The Art Gala: The Formal Return of Elodie [open]

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 When Elodie MacKelter left suddenly, rumors flew through the air among the upper class. That she had suffered a nervous breakdown was a popular one, though there was the overly-dramatic rumor of her being pregnant. That had made Elodie cry due to how hilarious it was. However, to make sure that her reputation and the reputation of the MacKelter name, she and her aunt Moria had let it be known that Elodie was simply visiting businesses that MacKelter Industries had worked with in the past twenty years. It was to make sure that all the contracts where still void and everything was still running smoothly.

It was during this time that Elodie took an interest in art, thought it was mostly just her buying things that caught her eye. She had bought sculptures and paintings and other odd things that where classified as art. By the time that she returned to Jump City, which was a week ago, she had acquired quite a collection. And what better way to showoff this collection as well as tell the entire city that Elodie MacKelter has returned than an art gala?

"Thank you so much for coming," Elodie spoke in a soft, cultured voice to some members of high society. They where all there, the beautiful elite, the rich and the famous, the intelligent and the striking, the old money mixing with the new. Elodie thought it entertaining, how even those who knew nothing about art or simply had no interest in it had only arrived due to the fact that she was a MacKelter. She was the MacKelter, the only one left besides the two younger ones being in comas.

Elodie gave a charming smile to an older man who asked her about what she thought about the current state of MacKelter Industries, and spoke on how proud she was on how the company has grown and how much its meant to her to see her fathers pride and joy continue to grow, even after his death. She left the poor man utterly dazed, hiding her smirk behind the perfect poker face as she was escorted by a familiar celebrity around, looking as pretty as a picture.

Her signature strawberry blonde tresses were coiled in an elaborate style, revealing the shape of her head, poised on her neck like a flower on its stem. Several small curls escaped the coiffure and strayed down on to her neck and brow, making the whole effect more natural,. She wore a simple little black dress, with a string of pearls around her neck and wrists. The dress code was cocktail attire, easy enough to follow though Elodie wouldn't be surprised to see business casual or for some of the older money to be more black tie.

The room was elegant and chic, displaying the works of art in such ways that it almost made it seem as though they where works of art themselves. Waiters and Waitresses walked around with champagne and those funny little sandwiches and other small snacks for her guests to enjoy. Elodie smiled, as pretty as a picture, as she viewed her guests as they observed the art work, playing the role as hostess as best as she could.

[Silv]

He had decided it was a kidney bean. Or no wait…maybe it was more of a lima bean shape? The young man tilted his head to the side, twisting the angle at which he saw the painting before righting his own world with speed that would have made a non-acrobat dizzy. It was definitely a lima bean. Dick Grayson had never really had a fondness for social outings or art that wasn't a performance. Now he was stuck knee deep in the middle of both and it was a little like wading through torture. Actually, it was exactly like wading through torture as he watched Elodie pass by with an older gentlemen and worked to school the expression on his face. Her being back meant nothing but trouble. He didn't trust her an ounce, but of course, that was Robin and not Dick Grayson. After all, Dick only knew exactly what Elodie had told everyone else: essentially nothing. He wished some of his friends could be here, but this wasn't the sort of party that Titans got invited to for being Titans. The heir to Wayne Enterprise? He got a one way ticket to hell…er, the party. This wasn't as bad as some of them had been. He was in a bright blue tie that matched his eyes, and his suit coat was a deep grey that bordered on black. It wasn't as stiff and as uncomfortable as some of the other more formal events. Plus, he thought he looked pretty fantastic in the blue, especially with the way he had haphazardly loosened his tie giving him a devil-may-care sort of look…but that was besides the point. Mostly his tie was just crooked. Bright eyes roamed the poker faces of the gentry class as Dick searched out a familiar face. It was marginally unfortunate that the first one he locked eyes with happened to be Elodie. Fortunate, mostly, because talking with her could possibly prove useful to gaining information on her plans…and she also happened to have stunning red hair. Unfortunate because he had to constantly remind himself she was bad news. Oh well, it was time to cross the coals into the fire. The young acrobat inhaled deeply before making his way across the room. He shoved an easy smile on to his face that didn't quite meet his eyes until an unfortunate run in with a waitress that resulted in an awkward dance, a squeal, and two blushing youths. Dick ducked his face as he tried to pretend he hadn't just made a mini-scene and slipped to Elodie's side more like a dog with his tail between his legs then the great Ward of Bruce Wayne. "So," he coughed slightly as though this would clear all the awkwardness. It didn't. "It's…good to see you again," he stopped looking at the ground and tilted his gaze up to look at her again. He inhaled sharply. Why did she have to be a pretty redhead? An evil pretty redhead? "You look red." he said and then fumbled. "I mean pretty. I mean well! You look well." he tried to hide the blush creeping back on his cheeks by turning his head away and clearing his throat. "The last time we met…you er…didn't so much. I uh." he quickly changed the subject, his eyes roaming frantically around the room. "I never took you for an art lover. You have…quite the collection." It was pretty obvious he was mentally bashing himself in the head like a champ right now.

