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"A decent time. A very interesting mix of people if I must say." Jasper responded as he went to take a seat next to the woman in pink. She was lovely.

But he did not have long to admire her. Moments before speaking again, Jasper realized the second lady he was spending his New Years with appeared to not being doing so well. This new woman caught it first but was unable to do much before Jasper got his own arms up to prevent his dancing partner from hitting her head.

On a normal day, Jasper would not have dared carried a woman himself. Today, feeling as tired as he did, he didn't even consider it. Ever sense the first group fainted, he had seen nurses wandering around.

Slowly, as he lowered her to the safety of the ground, he flagged over someone to help. She needed more attention that he could give at this time.

As soon as a pair had come to her side, Jasper turned to the other. "What about you, My Lady? Are you alright?" He noticed her phone was out. "Can I assist you at all in finding your date? I am sure he will be able to keep you safe."


Mask- Black




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Delilah was glad to see he was keeping to his feet. His stumble had her worried but maybe she should have considered herself more at this point. She was drained, like after an all nigher drained. Where had this come from? Had someone spiked her drink?

It was just as she was about to turn towards the lobby and some fresh air that a wave unlike any other hit. "Fritz, I..." Delilah couldn't get another word out. Her vision blurred and her eyes rolled back in her head. In the next moment, her knees gave out and she fell straight into the chest of the man she had been walking with. Had he not been holding onto her arm, her head surly would have found the ground hard.

At the same time, her evening bag began to vibrate. Someone was looking for her as her body gave out.

Delilah - Green Mask

Having Stroud come to meet them with her little toy in tow as gratifying and Cin measured him head to foot with her eyes. She accepted her cheek kisses and returned them effortlessly, the motions well practiced.

"This is Elle, Stroud. You two met at my poker night, I believe, but there was a lot of booze involved and she is done up quite fancy tonight..." She said as she stepped back to let the blonde greet Elle. "I'm only fancy because she is... This s**t went out of style with me a long time ago."

When this Lazarus fellow stepped up to meet her, Cinnabar's eyes trained on him and she allowed him to kiss her knuckles. Her wrist bent elegantly, fingers relaxed, but she never blinked or moved her eyes from the man, even as he too greeted her companion.

He looked fit... toned, but his hands were soft. Granted, her's had lost their callouses after the merge and hadn't built back up, but his were different. Was he one of them too? His mask was black and he was on Stroud's arm... it seemed likely. Delightful... 'fresh meat'.

As Elle turned to her, Cinnabar slid an arm around her and finally took her eyes off Lazarus, offering a reassuring smile to the shorter woman before she turned to head towards the drinks. People were passing out seemed to be the problem on the lips of the other guests, drawing Cin's attention even as it drew Stroud's.

"I wasn't told anything either, which I guess isn't surprising..." She murmured as the general went on, only half paying attention. Her eyes swept the crowd and the ones trying to keep them from leaving, wondering what good she could do. Draining she was good at, crowd control she was not... but Stroud provided her own method of distraction and before she realized what was going on, she had siezed hold of her hair and pulled it ******** HELL, STROUD!" Cinnabar roared as she made a grab for the offending wrist, her face twisting into a snarl. "Have you gone completely insane? Let go of my ******** hair!"

Part of her was angered by the pull, but there was more volume in her protests than was probably necessary. Okay so... she could probably play along. If Stroud was going to get rough, though, she wasn't going to pull any punches. In fact... She hauled back and threw an elbow at the blonde, her balance thrown off by the hold.

Laine gave him a soft smile. He was trying... "Let me know if it gets to be too much alright??" She said, pulling away from the wall to lean up and give him a kiss on the cheek.

Then all at once her name was being shrieked and there were a pair of arms wrapped around her arms that she distinctly remembered not being there before.
Then the creature spoke. Laine burst into giggles immediately afterwards.

"Dani." Laine said, trying to get the girls attention, between fits of giggles. No dice. "Dani, sweetheart. Breathe. Nope again. Laine giggled as the girl went on about children and being grown up. "Dani, you're gonna scare him baby." ...If he wasn't already scared.

And that was when the blonde seemed to notice the ring on her finger.

"Nothing gets past you does it Dani?" She laughed, finally getting it under control. "To answer your questions... Yes, and Yes." She waved a hand in Kor's direction. "Dani, meet Kor. Kor, Dani. I met her on a mission a few years back. And no Dani, he is not just with me cause of my hair. Although, your love of it might be rivaled only by his." She snickered. "Kor is my fiance."

