#and terry quietly and cleverly eggs them on

[terrence-silver]

I’m not sure if you have written about it before but what if Terry met Beloved when he was in his tofu era? Maybe he goes to some vegan restaurant with his “friends” and Beloved works there. Would he try to talk to her? How would he react if Emile was like “isn’t this new waitress adorable?”

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Emile seems like the king of drama.

Certified drama king.

Like the type of blunt individual that just says whatever crosses his mind no matter how rude, outlandish, out of line, scandalous --- you name it. Case and point, his Habsburg jawline comment. Inbreeding and hereditary physical disability jokes. Could be him being crass, but could also be the fact that, and I can't believe I'm analyzing Emile, the things I do for you guys, but I figure he is convinced that he's also the king of humor and that his remarks are genuinely funny and the life of the party. That they're his ticket to every rich man's brunch this side of the Californian coastline. I also tend to envision that he lives to impress Terry Silver (and individuals like him) --- only the richest man around. Downright. That much like a court jester socialite, not that he thinks of himself as one, far from, he'd say anything in the hopes his glamorous contact in the form of a Billionaire with a wicked beach patio mansion would merely chuckle at any of his many comments and invite him to his garden parties next time he hosts as well. The smallest chuckle will do as confirmation and approval. Which leads Emile to say progressively more and more unhinged things hoping that this time around, his jokes will make the king of the room, Terry, laugh. Such is the social hierarchy of the wealthy; some individuals gravitate around the rich and stick by them, wanting to impress them by any means necessary, even through sucking up.

Terry realizes attempts are being made.

He's been around long enough and he's encountered many Emiles in his time.

He deliberately suppresses amusement or most reactions that aren't just polite, graceful acknowledgement. Just so he'd see someone fidget and try desperately even harder for his sake. He might be in his Tofu Era, but that doesn't mean Terry ceased controlling people and silently toying with them or even relishing in the quiet, unassuming power he holds. In fact, the fact it seems like he isn't is a very good indicator he is at his most controlling here. Terry's ''friends''? They're all here for a reason. And that reason is because he put them there deliberately to hide himself in plain sight. Of course he enjoys having the upper hand socially. He always has. Always will.

So, a cute waitress (or waiter) at a Vegan restaurant?

Emile might outright say that waitress is cute because quirky and shocking bluntness is hilarious, right? Maybe this time around, Terry Silver, gracious host extraordinary, will finally laugh. Might say it in front of Cheyenne to amp up the fact of risque hilarity, who also very much hinges on Terry's good graces as well, and who might also laugh, because her mindfulness app's financing depends on being appeasing and her being the 'cool girl' and this is a business deal more than anything, and Emile is focusing on his own favour in Terry's eyes more than on anyone else's entirely willing to throw the 'girlfriend' under the bus with some man-to-man locker-room talk if it means endearing himself to Terry, who very much spots the quiet in-fighting in his posse and takes secret relishing in it. They're squabbling over scraps. Over him. He's there enjoying a lovely Rosé meanwhile, playing blissfully ignorant. Life is good. He will leave a hefty tip with the adorable waitress. Hefty. Enough to live on for six months, maybe more, until he meets them again; a reward for heir good service. Maybe a promise, that one day, he could come back to the venue. Once his rag-tag team of friends leaves his life though, because he promptly dismisses and ghosts them all when their use is up, and Terry returns to his old ways, he'd seek his waitress out --- the same man, yet so very different. This time, his order is infinitely different too. No canapes, no garnishes, no salads, and certainly no Tofu. Just the wine.

Terry comes all alone. No company.

Turns out, Emile, the accidental idiot Cupid, was good for a thing --- for pointing out a once in a lifetime treasure.

Terry Silver could destroy the lives of all his former, erhm, friends, one by one, just for the sake of it now that they no long serve a concrete use to him and once their expiration dates are up but he chooses the tiny mercy through merely cutting them all loose and being gracious for the single reason that if he didn't visit this particular restaurant, on a particular day and time of the year with them, he would've never met you. No interaction is for free; everything leads to something else. Turns out, one finds what belongs to them in the strangest places, in the strangest moments of one's life, when one least expects. This is an act of providence.