Suspense was alone for the moment, her mother had wandered off to get them something to eat but Suspense had reason to suspect she was actually trying to get her daughter something. Suspense sighed, the tiny girl feeling the prickle of the pain of her grief, she was able to push it off when she was around her mother but left alone to her thoughts the ache of her father's death would inevitably creep in. She sat away from the crowds, watching for her mother's return but as she waited she felt her eyes prickle. No! Not now! She couldn't help but think about how her father would have loved to be here with his family, that he would have cheered her on as she played the ring toss, how he would have tried to win something for his daughter and wife... Oh, there were the waterworks. Suspense spun around not wanting to draw attention to herself and trying to get her emotions under control before her mother returned. Samara would never scold her daughter for her grief but she could see how much it hurt her mother to see her still struggling so much and she wanted to do everything in her power to keep her mother from feeling any more pain than she already had. The woman was rather very alone in Abaven, even Suspense had her older sister Theory but with Rhyme's death, and all of Suspense's full siblings were gone, she had to be there for her mother, even if she couldn't figure out how to find her way out of her own maze of grief.


"Speech!"

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Large gatherings had never, ever been Caelia's thing. They definitely still weren't, but she knew attending was a good idea and she hoped she could find out something at least marginally useful from the wolves that were in attendance. Something was better than nothing, right? She stayed on the fringes of the groups as much as she could, observing the strangers from a cautious distance. Finally she decided she ought to make a move to be marginally social and see where it landed her. Strangely enough, her attention was captured by one girl who looked even more miserable than her - the fact that such a thing was possible was nearly laughable, but she held her tongue and moved to approach. "Not a big fan of parties either?" Caelia asked conversationally as she strode up, raising an eyebrow in inquiry as she studied the younger woman skeptically. Why was she here then, she wondered?

Suspense was too busy trying to wipe her eyes and nose to hear the approach of a stranger it was only when a feminine voice reached her that Suspense seemed to grasp she was no longer alone. She froze for a moment then slowly turned, a clearly forced smile on her face. "No I wouldn't..." But even Suspense could feel how strained her voice was, she let her words trail off, shifting to properly face the stranger who stood taller than herself... Unsurprisingly. She swallowed the lump in her throat before clearing it.

"No I... Normally," Suspense tried again after a false start, "normally I'd be all ove this sort of thing." She looked over the woman, the last thing she wanted to do was just to dump her grief on a total stranger. "Things are just a little heavy right now." That would be good enough right?


"Speech!"

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Caelia quirked a brow as she studied Suspense curiously, still wondering why someone would be here if they were so completely miserable the entire time. But truthfully she wasn't exactly a fan of crowds this size either, though she also wasn't sulking alone over it, though she might as well be. "This size gathering is kind of my worst nightmare, personally," Caelia admitted with a small snort. It wasn't that she was shy or all that wary of strangers, but she preferred being among much, much fewer than this many wolves. That was half the reason she'd veered off away from the main gathering and zeroed in on Suspense. "Heavy. That's one way to describe it." Caelia could relate, maybe not right this exact moment, but in general. Lately things weren't quite so bad, but she'd felt like that before. She tilted her head curiously toward Suspense. "Which pack are you from? I'm Caelia Adravendi - from Valhalla," she offered. Maybe some small talk would help distract the both of them from their very different trains of thought, at least for a little while.