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Right. Well. Luka couldn't sit around at the bar all night long. People might start to think he was a lonely alcoholic. That just wouldn't do. He hardly ever drank. Still, he wasn't completely legless just yet. That, however, did not stop him from walking into the back of Hiba and his two lady friends. "Ooof, sorry about that."

((SOMETHING HAPPENING! ZOMG!))

((This ain't turning into a fight. mrgreen After all, Plasma stated that there were to be no fights at this banquet if I recall correctly. biggrin ))

((Here's what I got. Not the best, but now we can get this thing rollin' again))

There it was. Like a light at the end of the tunnel, Reid was beginning to see sparks of the past in Henrietta’s mind. Dark recesses of her memory were beginning to surface. The probe was hitting the source. He just needed to push it harder.

Reid stood up straight and took a step forward, not once losing sight of Henrietta’s eyes. “I advise you not to try that.’”

****

Jump shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets and letting the cigarette dangle out the corner of his mouth. “Relax, I keep it real. My freestylin’ might be rusty, but who knows? It could be awesome.”

The Interpol Agent also looked up at the stars. “What’s your deal, anyway? You look like you just wanna party. This is supposed to be a real uptight shindig, yanno?” He let loose a short laugh. “I guess guys like us might not fit in.”

****

“I’m surprised you don’t have two left feet.”
“The odds of that mutation are negligible, at best.”
“It’s a figure of speech, N.”

Salieri looked up at N as they waltzed across the dancefloor, spinning and moving in time with everybody else while the music played strong. She had a natural talent for dancing that lent to her kung fu skills, but she hadn’t expected N to have as much rhythm as he was displaying. Even so…

“Loosen up,” Sal told N, shaking up the green haired man’s shoulders. “You’re way too rigid.”
N’s mouth turned into a small O of surprise. He looked like he just snapped out of a trance. “I am?”

Of course, N was only so stiff because he was concentrating on the dance steps. He observed the people around him and calculated the precise statistics of their movements, from the angles of their steps to how much weight they put into their feet. It wasn’t a simple equation to solve.

“Dancing is about relaxing, remember?” Salieri rose an eyebrow. N looked away sheepishly.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

The Battle Girl tilted her head, looking up at N with curiosity. He felt like he was being observed. Well, he was. Sal then looked straight ahead, staring into his chest.

“…what’s up with you?” she said softly. The music slowed down, and the couples started to wind down their dances, staying in one spot. Salieri and N stood under the chandelier, near the center of the floor.

N looked down at her, trying to see her eyes. It wasn’t something he did often. Eyes were a very direct way of expressing inner feelings. He wasn’t always comfortable with sharing that information, or seeing it for that matter. But Salieri’s feelings were hard for him to read right now. And he found himself intrigued.

“What do you mean?”
“Are you some sort of scientist?” she asked him. “Or a radical environmentalist for pokemon? A missionary? Maybe an alien?” The guesses came out of her mouth connected together, like a string. She bowed her head in closer to him.

“The other ones I’ve met so far, they’re trainers just like me. They might have their own reasons and ways, but at the end of the day we’re all trainers going on the same journey.”

Salieri looked up at N, her amber eyes meeting his green ones. They weren’t aggressive, but she looked like she was trying to see past what she was looking at. “You’re not like the rest of us, are you? What’s your story?”

N held her gaze. “I’m trying to make the world a better place for pokemon. I told you that.”
“Yeah, I know. But what’s your story?” She leaned forward. “C’mon N, who are you really?”

It was just now that he noticed they had stopped dancing. How long had they just been standing there? N’s eyes darted around the room, noting that everyone else was still dancing, before being drawn back to Salieri’s.

“It’s a complicated thing. I’d rather not share it now.”

Sal took another step forward. There was barely any space between them. “Are you just saying that so you never have to tell me?”
“Maybe someday I will. I make no guarantees.”

She stood up straight, tilting her head back so she looked directly at each other. “Someday I’ll get it out of you,” she said. It wasn’t a tone he had heard Salieri use before. It was soft, less brash, more…feminine. “Mystery Trainer N.”

And now they were silent, still looking at each other. It was a strange, unfamiliar experience for N. The music was getting quieter, fading away into the next song. They were unmoving.

N didn’t know what to do. His mind ran various different scenarios. What did he say now? Did he keep the subject going? Try to segue into something else? Was saying something even the right thing to do? What about dancing again?

He kept trying to think of a solution to this problem, but his calculations proved fruitless. What’s the right course of action? Do I even have to take one? What’s the goal here?

