Fates And Futures [IC | Heroes & Legends]

[Forest State]

Ji-Young Mun

“I’d be controlling too if the people were willing to bend over every year and hand me their tax money for something that’s not even tied to any government. It’s impressive, really. Doesn’t help those of us who aren’t on their good side, though,” Ji said with a laugh, sipping at her champagne before looking down at her phone, scrolling through messages and then her social feed. She had quite a lot to look at on that phone, even though it had been set to silent before. She saw that many of the recent messages were about a story she might want to cover. Shit. She wasn’t exactly in a position to do any writing right now, but there were apparently more Marin leaks that had come out only a minute or two ago.

She looked up to meet Artemis’ eye again, and she smiled softly. “You don’t have to introduce yourself,” she added, setting her glass down to shake his hand. In the other hand, she was still holding the phone and typing out another message telling her editor-in-chief that someone else would have to write the story about the Marin leaks. She could have, of course, used her phone. But that would take too long and they needed to get something up about this within the next minutes, before people saw the headline and clicked on an article by someone that wasn’t them. “I’ve heard plenty about you, all of us media types are connected and when one of us hears something, it spreads fairly quickly.”

Laughing, she cocked her head to the side and broke the brief awkward silence. “Anyway, I’m Ji-Young Mun, the head investigative reporter and the news editor for HeroHole Atlantic. Most people, though, just know me as Ji. Officially, I’m not here for work, but you’re always working when you’re a reporter. So you could say I’m here looking for… Interesting content about interesting people,” she finished, pausing before the last words as she tried to figure out how to phrase what she was saying.

She took another sip of her champagne before downing half of the glass in one go. “And you, Artemis,” she said, pointing towards him slightly for emphasis. “You are an interesting person.”

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Nev Hurn

“I must agree with Conagher and the Bond wannabe.” Nev said as he dropped from above them and landed outside of the group. His attire was nothing special, only his costume and mask, but it was rather convenient that his costume just so happened to be blue. “Don’t let the patrons get too friendly either, some of these guys are real creeps.” He added as he merged with the group, fitting in with the color scheme.

“So, with that being said, should we go ahead inside?”

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Kane Davidson

The doors to the gala flew open as Kane stepped into the room wearing a black suit with white shirt and red tie, all tailor fit for him. It cost him a fortune but it was comfortable and it looked damn good. Kane had put his directed energy taser in the inner pocket of his suit along with a hip flask full of good whisky. Not that he needed it, he was already high as hell from shooting himself up with that stuff he calls a performance enhancer. Pupils were dilated and his heart rate was nearly 150 bpm, enough to be considered a health problem but that's mostly due to the adrenaline used in such a substance. He'd probably do cocaine but that would be against the law, and breaking the law was for criminals. Kane immediately went towards where he assumed there would be alcohol to find that his assumptions were right as he found a table with drinks on to which he started going through them mentally "Too gay...tot posh...what the hell is that?..." Kane finally got what he was looking for, some locally brewed beer straight from a keg that one of the employees were pumping for the people at the gala "I'll take two pints please" Kane asked politely, optimising the rate in which he can drink by buying two pints of beer instead of one. His mother spent 9 months carrying him and looking after him for 18 years and ordering two pints so he wouldn't have to get up is what Kane believes to be the best use of his vast intellect.

After the pints were pulled, Kane walked away with two pints of beer in his hands. He looked as happy as any human being would look if they were high on super cocaine and had two pints of beer to themselves ergo, he looked extremely happy. After that he began walking around trying to find someone he knew to talk to, it was a bit crowded in here with all these rich people and very important people talking about how invoices or whatever the hell people like this talked about all the time while sipping their fine champagne and semi-fine whisky.

[Union Princes]

Nev Hurn

“I must agree with Conagher and the Bond wannabe.” Nev said as he dropped from above them and landed outside of the group. His attire was nothing special, only his costume and mask, but it was rather convenient that his costume just so happened to be blue. “Don’t let the patrons get too friendly either, some of these guys are real creeps.” He added as he merged with the group, fitting in with the color scheme.

“So, with that being said, should we go ahead inside?”

Jennifer Jane Doe

"Bond wannabe?!" Spy narrowed his eyebrows, generally offended at Nev's comment. "I-"

"Whatever, Spy." interrupted Conagher as he walked up and grabbed hold of the door, "You're already better than him, anyways."

Jenny could only smile though she was expecting her boyfriend to dress more appropriately. After the sisters hugged Nev one by one, Jenny gave the green light to Spy and Conagher to open the doors to the Jane Doe sisters. For one brief moment, Jenny blushed as she became self-conscious by how much her cleavage was showing. Indeed, as soon as they entered the gala, a sponsor or two look down at her or one her sister's breasts. Since Jenny was the most mature out of all the sisters, she was stared at the most. Good thing Conagher, Nev, and Spy escorted the sisters to prevent any unwanted courtesies.

"Let's find a seat, Nev?" Jenny ask through gritted teeth that made up her forced smile.

[Wulf Da Guy]

Artemis Hunter
The Gala

'Ji-Young Mun of the HeroHole thinks I'm interesting?' A pretty journalist thinking he was interesting meant only good things. And no matter what brought her over, Artemis planned to have fun with the situation. Especially given the fact that HeroHole wasn't the kind of news agency that most or any heroes would willingly speak with.

They'd made money off ripping into the Syndicate and that didn't win them any friends. Thankfully the Syndicate had people like Artemis who were more 'open' than most. All it took was a pretty face and some words here and there, and he was willing to chat. 'Should I expect an article to be written about me? Or am I safe for a while?' He said jokingly, surely she'd come for another reason.

While Artemis hadn't done anything of note recently. Whatever brought her to him was well worth it.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Michelle Raphaella Sara Bianchi-Costa a.k.a Tetrarch
Phuket, Thailand
February 18th, 2018

She hadn't left her villa for the three days since Valentine's Day, when she'd made her choice by throwing the bomb into the sea. She'd returned to her villa to keep Cass company, a simultaneous feeling of relief that she'd made her choice, and the selfless choice at that, and dread just waiting to hear the first tiny piece of news about those leaks.

But there had been nothing. One of her bodies had gone out with Artemis, the other with Candace while a third slept fitfully, constantly waking up and nervously looking over the news to see if something, anything at all, had happened.

Nothing did.

She and Candace enjoyed their little date, and she enjoyed her time with Artemis, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, always on edge. Artemis hadn't noticed, he wasn't around her anywhere near as much as Candace was, but Candace had. And she couldn't bring herself to admit any of it. The attempted blackmail, what they wanted her to do, what they'd do if they didn't... She'd just shaken her head dismissively and said she'd tell her tomorrow. That she didn't want to ruin this by telling her what the problem was, even if it was already doing so.

