All that grace, all that regal posture and refined, victorian demureness, was ripped away in one moment as the kit half jumped, bolting to her paws as her fur spiked with surprise and she scrambled to her feet, her head whipping over her shoulder as her wide amber eyes finally fell upon Crystalkit. And then, realization settled in, the sense of the adrenaline spike fading away to calm; it was only another kit. She caught her breath. Soothing herself the best she could, she tried to ignore the feeling and the heat of the bright red shame on her cheeks over getting so worked up over a silly little scare. But she was quick to compose herself, giving a quick, sharp lick to her paw and running it over her pelt, soothing it back down to it' former prim and proper, well-groomed state, trying to slightly re-poise her posture. Before long, she was looking like a little lady again, and content with the fact that she was back to looking her usual, regal self, she spun on her heels to meet Crystalkit face to face.

"Good morning Crystalkit." The tone was formal, slightly testy, but it was in an attempt to sound polite. She wasn't about to go out of her way to upset the other kit; it wasn't good manners, not to a fledgling that was, at least for now, in every sense their equal. Though Garnetkit seemed about as oblivious to the fact it had been done in an attempt to start a game as one could possibly be, her gaze seeming expectant of something entirely different; as if instead of a game, Garnetkit expected Crystalkit to bring up topics of politics or religion. Maybe she did think that was what was going to be brought up, she could be so serious sometimes, so out of touch on occassion with the fellow fledglings, that it wasn't exactly hard to believe that wasn't what she though that other kits did in their free time.

Garnetkit seemed to freeze up, not moving for a moment. Her paw may have a trembled a bit, but that was the only visible sign that anything had changed in her perfect presentation; bar perhaps a newfound stiffness to her composure. Though she would have never dared said it, never dared acknowledged it, the words stung. There was something humiliating in them, as if she had been Cinderella in her lovely ball-gown, and here in her mind Crystalkit had come in to play the part of some wicked step-sister, tearing off all the bows and trinkets and little niceties and left her dreamy lady-like illusion bare and torn to rags right where everyone could see. Because she had called her out on it, and though she liked it when others acknowledged the good parts about her being serious -- loved it when they called her intelligent, hardworking, a golden child -- she hated it when her peers acknowleged it and expressed it in a way that made it clear she was distant, unrelatable, that she wasn't "in" with them. She was the straight As honor kid in class who wore the nicest clothes and always had her hair perfect, the teacher's pet that all the adults loved, but she was also the one that all the other students hated or ignored; either because they were jealous, or they just couldn't stand her ego, or (most likely) because, at the end of the day, children prove very skilled at picking up on flaws and insecurities, and in fake perfection came an ungodly amount of insecurity. And, for a child who wanted so desperately to be seen as flawless and perfect, the fact that she was something of a social pariah amongst her peers made her feel like she had been stripped bare. It wasn't something Garnetkit was necessarily unaware of; she was used to sitting over to the side, watching other kits play games and have their fun, all while she sat off to the side and studied or judged silently in the corner like she was above it all, and normally she was perfectly fine being distant and far from them. It was easy to paint them all as stupid, lower-class peons who were wasting their days playing and rough-housing and learning nothing, because they were nobodies with no expectations and in the end they would go no farther than doing paltry waxing and waning jobs and menial labor because someone had to, and meanwhile she worked hard because she refused for that someone to be her. And it was equally easy to just assume they weren't worth her time, weren't worth her energy for that same, exact reason.

But Crystalkit and her siblings, they posed a problem for her, and when Crystalkit spoke the obvious, it stung. Because Crystalkit had status, because Crystalkit -- as much as she hated it, and as hard as it was for her to fathom -- was very much like her. They were both related to high ranking figures, they both had high expectations placed upon them, but Crystalkit, unlike almost every single other kit of her rank she knew, didn't seem to care. Or well, perhaps she did care, but she didn't care like everyone Garnetkit knew seemed to, like Sapphirekit seemed to, like Winterkit seemed to, like everyone else she knew who held any rank or basic expectations hovering over their head seemed to. It confused her, it boggled her mind, and yet that confusion didn't make what Crystalkit said hold any less weight; because in some ways, in her rigid, black and white world view, it was one of the few opinions that did hold weight. And she didn't quite know what to do.

If Crystalkit had been anyone else, anyone of lower status, she would have lashed out; she would have done exactly what her father did to anyone who got in his way -- handled insubordinance with insults and violence and whatever else was needed to drag the other back in line. But she couldn't do that, all her problems came down to the fact she couldn't do that -- instead she had to swallow her pride, try and keep her grace, and pretend she wasn't burning under her fur with a very unbecoming shade of red from a newfound heat of shame. "I can play, but I choose not to, at least not until I've finished my studies." She said, her voice a shaky sort of rigid, like someone forced to read a script in front of an audience without preperation; a similar sense of nerves and equally a cold distance, a shallowness of someone acting rather their feeling their words. "And I can be fun, but I choose when it's smart to have fun, and I work when it's smart to work."

It was very ironic in a way, both how very similar and very different Garnetkit and Crystalkit's worlds were. They both came from upper-class families, both had heavy expectations on their shoulders. Both expected to get promoted to hopefully high stations, to something that proved their class and skill, that spoke to rank in the clan that was bestowed on them, not by their own talents or abilities, but by those of their families. But while Crystalkit had learned at a young age the leniency that gave her, had learned that she could get what she wanted by just batting her eyes and throwing her position of privilege around, while Crystalkit had been able to get used to life where being told "no" was basically unheard of to her, Garnetkit had learned something opposite to that. To be distant, to be reserved, to be perfect, because to Garnetkit her position of privilege was not a mere privilege, it was a job, a position in itself, which came with the need to constantly uphold and air, to constantly work to be the best.

Of course, though, there was another layer to it; because while Garnetkit had already accepted her future status as a waning, a likely future Mother, Crystalkit had her eyes set on becoming a luminary. And that, of course, held very different skill in an of itself. Perhaps if Garnetkit could have seen past her own lot in life she could have recognized that, but as it was, to her Crystalkit's "games" seemed frivolous. It was hard to see it as training so much as wasting time, as throwing away the hours of the day. Either way, however, when finally faced with the fact that she, in fact, was pretty much done with her studies, there wasn't much she could say. It was true, she didn't have much more to do. She could curl herself up in the corner and try and memorize something she didn't remember the words enough to memorize, she could recite codes she already knew like the back of her paw, but both would proved equally unproductive. Even if she wanted to deny it, she knew the truth, and in spite of what many petty faults Garnetkit might have had, truths about her own progress, her own skills, were truths she wouldn't deny. So, taking in a sharp breath, eyes narrowed with a mix of thick irritation and exasperated curiosity, she spoke.

"I guess I'm technically done with mine." The words were nearly spoken through gritted teeth, but she managed to soften her tone mid-way through in an attempt to maintain some image of polite reserve. "What would you even want to "play" if we were to play, though?" She asked, her annoyance more swallowed by incredulity that anything else.