The green haired trainer had lost track of how much time it had taken him to reach his conclusions. It had been long enough for Salieri to suddenly snap into a different expression, like a bubble around her head had popped. She bit her bottom lip, furrowed her brow and looked away. N thought he glimpsed at her face turning a shade of pink.

“Forget it. It was a stupid joke. I-I need to find Jump,” she mumbled, back to the usual tone of voice he had expected from her. Sal peeked a quick glance back at N. He caught a strange emotion in her eyes before she looked away, walking back towards the tables. "I'll see you later, N."

And so N was left on the dancefloor, bewildered. What just happened? He wasn't sure what sort of exchange the two of them had. He had assumed everything was normal between them until she began to change moods, and then a series of rapid fire expressions led to her leaving. Did I do something wrong?

He would have to recalculate and revisit the events that just transpired at a later time, when he wasn't as confused as he was now. Perhaps they meant nothing at all. Overanalysis led to things like this.

It was unfamiliar. But still better than wine.

Luka looked at the guy. He was big-ish and was clearly attempting to get it on with the two women he was with. What a man-whore. And from the red blush on his cheeks and nose he was either very drunk or very horny. Maybe both. Still, the guy's actions with his arm were highly intriguing. He had really struggled holding it out. It was weird. That sort of stuff didn't happen. "Are you.... erm... feeling all right dude?"

Maybe what he'd experienced before was a bit more real than he had previously thought. He should probably ask Henrietta if she'd had any weird sensations or things happen recently. Or, maybe Salieri or Wayne if he bumped into them. Something just wasn't quite right. He tried to go through the events of the past day or two in his mind. What could have happened that could've done something to him and maybe to the guy in front of him. Of course, Luka could've just been imagining things and this guy was looking more than a little bit drunk. Still... What could have happened? Well, the key things that stood out to him were the events at the Liberty Garden, but how would that have done anything? And.... The shockwave. That thing probably hit the entire city. What if it had been some sort of weird energy shockwave? Then maybe everyone had been given a superpower? Everyone in Castelia turning into Spinarak-Man or The Incredible Snorlax? Now that was a scary thought. But, as Luka looked at the people around him, he noticed that none of them appeared to be having any weird experiences, then again, he wasn't at the minute so that didn't give him too many clues.

For now, Luka would just wait and see how things progressed. Maybe everyone had indeed been imbued with some sort of power, or maybe he was having some sort of weird hallucination. Either way, things were certainly very weird.

Luka noticed the look of disdain that had crossed the guy's face. It was also as if Hiba thought Luka was beneath him for some reason. Still, Luka wanted to find out more about what had just happened. Still, it'd only be polite to introduce himself. "I'm Luka, nice to meet you dude." He held out his hand for a handshake. "Has something like that ever happened to you before?"

It certainly hadn't to Luka, he had only had that one experience at the bar. If Hiba had had any experience like it before then maybe it really had been just a drunken hallucination but Luka just wasn't sure. It seemed far too real to be a hallucination.

Luka paused for a moment as Helena started singing. He'd heard her voice somewhere before, but, he couldn't quite remember. As he maybe continued to talk to Hiba he listened to the song.

The lyrics were.... interesting to say the least. It almost sounded like she was singing about a guy sleeping with prostitutes. Bit of an odd choice for a banquet, but, there you go. Plasma were a weird lot anyway.

Its not that Hiba thought Luka was beneath him in anyway, It was just that at that particular moment in time that he was pretty much another face in the crowd. Not a Bad thing, just a fact. If you've ever been to a party, that's how most people who you don't know are, until they introduce themselves that is.

which Luka had just done, making him and acquaintance. Hiba would lift his hand to meet Luka's. Though this motion was deliberately slow. The big Lug was wondering if that sensation would happen again. When it didn't, he sighed with relief.

"Nice ta' meetch' ya' Luka!" He sounded as if nothing odd had even happened. After releasing each others hands, He continued. "Nope, not that i can remember at least" he said shaking his head.

"Im thinking it was probably a hallucination." He continued, shrugging it off.

"So, What brings a Kid like you to a Fancy plasma Banquet?" he asked to keep there conversation rolling. By now he'd completely forgotten about Claudia and Marisa. Wait, that was there names, right? Both of whom had by now wandered off, highly irritated with being shunned in lew of another, a Boy no less!

The Muscled youth didn't pay much attention to the music as he stood, hands in his pockets, suit jacket un-buttoned, his short brown hair slightly messed up, and the slight smell of some manly cologne. Truth be told, He was looking like one hot piece of Man, turning head's every which way.