Jasper leaned in from his seat perched slightly further away from the table than the ladies to grab his scantily loaded plate. "Perhaps you build an immunity after a period of exposure?" He ventured a guess out-loud finding her, as ever, extremely interesting. Her. The actual woman. Not just her talents although they were the topic of choice at the moment.

Jasper looked down at his crab cake and decided to try eating. He was still a little shaken. Disturbances stained him for a long while before they washed away, though they always did wash away. As soon as he'd taken a bite of the crab cake another question popped into his head and he tried to hurry and swallow in order to ask it but it was not happening.

Syd went to take another sip of her wine....and found it empty. She frowned at the bottom of the flute and wondered where it had all gone. Maybe it was the elves? Blasted little devils were sneaky. Her amber eyes went around the room looking for the pointy eared miscreants. She hadn't remembered seeing any but that didn't mean they weren't here.

Jasper's question pulled her out of her search. "Possibly. I think if I spent more time in larger crowds my shields might get stronger but I haven't really had the patience to test it."

GinaMarie, Jasper & Syndil
 

Claire listened to all GinaMarie's questions before answering, she took a sip of her champagne and replied, "I moved here because I've always wanted to see another part of the world and didn't want to learn a new language so Britain was an excellent option." she said with a slight laugh. "As for what I did in the American ministry I did the same thing I will be doing here, I was an Obliviator. What is your position in A&C?" she asked her and took another bite from her plate.

She looked up and saw Jasper return with Syndil and sit down. "You haven't missed much of anything except us eating." she said in response to his question.

"Hello again Syndil." she said to the woman who sat down next to her.

First drink was gulped down successfully, he pulled the second one and arched his eyebrows in surprise and glee. "Do I get a plaque?" You know, so he could set up on his office's desk? Heh heh heh, he got funnier as the night went on obviously. Or not. Ugh. He shouldn't crack any more jokes.

... questions? Office? He blinked slowly trying to understand why that came up now, and after they were talking about him not being able to handle- oh. Oh. Hahhhh, nice job, scary boss lady. His grin remained on his lips as he sipped and nodded, "How can I refuse such a promising opportunity?" Vic's sister was nothing compared to Emily, if he really was that good a judge of characters. Merlin, but he didn't want to dodge the invitation despite it being bone-chilling. This intrigued him, and even if he wasn't a Gryffindor, such risks drew him for the knowledge and mysteries they held.

Brownies from miss Browne? He wasn't sure if she used the pun on purpose or not, it made him chuckle all the same and he finished whatever he was eating to take a brownie. "I like brownies." He just liked food in general, though, so this wasn't anything special. Not yet, anyway. He sipped from the glass and took a bite of the dry but sweet pastries. Following her eyes' direction, Vic spotted the clock and nodded his head at the fountain near which the department heads were gathered, "You have to go back, don't you?" It was her job, he didn't like keeping her from it even if he was enjoying himself too much with her company.

Emily considered Vic's question, taking up her drink and swilling its contents around her mouth before swallowing. How so very lady like of her. "You know, that can be arranged." And it would be worth its weight in gold. Getting her to dance, was a rarity for sure. Something so scarce was bound to be valuable. She returned Vic's grin, she was in on the joke, seeee.

Despite his faultless smile, Vic's nod wasn't very convincing, and something in the way he spoke made her wonder if perhaps he wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea. "Well you don't.." refuse that is. It was never a nice thing to say no to a scary boss lady, they were capable of inflicting pain and cutting salary packages... among other things. Smiling though, she added, "I'll be looking forward to it." Her smile was of course not particularly menacing, it was hard to be menacing when she were considering which dessert to devour next. Taking a custard puffy lattice type treat, Emily popped it in her mouth and half chewed it before swallowing it eagerly.

"I like brownies too," she agreed, in case it wasn't obvious, "though, I suppose I sort of have to." There were social expectations, she was sure of it, or at least most of the people she'd had these discussions with seemed to think so. "Brown with an e.. Brownie. Yeah." Lame. But she went along with it for the most part.

She'd been hoping for a reason not to have to go back. Perhaps all the new peeps and returning peeps could come to her, here, while she sat and ate with Vic. It sounded like a nicer alternative.
"Unfortunately," she nodded, taking a moment to crack her neck. Rising from her seat, the remainder of her drink in tow, Emily gave Vic an apologetic smile, one that said goodbye. "You're welcome to rescue me at any time, and as your new boss... I encourage it." She could stand to be the damsel in distress just this once. JUST this once.

Was it just her? Or were they rather good at humouring one another? At any rate, she’d enjoyed his company, however brief it was. As it was, she didn’t have much more to say, not about the plaque, not about the brownies, or anything else for the matter.

Vic was good at amusing her, his gesture of planting a second peck on her hand made her purse her lips in an attempt to hide a grin of her own.
“Yeah, see you around.” Emily lingered a short moment longer before turning and making her way back to the fountain, her dress flowing in her wake.

