Aberrant: 200X - Nova Year

[z-Xiao Saori]

Saori laughed as the fireworks went off, enjoying the change of the mood as the sky lit up. She felt better now. The change of the year brought cleansing, and Saori smiled, really, truly smiled, as the night sky filled with fire.

Then the fire came to earth. Startled, Saori took a step back from the burning girl. She wasn't sure what to do - nothing in her past had prepared her for dealing with guest on fire.

[Jael Carver]

Jael began to count down, hopping to her feet. When the display across the park flashed "2009" she turned to Tomas and kissed him. "Happy New Year," she murmured. Without missing a beat, she turned to Einherjar and kissed him as well. "Happy New Year," she repeated.

She was planning to move to the next person - kissing Sampa was less interesting but she was going to kiss everyone. No point in letting the two guys think she'd singled them out or anything.

But then a firework resolved itself into a burning Knockout. Like Saori, she was startled, but unlike Saori, she was wasn't frozen. Grabbing the beautiful girl, she knocked her down and began to roll her in the snow.

When the flames were out, Jael kissed her softly, and struggling not to laugh, said, "Happy New Year, Knockout. You've managed to start the year with a bang."

[Kaien]

Kaien chuckles and mutters. "That's the sort of thing you'd normally have to pay to see."

He smiles and raises his glass. "To Interesting Times."

[Sampajanna]

Sampa blinked in surprise at the kiss, somewhat put off by the liberty taken, but as always he quickly adapted and reciprocated with a "Happy New Year" and a peck of his own.

And Knockout was burning. He was just about to do something (really, he was!)when Jael beat him to the punch. That was just as well. She seemed to enjoy rolling Knockout around a bit more than he would've.

As the minor drama resolved itself, Sampa turned most of attention back to the sky, fireworks crackling above him. His favorite time of year was always the end of one and the beginning of another. Somehow it seemed to wipe everything clean, let him start fresh. He began to hum "Auld Lange Syne" as he stared into the sky and wondered if Tomas would take offense if he tried to kiss him.

[Ryusei Hideyoshi]

Ryusei glowers at Kaien then takes off his jacket. He offers it to Danielle and does his very best to avoid looking at her due to the damage to her clothing, and fails horribly.

It was defintely very hard for him to believe That there was a guy somewhere beneathe this vision of female beauty, and he felt the color rising to his face.

"Here Daniel, take my coat, yours has seen better days."

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout gasps as the sudden closeness from Jael. "Uh. Uhm. Thanks. Uh."

She kissed me holy shit that was hot I should light myself on fire every day but not around the guys oh Christ they're staring at me

She smiled at Jael. "Thanks." She crosses her arms across her chest and takes the jacket from Ryusei, turning around to slip into it. She carefully tucks herself inside as she does up the zipper. Oy, don't take a deep breath.

"Thanks Ryusei. Thanks Jael. God, I'm such a 'tard. What was a I thinking..." She sits back down, flicking a charred lump of plastic and nylon into the garbage. "Burnt up my favorite bra too. Dammit. You know how hard it is to find one that fits me? Now it's toast. Bleh."

[Eingar]

The kiss was unexpected, but hardly unwelcome. "Happy New Year!" Ein hugged the blonde girl with his good arm as he returned the kiss, then grinned as she made her way over to Sampajanna. He stood and moved to Saori, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy New Year, and thanks for the invite. It's not a good night to be alone." He smiled with more warmth than was usual for him at her before turning to Tomas, offering the strange kid his hand.

"Happy New Year." He made his own way through the gathering, offering his hand to Sampa, Ryusei, and Kaien, wishing them all well. He was looking for Knockout when he noticed her coming back to earth blazing. Mentally, he groaned, trying not to laugh out loud at the poor girl's predicament. He nodded with approval as Jael put the flames out without any flapping around, then stepped forward with an impish smile as Danielle donned Ryusei's jacket.

"Suggestion for a New Year's resolution, kiddo. Stay away from naked flames." He grinned and offered Knockout his hand. "Emphasis on the naked. Happy New Year."

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

He was caught off-guard when Jael turned and kissed him, his green eyes wide with surprise as her lips touched his skin. That was the blonde nova's salvation, for if he had expected such a move, his own kiss would have been charged with such sensual energy that she might never have moved away. But it was... pleasant. A relatively innocent gesture of goodwill, and to the creature that called itself Skein, these were not a familiar sensation.

He was still mulling over the kiss when the large Elite shook his hand, but smiled nonetheless. Then his eyes settled on Saori. She was trying not to look at him, smiling and laughing as the others wished her a Happy New Year. A slight anticipatory gleam came to his eyes as he silently moved to stand beside her.

