Emarila Milaris (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
follow_the_leader) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
starry_matrix2014-08-29 11:04 pm
follow_the_leader) wrote in starry_matrix2014-08-29 11:04 pm
Entry tags:
parties for days
Holidays are supposed to be fun. Ema is pretty sure that this is true, at least. Her parents certainly seem excited every year. Normally, she doesn't mind it much. She's not that into parties necessarily, but some of it can be fun. The food and drinks are usually good, and the music, and the outfits. She does love watching the outfits. Some are wonderful, some are interesting, and there's always at least a couple that are just hilariously awful. She's still young enough that she's been able to get away with being shy; there's enough of a 'children should be seen and not heard' mentality that this is still considered Acceptable.
Or it was, anyway.
This year, they're going to a different set of parties, and The Twins are here.
Ema has literally never seen her parents this excited. They usually have opinions, of course, she wouldn't want to embarass them by showing up to an event in an inappropriate outfit or something like that. But this time they are so... into it. Ema doesn't get it. They fuss and hover and change their minds about what she should wear and send her to get her hair done and change their minds again and buy her three different pairs of shoes because they can't decide which she should wear, and...
Ema wants to scream at them. She has to try very hard not to be bitter at the twins. It's not their fault her parents think they're the Most Special People in the Universe. But Ema is feeling both overwhelmed by the attention and, somehow, oddly ignored at the same time. Don't her parents think she'll look nice without all this fussing? Or that she'll know how to be friendly and polite without all of their rules and speeches and injunctions about how to treat the twins? She knows this stuff! She's been a good daughter, she learned it all.
For better or worse, this all goes on for a good while before the weeks of parties actually arrive. Worse, because Ema is now thoroughly (if quietly) fed up with her parents. Better, because she's had enough time to process that it's really not the twins' fault, and she thinks she can manage to not feel like she's forcing friendliness if she meets them.
But really, she just wants this all to be over. By the time the Grand Event arrives she's already been going to parties for a week, smiling and making small talk and behaving just as her parents want her to. She arrives at the party, pastes a smile on her face, and starts to 'aimlessly' wander the edge of the party. She's just looking for a good vantage point, really. See-and-be-seen is best done from the sidelines, in her opinion. There must be a reasonable corner somewhere.
Or it was, anyway.
This year, they're going to a different set of parties, and The Twins are here.
Ema has literally never seen her parents this excited. They usually have opinions, of course, she wouldn't want to embarass them by showing up to an event in an inappropriate outfit or something like that. But this time they are so... into it. Ema doesn't get it. They fuss and hover and change their minds about what she should wear and send her to get her hair done and change their minds again and buy her three different pairs of shoes because they can't decide which she should wear, and...
Ema wants to scream at them. She has to try very hard not to be bitter at the twins. It's not their fault her parents think they're the Most Special People in the Universe. But Ema is feeling both overwhelmed by the attention and, somehow, oddly ignored at the same time. Don't her parents think she'll look nice without all this fussing? Or that she'll know how to be friendly and polite without all of their rules and speeches and injunctions about how to treat the twins? She knows this stuff! She's been a good daughter, she learned it all.
For better or worse, this all goes on for a good while before the weeks of parties actually arrive. Worse, because Ema is now thoroughly (if quietly) fed up with her parents. Better, because she's had enough time to process that it's really not the twins' fault, and she thinks she can manage to not feel like she's forcing friendliness if she meets them.
But really, she just wants this all to be over. By the time the Grand Event arrives she's already been going to parties for a week, smiling and making small talk and behaving just as her parents want her to. She arrives at the party, pastes a smile on her face, and starts to 'aimlessly' wander the edge of the party. She's just looking for a good vantage point, really. See-and-be-seen is best done from the sidelines, in her opinion. There must be a reasonable corner somewhere.
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That is definitely sarcasm.
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"Clearly," Ema snaps at him, "this time you missed."
Her mother cries harder at that, and Ema sighs. Even as angry as she is, she still doesn't want to be having this fight in the middle of a party. People are very, very obviously staring. She is not up for being in the middle of a fight right now, much less one with this many spectators. Really, what she most wants is to go home and hide under her blankets and not come out for at least a few days. But she's certainly not doing that right now. She's not going back to the house with them. At least until they apologize properly.
"I'm going to Allila's," she tells them. "Don't follow me. Unless you can prove you're not going to drop me into a waterfall again."
Her father's face is turning so red she's afraid he'll explode on the spot, but her mother whispers to him and tugs at his arm. "Just- remember that we love you, sweetheart," her mother says. She looks like she wants to say something else, but she sees her husband's face, and drags him away.
Ema glares at the surrounding crowd until they part enough for her to get through, and then hurries towards the outside of the party. Once she makes it outside, she finds somewhere reasonably out of the way, waits for everyone to leave her alone- luckily, they're mostly too busy gossiping about her to actually try to talk to her- and slumps against a column. There, she curls up and cries.
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... Adarin might have lost his temper, there. Actually, no, he definitely lost his temper. He - needs to not be here. Right now. Everyone is staring at him, and he really should have thought this through better. He has the calm suspicion that he just - incited something terrible. Good job, Adarin, looks like you don't even need your sister to get into trouble anymore. You're all grown up. Mom would be proud.
(He is quite sure that there will be a punishment waiting for him when he gets 'home.' That'll be fun. He wonders, inanely, if it'll involve mana deprivation again. Different people were responsible for that one, but honestly, all of his caretakers have just blended together.)
He says something polite about how the stress of the day's taken a toll on his temper, and that he's very worried about his sister's disappearance. Also, he was being chivalrous or something and defending a lady. Or. Something. He doesn't remember exactly what he says, but it's pretty good. Some of the surrounding people make an 'Awwww' sound.
And then, he excuses himself, retrieves his escort, and they proceed to flee as fast as politely possible. He needs to - curl up in a quiet room and not talk to anyone for a while. So he goes and does that.