Goin' to the Chapel! (open: partygoers)

"Nachton is all about the hip clubs and murders. Highest per capita!"

She was pleased Lothias wasn't the jealous type, but then it had been a while since she had been with a man who did get insanely jealous with her sexual familiarity with people. He just smiled sheepishly at her and was her comfy big bad wolf.

Mentally she winced at the thought but then moved on.

"I'm so happy to see you!!!" Carol sang, rather off key and proud of it. "Have you seen Nova anywhere? Or Kyle? I haven't seen the former in for-ev-er and the latter in months. It's not like Kyle to be all undercover and not involved in an explosion of some sort."

Carol held her hand up to her mouth and 'ooh!'. "God if he shows up, I bet you money something blows up."

Frowning in thought, Jan considered the cemetery a few moments before replying.

"Well, you know how much advertising do they really need? They deal in dead guys. Crazy Eddie's half off burial sale! Its insane!! These plots won't last long so bump off Gran while you can!"

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully about the rest of Lothias' statement.

"I don't know though. I guess there are so many places in Nachton that are said to be haunted that this one doesn't get much press. Its all expected and such."

Carol mentioned the crime in their fair city and Jan felt compelled to defend his urban playground.

"Now, now. Don't you believe the media. Nachton is a perfectly safe place. Wonderful for raising kids, lovely educational system. Its just oozing family values."

Jan grinned wickedly at the both of them, not believing a word he had said. It was a big city and like all of those, crime was a staple. Never boring though; he had to admit that.

"Its great to see you again too. I've missed all the juicy info without you around to tell me what's what." He thought about his sister, Nova for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "Nova was visiting her relatives out west. I guess she's still out that way. I haven't seen Kyle in ages though."

Jan was amused at the thought of Kyle and Nova and how much of an odd couple they were. It had always seemed to him that they would either kill each other or were perfect together. He laughed out loud at Carol's mention of Kyle being involved in something that would end in an explosion. So true.

"You've got a point. I'll keep my eye out for him from the stage. If he shows up. I'll let you know so you can duck and cover."

Thérèse shook her head slightly. No, it was too early to eat. It was probably a terrible habit, ingrained from one too many hunts but even at a party it was her habit to circle the room one or twice to determine what exactly was going on.

"We shall improvise."Â?

Slowly trailing along in Vaughn's wake she noticed the other costumes. Part of her hoped to see Nikhila here tonight, but that was a slim hope. The professor tended to be retiring. Rather than dwelling on who she hoped wouldn't be there she noticed the costumes. It was an odd mix, as with any party. Some where quite outlandish or revealing, some more subtle and some even appeared to have no costume.

As she caught up with Vaughn it was impossible not to notice the woman's dog. Very well trained, and apparently protective. She frowned when the dog took the sheep with out any prompting. It was odd. Thérèse attempted to dismiss it. It was probably had an excellent and logical explanation.

"He's very intelligent isn't he?"Â?

She'd almost made a comment about being well trained but at the last second changed her mind.

"I suppose that depends on your definition of wasted. We may not eat any of it, but we can certainly make sure it isn't wasted."

Artemis gave Pak a devilish grin and a wink. Using his height as an advantage, he proceeded to look around the room. Several groups had already begun forming, as partygoers met up and started various conversations. He noted the band and paused for moment to listen to the music. They had a nice sound. He hadn't realized that he was nodding his head slightly to the rhythm until the moratorium on dancing was mentioned.

"What if I promise to keep the moves to the last 5-10 years? And of course, no scuffing."

He had barely gotten the last word out, before he was being hauled through the masses. It took some effort, considering the height difference, for him not to look like a gangley freak stumbling along behind her. Or, like he was completely whipped. To further add to the confusion and discomfort, he wasn't quite sure if he should tip his hat at the innocent bystanders as this disfunctional two person train railroaded past them.

"Excuse me."

"Pardon me."

"Top of the evening to you"

"Ah, wine. Thank you"

When they had finally come to a stop, Artemis took a moment to look behind them to make sure the carnage wasn't too bad. As he did so, he spotted an attractive blond charging toward the singer as he exited the stage. It was hard not to cringe at what could be inevitable. That could be painful. Not waiting to see the final collision, he turned and handed Pak one of the glasses of red wine procured from what he hoped was a waiter. Hearing the familiar voice greet him, he looked up from his date and smiled.

"Yes, it was difficult. But, some shows are best seen live"

Reluctantly, Artemis let go of Pak's hand so that he could shake Jin's in greeting.

"Who is you lovely friend?"