As the others were distracted by the blazing Knockout and her rescue by Jael, Tomas slipped his hand around Saori's. The girl's eyes were bright, her cheeks warmed by the merriment, and she turned towards him without thinking. Their eyes met, and she froze.

"Happy New Year." Tomas told her softly, a faint smile gracing his almost girlish lips. He leaned towards Saori and laid a gentle kiss on the corner of the lovely nova's mouth, seemingly innocent, yet the slight contact may as well have been a thunderbolt as he called upon his innate mastery of sensuality to make it... unforgettable.

((OOC: Using Symphony of Touch for the kiss. Seduction and Seductive enhancements still in effect for poor Saori. ))

[z-Xiao Saori]

Saori felt undeniably trapped, but only for a moment. The carnal emotions that Tomas was pumping into her didn't allow any feeling, any sensation beyond pleasure. Without hesitation, the lovely nova turned her own powers on him.

Turning her head just inches turned what seemed to be an innocent kiss into something more. Even as she cringed inside at how bad she was being, she moved her free hand to caress his side, feeling how slight he was through his clothing. He was like a living anime character - young, thin, feminine but still a boy and with unreal green eyes - and that only heightened her desire.

She wanted more - and she wanted not just more of this, but more of him. She was drowning in him, but it felt like love, what she'd heard of it, to her. And if the shocks of energy racing up and down her body weren't love, she didn't know what was.

[Sampajanna]

Meanwhile, Sampa continued to shoot eyes at the lovely couple, feeling odd stirrings of both jealously and arousal. Jael was pretty, as far as that went, but more or less inconsequential; Sampa had developed tunnel vision, only able to see Tomas' innocent, almost too boyish face as his smiling lips contorted into the kiss and his lean body moved sinuously under his clothes. Sampajanna found himself wishing for X-ray vision. And baggier pants.

With a gasp Sampa pulled himself away from the sight, eyes nearly landing on Einherjar before he hastily averted them to the sky. He breathed deeply, grasping for serenity like a drowning man in a hurricane. Slowly, slowly, Sampa felt himself begin to regain a little of that elusive serenity. He slouched in his seat, foggy-eyed. Tomas was almost too dangerously arousing. Better to keep his distance.

Now what was I doing?

And then, undercutting the the other noises, there resounded a pleasant, slightly whispery baseline-esque rendition of "Auld Lange Syne" in a sort of half-baked baritone. Be damned if this was Japan. Tradition needed to be upheld.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

He was only barely aware of what was going on around him. No stranger to carnal matters, Tomas had never before experienced them with another nova, least of all a perfectly beautiful one such as this. As Saori's desire and mingled guilt at her shamelessness hit overdrive and those delicious sparkling sensations exploded in her mind like fireworks, the green-eyed boy felt himself becoming lost in the storm of sensation she was providing.

As her head turned fractionally to meet his lips with hers, Saori's hand slipped inside the heavy woollen coat he wore, stroking his skin through the thin Egyptian cotton of his shirt. Her hand was warm and insistent, and he gasped lightly into the kiss as his eyes half-closed. Distantly, he felt that this was not going according to plan, that he was supposed to be the one in charge, the predator, but the heat her simple touch sent flooding through him far surpassed the thin and watery feasts of sensuality he had enjoyed from his human prey.

Tomas moved closer to her, their bodies nearly touching as the kiss deepened, became something more for him than part of the stalk. His own hand released hers, rising up to rest against her hip with the care and delicacy of a master guitarist cradling his instrument.

[z-Xiao Saori]

Saori had never felt anything like this before. She'd done things for her boyfriends, but it had always been fake, the price she paid for their gifts and attention. This was not fake.

With her hand free, it joined the other under his coat. While Saori left her first hand on his waist, this one rose higher, flattening his shirt against Skein's lean, smooth chest. He felt so good, and there was nothing else in the world. The cold, the snow, the song rising around them: it was all lost save for Tomas' hands, lips and body.

She took the initative and closed the last step between them, moving up on her tiptoes to kiss him more fully. Her hand on his chest slid up his neck and into his hair, tangling in his soft curls. Her knees shaking, she swayed against him, clasping him tightly to keep from falling.

And the kissing... she didn't stop; she didn't have to stop. She didn't need to breathe at all, and it showed in the full attention she gave to Tomas. She thoroughly explored his mouth, delighting in the desire that she was igniting. And the guilt at ignoring her guests for her own pleasure was the fuel that sent that spark burning. That fire didn't disapate her desire, but it did leave her aching for more and more.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

Tomas other hand came slipping up, his fingers trailing to the top of her legging-clad thigh teasingly, moving over the short fur-trimmed skirt to her hip, then following the curve of her waist with sensual appreciation. He felt Saori opening to him as his other hand slid from her hip round to the small of her back, all her inner resistance overcome, and felt a surge of passion explode through his body as she clung to him, shaking in the throes of her own desire.

