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SETTING: This waterfront bar has been set up for a New Year's Eve bash to end all.. oh, who are we kidding? It's not the fanciest bar on the waterfront, but the drinks aren't watered down and the price isn't bad. There's all kinds of tinsel, streamers, and baloons that are scheduled to drop around midnight. The balcony is open for people to go out on with heaters set up all around. There's music playing an ecclectic mix, and there's a decent crowd who range from casual to New Year's Eve fancy. It's a Come As You Are sort of bash and everyone is invited.
It's early yet, several hours before midnight, but plenty of time for revelers to have begun gathering, bar hopping. They're out in the streets, they're wandering down by the waterfront, they are out on the balcony looking out over the Hudson, and they are in the bar drinking, dancing, and getting ready. The live view of the crowd in time square gathering around and partying for the ball drop is playing behind the bar. There are several bartenders this evening to handle the crowd, one of those is Mike Matthews. He is slinging drinks along with the others, chatting with the revelers, and handing out party hats and noisemakers to those who want them.
Gidget decided to hit up this party she heard about from some clients…once again. Last time she did she ran into Loki. Heck…she ran into Loki AGAIN after the. Taking a deep breath….and hoping for o shenanigans….she would make her way out there. Bundled up in that black wool swing coat she would be in the heart of thing. Smiling as she looked around, she'd spin around to the music as she was out on the balcony. It was a bit less noisy and she wanted to not be shoulder to shoulder just yet.
You want JP Bonaventure to show up some place? Two words: Free booze. Or at least the illusion of free booze. That works too. Apparently the place operated on a sliding scaly but the greaser wore clean jeans and a tie around the …collar of his leather jacket. Alrighty then. Hey is said semi formal which to him apparently meant 'owning a tie'. The rascal Cajun sauntered in casing-er, surveying the room with a silver foil party hat sitting on an angle atop his head with little streamers attached to teh top like a small festive road cone.
There's no better way to lose a possible tail than finding a convenient crowd to duck into. A private party isn't as ideal as say, the enormous gathering in Times' Square, but it's far closer and more convenient.
Buck's in a decent suit and overcoat, as if just off his own job, gladhanding his way past whomever might be watching the door to head for a drink at the bar….still trying to keep an eye out for whomever might be behind him.
Mary Jane was already at the bar, leaning against it as she waits for her date. She sighs a bit under her breath, wearing a shimmering red dress as she definitely appears dressed for a New Years Eve party.
The thing about this private party, was that no one was actually checking for the invitations. They'd been sent out more to try to temper the number of people that showed up than to actually prevent anyone from getting in. Sure, there's a bouncer absently looking every once in a while, but it's pretty easy for anyone to duck in with the crowd and get lost inside the bar. Like as not, by the time midnight rolls around, the place will be packed. But, it's early yet, and there's dancing and drinking to do.
Mike sets a drink in front of Mary Jane and says, "Don't worry, they'll be here." He gives her a friendly wink and then moves on down the bar to take care of another patron. Outside, over the water, there's a slight shimmer of dancing lights, as though someone were putting on the world's tiniest fireworks display, or some tinsel had blown loose from a nearby tree, or someone's sequinned dress had exploded.
Gidget would finally make her way back into the main part of the party. Leaving that balcony, she'd finally make her way towards the bar. Pulling off that coat, she'd reveal she was actually wearring a short scoop neck sequin dress with a low back. Slipping onto a seat where she could she'd look around before resting her head upon one of her heads. Yawning a bit she would just shake her head before propping it up on hand. Seems like it was starting to get fun as she looked out to the balcony….lights. "…oooh."
JP looked to Gidget walking in as he walked over to where MJ was because that's where the bartender, Mike, was and that meant that was where booze was born. An eyebrow arches with a wry dimpled grin, "Yeah I know I get that alot. Place nice too though hmm?" The guy had what could only be described as 'not exactly a proper French accent', and lo he dropped into a lean giving Mile an upnod. "Whoever you's waitin for all dressed up like that and they ain' here? THey los' their damn mind, doll." To Mike he grinned and asked, "Gin any good?"
