Claris touched her throat self-consciously for a brief second before realizing that she was caring too much of other people's opinion of her too much again. The sloshing of water and Ann's singing stayed for nearly a minute before Claris decided to strike up another topic. "So what do you think of the Marlon prince?"<br/><br/>******<br/><br/>Edward stood up and faced his daughter, attempting to mimic his fictional self in the portrait. "you don't think so?" He returned to a normal posture seconds after he had attempted to pose himself. "You said the same thing as the late king." He twisted his lips in mock disappointment, "C'mon you need to have a sense of humor here. This thing is funny that's why I still keep it." He patted the wooden frame affectionately, "Unless you have a better painting to suggest?"<br/><br/>He grinned at another opportunity to tease Antoinette, and placed a hand on his chin as though thinking, "Well... we could add a small girl and boy standing beside him... which are grinning like gremlins... and they can resemble you and Allen! Sounds like a better image?"<br/><br/>******<br/><br/>Allen snarled mentally as Vesta dropped onto a bench barely after half an hour of sweeping. honestly, she was just lazy. "Oi, what are you doing?" Allen called as she fanned herself with an arm.<br/><br/>"Whew... luckily the summer is ending. Dammit. Need to remove. These. Sleeves." She began to roll her sleeves up even as Allen began to protest.