Aberrant: 200X - International Party

[z017]

Kei shrugged slightly and continued to sample the various types of sushi he had ladled on to his plate earlier. "Pasquale was telling us what he sees," he teased.

He brushed Tomas' mind with a curiosity about what happened, not so much a question asked as a sharing of desire to know. His eyes occasionally flicked around the room, taking in the other novas. Watching them watch him watching them. It was an amusing exorcise in fun house mirrors.

[Vixen]

"Thank you, Ryusei." Roxanne joined Ryusei and one of the Doctor Aeons. She ate quietly and listened, her appetite returning.

[Doctor Aeon]

Doc Aeon missed it, or the Doc Aeon sitting at the table missed Tomas' smile in his general direction, but one of those standing by the buffet didn't. Oh no, he didn't. The Clone waited for the Clone to do something, like spit his food on the table while babbling innane and incoherent pleasentries to the Tragic God of Lust and Despair.

But the Clone didn't. The Clone was busy talking to Kei and feeling rather happy with himself. He had some REALLY good chicken wings and he hadn't even started drinking yet. Maybe he could even engage the handsome young man in some converstation. Little did he realize he was probably boring the xim.

This wouldn't do at all. The Clone put his plate down on some simmering Peking Duck, walked over to the Clone. The Clone failed to notice, or at leat failed to grasp the importance of his fellow behind him. The Clone reached down, putting an open palm to either side of the Clone's head, clamping down on the ears. Abruptly, he twised the Clone's head around until he was looking right across the table at Tomas.

"He smiled at you, you Ninny," the Clone hissed down at, well the Other Clone. The Clone released his hold on the Other Clone's head, freeing up his hearing.

"He smiled at you! Do something," he hissed down again.

Doc Aeon (the Clone, or the Other Clone as he was temporarily known as) was doing something. He was drooling some papyaya down his chin then swallowed the rest. The Other Clone began to cough and the Clone slapped him on his back. The food struggled to either come back up, or go down. It chose down.

The Other Clone stood up half-way, leaned across the table, and extended his hand.

"I'm Doc-hrumpfl-nom," he mumbled unclearly, coughing right afterwards. "Doctor Aeon," he managed more clearly this time around. "Pleasure to meet you."

The extended hand had crumbs on the fingertips and he really needed to wipe his chin, but his eyes shown with an awe and admiration that were all too common in people meeting Tomas for the first time.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

Tomas's mind wreathed around Kei's in an almost sensual co-mingling, letting xir share in the experience he'd had of Contessa.

*She is open-hearted and innocent. And so I shall be to her that which she wishes: a friend who tells her she has a nice smile, who appreciates her for qualities other than beauty or brains. We share the curse of our beauty, after all. People seldom look past that surface with either of us. I shall be the wounded soul she can relate to, the pale window into the Darkness she rejects. In short, I shall court her.* he silently chuckled. *It will be an entertaining game, whether it ends in heartbreak or in enlightenment. Or destruction.* he added off-handedly.

Then the clone man made his introduction... complete with a sample of what he was eating. Tomas blinked, not sure whether to laugh or not, before quietly picking up a napkin. He grasped the back of the good Doctor's hand with his left, wiped the fingers with swift deft motions, and then shook hands correctly.

"Tomas." He said with a small quirk of a smile, leaving the napkin in the man's hand as he withdrew his own pale fingers. "A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Aeon. Are you by any chance connected to the Aeon Foundation?" He delicately tapped his chin, discreetly indicating to the man that he had some use to put that napkin to.

[Doctor Aeon]

The Doc stood mutely as his hand was cleansed. He seemed ashamed of himself, not angry. He smiled once more when Tomas let him have his fingers back.

"Well no ...YES, I mean I'm not affiliated with the Aeon Foundation, but they were the inspiration for my name. I used to work for one of their ... how ... well ... the Triton Foundation in the days when I had my old name."

"How do you know of the Aeon Foundation. They live such," he looks around suspiciously, "quiet lives."

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

"Yes they do. But they were public enough when they started Project Utopia." Tomas's eyes glittered slightly, seeming to turn from liquid emerald into hardened green crystal as he regarded the Doctor. "So you worked for Triton, hmm? And now?"

