Subject: By this time...
Author:
Posted on: 2008-12-26 20:27:00 UTC
...Zach was no longer annoyed at his partner for having spiked his drink. In fact, he was having a fantastic time. He noticed Nat seemed a bit forced in her cheer, though, and so did the only thing his loopy brain could think of. He let go of her hand for a moment, then poked her in the side.
"You. Cheer. Happy. Yay?" he chuckled, amused by his own inability to speak in complete sentences.
Decorations of red, green, gold and silver covered the walls of one of the medium sized meeting rooms of PPC HQ. Tinsel was draped from every wall and vertical object, banners were tacked onto walls and mistletoe hung in corners and dangled from the ceiling at various points in the room. A large pine tree, complete with a disgruntled looking, purple-haired young man dressed in a fairy costume tied to the top, dominated the centre of the room, festooned with more tinsel, strings of flashing lights and baubles and ornaments of various intricacy scattered across its green boughs.
Ansela sat on the edge of a table covered in party snacks, her legs swinging idly back and forth as she sang along heartily to a popular World One Christmas hit between mouthfuls of food. Another table nearby was covered in Bleep products of all kinds, kept in bottles of varying sizes and fullness. On the wall above and behind her, directly opposite the door, was fastened a banner that proclaimed to all and sundry Merry Christmas or whatever other holiday you celebrate and a Harry New Year!!!!
She checked her list. Decorations up? Check. Food procured? Check. Drinks present? Check. Invitations sent out? Yup, to every Console that she could access. Now she just had to wait for others to show up, then it would be party time!
"For the last time, this is not going to be an excuse for a brawl!" sotto voce "Or at least I hope not."
"Sixdammit. Tha's no fun."
"Besides, you're drunk already."
"I'm no'- not drunk!"
A sigh. "Yes. Yes, you are."
"'m not."
"Then would you care to explain the bottle of gin in your coat pocket?"
"'s for emergencies."
Archer rolled his eye and pushed open the door, blinking somewhat at the decorations. Back home, solstice celebrations were...well, somewhat more low-key. Ah well, when in Rome... (Although he had to admit to not knowing exactly where Rome was)
Sabbat pushed past him, heading for the table of Bleep products. Why he was doing this wasn't entirely clear, as he'd far rather drink something he knew the provenance of than trust something from an unknown source, but he'd probably decided that if there was going to be a brawl, that was where it would start.
Archer watched him go, then rolled his eye again (this was beginning to give him a headache) and started to make his way across the room to the snacks, careful not to bump into anyone. If there was going to be a brawl, he wasn't going to be the one to start it.
It represents
(We can say your post was set before the party broke up.)
Since WikiMaster was sick of Retconitis (apparently, his author found out he was 'over the top' and tried to delete him), the Keeper of Fanfics, a DIY Chaos Daemon created as an emissary to the PPC was sent to the Christmas party in his stead. Savoring the food and drink laid out before him, he was having a very good time until he saw the Space Marine.
Not ready for a fight, he spread printed copies of Legendary Goodfic in a circle around himself, and begean negotiations with the Ironic Overpower to keep himself from being noticed.
Cautiously, Tirsaer peered into the room and, once he was positive that nothing was on fire (yet), entered. His partner, Ryni, followed, glaring at everyone and everything in sight.
The two made their way to the food-covered table, where Tirsaer grabbed a handful of cookies to munch on. "Hey, these're pretty good," he observed around a mouthful of crumbs.
Ryni, on the other hand, declined to touch any of the food. "Truly, Tirsaer, one should be wary of accepting nourishment from such an unreliable and uncertain source."
"Meh, it's Christmas. Try losing the paranoia, will ya?"
"Yes, paranoia does no one good," said a slightly tipsy Christianne. "Mm, this is goooood wine, very gooooood wine."
Zodfang, having decided to make his entrance with a mighty kick to the door, subsequently made his entrance as if he were a conquering king, confidently looking around as he strolled in, a wild grin baring his teeth.
"OI, 'OOMIES! DIS A PARTY OR WOT?!" he shouted, before immediately setting course for the food and drink tables.
Deciding to be a bit less conspicuous (and obnoxious) than his partner, Marcus simply walked into the room, closing the door behind him. A couple minutes after they had gotten back from that absurd double-mission and sent the report, the console had beeped again. Zodfang had been about to smash the damn thing, until they'd seen that it wasn't a mission. Instead, it was an invitation from Ansela Jonla, to a Christmas party. Agent Ansela had joined sometime during Marcus' suspension, but they'd both heard of her at least somewhat. It helped that she had a reputation, especially for supposedly keeping a second Armoury behind closed doors. Marcus hadn't been too keen on going, mostly due to the mission putting him in a sour mood. However, while Zodfang had no concept of Christmas, he did have a concept of wild partying, and practically dragged Marcus out of the RC. Being even less keen on having his arms ripped off than going to the party, he elected to simply go along with the eerily-jovial Ork.
Besides, the veteran agent thought. It's Christmas, I might as well have some fun.
That was what found him walking after his partner in the middle of a throng of Agents, all partying and enjoying themselves. There were some familiar faces, but a lot of them were people he didn't recognise. So many had died, retired, or been recruited in his year of absence that it wasn't surprising that he didn't know too many people he really noticed, but still somewhat saddening. Not that he'd let that ruin his mood.
