swan (savioring) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-08-28 11:54:00 |
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When her mother asked her to go to a fundraiser on behalf of the Naberrie family, Padme jumped at the chance, especially when she learned her family wouldn’t be attending. If there was one thing Padme loved more than anything, it was dressing up.
Actually, that was a lie. Her most favourite thing was dressing Anakin up. Getting him into a proper tailored suit, ensuring his clothing matched the decor, researching tie knots… it was heaven.
Plus when she wore ridiculous heels, she didn’t feel nearly as short next to him, and her Louboutins were not meant for day-to-day wear. The theme of the night was “Elegance” (which was a ridiculous theme but whatever) and Padme couldn’t help picking out a dainty tiara to nestle into the crown of curls. It went well with the darkness of her hair, and it made her laugh a little, knowing that in some universe, she had been a queen.
At some point, Anakin had disappeared -- probably staring at some medical technology involving lasers or something -- so Padme, with a glass of champagne in hand, looked around the room while she stood by the dessert table. There were entirely too many choices, and it was probably better for her to simply sniff the air.
This dress was practically sewn on.
But still …
With a sigh, she gave the blonde woman next to her a shrug. “The sacrifices women make to look good … I should have worn pants.”
Even if her heels wouldn’t have looked as good….
It wasn’t like she was used to these kinds of outings, not in the least. But apparently Roman got invited to a whole lot of these events all the time, and she couldn’t fault him not wanting to go to them all. So when this one came up, and Roman had already planned things, Emma was told she needed to go as a representative to drop off the Godfrey Industries support and then just mingle before she could leave.
Frankly, if she’d had someone to come with her, it might’ve been fun.
Instead she was on her own, in a soft pink and black dress with her hair up in a plait and a tiny little tiara hair clip in her wrapped up hair. Her heels were killing her, but it wasn’t like she could take them off and hide bare feet since her dress cut off at her knees.
Glancing to her side, as someone in an elegant green dress, clearly better suited to the event than Emma, she gave a soft laugh at the comment. “Oh, I completely understand.” Emma had panicked about if she needed to wax or not.
“My feet are going to be dying tomorrow.”
The blonde's heels were beautiful, as was the dress. Padmé approved internally. It was a lovely silhouette, one that she would have to steal from.
"This may be a highly privileged thing to say, but I generally book a pedicure the day after these kinds of events. I find my feet need the pampering then, not before." She gave a sly look. "I can do my own toe polish, and who is going to know anyways?"
It was the little things that had her giggle.
"And I love your gown. I can't look away. The fading and embroidery.... exquisite!"
She supposed if someone went to these events regularly, standing in heels a lot or doing that greeting thing, they’d pick up little hacks from the experience. “That’s actually a good tip,” and Emma figured that while she might not get time tomorrow, she might have some time the next day to get a pamper appointment.
The benefit of having a good job now was that she didn’t need to pinch pennies to try and make those things happen. Emma knew that she could comfortably splurge on a spa day without worrying that she wouldn’t get to the end of the month.
“Oh, thanks,” she was rather fond of the find, fairly sure it’d be on a few more times over the years, “I’m not usually one for cute girly things, but I really like it.” And Emma figured the colour worked well on her. “I’m so envious of your mermaid style cut, I can’t carry that off.”
Padmé smoothed down the sides of her dress and gave a little preen. "Thanks but it involves not breathing and staring longingly at the food," she joked with a slight giggle. "But really, I'm a surfer, so that helps me stay in shape. Otherwise everything would have to be empire waist. I have a sweet tooth."
And there would be no cream puffa left if she was at home.
Extending a hand, she smiled. "I'm Padmé Naberrie. My mother is Senator Naberrie. She was supposed to be here but she couldn't so here I am on her behalf. On the bonus side, it was her credit card that paid for this dress."
A sweet tooth was definitely a problem Emma shared. She was glad she liked to run, honestly. Because otherwise she’d have the same problem. As it was, she couldn’t wear slim fitting dresses because her thighs were muscular -because of the running most likely.
“It definitely pays to have an active hobby.” If for nothing else than staying toned for dresses and summer legs. Of course, the moment that she heard Senator, Emma got awkward.
“Oh, well, I’m sure they’re just as glad to have you here, Miss Naberrie,” she’d heard of the name, obviously. Emma might not be politically minded but she watched CNN like everyone else. “Um, I’m Emma Swan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Why had she been sent to the same event that Senators might go to?
