houseofcards_rp | It's Swing Time~

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It's Swing Time~

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Elisha's motivation for organizing - or, honestly, delegating the organization of - a semi-formal dance party. Lucinda had suggested a ball, with stars in her eyes. She probably had already picked out ballgowns and themes in her head when Elisha had nixed the thing and - in a moment of desperation, with the memory of the swing-themed Fox wedding still in his head - suggest a Spring Swing, instead.

Everyone had run with it, and Elisha was pleased to say it had come out well. He was even more pleased to say that he didn't have to wear a suit, even if he stepped out into the lantern-lit gardens in everything but the tie. He paused near the raised dais provided for dancing and gave the small band the signal to start up the music before he attempted to fade back in the crowd. Not that that ever worked.

"Let the games begin," he murmured to no one in particular as he picked up a glass of champagne off a tray.

Note: Open to everyone and their brother; tag around, have fun!

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"Good evening, Mr Caleb."

It's a fairly standard sort of greeting, yes, but it's absolutely underscored with an incredibly cheerful sort of smile. That's got to be an improvement from the usual tired grin that came with translations and moody chess-playing.

"She says I can pick out the next one. Which, I'm guessing, won't be until I'm fourteen or fifteen. She didn't approve of my attempts."

Which might or might not have been rather neon shades of purple and red.

"I'm sure she must have said that more than once." He didn't doubt that Eileen would have chosen something a little more... flamboyant - and no one in the room would have objected to it. But he couldn't complain about the respectable attire Argine had chosen for her daughter.

"It does take half the fun out of being Ace if you can't say no to your mother."

The thin press of her lips is surely answer enough. Lots of things had been said over and over since she and Argine had begun to attempt proper filial closeness. Most of it was entirely grating on the nerves of a rising teenager.

"Lots of full grown adults seem to have issues saying no to parents. Or to spouses. Or to children. I'm not certain it's so entirely different from that."

Although she was clearly unique in being an Ace who could be grounded.

"An astute observation, Lady Ace. No, I think- well, it's good you still listen to her. We can save the rebelling for the full onset of your teenage years." Which isn't too far from now, he suspected, and while he had missed out on personal experiences of raising a teenage daughter, he is quite aware that ominous winds were blowing, and there were dark days looming ahead.

"You are planning a proper proletariat uprising, I presume?"

Full-onset. That had her nose wrinkling all over again. Fourteen is going to involve more hormones and awkward spurts of growth and ridiculous conversations with adults?

Maybe she should be as worried as her 'parents' seemed to be.

"I've been saving 'you're not my real father' for a while, but I'm not certain if that's an uprising or just cruelty."

"It's a fairly harsh, dramatic line." And he can't see a situation where you'd whip it out and not regret it later, because it would hurt, but as a father himself he might be slightly biased.

"What about the traditional 'ugh, that's so unfair!' or Norwegian metal bands or rainbow-coloured hair? Or did you think you might want to try something more avant-garde?"

Nose-wrinkling she's had down for years. Eye-rolling is new, but she's clearly got that down pat already, if the current demonstration is anything to go by.

"There's got to be something that doesn't sacrifice a good basic argument. It's not going to suddenly seem worth it to lash out rather than present a logical case, is it?"

She's heard that's what the teen years are about. She's having none of it.

"I don't think it would count as a frustrating argument with a teenager if you kept calm and presented a logical speech for your case." Clearly overthinking and planning ahead wasn't supposed to be part of your average teenager's repertoire, but Caleb isn't sure that Eileen would just suddenly revert back to one of those run-of-the-mill argumentative young adults you would hear parents bemoaning about.

"I would think at the very least name-calling or shrieking has to be involved at some stage."

"Name-calling?"

She did want to be a good girl. She did want to have a normal teenage experience--both for herself and for everyone who spent so much time worrying about her, about her lack of a childhood.

"Have I got to? It's such a base form of communicating disapproval."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Caleb reassured. If she wanted to skip from her practically non-existent state of adolescence to adulthood, no one would stop her.

"I'm fairly certain it would be easier on us all if you wanted to skip your teenage phase entirely."

