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[ Guvernment Nightclub - Toronto, Ontario ] [ 11:57pm ]

"Very funny." Ripley frowned, unable to help it. "I'd rather be alone than stand with you." He said, as if that would help the stranger decide that being alone was a better option. He had no intention of making new friends, especially ones he'd never see again; he was finding very quickly that he didn't want to be here at all. Not even to make mistakes that could be written off as nothing.

"No, thank you." He refused, lifting a gloved hand as if to halt the offering entirely. "The countdown's...soon. Maybe. I should...go back." Yes, back into the loud, the heat, the sweat, and soon the energetic.

Woo.

It was no surprise that he stayed put, and didn't move away.

[ Times Square, NY ] [ 9:21 PM ]

"Right." Nora slung an arm around him with a knowing grin and attempted to sneak a peek at his texts. "Well then, Romeo, what shall we do? Troll what's open until this place gets harder to walk through than tar?" There had been people in the square gathered for the annual celebration since the day before, she'd heard. "Or maybe grab us a hot snack? I've heard legends about New York's pizza..."

[ Guvernment Nightclub - Toronto, Ontario ] [ 11:58pm ]

"Well you're just a regular ******** ball of sunshine, aren't you, darling?" Finn scoffed, feeling somewhat intrigued by this strangers obvious attitude problem, but at the same time not giving two shits whether or not he refused to join him.

Wait, the countdown was what?

Finn glanced at his phone to see that it was true. "********, are you ******** kidding me?" He gave his head a shake, and turned to head back into the club. "Well, have a good time, I guess." The guy had said he was going to go back, but it was somehow not surprising at all that he made no move to go to the door.

When Finn tried to go inside he found his way blocked by the security guard he had argued with earlier.

"I thought I told you to have a good night." The larger man boomed, shoving Finn back from the doorway. "Because you're not getting back in here."

There was instant irritation at the sudden, looming, cockbocking obstacle in his path. There was a moment when Finn's temper flared, and he was ready to fight, even with this man who would probably break him in half, until common sense kicked in, and swearing under his breath, he took a few steps back, the security guard giving him one last, pointed look before backing back inside and closing the door.

"Mother ********!" Finn growled, jamming a cigarette between his lips. "This city ******** sucks. I should have stayed home." Home being all the way back in Alberta, where s**t like this wouldn't have happened.

He eyed the other man, who was still there. "Thought you were going inside?" He mocked, lighting up and taking a long, only somewhat satisfying drag.

[ The Pink Elephant, NYC, NY ] [ 10:30 pm ]
She was that girl with the squeal every time a shot was done and slapping the glass down loudly as she gasped from the booze. The brunette's nose wrinkled as she momentarily hissed but melted soon back to a grin.

Cee fished in her purse, past a pack of cigarettes and an e-cig (because it had flavors) and withdrew a green bill. The fifty dollar bill would cover enough for the time being (with the prices at this place) but who carried fifties? It seemed more of a gesture than anything else and as it was slid across to the freckled bartender (advanced payment? or a tip?), Cee leaned conspiratorially, "I know you ain't sposed ta be drinkin on the job gurl!"

Wink.

pinchmonster

[ New York City, New York ] [ 10:44 p.m. ]




Except 7:30 had apparently not been fine.

For the first thirty minutes, the excuses that Mimsy devised on his behalf had seemed entirely comprehensible. Traffic was atrocious, after all. Perhaps he had encountered a particularly dense crowd of revelers. Maybe she had given him the wrong address.

Between the first and second hour, she began to fidget awkwardly at the table that had been reserved for them. She finished the water provided for her, but did not dare to touch the one that had been placed across the table for him. She straightened her long, red dress and adjusted the neckline no less than three dozen times, concerned that he might find it too revealing. She watched the diners at the surrounding tables, and tried to avoid acknowledging the fact that none of them were alone.

After the second hour, she checked that all of the information that they had exchanged had been correct. Upon discovering that it had been, she made an attempt to call him, which rang five times before his voice instructed her to leave a message. Refusing to deviate from his directions, she left one inquiring where he was.

When the third hour arrived, the hostess apologized four times, explained their reservation policy, and requested that she allow other guests to be seated at her table.

