For a brief moment while they waited for a bartender to come over so Emmett could actually order a drink, Sable felt all of the assorted drama at the bar fade away. Not that it wasn’t still happening, since it undeniably was……but there, right there!
Several of the people sitting near her and Emmett had left their glowsticks on the bar. The lack of starfish pins marked them all as Not Members Of The Negaverse. Even if that hadn’t been the case, the glowsticks wouldn’t have gone gray if these people had had said pins.
Carefully, Sable reached over to snag the filled up glowsticks. It wasn’t difficult or anything. The couple beside her seemed quite deep in conversation (and probably more than a little bit deep in their drinks—all the better for them to avoid noticing that their energy might have been flagging).
Once the filled glowsticks were safe next to her and Emmett, Sable reached into her handbag. Gently, she nudged a fresh pair of glowsticks over to the pair of lushes. Tale as old as time, it seemed: drunk people were always so easy to drain energy off of, you almost had to feel bad for the poor saps, making it so easy for the Negaverse to claim donations from them.
Only almost, though.
genovianprince
Emmett~!
lizbot rolled 1 10-sided dice:
10Total: 10 (1-10)
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 1:29 pm
Everlee Device // Eternal Hestia Location: Lounge at the bar Rolls: 1, 10 words: 67 (220 total)
"Vodka martini. Shaken, not stirred," Everlee's voice was firm and full of resolution, like she was ordering an airstrike rather than a cocktail. Using the phone to control it, she maneuvered the tiny drone to capture each party's expression and at least some of the conversation.
Glancing up at Baz, she suddenly gave him a brilliant smile, full of hope. "Do you think they'll fight?"
xstrickenized
streaming to a tablet near you
xamorremanet
she's always ready for public events to turn into amateur wrestling hour
xkolina
is this time for....the long awaited dance battle?
Sxhiningamisgirl
waru living his best awkward life as chum in the water
xGuine
there is a tiny drone flying around the area and several super professional "spies" any of which may or may not be noticed
Aelius smiled at Ren’s attempt at an insult and let it slide for the lack of bite. Such a poor attempt. Either Ren was honestly that vain or…no he was probably that vain.
“Oh, how lovely of you to invite yourself to the dance floor with us, but unless you need an eye correction, I clearly wasn’t asking you. Besides, it seems you have an obsession with young boys and that’s just creepy. Though, you could go to one of the local colleges. The freshman have just moved in. I am sure you can find someone there you can pay to amuse you.”
To Waru he offered a lopsided grin. “Let’s go with both, but I am pretty confident in my dance floor skills. You sure you want to take me on?”
The bartender returned with the two poinsettias and his rum and coke. Aelius passed one of the sparkling, bright drinks to Waru , brushing fingers in the exchange of the flute before he grabbed both of his. Thankfully, the poinsettia wasn’t a large drink. He sipped at it curiously, eyes focused on Waru. It was delicious. Made with lower tiered alcohol, for sure, but the flavor held up. It was fruity and light and scrumptious. “You’ll need to show me how to make it later. We can stop on the way home and get what we need.”
shiningamisgirl
Guine
lizbot
amorremanet
Kolina rolled 1 10-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-10)
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2024 1:50 pm
((And I suck for forgetting to roll. This is for Aelius's post above.))
Emmett watched her swirl the liquid in her champagne glass and gave a sort of sheepish grin—he had absolutely no idea what kinds of fancier drinks he liked. Generally speaking, he drank beer by the pitcher at the bars, and he'd drink just about any kind of beer, at that. Maybe he could try something new tonight, though, or something.
"I usually just end up drinkin' a Heineken, unless it's, uh, autumn," he admitted a tad reluctantly. "If it's autumn, I like havin' pumpkin ales. It's the manly version of the pumpkin spice latte." He chuckled a bit, feeling awkward.
'Yours, mine, yours, mine, mine-' A sharp pink gaze flit from June to Marissa then back again, following this strange tug-of-war over a man who wasn't even present. January wasn't sure there had ever been two people who seemed borderline offended that one of their friends might already know their other friends. It could only make things easier, if this stranger was as 'worth knowing' as everyone wanted him to believe.
They were buried in their text messages before he could object- Except, no, it wasn't before. January had expressly stated that now might not be best. Because he thought he would do better elsewhere, when there were less... overwhelming aspects, and he knew the sort of circumstances that would make for a more positive introduction, at least on his side.