Artemis wasn't sure if it was his height, his hat, or the manor of his arrival that made the lady uncomfortable, but it was hard to miss her moving away from him. In an effort to put her more at ease, he took a step back to give her some space and then smiled politely. Sometimes, big tall Romans in top hats require getting used to.

"Would you like this glass of wine Mara? I can always brave the gauntlet again to find one for Jin and myself."

"That rules out the moonwalk and the hustle... where does the macarena fit in that time line?"Â?

It might be nice to actually dance. Looking up at him Pak threw caution to the wind.

"So long as I get veto power if you try and line dance or something, I think we can manage something."Â?

Of course she couldn't remember how long it had been since she had danced and there was a good chance Pak would wind up looking like an idiot but too late now, besides, she didn't need her pride.

It had totally slipped Pak's mined that she fit in much smaller spaces than Artemis. Once she realized that she looked up at him a little chagrined. She'd work on that.

Absently, Pak half positioned herself between her date and her friend before grinning in response. She and Mara had never actually been seen out and about together, but this was just a coincidence so there was nothing wrong with it.

"He is trying to eat my fish."Â?

She said somewhat dismayed. It didn't seem to mater where she moved the beta to, Mongkut seemed to find it.

"Jin. Love the ears."Â?

Absently Pak reclaimed Artemis' hand. It wasn't like she was going to lose him in the crowd, even without the hat, but she did.

"Sorry. Mara Artemis, Artemis Mara. She's a friend of mine and... he is... well..."Â?

Pak looked a bit flustered, after all, it hadn't been that long ago that Mara asked Pak a relatively direct question about why she was single and her only answer had been 'its complicated'. Well, meet the complication.

Jin listened the conversation between Pak and Mara. Apparently there was a something named Mongkut, a boy something given the name. It was hopefully growing up fierce and strong or something like that. Whatever it was likes fish. Jin figured the something was a cat or a small child.

He gave Pakpao a little bow in response to her compliment.

"Yes, in lieu of the pink dress with tiny flowers I thought I would make a more subtle fashion statement tonight."

Once Artemis arrived bearing wine, Mara took a step backwards. Jin tilted himself towards his companion and placed a comforting hand on her upper arm. He did not want to be overly familiar or to make her think he was holding onto her but it was a gesture to let her know that he was here for her and that everything would be okay.

Leaning towards her, he whispered softly, knowing the others could hear.

"I believe Artemis was feeling a little self conscious about his lack of height. Its a shame really. We all keep telling him that its sparkling personality that we all adore so."

He smiled at his tall friend who was doing his best to be less intimidating by taking a step back and offering to get some more wine for everyone.

"Has anyone seen Aishe?"

Jin peered turned to look behind him and then peered around Artemis and Pak.

"I can get the drinks this time if you like but if you're intent on wading through the crowd again a glass would be wonderful."

"He is a cat," Mara pointed out gently to Pak. "I would worry if he wasn't interested in fish."

As she said it, her own cat's eyes took on a slightly predatory gleam even behind the contacts she wore and she smiled knowingly.

Jin's hand on her arm was, to her, tacit permission to touch. So she wrapped her hands around Jin's arm in return and drew closer to Artemis as Pak introduced him, remaining close to her escort's side.

"It's nice to meet you Artemis. Pak has spoken about you." The gleam behind her eyes faded rapidly to something a little more Mara, a little mischievous, and she stepped out from behind Jin slightly to offer her hand before regaining her place.

Mara was horrible at events like this. She hated them, but Amir had wanted her to come. She did her best to focus on being observant instead of being high-maintenance. Shaking her head at the offer of a drink, she said, "No thank you."

She glanced around when Jin mentioned Aishe's name. Was Aishe supposed to be here? That would be terrible. With Aishe came Kiamhaat and that would make her night difficult, indeed. She looked to Pak and raised her eyebrows. Pak would surely know whether or not the couple had planned to be here.

((ooc: permission to glomp onto Jin))

Sorcha smiled at Amir's words and understood the frustration of sometimes being unable to express one's self the way that you would like.

[I sympathize with your plight. It is alright. I'm sure we could get ourselves into plenty of mischief with people we don't know just as easily.]

She was about to wander more around the room when a gentleman walked up with her stuffed lamb and crook. Oops! Sorcha had totally forgotten those accessories that she had brought. Ah well it had served as an aid in meeting someone.

As Sorcha was signing a thank you, Amir had moved protectively in front of her and took the plush toy from the man's hands. She smiled graciously and held up a hand. Getting out a pad and pen that she always kept on her, Sorcha flipped to the first of the book. The first page had written:

I cannot speak but I can hear you.

