"What about this one? You'd look great in it!" Luciene says as he holds up a flowery sundress that definitely lives up to the sun part of its name with the variety of yellow flowers on it.

Ignes wrinkles her nose in disgust and there's a derisive snort beside her that lets her know that Margherita seems to feel similarly. It's a little loud though. For a moment she writes it off to her baby sister being right beside her but then she speaks and she flinches at what seems like shouting.

Barely able to process any words, Ignes reaches up and fiddles with her hearing aid to make the noise bearable, managing to catch the last bit.

"-maybe but sis Nes is going to look like a clown. Find her something with pants."

Luciene pouts but goes off with a- "Got it-" though not before snapping a picture of the dress. He'll probably have something similar made; this one won't fit him right since it's made for women, not men.

"One of these days he's going to suggest one of his backless dresses to someone and they'll strangle him," Margherita remarks to her, then frowns and only signs instead, "Is that piece of junk fucking up again?"

She must have still been making a face because her hearing aid isn't at its usual. Or not. It's hard to tell with her younger sister who can pick out what even someone as stoic and practiced as the Empress is thinking.

Attempting a smile even as she knows it's strained, Ignes nods- "Yeah. Don't worry about it. It's-"

"Pass it over."

Her hands tremble slightly but she continues on- "fine. Not like it'll blow up or anything."

Margherita sighs, the noise crackling in her ears, and her sister smirks upon seeing her flinch. The motions of her hands are larger, more insistent, this time.

"Well? Pass it over unless you want your future in-laws hating you tonight."

Another flinch and Ignes stops protesting, knowing better than to argue with her sister. Margherita isn't going to lose this, she never does. She's not the type to lose anything. When she had been a teenager she'd gone out as a pirate and Luciene speaks of demons and hell from what they did at the time. Though that's obviously an exaggeration, her sister did something back then that she's too afraid to challenge and find out. Plus, she doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of the Empress or her family.

Before she can do it, Margherita plucks her hearing aids herself, and starts examining them. She does it for a while, adjusting this and that, before finally handing them back.

"They're good enough to last the night now but how many times do I need to tell you to get some new shit? These ones are going to blow your ears out one of these days. Just come over to my office like I keep telling you- Hey! Don't you dare look away I'm not-"

Ignes just lowers her head as she puts her aids back on, not bothering to turn them on. It's one thing having someone normal lecture you, it's another when it's someone like Margherita who's both competent and always sowing chaos (which is to say she's always right but annoying about it and Ignes would rather put off seeing that smug smirk of hers directed at her for a little longer). She will go get some new ones soon though, sometimes she feels like the machinery required for her experiments act up but she's never sure since these hearing aids are so ancient that it might just be their acting up that's making her imagine things. Still, nothing would be worse than her father receiving news of her death; he was too soft for such matters. And it isn't like the damn machines can explain problems to her if they don't show up in any diagnostics scans.

Only when she feels a door burst open, hitting the wall hard, does she look up. Her sister does too from her phone, she hasn't taken Ignes' actions to heart, and they see Luciene with a pile of fabric in his arms and hangers poking out. Spine running cold, Ignes starts to pray. She does not want to be stuck in this changing room for several hours straight.

Between the tablecloth definitely not being woven from something considering how it feels like her mother's hunting trophies, and dining with a group of people who each have a presence just as crushing as the Empress, Ignes wishes she was back in the damned changing room trying to figure out what to wear since her actual wardrobe had been completely shot down by every single person in her family. She isn't though. Instead she's in a simple navy button up that she's sure she has a replica of (both her siblings would scold her if they heard her thinking that. they had scolded her when she'd said it. something about the quality mattering too but it looked the same in the end didn't it? well, they'd say no but it was a yes from her even if she went by what they said in situations like this where caution was all that mattered) avoiding eye contact with everyone in hope of also avoiding conversation.

It means she's just staring down at her plate (which, is that actual gold braiding encased within the ceramic? or is it porcelain? maybe they're the same thing?) as she eats, trying to make the least amount of noise possible while she listens to the things that are said. Though she wishes she didn't have to do that either since they definitely are speaking of things she'd rather scrub her brain clean of.

The inner machinations of the Brunei project? The tier of Orion they've altered? Ignes doesn't have clearance to know about any of that. It's better that way too. Why would she ever want to know when she can just stick to her side of the lab, trying to figure out how to isolate the genes required to make a human chimaera in peace and occasionally getting dragged into Urokai's tech monstrosities. Maybe poking her nose out every now and then so her siblings can have their pet projects approved. Keeps everyone happy that way.

Instead she's hearing all this because she doesn't want to miss anyone calling for her. Two knocks on the table knocks her out of her mind too, more from the vibrations than the noise, and she looks up to the man to her right. Hair blacker than night, proof he isn't one of the Empress's predecessors, he signs-

"The dish to your left. Please-" in the stiffest way possible and Ignes wonders if it's because he's just started to learn or if it's simply because of how the Empress's step-father is always stiff as she passes it to him.

His eyes widen slightly in panic as he takes the dish and he quickly puts it down, though his movements are strangely fluid even then, before he gives a hasty, "Thank you."

Second option then. The ex-hero never talks much around her parents either though she knows they're friends. It makes Ignes just a bit more comfortable knowing that there's someone just as likely to fuck up as her here. Maybe they can bond over it. Better than over the atrocities she knows he's just averting his eyes from.

"Hmm? Who exactly is this that Raizel is stumbling over himself for her?"

Or maybe they won't because he's just attracted everyone's attention to her.

It's one of the grey-haired ones who asked. Either former Emperor HMA or former Empress AKMYE and Ignes hopes it's not the latter because her name is so much longer to say if she has to address them out loud. Though that won't matter much until she figures out which one asked, and which one is which. They aren't even twins so why the hell does a father-daughter pair look so alike?!