--
"You can't even reach my head." Kraven pointed out. "Unless you mean something else entirely" He teased. "You'd just crawl into my lap eventually..." However he snorted and rolled his eyes away when Kaz seemed to focus on everyone else. "Stop worrying about them. If they're stupid enough to pass out it's there problem." The man shot, turning his gaze back to his boyfriend.

Just in time to watch him collapse.

"Kazuo!" Kraven hissed, grabbing the smaller man's arm before he could fall completely. "s**t..." Came the quiet curse as he gently gathered his boyfriend up and carried him off towards medical.




Lance hummed in agreement, trying not to increase his grip on Alistair too much. "I know... I've noticed it too." The blonde murmured quietly. "Stick close, I won't let anything happen to you."

Laney shook her head. It was hard to come up with any useful ideas of what to do, with so little go to on -- and when they were both so wiped out. "We can't, we'll -- well, you'd stand out, at least. I could maybe get away with my dress, it's just . . . a lot of people recognize me. From the park. And for all we know, there are agents behind every door, just waiting to sense one of us and move in. No, we should, um . . . " She tried to get his brain moving. "I swear I heard a cat earlier. Just for a moment, but -- maybe if one of them's here, they can give us a better read on the situation." She sighed, trying to pull herself together as she'd suggested Xanthus do. "Let's try and get some soda on the way, too. Cans, if we can -- tamper-proof."



Laney/Hvergelmir - Green Mask

Jun wanted water, yet it seemed as if that was the one thing she wasn't going to get very readily. The room stank of alcohol to her, causing her nose to crinkle as she seemingly wobbled towards a drink station. If a bartender was going to offer her alcohol, the Asian girl was going to truly question the morals of those running this event. Jun was short and looked nothing like a 21 year old individual.

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it I suppose...

As she staggered forward, she accidentally collided with a woman who was a bit taller than her in a black frilly dress. Now, as an individual that was usually a bit more composed with her movements, this as an inexcusable mess.

Quickly, the martial artist clapped her hands to her side and leaned forward (head momentarily bobbing a bit as the motion seemed too fast for her at the moment) and apologized firmly "I am sorry... I was just looking to get a glass of water and I guess I wasn't looking where I was going!"

Being raised with her parents, it made sense when the girl didn't even dare to look up to the lady's eyes until she was at least acknowledged.

Jun - Blue Mask

It took a second or two -- and Stroud's sudden assault on the woman in red, Ariel -- for the orders he was being given to really sink in.

This is insane, he thought, marveling slightly. Oh my God, this is so ******** insane, she is so ******** insane.

Literally everything about my life is ******** insane.

And a little voice inside his head followed up with, Well then, so why should this be any different? You have your orders. Just follow your orders and she doesn't make things worse for you. Just be good and she doesn't add any new restrictions. It'll be over soon and this is all you have to do. It's easy.

That was right. It was easy. He could just follow orders -- she wasn't asking him to do anything horrible, after all, not really -- it would be stupid to disobey.

Not after how long he'd practiced keeping his composure. Not after how long he'd been good. It would be such a waste to have to start over, and who knew what she might do?

All he had to do was play along with their little stage piece.

Lazarus considered.

Stroud had chosen their roles with care. She'd put obvious thought into what would work for her purposes and what wouldn't. Casting him in one of the fighting roles had been out of the question for fairly obvious reasons -- there were few crowds in the world who'd stand by in fascinated horror at the sight of a mix-gender fistfight, rather than getting involved. No, if this needed to be a drawn-out spectacle, the only man in their little quartet was ineligible.

This left him, though, a man in makeup and leg corsets and haute couture, needing to solicit the concern and attention of the nearby throng of people, rather than attempting to intervene on his own -- despite the fact that, in the outfit Stroud had selected for him, the issue of his physical fitness was not even remotely being left to the imagination.

Which meant she apparently expected him to portray a hideously offensive stereotype of an effeminately gay man, or some kind of equally asinine minstrel show. Something that played comfortably into people's favorite caricatures.

Well, fine. ******** it. ******** everything. Off he'd go, then.

His General had issued a command.

"Oh my God!" he called out as the fight escalated, backing away visibly in his platforms, trying to solicit the sympathies of the first few people he ran into. He pressed a hand delicately to his mouth, careful not to let it muffle his voice. "That b***h is crazy, that Donna Karan New York b***h is ******** crazy. Stroud, sweetie, you kick her a**! Don't you take her s**t! Rip her ******** extensions out!"

To the nearby crowd, he confided loudly, "I heard she was in jail last month for, like, beating up some other chick in line at a McDonald's, and that b***h had to get a dental bridge put in, so like, I'm so not getting involved. Poor little Elle's like, so screwed having them fight over her, thank God no drama for me."



Lazarus/Quartz - Negablack