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Trey Cameron - Suit

The glass Trey held in his hand was not alcoholic, though part of him wished it was. Two more years yet, before he could soften the edges of large parties like this with alcohol. A soft smile kept almost permanent residence on his face, carefully crafted, as he listened to a vapid young designer go on about her latest project in college.

It wasn't that he was disinterested in her work, but the way she went on about it, going so far as to suggest similarities with Joellen Faure-Cameron herself... he was pretty sure the young lady was more interested in his esteemed mother than himself, and was only looking for an introduction to the elegant lady dressed to the nines where she held audience not far away. Telling her the photos she showed him on her phone lacked originality and any sort of interesting flare would have been rude... but that didn't mean he wasn't thinking it really hard as he nodded along and smiled, offering appreciative hums where necessary.

The sizeable donation Joellen had made to the hospital had guaranteed them tickets to the gala, and of course he had had to accompany her. Anyone who was anyone was sure to be here, and even without, there was a parade of colors and styles floating by, from thrift store finds revitalized by clever diy-ers to made-for-them, never-seen-a-rack designer pieces. It was a good way to get a view of what people were gravitating towards, if nothing else.

"Lovely." Trey murmured before he straightened, signaling the end of the one-sided conversation. "I'm sorry, but if you'll excuse me, I need to make my rounds. Joellen would be disappointed in me if I don't make the aquaintance of as many people as possible. This is a golden networking opportunity, you understand, Olivia."

He pulled her name smoothly from his memory as he took her hand and bowed his head over it, the silken braid slipping down his shoulder.

"I hope your finals go well. I look forward to seeing your pieces hitting the runway soon." He said before he made a grateful break and slid smoothly between the groups of milling people. A gulp of his sparkling juice soothed his throat and he sighed as he set about looking for his next obligatory social meeting. Maybe if he was lucky, it would be someone actually interesting for a bit.

Mathias White

Mathias chuckled and shook his head in response to her statement. "Alright, I suppose that is fair enough. I think you would probably kill half the guys at the gym if they saw you right now anyway, so maybe it is the best you get an outlet here instead of elsewhere."

He did not mind being dragged toward the table, and allowed himself to be steered. After all, if he managed to get her in a situation she found enjoyable, that fulfilled his own personal requirement to seeing his fellow officer's needs met. If in a strange - roundabout sort of way.

A polite nod was given to Andrew, but a slightly more polite bow was given to Ariel as Shahar introduced herself. Color him old fashioned if you must, but Mathias had been raised to give women a bit more deference.

"Mr. Collins, Ms. Mishnah," He said, as Ariel introduce herself and her male companion. "It's quite the enjoyable party, yes, through I'll be the first to admit that they are not things I often attend."

Allowing Shahar to turn her full attention to Ariel for the moment, his own focused on Andrew. "I am curious, are there any plans for an portion of the hospital to focus on sports medicine? I manage and coach a stable of Mixed Martial Artists and it would be... beneficial... if I could have them all cared for in one place. In fact, Ms. Shahar here is quite the accomplished fighter herself." He gave a small smirk. "I'm rather hopeful she might be entering the professional circuit soon."

Of course this was said loud enough for Shahar to hear. He had plans - plans he hoped that she would be more than happy to ride along with.





---

Mercy Hanyes - Dress

Mercy smiled to Gwen and gave a small, one handed curtsy. "Mercy Haynes," She said with a nod before taking another sip of her water. "And I am glad that things aren't bothersome for you. It was a very... fraught situation."

One she knew was likely going to be repeated until the war was over - but this wasn't the place or time to muse about such things. Shaking her head to clear away the dark clouds she let out a sigh. "Oh I'm sure she was probably busy. Or she might be coming later, who knows?" She added with a shrug.

But it was still curious as to why he was here alone. She didn't think that the gym was making that much money yet, was it? Or maybe he'd gone in along with Delilah's parents? Had they donated? She didn't know - and hadn't bothered to ask Delilah because she wasn't even sure if Delilah had wanted to come or was going to show. Fundraiser Gala's tended to cater more to the higher end of the income spectrum, but this one seemed to... well... break the mold in that respect as far as she could tell.

Still - it was hard to say. She knew that Mathias lived comfortably, so while it was a surprise to see him here... She shrugged a bit, and then winced a little at the small tell-tale ache in her lower back. Covering it up with a sip of water as best she could.

"Soo... Do you have a date or...?" She asked as she eyed the dance floor, curious in that way only a teenager could be.

Ildri Lacole - Dressed like a (penguin) waitress.


How the hell she let herself get pulled into this mess was beyond her. In fact, she should have flat out refused Cinnabar when the half-youma had bothered to finally talk to her again after transferring her to a new General. It would have served her ex-general right after all, but nope. In a fit of odd generosity she had agreed to the arrangement. Well, and having a hand in such an affair would get her on better terms with higher-ups of the negaverse.