But no one listened to him. So same-old, same-old
He swallowed down the rest of his drink, and it was perhaps only a minute or two that Jacob's (or Marissa's, or both's- whatever) Samir sauntered up to their group. The guy seemed friendly enough, and close enough with Marissa to hug her. January hadn't realized she'd had many people close enough to hug her?
And then he was blinking stupidly at the hand that was stuck toward him. "Oh, I don't really..." 'do that well with people touching me.' But January wasn't going to say that was he? Because he didn't want to sound like someone with any kind of crippling OCD or weird mental hangup (because he wasn't, and it was just that there was a lot going on, but he'd been perfectly fine- perfectly fine! for years and years, and this really shouldn't be any different than any other social gathering or show, and he'd known what tonight was going to be and decided to go anyway).
He could pretend. He'd been good at pretending, before, even if it was just because he worked himself up for it. Got in the zone for it.
There was no zone here. Just something he had to get over right now because this guy was literally standing in front of him, waiting. "It's... a pleasure." January managed as he slipped his sweaty fingers into Samir's hand.
Because it was hot, and there were a trillion people in here, and he'd already been drinking- fuuuuuckkkkk.
Baz Lemarchand (Corrupt Ilmari of Chastity) Location: Lounge (at the bar). Dice Roll: 8, 10, 6, 4.
Focusing enough to hear more of the target conversation over the din of everyone else’s chatter, Baz frowned. He was getting used to a certain level of nonsense with Waru, or more often, with Albite. The Boss’s brain worked in very unique and colorful ways, hence his need for a secretary. Sometimes, it was better to just let him cook and figure things out as one went along by closely observing anything else that might have been a context clue.
But the current goings-on made Baz tilt his head slightly to the side, peering down the bar at the trio of other men. Doing this didn’t get the present turn of events to make any more sense than it already did (which was to say, “very little”).
“I think a fight feels more likely than I thought a few moments ago,” Baz admitted, preemptively cringing at the thought. “Aelius is almost begging to get punched, throwing around accusations like that over a little bit of flirting.” Not even flirting that had any actual basis in reality, at that. Had Aelius accused some of the men whom Baz had ever taken home of such things, he still would have been wrong, but given that Baz couldn’t legally drink, it might’ve made a bit more sense. “I really hope they don’t go that far, though?”
Baz leaned back from Everlee’s personal space, looking around to make sure that nobody was paying attention to them. “If they start fighting and get kicked out,” he said, lowering his voice just in case, “do you think Faustite and the Queen will be upset? ……Should we intervene?”
If things got ruined because of a fight, and Waru, Aelius, and Mr. Silver-Hair got blamed for it, and Baz and Everlee didn’t do anything to prevent it from happening, then didn’t that make them partially responsible?
Shiningamisgirl
waru, your secretary is Nervous
Kolina
Aelius is especially making him Nervous
Guine
He doesn’t know you, Ren, but he hopes you don’t fight Aelius rn
lizbot
Everlee-senpai, help, he’s scared of disappointing Faustite and Laurels
“Okay, okay, it’s not like- well, I wasn’t planning on k-keeping one, of course, no reason for you two to be so worried about it…” He grumbled back.
Worried?
He wasn’t sure if that was quite right. It didn’t hit him expressly as ‘concern,’ just… A peculiar sort of steadfastness toward not… letting him get too close?
‘Weird’ was probably a good way to describe it. Nataniel was hardly shy about offering up complaints over Basyl’s collection of things, but besides such comments, he didn’t do much else to dissuade Basyl’s continuous acquisition of stuff (and he loved stuff, he’d always loved stuff- he didn’t know why, he just did). But Nat was actually physically plucking the glowsticks out of his hand. Literally, literally taking them away from him. And Ivory’s insistence that they weren’t ‘for him,’ but it wasn’t like he was freaking out over any of these other strangers having them.
And it seemed like he would… It seemed like if Ivory wanted them for himself he would be very upset over just about everyone in the building having one, while Ivory’s hands were conspicuously clear of them. They were being weird. Everyone was being so freaking weird.
