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Daycycle 116 [ November 13 - November 26 ]

daycycle 116

[Nov 13 - Nov 26]

[OOC Plotting for this Daycycle can be found here.]
[The Charity Ball Entertainment post is here.]
[This DC has been extended through 11/26.]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty

No Special Troubleshooters have been selected for a mission this morning.

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

Matt Murdock's office will be assigned to defend the most recent Specials accused of treason. He will not be allowed to contact the traitors directly, but he will be given the task of preparing his cases. He has 48 hours to prepare.

Jack Harkness has been selected to plan the entertainment for tonight's Charity Ball, thanks to the popularity of his performances during the Alpha Talent Show a few days ago. When he asks The Computer for help, several specials are assigned to him. Izzy Lightwood will be his event planning assistant and "Stiles" Stilinski will assist in MCing the night's event. Due to their popularity, all Specials will be approached about being auctioned off for dances in order to help raise money by Jack, Izzy and Stiles. They will also be asked if they're willing to take part in specially planned choreographed dances. Dance lessons will be provided for those that require them during the afternoon hours.

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will begin at 1800 at the Alpha Museum of Fine Art and will be hosted by The ~~Humanists~~ Alpha Society for the Arts. Tickets to the event are 1000cr and can be bought up until an hour before the event begins. Attendees have been given special permission to wear Old Reckoning clothing for this event only, as long as it is the same color as their clearance level. Specials may notice that many of the Alpha Citizen's outfits have gotten key parts of Old Reckoning clothing wrong, with buttons instead of sequins, for example, or men wearing ties that are much too long and go to their knees. Alpha's Very Special Forces will be present to ensure the safety of those attending.

An entire wing of the museum has been cleared as a makeshift dance floor. In an attached room there are several tables covered in white tablecloths and set with the crystal and china that usually only graces Violet citizen tables. Along the wall is a massive buffet made with real food and including an elaborate ice sculpture. There is a bar in the corner where Alpha's finest spirits are being disbursed freely. For the first hour, the focus is on the food and mingling. The music playing is calming and instrumental. There are some that steal the dancefloor for a slow spin, but the majority of the attendees seem reluctant to move away from the buffet.

And then at approximately 1900, Jack Harkness will take the stage and begin the evening's real entertainment.

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

morning

Today is the day of the Charity Ball which Lydia wishes she could say was her suggestion to her fellow Humanists, but can only claim to have fueled the fire by encouraging it and promising the other Secret Society members that she'd do her absolute best to make as many Alphas, Special and otherwise, want to attend. So when she gets up in the morning, Lydia takes care to wash her hair especially early so that it has time to dry and look decent without having to be pulled back by the time she heads to the morning briefing. She's stopped hiding in her corner behind the pillar, instead leaving that for the few Specials she's shown the spot to who might want to be there. Instead, Lydia is at the front of the group, feigning as much dedicated attention as she can muster up to fake for them as they make their announcements.

She wastes absolutely no time getting to True Alpha after the meeting and she doesn't open right away, instead filming a quick video announcement which she posts without any encryption to the network. It's the most terrifying thing she's done in recent memory, because everyone can see it...and that means she's effectively invited her attackers to come right to her and she knows it. Any Special who knew Lydia when the A.S.S. first formed and shot their horrible video message; any Specials who know her especially well now and are aware that she was the chosen victim of the attack meant to prove their point of just how unwanted the Specials were — oh, how times have changed — knows it, too. But she holds herself with a confident, carefree, and maybe a little bit excited demeanor — real clothes, though. — so anyone else will be none the wiser. She just has to hope that the rising popularity of the Specials and the (hopefully) decently sized group of people that should arrive to help and to be styled will keep her safe.

Once the video's up, she goes ahead and opens the store, spending the rest of the morning running her sale and hoping like hell that nothing bad happens. Today is supposed to be a good day. She really, really wants it to stay that way.

afternoon

Lydia has a quick lunch before slipping back up to her room in the half hour break she's given herself in the day. There, she draws her hair up in its style for the night to get it out of the way; that way, there's one less thing to worry about later. She figures it's best to give herself some wiggle room to get ready, just in case the time she's officially allotted to help style people for the event isn't enough. If enough people show up and not enough volunteer, after all, it will be. Lydia won't need long to get into her dress, but if her hair is out of the way, then all she'll really have to worry about tonight is getting her makeup done.

