Changing of Wills

Maya Lirose was a top tier Technological Master, proving herself time and time again to be a more fitting person to take the company than her older brother, Kion. Everything she had done, all that she had studied for, Emberlyn Zhao was bursting with pride for her dear friend. Each and every one of the Next Generation Business owners knew how hard she'd worked to achieve this, and just how hard it was for a girl to make it in the business world.

However hard it was for them though, it was five times harder for Maya, since the general audience of Video Games still tilted towards being a man's domain. Boys played it, and while there were girls who participated in some games, the dominance of the male population in that section was still obvious.

It didn't matter though, because this party wasn't to discuss why it had been so hard for them to put her up there. This was a changing of will's celebration, and judging by the way Kion was sulking and popping off at everyone who talked to him, they'd more than won.

"This place is so…" Sophie started, trailing off as she realized she didn't really have a word to describe it.

The brunette had been exceptionally pampered when she arrived at the Zhao family house, forced straight into the bath which had several cleansing salts already in it. Emma had told her to go ahead and take a bath, then put on the simple white sunflower dress she had.

Once she'd gotten out, Emma had taken her hair and curled it to perfection. Soft brown curls that bounced with each step, held in place by what had felt like a hundred little bobby pins poking at her skull, but no longer sent pain into her head. Her hair taken care of, Emma diligently filed her nails, and put on a clear layer of polish, a base coat she had said, before adding three layers of light pink, another layer of clear for the topcoat, and calling it a day.

The same treatment had been given to her feet, and then Emma had ushered her into a small, massaging chair, and placed her feet on another machine with the same purpose. She'd weighed the girls face down with some sort of face mask, and covered her eyes with cucumber before going to take a bath herself.

Emma then did the whole thing for herself minus the nails, massage, and mask.

"Why didn't you do it?" Sophie had asked.

"I did. Yesterday." Emma said, showing the girl her nails. "I barely have time to do this whole thing myself sometimes, I was completely ready to do all of this for you. Last time I woke up late, it was game over and my parents left me at home."

With that, she'd taken two dresses out of her closet, laying them both down on her bed. The design on the pink one was light and elegant. Long sleeves had small diamond hearts at the shoulders. Once the dress was on, carefully pulled up so she wouldn't mess up her hair, Emma got to work turning her face into a canvas of pinks, whites, and reds. Her own face was done up in darker reds, her emerald green eyes popping in contrast, and her dress was a deep red with a golden dragon wrapping around till it's head rested on her shoulder. The dragon started from the belt and looped twice around her.

Finally, Emma had laid out several choices for jewelry, quickly clipping her own on.

"Since you're not technically an heiress, it would be seen as disrespectful for you to wear gold, but I've got plenty of choices in silver as well." Emma had said, motioning to the Gold on her own outfit compared to the relatively normal silver and gems in her ensemble.

"Do you have to do this often?" Sophie had asked, clipping a few pieces of jewelry into place. Emma let out a small hum in approval.

"Only every time we make an appearance at things like this."

"Things like this?"

"Yeah, big events. Weddings, Baby showers, the coming of age parties, Reading of the will, Changing of the will, Parties after a successful business deal, and the official passing of a company."

"That's… that's a lot."

"Yeah, but you get kinda used to it." Emma said with a huff of a laugh, amusement sparking in her eyes. "They're all the same really, we talk, dance a bit, and flaunt our wealth all over the place."

"Big?" Emberlyn asked, venturing a guess for her silence. "Extravagant, Over the top, altogether unnecessary?"

"The second one…" Sophie answered.

"Well most things that happen with the inner circle families are. Come on, Maya was dying to meet you when I wrote to her." With that said, the young heiress quickly grabbed her arm and tugged her lightly across the floor, pulling them both to the front. There were a few greetings passed back and forth, and they had to stop at one point for one heiress that was particularly stubborn and needing attention.

"She seemed familiar." Sophie commented once Emberlyn had finally succeeded in ending the poorly covered insults that the girl was throwing their way. "Wasn't she at your Christmas Party?"

"That she was." The younger girl nodded, thinking back to the incidents that also pertained to that particular party. It was a sore memory, and still rather fresh in her mind. "That was Mie Abigail. She's always looking to get attention, be it in a good way or a bad."

