To the Future

[Athena Zhefarovich]

"Hi" Athena exclaimed, far louder than she would under normal circumstances. She exchanged pleasantries, speaking about her son and the signs of magic he was already showing. She held onto her husband tightly, giving him a playful pat on the bum when she noticed the woman giving him a too long glance. As soon as she left, turning to find someone who was worse off than she was so she could gloat no doubt, Athena dropped the smile on her face. "Did you see the way she looked at you?" Athena hissed to her husband. "I should've clawed her eyes out" the woman seethed, having learned recently that she was the jealous type. Athena kept her arm around her husband's waist, leaning her head on his shoulder. They'd stayed home long enough to tuck their son in. He was too young to last until midnight, and they'd left him in the care of a cousin. It was a much needed outing for the pair, a chance to enjoy each other's company on this night that held so much promise.

With her first glass of goblin wine filling her stomach nicely, Athena smiled as she handed her empty glass to her husband, leaning close to whisper something in his ear. She blew him a kiss, looking around the large room and the purebloods that filled it once he was out of sight. House elves were scattered here and there, quietly cleaning up messes, and hors d'oeuvres floated around the room on trays. But it was the pure bloods she was most interested in. These were people she had grown up with, people she had partied with over the years, and it filled her with a sickening glee that several of them were still sadly partying their lives away, still no goals for their future. They'd all said it would be her who'd waste her life partying, but here she was with a three and a half year old boy and a husband who was also a pureblood. There'd been no settling on her part, no shaming of her family (well aside from her early pregnancy). Athena knew she could stand here, among the group, with her head held high and gloat. She couldn't wait. Moving deeper into the soiree, Athena spotted a small couch and she settled in, holding the seat beside her for whenever Drakon managed to find her again.

 

[Merlina Caliburn]

Tagging: Athena Zhefarovich
Location: New Years Eve PB party
Wearing: black evening dress

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She had barely been in New Zealand four days and an invitation for a New Years Eve party had arrived for her, she had thought her presence in the country would be low key so that she could plan surprise visits to each of the businesses on her list but that was now completely blown out of the water. No doubt her precious grandmother had informed a few people of her being here, Merlina wondered if this invitation was her grandmother's way of trying to set her up but she dashed that thought away,the woman was many things but surely she couldn't be that mercenary towards her grand-daughter.

Emilio and Eva, her Guardians for the next two years had arrived with her and were now attempting to circulate the room on it's periphery making sure that all was secure and that even in a room of all purebloods, that Merlina would be safe. You just never knew, Merlina found herself saying as she was greeted by the host and had her hand pumped excruciatingly too long. Polite conversation ensued and it took every effort to extract herself from his company, even after his wife had come to greet her as well.

The house was beautiful and decorated well for the evening and it seemed as if every pureblood soul in New Zealand was here. Merlina felt less stressed about her invitation now, clearly it was simply a matter of propriety that she had been invited and not some plot to introduce her to new suitors. A tray with silver goblets hovered nearby and she took one, her gaze catching Eva's for a moment, the guardian nodded her head before moving off and somehow the presence of the twins gave Merlina some strange reassurance.

She lost count of the time, her hand felt tired and violated from the continuous hand shakes and kisses planted to it, Merlina was simply grateful that she had not allowed a single blow kiss to her cheeks or she would be scrubbing her face clean for the night. As it was, the entire company was now boring her and all she wanted was to sit down and put her feet up. She had forgotten how much she hated these evenings. Taking her second glass of the night, she saw an empty space on a sofa not too far away and as she neared it, saw that a young woman sat alone.

Approaching even closer, Merlina found herself smiling, not politely but with genuine affection before sitting down on the edge of the sofa.
"Athena? ... You are a sight for sore eyes" Merlina and Athena knew one another quite some time of course, most pureblood families, as old and as vast as theirs inevitably did and on the occasions that Athena had been in the parts of Italy where Merlina's family held sway, the Zhefarovich woman was always invited to attend a dinner, an evening out, lunch ... Merlina had always enjoyed the woman's company. There were no frills about her and so seeing her now let Merlina hope that the night would not be a complete waste of her time.

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena watched the purebloods in their groups, the single ones sticking together, no doubt looking to couple up for the evening at least. Athena had once belonged to that group, but now they mostly scorned her, assuming she'd only want to speak of her husband and child, and other matrimonial things. That couldn't be further from the truth. Athena had a life outside of her family, her work with the Scitorari taking up a great deal of her time. But, she didn't mind terribly. They were mostly just sad, looking for love in all the wrong places, in drink and other things.

