005; CLOSED. and darling, i saw it all.

[norea]

Who: The present anti-CL team.
What: Meeting to discuss.
Where: Lost Society, in the library.
When: Misdi, around midnight.
Notes: plotsss. I'll have three comment sections: one for Rhade showing up early, one for the collective group (we'll have to sort out orders since there are quite a few characters), and one for separate character interactions (one on one or whatever y'all prefer). AND... we will have to copypaste in our tags from LJ, soooo.
Warnings: idk yet.

The spell that Hasibe has worked over Lost Society means that no one is going to remember they were there; service will be a bit spotty, as a result, and the waiters on hand will seem peculiarly disinterested in whomever shows up, only providing them with drinks and necessities when deliberately prodded, but that's an aspect of the magic. She partially chose this location because it's easy to find a secluded area there, and in this case, she finds a table in the library, shrugging off her white coat to rest it on the back of her chair. She is dressed in a sleek, high-collared dark-green dress that is not too flashy, in order to keep with the discretion of the venue.

The other reason she chose this place is that they don't care if you smoke indoors. So that's what she's doing, rose-flavored Black Devil cigarette in hand, sitting back in her chair as she exhales smoke toward the ceiling. She has a couple books open on the table in front of her, and nothing in the way of food, but she does have a drink. Priorities.

Comments

[rhinemaid]

"Virgin Bellini, maybe." No alcohol this evening, that seems like a bad idea on multiple fronts. Being here still doesn't quite feel like the best idea she's ever had, but she has to rejoin the rest of the world sooner or later and this isn't exactly something she can ignore-- besides, her efforts with Quirin haven't been entirely fruitless.

"I wonder who Erik's bringing," she says, after a moment, retreating to the sofa.

[deservesadaisy]

"I'll go corral someone to get drinks," he says, preferring not to speculate, as he hasn't even met Erik. To Hasi, he adds, "May I get you anything, while I do?"

[norea]

"No, thank you, I'm set." She indicates her drink with a loose gesture using her free hand. Said drink happens to be a Ritz Sidecar, of all things. On the topic, she says, amiably: "Phylloxera-free vineyards are pleasantly prevalent here, so if you like cognac at all, they've a pretty remarkable selection."

...signs you know too much about alcohol: you can date types of cognac as being pre-1860s by taste and you're not, actually, an immortal vampire.

[deservesadaisy]

Ivan's smile grows a little. "That's very good to know. Perhaps I'll take advantage at that." He generally had quite a modern air - at least in Baedal, where he was without his car - but cognac was worth investigating if it was good.

He goes to seek out a waiter, leaving them for a moment while drinks are fetched.

[rhinemaid]

The shoes Ilde is wearing are fine to walk in, but a bit disconcerting when she's sitting down, ankles crossed and feet on the floor and there's no heel there to turn the way they rest. Odd. Much more interesting to concentrate on than attempting to transmit 'don't ask' vibes in Hasi's direction, because she's fine, she's just quiet and not drinking.

She finds her cigarettes in her purse and says, eventually, "Jules' wife and their children are here now."

[norea]

Hasi already knows she's not fine, a fact she conveys with a tilt of her head and a small, knowing arch of her eyebrows. Someday, she supposes, people may learn not to try to hide things from her (the hypocrisy of her, with all her lies about her own life and happiness), but she imagines given the nature of people, it's a long way off.

"I didn't know she had a wife," Hasi muses, "or children. What's she like? The wife."

[rhinemaid]

"French." Which isn't a personality trait. "Probably different when she isn't just out of the arrival room. Someone had put a collar on her." Not the most clear explanation in the world, no, but she veers towards the disjointed sometimes and her focus is split, now, tapping an unlit cigarette against her thigh as she talks.

"The little ones-- twins. A boy and a girl."

[norea]

"I"ll have to meet her." Just decided, like that. She'll make it happen. Hasibe tips her head back, watching Ilde--not so intently it's unnerving, which is deliberate, but she's mindful of body language.

"What have you been doing, since last I saw you?"

[rhinemaid]

"Not much," which is truthful, because she's been hiding for days, ignoring the network and rebuilding her own private distances. She doesn't especially want to admit to having tried something Hasi mentioned and the truly spectacular way it backfired on her; she doesn't want to discuss it in general, but in some ways worse than pity is understanding.

She'd rather be like deep water; there are few things that frighten her more than someone seeing to the bottom.

"Took a break," she says, and it's sort of what happened. "But I'm done, I think."

[norea]

It is natural, Hasibe thinks, for people to be afraid of being truly seen; she doesn't have it quite the same way, but she understands that impulse and where it comes from in others. Hardly anyone takes it as far as Ilde does, though.

"Ivan seems to be keeping an eye on you." More than usual. Lost Society isn't Gutters; the protection isn't needed.

[rhinemaid]

"He keeps feeding me. It's odd." The domesticity, mainly, it still not really being something she associates with him in spite of just how much time she spends at his flat; it has all the personal meaning of a hotel room and doesn't inspire thoughts of someone who'd feel the need to make sure she eats something.

[norea]

"Men fuss. Most of them like to pretend they don't." The question is, why is he fussing. Hasibe reaches down to discreetly adjust the sit of one snakeskin high heel, the mannerism (once again, deliberately) casual. She stays pretty neutral, even nonchalant.

[rhinemaid]

"They also tend to think they don't gossip." Ilde has found this to be not the case, and is making a game attempt to use it as a clever segue away from fussing and the reasons why. It doesn't really matter, surely.

[norea]

"Ivan strikes me as capable of knowing when to keep his cards close to his chest." Which is (partly, the other half being that it's not the correct way to go about this sort of thing unless this behavior becomes genuinely damaging to Ilde) why she's not asking him what's wrong first.

"If I ask you if you're all right, you'll tell me you're fine."

[rhinemaid]

It's what she's been telling Ivan; he's just been ignoring it, having deemed it so absurd as to not be worth arguing with. (He's not wrong.)

"I am fine," she says, reflexively.

[norea]

"You're not, and it's never more apparent than when you insist you are. If you can't talk about it," not 'don't want to,' notably, "that's fine, but don't lie, not to me."

Especially since, while she doesn't know what went awry, she is inclined to feel some vague sense of responsibility where Ilde is concerned. They each make their own decisions, often times bad ones, but Hasi feels like she owes it to Ilde's father to at least keep an eye out.

Unfortunately, there was also a subtle tip for 'how to fake being okay' in there, so perhaps Hasibe's not the best person for that.

[rhinemaid]

That tip is the first thing she registers and what she will remember later; it's been true as long as they've known each other that the things they have in common are nothing good. It's not the only part that she processes, though, and her gaze drops awkwardly after a few beats of stillness, like a child chastized. Ilde is still so young, sometimes.

"Okay," she says, at length. "I'm trying to be fine."