The sound told Andi she was on the right track, a low, throbbing sound like listening to her own pulse. It got louder as she got closer to the tower, less esoteric and more like music. It wasn't her first visit to Club Trixx but this one had her heart racing faster than the beat the closer she got to her destination.
"Alright Andi you got this. You're cute, you're a genius and-” she broke off as a few human students bustled by her, giggling in their sparkly dresses.
"And you're talking to yourself," she muttered, pulling out her compass. Flipping open the back side of the object revealed a small mirror and she checked her reflection under a street lamp. Andi frowned at her freckles and crooked nose but stayed firm in her choice to forgo makeup.
With a last breath to steel herself, she headed into the tower. There was a portal on the ground floor that went straight to the top room used for the club but Andi strongly considered the long flights of stairs.
"No, too sweaty," she decided aloud and stepped through the portal.
Not that we haven't already experienced sweaty, she thought with a little smile.
If it was sweat she wanted to avoid, this was the wrong place. The heat of many bodies in motion was enough to fight the pervading chill of Northrend and then some. The volume of the music burst exponentially louder as Andi stepped out of the portal and into the party. She made a beeline for the bar set up near the entrances and scanned the room as she waited in line.
Each glimmer of blonde hair or a tall, graceful figure would pull her attention but it seemed none were the right combination and suddenly Andi found herself at the front of the line.
"Oh! Hey you're pretty fast for such a busy night," she joked and the elven bartender gave a polite smile that didn't quite reach her bored, blue eyes.
"Give me the fizzy stuff," Andi quickly ordered and had her coin ready to pay for the champagne. Exchanging a more genuine smile with the other woman, she danced her way out of the line to find a tall table against the wall with a good view of the entrance.
After a two lively songs and a few miserly sips of bubbly she spotted her target. Tall, with golden skin and silky blonde hair drawn into a slick, sporty ponytail, Arcturus would catch anyone's eye. And he did- a pair of human women started whispering urgently to each other with their wide, khol lined eyes locked on him.
Andi chugged the rest of the glass, letting out a burp loud enough that she was grateful for the music and started wading through the crowd. Bodies pressed in and jostling her didn't slow the woman down, carefully keeping her sights on the golden hair and perfectly structured silhouette of the fellow sin'dorei.
Finally she broke through the gyrating crowd to land back in the drink line next to the Sunreaver she'd set her sights on.
"Arcturus," she called his name from half a step away, trying not to lose her nerve.
He turned slowly, a languid blink in spite of the chaotic setting before his eyes focused on Andi and recognition eventually set in. "Dawnrunner," he greeted her and lifted a hand. "Care to join me for a drink?"
His eyes seemed to hold some playful sparkle and Andi felt her face get hotter.
"Yes! Or three," she challenged and they laughed together in line.
Once they had their drinks- another champagne for her and whiskey sour for the gentleman, Andi led them back to the table she had scoped out before.
"Good to be back, right?" Andi lifted her glass and Arcturus did the same.
He said something back that she couldn't quite make out and she leaned in closer. "What was that?"
"More civilized!" He replied in their native Thalassian and gestured to their surroundings.
Andi nodded and took a gulp from her glass.
"Even louder than the airship engines in here though," she remarked with a little laugh.
She laughed again, a little strained, and leaned in closer. "Loud in here," she repeated in short, and as she moved to stand straight again, spilled some of the bubbly on herself.
"Aw fuck," Andi muttered and gave one, half-hearted wipe at the spill before deciding to pretend it never happened.
"So what are you doing after this?" She asked, seeming to finally nail the volume and distance to be heard over the pulsing music.
"Probably her," he replied coolly and gracefully lifted his hand, gesturing with his drink at a human woman a few paces into the crowd. She danced with abandon, her dark makeup making her look mysterious and the slit in her black dress invited the imagination further.
Andi grinned, eyeing the woman herself for a moment before his words actually sank in. Oh. She took another gulp from her glass and raised the question she'd actually invited him out for.
You can still salvage this Andi. Men can't be harder than machines.
"You wanna dance?" She asked confidently, leaning in a little extra close.
"Yeah," he answered, nodding and set down his glass.
Andi moved to do the same, turning back to realize he'd headed to the dancefloor without her. She took a few steps, looking for that perfect profile and gorgeous hair. It was near the woman in the black dress that she spotted him, sliding in close to dance with her.
"Ok then," Andi said and combined Arcturus' abandoned drink with her own. Time for some air.
She headed past smaller, less animated groups in the perimeter of the club space before breaking away to the large balcony. Moving out of the way of other couples, Andi leaned against the railing and took a sip of the combo-cocktail, letting the night air cool her skin and her jealousy.
Her brief spiral toward melancholy was interrupted just as quickly as it started by a man's voice close at her shoulder.
"I didn't know you were back in town! Or that they still let you in here," the familiar voice teased.
Andi turned then and was surprised by the familiar features- a single violet eye paired with one under a leather patch, strong eyebrows, dark hair.
"Daspien!" She greeted him with genuine excitement, her spirits already lifting.
"Like they could enforce kicking me out, security changes each week that they open!” The pair shared a laugh and Andi pulled him into a half-hug.
"You'd think the DJ would remember the scamp that tapped into the system to play a recording of that speech Rhonin made," he mused, grinning at her with a mischievous glint in his violet eye that matched her own.
Andi returned the smile and finished her mixed drink before reaching out a hand. Daspien took it in his left, the chill of metal under his glove no longer taking her by surprise.
The mercenary nodded and moved easily with her back toward the dance floor.
"I thought you'd never ask," he teased and in they went. Their laughter soon drowned out by the music but the smiles behind it stayed in place well into the night.
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