Lucas Baizen

"What indeed," Robbie chuckled. Lucas had always been so quick and clever, always ten steps ahead and observing everyone around him. If his hat wasn't in the running to take over The Baizen Project, he'd do well following in Robbie's footsteps. "It's hard to disagree with that, Luke. Rest assured, we're quite alright, it's the Archibald fallout I'm here to take care of. I can do that for my favourite cousin. Yacht, rooftop or cabana? I'll bring the champagne wherever you like. You'll have to blow them a kiss goodbye as your good deed for the day."

Lucas reset his sunglasses before he rolled his eyes through the back of his skull at the mention of the 'Archibald fallout'. "Can we kick them while they're down at least?" He said in a low voice before sighing more audibly, weighing up their options. "Rooftop. I need a view better than this." He tutted as he threw his jacket over his shoulder, "that would be quite scandalous of me. I'll keep them in my thoughts and prayers instead, they'll need it." He rounded back to their great escape, "no champagne, please. Anything but champagne."

There was one Vandervort that Lucas had once found... fine, and that was Alex. That is, before she revealed herself to be quite monumentally irresponsible. The whole pregnancy thing was, for a lack of a better word or care, disappointing. And the name? Lexa? Entirely unforgivable. He had, however, heard through the grapevine that the child was to all intents and purposes quite adorable. Hopefully not something he would need to bear witness to in person anytime soon.

At the sound of his voice, Alex's heart did a little skip. There was no world where she would ever admit to having had a childhood crush on a Baizen, and she certainly didn't still have to fight those feelings, but there was a residual something there. Maybe just nostalgia, maybe the idea of a life she could have wanted if she hadn't felt the need to rebel against her parents at every opportunity. Maybe she just missed her best friend. Alex couldn't look at Lucas without seeing his cousin, Ginny, and so looking at Lucas continued to be emotionally complicated.

"Maybe, but they all look the same to me - desperate." He scrunched his nose at her whereas he would have shown others contempt for the mere suggestion of such attire. His memories of Alex were almost exclusively accompanied by Ginny, and it was hard to politely despise someone when they were tied to images he held in such high regard. "Not my style, I'm afraid."

Effy knew how easy it could be to fall from grace. She had seen Carter do it. And many others had fallen down the same path. That wouldn't be her, no matter what she had to do. "Thank you, I do have much more experience at this game."

Lucas rolled his eyes so hard at Effy it was a wonder they returned to orbit at all. "I'm well aware, Elizabeth." When Carter surrendered his chance at the crown to The Baizen Project it was quite obvious that Effy would be next in line. Little had ever been said about it, but it seemed to Lucas that if his sister wanted it when the time came, she would have it, and that thought alone was something he'd had to compartmentalise for his own sanity, and their family.

Nilay had been so enthralled with the various cheeses and one particularly handsome artist that she hadn't noticed when Lucas had approached her. Hearing his voice at her side, she did a little jump, almost dropping her cracker and getting camembert smooshed into her hand. "Oh, heavens." A soft laugh escaped her and she turned to him. "Lucas!" She beamed, popping the remains of the cracker into her mouth. Much to her dismay, there were no napkins near them, so she brought her hand to her mouth and very delicately attempted to lick the cheese from her fingers–not the best look for her!

Luke's eyebrow raised ever so slightly at her reaction to him, irking higher as she licked creamy camembert off her soft fingers. "Pardon me, I didn't mean to startle." It struck him that if she knew what she was doing she'd have a lot more in common with her sister. Thankfully, for his purposes, that was not the case. Good behaviour was mostly play-pretend on the UES - his sister was the poster-child, and Lucas wasn't far behind. It was strange in a way that was both peculiar and dull, to have someone like Nilay in the middle who wasn't pretending. She was just that good by nature. There wasn't motive behind her lick - none that he could see - nor her follow up statement that could've flustered any common man if they'd read more into it than the surface blandness she confidently delivered.