This was no baseline lust; this was the ambrosia the gods of pleasure kept for themselves out of jealousy that any other should experience it.

Saori's mouth and tongue gently teased his; his fingers moved over her body, under the short skating jacket, through her thin woollen shirt as though her nerves were the strings of a harp, each touch more intimate than the last, building a rippling melody of pleasure where each note soothed some of the ache of passion, then receded to let the desire climb further and further. And even as he gave pleasure, he himself was tantalised to new heights, color staining his pale cheeks as he pressed his body to hers, his attention solely on the places that she touched him.

[Sampajanna]

So much for serenity. Sampa couldn't distract himself enough to ignore their moans and groping bodies, and his song tapered off rather abruptly and forlornly. He gritted his teeth, staring at Xiao as though he would like very much to rip her face off.

I would like very much to rip that bitch's face off.

Sampa's chair cleared its throat. None of that, he thought, and whispered a curse in Pali at it. The chair seemed shocked into silence by his impiety.

A few steps later, Sampa was at Xiao's shoulder. He cleared his throat loudly. "Enjoying yourself?" he asked coldly, eyes only for Tomas and rage only for Xiao. "I have heard that the Japanese entertain their fair shair of kinks and perversities. I did not expect you to use us, your captive audience, to satiate whatever exhibitionist urges you may have. But then, I am not an expect on the social mores of the Land of the Rising Sun. Perhaps your family just never taught you any better." Sampa's voice was couched in transparently polite tones, boiling under the surface with hair-trigger rage.

[z-Xiao Saori]

Wanton whore. Slut. The words crashed through Saori's mind like a tsumani, but they didn't stop her. Instead, they brought moans to her lips, whisper-thin noises that only Tomas heard.

Or she thought he could only hear her. The voice next to her snapped her out of her fugue state. More time had passed than she had thought, and the fireworks were done. Or at least the fireworks in the sky were done.

His words cut her. She stepped back from Tomas, still feeling weak-kneed - though whether with new rage or old lust, she was unsure. "You are right," she said, her voice shaking with anger and pain. "My family never taught me better. My Chinese mother is my father's silent whore so he won't have to tell his real family about us. And I am not Japanese, not fully, and that means I'll never be good enough to be one." Her voice broke on the end of her sentence, and she started to cry. Why did it matter that she'd never be good enough? Why couldn't she just accept that she was the daughter of a Chinese whore, and would never be more than a whore herself?

Her body twisted and reshaped itself into an overly large bird-like creature. Feathers that danced with the color of flame shone in the night. With a shriek, the bird shot into the air, the speed of her passage whipping clothing and kicking up a plume of snow.

Ryusei would have to finish without her. She'd apologize to him - later.

[Ryusei Hideyoshi]

Ryusei was shocked. That passed after an instant. Saori had left after what had been a shameful display, but one considering the company that he was willing to overlook to an extent. "Dammit, that wasn't supposed to happen." Some of her words did give him pause, but now wasn't the time for them. He looked to Sampajanna.

"My apologies. She's younger than everyone else here, and not quite as in control of herself as some of us are. I'll talk to her about it later."

He looks to the others and shakes his head. "I Believe this concludes the party however. Those of you who need to arrange for travel back home I'll see to. The rest of you I wish to thank for attending and I hope that we can do this again sometimes in more hospitable conditions."

If any of you require Lodging for the night, or until your flights home, My family has a private chateau North East of the city that I'd be happy to offer you until you leave." He looks to Danielle and then to Kaien, seeming to ask different questions to both.

[Kaien]

Kaien shakes his head. "I can't catch her even with your assistance Ryusei." He lied. "Besides what exactly would I do with her, Share my history with her? Come on man you know that ain't me."

"I'll keep an eye out around town for her, but beyond that I make no promises."

Inwardly he chuckles. This is going to be fun I should think, and the odds are simply astounding.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

*rage-shame-worthlessness-pain* Tomas made a muted cry, a reflexive denial as Saori was shocked out of his arms. Still dazed, the taste of her mouth still making his tingle, he listened to her words complete with their emotional resonance. In a clear unguarded instant following their near total intimacy, he felt her pain as though it were his own. And in that emotional storm he found something unexpected.

