Mali Anson
Location: Diamond District
Skills:N/A
Those were some expensive looking accessories, and the fact that she'd be able to wear them, even on loan was kind of mindblowing. After everything else Mali had been able to do, and buy with other people's money today, one more thing really shouldn't have affected her as much as it had, but it did. Perhaps it was the tangibility of wealth found within jewelry, gems and precious metals that just wasn't present in most forms of clothing or pampering didn't carry. After a few seconds she realized Genny wanted her to take the box and took the goods from the assistant. Gingerly, she shut the case again.
"I'll put it on after I've gotten dressed. Let's get going." It occurred to her that Genny probably didn't expect her to put on all the loaned jewelry, but she had already said it by then. Speaking of changing, Mali was getting tired of walking around clad in nothing but a robe. Even though all of the immodest bits were covered up, there was the passive undercurrent of constantly being exposed. It would be nice to at least have some panties on again.
"Sounds good, though honestly, I would be strutting around in them with nothing else on if I could even for five minutes," Genny said with a laugh before leading Mali out of the little luncheon area and back to the main area of the spa where Wayne was waiting and grinning from ear to ear.
"Well my hair might be getting cut soon, and I wouldn't want to have it get all over the," 'merchandise' passed through Mali's head as she spoke, but she had the proper amount of shame and forethought to not use that specific term,
"jewelry. I know I wouldn't want to have to try brushing all those clippings off anything I was planning to wear to an event like this.""Oh honey child, lets get you finished and out of that robe. Those things are so scratchy," he said as he turned the chair so that Mali could sit down. Genny had to hide the eye roll. She couldn't imagine the robes being uncomfortable in the least, they were like wearing a damn cloud to her but Wayne was weird.
"So Wayne, mind sharing what you had in mind that was important enough to put off until the very end?" She knew that the moment he set off to work that he would start talking and never, ever, ever stop. But maybe she could direct the flow of his conversation the way one could steer a skateboard on the downhill. You were going down, and there way little you could do to stop it, but you could at least determine where at the bottom you would end up.
"Oh that would spoil the surprise now wouldn't it." Wayne was beaming as he looked at Mali and she took a seat. It wasn't like he could turn her chair and block her view from any of the number of mirrors hanging up in the place. Sure, it was a spa and people were getting the hair and make up and everything else done but the number of mirrors around Waynes station were even more than the rest of the establishment. So, he had to stand as much in front of her as he could. "Look forward, hold still, and you will be a star," he said as he got to work and no sooner had he placed a single hand in her hair that he began to ramble again. This time going on and on about his coffee break date and what a catastrophe that was. His date had ordered coffee, black... "Who ever does that?"
Mali did, but she kept that factoid secret so as to avoid making Wayne's raving about how other people take their coffee directed towards her. She wasn't a huge fan of coffee, but she never saw the point in diluting the coffee with so much sugar and cream that the flavor changed to ice cream with a hint of mocha. Difference in opinion over coffee add-ins aside, all Mali could do now was sit still and ride out the storm of words as she tried to figure out what the hell Wayne was doing with her hair. A professional job, no doubt, but she was still curious.
Wayne kept going on about the coffee, his date, and so forth as he worked. Thankfully the man worked as quickly as he spoke and in no time at all he had finished and stepped back so that Mali could view
his work. It was a simple and slightly messy updo but it framed Mali's features nicely, showed off her neck line but gave her a softer touch as well. "Perfection," he said proudly as he stood there and admired his work.
"Good work, Wayne. It looks great," Mali replied, looking over Wayne's work. The advantage of all the mirrors being that she didn't even need to turn her head in order to see all the different angles. She could just turn her gaze 5 degrees to the right and bounce her sight across five more reflections to get to the angle she wanted to see. Now all she needed to do was change clothes, get some hot new shoes and she'd be ready for the party tonight. Unless there was something else she was forgetting.
"Well of course it does darling," Wayne said grinning and then gasped as
Zoie came out from around the corner. "Gurl!"
Zoie smirked a bit at Wayne but kept her eyes on Mali. "Now, that is a look. I love it. Genny has your dress in the changing room and I had way too many pairs of shoes brought over from L.V. Wasn't sure on the size but Genny is pretty good about that. If nothing works we can keep trying," she said as she came over and smiled brightly at her.