Then, she heads back to True Alpha to reopen it, not for business but, as promised, to style. She's set up a few chairs she's dragged in from the main part of the Commissary and lined them up at the front of the store so that women can sit, get their hair done, and go. Elastics, bobbypins, and hairpins are laid out on her desk to be used at will by volunteers and Alphas alike.

evening

Once the last person she's got time to help style leaves the store, Lydia closes down True Alpha again, buys her ticket into the Charity Ball, and heads up to her room once more, this time to get her dress, makeup, and perfume to take down to HQ. She'd rather get ready the rest of the way with her friends because maybe she's an entrepreneur and maybe she's dating an older man, owns a business, has risen in the ranks at Alpha Complex, but she's still a nineteen year old girl who didn't get to go to her senior prom. This is as close as she's going to get and it's the only time she'll be able to get ready for a dance with Allison again. One last hurrah, and all that.

Lydia and Gucci the Petbot make their way down to HQ with a backpack bursting full of samples from the store, makeup she made and didn't sell to the Free Enterprise jerks with the crappy business proposition, and her dress carefully folded over her arm. Lydia slips into a bathroom in R&D just before heading the rest of the way to HQ, changing into the dress since there's nowhere really to change in privacy in HQ. She'll be found there around 17:00 doing her makeup and reminding herself that this is for the Humanists and after everything is said and done, she's a lot more likely to be able to turn a Special or two so that she can finally officially complete her initiation with the group and be a true member of it. Everything is going to be fine.

charity ball

Never one to blend into the crowd when she's got an opportunity to shine, Lydia took some liberties with her gown. Gold is the same as yellow, isn't it? Sure it is. She'll be heading up from Specials HQ shortly after 18:00 — obviously she has to be fashionably late, what kind of savage do you all take her for? — and will spend a portion of her evening with the highest bidder. The rest of the night, she can be found flitting back and forth between friends and acquaintances. She'll be schmoozing any fans of her products — or of her, since that's apparently a thing here now? — and any time she isn't, she'll probably be found with Matt.

Matt actually doesn't see Lydia until the ball because he's been working on preparing his case for some of the people recently accused of treason. He only has a finite amount of time and he'd actually taken a lot of it back to his room. He'd had his assistant transcribe everything onto his PDC so he can work on it later tonight in his room.

Despite being busy, he wouldn't miss this ball for anything. He knows Lydia is excited about it and he'd actually seen her in her dress before he had the implants taken out so he has an image of her in his mind, but he's anxious to see her tonight. Without his vision, it's harder to find Lydia, but he stays visible and trusts she'll find him.

It's been the whole day so far that she's gone without seeing Matt, but Lydia thinks maybe that's a good thing. Maybe the fact that she's been busy at the store and preparing to be here and that he's been bogged down with trial stuff is a blessing in disguise because it gives Matt time time readjust to his blindness and Lydia to readjust to the fact that he can't see her or look her in the eye anymore. It's never going to change the way she feels about him and she doesn't actually mind that he's had the implants removed. Lydia respected and supported his decision one hundred percent and she still does. But it would be a lie to say that there wasn't and isn't still a tiny spark of disappointment in the absence of the implants. It's better that she had the day to process and get past that feeling, because it isn't a good one and it certainly isn't one that she's proud of having had.

But when she finally catches sight of him at the ball, Lydia makes her easy directly to him, more than happy to let all of that selfishness fall away in favor of happiness to see him. He looks great in that suit, she thinks, and they look like Alpha Complex's Brangelina, if you ask her, because they're both attractive, well-dressed now, and in their own ways elite. It's one thing to feel glamorous alone, but as she joins Matt with a soft greeting and a hand gentle against the side of his face before she moves into his arms, Lydia thinks it's that much sweeter to be glamorous as a pair.

"Hi, baby," she greets, lips still brushing against his lightly as she speaks, before parting from him to smile at him. For the first time in a short while, Lydia reaches for his glasses to take them off. She'll give them back, let him decide whether he wants to hold onto them or not, but she likes him better without and always has. Some things will never change. "How was work? I'm sorry I couldn't make it up to help with your dictations. Today was crazy."

