Note: don't play the song till a specific part. I'll tell you when.
And on the spot, Navalia felt a lightbulb go off over her head.
"Oh! You're the Golden Guard!"
She curtsied modestly out of "respect." She checked out the outfit she did so. The Golden Guard was wearing a more formal version of his white cape. Underneath, Navalia saw a gold suit vest over a white button up and a black tie, topped with a pair of black trousers and dress shoes, and of course, his gold mask.
Not gonna lie, the man had drip tonight.
"Again, my sincerest apologies, I hope you can forgive me. I didn't ruin such a dashing look, did I?"
He chuckled lightly, to her surprise. Navalia thought she'd hear him speak at least once tonight, but she didn't expect him to sound so...
Smooth.
"It's no big deal, I'm perfectly fine, there's no need to be so formal. I may be here with the Emperor tonight, but I'm mostly here to enjoy myself."
Navalia just kept smiling, ignoring the slightly irritating smugness in his voice.
"And thank you for the compliment, I'd had doubts about this look before coming. You look quite lovely yourself, Miss...?"
Navalia extended her hand to shake.
"Jacqueline Harrow, I'm here representing my father Luxor, he fell ill tonight."
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Harrow."
He lifted up his mask ever so slightly above his mouth. The Golden Guard kissed her hand, catching her almost completely off guard. Navalia caught a quick glimpse of a scar on his jawline before it hid behind the mask once again.
"Call me Jackie."
"Jackie. Of course. And may I ask, Jackie, what is it you were rushing towards before we happened to meet?"
"Would you like a lie that makes me look more mature, or the dead truth?"
"Let's here both, shall we?"
"The lie was going to be that I thought I'd dropped an earring and was going to ask a waiter if they'd seen it."
"And the truth?"
"I wanted to try one of those treats they were handing out with the red fromáge on top so badly."
The Golden Guard laughed.
"Actually, I was after the same thing. You know what, I feel like abusing my power tonight."
He looked over at the waiter with the snack they wanted.
"Excuse me? You there! Can you bring those over here?"
The waiter quickly did as asked and brought the tray over. But there was only one left.
"Oh dear, that's unfortunate. You take it."
"Nonsense, Jackie, I insist you take it."
"Alright, I'll save us an argument."
She split the snack in half.
"Better?"
"You've made a good impression on me, Jackie Harrow."
They tried it. Upon tasting this snack, the two of them were utterly delighted.
"Spicy and cheesy?"
"And a crunchy buttery biscuit. This is delicious!"
"Thank you ever so much for getting us the last one, you've simply made my night so far."
"Please, that's what I should be thanking you for. I must go check on the Emperor, but I hope to run into you again sometime this night."
"I concur. I'll see you around."
They went their separate ways. Navalia didn't expect for her plan to start this smoothly. And you may be wondering what plan this is. This is a plan she came up with to make the night more dramatic and fun, and to be able to sneak off towards the treasure wing without raising suspicion.
Navalia spotted a new batch of meat-based foodstuffs leaving the kitchen. She took the first one from the tray. Not bad. Too dry, though.
She hexed the meat to be overly raw on the inside while nobody was looking. Then, she just mingled and waited.
✺
✺
✺
Hunter, the Golden Guard, went to check on his uncle, the Emperor. He was looking at a tapestry in the corner. He had the guards give them some space.
"Hey uncle. Who's catering this thing, the food is great."
"I'll have to check later. Hunter, are you enjoying yourself?"
"Yes, I guess I am."
"That's good... I'm going to leave early. Would you mind staying here for a little longer as representation for me?"
"Not at all."
"Thank you. I'll be off. Have fun."
Hunter watched as he left. Once he was gone, he skimmed the party. His eyes landed on Jackie, who was sitting by herself drinking a bubbly beverage.
She seemed bored, like she might leave soon, too. Hunter didn't want that to happen yet. If he was supposed to stay, he wanted to enjoy himself, and Jackie seemed like good company.
He went over to check the playlist. It had been drastically improved since a little while ago. He saw a certain song coming up that intrigued him.
He went over to Jackie, who had just finished redoing her eyeliner.
"We meet again."
She turned to look at him and smiled.
"It seems we do. Pardon me, I was just getting more comfortable. Eyeshadow makes me feel kind of gross after wearing it for more than an hour."
"I didn't know eyeshadow did that. But you certainly pull off simple black eyeliner."
Jackie laughed.
"You certainly know how to flatter a girl."
Note: you can put the song on now, but you don't have to if you don't want to
Hunter smirked his ass off under the mask. He was gonna look so fucking smooth in 2 seconds. He opened his mouth to say something, but Jackie beat him to it.
"This song is so good. Would you like to dance?"
Hunter had to double take. This was the first time something like this has happened to him.
"I... you read my mind."
She got up from her seat, took him by the hand, and went onto the dance floor.
Jackie helped him into a dance position, one hand holding hers, another on her waist. She put hers on his shoulder.
They started steadily moving their feet to the music. Hunter eyed his feet, making sure he didn't trip or stepped on his dance partners feet on accident.
Just as he was getting used to the footwork, Jackie decided to make this less boring.
She let go of Hunter and started to dance in a circle. He watched her curiously.
"Was I really that boring?"
