inbox. duplicity.

[sheening]

Daphne Bridgerton

Please leave all correspondence here, action threads as well. While new to the game, her voice-mail message will be automated, and it may take longer than usual for her to reply to texts, videos, and phonecalls.

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text; un:a.bridgerton, after his fight with Simon

[meetatdawn]

His Grace will not be joining us for dinner tonight.

[ you know he typed this in like 12 different ways to try and make it sound tactful and not worrying. ]

[sheening]

[ erm. well. there's gotta be a reason anthony would go out of his way to inform her of this... ]

He shall be elsewhere, then?
Then we shall have to decide what we wish to eat between just the two of us alone.

[ he ain't coming around for a totally innocent reason, right?? she can hope. ]

[meetatdawn]

Yes. I did not want his absence to worry you.

You can decide. I am still at the gym but I will try and wrap things up early.

[ all his fencing partners really losing tonight ]

[sheening]

It has been that he seems to prefer staying closer to us than not, though the city does require it...

Hm, very well. What I want shall be waiting when you arrive back.

[ and a few minutes later -- ] Are you worried about the Duke, brother?

[meetatdawn]

[ he wants to assure her that Simon isn't going out to fuck someone but honestly he cannot say that's the case since he sure was ready to go when Anthony ran into him. But no one can promise monogamy here, ultimately. And certainly not men like the two of them.

So he just lets it go--at least until her next message comes. ]

No. Why would I be worried?

[sheening]

[ no, daphne is under no assumption that simon would only wish to be with her...for a variety of reasons, but. her focus remains on anthony in this moment, wondering if she might get more of an answer from him over the device or if she'll have to wait until he's returned home. ]

I do not doubt you wish for me to not worry, and I shall not, I assure you. Yet it makes me wonder if you will always tell me when he will not join us for dinner...when it is likely he may have any manner of plans on any such day in the future.

I thought there may be something wrong.

> action

[meetatdawn]

We can talk about it when I get back.

[ at least he didn't lie! But he really must finish up these lessons, and so his next text isn't until he tells her he's on the way home and then he pockets his device.

Not long after he's coming in through the front door, technically only half dressed without his coat on but he usually opts for less layers when he's going to go fence since he's just going to take them off. ]

Sister, I am home.

[sheening]

Certainly.

[ no need to fret over the possibility of worrying, right? so daphne sets her mind on deciding on what to order for dinner. enough in fact that she hasn't put in an order yet by the time she hears anthony's voice, her attention drawing toward the door from where she sits in the kitchen. ]

Come, help me decide what we should have.

[ surely there are print copies of said room service menus, and she has one laid out on a counter, her face turning to smile at anthony.

not diving right into talking about "it" right away, letting him come in, settle. choose whenever he brings it up... ]

And tell me of your day.

[meetatdawn]

[ When it turns out she has not picked anything out, it occurs to him that he maybe did end up making her worry, which was the opposite of what he had intended. But it seemed better than texting that he'd kicked Simon out for the night.

He puts his keys in a little bowl by the door and drops his wallet and device near there and then joins her in the kitchen, taking a seat next to her. ]

Uneventful. I went for a ride this morning and then stopped by the shop to make sure all was well. [ Eloise's printshop, but it's also the weekend so it was entirely unnecessary, but this is the least busy he's been in ages and it's very strange ] I happened upon the Duke on the way to fencing.

[ yes....very straightforward. He looks down at the menus too, but he's kind of distracted. ]

How was your day?

very late, my apologies :') but here to tag this if you still wanna!!

[sheening]

[ her days are often much the same, delightful sprinklings of activity with their siblings ever since the lot of them arrived in the city. anthony could guess what she might have done. surely she's told him of her usual daily activities already. yet daphne will regale him with them, suspicious of simon's absence but able to keep her expressions even. she hums softly upon hearing anthony had been riding, where he'd stopped, how he'd run into the duke. her tone is soft, warm when she speaks. ]

It was an uneventful day at the gallery. Regular tasks, you know. I have considered if Mr. Spector might wish to organize events soon, but have yet to inquire. [ a few beats, her hands resting on the menus. ]

The Duke had contemplated sharing one of these larger dishes, that seem to have an array of spices, with the two of us. You are certain he will not be returning tonight?

[ totally chill about asking. ]

[meetatdawn]

[ So......chill....just truly having a regular one here. But that's alright, he does intend to tell her, he just didn't want to do so over the phone. ]

I am certain he is not returning tonight because I told him not to. He and I fought.

[ totally child about telling. ]

[sheening]

[ ah, there it is. daphne turns her attention fully to him, brows lifting. ]

May I ask what your argument was about?

[ or is that confidential, need to know, info? ]

[meetatdawn]

Of course you may.

[ But that doesn't make it any easier to tell her. How they'd almost fucked again, how Anthony has realized how much he loves Simon and is trying to do everything he can to simply not feel that, because that seems even worse still than the sex. ]

You have seen the water all over the city, that is causing people to take their clothes off, I imagine?