The floor manager for the night was one of Scarlet's a fact which Dan had noticed the moment he'd walked in a couple of hours ago. It annoyed him to work directly under someone who happened to work so closely with his boss--normally, he wouldn't be in this position of underling, and Dan felt that this particular manager got far too much pleasure from the fact that he held a temporary position of power. Also, it tended to happen that Dan's two worlds of "making a living" collided on nights like this, and after last week...
Dan pinched the bridge of his nose and continued to appear as if he was listening to Jason, the floor manager. A soft touch on his arm drew both their attention, however, and Dan felt a small wash of relief. Anything to get him away from listening to this man's incessant drabble for another minute.
"Dan, you have a client," the seating hostess said. "Not a regular, either." She pointed with a stack of menus that was in her left hand to a man seated at the bar. Dan made a quick check of the man: young, but older than him, well-dressed in a suit and tie, with a calm, patient expression on his face.
"Aa," Dan replied, bowing slightly before he turned to the bartender, asking for a glass of water. He took the long way out of the employee's open lounge, walking through an elegant array of lighting and silks before he ended up at the bar, approaching the man from his left. Perhaps he had just gotten off work, though it was difficult to tell in an establishment like this. The dress code of the Black Swan was highly regulated.
"Good evening," he said to the man, inclining his head slightly. The expression he wore was almost benevolent, though it couldn't quite be called that--it was too reserved, but maybe a bit curious. "Welcome to the Black Swan."