"Which reminds me, how come you didn't bring your cousin here?" Sophie asked, not particularly unkindly, but exceptionally curiously. "I thought he was the one that normally accompanied you."

"Be that as it may, I've spent the last three alone. Besides, you and Maya both wanted to meet each other, and I couldn't think of a happier occasion for you two to meet." Emma said bitterly, letting her emotion color her voice for the first time that night. She cursed herself lightly in her mind for allowing her armor to slip away so easily at the mention of the traitor.

"You two aren't on great terms right now, are you?" Sophie asked, trying her best to show she wasn't trying to pry, but was worried about her.

"He's an idiot." Emma commented, trying to brush the pang of hurt off herself so that she could go back to hiding her normal self away. This wasn't really the place to lose face, and she knew that if she let it continue it would be the end of everything she'd worked hard for. "He really is, but he practically raised me like a sister, so I still love him. It just hurts sometimes, but I know that he's just building up his own name."

"You two must be very close then. Does this happen a lot?" Emma took a deep breath, recomposing herself and flashing Sophie an award winning smile that meant the conversation was going to be over after her next words.

"All siblings have little spats I suppose, what matters is how you move past it. We've still not found a point that we can't come back from, so this too shall pass." Sophie dropped the conversation after that, which was quite the relief for the younger girl, who went right back to being Emberlyn Zhao, the sole Heiress of her parents.

It wasn't long before they found Maya, and Emberlyn greeted the girl with a bow and another smile, this one a bit softer than the others of the night. "You have no idea how happy I am that they're doing this. If I had to listen to your brother's speech on why men were better, I was gonna have to hire an assassin to take care of it myself."

The sentence itself was quite rude, but the man had a nasty habit of sitting there and telling any girl he saw how he was far superior than them, no matter how talented they were. He had no sense of how to carry himself, nor any respect for people of the other gender. It would have been quite the tragedy for him to get the company, and they had all privately thought that the boy would succeed only in running it into the ground.

"Well I think I might have beat you to it if that happened." Maya said, smiling back at the girl playfully. They giggled a bit to themselves before Emberlyn motioned back towards Sophie.

"This is the girl I was telling you about, Sophie. Sophie, I would like to formally introduce you to Maya Lirose."

Maya curtsied a bit, before motioning around the room full of people chatting like old friends dressed up like dolls. "I would be what all the fuss is about."

"I'm not entirely sure that's how it works." Emberlyn corrected. "No, I was here under the impression that this was about someone's will or something. Are you telling me you've written your will now?"

"No dear, but I do think this is to add me to a bigger portion of it. I was fairly certain that was why they put me in this violet monstrosity." She was indeed wearing a vividly purple dress, with a small crown in gold embedded into the front of the collar. At that point though, Maya turned to address Sophie. "And by the nearly pastel colors, can I assume that you're not really used to these kinds of parties?"

"Umm." Sophie wasn't really sure she should answer that question. The other girl had made it very clear she did not take well to having common folk at parties like this, but Emma hadn't seemed to care about the other one's opinion. She was fairly certain that she wouldn't be here if the Lirose family shared that sentiment. When she had been silent for a bit too long, Emberlyn looked back at the girl, worried that something was wrong. "No. No I'm not."

Emberlyn caught onto her hesitation, and caught a dirty look from Abigail from a few feet away from them. She knew it was a bit childish, but she couldn't resist the urge to stick her tongue out at the bratty, unintelligent Mie girl. Abigail's face went beet red with obvious rage, and the plastic cup in her hand crumpled with the force of her now clenched fists. "Maya isn't going to judge you on your status. There are very few in the newer generation who believe in such ethics."

"Oh, has Abigail made it here already?" Maya asked, glancing around until she locked onto the rude woman. "I should probably go greet her soon."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. You know Abigail, if she wants to talk to you she'll make her way over and boast about how she was always going to inherit her family's company.

"Of course she was." Maya commented, though Emberlyn could tell that the woman was annoyed. Honestly though, with the way they needed to carry themselves at things like this, all the time, it was a wonder they were still able to call upon such armor when around each other. If emotional walls broke as easily as real armor, perhaps they wouldn't.

"Well." Emma started, letting it slip away seamlessly once more. "When you come from a family that only has two daughters, and you're the oldest, I guess it is common law that you'll be married off and your husband will take over."

