murder makes me horny

When: March 2024

Where: Liddell Hippodrome

The Liddell Hippodrome was one of the more interesting events connected to Julie's job. "Interesting" because it was very clear, even when passing through a ballroom of masked faces, that a good portion of attendees were not the upper crusts of society. Julie was outside, watching the races, mask hanging limply from her hand. She could hear the low chatter of bets being made, and the whoops and hollers as the jockey's entered the stalls.

Julie glanced down at her watch as a notification buzzed through. Hector hardly required medical care, but she was instructed to keep close just in case. So, she drifted a little further from the bleachers and closer to the scoreboards (and the hall), narrowly avoiding bumping into someone else in the process. "Oh, excuse me," Julie said, more of a reflex than anything. She regarded the board for a moment, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "So, who has your bet? I've only seen events like this in movies."

It also meant that often she got bumped into, as Julie had just narrowly avoided doing. Her finger skirted across her waist and the thin line of filament that was laced through the waist of her dress, ready to pull it out and use it if necessary — even in this crowd she could slice a wrist before anyone noticed and leave someone bewildered and on the ground as she slipped away without drawing too much focus — but instead shifted those fingers to touch at her fabric as she saw Julie.

She had no reason to fear her, at least not yet, "I did not place a bet. I understand it is the point but I just enjoy watching the sport. The horses work so very hard and yet... the owners tend to try and take credit. You know?"

who: open to all

Wandering off on her own she made her way to the table with the food once again. In her defence, it was tiny and delicious, she could hardly say no, especially since it was free. She'd be a fool to turn down free food. There has never been a time she'd said no to free food, it went against her nature. Besides, there was more than enough for everyone so it's not like anyone could say something to her and if they did, they could go fuck themselves. She was wearing a mask, she might as well make use of her anonymity. So there she was, loading up her plate when she felt someone's eyes on her from the side so she turned towards them, looking them straight in the eyes. She had no idea what they wanted from her, but she thought better to get this over with quick and then she could focus on the food again. "Is there a reason you're staring at me?"

The smile she gave was genial and beatific, a practiced motion like any other she'd make — would you call it spycraft to act as if you were normal? possibly, at least for her — and lifted her shoulders, "They will refill soon, I am sure. I apologize for staring, however."

The truth of it was when Maria met someone new, she had to get a profile of them in her head... even if their name and face would blur out until it was important, like an archived file in the back of her mind.

This is important, because handing over the frog to Demir was outside her comfort zone, at least personally, but her public persona had a bit more to her; some would call it nuance, but Maria called it a nuisance, "Of course. I was not meaning to monopolize it or the space, you like it then?"

"Are you consulting that frog for its ancient wisdoms," he asked, eyebrow cocked. He wasn't teasing, per se, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him when he'd noticed Maria seemingly engrossed in checking out the oddity. "I'm sure if we look, we may actually find something that may solve whatever problem you seem to be mulling over."

"It has no wisdom to give me that I don't already know." She says plainly, setting the frog bag down upon its perch but seriously considering taking it home nonetheless, "Besides, I solve my own problems and usually with more definitive answers than can be given by random trash, mm?"

There was an air to Maria that spoke of danger, and yet the expression on her face still mixed in with something... inviting. Like a venus fly trap waiting to sup upon an unsuspecting insect that crawled into its mouth, "Do you work here? I don't seem to recall your face."

She flashes what passes for a smile, though leaning itself more towards the feral grin of a hyena pretending to be human to lure in prey, "Are you new or am I just bad with faces?"

Both could easily be true, but her being bad with faces was 100% true. Unless you were a target... which is the worst place to be. Even then, after the job was done it faded into background noise.