Hugo was making his way through the soiree, going through the usual basic steps when something unexpected happened to Hugo. A voice appeared, a voice that he was unfortunately far too familiar with. The voice of Salen no last name given. Which was odd since Hugo did not know that Salen was going to be here in the first place. It was odd that both he and Salen would be invited. Was it related to the expedition of the start of the month, or was this due to the odd relationship that he and Salen shared? That was unclear, but what was clear was that Salen was very much acting like regular Salen again, despite the fact that Hugo could not see the strange man, yet he could still hear his sarcastic and smug voice echoing clearly into his ear.
Salen was implying that he was everywhere Hugo went and was trying to softly intimidate him. Something which was admittedly not completely ineffective. It was scary that Salen could either see/communicate with him remotely or even more dangerously could be invisible. But the latter was unlikely, as in the event that an invisible person bumped into another person it could be very dangerous and inconvenient. Furthermore, Salen had not demonstrated something like this before, so the strange man had to be around here somewhere and/or his ability had to be limited in some kind of sense. At the very least if it was a powerful ability it would come with a heavy ether cost, which reduced the likelihood that he was constantly being surveilled by Salen through this ability. Then finally, to put a 'colourful' end to the conversation Salen insulted Hugo's choice of dress. Which was just plain offensive. Just because style could be subtle did not mean it was bad. It was certainly preferable to being thought of as a reckless, flamboyant fool. Hugo whispered quietly after Salen finished speaking, making sure his muttering to himself wasn't noticed. "If you see and hear everything it is embarrassing how you still always seem to be in the wrong place. And who are you to judge my clothing? You wouldn't be able to discern the difference between a barn and a palace." After that line of conversation, Hugo finally spotted Salen in the crowd, looking right at him. So Salen had to be nearby to mentally talk to him, that was good to know. Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. An odd symbol was embroidered along his shoulder. Some kind of bird. Hugo could feel anger rising in his chest, the urge to retaliate, but he suppressed the emotion. He had to remain calm. Nothing that could be done about the odd symbolism now. Just had to keep going.
After the most unpleasant of interactions, Hugo began casting his eye throughout the ballroom. Seeing if any notable people were present who could perhaps be useful to talk to. He saw several notable Veir, with one, in particular, catching his eyes. This Veir was Eric Augustus, a man who Hugo might or might not have taken some minor inspiration from. He was a prominent businessman amongst the lower entente and was generally well-liked. Though there were some odd rumours about him, specifically that he was perhaps involved with selling illegal hallucinogenics. But as Hugo knew success bred envy and envy bred bad rumours. Perhaps the man was involved in some minor transgressions, but the same was true for all of the people gathered here. This was still a man of great success, with many possible business contacts that Hugo could use. Sure he might not have the same area of expertise, but many of the movers and shakers of the import and export business were cross-business. Who knew what benefit could be gained from having a conversation with this odd man?
As such after the unseemly interaction with Salen Hugo made his way toward Eric Augustus, introducing himself to the man when the first polite opportunity to do so arose. "Quite a pleasant party is this not ? The decor is well-dressed and the vintages are well-supplied, though I defer on the second topic to the experts." Hugo would give a small nod of his head and a smile in the direction of Augustus before responding further. "My name is Hugo Abreo, a humble Veir and an admirer of your work. Many of our colleagues seem to disdain the art of commerce yet you seem to have mastered it quite well."