She then flipped a few pages over to another and held it up.

Thank you

Turning to the woman who arrived just after the man, Sorcha smiled. Finding a blank piece of paper in the pad, she wrote.

Yes, he is. Very intelligent and quite well trained.

She then sent to Amir telling him what she wrote since the pad was above his head.

Vaughn was a bit taken back by the canine who took the stuffed toy without prompting. The woman did not appear to be injured in any way so it seemed unlikely to be something he needed to be trained to do. Then again, perhaps it was simply his toy and he wanted it back and thought Vaughn was handing it to him.

He smiled at the animal who looked like some German Shepherd mixed with something, fox maybe? If his colouring were different Vaughn would have said the animal before him was a jackal. The ears and size were just right but the colouring was completely wrong. Had to be a mix, was smart like a mixed dog as well. Most time breeding for cosmetic traits took the intelligence right out of an animal.

Seeing the woman's thank you sign, he signed by "You're welcome". Both gestures were part of the few that he knew from the American sign language and with the use of it he had exhausted that means of communication. He hoped she didn't take it to mean that he would understand much more.

Reading her note, Vaughn realized she wasn't deaf. That made it somewhat easier to converse. Smiling, he gestured to Therese and himself.

"It is good to meet you. I am Vaughn and this is Therese."

Vaughn turned and gave Therese a friendly smile, reaching an arm out to her in invitation.

It took a second longer than it might have and out of habit Thérèse did read what had been written twice. She remembered a time when it would have been quite difficult to deal with both the writing and the English.

Careful of her dress, had she mentioned that she loved this gown, Thérèse knelt down to the dog's level and offered him her hand. It seemed rude to simply pet him without either his permission or the woman's.

Even though the woman wasn't deaf Thérèse still had to assume he was a service animal of some kind, but there was no harness, no real indication that he was working. Well, perhaps she was wrong or perhaps he didn't require it, or perhaps the woman had made a substantial donation to the right people and a blind eye was turned. The possiblities were endless.

"I'd imagine he must be well mannered to be out in this press. What is his name?"Â?

Rising to her feet she again resumed her hold on Vaughn's arm. It had been very easy to get used to that. And certainly if he didn't mind she wasn't about to complain.

With a cheerful smile she inclined her head as Vaughn introduced them.

"Bonsoir, it is a pleasure to meet you both."Â?

Artemis was sure he had a perplexed and confused look upon his face. What was a Mongkut? It had only been a short time since his return to Nochton. There had not been time for the long talk with Pak that was inevitably coming. Apparently, he wasn't the only one with stories to tell. Thanks to the insight provided by Mara, Artemis was relieved to learn that a Mongkut was in fact a cat. Cats he could deal with. One just had to sit an wait until they were ready to talk. Or simply leave a message and come back later.

Artemis smiled as he listened to the introductions. He could understand why it would be difficult to explain their relationship to others. He wasn't entirely sure himself. He hoped it was somewhere between friend and slightly more than friend.

"It is nice to meet you as well Mara. I hope you are enjoying the party."

Turning to Jin, he eyed the extra pair ears on the man's head. No words were necessary. The amusement in Artemis's expression gave his thoughts away. If only he had been able to install a miniature camera inside the toy mouse in his pocket. Alfarinn would never believe this.

"I have plenty of personality. It's just I promised Pak that I would at least make attempts at behaving. I am doing well so far. Nothing has exploded, no alarms have gone off, and there are no sirens."

Artemis handed Jin the glass of wine that Mara declined.

"Here, please take this one. I shall brave the masses once more."

In a show a great gallantry, while holding his hat in place, he bowed to Pak and placed a gentle kiss on her hand.

"Wait for me"

With a deep breath, he prepared to wade back through all of the people he had trampled earlier. All in the name of wine and friendship. Fortunately, he saw the waiter coming before he actually tripped the boy. Taking a glass as the young man walked by, he returned his attention to his companions and shrugged.

"Knightly chivalry only works if the servers play along."

Mongkut's identity was solved and Jin was amused. He was never a big fan of fish really. It was alright but it was hardly a delicacy that he would ever go wild over. Now a fast moving deer...that was a different story.

Speaking of felines, Jin's arm had now been thoroughly confiscated just like a cat with a ball of yarn. He turned his attention to Mara and gave her a warm smile as she moved closer to the conversation again.

"Thank you, Sir."

He took the wine from Artemis and watched his friend's grand display of gallantry as he set forth to brave the crowd once more. The waiter made a timely appearance and such courage turned out to not be necessary after all.

