A Man in Lieu (Lady C, casual)

[ZANDER “ZEUS” DEVEREUX]

Laryngitis. Was there a worse word? It sounded like some terrible disease that people got and died from after it ate the skin off their faces. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything that terrible. Unfortunately, it was still a terrible affliction, making it so that those who suffered from it could not speak at all. Well, they could try, and that could be amusing, but it was still no laughing matter. He’d learned that first hand when he’d been summoned to see his ill mother that morning.

That’s right – Milly Devereux, matriarch of the Devereux family and the most fearsome woman to ever grace Louisiana, had been brought down by Laryngitis.

Now, Mama was a strong woman. A little sore throat wouldn’t normally shut her down or keep her from her obligations, and normally she would have called upon one of the girls if she did have to take a day. Not this time. For some reason, Mama had lost all of her senses and not only decided that she couldn’t stand up to this obligation, but she’d also delegated the task of going to Zander. It was a terrible decision. He had no skill when it came to picking out place settings and color swatches. His attention span wasn’t made for such tedious things. The girls, on the other hand, were as suited to the social graces as a fish was to water, so it was only the natural choice that Mama should pick one of them – something he’d argued over and over and over again before one sharp look from Mama had stalled all that. Say what you would about his bull headedness, but one sharp look from his Mama could cow him faster than a New York minute.

So that was how Zander had come to be standing in the banquet hall of some building he couldn’t remember the name of in down town Manhattan. It was empty and plain, but according to his mama, it was going to be some big, beautiful gala for the high society types. As usual, his mama was in the thick of it, planning away so that people would give the most money for whatever the cause was this time, which meant that there was a massive void to be filled.

Well, Mama had managed to get across to him that she wasn’t planning things alone, so it wasn’t as if the planning was completely abandoned. Some lady was helping her and Mama had assured him that this other lady would do almost all the work. Zander was merely a stand in – a body to remind the other woman that Milly Devereux was there in spirit to keep things on track. He didn’t like being a warm body, especially when it kept him from fun things, like work...and playing with his toy soldiers in his office when no one was looking.

Well, he would just have to finish with this lady and return to his office as soon as possible.

Familiar with how women acted when they were running things, Zander scanned the room, spotting an older woman in expensive looking clothing. He was sure she would be the one to speak with. Crossing the room, he was aware of how he towered over the other woman. Well, there was nothing to help him there.

“I’m Zander Devereux,” he introduced. “My mother said you would be expecting me. Now, where do we start with all this planning?”

[LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH]

As a general rule, Lady Catherine de Bourgh did not enjoy co-operating with people. She enjoyed giving orders and having them followed. But on this particular occasion she and Milly Devereux were working together - the Devereux matriarch had insisted she be involved- and, since she gave so much to this particular charity, Lady Catherine, for all her misgivings, had thought it would be counter-intuitive to turn down the offer. That wasn't to say she was happy about it, but she was surprised to find that she and Milly Devereux got on tolerably well - well enough to have selected a colour scheme without bloodshed.

It was only a few days after this had been decided that Milly came down with laryngitis.

Understandably, for once, Lady Catherine was most seriously displeased. She had come to the unfortunate realization that she could not pull off such a monumental task alone (that is to say, with herself ordering everyone around and her committee actually doing the legwork, but that was mere technicalities), nor was she happy at the prospect of Milly's son being her replacement.

Well, it was for just the one day, at least, and the gala wasn't until next week. But this was of little consequence to Her Ladyship - she was displeased and was likely to remain so.

Having arrived at the hotel in downtown Manhattan where the gala was being hosted, Lady Catherine had begun to inspect the venue, making critical notes in her pink leather notebook as she did so. It was then that she heard someone approaching, and turned on one poised pearly pink heel to face the newcomer.

“I’m Zander Devereux. My mother said you would be expecting me. Now, where do we start with all this planning?”

Lady Catherine smiled thinly by means of introduction, looking up at the young man as she did so. He was much taller than her, but if that fazed Her Ladyship she didn't show it - she was powerful and egotistical enough without physical height to help her.

"Zander Deveruex, I am Lady Catherine de Bourgh and I expect to be treated with the respect that title deserves."

Having said this, Lady Catherine flipped open her notebook once more, turning her attention back to the planning.

"Formalities aside, there is a lot to be done here - this venue is not at all up to the standard I expected. Your mother and I decided we should begin with specifying the colour scheme - we decided that blue would be ideal but got no further than that."

[ZANDER “ZEUS” DEVEREUX]

The short woman smiled, but it didn’t put him at ease. She didn’t look impressed to have him there in the slightest. Oh, now he knew why his mother had sent him. He was the charming one of her brood, and this woman clearly needed his charm to make this thing go without a hitch.

