Aberrant: The Middle Children of History - Benefit Premier

[Mech]

Connor smiled. Doing this in Seattle had been a good idea. It made it easy If Aurora was called to her duty. It also gave her at least three other novas who could help if need be. There was little left to do. People were already arriving, the production crew mostly and some of the Elite of the theater crowd.

He knew things would go well tonight, and smiled as Zack approached him. "We just started letting people sit, and it's filling up Connor. This was a good idea."

"People are Drawn to your movies Zack."

"no my friend I'm sure it's you and your friends they came to see."

Connor smiles. "Perhaps, but we couldn't have made the movie alone."

Connor nods, Indicating Aurora at his side. "Zack, this Is Aurora Cedar, Municipal Defender of Seattle, and the love of my life."

Zack smiled, raised Aurora's hand to his lips and nodded. "So you're the beautiful young woman who's captured Connor's heart? You're the envy of many women around the world right now, just so you know."

The Middle-aged baseline is one of the most powerful media moguls left. He was almost as tall as Connor, though nowhere near as built. Both men were dressed in tuxedos.

[Rorx]

At this time Darren appeared on the sidewalk not 20ft from them, a well dressed middle-aged woman clutching his arm. "Look it's ok, mum. See we're here now, and you hadn't even managed to start panicing yet." he told her with a smile.

She slapped his arm, to no apparent effect, "Go'on with ye. You're not to big to tan yet my lad." she replies in a broad Cornish accent as she looks around at the crowds of spectator's, journalists/media, and the few stars in evidence at the moment.

Not giving her a chance to get to flustered Darren leads her quickly over to Connor, Aurora and Zack. "Mum, I'd like you to meet a few of my friends, I'm sure you've heard of Connor, this is his fiancee Aurora Cedar, who is the City Defender here in Seattle, and this is Zack, the director of the film. Guys, this is my mother, Emily Thompson."

As he finishes speaking he telepathically sends a message to Connor *Thanks for the invites, dad couldn't make it. He had another angina attack a couple of days ago. He is ok, but still chafing being under observation. I only managed to convince mum to come by pointing out that I could take her home, or to the hospital anytime she wanted me to. Despite it being about a year, she still hasn't really accepted that I'm a Nova now, but I think this is bringing it home to her.*

[Dauntless]

Aurora had chosen to dress in black and gold, to match Conner's outfit, she altered her eufiber suit to match a lovely dress she had seen at one point, and liked a great deal. The shoes and the straps for the dress were gone, and otherwise she had chosen to appear only the engagement ring that Conner had given her. At the moment, she chose to stand at his left, and when Zack approached them, and gave her the complement, she smiled at him. "I would say he captured my heart, with his kindness, compassion, loyality and honor. I would say I am indeed a lucky woman." She turned to gaze at Conner, her heart in her eyes, filled with love.

When Darren appeared with his mother, she smiled at both of them, though she was a bit uncertain, and greeted them. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. And it's good to see you again, Darren."

She turned back to Zach and smiled at him. "It sounds like this move is going to be quite wonderful, your the writer then?" A good portion of her attention was on Conner however, even though she was jumping around a bit, she appeared to be looking to him for guidance.

[Mech]

Zack smiled and replied before Connor could. "I had a hand in the writing process, but I was the one making sure we captured everything just right." He smiled. "I was also the one who decided not to script the fights and just let my nova Actors duke it out. A couple of times I had to reign them in..." He looks at Connor. "Connor and Ayato went at alot harder than anyone else, I think they forgot what parts they were playing."

Connor shook his head. "Ayato hates to lose, as do I. Besides you didn't reign us in, you let us fight till we were exhausted and used some of the footage as a teaser."

Zack smiles even as Darren and his mother approach.

He greets them warmly before excusing himself to go and speak to others from the studio.

Connor turns and smiles as his friend aproaches. He smiles warmly to Darren's mother. "I'm so glad you could both make it. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

"As you may or may not know, this Aurora Cedar, my lovely fiancee." He smiles. "Aurora, you remember Darren from the wake, and this is his mother." His smile grows abit. "Darren's the Male lead in the movie Mrs. Thompson, I have to say he did very well."

Connor was exuding the quiet confidence of a born leader, andhe knew virtually all sets of eyes were on him.