[Doctor Aeon]

Tell him more? Why not tell him more?

No good reason could come to mind. None at all. Still, there were ears everywhere, so he leaned closer and eyed the world through a distrustful lense.

"Oh, I didn't leave on good term what so ever. No, indeed, they didn't want me to leave. Always this and that reason to keep me there ..." he looks around again,"I grew smarter and I learned how they did things. Then I left them some sticky bombs and got the hell out."

Doc leans back a little.

"I got away, made contacts in the government - this government, plus several large corporations so they couldn't just ... you know ... make me disappear," he whispers.

"Of course, they've polluted the waters telling everyone I'm insane," Doc says louder, with some anger, "but who wouldn't be a bit wonkers kept in a dark lab for six long years, slaving away on project after project, solving other idiots' problems - it was maddening."

"Mad - insane - brilliant ... its a matter of depth of vision."

The not-too Mad Doctor sighs.

"It is hard to find people to correspond with though. So few think the way I do."

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

He nodded, weighing the Doctor's words against his emotional state. The man was obviously a little unbalanced by human standards, but Tomas did not care much for those except for as camoflage. Though he knew himself to be intelligent, the young demon in nova guise was well aware that his intelligence was, thus far, limited to the upper end of human capability. Doctor Aeon might be a useful friend to cultivate.

"Brilliance, I imagine, can be as much a mixed blessing as beauty, as I'm sure we are aware" - he smiled at Contessa - "or indeed great size and strength." He nodded towards Dozer. "Human society imposes it's own expectations on us all to be a certain way, and if we do not? Well, the Doctor thought for himself and is now labelled a mad scientist by the people he served so well." Tomas shook his head sadly as he gazed around at everyone then looked back at the Doctor. "A shame. I wish I was on your level so I could see things from such a perspective. Alas, my own intellect is adequate at best."

[Doctor Aeon]

His eyes blazed with with the force of an inhuman level of undertanding of so many things.

"Think nothing of it," he said, clumsily carressing Tomas' hand (and probably not even knowing that he did). "The key to nova evolution is the internalized comprehension that we are potential without limit. All WE need is time and exploration unshackled by fear - both of ourselves and of the world around us."

Then he sat back and his eyes flickered,

"Sorry. I must be boring you to tears."

He seemed definitely sorry.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko frowned slightly at the Dr Aeon beside her, and nodded. It felt a little weird to be hearing him say that. It could have been plucked out of her own head. She wondered briefly if he was telepathic. Sudden impulse seized her though as he merged with another clone, and she concentrated hard.

For a second everything seemed to go dark. Slow time was cool and dim blue. Stopped time was freezing, and dark. She wasn't sure why that was. If the light stopped in place, why could she see at all? Maybe it had to do with why she could move, even though the air should be a solid wall. A sort of limited interaction with the environment in a field around her, but only a small one. Only the light in that tiny field would still move, and so everything turned dark.

Or maybe it was just messed up nova physics and would never make any sense.

Dark or not, Keiko could still make out who was who and where they were, once her eyes adjusted. Frozen like a photograph, the colors washed out because of the dimness. A single frame of a black and white movie.

There was the boy Tomas, surrounded by ridiculously beautiful people. Another boy, androgynously pretty. The young blonde girl who was... Keiko tilted her head curiously. Were her breasts bigger than before? That would be a very odd, if situationally useful, nova power. No less than two more Dr. Aeons were crowded in as well. She glanced at the Aeon next to her and shrugged. She didn't know he went that way, but it wasn't as if she'd been planning on putting the question to the test.

The scary giant Einher...yar...or something had a little harem too. A buxom redhead on one side and the girl who'd introduced herself as Jael on the other. She'd kind of wanted to talk to Jael too. But there was time. She knew that better than most.

Ryusei, whom she'd identified as the host, was off to one side, not easy to see. With him was yet another Aeon clone and...

What is THAT?

Without thinking, Keiko scrambled up over the table towards Ryusei and the creature near him. No food or plates moved, no glass tipped over, even as she used them to get traction. Once up she darted between half-upraised forks and large tureens of various foods to get closer...finally leaping down and staring at the apparition before her.