The married couples hung in groups as well, those who'd 'graduated' from the singles groups, off to live in domestic bliss. They were annoying in their own way, though Athena accepted all of the invitations to birthday parties and housewarmings and the like. She had her son to think about now. One day he'd be encouraged to choose someone from one of these families to marry. She couldn't tell them all off as she typically wanted to. That didn't mean she still didn't do it, just not as often as before. Now, her husband her the stream of her annoyances from the moment they'd leave an event.

She watched as a woman broke through the crowd in her direction, a smile brightening her gaze, her silver eyes caught in the light. "So the rumors were actually true this time. It is good to see you, Merlina" she said as she patted the seat beside her. She'd received no less than three owls asking her if she'd heard that Merlina Caliburn had moved to New Zealand, leaving behind an ex had been the chief rumor. "Forgive me for not throwing myself into that to say hello" she said with some disdain, a wave of her hand at the group.

 

[Merlina Caliburn]

Merlina lifted the silver goblet to her lips and took the smallest of sips as she regarded the woman over the rim. She was still as beautiful as ever, possibly more so as her face had become more mature and angular with the passage of time. She looked still different however and Merlina wondered if married life was the cause.

"I am so glad to hear that the rumour mill in this part of the world has not died, that would never do" she smiled at Athena before glancing outward at the crowd that mingled among their own.

"Trust me, I am delighted you did not. This feels like a form of sanctuary sitting here ... no one in their right mind would dare to sit with you for party small talk" Merlina found herself chuckling lightly as she looked at the blonde young woman. It had been a relief to have seen her sitting there on her own and she had known instantly that she could sit with her and not be bothered unless people were either very brave or extremely foolish.

"I am not back for very long, it depends on the businesses here and how much work they need ..." she paused, not really wanting to get into her grandmother's thirst for matrimony at this juncture. It would turn into a very long night if that happened, "how have you been?"

The wistful look in the dark brown eyes of the Italian showed genuine concern, she wasn't asking for small talk but because she genuinely wanted to know and boring Athena with business talk was definitely not on her agenda, this was a rare night out for her, she wasn't going to ruin it.

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

It had been some time since Athena had last seen Merlina, her family having taken a front seat in her life over the past few years. Gone were the days of hopping to other lands just for the hell of it, something she had done with frequency straight after graduation. Athena had been fairly aimless then, her only goal to have a good time and enjoy the world before it all caught up to her. The blonde smirked for a second before it turned into a full-fledged grin. She'd forgotten Merlina's wit, which was so very much like her own. She seemed to have the same amount of disdain for the purebloods. Athena was glad to see that it hadn't been tempered with the passage of time. "No, it certainly would not" she agreed.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" she asked before shrugging her shoulders. "Who am I kidding? Of course I am. They just make it so easy with what they consider 'important' talk" she rolled her silver eyes, giving a glance towards the crowd. She was really looking for her husband, eager for that refill. The goblets floating around were good, but she was in the mood for something specific. Noting that eyes had flicked away, Athena knew that they were the subject of talk or soon would be. Merlina was right though. No one would come over now. It was probably bad enough to deal with one of them, but to deal with both of them was a torture that most people wouldn't put themselves through. "Oh, that is a shame. You'll be here long enough to come to dinner, right?" Athena stated, knowing that they'd only get a brief time together this evening. It was a party after all, and sooner or later the music would rise to a level where talking would be near impossible.

"Life is good" Athena reassured her friend, noting the look in her eyes. She explained that she'd settled into the area of New Zealand where the purebloods settled. Status did mean something to Athena, though she scorned the others for their own pretenses. She spoke briefly of her work, not mentioning the Scitorari, though explaining that she traveled every now and then though never to Italy which was why she hadn't visited in ages. "And my son is about to be four now. Time flies, huh? How is your grandmother?" she asked, tired of speaking about herself for now. "I see she hasn't married you off just yet" she'd taken a glance at Merlina's hand a few moments ago and made note that there was no ring on her finger.

 

[Merlina Caliburn]

Merlina had forgotten what it was like to just relax for a moment in the company of 'one of her own', that was to say, close to her own age, a pureblood who did not fester among the other rabble and someone with a wicked sense of humour and a train load of class to go with it all. She swirled the elf wine in the end of her goblet and found herself smiling as Athena asked if she were that bad, Merlina didn't have to reply to that, Athena answered it for herself within seconds which made Merlina smile all the more. At that moment she glanced up, noting the faces turned to look at them before heads swiftly turned busy in chatter - so obviously discussing both the women and what they were so happy about!

