AT THE BAR (soon to be ON STAGE SINGING MY DRUNK LITTLE HEART OUT)
Absolutely no one and nothing was going to stop Ariana from being at CASKET's annual Halloween celebration. If Julian believed she wouldn't have the guts to show up on one of the busiest nights of the year he was dead wrong. What better way for her to become reacquainted, as it were--the word used ever so lightly--with the club again than to spend an evening among a plethora of appropriately decked out individuals, all of which were eager to enjoy the night's festivities? Ariana arrived at CASKET neither too early or too late, but rather an appropriate, fashionable fifteen minutes after the entertainments had begun.
She could move through the crowd practically unnoticed, given the amount of people inside the building, though no doubt sooner or later Julian would discover she'd arrived. The costume she'd purchased for the evening was, perhaps, a bit extravagent after all. But given that it was for All Hallows' Eve, she wrote off the purchase (including its bold, dominating color) as a necessity. A lady was allowed to flaunt it once in awhile. Ariana wore her hair down, having crimped it into waves that fell loosely across her shoulders; the devil horns upon her head were a nice touch and stood out clearly against the blonde of her tresses. She'd spent a good amount of time making sure her make up was done to perfection before leaving her apartment, careful to avoid overdoing the ever popular smoky eye look.
Seeing everything in CASKET decorated down to the last corner wasn't a surprise. Possibly this year Julian had gone a little too overboard, but Ariana supposed she could excuse that, given his love for the holiday along with his need to overcompensate (for lack of a better term). Picking her way through the crowd, Ariana moved towards the bar, intent on ordering a rather strong rum and coke. While she felt confident on the outside, and knew for a fact that she looked nothing less than put together, there was nevertheless a certain sense of extra comfort to be found in a simple, classic drink.
And whenever Julian had the gall to speak to her, if he dared to, she knew she might need a drink or two in her system to calm her nerves. It was bad enough that their apartments were curiously, unfortunately on the same floor, but nothing good would come from the two of them going at it in the middle of the party. Ariana had assured Julian's recent hire that nothing but business would happen when she was on the premises, but parties like this one often had a way of getting out of hand fast, though certainly CASKET was too reputable of a place to allow such commotions to happen for long. Ariana was refusing to be part of one of those particular commotions; her pride nor her sense of propriety would allow her to be, for hadn't hers and Julian's conflict at Pax been more than enough?
No, she was going to damn well enjoy herself. If that meant knocking a few drinks back and refusing to seek out her estranged husband, then so be it. Reaching the bar, she ordered her preferred drink to start out this evening with, and allowed the liquor to calm any errant feelings she might have about her decision to be here tonight. By her second drink, she was thinking it was almost a gamble she'd made, having shown up at CASKET. But the decision--or more accurately, the alcohol--made her feel empowered, and Ariana's eyes had been straying to the stage more often than not.
Her third drink gave her a sort of courage she in no way minded having, and quietly she decided to sing after the witch wearing a bright green wig finished a tipsy rendition of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Ariana would politely disengage herself from the occasional chitchat she'd made with the others on this side of the bar and take the witch's place. She had the most perfect song in mind.