Her and Candace went back to her villa, and then they slept.

The shoe dropped while she slept.

She slept in that morning; she'd deliberately gotten as drunk as she could manage the night before, intending to use the colossal hangover she would wake up with as an excuse to isolate herself away from everyone else for as long as possible, to keep the news and the realization that her carefully crafted image, along with her pride and dignity, had been thrown away and discarded like trash from actually reaching her and hitting home.

The plan had worked flawlessly, for a time. Breakfast was made and quickly eaten before all three of her returned to bed, fully intent on spending the whole day there in the peaceful bliss of isolation. But that couldn't last forever. Candace went out for a smoke or something just before midday, she ran into Cass who told her about the release of the video, and then they'd both come to tell her.

She'd taken it with what grace she could muster, a simple 'Okay' all that she said as she led them inside. Things had only gotten worse from there. Apparently the Internet had decided to run wild with her video, with it quickly becoming the most viewed video on HeroHoles, the main site that hosted it.

If it'd just released and been buried, she would've been fine, she could've brushed over it, moved on.

But millions of people had seen it and any hope she might have had of doing that were dashed in an instant.

And so the three of her spent the next hour locked in the toilet, vomiting at first, and then crying and dry-heaving once there was nothing left to vomit. Cass had left during that hour, but promised to return later to see how she was getting on according to Candace, who simply waited for her to come out.

She'd spent the rest of that first day drinking heavily despite the remains of her hangover, Candace content to simply be there and hug her while she drank. The second day she'd been too hungover to do anything at all, so Candace just brought her food and water and said nothing at all, simply hugging her instead.

Unfortunately, two days into the worst week of her life was their actual reason for being here, the gala. And despite everything, she had no reason, or at least now justifiable reason, not to go. She understood, of course. The show had to go on no matter what, and she had to play her part.

---

Which brought her to the here and now. Put on a brave face and face the world. Show them that nothing had changed. Now that, that she could do.

Each of her wore a different outfit; one wore a backless, thigh-length purple dress that showed too much cleavage according to her but Candace insisted was perfect, the second wore a tight black, strapless, ankle-length dress while the third had a knee-length turquoise one, the latter two loaned by Cass since Candace had only packed the first one for her. All three wore high heels.

She'd shown up with Candace, a show of solidarity of sorts between the pair of them. She wanted to be here just as much as Gabriella did, albeit for different reasons. Candace didn't like this sort-of thing at all, while under normal circumstances she thrived on this type of thing.

But these were not normal circumstances, and so two of her quietly filtered off towards the edges of the room, trying to avoid attention while her third body descended on the table with alcohol. She'd need it in her system to survive this.

---

Nike

She wasn't entirely sure why or even how Machina had managed to get her in here, but here she was. Not rich, not part of the Syndicate or any team of any kind, but here nonetheless, wearing a riskily short black shirt and white blouse under a black jacket and heels. She wasn't even sure what she was supposed to do here, she'd never been to anything like this, so she'd defaulted to just shadowing Machina and following her around with a champagne flute in hand, occasionally sipping from it while saying nothing at all.

Easy enough.

[Segral]

She clinked her first bottle against Jim's rum bottle, drained about a quarter of her bottle, before setting it down with a cheeky grin, "So my first name is 'Jocelyn'." she said, deciding to share why she was known as 'JJ', "It's not that I dislike the name or anything, but my middle name is 'Jane' and somewhere along the line people started calling me by my initials, 'JJ', instead of my first name. I kinda liked it as a nickname and it stuck."

She took another swig of beer, taking an approving look around the bar, "My 'heroic handle' or whatever you want to call the name you use when you put on a cape is 'Cuttlefish'... I don't like that one so much, but one of my friends, who loves messing with me, came up with it and made it stick. That must have taken a bit of dedication on her part." She didn't sound particularly upset about the name; in fact, she found the whole story a bit amusing now.

"Anyway..." she turned to more fully face Jim, propping her chin up in her hand. The blue of her eyes looked particularly vivid... which was not an illusion caused by the light, they actually were more vivid than they had been a few minutes ago. It was a subtle change and one she wasn't aware of. Not all of JJ's body morphing was entirely consciously driven, particularly when her behaviour was more unguarded. She gave him another bright smile, lowering her voice so it didn't carry to the rest of the room, "You promised me story time before. You were going to tell me what you do and how you came to be here... with our organisation that is rather than in Thailand. We took a plane to get here, even I know that!"

Jim Flanigan
February 14

Turns out, his pick was right on the money. Once presented with the little pub, most people would turn their head away in disgust, JJ seemed to adore it. Which, in Jim's humble opinion, was the right way to go, the smaller and lesser-known bars were often the better (and cheaper) ones. It was good to know he had a potential drinking mate, bars were pretty boring places when you were alone.

But while Jim was perfectly content with a single bottle of rum, JJ ordered two beer bottles right away, eliciting an eyebrow raise from Jim. He had expected a lot of drinking, but not two beers right off the bat. It was kind of worrying. So, it was a bit of a relief to know she had an enhanced metabolism, which meant she needed double the drink. Wouldn't it be nice to stomach twice the amount of drinks before getting wasted? So many more opportunities to try stuff and goof around. In all honesty, it made him a bit envious.

"Cheers!" he replied rather...cheerfully, as the two clinked bottles and took their swigs, JJ downing a massive quarter of a bottle compared to Jim's eighth of a bottle. And while he sipped it down nice and slowly, she chugged it up with a fair amount of gusto, as if it was second nature. Again, a little envious. But no time for that, it was apparently story time.

Placing his fist on his chin, elbow resting on the bar, Jim listened attentively to JJ's explanation of her nickname and heroic alias, silent aside from the occasional nod, smile, or chuckle. He liked to remain silent while people were telling stories, and it was easier with a good bottle or drink in your hand. And this was a pretty good story, especially the one about the Cuttlefish moniker. Admittedly, he giggled a little when she sheepishly admitted it, he couldn't help himself! Cuttlefish was the last name you would think of for a brave, heroic, dashing hero. Who goes: "Here we have Team Star; Kronos, Bioweapon, Sonic, Gatekeeper, and Cuttlefish!"? The idea was so goofy and stupid.

"Yeah, I definitely like JJ more than Jocelyn, has a better ring to it." he said slyly, once JJ had paused to take a swig out of the slowly-emptying bottle of lager. "And your friend...Imogen, or something, right? Kind of a cruel name on her part, I'd hate to be called Cuttlefish. Can you imagine being called up for a training exercise one by one, hearing all of these terrifying and awesome names like 'Error 404' and 'Nightwalker', and then right after, 'Cuttlefish'? Although, I suppose my own name isn't much better..."

