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Ren Wilhelm (Eternal Taenite)
Lo​​cation: Lounge
Dice Roll: 3, 3, 9, 6

Ren had a pretty low opinion of Aelius to start with, but even he felt grossed out by a comment like that. For him to suggest--...?

Meanwhile, he stood by his comments. Not only did Aelius look young, but he acted incredibly immature as well.

So much for making an attempt at a ‘oh, we’ve never met before!’ game with his husband. He’d been excited to see him after being out of the country, but it seemed as though he had his hands full.

A strange tightness ached in his chest. It wasn’t something he was used to, but he trusted Waru. If Waru’s duty continued to keep him away from him, just as Eion’s duty kept him away, then Ren would gracefully take a bow and back down if asked by one of the three people he would comfortably obey. Axinite being the third.

“We can catch up later, when you’re not busy trying to put out fires,” Ren said quietly, rubbing Waru’s forearm in what he hoped was a comforting and reassuring gesture. “I won’t add to that stress. Anyway, the mood is ruined and I’m pretty grossed out that someone would even suggest exploiting teenagers like that.”

Ren might have been a horrible person with questionable business practices, but he took no pleasure in the sexual exploitation of minors. Or anyone for that matter.

Waru then received a soft kiss on the cheek. There was no heat in the gesture. The time for that had passed, soured by the disgusting comments of an incredibly insecure and jealous individual.

To make sure Waru knew not to worry, Ren gave him a wink and took a step away.

He wasn’t happy about it, but he wasn’t going to force Waru to do anything he didn’t want to. He knew Aelius would think that he won whatever competition he probably made up in his head, but Ren didn’t care. He just wanted to have some fun, and it was ruined by an immature brat.

Trying to exist in the same space with Aelius now would only cause Waru to suffer.

Ren would rather give Waru up than see him cut in half.

Ilian Jones (General King Jet)
Lo​​cation: Lounge. Behind the bar, serving drinks (bartender)
Dice Roll: 1, 9, 1, 2, 5

Ilian stared at Lovely in confusion, glancing from him to the glass of what he knew was Lovely’s favorite. He remembered! He even made sure he had a bottle close by so he could grab it quickly in case Lovely requested it!

But he could see that he’d clearly upset him. He didn’t even have a chance to offer to make him something else.

He watched Lovely wobble and stomp away with a frown and sad eyes. He was so used to Lovely’s undying support, that it was always a shock to find out how he really felt. Maybe the support was more superficial than he thought.

So he just sighed and tried not to spend all of his attention on trying to keep an eye on Lovely. But he was going to be responsible and do his job that he volunteered for.

Emilia Asher (General Jadarite)
Location: Lounge
Roll: 10, 1, 10

Lovely was in luck. Emmy's gaze did not linger on Illian's face or body, only on the drink that he was very enthusiastically mixing up for her. Maybe in another time and place she would have done more than passively notice that he was handsome, but she was working. They both were.

If she needed a pretty face for her vlog, there were others that she could probably talk into such things.

Th drink was presented, and as promised, was a purple color that was luminous under the blacklight. Emillia's grin was freely given, the tilt of her eyebrows impressed.

"It's beautiful," she told him. "So beautiful that I'm going to be here taking pictures for a while. If there's anything else you'd like to show off, I'll buy it off of you."

She brought her camera up and began to take a few shots, of the drink, and of her with the drink, and then of the bar as a whole.

She only turned away as she heard Waru starting to talk not just about her but about her house. She looked Ren and Aelius, looked at the expressions on everyone's faces, shook her head.

"Oh, no, leave me out of this," she told them. "If you remember, last time I had too much testosterone drama at my place, someone spilled wine on my white couch." And anyway, what had she told Waru about spending time with her while she couldn't be his center of attention? "And also, some of us have to work. I'm going to be editing all night."

She huffed slightly at the bartender and mysterious blonde. "Boys."

Sadie Avamir (Pendour, Knight of Neptune)
Location: Dance Floor

"I could go to a concert with you sometime," offered Sadie, having to speak louder than normal to be heard over the music and her headphones. "Of whatever kind of music you wanted." She paused, considered. "Well. Maybe unless it's music about how everything is awful, or the kind with a lot of screaming."

Kpop mostly wasn't like that, though, she didn't think. The clothes were nice, and so were the glowsticks, maybe. She could do that.

Misty, she knew, would be obsessed.

She decided to stop competing with the song, though, and to talk while also moving, and for a while, she just let herself dissolve into the feeling of the moment, of the dance and the rhythm and Michelangelo's hand on hers.

It was nice, she thought.

She did, however, catch a glimpse of the tall man who Michel seemed to dislike. It would take a lot, she knew, to get on Michelangelo's bad side.

---

Misty Newton (Mystras, Page of Jupiter)
Location: Dance Floor

By the time the song was over, Misty was back from the bar. "Hey guys, I got your booze!" she shouted, being much less delicate about trying to cut through the noise than her sibling was.

She'd found a cocktail that had seashell shaped ice cubes in it, and that had seemed on brand enough that she'd gotten three of them, and with a lot of effort, she'd gotten the three glasses all the way over here while using only two hands, and without spilling a single drop.

Needless to say, she was super proud of herself.

"It's mermaid and everything!"

