Gathering: Garden party, interrupted

[concierge]

From grand galas to informal gatherings, parties of one sort or another were not an unusual occurrence at the Nexus Hotel. Today was no different, a low-key affair erected in the rotunda of the Italian gardens with the aspiration that tea sandwiches and mimosas would facilitate mingling of the hotel's ever-shifting population.

What was unusual, however, was the inclusion of a wayward, bipedal lizard courtesy of a door standing open on the hotel's facade. Green, spry, perhaps five feet long and roughly as tall as a man, this new guest featured a curved, hard plate across his (or her) forehead that was perhaps indicative of the stubborn nature lurking beneath -- Perhaps because the foliage was so tasty, this little dinosaur resisted all attempts by the staff to corral it back to its home. It would run away from ropes and outstretched arms, knocking over bottles of champagne and destroying the decor before settling several feet away to chomp on some accommodating flowers.

Comments

[phrynefisher]

Where she stood watching with avid interest splashed clear across her face, hat tipped and the white silk of her dress as clean as when she had stepped off the tennis court, Phryne had to think that whatever the creature was it was surely an improvement upon one of Aunt P.'s garden parties. The fact that she held a mimosa in one hand rather than a drink the teetotalers might better approve of made the scene all the more appealing, although she couldn't say she didn't miss dear Dot's presence at her side at that moment.

"However did it manage to get into the hotel in the first place?" she found herself wondering aloud, the question one that tugged at a minor mystery but one that did not send her chasing down the answer quite yet. It wasn't as if it were a murder or some other crime in need of solving, after all.

Perhaps she might've wished for Mac instead of Dot, as however sweet the younger woman was it would be certain that Dot would be busy wringing her hands or standing with her eyes wide. Mac would likely have just asked for a stiff drink and joined in for a little color commentary as they watched the staff attempt to wrangle the creature and keep it from demolishing the garden.