Author's note:
Trigger warning: Continued themes of eating disorders.
Hours passed and it was time for dinner. The servants prepared luxurious dishes, just like always. Ramses and Nefera had had an intensive conversation about the audition. Ramses told his daughter everything he wanted her to do and everything she should not do. She also had to present him her outfit for tomorrow.
The only topic they did not talk about though, was the eating thing. Nefera hoped that her father still believed that she ate all day to actually gain weight, but maybe he wanted her to eat dinner again, because Ramses didn't see his daughter eating at all that day. Except for the little bit of breakfast they had this morning.
Cleo stretched as she stood from the chair she had been sitting in for the last few hours studying, ready to be escorted to the dining hall. It was a wonder she had even stayed awake for that time, really; phys-icks was tiring work! Had it not been for the constant presence of servants willing to tell her father if she wasn't doing as she was supposed to, they no doubt would have found her drooling over the text book when dinner was announced - no, actually, not drooling. De Niles do not 'drool' in their sleep.
Nefera and Ramses were already sitting on the table in the dining hall. Cleo made her way there too, even if she could hear her family debating before she even reached the stairs.
"Yes, you will eat!" Was the last thing Cleo heard before she reached the dining hall. It had been Ramses, yelling as angry as usual.
Cleo entered the over-sized room quietly and took her seat. So Nefera was refusing food in preparation for her modelling appointment? That seemed a little drastic. Really, she was thin enough as it was!
Both Nefera and Ramses were annoyed. Mainly at each other. Nefera knew that if she kept her I-won't-eat-dinner-attitude, her father would a) be angry, b) expect more from the audition, and c) force her to eat anyway. That had happened once, years ago, and Nefera definitely didn't want such a drama to happen again. She grabbed a salad.
The tension in the air was thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. Selecting some tagine for herself, Cleo tried to think of some kind of conversation she could start up that wouldn't involve their current meal or her sister's modelling audition. "My studying is going well, Daddy. Maybe I can show you later, if you're not too busy."
Ramses looked from Nefera's almost empty plate to his younger daughter. "I would love to see what you have learned, Cleo."
Nefera didn't say anything this time. Her family was mean and evil, they hated her, and everything she could say now would bring her in trouble later anyway!
'Nefera, don't be so mean to your sister!', 'Nefera, go to your appointments!', 'Nefera, eat something!' Argh, her father was never happy anyway! Unlife had changed a lot since Mother was gone.
Cleo smiles proudly to herself. Today was definitely going much better than the rest of Summer had so far. "I think I might like to sit outside to do my work tomorrow, if the weather's nice. Would that be okay, Daddy? I'd still have the servants there to supervise, of course. I just think a change of scenery would be an advantage to my progress."
Ramses made a noise out of anger. He quickly lost his temper and started yelling at both of his daughters. Was a dinner in peace too much to ask for?! Where was a son, nurse when he needed one?!
"No, you will not sit outside!" He turned to Nefera. "No, you will not stop eating for the audition tomorrow!" He angrily slammed his fist on the table.
Cleo silently prodded at her food - small talk wasn't going to work out, apparently.
Well, at least she wasn't the only one who had gotten yelled at. It was nice to see Nefera getting what was coming to her as well for a change.
None of the family members talked for the next ten minutes. The time stretched out to seem like an eternity. Ramses and Cleo were eating their food while Nefera was, well, poking her food. She was the last one still... 'eating' (even if the only things she had eaten this far were a lettuce leaf and two pieces of tomato) and kept looking at her plate. Life was stupid.
Cleo was starting to become agitated by the lack of conversation and impatient at sitting and waiting while Nefera refused to eat a simple salad. She propped her head in her hand with her elbow on the table, sending her father a silently pleading look of 'please, excuse me from the table or tell Nefera to hurry up'.
Ramses turned to Nefera. He was also tired of waiting for his daughter. "Nefera," Ramses started.
Nefera looked up from her plate, wanting her father to say 'Nefera, you don't have to eat if you don't want to. I am a good father and I love you, so I will not force you to things you don't want to do.' Maybe he would actually say that so Nefera could-
"Hurry up with eating! We don't have all day!"
Nefera made a 'Hmpf' noise and continued poking her salad. She ate another lettuce leaf, already regretting it a second later. Tomorrow she would be fat,all because of her father!
Cleo watched as her sister reluctantly picked at the contents of her plate and leaned back in her chair with a noise of frustration. Looking back over to her father, she decided to make her frustration more well known. "Daddy, may I be excused?"
Getting up from the table when someone was still eating was an inappropriate behaviour Ramses did not tolerate. "We wait until everyone is ready!" Ramses answered loudly, looking at Nefera.
"But I AM ready!"
He sighed. First, Ramses actually wanted to yell at Nefera again, but then he thought about the work that was waiting for him in his office. "Fine. You both can leave."
Cleo stood briskly from her chair, almost knocking it over completely as she stood but for the servant who caught it for her. She never though she would be so glad to be told she could go back to studying.
"I'll go and finish off my revision for tonight, Daddy. I'll show you what I've done tomorrow, while Nefera's busy." she informed her father, giving her sister a sideways glare as she turned to leave the room. It would make a nice change to be the one getting some recognition.
Nefera got up as well and the next hour passed away quickly. Ramses called his daughters into the living room later, because he had an announcement to make.
"Nefera, Cleo, my daughters. I have a business meeting in an hour, so I will leave you two now. Please keep on learning for school and the audition. I will be back around nine. The servants will keep an eye on you two, making sure that you will learn as much as you can and, Cleo, not leave the palace. They will also prepare supper and, Nefera, I want you two to eat nicely. Please do not fight. The servants will tell me how it went and inappropriate behavior will be punished." with one of my deadly boring lectures "I hope you understand."
Well, at least it wasn't like he was announcing something terrible. Even if Cleo was going to have to eat with her sister - again - it wasn't as though she was going to be forced to sit and watch for hours this time. "I won't go anywhere, daddy, don't worry." she told him with a smile "We'll miss you."
It was now Nefera's turn to talk.
"I will practise for the audition more than ever before, and tomorrow I will go there and I will make you feel as proud as ever. I will make the servants watch my work so they will be able to tell you how good I have done and how good you have raised me. You are the best parent that has ever existed and Cleo and me will not fight, because my two god-like parents and the awesome nurses I have had in childhood have taught me not to cause war. I will help my little sister with her school work as good as possible, because I want her to come as far as you, and I want to be an as good older sibling as you were and still are. I will make you proud, father. Today, tomorrow and for the rest of my unlife."
If THAT wasn't sucking up, the Cleo didn't know what sucking up was.
The queen had spoken. The 'Sucking Up To Daddy Queen'.
Cleo crossed her arms and rolled her eyes in a 'yeah, okay Nefera' sort of way and bid farewell to her father. Nefera would most certainly not be helping her this evening, they both knew that
