Well over an hour passed by the time Axel came knocking. Yuri was finally excused to grab a bite to eat and get dressed for the evening out. After a couple hours of pleading, pushing, shoving and coaxing, Yuri was ready for the Ice Castle night life.
Yuri sat there, staring at his reflection, his hands were trembling. He came close to wishing to be back in the crimson dress.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad, no?" Loop asked. "You look c-"
Yuri glared at the pink-clad maid. "Say 'cute' one more time, see what happens," Yuri snapped, hitting the counter sink with both hands.
"Eep! Help me, Lutz!" She cried as she moved to cower behind her indifferent sister.
With a pang of guilt, Yuri sat back down on the chair with a huff. "I don't even recognize myself! I mean, you girls temporarily dyed parts of my hair red, I have more jewelry on than I want to even count, this studded, black leather choker is constricting, and I feel we might as well have painted these matching leather and mesh pants on they are so tight," he rambled on. "What gives? How on Earth did you even figure my size, anyway? What kind of place is this 'Ice Castle'?" Yuri nerves were so on edge he was extremely tempted to rip off all the jewelry, but instead, he lifted a foot to show off one of the laced up, black skating boots that had a red guard in place. "I can't skate worth a damn!"
"Stop being so overdramatic. It's a high class, exotic club," Lutz responded, flat sounding as ever. "One of the many places Nobles like to go to in order to show off. You're dressed up now so just go with it, newbie."
"That's right, Lutz has been the only one to ever accompany the Master to such a place before," Loop added, worried about Yuri's anxious condition. "Master Nikiforov recently got an invitation from people who enjoy such places. I'm not sure what business deal is going down, I mean none of us do, but apparently attending such clubs is in order to keep friendly with these particular Nobles." Ms. Pink shrugged. "At least that's what it looks, we don't know much else."
"Business is conducted and so on," Lutz continued. "Newbie, listen close, just obey him, all right? That's all you have to do."
"B-But I didn't expect this to happen all in the first day!?" Yuri stuttered. "I-I have no idea how to not fall on the ice and I just-!" He buried his head in his hands. "Was the red lipstick even necessary too?!" He wailed.
'If I embarrass him he might kick me out! I wouldn't mind if Yuuko's heath was on the line!'
Ms. Blue sighed. "Stand tall, bend your knees, brush the blades side to side. Master isn't stupid, he'll help you if you let him. Plus, your lips were chapped. It was distracting so yes."
The young man groaned, lowering his hands…but soon nodded, taking the advice.
"So…shut up and strut-er- skate. Fine." Yuri huffed.
"Yay!" Axel and Loop ganged up on Yuri once again with a big hug. "Just do your best. Please, just make the master happy!"
Lutz and Yuri looked at each other while the other two were distracted.
"Dimwits." The both of them mouthed to the other, shaking their heads.
Yuri left the girls to retire for the night, trudging up the stairs to start heading towards the foyer where he would meet the Noble. Ms. Blue's pinpoint accuracy for fitting clothes and sizing had continued to leave Yuri in awe, even though it took him a bit to get used to wearing good shoes, let alone boots on blades. Down the hallway, half the way to the foyer, the young man felt a swell of different emotions ranging from despise to excitement. He was going to see more of the Capitol, even though the club sounded pretentious and gaudy, if his clothes were any indication. However, the experience that awaited was nonetheless compelling for him to think about.
Victor wasn't there at first, when Yuri arrived in the foyer, but when Victor did, he was dressed in a tailored black suit, complete with coat tails and intricate, golden embroidery over the lapels.
"Yes?" Yuri asked, slightly annoyed, putting his right hand on his hip.
"Hm?" Victor stopped scanning over the jewels that dazzled over Yuri's left shoulder and looked up and blinked. "Oh nothing," he shrugged. "the girls did good."
"Yeah, well-" Yuri raised his eyebrows in surprise, "wait- you go as far as complementing your slaves?"
Victor rolled his eyes and huffed. "Servants."
Yuri brought his head back as he was confused for a moment. "Servants? But we-"
"No buts!" Victor nipped sternly only to sigh irritably a second later, placing a hand on his hip. "Never mind. And, yes, I do recognize a good job when I see one. Is there a problem?"
'There's no problem but…that's odd...'
Yuri gave no answer aside from looking down to the ground, that is, until he heard steps walking his way. Yuri looked up and watched Victor approach him. The graceful movement was brief to witness and the young man remained still while Victor raised a hand to lightly touch Yuri's right earlobe.
"They even got you to wear a silver wing ear cuff I see."
Yuri tilted his head away from Victor's touch at the same time pushed Victor's hand away with the back of this right forearm and took a step back. "Yes, well, it seems this off beat club of yours has a fetish dress code."
Victor dropped his arm and gave a short laugh. "Trust me. What you are wearing is tame."
'Gre~at…'
