[FIN] Coming of Age

[Blood_Goddess]

she smiled when he came back, unfolding her arms and gathering the towel into them before he handed her the small pouch.
"Oh yeah, these are handy to carry with you during winter training." she said, accepting in and folding it into her hands.
She smiled "its alright, I'll be okay in a moment."  

[Suudonym]

The snow had largely melted from his person during Luke's brief search, leaving slightly damp fabric and slightly less nicely styled hair, and he brushed moisture from his sleeves with a thoughtfulness that steadily dimmed his overall demeanor. "I doubt Father will like this." His exasperation wilted into worry. "I doubt Nicolette will like this."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Hands cupped around the heating pocket were lifted to the girls lips, where she paused, blue eyes lifting from them to look to the red head.
No... no she didn't imagine either of them would like this, and it was a harsher reality of their actions and what came along with them.

It made Rosie sad, She hadn't thought about Luke's father until just now, the idea of him finding out about this, she was not surprised at all that he would be unhappy with this, and he was already unhappy at Luke for earlier.
And then Nicolette... oh she had been so excited.
"How should we handle this?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke was silent for a time, thoughtful. "There's not really any getting around it," he eventually concluded. "I'll talk to Nicolette. As for Father… What do you want to do? I wouldn't mind making a surprise announcement out of it - give him a taste of his own medicine - but I don't really want to put you in the middle of that."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I'm alright with whatever you feel is best. I just worry about causing more trouble with your father then... there is going to be." That idea made her really sad, she glanced down at her hands for a moment before continuing. "Also I worry about Nicolette."  

[Suudonym]

It would have been erroneous to say that Luke wasn't worried, but he wasn't willing to let his feelings turn into regret. Stepping nearer, he raised his hand to the mild curve of her jaw and offered a kiss. "It'll work out one way or another; we'll just do what we can," he encouraged. "Are you ready to go back, or do you want to wait a little longer?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

She blushed at his touch, leaning in closer to accept the kiss and the words along with it as complete reassurance. She smiled gently, "Okay."
She could have stayed there all night with him if she could, but she knew they wouldn't have that luxury considering what they would be ignoring in the meantime.
"I should go find Sera... I told her I would be back." She admitted. "Do you want me to go with you to talk to Nicolette?"  

[Suudonym]

He paused for a moment of consideration then shook his head, hesitantly at first and then more definitively. "I'll take care of it," he said. He took a breath and gently took her hand to lead her back towards the main hall, "No sense delaying the inevitable."  

[Blood_Goddess]

With the remaining evidence of moisture at least off of her skin, she followed Luke as he took her hand. before they entered the room she hurried to step up next to him, kissing his cheek lightly "I love you." she breathed, squeezing his hand. "It'll be okay." She concluded with an encouraging smile, before unwillingly slipping back to head back into the room and find Sera.  

[Suudonym]

It felt selfish to think that that was all that mattered, but with those words spoken to him from that voice, it was very briefly impossible to care about anything else. He replied with a murmured "right" and an endeared smile, allowing her to part ways in search of Sera while he looked for Nicolette.

The warmth of the interior, with its heated flooring and curtained windows, was certainly nice compared the wintry courtyard, but Luke didn't really have the focus to appreciate it at the moment. He surveyed the room briefly, pinpointing Nicolette, and moved towards her, extending a hand to touch her arm and command her attention, "Nicolette, sorry, could I talk to you for a minute?"

She had begun to wonder where Luke had gone off to, and so when he reappeared, Nicolette brightened up a bit. His request was met with a nod and a smile. "Of course." With a quick word to her family, the young girl moved to follow after her new fiance.

He certainly wasn't about to explain this situation in front of her parents and so led the younger girl through a door into the bordering hallway, glad that the servants that usually wandered the estate were busy with the party. There was a stone rooted in the pit of his stomach; there really was no easy way to do this.

"There's kind of a problem," Luke began carefully. "This engagement, no one told me anything about it."

Nicolette happily followed Luke into the hall, though tilted her head a little as she blinked up at him. A problem? Why would there be a problem? "It was supposed to be a secret, I think," she explained apologetically, folding her hands in front of her and feeling incredibly guilty with how long she had known about this compared to how little warning he'd had. "Mother told me about it the day I came home, but I think they were supposed to wait until today to tell me, too."

