, feeling he's spent enough time greeting guests, is mingling, still using his best manners - and that's saying something. "And how

are you this evening, Miss Wagner?"

replies a little delayed. "Oh, just fine, thank you." She smiles, trying to be... girly or whatever.

inquires as to how Mr. Davis is doing?

he's doing just fine, though his knee seems to be getting worse.

proceeds to ask her a number of business questions. Well, half of the reason he threw this ball was for the informatino.

*OR information that too

proceeds to make educational-guesses on all the answers (aka bullshitting), getting a little exasperated, and realizes that women have fans-

because yes, dresses are hot as hell to be in.

getting...odd vibes here. Sort of a deja-vu in the way this woman phrases things. "I'm sorry, have I met you before?"

him a confused look. "Well, no, Mr. Davis didn't have me accompany him last time."

frowns slightly. "Oh...my mistake. You just seemed slightly familiar."

shakes her head. "Well, with everyone's masks on, I can imagine it's easy to mistake people."

chuckles politely. "I suppose that's true." In lieu of conversation, he figures that the next polite thing to do would

be to ask her for a dance. He does.

didn't expect this, and has to resist laughing, because for some reason it's just fun. "I'd love a dance." She holds out a hand.

takes her hand with a smile, and leads her into the middle of the room, placing one hand on her hip.

mirrors his position, and remembers, oh right, she's in *heels*.

begins to lead, a very dignified waltz with few variations.

follows a bit, attempting to pick up on how the eff a lady is supposed to dance, and then ends up giving up thinking on it and just goes-

with what she's used to. "So, business must be fairing well for you, if you can afford a masquerade such as this."

...a little confused by Miss Wagner's *leading* in the dance, but figures it would be rude to comment and just tries to quietly regain

control. "Oh, quite well. In fact, I've been thinking that I should contact Mr. Davis again. Could you inform him I'm interested

in doing business?"

smiles and nods. It's not her problem if it doesn't happen after tonight. "Of course." She's not too surprised how much Roderich is using--

her for purely business relations.

nods in a businesslike way. "I just got in a large shipment from a colleague of mine, actually."

He then goes into the vague but impressive sounding (/boring) details.

as if this is starting to be a repeat, and starts to lose focus on Roderich, and slips more into the music moving her feet.

eventually starts to feel the lack of response. "I'm sorry. How silly of me to bore a lady with business talk."

blinks, and then does her best attempt at a girly laugh. It was odd, not having to follow Roderich's orders, but it also reminded her just-

why she crossdressed. "It's fine, Mr. Edelstein. The music is just so enveloping, that I can't help but wonder who the composer is."

now more appreciative of Miss Wager's company, and is instantly more animated. "Oh, this is Joseph Lanner's '

Trennungs-Walzer,' or Seperation Waltz." He then starts on an entirely different and more enthusiastic tangent.

laughs to herself lightly. He always got so much more lively whenever music was brought into the subject. "You have a very vast love of--

music, it seems."

smiles slightly. "Of course. It's my passion. Tell me, do you play any instruments?"

shakes her head. "Sadly, no, but I do sing." Or she did when she was a little girl. Her mother made her. Reason #34 why she now

crossdresses

still trying to ignore the fact that he's not really leading, whilst being polite. "Really? Perhaps you could sing for us later."

... well fuck. "Ahah... well, I don't have anything prepared, even."

shrugs. "It's your decision, of course, but I was planning on persuading a few guests to share their talents."

hasn't ACTUALLY sung in a while. "Well, I'm sure other people have much finer talents than me. It's... just a hobby, really."

smiles slightly. "Technically, music is my hobby as well. I make no money from it, other than selling the more expensive instruments."

shakes her head. "No no, you see, piano takes years of dedication and practice, while singing... anyone could do it if they tried."

shakes his head. "I'm sure you're marvelous." Technically he's sure of no such thing. But...pleasantries.

smiles nervously. "Thank you, but I'd rather be an audience than a performer."

smiles politely. "What a pity. Well, perhaps you'll enjoy it regardless." It might not be a bad thing, if she didn't turn out to be good.

nods. "I'm sure I shall." And then realizes she wasn't supposed to be leading this dance, but thinks Roderich makes the better girl anyways.

sort of...trying to regain the lead and failing. "You're quite the...spirited dancer."

Awwwe shit. "Afh... I'm sorry. I sometimes get ahead of myself." She forces herself to give up the lead, a bit sad.

smiles slightly. "It's quite alright. Sometimes women do get a bit ahead of themselves in a dance, but it doesn't do any harm."

at first, has no words. Something in her stirs and rears it's ugly head, but sure as hell, she's confident, not as ugly as whatever just --

came out of Roderich's mouth. "Of course," she says, her lips in a thin smile. "How silly of me to think a woman might lead."

notices nothing amiss. "It's certainly not your fault. Sometimes we just tend to forget ourselves, and our relative places."

something in her smile twitch. This would be reason #35. "Oh, right, right. It's similar to how a woman can't be a pilot, or a man a

mother."

nods pleasantly. "Certainly, it can be seen as a metaphor for such things. A man's place versus a woman's, the workplace versus the home."

debates revealing herself just to prove him wrong, but decides against it. She'd like to keep her job for now. At least. "It's a surprise--

you're not married yet, seeing how well you understand these things." Sarcasm? Nooo. At least she didn't make it sound that way. Entirely.

for a moment that she might be being sarcastic, then dismisses it, because why would she? "Ah, I haven't quite had the time for courting."