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 Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 6:34 am
The dinner party went as any dinner party proceeded in Elex's purview: a number of invited families gathered in the dining hall of a much more expensive family, proceeded to eat esoteric foods and talk of politics and gossip, then conceded to the pressures of the inviting party to pay into an ongoing fundraiser. This week, their family was chosen with a formal, lace-endowed invitation with impeccable cursive. The paper, his mother noted, was cheaper than the formal invitation entrusted to the Andersons, and this incensed her greatly for the intimated pecking order therein.
Elex kept his countenance carefully blank while his mother continued fussing with his lapels. He jerked forward occasionally with each hearty tug of the fabric as Anna worked herself into a perplexed state over the condition of his blazer. She had yet to address any other issue taken with his clothing.
"How in blazes did she iron a crease into the lapel? I should have her fired in an instant… If there's anything you should learn from this, my dear, it's that you simply cannot hire young maids these days! None of them understand how to iron and starch clothes properly!" She gave a final tug on the problem lapel and determined at once that Elex's suit was much too subpar for interacting with the loftier guests of the occasion. If Anna intended to befriend any of the upper echelons in this social gathering, then she needed all parts of her family looking their finest. With a huff, Anna made a mental note to rain fury down upon the saboteur maid that ironed his clothes.
"Well! It's no matter." Anna withdrew a small hand fan from her purse and proceeded to cool herself with it. "I'm sure the Beauregards have their hands full this evening. Last week's fundraiser is still an enormous success, and we've yet to make a sizable donation until your father collects his royalties this month. I suppose I can wait to congratulate them until I have that cheque in my hand…" As always, Elex's mother held her head high as she scanned the attending guests. With a quick snap of her fan, she pointed primly in the direction of her target audience. "There. Do you see that family? Those are the Salvatores. They just moved into town and here they're already invited to one of the dinner parties. Can you believe that?" She spared her son an exasperated look. "It took us three whole months before our lovely hosts took notice of us. I hear they have a lovely girl about your age, and that the mother still works. Can you believe that? Come, Elex, let's introduce ourselves."
With that, Elex knew he had no choice in the matter. With his father long lost to the drinking collective with the other men, and Elex himself not yet aging out of his mother's clutches, the pair approached the small collective of Salvatores. Anna was the first to make herself known to them. "Good evening, my dears. Have you been enjoying yourselves? The Beauregards know how to host a simply marvelous party." Anna flashed one of her signature smiles.
Elex, alternately, remained silent at her side. His hands folded front and center over his stomach in formal poise as he waited for his mother to wind through her spiel. Soon, he knew, she would send him off with their child to give the grown-ups space to talk. His mother thought she had the art of conversation down to a science. Elex himself preferred to be anywhere else in the scope of the evening than at her side, so the deviation to pairing off with their daughter offered at least a modicum more interest to the teen.anime_girl10 i hope this is ok! please let me know if i need to alter anything! the intention was to set the scene with the initial post, so if i assumed too much, i can edit it back! also sorry for the wait >:
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 7:43 am
Strickenized It's totally fine! <3 It's fun! I'm sure my reply is lacking. lol (Also the fact I haven't thought of names for her parents yet, oops.) The Salvatores stood at what seemed to be the center of attention since they walked through the Beauregards' doors, being passed from family to family and person to person. Of course it was to be, as they where so new to town. Actually being the end of their first week in Destiny City. Connie stood at her mother's side, while trying not to look clingy, and silent as a mouse. Dressed in a simple but elegant, for a child, dress that seemed to match the invitation to a tee, while her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail with a jewel like headpiece to make it not look so plain. She had actually dreaded the idea of coming from the second the invitation was announced to her. Knowing all too well there would likely be no kids her age, not that she did well at socializing anyway, as in the past most where aloud to stay home. But you have to at least make an appearance, we are knew after all, she was told. She sighed softly as the current people talking to her parents walked away. She felt like some kind of prize on showcase, but no one care enough to hardly notice her past hello, much less actually trying to hold a converstation with her. Then when someone did, it was in baby talk as if she was still a small child. Connie rolled her eyes slightly and glanced around, noticing yet another couple coming to introduce themselves. To her surprised, as they got closer, realizing it was a mother and son. Connie smiled, her eyes lighting up, maybe just maybe she'd be able to at least go walk around despite still being nervous of leaving her parents side. "Oh why hello." Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore went on to introduce themselves, then Connie. "It's a mervlous party! Much better than the last one we went to before we moved." Her dad joked, making Connie make a bit of a face. Sure dad. She thought.