"Yo, Marcus!"
The voice caught his attention, causing him to look to his left where a peculiar-looking Agent stood. He was a young man with long black hair, wearing wire framed glasses on his boyish face. There was a bit of black to his uniform, but most of it (including the hood) was red and yellow. Marcus couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face; this was an Agent he did remember, and one that'd always amused him at that.
"Hello, agent Kalmer."
"Didn't think you were the type to go f'r these, man!" Kalmer laughed, clearly a bit tipsy. He'd always been strangely cheerful for someone who worked in the DAVD.
"Well, I am, sometimes. Why not? Figured, might as well have some fun if they chose Christmas to put me back in," Marcus replied, shrugging a little. "Anyway, I'll just go mingle, might get a drink. See you later, Kalmer, we oughta catch up with each other sometime, anyway."
"No w...worr...what'stheword? Worr...worries! Thassit! No worries, Marcus, sees ya!"
Stifling a laugh, Marcus left the drunk Agent to his own devices, seeing who he could run into. Besides, he had to keep Zodfang from hurting somebody.
Cassie, now well on the way to being very drunk, bumped into Marcus. Peering at him and nudging her glasses back up, she grinned. "Heya. 'm Cassie. D' I know you?"
Moving through the crowd of agents, partly doing his own thing and partly looking for Zodfang before the Ork curbstomped someone or something like that, Marcus wasn't payting attention and stumbled when someone walked straight into him. Getting his footing back and turning to face the newcomer, he saw a young woman, probably 19-ish, with blonde hair and glasses. Judging from how she spoke, she was very inebriated, but that wasn't a surprise.
"Hello," Marcus said, a friendly smile on his face. "Name's Marcus. Marcus Langston, I'm with the Department of Floaters. Don't think I know you, though. Were you recruited recently?"
Cassie considered it carefully, then shrugged. "Back in... um... March, I... think. Was aroun' for the Sues, 'nyway." She gave him what she thought was a dazzling smile and looked up at the mistletoe, which was probably affiliated with the Narrative Laws of Comedy, considering how it had conveniently turned up again.
"Merry Chris'mas," she added, and without further ado went up on tiptoes and kissed him.
Marcus, somehow, didn't see the mistletoe that seemed to appear over his head, focusing too much on the conversation he was having with Cassie. She'd apparently been recruited just before the Sue invasion, explaining why he hadn't met her before. She smiled and looked up, but just as he'd started to look to see what she saw, Cassie drunkenly said "Merry Christmas" to him and promptly pressed her lips to his in a kiss that caught him off guard before he could reply.
Taken aback for a second, Marcus couldn't decide whether to run away or go with the flow. Two different mindsets were grappling for his decision, especially the consideration of just how much older than Cassie he probably was. Still, after a couple seconds he relaxed and returned the kiss, moving his body closer to hers.
Don't most people find a room for this sort of thing? he couldn't help but think.
Meanwhile, at one of the snack tables, Zodfang looked up from the prodigious amount of food and drink he was wolfing down to see his partner in the crowd, a mistletoe over his head and kissing some random female Agent. His shoulders shook with the suppressed laughter as his attention turned to an Agent at his side and the grog in his cup. 'Oomies could be so strange.
a bright flash distracted both Marcus and Cassie. The younger Agent nearly fell over and grabbed at Marcus for support, staring in the direction of the flash.
She took a second to register what had just happened, but once she did she spluttered, "LUX?"
The Slasher in question was holding a camera and wearing a huge grin. Panic setting in, Cassie lunged for it, but hadn't thought the move through and ended up falling over, dragging Marcus over with her and totally missing Luxury, who fled, giggling.
Looking over at the man she'd just been kissing, Cassie mumbled, "S'rry 'bout that."
...promptly burst into another fit of giggles. She staggered towards the two and offered her hands.
"N-need aahahaha h-help up?" she snickered.
Everything had happened too quickly for Marcus' tastes. One second, he had randomly been kissed by Cassie, and returned the favour, but just as he had been getting into it, they'd been distracted by several bright flashes. Detaching himself from the liplock and feeling his arm being grabbed, he saw agent Luxury standing there with a camera in hand and a grin on her face. Before he could say anything though, Cassie had lunged at the other blonde and ended up on the floor as Lux fled. This had the unfortunate side effect of pulling Marcus to the ground, too, where he got his bearings after landing next to Cassie and cursing Lux mildly in his thoughts.
"Don't worry about it," he managed to say in response to Cassie's apology, his face starting to turn a bit red. The whole party had been not much more than embarrassing so far, and now he found himself hoping Luxury wasn't the type to try to blackmail him. Then he heard the voice of another Agent and looked up, noticing another young agent standing there and offering her hands to Cassie and himself. The woman was laughing uncontrollably, for some reason, heightening Marcus' embarrassment.
"You could say that," he said in response to her asking if he needed help up, pulling on her arm a bit for leverage as he pushed himself up to his feet. "Hey, Cassie, you alright down there?
