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At first, James didn't recognise the person speaking, but after the fireworks settled down enough for him to actually focus on her voice and what she looked like, he grinned. "Good to see you're alright, Jessie," he said, scratching his head a bit. Jessie was a rather frequent customer of the Murphy brothers, finding them a lot more conveniently placed than the General Store and Armoury. She also had a nice eye for what was worth selling, often bringing in pretty nice finds from her missions, which tended to fatten either Murphy's wallet significantly when another customer came around. While they weren't all that close, he did get along with her, and had actually found himself rather worried when she had been wounded. It was nice to see that she was on her feet again.

"That pistol you ordered finally came in, finding the exact model wasn't easy," he said, trying to talk over the din of the music and people dancing, finally starting to liven up from the mournful atmosphere earlier. There was respect for the dead, then there was just being a mood killer, he figured. Wouldn't they want those left behind to remember them with happiness, not despair? "Once you feel up to it, just come on down with the right payment. I got the Beretta and plenty of ammunition, was actually pretty cheap. Or did you just want to chat?"

Luke quickly regained his cool and shook his head slightly, surprised that the entire place hadn't started freaking out at the racket. Turning back to Osbert and Marcus, he suddenly noted the distinct lack of Marcus. "What the... where'd he go?"

After a moment, he noticed Osbert looking under the bar, and burst out laughing on seeing his friend curled up under there. "You're a case, you know that?" he chuckled, taking the opportunity to hide the vodka bottle before helping Marcus out and trying to get him sitting down again.

However, he was cut off by the sudden display of fireworks, the loud bangs and crackles making the Agent jump. He knew a firefight hadn't suddenly erupted in the store, especially with the bright flashes, but he still wheeled around in surprise. "BLOODY FLAMING DENETHOR FROM HELL!" the mix of World One and PPC expletives left his mouth before he really thought of what he was saying, turning sharply to find the source of the random firecrackers. Giving Leto a sharp look, he took a few seconds to let his heart stop racing before setting down the brandy and turning to face Celinus and Langston again. At least he knew where Leto had disappeared to, he supposed. "Sorry about that, usually don't cuss but he took me off...hm? Where's the other one?"

Speaking of disappearing...

Celinus was still there when he turned back, but Langston seemed to have vanished. Finding this odd, he took a few steps to the side and looked around, only to find the drunk Agent huddled under the bar, looking around and generally trying to calm himself down. "It's only a bit of firecrackers, Langston," he said with a bit of a sigh. "Stop with the 'duck and cover' stuff."

Marcus grumbled something that sounded a bit like "shu' ya mouth, 'sbert...", before getting back out from his spot under the bar and looking around, a hand on his head. "Bloody fi'works..."

He offered his arm, playing a bit of an old-fashioned gentleman in an attempt to make her laugh. Once she'd taken it, they strolled off down the corridor together.

Having finished her drink, Cassie ducked away from Zach and backed off a bit. "I'm going to get another drink," she stated firmly, ignoring Nat rolling her eyes. "Won't be long." With that she headed off into the crowd, though her departure had been mostly motivated by Zach. She couldn't work out if he was trying to make her blush or if it was accidental, but either way it was probably a good idea to get out of his vicinity for a while.

Nat and Kelvin watched her go, but after a moment the younger of the two turned back to Zach to carry on the conversation. Kelvin, on the other hand, kept an eye on Cassie, just in case.

The Agent in question edged through the dancers, trying to avoid getting caught up by those who were getting overly enthusiastic. She didn't pay much attention to anybody else apart from that, though.

Sara nodded.

"Don't think I've ever been there. Heh, I probably need the coffee. Lead the way, then, yeah?"

"Missions, keeping the minis under control, keeping ourselves relatively under control," the tall Agent shrugged. He glanced back over at Cassie as she chugged her drink and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure whether to get you another one or forbid you to go anywhere near the bar."

She didn't feel too great about the idea, having been thinking about the friends she'd lost last year (not to mention the scar running across her back that she'd picked up in the fighting), but maybe she should make an effort.

Shifting into the crowd, she began swaying along in time with the music. As she moved through the dancing people, a few familiar faces appeared, and she smiled. Maybe more people were okay than she'd thought. Backing away from one girl who looked like she'd had a bit too much to drink, Jessie bumped into someone behind her and turned round.

"Sorry - oh. Hi, Big Murphy. Been a while."