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 9:10 am
"How delightful, then! Please, allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood."Anna bowed very gently at the waist, mindful of the corset beneath her dress. She still fanned herself readily, even as she spoke to the Salvatores. "And Ms. Salvatore, your outfit is simply to die for! I've been working on my husband to choose something like that for me and he about faints every time, can you believe that?" She laughed politely. So many of her behaviors, Elex knew, were about social manipulation.
"Elex, dear, why don't you show their daughter around? Goodness knows you've been coming over here since you were a child. I'm sure you've got quite the bearings here." Her wrist inverted neatly and Anna ussed her fan to gesticulate shooing him away.
Elex himself considered it a blessed relief. He understood well the routine into which his mother worked herself - first she assessed the new family's point of origin, which naturally influenced her level of warmth toward them, then she would suss out the occupation of the man and whether his wife worked. Despite their relative ages, his parents retained a very old world attitude toward the nuclear family and held very traditional expectations that the woman stayed at home while the man worked. Such tired gender roles seldom held up anymore, which meant that his mother most often found herself disappointed.
Though he supposed, in the end, that the working mothers mainly disappointed her because of their lack of availability to her, though he expected that his mother lacked the self-reflection that would afford her that answer. Instead, she deflected all of her daytime loneliness onto Elex via frequent text messages and motherly micromanaging when he returned home after school. Erol managed something of an escape through his part-time job, though Elex was forbidden to take up something similar until he turned sixteen. Blessedly, that age neared at the end of the month.
Elex stepped toward Connie then, his hands still frozen formally at his waist. She looked quite matched to the occasion in a simple lace number, and he knew his mother would findi t pleasing. Often she harped on the presentation of children these days, in what she deemed provocative outfits that revealed too much to onlookers. To Elex, she looked like her parents still ruled over her clothing choices.
He paused when he reached her, and leaned in with head turned to speak to her over the din of the party. "Let's go outside," he offered. The balcony wasn't far, he knew, and beyond the perpetual cling of cigarette smoke, it offered a vantage point and venue that distanced them from the party. "They'll be talking for hours if my mother has her way. Sticking around for that is ill-advised, unless you want to hear a recount of your entire life's story." Black eyes fell on her, countenance quietly neutral, as he waited for her choice.anime_girl10 your reply was great! and don't worry about the parents; we're probs about to ditch them after your next post, so you can def gloss over that stuff!
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Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 3:11 pm
Mrs. Salvatore had became flushed at Anna's words, though unsure if it would count as a compliment or not, went ahead and thanked her anyway. Readily telling her where she had got it even, in case she wanted to find one of her own. Though Mrs. Salvatore made a note that she'd probably never wear this dress, or any other dress for that matter, twice to one of these events. Connie wasn't at quick as her mother too agree with her going off with the strange boy, she could only assume his mothering was too controlling over. She glanced between their mothers but they had already started engaging, and she didn't dare to go against the other woman, for many reasons besides their formal setting. It was then Elex stuck up on her to offer they head outside. Connie blushed slightly herself now, but finding herself unable to move away from the boy. His last comment making her smile a bit though. "I'm not even sure I could just *stand* that long." She commented, turning so he could lead her away. At least her parents would know who to blame if anything happened to her.
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Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:27 pm
Elex crosssed his hands behind his back, lacing fingers together as he settled into a casual walk through the lavish party area. For the April weather, silks and lace dominated women's apparel. The men were, perhaps unsurprisingly, lodged in their same dress shirt and blazer style, though most opted for lighter fabrics and a raincheck on the blazer. Elex himself did not mind the extra clothing; even as spring commenced some time ago, he still found the evenings rather chilly. But that night carried an uncharacteristic warmth well into the late hour, which stood as boon to the occasion.
