Bait and Bleed - An AU War RPG

*As the two of them make their stately way up the ivied garden path, one of the odder things about any of this is that they’ve been here before--some garden party or other, long, long ago, which had not been followed by a second invitation. That fact, if nothing else, has the two of them walking stiffly, self-consciously, Mr. Patil in a crisp and flawless suit and his wife decked out in the very finest silks her expansive closet has to offer. Now that the Cabinets and the servants bearing them are gone, it’s easier to act as though this is an ordinary meeting with the in-laws, an ordinary social call of betrothal and negotiation, as Baldev’s parents had met with Aarshati’s thirty-odd years ago. Of course, this meeting is far from ordinary--there’s the fact that the betrothal has been already made, without their consent or even knowledge; that their diseased and disobedient nightmare of a daughter has blatantly extorted from them in exchange for whatever scrap of good name they have left; and, not least, the real likelihood that everyone present will know far too much in the way of sordid details. Those glaring abnormalities are easy enough to smile through, but as the two of them are shown into the solarium they are immediately and unexpectedly hung up on a much smaller one.

They wear twin expressions of carefully-controlled surprise: it’s obvious that the boy is Evan, and the woman his mother, but there’s a conspicuous absence. Finally, Mrs. Patil speaks, mildly, in flawless, clipped English, a polite half-frown creasing her brow.*

Hello. You must be Esmerelda. Will Mr Rosier not be joining us?