“Oh, uh, yes- Yeah, I have to go into work tomorrow, but it’s overnight, so I’ll go in the evening. P-plenty of time to rest up! And I’m not having a crazy night or anything; it’s not like we’re drinking…” Why weren’t they drinking? Nataniel only liked dancing in congruence with alcohol-
Tanwyn was right next to him, giving Ivory’s arm a little jostle to dissuade the pinch of his nails, but otherwise staying in his grasp. Nataniel was at his back, petting fingers through the meticulously cared for curls and braids of his hair (maintaining such things had never been a priority for him, and his long hair had often declined into tangled matts- but it felt nice to let Tanwyn take care of it, so Ivory graciously allowed the stylings). Two people (the only two people) that Ivory wanted next to him… He settled at their attention, leaning his cheek against Tanwyn’s shoulder and letting the snappy response to Basyl’s proximity ease away.
It was useless for Basyl to be here- he was just a distraction. He couldn’t do what the rest of them could do- had no business taking up Tanwyn’s and Nataniel’s time. He should go home and get out of the way. …Or if he wasn’t going to do that, the least he could do was ******** off somewhere else. The club was big enough they shouldn’t have to see each other when there were hundreds and hundreds of other people they could be running into instead.
“They are special,” Ivory seethed softly under his breath. Tanwyn could say the glowsticks weren’t special, not something Cala Ivory should fight Basyl about, but they were too special for the likes of Basyl, way too special for the likes of Basyl to just take home.
Alright, alright. Whatever. He wasn’t going to, and Ivory wasn’t supposed to be talking about it, anyway.
“I will get you drinks,” Ivory decided, abruptly lurching away from Tanwyn and toward the entryway to the lounge. Tanwyn and Nataniel had decided they wouldn’t be partaking- but Ivory didn’t care what they wanted, and they were more interesting with alcohol. And maybe it would shut Basyl up. He would still take a pass for himself, of course. Alcohol was yucky.
Jacob couldn’t help but laugh, enjoying the banter with Marissa, but when he glanced at his brother, the laughter faded. When Samir showed up, the smile on his face was absolutely genuine, but the guilt that was rippling in his stomach was too.
Maybe he should have just left as he was going to…let January take things his own way. Have him for a private dinner.
“Samir, this is my brother, January. January, this is Samir, he’s lovely. And I’m glad you two are getting to meet, and…”
He lowered his voice and gently nudged his brother. “I’m sorry. For just. Ambushing you like this. If you want us to take our leave we can, we can talk later when it’s not so…”
When they weren’t in a club. Surrounded by people. Normal people. And people who mattered, of course.
“Looks like we do share a Samir, Marissa. You’re fun, and I hope we can hang out sometime too, if you ever want to.”
Maybe it was something about having spent a lot of her teenage years and early twenties with other theater kids, but part of Sable genuinely couldn’t believe that Emmett had only ever drunk beer. She tried not to stare too much or openly gape at him, but Sable did end up blinking at Emmett for a moment, utterly bemused by the fact that he’d made it to twenty-seven without venturing away from beer.
“Okay, don’t worry about it,” Sable said, giving him a small smile that she hoped was reassuring. “They might not have the pumpkin ales out yet, but we can find you something.”
As much as she wanted to ask if he’d never broken into his parents’ liquor cabinet, though, that sounded disrespectful even in her head. She didn’t know very much about what his and Monoceros’s home life had been like, and she didn’t want to offend by unwittingly bringing up something painful. Never mind how, as Arsenolite, Emmett had earned his promotion to General. Maybe they weren’t powered up right now, but they were technically working on a mission right now. Things done as civilians could carry over into powered life.
(Realistically, she probably knew about as much as Monoceros did himself about what their lives had been like growing up, because Monoceros was a traitor, and he’d ******** abandoned them, and okay, maybe Sable was gripping her phone too tightly, the case was starting to hurt her fingers—)
Flagging down one of the bartenders—one of the ones who didn’t have a starfish pin—Sable asked, “Hey, can you please make my friend here a Jägerbomb?”
That seemed like something Emmett might like. It combined beer with the liquor Sable had always heard people in undergrad bragging about having drunk at all. Personally, she didn’t get why they claimed those bragging rights. The taste was fine, and even with the 35% alcohol-by-volume, the kick wasn’t really that bad, she thought.
The bartender nodded, then looked to Emmett. “D’you want the kind of Jägerbomb that comes with beer, or the kind that comes with Red Bull?”