[Exile]

The arrival of Ayato Connelly and his "family" was fairly standard, His mother insisting that they arrive in style. The Limo pulled up and was met by one of the valet, who opened the door and Ayato Emerged first, The young Asian man looking sharp in his black with red trim Tuxedo, and he was followed by not one but three beautiful female novas, and one who was pretty my baseline standards, but not on the level of the other three.

Hazuki, the Blonde wore her hair down, A black and red qui pao dress her choice for the evening,As she was obviously Ayato's date for the evening. Minazuki, somewhat plain by comparison to her elder sister, wore her red hair up, and her pale skin was complimented by the soft light cream tan dress she wore. Hazuki was on his right, Minazuki on his left. Behind Ayato were two redheaded women that were famous in their own right. Elizabeth and Rianna Connelly, the Current Owners and CEO's of Connelly Securities, and a pair of stunning nova twins.

Rianna wore her long hair in a braid down her back, and her Emerald green dress matched her eyes. Elizabeth was abit more provacative, dressed in a more revealing cut black dress. Liz had once been a stuntwoman before retutning home to help Ria run the Company.

Rianna was a former geologist who'd had to take over things when her parents passed away. She was also the same woman rumored to be the Elite Long's lover, and Ayato, their son. It bore out, and it wa true, though that wasn't a subject she spoke of often.

The quintet of novas quickly made their way over to where Connor and the others were. Ayato smiled. "Connor, Darren great to see you guys." He chuckled. "I hope you don't mind but Hazuki and Minazuki said they wanted to come so We all came as a big group."

He smiled to the lovely blonde at Connor's side. "You must be Aurora Cedar. I am Ayato Connelly, these are my friends Hazuki Mishima, her sister, Minazuki Mishima. Behind me are my Mother, Rianna Connely, and my aunt Elizabeth Connely."

Introductions done, each woman step forwards first to shake hands with Connor and Aurora and then Darren.

Rianna speaks. "Connor, thank you for giving Ayato and Hazuki and Minazuki the opportunity to be in your movie. I know they all had alot of fun and can't wait to do the next one."

[Mech]

Connor watched as Ayato led the quartet of female novas to them and smiled. Even though he knew the older women were twice his age, He had to admit they were stunningly attractive.

Hazuki was completely radiant, and only her facial features hinted at her mixed ancestry. Minazuki was attractive, but paled in comparison to the others present. She looked amost like she could be a daughter of One of the twins.

Ayato he credited knew how to make an entrance. The young asian looking nova looked superb in his custom tuxedo. When he spoke Connor and the others Connor smiled. "Of course we don't. They were in the movie of course they're welcome." He smiled and greeted each of the women and finally came to Rianna, Ayato's mother.

"It was my pleasure Ms. Connelly. They all performed spectacularly and I will always petition for them in my movies. I like working with people I can trust and get along with, and I couldn't have asked for a better bunch."

Rianna smiled. "Not so formal Connor, Ayato calls you his friend, and Hazuki and Mina speak the world of you. You can call me Rianna. Ms. Connelly makes me feel old." The elder first gen nova chuckles and Connor smiles.

"Of Course Rianna."

[Dauntless]

She was greatful that Conner had taken the lead, she wasn't quite sure how to interact with this mix of individuals, though she was stil a bit uncertain. She smiled at Darren and his mother, and then kissed Conner on the cheek. "It is my honor to be Conner's fiance, I was very happy to accept his proposal."

She gave Conner a radiant smile, then turned and watched as Ayato and large group of Novas who followed him out of the Limo. "It's an honor to meet you all."

[Elspeth]

A Japanese couple arrived next appearing suddenly on the end of the red carpet followed only seconds later by a feverish display of camera flashes, Keiko and Taiki. Taiki grinned and hammed it up for the cameras while Keiko managed to be both humble in the Japanese cultural way and at the same time exhibited a poise and confidence that belied her age.

Known only to Conner and a few of the other novas among the cast, Keiko and Taiki were actually Elspeth and Darres in disguise. For political reasons Elspeth preferred no one know of her part in the movie. Tonight was the premiere of the movie but already there were websites dedicated to learning and sharing more about the otherwise unknown Japanese novas.

Walking up to the others Keiko bowed slightly, "Konichi-wa. We were not sure if we would be able to make it, Taiki-san and I. We were fortunate to be free unexpectedly."

After introductions were made all around, no mention being made of anything that could reveal their true identites, she spoke again, "Honor to meet you all. We look forward to seeing the finished work of art."

