His eyes briefly darted down in recognition of Samuel's extended hand, his own following suit and initiating the silently agreed upon hand shake. "It is nice to meet you as well, Samuel!" Once the shaking of the hands had ceased, he turned his head to Dia and nodded with a smile. "I would like the same."
"Good to be back." Halle said, crossing her arms. "From wherever I was. Speaking of which..." She unwound Zarathustra from its multiple rotations, eventually spinning back to meet the boy full in the face. Time to see if he could take that. "James is your name, right? Because you didn't actually give me your name at any point after I gave mine."
It was somewhat unsettling for Halle to spin her body around, yet the boy didn't flinch. Giving a slightly nervous smile, he nodded. "U-Um, w-well, my name's James. O-Or Croire. I really...don't mind whichever y-you choose to call me, Miss Halle."
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day."Pretty sure you're just here to have fun, not to sing like a master." He chuckled at Halle's question, noting a rather odd change in her appearance. Weird. It looked like she got dipped in water? Or something like this? Maybe he was just seeing things.
But then both she and James were gone so he decided to just hang around the karaoke machine, eager to see Lena and Selene compete. "Who are you betting for, girls?" He asked the two that were there: Violent and Diana.
Tempestas 29 - Krigsvart Shindig
Gage left Dia's response at that. Every one had their place, and maybe Dia would learn to make due with what she had.
Zhi offered his hand around, shaking people's hands, accidentally leaving the delinquent out when he offered his hand out to his partner. Gage only sniffed and shrugged, his hands in his pockets. Maybe it was his choice of casual clothes...
edited 8th Oct '15 1:06:15 AM by KR_Vandal
Dia understood Gage's silence. Ah well. She probably knew that she was better off in some places while he was better off in others. (We should make the best of what we have, then.)
She then responded to Zhi, smiling a bit. "Most of us here are friendly, I'm sure you'll be able to make friends with them too."
Dia then offered to shake Zhi's hand.
...ehehCarol smiled, a sort-of dreamy expression on her face. "Well, that actually is rather cute. Fluffy."
She nodded to herself. "That's going into the book."
Diana smiled shyly. "Selene will win, no doubt. She's a genius."
Lena poked Selene with a finger and raised her mic. "Brimg it on! Since I'll beat you anyway, I'll let you pick the song!"
So I have an excuse when I lose.
Double-U Two Bee
"Nice work," he offered Dia, primarily because he didn't really have much else to say on the issue.
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about making friends. I haven't seen any shitheads myself around here, though that might just be my own cognitive bias speaking," he mused. "I doubt you're really worrying that much about it anyways, but you've still nothing to worry about, Zhi. You'll make friends. Just gotta put the effort in."
edited 8th Oct '15 2:54:23 AM by SpartyMcFly
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."Tempestas 29
"Sucks to be him," Yan said. "I mean, uh, yeah, that sucks."
It was probably time to cover at least two ears again. Lena and Selene were going to compete and that typically meant trying to sing over each other as loudly as possible.
"So you two are brothers, then? You wouldn't happen to know a, uh, Glen?"
"Er, a-actually, not...r-really. I mean, t-they're really interchangeable c-considering...i-it's complicated. And I d-doubt it. I'm not e-exactly the most memorable or i-interesting person." The boy nervously laughed, making a joke at himself.
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Putting Gage's expression Dia realized that Gage wasn't the sort to reach his hand out for a handshake... he'd rather wait for the others to offer him one. She smiled a bit and responded. "It's friendlier to take the initiative, Gage"
She then turned to Samuel, keeping the small smile. "You're welcome, Samuel."
And then Dia realized that she had forgotten to get her chocs. She left her seat temporarily as she went to get more chocs. And made sure she'd hopefully not get delayed again.
...eheh"A-Alums? I don't...r-really know w-what you mean by t-that, sorry. And, um, w-well, if it's conversation y-you're after, er, w-well...wait, p-parents? I'm...m-mine aren't h-honestly interesting a-anyway, not w-worth d-discussing..."
Fidgeting and anxiously glancing around the party, James sighed.
"...U-Um, w-well, I have m-made a few i-improvements with...um, m-my weapon and, er...tinkering with w-whatever machinery that n-needs, er...upgrading. Or f-fixing."
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Tempestas 29 - Krigsvart Party
Gage realized he might be acting something of a heel. But what Dia didn't understand was that he really wasn't the kind to offer his hand first.
but what he did do, when Zhi's eyes turned his way, was to thump his chest and flash him the horns. With a mischievious grin on his lips.
That'd be the closest they'd get to a handshake out of Gage.
Party
Marvin rejoined the party not long after, glowing with joy as he walked about, the encounter with Halle had been amazing and he loved every second of it.
However, he wanted more out of tonight, and so, spying someone he had not talked to in some while, he made his way over to Isabelle and gave her a surprise hug from behind. "Hey there, Super Gal~"
"I am nature's weapon. You are unfit to carry on your species, and I shall ensure that you do not do so!" - Charles Darwin, XCOM SniperAnd turn his eyes he did. Fully prepared to extend his hand to the other, he was caught somewhat off guard by his gesture. What was that supposed to mean? He'd never seen it before. He'd have to research it later. He was smiling, and Zhi didn't feel any malicious intent. He raised his hand to Gage, not sure if handshaking was still a thing that was happening or not.
"I've been doing much the same." Halle replied, nodding. Poor kid, about as awkward as she was sometimes. Empathy. "I was given a basic body, but Father said I could upgrade and sidegrade all I wanted. Which I did. Plenty of things under the hood." Silence. Halle's gears clicked and whirred for a moment as she struggled with something. "Please take my word that if I could wink I would right now." She tapped on her armor plating. "Still working on some kind of system to let me move Zarathustra like a prehensile limb rather than a flail, in news you're actually interested in."

It didn't take long for everything to click together and James get the hint. "S-S-So basically, just a c-change in a-appearance. And, um, I-I believe...y-yes, the previous, um, s-shell...armor, w-whatever, is definitely in t-that list..."
He blinked in surprise at the spider walker...armor. "T-That's...kind of...w-well, not as p-practical as it looks...still, u-um, it's good to have you back, H-Halle."
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.