Matt had tried to make sure that Lydia knew having the implants taken out had nothing to do with her, but he'd been afraid that she wouldn't react well. In reality, she'd been nothing but supportive of his decision and it had only made him love her more. It's good that both of them had the day and the time to process, to get used to the idea. He'd voluntarily had the implants removed, chosen blindness instead of implants that he hadn't had a say in getting, but there are things he will miss about being able to see. Lydia is the biggest one. He won't judge her for feeling that loss, because it is her loss as well. That's why he wanted to speak to her before he had it done.

He tilts his face ever so slightly into that touch before she reaches up to take the glasses off. His hand slips to her waist, fingertips grazing the texture of her dress while his other hand goes to the curve of her neck so that he can run his fingers up her neck to her jaw. "Hello, Gorgeous," he tells her in a half whisper. "Very busy, but good. I've finally got a trial that I think I can do something about. Don't worry about it. You had a busy day too." He knows a little of what she had planned for today. "Did it all go well?"

His compliments have always carried more weight for Lydia because of the way that he's seen her. Before the implants and moving forward from here, Matt sees her with the tips of his fingers, with his lips, with his ears. He knows her maybe better than most people because he has to in order to see her at all. A little smile, just this side of bashful, pulls up at the corners of her mouth at his greeting. "You're gonna be great," she promises. Lydia firmly believes it, too. Something has to give. Matt works too hard and something has to give at some point; he's got to win something sometime, doesn't he? Just by sheer odds?

When he brings up her day, Lydia laughs softly, her eyebrows lifting. "Yeah, now I know how retail employees feel on Black Friday and how a salon feels on the wedding day when they close shop to cater to a huge bridal party all at once," she replies with a grin. "But you know what? It feels good. And not just because I totally made bank today. I mean...seeing all the excitement on people's faces and feeling it in the air and stuff when they came in, like something really special was going to happen tonight and they were going to be a part of it, I don't know. It was a good feeling being able to facilitate some of that to some small capacity," she admits.

It's why she's a Humanist in the first place. The day and the response to the Charity Ball itself is only validating her choice to join the secret society.

Lydia takes a step back, taking his hands in her own and guiding him toward the dance floor. "Dance with me?" she asks.

He spends a great deal of time with Lydia as well. He hopes that he knows her better than most people. "If I'm not, I'm going to make sure it's not from lack of trying," he tells her. He appreciates Lydia's faith in him. Yes, just by sure odds, he's owed a break, though he knows the odds don't always work in his favor.

"Hectic," he says as a statement rather than a question. He's never actually been out on Black Friday or been in a salon before a wedding, but he's heard stories and he can certainly imagine. "You made a lot of people happy today. Everyone is buzzing and seems to be in really good spirits. I'm sure looking good has a lot to do with that." He wants something good to happen tonight. He wants this to be the beginning of a relationship between the alphas and the specials, the start of the people here taking ownership of this place.

Matt doesn't know anything about the humanists. As far as he knows, the secret societies have done nothing but cause trouble here.

"Always," he tells her, letting her lead him to the dance floor. Once there, his free hand goes to the small of Lydia's back. He's actually pretty decent on the dance floor, even without his senses, he's got an awareness of everything around him and a grace that comes from years of fighting.

"Mmm," Lydia agrees with the statement about her day. Hectic is putting it nicely, but at least it was the best kind of hectic. She's not exhausted and drained from it; instead, she feels weirdly invigorated. "I did what I could for who I could. I had to turn away a lot of people because it was getting too late and I still had to get ready. I felt really bad," she admits. The problem was that a lot of Alphas waited until they finished their shifts troubleshooting to come down but that was when Lydia was calling it done for the night so that she could get dressed and do her makeup. Lydia Martin is all for helping people, but not at her own expense, especially when she knows that at some point in the night, she's going to have to take the stage to be auctioned off. She doesn't want to look a hot mess and not be able to make it worth her while to do it, after all.

Knowing Matt's feelings on the secret societies is part of the reason she hasn't told him about the Humanists yet. Or the fact that she's tentatively one of them. The thing is that she thinks she could probably talk Matt into joining because he feels the same way she does about the people being the important parties to take care of in this place, but Lydia knows that Matt already works hard to help people and there's no point in dragging him into something that could get him arrested for doing even more of that. She's okay with putting herself at risk — even though she shouldn't be — but she's a lot less okay with putting the man she loves at risk with her.