"Sorry about laughing, it's just that my partner got the same from Cassie that you just got," she apologized to Marcus. "Cassie looks...down for the count. Uh, need some help there, Cass?" she asked, glancing down at the girl sprawled on the floor.
and giggled, Luxury already forgotten. "Me? 'm fine, 'm fine." She grabbed both of their hands and, after some false attempts, managed to get upright. She grinned at them both and waved absently to someone else nearby.
"Thanks. I 'ppreciate it. Havin' a good time. 's Chris'mas, aft'r all. Go' to 'ave a goodtime at Chris'mas." She giggled again. "Be'er 'n las' year. Oh, there's Kelvin! Oi! Kel!" She waved to the Elf, who looked rather alarmed and edged away.
"Woss he on? Mus' not've heard me. I'll go catch 'im, then." Another smile, and a bear hug for both Marcus and Sara, and she stumbled off towards her new partner with yet another, "Merry Chris'mas!"
Brushing himself off from the bear hug, Marcus failed to hide his amusement as Cassie went after the elf, having almost forgotten about Zodfang, who was busy boisterously reciting war stories to a bunch of rowdy and drunk agents in some other corner of the room. He couldn't help but wonder if everyone who'd been recruited since he'd been suspended (the word still put a bitter taste in his mouth) was that interesting as he looked to the new girl who had appeared. She was another one he didn't really recognise, for some reason. Shorter than Cassie, though, and with curly brown hair.
"Heh, is she always like that?"
He figured it would be a good way to start a conversation with Sara (though he didn't know this was her name), especially since he actually was curious about if Cassie always acted that way. If nothing else, it'd break the ice.
(OOC: Sorry it's not got much to it, writer's block.)
"Nah, she's just hammered. Believe it or not, she's even more fun when she's not drunk. I'm Sara, by the way," she told Marcus, offering her hand for him to shake.
Cassie made a beeline for Kelvin. "'ello, darlin'," she slurred, giving him a hug. "How are you?"
"Um... I'm fine, thank you," he replied, trying to back away. However, he was already in a corner, and Cassie was approaching fast. "How- how are you, er, Cassie?"
"Jus' great," was the reply. She checked again, and yes, the Narrative Laws of Comedy were definitely on her side. "How's 'bout I show you 'nother Chris'mas tradition?"
Kelvin was about to say that she hadn't shown him any yet anyway, but gulped as she looked up at the plant hanging above their heads and smiled at him.
"Kissin' under the mistletoe," she added, and proceeded to show him exactly what that entailed.
She sat down on the floor, not trusting her legs to hold her up as she, for the second time that night, shook uncontrollably with mirth.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry," she stuttered to Marcus between giggles. The other agent looked down at her bemusedly.
Despite saying this, Marcus was only slightly less amused than Sara was as he watched Cassie's display, taking his eyes off of her snogging the elf just long enough to take one of Sara's arms and try to pull her to her feet.
"I'm Marcus, by the way," he said, having not gotten the chance to introduce himself earlier. Meanwhile, the party continued around them, Agents dancing and bantering and drinking. Initial embarrassment aside, it seemed like going to the party had been the better idea after all. Still, it'd go on for a while yet he figured, so he might as well have fun and see how things happen.
Someone fairly tall and skinny, but with enough muscle to shove nearly everyone else out of her way. She brushed past Marcus and Sara, heading straight for Cassie, who was kissing the obviously bewildered Kelvin with more enthusiasm than she'd had at any other time this party.
Kelvin had no idea what to do. It hadn't been his idea, he would swear to that. And Cassie had come at him, he had no idea she was going to kiss him. But it was a tradition, she'd said so, and it wasn't polite to shove someone away, and it wasn't exactly unpleasant... but oh dear Eru Nat was coming towards them and she looked like she was about to rip someone apart. He hoped fervently it wasn't him.
Cassie had no idea what happened. One moment she was enjoying herself with a quick Christmas kiss (that had lasted well over twenty seconds already, but she had lost all time sense by now) and the next there was a sharp pain in her hair -her hair? - and she was lying on her back on the floor with Nat glaring down at her.
"All right, pal." The Welsh girl's voice was dangerously low. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
Sitting up with all the drunken dignity she could muster, Cassie replied, "I was jus' show'n him 'bout kissing un'er the mistl-"
"Scaring the poor lad to death is what you were doing!" Nat hissed. "Just look at him!"
Cassie obediently tried to focus, but the alcohol caught up with her eyesight, and a moment later, her consciousness. She promptly passed out.
Nat threw up her hands in disgust. "Brillant. Anyone got any Purple Stuff?"
Sara hauled herself up and staggered to the unconscious girl. She rummaged around in her pockets for a moment, producing a small bottle of Purple Stuff.
"H-h-here," she laughed, handing the bottle to Nat. She promptly sat down again, though her aim was a little off and she accidentally landed on Cassie, which set off a fresh laughing fit.
Zodfang had been attracted by the noise and Nat forcing her way through the crowd, leaving the group of agents around the grog for the moment and following her. Due to his sheer size, he had an easier time of this than Nat, easily able to see over the heads of many of the agents, and helped even more by violently shoving any agent that got too close/in the way/he felt like shoving. When he got there, he was greeted by the sight of Sara sitting on a very unconscious Cassie, with Nat, Marcus, and an Elf agent he didn't know anything of standing around them.