Maya covered her mouth quickly to cover a bark of laughter, composing herself quickly afterwards and turning back to Sophie. Emma had already shrugged off her armor, and didn't really feel like going back to the dreaded thing so quickly, so her eyes searched for anything familiar.

And somehow they landed right on her cousin. Emberlyn stepped up to bat again, leaving behind the girl who would normally be over the moon to find him there. She carefully worked her way through the crowd once more, greeting some of the others, and getting a few compliments from the adults in the room before finally making it over to where all of barefoot were chatting avidly.

"How did you…?" Emberlyn asked, head tilted to the side as she addressed the whole of the team.

"When did you get here?" Karl asked his cousin. "And more importantly, when were you invited?"

"Maya hand delivered me the invitation two meetups ago." Emberlyn commented. "And it said that we could only bring one guest, so how are all of you here?"

"Who did you bring?" Isaac asked instead of answering, causing the young Zhao to sigh and point at where Maya was still attending to Sophie's excitement.

"I brought Sophie. They both wanted to meet each other, and I did promise them I would find an opportunity, so I brought her to this." Her hand dropped and her eyes traveled the room once more to make sure that everyone else was out of earshot. Just because everyone was acting civilized, didn't mean that none of this would be used against either her or Maya eventually. "It was a slightly better option than coming alone, and Sophie's proved she can handle the hustle, bustle, and closely guarded posture of the upper class world."

Finally, her eyes landed on the six people in front of her once more, and Emberlyn frowned. With a shake of her head, she headed back into the party. If they still hadn't answered her question, they weren't going to. She was fairly certain that they hadn't even heard her ask.

"Are you really that childish, Emma?" Her cousin commented before she moved too far, and the girl stopped in her tracks, saying a small prayer in her head before turning back.

"And what exactly are you implying with that?" She asked, tone cold and calculating. Emberlyn wouldn't let such a minuscule annoyance such as being referred to as childish break her. Emma might have felt some type of way, but Emma was who she was outside of all the prying eyes and stiffening nature of the people in this room. That was a girl who didn't need to worry what others thought of her, this was one that could very easily be disowned at the drop of a hat, one whose entire life could be shaken up and torn down to bone with a single tear.

"Really, Emma? I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Am I really that childish as to exit a conversation when it's become obvious that no one intends to listen to me? I'm afraid our definitions of what can be considered childish are a bit different, and therefore your argument has been invalidated." With a sharp turn on her heel, she was back to looking for anyone who could provide some entertainment in the dull buzz of this place. It wasn't long after she began her search that she found Kyo and Corie chatting by the refreshments table.

Emberlyn said nothing when she made her way over, but picked up a small plate and fixed herself a small helping of the tiny cakes and cookies, as well as a glass of imported juice. Why they had marked it as imported juice was anyone's guess, though it probably had something to do with the fact that it made them appear even richer. The eyes of both boys traveled to her for a second before they returned to their chatting.

"She's great." Someone commented from her other side, and Emberlyn turned her head to acknowledge Sophie.

"She is." The heiress had covered her mouth as she spoke, trying not to show the food in her mouth, as it was rude to speak while one was eating.

"Are those sugar cookies?" Sophie asked, motioning to the tray that she had taken her own sweets off. When Emberlyn nodded, Sophie grabbed one and a plate for herself. The girl let out a satisfied hum before turning back to the crowd. "So is there anyone else here who acts like Mie Abigail."

"Not exactly, no." Emberlyn commented, eyes sweeping the crowds of people until they landed on one person sulking in the back. She quickly pointed him out and stated her warning. "Though, I would try my best to avoid Lirose Kion as well. He's a bit sour this evening, but he also holds himself in high regards for reasons that few believe in anymore."

"Got it." Sophie said, going back to her cookie.

"I would also discourage spending too much time talking to the adults. Many of them are a bit rude and come off as intimidating. In reality though, they really are just dreadfully boring."

"Also noted." Sophie said around a bite of the sugary snack.

"And cover your mouth if you're going to speak with food in it." Kyo commented from the other side of the table.

"It's unbecoming of a lady." Corie added. The two girls shared a look before turning to the boys, and Emberlyn held her plate out for Kyo, who grabbed his own cookie off of it and gave her a small thanks.