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  "...I found his work to be rather revolutionary. His use of shapes in his works and the different color values making his work rather pleasing to the eye." Elodie spoke to a few of her guests about one of the artist when something caught her eye. Well, more along the lines of someone, with that someone being Richard Grayson, the ward of Bruce Wayne who was otherwise known as simply Dick. And yes, it took quite a bit of her upper class breeding to keep Elodie from laughing her ass off whenever she called him that. But he himself was a nice enough guy, a little bit on the thin side but with the promise of filling out. He'll finally fit those ears, Elodie had observed as one of her guest, a certain Mrs. D'Anconia, spoke rather loudly about some old dead painter who she believed had almost the same colored hair as Elodie. Is she talking about Van Gogh? Elodie wondered, but simply smiled and nodded her head, blue eyes once more searching for the boy with the blue tie.

He locked eyes with her, and Elodie couldn't help but smile. He looked rather dashing in that dark grey suit and his tie really brought out his eyes, even though his tie looked a rather crooked. Or perhaps hes going for a devil-may-care sort of look, Elodie thought, watching as Dick started to make his way towards her....And fighting hard against a laugh when Dick ran into a waitress, did an awkward dance that resulted in both him and the waitress blushing. Well, at least hes entertaining, Elodie thought as he finally reached her side, behaving like a dog with his tail caught between his legs while she fought against a laugh.

" Its wonderful to see you again as well," Elodie said politely, and couldn't help but smile. "You were quite graceful back there." She teased, her eyes portraying her humor of the situation as he told her that she looked red, and them fumbled and quickly stated how she looked pretty and then well. He then turned his head away from her, clearing his throat, but Elodie could see the traces of a blush on his cheeks. Thank goodness I invited him or else I would of been bored to tears, Elodie thought, for there weren't many others their age at this event and for those that where were simply bored out of their minds, drunk, or completely wacked out on some new drug or whatever.

When Dick reminded her of last time they met, Elodie's smile faultered slightly before coming back up. That masquerade event had been utter and complete chaos and had resulted in a broken leg that was thankfully healed quickly by one of the Titans. "Yes, I was quite a bit under the weather during that time but now feeling much better. While I was gone I was able to recover and return back to my full health." Elodie said, knowing that she was just sort of word vomiting and quickly stopping it. She seemed to do that quite a bit around Dick Grayson and was rather unnerved by the fact.

Elodie smiled as he complimented her collection, looking around rather fondly. "To be honest, neither did I. Whenever I went to an art event with my parents I would sneak off into the ladies room and play a game on my gameboy until someone came looking for me. But while traveling I took quite an interest in it, and it gave me something to due while contracts and whatnot where being redone or touched up." Elodie explained, looking at one of the pieces that looked as though a child had drawn on it with pencil, and gave a rueful smile.

"I made something similar in elementary school for art class and only got a 'C' on it." Elodie mused, trying to make a joke.

[Silv]

