Curse her finding all those Maurice Chevalier records in Muggle London the previous day and playing them as loud as possible at the new flat she lived in now, courtesy of the proprietor of Le Masque. This had called for muse inspiration and so, Adelia Delacroix had dressed as though she were some Bohemian student at the university of Paris. Currently, the beret sat nearby as the young witch was going over the necessary paperwork and finalising the plans for the Masqueradians on Saturday night. Crossdressing. Dieu, Éloi. Shaking her head, Adelia smiled in amusement nevertheless as she knew that meant the use of suspenders were coming back for that evening, no buts.

Stifling a yawn, she pushed away from the desk and stood up, walking over to the record player and turned it on. Her fingers then reached for one of the Chevalier records and placed it on the device, moving the needle over the LP itself. The jovial beat poured into the room within seconds, making Adelia grin from the sound of music and soft scratches. Who needed anything, aside a good orchestra to lead you into song, no? She moved away from the record and began to sing along to it once Maurice began. Oh, how perfect indeed! "Bleu, blanc, rouge, avec l'espoir elle a fleur!"[2] she sang loudly, uncaring if Éloi or Alanna came barging in.

She was in a good mood, dammit, and she wanted to sing.

1.	Title: It Is A Flower Of Paris Lyrics: Of old Paris smiling Because it is the flower of return The return of sunny days
2.	Blue, white, red, hoping it bloomed

"On t'a bercé trop près du mur?"[1] Éloi muttered furiously in the muggle contraption known as a telephone before slamming the handset in the hook. The distributors, however were enough reason for his splitting headache, without adding the bonus of telephone conversations. Such an irritating device.

And, just as he was taking his coffee mug to his lips, hoping to whatever gods out there for a moment of peace and quiet to savor the strong, bitter liquid, his door practically vibrated with the sudden sound of—Maurice Chevalier? The young Monsieur Desrosiers frowned, letting a long exhausted sigh escape his lips then let the coffee mug down on the desk with obvious desperation in his eyes. He pulled his blue Chinese silk robe tighter around him and stuck his wand through the messy twist of hair at the nape of his head, before raising from his chair with demented determination. The second his door banged loudly as it touched the wall he crossed his arms on the doorstep and took a long deep breath, a vein in his temple throbbing violently. "Adelia Iris Delacroix! Cease that infernal noise this instant" he yelled approaching her door, robe billowing behind him and hands tightly balled in fists along his body. He swung her door open with unnecessary force and froze on the spot mouth hanging agape, his words stuck in his throat.

He sighed and shook his head, smile forming on his lips, before he closed the door behind him and leaned against it with his arms crossed. "A beret, chérie?" he asked amused. "I see you are quite the francophone today. And very loudly, at that" he said, brows furrowed. "J'ai un mal de tête atroce,[2] mon petit chou" he took a hand to his temple, rubbing small, soothing circles. In a few short steps he was sitting on the desk,  looming over the papers scattered on the surface. "Whatever might've gotten you in such good spirits, Mademoiselle?" he asked reading the papers upside down. He raised his head and gave her a sweeping look from head to toe and chuckled softly. "Oh, Addie, Addie, we are never going to agree on your outfits, are we?" he asked rhetorically as he dragged his hands behind on the desk, leaning unto them and crossed his legs, swinging one lazily in the air. "At least, it's not suspenders" he huffed, rolling his eyes.

1.	As a child, was your cradle rocked too close to the wall?
2.	I have a splitting headache

Adelia Iris Delacroix! Cease that infernal noise this instant!

The record screeched to an instant halt. Merde, she was doomed now. The full name always meant just that.

She moved over to the record, putting the vinyl disc back into its sheathe as the door boomed open, revealing her very tired and worn out employer. Gods, this was not good, no, not at all. Her cerulean gaze fell upon him as though she were a young Adelia once again about be scorned for spilling ink on the carpet or for yanking the cat's tail for the umpteenth time. His sigh and shaking of the head indicated Éloi was stressed out again about something -- this time, no doubt about the Masquerdians shindig coming up in mere hours. Biting her lip briefly, Addie went back to the desk, sitting down, still watching him as though she were a kicked puppy.

A headache and again, she was his little cabbage.

At least she could bear that nickname even as she still was very uncertain if it was worthy of such a title. After all, cabbage, although very delicious, was green and leafy. Addie didn't feel she was either of those things but she wouldn't argue with Éloi... especially with this headache he was currently in battle against. "Good mood, Monsieur Éloi? Nothing really. Just...a good day and a good mood to go along with it, no?" she encouraged as her eyes followed him as he read, hoping (and praying) that there weren't mistakes. She needed this job badly; going home to Mama et Papa was not on the agenda in the future, after all.

