12-12-2024, 11:06 AM
Esper took it all in stride. It felt like the house reacted to them, which was an odd feeling – precisely because it didn’t feel like anything. When they were buzzed upstairs she followed Roza’s lead, internally categorising through all the different people she could sense. The place was full, but the mood was calm enough, and with her hand still looped in Roza’s it was easy enough to ignore. She was only looking for one soul, but she needed to know someone better before she could pluck out an individual like that. For now, she could not tell for sure whether the singing boy was still here or not.
As they emerged into the open plan living space, Esper immediately eyed the baby with a little distaste, mostly because of her recent conversation with Roza. But it was quiet enough in the man’s disfigured arm. “Its mother died when it came into this world,” she said to Roza under her breath. There was a promise between them now, and Esper’s trust in it was absolute. But she wanted Roza to know the risk she had avoided when she chose Esper over a child to placate her family. Especially Voxel’s child. She did not know why that bothered her so much.
They were welcomed, and since it didn’t require any effort on her part to facilitate, Esper mostly ignored it. She did not care about the jackets, and by Roza’s inner grimace at the pile of discards, neither did she. Instead she reacted to Roza’s hunger. There was a ballad playing on the house speakers, and while it was not as intoxicating as Roza’s violin, it did lull all Esper’s impatience into something tolerable. So they would eat first.
She only glanced at the aforementioned competition as she headed for the kitchen. Not that Esper couldn’t be social when she chose to be, but she was only really concerned with finding the singing boy, so everyone else here was of peripheral interest. She had taken the warning literally. But if Hayden tried to steal the food from Roza’s plate, he would, quite simply, find himself excruciatingly nauseous. She almost hoped he’d try.
The conversation continued around them. Everyone had been in masks at the party, and whether anyone would recognise them as the outlandish alien creatures of last night she didn’t know. Nor really cared. By now Esper’s hair was in its natural state; bleached to the colour of bone, and slicked back over her skull where she had smoothed it to accommodate the fiery wig. She’d picked off most of the facial prosthetics, including of course the razor sharp teeth, and any remnants on her body were swamped by the coat she was wrapped in.
As they emerged into the open plan living space, Esper immediately eyed the baby with a little distaste, mostly because of her recent conversation with Roza. But it was quiet enough in the man’s disfigured arm. “Its mother died when it came into this world,” she said to Roza under her breath. There was a promise between them now, and Esper’s trust in it was absolute. But she wanted Roza to know the risk she had avoided when she chose Esper over a child to placate her family. Especially Voxel’s child. She did not know why that bothered her so much.
They were welcomed, and since it didn’t require any effort on her part to facilitate, Esper mostly ignored it. She did not care about the jackets, and by Roza’s inner grimace at the pile of discards, neither did she. Instead she reacted to Roza’s hunger. There was a ballad playing on the house speakers, and while it was not as intoxicating as Roza’s violin, it did lull all Esper’s impatience into something tolerable. So they would eat first.
She only glanced at the aforementioned competition as she headed for the kitchen. Not that Esper couldn’t be social when she chose to be, but she was only really concerned with finding the singing boy, so everyone else here was of peripheral interest. She had taken the warning literally. But if Hayden tried to steal the food from Roza’s plate, he would, quite simply, find himself excruciatingly nauseous. She almost hoped he’d try.
The conversation continued around them. Everyone had been in masks at the party, and whether anyone would recognise them as the outlandish alien creatures of last night she didn’t know. Nor really cared. By now Esper’s hair was in its natural state; bleached to the colour of bone, and slicked back over her skull where she had smoothed it to accommodate the fiery wig. She’d picked off most of the facial prosthetics, including of course the razor sharp teeth, and any remnants on her body were swamped by the coat she was wrapped in.