December Event: Pilot Ridge Holiday Bash

[Clarisse Prideaux]

”…instead of using your voice or your fingers, you express it with your whole body.”

“That is a very eloquent way of putting it, Mister Dalton.” She said, sounding slightly distant as she thought it over. She’d never heard it put that way before, but she liked it. It was a better way to explain the relationship between music and dancing. “I’ll have to take that back to the students.” She said resolutely, smiling. “I sponsor the Dance Team at the Institute.” Clarisse added for explanation. Some of her dancers had never danced before, perhaps putting their body in terms of a musical instrument would help them get better in tune.

Blushing once again, Clarisse heaved a little sigh of relief. Thank goodness he could Salsa. She would’ve hated to impose…or worse: dragged him into a dance he couldn’t handle. Or worse yet: gotten her shoes stepped on. She surpressed a shiver. Yikes. “It’s my favorite.” She said suddenly, clearly brimming with excitement. “There is a Salsa club here in Downtown that I’ve visited once, but the crowd isn’t….well I don’t really know anyone.” She shrugged. “I’m hoping to teach the students.”

They lurched to a stop and Clarisse blinked up at him. He’d stopped suddenly, clearly surprised. Then he grinned again and she couldn’t help but give a little laugh. She opened her mouth to beg him to tell what he was thinking, but he did so without prompting, confessing that he too worked at the school. Clarisse gasped, her right hand flying to her mouth in glee.
“You work at the school too?” She all but whispered, her voice dropping in excitement. “How lucky! It really is a small world.” To think he’d been right under her nose this whole time…what a world they lived in, and how small it was indeed.

“Then, you are a Meta as well?”

She faltered a bit at that statement, but nodded slowly. Clarisse was still not used to admitting her status outright. Pilot Ridge was fairly safe, but as she’d witnessed recently, hate still existed…on both sides. She continued to nod. “Yes, I am. Enhanced Adrenal effects.” She provided the source of her power as well, though most people had no idea what she was talking about when she said that. “Super-strength, if you will.” She clarified. Few people let that one fly past them.

Normally she wouldn’t have shared that much, but looking up at him…It was clear he was excited. Perhaps he was from a place with a low metahuman population? Or worse: he’d been victimized? She could only guess, but would figure he’d share if it was important.

[Jacob Dalton]

<< “I’ll have to take that back to the students.” She said resolutely, smiling. “I sponsor the Dance Team at the Institute.” Clarisse added for explanation. >>

He was pleased, even flattered. “By all means: being quoted is a compliment if ever there was one. And that sounds like a most diverting pastime!”

<< “There is a Salsa club here in Downtown that I’ve visited once, but the crowd isn’t….well I don’t really know anyone.” She shrugged. “I’m hoping to teach the students.” >>

He had the sense that there was something she wasn’t wanting to say about the members of the other club. He was curious, but they had just met: if it was something of importance it would come up in due time. And if not, it didn’t need to.

“That should prove interesting. Of course, the trick will be to assure they have a venue that will encourage them to practice beyond classtime. Are there any youth clubs in the area regularly open for stylized dance, as opposed to moshing to the latest pop or counterculture flash-in-the-pan?”

It wasn’t that Dalton disapproved of modern dance - unless in its prevalence, it overtook the forums where otherwise the art of a more elegant style of dance could be practiced, but was now prevented.

<< “You work at the school too?” She all but whispered, her voice dropping in excitement. “How lucky! It really is a small world.” >>

“I have only been here three weeks: a fascinating, exhilarating three weeks, but that is all. Most surely we would have encountered one another in time: but I must say I rather like the way it turned out. A sense of dramatic irony, as it were.”

<< She continued to nod. “Yes, I am. Enhanced Adrenal effects… …Super-strength, if you will.” She clarified. >>

Adrenal, adrenaline – Dalton’s mind was quickly on the trail to break down the implications, but she specified quickly enough. “Myself: bio hydrokinesis. I can move unprocessed water.” Of course she probably got that right off, but she had done him the courtesy of the layman’s description, and he simply responded in kind.