He felt empathy for her. Not sympathy, not pity, but genuine fellow-feeling. He watched her almost despairingly as she took a magnificent shape and flew up into the sky, disappearing in the flurry of snow she kicked up. This was someone he had connected to, and Sampa had ruined it!

He gave no outward sign of this as his skin cooled from the ardour she had enflamed. He betrayed no anger as Ryusei made pathetic excuses for his half-sister's behaviour, as though she were some pet that had messed on the carpet. His face was calm, imperturbable as he adjusted his coat, his gaze fixing on Sampajanna.

The Buddhist was momentarily taken aback. In that glittering, jewel-like stare was malice beyond reason, beyond human reckoning. It was not a display of adolescent temper, or the fuming of embarrassed anger.

It was old, and cold, and utterly inhuman.

Tomas smiled at Sampa then, his visage losing that chilly glare and becoming altogether charming. As he had with Saori, the young nova gazed into Tobias' eyes and swept the other nova away on a sea of carnal imaginings. He stepped closer, the other guests milling around as they made preparations to leave.

"You were jealous. I can feel that." The perfect lips formed the words, and Sampa heard them as though they were a love song meant for his ears alone. He knew what he had seen before, however now he could not look away from the vision of perfection and desire that was gazing soulfully at him from only a foot away. "And now... Now you have hurt someone I like." He gave the older man a too-gentle smile, a slender pale hand coming up to touch his cheek. He leaned in, still smiling, his very touch nearly bringing Sampa to his knees with longing.

"Consider this your reward." And he kissed the older man, a cruelly passionate kiss that sent bolts of fire through Sampajanna's brain and stole the breath from his lungs. And as they kissed, the monster with the face of an angel used every nuance of his ability to fill Sampa with insatiable desire in that stretched out, white-hot moment.

Abruptly he broke the kiss and turned away. Without another word, or looking at anyone at all, the slim figure walked away into the cold night.

((OOC note: Used Seductive, Seductive looks, and Symphony of Touch on Sampa.))

[Jael Carver]

Jael had pretty good instincts. They tended to malfunction around pretty men, but they were otherwise good. And right now, they were telling her she wanted no part of whatever was going on - even if two hot men were kissing. But she wasn't ready to just stop hanging out, either.

"So," she said, looking between Einherjar and Knockout, "you guys wanna get some coffee and see how many resolutions we can break?"

[Magnum Opus]

"Uh... sure! Sure. Uh, let me get a shirt first, though. I think Ryusei wants his jacket back. And I could do with cleaning some soot off my face."

He'll never wash this jacket again, will he?

[Eingar]

Einherjar tore his eyes away from the strangely disturbing sight of Tomas kissing Sampa and focused on the much more reassuring sights closer to hand.

"Sounds fine to me." He grinned at Knockout before meeting Jael's eyes with a cheerful smile. "There's worse company to spend the first morning of the year with."

"So..." He offered Jael his good arm. "We escort K.O to where she can make herself decent, then on to where?"

[Jael Carver]

"I don't know," Jael said, wagging her eyebrows. "It's an adventure." She pulled Einherjar a couple of steps as she hooked her arm through Knockout's. "But my friend Kazuo says that the Japanese love coffeehouses. Not necessarily coffee. But coffeehouses. So the odds are pretty awesome that we'll find something that will sell us something black and warm, and I don't mean a comfort house."

She untangled herself for a moment and and concentrated; her close-fitting coat shivered, sagging a bit on her lithe frame. Grinning, Jael peeled it off and handed it to Knockout, apparently not bothered by the cold. "Take this and give Ryusei is coat. That way we don't have to come back later and return it. Her grin became more mischevious. "Though, you two will have to keep me warm for now. Is that a problem?"

[Magnum Opus]

"Uh... that shouldn't be a... problem." Knockout turns around once more, slipping off Ryusei's jacket and putting on Jael's.

She is totally hitting on me! I could get lucky! ... she's hitting on him too, though. Does she want us both to... oh, erg.

She turns back around, and holds out Ryusei's jacket to him. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

[Ryusei Hideyoshi]

Ryusei nods. "No problem. If any of you should need anything during your stay here, call me and I'll help as I can."

[Sampajanna]

Tobias shuddered under Tomas' lips - and 'under' was certainly the most appropriate descriptor. A buzzing filled his ears, and his brain felt like it was being mined by very tiny people with little pickaxes made of toffy. He staggered back a step when Tomas broke contact, shaking his head from side to side like a dog with a bee in its ear, eyes boring into the back of Tomas' head. And ass.

Sampa collapsed onto his seat with a dull thud. He began murmuring a Tibetan mantra without really thinking about it. Anything to...clear...

"Told you so," muttered his seat. Sampa did not respond.