At least she knew she had a friend that shared her thoughts on food in a bathroom and bathroom germs. That worked out wonderfully in her advantage. But it really did mean he was going to have to leave his food here, did he actually need to go. Were they still continuing their bathroom conversation despite her being joking about it completely? "I'll keep it safe." Lies. Lies. Lies. She'd eat it. It looked good. He'd picked up things she hadn't. Sharing was caring, Bradley. C'mon. Frrrrrrrrriends? She bet he'd share with one of his 'ladies'. Huh. "Just promise I won't turn into that friend that you tell things to about your lady friends. No thanks." And none of that ditching thing.

They hadn't been friends for long, but they got on pretty well. Haley approved of him, and so did her lists.

"You. You're childish." None of that for Haley Brooke. None.

Brad rolled his eyes. "Safe in your stomach right?" Because obviously she wanted his food. The first thing she did when she sat down was eat his food. It would definitely not be there when he got back should he have to leave it. "Fiiiine. I'll find someone else to talk to then." About lady friends.

"Says the woman who just stuck her tongue out at me." Smirk.

Haley grinned and wiggled her eyebrows a little. "You know me too well." More than too well, actually. "I don't break pinky promises though. So you know." Which meant if she pinky promised not to eat his food, then she wouldn't. Maybe. Food was a debate she was willing to have with herself. Whilst he was gone. Maybe she'd just have a little. Maybe. Oh, decisions.

"That's why you need guy friends, Brad." Because Haley was not a guy. Haley was definitely not a guy.

"Heyyyyyyy. Shh. I didn't." Nope. None of that. But she did it again right then. Ha. Huzzzzzzzzah.

Brad continued to smile, taking a bite of his food. He raised an eybrow. "Pinky promises?" He forced through a mouth full of food. He swallowed before speaking again. "Now that is something I often have to do with the children I'm trying to convince to take the nasty tasting potion that will make them better." Eyebrow raise in her direction. Because he was the childish one?

"I'm tryyying. For some reason I only attract the ladies." Not that he minded. He liked his ladies. Yep. They were his ladies and he would defend them to his death. Because that's how friendship and chivalry worked.

"Yes. You did." Smirk.

Syndi? Did he just call her Syndi? She chuckled at the name and shook her head. "Please don't ever call me that." She plucked a piece of pineapple off of one of her kabobs. "Syndi sounds like a cheerleaders name. Or one of those women that works in a museum and is unnaturally happy all the time. Annoying really." Her amber eyes scanned the table for some more wine but came up with only water. She supposed that would do for now.

As she reached for the glass of water something tugged at her ear. With her free hand she batted the little knat away and made her earring be still. Someone should have sprayed for bugs before a large event like this. For shame. Taking a long swig of the water she found she didn't like the taste as much as wine. However, the blurriness of her thoughts told her she might have drank a bit too much.

That made her giggle.

There was a short moment of silence in which Alysson neither moved nor said anything. Eventually she did take William's arm though and let him guide her towards the seating area and away from the buffet. So now they'd finally left January and Oliver's side for good. For now anyway.

Choosing an empty table Alysson moved to sit down on one of the chairs. She looked up at William expectantly, waiting for him to first sit down and then explain what had just gone down between him and his best friend. And most importantly, what January had to do with all of it.

Alysson's expression immediately softened when he started to apologize. She wasn't the type the bear crudges. Also he really looked as if he meant it too. So there was that. His words however made her watch him silently for a while, going over them in her head again. So it had been about Oliver. And how he always hit on William's friends.

"He didn't hit on me." Whether that was in reply to him claiming that Oliver hit on ALL of William's friends or to his 'never get the girl' comment, Alysson didn't specify. She just continued to look at him for a moment longer. And gave him a small smile when he apologized again.

Alysson held his gaze with a small nondescript smile on her lips. "Not that I noticed, no." Might have been because he was more interested in January. Or because she wasn't his type. Not that it particularly bothered her. But it was quite interesting now that she got to think of it. "Now I'm curious as to why not, though." She leaned forward in her seat slightly. William would know right? He was Oliver's best friend.

She smiled. "Thank you." With a small sigh she finally got up again and moved over to stand next to him. She extended one hand with a smile. "Do you want to dance?" They were here to have fun after all.

let's move to teh dance floor! :D
 

January continued to wait patiently and tried her best not to eavesdrop. It wasn't polite, but that didn't mean she wasn't curious about what they were arguing about. She only heard bits and pieces anyway that she wasn't sure she wanted to try and make sense of at the moment.

When Oliver returned, January smiled back at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "No worries," she said, with a glance toward William as he left. Boys will be boys. She wasn't quite sure what to say now, she she was glad when he suggested sitting down again. "Yes, let's."

January turned towards the seating area. It would probably be wise not to sit with William and Alysson now. She didn't want to be rude, but she saw Alysson stand up and figured they were heading off in a different direction anyway, so January picked an empty table and took a seat.

"So... what was that all about?" she asked curiously. She wasn't mad or upset by any means. Just curious as to what the 'best friends' had to argue about at a work event.

