Gathering: Halloween Gala

[concierge]

A large, decorative sign situated prominantly in the lobby reads:

The Nexus Hotel
proudly presents its
ANNUAL HALLOWEEN GALA

Formal Reception
Nexus Dining Hall
6 PM - Midnight

Monster Mixer
Nexus Basement
8 PM - 2 AM

Masquerade attire recommended for all guests

Most of the chairs have been removed from the Dining Hall to allow for ballroom-style dancing to the orchestra set up on the far end of the room. A polished cherry wood open bar is aligned along one wall. The adjacent Bistro is open for the duration of the formal reception, serving gourmet hors d'oeuvres.

Downstairs, the basement's largest storeroom has been converted into a spooky nightclub, complete with DJ, dance floor and cocktails.

Comments

[malachai]

"Sounds like we've traveled a few of the same roads, if for very different reasons. I almost wish I'd met you before everything went completely around the utter fuckery bend." He said it with the finality of a truth he hadn't wanted to face but knew he had to anyway. The Nick he had been once upon a time, still mostly human, still in possession of his soul, untouched by god powers or demon powers, would have had a lot in common with the doctor.

The mess he was didn't stand a chance.

[legendthatwas]

"I figure this place and the relatively clean start sorta makes up for some of the, uh, fuckery," Martha supplied, gently. "Though obviously, if you don't feel comfortable hanging out...I mean, I'd understand."

[malachai]

Nick turned to her before he could get the look of shock out of his eyes. He worked to blank it away, but was pretty sure he didn't get there in time. "Me? Are you kidding? After what happened in there," he said and waved a hand in the direction of the ballroom, "I was pretty sure I'd seen the last of you or would once you'd had some time to process everything."

[trulyoracular]

Olaf taps his nose with an elongated purple limb, grateful that she's said exactly that. "This way, my lady," he offers, always intent on giving the woman a good time and a good drink. "Can I interest you in some of the personal cookies I've baked for the occasion?"

[themadmanwithabox]

"The next time I get an oxygen-breathing companion, I'll be sure to let them know your opinion on my caring for the environment," he retorts with too much pomp and circumstance, which is the sign he's teasing right back.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

Harvey half-grins. "Okay that - that I can almost buy." He pauses. "Not that I hope you're having a psychotic break, just that it seems like the most viable option. I thought it was just me." All the shit that went down over the last couple of weeks before he stumbled into this place? Yeah, he could believe he's losing it.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

"Happy to help," he tosses back - probably as 'happy' as a guy in a super-hero-comicbook costume can get when talking to a Jersey cop-guy.

A frown creases his brow. "You're going to have to run 'haole' by me with a little more context," he says, because that's a new one. He's clued in to it probably being Hawai'ian dialect, but beyond that, he's lost.

[legendthatwas]

"I take calculated risks," Martha said, and her gaze settled firmly on Nick's, didn't budge. "I mean, I reserve the right to change my mind if something really goes to hell--sorry, didn't mean that as a joke--but I've seen worse and still gotten to know people before."

[legendthatwas]

Olaf looked seriously, seriously ridiculous, but fortunately Martha was good at handling that kind of situation, even with someone who wanted to buy her a drink. "Would these be special cookies?" she asked with a careful sidelong glance at him.

[malachai]

"That may very well be the best news I've had in a very long time." The smile that bloomed across Nick's face was one he hadn't felt years. He held out his hand to her, "still friends?"

[legendthatwas]

Martha considered making a teasing comment about how he picked up those like ordinary people picked up the Metro on the Tube, but decided, before she said it, that it was too cruel. "I'm sure they won't mind when they hear about your appalling treatment of your plant spouse," she said instead, with a wink and a clear silly drawl on appalling that made it clear she wasn't appalled at all.

[haolehothead]

"Basically, I'm an asshole outsider who doesn't fit into their culture and they froze me out for it," he explains. "At the police station, everywhere I went, and it took a giant Navy SEAL to make an inch of difference when it came to that."

[legendthatwas]

The smile made Martha smile too, and she laughed softly as she reached out and shook Nick's hand, firmly. "Definitely still friends," she agreed.

[malachai]

Nick kept her hand for a few moments longer than required for a simple handshake and his thumb brushed the back, just above her knuckles. There was a jolt in his gut, a small spike to his pulse, but not a whisper of the darkness that had reared its head during their dance. "Friends it is. And I still owe you a dance."

[trulyoracular]

"Are there any other kind?" he asks with the sort of boyish innocence that ought to give a person faith in him, even though he absolutely deserves none of it.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

"As opposed to a regular-sized Navy SEAL?" he quips. Hey, they've already established the 'asshole' part, no need to dwell really.

[iwillnotsettledown]

"Oh no, it's not just you. I guess if we're all crazy, we've got good company," MacKenzie says brightly. "I don't think I'm crazy though and you don't seem to be but otherwise, well. There's just not a good explanation for this place and how it works otherwise, is there?"

[legendthatwas]

Martha's eyes crinkled in amusement--pleasure, perhaps--at the corners, at the brush of his thumb. "I'd say we could hold fire on it for a bit, seeing as you're all--"

She gestured up and down at Nick, who was a bit sweaty and disheveled from all the punching. "But I don't really mind if we do."

[legendthatwas]

"Uh, yes," said Martha, sceptically. "Normal people cookies that don't have weed in them. Unfortunately I have to decline." Random drug tests at work were all just part of the job, and in her profession, didn't seem entirely like a bad idea.

[malachai]

"Seeing as I'm going to start smelling like the worst part of a back alley any minute now?" Nick finished for her, eyes twinkling with the smile.

He kept his hand in hers since she made no move to pull it away and decided to really go for the reckless thing. He brought her hand up and brushed a feather light kiss above her knuckles. "I'd rather wait until I'm not borderline offensive. Might even score a second dance if I do."

[legendthatwas]

"You haven't seen some of the back alleys I've known. I doubt you'd smell quite that rank." Martha grinned wryly, then winked at Nick as he pulled up from the kiss--a bit of Southern American gentleman, she supposed, and let him do it, though she let go a moment or two after. "Sounds like a plan. Plenty of holidays out there for galas."

[haolehothead]

"Seriously," Danny agrees, nodding very seriously. "He towers above them like a towering pile of bricks with issues," he stresses. "Honest to god, you'd hear him coming. He practically vibrates vengeance and the American duty."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

"And this guy - this SEAL - is something akin to a 'best friend', I take it?" he asks, more-or-less knowing the answer based on body language and the vaguely reverent way in which Danny describes said SEAL. Really, you can't be that annoyed with someone you don't like - not like that anyway.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He offers a shrug. "I suppose there could be a better explanation. However, I don't have one." He pulls a face. "I don't have a drink either. I thought there was a bar at this party?" If that was all a lie, it's very distressing and he will return to his thorough investigation of every door he can locate in this goddamned place until one of them leads him the hell back to his office.

[haolehothead]

Danny sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose as he musters out a nod. "Against all my better judgment, yes, Steve McGarrett resembles my best friend, which I continually wonder what that says about me. Do I take it you got one of those for yourself, then?"