vexing.

EVENT STARTER, HOUR ONE. | @uuninsane + zara !

for as long as she has been taking care of herself, there have been no forces that have ever fully stopped tamsin kassa; no feat too big to dismantle. she has never had any qualms with running at things headfirst on her own, because if there is one thing you learn in this life it is that time and time again, without fail, people will disappoint you. this, of course, is much more complicated when it comes to family; disappointment still follows you, but not even the most powerful of women can handle being truly, utterly alone. no matter how much easier it might be.

like clockwork, zara has half the eyes in the room on her; always attracting, even when she wasn't trying. how different they were; if it weren't for the potential leads at this gala, tamsin would be on her second dream by now. tamsin spots her easily, downs the rest of her drink in one, and approaches her sister. "i knew you'd show up tonight," she scoffs. "if there's an event, there's zara. doesn't the cafe open early tomorrow?"

she overexaggerates the eyeroll, dramatic, playful. "go ahead, sue me." her lashes bat and she takes a sip of wine to fill the space in between. "just because i got work in the morning doesn't mean i can't go out and have a good time when i'm invited." she tilts her head, gives her sister a measuring, disapproving frown (as though she were the older of the two, and disappointed and disallowing.) "besides, we're both on the clock right now- i've got a goal for the night," she sips her glass, tongue in cheek.

she backtracks, graciously, the rebellion of warmth, loyalty, trailing behind her words like a shark on the water. "it's good to see you again."

there's this feeling in emiko's chest when she looks at carmen ⎯ warm, like sitting by a fireplace on a cold, winter's day followed by a pang of guilt that won't go away no matter how much she tries to squash it. she's reminded of her empty promises to her friend, how she uprooted her life and left her behind like it was the easiest thing to do. the thing that makes her feel the worst is how easy it is for carmen to take her back like nothing had ever happened. sometimes she wonders if the only thing that would make that feeling go away is if she tries to pick a fight with carmen and get everything unsaid out in the open but she's not sure if they could survive that so she chooses to settle into familiar routines instead.

"i hope i'm not going to get into trouble for stealing you from one of your lovely dates. wouldn't want to start a fist fight or anything, especially since it's been a while since i've sparred against someone. i'm sure it'll be an embarrassing defeat," emiko jokes as she links her arm with carmen's when she spots her from across the room. "have i mentioned how hot you look tonight?"

"i'm all too familiar with pretenders. i think i've got a good eye, but i'll run to you if i need." a nasty truth followed by a white lie, a kind one but, one nevertheless. aranya was too kind, too good, for someone like carmen to offer her troubles. still, she pretends as much. [...] "ah yes, i've seen a lotta badges tonight; it should make me feel safer, huh?" she teases, a joke with the sharp edge of the unspoken, her distrust of most government agents isn't exactly unknown. "here's hoping the rest of the night is uneventful."

EVENT STARTER, HOUR TWO. | @uuninsane + carmen !

when the lights flicker, once, twice, and then nothing — she begins to panic. her instinct is to look for yue, to grab her and go right home, bike through the streets in formal attire they'll never wear again and collapse onto an unmade bed for the night. she tries to calm down, takes deep breaths by the cheese table, and curses herself for not going over some kind of meet-up spot with yue if anything bad happened. then again, she'd been so wrapped up in the fantastical feeling the first hour of the event brought, how could you expect anything to go awry? now her main worry is yue. until she runs into someone and profusely apologizes, hands outstretched on instinct to level her victim and herself. "i'm so sorry, it's just, like, really dark, and i couldn't see where i was going, and—" breath catches upon realization, pushing wisps of hair out of her face as though trying to freshen up her appearance from the panicked mess she was seconds prior. charlie frowns slightly. "carmen? i— what are you doing here? i didn't know you were here. i would have said hi."

her eyes are wide when she peers over at charlie, taking a moment for the unstable surprise to straighten itself; her eyes patterning across charlie's now familiar face, absorbing it until something clicks deep inside her ribcage, righting her frantic heart. "charlie." spoken in a whisper despite the boisterous ruin quickly overtaking most people around then, in waves of panic. "i'm- i was here with emiko, and, for [...] other reasons." she won't admit them, not to charlie at least. she dusts her fingers over charlie's knuckles, electric is the feeling, "it'll be alright. let's just stay here, together, until they figure out what the hell is going on." she tries on a small smile, quivering slightly; not in fear of the dark, but in fear of herself. "you look amazing." she, almost inappropriately, says, her sparkling with a firelight that flickers viscously, with all of her usually so contained chaos, nearly let free.

claire has always acknowledged her close ties to the new york city ballet. her father would bring her within her first few months in the country and it would become a regular thing, their thing - it was then made easier to uphold the tradition when sabine made it a career. her daughter was a prima ballerina, taking to the arts but in a fashion that could be associated with the stone family. to the outside world, the stone's were winners if damon's unexpected demise wasn't taken into consideration.

she recognizes the woman's face now, while her inebriation takes a back seat and she feels thoroughly silly for approaching at all. quite certain they've never met, she stows the thought away for later. "if you change your mind about the dance; i have 2 right feet of my own." it's a joke but she's her usual deadpanned and she hopes it reads as one.

she looks away from him again, breathing in the night deeply. "are you— is everything good with you lately?" strange, making small talk with yamato beneath the stars.