His eyes sparkled as he looked at her in a new light. “So many Mundanes out there to whom we are monsters for nothing other than a gift they do not share: just to know that you know what it means to be a meta, makes all the difference.”

He shook himself a moment. “I daresay I have distracted us again. Let us get your coat checked in, and back to the dance floor?”

He offered his arm again, and led the way.

[Jacob Lawrence]

Oh... shit.

Jake had been preparing himself to meet Morgan's mother, not to run into Paulo and Penny. Immediately upon their interruption, Jake felt his heart drop and his stomach lurch. His surprise was written all over his face as he tried to swallow the fact that his coworkers were standing in front of him. "Pa--Oscar!" He quickly corrected himself. "Uh... well, I wasn't expecting to see you here." He bit the inside of his cheek, resisting the urge to put as much space as possible between the two of them and Morgan.

Paulo's eerie smile was unsettling enough as it is, but Morgan (as usual) was oblivious. He even seemed happy about this turn of events, which only made the knot in Jake's stomach worse. If they were here, that meant that Gabe was looking into where Jake had been disappearing to. Now they knew who Morgan was, what he looked like, and for once Jake was more worried about what would happen to Morgan than to himself.

"They've... been busy. I haven't seen them around much lately." Jake explained to Morgan, his voice somewhat level despite the turmoil inside his head. He'd known that the two of them hadn't been around the compound lately, but he'd been so wrapped up that he hadn't even considered that the reason had anything to do with him.

It was practically impossible to get out of this situation. Jake felt as if he was rooted to the spot and even though the door was only a few feet away, there was no getting to it. Morgan still wanted to introduce him to his mother and he was so excited for this party. He couldn't rightly suggest that they leave... and chances were that Paulo and Penny were going to be reporting to Gabe very soon. This could not possibly get any worse.

[Emiko Nakajima]

Emiko listened intently to Eli as he began to introduce people around the room, noticeably pulling the conversation topic away from him like she had just done. She noted the people he pointed out and committed them to memory as fast as possible. Kovacs- recruiter. She looked a bit angry, or it was her natural disposition. Savage- worked on campus. She’d find her later to see if she knew of any convenient passages through the school. All of the maintenance staff had a trick or two up their sleeves, no matter where a person went. Gold- lawyer. Fantastic. She knew where she would go with any legal troubles in the future. She moved her head toward Eli’s inclination and attempted to memorize the faces she was directed toward, though it was hard to do without a name to each one. It was slightly frustrating- she wasn’t sure who in the crowd was Hammel staff and who were innocent bystanders. It was irksome, but fixable, once she was finished at the bar. Her glass of water was half gone thanks to her frequent sipping.

The Japanese woman was silent for a bit as she commited each face to memory, but when she was done, she looked over to Eli and smiled. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that helps. Most days I just sit and watch people go around school without a clue as to who they are- this will help immensely.” Maybe not as much as she said, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. Once she knew people, those people knew people, who knew more people, who knew more people, who might know something pertaining to her reason for being in the US in the first place. Every bit of evidence came from connections, however small.

“The only person I know from that crowd is Mr. Dalton, the new English teacher. I just scanned him in the other week. A bit touchy when it comes to security.” She eyed his confrontations with the woman across from him with a bit of distaste. She was never one for outright romance. She liked subtleties. “At the current moment, however, he appears to be having a good bit of-”

[/i] She stopped mid-sentence as if she was choking on her words, and for a moment she felt as if she was not getting any air. She gasped and took hold of the bar and she head turned, eyes darting wildly across the room.

