Wife and Daughter

He introduced his wife, “Kali” and daughter “Chloe” around to the group. There were a lot of nods and a lot of shaken hands. I chose the later. The order of introductions was a bit interesting as was the way he clearly was preferring wife to daughter and the…jealousy that was on display there? He was a charming man, alas, in moments we were all going by first names and mostly chatting easily, though his daughter was clearly bored and his wife was clearly faking her interest.

Target Acquired: Kali Schreck: -33

Kali wore a little black dress, and gave everything a bright, fake smile.

Diamond had called her a bimbo, and she certainly had the look, but something about the woman read as malicious. Maybe it was just that I would have expected a true bimbo to have a much higher submission score? Speaking of which…

Target Acquired: Chloe Schreck: +27

Chloe was a pretty girl, who gave off very strong ‘spoiled rich daddy’s girl’ vibes. Her dress made her look younger than her age, but she was clearly never going to be particularly well endowed, at least not without surgery, or the app. On the other hand, those lips were made for sucking dick, not talking…

She honestly read more as bimbo than her stepmother. Though, when I took a look at her existing checkpoint, I almost laughed.

Spoiled Brat: Chloe can call upon daddy’s aid in solving problems and his resources/skills will go even further than they otherwise would.

That was definitely coming across, in how she pulled her hand away, wiped it on her dress, even though my hand was perfectly dry and pulled her phone out of her purse, “Daddy, the show’s starting in twenty minutes, can I go now?”

I laughed at that, trying to make it good natured, as Max awkwardly handled it, referencing her upcoming internship at the company and how she needed to network.

“Oh, please, I already know everyone here, except him and he’s just some security guard getting a reward for doing his job!”

I laughed again, to show there were no hard feelings, which worked for most of the group, but Chloe stared at me with daggers in her eyes, thinking I was laughing at her, which I was, because the alternative was to be insulted.

Max started to respond, but then stopped. I think Kali must have done something with her hands. She certainly didn’t say anything, but he glanced at her for a moment, then shrugged. “Of course, dear. Have fun at your concert.”

Chloe, off balance at the sudden lack of opposition sighed heavily, “It’s not a concert! It’s a show.”

I couldn’t hold back another chuckle. A few others were also laughing, which didn’t help as Chloe flushed and flounced off.

“Sorry about that. Kids, you know how it is,” Max said, with a hint of the charm that had taken him to the top of Gotham Insurance, as all the smarm and sarcasm vanished, at least from my sight and hearing, if not necessarily from his personality.

Most of the group nodded, except me and Penelope, who exchanged looks, as the only non-parents in the group. “Not a problem,” Jasmine reassured him, “so long as you donate!”

He laughed, but nodded, “I’ll even write a little note on the check citing Eli and Penelope, so everyone knows how good they did!”

Jasmine smirked. “Then our work here is done, see you later, Max. Anyone seen Dr. Sinner? There’s a name and a half for the director of an asylum for the criminally insane.”

“Nominative determinism at its finest!” Penelope made what was clearly a joke by tone and the fact that the others laughed. Kali a few seconds behind the rest in what was clearly mimicry. I didn’t bother, I was clearly the outsider and pretending otherwise would do no good. Instead, I tried to figure it out. Jasmine had referenced Alyce’s name…

No, her last name, ‘Sinner’ and the irony that she led a place which was dedicated to making sinners’ better. Determinism seemed obviously something about determinations or decisions and nominative might be something about names? So the joke was that there was a term for having a name which ironically matched your profession? Rich people were weird.

Max frowned before departing and informed us that Alyce didn’t seem to be here yet. Which made Penelope twitch, as she sure didn’t want to attend the whole event. “I better go circulate,” he said with an amused smile and headed off easily slipping through the crowd, despite Kali on his arm and the ripples Chloe’s departure had made.

The next hour felt like ten as we circulated. The food was good and I had to make a concerted effort not to get drunk there was so much booze on tap. Not everyone was doing the same. I suppose it probably helped loosen people’s purse strings, but it sure didn’t make this any more fun and kept me from making any real progress with Penelope until the speech.