23 Griffin Way, Tuesday Afternoon

[joanna_stayton]

The mansion was as large as ever, and Joanna had had her entire staff running around all morning making sure everything was immaculate. She had gone over every detail of the lunch menu with the chef, the champaign was on ice, a new tin of caviar had been opened, and Joanna was now busying by closely supervising one of her maids as she refluffed

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[perfectmissyork]

Charlotte, of course, was quite punctual for her little luncheon with Ms. Stayton, delayed only seconds as she arrived at the mansion and took a moment to appreciate how lovely it was and how nice it was to have the opportunity to get to know a clearly important, if not influential personage of the island, although it did have her wondering if Joanna was as prestigious as her estate might have suggested, why she hadn't exactly heard her name before. Oh, well. Perhaps, despite what the woman's lavish presence might have suggested, she simply liked to keep a low profile.

She smoothed out the skirt of her very nice Sunday-social casual ensemble with one hand before ringing the doorbell to announce her timely arrival; the other hand held a nice gift of a fine dessert wine that she was sure Ms. Stayton would enjoy, assuming she had any taste at all, but she was not about to question the tastes of someone who'd recently purchased three whole items from the exhibit.

[joanna_stayton]

Andrew opened the door and bowed slightly towards Charlotte. "Welcome, Ms. York. The lady of the house is awaiting you in the salon."

He took a step back and gestured towards a room off to the left of the grand entrance hall. Charlotte might note the giant floral arrangements and the much larger than life portrait of Joanna along the back wall.

[perfectmissyork]

"Oh...my," Charlotte commented quietly to herself, hand to heart, once she caught sight of the large portrait. Ms. Stayton must certainly be an important person...in her own head at the very least. The ever-present art dealer in her wondered exactly how much such a portrait would have been commissioned for, did a quick, reasonable estimate and then added a couple hundred thousand to it, knowing all too well how that sort of thing worked, and then felt just grateful that there at least weren't any stuffed ducks in sight. She fought off a visceral shutter at remembering those terrible ducks before nodding to the servant? Butler? The gentleman, and thanking him kindly before heading into the salon.

"Ms. Stayton!" she greeted the other woman brightly. "How lovely to see you! I must say, your estate is quite....impressive!"

[joanna_stayton]

Joanna rose slowly off the pillow strewn settee she had been reclining in, sipping champaign and waiting for Charlotte. "You're on time," she remarked. She appreciated punctuality.

"As I said before, the house isn't much, but it's all that was available on the island. I've had to do extensive remodeling, of course. The closets in this place were dreadful."

She took a moment to admire her decorative touches in this room -- the progressive 80's chic of gold lamé fabric, animal prints, bold purples, and, of course, plenty of black lacquered furnishings all mixed in with pricey modern art and select antiques.