"I think it's kind of self explanatory, Zodfang," said Marcus, before moving forward and squatting down behind Sara. "C'mon, I think Cass might need to go to Medical, or at least she'll need that Purple Stuff."
Having said that, Marcus hooked his arms under Sara's, getting a hold just below her chest if she didn't resist. Standing up, he'd take a few slow steps back, trying to drag Sara off of Cassie while Zodfang moved forward to pick Cassie up, though holding back on it for the moment.
"Think you can stand up if I let you go, or are you just gonna fall over again?" Marcus asked Sara.
"Thank you," she said to Sara, before pouring the entire contents into Cassie's mouth and making sure she swallowed it.
The bespectacled Agent came round a few seconds later, looking far more sober. "What?" Her brain was trying to catch up, however, so she didn't sound all that coherent.
Kelvin looked nervously at the giant green... person... that had joined the minor scene of chaos. "I think she'll be all right now. Thanks for offering to help."
Nat waited until Cassie stopped blinking stupidly and focused on her, and then smacked her round the face. "You bloody-" *smack* "-stupid-" *smack* "-idiot!"
"Careful," said one of the others whom Nat didn't know yet. "You'll knock her out again."
"Oh, believe me, I'm just getting started," she gritted back. Cassie scrambled away.
"Hey, hey, I didn't hurt anyone, right?" She rubbed her cheek ruefully. "Okay, I probably deserved that, but still. Perspective."
"I'll give you bloody perspective." Nat hauled her upright. "Do you have any idea what you've been up to these past few minutes?"
Cassie paused, then reddened, then looked at the people surrounding her and turned a rather vivid shade of beetroot. "Oh no... please tell me I didn't... God, I am so, so sorry..." She buried her face in her hands, trying to hide the fact that she resembled an explosion in a red paint factory.
Kelvin edged away a little and decided to look to one of the others to reply first.
Sara winced sympathetically as Nat unleashed her wrath upon Cassie. Suddenly, it didn't seem all that funny anymore. She allowed Marcus to help her up and patted Cass on the back.
"Hey, you were smashed. Stuff happens," she told the other girl, then rounded on Nat. "Can you save the violence for later? Please? Here, look, chocolate." Sara waved a mint-flavoured bar in front of Nat's face, ready to run at the first sign of Nat's temper flaring up again.
and stepped back to give her some room to move. When Nat rounded on Cassie, Marcus found himself sighing, advising the tall woman to be careful lest she knock Cassie out again. Unlike his Ork partner, he didn't find the random display of violence appropriate, or even amusing, actually quite pointless. As if purely to provide a contrast, the Elf agent with them glanced curiously at Zodfang, who immediately grunted threateningly at the Elf as if saying "what, you wanna fight?". Regardless, when Sara spoke, Marcus nodded in agreement, though a bit red as Cassie started to realise what she had done.
"There's really no reason to hit her, you know. Unless you just enjoy smacking people around. I mean, really, this is a party, it's natural people will get a bit tipsy, and it's not like she did anything serious. There's no reason for anyone to be fighting in here, we do that enough on missions!" Marcus paused to chuckle a little, then continued. "Let's just take it easy for once, okay? Actually, I don't think I even know who either you or the Elf are, mind an introduction since we've already seemed to have gotten off on a bad start? Name's Marcus."
looked around sheepishly.
Kelvin attempted to hide behind Nat when the Ork grunted at him, but this move didn't work very well, as he still had several inches on her in height.
Nat turned to Sara and Marcus, looking slightly shamefaced. "I guess it's just leftover from the last mission, it was a bastard and we spent half of it trying to restrain her. Sorry about that." She ran one hand through her hair and eyed the chocolate Sara was waving. "Thanks, but I'm not a big fan of mint. I'm Nat, by the way." This last comment was to all three. She nudged Kelvin slightly and gave him a glance that said clearly, "For Eru's sake, just talk to them, they won't bite."
He edged from behind her, trying to make it look casual, and nodded at them faux-confidently. "I'm Celeb- Kelvin, sorry. I'm new here, so I don't know many people. Cassie introduced me to, um, Georgia and Kumori a while back, but-" He looked over at Cassie, but she was currently facing the opposite direction to them and trying to stop her face from going redder.
"Anyway," Nat cut in, "who are you lot, then?"
Sara stowed the chocolate in a pocket, smiling cheerfully. "'M Sara. My partner was also one of Cass's...victims...but I think it was good for him. This is Marcus and that's...well, I'm not actually quite sure," she finished, nodding towards Zodfang.
"C'mon, let's party. It's Christmas," Sara laughed, grabbing Cassie and Nat and propelling them before her into the festivities, winking at the others before disappearing into the throng of agents.
Knowing Zodfang would probably launch into some hot-blooded boasting session at the slightest prompt, Marcus chose to answer Sara before the Ork could, ignoring Zodfang's disgruntled scowl. Of course, that was for naught as the Ork spoke anyway.
"Dat's right, ya grots! I'm Zodfang, da biggest an' baddest Ag-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Nice to meet you all, now that we're not beating each other senseless." Marcus cut the Ork off sharply, but in a way that seemed more out of jest than malice. Before either of them could say something else, Sara laughed, said that they should party, and grabbed Cassie and Nat, running off into the throng of other agents.