Frozen there was a woman with the head of a fox. A fox-headed woman! Keiko peered around behind her, and sure enough, from out of little holes in her shorts poked three fox tails.

Now THIS was someone to talk to!

Warmth and light and color flooded in on Keiko's world. To the senses of others present, Keiko simply vanished from Dr. Aeon's side with no lightshow, no pop, no special effects. Simultaneously...since no time had passed...she appeared forming a triangle with Ryusei and Vixen, but gazing in astonishment at Vixen.

Quickly she bowed.

"I'm sorry to intrude, I hope you don't think I'm rude," she quickly blurted. "But I wanted to say hello! I'm Keiko!"

[Vixen]

"Whup - " Vixen blinked. "Now... that... is a trick, I didn't smell you there at all."

Did the air just displace? It smells a bit... tussled.

"Hello, Keiko. I'm Roxanne. People call me Vixen, after some kind of fox. I don't know why. Nice to meet you." She held out a hand.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko hesitates, then shakes Vixen's hand a little diffidently...the way one might shake a celebrity's hand, or a president's. She seems taken aback by the name too.

"Roxanne? Are you..." She blushed then quickly shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just assumed... It's great meeting you. You're... a nova?"

[Vixen]

"No, I'm a Muppet. There's a little piece of string up there." She points to the space over her head. "Yes, I'm a nova. I don't look like this all the time, though. I can look mostly normal if you're uncomfortable."

[SalmonMax]

For an instant it almost seems like Keiko's buying the Muppet thing...but then she blushes deeply and bows a little.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. But no, you don't need to change your form for my sake. It's just..."

She's not Japanese, she may not even know...

Keiko smiled in what she hoped was a placating manner. "There is a sort of spirit in Japanese stories you look like. So meeting you is a little like meeting Harry Potter or something."

[Ryusei Hideyoshi]

Ryusei is unable to stifle his chuckle at Keiko's comment. "The Kitsune. I admit I was abit suprised the first time I saw Dr. Richardson like this."

he looks to her. "You are fine how you are, simply do what makes you comfortable."

He looks back to Keiko. "That was a neat trick, similar to the one I use. How do you accomplish it?"

[Doctor Aeon]

While Doc Aeon was suddenly and abruptly abandoned, one of his clones got a new almost-companion. This one listend quietly and patiently to the conversation going on between Keiko and Vixen. His main attention remained with Ruysei, if he needed anything, or if he needed him to translate for one of the more excitable clones.

It was a thankless job,he thought, but it had to be done and this was the Clone for the job!

Go Clones!

Now if he could just manage to get one of his others to bring him some of that food.

[Vixen]

Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Yes, I've heard of kitsunes. Magical spirits that create illusions so perfect they fool the world, right? Yeah. It's a long story." A long, embarrassing one. You succumb to magical thinking just once and you get to stare at it in the mirror forever.

She sipped her drink. "Now I never read those books. Harry Potter's the one with the zigzag on his head and he has glasses, right?"

[SalmonMax]

"Well, depends!" Keiko enthuses to Roxanne. "Depending on the story, they do all kinds of things! And yeah, that's the one."

She looks at Ryusei, then looks down at herself...then back at where she had been.

"Oh, it's complicated. I'm sorry, I didn't actually mean to interrupt you. I saw the k...Roxanne and I just had to come over. I was talking to another Dr. Aeon."

She waves at the clone she left behind, then beams at Ryusei.

"Anyway, it looks like I'm teleporting, but really I just move. Really, really fast. It's a time thing...I slow it down, that makes me seem to move faster. I can even stop it for a little bit, and if I move then, then it doesn't take any time at all. Except for me."

[Ryusei Hideyoshi]

Ryusei's eyes and smile brighten considerably. "So you too can affect the passage of time? Fascinating."

"Halting the progression of time is no small feat... and it's a very rare ability."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko beams. "I know, right?"

Then what he said sinks in.

"Wait, you can do it too?" Now her eyes light up. "Show me! I've -always- wanted to see what it looks like to other people!"

