A Party to Remember

[Regulus Grey]

Rolling up his shirtsleeves partway to expose well muscled forearms, Regulus approaches Valentina and Marie. A shy smile on his face as he inclines his head deeply to the pair of them.

"My humblest apologies if I am interrupting Ladies, I was hoping to beg a moment of your time to inform me who the gentleman over there is?"

He nods slightly towards where Verity stands.

[CFlaubert]

Constance nods to Christine and Maestra, and stands up from her place near the door. "You are right Ms Daye, I should thank Valmont for hosting this party, and Elder LeRoux, she nods politely, for her insistence that I come, along with Lady Leverson when she arrives."

She steps away from the two of them towards Valmont, and approaches him quickly. "I am bid to thank you for hosting this...event." she says awkwardly. "So...Thank You."

Finding herself somewhat an island in the middle of the lower floor, as Kindred arrive, and the party begins to ratchet up, she decides that moving around could be enlightening, in terms of what these things actually entail, and possibly safer, in that whilst stationary, she is easy prey for the social predators present.

Looking anything other than relaxed, she begins to ascend to the second floor, moving around, she nods to Valentina and Madame Darrieux on their couch, noting that their attire suits the couch far better than her own. This last point, reminds her that own attire is ill suited to the current setting. One point to note for future party invitations. Should they find their way to her, after the debacle that's likely to occur from this evening.

Finally she arrives on the third floor, and begins to make a circuit of its events and goings on. Over the course of perhaps a few minutes, her eyebrow arches further than she thought possible, and then, with a exclamation of surprise, she says

"Oh! This is what Sugar intended!" she rolls her eyes back in self deprecation at her own slowness. If this was what one did with friends, then she absolutely needed to find a friend here. That was when her eyes fell on Caru.

Wait Caru?!?

After the double-take she stood in the doorway of the room occupied by Caru and Matthias, with a frown on her face which said "deduction in progress".

[Bitterglass]

All in all, Durham had made good time. Climbing down from the carriage he issued orders for the driver to unpack the chest containing a half dozen bottles of Domaine du Forges 1836 Cognac, a gift for his host. It reminded Durham of his mortal days, where he wouldn't travel anywhere without, at the very least, a chest of Cognac and a chest full of armaments. It brought a sad smile to his lips.

He enters The Quintessence, gesturing to one of the ghouls greeting arrivals to take his cloak. The lovely high collared cream shirt and burgundy close fitting coat he has changed into now on display, he swiftly climbs to the second floor and starts looking for the gatherings host, Valmont.

Offering a charming smile to the various Toreador and Ventrue he finds gathered on the settees near the top of the stairs. "Good Evening, have any of you seen Mr. Valmont?"

[Lady Leverson]

Lady Leverson leans back against the upholstery, thinking to herself as the carriage bumps along its way.

As the coach draws to a stop she gathers herself and a few items that she has collected from her haven between leaving Elysium and travelling on to the party. In her hand she has a deep red velvet drawstring bag. On the floor of the carriage a beautifully carved wooden case, silver latches and handle, too big for a lady to carry alone.

She steps out of the carriage and takes a moment to view the establishment, and over her shoulder she tells the driver, 'someone will be out in a moment, for the box'.

And with that she enters the ground floor, a quick glance around and a short instruction sees a couple of capable staff out to the carriage to fetch her case, 'take it upstairs set it on a side table, near a larger table if you can'.

She strolls through the gallery pausing here and there genuinely taken with the art, but it isn't long before she makes her way upstairs.

As she enters the second floor she doesnt pause but walks straight over to Valentina and Marie, she all but slumps on a near by settee, lounging over the arm in their direction and with a conspiratorial smile she says 'dear ladies, tell me anything that I have missed, and more to the point everything I have to look forward to'

[Christine Daye]

Blinking slightly in surprise at Constance's abrupt departure, Christine hums a quiet musical phrase.

Then, having noticed that most of the Kindred attendees are making their way up to the second floor, Christine confers with Erika, and the two ladies make their way upstairs.

Christine bobs curtseys to the other ladies already present, but, seeing that they are all are already occupied in conversation, and all are her elders, she doesn't approach anyone without invitation.

Instead she finds another sofa, her green dress and red hair vivid against the fabric. Her gaze goes distant, like she is listening to far away music, her fingers occasionally twitching in time with an unheard beat.

((if anyone approaches, she will refocus and smile at them, wide eyed and fae))

[Caru]

"Yes," Caru managed between noises. "Got them for the night."

Tangled in a mess of limbs and sheets, she can feel the stripe of warm, golden gaslight from the door. Caru would be lying if she hadn't intended things to go this way, but after weeks of fruitless travel (which only got worse the muggier it became), she finds she can't be too upset about it even when Constance halts at the door.

But Caru does pause, tension lancing through her spine as the Gangrel's muscles bunch up.

"Ah--- Hi there."

There's only one thing to do when you're correctly found doing something a friend doesn't expect you to be doing. (Although, thinks Caru distantly, this should not have been beyond the realms of possibility.) There's really only one effective tonic: unreasonable denial or calm acceptance. Caru has never thought that denial builds friendships.

Whatever bindings of raw shock had kept Constance there, frozen, staring at Caru, would inevitably begin to twang and burst. Their last conversation flickers like a spirit between them, a white bird caught under the rafters.

She leans forward and presses an open-mouthed kiss to the girl's shoulder, before gently pulling herself out and with minimal ugliness unbuckles the harness, dropping it to the bed to be kicked off by Matthias' breathless companion.

