Thoughts, Invitations and Suprises

# Thoughts, Invitations, and Surprises

*Posted by : Nim on Apr 2, 2018, 7:28am*

- Hansons Apparel, Centrum. Evening August 19th -

Emily spent a sizeable chunk of the rest of her work day cleaning up after the blighted Skyrider and doing damage control. She had ended up giving a huge discount on a dress to the injured customer and employee, because maintaining Hansons good reputaion and employee moral was more important than a slight profit hit.

What a mess. This incident certainly affirmed Emily's distaste for Skyriders. She wondered what Emma liked about that walking stereotype. Seriously, in what kind of place is it acceptable to punch people for no other reason than that they decided to interract with you anyway?

Emily ended up staying late to get caught up on all her paperwork, and she didn't get out of Hansons until a little after seven o'clock. At this point, she was exhausted. She would have liked to have tried to communicate her's and Emma's findings to her point of contact in the Rising Star, but she wasn't feeling up to the task of sneaking into the Sprawl, and it was kind of late anyway. Despite her exhaustion, she decided to leg it home, for she had already spent a fair bit of money on the cab ride to work, and she was dangerously close to going above her monthly budget.

She slid the envelope Emma had given her into her purse, then walked out of the building. The walk home was quite cathartic, and Emily was eventually able to think about her coversation with Emma without feeling angry. Although Emily really did not appreciate Emma bringing her trainwreck of a girlfriend into Hansons and putting her reputation, and possibly even her life, at risk, she still probably should have treated the prostitue with more respect. Emma was a valuable asset to the Rising Star, and it really wasn't Emily's job to treat her like dirt and reinforce the stereotype that all aristocrats are condescending pricks.

Truthfully one of Emily's goals as an agent of the Rising Star was to try to bring about unity and tolerance within the City of Dusk. It was true that the aristocracy endlessly exploited the less fortunate people of the city, and the exploited people certainly had a right to be upset about that, but Emily didn't think that waging a war against the elite was the way to happily bring about much needed social reform. Even if the aristocracy could be violently overthrown, someone would have to fill the power vacuum. Hypothetically, if that someone was sypathetic to the plight of the lower classes, they could implement policies to increase the income and access to food, water, and medical care of the less wealthy. However, Emily was pretty sure the fear, hate, and anger toward the elite would still exist, and as long as the aristocracy and the working class refused to work together and treat each other with the respect due to all human beings, tensions and frustrations would always threaten to tear the city apart.

All that said, when the time came, and an opportunity for revolution and reform came, Emily hoped that she could mediate for the old aristocracy and help them navigate the new ways of the city, where they actually had to work for a living and they could no longer take advantage of other people. In order for her to be a model to them, though Emily was going to have to treat the lower classes with the respect they deserved. It was easier for her to do this to people like Hendrick, Samuel, Tara, and other members of the Rising Star that she liked, but for her to treat people like Emma and Lina respectfully was going to be a challenge, but one she realized she had to try to do if she wanted to make Dusk a better place.

Soon, the apartment complex that Emily lived in, Verdant Hills, came into view. She walked up the steps to her apartment on the third floor, unlocked the door with her right hand (her left wrist was still tender, although it was getting better quickly), and walked in. After making herself a small dinner of some fruit and a sandwhich, she started doing some house keeping. Once she was done she sat at her desk in her bedroom and pulled out the notes she had taken during the party last night. She reread them to jog her memory of who she had talked to and what she had learned, and then she began to write her report of the evening's events.

She was just getting to her conversation with Louis Desaut when she heard someone knock on her door. For a moment, she just sat there in disbelief, for the only time anyone ever knocked on her door was if they were giving her a bill, and that never happened on a Saturday evening.

Whoevever it was that was at the door knocked again. With a sigh, Emily rose from her chair, walked up to her door, and opened it to see a well dressed man that she had never seen before standing outside. "Can I help you?" she asked, when she didn't see him carrying a letter or anything.

"Perhaps," the man replied. "Are you miss Emily Roezell?"

"Er, yes I am," Emily answered, slightly anxiously. She wasn't really sure where this conversation was going, but this was quite unusual for her.

