X. Viollette Dubois
Hello! Welcome, welcome! To the last party of summer! The last ball of August (September)!
There can be no event without a theme. Tonight's theme is the play's the thing (to catch a conscience). Tonight's theme is all the world's a stage. But no common stage: a stage for a ballet or an opera. A stage with wings, and curtains, and layered sets. So imagine this: The Seawell Grand Ballroom. Decorated to theme. The ceiling is a labyrinth of shadow and light and silk panels [Operatic, lovely] sails swept to conjure up this sense of stageplay, of grandeur. The colors of the darkness and the light change. They cycle through reds and thence to golden ambers and past that slowly to night blue and silver depending on the tone of the moment. And the walls continue the theme. They are stage-sets themselves. See? There are little turrets and balconies and short spiralling staircases that lead nowhere because they're props, ornate Art Nouveau black props, which the light loves, which are clung-to with fairy lights, set at the edges, couches settled dramatically between with more lights to toss their devilish shadows against the wall or the floor.
There is a bar: full-stocked -- illuminated. A treasure-palace at the end, all crystal bright and gleaming, a vision of paradise. And opposite the bar, there is an actual stage, where the sound-system is set-up, where actual musicians play when music isn't being piped through the sound system, and there are a number of very, very drunk people, and it's a ball. The invitations and advertisements said so: A ball, with dancing. A ball to benefit the American Cancer Society, in conjunction with the Denver Performing Arts Center, and headed by Ms. Donna Leon (with the help of her third husband, Robert Whittaker, and their daughter, Juliana Whittaker).
But by god, a ball with dancing. Certainly, there are those who are laughing or talking or watching or texting on the couches which line the edges, there are a few who are doing the same on the temporary little islands, little watch-towers, of the spiral stairs, pretending to declaim or simply looking out across the dance floor toward the musicians, but there are also people dancing.
And in the center of the people dancing, professionals: three couples dressed like they are in a play (the theme is the thing), all costume-decked, unmasked of course but still: you know. And they behave so gorgeously, move with such beauty. And then they split, and the men find other partners, and the women do as well, and coax those people into another dance, and it's all working out very well as far so far, donations are rolling in but mostly fun seems to be a thing that is being had, the crowd isn't too old and it's not too young.
So: that's the chorus.
Enter, the players.
Bo
Extravagance, absolute excess, these are things that Bo's parents might have used to describe the scene that presents itself before Bo, from the ballgown's and cocktail dresses with price tags in the thousands, to the frosted elegance of the jewelry and finery that cost into the hundreds of thousands. The food, the music, the very carpet she found herself walking on was the sort of thing that Bo had only dreamed of in her silliest moments, thoughts of royalty and high society from daydreams from days gone by.
Bo is glad for the fact that she had stolen the jewelry and the cash from that little antique shop of horror's because it was the sole reason she managed to look anything like the part she was trying to portray as she stepped into this nest of high society, her hair done up, resting in carefully designed angles before the very tale end of her black and red hair fell away in a pony tail high above her neckline. The dress she wore was what some in this circle might call scandalous, fitted in shape with no shoulders and a cinched waist, the dress fell only to Bo's mid thigh, poofing out as it did in mimicry of a ballerina's tutu. The shoes were the most expensive Bo could afford to buy, a pair of black heels which wrapped their way up Bo's legs to mid calf. Some of the jewelry she had kept, and she wore it now, a few rings and one particularly dazzling necklace fixed with diamonds and a central carved piece of onyx.
All of this had been done to meet with the woman she knew only as Lux, a vampiric ally of Kali's who, from the looks of it lived in an entirely different stata of society. Bo was out of her element, this was far and above her usual area of expertise, but the excitement in her eyes made them shine bright like the jewels at her neck, and the smile on her lips energetic, and so very very expressive.
She moved through the crowd, a glass of wine in one hand as she sought the visage of a woman beautiful and eternal...on her home turf. What could go wrong?
X. Viollette Dubois
[Before Lux sees Bo, she was off Presence-ing it up as part of her Current Project. How was that going?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Bo
[Per+Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
X. Viollette Dubois
Enter, Bo. Bo, moving through the crowd like a black swan [edgy, girl you never were a duckling]. Bo, the ghoul with shining eyes; and that's good. Eyes should shine at an event like this. That's what all the glitter and stagecraft is for: to transport. The idea is to give the heart something to want. The idea is to give the eyes a reward for seeing. And speaking of glitter, where is Lux?
Over there.
Lux is on one of the couches near the stage in a knot of people (followers? [friends?]), animated by (blood [Caine]) what appears to be an argument. Looks good on her. Looks good on them all, the fall-out glow of Lux's particularly brand of contained [sharp, tarnished-up Lucifer-hearted] passion. The vampire's shadow-loved hair is swept back into an intricate-and-artful knot at the nape of her neck. The neckline of her dress is high: dips just below the collar, crosses the hollow. The dress itself is interesting: a thing of jewels and sequins, a Byzantine-face conjured out've color, wed to some Gatsby-esque couture-sprung vision --
-- and look. Look, okay? Lux is a vision. Lux is always a vision. It's deeper than just the presentation. It's something elusive, but keep looking.
Magnetic creature.
Who is waving at Bo as soon as she sees her, breaking off the argument entirely. And Bo, espying Lux, will also espy the little gap in the curtains and the 'set' behind and near Lux's couch, where-in somebody is disappearing. It's not unusual or too-too weird, just:
Look, there is somebody going behind the curtains like they're hiding, or maybe getting ready to make-out.
Bo
Of course she was surrounded by followers, because Lux is a lady, and Lux is a vampire. They attract human followers by the dozen's it seems, those closest to them becoming their food or their protection, or perhaps both. It is a system, a natural heirarchy that Bo has already worked out on her own from both her own experiences and from watching those vampire's she has come in contact with.
Lux is waving, and the wave is so much more then that, its a siren's call, an invitation of parlay, and a demand to be acknowledged. Bo isn't here to resist such things, has no desire too. Lux was in her own way already what she might call a friend in this dark world. The woman's advice having saved Bo from a potentially dark fate.
So Bo is walking, striding up to the couch and that gaggle of strangers a quick wave as she looked into the eyes of each person present before settling those shining green eyes on Lux and turning the full power of that expressive smile upon the Toreador, perhaps to beguile, perhaps to persuade, or maybe just to make the undead princess like her just a little bit more.
"Heya Triple B." Bo says, and any pretense of high society breeding practically shatters like glass. "This is...." Bo nods repeatedly, her gaze shifting to whomever is heading behind the curtains. "This is something else. It feels like I'm back with the russian tzar's and their courts."
X. Viollette Dubois
Lux makes room for Bo. Make a note: Lux makes room. Lux does not give the man on her left a look that tells him to cede Jesus's spot to Bo. Lux does not re-arrange the humans as if they were pillows (warm, delicious pillows, skin like raw silk or rough linen or prickly hair in the case of that bearded gentleman right there, and within something hot and warm). No. Lux shifts to the side; she has one leg stretched out rather negligently, the other tucked under her, and she re-arranges herself [the dress with its ecclesiastical conjuration glitters and burns, a fall of irreverence] into something slightly less languid. The curve of her mouth is welcoming, a dam on laughter: you know it's back there. Just like looking at the moon you know it's got that other side the one that's full of dark.