His words trailed off, train of thought abruptly cut off by JJ turning towards him and revealing a set of very...luminous eyes, very stark and bright. He didn't remember her eyes being so vivid before, so why were they like that now? Quite the curious question indeed.

Snapping back to reality, he leaned in to catch JJ's words, reminding him of his promise of his own story time. She seemed quite excited to hear his own story, which, admittedly, flattered him a bit. What was the harm, anyways?

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you my story." he said with a laugh, JJ's infectious grin manifesting itself on his own face. "First off, I'll start with the name game. Jim's pretty straightforward, my real name's James, everyone shortened it to Jim to roll off the tongue better. As for my heroic title...it's kind of worse than yours. I go by...er...'Earthworm Jim'." he said abashedly, blushing a furious scarlet. "Don't laugh, okay! It was my favorite video game as a kid, and it was one of the only ones I had as a kid. I was going to pick 'Earthworm' or 'Vermin' or something like that, but my little cousin managed to convince me to call myself Earthworm Jim. Although people just shorten it to 'Earthworm'. Not my best stroke of genius, not by a mile." he said, laughing a little before taking another swig of rum.

"As for what I do and how I got here, I'll try to keep it short and snappy. I'm definitely not a psychic, although if I was, that'd be a pretty neat side power. Instead, I...er...control worms. Basically, I can manipulate and control worms of all types to do my bidding, feel what they feel, sense what they sense, even use them to patch myself up. I can also control soil, so I can make paths for them and make their lives a whole ton easier. But, my favorite is when I transform into a worm. I turn into this massive 12-foot worm, where I get a healing factor and all sorts of other neat tricks. Only problem is, it leaves me stark naked whenever I transform back, my clothes just tear open." he finished with some vigorous hand movements, giggling all the while.

"I've had the powers since I was a wee thing, or at least that's what my folks tell me. All the kids used to be jealous, kind of liked to rough me up a bit." he said, wincing slightly at the somewhat painful memories. "But it all turned out good, graduated high school, got accepted into the University of Texas biology program, everything was fine."

"But then, one night, while I'm finishing some work for a Philosophy assignment, I hear a knock on my apartment door, I open it up, and there's some Syndicate folks right outside my door. They then walk right inside, and try to get me recruited to the Cadets program, telling me to email them within some days' time. At first, I thought some schizophrenics had wandered into the building, but no, they were legitimate as you can be. I'm not really sure what stroke of madness told me to accept, but...I guess I was just...bored with life, and wanted to see new things and do something great, I guess. Sounds really corny, but I'm not sure how else to put it."

There was a bit of a silence afterwards, slightly uneasy silence, to be exact. Taking yet another drink, he leaned back in his stool, now full of his questions of his own.

"So...now that my story's told, how about yourself? What can you do, where do you come from, all the details. Well, maybe not all of them, give me the good ones."

---

July 18

Soon after the tactical battle squad of Doe sisters entered the room in almost identical outfits, in came the single soldier of the Flanigan army. Stepping in through the open door, the Texan looked very uncomfortable in his suit, and the sweat on his face made him look like a bad Jaques Brel look-alike.

Said suit contained a navy blue suit jacket left unbuttoned, a pure-white dress shirt, navy blue dress pants, a pair of shined black dress shoes that were a size too small, and worst of all, a red handkerchief in his breast pocket, complimented by...a red bowtie. He wasn't sure what elevated subconscious force guided him towards wearing a bowtie, but he had a feeling it was the same one that made him choose the name "Earthworm Jim". He hated the suit, it was tight, it was itchy, it was hot as a cow's backside under the baking Texas sun, and it just felt awkward, like it was someone else's clothes. They weren't even tailored, he had just bought the closest match at Hugo Boss and rolled with it. Worst of all, he had no hat to wear. He always wore a hat, even inside, he wore a hat of some sorts. His head felt...naked without it.

Much like two of Gabriella's bodies in the other areas of the room, Jim immediately gravitated towards the edge of the room, stopping only to snatch a glass of champagne from the alcohol table. He would've preferred something heavy like rum, scotch, or beer, but since it was some fancy party, the only things they had were wine, champagne, and a little liquor. Might as well go with the most luxurious one, as he wasn't a big wine fan. His dad liked drinking a lot, not to the point of alcoholism, but enjoyed his daily dose, and he had made sure Jim also liked a good drink. He probably would've disowned him if he didn't.

[The Cross and Davids Star]

Nev Hurn

“Sure, perferrably where there aren’t as many ogolers around.” Nev replied, getting in front of Jenny to ruin the moment for the perverted onlookers.

“Now, where would be a good spot for such a big group?” Nev asked himself as he looked over the inside of the building. Though with so many people it was hard to actually find a place. Sighing, he gave up and turned to Conagher.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have reserved a spot for us, did ya?” He asked.

[Forest State]

Candace "Juno" Marin

Candace didn’t want to be here. These weren’t her kinds of events, and a rave was far better than a formal party for her. But team commitments and loyalty to Gabriella meant that she hadn’t skipped out. She wasn’t the happiest about it, but she showed up in a black tuxedo that she had just for events like this, when they required her to be formal. It wasn’t that she liked the style, but it was far better than being put in a formal dress, something that she wore just about never. Gabriella was on edge, and she could tell, so she followed her to the alcohol table and decided that the least she could do would be to distract her by pointing out some of the important people here.

“You know, everyone isn’t going to pay attention to you. There’s a lot of people seeing others that they haven’t seen in forever. If you look over there, by my family, for example, you can see my uncle Brooklyn. The one with the beard and the long hair. Not sure how he got here, but he managed to show up. Look to the table with Zara, and there’s Rolan Aleksev. One of the lesser understood heroes in the Syndicate but the one that was hard enough to become the top man in all of Russia. There’s two team Novus members here, too. I suppose they bought their way in,” she said, pointing out each person.

“Near my family, there’s also some of our extended family from D.C. Well, from D.C. before Amanda moved to Santa Marina for the Futures Program. I don’t think you’ve actually seen her in person since coming to Santa Marina, but she’s right there. That girl next to her? That’s not actually a girl. That’s her son, Ash. It threw me for a loop too, at first,” she said, and she was going to say something else when she stopped and saw Cassandra get up after debating something with Gaia, walking away towards the bathrooms and looking sick. “I wonder what’s wrong with Cass. She looked fine all day today before, even with the, you know, bad recent events with her friends and all…”

Ji-Young Mun

“You talk about being in an article like it’s a bad thing. Isn’t that what being a hero is all about? Being in the top one percent of people in the world and getting rewarded for it? I know some people would say it’s all about saving the world or something like that, but between you and me I’m sure we both know that it’s a little different than that,” said Ji, laughing as she finished off her champagne. “Of course, if you don’t feel like having a chat, there’s plenty of other people I could talk to. Your sister, maybe. Or some of the others that… Aren’t that happy to see me around here.”