"They are Akane Kyo and Elio Corie." Emberlyn introduced, motioning to both and handing Corie a small plate with nothing but a brownie on it. Sophie finished up her own cookie and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, bowing a bit to them as well.

Corie stood watching her for a moment, analyzing her posture and the way she was acting almost as carefree as Karl had his first time at a party. "You're not standing straight either."

Emberlyn knew he wasn't trying to be rude, but a look of worry and hurt passed across Sophie's face, and she felt she might need to reassure her. "Corie doesn't mean any harm, he's just warning you so that no one will make unpleasant comments."

Sophie nodded, standing a bit straighter and squaring her shoulders the way Emberlyn had been doing for most of the night. Corie, for his part, looked a bit embarrassed and flushed a light shade of pink. "Sorry. Our parents just teach us to notice this stuff."

"It's alright." Sophie said, though she looked quite a bit less comfortable around them. Emberlyn took the plate from her hand and tossed them both in the trash.

"I'll be right back boys, so try not to miss me too much." With those parting words, she led the poor girl over to where she knew Isaac and the others were now.

"What are you doing?" Sophie hissed, thoroughly self-conscious now. "What if someone else notices I shouldn't be here?"

"They won't say anything to your face." Emberlyn assured quietly. "You're backed by the Zhao family. Our crest is embedded in the accessories I used to pin your hair up. It shows that if something said about you finds its way back to us, whoever said it will have hell to pay with the pillars."

"Wait, so it's…"

"Sewn into your very outfit. It's sort of like protection in here, and I figured that you might need something to discourage people like Abigail from remarking something about your family or name. So I just gave you your own shield." Emberlyn assured, having spotted the group once more. "And I'm taking you over to where I know you won't feel pressured. I have to share a dance with Kyo sooner or later anyways."

"Who…?"

"Isaac." Emberlyn called out, catching the brunette's attention. He turned, and then proceeded to blush a vibrant shade of red. She handed Sophie off to him, the other girl giving her a small smile as she bid good-bye. "Take good care of her for me."

Kyo and her shared their dance once she made it back over, as Corie had wandered off in search of someone closer to his age. Emberlyn had spotted him with Nia while they were slow dancing, which was also the first time she caught sight of her parents since she and Sophie had been released to find some of the younger guests.

Kurane and Maya were on the floor as well, and Emberlyn felt her heart go out to the second eldest Ito boy. He and Maria were both left to cope after finding out their parents had set them in an arranged marriage. She still refused to tell Riff, for fear that it might cause him more pain than she intended, not to mention that she hoped they would be able to find a way out of it. Maria held him in high respect, but she didn't love him, and that statement could clearly be seen for them both.

She was very lucky that neither she nor her fiance were in quite the same predicament as those two, as they had been very fortunate to pull their own relationship back together. Just last week, she'd learned that Kyo's father had taken the contract and turned it to ashes, but it no longer mattered to them. Emberlyn was content and willing to marry him when it came time for them to actually move forward with the deal.

Finally, after hours of transferring from the dance floor, to the refreshments, and back again, the meeting was officially called into business. The music stopped, and both Lirose Yamada and Lirose Sakura were standing tall on the platform that looked over the festivities.

"If I could please have Lirose Maya and Lirose Kion to join us on stage." Yamada called to the room full of people. The siblings hurried up to the platform, keeping face as they did so, though Kion didn't seem quite as happy as his sister was. Maya took her place next to her mother, Kion did the same next to his father, and the crowd of observers held their breaths in an indescribable excitement. "As you all know, this event has been a long time coming."

A soft murmur passed through the crowd, everyone had been anticipating this moment for months if not years. Maya had always been the one that they all saw as most fit for taking over, so it hadn't come as much of a surprise. The real surprise was when it had happened, and what they were going to do with Kion.

"My wife and I have come to a final agreement on how to adequately divide our will, while still making sure that the business will prosper." At this, he turned to his son. "Lirose Kion. You have not shown us the responsibility, nor the dedication to the company you were supposed to inherit, that we needed to see in order to pass it over. For this, you will no longer be given any say in what happens to our company at any given point in time. Your title will be stripped, and your sister given the chance to prove herself. That said, you will receive the 15k in our will when we pass that was supposed to go to your sister."