"Heya, Bo," she returns, and the curving mouth becomes a conspiratorial grin: "You've got a good sense of things. I think that is just the effect Ms. Leon wanted tonight. Russian Tzars and Courts. Courts, at any rate! Something glamourous that you know won't last forever. Do you want to dance?"
"Alexander, watch my purse," and Lux stands up, reaching over to twine her arm through Bo's, and steal the black swan girl for herself.
But not before making introductions; Lux is anything but rude (unless she wants to be [which is often]). And so Bo meets Alexander, who is wrong and whose smile is wry, who doesn't need to shave because he has perfected the needs-to-shave look; meets KJ, who is probably a little high, whose smile probably has ice caught in her teeth, but who pays Bo a surprising little compliment on her dress; meets Paul, who has an easy charisma and an easier assurance, and seems happy enough to petition Bo for a dance later himself, since she's a friend of Lux's. And looks good, like she does.
You get the point.
The somebody who went behind the curtains --
Bo, she can see the insinuation of him (it is a him) moving there. Joined by two more pairs of feet--maybe. The shadows sort of flicker, and the gap stays open.
Bo
Space is made, made by Lux in particular and this fact is not lost on Bo as she is suddenly introduced to variety of well to do mortals [and maybe vampires?] Lux looked as alive as Bo did, and she knew that meant that vampires could look completely lifelike if they wanted too. During the introductions Bo is entirely herself, unabashedly, unrestrained Bo, Alexander's perfectly needs to be shaved scruff is gently touched, a smile on her lips as she greeted him. KJ is offered a compliment in return and Paul? Well Paul is assured if Lux didn't tire her out, she'd happily dance the night away with him.
She'd been prepared to sit, but then there was talk of dancing, and Bo's arm was taken and she wasn't about to fight this. "I could cut a rug, or three if we can get away with it before the Leon's notice." Bo offers with a delighted and mischevious smirk. She is ready to move away with Lux, to stride out onto the dance floor in that perfectly fitting dress of her's as she leans in and whispers conspiratorially to Lux.
"Though I gotta say..its lookin like the reaaal party is behind the curtain, what's Oz the great and powerful up to back there hmmm?"
X. Viollette Dubois
[The curtain? What? Percept + Alert.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
X. Viollette Dubois
ooc: Uh, there was no WP spent there. Silly thing.
X. Viollette Dubois
Alexander gives this brief head-shake like a falcon facing the hood when Bo touches his jaw, this flinch of a smile that follows and some wit-scraped remark or some semblance of one. KJ sparkles [ice is pretty, ice is nice, it would suffice- you know? who needs fire?] at the returned compliment though doesn't seek to make more conversation just yet. Still: perfectly nice -- no undertones of cruelty. And Paul, well, Paul just beams in the manner of the gregarious who've had just enough to drink to give one an edge but not eough to drink to take away one's edge. Or perhaps he always beams like that.
Lux and Bo are away. And - Oh! Plots? The touch of the Toreador skin is cool (but not cold [not ice]) where their arms meet. But she does seem alive as she can (and she is not so, so far from humanity that it is difficult - not yet [the best is yet to come?]) seem, as alive as she seemed the first time Bo met Lux and Lux flushed herself to something approaching warmth because of Nate.
Also, it feels good to breathe.
But Lux cants her head toward Bo's when Bo whispers conspiracies into her ear and gives her a sidelong look as she does. Then lifts her eyes from Bo and - see? There, etched and delicate, a line between her dark eyebrows - looks at the curtain where she thinks Bo might have been looking. Then she sees it too: the gap, at least. Not the shapes behind.
"Interesting," she says.
And then, "We can catch the next song."
Bo
Bo has been touched by far colder arms then Lux's and so she offers no reaction to the slightly cooler then average appendage which cradles her own. Perhaps she had simply not fed recently, or maybe this was really as good as it got without expending an excessive amount of blood. It isn't something Bo is about to question, not yet. She leaves such things for later when they weren't investigating something curious and potentially exciting.
Lux listens to bo's whispers, and after a momentary consideration she seems to find some merit in what Bo was saying and so their departure to the wide and wonderful world of the dance floor is delayed. They take a very different path instead, when Lux says they will catch the next song Bo takes that as her cue. "Sounds like a plan Triple B, time to see whats behind curtain number 1."
Stepping quietly up to the curtain she peeks beyond, ever so briefly before slipping past the threshold stepping into the darkness behind the curtain with Lux in tow. [or was it really the other way around?]
Bo
[Sneaky Sneaky]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
X. Viollette Dubois
[Am I stealthy, too?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8) ( success x 5 )
X. Viollette Dubois
[Eh? Be there spies?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )
X. Viollette Dubois
[Me too.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
X. Viollette Dubois
[Me 3!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (5, 7) ( success x 1 )
X. Viollette Dubois
[WHAT WILL HAPPEN? OH NO.]
[pause.]
Lux
Miss Yellow [that's what we'll call the girl in the mustard-colored dress for now] and Ramses exchange a look as soon as Bo opens her mouth. The look is initiated by Miss Yellow because Ramses [that's the curly-haired Greek-or-Egyptian dusky-skinned fellow, dashing in his suit] is doing his best about to flip out containment dance. Bo keeps talking, and how she says what she says certainly has an effect. What she says has an effect, too. And from what Bo can tell, they're not going to cut her or immediately kerb-kick her. They don't look precisely arms-open welcoming, but, well. To get to Miss Yellow, Bo needs to breeze right by Ramses and he makes it easier for her by pressing himself back and taking a few steps back toward the 'exit.'
The curtain billows as Bo makes her way, rippling, light-and-shadow, and Miss Yellow does take Bo's hand, saying with every appearance of verve, "Oh god, no, nothing like. This isn't a side party,"
and Tripp breaks in to say, "It's a private party." Tripp [which is what we'll call the second man for now, the one who'd spotted them, whose alertness Bo had 'tripped'] smiles at Bo. Bo, who is beside Miss Yellow now, which means right in front of him, with Ramses having ceded his spot in order to maybe leave. "But if you're looking for some stuff and tar, maybe candy or a game of scrabble is more your thing, Austin's around here somewhere. Ask around." There's a pause but he barely waits to let her respond before continuing, and if she does start to speak he cheerfully talks right over her, going into sleazy-rakish with both eyes wide open, clearly amusing himself, "Buuuut if you're looking for a game of spin the bottle, go and find a bottle and I'll see what I can do. Bring your friend too. I don't mind."
Speaking of Lux, what's she up to?
The beautiful girl did not just shrug her shoulders and turn to leave. Bo engages, and Lux is at the edge where the gap in the curtains is. Just within. There she is: precise, poised on the line between-worlds -- behind-stage, on-stage, as it were. The metaphor is handy. Because the gloom-light behind the curtains is one thing and the party-light beyond the curtains is another, the latter sneaks through in order to touch a line of sequins on her dress which sends pale dancing spangles around her, little pale lights that shift when she moves. The first time Ramses looked past Bo at her she'd given him a moment of wide-eyed regard and then the first curling hint of a smile, coupled with a gesture, like: do you want to get past me?
Bring-your-friend-too gets raised eyebrows and a what-who-me, followed by, "Is he always this pleased with himself?" to Mr. Ramses, who shakes his head and -- still apparently on the fence about fleeing like a jack rabbit or not, who is just hovering nearer-Lux now but still not quite at the exit -- casts an anguished look back at Tripp and Bo and Miss Yellow.