Effy had come to this party to mix things up, even if she couldn't enjoy it like everyone else was, so far. She had her ways of making fun. She looked around the party, allowing Lucas to hand her the flute. She took a sip. "Maybe in the hands of someone else, Elizabeth Baizen would never drink." She looked across the party, Jake in one of the hot tubs, Jesse Walker being hit on by another girl, Sapphire and Juliette doing shots. All the attendees were having their fun. "Me? What would I be doing? I would be worried about myself, especially with those two around." She pointed at Caisson, then at Sapphire. "Gossip Girl mentioned you twice with them."

"Effy," Lucas started, "you could be Mary herself, but the press wouldn't care." You could be a saint of the UES and still get dragged through the mud by the elite, much less the media. "But I trust you."

Latife was sat across from Lucas Baizen and her sister in the car that was taking them to the Hamptons and she was suss! There wasn't anything being explicitly said- as if there'd ever been anything explicit happening with the likes of Lucas Baizen- but there was a vibe. Yeah, there was totally a vibe right now. Why was Nilay touching his arm for the third time? They were distracting her from touching up her lip liner! Closing her compact, Latife looked over at them both, raising her eyebrows.

Nilay had been laughing at something Lucas was saying when Latife very swiftly changed the subject, sounding very accusatory. "What do you mean?" Her brow furrowed in confusion, but even as she appeared to have no idea what her sister was talking about, her hand slowly retracted from Lucas' arm. Nothing was going on–not in the way that Latife undoubtedly meant it! This was Elizabeth's little brother, something would be scandalous! Nilay's wide eyes shifted to Lucas as a blush crept on to her cheeks. Were the three of them not simply having a nice time?

Lucas was caught slightly off-guard by Latife and her astute observation. Frankly, Latife had never been part of the plan, and neither was this damn taxi. He straightened himself out as Nilay removed her hand, damn near admiring how effortlessly she turned the question back on her own sister via her innocence. He raise his eyebrows in agreement, "I apologise, maybe I got to invested in the talk of art, but I do truthfully think we saw some great potential tonight." Lucas said, trying his best to fucking blush but not sure he captured it considering how dreadfully bored he'd been. The thing was, Lucas knew girls like Latife - like Georgina - and what they could do, and what they liked. "You're looking forward to the party?"

"Can't say that I blame him." Caisson said with a grin, his eyes scanning the room to see just how many of them were in attendance. So far, he had only seen Scarlett, Sapphire, and Layla, but he supposed it was possible for Alex, Aaron and Sophia to show face. Jake couldn't be blamed for flitting between them–the family were stunning. The stupid grin on his face only grew wider at his fleeting thought of Sapphire and the room intended for one of the matches that they thoroughly destroyed. Lucas' words abruptly pulled his attention back to his devious friend, and his eyebrow arched. "I haven't heard anything directly, but I highly doubt it. The last time she signed up to anything with pairings was that Heaven and Hell party like three years ago. You thinking it's time that changed?"

"You do like flashy," Lucas concurred, hiding his disdain behind facts that couldn't be argued. If there was nothing more to the family of Vandervorts than fortunate genetics Luke didn't think it would matter to his friend at all. Superficial, he thought, and that was somewhat comforting. "Three years... Tragic. Well, I think fortune favours the bold, and Scarlett needs to be privy to that." He scribbled Scarlett's name in his neatest cursive on the top of the card, "and the bold like?" He pondered, brainstorming, "Covens? Guache? Both may be true, and tragic, but they don't quite fit the bill."

There was nothing Scarlett would have liked more than to turn her head to look at Lucas–sweet, charming Lucas–but she simply couldn't look away from the horror that was Sapphire and Caisson. "That can't be hygienic." There were literal rooms above their heads, why were they insisting on eating each other in front of the bar? "I was under the impression that cupid would be working his magic behind closed doors."

Lucas nearly contained his chuckle, but there was little hope when he knew what Sapphire had in store later tonight. "Oh, he is working his magic, I'm sure." As much as her, he still struggled to take his eyes off the pair. His best friend, her sister. "Do you feel devious at all tonight, Scarlett?" Lucas asked, a simple plan forming for a simple situation, and neither of them really had to be caught in the crossfire.

