Doing the Rounds [Diana]

In the capital city of Crocus, a high end club had recently opened catering to those that enjoyed the finer things in life and did not mind paying for them. In fact, it had cost quite a bit of money to get invited in the first place, but that mattered little to the tall, raven haired woman that strode through the front entrance. Many turned to watch her, which was not unexpected given she was the tallest woman in the room by a fair margin. Her presence demanded attention, something the woman known as Dahlia relished in. A small, self satisfied smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she noticed the stares.

Her ego was only part of the reason for this, for she was actually here for a mission. She, or rather her true identity of Kaz Valent, had been ordered to ingratiate herself with the movers and shakers of the Luminous Covenant. For that, she first needed to be noticed, and what better place to start than the most popular new club in Fiore’s capital? It was a bold move perhaps, though there was little chance of her cover being blown. Her magic let her mold her flesh and transform her body down to a cellular level, so for the moment Kaz no longer existed. Only Dahlia.

Stepping through the club main room, she took a drink off a nearby server’s tray and began to mingle with the crowd. Flirting with the guests came to her naturally, the trick was to control how much. A gentle touch on the shoulder to one man, a sly wink to a woman, a few sweet nothings to anyone that looked important. Enough to earn the attention of those she was after, while not so much as to make them think they had a chance. It was too soon for that.

Once she made the rounds, she settled into an empty seat and continued to sip at the drink in her hand. Alcohol had little effect on her if she used her magic to clear it, but she also did not want to come across as a lush. That would only get her dismissed as another useless socialite. Her grand introduction to high society was complete with her little trip around the room, now she would spend some time watching the crowd. If anyone caught her attention, then she would make her move.

403 words
403 total

-The nightclub-

Dressed in a slightly fancier variation of her usual outfit, Diana wore a purple long-sleeved turtleneck t-shirt, black knee-length skirt, and black dress shoes to a rare social outing. To experience something different from Boomslang she had decided to take a chance on patronizing a newly opened nightclub and learned that she had to pay a princely sum to get in. She had plenty of money on hand and could easily afford what the invitation cost, but before she dared to set foot in the place she improved her wardrobe just for the occasion. After making a visit to Capital Crocus Mall and finding a high-end clothing store within its walls Diana now had something a little classier to wear when the occasion demanded it. Waiting outside the club and seeing what some of the other female guests were wearing made the blonde briefly wonder whether or not she was going to look classy enough to be permitted entry.

After presenting her invitation Diana was allowed into the establishment and she calmly walked in, examining her surroundings to get an idea of what exactly she had paid to experience. The decor, the furnishings, the staff, even the guests... everything about this place exuded class. The blonde mage carefully made her way through the crowd and happened to encounter a male waiter with short black hair, brown eyes, white long-sleeved shirt under a buttoned black vest, and black dress pants carrying a silver tray of glasses containing what turned out to be ice water. Diana requested one and received it, then casually began making a lap around the club while taking an occasional sip of her beverage.

It did not take long for the blonde to determine that there were a lot of wealthy people in attendance, but that was not the only factor that united them. Considering how they presented themselves and some of the important-sounding names they exchanged amongst themselves they also appeared to be individuals with considerable influence and extensive social networks, assets the blonde mage lacked because of her tendency to keep to herself. She was as inept at social networking as she was adept with magic, but that was the price Diana paid to keep her independence, an asset that was priceless to her. Taking another sip of her drink, she briefly looked at a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and icy blue eyes wearing a "little black dress" and black high heels who looked vaguely familiar, then looked away and resumed her leisurely stroll.

[Post Word Count: 422]
[Diana's Word Count: 422]

Truthfully Kaz had no interest in clubs, other than as a potential hunting ground. Dahlia, on the other hand, loved them. So she took her time to enjoy the crowd and atmosphere. Unfortunately, she could not allow herself to become too involved this night as it was only her first foray into the Fiorian high society. They now knew she existed, and that she carried herself with the same poise as they did. Forcing her way into their cliques at this point would only earn her scorn.

This left her dreadfully bored as she sipped at her drink. It was still too early to excuse herself for the night, but her inability to further socialice was proving unpleasant. That is, until she saw a new woman enter the club. Studying the woman out of the corner of her eye, Dahlia determined that she was not unsophisticated, but was also not a regular amongst the upper crust. Wealthy, but at a guess nuevo rich rather than old money. Perhaps some aristocratic upbringing, but without a noble title. She screamed self made. Exactly the kind of person Dahlia could have some fun with, without putting her mission in jeopardy.

