Her Safe Haven

Seven.

"So these are for sure the bottles you'll be featuring?" [Name's] focus on the three wine bottles made her completely miss the annoyed 'tsk' of the bartender's eyebrows, which conveniently were the only unmasked part of his face. The rest was concealed by a white mask, his eyes shielded by goggles- AGAIN with the glasses?

"I wouldn't have given them to you if they weren't." [Name] peered up this time, noting the sharpness in his words. He certainly annoys easily.

"I'm just making sure, I don't want anything to go wrong for this event." At this, Gladius paused his cleaning.

"I'm surprised you care," another pause, "although I wouldn't be surprised if the Young Master made a deal with you." A slight twitch of her lips was the only indication of a response, one that didn't go unnoticed by the blue-haired bartender.

"Regardless, I'm not going to be the one to mess this up. And to do this, do you mind if I sample these?" His response was offering three empty wine glasses. He quickly left to the other side of the bar, as if deciding he was done talking to her. [Name] didn't mind at all. Sitting at the far side of the bar, she could see the rest of the lounge. Nearly opposite of her, where Gladius had decided to wander to, sat a very familiar face. [Name] immediately connected the large dark eyes and black hair, belonging to the head maid of the palace; Baby 5. She wore a tight black dress, her hair free in pretty curls. She clung onto a man's arm, and the man looked.... Well, sleazy. [Name] eyed him as he grinned down at the love-struck female. His eyes and hair were dark, eyes nearly black, and his shorter face and pointed nose gave him a rodent appearance. He reminded her of a slick weasel. Baby 5 never once looked towards anyone else.

To each their own, I suppose?

Ignoring them, she instead turned to the bottles in front of her. Time to taste~

After a while the flavours started to mix together, and [Name] decided to rely on the description on the label. To be fair, she's never been great at distinguishing the flavours of wine; the tasting was really just an excuse to drink. "Damn, I deserve this." The words accidentally voiced aloud, but the wine caused her not to care. The only people close enough to hear would have been Gladius, but he left to do something in the back room. The lounge had died down to just her, Baby 5 and her date, and two average men in suits who sat at a separate table near the entrance. How late is it? She still had no phone, and the lounge lacked a clock.

[Name] took another large sip of her red wine.

One of the suited men stood and walked to the bar.

He started towards the centre, before suddenly veering right, stopping at Baby 5's side. He said something, causing Baby 5 to glance at him, already scowling. She gripped the weasel's arm tighter and... wait. [Name's] spine straightened, brows furrowing. Her vision blurred from the movement. Did he just...? The suited man backed away, his eyes locking with the weasel's. She swore they shared a smirk, but a blink later and they weren't even looking at each other.

Her stomach tightened as Baby 5 took a sip of her drink. Maybe I'm just really drunk? Despite this, [Name] couldn't bring herself to leave her seat. That was the plan at least... Because after a couple more blurry moments, her hazy brain realized she had to pee. Like, right now. After throwing a glance at the weasel, she quickly stood and started to the side of the lounge, where a little dim light illuminated a 'washroom' sign. Glancing to her right, her [e/c] eyes locked with a pair of blue ones- they belonged to one of the suited men, the man who stayed in his seat. He grinned, so she glared.

[Name] only looked away when she stepped into the short hall, which led to only two doors; men's and women's. So she took the door on the right, pausing only to glance around the very posh room. It was slightly brighter than the lounge behind her, but kept the same dark colours. The fresh lilac flowers were a surprising touch, because she couldn't imagine Gladius taking such delicate care for his domain of the palace. A smile formed as she walked into one of the private stalls. She was only in the bathroom for a minute so [Name] was surprised, when she had stepped back into the lounge, that Baby 5 was no longer sitting at the bar. Frantic, she scanned the lounge. Nothing, no one. All three men were missing, too.