[Mech]

Connor smiled as his latest guests arrived. He excused himself from the others and brought Aurora with him to greet them. They were unexpected, but not uninvited or planned for. "Keiko-chan, Taiki-san, Welcome both of you. I was hoping you'd be able to make it."

He smiles. "Keiko, Taiki, this Aurora Cedar, my fiance and the municipal defender of Seattle."

He nods to Aurora. "These are two more of my friends and comrades from the movie, Keiko, and Taiki. They were amazing in the movie."

[Elspeth]

Keiko blushed appropriately, "You are too kind Conner-san. We merely supported the brilliant performances by your leads and played a small part."

She shook Aurora's hand in western fashion, "Pleasure to meet you. This engagement has happened very quickly, or Conner was very lax in speaking of you while we were filming. Congratulations."

Even among novas it was not often that Elspeth met women as attractive or charming as Aurora. Keiko, being a clone, was not quite as attractive or charming as the original and was also using her shapechanging abilities to tone down her appearance and charm even more so it was an odd feeling to not be the most beautiful person in the room.

[Dauntless]

"It is a pleasure to meet you both, Keiko and Taiki, I am honored to make your aquantance." She took both of Keiko's hands in her own and smiled at the woman. "Conner and I have had a bit of a whirlwind romance, I must say, but we've gotten to know one another quite a bit in such a short time. Enough that when he proposed, I was delighted to accept."

[Netherworld]

Extricating himself from his mother's clutches, was a delicate situation. Her taint induced paranoia was so bad at times, that Alabaster had little choice but to mollify her fears until she went away. His mother would have insisted on going to Connor's movie premier, and it would have been a very bad scene. Mother was not gentile, nor was she quiet when it came to perceived threats. A taxi parked outside his studio was enough of a threat for his mom to spirit it away to the countrryside. He could imagine what would happen at such a large gathering.

But he was now free.

He'd also missed his flight.

He dialed the number Connor gave him. Hopefully he would answer.

[Mech]

Connor's phone beeped in his pocket. He looked around. "Excuse me."

He answered it. "Hey This is Connor, what's up?"

A short explanation later, Connor had to make a call to another friend, A Warper named Transit. The end rresult got Netherworld to the premier in record time. After seeing Transit off event though he was offered a seat, which he declined Connor smiled.

"Alabaster, good to see you could make it. "You know Ayato, Darren, Keiko and Taiki, Hazuki and Minazuki. The beautiful redheaded novas are Rianna and Elizabeth Connelly, Ayato's mother and aunt. You already know my Fiancee, Aurora Cedar."

[Rorx]

Darren says a quick hello to all the arriving Novas, starting to get concerned for his mother, who is obviously becoming rather stunned by the arrival of all these Nova in a short space of time.

"Hi to you all, I think it's time I got my mother inside and to her seat. We'll see you inside."

However, he sends to Connor as they turn and walk in,*Too many Nova's too quickly, I better get her inside before she passes out or something.*

[Exile]

Ayato nods at the other new arrivals, smiling. It was always good to have a good group, even if half were with him. "Ok Darren."

He nods to the others. "let's go get ours too, I'm sure this place is gonna be packed."

"Seeya inside everyone!" With that he lead his own entourage inside for the movie theater.

[Netherworld]

"My apologies Misseur Connor. I had something come up and had to miss my flight." Netherworld's eyes shifted across the room to the other novas there. His eyes paused briefly at the female novas assembled, before moveing on. The female form was beautiful and he was thinking of making it the central theme of his next set of works.

The news that Connor and Aurora were engaged came as a surprise. He didn't see them as being compatible. C'est la Vie.

"That is wonderful news. I am happy for the both of you." He was also worried for them: She was the protector type and Connor was a creature of the film industry. If the past was any idication, they were doomed for unhappiness. But then again, they were Novas and they didn't have the same worries as those who were not.

[Dauntless]

"Thank you, I'm sure there will be challenges, but we'll work though them." She reached out to shake Netherworld's hand as Ayato took his group inside. "It's good to see you again, hopefully we'll get some chances to talk, I'd really love to see some of your work."

[Mech]

After a while, Everyone began moving inside, Connor and Aurora being the last of the novas to do so. They found their seats, and Zack took to fabricated podium. "It was my vision to create an old style Eastern Epic the World could enjoy. To do this I knew I would need to have novas working and starring in this film. To that end I went out and asked my good friend Connor to play a part in it, and he went even further, asking his friends among the nova community to participate."