Addie finally relaxed, though, when Éloi spoke up against her choice in apparel once more, grinning like the Cheshire Cat when he huffed about the suspenders. Oh, how wicked she was towards about all of this. "Oui, good sir. It's not suspenders, but I was contemplating whether or not to wear them at the next event. Then again, the thought of you snapping me in them all night long seems a bit overkill. Then again, I do need suspenders if I want to look period correct. Who knows, good monsieur? Maybe I'll just wear a long coat and a pair of hunting boots and that's it." A smirk rose to her lips. "But you'd enjoy that a bit much, would you not?"

"Would I, mademoiselle?" he asked with a grin bordering on hungry. His head falling back he smirked, closing his eyes trying to imagine Addie in the outfit she'd just proposed and he chuckled. "I suppose I would" he drawled, looking at her from under thick eyelashes. He straightened his back and slipped his hands in the pockets of the bathrobe, pulling them out with a pack of cigarettes and an ivory cigarette holder.

Fumbling with the two, until he had a cigarette stuck in the holder, he took it between his index and middle fingers and pulled his wand from his hair. Once it was lit, he twisted his hair again and put it back. "Alors, Adelia, what am I ever going to do with you?" he asked, rolling the smoke out through his lips. "You are a woman now. A strong, independent, beautiful woman—you should dress to show it. One day you are going to force me to undress you and leave you about your job in your underwear" he said smirking.

"Then again, I suppose that would distract all others from doing their job" he laughed raising an eyebrow as he inhaled the smoke through the long shaft of the holder. "It would be interesting to experiment with that thought, one day, however" he continued with a serious expression. "Come, chérie, take a seat" he patted the desk next to him. "I won't bite. Much" he smiled dangerously.

She wanted to defend herself, to prove to Éloi that she was fully capable of being strong, independent and beautiful but to dress how he constantly wanted it was slightly vexing considering she wasn't used to the haute couture style Éloi approved of so well. Addie held back on crying as well, frustrated that an attempt to amuse him (and perhaps to get him to look her way a little closer) had all but failed once again. Were the attempts simply too much? Too little? Not enough? A sigh finally left her lips, yet was replaced back by a smirk.

Working in nothing but undergarments? Surely . . .

"Some would see that proposal as indecent and a call for harassment, Monsieur Desrosiers," Addie finally quipped, moving over to sit next to him. Her eyes fixated upon Éloi, cautious and nervous, as her bottom plopped onto the wooden surface. "I pray for your sake it's not too hard or I'll smack you. Or hex. Maybe both, depending how hard the bite is, no?"

Éloi smiled slyly as Adelia took the seat next to him and straightened his back, leaning closer to her. "Ah, oui, but mademoiselle, we are at Le Masque, mais non?" he asked with a smirk as he settled one of his hands on her knee. "And what would they call this, then?" he asked, sugary voice and faux-innocence on his face as he rubbed small circles with two of his fingers right under the hem of her dress. "I am sure your boss would like to hear all about that lecherous young man that keeps harassing you" he continued with a positively predatory grin as his hands inched just a little upwards.

Leaning closer to the little blonde menace, a smile tugging at his lips he inhaled her fresh yet delicate perfume and closed his eyes for just the fraction of a second. "I'd like to see you try, mon petit" he drawled before he settled his lips on the pale skin of her neck and grazed the skin lightly with his teeth. "Sometimes, you seem to forget yourself" he said chuckling before his teeth sunk only just so in the crook of her neck and nipped at the skin. "Hex me? Smack me?" he asked, voice muffled. "I'd like to see you coherent before you try that, chérie."  He slithered his tongue out and gave one teasing lick to the reddened patch of skin.

Her body clenched and instantly, saw stars when Éloi took her neck and made for himself a plaything. Addie shuddered, hot and bothered by the sudden influx of attention among other feelings that were best not to be spoken outloud about. She was incoherent as blood pounded in her eardrums, her skin rippling with hot prickling sensations as her cerulean eyes slid over to look at Éloi finally. Speechless, the young witch looked at him, smirking with those smug lips of his, enjoying the profits of his reward.

Damn him for making her nothing more than a puddle of goop.

"You are an ars--...a trifling employer who enjoys making me shut up more times than not. Don't...know, if I should be so offended or so lucky," Addie finally responded, huffing mockingly as her body scooted closer to Éloi, eyeing him closely. "I"m certain you enjoy teasing me so and I....enjoy it in return." A blush rose to her cheeks all over again, causing her to stare off on the side. "Shame on us."