Mali would reply with something, but she couldn't. Her body just wouldn't respond to anything she tried to do. It was reminiscent of a phenomena that would occur occasionally whilst exercising. After finishing a lift and returning to a neutral position, she would try to do another, but the muscles would lack the energy to even try. Her body wasn't screaming to stop or anything like that, but the batteries had been removed and the toy not longer operational.
After five seconds too long, Mali managed to get a thumbs up and a goofy grin before pulling her self respect back together enough to look like the adult she normally was and get into the seclusion of the changing room. Zoie wasn't exactly sure what to think about it but a thumbs up was far better than a thumbs down.
Wow, what a great line that was, Mali. Did you think of it yourself?
Well Mali, I mean I didn't see you come up with anything.
But you didn't have to do it in a way where you look like a total buffoon, Mali!
Well if I didn't do anything at all, Mali it's just get more awkward.
Because coming off as a giant tool definitely isn't going to be awkward when you leave this room.
So was I just supposed to play it off as cool and aloof?
I don't know, probably.
But what if Zoie took it as dismissive? Like she wasn't good enough?
She wouldn't take it like that, would she?
I don't know, would she?Not wanting to follow that line of thinking any further, Mali put on the dress, being careful to avoid wrinkling any of it as much as possible.
Shoe selection was actually fairly easy since she had everything else in place. Black patterned dress, black shoes. Formal event? Get some heels on them, but not too high; Zoie's the prostitute, not you. Summertime, make it sleek, make it stylish. So it wasn't all too long after she was all dressed that she was able to leave the changing room looking far more put together in apparel, expression and body language.
As Mali came out Zoie spun around and gasped. "Now that is how a queen carries herself," Zoie said as she stepped over to Mali and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You look stunning," she added before looking over to Wayne. "Okay, we're out. Thank you and the staff for everything," she said as she held her hand out to the man.
"Oh gurl you know it's what I live for! You better be back soon and with this angel. Mali, keep her honest," Wayne teased before toddling off. Zoie just rolled here eyes a bit and began to head for the door. The doorman held it open for them as she stepped outside and Marc was standing there by the limo waiting for them.
"I feel so under dressed right now," he said with a smile as he adjusted his tux bow tie.
"Will do, Wayne. It was a pleasure meeting you all," Mali said with a wave as she left the spa behind. Maybe if she could keep this up, the party wouldn't end as an abject disaster. At least as far as the Zoie front went, she was pretty sure there would be no more surprises that would catch her off guard. Furthermore, she had wrapped her mental faculties in enough psychological duct tape that she was pretty sure that even if she was caught off-guard again, at least she probably wouldn't make a fool of herself.
"I'm sure that's plenty fine for the party, Marc. You'll only be under dressed if everyone else happens to show up like this. I don't think every politician and businessman is going to put so much effort into his dress." Mali walked over to the limousine and bent forward to look into the car before remembering that the windows were tinted and she could barely make out anything on the other side.
"Is Daniel in there? Or is he off somewhere else for the night," she asked, resisting the urge to point into the limo with her thumb. Such a gesture would look very low-class, and now she was really trying to put in the effort to start acting like she really belonged in an upper crust environment.
"Yeah yeah, I'm here,"
Relic said as he popped open the door and stepped out. Zoie walked over and messed with his hair some. She was trying to tame it but it was no use. "Hands off, geeze.
Mom," he said mocking her. Rolling her eyes she climbed into the limo as Marc held the door open for them.
"Well, 'ets get going, before Zoie tries to clean a smudge off his cheek with spit on her thumb," Marc laughed as he held his hand out to help Mali in if she needed it.
"Keep it up, I'm still armed you know," Zoie said under her breath as she slid over and made room for Mali. Once they were all in the car Marc would take the driver seat and they would be on their way.
"Look at you, getting all dressed up. Careful, or you might end up drowning tonight," Mali teased with a wink. The back of her mind flashed to how two of her building mates were found washed up, and that getting drowned tonight wasn't 100% out of the question, but it stayed just there, where it couldn't distract her too much from the business at hand. When confronted with Marc's offer,
her first instinct was to refuse him with a 'no thanks, I'm fine,' but it was more ladylike to accept assistance like that.
I really hope this doesn't become a long-term thing, Mali thought as she took Marc's hand and climbed into the back of the limousine.