Dick made a choking sound somewhere between a laugh and mortification when Elodie mentioned his run in with the waitress. She was teasing him, he knew this, which was probably why he wasn't turning as red as his Robin uniform shirt right now. Instead he was a shade of pink that looked like it was really trying hard not to go any deeper. "Yeah, well, there are some situations where being an acrobat is useful." and that wasn't one of them he quipped, his gaze searching for the waitress and relieved to find she'd moved out of his line of vision. The boy seemed to have the presence of mind to smile in reaction to Elodie's statement that she was able to recover while she was away. The tinge had mostly left his cheeks and he gave a curt nod at the information, his eyes bright like he was happy to hear the news. And he was. He never wished ill on anyone. After all, he believed there was good in everyone. Even a villain. Except Slade. "Lucky!" He made a soft chuckling noise, blowing air out his nose in amusement, when she confessed that as a child she would hide away with a game station. Dick had never gotten away with that. Alfred would have had a conniption fit. "I used to make up stories." he confessed ducking his head slightly in an embarrassed fashion. "I couldn't bring anything to amuse myself, so I would make up stories about the figures in the paintings." A quick awkward pause. "It's cool you actually got into them, though. Geeze, running doing business, dealing in the art world, making contracts. You're a regular adult." he teased, but his smile wasn't totally in it because he understood she had to be. It was only luck that hadn't forced him into a similar situation when his parents died. When Elodie made a joke alluding to her artistic talent in elementary school, the boy made another amused noise. "You obviously should have brought it to an art gallery for an appraisal," he said, giving her a sidelong glance before studying the picture with a mischievous tilt to his smile. "Maybe the teacher would have upped your grade."

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  "True, but I don't think that was one of those moments." Elodie teased him some more, grinning at his blush as he searched for the poor waitress, who had dissappeared. She wasn't sure why she enjoyed his company compared to that of other upper class teenagers. Perhaps it was due to him not being born to this world like the rest of them, only being brought in due to becoming the ward of Bruce Wayne. Maybe it was due to him respectful and kind towards others, unlike a great deal of upper class teenagers who only thought about themselves and how to spend as much money as possible. Disrespectful, selfish brats. I cant wait for the truth of the world hits them. How utterly delightful that will be. Elodie thought darkly, while her face didn't portray any of it.

Elodie grinned as Dick called her lucky for getting away with having a game station when at events, chuckling as he confessed that he would make up stories. "Don't be embarrassed about it. I used to do the exact same thing whenever I couldn't escape and play it." Elodie stated, elbowing him just ever so slightly in a teasing manner. Whenever she couldn't hide out in the bathroom or coat room and play, she would be by her parents side as they spoke to people and look at the paintings, making stories about them and the people in them. Those had been the days. "Ah, well that's something good with being a girl: We can sneak things in with our purses, especially gameboys." Elodie said with a grin, her smile reaching her eyes.

However, when Dick mentioned all that she does and how she was a regular adult, her smile dimmed and it left her eyes as she looked around, shrugging. "It's just what I got to do, you know. I have my duties to the company." She said, acting as though she didn't care much about it. It was difficult, being like this. She was seventeen, for petes sake, a teenager! She should be going to dances or hanging out with friends or introducing some boy to her parents while her siblings teased her. Instead she was doing this, pretending to be kind and elegant while inside all there is is rage.

The amused noise that Dick made brought her out of her thoughts, and Elodie gave a grin. "I should of, shouldn't I?" Elodie said, looking at the picture with him, her head tilting just a tiny bit as she studied it before her attention switched to Dick. "So, tell me, what all have I missed while I was gone? I've heard quite a few things while I was abroad. Something about giant snake monsters?" Elodie questioned, an eyebrow raised as she looked at him.

[Silv]

Dick shot Elodie the grin of a compatriot when she elbowed him and confessed she used to do the same thing he did. Then she teased about purses and he laughed. "That's true! You ladies are lucky! Think I could make the man-purse popular?" he teased. He glossed over the less happy things, because he also didn't think she should have to manage a company at this age, and sent her a reassuring smile. "There was a giant snake monster rampaging through Jump!" Dick said like it was the coolest thing in the entire world. "They cornered it in the park, it had apparently kidnapped some little girl, and we had the army and stuff come in, but then the Titans interfered and their leader got arrested. It was all over the news. I swear, we heard about nothing else for days." The boy had a gigantic grin on his face, obviously not at all bothered by the drama. "The snake monster looked really cool though. You should look up some youtube videos of it after this, or-!" he cut off abruptly and fished for his phone in his pockets, pulling it out and going to the youtube app. He quickly typed in the search terms and pulled up a video. "Watch this," he said, handing the phone over to her, and peering over her shoulder at the shaky footage of a monster rushing into the park and the sound of guns. "We never get this sort of stuff in Gotham," the boy said with a grin. "But other then that not much exciting happened. Some drug busts, murders, there was a rumor of there being a whole bunch of dragons under Jump, but I'm pretty sure that was a rumor." it was hard not to accidentally give away knowing too much. Especially when he'd actually been involved in all of it.