Fear. Lots of it. It was coming from a woman. She could see her son getting hurt by two people, two other people at the party, the two people across the room talking to him, the asian girl and the tall spanish man who smelled like evil because she could smell them and they would hurt her baby and she couldn’t do anything about it because they would know she lied to them and-

“Give me a moment.” She looked to Eli, eyes wide, and shook her head. “That woman over there is thrusting her panic attack into my skull. I’m sorry, I’ll be right back.” Emiko wasn’t sure if she ever explained the nature of her power to Eli, about picking up on fears and the shifting and the fear to energy conversion, but now wasn’t the time. She wasn’t even aware that she had just spoke a sentence of flawless English without putting any thought processing behind it.

She might just have a lead.

Hopping off the bar stool was easy, as was crossing into the general vicinity of the woman. Finding her was even easier, it just involved following the trace of the fear to the blonde woman who looked terrified. She noted on the way that everybody who was possibly allied with her was too busy to help if the need arose- Dalton was flirting, Eli wasn’t of use, and she was certain the telepath hadn’t caught the bright distress signal beaming off the woman yet. Unfortunately for Emiko, her telepathy was harder to turn off. It was like noise fading into the background- every once in a while a loud noise would shake her from her daily life. This fear was akin to an air horn.

Emiko quietly silded up to the woman to watch where she was watching. She touched her shoulder briefly. “Your son should be fine now that he’s been pulled from the group. Don’t worry.” She muttered. She didn’t have time for introductions at the moment. She’d give one if she asked, or later, once this was done. “But I need to know, how do you know those people are evil? You smell it?” She was going entirely based on the woman’s track of fear, and she had heard that they smelled like evil. It was strange to hear, but Emiko was a person who picked up on fears, so in all likelihood she had heard stranger things.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl's mood and outlook on life slowly dwindled as did the contents of his beverage. His shoulders drooped and he really frowned when he spotted Clarisse and some guy start talking more, and his frown then crinkled his forehead when they went off to the dance floor. Sure, he could appreciate the dodged bullet, but it also made him jealous saddened to see Clarisse enjoying her time and dancing with someone [better?] than him. He turned his body to watch them dance, his mood sinking further.

He hadn't done anything wrong! He hadn't learned about the pregnancy until they had gone on a few dates! It hadn't occurred to him (before he knew) to mention what happened between him and Midori to Clarisse because it hadn't meant anything to him, and had pretty much just been an accident--a stupid and otherwise avoidable accident--and since he'd known, he'd been too much of an idiot to tell her. But he knew he still needed to tell her. He just didn't have the spine for it. But dammit, he should be dancing with her right now instead of that guy.

He swallowed the remains of his drink and set it back on the bar (the strength at which was used for such a thing was an indication that Darryl needed to go home, not do what he was about to). He clapped Stephen on the shoulder. "Thhhanks fer th' drink, mate. Now wishme luck." He nodded his head with his new found courage and moved a bit clumsily through the party until he arrived in front of Clarisse.

"'Ve got sumfin' to tell ya....please dun hit me." He held his hands up in his plea, he didn't bother to glance at the chap next to her. "Didn't mean to keep it from ya. Didn't know it was important," he rambled, his hands rotating. "I jus' found out." OK, so he found out a while ago. "'M gonna be a fa--" He stopped because his stomach just rolled and he felt a belch of nasty alcohol coming up so he turned his head, and covered his mouth with his hand. After the moment passed, he turned his head back to the two of them.

Then he remembered his manners. "Hullo there, sir. Darryl Bond, at your service." He bowed a little.

Drunk idiot.

[Elaine Tonaya]

Elaine winced as Cobalt tore himself away and headed over to the small group. She shook nervously as she waited for something to go wrong.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped up. The woman behind her looked nice, and she smelled nice, though also confused and a little sad. Still, Elaine sensed that this person was at least trustworthy.

"I...thank you...I just...do I know you? Are you a friend of Morgan's?" Maybe the woman had seen a picture of Elaine on Morgan's desk or something.