[Ryusei Hideyoshi]

Ryusei nods once, and seems to blur as he goes over to the tmain buffet prepares a plate and sits back down, with a full plate in hand. The entire series took 3 seconds to do. "Not quite stopping time, more the opposite, greatly increasing my speed by accellerating the passage of time."

He shrugged. "Not my fastest or most fun mode of transit, but it does make things interesting when sparring."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko bobs her head. "I can do that too. In fact, most of the time that's how I have to do it. When time's stopped, I can't move anything but me."

She grins and tucks an errant strand of hair back behind her ear. "Wow, this is so cool finding someone who can do the same thing. We should have a race or something sometime."

[Contessa]

Quote:

"Brilliance, I imagine, can be as much a mixed blessing as beauty, as I'm sure we are aware" - he smiled at Contessa.

"Pssh... yer tellin' me." She rolled her eyes and smiled, the geek within rising to the surface once more.

Quote:

"It is hard to find people to correspond with though. So few think the way I do."

"You see, for me, insanity is super sanity." Contessa chimed in, taking a break from texting Mixies on her OpPhone. "The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity... who would want to live like that? Not me. Life's more fun when your eyes opened wide."

She was rather casual about her declaration of 'crazy' and didn't seem like she was preaching to anyone particular. Just as quickly as she looked up, she glanced back down to her opphone, which was little more that miniaturized computer she IMed her only friend on.

Clamaity Jane: ...and he was so sweet. His name's Tomas.
Mixieplix: Yeah... yeah... great... where's my sword?
Clamaity Jane: Uh, I'm professing a possible crush and you want weaponry?
Mixieplix: Duh... he's going to break your heart, I'm going to need some equipment to mess his shit up when he does. Besides... you did oh so well with Sean...
Clamaity Jane: He won't, and don't bring Sean into this. Besides, nothing's even happened, I think he's gay anyway, his boyfriend can't seem to take his eyes off him.
Mixieplix: Sweet, intelligent, kind hearted, sexy, articulate... did you seriously think he was straight? Pshaw! I'm guffawing at your antics as we speak. Now... about this Norse God's death dealer...
Clamaity Jane: I'll see what I can do. I hate you by the way.
Mixieplix: Well that sucks, because I'm pregnant with your baby.
Clamaity Jane: Again?
Mixieplix:
Clamaity Jane: Bye.

[Caitlin Kieran]

Caitlin smiled at Jael's question; if the reception the topic had gotten in the OpChat was any indication, furthering one's education was a rare trait in novas.

"Yeah, I'm still in college," she replied after swallowing a mouthful of grilled tuna. Geez, this stuff is good. "I've been working my way through an environmental studies major and a minor in biology, but I'd be lying if I said I was one-hundred percent certain it's what I'd end up doing. There are so many options, it's like I'm drowning in potential careers."

With a rueful shake of her head, she shrugged, still smiling, at the leggy blonde.

"But, hey. I guess we've all got plenty of time and opportunity to figure that stuff out, right? I think as long as I stay in that general area, education-wise, I'll be happy, though. My da's always said that it's more important to have a job you love than one that'll make you rich, and I'm trying to keep that in mind."

"What about you? Weren't you the one in the OpChat who was talking about a degree not long ago?"

She watched Jael over the rim of her glass as she lifted it to her lips, eyebrows arched slightly in interest. It would be nice to find another nova who still thought about such mundane "baseline" concerns, she admitted silently to herself- especially when surrounded by such company.

[Eingar]

Ein paid attention, and not just because there were two attractive women talking: The conversation topic was of mild interest. He had been somewhat flippant to Contessa when discussing education simply because she had assumed that her way was morally superior to his. For a man who took pride in his work, and in his status as an Elite, that had been more than a little insulting. Not that it'd infuriated him, just that he'd felt like being snarky back. He grinned faintly as he popped some crab meat into his mouth.

"I've been thinking about language schools, studying other cultures, that sort of thing." He said out of the blue to the two women, chewing thoughtfully. "Maybe Oxford, though I hear there's a couple of good schools in the U.S." He smiled a little at them, shrugging. "I like the idea of being at home wherever I go. Already learned a few languages working for D.V."