Someone has to be her lawyer, after all, if she gets caught and there's no one Lydia would trust more with her defense than Matt Murdock.

She smiles at his response to her request and leads him out further. Matt seems to already know what he's doing while Lydia's used to the basic hug-and-sway sort of dancing that happens in high school. Therefore, she follows Matt's lead so that she doesn't look like a rube. "You know, you're the best part of my day, Matt? Every day, you're the best part of it," she says softly.

"Maybe next time they'll make appointments and that sort of thing," Matt suggests. He thinks that's how salons and the like usually work. He's heard enough women talk to gather that anyway. In his opinion, no one should begrudge Lydia taking time to get ready for this herself. They've all been excited about this event for one reason or another.

It would probably be good for him to know that some of them do good things. The secret societies that cause trouble have just been the loud ones, the ones that have screamed for attention. He probably would be interested in joining the Humanists, in trying to do something good for this place, but he would also feel the same way Lydia does: he is the legal help, for the most part, and he has a responsibility to be there for people when they need legal help.

Indeed and he wouldn't want anyone else to be her lawyer. Though, he does hope that's not ever necessary.

He's not making anything too complicated. It's a basic box step that Lydia should be able to follow pretty easily. She makes him smile with her compliment and he squeezes her hand gently. "I can say the same for you, Lydia. I always look forward to seeing you and spending time with you, even if I'd just seen you."

"Oh, honestly, I'm kind of hoping there isn't a next time," Lydia admits. "That was fun but I'm not looking to get into styling people on a regular basis. I'd rather keep my focus on what I've already got going with the bath and body stuff," she explains. Although, it is nice to know that it's a thing she could probably get away with doing if she felt so inclined, in the future. "This was largely for promoting my store, I'll be honest," she laughs.

It's funny how easily Matt kind of crept up on her. Lydia hadn't expected her roommate to grown on her so much when he'd first been put in the room she shared with Dick what feels like a lifetime ago, but now she can't imagine things unfolding any other way. Matt is a huge part of what keeps Lydia going most days. Hearing him reciprocate that feeling gives Lydia a warmth nothing else in this place probably ever could.

Lydia presses herself closer to Matt, smiling a little and leaning the side of her head against the side of his. "Matt...?" she says softly and pulls back a moment later, unwilling to give herself the time to chicken out again, even if that means interrupting before he can answer. "...I love you," she confesses. Her stomach turns over with nervousness the second the words leave her mouth. This can go one of two ways, she thinks, but she's a little caught up in the moment and Matt's just had the implants taken out which she's sure he's a little self-conscious about when it comes to her reaction. Now feels like the time to let him know how she really feels. ...and the fact that they're in a group setting where she can disappear into the crowd if she needs to; if the response is negative and humiliating is weirdly reassuring. It gives her the ounce of courage it took to make her say it out loud in a way she couldn't get herself to do privately up to this point.

"Do one thing and do it well," Matt nods. "I can understand that and it was a good promotion. I'm sure you'll end up with a lot more business after this." He doesn't blame her for not wanting to be a salon and do makeup and makeovers all the time.

Lydia had crept up on him the same way. In fact, he'd tried to not let her creep up on him. She's too young for him, and he knows that, but she's never seemed as young as she is to him. Despite knowing that Lydia really is too young for him, she's become the best thing in his life. He's fallen in love with her, and he knows that even if he hasn't said the words.

He winds his arm around her as she presses closer, head bowing a little toward her. He makes an encouraging noise when she says his name. He's not sure what he's expecting her to say, maybe to tell him that she's enjoying herself or that she'd like him to come to her room later. He doesn't expect her to say that she loves him. Maybe it's because he knows that she loves him; it's in every action, gesture and word. The words surprise him a little, but a moment afterwards his expression goes from a little surprised to something soft, something loving. HIs smile is just as soft as his expression and his hand goes to her jaw, his thumb stroking her cheek. "I love you too, Lydia."

Not a negative response and it actually feels right to him to say. He does love her and he's known it for a while now.