Jin held up a hand to the man with the tray as he passed by. Turning to Mara, he said.

"Are you sure you don't want one? Would something else be better?"

((OOC: Glomp away! He'd never turn down the chance to be clung to by a pretty cat girl. ))

"But I like my fish. I don't want him eaten."Â? Pak paused for a second, "by any one."Â?

She added meaningfully to Mara. She could take the beta down to her office, but that would have been admitting defeat. Well if Mongkut took trying to eat the fish as a challenge Pak took trying to keep him from being eaten as a one and she wasn't about to lose to a a kitten.

"Well I can see where you'd want to keep the dress for a truly special occasion and it certainly doesn't seem to fit the ambiance."Â?

With a less than delicate snort Pak rolled her eyes.

"I know, I know I'm demanding but I thought we try an outing with some semblance of normalcy, just to see what it is like."Â?

They had yet to manage that after all. They'd had scary people interrupt them, bad dancing, smashing conversations about making new vampires and disappearing acts. Normal was actually a shocking change.

Understanding Mara's concern immediately Pak shook her head.

"I don't she'll be here. Last I heard she wasn't planning on it."Â?

She would have alerted Mara to Kem's appearance or possible appearance much sooner if they were planning on making an appearance.

Distracted from her job as look out Pak smiled almost shyly at his excessive show of gallantry. She wished for a white handkerchief to wave delicately.

"Be safe."Â?

She hoped the crowd would forgive him, after all she'd been the one driving last time. Luckily for all involved it turned out to be less of an ordeal than thought. Pak giggled at the expedition turned non-event.

"It is the thought that counts. You get an A for effort."Â?

Carol squeed at Jan, still so happy to see him, and she grabbed his arm and hugged it tightly.

"Well ok. I suppose you probably have to get back to your awesome singing. You know what would be so awesomesauce? If you sang at our wedding!"

Lothias began to choke on a drink he had snagged from a passing waiter. She stuck her tongue out at him as his face turned red.

"He's marrying me and he knows it. I don't know why he's surprised." Carol shook her head sadly at her man.

LT felt himself smile at Jan's sarcastic humor. He seemed like a nice kid and his music was interesting. The array of people that Carol seemed to know was literally from one end to the other, but then that was Carol's personality. She was a happy golden retriever who loved everyone on sight.

A waiter slowly passed by with a tray of drinks and LT reached out and grabbed two flutes of champagne. He was just tipping his glass back and taking a healthy gulp when Carol asked Jan to sing at their wedding - which was fine, he just hadn't asked her yet, much less talked about marriage.

His eyes grew wide and he inhaled the healthy swill of expensive champagne and began to choke on it. Carol's matter-of-fact admonishing only made him laugh while trying not to drown on the three hundred dollars a bottle champagne.

Covering his mouth with the wrist of the hand holding his glass, he held out Carol's glass. She took it and sipped delicately from the flute.

"You should really wait," cough, sputter, "until I ask you to marry me," more coughing, "first, babe." With a final clearing of his throat, he barely caught Carol jumping onto him from Jan, wrapping her arms around his neck and dangling.

"You're going to ask me? Wait, where's my ring??" she demanded with an incredulous look.

Twisting so he could see Jan, LT nodded to the young man and smiled. "Very nice meeting you, Jan."

Jan chuckled at Carol's happy squee and gladly returned the extra hug. He nodded and was about to lament that, yes, they had paid him to sing so he probably should get back to it. However, Carol then suggested that he sing at her wedding and Jan was afraid poor Lothias was going to choke on his champagne and need first aid.

"Just say the word and I would be happy to. Might be better if he actually gets to ask though."

He winked at the blonde and gave her companion a return nod.

"It was nice to meet you. You guys have fun. I will keep a look out for trouble from the stage."

Jan doubted there would be trouble but who knows anything could happen.

Viv kept her hands to herself, which said a lot considering.

Brig seemed to be enjoying himself, escorting Viv into the chapel area and staying nearby, although not as attentive or affectionate as he usually can be. No, tonight they played their parts - out of place brown girl and seductively charming tall drink of water. Viv ignored the fifth female who just so happened to innocently cross paths and give him their number after flirty smiles and stupidly delivered flirtatious quips. Raising her eyebrows, Viv closed her eyes and sighed as she moved away from him to finish his business.

Girl #5 was properly dissuaded till after the party, but digits in hand, Brig made his way back over to Vivienne's side.

"You know, it's like they don't even see the better looking brown woman walking with you."

"Jealous much?" Brig said with a grin as he looked around the room.

