Ocean's Two

Mercury loved parties, particularly the kind where she was almost guaranteed to get into trouble. She had never been to a secret black market auction -- or at least, not one on Earthland. A few things differed in comparison to other alien versions of such gatherings that she’d been to before, but overall it seemed mostly the same. Just about everyone was dressed up in their finest in an attempt to show off their wealth and puff themselves up to look more important than most of them probably were. Security was tight, but not so much that she had any trouble getting inside. It had been quite easy to get her hands on a pair of tickets, though in truth she really only needed one. While it would have been delightful to bring Vandrad along on such a venture, her surly companion had some princely duties to attend to, meaning he was once again leaving her unsupervised. Always a poor choice. Naturally, she thought to bring Monica instead. Monica would have absolutely eaten up this atmosphere, and would have been invaluable in completing her objective, but alas the Lusty Titan member had a prior obligation as well.

So it seemed that she was on her own for this one. Just as well, really. It was much easier to steal when the only one she had to worry about was herself. She was dressed to blend into the crowd in the classy but sensual little black dress that she had once worn on her date with Vandrad’s father, Gren. It was a tight fitting number, sleeveless, with sheer black tulle barely covering the depth of her chest. A simple gold band was wrapped around her bicep, and there were long gold colored earrings dangling from her earlobes. On the middle finger of her left hand was a simple gold ring with a single emerald that appeared humble on the surface, but was actually worth quite a bit of money to the keen eye. Her lavender hair had been grown out for the occasion, the light violet locks left loose and free around her shoulders with a bit of curl and product to gussy herself up.

Mercury walked about the banquet room, mostly minding everyone’s business except her own. She was a gossip even at the best of times and one never knew when tidbits of information would come in handy, so she made a show of walking about the room and inspecting all the items that would later be for sale, while in reality she was eavesdropping on most of the others in the room. The hall itself was quite splendorous, the walls covered in richly painted murals framed by red paint. There was a bar on one side of the room with servers dressed in expensive livery serving all manner of alcohol in glasses of pure crystal. The tables were set about the room in a wide semi circle, adorned with cream colored tablecloths and red cushioned seats. There was a custom wood floor with golden inlays that likely served as a dancing space for other festivities, though there was no one dancing at this particular event. The floor led to a raised dais where a grand piano was the focal point of the space beneath a large golden chandelier with a gold iron backdrop. The piano was currently being used by a musician that had been hired to perform for the event before and after the auction, the instrument’s melodious keys ringing quite beautifully through the acoustics of the high ceiling.

A waiter stopped beside her with a trap of champagne, offering her a glass. Mercury took it with a smile. “Thank you. My, they certainly know how to entertain around here, don’t they?”