"Yes, I can smell it. I can't do much with my power, but I am able to smell auras. It has its drawbacks, namely that I can't do anything about all the things I learn about people, but it at least keeps me away from people who can hurt me. And those two," she pointed across the room with a pinky lifted from her glass, "do not have a lot of redeeming qualities. I'm worried they may cause trouble."

Elaine looked at the woman. "Is there anything you can do to help? Do you work at the school? Perhaps you know a way we can keep those two from learning about everyone?"

Her shaking was slowing and she eventually stopped. She took a deep breath and looked around the room. "Please," she told the woman. "I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

[Morgan Tonaya]

Pascar? That…didn’t sound right. Morgan wiggled his finger in his ear. The music was awfully loud. Maybe he’d just heard wrong. He nodded distantly to Jake’s explination of why he hadn’t seen the pair in a while. It made sense. He beamed up at Jake, elbowing him playfully in the ribs. “Great things, huh? Good. As it should be.” He laughed good naturedly, but noticed a familiar form coming to him in the crowd.

His eyes lit up. “Cobalt!” He cheered, turning to Jake to try and introduce the other man. “Jake this is my---woah hey what’s the rush?” He asked as the smaller lawyer nearly dragged the pair away. Morgan smiled sheepishly over his shoulder. “Sorry! It was nice meeting you~!” he called as loud as he thought was necessary…which was very loud. He was certain they’d heard that way. Morgan smiled back at Jake again. “Nice couple.” He chirped.

Poor poor stupid Morgan.

Though Cobalt was dragging on him a little hard. Morgan huffed and tugged his arm away. “He--hey! Jesus, Uncle. What on earth?” He frowned and peered over at Cobalt. “You didn’t even hug me.” He grumped, shaking his head. “What’s the matter? You freaked out on Jake’s poor friends.” He chuckled a bit. “I know its been a while, but you do have to share.” Then he saw his mother. She looked pale.

“MA!” He hollered, waving enthusiastically at Elaine. Morgan seized Jake by the arm and pulled him through the fringes of the crowd. “Mom.” He repeated, but stopped in his tracks. He blinked. She didn’t look right. And who was that lady? Morgan stepped closer to Jake and absently put his arm around the man’s waist, looking for comfort. “…Mom?” He said, questioningly. “Is…everything okay?” Morgan turned to look back at Cobalt, who had quickly caught them up. What was up with everybody?

[Stephen Gage]

Stephen knocked back his scotch right alongside Darryl, the moderately hilarious sight of the drama teacher crouching in fright no longer on the forefront of his mind. Oh, wait, there was the memory again. And yep, the giggle followed suit. Darryl was a jumpy man, it seemed. Though, that apparently had no effect on his ability to down scotch, and for that, Stephen thought he was an okay guy. It was hard to have a negative opinion of someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a just-initiated drinking buddy. At least he wouldn't give it out to Stephen for enjoying the drink. And, of course, once Stephen had cast a thought and an eye to Riley when Darryl inquired as to the status of his night. Stephen turned his gaze to meet the other man's, resting his elbows upon the bar. "Oh, grand time. Always have a good one. Though," he said, casting another glance to Riley, "I think I may have pissed off my date. He doesn't seem too fond of the drink. Or me having any."

He lifted the tumbler that had previously held his scotch, giving it a shake for good measure. Stephen set it back down onto the table with a quiet thunk, alcohol settling upon his brain a wonderful lightness. "How about yourself? And whatever the answer is, I'm sure another scotch would make it better. So!" Stephen said, excitedly, raising his hand. So much for his self-promise to mitigate his intake for Riley. The bartender obliged, and Stephen lifted the drink to his lips. Hardly at the liquid begun to shift, and he pulled it away, realization on his face. "Hold that thought. Jack goes through me like shit through a goose, and that was three drinks ago."

Nature called. Stephen stepped away from the bar, beginning to weave his way through the crowd. He held his drink in hand, for as much as he trusted most people at the party, he liked to think it was safer to take it with him. Of course, that was only the excuse he'd offer other people if asked. The truth was that he simply forgot to put the tumbler back down and it felt rather cozy i his hands. He'd weaved his way through many a dancing crowd before. What danger could this one be?