It'd started off as fun, the way the second shot didn't even burn it slid down his throat, the way the lounge was a cozy vibe of tucked away from all the rest of the world and he was being smothered in the kind of attention his cam-girl of a heart dreamed of. Except Ren's warmth didn't match the words Waru heard slide Aelius's way; honeyed poison and Aelius was a ******** honey badger ready to sleep of the snake-bite n come out swinging. Hopefully politely, verbally, with him as the kind of sandwhich he suddenly didn't want to be the meat between.
Because what he wanted.....
"Okay, yeah -- s'enough of that---" he nudged the two emptied shot glasses aside with a press of dark fingers, dragged those same fingers down through the dribble of condensation cooling the outside of the glass that held the poinsettia, held his free hand up as if asking for the pair to hit 'pause'.
"You--don't ********' respond to that. Please..." he implored Ren, killed his own urge to respond with something just as playful. To beg for more of the same, pet-names, treats, the suggestive heat in the other mans tone. Pulled the plug on the play rapidly and tskd' softly in Ren's direction. "N'play nice." whisperwarm, and he wouldn't ask Ren to do it out of any obligation to him; not in so many words. Ren was his own person, an adult that could manage himself, could decide how he wanted the rest of the night to go.
"N'you? Aelius...." twisting gently in Ren's grasp to give Aelius his full and undivided attention. The man was so ******** close -- just --- right there --- Waru thought he caught a hint of green in those golden eyes. A quiet type of monster with the kind of claws he would've indulged himself in on any other day. If he could've understood the reason for it now, or placed it neatly in his mind. Instead of staring it down over the rim of a rapidly disappearing bit of drink, as though the alcohol would sort his thoughts for him and quiet all the loud 'why' and slapped whiplash that got dredged up for trying to sort anything at all.
Aelius acting with him the way Waru'd only seen him behave with Faustite....
Aelius...
Being possessive---
Like Aelius more than liked him? Like they were together, like they were something more than just friends---
Likeee....
And if it'd only been that? Waru thought he would've weathered it more quietly, would've played it off and found a way to play along between 'em. But something in Aelius's comment cut him, caught on something sharp, drew blood. Even if it was just a kittens-scratch worth.
"You want me to take you home after..." a question with an edge, a humm that got drowned in more cran, clinked with ice as the glass ended up empty. "N'just whose home do you think we should be going to? T'Rens place? Or Eion's? Adams...." He hadn't seen the man yet, but he was thinking of him, and a glance down the bar showed him others. Bodies beyond Lovely's slender pouting form; strawberry blonds dressed in outfits that would've stolen anyone's breath faster n a rapidly depleting atmosphere. Waru tipped the empty glass Emmy's way in quiet acknowledgement, because he didn't need her attention for this. But she was seen, she was admired. "Maybe Emmy's? She's here too, yanno. Lookin' stunning for it, by the way. A ********' professional that girl, always."
"Or maybe --- maybe I should just go with whoever pays me the most?" Waru let his smile be as sharp as it wanted to be, his voice low with warning, the way he wanted to erase in an instant any idea that his suggestion was valid. Something to be commented on. "As if anyone in the cosmos could ever ********' afford me. As if I can be bought..." Waru snorted, cleared his lungs while rolling his eyes to the sea-scaped heavens of the lounge that felt too quiet now to survive in. He'd brought this on himself, hadn't he? He'd wanted this. All these people in his life; as friends, and lovers, and confidants. Taking them as they came, with no additions, no subtractions, no ******** caveats. Just--- as people. Always. Flawed and beautiful and ******** his for as long as he could keep them by him. Whether that was for five minutes or forever -- <******** it.
"N'besides?! Who really wants to talk about going home now-- When I haven't even gotten t'dance yet. Might be ********' exhausted by the end of it...j'sgonna have t'seee...." and the anger that could've been, that'd risen up; it melted away, evaporated entirely. He wiped it out on his pants like the ice-melt off his palms. He grinned while laughing it off, and trying instead to bait the men he stood between into a different alley. "Cause I'll never back down from a challenge. Specially not a fun one -- and m'pretty sure there's enough space for you both, yeah?" Stealing a breath for himself, backing himself down, and ultimately smiling as he glanced between the boys and played up his hand.
