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Ready or not, today was the day.

He didn't know the others on the team well enough to invite them along on setting up the party, so Adonis waited til all things were in place to invite them. As Adrian, he'd stopped by a couple of local bakeries to pick up every flavor of muffin he could find (banana nut, pistachio, chocolate chip, and blueberry to name a few), various tea cookies, an assortment of regular cookies (between which he couldn't tell the difference), and a small chocolate cake for Sylvite with 'best boss' written in pink cursive across the top.

It wasn't much, but it'd do. He'd gotten a card, too — a blank one, with a dog wearing a party hat on the front. He signed it himself, but that left plenty of space for the rest of the team to add a few words to bolster their boss. He hadn't left a pen; damn near everyone had a communicator these days, and it doubled for a bona fide pen. Fancy that.

Adonis sat himself down in a chair near the desk once he'd spread out all the purchased baked goods. Then he donned a party hat (because there had to be party hats), grabbed one of the streamers, and waited.

He invited the others fifteen minutes earlier. Then he invited the boss.

Matt wasn't usually one to pass up a party.

It was one of the things that gave him some distraction during his college days, especially back when he had friends he kept up with on the regular. Hard to do that when one's second life could eventually lead to their death, but that didn't mean that his like of parties had entirely diminished. Was especially worthwhile for someone like Sylvite, one of the people who had quickly moved into a position that was one of the more important in his life. Didn't outrank his sister or his father, of course, but she was one of the few people who made this experience worth it.

As soon as he was able to wrap up the scene of the story he was working on, he slipped on his guise as Fulgurite in one moment and slipped into the Negaverse at the next.

Had to admit, the teleportation was nice.

"Hey Adonis," offered Fulgurite with a short wave when he slipped into the office. He didn't recognize the other guy but did recognize the name Gismodine from when Sylvite had told him about him. "And hey Gismodine. Sylvite suggested I patrol with you back when you were a lieutenant but I guess you've leveled up. Super Fulgurite here."

Looked like Adonis and Gismodine were learning from the best, with Gismodine pulling snacks out of nowhere and a whole snack display set up by Adonis. It wasn't the snacks that Fulgurite went for, though. He saw a card. Went for it first.



Tucked his pen-tablet away before anyone asked what he wrote -- if they were that ******** nosy, they could read it themselves -- and went to the snacks.

Ashton wasn't busy. Well -- alright, that was a lie; he was busy, but no busier than usual; no immediate finals or exams or unwelcome familial intrusions, just work, and other work, and now this. As schedules went, by unregimented standards, that was practically free as a bird. And as things went, as bosses went, Sylvite had been a nice surprise; certainly she was overstressed, overzealous in a way that spoke of compensation, but this time of year did that to people. It wasn't anything new.

Obtaining transportation to the party was a bit of a pain, but a little charisma at night could go a long way; being practical last week had earned her the interest of a disgruntled, decidedly uncharismatic captain, and that'd been an easy favor to call on. Not that his ride had seemed happy about it, but some people never seemed happy about anything, and Aschera was good at spotting those people from a mile away at this point.

There were people already here, too. Which -- made sense? It made sense. Only having one subordinate would be unreasonable, but it was hard to match names to faces with people she'd never met, especially when she was a little jittery from caffeine and thankful the transformation had cleared all those pen-ink blotches off her fingers. It didn't seem right to make a scene of introductions, not with all these others awkwardly standing about, so that would wait. There was a certain kind of character it often made sense to play in locales fraught with rowdy lads; this seemed like the time for it.

The card -- that would wait a minute. Better to get the lay of the social land first.

The blonde senshi stayed seated as folks filtered in — mostly ones he didn't recognize. Made sense; he hadn't been formally introduced to the team. He doubted Sylvite had much time for that of late.

He recognized Absolutely None of Them, but he collected a fair few first impressions. Gismondine seemed like a good kid, if a bit shy. He brought shitloads of snacks, with a few that Weren't Exactly Cheap, so that was good enough for him. Then there was Fulgurite, whom he'd actually met before — Fulgurite was there for the whole shtick with the aliens. Weird s**t, awkward situation, but he seemed like a smooth dude. Then there was Ransomite, who looked professional and put-together; he carried himself like someone who actually learned how to carry himself. The last one he didn't know, and they didn't introduce themself, but by the look of their uniform, they had a pretty meaty sphere.

"Hey, everybody. Name's Adonis." He blew the party favor in his hand, and it eked out a dopey honk. "Grab a party hat, sign the card, set the goods on the desk over here.

"I might not be new to the Negaverse, but I'm new to the team. Good to meet you. And this —" he gestured wide to the desk and all the streamers, favors, and other obnoxiously-colored, metallic bullshit, "is a party for our boss. Cuz she looks like a party person, and —" He cut himself off again when the Girl of the Hour appeared at her door.

"Sylv!" He blew his party favor again. "Party for you. Here," reaching over, he plucked one of the stacked party hats and tossed it her way. "Dunno if I need to explain, but. You've been a cool boss, and s**t's been real, so I thought we could all use a break. You know, hang out, eat our way into diabetes, talk s**t on our jobs, that sort of thing.

"Oh, and I brought these." He raised his free hand, fingers splayed, and two starseeds appeared between his index, middle, and ring fingers. "I thought they'd catch you a break on your quota."

There was a relative amusement in seeing the one whom he had told not to become youma s**t making his way into the room, of all things. "Glad you're not s**t," was his greeting to Ransomite, as the lieutenant set the cookies he had apparently gotten from the best kitchens on the table. A chef? Owner of a franchise of restaurants? Smooth, in general? He'd have to figure that out.

Anyone who Sylvite trusted was a friend of his, including the last one who entered, someone whose uniform looked weirdly... fleshy. The ********? Were they the senshi of the skin or something?

He might have asked if Sylvite hadn't entered the room, though maybe the way he was studying that uniform might have given a hint at the question. He supposed he didn't look all that much like springs so maybe that uniform was a red herring.

"The party was Adonis' idea," Fulgurite would give credit where credit was due, even if the two of them were the apparent seniors of the team. Gismodine would have leveled up recently if he was supposed to go patrolling with him-- the man who seemed to be quickly making himself small in the corner. Couldn't blame him for that, really-- "But happy to be here to celebrate the coolest boss I know. I've picked up some extra energy lately too," he wouldn't really share why--the temper was something Sylvite already knew about, anyway--"so feel free to claim some of it as your own. I can always get more."

How long had Adonis been in this s**t? He'd have to ask at some point.

"Most of us bought snacks of some variety, bet you'll like them."

In retrospect, he should have gotten ice cream to add--