It was when curiosity struck that he struck something else. Or more precisely, someone. He'd popped his head up in search of Riley, trying to gauge the look of disappointment he feared he might see on the other man's face. And, of course, in that brief moment, he walked directly into a woman apparently placed upon the earth for the sole purpose of causing his wrist to bend and the scotch to pour on the floor. Stephen's eyes widened, and he cringed. Well, if Riley saw that, he was probably celebrating. Stephen brought his eyes up shamefully to look at the woman into whom he'd walked, holding his free palm out apologetically. He spoke quickly, a very light slurring and a very light accent combining to make him sound almost as foreign as he'd felt at 14 at Hammel. "Christ, I'm sorry about that. Was hardly paying attention to where I was going. You didn't get any on you, did you? I'd feel awful if you did."

[Emiko Nakajima]

Emiko blinked and shook her head. “No. I don’t know him.” She wasn’t sure whether the woman was referring to the man she had sent to get the younger man, or the younger man himself, but either way the answer was still the same. She looked over to the two men and committed them to memory, whether or not either of them were this ‘Morgan’ or not. “No. I don’t know them, and I’m afraid I don’t know you. My name is Emiko Nakajima. Pleasure to meet you.” She crossed her arms and looked back across the room quickly before looking back to the woman, who was explaining her power.

A woman who could tell someone’s nature by smelling them? That was incredible, at the very least. She’d give a large lump sum of money for someone as useful as that in the Japanese police force. “That explains things.” Emiko muttered. “I sense fear. So your sudden panic attack was like... a beacon. A very loud one.” She tried not to sound agitated about it, because she wasn’t, but it sounded like she was. “It’s a good thing, though. I should keep an eye on them.” She didn’t ask whether the woman could smell anything coming off the man they were talking to, the caucasian one her son was with. If they knew him, he might be in on whatever they were in on. She had a feeling that anyone who smelled evil would lead her to who she was looking for. Or at least in the right direction.

But now the woman was asking a lot of questions. “There isn’t much I can do here without drawing attention to myself as well. I work on security at Hammel, but you don’t know that.” She looked to the shorter female and gave a half smile. “And I won’t let anyone get hurt. Even if that means blowing what little cover I still have. Now, try to look relaxed. If they see you stressing out, they’ll think you’re connected to your son more then you want them to think.”

Unless, of course, her son yelled ‘Ma’ across the room. That wasn’t a dead giveaway at all.

There was a beat of silence as Emiko closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Then, a loud sigh came from her and she attempted to smile again. This one looked a more then a little forced. “Change of plan, allow for a bit of panic now, but don’t let him see you stress too much. When he comes over, try to get the smell of the other man, the one he’s bringing with him. See if he’s affiliated with the other two.” She was hurried as she spoke, finishing before the man managed to get to them.

“Hello!” She chirped, trying to sooth the fear that was now rolling off the younger male and his mother. It was like she was drinking too much caffeine. She felt jittery, and she was going to crash from this high like an airplane. “Oh, everything is absolutely fine! She was just talking about you. You’re Morgan, yes?” She asked, hoping her fifty-fifty bet was right. It seemed the more likely possibility. She was more worried about the boy then the man and the name came up more. She also noted the arm wrapped around the other man's waist, almost lovingly.

Well, damn. This web was just getting more tangled as more spiders entered the fray.

[Clarisse Prideaux]

“ Are there any youth clubs in the area regularly open for stylized dance, as opposed to
moshing to the latest pop or counterculture flash-in-the-pan?”

Clarisse giggled at his description of club dancing. It certainly wasn’t Clarisse’s style, but she didn’t discredit it at all. She wouldn’t accuse Dalton of doing so, but it was at least rather amusing. “As far as I know, there are neither. The children are pretty much confined to the school dances.” She shrugged. “Pilot Ridge is no Paris…the nightlife…its….” She wrinkled her nose, indicating that there wasn’t a youth nightlife at all, really.