It had been well over a year since Alex had drank even a sip of alcohol and now it was going straight to her head. With El–Jesse's mom–watching Lexa, her intention had been to have the best time at this party, but with every drink her mood seemed to drop and she couldn't quite place her finger on why. Maybe it was still the hormones?

There was one Vandervort that Lucas had once found... fine, and that was Alex. That is, before she revealed herself to be quite monumentally irresponsible. The whole pregnancy thing was, for a lack of a better word or care, disappointing. And the name? Lexa? Entirely unforgivable. He had, however, heard through the grapevine that the child was to all intents and purposes quite adorable. Hopefully not something he would need to bear witness to in person anytime soon.

@tfrstarters

Lucas had never intended to be here. He'd been contented to make appearances at the art gallery and calling it there, but people weren't playing by his rules tonight, and that could so easily include his darling sister. He knew he'd have to keep an eye on her, not for her sake, really - but for his. He knew Effy's act as well as she knew his. They were both incredible at their craft. "Please," he responded as he handed her a flute. "It's just apple cider, but it looks the part. The water... well, rumours have been started from less." He glanced over the crowd, surveying for trouble and opportunity, as always, "you'll be careful, won't you?"

He was bored. That was the main reason why Jackson found himself sitting here watching beautiful people in... clothes he wasn't sure he understood. This event was clearly made for people who understood these things better than him. He turned towards Lucas, snorting under his breath at his comment. Maybe he wasn't so wrong in thinking that some of the fashion he watched strut the stage was far too unique for his understanding. "I applaud the effort of these designers. It takes a lot of confidence to put your work out there." That was as nice as he could sound. "I don't think I'm the person for these things. Fashion really isn't my thing. Don't know if my judgement weighs anything compared to the Baizens."

"They've certainly worked hard to be here," Lucas concurred, mirroring Jackson's neat little observations. Jackson was admirable in his way with words, with a charm so real Lucas couldn't quite believe the man didn't feel the same constant distain that came with his own. It would have been simpler if he could actually be sincere in the manner Jackson made seem so easy. So natural. "It is an education, but I don't hold a candle to my sister, nor my father. That's were the judgement truly matters. You're safe for now, Cohan." That wasn't true, Lucas was going to judge him fiercely. Constantly.

Juliette had agreed to help a designer friend who wanted to show off her designs at the fashion show. She was honestly regretting it because most of what she had seen so far reminded her of why she bought couture only. "I think that I have dressed better than most of these models since I was a toddler."

Lucas couldn't help but snicker at Juliette's remark. He did enjoy others' freedom in speaking their mind. "That's a low bar, no need to sell yourself so short, Juliette." He wasn't necessarily happy to admit it, but Juliette Vanderbilt had never let him down when it came to fashion. Morally? Sure. Ethically? Of course. Juliette was a spectacle best admired from afar, safe from getting himself swept up in the madness, willingly or not. "Did I see you talk to one of the designers?"

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Robbie had read up on the recent debauchery from Logan Hunter's birthday party. It would have been all fine and good, really, if it weren't for Lucas' continued insistence on this 'friendship' with Caisson Andrews. Robbie had a plan for it, of course, but he just got here. He could wait a little longer before cleaning up this mess. Robbie smirked to himself as he heard Lucas, polite as ever for the sake of appearances. He doubted very much he found this inspired. Robbie sure as shit didn't. He turned dramatically to face him, pushing his sunglasses up onto his head before answering, "I think there are about a million other things we could be doing right now to celebrate my triumphant return."

Lucas feigned surprise at such an egregious outburst from his dearest cousin as if he didn't wholeheartedly agree that this was the grand epic of the dullest New York could possibly offer. "What could possibly be more riveting?" Lucas quickly surveyed the nearby crowd to ensure their company was unnoteworthy before continuing, "it's usually not a good omen to see you back here, Rob. However, if you're putting business on hold for the day then I'm sure I could be persuaded to celebrate. In style, too, which is more than I can say for this display of desperation."