"Yeah, it sure seems that way," he murmured in agreements. A secret indeed. Who kept something like an engagement secret? Surely his father hadn't expected him to just go along with it. He had to know him better by now.

"That's the problem though," he continued, feeling uneasy before her apparent total complacency. "No one told me, so I didn't know it was planned… so I didn't have the chance to say that there's really no way I can accept this engagement."

Problem, problem; he kept saying problem, but why? It was starting to make her nervous, but as his final words left his lips she felt her heart stop for a moment. She blinked a few times in surprise, her lips parting slightly before she managed to form a quiet response, a simple question, "What?"

"I've loved Rosie for a very long time," he explained further, trying to keep the words from sounding too awkward. "With everything that's happened, I honestly can't imagine coming to love anyone else. Even if I put my own feelings aside, it would be cruel to ask you to marry someone who has very little chance of ever coming to love you." He shook his head lightly. "It's a privilege to know you as a friend, but you've been more like a younger sister than anything else. I can't marry you."

Nicolette stood stunned and speechless as Luke spoke, explaining his situation and his feelings. Her mouth worked to try to produce sounds a few times, and when she finally succeeded, all she could say was, "oh." Complete and utter surprise kept her from saying anything else, kept her even from forming coherent thoughts, as she just stood there, dumbstruck.

Her second engagement hadn't even been official for that long, but it was already being called off. That must've been a new record.

She bowed her head with a frown and looked down at the floor, her brows furrowed as she tried and failed to form more words a couple times. "...oh. I... I don't..." A deep breath accompanied a straightening of her posture, though she didn't meet his gaze yet, and despite the whirlwind in her mind, she forced herself to respond with a quiet, "Okay."

"You say okay, but it doesn't really sound okay." He would have liked to say that they could work something out if she wasn't okay with that, but there really just wasn't anything to work out. It was what it was, but that didn't prevent him from feeling like he had committed some kind of crime.

When he pointed out that it didn't sound okay, the words seemed to poke a hole in her and she visibly deflated. After trying and failing to voice something, anything, she bowed her head again and shook it a little. It wasn't really okay, and her thoughts at the moment - the ones that were actually full and coherent, anyway - were almost entirely negative. Unwilling to let herself appear so distressed and upset, regardless of how true the emotions were, she shook her head a little more firmly before replying, "Not really, but it will be." It would be - it had to be okay eventually. It couldn't not be okay.

He nodded, responding quietly, "Okay." He really didn't have any choice but to trust in her. "For what little it's worth, I'm sorry. I'll explain everything to your parents."

She gave a short nod and another quiet "okay" in response, still not meeting his gaze.

Luke had never asked and certainly never would ask to be put in a position of having to hurt his friends, but nor was he willing to hurt himself by acquiescing to his father's demands about his own life. He sighed a deep, resigned sigh. "Well, I guess I'll take care of that," he said, mostly to himself, as he turned towards the door back into the hall. "Are you going to come back in?"

His question made her hesitate, but she only had to ponder it briefly before she shook her head once.

He raised a hand to the back of his neck. "Okay." Telling her at this point to cheer up seemed kind of heartless, and so with another quiet sigh to himself, he turned to return to the hall.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie entered the main hall the way she had left, glancing around as no one seemed to take notice of her enter, as they were busy with their own conversations and what she would probably expect from now gossip about the recent happening with Luke walking out.
She overhead a couple of the Grand Ile(peeps) in breif passing.

She quickly made her way back to where she had left Sera, looking around for her friend.

The blonde wouldn't have to look very hard, as Sera hadn't left her seat since Rosie departed some minutes ago. She was actively looking around for her friend though (and had been for some time), so the instant she saw her, she raised her hand in a wave. Finally.

Spotting her friend easily where they had been sitting before Rosie hurried over to her, stopping in front of her with a stiff posture, shoulders arched up a little before she sat down on the seat next to her, eyes wide as she met her friend's look.

Seraphine watched Rosie expectantly, as if staring at her hard enough would cause the blonde to divulge all her secrets, and when the other girl sat and looked at her, the brunette's impatience could wait no longer. "So?"

Rosie glanced first out at the party opening her mouth as if to say something, but chose instead to lean closer to Sera, looking back at her friend. "I'm going to marry Luke." When she spoke this it was just barely loud enough for Sera to hear.
With that said the girl then brought her hands up to hide her face behind them.

