Kill A Man (IC)

[Cyroa]

James chuckled lightly as they danced. "That's basically the same thing. Not helpful right now. Brain downloads are nice if I can access it. But I'll take what I can get I suppose. Even if I'll have memories popping up at odd times," he said with a smile.

He nodded, spinning her around the dance floor. "I understand. He holds that pain rather close." He was quiet a moment as they danced. "If you'd like, I can chat with him. I've had my own 'demons', if you'll pardon the pun, to exercise and I've done some similar things," he offered. He doubted he could help Mike more than Alex could. She practically lived in her fiance's brain. But Mike was a friend and James would do whatever he could to help.

As the music ended, he gave a little bow to Alex. "Thanks for the dance," he said before following her to their table. He took a seat and sampled a little from here and there. He didn't need to eat much so he might as well try as much as he could. He'd certainly consumed far worse stuff than this.

[Avenger Assembled]

Distracted from an animated conversation with his seatmate, Mark reached over to his other neighbor and touched Trevor's face. "There, now your mask is permeable to coffee!" he said brightly. "And maybe other stuff," he added worriedly, "but probably not. I had to make coffee machines for Ms. Harcourt using nothing but the parts I could find in my chemlab drawer, and so I got a pretty good idea of what makes a good filtering agent and what doesn't. Our uniforms," he added seriously, "make terrible coffee. Particularly if you grind them...ANYWAY. Now you can drink coffee!" Alex was nice to offer, Mark reflected, but it was even nicer to just do it without worrying if anyone would object.

[Gizmo]

There was a moment's pause as Midnight silently regarded Mark, nonplussed. "You made my gas mask... permeable." The sentence was a simple statement, carefully neutral and enunciated with calm precision. After another pause, he reached to his neck and unfastened the base of his mask, pulling the bottom half on it upward to rest over the bridge of his nose. "Appreciate the gesture, but sometimes simple works." While he made it a point to completely conceal his identity while in uniform, the fact remained that he was still covering core of his face than most heroes ever did, and there was no one in the room in the room even peripherally aware of Trevor Hunter's existence who wasn't already privy to his true identity. Picking up a steaming cup in one hand, the black clad vigilante paused for a moment to inhale deeply before sipping.

[Electra]

Erin frowned at Mark, remembering her own annoyance when Marcie had "improved" her own clothes, but when Trevor didn't make a big deal of it, she let it go. It was kind of hard to yell at Mark anyway. Sometimes he'd totally blow it off, other times he'd take it to heart far more than it had been meant. She busied herself instead with the excellent food, which was novel and plentiful. Most of the time she didn't ask what she was eating, but everything was good. Except maybe the coffee, which was extremely strong for her taste, and not served with cream or sugar. After observing the near-religious way Trevor savored his, though, she took a drink anyway and managed not to grimace. "What are we going to be doing tomorrow?" she asked the closest of their hosts.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Tomorrow," said the muscular man in the well-tailored suit, "I am told that you and the others will be touring the King's facilities at the very heart of the mountain. It's a great honor," explained the gentleman who practically radiated 'bodyguard', "as few outsiders, even superheroes, have had the honor of seeing the Heart of Dakana. You must be especially trusted by his Majesty." The word of the White Lion was evidently good enough for the people of Dakana, and no one raised any issues about the teen heroes visiting what was evidently a sacred site. After the massive meal culminated in a dessert made somehow entirely out of goat's milk cream, Dakanan-grown coffee and chocolate, served in a bed of melons, the teens and their hosts began the process of rolling their way back to their rooms.

[Cyroa]

James enjoyed the food and the company. He made idle chat with those around him, just enjoying being home and around his friends more than anything else. He didn't particularly care what the agenda was as he observed those around him. He smirked at Mark's extreme solution to Trevor's mask issue while the more somber teen took the simpler route. Some things never changed.

[Electra]

With dinner finished, Erin headed with the others back to their rooms. She wasn't particularly tired after having a quick nap on the plane, but she wasn't about to miss out on the opportunity to test out the amazing amenities that had been provided for them in the palace. Anybody could get a good night's sleep on a bed the size of a lake in a room like a fancy hotel suite! Before heading into her room for the evening, she paused in the hall and focused on Trevor, who'd already taken off his mask now that they were away from the crowds. Stepping a few feet away from the others, but deliberately not looking to see if anyone was watching them, she leaned in and murmured, "By the way, I'm sober now, and I still meant what I said earlier. Just so you know. See you tomorrow." She leaned in and kissed him goodnight, mostly decorously.

[Gizmo]

Trevor leaned forward reflexively as Erin pulled away and returned to her room for the evening, leaving the dark haired youth standing silently in the hallway for a beat while his brain processed enough of what he was feeling to devote attention to things like walking and breathing again. "...heh," he murmured finally, mouth opening in a slight grin as he placed a hand on the back of his neck. Had anyone been spying on the king's guests that evening, they surely would have assumed there had been some sort of mistake. Costume or no, there was no way the young man sauntering to his room with his hands in his pockets and quietly whistling a syncopated tune could be the grim, masked hero known as Midnight.