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“Come on, it’ll be fun! I promise.” Amber crawled onto her lap, looking at her with the most earnest, pleading puppy dog eyes Eula had ever seen. When she didn’t respond immediately, Amber wound her arms around her as well, hands clasping at her upper back and toying gently with her hair.
“I’m not so sure of that. It may be fun for you, but it’s a different story for me. You know that. And you should also know that I will never begrudge you your ability to enjoy these things, so there’s no need to feel guilty. Go to the party and enjoy it.” She waves a hand absently in the air, as if brushing Amber off. Perhaps it’s overly casual though, because it doesn’t seem to be believable. Fair enough. They’ve been together for too long—first as friends, then as lovers—for Eula’s icy behavior to dissuade her.
“But...it isn’t just about me enjoying myself,” Amber argued. She was pouting a little, lower lip jutting out softly in a way that Eula found incredibly distracting, not that she would ever admit it. “I want you to have fun too. You already know most of the people who’ll be there, the important ones anyway, so it should be alright, don’t you think? There’s no way people like Jean or Kaeya would let anyone there treat you badly.”
Maybe it was true, as much as it grated on her to admit, even in the privacy of her own mind. As infuriating as Jean was, as much right as she had to despise every member of the Lawrence clan, she had always treated Eula fairly. And as obsessed as she was with helping everyone with even the most mundane problems... Well, yes, it was probably true that she wouldn’t stand for mistreatment right under her nose, even if she did nothing about it elsewhere in the city. But it wasn’t as though Eula needed defending either. That would just multiply the vengeance she would need to enact someday.
Argh, her mind was tying itself in knots trying to work through what to do. She never had such problems before getting involved with Amber. Amber, who was squirming impatiently on her lap and leaning in close, making it even harder to think about anything else.
“You aren’t going to let it go until I agree to give it a try, are you?” She tried to sound curt, dismissive, but some warmth seeped through. Nobody could make her do something she truly didn’t wish to do, not even Amber. She could endure the guilt of hurting Amber’s feelings, but perhaps it would be easier to make an appearance and appease her. She didn’t say anything about staying the whole time.
“You know me too well.” Amber laughed, hardly bothering to appear sheepish at all. “But if you’re nervous, I’m happy to reassure you the whole way there! We can hold hands, and I can give you tips on what to talk about with everyone if you want to try making conversation, and—”
“Okay,” Eula interrupted, face feeling unusually warm. “I understand. Going to such extreme measures will only require equally extreme vengeance, you know. I won’t forget it.”
“I know,” Amber agreed cheerily, leaning in to give her a peck on the lips. “Want to get ready together? You can tell me all about your day.”