"Hardly. I'm just counting the STDs you'd probably get from these over dressed, over sexed, pieces of meat they have walking around like they have a neon sign over their head that says, 'Available and stupid - cheap'." Viv shrugged.

"If you didn't look so pissed to be with me, you'd probably get bites yourself."

"Oh so you're encouraging me to flirt?"

"Well, no..."

"Too late."

Viv turned and left Brig standing as she walked to the opposite side of the chapel area. He caught up to her with his damned long legs and pulled her arm gently around a less populated corner.

"What I get 30 seconds to fish? I'm good but I'm not that good."

The corridor he pulled her into was filled to the ceiling with people, fortunately enough none of them were alive. Brig smiled down at Vivienne and her rather put out expression.

"Oh I have faith in your abilities, the second you walked away from me two guys made a bee line for you."

Viv peeked around the corner and looked, "Oh anyone cute?"

"Oh that's just not nice." Pulling the scraps of paper and business cards out of his pocket, he slid them into one of the flower fixtures on the wall. "There, now Mr. Jacob Williams can benefit from my skills."

Viv flicked her brown eyes up at him and gave him a small smile. Not being able to resist himself, Brig reached out and cupped the side of her face, pulling her close and kissing her softly. Her soft giggle only encouraged him and he parted her lips with his tongue, deepening their kiss. Viv let out a soft moan but then pushed him away.

"I'd rather LT and Carol made some person's day by being first to copulate surrounded by dead people."

"Yeah," he wrinkled his nose in slight disgust, "that would be kinda creepy."

"I'm not against making out though."

"Oh, ok," he said, grabbing Viv by the waist and kissing her again.

Sorcha wrote more words and turned it around for the two of them.

My name is Sorcha and I call him, Fritz.

Amir was probably not going to approve of the name but given the spur of the moment she felt she did fairly well. It sounded like a dog's name, It was a German nickname for Frederick; Which meant, if she remembered her suffix correctly something or other ruler. Peaceful...powerful... whatever it was bound to be something good.

Sorcha's attention was caught by violin music. It was beautiful and sad. When she looked through the crowd she could just see a ghostly looking man. He was dressed in what looked like well worn pants, a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a vest. His hair was long and pulled into a tie at the back.

He looked up from his playing and looked at the woman in the evening dress in front of her.

"Ma Cher, She is lonely."

The man went back to his playing for a moment or two and then paused. Tuning the instrument, he continued his discourse without looking up.

"Tell her she's not alone and that not all the spirits are bad. Some of us, we look after her, non? Je m'appelle Gerard, Madamoiselle. Dites ça, s'il vous plait."

Sorcha sighed but nodded her head. The woman was likely to think she was as crazy as a loon. And who could blame her.

Writing furiously on a piece of paper, Sorcha then turned it towards Therese only.

I know this seems strange. But a spirit here asked me to tell you that you are not alone and that not all the spirits are not bad. He said that he is looking out for you. He said his name is Gerard. I would not bother you except that he requested I let you know.

Sorcha shrugged rather helplessly; she couldn't make the spirits understand that not everyone was okay with their conversations. In fact most people didn't even hear their chatter.

"Bon. Again, a pleasure."Â?

At least it was not a stupid name. She couldn't abide it when people called their dogs by idiotic names. That one blond... thing... calling a dog Tinkerbell. Of course to Thérèse's mind anything that size didn't count as a dog, it was a rat. Or a snack depending on her mood and the phase of the moon. But she digressed.

She watched patiently as the woman wrote. It had to be a cumbersome and time consuming way to communicate. Thérèse wasn't sure if she felt sorry for Sorcha or was impressed at her tenacity. Apparently she wasn't here with anyone but the dog and yet she wasn't letting her disability hold her back.

Furrowing her brow, slightly confused as she but not Vaughn was offered the paper she read, but was clearly confused.

"Merci. I do not know anyone by this name but I... ah... thank you."Â?

What did you say to something like that? It was...

Thérèse felt, or thought she felt, something cold on the back of her neck and shivered slightly. It was an old memory and had taken her several seconds to remember, but she had had a great uncle Gerard. He had been quite kind to her and an excellent story teller, but she hadn't seen him since before her Gifting. He had challenged her grand-père's authority. Unlike her brother, however, he hadn't backed down and had paid for it. She no longer had a great uncle.

Slightly unsettled she would have been happy to walk away at that point. As it was it took everything she had not to glance over her shoulder. She would -not- be attending any further parties in cemeteries.

"I had... forgotten about him. Thank you... again..."Â?

She thought. She wasn't sure. It was not normal some one else knowing about her great uncle, but Thérèse believed her.