"Hm?" Lily looked up from the half eaten strawberry in her hand, head tilted in confusion. "What are you-" She caught off as she followed Cinthia's gaze, her own landing on Rhydar for a moment before she looked back at his sister. "He's not necessarily even looking at me." She tried to reason, shaking her head.
Cinthia gave Lily a flat look. "And give me a good reason why he'd be looking over here at the convenient time when we're standing here—mainly when you are here, smiling like that." She arched a brow, waiting to hear Lily's counter-argument.
"I-" Lily's blush had returned as she struggled to come up with some sort of counter, obviously coming short. "Maybe he was looking at the food?" She offered weakly, lifting a shoulder as though she wasn't even sure she believed herself. Cinthia seemed convinced, but it just…didn't make any sense to her.
"Mmmmhmm." Cinthia didn't look convinced. She grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing servant and nodded to him in thanks. "Well, I'm going to go and find that spy of mine. Maybe you should chat with your thief?" She left before Lily could argue, waving in farewell.
Rhydar saw Cinthia leaving Lily alone, and he silently cursed his sister. He knew what the little mastermind was planning. They both saw how ill at ease Lily seemed in this crowded room, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Cin was expecting him to swoop in and give the girl some company. He wasn't overly opposed to the idea, but he also didn't like how the mind of his little sister worked. Sneaky sneaky. No wonder the spy's so infatuated with her.
Lily blinked, opening her mouth to say something, but Cinthia was already gone. My thief? She shook her head, closing her mouth again as she flickered a glance to the snack bar, and then out at the dance floor. She bit her lip, taking a deep breath to try and quell the anxiety building up once more, and considered taking Cinthia up on that, just to keep from being left alone.
Rhydar excused himself from the girl currently pawing at him, slipping through the crowd and performing his disappearing act to keep her off his tail. Satisfied he was free, he came up behind Lily with two glasses of champagne. "You look a little lonely," he said by greeting, keeping his distance just in case she whipped around to try and throat punch him or something.
Lily jumped slightly, spinning around quickly as she opened her mouth, a response on the tip of her tongue, only to pause as she noticed it was just Rhydar. She blinked a couple times, reaching up to fiddle with her hair as she tried to calm her racing heart. "I-something like that. Not a big fan of…crowds." She admitted quietly, looking around the room once more.
He nodded and held out one of the glasses towards her. "You want one? They usually calm my nerves some." He could handle crowds, as they gave him a way to easily slip away unseen, but he much preferred the outdoors and wide open areas. Solitude was his best friend, but sometimes not the best friend to have in certain situations. This one, for example, was one of those certain situations.
She hesitantly accepted the glass, studying the contents for a moment before taking a small and wary sip. "Thank you. I guess you're somewhat used to this?" She quirked an eyebrow slightly up at him, taking another sip now that she was fairly certain it was just champagne. A habit, one she wished she didn't have to have, but came in handy once or twice anyway.
"Used to it? Yes. Like it? No," he admitted, taking a sip of his own drink as well. "I'd much rather be outside with Kaspa, with no one else around to bug me about my poor life decisions and how I'll never amount to anything besides a common bandit," he said cheerily with an obviously sarcastic smile.
Her eyebrows drew together as she tilted her head, looking almost offended on his behalf. "Do people really say things like that?" She asked, frowning slightly as her gaze settled on him. "While the thievery might not be the most moral thing-" It was almost laughable, considering the reason she was here. "-it can still be a useful skill. I-think it's impressive, too."
He shrugged, his gaze darting around the room. A common habit of his was playing the game of Who Has the Most Expensive Stuff? He'd analyze most of the people around him and add up what the rough estimate was of the value of what they had on. He never stole from the person that had the most—most of the time. This wasn't one of those times. He tilted his head. "Impressive?" he asked, still not looking at her.
"Impressive." She repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. That was a familiar look. She followed his gaze around the room, eyes widening a fraction as it clicked in her mind. "Are you-scouting, whatever it is you'd call that?" She asked quietly, almost looking…amused.
"Maaayyyybe," he said with a half smirk. He already had a few estimates placed. None were as high as he had hoped this party would turn out. Perhaps because it wasn't the grand ball where he was supposed to pick the girl he'd want. Then the ladies would turn up in their most expensive jewels and big ass dresses that weighed as much as an elephant.
((God, you know what I just thought of? How are we supposed to go about this? Does she like actually try to kill him, only to falter mid-attempt and decide she can't do it? Does she decide that after realizing she might be falling in love with him? I'm absolutely gonna have her kill the Man tho))
"Do you ever stop thinking about who would be best to steal from?" She joked lightly, an amused smile flickering into place as she shook her head. It was an interesting trait, that was for sure. And as we all know, she loved things she found interesting.
((Oh shit, yeah. Uhhh…Maybe when she has the opportunity, she goes for it, but ends up having this inner battle with herself. Maybe when he's sleeping? If so, then maybe he wakes up and finds her attempting to kill him, only to wait and see if she actually does it?))