Finally finding a way to stave off her boredom, she stood gracefully from the sofa and made her way up to the other woman in a few long strides. As she was over half a foot taller, Dahlia stopped a little bit shorter than what would be considered friendly. It would be rude to make her new friend strain her neck looking up. The smile she wore was that of an old friend coming across someone they had not seen in years, despite this being their first meeting.

“Well hello there, darling,” she said with her slight drawl. Her accent was faint, but would place her home country as Minstrel. An unusual accent to hear these days, with the war splitting the continent in two. “Is this not a wonderful club they have opened up? There was nothing like this back home, just one more reason I am glad to have come to this wonderful country. The people here are quite… lovely.”

The last word she drew out, it could be talking about the people of Fiore, or it could be taken as flirtatious. Dahlia had left it vague on purpose, to get a measure of the object of her interest. She then paused for just a moment to give the shorter woman a chance to process her arrival before she continued, looking as if she had realized she forgot to mention something. “Oh, I am Dahlia. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss…?”

442 words
1267 total

The more Diana walked around the more she felt slightly out of place. She had moved among high society back home in Bellum, but that was years ago and she was way out of practice. She could tell that older members of the upper crust who had gathered here looked down on her because she was not from the "right" family, did not have the "right" friends, or did not wear a lavish dress that cost as much as the club they were all in. Some members of the elite looked at Diana with expressions of barely concealed amusement at best... it was clear that those individuals saw her as little better than a pretender hoping to get a boost in status by being seen associating with just the right person. Others showed unconcealed scorn for someone they considered an intruder to "their" exclusive club where only the best belonged.

However, it was not all bad news for the blonde because the younger members of society's elite showed as much attraction to her as the older ones had shown scorn. Both young men and young women seemed drawn to Diana and a few of them uttered compliments on her appearance despite the fact she was not sporting fancy and expensive apparel. One young woman about her height with icy blue eyes, waist-length blonde hair, and a "little black dress" with black stiletto heels even approached the mage and whispered into her ear that they should meet outside the club once they had tired of the activities at the gathering. It sounded like she might be after a romantic rendezvous for the evening, a kind of meeting that Diana was not interested in.

Diana had obviously attracted someone else because a tall, dark-haired woman had walked over to her with visible confidence and stopped a respectful distance away, then addressed her. The blonde took note of both the stranger's polite greeting and question concerning the club and remained calm. Her poker face was as strong as ever when she addressed "Dahlia."

"This club exudes class and that class gives it an appeal to it that is hard to match." Diana replied to the question about their surroundings. She was telling the truth about her assessment of the place. It was a lot more upscale than Boomslang and she liked that... it was upscale and classy without being ostentatious, a look that was hard to pull off.

"I am Diana." Diana calmly introduced herself to Dahlia.

[Post Word Count: 414]
[Diana's Word Count: 836]

“Well darling, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Dahlia’s presence had not drawn any significant response from the other woman, which made it difficult to judge her emotions. Of course that just made it more interesting for Dahlia. She could easily capture the hearts of many of the people in the room, but where was the fun in that? That made this stoic young woman far more tantalizing to the undercover mage.

However, they both drew their own kinds of attention and the two together had caught many sets of eyes. As little as Dahlia cared about other people seeing her at work, she knew this kind of attention could make other people uncomfortable. Or at the very least, less likely to warm up to her. A change of location was in order, one the club owners had thankfully accounted for.

“Come, there are some seating areas where we can have a bit more… privacy,” she said slyly, a grin tugging at one corner of her mouth. “And I will not take no for an answer.”

With long strides she made her way across the club room floor to the walls where various alcoves had been set up. Each had a semicircular seat around a low table for drinks. Behind and to the sides of the seats were large decorations that spoke to the opulence of the night club. The alcove that Dahlia picked was on the smaller side, clearly made for couples. There were plenty of larger spaces available, but she decided that this would prevent unwelcome company from trying to muscle their way into the booth to hit on the women.

Sitting down, despite her thin frame the woman seemed to take up much of the chair leaving only enough for Diana to sit comfortably. One of the most interesting features of these alcoves is the moment someone sat down with them, the noise of the rest of the club seemed to die away. This worked in reverse as well, preventing all but the most determined eavesdroppers from clearly earring the conversations of the occupants. It was a club intended for the rich and powerful, the kind of people that did not want their conversations to be overheard. Clearly the club owners knew their customers well.

“Now that we can speak freely,” Dahlia said, “do tell me about yourself. You are not Fiorean either, am I correct in assuming?”

405 words
2086 total