The Seduction of Chadwick: On the Ramblin' QueenOn the Ramblin' Queen, there was every indication that it would be a normal night. The meeting with the 'entertainment' staff had just broken up. Behind her Petra could hear Vincenzo going over the notes on her desk a final time while she watched the preparations for the night in the main lounge from the two way mirror. "You worry too much. I don't forsee any problems." "And that is why I am in charge of security and not you," Vincenzo drawled at her back. "I always foresee problems." Petra rolled her eyes at her reflection. "Here I thought it was because I pay you." "That is a perk," he mused. Now beside her, he glanced over and tucked a loose strand of hair back up in the pin it escaped from. She smiled. "You better go. Ramon is giving Gino the evil eye." Vincenzo scowled and opened his mouth for a no doubt scathing opinion of the hot blooded dueler. Petra laughed at him. "I don't want to hear it. Gino has a reserved game tonight he needs to be setting up for anyway." He continued his scowl for a moment before sneering. "Are your friends making an appearance tonight?" "I have no idea," she shrugged. "Perhaps. You know how Merlin is. He's either here before we open the pier or he Trumps me in the middle of the night. I do believe the idea of advanced warning is a foreign concept for kings." Vincenzo left her office grumbling and she didn't need to hear a word of it to know what he was saying. Decades of this had not changed his opinion one iota. Petra continued her vigil as the girls slowly returned to main lounge after putting their finishing touches on for the night. Sophie had recently completed their new spring wardrobes and no one was disappointed. The fabrics were rich, the designs both elegant and alluring and so customized to each woman's coloring and figures that there would be very little clothes swapping going on for awhile. Nothing was duplicated and the outfits were complete, right down to their jewelry and corsets. Sophie had given Petra exactly what she asked for: They looked like the treasures she wanted them to be seen as. She had even somehow managed to make sure no one clashed with the decor. At the bar, Sergio was with the bartenders, going one more time over the rather strange new drink they were trying tonight. She was rather dubious about it, but their Chaos born clientele seemed to like things that were on fire. She watched as he put the final touch to it that would ignite the flame burning *inside* the liquid. She would not be drinking that. Lights of diffused color washed the scene below as the setting sun hit the stained glass windows and the Art Nouveau decor of the lounge. Most of the effect would be lost on the their guests, but she didn't care. Those windows were more for her than anyone else. The dynamic, undulating, and flowing designs, with curved 'whiplash' lines of syncopated rhythm that characterized the interior of the Ramblin' Queen always seemed to surpise the newcomers. It was at odds with the exterior, she knew, as was the library tucked away on the second tier, but that was one reason she liked it. It seemed appropiate for Amber. Surprising depths were to be found if one just bothered to look beyond the exterior. Which few did. Very few of the clientele were aware that Petra's staff was both beautiful and sometimes frighteningly intelligent. The Jade trained their minds as well as their bodies. Courtesans were expected to hold intelligent conversations with men - and women - from all walks of life, and the men had mostly all been educated in the Cornarian University system. They had all had taught their former street kids how to use those sharp minds that kept them alive for something besides casing a mark. The debates both political and theoretical that raged through the dining room everyday was proof enough of that. But the average client through the doors didn't seem to want their entertainment intelligent and so that's what they got - fawning, and often vapid, arm candy. With a last look in the mirror to check the lay of the aquamarine silk of her gown, Petra picked up her peacock feather fan and went downstairs for a last look. She swept through the lounge and up on the maindeck. Vincenzo was up on the top deck with Angelo, watching for trouble or surprises. Several members of the security staff were guarding the entrance to the private pier and gangplank and checking names against the reservation list. Seeing that all was in order, Petra returned inside to make sure the private parlor usually reserved for Merlin and his group was free for the night - just in case. When she returned to the lounge, the early arrivers were already coming in to the sounds of Talen at the piano and light chatter began. She ruffled Talen's hair as she passed him on her way to the bar. Accepting something blue in a crystal flute from grinning Armand, Petra's social smile bloomed as she went out to start her mingling. "Ah, Ambassador. How lovely to see you again..."
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