"Worse, sometimes," he says.
--
OOC whoops, and this for the records
Shay @ 3:20PM [ROLLING FOR JESS]
[six dice of awesome!]
Roll: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 5, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) VALID
Bo Thomas
"I play scrabble when I'm at home thanks, I prefer something with a little more excitement when I'm out and about with the royals and the rich. She offers, turning her gaze to Mr. sleeve and rogue. She meets his gaze as she settles one hand upon her hip and offered him the other, a small smile fishing its way out of her smirk as if she might be expecting him to try the ol kiss the back of the hand routine. Such men often did, but then they had interrupted a private party…who knows what might be going on behind these particular curtains.
"Aww do I have to go?" She asks with a tilt of her head as she took another step towards Tripp and gestured at Mr. Ramses. "I just got here after all and it seems your friend was more then willing to step out. Maybe he could grab a bottle for us, there sure are enough of them out there. Enough booze to drown Ireland." She offers with a gentle laugh. "Ohh the Irish." She shook her head and glanced briefly to Lux who was now…curiously enough playing bouncer to the curtain, keeping Mr Ramses in the dark even as he wished to escape.
"Makin friends over there hun?" She asked with a impish smirk before turning back to Miss Yellow and Tripp, a mischievous smile writ large upon her lips as she whispered conspiratorially. "So…what exactly are we celebrating here in the private party hmm? The private parties are always the best after all."
Bo Thomas
[Per+Emp Tripp]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Lux
[Tripp's a liar.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Bo Thomas
[Per+Alert Diff 8]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (3, 5, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Bo Thomas
[Per+Alert Diff 9]
Dice: 5 d10 TN9 (3, 5, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Lux isn't close enough for sweet Diff 8 or Diff 9. Diff 10.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN10 (6, 7, 10) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Only rolling the one Percept + Alert for her; she isn't close enough to even get a shot at noticing the second Mysterious Thing.]
Lux
Tripp is neither an anachronism or a classless slimeball. He might be a slimeball. Might be. But if he is, he is a slimeball with all sorts of class. The kind of class that people try to emulate. The kind of class that means silver spoons and an innate sense of inner worth that masquerades not as arrogance, but as a coolly compassionate sort of care. He is taking the initiative and controlling the conversation as much as Bo is because that is the kind of man he is: everything's up front, everything's on the level or at least obviously being withheld, and if the cool pressure of his hand is anything to go by, if the twinkle in his eye is anything to go by, he is amused by Bo's clear (?) angling for gossip. The point: Tripp doesn't kiss the back of Bo's hand. He had class. His grip is, however, quite firm.
"Well..." as if he's relenting.
"I'm not bringing you a bottle," 'Ramses' says. He's flushing, flushed, but his voice is admirably calm. He doesn't seem to think it is; the flush gets a little stronger. Behind the curtain, near the edge where the curtain lets some of the sparkle in from the gala itself, music changing to something infinitely dancable and less balletic, it's difficult to tell -- but not impossible. He opens his mouth to say something else but snags his eyes on Lux again and instead snaps his jaw shut.
Meanwhile, Miss Yellow widens her eyes in a deliberate shut-the-heck-up way. There's beading on her clutch-purse, flapper-style beading--it clicks and clacks together when she makes an involuntary movement.
"...Since you asked again so nicely, I guess I'll just tell you. We're trying to arrange our first human sacrifice. It's very exciting."
"Tripp!" Ah, so that is his name. That's from Miss Yellow, who gives one of those I-can't-believe-you snorts, and then says, "Don't be such a cock. Look, ah, girl,"
and Tripp interrupts Miss Yellow again. "Don't pay any attention to anything Laura says about me. We used to date in college; it's given her ideas. Dating me, that is, not college. She already had college ideas. You heard my friend; he's not willing to play errand bo-"
"Oh, shut up," Miss Yellow says. Then, firmly: "We're celebrating our break up. It's not really a party. I don't know what you're looking for, but if you could just,"
Tripp, again: "Tell us your name?"
Lux
Bo notices two things: one, that Tripp is packing heat. His jacket almost conceals it, and if she weren't standing so close to him, if she weren't just very lucky, she'd've missed the gleam of gun against his ribs.
And she also notices that Miss Yellow, when she fidgets with her neckline, reveals a flash of paper tucked under her (party! demi-cup) bra, a folded note.
Lux
Lux? Lux is sharp, but her sharpness is the kind that is a knife in the dark, wouldn't notice a knife in the dark. She is paying Bo + Tripp and Yellow some attention, partly because Bo's curiousity is starting to make her curious, the way sometimes somebody talking about hungry they are will make someone else hungry, the way Desire is contagious, a contagion, a disease- and partly out of courtesy, because Bo is her 'date,' so to speak. But the rest of her attention, the greater share of her attention, is on Ramses, who she is giving The Eyes to, having decided he looks like fun. Pity the guy, because he hasn't realized he's susceptible yet, even though he stops riiiight next to her and instead of just storming through the curtains lingers in order to say he's not going to get a bottle. Exchanges a look with Lux- or looks at her, and she's still looking at him, when Bo smirks back at them, and maybe that's why he's flushing (no- not entirely), and he mutters something very low, which makes Lux grin: silk and steel. The grin is shared between Ramses and Bo; most of it's for Bo. Then: the rest of that conversation goes down. The one between Tripp and Miss Yellow, and Lux's eyes ...
They're drawn.
Bo Thomas
The three amigo's begin to squabble, begin to bicker and fight. Tripp tells Bo that they are looking to perform a human sacrifice and the idea, though it seems like the man is genuine, brings a hint of a laugh to Bo's lips as she waved her free hand at the man and shook her head.
"Human sacrifice?" She asks incredulously, still smiling. "Aw come on Tripp, do you know how messy and pointless that stuff is? I mean seriously it never goes smoothly, someone's always stuck cleaning up after the end and its ugh...its just not..worth it." She almost forgot the fact that he asked her name, and blinking with another gentle giggle. "I'm Bo, but you can call me Bo the incredible." She offers a wink at that as she turned to Miss Yellow and [if Tripp lets her go] strides over to her.
"It's Bo." She repeats softly to the woman in yellow. "You can't really want me gone can you? I mean one girl against these two?" She asks gesturing to Tripp and Ramses. "Even if spin the bottle isn't in the mix tonight I really, really think you could use some sisterly support. " She raises a hand in a fist like she was apart of some great revolution. "Women unite!" She says with the barest rising of her voice, not wanting others beyond the curtain to hear, followed by a warm, enticing little grin.
"Or we cooould just unite without the men..." She says with a wink, before her gaze shifted over to Lux. "Makin friends hun?"
Lux
[Razzle Dazzle.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 4, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Bo Thomas
[Per+Emp]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Lux
[Let's do a Speaking Look.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Lux
Lux is looking at Tripp curiously now.
Makin' friends, hun? The second time Bo asks Lux says: "Sure." Like it's a dare: go ahead and deny it, stranger. "Bo, I'm going to get some air." The Look that Lux gives Bo is silver-tongue eloquent- a tiny poem of a thing, a key to swallow down and remember, to clink against your ribs and rattle there, and the Look is a commingling of interest and caution, and what it says is, I'm not going far. Then the Toreador slips out from behind the curtain: lost. Except for her hand, the last thing to go; when it goes, Ramses does too, following.
