is.]
Damned if we do, damned if we don't. You can't play to win with them, at that game, because you never will.
[ It's one thing to say 'fuck the media', it's another to deal with it because never has her privacy been so thoroughly breached, never before has she been thrust so suddenly and unpleasantly under the spotlight, named as the woman who had taken their people's king away.
Others are lauding it as a fairytale of a lifetime, and Mako wishes she could tell them it isn't so. A king's love is overwhelming, terrifying -- a king's love is wonderful and sweet and everything she'd need, and yet. ]
Then what are you planning to do? Ignore them all your life?
More or less. [Raleigh shrugs. It's easier for him to say that, for that to be his plan because he's used to the camera clicks in the background, the microphones shoved in his face, and so it's nothing new. He's not really thinking about how hard it is for her though, because she's not like him, she wasn't born into this, she didn't ask for anything of this.
He sighs a moment later and reaches out to touch her cheek with the back of his knuckles.]
You can do it. I know you can. You're stronger than anyone I know.
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Do you really believe that? Is being with me really like a prison?
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I love you. I love you very much; but there won't be a single media entity who wouldn't condemn us for what you're about to do. [ Because think about what it looks like, Raleigh; a king abandoning his throne, his people? ]
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It's definitely in the hate side of things now. And it has him rolling his eyes, and sighing and people are going to be saying shit about him, them for their entire lives, no matter what he does. That's just how it is.]
Damned if we do, damned if we don't. You can't play to win with them, at that game, because you never will.
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Others are lauding it as a fairytale of a lifetime, and Mako wishes she could tell them it isn't so. A king's love is overwhelming, terrifying -- a king's love is wonderful and sweet and everything she'd need, and yet. ]
Then what are you planning to do? Ignore them all your life?
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He sighs a moment later and reaches out to touch her cheek with the back of his knuckles.]
You can do it. I know you can. You're stronger than anyone I know.