Subject: While Theo was silent...
Author:
Posted on: 2018-05-24 23:15:00 UTC
... Dilx had been glancing around them, seemingly unable to keep his attention on any one thing now that he wasn't talking. When Theo spoke, his attention snapped back to Theo, and he probably would have run into someone if he didn't periodically glance ahead. "I'm in DMS too," he said. "I don't know why they assigned me there, though."
“Nice to meet you! I’m Chelsea! Chelsea Seaward.” She then shook Connor’s right hand.
Lemon shook Connor’s other hand. “Call me Lemon.”
After both agents let go, Chelsea asked, “So uh, what’s up?”
Connor gestured to a pair of robots that were wandering around the room. "These two made a decently grand entrance, which turned rather anticlimactic as it looks like they wanted to DJ but couldn't. I also overheard something brief about someone who showed up without a costume." He shrugged. "Standard party stuff."
-Twistey
"I swear, Eggman must have a monopoly on the technology in that world." Connor laughed. "I love the Sonic continuum." He looked at Chelsea. "Haven't played Splatoon, but I do like the world-building. I just tire of the other people on online games pretty quickly. You won't believe the kinds of stories I have to tell..."
-Twistey
Mobian? she mouthed.
Chelsea blinked in surprise. “Sorry. It’s still kinda weird for me to hear about ‘world-building’ about my own world. But yeah, the world building’s pretty cool.”
Chelsea also waved back. “Hii!” She then took out her phone. “Selfie?”
((About the term “Mobian”, I think it’s only in the comics and maybe the western TV shows. I haven’t read the comics or watched much of the shows to be sure. I don’t think that term’s a thing in the games.))
... until his partner had bothered him into it. The sheer number of people in the room was frankly intimidating, so he stayed out of the thick of the gathering, pacing slowly around the edge of the room and fiddling with the edge of his cloak.
Once Sophie was out of sight and sufficiently distracted, he paused to pull his hair back again. It was at this point that he noticed another person hovering by himself. "Hello," he said. "I see you are not much of a social butterfly either. I'm Theo."
He hadn't noticed the young man arriving. It was so hard to keep track of things like this. "Hello," he said. Social butterfly? I'll have to ask about that later. "I'm Dilx." He held out a hand and smiled at Theo. "It's nice to meet you."
Theo returned a small smile and shook Dilx's hand. "Likewise. Do you want to get a drink?" He pointed over his shoulder, toward the refreshment table. Granted, he hadn't been to very many parties, but the purpose of a party without at least a little drinking quite escaped him.
He was rather thirsty, now that he thought about it. He hadn't had anything to drink since long before they left. He started walking towards the table, fidgeting with the fur... thing, whatever it was... to keep it from getting in his way. Now... what to say. What did people generally say at parties? He had no idea. Well, might as well start with what he was used to. "So where do you work?"
... falling in step beside his newfound companion. "DMS," he said. For a moment he was silent, unsure whether the question was an invitation to ask a similar one in return. But finally he decided that staying silent was far too awkward. "What about you?" For a moment he was glad Sophie had convinced him to wear his cloak. It was a lot easier to subtly fidget with that than it would have been to subtly fidget with his jeans.
... Dilx had been glancing around them, seemingly unable to keep his attention on any one thing now that he wasn't talking. When Theo spoke, his attention snapped back to Theo, and he probably would have run into someone if he didn't periodically glance ahead. "I'm in DMS too," he said. "I don't know why they assigned me there, though."
Theo asked. He was in the DMS because he'd requested it, out of a desire to protect his home canon. It probably helped that he knew a lot about the canon. That didn't mean, of course, that he thought personnel had a good grasp of where the best place to put agents was.
He squeezed his way between two people and stopped in front of the drink table. There were quite a few options. He opted to begin with the bubbly purple punch. He didn't know what it was, but it was a nice color.
"I'm not much of a fighter," he said, before reaching up to push the hair that had fallen over his shoulder back. "And if we were killing anything but Sues, I couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it. Normally, I still don't kill them. I just read the charges."
Theo filled up a cup with punch. Finally, something in his hands that wasn't cape. "I did quite a bit of fighting in my home continuum. I suppose it would eliminate arguments over who gets to make the kill."
Dilx sighed as he reached for a cup himself, and looked at the drinks. What could he drink like this? After a long moment, he decided on a seemingly ordinary red drink labelled Actually Ordinary Fruit Punch. "Of course, there are other things to argue about, because purely peaceful partnerships are forbidden."
It was perhaps unwise to take such a large drink, since he didn't exactly know what he was drinking. It had the same warm burn as alcohol, but didn't seem to have the same effects. Aside from that it was bitter but fruity. He took another drink.