Seltzer water's the order of the day - not that even real booze dents that metabolism. It's depressingly hard to get drunk when he wants to. Buck's claimed a space at the bar, trying to at least feign relaxation….but his gaze darts to that distant shimmer faster than perhaps it should. He's clearly not the least bit at ease.
MJ smiles, "The hazards of dating a photographer I suppose… he's always got a scoop to get." She glances curiously at JP, arching a brow as she says, "I'm sure he'll be along directly."
"Gin's always good," Mike says and pours one for JP, however he likes it, and sets it in front of him. For the moment, he's entirely too busy serving drinks to the clamoring partygoers to notice anything going on outside. There's a glance between Mary Jame and JP for a moment, but for the time being he doesn't have anything to say as he's called into the back to go fetch something.
Meanwhile, out over the water, what seemed like a few lights had broken up into a few more, shimmering, as though catching the reflection from the city itself, and those few more seemed to have become a few more, more like fireflies, save for without the glowing butts, and more shiny like ice, clearly not only self-propelled but growing closer over the water.
Gidget would look at JP talking to Mary Jane and chuckled a bit. For someone that had to be in such circles, she was a little shy. Watching Mike walk off, she'd blink then looked around. Well it was good…she needed to be a bit sober. Glancing back to the balcony, her head would tilt as she sat up a bit more straight at the bar. Blinking she'd cross her legs then. "…maybe I do need a drink…."
New Years Eve meant work. Lots of it for Peter Parker. But at least he did make it to the bar. It's obvious that he dressed in a hurry, but the suit looks decent on him as he approaches where MJ is sitting, and offers a congenial smile towards JP, before speaking up. "Mind if I buy the prettiest girl in New York a drink?" Sure, they're free, but Peter's trying to make up. "Sorry I was late.. there was all of these things that Jameson wanted taken care of and and.."
JP warmed a grin to Mike, "Awwww you get to be my new best friend. I'll make sure you're hooked up." Which could literally mean anything, but hey he sold it like a good thing yeah? He looked to Bucky and lifted the glass like 'sup buddy' and turned to Peter Parker and cut in before MJ had a chance to answer like who the hell was this guy? "You know yous kep' her waitin? You at leas' owe her a dance, cause the story's here, man." Life advice from someone that looks like they might get arrested for a living. What a welcome.
It's not his name, but that first syllable of Peter's boss's is enough to make the actual James in the room prick up his ears and glance over. No one here knows him, then who just said his name?….nerves, it's nerves and a misapprehension. Buck's mostly watching the lightshow now, with a furrowed brow. Puzzled by it - diverted from his initial cause, grateful for the breather. JP's gesture gets a reflexive grin in return, and the redhead a glance, because let's face it, gingers are completely Sergeant Barnes's weakness, but….
Mary Jane smiles and places her hand on Peter's arm, "Not a problem, Peter, I knew you'd show up." She winks at him, and then does add, "But, I think the Frenchman has a point as far as you owing me a dance, no?" Quirking a grin, she waits for Peter to lead the way to the dance floor.
Meanwhile, out on the water, that sprinkling, glittering cloud of lights completes its journey toward the coast and, finding the balcony, and an open window, suddenly rushes into the room. They are small, no bigger than one's palm, little tiny flying crystalline creatures that, if they weren't moving so damned fast, would look essentially like four sharp pointed limbs, a head, and a pair of wings that make a crystalline whining sound almost like music. They immediately get tangled up in the balloons that are attached in the ceiling, which causes them to start popping as sharp little limbs and wings crash into them.
This causes two things to happen. One, the crowd starts reacting with either screams of surprise, peals of laughter, or a quick withdrawal from the club, making their way toward the exit.