As she was talking, she was also texting and communicating back and forth with her department about the news story that had just broke. It was a major deal, it turned out. And she was kicking herself for not being able to cover it properly. “Anyway,” she started, looking back at Artemis. “I’d rather loosen you up with some drinks before I start asking questions. Sounds strange that I’m telling you my plan like this, but I doubt you actually mind.”

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Michelle Raphaella Sara Bianchi-Costa a.k.a Tetrarch
Phuket, Thailand
February 18th, 2018

"I just can't help it really. Even if I know what they're thinking, I..." Gabriella shook her head as she picked up a glass of red wine, gulping it down in a way that she never did. "I just can't help feeling like I'm constantly being judged by everyone but you and Cass and maybe a few others simply for being here, like I don't belong anymore."

She listened in attentive silence as Candace ran down the various assorted people of interest. She knew it was a distraction, but that didn't mean she didn't welcome it. Anything at all that got her mind off her situation was good. Some she'd heard of, like Zara, but she'd never heard of Candace's uncle Brooklyn which was odd. She thought she'd have heard about an uncle given her family's fame. She'd never heard of Aleksev either, but if he'd become their top man in Russia, well. He was probably quite the force.

She almost spat out her latest gulp of wine when Candace said that the girl standing next to Amanda was not a girl. "Really?" She asked, her tone disbelieving, as if it was some elaborate prank, but Candace's mind had no hint of jokeing playfulness. "No, you're serious." She shook her head, gulping down more wine as Candace was about to say something before stopping and saying something else.

"I wouldn't know how she's been holding up." Gabriella admitted. "I've been... Dealing with my own issues. I could, uh, take a look if you want, or we could go after her? I'll take any excuse to get one of me out of here so I'm less obvious."

[Wulf Da Guy]

Artemis Hunter
The Gala

'On no please stay and chat. I'd be a fool if I refused to speak with someone as beautiful as you.' His grin still as wide as ever. 'And I think you'd rather enjoy talking with me instead of my sister or the rest of the Gala.' He said slightly leaning in closer, as he began to speak quieter. 'Some of the people here don't quite like you. Bunch of pricks and assholes if you ask me.' Letting out out a chuckle as he leaned back.

Artemis looked around noting a few others arrival, namely Jenny and her sisters. Oddly enough he didn't recall them being so...attractive. Surely he'd have to head over their way at some point if his night with Ji didn't go his way. 'And you offer to get me drunk, you know just how to get a man talking darling.' He knew that wouldn't work but he'd play along. Long enough to see where this would lead.

[Union Princes]

Nev Hurn

“Sure, perferrably where there aren’t as many ogolers around.” Nev replied, getting in front of Jenny to ruin the moment for the perverted onlookers.

“Now, where would be a good spot for such a big group?” Nev asked himself as he looked over the inside of the building. Though with so many people it was hard to actually find a place. Sighing, he gave up and turned to Conagher.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have reserved a spot for us, did ya?” He asked.

Jennifer Jane Doe

Conagher chuckled at Nev's question. "When it comes to reservation, Spy is our man for the job." The Frenchman gave a sly smile to Nev as he lead the group to one of the tables positioned near the back.

On top of the table in front of each seat was a name card for each of the Jane Doe sisters. Being the eldest, Jenny sat in the chair where the husband would sit in a traditional household. Jean, being the second oldest, sat across from Jenny while 3 sisters took up their seats on each side. Wine and fancy beer bottles were non-existent as they were replaced with apple cider made from orchards cultivated in France. In the center of table, was a bouquet of roses and violets topped off with a wire sculpture of a Doe painted in blue. No doubt made from Conagher's hands; the weaponsmith was smiling really big when he saw the sisters feel appreciated by the piece of art.

"Enjoy your table," Spy salutes to Jenny before turning to Nev, "Our spots will be in the table next to theirs."

[Durmatagno]

Sage Wilder/Sage Knight/William Wilder
The Gala

(One OOC note, I will swap between He, She, and They when it makes sense)

Sage took a deep breath as they did one lest check of the suit they were wearing. A simple black suit jacket, with matching pants, dress shoes, and a white undershirt, no tie, and a belt to finish it all up. Sage had chosen to make their first public appearance wearing their most common face. With soft features, long multi-colored hair pink-blond hair, a flat chest, and light makeup, most assumed this form was a female, but it could be hard to tell at times, especially when Sage spoke. In all reality, regardless of which face they had on, they could be male or female (this one was more commonly neither until such a thing became needed) at anytime they wished, though it did take a few minutes to switch. This had it's....advantages, not that Sage had much experience with them.

Calming their face, Sage stepped through the doors and joined the main crowd. They put on a soft smile, and for once didn't have some kind of sweet in their mouth. This kind of event was a big thing for The Syndicate, and Sage didn't want their first....anything for them to be an embarrassment, and wanted to make a good first impression with just about everybody. That said, Sage knew no one in this room they could see.

Don't be nervous, this is just a major public event for The Syndicate.
Don't worry, even if we don't look good, we can work where it actually counts!
This does actually count, this is part of how The Syndicate keeps public support and donations flowing.
Whatever, it's the fight that matters.
Do you two always have to fight?
Yes!Yes!

With a small sigh at the other two people occupying their mind, Sage found a nice, quiet, not-so-crowded corner to stand in, keeping a good face, but avoiding the main throngs. After all, Sage had little experience in meeting or dealing with new people, so they'd let them approach Sage so that Sage couldn't screw it up. Oh how Sage wished they had some gum right now, but it looked so unprofessional to most they had opted to avoid it for this night. If things did get too boring, Sage had some buds for their phone to listen to music with though. They wondered what music they would actually listen to if it got to that point.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Jim Flanigan
February 14
*snip*
"So...now that my story's told, how about yourself? What can you do, where do you come from, all the details. Well, maybe not all of them, give me the good ones."

Cuttlefish/JJ Triggs
Phuket, Thailand - 14 Feb

"Yeah the name does suck a bit." JJ conceded, though her smile never faded, suggesting it didn't really upset her all that much. Nothing really seemed to, "But all credit to Immy for managing to label me with it. I got her with 'Kaleidoscope', but I think she definitely won that game." she paused, taking another swig from her bottle, "Please don't think I don't like her." she added, "I love her to pieces; she's more like a sister than a friend... which probably explains all the squabbling. I'll tell you a bit more about her in a moment, but first... Earthworm Jim?"

She had to suppress a giggle this time, "I think I remember that game... muscle bound worm in a spandex suit with a blaster?" she suggested.