"Who is your partner?" he asked. "It is unlikely that I know them, but possible."
Dilx was pleasantly surprised to find that, yes, it was Actually Ordinary Fruit Punch. This was good, as he didn't particularly want to get drunk, especially not this early. "Animus," he said, looking over the party. "Who is yours?"
He nodded toward the table that held various solid foods. "She's over there, being herself." By "being herself" he meant stuffing entire cookies in her mouth and then attempting to talk. Oh well, as long as she wasn't trying to talk to him.
"What continua do you work in?" he asked, moving away from the drink table, which was frankly crowded.
She seemed to be enjoying herself, which was good. He looked around for his own partner, but didn't happen to see him. "My partner is around here too, but I don't see him at the moment. We usually work with continua that have extensive, occasionally confusing, and often difficult-to-track-down canons."
"It is good that someone is handling those," he said. "It sounds like it presents a particular challenge." He took a drink as he finally managed to get out of the crowd around the drink table. He was enjoying this conversation thoroughly, and had discovered that he was even losing some of his discomfort at talking to a stranger for extended periods of time.
"With the data network here, the... what was it... right, internet! With the internet here and the Canon Library, things are a lot easier to find than they would be in other universes." Dilx was relaxing as well, fairly certain now that this was what one did at parties.
"It is amazing, the information one can get at the click of a button. We had nothing like it in my home continuum." The thought of his home continuum, combined with Dilx's wording, raised a question. "What continuum are you from? The internet seems to be prevalent in many of them. I take it you are not from one of them?"
"We just didn't call it the internet. We called it something unpronounceable. As for where I'm from, I come from a particular session of a roleplaying game based in the Warhammer 40K universe." He smiled slightly, and added, "Thankfully, as far as I know, my people are still doing well, unlike... essentially everybody else. Where do you come from?"
((Like realizing several hours late you used the wrong 'rite'.))
Charlotte dragged Ix over to the food table, red gown flapping in her wake. She paused when she overheard Thoth, and turned. “Hey, what’s wrong with wearing a costume?”
Ix froze when she realized who it was, and she tried to casually tug Charlotte back. “Lottie, let’s not interrupt—“
Ix swallowed and shook her head, taking a half step back in a feeble attempt to hide behind Charlotte. Seeing as how she was a head taller than her partner, this didn't exactly work too well.
"Wait a second..." Charlotte looked between Ix, Tom, and Thoth curiously. "You guys have met before? When did that happen?"
"Tom Andrews. Computational demonologist, former Laundryverse inhabitant and it feels so good to be able to say that without my head exploding!"
Thoth nodded. "Thoth of the Fifteenth Legion Astartes, at your service."
"As for Halloween... Yeah, it was kinda nuts." Tom glanced at Thoth. "My partner seems to prefer I remain silent on details of the subject, but... well, if I say that Derik was there..."
Charlotte's hands went to her mouth and her eyes widened. "The Agent Derik? Oh my god, and Ix was dressed as the Phantom—" She slowly lowered her hands. "That... didn't end well, did it?"
"For different reasons," Ix muttered, playing with the hilt of her rapier. "But... basically, yes."
"Jeez. And how did you two fit in, then?" Charlotte asked.
"You're just a killer with the ladies, aren't you?" she said dryly. "Wait—hang on! That must mean you're the one who nearly started a brawl in the middle of the ballroom! That was all anyone talked about after the party."
"Thoth got a bit... touchy about the weapons being waved around." Tom shrugged. "I forgot about that. There was so much else going on. Anyways, it was far from being a brawl."
Thoth nodded his assent. "Diplomacy prevailed, despite my... decision."
"Anyways, people talked about it?" asked Tom. "I didn't reckon anyone noticed..."
Charlotte laughed. "It's not every day you see agents about to throw down. Hopefully we can avoid that today, though? I'm a lot squishier than I used to be, and not very good at fighting, so I'm really not looking to start a fight."
"...totally sure," Charlotte said, winking. "And what is it they say? It's better to ask forgiveness than permission?"
"I don't think the Flowers would appreciate Lovecraftian abominations ruining Purim," Ix said quietly. "Or any of the agents, for that matter."
"And yeah, that's why I've gone through extensive training in not summoning Lovecraftian abominations." Tom grinned. "It's harder than it sounds. And DoSAT still won't let me touch their stuff..."
"If you will not promise it, I will." Thoth seemed to raise himself up. "There will be no arms here, and no blood drawn. I would swear upon my honor, but I have little left."
“You know,” she said conspiratorially to Tom, “my best friend is in DoSAT. I bet she’d be willing to let you take a look at her stuff—if you don’t mind running the risk of getting blown up on accident.”
