Who: Anita and Loba What: Having an actual conversation without fighting. When: Xanatos' birthday party back in April Where: Xanatos' mansion Ratings/Warnings: Pretty low, brief mentions of dead parents Status: Complete
It never took much to get Loba to be social when she was able to dress up. She’d gotten a new dress for the occasion. Her make-up was spot on but not over-the-top, accentuating her eyes. Her natural wavy hair had been tamed and styled to match the dress. And her nails had been painted silver to match the trim on her dress. Her multiple earrings were silver not only to match the dress and her nails, but also the diamond ring on her left index finger and the diamond-encrusted bracelet on her left wrist.
She’d spent the party so far making small talk with most people, socializing with anyone who cared to talk to her. She’d even finally gotten to meet Xanatos face-to-face. Part of her wanted to punch him in the face, but she’d restrained herself. Then, of course, she’d found Tony somewhere in the crowd to have a conversation with someone she actually liked. Her smile and laugh while talking to him were definitely not of the fake variety that was reserved for everyone else. And by fake, it wasn’t easy to tell that they were simply for show unless someone knew what her real smile and laugh were like.
But there’d been one person that her gaze kept drifting to now and then. One Anita Williams was in attendance, and Loba had to say the woman cleaned up well. She definitely was attractive in that suit. So once she decided that she should go mingle with people other than Tony again, she worked her way around to where Anita was standing. She’d gotten a fresh drink in the process.
“You’re looking sharp this evening,” she purred as she approached the other woman. In the heels Loba was wearing, she was nearly the same height as Anita. There was a glint in her eye as she gave her a once over. Even though she didn’t like the woman, she could still appreciate her beauty.
Anita was there for business, not pleasure, though it was a pleasure to see all of these gorgeous women in attendance. When she could spare a glance away from her client, she'd cast appreciative glances here and there at a few of the girls that were particularly well turned out... but every so often her eyes darted to Loba Andrade.
As expected, Loba was one of the best dressed and best looking women in the place, and Anita couldn't help but notice. Being observant was also part of the job of... basically any career she'd had in her entire life. She noted Loba's various interactions that night. The talk with Xanatos she'd caught a glimpse of, and Loba's real laughter had echoed through the crowd that night.
There were obviously times when Loba was having more fun than others, but Anita never expected her to walk up and speak to her. Anita squinted at Loba, trying to discern if her smile was authentic and trying not to turn into a complete disaster as she noticed Loba looking her over. She adjusted the cuffs of her shirt and tugged her suit jacket back down. "Heh, nice of you to notice, Princess. I see you've set the bar pretty high on best dressed this evening yourself."
At the moment, her smile was indeed authentic. While Loba may not like Anita, she’d much rather talk to her than talk to other people. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was just something about the other woman that drew her in. It was actually maddening to her why she was drawn to her. She hated everything about her, and yet she preferred her company to some other people.
“You’re welcome, Sergeant,” she responded. “And thank you for noticing. I always enjoy setting a high bar.” Loba had high standards in every aspect of her life, but she held herself to the highest standard of all. There was nothing worse than falling short of her own expectations. And perhaps she needed to modify her expectations where Anita was concerned. After all, she hadn’t pegged her for dressing up, be it for work or otherwise.
And, well, carrying a suit like that wasn’t something everyone could do.
“How are you enjoying the evening thus far?” Loba wasn’t stupid, she was certain that Anita was here working. She didn’t strike Loba as the type to go to parties like this of her own choice. It seemed like it was too stuffy for her tastes. Even Loba had to admit it was too ostentatious for her likes. Then again, it was clear that Xanatos was just having a dick measuring contest with everyone to try to prove he had the biggest one. She really hated men like that.
It was definitely some kind of dick measuring party, and Anita was more at home in someone's backyard eating a hamburger and drinking a beer or five. But in her line of work, she'd definitely had to field a ton of these kinds of occasions. Fancy people who needed guarding ended up in stuffy, fancy circumstances.