JJ took a couple of moments to consider Jim's powers. He could control worms and even turn into one. She gave him an appraising look - she'd have never guessed that one. They could have spent all night with her guessing at his powers and 'worms' would never have occurred to her. They weren't the most endearing creatures on the planet, but that make Jim all the more interesting for it, "You know." she said after a few moments, "You are, without a doubt, the most interesting person I've met since I got pulled into the Syndicate. Your powers are pretty cool as well; I bet nobody ever expects worms. I've seen people who throw fireballs, hit really hard, but worms is a new one. Plus..." she added excitedly, "You have minions! I wish I had minions."

The ending up naked after turning human could potentially be a bit embarrassing (she could identify with that one), "I can see the turning from a worm into a naked dude might not always go down well in polite society." she said, "My advice would be to spend a lot of time at the gym so that when it happens everyone enjoys the show." she managed to stay deadpan while she told the joke, but as soon as she finished she couldn't help but laugh, covering her mouth as she desperately tried to suppress it, "Sorry! I'm just imagining you running around holding that hat across yourself... it's happened to me as well, but I'll tell you about that in a moment."

She took a few moments to finish her first bottle. It probably looked like she was drinking way too fast, but JJ had never been someone who cared too much about how something looked and she had explained to Jim what was wrong with her... sort of anyway, "So umm you've possibly gathered I occasionally drink a little bit too much and like a party." JJ said, starting out on her own story, "So I was like sixteen when I discovered I was a meta. I was drunk and messing around on a balcony and I slipped and managed to impale myself right through here." she said, pressing one hand into the middle of her back and the other to the right side of her chest, a couple of inches below her collar bone. That really hurt, I might add."

"The Doctors figured the only thing keeping me alive was the great big piece of metal through my chest which kept everything in the right place or something? I don't really get it, I'm not a doctor. They figured they'd take it out and I'd die, but at least I wouldn't be suffering anymore, so they did. I didn't die though, I healed and there isn't even a scar." It sounded horrible, but JJ was trying to keep the story as light-hearted as possible. She didn't want to seem like a victim in all of this. She gave a slight laugh, "I'm quite glad that one didn't scar because I'd hate to feel I needed to wear a high necked top in this weather."

"Anyway, so my parents got a bit worried that I needed to be taught how to use my powers, despite the fact that, at that point, my powers were pretty much 'not dying when something unspeakably violent happens to me'. So they packed me off to some Metahuman Academy, which turned out to be someone's ill-conceived attempt to mould metas into super-soldiers, who could then be hired out as mercs to any warlord with a big bag of blood diamonds. That was where I met Immy."

"We were both trapped in there and neither of us wanted to be a part of what was going on." JJ explained, "Immy and I kept each other alive... she had the easy job, though there was one time when I got eaten by a demon, which really hurt. I blacked out and woke up later, naked, in a vat of some kind of protein goo which was really gross and took ages to shower off, but I understand Immy found my head and shoved it in the vat so I guess I kinda owe her for that."

JJ had had a pretty traumatic past few years, though it didn't seem to have dampened her spirits at all and she treated the horror stories she was telling like they were all a bit of a joke. It was probably her way of coping, "So at that point the mercs had pretty much given up on turning me into a super-soldier but I had also started to be able to control the way my body heals to a certain degree and I can now make a few little modifications at will." she screwed her eyes shut, holding them closed for a good 20 seconds or so before opening them again. They had turned brown this time, "Hair and eye colour is fairly easy to do. Changing skin tone takes a bit more effort and I can also change my facial structure a bit, but that takes time. I can turn into basically anyone I want... so long as they're a 20-something girl who is 5'6'' and a bit over 100 pounds."

"I'm okay at acting and pretty good at accents so the mercs figured they'd give me a go at being an assassin and implanted a big spike in my arm. I won't demonstrate as it tends to freak people out and it hurts when I use it." she grimaced, rubbing her forearm as if the very thought of using it hurt, "A few months after that though, the Syndicate broke the operation up and Immy and I got recruited. I'm not sure if it's because we were the most sane people they found in that outfit or because they felt they needed to keep an eye on us. I mean, I'm not exactly a role model for little children." and from JJ's roguish grin, it didn't look like she aspired to be either.

---

Cuttlefish/JJ Triggs & Kaleidoscope/Imogen Vaughan
The Phuket Gala - 18 Feb

"I still think flying us out here for Valentine's day was a bit awkward." Imogen confided to JJ. The young Brit had scrubbed up well. She had gone with a white dress with a pleated skirt that fell to just below her knees. It fit her perfectly and shimmered beautifully, if somewhat unnaturally when she moved. It gave her an almost angelic look. The way it caught the light made JJ suspect she had drawn it into existence rather than buying it, "It felt a bit like our cadet programme had been turned into 'Love Island'."

"So what did you do while I was in town?" JJ asked. She had opted for a black dress with a high mesh collar that fell to mid thigh.

"Drank a bit, read my book. It was actually quite nice."

"That's 'The Struggle Against the State and Other Essays'?" JJ raised an eyebrow, "By some Russian dude?"

"Ukrainian actually..."

"Whatever... you should have come with, you might have even had some fun. I met some guy named Joe, seemed like a decent guy."

Imogen's head swivelled as she spotted a roving server with a tray of champagne, "Stay here, I'll get you one." she said, darting in the direction of the alcohol.

As she made a bee line for the server, Imogen kept an eye out for members of the press, especially Madison McCreary. She imagined she probably wasn't invited, but what decent reporter wouldn't try to sneak into an event like this? Imogen had read her article closely and, perhaps surprisingly for a meta, agreed with most of what she had written. Some of it was red herrings or just plain incorrect, particularly about the 'reemergence' of tyrannical aristocrats; they had never gone away, they just ruled from the boardroom rather than the court. Nevertheless, a conversation with that reporter might prove illuminating.

She caught up with the server, scooping up a couple of champagne flutes with a polite smile, before scooting back to JJ, handing one across to the other woman. She hadn't seen the reporter she was looking for, but the nice was still young, "Any plans for this evening?"

"Get drunk and embarrass ourselves in front of the international media?" JJ suggested.

Imogen laughed, shaking her head, "I might not join you for that one, but who knows, the night is still young." they clinked glasses. Both of them, in their own way, were looking to cause a bit of trouble...