He opened the french doors to the balcony for the both of them, and stood aside for Connie to make her way out. The stars wouldn't greet them so close to the city. The night air would, however, and arrived wit hthe subtle sweet scent of new blooms from the garden below. The Beauregards insisted on a veritable conservatory at the back end of their house in their proficient search for newer and better status symbols. Elex knew from prior parties that their son often treated the delicately-trimmed topiaries and intricately-carved trellises as glorified toilets for long evenings of inebriation, but he kept such details to himself; he knew Connie as little more than a name at this point, and his mother would have his head for how that sort of affair would reflect on her.
Without his mother's staunch oversight, Elex found the opportunity to loosen up a little. "Not a fan of parties? All the silk and chiffon in the world can't cover up the posturing." And all the alcohol in the world can't cover up the imaginary violence. "There's a few families worth watching, but the rest of it is a waste of time. It doesn't help that there's enough perfume in that room to sedate a horse." Elex folded arms atop the wrought-iron banister and looked out to the garden, where some of the older teens laughed and drank from the bottle that their parents knew they had.
"By now, my mom's asking all about your parents' old lives and why they moved here. Your life too, I suppose. But what about you? What do you want out of moving here?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:46 am
Connie followed close to Elex, not quite behind him but not at his side either, noticing as he laced his fingered behind his back- not helping but wondering if that was really comfortable or not. Though choosing not to think much of it as he lead her through the party, watching the people as they passed, though of course becoming a bit flushed at the stares and whispers she got in return for being new. She took a breath to clam herself as she brought her attention to the doors Elex had brought them. Connie couldn't help but smile at the warm breeze and the sweet smells it carried as he opened the doors for them. "Thank you." She said with a smile, walking out into the night. They may not have been able to see the stars but the moon was big and bright, the big bulb almost finished waxing into a full moon, causing Connie to light up. Connie couldn't help but jump slightly when Elex spoke, having been suddenly lost in the sights of what she could see of the Beauregards gardens from the balcony, though that stretched farther this night thanks to the moon. Smirking at his comments, watching as he joined her and frowning a bit when her eyes followed his to the drinking teens not much older than them, if that. "Parties, no." She started, "It's awful boring when you're generally the only kid there and the adults treat you even smaller than such.." Connie trailed off, rolling her eyes a bit, though she found herself looking at him again with his questions. "Me? I study Genealogy, supposedly I have family ties here, so I wanted to find out for myself. It was time for our next move anyway." She smiled, musing a bit too much on what his mother would think of the child making the moving choices. "Do you like this city?" Connie asked, wondering if Elex even liked it here.
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:12 pm
"What ties are those?" And how deep do they run? Connie Salvatore, recently relocated to Destiny City, daughter of an affluent family. How many long lost cousins could she have here? How many double lives, how many secret killers? And what would she do if she found out? Who's there to tell when the whole city's stretched taut and waiting to rip wide open? I wonder.
Nails picked at the stray veneer flecks coming off the balcony itself. The Beauregards expected only the best of their staff, yet here came the first signs of quiet defiance. The Beauregards kept their house lacquered and pristine, yet Elex wondered just how much of its inner workings started to rot. One of the servants grew long tired of drawing a meager paycheck from the head of the household; he was certain some dissent still boiled beyond her smile. The oppressed, he learned, grew very clever. Small wonder if the house came down on them someday.
Elex relaced his fingers before him, pressing palms together over the banister. "'It was time'," he echoed. "You say that like you're on a schedule."
Sighing through his nose, his gaze flickered to her before he glanced up toward the moon. "I'm not sure. I haven't been here long enough to decide. There's an undercurrent here, and it runs deep iwth a lot of missing people. A lot of unsolved crime. Even if I decide I don't like it here, it's trapped my curiosity." About-facing, Elex hoisted himself upon the railing, his back facing the moon. Careful maneuvering shifted his legs over the edge of the balcony, where the fall to the first story would likely land him in one of the peach trees lining the property. Unless one of the boys below decided to come up and push him from behind, he figured that no great danger awaited him. "The schools here are supposed to be some of the best, which was my mother's reason for moving." But I think she found a few too many skeletons she didn't like. Too bad moving doesn't absolve all the lies.
By now, my mother's exhausted all of her small talk. She's started going on about herself and all her vicarious achievements. She's embellished her family's livelihood and cut her kids' figures from the finest cloth. If the Salvatores are still sober, they're bound to find her dull.