It wasn’t that Dalton disapproved of modern dance - unless in its prevalence, it overtook the forums where otherwise the art of a more elegant style of dance could be practiced, but was now prevented.

“I have only been here three weeks,”

Wow. Only three weeks. She shook her head in his direction. It was hard to believe she hadn’t seen him yet. Or at least his file. Clarisse had the pleasure of getting the dirt (For lack of better words) on everyone who came in and out of Hammel eventually. Perhaps Dalton’s was one of the ones resting on her desk. She listened to him explain his power and nodded. “Fascinating.” She replied, wondering out of habit what his side effects were. No reason to pry now.

“I underst---Sacre---You’ve got to be kidding me.” She whispered as they turned. She was about to agree with him. About to emphatically agree that it was so nice to know someone else who understood what it meant to be a meta in today’s society. And then HE showed up. Darryl stumbled drunkenly around the corner.

Stumbled. Drunkenly.

She was already livid.

‘'Ve got sumfin' to tell ya....please dun hit me."

“What?” She said, confused. What was he saying? The words were all slurred together and he…He was afraid she was going to hit him?! Clarisse’s hand went limp against Dalton’s arm and she slowly slid it out from the crook of his elbow as it balled into a fist.

"'M gonna be a fa--

Ther. Father. Clarisse could finish the word for him. Her cheeks were starting to color red with rage.

“You. Two bit. DOG!” she hissed, her voice a tight, quiet whisper. Clarisse rarely yelled. Her anger was quiet, but remarkably powerful. She shook in her expensive shoes. “How dare you come here tonight! How dare you when Midori has ten-thousand times the right you do to be out having fun.” Clarisse didn’t know if Midori was in attendance or not, but if Darryl was here she was willing to bet Midori had stayed home. “Did you even think, about that Darryl Bond? DID YOU?!”

Clarisse had almost forgot about Dalton. In fact, she was proceeding like he wasn’t even there. Tears stung her eyes. “And…and here you are…drunk out of your mind and…” She choked a little, taking in a heavy, teary breath. “Darryl how can you be like this?” She accused, shaking her head. “Do you even know what it means to be a parent?” Clarisse’s lower lip wobbled slightly as she fought back the angry tears. She’d told Darryl she couldn’t have kids. He knew, he knew how precious children were.

Then what could make him be this way?

[Elaine Tonaya]

"Nice to meet you, Emiko. I'm Elaine. Though if you don't know us...I suppose it has something to do with your power?" As the woman explained her power, Elaine began to get a sense of how the woman knew what was going on. Stranger powers had come her way, and some of this explained the woman's aura. At least it helped to explain the complexity in it.

"I appreciate your help here. Thank you. Even if nothing else happens, I guess it's just good to know that someone is aware of the problem." She listened to Emiko's plan and nodded. "That sounds good. I don't want them to know just now that I'm his--"

"MA!"

Elaine brought her hand up and rubbed her head. "You know, sometimes his stupidity is endearing. Really." I wonder if he'd be this way if he'd ever had a real father, she thought.

She nodded at the change in plans. "Okay. I've been wanting to get a read on Jake anyway, ever since I heard about him. Mother's desire to protect her child, I guess."

When the other two came over, Elaine stepped up to her son. "Yes, she's right, I'm fine." She gave a nervous smile. "Morgan, this is Emiko, a new friend of mine. Emiko, this is my son, Morgan. Cobalt is the short one bringing up the rear, and I actually have not yet been introduced to this young gentleman."

She smiled again, this time a little more sincerely as she tried to make a good impression on Morgan's new friend. She did manage to get a good sniff of the other man's aura, but she did not like what she found.

Deception. Regret. And...affection. But it was impossible to tell who for. Elaine put on a good face, but inside she was worried. And considering the other couple that was here, she was afraid of what might happen. Was this man really with them? He did appear to know them, but did that make him evil as well? Or was it just confusion and misplaced loyalty?