[[OOC: I'll detach Cassie from the thread with Zach and send her over to Troy if y'like.]]

The shorter Agent was looking both embarrassed and bewildered at Zach's behaviour, and evidently unsure of how to respond. After a moment, though, the Welsh girl paid attention to Zach's question.

"Up ta? Not much, really. Since they let Cass out o' FicPsych at the end o' March, we've been just doin' regular Suefics an' tryin' ta stay out o' trouble."

Kelvin nodded. "It's been rather uneventful, really. What about you and Sara?"

Meanwhile, Cassie, still feeling ridiculous, downed what was left of her drink in one gulp.

as he pulled her to her feet. "Is there somewhere you like to hang out when you're not on a mission? I'd offer my RC, but it's not in the most cheerful area of HQ - well, DAVD generally isn't."

He shrugged. "Or there's the Cafeteria, but I'm guessing the offer of potentially fatal food poisoning isn't all that attractive... wait, I know. There's the Lounge. A friend of mine from Despatch - well, she's DIA now, but she was in Despatch - told me about it. Apparently the coffee's pretty good there. Sound like your kind of thing?"

Krisp was excited again.
"There ain't enough for this guy," said South.
What' couldn't but agree. All three watched the fireworks.

When he returned, he brought out several high-quality fireworks. Jane was surprised, and was about to ask Leto the reason when she saw the change that had come over this part of HQ.

The Ceiling had changed itself into a vast dome, large enough for several rockets to set off at the same time without any serious damage to those below.

"What, how?"

"Don't question it, my love, you know better than that."

"Very well. Now let's set up a surprise."

They then lined up the fireworks one by one, and Smeagul the Mini-Balrog set them off.

What resulted was one of the brightest displays of pyrotechnics ever known.

Then, they kissed.

Krisp went all excited when he saw there was Bleepomulan beer and Bleepanar too.
"The Star Trek geek is back again," said What'. "Watch out, people."
"And who's watchin' the watchers, I wonder."
"Me."
"Rodney McKay, leave What''s body RIGHT NOW."
"Thanks, South. I guess we have an exorcist now."
"Hey, I was supposed to be the exorcist..."
"You're already the killer. You also want to charge the Sues?"
"Oh no, keep the fun for yourself, old dirtbag."
"Shut up, dwarf."
"At least I'm not a midget."
"What? Dwarf." South couldn't believe Krisp was bringing this again.
"Midget."
"Dwarf."
"Midget."
"Stop that, you two."

"Thanks."

She took a deep breath, deciding that this was someone that she'd like to get to know better. She gave him a small smile.

"Where to?"

"Well, then, you're either sick or a lightweight," Zach grinned, barely containing laughter. He slung an arm over Cassie's shoulder. "It's okay, join the club."

He looked back at Nat and Kelvin.

"So what've you guys been up to?"

Luke shrugged. "I'm not going to do anything stupid," he replied, remaining standing but relaxing his stance somewhat. "Believe me, the last thing I want is a fight." After a moment, the older man asked who he was.

"Yeah, I'm a friend of Marcus," he said, glancing at the drunken man leaning on the bar. "Known him practically since I joined up, and he's saved my life more times tan I can remember off the top of my head. I'm Luke Celinus, by the way. And you're Osbert, aren't you?" He glanced at the man's helmet, which in his view was just a little ostentatious, and shook his head slightly. "Your headgear's practically famous, you know." He picked up his drink - a half-empty bottle of beer - and took a gulp.

"You might want to sit back down, before you do something stupid. Oh, Leto? As I was saying, I'll have a brandy, if you have any."

"Believe I do," Leto said, starting to look through his supply as Osbert returned his attention to the two Agents. He knew Langston somewhat, having met the man on a few occasions and not always on the best of circumstances. Honestly, he half wished he had been the one to train him, but it didn't particularly matter in retrospect. As the glass of brandy was placed on the bar, he sized up the large Agent who had stood up to him, idly taking a sip. He was both taller and a lot more built than Osbert was, but these days that applied to a lot of people, and he wasn't particularly impressed. Big people were just as easy to break as small ones. Still, he had no idea who the person was, though he appeared to be a friend of Langston's.

"Hm, on that note, I don't believe I have any idea who you are," he said to the larger Agent, adjusting his glasses again. "Do not believe we have met before, though you appear to be a friend of that mess sprawled on Leto's bar," he gestured to Marcus, who slurred something unintelligable and gulped at his drink again. "I am not mistaken, am I?"