"Basically, yeah," Lydia agrees. She hadn't really thought about it specifically that way, but when he says it, it pretty accurately falls in line with what she'd been thinking. "One can only hope. I'm going to be mostly breaking even on pay if it doesn't start to pick up," she says quietly. Because her daily pay is going right into Cisco and Tony's ME accounts at the moment.

For a second, the surprise that registers on Matt's face leaves Lydia struggling between worried and upset. Worried because she isn't really sure how he's going to take the sentiment and upset because she wonders if surprise means that she's been doing a poor job at showing him in other ways without the words to dictate it. But the expression softens into something more fond and Lydia relaxes into a smile.

Hearing him say it back feels better than Lydia imagined it would and she gives him a chaste kiss before stroking his cheek gently with her thumb as she holds his jaw. "You have no idea how much of a relief that is. I was terrified that you'd be freaked out," she admits.

Matt furrows his brow a little with concern when she says she's going to be breaking even on pay soon. "If you need some help, you'll ask me, right?" Unfortunately, he's not sure what he can do to help her here. He can put some money into Cisco and Tony's ME accounts if necessary, or in Lydia's account and he doesn't mind that because there's so little that he cares to use his credits for. Besides, if they were back home, he would have Lydia living with him and he'd support her until she got on her feet.

He'd only been surprised because he hadn't been expecting it. He knows that Lydia loves him; he'd thought that maybe they were a couple who didn't say those words.

His smile soft, fond. "You know, I did suspect that you felt that way," he teases her a little. "I hope you suspected I love you too. I just wasn't sure if we were going to say the words or not."

Lydia gives Matt a fond look that's slightly tinted with disapproval. She appreciates what he's offering, but she's hoping that it doesn't come to that. She's the one that took the two of them on; it doesn't really seem fair to ask Matt for money to pay them, after all. If things go really poorly, then she'll have to let one of them go back to Troubleshooting Duty until things pick up, but Lydia's hoping that the way things went today will boost sales moving forward. Not to mention that she's offered products to go into a raffle basket and she's put a makeover in the silent auction. Lydia even put herself on auction in the interest of getting her name and product out there. "I'm going to be fine, baby," she promises. "I'll figure it out. I'm okay. But I appreciate it." It isn't a yes, and that's intentional. Lydia isn't going to ask anyone for help, if she can avoid it. She started this business by herself and she intends to see it through on her own. It's the right thing to do.

A shy, but amused smile slides over Lydia's lips. She's glad that at least she's been showing him how she feels, even if she hadn't been able to come out and say so until just now. And yes, she had the feeling that Matt's feelings were the same, but feeling something and making it official by saying it out loud, well. Those are two very different things, aren't they?

"I did," she agrees with a little nod, nuzzling her nose affectionately against his. "I just didn't want to scare you away, that's all. You're stuck with me, now. I hope you know that."

He doesn't want it to come to that either. He wants Lydia to be a rousing success without his help. He's hoping that all her marketing will have the same effect, that her business will pick up. She deserves this. Lydia is one of the hardest working people he knows. He nods at her reassurance, but he's glad that she doesn't rule it out entirely. He wants her to leave her options open.

He understands that and she's right, they are two very different things. Honestly, he's not sure how long it would have taken him to say those words. It's been a very long time since Matt has said those words to someone he was involved with romantically and the last time he'd said them, the last time he'd meant those words, it hadn't turned out well for him.

He leans in to kiss her lightly, chastely and whispers to her. "There's no one else I'd rather be stuck with."

Barry sneaks out of the forensics lab to grab some coffee and makes a point of stopping by Lydia's new store. He isn't quite prepared for the buying frenzy that is happening when he gets there, however and has to pardon his way up to the front counter among countless Infrareds, Reds and Yellow jumpsuits.

He waves to get Lydia's attention and waits patiently for her to finish ringing up a customer before raising his eyebrows in greeting. "Is this Alpha's equivalent to Black Friday?"

Edited 2016-11-15 03:28 (UTC)

To be honest, Lydia hadn't been prepared for the buying frenzy that's happening when she notices Barry's arrival. A grin crosses her expression and she finishes up with the customer she's helping before calling over one of her bots to take over the register.