"The response was astounding. A total of eight novas are in this film,Eight novas I'm happy to call friends. It was a pleasure working with each of them, and watching them each shine as they showed how special they all truly are. From all of us at the studio, Thank you for making this movie truly a special experience, It's my favorite one I've done, and I hope that in the future we'll have a chance to make many more together."

There was a round of applause and then the trailers began to show. Most of the trailers were for action movies, and the last one was for Something Only Connor and Zack knew about.

The screen was black, and you could hear the sound of giant footsteps. A creature roared a terrifying roar in the darkness, and you hear the sound of metal grinding and then crashing. The screen flashed and then the theater was awash with a cascade of sounds from the battlefield as Two massive creatures, looking like something from a Lovecraftian nightmare assaulted a giant humanoid robot, a robot wearing a golden helmet. The big robot drew it's axe and hacked down one of the monsters but the other managed to pin it. A small blur of a robot ran by, barely bigger than a man, and then a little red dot began blinking from the monster. The Sky darkened as a hundred missiles rained down on the creature, obliterating it. Several blocks away, the Familiar form of Tesseract stood its missile ports closing. "Come on Jet, We've got alot more of them to kill."

The trailer went to black, and a final screen showed the name, GrimDark Soldiers: The Movie, and provided a date of Summer 2027. For their part the crowd didn't errupt into a huge caphacony of sound, but Connor knew that in regular release the theater would do so.

[Mech]

The movie began and the Audience was mesemerized. The nova cast were easily distinguishable when on screen. The interplay between Ayato and Darren illicited laughter as it should it was meant to be funny. The beauty of the Miko, and Minazuki's purity, shone through brightly, many of the men casting glances towards Minazuki.

Connor's first appearance on the screen haad everyone's eyes glued to the screen, He radiated evil and Darkness. The Shadow-clad Kagewara, the Ninja was never far away.

Hazuki's revealing costume, and her presence were amazing and Connor new how hard she'd worked to sell that bad girl image.

The first battle was between Netherworld and Ayato, and Ayato won, but didn't finish him. Kage returned to rport, and while he captured the princess, The Dark Shogun was furious that he'd been bested, and slew him on the spot as a lesson to his subordinates. "Failure is unacceptable."

The Imprisoned princess never lost faith in her champion, the warrior Hakken, Darren's character. She began speaking of a world before the Dark Shogun with one of the guards.

Eventually we come back to the Shogun engaging Hakken and Hayami, and the Shogun handily beats Hakken in a one on one duel, butbefore he can land the fina strike, Hayami intercedes and takes the hit instead.

The Shogun nods. "Suffer that failure, in addition to your others" then he leaves.

After mourning for his fallen comrade, Hakken resolves to become stronger and the priestess helps. The Dark Lady, Hazuki's character, goes to mourn her lover's death at her master's hand, and offers a few peices of aid to Hakken to avenger her fallen love.

When she returns the Dark Shogun reveals the guard has allowed the princess out, and has been slain. The Dark Lady was in charge though and thus the failure is hers, She must therefore atone. Because he can know kindness, he allows her to decide how to do so.

It is shown that she approaches him, robe open and falling aaway, loathing and disgust in her eyes as she kisses him. The rest isn't shown but implied.

We see her leave the Shadow palace later.

In the meantime Hakken trains.

Finally ready he goes to the Palace to reclaim the princess. The fight between them is fairly even, and The Dark Lady intercedes to aid Hakken and is slain by the Dark Shogun. Watching her die, something snaps within Hakken and he begins to win, using newfound power he'd never had before.

The Dark Shogun smiled, even though his armor was broken and his body bloody. "Now you will see the truth, insolent mortal." His form shifted and expanded, resulting in a huge coiled ebony-black Eastern Dragon, who opened with a ball of fire. Hakken cut it in half, an the Samurai and Dragon did battle, with Hakken truly unable to prevail over the mighty Shogun Dragon. The princess cried out, saying she wasn't worth his life, that he'd done enough, begging him to stop. It was alright, she'd accept his fate, so long as he didn't die.