This just left Kelvin with Marcus and Zodfang, who looked awfully tempted to reach over and throttle the Elf.
"'E doesn't look 'ard 'nuff to be an Agent..." Zodfang mused, only for Marcus to roll his eyes in response.
"Leave the man alone, Zodfang. He's probably a rookie. Come on, let's go enjoy the party." Marcus said, but looking to Kelvin for a second before turning around to join the other partygoers. "Don't let this place break you, it's not as bad as they all say."
With that, he walked off, though Zodfang feinted at Kelvin for a second before laughing in his face and going off to bother somebody else.
as Zodfang lunged towards him, then breathed a sigh of relief as the... whatever he was... walked off. He looked around for a moment, trying to spot someone he knew, then gave up and hurried after Marcus.
"Um, I'm sorry, did you say 'don't let this place break you'? Why would it? And what do they all say about it being bad?"
***
Meanwhile, Nat and Cassie were mumbling apologies at each other and not making eye contact.
"S'ry got drunk."
"S'ry hit you."
"Won't do 't again."
"Good."
They looked at each other and grinned, tension gone.
"Party?" Cassie asked. Nat nodded.
"Party."
They joined Sara, both looking as though the whole thing had never happened. Except, of course, for the spreading bruise on Cassie's left cheekbone.
"Be right back."
She disappeared into the crowd, returning moments later dragging a protesting Zach. She shoved him towards Nat and Cassie.
"Help him have fun, will you?" she asked, then disappeared again. Zach stood where she had left him, blushing bright red and glancing warily at Cassie.
"Um...hi."
Nat stepped forwards. "Hello. I'm Nat. Cassie apologises for her behaviour earlier. She was very drunk, but she's sobered up now."
Cassie nodded, face flaming again. She stepped up to join Nat. "So... er... wanna dance? With both of us, I mean, not just me, I don't wanna get you on your own... oh God, I didn't mean it like that, I'm sure you're really nice, really, but I didn't mean to do that earlier, you were just in the right place at the right time, dammit I didn't mean that like that-" Nat cut her babbling off by covering her mouth gently.
"Sorry," she said to Zach. "As you can see, she's feeling a bit silly about what happened. Dance?" She tugged him towards the dance floor. Cassie trailed behind, feeling like a prize idiot.
"I, uh, I really don't..."
Despite his protests of having two left feet and babbled stories about his clumsiness, Zach found himself dragged onto the dance floor.
"Why does this always happen to me?" he asked no one in particular, noticing idly that Nat was about his height and was awful pretty, and hey, he was kinda enjoying dancing and...
"Sara! What did you put in my drink?!"
"Nothing!" his partner caroled from somewhere in the crowd, and he would have facepalmed if his hands had not been otherwise engaged with his dance partner.
"She knows I'm a total lightweight..." he grumbled, allowing himself to be led on by Nat.
Nat was actually having quite a good time. It had been quite a while since she'd dragged anyone out to dance- nearly two years, in fact... but she wasn't going to go there now. Notgoingnotgoingnotgoing... Not. Going.
She took a deep breath, blinked hard, and grinned at Zach. "Oi, we're leaving Cass out." She grabbed her partner's hand and dragged her in to make a kind-of circle.
Cassie glanced at Zach, offered him a sheepish smile and took his free hand. A few moments later she was jumping around more or less in time with the beat of the music, singing along and grinning.
Next to her, Nat was doing the same, though her grin seemed just a little forced.
...Zach was no longer annoyed at his partner for having spiked his drink. In fact, he was having a fantastic time. He noticed Nat seemed a bit forced in her cheer, though, and so did the only thing his loopy brain could think of. He let go of her hand for a moment, then poked her in the side.
"You. Cheer. Happy. Yay?" he chuckled, amused by his own inability to speak in complete sentences.
Zach found himself nearly speechless as he was guided by the tall Elf. He felt downright oafish next to her, though he knew it was due to her Elvish grace and the other nifty things that Tolkien had done with that particular race.
"I really don't dance..." he mumbled, blushing redder, ironically enough feeling just like Cassie.
"You, kiddo, are going straight back to our RC to sleep this off," Kumori growled at her partner. As amusing as watching Cassie make a fool of herself was, and it was very amusing indeed, she did not apprieciate her underage partner getting drunk.
"Don't worry, Mori-chan~" Georgia sang happily, "Purple-purple makes the bad-bad go bye-bye! Sayonara, Mura-mura-chan!"
Kumori smacked her around the back of the head, "Don't speak like that here, they'll think you're a fangirl! And what have you been drinking, that didn't sound like Sparrow at all!"
...his way through the crowd, dancing with a few people and exchanging idle banter with others, especially old friends (and one or two former partners) who he ran into. Once he had given himself time to unwind, he was really starting to enjoy himself, though unlike many others in the room he hadn't sampled any holiday "spirit", having had a strong distaste for alcohol ever since he ended up rat-arse drunk on the floor of HQ and drafted in as an Agent. He was having fun, though, and he supposed that was what mattered.
