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Mm, well. The instructional tone given was much different than what he expected from the higher-up. He sounded as smooth as an operator in a telemabob booth when they kindly ask you to insert your hard earned change. Sorano quickly (but elegantly!) took his seat and stared at the pretty placement of utensils that could possibly poke someone's eye out (or possibly both eyes if the victim was unfortunate).

By this moment in the class, Sorano would have chosen to recline in his chair and mimic the Godfather from The Godfather played by The Godfather. He'd roll a cigar, lick his chapped lips and simply say, "What is it you ask for . . . on the day of my daughter's wedding?"

Well, he would have done that if he wanted a good kick in the a**. However, he didn't want one. So: he simply sat still with his back arched a couple inches away from the back rest. He was much too tense but who wouldn't be? Miss Hot Damn and Seth-chan were in the room . . . there was no way in hell he was going to allow himself to falter.

As Nadja walked in, Panther did his best to not tense up. He had know there was a possibility she would coming to this party as well. He wasn't going to let this prevent him from going.

He sat only once Seth allowed them to be seated and was mildly surprised by his calmer appearance. He thought perhaps Seth was demonstrating a good host, or it was that most of the people were agents as opposed to grunts and Trainees. He sat with his attention on Seth and gave quick "Yes sir" when his sunglasses where mentioned. He had never planed to even take them to the party anyway.

Leonard took his place at the table. Though normally he would be more overwhelmed by the sheer number of forks and dishes and other such things, he was more concerned with Seth. Did aliens kidnap him and replaced him with a clone? He didn't act condescending, he wasn't barking at the slightest mistakes, he didn't even throw Panther out of the room for having sunglasses. This was not the Seth he knew.

Then again, there's lit candles on the tables. And the other Elite agent, Nadja, was with them. He heard that she and Seth were pretty close... Leonard continued thinking while staring absentmindedly into the distance.

The subordinates' salutes were given a small nod of acknowledgment; Seth received similar treatment. The redheaded elite's earrings swayed as she drew her chair out and sat in a graceful motion, hands folded in her lap.

Nadja scanned the group with little movements of her eyes. It seemed some were familiar with etiquette already, if only slightly, and others.. others looked hesitant, or in the case of that teal-haired agent, insouciant. One was just missing. She maintained a faint, cordial half-smile touched with inscrutable humor in spite of Panther's discomfort - such as he showed - and Leonard staring vacantly into space.

When Seth bowed, Hayes' brows knit together the slightest fraction. He'd seen his boss do some very strange things, but bowing wasn't one of them. Yelling with his head in the air vent, stalking the halls with a giant gun, being unusually bad-tempered for no apparent reason.. all these were firmly in line with Seth's normal behavior.

It he didn't know about the nature of the raid, the agent would have been rather worried.

Having no lady to pull out a chair for he sat instead and adjusted his glasses back into place. Faleen got a smile, casual and friendly despite the formal setting, as did Nyx - he recognized her from troubleshooting sessions in the labs.

Seth watched everyone as they sat, his gaze in particular going to Mau as he pulled out Nikki's chair for her.

The blonde was surprised, she'd never experienced that before, and gave Mau a slightly strange look before taking her seat. The agent's cheeks flushed slightly.

"When men are in the company of ladies, it is polite and expected to pull out their chairs for them as Agent Mau has just demonstrated. Next is the napkin, unfold it and place it in your lap, over your knees. It will remain there for the duration of the meal. If for some reason you need to be excused, you must place the napkin in the chair and not on the table. This will tell your servers that you plan to return."

The reason Seth did not pull out Nadja's chair was due to the fact that he was busy with the lesson. However, come the actual event, things would be different.