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Kane Davidson, Head Hunter

Kane caught sight of the Doe sisters along with Jane and Nev all dressed up nice for the gala. Feeling a little left out standing around with two beers in his hands like he was waiting for someone, which he wasn't because those beers are both his, Kane quickly moved over to the table not caring if any of the seats had been reserved. He pulled a chair out with his foot and sat down right next to Nev before placing his beers down on the table "What's up everybody, hope you're all enjoying the gala because I for one am absolutely mortified at the state of the beer here" Kane picked up one of the pints and looked at it "Look at that. Lad serving the stuff can't even put a proper head on it. Why doesn't he just piss in my beer too? He may as well have" Kane rambled in a confident manner before bringing the pint of beer up to his mouth and pouring half of it down his throat with a odd grace before turning to face Nev "Do you ever take that mask off? Come on mate, how are you going to drink with that on?" Kane asked as he pushed his second pint towards Nev with a smirk "Live a little young'un when I was your age I once woke up in Ireland after a night out. My mum nearly killed me" He laughed and gestured towards the drink.

Kane quickly turned towards Jane and her sisters with a more subtle smile on his face now "Evening ladies. Drinking apple juice I see. Might I recommend a certain Polish vodka to go with that?" Kane asked in a joyful manner before turning to look towards Conagher and the Spy "Mr. Stockwell, a pleasure as always. Who's your friend?" He nodded towards Spy before glancing back at Nev to see if he was going to do something other than sit there.

Phuket Resort
Legion Agents

Legion had been following and observing the cadets for some time under orders of War Smith. She was adamant on knowing what her son was doing with these 'self-aggrandising scrote sacks' as she referred to the Syndicate and it's cadets as. She also insisted on their observation because of the technology they might possess and their connections with Stockwell Steelworks and other interesting technology companies. Multiple cadets have proven to be interesting to War Smith including the cadet known as Nev Hurn, Jennifer Jane Doe and Candace Marin. Nev's body seems to be able to support cybernetics without any need for anti-rejection medication or anything and such a thing was of great interest to the cybernetic packed War Smith who's going to be stuck taking pills all her life to stay alive. Jennifer appeared to have strong connections with Stockwell Steelworks and Candace? Rich, controversial celebrity type of girl. Surely their family would pay top dollar for such a person if she somehow went missing?

The agents made their way into the various living quarters of the cadets and other persons of interest including Conagher Stockwell and the man only known as "Spy". They used various discrete techniques to open windows and doors so they can do what they came to do. Each agent deployed a tiny insect like robot the size of a common house fly and looking like one too, before they left the premises and quickly locked windows and doors so when they came back they wouldn't be any wiser save for a fly somehow getting into their rooms. This was Gala day so it was likely these individuals would come back drunk and loose lipped. After the bugging was complete, a man in a van pulled Tyrant up on his computer screen "Sir. We've finished bugging the rooms. No complications so far" The man spoke with an eastern European accent signifying he wasn't from Thailand "Good. I want you to keep a close eye on them we've been tracking them for weeks now and the boss wants more information on these little shits. Call me if anything happens. Out" Tyrant cut off the call and the agent proceeded to start the observation software up, setting the bugs to act autonomously for the time being and find a hidden crevice to observe and listen.

[Forest State]

Candace "Juno" Marin

Candace wasn’t the person that had the most empathy, being more concerned with her own problems much of the time. But right now, she felt a lot of empathy for Gabriella. If she could have suffered the scandal instead, she would. She had been down a road like this before, after all, and had been in the news for things that she didn’t want to be in the news for. For knocking out her best friend on the first day of high school, for overdosing and almost dying when she was nineteen. For getting caught in a picture smoking weed, something that wouldn’t be that bad for a normal person but was one of the worst things that could happen for her high class family.

And now Gabriella was famous for something that she never wanted to become public, and Candace could almost feel her pain despite having no telepathic powers like Gabriella did. With a sigh, she put her arm around Gabriella, not caring if anyone saw. And she reached for the glass, trying to take it away. “Look, I know I’m probably the worst person to hear this from, but that’s not going to fix your problems. I know because of my own experiences. Yes, I might do some things myself to numb the pain from… From life, but when I was nineteen I learned the hard way that no amount of substances can get rid of what’s happening around you,” she said, surprisingly emotionally.

She sighed again, calming down a bit from her little outburst. “I’m just saying not to go too far. Don’t… Don’t drink yourself to death over something that nobody will care about in a few weeks. I don’t think anyone even cares now. I’m not saying they haven’t watched the video… I’m just saying that nobody other than the prudes will care enough to dislike you over it,” she said, before glancing back to the bathrooms where Cassandra had went. “We could follow Cass, but I don’t know if I should be focusing on her or you right now.”

Ji-Young Mun

Ji grinned and nodded, getting up and coming back later after managing to snatch a bottle of wine. People were mostly busy discussing other things and didn’t even notice her. It made sense, considering the news of the new leaks. She still had to look at the videos herself, but if they were anything like the initial reports said they were… They were somewhat damning. Or at least they were big enough to stay in the news cycle for weeks, which wasn’t something that came around often. The twenty four hour rule didn’t exactly apply here.

“Have you ever chugged wine before?” she asked, sliding the bottle in his direction. “You really should. It’s quite the experience, even if a little uncommon.”

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Michelle Raphaella Sara Bianchi-Costa a.k.a Tetrarch
Phuket, Thailand
February 18th, 2018


"The one vice I allow myself and you take it away from me." Gabriella complained, letting out a deep sigh as Candace placed an arm over her shoulders, removing the mostly-drained glass of wine from her hand. She let her take it, not bothering to try to move it away from her. She could just get another anyways.

"And I wasn't planning on drinking that much wine, I was going to drink enough so that I had a justifiable excuse to leave..." She added, muttering under her breath. "It's not a matter of like, dislike or whatever, it's a matter of image and mine's smashed. Just trying to... Figure out where I go from here, what I do now that my name and face have made it big in probably the way I least wanted them to get big." She fell back into silence for a moment. "But I'll take your advice. No drinks unless they're given to me by you. Should stop me from going too far." She turned and smiled at Candace.

"It's just... More a me thing, I guess, than what everyone else actually thinks of me, it's like what I think what everyone else thinks about me, trying to figure out who I am now and what I do, what image I can give off to the world. I'll survive and figure something out, since if nothing else someone is going to pay for it." Her voice took on a rare tinge of anger at the end.

"I could take a look if you want." Gabriella offered. "Not much, just seeing what and how bad it is so we know we're not going after her over nothing since I'm not about to let you abandon me here."

