Summary: Morgen comes to understand his daughter a bit more through a dance.
Genre: general
Word count: ~650
Morgen wove through the crowd of a gala, slipping past attempts at conversation and offers of refreshments. He searched for a particular guest who he knew would be hiding from the glitz and glamor. Moving along the edge of the ballroom, he eventually saw the cascading brown locks of his daughter, Blanche.
The girl turned her head away from the window she’d been staring through and towards Morgen.
“Please tell me that we’re heading home,” Blanche said dryly. “I’ve had my fill of socializing.”
“Sorry, Blanche, but we’re going to be here a bit longer. In the meantime…” Morgen extended his hand. “How about a dance?”
“Hngh…” Blanche’s face twisted as if she’d eaten something unpleasant. “Dad, I’d really rather…” The moment Blanche and Morgen locked eyes, her frown melted and she sighed. “Just one, okay?”
Morgen agreed to Blanche’s terms and guided her to the dance floor. Following the music, Blanche and Morgen moved across the floor.
“So you’re really not enjoying the gala?” Morgen asked, to which Blanche sighed.
“I’ve been talked to death,” answered Blanche. “What about you? Are you enjoying it?”
“Well, knowing that you’re unhappy here has taken away some of the fun—”
Blanche bowed her head and blushed. “Sorry about that…”
“No need to apologize,” Morgen assured her. “I appreciate social events as a form of meeting with old friends and as potential for meeting new ones. That’s what I wanted for you and your siblings. But I understand that it may not be your cup of tea.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, Dad,” muttered Blanche. “It’s just not for me.”
Morgen and Blanche glided past other pairs. In her father’s arms, Blanche relaxed for the first time since arriving at the gala. Her look of boredom from earlier had softened into neutrality. Still not happiness, but something better than gloom.
“Yet you don’t refuse to attend when your mom and I decide to bring the family to one.” Morgen smiled when he pointed out the seeming contradiction in Blanche’s behavior. “How come?”
Blanche shook her head and replied, “As much as I dislike them, I’m not going to run from a social gathering.” She lifted her head higher as she met Morgen’s gaze. “I want to face whatever I find challenging, just like you and mom do as Magic Knights. B-besides… Staying home alone would be, well, lonely…”
Morgen bit back his laughter. For all Blanche’s efforts to be stubbornly apathetic on the outside, she was still a softie underneath. Like all her siblings were too.
“So what about these parties don’t you like?”
“They feel…” Blanche opened and closed her mouth a couple times, grasping for words. “Like too much. There’s too many people invited. Dressing up every time is tiring. And these events last forever.”
Blanche lacked an eloquence with words but her straightforward manner of speech, learned from her mother, made her frustration at the moment feel more real.
“It’s unfortunate that being nobility involves presenting oneself well,” Morgen lamented, a smile present on his face but passionless in its air. “Though you should know that you’d have to put up with more superfluous events if Josele and I actually cared about that. We don’t take invites that come as a formality and only attend the events our friends invite us to.”
“Ugh. You and mom need less friends.”
“Ah ha ha… I don’t think we’ll be trimming the list anytime soon.”
“Then at least stop taking every invite from your friends…”
The conversation fell into a lull and so did the music.
“Thank you for putting yourself out there, Blanche,” Morgen whispered as they left the dancefloor. “We’re proud of you for that. But… if there’s an event you really don’t want to go to, just let us know in the future.”
Blanche blinked a couple of times before smiling and Morgen and nodding.
