video; un: R

[winecasks]

[ Grantaire is where he usually is, huddled off with his wine in the corner of a tavern somewhere in Wyver. He doesn’t seem to be too far into this endeavor, considering he’s plenty eloquent when he decides to make a speech to the network.

It’s less than rousing. It's mostly complaints. ]

All this talk of politics has made me weary, friends. To be frank, I hardly understand it at all. I have listened. I drink, it’s true, but I listen. My ears are far better than my eyes or my memory, and no one ever tunes their conversation to exclude the fellow enjoying his drink in the corner.

[ This much seems to be true, given how he’s been rambling at length and no one has bothered to silence him. There’s chatter in the background as people enjoy their own conversations, separate from him as he drinks from the bottle. ]

I have heard things. Things about how the first to wake were welcomed gladly by Olympia, and others still were welcomed by Wyver later on. My ears are fine and well, I assure you, but my mind is perhaps foggy. It cannot comprehend what happened to create this change. Politics. Surely that is the only answer. It always is.

[ He rolls his eyes, taking another drink. ]

Well, I’ll not partake in any of it. I have no love for one city over another, no love for a king over an empress. I do not disdain monarchy, though I do not disdain those who do. I simply disdain politics. Tell me why I should choose one side or another, or why I should change my mind on the matter.

Comments

[antleredcrown]

As did I, Stannis. As did I. Was I not on the Small Council in your version of events? Was I not Master of Laws, there? Where I am from, I had to sit and watch as Robert drove the kingdom into debt with the Lannisters for millions. Counting coppers, he called it.

So when I saw a chance to push our kingdom forward rather than to blindly follow a brother who was making poor decisions, I took it.

I wish I knew how things were in your world, Stannis. It sounds as though you might have been a better king, there.

[bruxisms]

Your contributions to the Small Council were your shared japes with Littlefinger. It was Barristan Selmy, Jon Arryn, and I that did most of the running of the realm.

[ of course, Stannis's opinion of his younger brother may be somewhat biased. be that as it may... ]

I would have made you my heir, and allowed you to keep your position on the Small Council. When I spoke to you of the illegitimacy of Joffrey's claim, you insisted on mocking me to my face.

[ still, he cannot help but wonder if perhaps this Renly and he might have reached an understanding. ]

...Did you offer your brother a peach?

[ a question that he still has yet to understand. why had he done that? ]