[Jael Carver]

"Yeah, I was looking for a degree, but when I posted on the OpNet, I thought I was going for criminal justice," Jael admitted. "It wasn't really my choice, so I'm glad that I dropped it. I'm really thinking art, just like when we talked last month," she added, glancing at the Elite between them. "Oh, that reminds me..." She put down her fork and dug out her phone. She flipped though the controls and then showed them both a picture of a small, carved tiger. "I slipped into the art lab and talked the instructor there into giving me a cast-off piece of soapstone. When I showed her that, she started talking about me taking classes. I guess it means I'm ok at it."

"You should come to Stanford, Einherjar," Jael grinned. "You could be my classmate. They're really sweet to their novas, too. They gave me a small job in their labs testing materials with my claws. I can make pretty precise cuts, so also they use me for cutting hard materials. They're the ones that have figured out that I'm somehow destroying the material, not cutting it. They're still trying to figure out what I'm doing with it."

Click to reveal..

Wits+Arts (no mega): 6 sux

1d10=7, 1d10=8, 1d10=5, 1d10=10, 1d10=9, 1d10=10, 1d10=6, 1d10=7

[Dozer]

Dozer just sits there, watching all the beautiful people having their discussions, then he clears his throat, and says to Contessa, "You asked me why they call me Dozer. I'm strong, tough, and things I push tend to move. Plus I'm in construction. So, therefore I was nicknamed Bulldozer, but I shortened it because it's the way we refer to them at the work sites." He turns to Tomas, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Are you enjoying yourself? We may have a game of Frisbee later." He smiles self-consciously and stands up, "If you'll excuse me, I'll be back shortly."

He makes his way over to Einherjar and his two lady companions, "Excuse me, but may I join you for a bit?"

[Caitlin Kieran]

"Wow," Caitlin murmured around a bite of bread, swallowing before she continued. "That looks pretty good, Jael. And you did that with your own hands?" She was impressed, and not only with the craftsmanship of the stone cat, and it showed in her pleasant, open features. She actually destroys the stuff with her claws? And here I was just getting fond of mine.

She nodded at Einherjar, and adds, "You should try something like anthropology, maybe. It's good stuff. Got a couple of friends over in that department, and they're always chattering on about 'indigenous cultures' and the like."

When Dozer arrived, however, and she glanced over at the table to see why he'd abandoned Contessa, her entire demeanor changed. There was Tessa, chatting, laughing, and making doe-eyes at the raven-haired boy that had (wrong something wrong with his eyes wrong not natural) somehow triggered the fight-or-flight mechanism at the Central Park outing. In the back of her mind, something rumbled softly, digging in its claws. Not this time, she vowed silently, stifling a growl with a mouthful of now-tasteless food. It was all she could do to restrain herself from leaping the table and satisfying whatever lingered in her hindbrain by realizing the vision flickering through her mind: that perfect, angelic face, painted in crimson.

Her shoulders tensed beneath the cotton of her t-shirt, stretching it slightly as she leaned forward. Her head dipped a fraction of an inch, and the fork in her hand creaked in protest as the malleable metal began to fold.

"Not at all," she ground out in tersely civil reply, hints of molten gold glittering in the depths of her eyes as she stared across the room at Tomas.

[Eingar]

Einherjar gave a low whistle at the picture Jael showed him. "Nice." he said with a smile for her. "I'll have to commission some pieces from you to decorate my place with, and if you can carve anything with those snicker-snees of yours, there might be some people I know who'd pay for work like that."

He looked up as Dozer arrived. "Sure thing, big man." He grinned and motioned to the spare seat. plonking the bottle of rum down between them. "Help yourself."

Then his sensitive ears heard the complaint of stressed metal and he looked left to see Fianna glaring across the room, her fork rapidly getting twisted out of shape. Eyes narrowed, he followed her gaze to see that strange kid from the New Year's party, Tomas. He was at the Park, too. Fianna did a runner after he talked to her... Uh-oh He remembered how the cool, refined Saori had behaved around the green-eyed incubus and understood immediately as he saw Caitlin's innocent ward for the weekend smiling and talking with him.

