lucetilogs | Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

Who: Wanda Maxiomff, Kate Bishop, + Anyone who wants to show up
What: Club HQ's grand opening
When: January 31st
Where: HQ (Across the road from house 14)
Summary: Kate and Wanda finally unveil their Nightclub.
Rating: PG to PG-13.

[After a lot of preparation, opening night for Luceti's newest club is finally here. The music is loud and insistent, the kind where you have to shout a bit to be heard above the noise. Flashing, moving lights above reveal the purple decor, mostly devoid of chairs, and plenty of room to dance. A well stocked bar should be able to provide liquid courage to anyone too nervous to shake there groove-thang sober, while a patio out back affords a space for anyone wanting to have more intimate (or just quieter) interactions. ~~There's also a coat room, for anyone looking for a warmer spot for intimate interactions.~~

The doors open at seven, and will stay open until two am-- plenty of time to drink, dance, talk and generally have a good time. When the DJs aren't spinning, a house mix is put on, so there's never a quiet moment.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

/Like I said, he enjoys it./

[It's not even a little facetious; Levi doesn't doubt that Erwin actually enjoys flirting with women, even if the end goal is to have access to their money or influence or whatever else it is. He's well aware that likely Erwin's slept with a few of them as well.

Erwin flirts with Ginia, and she flirts back, and it's clear that they enjoy the game with one another. But Levi wonders if either one of them will ever drop the game when they get what they want out of each other, or if they end up as friends and not just allies regardless. A way to keep distance and yet be close at the same time.

It isn't that he's worried about romantic inclinations developing (not on Erwin's part, at least, though he doesn't know Ginia well enough to guess at that, though he suspects she'd try to fight them if they're anything alike), but attachments don't have to be romantic, and the lines here are considerably more blurred than what they usually deal with. She's not a subordinate, but unlike other mercenaries Erwin may have dealt with, it's not as though she's going to leave once the job is done. This isn't their home, where goals are clearer. They're all here indefinitely with undefined boundaries, and that's where things get messy.

As many people are painfully aware, Levi doesn't like it when things get messy.]

[Ginia's smile says everything; she likes it too.

But it's a game and it's not one either of them can win because the rules are different in Luceti. One of them could leave at any moment - and maybe that would be the best ending - or they could be here for years like so many others. And Ginia won't say no to years of living she shouldn't have, but it's different when you're somewhere and can't leave.

Because Ginia is good at leaving. She's good at disappearing after a job and popping up elsewhere, ready to work again on a clean slate. She's good at disappearing when a job goes haywire and it's time to scatter to the wind. And sure, she's good at disappearing after a night of fun or when a one-sided relationship gets too deep and rings and proposals get involved.

But it's hard disappearing when there's invisible barriers and the only ways out is involuntarily or to service someone else's goals. And she'll play the Malnosso's game because she's selfish and desperate enough to enjoy a life she knows she doesn't deserve.

But games can end in ties too, and maybe if that happens they can redfine the game and find something else to play.

For someone that lives her life by schedules and precise plans, unknown and uncontrollable variables piss her off. But it's what you get when your chess pieces are humans.

If Erwin's the king, then the real strength lies in allying with everyone around him anyway.]

/Coming up on your second month in L-U-C-E-T-I./

[he's quiet for a while, taking another couple of sips of the drink she's made for him, feeling the music vibrate in his chest. It's loud, too loud now, almost.

A month has gone by already. The only thing that's really any consolation is that time here doesn't affect what happens back in their own world. His absence there isn't even noticed, as strange as it is to think about. When he goes back, it'll be as if it ever was.]

/New people will arrive soon, right?/

/Usually in the first two weeks./

[Assuming the trend holds. It had so far and the population didn't seem to majorly spike.]

/Anyone I should keep an eye out for?/

[He hesitates for a moment, considering. If any of the other cadets show up he's not worried about finding them. It's the other three, though, that he's most concerned about. He could tell her their names without necessarily telling her why they're important.

So he picks up the pen and paper again and writes:]

Annie
Bertholt
Reiner

[There are a couple of other names he could write, but those three are the biggest threats]

[Ginia looks at the names, commit them to memory.]

/What do they look like?/

[Because it could be one of two things; they could be more cadets like Marco and Jean who would be quick to report in if they knew Levi and Erwin were around, or they could be enemies who would be quick to hide if they knew Levi and Erwin were around.]

[Levi writes brief physical descriptions, but in truth the only one whose appearance he knows well is Annie's. The other two he only has a vague memory. Jean and Marco would obviously have better descriptions.]

/If you think it's them, ask J-E-A-N./

[A little bit is still better than nothing, but ask Jean. Got it.]

/Allies or danger?/

/Possibly dangerous./

[Noted.

Ginia mulls on if there's anyone to keep an eye out for. Honestly, only one name comes to mind and it's selfish.]

/E-R-I-K-A, short blue hair, your height. If you see her, tell me./

/Friend?/

[since she asked about his, only fair he knows about hers.]

[Ginia doesn't answer right away. It's complicated. They've never been enemies, and there's no one else Ginia trusts as much, but she knows Erika was emotionally manipulative at her best and emotionally abusive at her worst.]

/Maybe./

['Maybe.' That brings up a whole lot of questions, but Levi knows better than to ask right now. Ginia hadn't pressed after his evasive answers to how he entered into the Survey Corps, so in return he won't push now.]

/Good enough./

[Ginia will take that. She's not sure what there is to say about Erika. Erika was... Erika. A selfish free spirit that caught everyone up in the whirlwind of her life and Ginia loves her as much as she sometimes hates her.

Two more names come to her mind after a bit more thought and she borrows Levi's notepad and pen to jot them down.]

Evan Brown, may go by a different name: Tall, short brown hair, missing his left arm.
Avery Solana/Blanc Leoprid: 5'9", short brown hair, contact immediately

[he watches her write patiently, eyes lingering on a certain four words. It's strange how used he's gotten to seeing Erwin whole again so quickly.

He nods, and signs back to her.]

/Same with those three./

/They're not dangerous./ [No more than she is at least. But there's complications in a bunch of different ways.

And really, she's not sure if she's ready to see anyone from her world. If they came before her death, then lying would be easy. But after... as much as she wants to know what happened after her death, wants to know how Jack and Natalie are doing and if Whitecap was taken down, it's still a future she'll never be a part of.]

/Good allies./

/I understand./

[Levi would prefer if those three came from before a time that they knew they'd been discovered as traitors - it'd make them easier to keep track of, less likely that they'd out themselves here openly, less of a threat that they'd transform.]

[Ginia looks toward the door as a few more people enter. It was definitely a successful opening as far as clubs went. Not bad at all.]

/I should get back to work. Good seeing you here./

/You too./

[he's just as happy to let her go, staying at the bar to finish is drink, and eventually disappearing to find a more secluded place to people watch in one of the booths.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

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