[FIN] Coming of Age

[Blood_Goddess]

It was like the room was holding their breath as Luke looked at his father for a long moment nothing happened.
One didn't really need to know Luke to know that he wasn't happy.
When he turned and walked out of sight the room started to mutter, and Rosie moved for the first time; Reaching up to put a hand on Sera's arm.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She knew full well that everyone would be there - all of the nobles and Parliamentary lords, as well as the duke - but she didn't really realize the extent of what that actually meant until just a couple of minutes ago, and Nicolette was very glad when the moment ended. So caught up was she in her own thoughts that she couldn't notice anything the matter with Luke even as he left, but she readily accepted the murmured conclusion of the other guests. She wasn't embarrassed, but she was nervous and a little light-headed now, but she had a feeling that would pass soon enough. Her first instinct after the speech ended was to head back to her family immediately, and she moved to do just that.


After her initial reaction, Sera remained very still and quiet until she felt Rosie's hand on her arm. The brunette looked over, a displeased frown still on her face, but she attempted to turn the expression into one that wasn't so blatantly upset - it didn't work out too well. "It's okay," she said firmly, her tone hinting that there was no question that it would be totally okay, "don't worry."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her eyes moved from the staircase to glance around the murmuring guests for a brief moment, keeping her hand on Sera's hand until her eyes finally met her friends.

Luke's father was going to be upset, that much was obvious, She worried what kind of retaliation this might bring on Luke, but she had been relived.
"I know." She replied quietly trying not to listen to the murmuring of the guests,
she lifted her fingers to let lips, taking a breath in and leaning back a little against her seat.
She forgets sometimes just how differently they do things here sometimes.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh. Well, at least Rosie wasn't getting super upset or anything, but the whole situation still made Sera incredibly angry. Seriously, who the hell did that a*****e think he was, trying to decide who Luke would marry like that? That didn't happen, nobody ever did that. Stupid.

Exhaling a forceful breath, the brunette slouched a little in her seat, frowning severely at the floor for a few moments before turning her head a little to look at Rosie. "You okay?"  

[Suudonym]

The longer Luke was absent, the more curt and irritable his father seemed as he tried to keep up appearances while speaking to the guests. It was very likely that he wanted to hunt down his son and bring him back to the hall - he was supposed to be the guest of honor, after all - but his obligation to the event kept him from doing so.

Eventually, after some length of time, Rosie would receive a message, door on the left side, straight back, through parlor, courtyard

Another followed in short order, s'il vous plaît seulement vous  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie nodded her head in reply to Sera "I'm just... surprised." her heart was still racing after what happened, and a worry started to crawl its way into her heart.
She knew Luke was suborn enough to not do what his father told him. But she had just sat through the announcement that the man she loved was supposed to marry someone else to another friend for that matter.
She clenched her hands around the sash that she was holding for northern and nodded again.

It was growing longer and longer the time that Luke was away, she sat with Sera looking around the room in hopes to see him, to find out what was going on where did he go?

Hearing her gear go off in the bag she had brought in, Rosie bent down to pick it up, going pulling out the item and with a swell of greater relief saw that it was from Luke. Though his message seemed to be directing her somewhere.
Rosie looked over to Sera once she was done translating the last text. "Luke just texted me." Rosie said quietly to Sera, "Please stay here with Northern? I'll be right back."

Slipping her hand off of Sera's arm, Rosie stood up, gear still in her palm she made her way through the room to follow Luke's instructions, trying not to walk too quickly until she was out of the busy room.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Wha-- Okay," the brunette said, a little surprised and confused and vaguely put off for a moment. Why couldn't she go too? Why did she have to sit here by herself surrounded by all these snooty people? Oh well, whatever, she would just stay here and watch Northern...

Except she didn't know where the Jirachi went. Whoops.  

[Suudonym]

Luke's distinctive appearance would make him easy to spot in the snow-dusted courtyard, leaning against the back of a bench and exhaling warmth onto his cupped hands. He turned to look when he heard the parlor door open, though he couldn't maintain his gaze on the arrival for long before it fell back to the white ground. His shoulders raised and lowered in a sigh, and he turned back once more to offer a smile.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Any doubt on if she was going the right way or not were dispelled as she opened a door that lead to the outside, right away spotting Luke standing out in the cold.
"Luke." She spoke his name, slipping out from the door and letting it close behind her, blocking out the noise of the inside and settling a sudden silence.
She should have thought to grab her shawl.
his smile was met with much more concerned look as she made her way over to him, running a hand over her arms. "Are you okay?"  

[Suudonym]

He produced a sinking hum in response. "I've been worse," he said with a shrug. "Not sure I've ever had a worse birthday, though." He drew in a breath and exhaled it in a long sigh. "I really thought he would have learned by now. I have no idea what Father is thinking."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I'm sorry, that was just... so unexpected even, I- " Rosie lowered her gaze for a couple of seconds shaking her head to show she didn't really have an answer while a hand reached up to the side of her neck.
Though she was sure Luke was more talking out loud than anything."I don't really know how this kind of thing works. What are you going to do?" She asked looking back up at Luke.  

[Suudonym]

"I don't see that there's any choice but to refuse," he said, the words heavy in his voice, "as much as I would really rather not… Nicolette seemed like she was looking forward to it, didn't she? I would really like to avoid adding 'breaking Nicolette's heart' to the ever growing list of things that I've massively messed up, but…" He couldn't imagine that she would blame him, but that would hardly prevent him from blaming himself.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Oh." she said with an air of realization. "Yeah she did..."
Yes, Nicolette did seemed really excited, in fact the entire day she was really excited, she must have already known and was just looking forward to it.
Rosie felt wrong for being happy that Luke was going to refuse, She didn't know what she would do if he had to go along with this, and did. But he was right, Nicolette was probably going to be upset about this, and by what Rosie has seen of her all day, this might hurt her.

Rosie tilted her head down as she knew this over whelming conflicted feeling in her would eventually bring about tears. "I feel like such a terrible person for thinking this way, she looked so happy, and I adore Nicolette. but... but I didn't... I'm happy that you're not going along with this."  

[Suudonym]

"I wouldn't be doing anyone any favors by going along with it," he said with a slight shake of his head. "Marrying Nicolette without loving her, that would be just as cruel to her as it would be to me. Not to mention to you." He looked to Rosie, though only briefly. "A long time ago, months and months and months ago, I decided that I just wanted you to be happy. I thought you deserved that, for everything you've done for me. I would never knowingly put that at stake."  

[Blood_Goddess]

She shook her head lightly in a mild response to what he was, even just him, Luke wasn't going to do something like this just becasue his father wanted him too, or for whatever reason. That's not who Luke was. It was still such a shame that his father didn't even know that much.

rubbing her arm again, and lowering her hand to her shoulder Rosie stood in front of Luke while he spoke, able, for the most part to watch him even as his eyes fell away.
Touched by his last words she brought her fingers to one of her eyes, lightly brushing them over her cheeks to keep herself from tearing up even more at his words.
"That's all I've wanted for you too."
letting her hand fall back onto her arm she looked back up at him.