He says, "Tripp, I'm out. Uh, just," and then he looks at Bo and his face tightens with exhaustion and he ducks out, and the curtains are thick enough that silhouettes aren't a thing that can happen: They'd be poor hide-behind-curtains otherwise, wouldn't they?
The curtain ripples near Bo a moment later; someone on the otherside (Lux, maybe) running fingers across the fabric, subtle as a draft or a ghost or a vampire or a shadow or a monster or a nightmare or a thing that isn't really there, something pictured but not real.
"Who says spin the bottle is out of the mix? You can still go get us a bottle," Tripp says, or rather hints. "Call it your invitation to the 'private party.'" He winks, though for a second, and just a second, he watches Lux and Ramses leave. He doesn't frown. His face doesn't change. But he definitely watches, and Bo knows, knows, knows, that he's unhappy about it, can see something particularly vicious in his next welcoming smile, which comes back after a pained moment re: women uniting 'without the men.' "So who are you, Bo? I bet you're shit at keeping secrets."
"As fun as that would be," Miss Laura Yellow murmurs, in reply to 'unite without the men,' even as Tripp looks pained. There's this flutter-of-eyelids (nightmare-REM-sleep flickerflick) that's almost an eye-roll, though what it's actually directed at is anybody's guess. "I'm Laura, Bo. What Tripp means is don't tell anyone we've been seen together." And Bo can tell that Laura truly doesn't want anybody to know she and Tripp were talking, but she can also tell that Laura has an agenda, framing the request like that. "It would make things so difficult."
"Mmm, I also meant 'who are you, Bo?' But if I'm no longer welcome here... And you two want to be alone..."
Bo Thomas
[Per+Emp how badly do they want her gone?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Lux
[Tripp is a liar. You don't get to know his soul.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Lux
[Laura is ... not a liar, but she is polite?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Lux
Tripp seems really keen on the spin the bottle idea and perfectly up front about wanting Bo to go get a bottle as her passcode into whatever they're up to.
Laura seems -- pretty much as presented in the post above. There's anxiety but it's guarded. Bo can see how guarded she is, just not really get at why.
Bo Thomas
Lux makes her exit, but she takes Ramses with her, to what fate Bo can potentially guess, though she doubts the Toreador will do anything particularly horrible to the man. But this leaves her, strands her [perhaps exactly where she needs to be] and she is stuck between the two individuals that she now knew as Tripp and Laura, two individuals who had no desire to be seen together, no desire to even be mentioned in the same spot.
Perhaps it was this that had Bo grin widely and tap the side of her nose with a wink as her eyes settled on Laura. "I keep secrets quite well if they are secret's worth keeping." She says with a glance over her shoulder to Tripp before she looked back to Laura. "Hey, hun...you shouldn't be afraid of being seen with anyone if you want too. But...if you don't, well I can keep a secret, no problem." She locked her lips then, taking the imaginary key and handing it to Laura with a grin and a wink.
But then she's turning to Tripp and stepping towards him once more, her gaze rising to meet his as she shrugged. "I'm just Bo, every present social climber and good friend of the lady who just made a magnificent exit. Seriously...she should get an emmy for moves like that at the very least."
She steps into Tripps personal space with a impish little smile as she tilted her head to the side, coy and playful. "You really want that bottle don't ya Tripp-tastic?" She leans in, gently touching his suit. "Only if I can take Laura with me...us girls, we do have to stick together after all."
Lux
[Tripp is a bully. NPC on NPC action.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 7) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Laura laughs in the face of bullies.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Lux
[Tripp: No, really.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (1, 6, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Lux
[No!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )
Lux
[Fine.]
Lux
"I don't like difficulties," Laura says, somewhat stiffly- like she's about to launch into an argument. For the first time, she seems less bemused and accepting and more cold. Ice-thaw.
She should get an emmy for moves like that at very least. "What's her name? I'll use my vast influence and wealth to make it so, just for you," Tripp says, and he's all disarming smiles, isn't he? Even as, or especially when, Bo trespasses into his personal space with intention, and he'll cover her hand on his suit with his own hand. His grip is still firm and- she'll notice, given what she knows he's hiding beneath the jacket- move her hand firmly away from hidden handguns.
But then: look, Tripp actually seems quite happy, more lighthearted, and he says, "I do want the bottle. You and Laura leaving here together seems like an excellent idea." And he cuts a look at Laura. It's a- somewhat menacing look.
Laura frowns at him and at Bo. "I don't know about that."
And his look gets a lot more menacing; undercurrents. Something hard in his voice, like he's just used to telling people what to do and having them do it: "Laura."
"Tri-ipp," a singsong reply, and then a sigh. She isn't intimidated, but she's looking at Bo and her heels are digging in. "Do you really want to get a bottle for Tripp?"
Bo Thomas
[Per+Emp What do you mean by that Laura?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Bo Thomas
Bo watches at the two go through their little power play and Bo finds it all together amusing taking in the motions and the maneuvers, the feats of will and dominance. Such games aren't usually her fortee, if it's come to that Bo's methods have likely already failed. But it is still intriguing to watch. Tripp for his part seem's happy about Bo's desire to get the bottle, which could mean any number of things.
Laura...well Laura seems a little concerned, and Bo, well Bo offers the woman a quick wink as she starts towards the curtain. "Someone has to hun, mgiht as well be us." She says as she moves to the curtain, waiting for Laura to join her.
If and when she does they slip through, Bo's gaze searching immediately for any sign of Lux, any sign of what may have happened to Ramses' because she is certain that the Toreador would have found a way to access whatever knowledge the man might have.
When Laura joins her Bo links arm's and leans in, a whisper barely audible as she moved with Laura to the bar. "You don't like where this is heading hun?" She asked, obviously in the know that something was afoot. "Care to share the why?"
Lux
[How IS Lux doing with Ramses?]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 7) ( success x 2 )
Lux
[How is Ramses doing with Lux?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Lux
Lux had not in fact gone far. Neither had Ramses. They were standing together beside the curtain a little further off to the left. They were closer to one of the stagecraft balconies set up and Ramses was running long-fingered hands through tightly curled hair while Lux was leaning back slightly. The very image of nonchalant poise. That's the thing about Lux: she isn't trying, she's just in a constant state of falling-from-grace and that lends itself a certain kind of grace. Miltonian, baby. Millaysian. Millais-ian?
So Lux watches Bo and Laura leave the protection offered by the curtain, such as it was. If Bo looks in her direction, the candle-glimmer light-on-water-shiver of Byzantium sequin, she lifts her chin in a(n intractable) faint nod. It's not a summoning nod; she turns back to 'Ramses' and finishes whatever it is she was saying when she noticed Bo and Laura emerge. Then she disengages and Ramses disappears into the crowd. It just swallows him up like candy given to a four-year-old, nothing left behind but maybe a mess or two.
Meanwhile: Laura.
Laura is not really an arm-linker, and she stiffens when Bo winds her arms through hers, though she doesn't quite pull away. She doesn't look around for Ramses, though she does scan the crowd for something- someone- else, mouth primming before she turns her attention back to Bo. The beads of her purse clack against her thigh and her fingers twitch, itching to adjust her neckline again, but that would not do, so she does not. Instead she says, "What are you, a reporter?" The question starts out as a joke, but then turns into a more horrified, "Or are you really? A gossip columnist or- or a blogger?"
