→ sweet dreams are made of this.

[thedominatrix]

Who: Irene Adler and YOU YES YOU
What: Uh- work, shopping, drinking, seeing the sights, picking up chicks, going to dinner, anything you like.
Where: The Vault, various boutiques, restaurants, gay clubs, out on the street, anywhere at all. If you can think of somewhere to be, Irene is quite possibly there.
When: Here all week, baby.
Notes: Just pick where you're setting it and say when/where they are in the header. It needn't be somewhere mentioned here! If you think they could run into each other elsewhere, then go ahead- and if you think it ought to be an arranged meeting rather than a chance one, then that's probably fine too.
Warnings: Sex, drinking, kink, the Vault...and Irene.

Irene's life has changed since coming to Baedal.

Technically, superficially, her life has improved, which she doubts happens to many people once are magically transported against their will to a place where you oughtn't to look too closely at, say, shadows, because there's almost always something that's going to lurk there- but since when was back home safe, exactly?

Here, at least, she can work properly. She likes the Vault, even if she's used to being her own boss. It's enormous and extravagant, dirty and debauched and full of people she likes, whether they're her coworkers or her clients- it feels like a home away from home.

Her job, of course, doesn't stop and start with brandishing a whip. No, she'd get bored too easily that way. It's fun, but it's only what happens on the surface. What she does is single out people who interest her, who can give her something- whether that's money or influence or just fun. She knows how to spot public figures afraid of being noticed, tugging at their suits and sweating- she knows which people don't want her and which want her so much they have to pretend that she's the last thing on their minds. She knows whose CiD she wants to look through while they're distracted (panting, eyes closed, unconscious, sobbing, drugged, drunk- whatever, as long as they trust her and she trusts herself). She enjoys her time at the Vault, and watches a number of acts between working, but never forgets that she's there to do her job.

When she's free in the evenings she can go out, a strange feeling for someone who is so used to being on the run. There is, of course, Mycroft Holmes to contend with, but she really can't imagine him sampling the nightlife. She's careful not to become a regular anywhere just in case, though more often than not she's found in gay clubs. She doesn't often go home alone; in the mornings, she's polite and kind but ensures that the women in her bed aren't in her bed for too long, and doesn't make use of any CiD numbers they might leave.

And then there's money, fashion, food, exploration, a whole new world. Irene loves to travel, and it's not really travelling when you're running. Baedal changes daily and she's barely seen half of the city, or that's what it feels like. She dines out often, alone or with some of the connections (friends?) she's made, and she thanks her stars that her job pays well, because she has a whole new wardrobe to build up.

Irene Adler, therefore, is living again. And if she sometimes finds herself alone, with no distractions, and feels claustrophobic, knowing that she is in the middle of the city and there is no world outside of it, knowing that she can't hop on a plane with a faked passport and be someone else somewhere else, knowing that she is trapped-

-then that is a very minor detail.

Comments

[rhinemaid]

The investment in one's own being right is something Ilde is familiar with - she doesn't carry it as confidently or as expertly, yet, but it's so good to have goals and there are worse ones than striving to stay a step ahead. It requires a lot of examination of the world, a willingness to be always asking questions in one way or another (if not the traditional one--), and the ability to find almost anyone fascinating for at least a little while makes it very hard to get bored.

Prejudice and expectation trip her up more than she'd like (because it feels like a vulnerability, a tell where she doesn't want there to be one, this is what hurt me and now you can see where I'm damaged), but then there's a lot of growing she has still to do, emotionally even if she's never going to be taller than 5'3" in barefeet.

"People are always getting angry about something," she says, reflectively, sliding her thumb along the handle of her knife like she's thinking about something-- else that can be done in response to irritating people, or maybe just to keep her hands busy while she isn't smoking. Hard to say. "You'd think they'd at least have the decency to be more entertaining about it more often."

[thedominatrix]

Irene laughs, a low, appreciative chuckle. "You'd think, but people in general are just so selfish."

She says it jokingly, but honestly the core philosophy rings true with her. The world, to her, is kill or be killed, and she isn't anyone's prey. It's as simple as that. The only way to fight back against it is to be really good at being selfish.