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Jack Burnett - apparently tired of being harassed and grossed out; headed for food

When the cop began to act sarcastically and laugh, he red-headed high-schooler stared at Jeremy as if his nose had fallen off. He glanced at the hand that had clapped him on the back. "Uhhh-huuuuh..." he murmured. "Crazies...right. I think you just proved my point, Mr. This-kid-is-so-annoying-I-think-I'll-let-him-get-beat-up."

Jack, distracted by Caelum's comment about Law & Order, looked surprised. Maybe he'd been talking too much after all. Re-arranging his expression into one of reluctant resolve, he stuck out his hand stiffly at the pink-haired boy to shake.

And then he was attacked from above with a karate-chopping hand.

"Ow!" he complained, though probably much louder than was proportional to the actual pain he received. "Why is everyone getting all handsy on me today?! Don't you know you could get a lawsuit from the parents of the innocent kid you just attacked? Jeez."

Rubbing at his head, he turned to face the blonde man. "So you're telling me you came all the way back here after disappearing because I made an 'accusation' that you just so happened to be close enough to hear and bothered you enough for you to come all the way back here and correct me. In front of the cop. Even though all of us are complete and total male strangers whose opinions shouldn't matter to you in the slightest. Yeeeeah, that's not suspicious at all. And while you might claim to only go for the finest women, I noticed you said nothing about men; not even refusing them."

He threw up his hands in exasperation and headed for the food table. "Ugh, I'm too young to stomach this stuff. I'm gonna get some food before I lose my appetite."

"If that s**t's radioactive, then I gotta bounce." Clay didn't move, however; finishing his plate of candied chestnuts proved more important than an unseen killer. As he chewed, he looked on at the offending plant. Someone in the crowd rambled on about its properties or some s**t - weird scientific jargon that he didn't care to understand - and people lined up to buy the damned things. Who would want a glowing plant? "Just buy a ********' nightlight," he muttered to no one in particular.

Jason made mention of the buffet, however, and Clayton grunted his assent. Once he finished the last of the chestnuts, he tossed the paper plate into the garbage to fetch a new one. "Dude, the mashed potatoes are flippin' bomb. Can't say it enough."

Every VIP ticket will go away with a free plant…

Clay rolled his eyes. "Every VIP ticket will go away with deez nuts," he mouthed back to the loudspeaker. "I don't get this s**t at all. Why they gotta go makin' a stink about some ********' plant? I don't need that s**t. I got this thing called e-lec-tricity." Clay made spirit fingers before doubling back to another helping of mashed potatoes. Once he made a crater in his favorite starch, he added a hearty helping of gravy. A couple drops wound up on his thumb and he sucked it off without a second thought.

As long as he had room in his stomach, he'd stick around, he decided. Even if it started to get chilly in here.

Nick Fox

"Ah! So the rumors that go around are false then?" Nick spoke, then turned bright red. "Well, of course they are. After all, the idea that half the guys are gay is false as well. I can confirm very much that most guys at school are raging bodies of hormones that take it all out on the weak..."

Including himself but that little fact was going to get left out. She didn't need to know he got knocked around.

"Anyway!" He quickly changed the topic. Do not call the woman you are trying to win over a slut. BAD idea.

"I came to meet someone." He said, casting a glance towards her. "Someone told me a woman I needed to see would be here. The flowers were just an added bonus."

Jason Wolf

Jason chuckled a little at Clay. Perhaps this guy isn’t too bad. He thought as he watched Clay finish his food. He was interested in what the speaker had to say, however listening in for a bit it seemed that they were trying to promote giving away the plant more than anything. He internally sighed, not really caring about getting a plant. If he wanted a plant he could get a better air-cleaning one, like aloe or a peace lily.

He mumbled a bit, not really caring if Clay heard or not, “Probably able to get a better plant that helps clean the air at your local hardware store.” However he definitely wanted the mashed potatoes more than ever now now since Clay was mentioning them so much. Out loud he said, “I am definitely a mashed potatoes kind of guy. I really want to try them now.”

Smiling a little at Clay’s comments towards the speaker he started to make his way towards the buffet a bit before Clay. Within earshot of Clay, “Well I suppose it’s a way to save on electricity. You know, not having to pay as much on your bill. But it doesn’t seem as if you can really turn it on and off. Might as well just get an energy saving bulb.”

And finally he was at the buffet table, practically drooling as he loaded up a plate. Luckily there seemed to be plenty left and he made sure to have a good sized plate before he started eating. And Clay was right. The mashed potatoes were delicious! Jason made a small noise of content after the first bite before saying, “Oh man, these are good.” and finally digging in.

Mercy Haynes

Mercy had been just about to shake her head and just lean into him with another smile when he seemed to get the hint. Good. Maybe she wasn't awful at this sort of thing.

"No, it's fine, I'm sure she'll come find me when it's time to go." She said with a shake of her head. "She's a strong woman and can look after herself, I'm not too worried."

She had the decency to look sad that he'd been stood up, and then finally, she went in for the kill, her fingers very gently, very lightly touching his as she smiled at him sweetly. "Well, that's her loss then, which is a shame, you're quite handsome and if she couldn't handle your dashing good looks well... All the more her shame."

And then fingers were off his own hand as she sipped the hot cocoa because her ears were burning and her face was red and she didn't even believe she'd gone and said ALL that. It was all she could do to not side-eye Nick for his reaction because she was half afraid she'd pushed it too far.

Mercy Haynes

"Well she's wrong, you're very handsome," Mercy said, suddenly feeling very defensive, like her taste was being questioned. "Forgive me for saying, but your Aunt sounds like an absolute cow."

Of she was sure Nick's aunt wasn't actually a cow. But the actual word she wanted to use was not one she allowed in her vocabulary, and thus, she'd gone for the best thing she could think of that would imply how little she thought of Nick's Aunt.

"Or as shallow as a ditch, it's hard to tell." She added, sipping her cocoa carefully before looking at her lap.

"So, do you play Pokemon?" She asked, trying to turn the subject away from potentially dangerous subjects.

Nick Fox

He laughed. Oh he laughed so hard.

"Mercy, you just made my evening with that. I have not heard someone call her a cow before. Many other terms but not a cow. Now I'm going to picturing her walking down a run way mooing."

Still smiling, he turned to answer her question when the words came from somewhere else.

"LOOK OUT!"

Before he could do anything, a snow ball smacked him straight in the face, knocking his glasses off.

Kaida Courcel - w/ Albert and Kes

Kaida giggled at Albert. "No one's corrupting me, dear. As for why I'm here? Well, Papa decided since I hadn't been seen with him at anything yet, this was a good way to keep people from talking smack." She turned her smile on Kes, nodding. "Oh likely! And he has. It's actually how we first met." Nope, she was never going to tire of the story. "He was so mortified. His brother had dragged him to the show, and then he was the speaker for a guest lecture I was at the next day!"