Aristocats [Open]

[Mino]

29 Ash 121

One could say that House Lekivian had spared little expense for their...most publicly seen son. Not quite the golden boy, but certainly a prized child within the ranks of the many orphans they had been so gracious as to raise. Surely, that was what they would think of an event that was upheld as second only to the Glade Cotillion. And that was Lady Blue had wanted; her gaze on him now made him even more aware of that as guests filtered in and he greeted them. He wasn’t playing host tonight — for once — and while the pressure of that did alleviate some tension, it didn’t take much away.

He sucked in a breath as he turned his attention to a guest that looked fairly familiar. He was pretty sure he’d seen the young miss at the cotillion, or one of the days. He grinned as a blush rose on her cheeks at being noticed. Her greeting was mumbled out to him before she shrunk away, allowing another guest to fill her spot. Far less favorable — or memorable — but he didn’t really have a mind to care. He was on his second glass of the evening; only just getting started. Nobility of varying statuses showed their faces, including Lord Thanh. The rathari had made sure that the elf would see an invitation, though not as personally as the cotillion’s invitations had been given.

Mino’s eyes skimmed the crowd, the illustrious decoration of it all — and felt like he might be sick. Another sip of his drink seemed to make it marginally more bearable, but that would have to do for now. He was being stared at again. A silent cue to watch his drinking. But why should he? It was supposed to be his night — even if he knew it really wasn’t. It was someone else’s from the start, pulled out at random. He might have preferred it when he was eight and didn’t care so much about what went on behind the scenes beyond what flavor the cake was. Or how much icing had gone into decorating it. Back before he had to understand that it was all just one big show for good measure — for the good of the family to show that they were still upstanding citizens. Upstanding enough.

The next guest bowed before him slightly deeper than the last. Must have been a recently awarded noble. Those tended to be the types that leaned too deep into formality. They hadn’t learned to play the game just yet. He missed those days. Sigh repressed, he offered them a grin and a few words of gratitude for their attendance before they were attempting to show him which gift they’d brought from a distance.

[Shuai Chisuo]

Being only second to the Glade Cotillion means it could not make it as the first. That was the reason why Shuai was not too interested with yet another party especially one by the widow house. What could widows do anyway? It did not sound too exciting and, he was more interest in making preparations for some hunting instead. Hunting what? Why the most dangerous game of course! However Shuai had a friend who wanted to attend the the party really, really badly because if he was not so strongly attached to the idea the party was the best way for him to form some connections, he would not have been so desperate to ask Shuai. Shuai knew most merchants were quite cheap and miserly and his friend was no exception so he tried to decline very politely in the double speak of the nobility by straight up making a demand for money. Still as friends, Shuai was nice enough to leave the other a chance to escape with some of his dignity intact by saying if his rates was unacceptable he should just find some other noble who was easy to buy off. The merchant should already know plenty if he had been doing his job right.

But his plan failed spectacularly as his friend against all expectations accepted. Shuai could not believe his ears and thinking he had mistakenly heard the acceptance of his ridiculous demand and asked the merchant to repeat what he had just said before giving another chance for the other to retreat by playing it off as a joke. Another failure. Great. Now he had to come through. It was so unfair how hard it was to try to get out of this without ruining his relationship and even more unfair that it seemed very easy for a noble to get money even if like what had happened to Shuai, they were not even trying to. He went home. One last chance and asked if the family had an invitation to the Lekivian party. Fingers crossed that they... had one. Maybe it was already claimed? Nope it was Shuai's if he wanted it because the rest of the family had other engagements. Now Shuai was stuck with not just one but two obligations. To get his friend into the party and be the face of the Chisuos while he was there.

And as the face of the Chisuos he attended the party in the of the old grey on brown he only had to wear for occasions such as this. Being the third son he was rarely the one seen by the other nobles as someone worth recognizing hence the need of these garments to aid them.

Which also meant he had not much experience in playing the game. Might as well get it over with. As was required by custom he took with him his friend to greet the lady of the house and then, the man of the hour. Introductions from the pair and then congratulations for reaching yet another milestone in life before giving a gift from the both of them, on the merchant's dime of course.