Bo Thomas
Lux is found, acknowledged and is seen to sending her chosen toy away. Likely for the rest of the evening given how he so thoroughly disappears into the crowd, Meanwhile back in Bo-ville, with a stiff gaited Laura on her arm the young ghoul had made her way to the bar, acquiring a bottle for their seemingly intended game of spin the bottle.
Laura doesn't answer the question Bo put to her, instead she offers a question of her own, first in jest, and then...then in horrified seriousness. For a brief second Bo is tempted to follow that line, to say...yes she is and to see what that might bring out of the woman. But instead she shaking her head as her fingers wrap around the neck of the bottle and haul it away, turning the pair towards the curtain once more.
"I'm a curious individual with a nose for trouble." She offered with a smile. "I'm not a cop, or a reporter or really..anything at all. At most I'm a dragon slayer, and that doesn't really translate into this situation." She comments as she starts to angle them towards Lux, intent on hearing a few things before proceeding back behind the curtain.
"So really...my interest is entirely personal, but i know liars when i see them, and your personal little party IS more then that, more then a break up or an illicit affair. So I really do want to know what the two of you are working so hard at hiding." Those great green eyes turn towards the woman, intrigued.
"Really you'd just be better off telling me."
Bo Thomas
[Cha+Emp]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 8) ( success x 1 )
Lux
Really you'd just be better off telling me.
Laura looks at Bo. Looks at her. Disengages. Their arms are no longer linked and Laura laughs disbelievingly.
"You are a stranger. You have absolutely no right to my business and you can bat your eyes all you want, but that won't change the fact that you are being rude and pushy and really you'd be better off just dropping it. If you want to play with Tripp, go ahead."
Bo Thomas
Laura tries to dismiss Bo as just some idiot stranger, as a nothing that is beyond her notice. It's not overly surprising given the crowd they were running in, and Bo lets her go with an incline of her head.
"All that said I am still someone who can help." She offers one last time, one last effort to break through the ice and assist Laura with whatever problems she is having, because Bo is certain that Tripp is pulling the strings, and that Laura...well Laura isn't likely to be entirely with the program.
She asks this and waits, one last chance before she simply goes back and tries to get what information she can from Tripp, or if she's lucky. From Lux.
[Cha+Emp]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )
Lux
Laura's expression becomes one of surprise at Bo's response, as if whatever she was expecting Bo to say, that certainly was not it. However, it doesn't thaw the glacier that's swiftly going up, a wall of ice. Laura opens her mouth to reply, then "We'll see" and turns. And leaves. If she hadn't dismissed Bo before, the set of her disgruntled angry-angry shoulders says that she certainly has now.
And it is just half-a-moment after this happens that Lux rejoins Bo, and Bo finds herself on the someone-has-taken-her-arm maneuver, although Lux only puts a hand on Bo's elbow while giving her a sidelong look, something that marries dark and bright together:
"So? I see you did get a bottle."
There's an implied question in her tone [which is silk-soft, smoke-and-shadows], but it's not a very specific question: just questioning.
Bo Thomas
Bo's gambit to win through with Laura fails out, because you can't win everytime, you just hope that you in the moments that really count. Hopefully, this was not one of them. She watches as Laura disappears, the angry look set upon her features and all the ghoul can do is offer a tiny wave at the end.
But then Lux is there, hand at Bo's elbow, a guiding motion that has the ghoul looking up at her undead counter part and nodding slyly. "Indeed I did, but at this point it seems moot to bother. The only individuals left would be me and the...gentleman himself." She offers as she leans into Lux and whispers curiously.
"Did you learn anything of interest from your dear friend Ramses?" She inquires, bright green eyes finding Lux's hopefully. "I'd rather learn this way then have to go in their and put my head in the jaws of a lion after all. Fun as that might be."
Lux
"Hmm." Lux takes the bottle from Bo -- unless, of course, Bo plays tug-a-war -- and turns it around so she can read the label. The music changes to something that's dreamily romantic post-punk doesn't quite know what it wants to be except a way into the soles and from the soles the legs and get dancing, already, people, dance and discuss. After reading the label, she relinquishes the bottle back to the ghoul, never mess with an addict, hm?, and only then does the question and Bo's hopeful green eyes apparently reach her. Her mouth compresses and one corner snicks up, an amused smirk. "Bo, I think you are lying to me: You would much rather put your head in the jaws of a lion. Certainly we don't know one another very well, but don't you like the excitement? As for 'Ramses,'" and Lux muses over the nickname, considers it fitting, and so decides to use it, "Nothing about the other two. What happened to what's-her-name?"
Bo
Bo did indeed relinquish the bottle to the vampire of the evening. Letting the woman examine the bottle at her leisure. She was here to make nice, to build connections with the Toreador, to build strong bond's so that Kali's empire, and by extension herself were more safe, more secure in a city where security was tenuous at best.
Lux challenges Bo with the idea that she actually enjoyed the excitement, enjoyed the danger and Bo held up a singular finger and waggled it steadly as she said. "I looove danger, don't get me wrong. A quick little staccatto in my chest makes me smile for hours." She patted her chest to indicate, her lips pumping out an unheard beat as her hand moved. "But...that being said I like to at least you know, have a chance to stick some cork on those big ol canine's before they try to take the big chomp."
They were making their way back towards the veil, to the gateway into darkness through which the last of the trio, Mr. Tripp lay in wait. Bo kept the pace casual, both to make the man wait, and to gather as much information as possible. But she's told nothing about Ramses' and she grinned ruefully as she looked sidelong at Lux. "I failed my charisma check I'm afraid, ended up pissing her off and she hightailed it." She shrugged as she looked off towards the curtain.
"Well I guess I'm going into this particular lion's cage with out my trusty corks and whip." She said with a silent laugh on her lips. "Buuuut." she poked Lux in the arm at that. "If your down I'd love to have you as the totally awesome, totally bad ass ace up my sleeve."
Bo
[Per+Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Lux
Bo kept the pace casual. Lux was leisurely, not quite languid but flirting with the idea of languid. Her attention didn't seem split, having decided to reclaim Bo and accompany her back to behind-the-scenes, she doesn't bother with anybody else. Bo was there to make nice; Lux - well, who knows? Lux might be here to have fun. Hello, I'll be your training wheels for the evening.
"Why, loving danger is an excellent love to choose; Danger will always return your love," Lux says, after 'make me smile for hours,' the edge of her smile a gleaming thing more unsheathed in the eyes than touching the mouth. Variations on a theme, and she elbows Bo gently in the ribs. "What's the best date it ever took you on?"
Lux pauses them both (?) by the couch, in view of the gap in the curtain, but not quite at it. Bo can see anybody sneaking in or sneaking out- as we will see very shortly indeed- partly perhaps to make Tripp wait. Lux is a girl with timing, isn't she?
"I see," shadow of a frown, after Bo says she failed her charisma check. "What did- " Bo is laughing, silently, which is a full-bodied thing, and Lux's gaze snaps back to her at the poke, having begun to wander after that girl in mustard yellow, and her own mouth curves slightly after a second, "Oh," and Bo is looking toward the curtain.