"Pretty girls bending my ear makes a nice change," Seth smiled, trying to make her feel better. "It's not like him, though, especially getting violent. If I'd known he was going to feel this bad about it, I'd have tried to find him beforehand and let him get it out of his system."

He shook his head, puzzling over the mystery of Marcus. "I'm sure there are other people in there who know him, they'll shake some sense into him eventually. In the meantime, maybe we should get out of here and get you cheered up, eh?" He stood up and offered a hand to help her up, deciding that he could ignore his own less-than-perky feelings. "Come on, you shouldn't be getting miserable, Sara. Let's get a smile back on that pretty face, hm?"

When he saw the man who'd approached them, he debated whether or not to reply. He'd heard of the formidable Operations Agent, but hadn't met him before. Still, the guy had no right to be having a go.

"'Scuse me," he butted in, standing up and making a point of showing just how much bigger he was than Osbert, "but he's got enough on his plate at the moment 'thout you making him feel worse. If it makes you feel any better, he's not getting any more booze."

Sorry for rather sporading posting, Cass. I'm at school at the moment and am trying to get as many posts in while you're on as possible. :-P

I'll continue this thread when I get home.

"It's not really anything he said, it's just that he's being so stupid and he's not a stupid person, y'know?" she scratched her head. "I mean, yeah, he got a little violent, but violence is part of the job. Oh, I dunno," she grumbled. She looked up at the other agent and grinned weakly.

"Sorry. I barely know you."

Marcus replied, having not heard Luke whispering to Leto and his assistant bartender, before taking another drink of the vodka bottle. It was awfully strong stuff, but that was why he'd asked for it. Perhaps it was hitting him a bit harder than he thought it would, but he figured he could take care of himself, even drunk. He was about to try to slur together something to continue the conversation when someone to his left cleared their throat.

"An Agent of your calibre turning out like this, getting so plastered he can barely stand?" the person asked rhetorically, annoyance registering in their cultured British accent. "Langston, you disgust me."

"The 'ell're ya-" Marcus started to say, turning to face the speaker. However, he choked down whatever he was going to say as he was faced with Osbert. Marcus had only met the man a couple times, and was lucky enough that he hadn't been trained by the old man, but he still knew enough about Osbert to immediately shut his mouth. "Er...'ey, Osbert."

"'Hey, Osbert' yourself, Langston," Osbert said, frowning somewhat visibly, though Marcus couldn't tell if it was out of annoyance or the sense of disappointment he seemed to regard every Agent with. "Just what in God's name are you doing with that vodka? You're accomplishing nothing but disgracing that uniform and the memory of our dead comrades, you know."

Nodding, Osbert started to follow Milask over to the bar, thinking over what he should get. It had been a while since he'd touched spirits, but it would help him loosen up. When Leto asked them what they would have, Osbert thought for a few seconds before making his choice. "I think I'll just have some brand-" he was cut off by the sound of a familiar voice on the other side of the bar and looked over, seeing a very clearly intoxicated Marcus Langston bantering with another Agent. "Hold that thought," he said to Leto, moving around to the side of the bar where the two others were.

((OOC: If ye don't mind, Leto/Milask, thought we could bring this up to where Luke and Marcus are bantering, thought it'd reduce clutter.))

Seth was mildly surprised. He'd known Marcus for years, had been his partner at one point, but he'd had no idea the guy had even been at the party. Still, maybe it wasn't all that surprising.

"Yeah, I know him all right, and he's just that kind of person," the DAVDer managed after listening to what Sara had to say. "He's very, uhm... protective of his friends, so not being able to help them out would have upset him. Friend of mine told me he went ballistic at the DIA when they wouldn't let him in to help."

Damn, Sara looked really upset. He hated this kind of situation, mostly because he had no idea how to deal with girls on the verge of tears. Maybe offering a hug...? No, probably not a great idea, too many Agents tended to react violently to physical contact from virtual strangers.

"And, uh, I do know how you feel. I lost my partner in the invasion. He wasn't much younger than you, I think, and I feel terrible about it." Seth leaned back against the wall and sighed. "Nearly ended up getting killed myself, too. But anyway," he added, trying to change the subject, "what did Marcus say to you to get you so upset? He's not the kind of guy who goes around upsetting people... not on purpose anyway."