One of her shoulders rolled a little shrug, "It's a fancy pantsy kind of a party, make no mistake. I fit in here about as well as a bull in a china shop. Can't argue about the food or anything, though. He sure didn't waste any money on it, though simple shit's more my speed. As you probably knew."
Anita glanced off to the side to check on her charge. Satisfied everything was still going well with Liz, she put her attention back on Loba. "I'm here for that singer over there. Girl's smart as a whip but naive as hell."
It was no doubt a bit sad, but Loba didn’t actually celebrate her birthday anymore. The only time she ever did anything to mark the day would be if Tony decided to do anything for her. But beyond that, Loba tended to just work on her birthday. She didn’t care for lavish parties in her name unless it was attached to charity.
“This may not be to your speed, but you still look good.” Not everyone could carry formal wear, but Anita carried it well. Loba may not like her, but she could still appreciate her beauty.
Loba glanced over towards the singer, looking her over for a few moments before she turned her attention back to Anita. “Is she, now?” It was more a statement than a question. “What kind of naive are you talking about? Naive in believing the best in everyone? Naive in how the world works? Or naive in some other way?” There were different types of being naive, and Loba was not any of them. People might think she was sheltered because she was rich, and perhaps to an extent she didn’t actually know what it was like to not have money, but she knew the world was a cruel place. She tried to use her money and her company to help people where she could, but she didn’t do it for clout. She did it because she liked helping people. Tony was the only person who actually knew underneath it all, she had a heart of gold. And she’d prefer to keep it that way.
Anita did take a few seconds to preen. Loba might be the most annoying and infuriating woman she'd ever met but she was also stunningly gorgeous. The compliment was - also annoyingly - welcome, and underneath her freckles her cheeks darkened red. But she turned her attention back to Elizabeth, noting Loba's questions.
It was possible that the answer to that was something close to 'all of the above'. "Well for starters, she ain't had any access to tv or the internet growing up, so we learned real fast not to just let her search stuff on her phone. I think she does know... well, I'd say for someone so young she's been served a pretty bitter pill about the way the world works early on. But she somehow still isn't entirely wise about ninety percent of it."
She sounded put out, but the look on her face was fond. To her, Liz was just a kid, but she was one worthy of protecting. And if everything they were learning about her boss was true, she wished to god she got a chance to wring that man's neck herself.
Loba noted the way Anita’s cheeks darkened red at her compliment. She did enjoy putting Anita on her heels. The woman seemed to push all of her buttons, but it was still satisfying to know her compliments landed the way she intended them to. She turned her gaze back to Elizabeth as Anita responded to her question.
She had no idea of Elizabeth’s situation, so she wasn’t one to judge the lack of her having access to TV or the internet growing up. But that definitely would go a long way to explain how the girl was naive.
“I see. Though it can also be seen as she has maintained a level of innocence that almost everyone her age would no longer have.” Loba would give anything to have a fraction of her childhood innocence back. She’d had her own bitter pill about life to swallow at an absurdly early age. And she knew what it felt like to be utterly alone in the world. “People like her need to be cherished. The world makes too many people cruel by nature, it is refreshing to know that someone who got served a bitter pill in life isn’t destroyed by it.”
The words felt like they were coming from an emotional place, though Anita knew enough about Loba's past to make an educated guess as to why. Still, her eyebrows raised up a bit, and she nodded her head. "One of my favorite clients so far, for those reasons. Girl got led here by some kind of grifter, abandoned by him soon after, and apparently held liable for some of his gambling debts. That smile she wears while she's singing is still so genuine it's kind of hard to believe after all that."
Anita wondered if she'd ever been that level of innocent, and the thought made her shake her head a bit. "Easy to get destroyed by this world early on. Too easy. If it's up to me nothing else is gonna touch her."
Loba’s words had come from an emotional place, one that she kept very tightly guarded and well hidden. She kept her pains close, refusing to let the world see her weak points. After all, in her line of work, showing just one crack was more than enough for the vultures to descend on her. And even then, just the fact that she was a woman was reason enough for some vultures to try to tear her apart. She had thick skin, and she’d long since known how to keep herself safe. Of course, it also meant she was largely alone in life, but she’d gotten this far just fine. She could continue on in the same fashion.