Without waiting for her friend's mind to reach a distressed conclusion, she meets Constance at the door and, taking her cool hand, attempts to lead the dazed Malkavian out.

"Here, let's find a separate place to talk."

Caru wonders whether she should do something about her clothing, which is still folded in the room with Matthias, but eventually decides that it would only mean taking them off again in an hour.

She locates for them a corner settee which snakes around the gallery's wall. They were quite obvious to anyone entering onto this level, but Caru also supposed that anyone coming up to this floor wouldn't mind a naked woman. The Toreador probably had some Ignore-Clothes Auspex Technique that meant they saw everyone naked all the time.

[CFlaubert]

((CONTENT WARNING: IMAGES OF ABUSE))

Constance dropped down onto the corner settee Caru had chosen. Suddenly feeling enormously over dressed.
Assuming from all she has seen, that this is the behaviour set required at this party, she begins casually undressing.

"Ah Caru. At last a friend"

She fully intended to conduct a conversation with Caru, but something else was pressing and distracting at the back of her mind, and before she knew it she was completely naked. Damn Caru.

Those encountering the naked couple at the top of the steps to the third floor, would see a picture indeed. Caru's naked form was pale and white, but unblemished. Constance on the other hand, appeared pale, naturally, but otherwise her body was covered in all manner of scars and burns, with hardly a part of it remaining untouched, except her face.

Constance's mind considered the chemical reaction currently taking place in her mind and body. She recalled the garden, when she had successfully subjugated that reaction, and did not pursue the course of action she desired. She then recalled the subsequent distraction that this action had caused to her mental focus. That last choice on her part had been an abject failure. A different course of action was needed this time.

Without further word, she leaned forward and kissed Caru deeply on the mouth. Moving her hand up to the back of her head to draw her in close. Taking the moan that escaped Caru's lips as encouragement, she pushed her back down onto the settee to continue her activity. Reflecting that this kind of party might not be so bad after all.

[Caru]

"Wait-" Caru abortively drops her hand. "You don't need to undress if you don't want to."

A frown plays its way across her expression. "It's not required. Half the people here are probably just around for a show, you know, to watch. Please don't feel you need to stand on any kind of ceremony. It's all down to personal-"

Abruptly, Caru swallows. Constance is closer than she was a moment ago. And those are her fingertips Caru feels ghosting across her jaw. That's her hand in her hair. And that's Constance's breath on her mouth.

There is an expanding pressure in Caru's chest that is hot and roiling and addictive.

Constance tastes like mint and rain and the distant bite of whiskey, and her lips are pleasantly warm, firm as they press into Caru's. There's the echo of something masculine, but she can't place it. Her hands slide up Constance's spine and her own arms move around the nurse's neck and hip and at that moment there is absolutely nothing else that exists in the universe except Constance, pressed into her, kissing her like this and why didn't they do this before -

She laughs a little breathlessly, returns the kiss with equal heat and tilts her head back, baring the long white line of her throat. Caru's spine arches, and she makes a second sound of stuttered laughter, low in the back of her throat, her own hands knotting into the Malkavian's hair.

[Mr Ebenezer Sisyphus]

No carriage announces Mr Sisyphus' arrival as it would at Elysium, nor is he seen by the kine, ghouls nor kindred on the Ground floor as he passes . He takes stock as he does of those there, tallies the number of ghouls and walking blood bags as he passes. He observes as Miss Saunders, or Mrs Jackdaw (or whatever she's Bally well calling herself these days) bumbles timidly about the exhibition, before taking to the stair.

Moments later as he see's what he recognises to be Lady Leverson's carriage pull up he turns on his heel takes to the stair.

Arriving at the entrance to the second floor unseen, he sees Miss Flaubert (or Ms Caswell or whatever she's Bally well calling herself these days) clumsily break of a conversation with Miss Daye and blunder her way through a 'thank you' with Valmont.

He spies, not far away, Miss Audley and Miss Darrieux sit fans aflutter, his preternatural hearing singling out their words.

"Ah yes, Mr Valmont's love life...of course" He thinks " and what's that sound upstairs? Oh, so they are at it already".

Seeing Mr Verity, he decides to slip out of obfuscation before he is noticed, giving Mr Verity a friendly nod, he joins Mr. Valmont in Miss Caswells wake. An arm he swings easily around the artist's shoulder as he thanks him. Some playfully teasing words are exchanged between the familial pair about the host's "narrow escape from the Ball and chain". He gives Mr Valmont a small wrapped gift "for his un-wedding shower" and pats him on the back, and allows him to continue welcoming new arrivals.

The off duty Keeper, dressed in the same attire as at the Elysium, stands ready to catch Mr Verity in conversation, as he simultaneously notices he is inadvertently also standing very near Miss Daye as she sits looking around, all to much like a starry eyed child. "I wonder if there's any way to avoid this awkward conversation" he wonders.

[Matthias]

One of the ghouls looks out of the door to the room and then turns back heading back inside. A short while later the figure reappears, hair untied and hanging past their shoulder, feet bare but wearing trousers at least . Thier loose fitting, cream shirt however is untucked and there are fresh spots of crimson and smear along on one cuff. Behind him follows the same ghoul that had poked her head out only when she appears she is wearing Caru's trousers and green shirt. They move past the couple on the settee, the figure rolling their eyes at the sight and says "Yours will still be there when you're done talking darling." and carries on downstairs.

The figure leads them to one of the comfortable settee's away from the already taken ones and lounges upon it. The ghoul accompanying him joining him upon it as he watches the room with the faint smile once the pair of them are comfortable, occasionally whispering something into his partner for the evenings ear.