He hadn't known Kelvin was following him, though, so the Elf's voice grabbed his attention as he continued to walk, trying to focus on not plowing through people while answering the nervous Elf's rapid-fire questions.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I did. It's just that the PPC has a tendency to drive its Agents batshit crazy after a while, y'know? Some dangerously so, but we usually put them in FicPsych or just kick 'em out. Um...that's pretty much what they do say, mostly the 'all PPCers are nuts' thing and that HQ and Upstairs are out to get us. It's not that bad, really, eventually you even get used to having to kill Sues all the time."
He kept walking after saying this, drawing his attention away from Kelvin for a second, but seemed to remember something and thought better of it. "Oh, and sorry about Zodfang. He's an Ork, they're all like that, and I don't think he can really help it. It's what happens when you put someone from Warha-oh, sorry!"
He had been cut off, and then apologised, because just as he had started to finish explaining Zodfang's situation, he ran straight into agent Kumori, staggering back and shaking his head after firing off an apology. The agent he ran into didn't seem to be in any bad shape from it, but he thought he should say something.
"Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention. You're all right, I'd assume?"
The green haired woman spun around to glare at the man who'd bumped into her. "Watch where you're going!" She was fine, of course, and the stranger did seem appropriately apologetic but it was the principle of the thing. People who bumped into her got told off, no excuses. Her glare softened when she noticed the elf behind Marcus. "Oh, hello, Kelvin. You lose the girls, then?"
Georgia had long since taken advantage of this distraction and sprinted away from her older partner, determined to lose her in the crowd. If she was extermely lucky, Kelvin and Marcus would be enough of a distraction that Kumori would forget about her and her inebriation for at least another half hour.
He gestured towards the man he'd just been following. "I met Marcus, and he's been telling me a few things about the PPC that I didn't know."
He glanced at Georgia, who was rapidly vanishing into the crowd, but decided not to mention anything, and waited to see if he should stay with Kumori, or Marcus, or leave the area quickly.
"Yeah, I should have, I just looked away for a second and there you were."
It would apparently be left at that, as Kumori's glare softened and she greeted Kelvin. Kelvin made his own reply, telling Kumori about how he had met Marcus and was learning things about the PPC, and at that time Marcus noticed that Georgia had apparently left. Having assumed that Kumori probably noticed it already, Marcus thought he'd wait a second to say anything.
"Yeah, he's a bit of a rookie it seems, though I dunno how many missions he's had. Was just telling him about how HQ isn't as bad a place as everyone says."
Kumori muttered dryly, reflecting on the fact that her and Kelvin's situations weren't that different. "Nat and Cassie just recruited him apparently, Georgia told me all about it. You having fun, Kelvin?" She grinned suddenly. "Suprise kisses aside?" Kumori suddenly realised that she hadn't introduced herself to the stranger yet. "By the way, I'm Kumori Tenki, Department of Floaters. Don't comment on the name if you understand Japanese, don't ask if you don't. You are?"
...of Kumori's name. However, he had enough tact to follow her request and not bring it up, as much as he was tempted to make a snarky comment. He found himself half-wondering what had possessed her parents to give her such an odd name, but no matter. He couldn't leave her hanging after requesting his name.
"Marcus Langston, also Department of Floaters. Odd, I don't think we've met before but I've been an agent for a long time. Ah well, Response Centre's 5593, it's a bit out of the way, that's probably why. Still, pleasure you meet you, Kumori, just hope next time it's not by literally running into you." Marcus smirked a little at the Elf after saying this, "Yeah, I bet you're having fun, eh?"
A wink and a quick nudge of the elbow were given to Kelvin, Marcus unable to resist teasing him a little. All in good fun, of course.
He felt a little annoyed at being discussed as if he wasn't there, but decided to let it go- they were more experienced, after all, and he certainly wasn't an authority on the way the PPC worked.
"I've been having... fun, yes," he replied, turning a little pink.
OOC: Didn't mean for the entire last part of it to be italicised, sorry. Some kind of glitch?
Deryn paused from trying to surreptitiously sneak some of the Bleep-products into her bag to stare aghast at the boombox. "What- who thinks a boombox is appropriate for music around Christmas?" she spluttered. "What happened to everyone, you know, getting together and singing- off-key, sometimes, I'll grant, but- singing carols?"
"What about CDs?" Leas asked, reaching into his bag.
Deryn waved a hand. "Background music for when the conversation falters, and if you sing along, mostly you're going to be loud-" She stopped when Leas pushed a board and attachable beard into her hands. "Um?"
Leas smiled. "The human touch, right?" he said, pulling out a hat for himself.
Deryn put the board down for a moment to put the beard on, the picked the board up again and gave it an experimental wobble. "I'm not sure about this…"
"I don't think it uses the wobble board much, so you should be fine there," Leas said. "Now, note… hmm…" Deryn joined him after a moment, and they hummed together for a little while. "All right, got it?"
"Got it," Deryn said, giving the board another wobble. She took a deep breath. She could do this.
"And a one, a two, a one two three and-"
"Early on one Christmas morn a joey kangaroo
Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo
'Mummy… where's my mummy? They've taken her away.'"
"'We'll help you find you mummy, son. Hop up on the sleigh'," Leas sang for the deeper part, then lightened up a little as Deryn joined him for the rest of the narration.
"Up beside the bag of toys little joey hopped,
But they hadn't gone far when Santa stopped
Unharnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why
Then he heard a far off booming in the sky."