"Oh no, Padmé is fine," she said, a little shake of her head. "I'm not really one for formality, and really, I've done nothing to warrant it."
Her eyes twinkled a bit. "I'm a wedding planner, really. The black sheep of the family. I think I get told to do these only because I'm the oldest. Once my sister finishes university, I might be able to ignore these things and focus on events that actually mean something."
She froze. "Not that there's anything wrong," she added quickly. "This is fun too..."
Emma just laughed a little as Padme tried to backtrack a little, “No no, I understand. I’m mostly only here because my boss couldn’t make it due to a prior engagement.” She got that fundraisers or whatever were still important, but the cause was usually what determined the level of importance to people. Emma would honestly rather be somewhere that benefited the earth or people in general, she wasn’t entirely sure what this was for, which meant it was probably something fancy.
“I think I drew the short straw at work.” Or maybe just because she was Roman’s PA and could actually use her PDA to make appointments if anyone asked.
“I’m still sure I’m going to commit some social flaw and get kicked out.”
Padme had to laugh at that.
“Oh, there’s no social police! If there was, trust me -- my mother would have had me thrown in jail a long time ago.” She chuckled a bit. Sad that that wasn’t really a joke.
“And you know, there’s worse things that a boss could send you to. At least this one has catered food, lovely music … did you get to bring a plus one to entertain yourself with at least?”
Speaking of which, she had completely lost Anakin. Not surprising.
“I had one but he seems to have escaped,” She scanned the crowd. “And he was my way out of talking to any of the boring people. I guess you’re stuck with me,” she teased.
Padme didn’t make Emma feel like she needed to adopt some airs and graces, thankfully. Her shoulders untensed considering she was speaking to a Senators daughter. But she didn’t think she could cause much bad PR for the company if they’d avoided giving her a long list of talking points or things she could or couldn’t do or say.
“It’s definitely better than the time I had to lug ice from a truck through a warehouse.” Diner working sometimes got weird in Arizona. “And I never say no to free food.” Which was true, and probably why Emma had been sneaking return trips to the catering area constantly.
“Oh, no, I didn’t have anyone to bring.” Who would she even ask? It was probably sad how few friends she had as an adult woman. “Besides, I’d be tense all day about them saying something that my boss would disapprove of.” It was better to fly solo and only need to mind her own mouth. “But I think you have a warped view on ‘stuck’ with.”
Padme was actually exceptionally nice company.
Padmé laughed again. She was in a good mood, and the snacks were helping. Anakin would have to help her zip out of the dress later...which wasn't a bad idea.
"Carrying ice seems cold and messy and also something that I didn't realize was a thing. Don't people have ice machines? How big were these cubes of ice? I have a lot of questions about ice apparently."
Emma couldn’t help but laugh, settling into the conversation easily, untense and just enjoying the company. “It was a winter installation in South Carolina, they thought it’d be really cool to recreate a winter village out of actual ice,” she made a point on emphasising the word because everyone at the time liked to make that pun.
They weren’t the ones carrying giant bricks of ice from a cool truck to a cool warehouse for people to make said installation. “It was better than being an elf for the third year in a row.” At some point you just needed to put your foot down and say no to strippy tights and curly shoes while kids sit on an old man’s knee.
“I’ve had my share of odd jobs.”
Padme shook her head in gentle amusement, a curl slowly falling out of her carefully pinned hair.
“That’s ridiculous. An elf. Wow. I have suddenly realized that I’ve only had absolutely normal and uninteresting jobs.”
Another laugh, and another curl fell. Reaching up, she made a face. “And if you’ll excuse me, my hair seems to no longer be cooperating. I have two choices: Try to fix it, or let it all out, and since I am not a hairdresser…” She shrugged and smiled. “I will soon have many bobby pins in my purse, so if you need one, come and find me. It was nice talking to you, Emma.”
At least her tiara would probably stay in without the updo.
That was the most important part anyways.
Emma had always been prone to just taking jobs that were available, and that sometimes meant a lot of weird stuff.
But as Padme’s hair made a break for it, Emma gave a sympathetic nod, “Sometimes these complicated hairstyles are too hard to salvage.” Emma wasn’t that great with her own hair either, she tended just towards simple and easy.
“Well, hopefully we’ll run into each other later,” because Emma felt like it was going to be a little easier getting through the event after talking with Padme.
Padmé was already patting at her hair as she nodded at Emma. "Oh I'm sure we will. Maybe I'll have found my plus one by then and you can meet him."
She flashed Emma a smile.
"Until we meet again!"