With that, he turned back and wrote down what they would leave to Kion on his will, a projector showing on the screen behind them. As he wrote it out, Sakura turned to her daughter. "Lirose Maya. You have more than proven that you are willing and able to take on the company and see that it flourishes. For this, we reward you with the chance to have it upon our retirement and/or untimely death. This earns you a spot with our board of directors during important meetings you will need to attend and any that you might wish to attend. That said, we officially make you the sole inheritor of the company, unless or until you should prove that you are an unfit choice."

With that said, and Yamada finished, she turned to the paper and wrote down their daughter's inheritance. Yamada looked out at the crowd and addressed them once more as the writing appeared on the screen. "With you all as our witnesses, on this day, we have officially re-written our will. With our signatures, we release you all back to the festivities and to congratulate our daughter for her accomplishment."

People clapped and cheered as their names were signed at the bottom and the two children descended into the crowd. Everyone was eager to be close to Maya, but Emberlyn and Kyo stayed in their spots, the other three Pillars coming to join them not a moment later Elizabeth stood proudly next to her, and Mia was to the Ming girls' other side. Next to Kyo was Kai, who was fixing his collar, and presenting himself as the tall and strong force he was. Shang Kai was the oldest of the pillar children, and held the most authority within them all, but was fair and understanding to the younger children in the group. Though none of them were technically children anymore so much as young ladies and gentlemen in their teenage years.

The five stood as a united front, and the others quickly backed off of the two, allowing Maya to walk forwards. Kai was the first to hold out his hand to her, and the Lirose girl shook it gladly. Kyo was next, and he smiled and nodded his head to her, showing his support for the families decision. Emberlyn held her hand out, and when Maya grasped her hand, she brought the other hand up to encompass the other. This was a symbol and a wish of good fortune, the Zhao family would continue to support the Lirose family when Maya and Emberlyn took over. There was scattered clapping through the hall, and when Maya moved onto Elizabeth, Emberlyn's eyes flicked over to where her parents were watching. Her father nodded his head, pride shining in his eyes and for once, she saw him smile at her. Mia and Maya quickly shook hands, and the girl went to stand in front of them, bowing slightly. They moved on to the next stage.

Each of the teenagers parents came up to stand behind their children, and Kai turned quickly to bow to his parents. The Shang couple presented him with a small bracelet that held the family crest, and Kai took it gently turning and clipping it to Maya's wrist. "This is a symbol of good faith in the Lirose family. Should you ever need it, the Shang family offers their support and service."

Kai moved back to stand with his parents, and Kyo took his turn. He turned to his father and bowed, collecting another bracelet from the man when he righted himself, this one with the Akane crest on it. Kyo moved to Maya, who was still bowing. "This is a symbol of good faith in the Lirose family. Should you ever need it, the Akane family offers their support and service."

Kyo moved back and Emberlyn took a deep breath and turned to her parents, bowing low and receiving a small, ornate hair pin with the Zhao crest on it. The pin was a bit more decorative than the others, there theirs had been made of velvet and iron, this was made of gold, and the crest was delicately cut into a ruby. Emberlyn carried it over and delicately fixed it into her hair, noting that Maya had bent down lower as well, to show the importance of this act. "This is a symbol of good faith and friendship between the Zhao and Lirose families. Whether you need it or not, the Zhao family will continue to give it's support and service to the Lirose family."

The crowd went wild as Emberlyn smiled at Maya and headed back to her parents as Elizabeth accepted her turn. She turned, bowed, and was handed a necklace with the Ming families crest. She carried it carefully over to Maya, making sure not to let the chain knot itself before she could present it. Maya had come up a bit once Emberlyn had gone back, So Elizabeth went around and clasped the necklace. "This is a symbol of good faith in the Lirose family. Should you ever need it, the Ming family offers their support and service."

Mia stepped up right after Elizabeth took her spot, turning and bowind as her parents handed her a small pin that would be added to her dress with the Song family crest. Mia took it and strode gracefully over to Maya, smiling as she did. As she pinned it on, she said the same traditional speech they all had. "This is a symbol of good faith in the Lirose family. Should you ever need it, the Song family offers their support and service."