Ein was a man of action, true, but action based on swift and decisive thought. So it was now as he smiled at the others and stood up, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Excuse me. I need to talk to someone briefly. I'll be right back." He dropped a friendly hand on Caitlin's shoulder before he sauntered across the dining room with an easy smile on his face. Any De Vries Elite could have told what that smile meant: it meant Einherjar was going into battle.

"Excuse me." He grinned at the small cluster of beautiful novas as he squatted down on his haunches next to Contessa, taking her elbow gently to get her attention. Still smiling, he addressed her. "We were talking about higher education and universities, and I was wondering if you'd like to come over? I've been thinking about what you said in OpChat a few nights ago, and would really like your perspective." He smiled mischievously. "Plus I think Caitlin feels a little abandoned." He stage-whispered to her, indicating the red-haired woman across the room with his head. As Contessa turned to look, Ein smiled at Tomas. To most, that smile would be a pleasant apologetic expression. But the dark-haired boy-man saw the cold look in those blue eyes very clearly, and felt the ice behind that gaze even more so.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

He blinked once, slowly, not returning the Elite's smile. He knew what was happening, could discern the man's intent all-too easily. But his ability to bend others to his will was not certain, not here, not against this man who, to Tomas's empathic perceptions, radiated a cold, casual promise of violence from those pale blue eyes. Tomas knew that if he gambled and lost here, he would be killed as casually as he himself had killed in the past. More casually, in fact. He knew that without a doubt. For some reason, the Elite terrified him, made him feel... mortal, baseline again.

"If you will all excuse me, I need to visit the bathroom. Contessa, it was lovely to meet you." Without a smile, and gritting his teeth slightly to quell any trembling, the green-eyed demon rose from his seat and nodded once to everyone before slipping away, managing to prevent himself from breaking into a run only by sheer dint of his will.

Click to reveal..

(17:29:40) (Ein): Appearance and Intim roll: 2 Mega App, 5 App (imposing) & 4 Intimidation = 11d10

(17:29:46) ChatBot: (Ein) rolls 11d10 and gets [8,2],5,10,7,6,4,7,10,7,7.

(17:29:54) ChatBot: (Ein) rolls 2d10 and gets 2,10.

(17:29:57) ChatBot: (Ein) rolls 1d10 and gets 9.

10 succs on an intimidating stare.

Tomas rolls WP

(17:31:59) ChatBot: (Tomas) rolls 8d10 and gets 8,5,1,4,6,6,10,8.

3 succs.

The little punk backs down without a murmur.

[z017]

Kei watched the exchange at first with curiosity, then at Tomas' reaction, with anger. His eyes narrowed at the large Elite as he assessed and memorized the Nordic man, tucking away the patterns of the man in some dark corner of his mind. He sent to Saori, letting her know what had happened, and then to Tomas.

*Are you alright? Do you want me with you?* Kei's anger simmered through both sendings as the changeling was not yet completely adept with this new ability.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

*Yes.* Tomas sent back as he made his way to their cabin, fighting the mixture of shame, fear and anger that he was feeling. He entered and sat on the bed, drawing up his legs and hugging them as he sent back to Kei. *I... I would like that. His mind, Kei. His mind was like icy water. His eyes scared me. I'm not afraid of death, or I thought I wasn't. But the way he looked at me... I felt so mortal right then. He stripped away my confidence as though I was a frightened boy again.* His natural calm was reasserting itself, though the rime of fear still colored his thoughts. *We should not tangle with him, not now. We are not warriors, not killers like him. For us it is a statement or an art to kill. That one, he deals death in an instant and thinks nothing of it: a weapon with a mind. I have never touched a mind like that, Kei. Think me weak if you must, but I think him best left alone.*

[Jael Carver]

"Yeah, thanks, guys," Jael said with a grin. "If we can find something to carve, like a bit of driftwood or something, I'll make you guys something. Admittedly, that's the best I've done yet - the others are... ok."

It was strange, connecting to people for reasons other than sexual and without Charles pushing her onward. She felt a warm glow as people paid her compliments, and that more than anything made her offer to make things for them. Charles would have regulated these emotions before, but now she was experiencing them.

She smiled at Dozer - he was such a nice guy. "I don't mind," she answered him.

The mood changed suddenly, and Jael became tense as Einherjar left the table. She watched the interchange intently, her blue-gray eyes fastened on what was happening across the room.