"Cobalt, what do you make of our new friend here?" Perhaps she was just reading things into this, and it was better to get a second opinion.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt took a calming breath and evened out his expression as Morgan jerked his arm away and demanded some kind of explanation. Damn. He kept forgetting that, as much as Morgan acted like it sometimes, he was not actually eight years old anymore. You couldn’t just distract him and pull him away from potential danger. Still, Cobalt tried to play it off. “Sorry kiddo,” He smiled stiffly, “It’s just that… your mom is really eager to see you. Been bugging me all night.” He nudged the young man playfully, trying to keep himself calm, thanking god for his well-trained poker face.

Cobalt scrunched his eyes close tight as Morgan yelled his greeting to Elaine across the room. “Dammit.” Cobalt muttered to himself, quietly enough so that Morgan wouldn’t hear. Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned Elaine until they were farther away from the other couple. If Morgan had mentioned his last name, or anything like that, they would know that Elaine had been lying. He watched Morgan pull Jake along and turned slightly to give the couple an icy look. He couldn’t very well do anything, but damned if he wasn’t going to make it clear that Morgan and Elaine was his family. He caught up with the group as Morgan asked if everything was okay. Cobalt raised an eyebrow as a confident-looking Asian woman answered for them. He glanced at Elaine, who still looked terrified, but marginally reassured. Therefore, he figured the Asian woman was someone who was helping them handle this. Good.

He kept up a pleasant demeanor, “Yeah, I was able to drag him away because I knew you wanted to see him, Lainey.” He gave her a quietly concerned look, asking silently are you okay and who’s this at once. He turned to the Asian woman once Elaine introduced her, shadows rippling around his arms and shoulders, “Nice to meet you, Emiko. Cobalt Weaver.” He eyed her a little suspiciously, but if Elaine trusted her, then he did. Her powers have never been wrong before.

At Elaine’s question, Cobalt looked a little taken aback. He’d never been asked for his opinion about these kinds of things before. It concerned him. He scrutinized the younger, dark-haired man. Truth be told, Cobalt didn’t know what to think. But one thing was for certain: Jake looked more upset and nervous than the situation really merited. “Well, to be honest, Lainey,” Cobalt’s voice was light and even, “We haven’t been properly introduced, so I don’t know.” He smiled at the pair, then turned away with the guise of moving over so that Elaine could talk to them easier. Once his back was to them, he gave her an I don’t like this look. Elaine had always been good at reading his faces, even when others couldn’t. She would know that he thought something was wrong.

[Leila Gold]

Leila had to admit to herself that she felt a little like a dog being led around everywhere. She was too confused to figure out how to extract herself from the situation she found herself caught up in. She froze when Savvy pulled her in closer, then stumbled after the other woman as they walked arm-in-arm to the bar.

"Yes, I quite enjoy being a lawyer. You know. Attorneys. It's not where the money's all at, no matter what they say, but it's fun. For me, at least. I don't expect everyone would enjoy it." Leila realized she was babbling and bit her bottom lip. "Handiwork, huh? Maybe you could come over to my house and give me a hand. To help out. Around the house. Er, with maintenance. You know, on the pipes or whatever. I mean, uh...if something breaks...or...something..."

Leila happened to have gay friends. This did not mean that she knew how to deal with someone hitting on her. And so she continued to dig herself a deeper hole, shove her foot even farther into her mouth, and in so doing turn a darker and darker shade of red.

"Queen of the Monkey Wrench, huh?" she ended weakly. "Sounds cool."

They arrived at the bar and Leila leaned against it gratefully. She held out her hand to meet Shane, smiling politely. Then, she froze at Savvy's last statement. Her head sank to her chest and she could feel her ears heat up.