"What about your family?" Elex raised a foot and flatted it against one of the wrought-iron balusters. "What do you look for in genealogy? Long lost cousins? Famous relations? Dirty little secrets?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:48 pm
"I'm not sure.." Connie answered, unsure where her supposed family ties lead. She didn't even know if it was true. "Genealogy is tricky like that," She added, waggy her finger playfully. "People lie and hide the truth. Births, dates, origins..." Connie watched Elex again, a mix of wary carefulness and a bit of worry as he leaned back against the balcony. She knew because she didn't know him, she was being extra careful as he seemed to think through every word that came from their mouths. Though, shrugging it off, she knew she was doing the same. Listening to ever word he spoke, feeling as if they acted like a spell or snake, wrapping around and pulling her in. "My dad moves a lot for work. A scientist. Mom's kept to being a nurse, it started with saving lives, but now I think it's just to feel useful that I'm old enough to take care of myself..." Connie answered again, but trailing off, and sighed heavily herself now. Not that she didn't love her parents and loved the time together when they did act as such, but they where hardly around in the past ten years, it didn't much count as parenting. "Curiosity? I wonder if the city will do the same to me..." Connie mused, her eyebrows furrowing. I wonder how much time I'll get this time, will this city eat me up? She shook her head and laughed lightly, thinking over his question about genealogy. "Hm.. Well. It's more about what people are looking for themselves or what parts of history ping my interest." She raised her finger thoughtfully, almost in a shushing movement. "Like someone who doesn't even know one of their parents or doesn't talk to part of their family. Half brothers who never knew or a child that was lost.." Connie smirked, knowing she was trailing off, and carefully stretched against the balcony herself now. "What about you, Elex? I think you know far too much now.." She laughed, eyeing him.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:27 pm
"Don't those lies make the truth more imperative?" What was there to look for in a long line of the deceased? Imaginative tales, fleeting glimpses of adventure? That would be so for himself, he mused. But what did Connie get out of it? Pride? New connections? Bragging rights? Was she in it for the simple chase, for hunting long-obscured information through a hundred handwritten census papers? His fingers drummed on the banister as he searched for the proper questions.
A scientist and a nurse. And now you can take care of yourself. All your life you've been defined by your parents, your surname. Just like me. That hunt through genealogy… It isn't to find new connections in a sprawling city. You're looking for more ways to define yourself. More pieces of the narrative that tells who you are. Is that what you dreamt of? Finding more meaning in bygone documents? Interesting. He veiled his curiosity as best he could, preferring to share his thoughts with the moon alone. It glimmered bright tonight, he supposed, and caught her dress with a fair brilliance.
'It's more about what people are looking for themselves or what parts of history ping my interest.' Living in the past isn't any different than living in a fantasy. He snorted at the night sky.
"Do I?" He looked down toward the spread of garden beyond his feet. Empty now, they only shuddered in the wind. "I don't believe you. There's more to you than new locations and old stories. There has to be."
The daring magic of night faltered for him then, and Elex slipped from the banister back onto the solid balcony. He straightened his coat in lieu of his mother's inevitable diatribes about putting forth the best impressions. "If you're asking about my family, it's an old one. The Yorkes came from England, where they made their fortune off of auto patents and computers. My great-grandfather worked with safety improvements on one of the first Rolls-Royces. And when my father couldn't find his place in automotive, he moved onto the computer scene. If there's more further back, or of there's scandals and disasters, I don't know them.
"But if you were asking about me… Look at the party." He gestured toward the french doors, where the hazy forms of the elite danced beyond them. "Everyone spends their time data mining each other. Looking for faults, suspicions, wants. Waiting for just the right slip in a cutthroat conversation. I don't want that to be me." He pushed off from leaning against the balcony and offered a short, unreadable smirk. "Isn't it better to be a mystery?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:55 pm
"Oh the truth is always imperative, but it can be hurtful too. Something someone wouldn't want to believe even when it's staring them in the face." Connie laughing a bit, thinking of the few how would blame her age for what she found, as if she had made it up and lied about it. How that just couldn't have happened in their family. As if it really mattered or had anything to do with them. Her nose crinkled now at his comment. "More to me?" She questioned now, frowning a bit. "I doubt there's much.." Connie watched him straighten himself out with a bit of disappointment in it, though she did find his history interesting and even important. "I wonder what your ancestors would think of that." She mused, wondering what he did want to do instead, what he was aiming for. She couldn't help but smirk back at his last comment, crossing her arms. "Well maybe I like solving mysteries?" Connie teased.