"Ah yes ... I so remember that 'important talk' ... how far back does your lineage date to ... do you know that her wedding ring cost three times less than what he said he paid for it ... their first born is going to look exactly like its grandfather" Merlina stopped and sipped at her wine before glancing at Athena again. She knew she had married but had been unable to come to the wedding and she knew she had a boy as well, she had sent a gift for the birth and at his first birthday ... when she had a decent personal assistant who could keep up with those things. She rattled her memory to try to figure out exactly how old the child was and realised she couldn't even remember his name ... it was a boy wasn't it? She felt awful for being out of the loop for so long that she had forgotten even that much!

"I will definitely make it for dinner, wild thestrals couldn't keep me away. We'll arrange something before I leave here tonight" at any moment she expected some insepid idiot to come over and brave them once the music began in earnest and she did not want to be trapped in a sitting position when that happened, nor did she suspect that Athena did.

"Four? Already ... where indeed" she sounded aghast, had that much time really passed them by? She knew she had been busy, her whole life seemed to be between floo networks from one office to the next. No wonder her grandmother was getting tetchy with her about matrimony and on cue, the very woman came in to conversation.

"Bianchi is in the best of health, she really will outlive us all" Merlina felt her insides flop, "that is one of the reasons why I have made my way here, to get away from her continuous barrage of suitors. She was actually organising a party ... or to be more precise a gala ball, to parade me before every pureblood suitor from as many countries as she could manage ... at least that was what the ever faithful grapevine reported. I could not take the chance and so ... here I am ... just until her fervour diminishes a little" the music suddenly seemed to seep into every pore of her skin, why did it have to be so loud?

"I should sound proof myself now and go venture forth before I get dragged out to dance like the good lady I am" she smiled, looking to her old friend, "I'm sorry I lost touch Athena. Do you forgive me?"

 

[Athena Zhefarovich]

Athena nodded her head, pleased when Merlina agreed to a dinner. The woman didn't host any more often than she needed to. Really, she and Drakon were just too busy. Sometimes they went days without seeing each other, so there were times when they really just wanted to hole up and enjoy each other, enjoy their son and their time. The pair actually enjoyed each other's company. They'd married for love, not because they'd been forced into something or needed to maintain pretenses, which was far too common among their kind. Spotting him making his way through the crowd, Athena was glad to see her husband and the drink he held in his hand.

A chuckle escaped Athena's lips as Merlina spoke about her grandmother. It was true. For whatever reason, their grandparents had extra hardy dispositions, and it was likely that they were indeed going to outlive them all. "Ah, so you'll be here for a fair amount of time" she stated. If she recalled correctly, Bianchi was fervent in her desire to see her granddaughter married right. She'd asked Athena about her family, but with her older brother betrothed and her younger brother not a suitable option, Athena had little to suggest. Of course there was provably someone in her family who wasn't betrothed and likely suitable for Merlina, but she'd promised to indulge the woman without presenting any offers, and she'd liked Merlina enough to do just that. The chances that the woman's fervor would die down seemed slim to none, but tonight of all nights was all about dreaming about the future and expressing hopes. Athena wouldn't put a damper on that.

Knowing that she too should go mingle a bit and knowing that she actually did want to dance, Athena stood up, her hair cascading across her shoulders as she made sure everything was in its place. With heels, the woman towered over much of the crowd. She nearly surpassed her husband in height. The pure blood heard her friend's words and waved a hand dismissively. "There's nothing to forgive, Merlina." she said, leaning closer to her friends cupping her ear. She wasn't sure how out of the loop the woman was so she figured she'd give her a tip. "Stay away from Candace and Evan. She just found out he's been sleeping with a muggleborn" Athena gave the woman a knowing look and then shook her head. "I better go rescue my husband then. Catch you later" she said before moving forward.

 

[Merlina Caliburn]

To be honest, Merlina wasn't entirely sure how long she would be in New Zealand for, long enough to keep her grandmother at bay but how long would that take exactly. As she smiled softly at Athena before glancing back towards the room she saw some of the 'vultures' circling as if at any moment they would move in for the kill, obviously gossip mongering took precedence over their initial fear of approaching the two women!

She looked again to Athena and felt utterly grateful for the woman's company and her presence in New Zealand, it would be good to have someone she knew here and now had dinner to look forward to as well with her and her family. Another smile was favoured in Athena's direction as she informed Merlina that there was nothing to forgive and then a sudden momentary frown of curiousity creased her brow as Athena whispered to her about Candace and Evan.

"Oh, thank you ... now you leave me and Evan is the very man heading this way. I better get up and move too. Enjoy the rest of your evening and give my regards to Drakon" as Athena moved away, so did Merlina in the opposite direction so that the pompous Evan who had been making a beeline to them was left standing bewildered on his own much to his wife's delight.

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