#(But tum.blr wouldn't allow it)

[more-than-a-princess]

Continued from here for @scarlxtleaves (I can't edit the previous post because I think it was done with legacy editor and I use beta editor)

"I'm not sure if I'm an efficient ruler yet," Sonia admitted, switching lanes in order to pass a particularly slow truck on the highway. There were speed limits of course, but they were more like guidelines. And the more distance they put between the car and the manor, the greater chance they had of not getting caught. Or at least, not getting caught for a few days, until the group found some way to track them, reach them, and likely be torn between relief and berating the two of them for running off.

Sonia cast a quick, sideways glance to Lupin: considering how he had plan A and contingency plans that often didn't look like contingencies at all, surely he must have considered what would transpire once their holiday getaway ended. Whether they'd seen everything they wished to or they were uncovered early, what did he plan to do? How did he plan to explain it? Or would that task be put squarely on her shoulders? Smoothing over conflict was part of the royal skillset, and while she could do it Sonia still wondered how he'd steer the situation into some sort of resolution.

Preferably better than her own steering, at least where the car was concerned: it was precise and no one was hurt, but with Tokyo well behind them, she could now drive as if she were on a simulated battlefield: carefully weaving with both hands on the wheel and adrenaline in her veins. "I suppose others would be impressed by our fluency in Japanese, but I feel that's almost impolite in a way. Whenever you visit another country where the citizens speak in foreign tongues, it is most appropriate to learn as much as you can so you might communicate more efficiently. Novoselic is a bit of an anomaly: Japanese is the fourth most popular language at home, with French and Italian, and then English, that are spoken more frequently."

But she paused her criticism of tourists to laugh at Lupin's warning. Maybe if she hadn't needed both hands to drive, she could've hid her amusement behind a feminine giggle and a well-placed hand over her mouth. But his advice came years too late, and she was both less-naïve and far more experienced in the exact issue he'd put forth. "I think the term you're searching for is 'gaijin-hunter,' Mr. Lupin!" She told him, as soon as she'd been able to take a breath. "Truthfully, I had a boy stalk me for the greater part of three years in high school, and he was a classmate. And it's not just boys, either: women can be equally interested in, as you put it, 'beautiful foreigners.'"

She grinned as she switched lanes, moving the car into the appropriate exit lane. "Should I look out for you too then, as we obtain food and petrol?" She asked playfully, turning at the light and stopping at a nearby station attached to a FamilyMart. With a 7-Eleven across the street should they need it, it looked like the small town they'd chosen would serve them well. It was only when she'd put the car into park that she'd realized what she'd done: she'd inadvertently called him a beautiful foreigner.

That wasn't exactly a lie.

"Shall we go in and find something to eat?" Sonia asked him in French, quickly getting out of the car. Hopefully she changed the flow of the conversation just as quickly: the last thing she needed to do was make him feel uncomfortable. "I've always seen on television programs that sandwiches are best whilst engaging in long drives, but I've never had the opportunity to indulge in such things." Not when hampers had always been prepared for her, or she ate on the train or plane.