"Of course not. I just simply like to keep things interesting. Although—"
She took his hand and spun into him. One hand held his and the other was over the hand Hunter was now holding her waist in.
"Do you dance often?"
"Not exactly."
"I can tell. Don't look at your feet so often. Look at the person you're dancing with more. And don't think about your movements too much."
Jackie spun around to face him once again.
"That's what the music is for."
She put her hands on his sides and helped him move a little more loosely.
"Just let your body flow, y'know? Go with the instincts."
She helped him a little more before letting go.
"So like... this?"
Hunter took her hand, spun her, and then pulled her closer by the waist. Jackie gave him an impressed look.
"You're a fast learner."
"You're an adequate teacher."
They started to do wider steps in perfect unison. Never once did they break eye contact. Jackie may not have been able to actually tell, but she could feel his stare.
Lost in the moment, Hunter let his words slip as he mini-dipped her, one hand holding her and the other fixing a strand of hair, her arms around his neck.
"You have splendid eyes..."
He watched her face get pinker, making the same thing happen to him. Jackie laughed bashfully.
"Quite the charmer, aren't you?"
"I could say the same of you."
Hunter pulled her up and they started side-dancing, one of them facing the opposite direction of the other by their left side. Hunter had his arm around the front of her waist and Jackie had her arm around his collarbone.
They conversed while side stepping.
"You meant that?"
"Um... yeah. You have very nice eyes..."
"Thank you... sorry if I seem flustered, nobody's exactly called them 'splendid' before. Ha ha..."
"It's fine. I think you look rather cute."
"Well I always look cute. However—"
She repositioned herself and dipped Hunter, almost knocking the hood of his cape off. Jackie leaned in and spoke in a low voice.
"I wonder how cute you look under there right now."
He coughed, suddenly getting very warm with the mask on his face.
"What do you say we put that off for next time?"
Jackie laughed as she got Hunter up straight. He began to lead.
"You know, dancing is far easier than I thought."
"Yeah? What made it so easy?"
"Well, it's a lot like fighting. Anticipating the moves of the other person, maintaining a rhythm, concentration. I do that a lot. Only this is far more enjoyable. But I guess that's what fighting is in the end, isn't it? A competitive dance."
"Guess that's what makes you such a natural at this."
"I wonder how far this 'natural talent' goes."
"Let's see, shall we?"
She leaned into him and whispered.
"Brace yourself."
Jackie backed up about two steps before taking a leap at Hunter as if she was going to put him in a headlock with her legs.
He quickly caught her waist and she continued to maneuver around him counter-clockwise on his back and neck with some help from him.
When Jackie was back on the ground, she lost balance. Hunter stopped her from falling over by spinning her around three times, then holding her close while dragging her to the right.
Jackie blinked, processing what just happened. Then she started to laugh. Hunter let out a breath.
"That was exhilarating."
"You're really something else, my guy!"
She extended her leg back, revealing a hidden slit in the dress. Her back arched in reverse as she went down. Hunter received a very good view of Jackie's collarbone, which was absolutely magnificent, mind you.
"Catch!"
He caught her raised leg. One look at it, and Hunter malfunctioned.
"Um—you uh—do you want it back, or?"
She giggled and put it down. They did a fast paced tango around the dance floor, catching the attention of the people who hadn't seen them do the flip thing earlier.
"Looks like we've caught some eyes."
"Is that ok? It won't affect your job?"
"You kidding? Being seen with such a beautiful girl my age could only boost my status."
"Well, you're not wrong. But if someone knew I was dancing with you tonight, they'd blow up at me."
"Significant other?"
"Heavens no. I simply haven't the time. Or I just haven't found a good enough person to spend time with."
"I know the feeling..."
They had a brief tension-filled silence. Jackie was quick to break it.
"So! You wanna give this little audience a show?"
"Absolutely I do."
As they went around, Hunter lifted up Jackie and spun her. She would point her legs out and some of the sparkly mesh fabric would float around and look pretty.
She was put down on the ground, and Hunter sent her spinning away from him. He slid off camera and reappeared in the frame.
The watchers applauded. He took Jackies hand and pulled her into him, and they kept rapid-tangoing around the area.
Then he picked her up in his arms and held her bridal-style as they spun around. Then Hunter swung up Jackie high in the air, and passed her between his legs.
She slid out twirling on her knees and got up, and Hunter came in, literally swept her off her feet, and dipped her so low that everything she saw looked upside down and she had a leg pointed up.
The song ended, and the watchers burst into applause as Jackie and Hunter panted and stayed in that position for a bit.
Jackie suddenly made a gagging sound.
"Are you ok? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's fine—urk!"
Hunter helped her up. He looked around, noticing that others were getting a bit sick as well.
"Did you eat anything that tasted weird?"
"There was this poultry-based thing I ate a little while ago. The inside was a little cold and mushy."
"Must've been a raw batch..."
She held her stomach and covered her mouth.
"Oh Titan... hey, thanks so much for tonight. I had fun. Sorry to cut it short, but I really don't want to throw up on you!"
With that, Jackie ran off to look for the bathroom. After she was out of sight, Hunter went into action.
"All members of the Healing Coven here tonight, start taking care of the sick! Staff, please go look in the kitchen to see if any more raw meats are being used!"
Hunter felt something was amiss here. How is it all these people got sick at almost the same time?