"Zander Deveruex, I am Lady Catherine de Bourgh and I expect to be treated with the respect that title deserves."

Zander blinked. Oh, so this was like going and staying with Aunt Ezzy. He hated staying with Aunt Ezzy. She even had a notebook on hand.

"Formalities aside, there is a lot to be done here - this venue is not at all up to the standard I expected. Your mother and I decided we should begin with specifying the colour scheme - we decided that blue would be ideal but got no further than that."

“Mother has good taste – blue, like my eyes,” he beamed. “However, you’ll need an accent color. I recommend gold, like my hair.”

This planning thing was easy. He could do this in his sleep. Perhaps he was. Lady Whats-it was lucky to have him there.

“There, one thing down! Now, Lady Berg, what’s next?” he asked, glancing around the room, as if it would be written on the wall somewhere.

[LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH]

“Mother has good taste – blue, like my eyes. However, you’ll need an accent color. I recommend gold, like my hair.”

Lady Catherine raised an eyebrow at Zander's egotism, utterly ignoring the fact that she would probably have said the same thing, or at least something similar, given the chance and the motive. She was also irritated by Zander's swift dismissal of the issue, simply since a colour was like his eyes or his hair, that did not make it perfect for the event. He wasn't even meant to be there, for goodness' sake!

“There, one thing down! Now, Lady Berg, what’s next?”

Her Ladyship stiffened slightly at Zander's saying her name incorrectly. Blatantly assuming they were done discussing the colour scheme was one thing, but getting her name wrong was quite another matter entirely.

"Lady de Bourgh, Mr Devereux, if you don't mind," she corrected, somewhat tersely, before tuning her attention once again to the main issue of the colour scheme. "And I don't think gold will do at all. Far too garish. No, no, I was thinking that silver would be appropriate."

[ZANDER “ZEUS” DEVEREUX]

"Lady de Bourgh, Mr Devereux, if you don't mind. And I don't think gold will do at all. Far too garish. No, no, I was thinking that silver would be appropriate."

Zander blinked a bit. Oh, now he could see why his mother didn’t want to be here with this woman. He would suspect that the laryngitis was faked, but his mother wasn’t that way. She would rather carry on than ever admit otherwise. Not being able to speak seemed to be the exception and he completely understood, seeing as how she couldn’t even defend herself against this over bearing woman.

“Lady,” he offered, knowing he wouldn’t remember the rest, no matter how hard he tried. “Silver and blue together are far too royal. It’s pompous.”

That was something his mother had told him once. Trying to put out the impression that one was above their station, or that they felt like they had to show everyone how important they thought they were, was the definition of pompous. His mother always went with warm colors for that reason, making sure everyone could relate to her plans and feel welcomed. Milly Devereux was kind hearted that way, though. He could see why Lady de What’s-it would want something to match the greys in her hair, but his hair was much nicer, so he clearly won on this one.

“Gold is a far better choice there,” he reiterated. “Everyone likes gold – its number one, after all. It’s warm, inviting, and not cold, like silver. You do want people to enjoy this party, do you not, Lady Dubois?”

There, he was quite eloquent when he wanted to be, after all.

[LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH]

ooc: That comment about Lady C's hair - oh, that made my day! Thank goodness Zander chose not to voice that though - Her Ladyship is very sensitive about her hair and gets it dyed all the time. XD

“Lady, silver and blue together are far too royal. It’s pompous.”

Lady Catherine had returned her attention to her notebook, looking through the colour samples she had placed there, looking for just the right shade of silver, but as Zander spoke again she looked up at him, indignant, one eyebrow raised in something akin to disdain. Pompous? Surely that was the point? This was a gala event for the rich and famous after all - and what were they if not pompous? Well, pompous was the wrong word. And, in Lady Catherine mind, there was no such thing as 'far too royal'. Everyone wanted to be treated like royalty - herself included.

“Gold is a far better choice there. Everyone likes gold – its number one, after all. It’s warm, inviting, and not cold, like silver. You do want people to enjoy this party, do you not, Lady Dubois?”

Goodness gracious, was this man incapable of remembering anything important? No matter that he was insisting on gold - he kept getting her name wrong! Surely it wasn't that difficult to remember...?

"It's pronounced de Bourgh, Mr. Devereux," Lady Catherine said, annunciating every syllable in a very deliberate manner. "de Bourgh, not Dubois. And of course I want everyone to enjoy the party, but surely everyone would enjoy being treated like royalty? Not that that's my only reason for the colour scheme - blue and gold would not match the cutlery. You can't have gold decor and silver cutlery, that's just obscene."