Juliette Coulombe (clearyourmind) wrote in emillion, |
Although matters had improved greatly for Juliette over the course of the last several months, these sorts of events did still hit the occasional sour notes. Not all of her former suitors had departed, and those who had stayed were the least tolerable of the lot. She had had to utilize Lady Marcos’ ingenious trick to be free of one such, and was now searching out a place to hide from him and his injured hand (and pride). Unfortunately, it seemed she was not the only person seeking dark alcoves to get out of the way of the revelry; just as she thought she had found the perfect spot, away near a heavily curtained window just to the side of the orchestra’s dais, she realized someone else had had the same idea. “My apologies,” she murmured, thinking forlornly that she would have to go elsewhere. She recognized the woman then, first by her shuttered and wary expression, and felt her shoulders relaxing. “Oh,” she said, “hello. I did not --” expect to see you here died on her tongue -- would the woman think that Juliette was questioning her presence here? She recovered after a moment of awkward silence with, “I did not realize anyone else would be… here. In this spot, I mean.” And of course, she was babbling. She really needed to stop that. Casting about for something less inane to say, she came up with, “I hope your dog is well?” Riyeko couldn’t help how her nerves flared up in instances like this. Normally at this sort of event she’d attempt to sequester herself away with mechanical devices, lights, curtains, projection system or other but… This ball would not happen to be one in which she could so easily disengage. It would seem their lovely guildmaster had wanted everyone to be present in more than one way this eve, and she nearly hated him for it… Well, if it hadn’t been so darn charming she would have that was. “Oh!” Fingers had clasped around a glass of non-alcoholic beverage in order to assure no one would attempt to dump booze upon her before the end of the night. The absolute last thing she needed was people trying to talk, and push, her into drinking when she barely felt like she could keep her wits around her as it was with how busy the entire room was. The machinist offered a weak looking smile, an attempt to bridge into the conversation without looking like a complete fool. “Oh, no, it’s, um, fine!” She tried to force the smile a bit more, hoping it’d look more confident than she’d ever felt in her entire life. “It’s nice to see you again!” Yes, manners could possibly get her a long way in this. “Oh, ummm, Ratchet’s good. Probably antsy at home right now.” At least if she were talking to someone, others would leave her alone, right? “How is Boris? I hope he’s been doing well!” “Quite well, thank you for inquiring.” And for remembering Boris’ name; Juliette had to admit she had recalled Ratchet but not what he was called until the woman had spoken. An odd caricature of typical ball conversation, perhaps, to ask about the well-being of each other's dogs as opposed to family members, but at least it was a neutral topic which she felt she could manage even with a virtual stranger. A pause before she ventured, “I hope you are enjoying the party?” This, despite the fact that the woman looked considerably less comfortable with the proceedings than Juliette could remember being since her first few balls after her official debut. She could relate to the feeling. And this corner, with all their combined awkwardness, was still preferable to going back onto the floor. “You are a member of the Bards’ Guild?” she guessed. They seemed prevalent at the Duke’s events. “If it is not too forward to ask.” |