The two stopped to glance at the boombox, then shrugged at each other and went on, Deryn trying out the wobble board.
"Six white boomers, snow white boomers!
Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun!
Six white boomers, snow white boomers!
On his Australian run!"
She giggled and sauntered over, still on a sugar high. "What song is that?" she asked.
In a remote corner, Lori Starrett and Bill Fallis were snogging under the mistletoe.
...a youngish-looking man with slightly pointed ears and long dark hair.
"Heya!" Cassie yelled, bouncing over to Ansela cheerfully and producing a very large amount of chocolate. "Merry Christmas! Isn't this great? How are you?" Without waiting for a reply she dashed off to greet everyone else.
Nat strolled over with the stranger. "Sorry about her, she's had about half that supply of chocolate already. This is Kelvin, by the way." The Elf nodded, smiling uncertainly. "He's our new partner. Cassie's been trying to explain to him about Chritmas, but I think she just got him more confused."
Kelvin nodded. "Hopefully someone will be able to explain it to me before the end of the day." He smiled again, looking around. "So, now what?"
"Hi! Merry Christmas, everyone!" She rushed over to greet the first people she saw, who were in this case Nat and Kelvin. "Did we miss much? How are you?"
Kumori walked more sedately after Georgia and rolled her eyes at her partner's excited behaviour. "It's just Christmas, Georgia."
"Just Christmas? Just Christmas?" Georgia gaped at Kumori. "How could you say such a thing?"
"Hello, you two. I'm fine, thanks." She looked sympathetically at Kumori.
Kelvin offered them a shy grin. "Hello. I'm doing well, thank you." He was trying out some of the various nibbles on offer.
Nat eyed Georgia warily. "Maybe you should go and find Cassie, she'll be enthusiastic with you if you like."
"So long as someone's got the Christmas spirit." That said, she walked over to where she had spotted Cassie, waving enthusiastically and grinning.
Kumori sighed. "I'm just glad I was able to talk her out of wearing her Santa outfit. With her hair she would have looked like a human firecracker." She joined Kelvin at the buffet and tossed a caramel into her mouth. "Of course, then she tried to get me to wear it... No way."
"Santa? Is that part of Christmas, then?"
Nat resisted the urge to facepalm. "When we get back to the RC I'm hacking into World One's internet and Googling Christmas for you."
He looked completely blank. Nat's techno-talk had gone completely over his head. He looked to Kumori for help.
Meanwhile, excited squeeing from the other side of the room indicated that Georgia and Cassie had made contact.
"Research on Christmas, that is. Like, from a book only... not..."
On the other side of the room, Georgia gave Cassie a quick hug. "Merry Christmas! How are you? Did you get any presents? Did you give anyone anything? Are you having fun? It's Christmas!"
"I'm great, thanks. I haven't got any yet, and I've just given a general group present of chocolate for everyone. And yeah, I'm having fun all right!" She grinned and produced a bottle of rhum*. "Want some?"
Back over by the calm end of the room, Kelvin nodded. "That would be on the Console, then?"
Nat sighed. "Yes. Now let's try celebrating, eh?" She snagged a Sonic Screwdriver and looked enquiringly over at Kumori. "What do you fancy?"
*Yes, that is spelled correctly.
"Is it alcoholic? We can't tell Kumori is it's alcoholic. Otherwise, sure!" She grabbed herself a glass.
Back over with Nat and Kelvin, Kumori wrinkled her nose. "I don't drink... Have they got anything non-alco- ah, they do!" She poured herself a glass of lemonade and smiled half-heartedly at Nat. "So what have you and your lot been up to?"
"The most horrible mission, lately. I don't know when the report's coming out, but it was just... awful."
Kelvin nodded fervently. "Cassie went berserk. And as for what she did to the Sue..." He shuddered. "I don't want to talk about it."
Nat agreed. "A nasty one, that was." She fell silent for a second, then perked up. "Anyway. How about you, Kumori? Anything interesting happened lately?"
***
Cassie grinned and took a swig of rhum. "It's not that alcoholic, mate," she said, slurring her words slightly. " But it does have this very interesting little side effect you may have noticed, namely that of making you talk like ol' Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"
"She couldn't have been worse than the Sue we just finished up dealing with. X/1999 'fic with the Sue after Kamui. She used the sister-as-a-plot-device three seperate times and beat up Fuuma without breaking a sweat. One of the sisters wasn't so bad though, nothing too 'Sueish by CLAMP standards and just a plot device really, so we rescued her but..." Kumori made a complicated hand guesture above her head, possibly meant to show how annoyed she was by the mission or maybe how annoying the rescued character was. "Morbid little kid, lemme tell ya. But it's over now, at least."
***
Georgia had a tenative sip of her rhum. "Aye, mate. Gotcha."
...and nodded sympathetically. "That does sound pretty bad." He looked around. "I wonder where everyone else is. I'm sure there were more Agents than this..."
He was cut off as Cassie began to sing, very loudly and ever-so-slightly off-key.
"Joy to the world, the 'Sue 's dead, 'n' Canon is restored..."
The Elf winced. "What in Arda is that?"
"and the Canon shall reign forever more. Let Fandom and Canon sing~ Let Fandom and Canon sing! Let Fandom, and Canon, and Canon sing~!"