Hakken caught the Dragon's massive claws with a parry of his sword and his whole body began to glow. "I Don't have time to play anymore, I can't take another wound." The aura around him built further and further and he practically roared. "I will not fail the woman I love!" His powere reached a crescendo as he threw the claw away and leapt at the dragon's head, parrying to attempted grabs by slicing the fingers off, and then bisecting the dragon's head with his sword as it shown with brilliant radiant light.

Afterwards the Princess is rescued and restored to her kigdom, and Hakken serves as her consort and champion, as the credits begin to roll, the Shadow Palace is shown to be crumbling, finally the land has peace, the people are free from the Darkness.

The audience claps uproariously, and each of the cast members is congratulated and has at least five people trying to shake hands and applauding them personally.

[Dauntless]

It was a wonderful movie, Aurora thought, and though she didn't say anything during the movie, she did move into Conner's lap, on an impulse about partway though the movie, then put her arms his neck, and kissed him as the movie ended, a deep kiss, before getting out of his lap.

"I loved the preview, and the movie, Conner, darling, but I'll always see you as more of a hero then a villain..." She winked at him, then moved to one side to allow him to shake hands with folks and listen to their congratulations.

[Rorx]

Darren was rapidly concerned for his mother getting squashed in the press of people around them, and finally had to resort to using his telekinesis to force a space around them.

"It's no good mum, I'm going to take you home."

"Please do son", she replied worriedly.

As he takes her in his arms, ready to teleport them away, he sends a message over to Connor. *Connor, I need to get my mother out of this crush, and it's a bit overwhelming for her to suddenly be in amongst a group of Novas. I'll be back in a couple minutes at most.*

Without waiting for a reply he vanishes from the Premier, only to reappear in the family home in Cornwall, UK.

"Sorry about that mum, I wasn't expecting it to be like that, but then perhaps I should have done given how charismatic some of the other Nova are."

She turns and walks over to the counter, putting her handbag down and switching on the kettle before she turns back to face Darren. "They certainly were that." she replied blushing slightly. "I'll be fine Darren, you better get back there, your public will be waiting for you." she ends with a smile.

Nodding Darren replies, "If you're going to be alright, then yeah, I better get back. I'll pop in on my way home, ok? Unless it's too late of course."

"That would be good. Now off you go."

With a simple, "See you later." Darren 'ports out, reappearing where he had left from only a minute or so beforehand.

[Mech]

Connor smiles at Aurora's attention, removing her from his lap as the lights go up. He nodded when Darren sent his reply and the crush of congratulators and well-wishers was amazing.

Everynoe was crowded around the nova stars, and finally after half an hour Zack was abe to get everyone out and to the After party in the Needle. The tables were all set up and there was a massive buffet, along with oderable foods.

Zack found his way to where Connor was seated with Aurora and smiled. "Well Aurora what did you think of the movie?"

He notes where the others, Ayato, Keiko, and Darren are and motions for all of them to come over as well, the table obviously being reserved for the novas.

[Rorx]

Being rather overwhelmed by the responce and not really knowing what to do Darren had tried to keep fairly close to Zack anyway. He would probably have preffered to keep close to Connor as he was Darren's first Nova friend, but he didn't want to intrude with Aurora.

Seeing Zack's summons he nudges Ayato and heads over to the table, taking a seat at 90degrees to both Connor and Zack, and next to Aurora.

[Exile]

Ayato allowed the older nova to lead him to the table where the others were. "Well that was certainly fun to watch. We'll have to do that again."

He looks to Aurora. "You should join the party too."

Hazuki and Minazuki sat beside the japanese-american nova and smiled. "Yeah. It would be nice to have another nova on the set, especially another female. These jokers are far too competitive."

Minazuki chuckles. "I remember Keiko and you tormenting the stagehands at one point sister. Honestly those poor men's hearts will probably never be the same."

[Netherworld]

Netherworld finally extricated himself from a scrum of people who assailed him with a flurry of questions. Once again, his work was in the spotlight, and whether he liked it or not, he was as well. He made his way to Connor, Aurora and the others and sat down.

"That was...different." Netherworld looked a little harried. "Seeing my shadows alive on the screen." In reality, he was perplexed. The editors had cut out some of the more creative aspects of of his work out of the film. He wasn't angry about it though, just confused as to why they did it.

[Mech]

Connor smiles. "It's always fun to watch the finished product. It makes you appreciate the amount of work that went into making it."

