"I was made to upset you. I'd be more surprised if you weren't."
It's a cold response, but Melvi is what he is. Even at his most amicable, he'd never quite mastered the art of speaking kindly.
For most people, this event is a party. For Melvi, a lions' den filled with many people who don't know how to let go of a grudge---not that Melvi, stubborn and set in his ways as he is, is any better. Were he a less emotional person, he might not have come at all, and he's beginning to regret that Luck had extended an invitation to him at the first place.
Melvi knows his own tendencies, after all. He won't step gingerly around the sleeping lions. He'll poke and prod them until they bare their fangs. That's how it will always be.
That said, he can't come up with a single thing aside from that to say to hurt Maiza more than his very existence does. Nothing that doesn't put a foul taste in his mouth, anyway.
If I hurt Maiza Avaro, I'm doing exactly what I was made for. I refuse to be their puppet even after all this time.
"And that isn't my fault. You're right." Melvi decides to remain as neutrally cold as he can, de-clawed as he currently is. "I'd like to think I've done a very good job of completely avoiding your whole family tonight, so I graciously apologize that not even distance can make up for the fact that my very existence makes you want to cry."
He's probably thinking about his brother. Frankly, Maiza isn't the first Avaro to constantly remind Melvi of how similar he looks to Gretto.
It's not my fault. I didn't have a say in it. I certainly didn't ask to be created. I didn't ask to come here, or to be gawked at all night. Who cares if it makes Luck happy that I'm putting in an effort? He's not the one who has to loiter about while the people who actually belong here look at him like he's not to be trusted, or like he's bringing down the atmosphere simply by standing there and staying out of the way.
"In any case, I'm not sure what you want me to say to that. You're certainly not the only person who finds me difficult to be around. At least they seem to only have an issue with me because of something I did."
Feeling himself grow hot, Melvi takes a breath, stepping back. If not for the fact that he didn't want to cause a scene that Luck would have to deal with, he probably would have stepped over the line without even meaning to.
Evil will commit evil, I suppose. There isn't any changing that.
"You're in luck, at least. I have no desire to stay here when it's clear I'm not wanted. Congratulations, your burden-free festivities can begin shortly." Unable to help himself from driving the passive-aggressive knife in a little further, Melvi takes a short, light bow as he steps back.
