[color=e0faac][center][h2]Hollyhock[/h2][hr][/center][/color]
Unsurprisingly, Hollyhock behaved herself during the procession. She was still pious and respected church events even though all bets were off the second one of her obligations finished. Even though she had a disdain for photos and being in the spotlight, standing alongside her peers--especially Maya--made sure that she was never the focus of photography. It was also a blessing that Isabella was there; Hollyhock was just a footnote for those who cared enough to follow the Rosarian royal family.

Before they had walked out, Jannick had motherly pointed out the chocolate stains on her face. Her veil would have covered it, but the thought was appreciated. She wiped her mouth using a pocket handkerchief. 

Smile, wave, and follow behind the other Scions. That was her strategy in every single procession. Though, she supposed it didn't really matter if she smiled or not.

[hr]
While she had some mystery novel misgivings about going to a hilltop manor for an after party, she wasn't going to bring them up to anyone. It was a myopic statement with a death so close. Plus, it wasn't like they had to go through a treacherous mountain road that would definitely have been blocked during a storm. Maybe Jannick would have thought it to be funny.

But Jannick was off entertaining the wallflowers. Hollyhock was, for the most part, unsupervised.

This meant that she spent the party walking and stuffing herself with as much as she could. Hors d'oeuvres had been devoured like she was part-horse. If someone had been astute and been paying attention to her (in present company, such behaviour would be rather strange), then they would have noticed that she had gone through four different plates already.

It was more than her usual supper, but the festivities crunched her regular meal schedule. Sure, she had breakfast, brunch, and elevenses, but her lunch, tea, siesta, and dinner were all interrupted by the appointment and procession. She was now deep into supper territory with half of what she usually ate. Cookies did what they could to tide her over, but only three?

It would be a disaster if the night turned out like a mystery novel. Unless the poison was in the champagne, she was probably going to be the first victim with how much she ate. Hollyhock rarely drank out of the principle that alcohol would take up room in her stomach normally devoted to food.