AUTHORS NOTES: This story is part of the universe of 'The Great And The Good', and explains the details of how Alison came to owe a favour to Cassidy.

DISCLAIMER: Daria and all associated characters are owned by MTV. This story is for entertainment purposes and no money or other goods have exchanged hands for this.

All original characters were created by Ognawk.

THE GREAT AND THE GOOD: A GREAT DEAL OF TROUBLE
By Ognawk


Alison Bradfield was stood in the mirror in the shared bathroom between her dorm room at Lawndale State University and the room next door. She carefully brushed through her long black hair and checked her make-up. She then turned to the door. Hung on the back of it was a long sleeved black dress. Tonight, she was attending a ball put on by the Maryland Arts Society, and she was one of the artists chosen to have work on display. The sleeves on the dress were to cover up her tattoos, figuring that, at a high society ball, she didn't think they'd make a great first impression.

She'd gotten in to the display thanks to her wealthy stepfather, who was a friend of one of the members of the society. Alison hoped that, if she could get in with one of the directors of the Society, she might get a shot at her art making one of the local galleries. She hated the idea of a formal dress, but she was quite prepared to put up with it for the sake of getting some recognition and make a career out of her art.

She put the dress on and checked herself out in the mirror. Not too bad, she thought, as she smiled and headed back into the dorm room, towel in hand. She was immediately greeted by a wolf whistle as she entered.

"Damn, girl! You look good!"

"Oh, shut up, Jade," Alison said with a smirk, throwing the towel at her roommate.

Jade Irvine was a fellow art student at Lawndale State U. She was medium height and of average build with short, dyed green hair to match her name. She wore black, torn jeans and a long sleeved blue top.

"Seriously, Ally, you scrub up well. You're going to turn some heads at that fancy shindig."

"Like my usual clothes don't turn heads around here?" Alison replied with a smirk.

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Well, you certainly don't lack self-confidence, roomy."

Alison adjusted her dress slightly and smiled. "Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it."

Jade chuckled and threw the towel back to Alison. She then got up and went to put her jacket on.

"Well, as much as I'd like to sit here and fuel your ego, I've got some group study to do."

Alison smirked. "'Group study'? Is that what they call it now?"

"Less of your smut, young lady," Jade said with a chuckle as she opened the door and made her way out, "Good luck!"

Alison pulled up in front of the Winged Tree Country Club, which had been chosen as the venue for this particular venture. She handed the keys to the valet, checked in at the front and made her way to the room that was functioning as a gallery for the event. She let out a sharp whistle as she looked at some of the art on display.

"There's some really good stuff in here," she said, not realising she'd said it out loud.

"Yeah, there's some really interesting artists around Maryland," a voice nearby said.

Alison turned to see the source of the voice, a petite high school age looking girl with short red hair and glasses, wearing a long yellow dress. She smiled when she got Alison's attention.

"So, are you an artist or a collector?" she asked.

"Oh, an artist," Alison replied, "I'm actually trying to find my artwork, as a matter of fact."

"Oh, I can help you with that," the redhead said with a smile, "My mother is on the board of the Maryland Arts Society, so I know where all the artists' works are displayed. What's your name?"

"Bradfield. Alison Bradfield," she said with a smile.

"Licence to kill?" the girl replied with a wry smile, "My name's Cassidy. OK, follow me, please."

Alison followed Cassidy to the part of the gallery where her pictures were on display.

"Here we are," Cassidy said, continuing as Alison looked at the display approvingly, "Pastels. I've heard the directors say they don't see much in that style."

"Is that a good thing?" Alison asked.

Cassidy tilted her head to the side slightly. "Hard to say, really. I've heard a couple of the directors are really stuck in their ways and prefer the classic styles. But the board are trying to modernise, so I believe."

Alison stood in thought for a moment. "Hey, didn't you say your Mom is one of the directors?"

"Oh yes. There's five of them altogether, and they vote on things like where these balls happen, and who gets in," Cassidy explained, "You must have impressed some of them to get in."

"Well, possibly. My stepdad is friends with one of the directors. Giovanni, I think his name is."

Cassidy chuckled. "Giovanni Badoer. He's quite funny. When he sees something he likes, he wants to tell everyone about it. When he's impressed, you'll know it."

"Hey, is there any chance you can point the directors out to me?" Alison asked.

Cassidy looked at her watch. "Well, I've got some things to do right now, but if you find me later, I'll try to help you out."

"Thanks!" Alison said as she watched Cassidy leave. She could prove very useful, she thought to herself as she went for a wander around the gallery.

Alison was sat one of the sofas at the club with a glass of wine in her hand. She'd chatted to a couple of attendees, but was now waiting to see Cassidy again. Sure enough, Cassidy came along with a soda and sat next to her.