Whatever Sera had expected, it certainly wasn't that, and the brunette sat up straighter with a start. "What?" Had she heard that right? No, she hadn't, she couldn't have. Obviously Luke would take care of the whole mix-up with his father, but going from marrying that other girl to marrying Rosie? No, she must have misheard her. "What was that again? I don't know if I heard you right."

Rosie remained as she was for a few more seconds, moving forward in her seat closer to Sera and speaking more slowly from her excitement.
"Luke asked me if I wanted to marry him"

When Rosie repeated herself, all Sera could do for a good minute or two was just stare at her. No, she definitely heard her right. Eventually her surprise passed enough for her to voice, "What did you say?"

A smile spread over her face at Sera's question, knowing her friend was probably a little too taken by surprise to conclude what she said "I said yes!" She giggled though still quietly. "Or. well, I kissed him, cried, and then said yes."


If Sera could form coherent thoughts at the moment, the first one probably would've been something along the lines of, 'that sounds exactly like Rosie.' She could not, however, and instead sat there in dumbfounded silence. They were... getting married? What?

Eventually, though, she realized that she had been silent for an uncomfortable length of time, and she finally pushed herself to respond, "That's... Whoa."


Hands lowered back into her lap, smoothing over the hem of the dress she was wearing.
Rosie probably should have slowed down a little before she went telling Sera that out of the blue, but she had just been so overcome with emotions over what just happened.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out she regarded Sera with a bit more of a calm smile. "I know, I'm still kind of trying to understand what happened."

The brunette merely nodded in response, her brows furrowed as she frowned at her knees, still trying to process the sudden, completely unexpected news. Her friends' relationship positively baffled her. "Yeah, that's... Wow." Marriage? Seriously?

Doing a double take on her friend at the brunette's reply, Rosie leaned forward again, tilting her head slightly. "I'm sorry, I did just kind of throw that out there... I'm really surprised too if it helps..."

"Wow," the girl repeated again, her thoughtful frown still present as the gears in her mind slowly started turning again, enabling her to actually begin to process things. The news left her largely speechless still, though.

Rosie blinked at Sera, watching her stunned friend for a few more seconds before she reached a hand out to touch her arm. "Sera? Are you okay?"


"Yeah, it's just... sudden?" She replied, the last word sounding more confused than anything. Seriously though, they were getting married? It was almost impossible - at the moment, any rate - for her to wrap her head around. It was only a short time ago that she realized they had such strong feelings for each other and they'd begun dating, but now they were getting married.

"Yeah... Well I don't think either of us expected for it to happen either." Rosie admitted, not blaming her friend. "Maybe it seems that way but...Its just that... I don't see myself spending the rest of my life with anyone else. I want it to be with Luke... so." she explained with a light shrug.  

[Suudonym]

It wasn't without a long, tired sigh that Luke took note of where Lord and Lady Lachapelle stood, putting his words together before making his approach. This, at least, would be a bit easier, given that he had no sense of attachment to Nicolette's parents, but he was still cautious of misspeaking and giving the wrong impression. When he finally had his thoughts arranged, he crossed the hall to speak with them, keeping his tone private as he explained the circumstances: As many good qualities as Nicolette had and as much as he valued her as a friend, he could not in good faith accept an engagement to her. Lady Lachapelle, though disappointed, seemed to understand his sentiments, but Lord Lachapelle's obviously negative reaction made him rethink the idea of just marching up to the top of the staircase and announcing his real engagement. It wouldn't just be a slap in his father's face; it would be a reflection on Nicolette and her family.

Somewhat heavily, he pinpointed the place where Rosie and Sera had wound up and moved to join them, taking a seat, leaning an elbow against his knee, and resting his head in his palm - all in a deeply contemplative silence.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie didn't even have to ask how it went, as Luke took up a position on his seat that gave a clear answer as to the stress of what he had just had to do.
"Did they take it hard?" She asked with a level of concern, reaching a hand out to put it on his shoulder.  

[Suudonym]

"Nicolette seemed really upset," he murmured. "Her mother seemed to understand, but her I think her father is angry. I don't think I have a lot of time to figure out how to do this before he finds Father and things get messy." He exhaled sharply, trying everything to connect his thoughts.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Oh dear..." she said quietly, sad to hear that the reactions were not at all smooth.
"well... just tell him the truth?" she wasn't sure how to help with that, "I'll- I'll be with you this time, I don't want you to do this alone again..." she said, feeling very bad that he had done it on his own already.