griffinmarsh: a history | Glowfic Constellation

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"Yes," says Milo. "I know. Rarely does Jann pass up an opportunity to remind me about that time I accidentally got him turned into a rabbit. Jann makes an adorable rabbit, by the way, I'm sure he neglected to mention that part."

properly_traditional

"He did! I'm sure he was very adorable." Jann's pretty adorable as a human, so this is not a stretch. "Your fluffiness was mentioned, though. I'm told it was quite impressive."

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"My fluff was magnificent. Pales in comparison to Glynn's, though - when Glynn decided to try the rabbit carpet on a whim, he turned into a little blond fluff orb."

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"That sounds frighteningly cute." She agrees, then looks around. They're still standing in the doorway, Cath contentedly curled on Prince Milo's shoulder. The guest bedroom doesn't seem to be hiding a socialization corner, and even if it did, inviting him in seems. Easy to misinterpret. "I'm sorry, did you want to... go somewhere and sit?"

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"Yes, let's," he says. "Have you been shown around the castle yet? My favourite place to sit and chat is the library, but perhaps you have a different opinion."

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"I've explored the gardens some, that's all. The library sounds lovely," she says immediately. The gardens were nice and all, but she has some (one) decidedly unfond memories of them at the moment.

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"Well, then, let's go sit in the library."

There is a library! It has cozy chairs and shelves and shelves of books.

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It's not polite to stare, Emmalina had that memorized even before etiquette lessons started, but she glances around quite a bit. It's really a very nice library. And no one here will care what books she reads! She knows her parents wanted her to focus on Improving Books, but they were never very interesting. Morath's library was an education, even if it was small; if they let her read before they- ship her home? Find her somewhere to go? Whatever they do, she's going to make a point to explore this room before they do it.

She curls herself up in one of the armchairs, silently thanking her old tutors for their skirt arrangement lessons. "So, how did you two meet?" she asks Milo.

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"I was visiting an acquaintance and a tiny grey kitten climbed onto my foot. Not being a witch, I had some trouble communicating with her, but we managed to establish that she wanted to come home with me, so she did. We've improved our understanding since then. Invented a sort of language of meows."

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So the witch part of the stories was right, Emmalina muses. This has all been quite a learning experience. "Awww, that sounds cute. It was nice of you to bring her home. So, Cath, you like it here?" It's odd addressing a question to a cat, but really, it's impolite to exclude her from the conversation, surely?

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Meow.

"That's a yes," says Milo.

Further meowing.

"And some praise for my family's hospitality. I can't say I disagree."

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"As someone on the receiving end, I agree with Cath," Emmalina says, more seriously than she meant to. "Everyone's been very kind to me."

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"That's good to hear."

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She squirms slightly, but decides that she helped to get the water, she can at least ask. "Did. Did everything go well this morning?"

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"Seems to have. The reunion was a little awkward, but Jann's parents seem very happy, and I'm sure we'll all get used to the change."

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"I'm. Glad. I hope everyone-" Jann, "-is happy."

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Milo smiles. "Yeah."

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Don't ask about Jann, don't- "So, do you and Jann have other friends around the palace?" Emmalina asks Milo. "Or is it usually just the two of you?"

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"Usually just the two of us, except when Glynn visits. Or Reko, but that's pretty rare, he's busy. And sometimes Jann invites a girl up from a nearby town for a little while."

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"Ah." She comes as close to slumping as her ingrained good posture will allow. She knows she should say something, but. He does this a lot? It sounds like he does this a lot. At this point, the tightness in her throat is practically a given.

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"...Um...?"

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She summons up her Polite Princess smile. "Yes?"

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Cath meows pointedly and disembarks from Milo's shoulder to go sit in Emmalina's lap for pets. As an afterthought, she meows a few more times, and Milo - who was looking very torn for a moment there - clears his throat and says, "Cath, um, thinks you seem unhappy."

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Emmalina huffs something that at least vaguely resembles a laugh. "It's been... a strange day." How to phrase this? She can't very well say I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen to me now and I feel rather like an unwanted afterthought at the moment to the man whose family is currently generously putting her up in their castle. "It's been very different from my last few days, at least. I'm adjusting."

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