Gidget was squinting as she saw the creatures and just widened her eyes. "….what….the?" Quickly she would grab her coat as she started to look around. Well it was packed in here and she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Pulling that coat on, she'd curse to herself in French….though it was quite audible. Once she was strapped in that coat, she'd pop up the collar of the it as she just….waited. She couldn't believe this was happening to her….again.
"Oui!" Peter is eager to agree with Mary Jane, getting ready to lead her out onto the dance floor, just before he feels that small tingle in the back of his head - the one that starts to warn him of danger. "Say, MJ, would you like to go outside before we have that dance?" he asks her, a lift of his brow in suggestion. Because that was just a couple of moments before the first balloons popped.
JP arched an eyebrow to Gidget. He was definiately speaking a French Creole dialect, though Gidget's reaction to teh things poppting and colours flitting around making the rest of them grin was curious. In his tongue he asked her ("You leaving already? Jusst now everything's starting") He looked to Mike and Bucky shaking his head as Pete was learning to make amends to sparkle gal #2, rouge edition, and said to them, "Eh to interestin' company then hmm?"
This is just….weird. Not yet necessarily threatening, but strange. Buck's watching the little sprites, bemused. They look like they belong back 'home' in Siberia, not here in urban New York. "What the hell is that?" he asks, voice flat. But he doesn't duck away from the incoming creatures. How dangerous can they be?
Mary Jane blinks at the little sprites, then nods towards Peter, "Yeah, um… think going outside for a bit of fresh air isn't a bad idea." She hmmms a bit, glancing over towards Peter with a curious expression as the sprites pop the balloons.
Well, it had started out as your fairly run of the mill New Year's Eve party with streamers and noisemakers and drinks. The balcony was open with some heaters outside so that the party could overflow for some air and come back in to the bar. Until some uninvited guests showed up — and we're not talking about our heroes at the bar, either. The little palm-sized crystalline critters darted all over the place, glittering and shimmering in reflected light. They looked, if one stayed still long enough, to have four sharp crystalline limbs, a head, and a pair of crystal wings, and they were all flying around near the ceiling. Whenever they hit a balloon it would pop. The sounds of partygoers laughing, pointing, a couple screaming in fear with the sudden balloon popping and swarm, as though a flight of bees had descended upon them, fill the room along with the music that keeps playing on the dancefloor.
One of the little critters alights on Mary Jane's glass when she leaves and immediately dips into it, assuming the color of the drink inside. It then floats above, spinning in dizzy circles.
Gidget would look over to JP, her brow raising. As she heard that, she'd smile as she responded in that Parisian French. «I'm not exactly….equipped for this….» With that she would look around before those things would flood the room. Letting out squeak, there was a glow coming from underneath that coat as she threw her hands up. Suddenly, a golden barrier surrounded her as they flew around. Blinking she would look around and sighed. "….merde…." Well….still gotta work on that control a bit it seems.
JP did a double take and watched… what was THAT?! This was… amazing! There was a dimpled grin as one of those tiny creatures made MJ abandon her glass. Finders keepers. Yas his plan for free booze by being a grazing grazer who grazes was looking up up up! He held out a hand far too amused to be scared. "Awww, nothin t'be scared of, chere. They fit in a shoe" Looking around he pointed at the globe, martini in hand, "They's poppin balloons. Hope they don' pop yours. Make a hell of a noise f'you."
The problem with making New Year's Eve parties when you're a rock star, is that, well, more often than not you're playing a gig yourself. So it happens that Dazzler arrives far later than what would be considered fashionably late, but at least she makes it. For all the fun that she's having, performing is still work, a party is more about winding down. Though when she walks inside, decked in a glamrous beaded halter gown, and very unique makeup with blue and glitter about her eyes, evocative of a dazzling light or butterfly wings, she finds this party is not at all a regular one, leaving her somewhat hesitant by the door. Staring at the flying critters and their antics, "I'm glad I made it," she says mostly to herself. This was something worth seeing, serving as inspirational for future lightshows in her concerts.
