I sat down next to Anevay and looked straight at Delatrix, afraid to look at anything else. Noah was staring at me, grinning slightly, Anevay was tapping her fingers quietly but impatiently on the table, waiting to be served, Petreus was talking to a house servant, and Delatrix was smiling upon all of us like we were her collection of precious jewels. "Isn't this just a lovely table we have here," she said with her silky voice. Petreus looked at her, his expression blank, and then turned back to the house servant. We sat in silence as bowls were brought out for us to dip our fingers in. I rose an eyebrow as a bowl was placed in front of me. What was this? Why were we acting as if sinks were never invented? I glanced up at Delatrix, who was dipping her hands into the bowl delicately, like roses dipping from rain. Anevay, next to me, watched her hands as she submerged them completely under the water. She slightly bit the inside of her lip as one of her fingers twitched in the water, and then she took her hands out and dried them, looking back at the wall in front of her, bored again. Noah dipped his hands in and scrubbed at his fingers carefully. Petreus simply put his hands in the water, scrubbed them a bit, and then took them out, wiping his hands with a towel softly. I had a sudden urge to touch his hands. He looked up to meet my gaze just as the thought came to me, and I blushed and looked down at my own bowl, submerging my hands into the water. As I dried my hands, the servants came, took the bowls, and replaced them with plates that had some sort of tiny little appetizer that I couldn't name sitting upon them. Delatrix took one of her forks-I noted which one she used- and slid it sideways into the whatever-it-was, taking a short and wide bite off of it and taking the fork up to her mouth with elegance I didn't know could be used when eating. Anevay stuck her fork in points-down, pulling it up with only the remnants of the food that had stayed on the fork clinging to it, and then took it up to her mouth and closed her lips around it softly. Noah took a bite like a normal person, as did Petreus. I tried to copy Delatrix but failed miserably, ending up with a bite too big to eat of a food that was tiny for that to be possible. I wiped it carefully on the plate, trying to cut half off with my fork, and then noticed Noah grinning at my attempt and quickly stuck the fork into my mouth, blushing.
Delatrix opened her mouth as the second course was taken away from us. "Luke," she said, addressing the servant, "Leave us." Luke glanced at her and she tilted her head, smiling slightly. He nodded and hurried out of the room, pulling another servant with him and closing the doors closed behind him. "So," Delatrix said, addressing me. She narrowed her eyes, "You really are a glitch." My eyes widened as I bit my lip and didn't reply. Her eyes narrowed farther as she looked at Petreus and said, "Well, that won't do at all, will it, Petreus?" Petreus stared at her with his same blank expression and didn't try for a reply. She looked at me, and suddenly those lovely, sweet eyes were not so sweet. Cutting through whatever disguises might be hiding my true thoughts, true feelings. "Whatever shall we do with you?" she asked me rhetorically as she tilted her head and smiled delicately. I rose my eyebrows, "What are the options?" I asked. She narrowed her eyes and turned to look at Anevay. "Darling," she said, "what do you think?" Anevay shot me a short, uncommitted glance, and then looked away. "Terminate," she said. Still sounding bored. My eyebrows shot up, and my mouth fell open. Delatrix broke into a fit of giggles, as if this was the funniest thing she had ever heard. "Oh, dear, is she not the funniest little creature you ever lay your eyes upon?" she inquired of me. I rose one eyebrow and looked at the girl, who had narrowed her eyes at being called "little". "What might be our other options, dearest one?" Delatrix asked, resting her chin delicately on her hand as she tilted her head at the girl. Anevay glanced over at Delatrix with an impatient expression, "There are no others, mamy, unless you would like to tend to her like a pet." She referred to me being a pet as if I was not worthy of being one.
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