Marissa Singer: Half-youma General Lavendulan
Location: Aquarium Hallway
Dice: 10, 1 crying , 7, 6, 7 = 31

Although Marissa felt a tinge of disappointment at the fleeting moment when Samir offered her a half-hug, her youma side most definitely felt satiated by the brief gesture of attention and small token of familial affection.

She sighed when he let go but managed a smile when Samir offered a friendly greeting to January and offered his hand in welcome. For a fraction of a second, she worried about what his reaction would be, that he’d recoil away or make a remark that might be off-putting. But to her surprise and relief, Jan managed to respond in kind even if he sounded like he wanted to be anywhere by here.

Moving to stand beside him, she offered the support of her nearness and knew not to put a hand on his shoulder for comfort or support; he’d just shrug it off anyway. But then she caught Jacob’s apology to his bother and offer to leave.

Marissa’s immediate reaction was to dismiss the idea, especially since she was the first one to invite Samir over and wanted at least a few minutes to talk with him, and although she managed not to speak her objection out loud, she looked up at Jan with a pouty plea and depending frown. But then Jacob suggested they hang out sometime and before he could omit her from that invitation she quipped a reply “Yes, I think you should come visit us sometime, I’d be interested in a good spar.”

Straight to violence… perhaps Wolframite was a bad influence but she wanted to know if Jacob had what it take to protect Samir if ever they found themselves on a mission in the Rift again.

Michelangelo duPont (Abzu, Squire of Neptune)
Location: Dance Floor

"Don't worry," Michelangelo chuckled, "don't really like screamo anyway," and then he spun her, pausing in his speaking until she was closer in facing him again. Screaming all night was how people lost their voices in clubs and he didn't want to be one of those types. He liked his voice.

It was how he flirted, thanks-

"More likely jazz, or pop, maybe some rock," he snickered, "could go to a Kpop concert, actually. Those experiences are a life of their own. The visuals are stunning." And the people were hot as ********, but he'd leave that part to himself.

Michelangelo made sure Adam had fully cleared the area before he leaned in closer and got up on his tip-toes. His boots had a boost, but not quite enough to make up for their height difference. "Also, look, if you see that guy again?" He narrowed his eyes. "Go the other way. He comes to our fancier parties sometimes. Likely unavoidable, but something bad behind that smile."

Perhaps it was just an impression thing. Perhaps it was just that he was good at reading people. But he had never liked Adam.

Still didn't.

His expression flipped to something much happier when Misty presented them both with mermaid drinks. "Oh this looks lovely!" He forgot dancing for a moment and instead went for a drink. In return, he traded back a small vial from his pocket. He gave Sadie the same. "Just a probiotic. It's formulated to help prevent hangovers. Suggest drinking this up before you go too hard."

Michelangelo was ready to keep the night fun all night for them all.

Everlee Device // Eternal Hestia
Location: Lounge at the bar
Rolls: 1, 10, 1
words: 261 (481 total)

"Intervening would spoil Aelius's chance to assert his primary importance here, our place is to supervise and get revenge if needed." She sounded extremely sure of this role. "Our superior," she stressed the word and its lack of Negaverse identities, " would only be upset if...well, no I, I imagine he'd rather enjoy them being attractively roughed up. Though I'm sure he'd rather they won whatever fights they were involved in..." Everlee's voice drifted off and her expression scrunched up, head cocking to the side. Unlike Baz, relying on his own perfectly adequate human ears, she was trying to listen in using advanced drone technology.

Which sadly wasn't 100% up to the task in this environment.

"...Adam's...." She frowned, eyes darting around to see if the long smear of smirk was nearby.

"A ********' professional..."

"...just go with whoever pays me the most..." Her frowned deepened. While it was true that Waru was not as good with money as Everlee with her mining portfolio, this was a bit unexpected.

"...I can be bought..." Maybe human auctions were part of this operation?

"Might be ********' exhausted by the end of it..."

Feeling extremely emotional, she turned back to Baz, "He works so hard for us all." She watched the third party shuffle off into the crowd. Perhaps he couldn't afford Waru's company? It was a little disappointing to see things end so peacefully, but she was proud of Waru for not selling himself cheaply.

Phedre DeCour: Corrupt Super Meridiana
Location: Lounge
Roll: 2,9

Phedre understood the assignment and turned so she faced the same direction as Kayden, putting herself between the brunette and the cup of whiskey she placed on the tray.

“Nothing in life is truly free,” her tone carried a note of caution. “One way or another you always end up paying for it later. A free drink now leads to a bottle bought from the store later. Or a debt to a friend who has to be a designated driver to get you home safe.” Gentle words of caution, by no means was she scolding.

“Proud of you for making a good decision for you and your health though,” Phedre acknowledged the effort it must have taken to set the drink down before it was gone. Most would have knocked it back and endured the burn before they let something like this go to waste.

“Give me one moment and I’ll be right back.” Just so that it would remain a temptation, Phedre skirted around a few groups of people, gathering other empty glasses and trading expired glow sticks for fresh ones. She dropped the tray off in the kitchen back behind the bar and grabbed a fresh one before rejoining Kayden, this time with a glass of freckled lemonade and nine more glowsticks to add to her small collection.

“Here, you go.”