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Shuura blinked as Aki shrugged, noticing with some surprise that the graceful blonde woman's ears actually tapered to a point. "Old age? You gotta be kidding me," Shuura returned smoothly. "You couldn't look old if you tried." Cheerfully dumping various liquids in what seemed to be a haphazardly random manner, she swirled the contents together and handed Aki the curiously colorful drink. It looked like a blend of citrusy juices along with several different liquors.

"A cherry would go perfectly with that, actually. I'll go grab one for you." Shuura left Aki with a smile and headed to the desserts table....nearly running into Renhei, who she had somehow managed to miss completely because of his small stature.

"Oi! Weren't you the fish kid at the matsuri?" She was momentarily annoyed before remembering that oh, right--this kid was okay. He was pretty smart and didn't whine or complain or act bratty. "Where's gramps?" she asked with a grin.

Julian's eyes narrowed slightly as the good doctor refused his offer, but not a word left his lips. He merely watched as Kyou disappeared around the corner, keeping any reactions he had to being waved aside purely mental. It was not that the young scientist really wanted to enter the restroom with his idol of sorts. That wasn't the point at all. What had Julian flustered was that Kyou had this habit of being a tad bit clumsy. What might have started as a trip to wash off his sleeve, might readily become total chaos. The last thing Julian wanted to do that night was be forced to call a repairman and a paramedic. It would have dampened his mood considerably.

Fortunately, Dr. Kyou returned with great haste, leading Julian to believe nothing too horrible had taken place while he was out of sight. In fact, the only unsatisfactory aspect of the situation could easily be taken care of by the young man himself.

As soon as Kyou was within grabbing distance, Julian took hold of his wet sleeve, unbuttoning the cuff without comment. With deft fingers he put the cuff back in order, this time attaching the hole around the second, farthest button so that the cloth would be tighter against the skin of the doctor's wrist. "There. It shouldn't show so much if you have it like that."

Wooow, there are so many different people! And that girl over there who just came in, she looks like a woman version of that horn-guy I tried to talk to. The girl with the blond hair is pretty... And there's a little kid here, too!

Aphismet surveyed the room with half-lidded eyes, a dumb smile plastered on his lips as he worked on his third ceasar. The vodka he put in the drink had grown exponentially with each drink, to such an extent that this very drink he held now was HALF vodka, half everything else. He was feeling rather tipsy.

He grinned to Shuura as she made the fruity drink, but she was too busy to notice. Figures, Aphismet thought with a chuckle to himself. Who takes notice of someone like me?

With a rather unmanly giggle and a sudden sway, Aph took another swig of his drink.

"Why uh.. thank you." Kyou said as Julian readjusted his sleeve for him, a little shocked mixed with a tinge of impressed with the younger scientist. He suddenly felt very embarassed that someone younger than him is more capable of taking care of themselves than Kyou does. He jerked his hand back as Julian finished buttoning it, and realised what he just did seemed a little rude.

Tsu's interruption broked the awkward moment. Quietly, Kyou let out a sigh of relief.

"Oops, sorry," Shuura said off-handedly. "Here you go," she said, picking up the notebook and handing it back to the boy.

She snorted in amusement at his comment. "It's a party. Everyone pretends they know--and like--each other. Doesn't necessarily mean they do." The smile playing on her lips was decidedly mischievious.

"Whatcha got there?" She peered at the food on Renhei's plate. "Heyyy, that looks good..." she commented, grabbing one of the mini-quiche that was on Renhei's plate and popping it into her mouth. "Thanks," she grinned, and leaned over Renhei to pick up two cherries from the table, plopping one into her cup. The other cherry she brought over to Aki, who seemed to be content to just relax and watch everyone else. She gave the woman a smile before turning back to Renhei.

"What're you carrying a notebook around for, anyway?"

Now having imbibed two glasses of wine and four bloody ceasars, Aphismet was definately feeling... relaxed. He was dimly aware of the room now, and not really caring what anyone else would think of him. He wished he could feel like this all the time!

Humming some obscure tune to himself, Aphismet decided he would like to sit somewhere. Grabbing the bottle of red wine by the neck, Aph headed off in a random direction, searching for somewhere to sit...

Gah, did this room ever END?!

...Aph stumbled around and around a potted plant near the side of the room, lost. "Wow, this is a big room," he mumbled, amazed.

Julian was thankfully not offended when Kyou jerked his hand away. The younger scientist was usually quite obsessive over keeping his own bubble of personal space intact, but there were rare moments in which he felt physical touch was necessary. However, he could hardly blame the good doctor if he preferred not to be touched by the mere assistant of a colleague. Julian just assumed it meant he had to prove his worth to the infamous doctor, and that was something he had planned to do from the beginning.

"You're welcome," he offered with a slight smirk, allowing his attention to shift onto the good doctor's brother. As he was offered the drink, Julian looked Tsuki over with obvious distaste. He very rarely got along with the other man, and he was hesitant to accept any alcohol from a cup in his possession. Good manners ultimately won over apprehension, and after a moment the young man accepted the glass with a small murmur of thanks.

Feeling suddenly sandwiched between the other doctors, Julian nervously took a sip from the cup, deciding calming his nerves a little was definitely in order. "Well, I have other guests to attend to..."