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 10:33 am
Elex's gaze slid to her as she spoke of truth and its harms. Yes, he supposed, it was. But in those instances, people made their own truths. And who was to say whose truth was truer?
"You don't have to act bashful." His mother often did, proud and frantic as she was over their own lineage. She feared not that other socialites would discover her upbringing, as she knew a thousand ways to spin it in her favor. But when the time came to sit for tea, to take a compliment, to pay one in kind, she knew to place herself below the other party in a backwards game of digging the pit of Babel. It came as little surprise to him that Connie would behave in a similar fashion, reared as she was in another affluent family, and that those toxic social mores might infect her at such an age. He was disappointed that she could not break those social mores enough to take pride in herself openly.
Maybe that asked for too much trust.
Elex approached the door and laid his hand on the brushed knob with ease, and while he turned it, he did not yet open the door. "My ancestors' thoughts are their own mystery." He opened it then, allowing all the sound and fury of the full party to roll out and greet them. The lights had dimmed in an ambience that suggested a speech would soon come forth. The whole of the house would turn on the speaker, undoubtedly Mr. Beauregarde announcing the success of his latest fundraising endeavors, and Connie and Elex would find themselves entirely unnoticed.
"If you want a mystery, I can show you a few." Elex stood against the wall, his hands clasped before him in formal posture, and he kept his eyes trained forward as much of the partygoers did. "Mr. Beauregarde will probably speak soon. His speeches are longwinded, but he knows how to use his money. He's given a taste of his wealth to just about everyone in the room. He's caught the LeFevres from falling into bankruptcy, and brought Mr. van Buren's inventive dreams into reality. They'll look to him like slavering dogs if it means another grant.
"So here's the plan. He talks, we go to his study. His son already broke into it for the liquor. But there are stories there that are worth a lot more than a night spent drunk." Tales of monsters, coverups, and ponzi schemes for failing businesses. "Are you interested?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:46 pm
Connie frowned a bit more as he commented on her being bashful. Had she been? Maybe it was her youth, but she didn't find herself old enough to be considered good enough. Not enough that an adult would care, much less any of these rich people wanting to risk having a child do something they're too lazy to do themselves. Not that it was a easy thing to do, but it was when a child told them something they didn't want to hear. She breathed in, maybe a bit too deep, realizing her breathed had stilled in her over thinking as Connie noticed Elex more towards the door. His words felt bittersweet to her; supportive or not, the thought of ancestors' thoughts only echoed the living, wondering how his on family thought about it...if they even knew or noticed past their own plans for him. Though Connie found herself straightening up as he opened the door, her spin tingling at the sights and sounds of the party before them. She did feel relief when no one even seemed to so much as glance towards them. Listening carefully as he explained the dynamics of the families before them and stepping forward to be evenly at his side. Out of habbit and her watching of his movements, her right hand found itself placed over her left, finger and pink touching ever so slightly as she held her hands in place to mimic the event in front of them. Of course her eyes lite up at the hearing of tall tales and mysteries, piking her interest greatly. She couldn't help but at least bounce a little on her toes. "Very." She answered, as smoothly as she could, though she may or may not have been grinning just a little too big.
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Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:15 am
The opening to the speech came, ever clear and steady for as rehearsed as it wasn't. The head of the Beauregarde household often looked so at home in front of a microphone - destined for standing at the heart of attention. Elex envied him not for it, for Mr. Beauregarde was precisely the type of man that Elex preferred to watch, for they wanted to be watched. Even in the moments that they didn't enjoy the attention, Elex imagined that a hint of excitement still remained - even in the face of a scathing affair.
And with the opening line to the speech came Connie's own admission into the plan. He kept his smile to himself. "Follow me." He gestured for her lightly as he began to cross the long dining hall. Many stood with their backs to the pair, lingering as they were on the outskirts, and most took no notice of them. Elex spotted his mother standing not far from the Salvatores with eyes straight ahead, her husband on her arm. They each looked undisturbed by Elex's abscence and would likely remain so until the end of the evening, when they chose to return home. Whether Connie's parents would start searching became its own question - for their snooping would be endangered if suddenly the Salvatore girl could not be located. And that would, he supposed, reflect badly on him.
