At the end of the day, it was about the pecking order. While Riley had convinced the firm to spend a little more money on outreach, social responsibility, that in turn led to the odd invitation to this-or-that event or gala. Ones that she was obliged to attend. Sowing, and reaping. This time, it was in celebration of the local film society: a cause the hellspawn personally supported for their cheap tickets and easy date nights. Unfortunately, their galas were to the last profoundly boring.
But there was new meat, someone else to drag to the event. A secretary, hired about a month ago. She was nice enough, Riley supposed. Not a ton of insight into her. Don't mix personal and professional -- a fine rule of thumb, even when your personal didn't involve devils, magic horseshit, and the occult underground. But the tickets were for two, and there was no way Riley was going to burn a night small-talking with one of the other partners at the firm. That left...
Yes. Riley wanted to see her secretary dressed up. Sue her. The smile on her face was genuine, as her gaze flicked from her phone to the tap of heels on pavement, waiting outside the gala space. For the hellspawn's sake, she'd gone with a nice deep blue suit, accented with black and gold. (And some more comfortable clothes beneath, but that was to feed after the ball was over.) Faux-noble, she offered her arm for the plus-one to take.
"Hiya. Glad you came. If you hadn't, I would've cried and cried and cried. Ready for the crustiest, most tiresome people in the world to tell you about how much they love French New Wave?"