"Drinking already?" Cassidy asked.

"Hey, I like some wine from time to time. Helps me relax," Alison replied, taking a sip from her drink.

"Whatever helps, I suppose," Cassidy said as she took a sip from her soda.

They sat in silence for a while as they watched people milling about. Alison was looking out for anyone who might seem important. She then remembered something.

"Hey Cassidy, who are the directors of the Arts Society?" she asked.

"Oh that's right, I was going to show you. Well, the woman in the blue suit with the blonde ponytail is my mother, Melissa Canton-Foster. She's kind of next in line to be the chair of the board. You've met Giovanni already."

"He's a curious man," Alison replied, "He and my stepdad go back a few years, apparently. He and his wife are going on a tour of Italy next year."

"I heard about that. Anyway, the man by the punch bowl in the brown suit is William Dreyfus. He's one of the classicists, but he's been open minded to more modern stuff lately. The older woman he's talking to is Kerry McAndrews. She doesn't seem to have a preferred style, or at least one she displays publically anyway. She doesn't get along with Giovanni very well, though. They tend to disagree about a lot of things."

Alison looked towards her paintings and saw a bald, elderly gentleman in a well fitting black suit looking at her art. She nudged Cassidy.

"Hey, is that guy important?" Alison asked

"Oh, yes. That's Conrad Lanser, the current chairman of the board. He's supposed to be retiring next year and my mother is taking over from him," Cassidy replied.

"Know anything about him?"

"Not much apart from that," Cassidy said, "He keeps his opinions on what he considers a 'need to know' basis."

Alison watched him for a moment then looked at Cassidy. "How do you know all this stuff, anyway? Does your mother tell you everything?"

"No, I overhear her talking to my stepdad quite a lot. She does like to talk shop sometimes," Cassidy explained with a chuckle.

Alison thought about the information Cassidy had given her and then stood up. "I need another drink," she said as she got up and Cassidy watched her leave.

Conrad Lanser was still looking over Alison's work with an air of concentration, stroking his beard as he did so. He didn't notice Alison walk up near to him, wine glass in hand.

"Interesting style," Alison said.

"Hrrmmf. It certainly looks different to everything else, I'll give it that," Conrad replied, still focussed on the art.

"It's good to have a bit of variety, I think. Keeps the patrons interested," Alison said, sensing that Conrad wasn't too enamoured with her work, and also sensing he didn't know it was hers.

"Yes, but I'm not sure why Giovanni is so excited by this. He can be quite unusual sometimes."

"I've heard he does get enthusiastic when he sees something he likes," Alison said, taking a gulp of her wine.

"Yes. No-one could ever accuse the man of lacking enthusiasm. But pastels? I've already had a couple of people wondering why this is even in here."

Alison was slightly stung by the remark. "Really?"

"Well, yes. Don't get me wrong, the ideas certainly are interesting, but I've always felt that pastels are difficult to pull off without it looking like a 10 year old did it. I just don't think this Ms. Bradfield has the skill to do it."

Doesn't have the skill to pull it off? It took me days to work on those, Alison thought as she tried very hard not to say something she was going to regret.

"You're not a fan, then?"

"Can't say that I am. I fear I'm getting too soft in my old age. I need to assert myself more with the board and argue my point. Now, if you'll excuse me young lady, I have some business to attend to," he said as he walked away.

Alison stood there for a moment, staring at her art. Looks like a 10 year old did it? The nerve of it! She went to refill her wine glass and then sat back down on one of the sofas, simmering for a while until Cassidy rejoined her.

"I saw you had a talk with Mr Lanser," Cassidy said, noticing Alison's demeanour, "Doesn't look like it went well."

"He said I didn't have the skill to pull off pastels. My art looks like a 10 year old could have done it. I've never been so insulted," she said, taking another swig of wine and scowling.

"Hmm. Are you sure you should be drinking that much wine?" Cassidy asked, slightly concerned.

"Oh, I'm fine. My party is just getting started here," Alison said, slumping back as she did and muttering quietly under her breath.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later," Cassidy said, as she got up, leaving Alison to stew in her thoughts.

Alison had managed to sneak out of the club with a glass of wine in her hand. It was a cool, pleasant evening in Lawndale and so she decided to go for a little walk, the comment of Conrad Lanser still stinging in her mind. She didn't have a problem with people not liking her art, but when they claimed that the work that she'd put hours of her life into showed a lack of skill, she took offence to it.

She managed to make her way to the car park, and decided to go inside. Once there, she looked around before finding her car. She walked over to it and sat on the bonnet, sipping from the glass in her hand. As she thought about it, she let out a bitter laugh and raised her glass, as though in a toast.