Hey, a girl had to look out for number 1, and number 1 had plans for the future.

Tray in hand, the white-haired young woman balanced a tray in her hand. Thankfully she hadn’t been ladened with drinks, which she surely would have spilt, but with orderves. The little crackers with garlic may, fresh cucumber and dill sprig on top looked fancy enough and definitely were rather tasty. She’d helped herself to a few now and then when boredom set in as she stood around waiting for someone to help her empty the tray so she could hide in the kitchen for a ********. These things are worse working them than attending them.” She commented under her breath as she watched people mill around, talk, network, and dance.

Oh it was going to be a long a** night.

Gweneth Malley - Dress


As her companion continued on with the conversation, it became apparent to Gwen than the teen was very much into gossiping. She wanted to know the details about everyone’s lives and why they did things. Gossip had never been much of a talent of Gwen’s. In fact, she much preferred not to partake in such conversations much as she could never really tell if what she was being told was true or not. That was the problem with gossip, things had a tendency to be twisted, omitted and altered to suit the storyteller.

To tell the truth, Gwen felt a little bad that Mathias was the subject at hand. The poor man was probably just out networking. The lack of his girlfriend didn’t really bother her. Whatever happened in their personal lives was just that, their personal lives.

Ah well, she’d have to tolerate the gossiping for now. It was at least better than self wallowing in her anxiety and negative thoughts.

“Oh, um. No, I don’t have a date.” She said, taking a rather big gulp of her wine as she said that. “I came alone tonight.” she stated with a tight smile. This was not a topic she wanted to get into. Was there a way out? A quick glanced proved there was no one nearby she could excuse herself to go meet and really, that would only work with someone she knew. Perhaps there was a kind and non-rude way to ask the teen to drop the subject?

She eyes the girl. Chances of Mercy dropping the topic seemed unlikely.

Maybe her colder disposition since the topic change would suffice? The older red-head could only hope as she worked to finish her glass of wine and turned to gather herself up another glass, leaving the empty in it’s place.

Mercy Haynes - Dress

Oops.

Mercy could almost feel the temperature of their vicinity drop as the smile grew tight and the wine began to be gulped. That was an obvious nerve she'd just nailed hard with a hammer. Her own cheery demeanor faltered a bit, the smile thinning as she suddenly found the bottom of her half-empty water quite interesting.

"Oh... I mean - I'm here with my parents so it's not like... Never mind. That was a really rude question of me, I apologize." She said, still keeping her eyes cast down on the cup.

"So, uhm... do you dance?" She asked then, looking up from the glass with a small, slightly warmer smile - as if extending a hopeful olive branch. "It could be fun, I mean - if you don't mind a female partner."

That and Mercy RARELY got to dance at the things since most of the boys her age at them were so bloody handsy she didn't want to bother.

Bellatrix wasn’t really hungry, but when she looked at Rob, she was quite thirsty, and that thought alone made her pale cheeks redden and she had to look away from those drop dead gorgeous eyes for what felt like the fifteenth time that night. She felt like a princess with the outfit that she picked out. Blue wasn’t normally her color…but she liked it. At worked for tonight, and she felt more like Cinderella than she cared to admit…which was really, really nice.

Every moment with Rob was really, really nice.

Finally, when she had found her voice again and wasn’t going to say something foolish, the woman laughed. “I’m not so hungry right now…would you want to dance, maybe? I’ve…I mean, not to sound childish or anything, and me being an event planner you would think I’ve been to dances like this but I’ve never had a date so…”

She was rambling and her cheeks were growing even redder as she spoke. She sounded like a fool. But she was a happy fool.

A glass of champagne and he was already like this? Gods alive, if Jason had seen Rhona even a week earlier than he had met her, she would have given him a run for his money. Of course she'd judge him for this -- not the underage drinking, but rather the inability to hold any semblance of liquor. She could see Momma was going to have to up his tolerance if he was going to run with her. But she sighed affectionately and nudged him when he boasted about his ability to keep two women entertained at once. The implications did not escape her, of course, and turned her scoff into an outright laugh.

"Jason, love, I have had your undivided attention for some time now. Who am I to come between old friends!" She grinned genuinely at Kailey, time soothing her unnecessarily ruffled feathers back into place. Who knew, even. Maybe someone else she knew would pop up and occupy her. But she also was not eager to leave both of her wards unattended... just in case. That strange maternal instinct reared its head and Rhona had literally no idea where it came from, but she had a hell of a time denying it.

"So I guess it's up to you, Kailey. What do you think? Can you take this big lug alone, or do you need back up?" She slugged Jason gently in the shoulder for extra effect.