The Beginnings to an Evening, Dinner at the Wellington

[Oriel Storing]

((6 o'clock, Wednesday evening, table in the Wellington))

Mr. Oriel Storing sat pleasantly enjoying the voluminous wine list offered him by a passing waiter, eyeing the Amontillado and the Chateau Margaux, thinking about something deep and red to start the evening off, thinking about what the evening itself would prove to be: quite blissful, of course. He had been having an exquisite day so far. That morning a nice sum from his beautiful, dearly beloved mother had arrived with the post, and Oriel was very well pleased. He could not wait to begin enjoying it.

Oh, and then there was the beautiful girl he'd set himself up with. Lily Clarke. What a ring that name had off the tongue.

Oriel clasped his hands together over the wine list and gazed inquiringly off into the rest of the restaurant, hoping she would be soon to arrive.

[Lily Clarke]

Lily Clarke didn't like to keep her Misters waiting. But sometimes...sometimes especially at the beginning of the affair it could help add season to the anticipation. And she was very exited about this new spark of hers.

He wasn't...exactly rich. She'd asked around. And he wasn't exactly well known. But from what she'd heard what he *was* was very generous. And the night they'd met he'd seemed very courteous and definitely...properly appreciative of her charms. And that was very important--Lily couldn't imagine seeing a man who was not enthusiastic.
She approached slowly and felt the heat rise in her roughed cheeks. Her little gloved hand rested soft against her breast as she stood beside the table.

"Mister Storing. I've been so looking forward to seeing you again." She gave a soft and almost shy smile.

[Oriel Storing]

Oriel gave a little jump and looked up from the wine list, to which he had once more turned his attention--leave it to fate that the moment he wasn't looking, she would arrive. Oh, what a demure beauty she was, little gloved hand held just so! He leapt out of the chair and bowed most courteously.

"Miss Clarke, you are the epitome of beauty tonight," he said, smiling. And oh, the wait had been ever so long, but how it paid off to see her standing there now! "It seems like an age since our escapade to Regent Street."

He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle kiss.

[Lily Clarke]

Oh but he was *so* dashing! And he was young. To Lily, that made all the difference. It wasn't hard at all to call up a girlish blush. She gave a shy little giggle to accompany it.

"Oh, you dear man!" she trilled. "You know, I was just thinking exactly that. You must forgive me..." she looked up at him through her dark lashes. "For being just a little overeager." her delicate fingers wrapped around his and she gave a little bounce on her toes.

"Oh, and did you notice? The lovely, lovely gloves you gave me." the fingers over free hand smoothed over the fine dove gray fabric and she her smile warmed. "I *adore* them."

[Oriel Storing]

Oriel smiled back and brought one of her hands up to his cheek. "They are nearly as soft as the skin beneath," he said. "I am so pleased to hear that you enjoy them. Oh, but Lily dear, forgive me! Wouldn't you like to sit down?" He moved to offer her his seat, intending to take the other one. If this was a pretense to catch a glimpse of her ankles as he carefully slid the chair out, it was known only to him.

"I had an inkling that lovely shade of gray would go with your eyes just so. Tell me, does the petticoat fit? I was so worried it wouldn't properly. But the lace hem was so perfect, like the gossamer web of a little garden spider, and white as the first snow in winter. I do hope you liked it and weren't merely humoring my fascination." Oriel resisted the urge to kiss her hand again.

[Lily Clarke]

"Humoring you!" Lily laid her little gloved hand on her breast (and yes, of course she knew just how it drew the eye to the shapeliness of her clothed form) and gave a light little laugh with a toss of her dark head.

"I assure you, dear Mister Storing, that in your company a girl need never seek to practice or pretend." The way her eyes looked up at him through her lashes indicated that whether or not this statement was sincere hardly mattered at all, as she had a multitude of flattery. She smiled as she leaned forward and waited for him to sit. And once he has she reached a hand out to take one of his. "And as for your...other gift..." and her voice fell as a girlish color touched her cheeks. "...there is time enough in an evening for you to judge that yourself."

[Oriel Storing]

"I... ah, I daresay..." Oriel cleared his throat, delighted, feeling like an adolescent boy again. However, if there was anything bashful or diffident in his manner it was swiftly put to rest by the way he drank up Lily's eyes. It was so easy to be swept away by them, to untamed and fantastical lands of beauty and romance, to the world she structured for him with her wiles. He was more than happy to follow along despite any... ungainly motives.

Eventually he let his gaze fall to her fingers, and stroked them softly between his own. "Lily, my dearest... I have reviewed the menu here and I assure you it is of the highest delectability, fit for kings and queens. Nothing less would stand for you, my dear. Anything you want, and it is yours."

This last statement seemed to encompass not only the contents of the menu, but a great deal of other things as well.

[Lily Clarke]

"A-anything?" Lily tried not to gasp or to let her voice sound too excited. And yet this was what she loved and what she always longed for...a man (especially a young man!) to tell her she may have the world and sun and stars and anything her heart desired.

Of course she never could think of anything she really wanted that much, but she did love to be showered with presents...lavish dresses and petticoats and winter mittens and darling pretty little music boxes and gilt earrings and....
She could tell that seeing her enjoy their presents made her Misters happy, and that made it even sweeter for her! But even beyond that...just being told she could have whatever she wanted. A man ready to spoil and cosset her...it made Lily glow like nothing else. She tightened her fingers just a little around Oriel's and smiled like a dozen bright candles.

"Oh! Mister Storing, you absolute darling!" It came out as a breathless sigh. "I can tell already that my time with you is going to be..." and her eyes slipped closed in an expression of perfect bliss (with just a hint of a darker pleasure underneath) "...simply divine."