"To my 10-year old level art skills!" she said with a chuckle, raising her glass. However, the glass slipped out of her hand. She tried to grab hold of it, but couldn't and stepped away as it hit the floor and shattered into pieces. As she looked at the remnants of the glass, she noticed a large shard in the middle of the debris and picked it up. She looked at its edges and then started to walk away from her car when she noticed an interesting looking car on its own, a red classic Jaguar. As she got closer, she noticed the custom number plate that read 'CONR4D'.

That must be Conrad Lanser's car, she thought as she stood next to it. She looked at the shard of glass in her hand, noticing how sharp it looked. She looked around and, noticing there was no-one around, she crouched down and stabbed one of the tyres on the car with the glass. She then walked around the car, stabbing the other tyres as well. She then started scraping the red paintwork with the glass, making all sorts of random designs, although the level of intoxication she was at meant nothing was particulary neat looking. Once she was done, she took the shard and threw it as far away as possible, before turning to admire her handiwork.

Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere behind Alison. "That's an interesting new art medium."

In sudden shock and fear, Alison turned around to see Cassidy stood there with a small smile on her face.

"Do you have a name for that piece?"

Alison looked like she'd seen a ghost. "H... How long have you been stood there?"

"Oh, only a couple of minutes or so. I saw you leave the club, told my mother I was stepping out for a moment and decided to see where you were going."

Alison was trying to make sense of the situation in her groggy head, when she noticed that Cassidy had a camera in one of her hands.

"Oh God. You weren't taking pictures were you?" she asked.

"Of course," Cassidy replied with a smile, "I've always wanted to watch an artist at work and get some pictures of their progress."

Crap, crap, crap, Alison thought.

"Cassidy, you can't let anyone see those pictures. If it gets out that I did this, my name is dirt in the art scene!"

Cassidy frowned and tilted her head slightly. "Well why did you do it?"

Alison sighed. "I was drinking. I was angry. He insulted my work. I wasn't thinking straight. Please, you need to destroy that film!"

Cassidy toyed with the camera in her hand. "I could do that, but it contains evidence of a criminal act, Alison. What's in it for me if I destroy it?"

"What do you want me to do?" Alison blurted out before she could even think.

Cassidy pondered it for a second before pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. She leaned on one of the nearby cars and wrote something down, before handing it to Alison.

"What's this?" Alison asked, staring at the paper.

"It's my phone number and an instruction to phone me tomorrow so I can get your phone number, because you're clearly in no state to give me your number right now. I'm going to keep hold of this film hidden for now, but you owe me big," Cassidy explained, "When I decide what I need from you, I'll phone you and let you know. If you do what I ask, I'll give you the evidence and you can do what you want with it. Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah. Yeah," Alison replied with a sigh.

A big smile came across Cassidy's face. "Excellent! Now, we need to get you home. There's no way you're driving home like that, so I'll get my mother to give you a lift."

"Thanks," Alison grumbled as the two of them left the parking area.

A few months later...

Alison was in her dorm room, doing some sketching. Her concentration was interrupted by her phone ringing. She picked it up and answered it without looking to see who the caller was.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Hi, it's me, Cassidy. I need you to do a favour for me," came the reply.

Alison quietly sighed. Well, here we go, she thought.

"You still have the evidence?" Alison asked.

"Yes. If you do this thing for me, I'll give you the evidence and we'll be even."

"OK, what is it you're after?"

"Well, you're going to the Ashfield Arts Colony soon, correct?"

"Yes," Alison said cautiously.

"Well, there's this guy I'm interested in whose girlfriend is going to Ashfield, but their relationship is on the rocks. I know he wants me, but I need your help to make it happen."

Alison raised an eyebrow, not sure where this was going exactly. "How do I do that?"

"I need you to get some evidence of her in a compromising position and get evidence to me. I don't care who you get her with, but I'm confident you can do it," Cassidy explained, "Her name is Jane. She's somewhat athletic and slim with distinctive, black triangular styled hair and three earrings in the top of her ear."

Alison jotted the details down. "So, you want me to send some photos to you."

"Yes. Once I receive them, I'll come up to see you and give you the photos of you and the negatives. What you do with them is up to you."

Alison thought about it for a moment. "OK, I'll do it."

"I knew you would. Good luck, Alison!" Cassidy said, ending the call.

At Ashfield, Alison was walking towards the building where guest artist Daniel Dotson, creator of Paper Plate Genocide, would be giving a talk. Don't know what's so special about putting things through paper plates, Alison thought as she went into the building.

As she scanned the room, her attention was drawn to a girl sat on one of the outer stools in the room. She was exactly as Cassidy had described, and she was chatting to a tall guy on the stool next to her with long, light brown hair. Guess this got easier, Alison thought as she looked at the guy and walked over to sit on the empty stool on the other side of Jane.