Who knew what would happen after stealing some bread from a street stall? Certainly not Nagan. Nothing out of the ordinary should have happened, considering stealing food to survive was the norm. But fate, destiny, karma, whatever you wanted to call...
"Nagan! Nagan! Are you awake?" a small voice at the door was the only warning Nagan got before a head of curls burst into his room. It's only been a fortnight since he arrived, but already Florine warmed up to him and made sure he knew it. From the first morning where Florine found out he was an early riser as well, it was almost a daily ritual for her to burst into his room to ask him to play with her. It nearly scared him out of his wits the first time.
Though today was a bit different.
Nagan looked up from where he sat at his desk and stood up with a small smile, reaching for his coat. "Ready?"
"Yep!" she grasped his hand the moment he finished slipping his arm into the sleeve bounced on her toes. "Now we need to wake up Az!"
"He's not up yet?" he asked with a raised brow even though he knew the answer.
Florine shook her head vigorously and tugged Nagan towards the door. "He's never up at this time. But this time he promised to come with us when we go ice skating," she pouted.
Nagan nodded in agreement. "You're right, even at school he hardly wakes up in time."
Her eyes sparkled. "Of course I'm right! Now let's go wake him up!"
The two of them snuck to Az's door and carefully opened the door. Inside they saw Az still sleeping peacefully. Nagan never exactly had siblings, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy taking the role of a younger sibling. After a silent countdown, at Nagan's direction, Florine took a running start and pounced onto Az.
"Wake up wake up wake up! You promised to go ice skating with us!" Florine shouted while shaking Az's shoulder.
Despite her efforts, all the only response they got was long 'noooo' and a few unintelligible words. That's my cue, Nagan thought before strolling over to the window and throwing the curtains wide open, earning an even louder 'noooooooooooo.'
"Get up, Az," he said flatly and flung open Az's closet door to set out his outdoor clothing for him. If he didn't, that would add another 20 minutes. "It's already 10 in the morning and breakfast is probably done by now."
Az groaned and turned away from the window despite Florine sitting on him. "I could always grab a pie from the kitchen. Besides, it Winter Leave. Why do you make me wake up so early?"
"Because you promised to go skating," Florine stated matter-of-factly.
"But can't that wait till the afternoon?"
"No, we were supposed to be helping the staff put the finishing touches to the ballroom. Tonight's the start of Turn of the Year, remember?" Nagan crossed his arms and leaned against the desk, waiting for Az to get up.
"That still doesn't mean we can't wait for an hour or so..." Az's voice was muffled as he buried his face into the pillow further.
Nagan narrowed his eyes at the lazy lump and threatened mildly, "I will drag you off the bed."
Az seemed to have sensed the glare and decided to glare right back over his shoulder. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try," he challenged, which he immediately regretted moments later when an ominous smirk quirked the corner of Nagan's lips.
"Oh?"
In a matter of seconds, Az was out of bed and already shooing the other two out of his room. "Get out and let me change."
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It was a good thing they managed to drag Az outside as early as they did, for it wasn't even an hour before they were summoned back inside to start getting ready for that night. Unfortunately, that was when Nagan started to complain.
"Do I really have to wear this? I can hardly move!"
"Oh shut up. It isn't about the functionality, it's about the look."
"That's so stupid!"
Az rolled his eyes and wanted to smack his head on the nearest post. "At least you're not the one wearing the cape," he huffed in frustration. "And I don't see why you're complaining so much. You look better than me!"
Nagan threw his hand in the air in exasperation. Or at least, he tried to in his stiff shirt. "Just because it looks alright doesn't erase the fact that it's uncomfortable!"
Near the beginning of Winter Leave, Madam Arcloven had ushered her family, including Nagan, to the tailors for a new set of clothes each that were to be worn for the Turn of the Year. What they received a week later was to her satisfaction. So it wasn't like this was the first time Nagan had worn it, it just finally sunk in that he's gonna be wearing it for hours.
What the two boys wore were very similar except in colors. Where Az wore white, Nagan wore black to balance out their colors. As to Arcloven's colors, Az wore the familiar dark green with a leaf pattern in the material on his vest and cape. The cape was secured with gold chains and fasteners while on the shoulder was the Arcloven symbol embroidered into it. For Nagan it was a different scenario, however. Never having been accepted as an Elvar, nor wanting to represent them in general, Madam Arcloven found another color for him instead of the Elvar's navy blue.
Nagan was not expecting her to choose a deep purple, but even he had to admit it suited him finely.
He didn't need to wear a cape since he had no family symbol to show off, and he was glad about that. Though instead of gold embellishments like the rest of the Arclovens, his were silver. It clashed slightly with the already mismatched earrings he wore, but no one was about to tell him to take them off. They knew his answer anyways.
The last difference between the boys was how their hair was styled. Apparently, that was important too when it came to magic family politics. According to an unspoken rule, young masters wore their hair short while masters wore it long. Nagan knew Carthadeus would be present, and decided to leave his hair long when asked if he wanted to cut it. He now had it tied up in a ponytail with his bangs framing his face.
"Anyways, if you're done whining," Az made a final check of the two of them, "we should be going downstairs now. The guests will arrive soon."
"I wasn't whining. I prefer the words, 'saying my opinion whether you like it or not.'"
And that started a whole different argument.
By the time the boys actually arrived at the entryway to greet guests, families were already streaming in, and Madam Arcloven gave then a very pointed look.
She'll deal with them later.
•_______________________•
Maybe I should make these chapters a bit longer XD I just feel like I get nowhere within 1,000-1,400 words sometimes
Eh, either way, the next chapter should be more exciting hehe