"How about both" he asked amused, laughing softly into her skin. She was so adorable, positively delicious - still conflicted over her newly awakened appetite for life. His hand moved ever higher on her thigh, taking her increasing closeness to him as an encouragement. He raised his head from her neck, feeling a pang of regret at the loss of contact and looked at her with a small smile, still amused, watching her struggle with words. She had much to learn in terms of talking—or, well, this specific type of talking. But she was, nonetheless adorable in her attempts.

"Well, who am I to disperse your certainty, chérie" he hummed as his face grew closer and closer to hers, a hand raising to cup her jaw and slowly tip her head backwards. He stared right into her eyes, right until she closed them as their lips finally met, and the second she'd opened her mouth slightly,  Éloi slid his tongue into her mouth—hot and obscene, pressing their mouths together in a slow, burning and messy kiss. As he broke their kiss, he latched his teeth on her lower lip and bit into it, dragging it slowly. His hand was slowly migrating to her inner thigh, and he couldn't help but smile arrogantly at his effect on her. Not that his own breath hadn't grown heavier and rather irregular, yet still...

"Shame on us, indeed" he drawled as he slowly slid his other hand from her jaw, over the column of her neck, only to settle it at the base of her throat, encompassing its width and giving it a slow press. Not enough to harm, but enough to get his point across. Namely, that she was definitely at his mercy.

The kiss was certainly obscene but Addie was far from complaining as she stayed into his touch this time, giving into pleasures that were only to be seen, read even, in hot romance novels. This was no romance novel, her brain reprimanded briefly as she pressed deeper, craving for more of Éloi and his truly wicked mannerisms. However, the other broke part their moment and Addie whined pitifully all too quickly as teeth then found their way to her lip, to skin. A cry left on this instance and she was finding that perhaps being a Francophile this very evening was proving quite useful.

Even if she was the one recieving the benefits. Well, both were in all honesty.

The press to her neck brought reality back to show who was in control of all this. Éloi, not her. "Please, monsieur, don't stop," she panted heavily, eyes baring into his all while her heart pounded heavily against the frame of her small body. Heaven help her now, because Adelia Delacroix was no longer a little girl.

Éloi's face turned to an expression of pride and pure bliss at hearing her whimpering plea. There was nothign as beautiful as having one so broken and needy as to resort to shameless begging. And the young mademoiselle in front of him did beg so beautifully... But, there was a time for rewards and a time for playful teasing—playful only on Éloi's part, of course. Today was an occasion for the latter, however.

And so after leaning in once more to place a chaste kiss where her ear met her cheek, the young proprietor removed himself from her proximity completely. He wrapped his robe tighter around him and took a place on the chair positioned in front of her desk, crossing his legs as he settled comfortably into the backrest. "So, Adelia, chérie, tell me... how are you settling in your new life?" he asked almost disinterested as he extracted his wand from his hair, placing it in his lap and pulling his hair down his back.

"I know I've been rather forceful" he smiled, a tight small smile, awfully pleased with himself. "Uprooting you from your old life... But you have so much potential and I wouldn't want to see it go to waste. The sooner you get used to this world, the better for you and your future" he explained seriously, glancing at her to see whether she'd recovered yet. "You are managing well in your new position. Employees seem to be satisfied and our patrons have been as pleased as ever." Perhaps she won't get that sort of reward today, but praising her where she was worthy of it, was necessary at times. "It's a sure launching ramp, you know" he mused. "If you do well here, maybe you'll run your own show in a few years" he smiled sincerely, this time looking straight at her.

That was the goal, after all. To groom her into a woman worthy of respect, praise and even fear—beautiful, intelligent, ambitious, resourceful, but at the same time cunning and able to use everything in her interest and, subsequently Éloi's as well. A double-edged sword to be placed in a position of use to Éloi's personal interest. But she was a long way until there...

There was no doubt flustered, burning cheeks and a few colourful metaphors that escaped under hushed breaths when Éloi broke from Addie's side. She had the fury of a scorned thirty something woman, the wrath of a harpy and the scrunched up face of a cat when splashed with water. Oh, lord, she was livid, but kept the kettle from boiling and steaming out. Ooh, how she wished she could slap this man child for taunting her at every chance he had. True, Addie had invited Éloi in for such behaviour and allowed it.

So, quid pro quo, it was perhaps her fault as well, but she was mainly going to put the blame on Éloi.

"I know I've been rather forceful" (tell me another one, preacher man she retaliated within the confines of her mind) "Uprooting you from your old life... But you have so much potential and I wouldn't want to see it go to waste. The sooner you get used to this world, the better for you and your future." Eyes met shortly after that and her lips were drawn in a thin line, unamused but gave a curt nod nevertheless to be appreciative and polite.

"You are managing well in your new position. Employees seem to be satisfied and our patrons have been as pleased as ever. It's a sure launching ramp, you know. If you do well here, maybe you'll run your own show in a few years."