It was also easy to see that Anita was a protector by nature. It was endearing, especially when someone like Elizabeth needed the protection. She certainly hoped that Anita would succeed in keeping anything from harming Elizabeth again.
“Well, I certainly hope the man who left her in this situation eventually got what was coming to him.” Yet even as she said that, Loba knew the world didn’t always work that way. After all, she was still waiting for justice for her parents’ deaths. “It is far too easy to get destroyed by the world at a young age. But with you around, I’m certain her world won’t shatter any further.”
Loba was almost envious of Elizabeth having someone to protect her, but she knew she didn’t need anyone protecting her. Loba had learned to fight for herself at an early age. Well, moreso in that other life, but she’d learned early on in this life that she could only rely on herself to get her through the day. One could say that Loba was self-reliant to a fault, but it had also served her well thus far.
The world had a way of disappointing people when it came to matters like justice. Anita mulled over Loba’s words for a bit, turning them over in her mind along with the tone of voice. Loba didn’t seem like someone who opened up at all, but every time they ended up talking there was some tiny bit of fresh air behind all of that makeup and polished facade.
She almost felt honored, and that thought made her extremely confused. “He ran off, last any of us checked. Pretty sure Corvo won’t let it lie, but we’ve got the present situation to deal with first.”
Anita glanced at Loba, tilting her head to the side, “I almost feel complimented. You wanna take it back, or are we just getting along real nice tonight because of our party gear?”
While Loba didn’t know Corvo as well as Anita did, Loba knew him enough that he wouldn’t just let that lie. Not in the long run, at any rate. Though what Anita said next ruffled Loba’s feathers, though not in a way Anita might’ve thought they would. It simply made Loba remember to keep her guard up. She didn’t know why she felt that she could talk to Anita, confide in her, even, but she hated the feeling. She didn’t like confiding in people. Letting people in meant caring about them. And caring about people meant that she’d have to watch them die.
It was a highly irrational connection that her mind had made, but she equated caring about people with them getting hurt or killed. After all, her mother didn’t have to go talk to her father that night. But her feelings for him and their family had driven her to do so. And she’d never come back.
Mentally recoiling from that memory, Loba took a breath and pulled her guard back up. “Why should I take it back? It’s true, is it not?” Loba responded. “Though perhaps I should go back to mingling before another compliment tries to manifest.” She was metaphorically looking for the quickest escape route from this conversation. Anita simultaneously made her blood boil and made her feel like she could open up to her. It was confusing, and Loba wanted to get away from that confusing feeling as quickly as possible.
Anita was filled with her own set of conflicting emotions. For a moment there she’d actually enjoyed talking to Loba like this, with both of their guards down and being even pleasant towards each other. But that was strange and awful, because it was Loba.
Even worse, as the guard slammed back up, Anita wondered why she felt a little hurt at suddenly being cut off.
But it was clear that Loba was looking for an exit. Something had made her uncomfortable. Probably, Anita thought, it was her. So she motioned in Elizabeth’s direction. “I think she’s done after this set, so I better get a little closer to her. People tend to swarm her after she gets off the stage otherwise. It makes her panic.”
She gave Loba a bit of a salute, “See you around, princess. Nice talk.”
It had been a nice talk, albeit an unsettling one. Loba liked being able to have an actual conversation with Anita without either of them trying to bite each other’s head off. But it was weird to her to feel that way. Anita was the type of person she hated. She hated the rigidness. Or was that more in that other life? At this point, Loba didn’t really know and she didn’t want to dwell on it either.
“Ah yes, best to keep her from getting overwhelmed,” Loba acknowledged, glancing over at Elizabeth before turning her attention back to Anita. She smiled and gave Anita a nod. “See you around, Sergeant. At ease,” she responded before Loba turned and headed off. She polished off the rest of her drink and exchanged her empty glass for a full one. Now it was getting back to mingling and trying to forget the confusing feelings Anita stirred up within her.