just a costume

who: arienne and max
where: max's place
when: before the party

Arienne gave one final look in the mirror, making sure the makeup she'd carefully applied did the trick. She batted her eyelashes a few times, and decided it was fine. Beyond that, she looked stunning, of course. She'd chosen her dress with precision, something that was going to highlight her brother's eyes like stars in the sky. People would need to be blind not to notice. She was demure without looking too uptight, with just enough revealed to be enticing but not enough to be considered indecent. All was well, with her hair pinned up, jeweled bird pins just barely visible beneath the light downward tumble of her curls, the few she let down from the otherwise tight french twist. Stepping into her shoes, she buckled the straps, and then walked up the hallway, spritzing herself with perfume that would cost a factory worker a week's salary. "Brother, are you ready?" she asked, seeking him out.

Max was ready. Sort of. He was on the landing, fiddling with his bow-tie and a very evident scowl on his face as he shifted in the tuxedo. “I changed my mind!” he called down to her. “I’m not going.” He’d forgotten how absolutely uncomfortable it was to wear a tuxedo and now he’d moved from his tie to fiddle with the cuffs. It was tailored to him perfectly. There were no sizing issues but it didn’t keep him from feeling like he was wrapped up too tight.

Ari shot a disapproving glance up the steps, then headed up them, coming up beside him. Reaching out, she pulled his arm around so he would face her, and she reached up to right his tie for him. "You are going, you're going to have a good time, and meet people." she told him. "This is not up for discussion, or debate, and once you get there you are going to be fine." she assured him, looking him over. She reached out to right his cuffs as well, making sure the cufflinks were aligned correctly. Then she looked up at him to meet his gaze. "It's going to be fine." she repeated once more, giving him a smile. "You look handsome."

Max was obedient while his sister straightened up his tie and he was already looking forward to getting out of it. “I’m going to have a good time and I’m going to meet people,” he repeated. He looked down at her as she adjusted his cufflinks and when she smiled at him, he gave her one back. “And you look lovely. I’m very lucky to have you on my arm tonight.” He then frowned at her a little bit and gave her a look. “I’m going to have to defend you all night, aren’t I?” he said in mock seriousness. He’d never actually had to do that before.

Arienne laughed lightly. "Don't worry." she said. "I'll be just fine. Besides, when it comes to verbal sparring, I'm pretty good. I can deflect most people when I want to, without them being any wiser to how I really felt about the encounter. I want you focused on you tonight, not me. Just get used to the environment. If you're uncomfortable, I'm there, and if you want, we can work out cues." she told him, not above a little social grooming if it would make him feel better.

He huffed and glanced in the mirror to check on his hair. “I know you can but there will be men there who will be looking at you. But I’ll be there. I should be enough of a deterrent. I’m your brother. That’s my job. Tonight I’m... not your brother and it’s still my job.” Max sounded both annoyed at the idea of men leering at his baby sister and intrigued at the idea that he might find people to mess around with later. “I can control myself,” he said, realizing that it might sound like he was liable to fly off the handle at any moment. In all truth, he probably was but tonight was about seeing if that impulse was still there or if he had enough self control.

"I know you can." Ari said with perfect confidence. Confidence pretty much no one else who knew Max and his ‘eccentricities’ shared. But she had faith in him, something that was clearly articulated in her tone. "If you need a little air, say as much--people at functions like these do that often, generally so slink off with someone else for god knows what, but it won't be unusual. If I see someone you should flirt with a bit, I'll touch your left elbow." she said, reaching out to do just that, a brush, nothing that would draw attention. "If I touch your wrist, I think you should find someone else to talk to. And if you're doing just fine, and don't need my help at all, it'll be fine and you won't get any cues, I just want them in place should it seem like you do require a little direction. I know this is new for you." She smiled at him. "It'll be fun." she assured.

Left elbow with flirting, wrist for bailing. Committing that to memory as well, he guided Arienne back down the stairs with a hand on her upper back. “It’ll be fun. We’ll see all these people we know pretending to support someone they don’t care about to save face and then we’ll pretend we all like each other while quietly contemplating their demises. Or, just pretending to have fun while really just messing with other people’s heads.” The fingers of his free hand flexed and he reached up to tug at his collar. He normally didn’t wear anything so tight around his neck like this and without anything else for his hands to do, he was fidgeting like a child.

"Stop fussing." Ari said, reaching up to take his hand away from his collar. "It's fine. You can breathe fine, you aren't restricted past the point of feasibility. You're comfortable in your own skin, and that's what you need to remember." she told him, keeping hold of his hand as she squeezed it lightly. "You're just wearing a costume." she continued. "And no one is going to see past it, just so long as you don't draw attention to the fact that it's a costume." She thought that was logic he could latch onto, so she framed it that way.

He didn’t pout but he kind of wanted to and he settled on just tapping his foot a bit. The logic she presented was sound. That was definitely along his usual mindset. Had he not done that when he’d gone to the morgue the other day? He was Max, the veritable chameleon that could fit in anywhere, be anyone, and no one was the wiser. Besides, no one was going to recognize him, even being there with Arienne. Different last names, first off. Arienne no longer had an older sibling, and he didn’t much look like the child he was at eleven either. His eyes, maybe. People always commented on them when he was young but really, who would make that type of connection. He was fine. It was all fine. It was just a game. He was still the hunter. They were all the prey. “Do we need anything else before we go? Car’s out front, right?” He’d hired one and he looked at the clock. It should be here.

She smiled. "We don't need anything else before we go." she assured him. She stood on her toes and gave him a light peck on the cheek. "It'll be fine. We're all good, everything's going to be entertaining." she told him. "Now. Let's get going." she said, pleased. She did have the confidence in him that it was going to be fine. He was just out of his element a little, but he would adapt.