The woman didn't look particularly impressed even though she tried to hide it behind her smile. Quite frankly Oliver couldn't blame her. Here they were having a nice conversation only to be interrupted by his friend who for some reason after all these years had a problem with the way Ollie conducted himself.

He walked beside her as they made their way toward the seating area and was just a tad too slow in pulling out a chair for her because she was already sitting. Apparently William had rattled him just a little.

Oliver was just taking the seat opposite her when she asked that question. Of course she was going to ask that. "Well." He said, heaving a deep sigh and casting a quick glance towards William who was now on the dance floor. "It seems that Will has a problem with me talking to you. Apparently I am going to, hmm what were his words again? Oh yeah, I'm going to string you like a guitar, play you like a fiddle and then leave you like a fool." He tried to smile at her but it came out like a grimace. He wasn't going to deny that he had actually done that to a few women in his time.

"I'll admit that I like to flirt and I like to charm, that's just the way I am, but I don't take advantage of anyone." Regardless of what his friend thought, he was always up front about his intentions. "I find you attractive January, I won't deny that but I was merely just talking to you. I honestly have no ulterior motives." This was a work function and he knew how to behave. Besides he was not against getting to know a woman first. And January was a very interesting woman.

"If you want to leave now, I would totally understand."

January had a feeling that Oliver thought she was taking this situation worse than she actually was. In all honesty, she found it... well, funny. While he explained, she sat and listened patiently, occasionally sipping on her water and trying to hide any signs of amusement.

String her like a guitar, play her like a fiddle, leave her like a fool. January raised her eyebrows at this and wondered if William had said those exact words or if Oliver was... paraphrasing. "Interesting," she murmured. And that was all she had to say about that for the time being.

Her observational skills had picked up that Oliver liked to flirt, but flirting didn't always mean anything, so the news that he found her attractive was new. January merely nodded for a moment as he finished his explanation with his understanding if she wanted to leave.

... and then she laughed. Not a huge, loud laugh. Just a small, amused, contained laugh. "I'm not going to leave a party just because you flirted with me and then got yelled at by your best friend for it." That would be ridiculous and shallow and just... dumb.

"I don't know about the rest of the women in your life, nor do I need to, but I am fully capable of taking care of myself, so whatever William is worrying about, it's rather pointless. Considerate, but pointless." She was a tough girl. She had experience in this whole 'life' thing and some guy flirting with her and potentially leaving her 'like a fool' wasn't going to break her iron heart.

Also, "Thank you." For finding her attractive. She also found him attractive, but she couldn't really say that because... she didn't know... how. January just smiled at him from across the table, her hands clasped on the table in front of her. Interesting turn of events, this was.

Well that's not exactly what he meant. he didn't expect her to leave the party because of what had happened between himself and William, he had meant that if she wanted to get away from him then he would totally understand. But since she was laughing and obviously found the whole thing amusing, Oliver just decided to leave it at that. Instead he grinned at her and have her a small eyebrow waggle. "I wasn't flirting with you. Not yet anyway." She would know when he was flirting.

See that William! You had absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Perhaps you should tell him that." So that he didn't have to put up with a repeat performance of his friend chewing him out because he was having a conversation with a woman. No point in Oliver telling him because William would not believe him not when he was on his high horse.

She didn't need to thank him. He had been merely speaking the truth. "You're welcome." He smiled at her from across the table and he could feel himself beginning to relax now that they had cleared the air.

"So how about those words that best describe you?" That was what they had been talking about before they had been interrupted.

Oh, so he hadn't been flirting. Her mistake. Actually, it was William's mistake, which led to the argument which led to the explanation of the argument which led to January thinking that Oliver had been flirting because of what William said... but she supposed it didn't matter. January laughed again. "Well, if you ever do, I won't run away." Probably.

January liked William. He was a nice guy and she knew his intentions were good. "If it comes up," she replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. She wasn't going to tell him off just because he was looking out for her. But she might mention it if it came up. Who knew.

Oh, no, they were back to the words. January was bad at describing herself, so she gave herself time to think and finished her glass of water. She decided, instead of embarrassing herself with lame descriptive words, to turn the tables a bit. "Why don't you tell me?" she asked, leaning forward a little with a little smile. She wanted to see what words he could come up with after talking with her for a while.

He was definitely going to take that as an invitation to flirt with her. Not that he really needed much of an invitation to flirt with women. "That's all the encouragment I need." He said, tipping her a wink. "You may regret telling me that." He was totally joking. Maybe.

Oliver really hoped that it came up so that his BFF could come crawling to him on his knees and apologise. He so knew that wasn't going to happen but it was always fun to fantasize. And if it managed to ome up between the two of them then Ollie was going to make sure he gave it to his friend.

Oh! She was good. He wasn't expecting her to turn this around onto him. Of course he already knew what words described her best. He thought she was very beautiful, smart and funny but those words were boring so he discarded them immediately. His gaze moved over, just the once and he grinned.

"Well I would describe you as ravishing." Especially in that dress. "I would also describe you as enlightening, entertaining and also compelling." Oliver raised his eyebrows at her, did he hit the mark?