Once again, Mia went back to her parents, and each of the pillar family members bowed, causing the rest of the guests to ripple as Maya stood back straightly. This party was in honor of her, and they had done what they needed. They rose quickly and the large crowd that had gathered around Maya dispersed. Kyo pulled Emberlyn back to the dance floor, and they enjoyed one more dance before they started being passed around. Emberlyn shared a dance with Mr. Akane and her own father. Kyo shared one with her mother, and another with Elizabeth. She shared a dance with Kai as Kyo led Nia around the floor. Eventually, he was able to pull Maya into a dance, and Karl came up to claim a dance with her.

They didn't say much while they danced, but Karl's face was set in a permanent scowl, and Emberlyn couldn't find it in herself to care at that moment. She'd been able to avoid him almost all night, but it was finally time that he caught her. The dance was over soon enough, though it had felt like a century with the awkwardness to Emberlyn. She meant to head over to Kyo afterwards, and the two were almost able to dance again before she was grabbed around the waist to dance with Shawn.

Emberlyn bit back a groan, knowing that her parents would be appalled if she were to make a fuss about dancing with other heirs and heiresses. Just as quickly, Cat pulled Kyo into a dance with her, and the two tried to lead their partners over to each other, not wanting to play this game anymore.

When that dance ended though, the two made a beeline for the refreshments, grabbing themselves each a cup of punch. Emberlyn had made it over first, and politely fixed two cups, handing Kyo hers when he joined her. "Thanks love."

He kissed her forehead, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and drinking as his eyes roamed the dance floor. "Any idea why they did that?"

"It's Karl, I have no idea why he does anything." Emberlyn commented, trying to relocate the group. "Though if I had to venture a guess, I don't think they like seeing us together very much."

"Can't understand why though." Kyo said. "It's not like I shamed his cow or anything."

Emberlyn let out a short laugh, finishing her cup and tossing it into the recycling bin. "No, but I suppose you have spent more time with me tonight than he has. I'm off to the ladies room, but I'll be back soon."

On her way out, a few of the other girls were able to catch up with her. Elizabeth and Nia flanked her left and right, and Maya and Lina were able to take places in step behind the three. At the end of their trail was Belladonna. They all made it to the ladies facilities, and Emberlyn took to a small stall near the light, to relieve herself. Belladonna and Lina were busy fixing their makeup and making small talk, and the other pillar families were having mini-panic attacks, and confessing their hearts out to Maya about how scary it was to be presenting her with their gifts.

None of them would call their relations to their parents close, not by a long shot, as none of them were very friendly or understanding to their daughters, but they also hadn't been that close to them physically in quite a long time. Emberlyn, once she'd flushed and washed her hands, added her own comment. "I don't think I've ever seen my father as proud as when I took your hand in both of mine. We have some pretty strange traditions to keep."

"Did you see the Brits?" Belladonna asked quietly. "I didn't think that they were going to be invited if I'm being honest. I was almost positive that this would be an affair with the families of our inner circle."

"Do you mean Shawn's family?" Emberlyn finally asked. "The musicians?"

"Yeah, them. Aren't they friends with Arima's sister."

"Arima Cat." Emberlyn nodded. "Yes, they're on quite good terms as well."

"Aren't you friends with her too?" Lina ventured. "I could have sworn they were all at your Christmas Party last year."

"Indeed they were." Emberlyn commented, throwing the paper towel she'd been using to dry her hands into the trash. "I've no idea, I think you'll need to ask the majority of them if we're friends because I haven't got a clue anymore."

"What Abigail wouldn't give to hear someone ask her the same." Maya said, causing them all to bust into a fit of giggles.

"Now I'm pretty sure I can confidently say that she is one of the few people I have not befriended. Kion being another."

"Well, shall we get back to the party then?" Elizabeth asked, linking their arms.

"We shall."

Mia took her other arm and the other girls hurried into a place. Belladonna opened the door for them all, and Lina took stride a few paces in front of the girls in a sort of protective circle. Nia and Belladonna both help their positions in the back, and Lina opened the door for them when the group hit the ballroom hosting the party. "It was wonderful speaking with you all."

That was the three heiresses version of a goodbye, and Mia, Elizabeth, and Emberlyn made their way over to refreshments with their arms still linked. Kyo and Emberlyn finally shared another dance, and then the festivities came to a close.