Next came the explanation for the utensils. "Everything on the table is placed there for a specific purpose. The forks you use in order from the outside toward the charger plate. There is the appetizer fork, salad fork, dinner fork, and dessert fork. There isn't always this many, but for demonstration purposes, there is today. Then of course there is the knife, the teaspoon and the soup spoon. The charger plate isn't actually used for food, its more for decoration and will be removed shortly until the main course. It is improper to get any food on the charger plate. As for the other plates, the smaller one is for bread and the other for salad. The glasses are easy enough, one for water and the others for wine and other forms of alcohol. Then there is the cup for coffee or tea."

Seth looked up as servers started filing into the room. The agents and grunts would probably recognize them as cafeteria workers, but now dressed in more formal attire. "As is the case with the party, there is a fixed menu today."

The servers came by and removed the charger plates from the left of everyone seated, then a plate with food was set before them from the right. The ladies were served first, by rank, followed by the men also by rank.

"This is eggplant rollatini, which is the appetizer. Thus you will need to use the fork on the outside. Also, when using your napkin, make sure to dab instead of wiping your face." Seth demonstrated by lifting the napkin off his lap and lightly dabbed at his mouth before setting it in his lap again. "Another thing to keep in mind, is that fine dining is meant for conversation, not filling your stomach. Be sure to keep the conversation polite and do not be loud. Also, you do not eat until everyone has been served or until the host has started. Never lean over your plate or put your elbows on the table. Sit straight and bring the food to your mouth."

The not filling your stomach part was certainly true as the appetizer set before them was gourmet style and thus in a very small portion.

"If anyone has any questions through out the lesson, you my raise your hand."

With that, Seth picked up his appetizer fork and started to eat in the fashion he had just described.

At Seth's comment about the politeness of pulling out chairs for the ladies, Nyx couldn't help but shoot a quick glare in Mau's direction, and partially at Nikki, too. She had no idea why Mau pulling someone else's chair out made her narrow her eyes, but it had.

Brief glare session aside, Nyx brought her attention back to Seth and his lesson. That explained why there were so many forks... sort of... at least it gave them each a redundant purpose. It seemed that people wealthy enough to have 'fancy dinner parties' had more money than sense. Conversing more important than eating? That was ridiculous.

Ah well. Nyx picked up her appetizer fork in her right hand and cut off a piece of the rollatini with the side of the pronged utensil. When she was done with the bite, she looked around at the people at the table. Were they supposed to talk? She didn't know, it was polite to, apparently, but this was also a lesson. She cut off another small bite.

Napkin folded neatly in her lap, Aila selected the appropriate silverware and extracted a bit from the dish. Eggplant rollatini - to think such finery existed in the world of dining. Her mother's stories had been just stories, after all, and words could never replicated a flavor as it was greeted by the tongue.

Conversation, as Seth had made clear, was an important part to any successful dinner, and small talk was a skill that could never be practiced too much. However, being seated at the end of a table brought about a number of disadvantages, such as having a more limited selection of individuals she could speak with comfortably. Liam was there, and she always managed to find something to talk about with him, but he seemed to have a question he needed addressed before that. The man who had the sunglasses at his side was there was well, but she didn't as much as know his name, and across the dinner table was hardly a place for introductions. There was Claire as well, but... what it came down to was that Aila didn't know what to bring up. She took another quiet bite, hoping someone else would take the risk of breaking the proverbial ice.

Faleen smiled at Agent Nadja's words, gently scooping a small bite into her own mouth, silently amused.
It was good advice from the Elite, the kind of person that went to this sort of even certainly did like to puff themselves up.

Thanking the server quietly when he placed her food down, she sat and waited for the rest to be served, and Seth to take his first bite. Her left hand rested in her lap, where it lay over the napkin she had folded, she had no trouble with what she needed to do, never second guessed what fork to use.
Making no comment on the food as she looked up at the others sitting by her, glancing between them while she chewed slowly, and swallowed.
She got a particular kick out of the look Hayes had given his food.

Liam had raised his hand, Faleen watched him while she scooped another small bite into her fork, wondering what his question was going to be.