[Union Princes]

Kane Davidson, Head Hunter

Kane caught sight of the Doe sisters along with Jane and Nev all dressed up nice for the gala. Feeling a little left out standing around with two beers in his hands like he was waiting for someone, which he wasn't because those beers are both his, Kane quickly moved over to the table not caring if any of the seats had been reserved. He pulled a chair out with his foot and sat down right next to Nev before placing his beers down on the table "What's up everybody, hope you're all enjoying the gala because I for one am absolutely mortified at the state of the beer here" Kane picked up one of the pints and looked at it "Look at that. Lad serving the stuff can't even put a proper head on it. Why doesn't he just piss in my beer too? He may as well have" Kane rambled in a confident manner before bringing the pint of beer up to his mouth and pouring half of it down his throat with a odd grace before turning to face Nev "Do you ever take that mask off? Come on mate, how are you going to drink with that on?" Kane asked as he pushed his second pint towards Nev with a smirk "Live a little young'un when I was your age I once woke up in Ireland after a night out. My mum nearly killed me" He laughed and gestured towards the drink.

Kane quickly turned towards Jane and her sisters with a more subtle smile on his face now "Evening ladies. Drinking apple juice I see. Might I recommend a certain Polish vodka to go with that?" Kane asked in a joyful manner before turning to look towards Conagher and the Spy "Mr. Stockwell, a pleasure as always. Who's your friend?" He nodded towards Spy before glancing back at Nev to see if he was going to do something other than sit there.

Jenny Jane Doe

Jenny waved back at Kane. "We don't drink alcohol, Kane, we're not old enough yet." She responded with a smile before turning back to re-engage in the conversation between her sisters. Even now and then, Jenny would peek out of the corner of her eye to watch Nev as he sat with Conagher and Spy.

Back at Nev's table, Conagher returned the handshake at Kane's greeting. "Salutations, Kane." He greeted in his Southern accent before he chugged down a cup of root beer. "This is Spy. He's gonna be helping me track down the people that trashed my family's business."

Spy did a courtesy wave before politely shaking Kane's hand during Conagher's introduction. "I heard you're the weaponsmith in the base. I wish you the best of luck selling your weapons to your parents." Spy remarked condescendingly.

"I know what it feels like." Conagher mumbles, taking another sip of root beer, "I hope your mother or your father isn't picky."

"Indeed. After all..." agreed Spy, taking a sip of Red Wine, "You'll need the luck since your mother prefers weapons made in Stockwell Steelworks."

A flash of confusions blitz over Conagher's face until his genius brain put two and two together to realize what Spy is referring to. "Mother of Pearl of the Great Balls of Fire..."

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

Jenny Jane Doe

Jenny waved back at Kane. "We don't drink alcohol, Kane, we're not old enough yet." She responded with a smile before turning back to re-engage in the conversation between her sisters. Even now and then, Jenny would peek out of the corner of her eye to watch Nev as he sat with Conagher and Spy.

Back at Nev's table, Conagher returned the handshake at Kane's greeting. "Salutations, Kane." He greeted in his Southern accent before he chugged down a cup of root beer. "This is Spy. He's gonna be helping me track down the people that trashed my family's business."

Spy did a courtesy wave before politely shaking Kane's hand during Conagher's introduction. "I heard you're the weaponsmith in the base. I wish you the best of luck selling your weapons to your parents." Spy remarked condescendingly.

"I know what it feels like." Conagher mumbles, taking another sip of root beer, "I hope your mother or your father isn't picky."

"Indeed. After all..." agreed Spy, taking a sip of Red Wine, "You'll need the luck since your mother prefers weapons made in Stockwell Steelworks."

A flash of confusions blitz over Conagher's face until his genius brain put two and two together to realize what Spy is referring to. "Mother of Pearl of the Great Balls of Fire..."

Kane stared at Spy for a moment as his face went through the phases of sadness, confusion and finally anger "Listen I don't know how it goes in froggy land but it's extremely impolite to talk about someone's parents like that. My father is dead! And my mother ran off to god knows where to start a new life because I reminded her of him and that hurt her fee fees!" Kane angrily exclaimed as he clenched his hand around the pint of beer, his knuckles going white with the pressure "What you think my mother raided your factory? My mother was the sweetest thing on this bloody planet and you think she's just ran off and became some...villain!?" Kane stood up, he could almost feel tears welling up in his eyes he was that angry. But then he took a deep breath and sat down "I'm sorry I had to yell...it's a sensitive subject" Kane said quietly looking back up at the Spy and Conagher "So. Tell me Spy, what could you possibly know about my mother? Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me my mother got several heavily armed and well trained mercenaries and had them raid the Steelworks?" Kane asked quietly, downing the rest of his pint to control himself.

[Durmatagno]

Sage Wilder/Sage Knight/William Wilder
The Gala

Sage sighed, looking around clearly bored. These weren't the kind of things Sage really did, though to be fair, technically only being three years old and having spent two of those years as a experiment didn't really help Sage know what kind of things they did. The other Sage and William had old hobbies Sage tried every now and then, but they weren't different people, wasn't the same as something that Sage wanted to do. About the only thing Sage them-self knew they liked doing was dancing, but this was hardly the kind of place that Sage danced in. So, Sage stood in the corner, avoiding the alcohol, avoiding the throngs, and just sorta keeping to themselves. That said, they were lonely. Technically, they were never alone, but there was a difference between the other people in their head, and the people around them. Being lonely meant looking for others to talk with, but Sage also didn't have a lot of experience with other people, besides stealing from them, or beating them to a pulp...or that one time they burned down a building and fought past a bunch of armed guards.

Sage shook their head, clearing away the lingering thoughts of a past they wanted to forget. The world was vast, and they had only seen a fraction of it, and they had since found people that proved to them that the world had at least some good in it. Sage looked around the room again, this time avoiding the throngs, and looking at the fringes, at the other people avoiding the crowds, avoiding the talks, and the formalities. That's when Sage spotted someone that stood out, well, they spotted several people that stood out, there many of the people in the room looked odd in various different ways, but this one stood out in her own way to Sage. A short, compared to the six foot Sage anyway, woman with black hair, wearing a T-Shirt and Jeans. She looked out of place not just from what she was wearing, but more because she looked just as uncomfortable as Sage, perhaps even more so. Of course, Sage could spot several others uncomfortable with this formal event, but this one was alone, at least as far as Sage could tell.

Sage worked their way around the edge of the room, grabbing a small snack on the way, Sage was always hungry, came with the body they had. Finishing off the small snack shortly before they made it to the woman, Sage brushed their hands of on the sides of their pants, not that there was anything left on their fingers to leave a mark. After checking to make sure their extensive scarring was still properly hidden by their clothing, they were still self conscious about it, and probably always would be, Sage took a calming breath, always nervous around strangers as it was, and then spoke.

"Hello, mind if I talk to you? You look just as uncomfortable here as I do."