"Not biologically, though. That's more than enough to drive everyone up a wall even if I'm immaculately behaved, I expect."

Honestly, the way her mother had fussed and fretted about the concept of 'too much leg.' The slight stutter in Elisha's expression when the concept of a short skirt had been brought up at all.

It was about time their little Ace looked as sensible and mature as she really was. And it shouldn't be overly concerning regardless of what she chose to wear.

"I'd like to think we'd be happy to see you grow up."

"You think so?" She couldn't help the slight smile as she glanced out over the crowd again. "D'you really think my mother's going to be pleased when I start bringing home boys?"

Or, far worse, the way her mind was wandering these days, men?

"I suppose it depends on what kind of boy you'll bring home. I don't know about your mother, but I was very happy for Rachel when I'd learned that she was seeing your father, even if things didn't work out between them in the end." He suspected that while Argine might be horrified - initially - at the prospect of letting her daughter grow up into her own woman, she would come to terms with it.

"You might give her a heart attack if you were planning on introducing Julien as your boyfriend though."

It's the 180 more than the actual content that gets her spine snapping up straight. Thinking about her Aunt Rachel dating her biological father was... something she had come to accept, to not feel strange about.

But that mild discomfort to the slightly less mild discomfort of thinking about-- well. Her own potential first boyfriend? Of a man twice her age she absolutely had lost a piece of her heart to in the painful way of a first crush?

She hasn't spluttered much in her life. She's not sure how to do it gracefully.

"That would more or less be your mother's initial reaction, I predict. Before a borderline-controlled outburst of sorts." And while that might be entertaining for all of two seconds, Caleb's not sure they would be overly thrilled at the prospect of Eileen becoming even more involved with that malicious piece of driftwood over at the Spades.

"At least, I can only hope it'll be controlled."

The moment of being entirely at a loss for words ends in favour of something along the lines of a maturing scowl. She doesn't have the expression quite dramatic enough yet, but it'll get there before she hits fifteen-- likely even before fourteen.

"If it's any consolation, there aren't boys like Julien." Much to her dismay. In a few years, possibly even to the dismay of the adults who care about her. "I think we're safe from that, at least."

"And yet I'm sure you will find someone you will be happy to spend time with nonetheless." Even if they weren't going to be like Julien, much to their relief.

"That probably won't be the problem, you know."

Once she got over the fact that she was still barely able to speak to boys and girls her own age without scaring them off. She had been getting better since starting to take classes at the school.

"If the adventure of shopping for dresses is any indication, I'm certain no one will ever be quite good enough for her standards."

"She wants you to be with someone who's perfect for you, and it'll take some time for her to realise that what she wants doesn't exist." It wasn't an unreasonable expectation that no other parent would have - it was just unreasonable in the sense that her daughter's relationships were, like her own, going to be about compromises and middle grounds.

"I think you ought to worry more about whether he's up to your standards. Your mother will come around whether she likes it or not."

"I can't imagine my own won't be ridiculously high as well. I've had ridiculously adept male role models."

And who was going to be as good as Edgar? As Andrew and Elisha? As Lancelot?

As Julien?

As all of them combined?

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It's Swing Time~

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And I will hit these again after class. o/

Take your time. I might disappear at your 4.30ish but should reply tomorrow.

Hope you're off on magical funtime adventures! o/

Actually it's been a lot of packing and dust making my eyes water/nose stuffy.

Boo. I'm not a fan of that at all.

Yeah I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to dust or have hayfever or something so it's been just painful.

Dust allergies are the worst. D:

Two more shelves to go, plus the desktop on the last day, and then I'm done ._.

加油！You got this. \o/

I will add more oil =D

Is there an equivalent English expression? I'm always at a loss for one other than "...go go go!"

Yeah I guess that, or 'you can do it'? Or ganbatte XD Surprisingly loads of people understand 頑張

...it took way too long to realize that that was Japanese.

Sorry for ridiculously late. Just settled in to Club Med. And yus Japanese likes dem traditional XO

Stop ruining my life, Taiwan and Japan. o9