She can see an orange flicker of light just at its edge, as of someone standing there lighting a cigarette, just waiting.
Lux places her hand on Bo's shoulder, then fixes a strand of her hair, eyebrows coming together as she does so. She says, "I won't let anything too bad happen to you here, Bo, don't worry. Or did you have something more specific in mind?"
Bo
"Best date so far?" Bo inquires as they stand by the couch waiting and watching, making sure no one came out of that little hide-away amongst all the dignitaries and pomp. She seems to think about that for a moment before offering. "Can't really say its the best, but definitely the best bang for my buck? Was that night at the pawn shop." She said. "You know the one..you were there." She doesn't go into glorifying what happened in that grizzly little store front. But she smiles none the less. "I was wired till the sun came up, and still didn't sleep till it went down again." She took a moment to remember it, and felt a echo of that moment send a shiver up her spine.
Then there was talk of a specific plan, of something that might be more then Lux playing protector of a ghoul with more balls then brain's at time's. "Well, I figure I'll step on in start in on the guy however this is gonna go, and then you step in at the most awkward moment possible and crushinate his defences." She says excitedly, nodding a few times.
"You can do that right? With your awesome super powers and well...you being you?"
Lux
Her sharp little chin sinks at the mention of the night of the living antiques - or at least her presence there. Teeth instead of alabastor, hair instead of goose-down, varnish spiced with blood- the red violin knew not that horror [obsession always leads to horror stories, ghouls and vampires should understand that]. Bo says she was wired til the sun came up. "Was certainly a memorable little shop, in spite of the address," and here, the edge of a smile in her eyes flickers [like the knife was turned and stopped catching light, only to--] before glinting more brightly with agreement. Best bang for her buck, indeed. "Do you have bad dreams because of it?" - searching.
And then Bo's suggestion has Lux touching the tip of her tongue to a canine, has Lux cutting a glance from Bo to the curtain and then back:
"Well that depends on what he is defending. What do you want to do with whatever you find out?"
It's not a 'no,' it's just calculation.
Bo
The talk of dreams actually causes that ever present, ever lively smile of Bo's to fade slightly, the woman looking away from Lux for the briefest of moments though her features do not turn away. "Yeah....it gets me sometimes you know? The worst was when I dreamt I was there alone...and I ended up apart of some ladies new leather coat." She shivers. "And you know...the usual, given what happened." Bo says the usual like its anything but, it had been the first time she'd even hurt someone, really really hurt someone and it still resounded through her soul.
But back to the now, back to whats going on here, in this ballroom, with Tripp waiting in the wings. Lux asks what she plans to do with whatever information shes gathering and Bo, well Bo is honest when she shrugs and says.
"You know what? I don't even know what I'm trying to get here...but this guy's up to something. I'm sure of that." She says as she looked towards the curtain. "I guess that'll come down to what I get out of him."
Lux
Bo admits to bad dreams and Lux lets the conversation go the way of suds-on-water, float-away dissolution. Because now is now.
She laughs (gently, this-time [silk and shadow; why is so much about Lux shadowed?]) at the admission and says, "Right."
"Then by all means let's see. Go on ahead, Bo. I'll find my own way into your scene."
By which she means she'll 'happen' upon Bo and what's-his-name from another angle, giving Bo time to work her magick- probably.
[Lalala.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Doom.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Bo
Lux agree's to the plan, what plan there is. Because Bo is definitely a by the seat of your panties sorta girl and her 'plan' is about as flimsy as a piece of wet paper. But as always, Bo relied more on her own ability to think on her feet, and the ability of those around her to see the plan through. To get it done as things come up.
So Lux agree's and Bo gives her a salute with that bottle and turns. "See ya soon." She offer's as she starts towards the curtain, one hand making sure her dress is sitting nicely before putting both hands on the bottle. She sets her mind, and sets a particularly amazing smile upon her lips with just a hint of impishness upon them as she slipped through the curtain and looked about.
"Hey Tripp." She said with a waggle of her brow as she held up the bottle. "I got the bottle, but Laura took a powder....so I guess it's just you and me big guy." She said stepping towards him unafraid.
"So what shall we ever do?" She asked coyly as she tilted her head.
Bo
[Per+Sub]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Lux
But hark.
Tripp is no longer alone.
Tripp is standing penguins-in-a-can close to this other penguin-in-a-suit a young man with very dark skin and a very yellow smile and acne scars on his cheeks that are somehow attractive, something about the texture, or maybe just the pleasing shape of his face, and this young man has a lighter. Tripp is smoking a Marlboro, but Bo can see there's something uneasy going on here. The dark skinned young man looks at Bo and says,
"Well I was just leaving."
And he does, brushing by Bo rather hard and...
[NPC roll. Dex + Larceny, for things.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )
Bo
[Wits+Alert]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
Bo
[Per+Emp Whats goin on in here?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Lux
[Tripp's a liar, remember? But maybe he's unsettled enough to be a poor one now.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Lux
...Tripp makes a face in the wake of the other man, says by way of explanation, "Told that party crasher that no number of bottles would buy him admission," and ends with a smirk at himself.
But Bo, in a moment of clarity, notices that a restrained anger combined with nervousness has settled on Tripp's shoulders, a mantle of electric-wires-about-to-go-the-fuck-off, and it surely has to do with the man who just left and not Bo who just returned, because he seems to regard her return with a lot more amusement.
She also gets the feeling that the other guy didn't just happen to find Tripp there, that it was another pre-arranged meeting.
"Pissed Laura off, huh? Not too hard to do. We broke up because she was pissed off at me and I, an innocent in every way."
Bo
Bo feels the man brush past her, a look of confusion as he takes off into the night, passing by Lux, assuming she was still out there and not somewhere else. Tripp speaks his line, about no access no matter how many fine bottles of champagne the man brought him and she managed a laugh despite knowing that there was far more beneath the surface.
"I guess I'm just lucky then aren't I?" She asked as she stepped up to him and held out hte bottle between them. "I did yeah, I don't think she was particularly thrilled with the idea of playing spin the bottle with the three of us." She shrugged and tilted her head as she looked back to the exit as she pressed forward into Tripps personal space.
"Must have been a one in a million chance that guy found you back here...good thing your all mine now."
Bo
[Manip+Subt]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Really?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 6) ( success x 1 )
Bo
[Again!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )
Lux
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 6, 6) ( success x 2 )
Bo
[Again!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Lux
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 3 )
Lux
"It wasn't a one in a million chance," Tripp says, and he's neither pressing back into Bo's personal space (off-his-game) or stepping back (not that off his game). "You don't really think people find their way back here purely by chance, do you?"
Bo
Tripp tries to call her on it, and Bo's smile manages to hold, even if it diminishes slightly in intensity. "I think there's a chance people would find their way back here by chance." She says with a tiny chuckle as she looked between the bottle and Tripp.
"Soooo... if your not feeling like spin the bottle." She says with a finger absently running along the side of the bottle. "I guess I'll take my bottle and go elsewhere. Maybe go find Laura again and try my luck."
Lux
"So you're sticking to your story?" Tripp says, watching her finger on the side of the bottle, then watching her. The smell of smoke is thick; he lets it die because he lets the cigarette die. The young man reaches for her arm, his hands cool and sure-of-themselves: "It is hard to play spin the bottle with only two people."