Coming out from behind the counter, Lydia greets Barry with a hug because she hasn't seen him in person in a long while. "Thank you for coming," she says softly in his ear before stepping back. Her expression looks caught somewhere between surprised and elated. "I don't know, maybe! I've been slammed all morning so far," she laughs. "This is busier than I've been the last few days I've been open combined."

It's a good feeling, though, she'll give it that. Lydia feels proud of herself and validated. Today is going to be a good day, she can feel it.

He returns the hug easily enough, squeezing her back. Even if he can't remember the last couple of days, he feels as if he hasn't seen her in much too long. That and he can't get over how happy she looks to be here. He knows that they'd all love to be somewhere else than Alpha, but he can't help but be proud of what she's done with what she's been given. It's a far cry from their first mission.

"That's great." He grins back at her as he pulls away from her and glances around the store. "I guess this ball thing came at the right time."

"I'm glad to see this is going well for you." Even if he'd found himself particularly lonely in the lab that day. "I'm happy for you."

Lydia smiles and maybe it looks proud to go along with the swell of pride she's feeling at the moment. Lydia's worked her way up from nearly the bottom and there've been times when she felt like she was at the bottom, regardless of her RED status back then. It's nice to have clawed her way up this way and she can't help feeling proud of herself for it, too.

"Thank you, sweetie. I miss seeing you every day, I'm gonna be honest with you, but...I don't know, I like this. I like this a lot. If I'm stuck here for a while, at least I think I finally found a niche," she says with a smile.

After helping Lydia at the shop, Allison had sat off to finish getting ready for the ball as well. As silly as it is to have a ball in this kind of environment that they find themselves in, it doesn't change the fact that it brings a sense of normalcy in a way, and Allison is actually pretty excited about it. Maybe it's the actual teenager in her, the one that never got to have a prom to go to, and it may be silly but it doesn't change how excited she actually is for this thing. Sure, the having to stick with dresses corresponding to her clearance level had been annoying at first, but she had managed to find something she actually liked.

By the time Lydia arrives, Allison has already been there for a few minutes. She had been glancing around, just taking everything in and thinking that for this being an underground complex run by a Computer, this isn't all so bad, but when she sees the familiar face she immediately gravitates towards her.

"Hey," she greets her best friend with a bright smile on her face. "You look gorgeous, I love the dress."

Seeing Allison in a formal dress hits Lydia right in the gut. She's seen Allison in a semi-formal dress, after all, but this is different. This is reminiscent of the prom neither of them got to have and she feels a swell of emotion crashing into her all at once at Allison's greeting. To save herself from being seen registering all of that however it might manifest itself on her face, Lydia pulls her best friend into a hug, giving her a squeeze.

"Thanks, sweetie. You look amazing," she replies and, after a brief moment to collect herself, Lydia withdraws from the hug to step back and look Allison up and down. "You know, I know that this is going to sound kind of dumb all things considered, but red? Totally your color," she says approvingly. "Listen, I'm actually really glad you're here this early, because I think it hasn't really gotten under way and I want to steal you for a second to talk in private," she says quickly, nodding toward the far end of the buffet — most Alphas in lower clearance levels have already bombarded the buffet table and are well on their way down the line, leaving the beginning of the table abandoned and reasonably private for the moment. It's better, at least, than dragging Allison off entirely and risking the suspicion of a YELLOW female pulling a RED female out of the event completely to be alone. There are a lot of things about that which could raise eyebrows and Lydia wants attention tonight, sure, but she wants it on her terms.

Lydia thinks exactly nothing of taking Allison's hand and guiding her in the direction she means to go — a mirror of some of the pointed memories Lydia has of Allison doing the same thing with her back home. Once they're off on their own, Lydia grabs a plate and starts to make her way slowly down the buffet table to blend in. ...well, and to eat. She's not as starved for real food as most of her friends are, but she still only gets a meal a day, so she's just as inclined to indulge as the rest of them. "What are your thoughts on secret societies?" she asks under her breath, reaching for a few sticks of celery to add to the small collection of cheeses and vegetables she's settling on her plate. She doesn't look at Allison when she says it, but does venture a casual glance at her friend after the words have left her mouth.

Lydia does a good job at hiding the emotional reaction, because Allison doesn't really think twice about the hug. At first, anyway; when she feels the squeeze of the hug, Allison's brow furrows just slightly, more in concern and curiosity than anything else, but she doesn't hesitate in hugging Lydia back.