Éloi was praising and primping her. She felt less annoyed but uncertain how to really express her gratitude in fear that she would respond and it would sound too clipped in tones, so Addie waited a moment more to collect all her thoughts. "Thank you, monsieur. I'm very grateful for the opportunities you have given me. I would have still been at the estate or Monks, mourning and forgetting that I was capable of happiness, of promise." The flame was still burning but her expression showed meekness, gratitude.

"I only hope to achieve enough to return my thankfulness some day, sir."

Éloi was holding back on a peal of hysteric laughs watching Adelia squirm within the confines of her protégée position, not daring to truly face him. He was both proud of her and a little irritated, having hoped for a more lively response from her, but satisfied in knowing that she remembered her position. The Desrosiers heir, in all his outstanding arrogance, loved to be sucked up to. But it tended to become a rather tedious affair at one point or the other...

Her flattery only continued when she eventually spoke. He appreciated it, on some level, so he thought it wise to acknowledge her behavior. "Good girl" he finally said with a pleased, tight smirk. But before long, he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and watched her with calculated coldness. "It's definitely wise to play your part well, your position" he drawled settling his chin on the back of his hand. "Meek definitely suits you, Adelia, my love" he said with a positively dangerous smile.

"But, I want to see you grow into a woman with actual opinions. I'm sure there's more than one thing you would've like to tell me just now..." he chuckled and raised an eyebrow intrigued. "And you should've. You only need to watch how you phrase the words that come into your mind, chérie" he said raising his head to lean back into the chair. "I know a way or two you can show your gratitude right now" he mused then, twisting a strand of hair as he let a dark smile take over his face.

"But, I want to see you grow into a woman with actual opinions. I'm sure there's more than one thing you would've like to tell me just now..."

Adelia kept up a poker face even as there was improper lady talk roaming in the confines of her brain. That said, the poker face slid into a smirk, nodding that she was prepared to speak more freely of what was on the girl's mind -- of course, not everything would be put out onto the table so easily, now would it? Non. "I know a way or two you can show your gratitude right now." Oho, how daring of Éloi. How daring indeed. However, Addie wasn't going to let him let her slip so carefully back into the position she had fallen moments before.

"My, my, Monsieur Éloi. Are you trying get me close again? Tsk, tsk. Don't you know it's bad form to shame a lady thrice over?"

She grinned mischievously, the glint ever so evident in her eyes. "The repayment can be paid here shortly -- after all, I had some ideas for you, myself." A pause as her grin widened further, allowing Éloi to take matter of interpretation in his own way. Check.

"Bad form? Really?" he feigned curious ignorance with a thoughtful tone to his voice, thoroughly amused by the tiny, feeble claws this particular lovely little kitten had presented. "It's a good thing I don't bother with the public opinion much, then, isn't it?" he  chuckled softly, suddenly raising to his feet. The knot that kept his robe together had loosened and although he could feel a chilly draft pass over his chest he decided not to bother with it.

"Is that so, Mademoiselle Delacroix?" he asked absentmindedly walking around the room seemingly without a clear direction, when he swiftly changed course and decidedly stepped forward towards Addie. When he was merely a breath away from her he smirked almost demonically and cupped her jaw with one hand, firmly but not so hard as to cause any discomfort. He grabbed the edge of the desk with his other hand, locking her between himself and the desk and looked at her with an analytical intensity, eyes raking her body from head to toe. He leaned closer to her ear, brushing her cheek with his own and once he was within whispering distance he let out an amused little noise. "And what would those ideas be, hmm?"

Did I hesitate, good fellow? she mocked openingly within the confines of her mind, opting to definitely not speak them as Adelia had the keen idea that Éloi would swat (or worse) at her for such impudence. "Non, you don't, Monsieur Éloi. Public opinion means little to you unless of course it puts you directly into the center of limelight, no? That said, I--" Her words were halted in an instant as her chin was cupped by the proprietor of the business (and other affairs, the young witch mused with an internal smirk).

The eye plowing of sorts left her speechless and the room seemingly stilled all over again. Her body clenched briefly as goosebumps formed slowly but surely upon her skin, causing Addie to shiver. Dammit, Éloi 500, Addie, 1. Where there had been the small dots upon her arms, her cheeks burned a rosy hue when the two grazed against one another. He smelled of sandalwood, but there was unmistakable hints of something peppery and possibly tobacco[1]?

"Th....the ideas? ...." She hesitated as eyes looked down Éloi's form once more; her nimble fingers reached out to stroke his face or the very least to stroke his chest to indicate she was alert to his advancements. "They're for La Masque themes, but...maybe? Maybe those ideas could wait?" Trouble, meet one Adelia Delacroix.

1.	CK One Shock!, approved per Amara!