"Ah, good. My master, Mister Tate Montclaire, would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience."

"Tate... Montclaire?" This was interesting. She wouldn't normally have really cared much about Tate, but after Spink's announcement, she realized that there could be some good to getting to know Tate, for perhaps she could talk to his father, Benjamin, and learn what the timeline was for actually starting the expansion. Plus, Emma had mentioned that the head of recruitment for the Dusk Militia was a friend of Tate's. Perhaps Tate could introduce her to him.

She was also supposed to go on a date with Louis, but the information she could get from Tate and his father would probably be more helpful in the short term than what she could get from Louis. She would have to figure how to postpone a relationship with Louis until she learned what she wanted from Tate and broke off a relationship with him. Love triangles could be fun, but Emily didn't want to risk looking like a slut by going out with multiple guys at the same time.

"Yes, Tate Montclaire, son of Mister Benjamin Montcaire" the servant said after Emily didn't say anything for a few moments.

"I know who Tate is, I just... I can't say I was expecting this."

"So when can you meet with him?" the servant pressed.

"Ah, how about Tuesday night?" Emily stated. That would let her keep her date tomorrow, where she could try to end things with Louis on a good note, then she could attend the Rising Star meeting on Monday and submit her's and Emma's reports.

"Can you meet earlier than that, say tomorrow afternoon?" The servant asked, clearly not liking her answer.

"I'm afraid not. I have to work then, and I already have plans tomorrow night and Monday night. Tuesday is the earliest available night I have."

"I see," the servant frowned. "I will let my Master Tate know that. Good evening Miss Roezell." With that, the servant bowed lightly and walked toward the stairs. Emily closed the door, returned to her desk, and got back to work on her report.

She finished the rough draft of her report an hour later. She would tidy it up tomorrow night, but for now, she needed to catch up on sleep. Emily changed to her night clothes, and lay down. Boy what a day it had been...

- Verdant Hills Apartment Complex, West Twins. Morning, August 20th -

Emily woke up on time the following morning, so she didn't need to worry about throwing her things together super quickly, and she would be able to walk instead of taking a cab. She quickly gathered her work outfit, which consisted of a dark green, knee length skirt, a white blouse, and a brown corset, and walked to Verdant Hills bathouse, locking her apartment behind her. She cleaned herself up in a timely manner, applied some lavender scented soap while she was at it, then dried herself and put her work clothes on. Once she was done, she walked back up to her apartment, where she would make her lunch and grab her purse before beginning her trek to work.

However, as she walked up the steps to the third floor, she caught sight of someone knocking heavily on her door.

"Emily, are you in there!" the figure called out as he banged on the door.

Emily froze. She recognized that voice...

As she got up onto the last step, the man heard her and instinctively looked toward her.

"There you are, Emily," Tate Montclaire grinned. "No wonder you weren't responding."

"Tate, what are you doing here?" Emily asked, quite surprised to see the young aristocrat on her doorstep.

"I'm here to see you, of course," Tate replied. "I got tired of waiting for Leo to tell me your response, so here I am."

"Err, well, it is certainly a... pleasant surprise to see you, but I have to be at work in an hour."

Tate raised an eyebrow at this. "You have to go to work? Where do you work?"

Emily walked up to her door, unlocked it with her key, and opened it up as she responded, "I am the Sales Manager at Hansons Apparel."

"Oh, Hansons, I know Hansons. That's not too far from here. It shouldn't take you that long to get there."

"It does take awhile when I walk there in heels," Emily explained.

"Oh..." Tate looked thoughtful for a moment, then a grin spread across his face. "As it happens, I need to shop for another tuxedo. Perhaps we could go together? I could drive you."

Emily paused. "That... that would be great actually. I'll be out in a few minutes."

She was about to close the door on him when Tate said, "Wait, you're not going to let me in?"

Emily frowned, then consented. "Fine, you can come in." She left the door open for him and walked over to her icebox to pull her sandwich meats out. Hopefully Tate would have the manners to keep his nose out of where it didn't belong, such as her underwear drawer and her desk, particularly her desk. If he saw some of the files she kept in there, she could find herself in a tight spot, and she was not in the mood to deal with that kind of a mess this early in the day.