As the phone calls started the punishment began. It wasn't that Michael was adverse to shopping. He enjoyed it truthfully. What made this a punishment was having to deal with vampires that took every opportunity to make themselves feel better about themselves by subtly dropping hints that they didn't want to impose and they'd be oh soooo happy to take a Boon if they Michael and Richard couldn't afford the extravagant outfit they just "happened" to want. Some of them he doubted would be willing to buy the things they asked for themselves but that didn't keep them from asking.
What really made the situation a pain was that Michael had to take a more active role in his finances. Lilly had set him up with some fairly stable income, managed far and away by some stock market analyst. He had started to take a very slightly more active role before court but what had started out as an endeavor to get more spending money had now turned into a full blown nightly job that he had to do in addition to the job of getting outfits for more than forty Kindred.
It was what he was doing now actually. He was at home, going over foreign stocks, currencies, and checking things over and over again constantly. It took up more time than it did for him to go and search out ensembles. Michael hated it. He was good at. His Ventrue instincts loved the monetary power he was gaining. His assets were growing exponentially. Michael loathed it. If it weren't for the lengthening darkness Michael was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to handle the Prince's wishes. Not without going broke. Although, that was starting to look preferable to constant nights of doing this because as it was any extra money went almost straight to cloth and jewelry for others. Only the thought of not having to owe so many vamps so many little annoying Boons kept Michael from giving up. He did kick a dent in the wall out of frustration once. One more thing to pay for that he wouldn't have the money for for several months. It had helped him feel better though. Not being able to go out to the clubs as often as he had, left him with fewer ways to relieve stress and more dependent on his Herd for sustenance.
Michael rubbed his eyes. Even dead they itched when he stared to long at something. He went in the bathroom and took out his contacts and got out his glasses from their little used case before heading back to the study.