The way she continues, though, in checking out the dress and complimenting her, seems normal enough, so Allison just smiles again. "Why, thank you. I was wondering what you'd think of it, so I'm glad it passed the Lydia Martin test." Allison still remembers the nights when Lydia would show up with bags full of outfits, ready to point out the ones that Allison would look good in, and showing her the ones that she would wear, and...that part is actually the one that makes her a little nostalgic. It had been home - a better memory of home than the death and grief that is often associated with Beacon Hills - but she doesn't really let that nostalgia dampen her mood.

With a small nod, she agrees to walk over to Lydia, and she also doesn't think anything of the way that Lydia takes her hand. Following her example, Allison grabs a plate when they get to the buffet table and she starts to serve herself. Not showing any reaction at the question, she answers back just as quietly, "I don't think I've seen enough to know what to think. Or...what I've seen hasn't been that great, so I'm not sure. Why?"

She steals a brief glance at Lydia, curious, but she still pretends to mainly be focused on the bread roll and butter she's serving on her plate.

"With flying colors. Look at my baby girl all grown up," Lydia replies playfully, laughing. Lydia remembers, too, the shopping trips and going through Allison's closet, making Allison try on more outfits than most girls their age probably wear in a month, trying to determine which looked good on Allison and which would look better on Lydia so she could "borrow" them. All of that feels like a lifetime ago. In some ways, it was.

Allison and Lydia are practiced with being subtle and being able to carry on an uncomfortable conversation as if they're barely talking at all. The number of urgent discussions about werewolves and nogitsune and plenty of other things that couldn't be overheard, while sitting together in class and making sure no one overheard makes them practically professionals at this.

Lydia gives a little shrug, adding more food to get plate. "Do you think you'd ever consider joining one if their cause was a good one and their beliefs were in line with your own?" she asks, picking up a tong-ful of celery to add to her plate. She glances back at Allison with an innocent, interested look. One that Allison probably knows well enough to know isn't innocent at all.

It's all that practice back home that allows Allison to not look up in slight surprise at Lydia when she asks if she would consider joining one of the secret societies. She doesn't even pause as she continues to load food onto her plate, even if right now that's quite literally the last thing on her mind.

"I would be more inclined to join one if it aligned better with what I believe in, yeah." Not that she doesn't believe Lydia that those could exist, but all she has seen and heard of since she arrived has been... Well, more than a little extreme. Between the bombing, and those maniacs that went around shooting, Allison hadn't considered that something could actually line up with her own code.

That look on Lydia's face, though, tells her that she had been wrong; apparently there had been something all along, and... Hm. The corners of Allison's lips twitch slightly upwards into a sort of secret smile. "Alright, I want to know more about this. What is it, exactly?"

Lydia nods a little, still casual and carefully detached, just like the two of them always are when they really need to be. An outside observer wouldn't view much of interest coming out of the conversation and that's obviously on purpose. If they looked as animated as their conversation should dictate, then people would feel inclined to eavesdrop. Allison's response is mostly what Lydia had expected it to be, but she's still relieved all the same.

The redhead moves a little further down the line and gets herself a piece of what looks to be lemon garlic chicken and her gaze moves very briefly back to Allison before the attention moves back to the food in front of them. Allison's question makes Lydia's mouth twitch in the briefest of smiles. "Oh, nothing, it's just that the Alpha Society for the Arts didn't actually throw this Charity Ball at all," she says flippantly, moving forward in the line again and pausing long enough to order a cranberry vodka before moving away from the buffet table entirely.

Leading the way toward an empty table, she waits until Allison is beside her again and Lydia continues the conversation as if the pause hadn't taken place at all. "The Humanists organized this," she says very softly when Allison is close enough to be able to hear it. "I know, because I was at the meeting when it came up. I was at the meeting when they laid out the plans to use the Society for the Arts as a cover."

She sits down at the table and looks over at her best friend with a little smile. "We're not all bad. Just the bad ones are bad. We're kind of like werewolves and hunters that way," she adds with a little wink, knowing that Allison will realize that, by "we" Lydia means secret societies in general.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Daycycle 116 [ November 13 - November 26 ]

daycycle 116

[Nov 13 - Nov 26]

Open | Throughout the day

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Morning

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