It also won't matter because Ignes has no clue how to answer so it's a relief when the Empress puts down her fork and smiles.

"Ignes is my fiancée, great-grandmother."

Maybe she shouldn't have felt relief at that smile. It's on her really. The Empress smiling? Anyone could have seen it coming.

"At that age already? Congratulations. It's a shame Quispe passed before she could see this," AKMYE says, her smile tinged with sadness, "but you must be quite excited Gouyen."

Would they though? This is a good thing, after all. Isn't it? She loves the Empress. Of course she wants to marry her. She's just a little shocked since they haven't discussed this prior to… oh. Ignes did think it strange when she'd been given the emerald ring she was wearing last week. Sweet too but she hadn't heard what the Empress had said quite right and it makes sense now why her family has been teasing her about in-laws since then and oh she should have just listened to Margherita and gotten her hearing aids replaced sooner. She can't even look at the Empress's hands, much less her face most of the time and-

"Of course!" the Empress's father exclaims, his excited bounce as he leans forward making the dishes clank, "The wedding date is indefinite but it'll be in a century maximum. Plenty of time to plan it all out and clear your schedules out."

So the date hasn't been set yet? That's good news. Imagine having to explain to her parents that she doesn't know when she's getting married. She'd be mocked for eons. Ignes can swear she heard someone say 'damnit' at his words though. Someone who doesn't want to come? Honestly, she can't blame them; surely not everyone here knows the Empress well.

The other identical grey-haired one, HMA, by process of elimination, tilts his head as he offers his hand to a man that Ignes is pretty sure is his husband. For a moment there's silence since it seems everyone is waiting for him to speak but they're made to wait and forced to watch him being massaged. Finally, he hums softly and speaks-

"Why a century? Neither of you two are the sort to wait on a matter like this. What exactly are you waiting for?"

"You will simply have to find out yourself, great-great-grandfather," the Empress responds immediately, and Ignes knows she won't get to know either because of it.

"That's too many greats," HMA says, averting his eyes out of what she's pretty sure is annoyance, "and too much of a pain."

"We could ask Raizel then," a woman who Ignes easily knows to be former Empress ABK states.

Her eyes are cold and Ignes flinches even though it isn't aimed at her. The Empress's step-father doesn't though and she's glad not to be in his situation with the piercing gazes of the entire room directed his way. Sure the looks to her had been bad but they hadn't been analysing her like a petri dish under a microscope.

The Empress's father chuckles, the sound alarmingly gentle and for just a second, she finds herself thinking that she's at a normal dinner and that it's good that he has his hair braided up so it doesn't fall into the food, but she snaps out of it. There's a reason he'd been called a fallen angel during his reign, and she's terrified she'll get to see why.

"You could. He'd probably let it slip the easiest so you should have fun with it," he says.

There are two sighs at that, one on either side of her, and Ignes would find it funny that the Empress takes more after her step-father than her father if it wasn't for the mood in the room. As it is, she's not sure how to react and keeps out of it just like the spouses of all the Empress's predecessors. Former Emperor CAE and former Empress KMA are just watching too but they're also eating. CAE seems to be completely ignoring the entire affair as he holds his wife's hand which Ignes wishes she has the guts to do to, while KMA's acting like a moviegoer, her expressions shifting with amusement at every new development. Ignes is jealous of that too because she does not want to be involved the way she is.

AKMYE smiles- "You say that even though you'd kill anyone who tries."

"Does it really matter? Would the lot of you calm down? If I'd wanted dinner with beasts I'd have gone down to the menagerie."

The saving grace of their Empire, and of this meal, former Empress MEG stares down at everyone. Holding her breath, Ignes wonders if she's wrong, if actually things will get worse, but the predecessors of the Empress all return to their food with amused smirks and the rest of them relax, relief obvious. Well, maybe not the Empress's step-father but that's because he didn't seem affected the entire time.

"Please stop trying to start a fight, mother. You like surprises, don't you? I'm sure xiao Gou and Raskreia will make you happy enough that way," MEG says.

"In a century, sure," AKMYE says, giggling slightly, "For now you're stuck with this."

MEG sighs and Ignes empathises with her. Her own mother is the same way, constantly causing problems that she keeps herself far far away from.

"I would rather you keep your problems to the citizens, great-grandmother," says the Empress, looking at the empty seat beside the woman rather than at her, "More importantly, where is your lover?"

"Oh don't worry, my poor girl can't cause any trouble if that's why you're asking. She's asleep. Gave her a double dose by accident you see."

"Huh?"

Ignes regrets the sound immediately but it's really not her fault. Overdosing is one of the hardest things to do accidentally for the type of medication that's being used on the former General they're referring to. They come in individually wrapped pills. She damn well knows since her mother likes taking them for fun.

AKMYE smiles at her and Ignes leans back- "Let me guess, you think my poor girl takes pills? That stuff doesn't affect her at all. My darling Ran's the one who usually keeps her dumb but since he's the busy sort she's always with me. Normally that works out since I'm with him but not these days, obviously, so he made me bring along a pot of the powder he uses."

That does make a lot of sense. Of course, a former General wouldn't be easily drugged even if said General was raised to think the world was a simulation and attempted to leave upon the realisation that she'd been hurting actual people. Or maybe that was even more reason she wouldn't be easily drugged; the woman had probably downed medicine like it was water. It's not like the pills her mother took affected her too much either.

Not even realising that she wasn't scared anymore, Ignes leaned forward and signed, "How much more potent is it? And what's the dosage?"

Beside her, Raskreia smiled again, twice in too short a time really, but she didn't mind. It was good to see her beloved prey enjoying herself.