Well, they're sharp enough to pop balloons. That's not a good sign. But the question is if they're actually malicious. They don't *seem* to be, so Buck's keeping his seat. Already casing for the less obvious exits, though. This could go bad in a hurry.
Some of the partygoers swat at the little things, trying to shoo them away, which only seems to cause them to swarm about and get a bit agitated. On the bar, however, several deserted drinks have now been inhabited by small crystalline critters, drinking up red, and green, and purple fizzy drinks and turning a rainbow of colors. These too, lift up off the bar and start spinning about in the air, emitting a kind of chiming sing-song sound.
The sudden shield aroung Gidget seems to attract a few, possibly because it's gold, and they kind of tink-tink-tink at the edge of it experimentally, darting in and then away again.
Mike comes out from the back and suddenly sees what's going on in the room, "Oh man, this again…. Hey, uh.. don't hit them," he suggests. Then he calls out, "Anyone in here sing?"
Gidget would look to JP and scrunched her nose. In a New York accent laced voice, much different from that French tone when she spoke her family native tongue she'd shake her head. "I don't do…weird things. I don't know what they are." Staying in her little golden force field, she'd see them tapping away and raised a brow. But when Mike said singing, she would just put her hands up. "…not it. I'm tone deaf….J"
JP tapped on the gold bubble with Gidget in side. "Giiiirl you could wreck a bowlin' alley wit' that." *tap*tap*tap* let's hope she wasn't part goldfish. One of the little sprites cam at his boot and he gave it a flick with his toe so he could drink MJ's abandon drink. He paused liftin the glass to Mike as if saying one moment. "Suuuuuuuuure. I do it. Whole place may drop dead but, eh." He was buzzed enough to not even really care. He wasn't any sort of singer but jsut because he wasn't qualified didn't mean he'd let that stop em. Looking to Bucky he asked, "Yous any sort of Sinatra, guy?"
"Ermmm…I can sing?" Dazzler answers the question that seemingly was tailor made for her to walk into, looking quizzically at Mike, "what do you need a singer for…?" Yeah, walking into this party is quite confusing to be sure!
"Not really," says Bucky, drily. The Brooklyn accent's stronger than ever. "Why?"
When Dazzler says that she can sing, Mike snaps his fingers a couple of times and points to her, "Singing. They like singing.. just don't.." And then a guy smacks one of the small critters with his bottle, shattering the bottle, and the critter, into a half dozen smaller, mouse-sized, angry little sharp sprites that suddenly go for his face. The man starts flailing and suddenly things get a lot more serious in that corner of the room. His companions try to swat at them and Mike says, "No, no.. just.. feed them!" He begins pouring drinks at a rapid pace and slides a few of them to those near the bar. "Give them booze.."
Gidget would blink as she watched that man break one into…smaller ones. "…oh that's unpleasant…" Then she'd look around, then saw Mike making drinks to 'feed' them. With a eyebrow twitch, a couple of those drink would float off the bar and then in front of her. No…she wasn't dropping that barrier. "…come and get it little fellas…."
JP was all over that and left Dazzler looking around giving a sharp, trilling whistle. C'mon all ya shiny lil fuckers. Commere." He whistled for them like a puppy while he surveyed the room carefully for something to… use…. yeah not much was coming up. Ah HA! He went for the fire extinguisher. Up onto the table he went. Nice. Very classy. This is why you don't invite juvinile delinquents anywhere. He shook the extinguisher a bit and primed the handle at the bottom and if it was a chemical buss those little brittle bastards wanted, well he'd abide. There was chemical foam aimed at the critters and the side of Gidget's forcefield. "Bah'tenda means f'you to Pied Pipper the precocious Pests, Princess." Oh yeah, don't run in here.
Dazzler is distracted for a moment when she sees the guy who shot Captain America in the crowd, but then it seems from the stress in Mike's voice, that her singing talents are likely required, and so she just walks further into the room and opens her mouth to sing, the choice is a popular, well known tidbit, the Beatles' "Love Me Do," as she sings, swirling lights seem to reflect off her dress, giving the illusion of something of a lightshow around her.