"Nope. It's fun to see what people bring out to impress others." He glanced down at her, a matching smile making its way on his lips. "Sort of pathetic as well, in some cases." He rolled his eyes playfully. "I'm not going to steal from anybody today. It's just something to entertain myself with."
((Hmm…the sleeping thing works, yeah. And I mean obvi she's gotta have a whole inner 'i don't think I can do this' moment.))
"Good." She scrunched up her nose as her smile grew. "You're supposed to be pretending to be an upstanding, upper class citizen. If I have to suffer, so do you." She looked back out at the people surrounding them, thinking. "What are some of those notes going through that head of yours?"
"Didn't you just say I had to be an upstanding, upper-class citizen?" he asked with amusement. "I shouldn't even have notes going through my head if I were to be such a thing." He huffed a small laugh and went back to scanning the crowd. He leaned over towards Lily to get a better perspective of what she saw and started pointing out people. "That woman with the navy blue dress with nothing much on it? Roughly around 500, 570, with her necklace alone. Another 100 with those earrings and bracelets."
Her eyebrows shot up as she followed his finger, finding herself shifting just a bit closer to better see. "That is quite the amount of money to have on your person." She commented, looking slightly amazed at his ability to calculate the value of the items from this distance.
"But notice the lack of value her dress has," he pointed out. "Those jewels are probably the most expensive things she owns, so she wants to feel wealthy and important, as well as make others believe she is as well. It's all about pride and attention—making others around you like you so you feel better about yourself." He shifted his attention to another woman. She had on an elaborate silk dress with multiple different layers. Her hair was done up and held up with an expensive jeweled headdress. A pearl necklace wrapped around her porcelain-like throat, and pearl earrings graced her small ears. "Now she obviously has wealth. Not much actual value in her jewelry, probably 300 to 400 ish, but the dress she's wearing for a relatively unimportant ball does all the talking."
(I'm making up prices and assuming that a hundred is a lot in this setting)
"Psycho-analyzing people based on their clothing." She said, nodding along. "Just looking at her dress makes me feel under dressed, and this is the fanciest clothing I've worn in over a year." She laughed softly, shifting her gaze to a different woman and motioning subtly. "How about her?"
"You look amazing. She looks like a bedazzled plum," he said simply, then turned his attention to the woman Lily had pointed out. "Hmm, a bit in between the two. Probably a total of about…" he cocked his head to the side, licking his lip ring as he thought. "850 to 900, with all of her jewelry and the price of that dress. The dress is definitely worth a big chunk of that, though, and dresses aren't really my kind of loot."
She blinked at the compliment, a light pink painting her cheeks in response. "You look amazing." That was…a first. She focused her attention on his words, ignoring the warmth in her chest and cheeks. "I could only imagine how that would go if they were." She quipped, wrinkling her nose.
((I can tell you right now that thing he does with his lip ring is absolutely going to become one of her favorite things.))
((lmao. He does it when he's thinking, nervous, or more emotional than normal. He's also got a slight case of ADHD, so he'll also do it just to do something with himself))
He chuckled with a smirk. "I'm thinking a lot of screaming girls and me running away from their dates." He looked around for a familiar flash of blue hair. He didn't spot any just yet. Maybe she and Maggie would show up some other time?
"Most definitely." She nodded, shoulders shaking just slightly with silent laughter. "It'd be quite the sight to witness though. The after-effects of the attempt, I mean." She shook her head, glancing up at him for a moment.
He snorted, then something caught his eye. He looked over in the opposite direction of Lily, cocking his head to the side. That's one hell of a diamond… he mused, taking a slight step closer to get a better look. His fingers were itching to snatch it from the woman proudly showing it off at the base of her neck. He set his glass on the table behind him.
Lily huffed an amused laugh, taking another sip from her glass as she watched him step away, definitely more relaxed now. It was short lived though, as a hand was placed on her lower back, the man attached to it stepping way too close for comfort. She froze, her expression immediately closing off, though the panic in her eyes was undeniable.
"I've never seen you around any of these things." The man purred into her ear, his alcohol tainted breath fanning across her cheek and neck.
Rhydar shook his head and turned back around to rejoin Lily. His gaze darkened slightly when he saw the man with her—and the panic in her eyes. He smoothly picked up his champagne and got closer, putting on a mask of vague boredom. "Mr. White. Fancy seeing you here. You mind?" he said, gesturing to Lily with an arched brow. Despite his casual words, his eyes weren't so kind.
Lily vaguely registered his words, and her hands trembling, as she focused on attempting to keep the panic from taking over her mind completely. The man's hand trailed over to grip her waist as he looked up at Rhydar, very obviously drunk. "Mind what?" He slurred, pulling her closer to him. "I'm just having a bit of fun, and last I checked, that wasn't against any rules."
"Fun isn't, but invading a lady's privacy without her permission is. And lest you forget, this is my party," he said, his eyes dropping to Lily's. He could tell she was distressed and uncomfortable, and he didn't appreciate men who wouldn't leave a woman alone just because they wanted some "fun." Sure, he was a playboy himself, but he at least respected a woman's boundaries.