[z017]

Kei stood without a word to the table, making his way swiftly towards the cabin they had picked out and his distressed mentor and lover. He made it to the room while Tomas was still sending to him and slipped onto the bed, wrapping his arms around the slim nova and pulling him close.

*It isn't weak to fear what can truly harm you. What can end you.* Kei faded into Shae as the changeling let go of the person xe had created for the weekend. He kissed Tomas' neck lightly, taking and giving comfort from the contact. *I will leave him be for now, if that is what you want. I can't promise for the future, though. He did that on purpose and I cannot forgive him for it.*

[Adrian Moss]

Everyman watched the interplay between the Boy Mindbender and the Elite. The Boy broke and ran, which while probably wise, brought a inner grin to Everyman's sould. The grin never reached the outside. That would have been inappropriate.

The Boy's male lover took after him like a properly whipped dog. Was the Whipping Boy a victim, or a willing accomplice to the horrors of the Boy's Mindbending ways?

Speaking of those twisted, foul, decietful and hated ways, were was the female Organ of the troupe? Probably out despoiling some poor sap who didn't have the will or sense to know what spiteful and petty abomonations these Mindbenders could be. Moron.

[z-Xiao Saori]

Saori showed up moments later, a sheet wrapped around her and her clothes in her hand. Her hair was rumbled and her face flushed; clearly, she'd left in the middle of something. She closed the door before dropping both the clothes and sheet and hurrying to embrace her lovers.

[Tomas Saint-Etienne]

He clung to them both, reassured by their presence. Saori's passion-warmed body was curled against him and Shae's arms were around them both, and Tomas felt the frostbitten fear leave him slowly. Caution still remained in it's wake, however. He turned his head to Shae, kissing xir lips softly, before turning and nuzzling at Saori's mussed hair.

"Let the Elite die in some forsaken hellhole for baseline blood money." he whispered aloud to them, his green eyes turning once more to Shae. "For my sake, do not do something that will put you at risk. Either of you. I - I could not go back to being alone that way." His voice fell to a murmur. "It is strange to me after being solitary for so long, but I need you both too much to lose you. Is that weakness? I don't know." His eyes looked faintly puzzled, exploring the sensation of need.

He vaguely realised that in his seduction of Saori, then their seduction of Shae, qualities had been shared, lines between differences in their personalities had been blurred. He now experienced their need for him in kind, and they had taken on some of his calculation and predatory attitude. "I think we have worked changes on each other." He told them, his eyes widening in mild surprise.

[Contessa]

Okay, *what* just happened? The sultry blonde quirked her eyebrow slightly, keeping quiet to prevent either of the novas from killing her next. Then Tomas left and Contessa felt her heart sink a bit, he was so nice, why did Einherjar have to come along and scare away the only guy in the world who seemed to actually be decent for her to get to know better?

"Y-you didn't have to scare him off you know," she glared at him coldly, the twinkling within her quantum fused sapphires seemed laced with irritation and ire towards the fallen soldier who would wage war for eternity. Hell hath no fury indeed. "If Caitlin is lonely, of course I'll join her over there."

She scooted from her chair and walk away from the rum soaked God and Ein wasn't sure if her nose could get any higher, or her hips could sway any sweeter...

[Adrian Moss]

Yep, that teenage-looking AngelHarlot would be taking plenty of men's souls straight to hell and certainly more than one of the men here tonight ... would it be good?

Everyman shoved that thought away. He ground his teeth and could feel blood in his mouth.

Well, at least the big blonde jolly slaying giant wouldn't be tapping that tonight ... unless he had a three-way with that devestating red-haired ... think bad thought, think bad thoughts ... well, maybe he would end up sleeping alone tonight. Ha!

[z017]

Shae nodded at Tomas' discovery, accepting it unconditionally as xe did so many things that Tomas and Saori told xir.

Xe wouldn't pursue the blonde warrior for now, most especially when this trip was for Saori as much as for xirself, but the grudge had already taken root in xe's mind. "It can wait," Xe murmured and caught Tomas' eyes again. "Do you want to stay here or leave? We're supposed to be having fun this weekend."