Bo
He asks if she's sticking to her story, and Bo's features drop a bit more, because he was starting to worry her, she was losing control of the situation and she took a step back. [She barely has game] "Tripp if I had a story it would not be one involving a a setting like this...I like my setting's a little more risque if you catch my drift." She tried to keep her arm back without making it overt and said as she went to press the bottle into his hand instead.
"Oh come on Trippy, you just have to use your imagination. Spin the bottle with two people has at least three REALLY good ways of playing, and that's just off the top of my head."
Bo
[Dex+Ath]
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 5, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Le contest. Maybe he will fail or botch.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )
Lux
Bo isn't fast enough; Tripp has her arm. His grip is firmer than is romantic or seductive, but not harsh yet. Just firm. Very firm. Firmer than before- his grip had always been firm. And he uses it to [try-and] pull Bo closer, and he grins amiably at Bo. "I'm not very imaginative... so how are we going to play this game?" A nod, also amiable, toward the bottle still in her hand.
[Tripp's roll to pull Bo where he wants her.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Bo
[Str+Potence+Ath]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 4 )
Lux
Tripp is strong, but no stronger than a sportsman should be. Bo resists the not inconsderable strength in his hands and stays right where she is; barely.
Bo
Bo could stop herself, she could keep him from drawing her in. But instead she lets herself be drawn slowly, but in that subtle glacial way that showed that he might be pulling her, but if she wanted too, he wouldn't be moving her at all.
"Well, simple enough." She says as she comes close, looking up into his eyes with an impish smile. "First way is we crack this bottle open, drink it all and see how many kisses you get in the aftermath. Second we tussle like children till someone claims the bottle and they get to decide who get's what....and three...well three's not really for places such as this." She offers with a wink.
"So...whats your preference Tripp?" She asks, watching him, her eyes travelling briefly to that cold hand which gripped her arm.
Lux
"You're so eager," he says, let insinuation color the words and make him sound worse than he is or just as bad as he is. His eyes are narrowed in contemplation. "Who would you rather help? Me or Laura?"
He is conveniently leaving out any mention of 'Ramses.'
Bo
"Help?" She asked, letting him divulge what information he might. "I didn't realize there were sides to be played here." She tilted her head slightly. "Is this an old lover's spat I'm getting in the middle of? Or something more?"
She might as well press for the information, she was stuck here unless she was ready to wrest her arm from his grip. She wanted that information damnit. So she played along.
Lux
"Does it matter? You've had time to speak to us both. Surely," and he smirks, again: smirks like rust, "you can make an impulsive decision as easily as you can poke your head around a curtain."
Bo
"See here's the problem Tripp. When I do it, impulsive decisions are golden, its like I'm the goose who laid the golden egg but with brash decisions turning out well. But when someone tries to make me do it? Naww that breaks the rules." She says as she offered him a smile.
"You can't force genius." She says as she goes to pull her hand from his grip...or at least try too.
[Str+Po+Brawl]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Lux
[Mine!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
Lux
[Pft. I totally meant to let you go.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Bo
[Per+Sub]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Lux
[Meanwhile, sneakery.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Lux
Bo pulls and though Tripp's firm grip grows firmer she still breaks free and when Bo looks at Tripp she sees a man who'd just tightened his grip in order to show her that he could. Not a man who lost a battle. He meant to do that. Oh, he really did, don't you see the apologetic twinkle in his eye?
"If you say so," he says, humble as pie.
--
Meanwhile, Lux has decided to see what's going on with the ghoul and her quarry-of-the-night. This is Lux: a creature who enjoys being alone, but nonetheless is not often on the sidelines of an event. Tides always drag her toward its center--or she drags the center towards her. Just now: she makes herself into a whisper; an icon; a glittering idol, a suggestion of light-drowning-in-dark, wicking along the edge, behind that set of stairs, around that fall of fabric-to-play-at-curtains, behind this tangle of wire, and then-
she slips behind the curtain at a place quite separate than the gap Bo entered (and is now blocked from, since Tripp swung her the way he did, positioning Bo where he used to be standing). Lux quietly -
and truly, she is quiet!
- stays between folds and shadowling thing comes closer to where Bo and Tripp are having their discussion.
[Tripp's noticingness.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Lux
[Damn you, Tripp.]
Bo
[Per+Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
Bo
Bo fought free, she escaped the commanding grip that Tripp had enforced upon her, a physical representation of the mental demands he was trying to place upon her. Choose a side he'd said. Help him, or help Laura. Choose, now. For once Bo resisted such an idea.
She is away from the exit, hidden in the dark and a tiny hint of worry enter's her mind. Despite having freed herself it seem that Tripp may have simply allowed her such freedom, and that...by saying so, he could deny it just as quickly if he so desired. But Bo was still brave enough to put on a smile and tilt her head gently a shake of her head as she fought past Tripp's demands.
"Tell me more about whats going on and maybe I will side with you Tripp." She said putting her hands upon her hips once more, bottle still held by its neck. "Or maybe I'll just leave you and Laura to fight it out amongst you love birds."
Bo
[Manip+Subt]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (2, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Bo
[one more dice]
Dice: 1 d10 TN8 (1) ( fail )
Lux
The curtain is the tattle-tale. The way its folders shiver: as if carressed by a draft. But the draft is a forever-young woman and Tripp, who was the first to notice Bo earlier, notices how the curtain moves, as if someone else is back there -- he sees Lux. Knows that she's there; just around that curtain's rill. Caught-out.
But he doesn't make a big deal out of it
(yet).
Because Bo's using what she's got to try and get the secret (The Secret) out of him again. His lips twitch. "You're welcome to leave us alone to 'fight it out amongst' ourselves, honey. After all, you crashed our party, not the other way around.
"We're all on the same side back here... there is no my side, no Laura's side. But I was of course going to use whichever one of us you'd rather get in good with when I made my appeal," and see, the eyes twinkle again.
Nothing to fear here.
"For instance, if you'd rather help me, that man who was just here has a date and that date has a purse I'd really like to take a look at. If you'd rather help Laura..."
[His Manip/Subt.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Bo
[per+Subt]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Bo
He's convincing theres no doubt about that. Tripp had all the charm and debonair attitude that would have just about anyone falling in with a smile and a nod. The only reason Bo hasn't done so in her entirety is because of those flashes, those brief moment's where she's peaked behind the veil and has witnessed that which Tripp desperately tries to hide. His anger and displeasure, his need to control and manipulate. Bo has seen this before, and knows just how dangerous such men can be.
So when he speaks to her about helping him. She instinctively wishes to help, she almost nods with that smile, that acquiescence that he likely expects from so many. But instead she grips onto one particular thing he had said, one tiny little detail and decided to tug on this last of strings.
"Who could a man like you need an appeal for hmmm?" She inquires, placing one finger against her chin and tapping there curiously. "Do you mean your appeal to aid from me? Or an appeal to someone else?"
"Answer right and maybe..just maybe I might try to help you out."
Lux
[Let's see if Lux sees through him before I post.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 7, 7) ( success x 2 )
Lux
[Tripp: :)]
Lux
"I'm not an arrogant prick," Tripp says, at Bo's question. And then, rather wryly, "But of course I meant an appeal of aid from you. Although -- " and now he looks over Bo's head, directly at Lux, to challenge her out've the dark. There's even a hook-you pause.