"I mean -- c'mon, I'm a big guy! N'less m'not 'worth it' enough t'try for?" an underlying tease that got stacked atop Waru's doe eyed blinking while feigning hurt, dangling that s**t on his face as he slowly slid out from between the pair and stared at them both with something a little harder in his eyes than hope. "Cause I know you'll be hard t'beat Aelius, good enough that you could show me n Ren a thing or two, but? S'always gonna be a difference between the stage n the club..."
Mary internally braced herself for Damaris to ask the next logical question 'what is robotics' and simply kept a good hold on her arm. Granted, Damaris was now clung to her, so she didn't really need to fear the girl vanishing but, you never know.
"Why do the glow sticks dim, if you don't mind me asking? I know that the ones you get at party stores usually last... a lot longer," she asked with a tilted head, looking at the glow stick in her hand. It was still kind of bright, but it was graying... slowly but surely. It seemed a little weird to her that they'd drain of color so fast but maybe they were just designed that way to help facilitate staff and customer interactions?
(She refused to think this was some sort of Negaverse plot, okay. She was going to have fun with her friend and nothing was going to get in the way of that damnit!)
"I can take you to the aquarium for some living fish this weekend, if you'd like Mari?" Mary blinked, really hoping that the heat in her cheeks at the nickname that just sort of... slipped out, was hidden by the lighting. Nicknames were fine, right? Friends gave each other nicknames all the time, and at least it wasn't one her giant long titles (thank the stars she'd grown out of that phase).
Celeste eyed the unfamiliar woman (Kayden) who approached her and offered nothing in the way of a proper greeting. In fact, her expression barely changed at all, except for a minute lift of a single brow.
“It’s alright,” she said. “Not exactly my speed.”
It was too loud. Too crowded. Too dark, but too bright, too.
“Really only here for an easy shift,” she admitted.
Money was nice. So was recognition. Being a Captain for two years was a bad look, in her opinion. Celeste blamed Bloodstone for it. Having a General who picked favorites between his subordinates was a pain in the a**. She’d ask for a transfer, but she didn’t care to test some other Generals’ expectations. Serving beneath a friend came with certain benefits despite the singular drawback.
Celeste continued to scan the crowd. Her gaze fell onto a familiar face, drawing her frown deeper.
“Do you see that girl over there?” she said, tipping her head in that direction. “Pink and orange streaks in her hair. Rainbow skirt with twinkling lights. Next to that guy with the long brown hair (Aiden). No glow sticks for her. She's off limits.” Then, “Hey, Charlie!”
“Is that all I’m worth?” Lovely sneered at Ilian. He eyed the whiskey, obviously tempted by it, but he was annoyed and thus in the mood to be argumentative even about the things he liked. “Don’t want to waste your ******** time making me one of those fancy ******** drinks when you’ve got bimbos and losers to serve?”
He grabbed the glass anyway and took a large swallow, glaring at Ilian over the bar.
“You know, this could’ve been my life,” he said. “Clubs and grand openings and endless parties and whatever the ******** else my mother gets up to. I could’ve been the ******** center of it all. You think I can’t walk out onto the ******** dance floor and find some other hot guy to give me attention?
“You stay there,” Lovely insisted, sliding out of his seat. He downed the rest of his drink and set the glass back onto the bar with a loud thunk. “Do your ******** work like you always do. Supervise or whatever. But maybe next time you could think about picking me instead.”
Lovely turned on his heel with only a slight wobble and stomped away from the bar.
“Ohhh.” Damaris nodded, though honestly, had no real idea what the guy was talking about. He vaguely reminded her of the salespeople one one of the islands up on Magion…people who just said as many big words as though could to get you to buy what they were talking about and she just gave a vague smile, but then looked at Mary.
“I think mine was broken! I shook it too hard! I was too excited, and I’m not Mary, you are Mary…”
She paused, thinking through the sentence for a moment before jumping in excitement. “Wait! Now we’re both Mary! Because it’s in my name too, sort of! You are so smart!”
Looking up at the salesman, she held her hand out. “I want another. May I have two at once? I want to dance. With Mary!”
And clearly….glowsticks were necessary for dancing.
For a brief moment while they waited for a bartender to come over so Emmett could actually order a drink, Sable felt all of the assorted drama at the bar fade away. Not that it wasn’t still happening, since it undeniably was……but there, right there!