Kumori's mouth dropped open. "What the hell is she doing now?"
"Joy to the world! The Sue 's dead! No more glitter in the reservoir!"
"Come an' join in, mates!" With that, she launched into another song, although she stopped every few words to quibble over them with Georgia.
Nat shook her head. "Well, at least she's happy. Maybe Georgia can keep her distracted long enough to stop her having flashbacks."
"Or... drunk... enough, maybe," Kelvin added, although he had just found some Elven wine and was sipping appreciatively.
Kumori mused, "I wouldn't put this past her sober." She took another sip of lemonade.
Georgia happily sung at the top of her lungs, occasionally singing the same lyrics as Cassie through sheer dumb luck, while making words up to suit her favourite carols as she went along. "Suevian yells! Suevian yells! Sue's yellling all day! Stick a dagger in their throats and drag them the rest of the way, hey!"
"Oh, good Lord," Kumori muttered under her breath.
Kelvin and Nat were busy trying to ignore them and make conversation with Kumori. However, this became much more difficult when Cassie found a CD player and a whole boxful of Christmas CDs. She put the first one on, and the sound of Live Aid filled the room- at full volume.
The tipsy young woman then proceeded to drag everyone she could onto the dance floor.
One moment she was talking with her partner about the proper amount of sugar that should be ingested, the next she was dragged onto the dance floor by a very tipsy Cassie.
"I...uh...meh, whatever."
A few seconds later Sara was singing Christmas carols at the top of her lungs, a bottle of Rhum in one hand.
"Where's your partner then, mate?" She looked around and spotted Zach nearby. "Never mind." Wobbling over to Sara's partner, she gave the young man a huge grin. "So, how's you?"
She glanced up at the mistletoe that just happened to be right above them. "Christmas kiss then? 'Tis the season and all that?" Without waiting for a reply, she leaned over and gave him a rather enthusiastic kiss.
And then suddenly found himself kissing Cassie just as enthusiastically.
"'Ello, poppet," he mumbled when they broke apart, his cheeks still flaming red.
"'ello to you too, mate."
She patted him on the cheek, aiming carefully so as not to accidentally slap him. "Merry Christmas." She wandered off aimlessly around the room.
Sara thwapped him on the shoulder, unable to speak through laughter.
"Oh, shut up," the taller Agent muttered, and moved off to find some Bleepka. Sara slumped against a wall, shaking silently with mirth.
as Cassie dragged her to the middle of the dance floor and let her go to seek another victim. Dancing wasn't one of Ansela's favourite activities, but she could do it, as long as the people around her didn't mind crushed toes and black eyes anyway.
Bumping into someone, Ansela turned to apologise, only to falter at the amused look on their face. Tracking their gaze upwards, she noticed the mistletoe hanging above their heads...
Being abruptly yanked onto the floor didn't really do much to encourage him to start, especially with his partner in a snit. He turned, looking for her, and bumped into someone. Probably because he hadn't been looking right- up, and even if it was Christmas no one was going to teach her to fly, so- what was that on the ceiling?
He glanced at the person he'd bumped into, then back up at the mistletoe, then down again. "Oh, dear," he said. "Um, is it okay…?"
(Sorry if it's not okay. I just didn't like it dangling like that.)
((Hope it's ok that I borrowed it. Sorry.))
((Though Oozaru twisted the words a little. ;]))
Christianne started piling her platter with food and drink, particularly the alcoholic type. Eledhwen, having filled herself up with chocolate and was thus on a sugar high (if that was ever possible for an Elf) was trying to twist the words to a popular Christmas song to suit her own needs.
"Frak the halls with Laura Roslin, falalalalalalala!"
Lori rolled her eyes, muttering something that sounded like "She's lost her frakking mind. I don't think Elves would sing that."
"We're last on the list to have Christmas," explained Scientist Lori as she strode in on her husband (and lab partner) Bill's arm. "It's three hours away."
"But we don't give a frak about that!" added Agent Eledhwen cheerfully. So much for elven poise.
Lori rolled her eyes. "Next time, I am never going to let those two anywhere near Battlestar Galatica..." she muttered.
"Heard there was a party goin' on," Zach remarked, snagging some food.
"'Course, it's not even Christmas yet, but that doesn't mean we can't party," Sara grinned, setting a basket of small wrapped parcels under the tree. "Help y'selves."
Tawaki, Tadkeeta, Dustin, Five of Six, and K-9 emerged. K-9 was trying to sing "O Holy Night" in the original French, with about as much success as a certain canonical K-9 had had with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".
"Merry Christmas," said Tadkeeta.
"Mind the wings," Five reminded Dustin.
"MER-RY CHRIST-MAS" said Agent Omicron, entering the room.
"Wait," said Agent Tasha. "Don't Daleks only say that in that really bad Christmas song?"
The Agent and the Disentangler came in, with a boombox blaring "Song for Ten".
Snatching up a bar of bleepolate, she munched as she looked around, snickering at the sight of the tree angel and waved to Ansela as a few other agents began to trickle in. "Your idea, I take it?"
and it seemed like a good idea." She glanced over at the tree, where the angel was attempting to remove a gag from his mouth. "Just don't ask about the tree."