Quote:
The Charity Benefit (2) - The Charity Benefit has drawn a social crowd and they seem keen to make conversation as well as friends. The room is full of compliments and kind words and every now and then it looks like you're catching someone's eye and one person in particular seems to be paying more attention to you than the others. The stranger lingers by a display table showcasing some of the donated auction items. They look familiar but you can’t quite place why. If you try to approach them, the stranger suddenly seems to disappear before your eyes. It might be easy to assume they got lost in the crowd, but any examination of the room makes it hard to tell where they’ve gone. More than that, it seems like sometimes you catch a glimpse of them in one part of the room only to see them disappear in the blink of an eye and immediately appear across the room in a different spot entirely. It’s impossible to get close to them, and the sensation of eyes on you never really fades.
Though admittedly a bit rough around the edges, Daisy was in her element when it came to large crowds of dressed up people. Really, the only difference between the Benefit and a Con hall was the lack of animal ear and tails. And leather. She did not mourn the lack of leather. And it was so easy to give and receive sincere compliments. She knew she was a striking figure, but it was always nice to have that opinion reinforced by strangers. Why, she’d even been stealthily handed little calling cards.
There was something to be said for being eye-catching.
As she stood and chatted blithely with a rather grand looking older woman, Daisy felt the back of her neck prickle. She was being watched. And rather intently judging by how her intuition was screeching. Smiling easily at the older woman, she snuck a few quick glances around and was finally rewarded in her efforts when she caught sight of a tall stranger near one of the many display tables set out. She couldn’t figure out why they were staring so intently. It wasn’t anyone that she immediately recognized, though a gnawing familiarity teased at her mind. It wasn’t anyone she knew from the convention circuit. It wasn’t even anyone she knew from the senshi side of things. Weird.
Turning back to the older woman, Daisy smiled and moved on once it was polite enough to do so. She wanted to track that stranger down and find out who they were. But as she neared, the stranger seemed to melt away into the crowd. Feeling slightly miffed, she paused and used her height to full advantage to scan the room. Taller than most and I can’t even spot whoever it was staring, she thought. She was ready to give it up and find someone new to talk to when she saw a flash of the stranger’s hair out of the corner of her eye. Turning quickly, she blinked owlishly when they’d vanished again.
What in the actual hell.
She allowed herself to be pulled into a group discussion with a handful of people she’d met earlier, but everytime she glanced around, she saw the stranger first in one part of the room then another until she felt a little dizzy. How on earth were they moving so quickly in this crowd?
A few times, she’d tried to track them down, only to keep losing them. And the sensation of being watched only made her feel more frantic to track whoever it was down and shake them for answers.
As the evening wore on, Daisy had more or less resigned herself to being watched without being able to do a damned thing about it. She didn’t like it at all, but she knew that whoever it was would only anish and further drive her crazy if she tried to approach. And at this point, it was easier to deal with crawling skin than looking like an idiot.
Frankly, it was a lot easier to deal with being stared at by a weird stranger.
Word Count: 512