" -- if your friend wants to help you, I'm not going to argue."
Lux: "Help Bo steal a woman's purse so you can rifle through it? Not very subtle."
Tripp shrugs, smiling. "It would even the playing field since nobody knows you know me."
The plural 'you.' Tripp is apparently making the best of a bad situation -- nosy women.
Bo
Bo at the very least, is quite surprised when Lux's voice materializes out of the shadow's. Becoming something real and tangible. She actually feels her heart flutter rapidly at that arrival, surprised that Lux could so easily sneak up on her without any forewarning to her presence.
"Geez Lux I thought you were more of a pirate then a ninja." She said with a chuckle as she looked over at the Toreador with a wink. She took in her counter-part's words, weighing them to aid her in her own inner determination of whats going on, and what she might do about it.
In the end she shakes her head at Tripp's request. "Sorry Trippy, but walking off with a ladies purse just so you can rummage through it cause she's on a date with a fella? That's a little weak in the knee's if you get my drift." She says waving her free hand from side to side.
Lux
"Ah, well," he says, easily enough. "Not everybody wants to play once they learn what playing means. You can still catch up with Austin for all your party needs," Tripp drawls, looking genuinely disappointed. Worried, even. Edged with concern. "Please be a lady and tell nobody. Maybe later we'll share a dance, huh?"
[Maniiiip + Emp. With WP.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Lux
[Er, no, that should be less. Lemme re-do.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Bo
[Per+Subt]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Bo
"I might not be able to lift a ladies purse, but I can keep a secret." She offers with a nod. Willingly allowing this man's felonious intentions to be swept under the rug. She had no desire to serve his intention's, not if it meant doing something as base as this pretty guy or not.
"As to a dance...well we'll just have to see how much of a Don Jaun you are." She said with a smile as she started for the exit, her movements circular as she stopped by Lux to draw her along with her.
"Come on Triple B, I owe you a dance, and like a good little debtor I intend to pay in full."
Lux
[Evens, I'm nice. Odds, I'm kind of a dick.]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
Lux
"Don Juan? Played out," Tripp laughs. "But I am a good dancer."
--
And look at Bo. Bo, circling back, snagging Lux, drawing her forward. The gloom-haired creature offers no more than a brief and reflexive token resistance, allows herself to be drawn in Bo's wake like a slither of smoke; Tripp is given the edge of a smile, a glint of vibrant expression.
And Tripp lets them both go without more than his offer.
--
The party. The gala. The operatic benefit for cancer or leukemia or literacy or whatever: end of summer, start of fall.
There's about to be a lull in music for some speeches--some performance art.
See, the music cuts and there's just tinkle of glass and click of heels and loafers and then a different kind of music and speeches. Lux raises an eyebrow at Bo, her inquiry sharp, narrow, and still unvoiced.
Bo
They escape into the Gala, and Bo lets out a gentle sigh as they are once more among the gala's elite and entitled. She sets the bottle down somewhere and takes a brief look around, considering where Laura may have wandered off too. But then she notes Lux's look, her focus upon Bo and she tilts her head.
"Still working on the whole mind reading thing Triple B, you gonna share with the rest of the class? Or do I gotta grill you with twenty questions?" She inquires with a strong smirk, one that was almost identical to Kali's as she leaned over.
"Guy was....a little to shady to start wanting to work for him. So I figure there must be other angles to figure out what's going on. Like Laura."
Lux
"I was just wondering why you backed down from petty theft," Lux says, laughing-eyed. There's a Ravnos joke in there somewhere that Bo might or might not get. "But by all means, let's try and find Laura instead." Her voice is pitched low; conversational; an invitation to come closer, but not that much closer. Social shark, hm?
[Do I see her? Probably not. We'll try anyway.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN9 (1, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )
Bo
[Per+Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Lux
Neither Lux or Bo see any sign of Laura. She's no longer in the ballroom. However, Bo does see the man who'd been with Tripp, now with a couple of women: one who looks around his age all dressed in blue, and one who looks like a graceful forty-something, an air of 'academia' clinging to her like perfume. Bo also spies 'Ramses,' just a flash of his profile, heading toward the exit.
Bo
"Oh its not the job Lady Lux." She offers with that smirk. "It was the client. Smooth as he was....there was just something..off about him. Like an oh so smooth villain in an old Noir film." She shrugged gently as she spotted the two women standing with the man who had been with Tripp and she grinned impishly.
"Doesn't mean we can't do the job ourselves now does it?" She suggests, gesturing to the two women who stood with the man. "One for each of us right? We find what he was lookign for and maybe...just maybe we get a real clue as to whats what."
Lux
Lux appears to be considering the stage in 'front' of the dance floor. But she is watching the rest of the gala (party-goers, dancers) out of the corner of her eye. The movement of people. If there's one thing vampires are good at, it's people-watching. Bo is there, too, in her sidelong glance, a green-eyed pretty-girl in a black-swan dress, eager for trouble and thrumming with it. Lux's fingers lace gently together; she doesn't have a drink in hand, but shouldn't she?
The laughter fades; dims, because it's dark. It's always dark.
"Oh no, you can have my portion. I will not be playing thief tonight. But if you go through with it, I'll bet you a dollar and a drink that whatever he wanted in her purse is a flashdrive. Second guess, phone."
"What do we know? A failed couple brought together, a desire for anonymity, a certain knowledge of who's selling tonight. Someone must be blackmailing someone."
Bo
Bo was confident, at least she was to a certain level of her own abilities. She was certain she had the makings of a great super spy or sleuth in her. But a great thief? That was another thing entirely. Lux says she won't be taking part in any heists or hold ups and that has the ghoul second guessing herself, she might have gotten away with robbing one of the women. But both? That would be a bit of a miracle.
She considers it all for a long moment before shaking her head and letting out a sigh, letting something go in her mind as she turned and slipped a hand into Lux's with a mischievous grin.
"Come on, lets dance that dance. We can make up our own music in time to the boring ass speeches as we go along." She says as she starts to draw Lux towards the dance floor. "I'll think about all this tomorrow, when I'm a little less drunk, and a little more Cunning, like a fox."
Lux
[Hmm. Speech!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Lux
The sigh: it's the hallmark of lovers, of longing; "Listen at you, as if you're writing a love letter to what could-have-been and a priest gave you a vial of sleep," Lux says, with a smirk that's as sharp as a thorn.
And so it'll go. Bo and Lux on the dancefloor. Lux will find herself listening to it with one ear, the turn of phrase and the eloquence dredged up: nothing to set fire to a world.
From the ceiling, look: ribbon-dancers, acrobats. They get her attention more directly, and she says-
But it doesn't matter. Music starts; everybody's dancing. Or talking. Or plotting. Or scheming. Or tired, or resisting being tired. Not everybody is a night owl. Some people are actually touched by wine or champagne or whatever it is they're drinking, dragged toward Hypnos.
At one point Tripp appears to claim a dance with both of the girls, one at a time.
He'll wink at Bo and ask for her phone. If she gives it, he'll put his number into the phone. If she doesn't, he'll ask her for her number and call it.
And not long after, Lux will be ready to leave, make sure Kali's little ghoul gets home safe-as-houses.
And outside the venue, they'll hear a rumor about man-eating rats they can't quite trace, though Bo will think she sees Miss Laura in Yellow getting into a cab.
Then gone.
Finis.
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