Masks 2

Sam tipped his hat.

"Thanks, pard. I'll see ya later, Walt."

He split off and went to approach Philabuster. He gave a little wave as he walked up.

"Howdy there. Say, there's an open bar if ya want anything. Figure'd I'd make sure ya knew before a wizard drank all of it."

"Oh, I'm uh, I'm only twenty," she told him, shaking her head.

"Aw, shit. Ya know, that's legal here in..." Sam paused, honestly having to take a moment to remember, "Switzerland. But they got energy drinks and stuff, too. Hell, I'm mostly runnin' on caffeine right 'bout now."

"I'll pass still," she told him. "How do you like it here?"

Esen returns to the party after talking to Nocturne. She goes to the bar and gets herself a drink.

"Something bubbly, please!"

Raven reappears beside Theraea, tapping her on the arm.

"Couldn't get in contact tonight. I will let you know as soon as I have a location so you can investigate. Sorry for holding you up."

Raven then fucks off to the bar.

He asks for a bier. In a German Bavarian stein. He always wanted to try German bier in the German manner.

"Leadership ain't stellar but, to be honest, my preferred version of a revolution like this would be one with no strong, individual leaders. Now we just need to make sure folks here are comfortable with each other and can work with each other. Honestly? I've seen smaller movements like this come and go, but this is the first one I've seen with this many players of this capability."

Sam gave a smile.

"Unless you were talkin' 'bout Europe, in which case I guess it's alright, though I doubt most parts of it have open bars staffed by AI, so who knows. Wonderin' if they got Death Swamps 'round these parts, honestly."

Adrasteia poured Esen a glass of champagne, handing it to her.

"There you go," she said, her godvoice reverberating.

She then looked to Desmond, smirked, and gave him his German beer in his German stein.

***

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Philabuster agreed, though her eyes said otherwise. "And...I don't THINK they have death swamps here."

"Eh, I'm sure Omnicorp is dropping its illegal science projects off SOMEWHERE."

Sam looked for a wall to lean against.

"Handle's Blackstar, by the by. Don't think I introduced myself. Ma taught me better than that, sorry."

"Philabuster," she told him before getting a bit defensive. "Sounded funny."

"Eh, it's fine. Listen, at least ya didn't make yer handle when you were thirteen," Sam made his when he was sixteen, "I've met some folks runnin' 'round callin' themselves 'REDBLADE' and 'LASERGRIM'. A little pun ain't nothin' to be ashamed of."

He bent down to pick up a pebble.

"My whole deal... Well, it's a mess of things. I'm good at shootin', throwin', and dodgin'. What's yers? No, wait, let me guess it... Nobody can hurt ya as long as yer talkin'."

Sam flicked the pebble to knock over Jim's drink while he wasn't paying attention.

"Naw, sorry, that's not how this namin' thing always works. If that's how it worked, I'd control gravity or somethin'."

"I punch things. I'm really good at punching things," she said to him, clenching her fist and causing it to light up with pure saffron energy.

"Ooh, shit, does the glowy stuff explode?"

Sam looked at the dangerous energy much like a child gazing into a campfire.

"Sometimes. Depends how hard I punch," she told him, grinning a bit beneath her scarf.

"Shit I'm gonna go order a full watermelon, be right back."

Sam goes to the bar to order a full watermelon, returning with it.

"Alright, so, does the punch give ya any momentum? Because I want to see somethin' explode tonight, and I want to know how high I could toss this thing for you to hit. Or, shit, I could just hold it, don't worry, I'd get out of the way in time."

"Oh, yeah, I could explode that easy," she told him, hopping up and getting into a boxing stance. "Just toss it up."

When he threw it, she'd punch it, her fist arcing into it with a saffron flash and flourish. The watermelon exploded over the both of them, seeds and all. Recoiling back covered in sticky crap, she started laughing.

Sam was likewise entertained.

"OH MAN, IT POPPED LIKE A BALLOON!"

He wiped a seed and a bit of watermelon gunk off his face.

"... I didn't think about, uh, watermelon shrapnel, but whatever. That was worth it. Way better than shootin' one."

She clenched her fists in excitement.

"So you shoot things?" she asked him, holding up a hand. "Wait wait wait!"

She went to the bar and got a few apples, bringing them back.

"Can you shoot these if I throw them all up?" she asked him.

Sam smirked.

"No problem. Toss 'em high as you can."

He assumed the quickdraw stance and got ready to shoot.

She threw the apples up into the air, and Sam's dudetime activated!

Sam drew on the apples with his laser pistol and proceeded to shoot them as flashily as he could. Each individually, then chunk by chunk until the slow mo kicked off.

A few of the remaining chunks struck him, but he hit all the apples and a number of their pieces successfully. Some of the party guests had looked towards the shooting as well.

"Wow!" she said to him. "That's, uh, really cool? How do you lose fights if you can do that?"

"Well, it's the same reason the two ol' Fire-fighters that dueled each other when we showed up ain't invincible- I'm only one feller."

Sam spun his gun, blew off some non-existent smoke, and holstered it.

"That's why I operate as part of a team. On my own? I'm only as good as my luck."

"How good's your luck?"

She frowned.

"Generally pretty good!"

Sam smirks.

"But it ain't perfect. If ya played me in cards I'd probably lose as much as the next feller. Maybe more, maybe less. Luck's like that. It ain't constant. And all I need is one bad draw and- bang- I'm in the jaws of an Eellion."