Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I hope you never let her hear you call her that." Courtland shifted, snagging one of the blankets and tossing it over his lap before turning ot lean against the arm of the sofa. He stretched out his legs, setting them over Hals lap so both of them had use of the blankets warmth. "She might take offense to cutsie nicknames."

He set his glass down so he could pick up one of the cheese covered crackers, watching his friend. Hals did have a point in more ways than one.

"You know. Before all this nonsense happened I'd have agreed with you about it being insane." His 'brand' had blown up over the last year and while he loved every second of it everything it had brought into his life was insane. Now with everything else? "At least you now have certifiable proof you're more special than your brother?"

"You should be careful though. Like this you could take her. The other way?" He had no illusions that Halston wouldn't stand up to Tourmaline if he had to but he'd rather his friend not get hurt for, well, being himself. "Wouldn't want you to get a black eye. Might match your hair but it's still not becoming on such a handsome face."

He held out one of the crackers to his friend figuring Hals hadn't eaten before coming over and knowing he'd give into the snacks eventually. Wine on an empty stomach wasn't ever good for anyone.

"I'll not talk about them when you tell them to go ******** themselves and just spend the holidays with me. I at least give a s**t about you."

"No you neglected to mention that, the out of town bit." Halston had told him about the Nutcracker gig and he'd even bought tickets to go see the show because he wanted to support his friend even if he didn't quite care about ballet. "They're such assholes."

He had been tempted a few times to go to the family house and get energy for Uvarovite from Halston's family. They'd deserve the sickness that it gave them and he'd at least feel good about it.

"The cheese?" He raised a brow slightly. "It's a cheese and nut spread that i found online. Figured it would be tasty and since I had the ingredients?" He shrugged a bit. "Might as well make it when someone else is going to be here to share it."

"I haven't decided yet. I've got invitations to a handful of parties but I hadn't decided on one. Hard to go to an event like that without a date." And Halston was the only person he'd think to bring and part of him figured his friend would have already made plans.

Not that Courtland knew with who, but that wasn't the point.

"Unless you were assuming that you're spending New Years with me no matter what? And then it's a matter of if you like any of the parties, i can show you the invites, or if you want to find somewhere else to go." He grinned, leaning up to snag a strawberry off the fruit tray. "I am not going to complain about being your arm-candy if we go out."

"Well there are a couple I wouldn't mind going to. Hosted by companies or people I've already worked with instead of the invites just hoping that I'll show my face and make their party better just by being in the general vicinity." He smirked, leaning back to sip at his wine again. "I just told you that you were coming with me last year, thought you might appreciate a bit of control."

Courtland was always the center of attention when he went to a party so whoever he was with tended to also end up in the spotlight. He did know that was easier on Halston than going to parties with his family.

"There's one hosted by Channel which looks nice but it's in the Ritz's ballroom which means they invited everyone they could think of. Or there's the invite from Louis Vuitton in a penthouse downtown and they sent me a new winter coat along with the invitation." He had a feeling Luis Vuitton expected him to show considering the jacket was custom and it had gotten them quite a bit of holiday advertising from his instagram.

"Uvarovite warned me about that but it's not like I can stop. It's how I make a living." He'd pretty much told the Captain to go ******** himself when he'd warned Courtland about being in the spotlight. If Uvarovite didn't want someone that popular being in the Negaverse he should have thought of that before he woke him up. "And besides, like you said I always have make up on like this but Nitratine always looks the same."

It was a b***h that he couldn't change his face while powered up but in a way that was a savoir. He looked more like 'himself' rather than whatever look he'd put on his face that day.

"Unless I'm getting something for Uvarovite I'm in the lab's anyway. He prefers having the extra hands and getting you and Tourmaline to bring him energy orbs."

Courtland shook his head, smirking slightly as he leaned forward to get another cracker for himself. Whatever magic kept them hidden would probably work for him as well so he wasn't too worried.

"Hm, probably longer than we want. It was a couple days last time." It hadn't been as cold last time though and he wasn't sure he wanted to run through all his firewood if it lasted that long again.

If they were lucky someone would get on it after the last year and know how to fix things faster.