Like Fire & Ice

For a moment, Ace kissed him back--and then they were parting. He guided her back up and she stared at him. Then she glared and slapped him. The redhead gasped. Ace ignored her, focused on Corrick.

"How dare you!" she exclaimed, even though she was mildly amused by his audacity to just up and kiss her for no apparent reason--let alone without permission. "Who gave permission to kiss me like that? And in public! It certainly wasn't me!"

Corrick chuckled softly at her outrage. What she said was true, but her eyes betrayed her. Mock outrage in her voice, but genuine curiosity behind her eyes. Had he actually surprised her? That would have been a first for the night.

"Aracelis, you may be able to lie to me, but you cannot lie to yourself. I see it in your eyes. You enjoyed it." He brushed his lips with his fingers. "I tend to have that effect on people." He cocked a smirk at her. "Usually most women aren't this fun, though."

"Usually," she retorted, still amused, "most men aren't this much fun."

She slid her hand up his arm to grip his wrist, tugging him back towards her with a smile--and palmed yet another vial. A man of many secrets. Just what a good assassin wanted. She pressed closer to him, resting a hand on his chest.

"You're not like most men, are you?"

"Keep me drinking, and you'll find out just how much I'm not like most men," Corrick smirked and caressed her hand on his chest. He leaned in close to her ear, looking at the Ginger for a moment who was just staring at the two of them. When they locked eyes, she gasped and turned to her partner, a portly man with a hairline that was vanishing as fast as any kind of love the two had for each other.

"Watch this," he whispered softly into Aracelis' ear, and, with a hand on her exposed lower back. The coldness of her skin was stark against the warmth of his hand, but they melded together like his palm had always been there. He twirled her around and both of their backs landed back onto the bar, with Corrick right next to the redhead lady, who was trying her absolute hardest to pretend he did not exist.

"My lady here thinks I've been ogling you the entire time we've been here, but it's not true." He guffawed at his own lack of a joke and gestured to the man on the ginger's other side, who peered over his glass of something dark with disgusted eyes. His furrowed brows screamed that he was two seconds away from losing his mind. "These ladies don't know what good alcohol does to a man's inhibitions, though... isn't that right?"

Let's just see how much chaos a fellow assassin could handle.

Ace raised an eyebrow, quietly watching Corrick as he interacted with the ginger lady and her man. Husband and wife, maybe? She tilted her head, curious now. They probably were married... She hummed, leaning back on the bar, half-turning to gesture for another drink while pocketing the vials she'd lifted off her companion. She caught the bartender giving her a nod before moving to make her drink.

"Her?" the ginger's man asked, tone a touch nasally. His eyes cut towards her, then back to Corrick. Ace smiled politely at the bartender as they set her drink down by her hand. "When you've for a Var Ardys with you?" The man scoffed and shook his head. "Psh. Come on, Varikka, we're leaving."

Ace pouted. "Really? But we were just getting to know each other...."

Spoiler

yessss, bar fight, bar fight! Let's drop this ballroom into chaos, shall we? XD

159 words

"At least let's shake before we leave, like gentlemen." Corrick protested, and reached his hand out above the bar, knocking into a tall and slender glass filled with crimson liquid, and it fell down with a silent little clink that still somehow resonated so much louder than the cacophony of the ball. The liquid sloshed out of the top of the glass and directly onto the lady's exposed bosom.

What happened next was a rush of actions and a flurry of emotions. The lady shrilled. Corrick gasped drunkenly. "I am so sorry, I can help clean it up for you, if you want... or perhaps you like it dirty?" The woman stared at him, mouth agape, for a moment, before she slapped him. Corrick took that moment to glance at Aracelis' bemused look and mouthed meet you on the balcony. With that, he ducked below a fist from the lady's partner and slinked his way into the rising chaos.

Ace leaned back against the bar and watched for a moment, just taking in the chaos. She tracked Corrick across the ballroom for several moments before losing sight of him, then sighed and pushed off the bar. She dodged a stray glass and a wildly swinging arm to follow him from the ballroom. What had he mouthed at her? Something about meeting on the balcony? Ace grinned and ducked beneath another flailing arm, slipping past them and towards the door.

Balcony it was, then.