She had no desire to protest.

Aware of how apparent it was that she did not belong here, she tipped what she presumed was socially acceptable in this circumstance, collected her coat from the check near the entrance, and stopped short of the door.

Everyone outside appeared to move so purposefully, connected to each other by some sort of bond that she failed to possess. A bond that they visibly allowed between one another, that she had not earned as they had. Maybe this was his answer, then - none of that mattered, because she still was just as inhuman as she had always been.

Clinging to her last remaining shred of faith, wanting desperately for it to be anything but unwarranted, she lingered by the entrance as she turned her phone over in her hands and pretended that she did not find herself preferring the possibility that he was dead.

[ Boston, Massachusetts - Solas ] [ 12:23 AM ]

"Let me just... Let my friends know where I'm going and it's a date. I mean I'm game." He covered quickly as 'date' probably sounded weird when it came to two people meeting for the first time. He had shaken Jasper's hand firmly before drawing his own hand back so that he could pull out his phone, shifting on his feet as he sent his roommate and the rest of their group a quick message to let her know he'd met up with a friend and probably wouldn't be back before morning. It sounded terrible but he'd take pictures of the iHop or the place they were volunteering at just to prove that it was nothing more than a day's work as a hero.

It was about time he did something unexpected anyways.

"Okay. Alright, I'm ready. Let's go, Wonderboy."

[ Alley - Chicago ] [ 12:00am ]

The rattle of a shopping cart punctured the quiet, cold air, coming closer until it finally turned the corner to it's destination. A haggard old woman was clumsily pushing it along down the lightless alley, stopping in front of a giant mound of rapidly deteriorating pieces of cardboard. They were all protecting people underneath, bundled up in various states of rapid deterioration themselves.

She took the giant bag of cans out of her shopping cart and dumped it beside, before emptying the rest out. Today's finds had been plentiful. Several bags of half-eaten, discarded foods were handed out to those waiting underneath the cardboard. She'd been given a total of eight dollars and seven cents from begging, and she'd bought food and water to share as well. Everything she'd bought was in bulk, but she didn't worry about spoiling. She watched all of the bread and vegetables disappear down starving throats before her very eyes.

Several little containers of milk were saved for the younger of the groups, and she handed them out carefully with a toothless grin. She kept one for herself, and as she popped it open, she looked on the back.

MISSING

Maebe Grace Bertrand

"I know her." The woman huffed out; her first words all day. "I've seen her. You remember her, Georgie?" She held the carton out with shaky hands to an old man who couldn't stop scratching his infected scalp. He winced at the picture, and nodded his head. "Should I call it in?" She asked him, genuinely concerned for the safety of the baby faced girl in the picture.

He shook his head. "Says she's been gone for six months, Mama." None of the homeless in the alley were related to the old woman, but to them, she was Mama, because she brought them food, and she cared. She was the only one. "She already dead."

And despite the best interests of the only woman who cared, even Mama had to admit that the girl had never had instincts for survival. She barely remembered that little girl, but what she did remember had all the signs of destruction on it. She remembered seeing her with Rico, who everyone knew was a psychopath. Mama never let any of her children near that man, because he was rumored to have been involved in human trafficking, and everyone around him always seemed to disappear. Come to think of it, that was the last time Mama had ever seen that pretty, sad little face.

She turned the milk carton around, and drunk it down in one unending gulp.

[ University of Florida Dorm Party, Florida ][10:03 pm]

Ezekiel didn't have a damn clue who was throwing the party he'd ended up at, only that it was large, boarding on out of control, and that seemed about right for New Years Eve. The party had originated, as far as he could tell, in four rooms, but within an hour it had spread down to the end of the hall, the beat and pulse of loud music penetrating through every one of the eight levels. Off the hook.

Zeke himself was leaning against a wall in one room watching some freshman attempt, and fail, to do a keg stand. It was mildly entertaining, made more so by the veil of a good buzz from the number of drinks he had consumed up to this point.

Though as amusing as it was seeing the kid cough beer up through his nose, it would only hold Zeke's attention for so long. The longer he attended FU, the less appeal these sorts of events held for him. They just weren't that stimulating.