Illusion presented a powerful precedent in how easily he could be blamed for Connie's disappearance - and more. Thoughts easily engineered about what he was doing with her, alone, in that study.
In these times, people looked for scandals. And where they could find none, they created scandals out of smoke and mirrors. It wouldn't matter what Connie said - their reality was just as easily overruled.
Elex cut down one of the servant halls when none remained in the corridor, and took the first left he found. Often he lingered if Connie needed a chance to catch up, and occasionally he paused in consideration of which direction came next. Once he froze in his step and immediately backed up to avoid spotting by another servant; guests weren't intended to leave the party area, he knew. And finally, when they emerged into another, grander hallway, Elex spotted the study just off the corner of the two intersecting areas. "There it is," he breathed, punctuating the silence. And as he approached the door, he found that the knob turned dutifully in his hand, and entry to the area was blessedly simple.
Elex kept the door open only so long as Connie needed entry. Afterward, the gold-plated knob was returned to its original position. "We're looking for a notebook. Black leather, with a gold seal on the front. It's usually kept with a ledger inside." Elex shifted toward the long oak desk to begin searching its paper-stricken surface. Bookcases and a similarly cluttered coffee table offered other potential hiding spots for the object in question. "Look around; it shouldn't be hard to find."
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 8:38 am
Connie's eyes lingered on Mr. Beauregarde as his speech started and spread on the room like butter, looking over the room and their parents. Her ears lingering just a bit longer as she continued listening as she followed Elex down the mazed halls. Memorizing it as they went, almost running into him at his sudden stop to keep them from getting caught. "Thank you", Connie thanked Elex in a whisper and a bit of a grin, squeezing into the Beauregarde's office quickly. The little library delighted her as she scanned the room until he gave her a mission with the black leather book. "Hmm." She mused a bit before starting to scan the bookcase behind the desk's chair. "Ah!" Connie announced, "I found it." She said happily, plucking it from the shelf, right where it would be eye level if you where sitting in the case. Connie placed the book on the desk, running her fingers gently on the gold seal that Elex had said would be there. "You can do the honors." She said, looking up at him while making a hand gesture towards the book. Strickenized Sorry for the late and crappy reply! >.< lol
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 7:58 pm
Elex wasted little time in opening the book once she retired it to the desk. He dismissed the brunt of the papers at the beginning, each covered in a series of newspaper clippings documenting Mr. Beauregarde's success throughout his later years. Eventually Elex skipped over an entire divider. Beyond there, more curious clippings started to turn up - articles of disappearances, mysterious deaths, and red pen notations scrawled around the outside edges of the articles. Here, Elex began to slow down, until he reached the article for which he sought.
"Here it is." He placed a slender finger on the page. "Barren Pines: Boarding School or Organ-Harvesting Ring? In the past few months, several students have disappeared from the Barren Pines roster with no explanation. Investigators worked tirelessly to determine the fate of more than a dozen students that went to school at Barren Pines, and the trail of a few, seemingly innocuous clues led them to discover a grizly organ-harvesting ring operating out of the school grounds.' For a man who spends all his time talking about his tie collection at dinner parties, Mr. Beauregarde is a connoisseur of unsolved mysteries. The paper's repute doesn't seem to bother him, either; this one's from a renowned paper, but some of the others…"
Elex turned the page. On the next, a collection of articles reporting demonic attack, animalistic attack, and unidentified attacks peppered the next spread. "Here, here, and here. The ones talking about monsters don't hold much clout for obvious reasons. But the rest…" He pointed to a few of the remainders. "Maybe they understood that mysteries sold just as well. Or maybe the truth was less interesting."
His gaze swapped from Connie to the grandfather clock standing watch in the corner of the room, and he studied the delicate golden hands that gestured to the appointed hour. "He's been collecting for a few years now, judging by the dates. But we don't have a lot of time to look them over - his speeches rarely go over ten minutes.
"Tell me, Connie. How would you react if you found out one of your relatives was caught up in an organ-harvesting ring? Or attacked by an unidentified assailant? Would you still like it here?"
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