[Rorx]

Darren turns to the young albino, "It all looked good Netherworld, although I noticed some scenes got cut. It's a shame, there was some good stuff of yours in them, but then scenes nearly always get trimmed. Heh, look at that massive fight that Ayato and Connor had. They were at it for an hour or more and in the end only a few minutes got used."

[Exile]

Ayato sighs. "Yeah, Though the death scene we did later."

He looks around. "So the next movie it's an adaptation of that show you made, Grimdark Metal Soldiers?"

He chuckles. You really think you can sustain a project where you've gotta be that much of the special effects?"

He looks at Darren. "You a fan of Giant robot shows?"

[Rorx]

Darren sips his champange before replying to Ayato, "I wouldn't say I was a fan per se, especially after encountering the true fans while we were filming in Japan. However, I am familiar with the genre, and of course Connor's work in particular." he finishes with a smile and a nod in Connor's direction.

[Mech]

Connor smiles. "You'll get to see alot more. Hiroki's gonna be involved again and he's the man responsible for Designing the mechs for GrimDark. I think he was saddest to see the project end, because he got to see his designs really come to life before him."

He looks to Ayato, Darren and Aurora. "Don't worry you guys will get to have some fun. Your roles were rewritten some to let you show off your powers abit."

He looks to Netherworld, but Zack beats him to the pitch. "If you're interested, I've got a spot for you in this one too. your unique powers would be of incredible use, and Your art is very apropriate for the movie."

[Dauntless]

"It was a great movie." She responds to Zach, and her eyes move over the rest of the nova's present. "It may be fun to take on whatever roll Conner has in mind for his next film. Although, I could be a bit busy with other things, I'll have to make some time for it." She reached out and took Conner's hand in hers. "I'm looking forward to it."

[Rorx]

Darren turns to Zack, "So when were you thinking of starting the filming of this next one? November wasn't it?"

[Exile]

Hazuki looked to Zack and smiled. "Yeah I'd like to know that as well."

[Mech]

Zack looked at the others and smiled.

"November fourteenth is our scheduled starting date. We'll be doing most of the set peice stuff, with thw battles mostly taking place later."

[Netherworld]

Another offer. Another opportunity to create something to share with the world. Another piece of work 'trimmed' for the sake of expediency.

Netherworld was not sure if the medium of motion pictures was for him. It exposed his work to many more people, which was good as it might spur them to visit his studio. Yet it also created groupies, which would be a headache; especially with his mom being the way she is. And those that did see his work, might get a skewed idea of his work: He would be seen as a 'special effects' artist, which he didn't see himself as.

Time to make a decision. Connor is waiting for an answer.

"I will work on this next project, but I wish to know ahead of time what is an is not going to be used as regards to my work."

[Rorx]

While Netherworld talks, Darren makes a note of the start date on a napkin, "How long do you think it is likely to take? Just so I know how much time to clear."

He also starts wondering about looking for local martial arts and other tutors.

[Mech]

Zack could hear the tension from NEtherworld. "We'll use what fits with our needs. We used a considerable amount last time, but some things were edited due to time constraints. Just as was stated with regards to the massive brawl between Connor and Ayato, They fought for over half an hour, we cut that down to what was deemed the best parts and it became the fight in the movie."

Connor nods to Darren. "Probably two to three months if things go as planned. The big battles are actually gonna take the longest. The fun part isthe roles we'd all be playing."

[Elspeth]

Elspeth, aka, Keiko, and Darres moved over to say their goodbyes. "It was a fabulous picture and I loved working with you all. Seeing the finished product was really breath-taking. Unfortunately, I am afraid we must go now. Things at home are heating up and we'll need to be focused on them for a while. If you should need us, call, but otherwise we will be stuck at home for a time."

She leaned close to the group of novas, "I just received word that things have become tense. Feel free to visit any time."

[Rorx]

Darren looks over to 'Keiko', "If you want any help, please just ask. I could be with you in a heartbeat if you ever need it. Otherwise I guess we'll catch you at the next birthday party?". He ends with a smile.

[Elspeth]

Keiko smiled, "Well, I'm afraid it has already passed. I was too busy to even do more than notice. Next year, I'll throw a big bash and invite everyone." Her smile turned to a grin, "Be careful, I might just take you up on that and put you to work. There's always soo much that needs to be done." She gave Darren and the others quick hugs. "Feel free to come for a visit at anytime."