[The Empire of Tau]

February 18, 2018
8:?? PM Dinner Party in Phuket
Pig, Dinner Party

Ah, yes, the Dinner Party, Pig was excited, more so for the food and drinks. Once inside the building, Pig would simply horde a fuck ton of food inside his meal pot that he brought. He would clear whole tables of food, leaving just the plate and silverware on the surface. The drinks also was not spared from the thirst of Pig. Beer, wine, everything he can drink, it shall be swallowed. By the time that the chefs brought out the 10th wave of food, Pig still had plenty of food inside his stomach to fill up with food. It came to a point where staff had to stop Pig from consuming all the food and drinks due to the fact that they barely had enough food to feed everyone because of Pig’s eating rampage. Thus, Pig sits himself at a table alone, taking up all of the space on said table. He would wave to many people that he knew, Jenny, Nev, Kane, etc. Pig almost forget that he also had brought guns like a 50. Cal Magnum and a short-stock AK into the party too, hidden under his clothing. Bored, Pig stands up and walks himself to Jenny’s table, which also had Kane at it too. Towering over anyone at Jenny’s table, Pig waves and says a simple “Hello. How’s the party going?”

[Union Princes]

February 18, 2018
8:?? PM Dinner Party in Phuket
Pig, Dinner Party

Ah, yes, the Dinner Party, Pig was excited, more so for the food and drinks. Once inside the building, Pig would simply horde a fuck ton of food inside his meal pot that he brought. He would clear whole tables of food, leaving just the plate and silverware on the surface. The drinks also was not spared from the thirst of Pig. Beer, wine, everything he can drink, it shall be swallowed. By the time that the chefs brought out the 10th wave of food, Pig still had plenty of food inside his stomach to fill up with food. It came to a point where staff had to stop Pig from consuming all the food and drinks due to the fact that they barely had enough food to feed everyone because of Pig’s eating rampage. Thus, Pig sits himself at a table alone, taking up all of the space on said table. He would wave to many people that he knew, Jenny, Nev, Kane, etc. Pig almost forget that he also had brought guns like a 50. Cal Magnum and a short-stock AK into the party too, hidden under his clothing. Bored, Pig stands up and walks himself to Jenny’s table, which also had Kane at it too. Towering over anyone at Jenny’s table, Pig waves and says a simple “Hello. How’s the party going?”

Jennifer Jane Doe

"Hey Pig, we're doing just fine. The food here is amazing." Jenny said as she cut a slice of her steak before putting it in her mouth. "I assume you're here because you ran out of food to eat?"

"Is that why you call him 'Pig' because he eats a lot?" Rhona asks as she enjoyed a mouthful of Thai noodles.

"That's the gist of it." Jenny answered, swallowing her glass of apple cider. "So Pig, anything you need to tells us?"

Because of Pig's sudden appearance, the conversation the girls had were grounded to a halt as Jenny's sisters looked up at the tall fat man that happen to be a friend. Each sister studied him in their own criteria, but altogether they figured he was reliable enough as they see Jenny still relaxed as she talked to him.

[Wulf Da Guy]

Artemis Hunter

'Chugging wine?' Artemis repeated as he examined the bottle. 'You sure this is what you want to get me drunk off?' He said with a chuckle as he began to drink the wine. Artemis lungs held a vast amount more oxygen than the average person, allowing for him to chug down the win with ease. Of course, he wanted to play this up a bit.

And so he did, Artemis pretended to struggle with the bottle. As if he couldn't take all the wine in one go. Yet he did, setting the bottle down before Ji as he wiped his mouth with his other hand. 'I...I'm never doing that again.' He said letting out a burp. 'Hopefully, that's not all you've got for me beautiful.'

[The Empire of Tau]

Jennifer Jane Doe

"Hey Pig, we're doing just fine. The food here is amazing." Jenny said as she cut a slice of her steak before putting it in her mouth. "I assume you're here because you ran out of food to eat?"

"Is that why you call him 'Pig' because he eats a lot?" Rhona asks as she enjoyed a mouthful of Thai noodles.

"That's the gist of it." Jenny answered, swallowing her glass of apple cider. "So Pig, anything you need to tells us?"

Because of Pig's sudden appearance, the conversation the girls had were grounded to a halt as Jenny's sisters looked up at the tall fat man that happen to be a friend. Each sister studied him in their own criteria, but altogether they figured he was reliable enough as they see Jenny still relaxed as she talked to him.

“Well, staff had to stop me from eating all the food,” Pig chuckles, observing the group of people, Jenny’s Sisters, Rhona, etc. “Well, I came by because I don’t have food left to eat...So, I’m here to socialize with y’all,” Pig says, staring down with his eyes through his pig mask. Crap, this was bad. Pig has always been a odd person with people. Never had him really went out of his way to talk to people like this, but sitting at a table doing nothing was not really fun either. Thus, Pig stared at the Jenny, the sisters, and Rhona, for a bit too long. Just standing there and really just intensely staring. While doing this, Pig’s mind was paranoid. What would those people think of him, etc. Then out of nowhere, Pig cracks out a smile that was more creepy then friendly. Whelp.

[Forest State]

Ji-Young Mun

“I would offer to match your drinking, but I don’t think I would be a very good journalist if I was passed out, don’t you think? With that being said, I do know where to get stronger things, or more specifically, I know who to get stronger things from. Some of them are even here right now, believe it or not. When you’re as connected as I am, you learn who can help you get certain things,” Ji said, glancing around the room and looking for a certain few people. “On the other hand, I’m split about that because you aren’t exactly useful to interview if you’re passed out, and you just might once the wine kicks in for real.”

Kodiak "Null" Marsden

Kodiak hadn’t been lucky enough to avoid contact with anyone, despite her best attempt. She had been leaning against one of the walls, wearing her jeans and tee shirt because she didn’t have any formal clothes and didn’t want to ask someone to borrow. It wasn’t like she came from a background where sharing was anything normal or encouraged, and she didn’t exactly have many friends. She knew she was on Cassandra Marin’s shitlist for sure, and while she had a grudging respect for Zara Nakano, she wasn’t about to ask her teacher to bother things. She knew the difference between a teacher and a friend, and she wasn’t going to cross the line between them.

Not after her upbringing had taught her the difference and the importance of that difference. She looked towards Sage and gave a hard stare, hoping she would scare the other person off without saying anything. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out as well as she intended. And so she spoke up, finally, after causing an awkward silence. “No shit, I’m uncomfortable,” she stated, looking away. Making eye contact wasn’t something that she did when she wasn’t trying to make a point, and even then, she didn’t do it all the time. “I never signed up to come to this shit, I’m only here because they’re making all of us go. And as you can see from the way I’m dressed,” she added, pointing to her outfit, “I don’t usually go to things like this.”

She let her head rest against the wall again, closing her eyes. “Don’t really want you here, but I would get in trouble if I punched you, and I don’t have any of my guns either. So there’s not anything I can do to stop you.”