Leila glanced to see who else had heard, which was, unfortunately, just about everybody. Across the bar, Cobalt smirked. Leila raised an eyebrow at him, making a silent vow to make his life a living hell if he ever brought this up again. She knew way more embarrassing stories about him than he knew about her, and she wasn't afraid to use them.

"It's nice to meet you, Shane," she finally said in response to the man in front of her. "How do you happen to know Ms. Savvy here? Do you work with her as part of the maintenance team?" He looked a little too well-dressed for that, but one never knew. "I don't get up to Hammel much, since I work as a lawyer in Pilot Ridge and my partner isn't too fond of the school."

She turned back to Savvy. "I suppose you don't come down to town much, do you? I haven't really seen you around, and I get the feeling I would remember seeing you. Just call it a hunch."

She wasn't going to be able to get out of this situation politely. At least not any time soon. So, she figured, the best thing to do was just play along and have some fun. Why worry about something that couldn't be changed? And hey, maybe Savvy would pay for the drinks. So she ordered a drink and took a large sip.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

"Fair enough," Ben smiled at Yulia's hesitance in drinking. Her vice was smoking while his was drinking although he didn't do as much drinking as she smoked. She was willing to go out of the house in the freezing cold just to smoke a stick or two and he only drank socially. "Ah, that will change soon enough." Ben said in response to Yulia's concern about not knowing anyone but him.

His ears picked up another set of hesitation coming from his right. He turned and found a younger looking man, roughly Yulia's age possibly, looking lost and confused as the bartender asked what he wanted to drink. "Give him one of these." Ben held his glass of gin and tonic up to the bartender who nodded and proceeded to make the drink. Distracted by Yulia once more, Ben turned to the young woman and only nodded when she said she would be walking around.

"I haven't seen you around," Ben tilted his head at the young man who was now in the possession of possibly his first drink of the night. "First time to the bash?" He asked. Then his attention was completely sent wayward when a man twice Yulia's size bumped into her, spilling his drink down the front of the dress Ben had bought just for tonight.

On the plus side, the dress could be salvaged but this was probably Yulia's first time in a dress and this had to happen? What the girl must be thinking of dresses now.

Ben turned to the bar and asked for napkins, promptly handing it to Yulia.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

By nature, telepaths tended to be multi-taskers. Otherwise, a telepath could never cope with his powers, because thoughts from multiple people would tear apart his focus. Sean was an excellent multi-tasker. But his attention was being split by several different unpleasant factors and his sense of foreboding dropped his stomach several inches, causing him to frown in the middle of his ordering another cocoa from the bar tender.

Angry thoughts were present. More than should be at a holiday party. Technically, there should be none at a holiday party, but even when adjusting for humanity’s tendencies and the amplifying effects of alcohol, there was a problem.

He turned around, facing the area at large just in time to see Clarisse walk up to Darryl and shout at him. She must have just learned about Midori, or this was her first opportunity to log her displeasure with the young man. She was loud, although he was sure that she didn’t mean to be. He wanted to clamp his mental shields at maximum to keep French profanity out of his head. But he couldn’t make himself do so.

Clarisse didn’t account for all of the hostility and the hodgepodge of danger warnings he was receiving. And since it would be irresponsible to turn a blind eye, he had to keep his shields lowered to an extent.

And he frowned, seeing that Jake had gone over to that man he couldn’t read, and that Cobalt and Elaine were in the middle of it now. Although Elaine had good reason, given Morgan and Jake being an item, and Cobalt being an old friend. But the unlikely association raised his inner danger warning to yellow. And then Emiko of all people joined the little group. Emiko. A Security agent who as far as he knew hadn’t met Elaine before.

Now he needed to talk to Elaine before she left, because he knew her power, and if something was up, she was the best bet for information. But he also didn’t want to disrupt any gathering she was doing. Between a rock and a hard place, he found himself. He didn’t like it.

Turning back to the bartender, he again contemplated a drink but pushed the thought away. It was all the more inappropriate now. “Could I trouble you for some hot cider?”