"Yeah, so far I've only found one tech willing to touch the stuff. Everyone else is afraid of the demons." Tom sighed. "I mean, I always run a scan and isolate them fist now. Nobody's ever died from touching my equipment... well, no here, anyways."
"...she can't be killed in the first place," Charlotte said. "She's a Steven Universe gem, so she's usually the one working on really dangerous tech. I bet she'd love to take a look at your stuff."
"Not... all of this stuff kills you. Suffice to say, she should make sure she wears gloves if she's gonna touch any exposed wires. So long as that happens, she'll be fine."
"It's just—I have a tendency to upset people when I don't mean to," she said nervously, "so I'd rather not accidentally get off on the wrong foot with you, too. You know?"
"Believe it or not... I can get that."
Ix rubbed the back of her neck and coughed awkwardly. "So... um... enjoying the... party so far?"
((So I had to look up a recipe. :P))
((Did you make it? If so, how'd they come out? What filling did you use?
~Z))
((I have most of the ingredients, but I need to run to the store first and pick up some other things. The recipe I found called for either poppy seed or apricot, so probably one of those!))
Sophie looked up as the group approached. She'd been trying to decide which hamantaschen to start with -- they all looked and smelled very good. At the sight of potential cookie competition approaching she quickly grabbed one in each hand, just to be safe.
"Hey!" she said. "Nice wig. Not-actually-redheads unite! Heh. Don't think I've met you guys. I'm Sophie!" She held out a hand and then realized that it was full of food, so she stuffed the cookie into her mouth to free it up. "Mmmph!" she said, not caring that it was rude to talk with her mouth full. "Dif if good! Nefer had it before."
Without the food in her mouth, it was much easier for her to grin widely, partly out of excitement over the cookies and partly out of excitement over T'Zar's words. "You work in DOGA?" she said. "I want to work in DOGA! I'm in the DMS now, but as soon as I can I'm going to request a transfer. Tell me about a mission! Have you ever had to deal with a whole mountain range?"
As she stopped talking, she realized she had completely ignored Dawn and Abaddon. "Sorry," she said, waving awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you guys. I think it's a taco hamantas- haman-" She trailed off awkwardly. "Cookie," she finally finished. "Or at least hamburger." Her eyes strayed back to T'Zar, waiting for her response.
(Yeah, I realize that post didn't end in a very open way, so maybe this will help.)
-Twistey
startled by the sudden noise behind them. Reacting faster, Richard flourished a little as he saluted: "Richard Legard, Phantom Thief. And here's my partner..."
"Marina," she said after a short moment. She then raised her staff slightly, "I'm a wizard," she deadpanned. "And you're... sneakier than you look like."
"It's nice to meet you both!" Farah said, holding out a hand.
"And what's a Phantom Thief?" she asked Richard. "It sounds like something my partner shouldn't find out about."
"If so, well he should take care, because someone could just steal them, forcing him to confess any ill they could have caused. Beware of calling cards." A little took by his drama he forgot to take the offered hand.
"Search about a game called Persona 5," Marina said. "It sums it up too, without all the flourish. And seems actually good." She took a look at the hand Farah offered, "Just to be sure, you're not using a DORKS or anything technological? I tend to short these things out with my hands..."
"I'll have to look this game up." Farah said. "I'm not using any tech for the costume, so you're good, unless you'd short out the translators in our flash patches."
"And Kk'kttak would say his desires are perfectly normal. I disagree, but we're working together so I've got to put up with the species differences. Oh well."
she said before shaking Farah's hand.
"If you don't mind, what department are you from," Richard asked. "We're in the DMS. And where exactly is your partner?"
"I'm in Crossovers." Farah said. "And I don't know if my partner will be here - I told him I was going, but I wasn't sure if he was interested."
(( If you'd like Kk'kttak to show up as well, let me know. ))
- Tomash
"Well, we'll see if he is," Richard. He then took a look at the buffet, before deciding to check the different sorts of cookies present. "Anything cathing your fancy?"
Marina looked at buffet. "Tells me if you see some coffee there."
Farah said, following Richard towards the sweets. "Since it's all safe for me, last I heard, and I haven't had much of human feast food."
Charlotte, clad in a simple but elegant red gown, looped her arm through Ix’s. Her hair was now golden thanks to the disguise generator, but she otherwise looked the same as ever, her purple glasses somewhat out of place in her Princess Buttercup costume,
Ix readjusted her Dread Pirate Roberts mask and shrugged, grimacing. “Not until I feel better about showing my face in public, and we both know that’s not going to happen. Besides, admit it—I look good in this.”
Charlotte laughed and shook her head as they entered the party. “You look good in everything, hon.”