Which has Buck slipping around to the back of the bar. "I tend bar at Lux," he tells the bartender. Like that's credentials enough….but then, considering who Lux belongs to, perhaps it is. And then he's pouring drinks with the smoothness of long practice, dishing them out in quick shots for the creatures.
When Gidget floats the drinks through the air, the little crystalline critters that were tap tapping on her bubble suddenly begin to congregate around the glasses, dipping into them and spinning above her head, making soft crystalline chiming noises as they do so.
When JP hops up on top of the table with the fire extinguisher, Mike is too busy at the bar to notice, pouring several more drinks as some of the swarm begins to congregate around the bartop. There's a kind of distracted glance over at Bucky and then he nods, "Oh yeah? A friend of mine was saying I ought to apply there. Nice to meet you. Here, pour this." He pushes a couple of bottles toward Bucky. Seems like his creds are good enough for Mike. The little critters gradually start moving away from the guy they were attacking, the tiny ones practically swimming in the shot glasses.
As soon as Dazzler begins singing, Mike reaches back and cuts the sound system, and the little critters that seem to be wobbling and spinning around in the air begin to slowly congregate around Dazzler, the light coming off of her reflecting off of their own colors.
JP he didn't know Gidget's name but the thought occurred to him and so he said to her in Frech Creole gathering she'd know she was being spoken to ("Lady Lady, you think you can get out of that big bowling ball and maybe trap them in it until we cna put them somewhere? Like the fountain across the street? Hell I got a mini bar.") And it occurred to him like he's never had a more brilliant idea in his life… he needed to find a way to show this to his brother. OH…what fun there was in that.
Dazzler looks rather pleased by this unique affect of having her lights reflect off the creatures, as they all seem a very attentive crowd. She continues to sing for them, starting to dance a little, and see if they'll follow along. This could almost be a fairy tale like ball. She's not sure what else is to be done, so for now is content to lead them in song.
Things are safe enough, it seems. And Buck should be slinking out, before he's recognized for real. "It's a good place to work. If you try there, tell 'em Jack sent you." Jack? Once he's slung enough booze to distract a sufficient clutter of little ice sprites, he's gone back out into the winter night, on the cusp of the new year.
Interestingly enough, the little crystalline creatures begin to swarm and spin around Dazzler which makes a very disco-ball effect on the entire room. The partygoers who haven't been driven off seem to have caught on, offering up drinks to the little sprites who get boozy and spinny off of them, and then start dancing around Dazzler, chiming into her singing with their own kind of crystalline song. The longer that she sings, the smallest of the creatures begin to meld together with the larger ones until there are about six of them, roughly dog-sized, spinning and swirling about with the music, drunkenly singing along, if one were to interpret their motions and song that way. It's only when she finishes singing, that they simply fly back out the way that they came, straight out onto the balcony and away into the night, leaving the revelers with another hour or so to midnight, and a very strange experience.
Mike nods to Bucky and says, "Hey, thanks. Mike, by the way." He goes about refilling some drinks for those who gave theirs up to the effort when he notices JP on the table and says, "Hey, these are for you." He sets down three shots in a flight on the bar and grins in JP's direction. By the time he turns back toward Bucky, he realizes the man is gone back into the night as though he'd never been there. Then he says to Dazzler, "Thanks for the assist there.. still don't know why that works.. but it does."
JP warmed a dimpled grin to Mike. "You're alright there. I think that was the mos' fun for the New Year yet." He knocked back the shot and set one on the floor for the lil dudes. "Maaan I like these things' priorities. Where can we get more?" Becuase that was the answer no one really needed.
By the time Dazzler's song is waning, the creatures have mostly coalesced into larger creatures, but making less of them. She's not sure if it's a good thing or not, but the experience was amazing, to the point she waves them at the completion of her song as they leave. "That was groovy…and different," she notes.