xp_logs | ringing in the new year. (Reply)

Eleven fourty. Shinobi'd been here for an hour now - fortunately, long enough that the others had by and large stopped trying to get him to move away from his seat near the window and come have a drink - and he still wasn't entirely sure how Sarah had managed to convince him this was a better idea than staying in his room watching TV 'til his brain melted out his ears. At least he was doing a fair job of ignoring even the slightest bits of rowdiness from the group assembled in Piotr's room for the celebration - and every party needed a wallflower, right? With the briefest of scowls, he shoots another quick look down to his watch, sighing to himself before quickly bringing his hands up to cover his mouth as he sneezes. Again. Bloody cold.

Sarah, surprise surprise, was having a fairly good time. She's drinking, and the people she's with aren't being incredibly annoying. In fact, she's glad she came up with... wait, where _was_ Shinobi? Pouring herself another shot (fourth?), she gets up and moves to sit on the floor beside him. "I thought you said you were going to help me mock. You aren't mocking damnit," she says with a smile.

"Sorry.. been busy coughing up a lung." Shinobi offers Sarah an apologetic grin as he tosses yet another tissue into the trash, lightly propping an arm atop the box of Kleenex he brought down with him. "You seem to be having a rather good time, considering the company... vodka helps, I guess?" He wiggles his eyebrows, casting a quick look down to her shotglass.

She grins. "It does. _Good_ vodka means I can hang out with just about anybody." She offers the shot in her hand to Shinobi, knowing he probably won't take it, but offering anyway. "Last call. It's almost..." She stops, and leans over to check his watch. "Yeah. Almost midnight."

Helpfully, Shinobi lifts his arm so that she can see his watch, free hand lifting to decline the offered glass. "Pointless for me to run back to my room now, the marathon'll be over innn.. fifteen minutes or so. I hold you responsible for my missing my Detective Munch quota, I'll have you know." With a slight grin, he folds his arms behind his head, leaning back against the wall. "How much've you had, anyway? You're damn near cheerful. It's almost creepy, in a nice way."

"Four. Five. Four. Something. I wasn't keeping track really. I can hold my alcohol well enough." She downs her shot, and puts the glass down on the carpet beside her. "And _this_ isn't cheerful. I don't do cheerful," she insists.

"By your standards, you're borderline cheery," Shinobi amends, inclining his head slightly. "And after that much vodka, I can see why. The boy's Russian, he knows good vodka from bad." He casts a brief look in Piotr's direction before looking to Sarah again, pausing as a thought occurs to him, and begins to look vaguely like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. "Maybe I should skip out early anyway. Underage drinking, New Years traditions and me definitely don't mix."

"You can't skip out fifteen minutes early... that's stupid." New years traditions, what? While Shinobi may not realize it, if Sarah's ever heard of that particular tradition, it's a vague memory, and not likely to cause a problem here. She looks amused at the expression on his face, and gestures behind her. "Besides, you think _they'd_ let you out this close to midnight? You have to stay to ring in the fucking new year."

"They seem fairly distracted.. I'm sure I could sneak out without them noticing." Thoughtfully, he cranes his neck a bit to peer towards the small crowd, tilting his head slightly to one side. "Besides, I could always just go through the floor.. I'm sure the ickle one's holed up with Alison down the hall, it'd be safe enough."

Sarah rolls her eyes. "Fine then, go ahead. Sorry to have wasted your time." She leans back on her elbows and watches him thoughtfully. "What the hell are you so worried about, anyway?"

"I just don't fancy being here when the room dissolves into a playoff game of tonsil hockey at the strike of twelve, that's all," Shinobi grumbles, nose briefly twitching as he quickly moves a hand to hover over the tissue box. After a moment, he shakes himself slightly, sighing and offering Sarah an apologetic look. "You haven't wasted my time, Sarah."

Sarah blinks. "_Oh._ I hadn't thought about that. Guess that's the tradition you we're talking about." She leans her head back, and glances at the group behind them. "Well, besides Piotr and Warren and Paige and Angelo, I don't see any other couples. They can keep their making out to themselves." She nods, and suddenly wishes for another shot.

Nodding once, Shinobi lets his hands fall back into his lap, following her glance back towards the masses. "Truuuuue.. but special occasions, alcohol, and the rampant hormones of this general age bracket don't always limit things to established couples." He grins wryly, looking to Sarah again with a slight bow of his head. "'course, I suppose that as long as I hide back here with you, I'll be reasonably safe. How many packs of smokes would it cost me to get you to fend 'em off if they come this way?"

Sarah laughs, but it's more of a mix between a laugh and a giggle. Yeah, like she'd be any help right now. "I suppose all I have to do is glare at them, and they'll go away. Except for Paige, she won't care. Luckily, she'll be busy elsewhere."

"Remind me to thank Angelo for that later," Shinobi muses, glancing down to his watch with a faint grimace. "Time's running out.. yuch. Maybe I'll be lucky and have a sneezing fit to distract me from the noise."

"Oh please. You're not going to get cooties by fucking association. Just ignore them. You've done a damn fine job of that so far." She looks back to watch the ball drop on the television.

"Cooties, no, but queasy? Most certainly." But there's precious little he can do about it now. Shinobi peers down at his watch, and as advised, does his best to ignore the countdown coming from the TV and those in the room with him. He's survived worse - a minute or two with a half-dozen or so people glommed onto each other a respectable distance away should be cake, right?

The ball drops, and the group by the television shouts 'happy new year!' before engaging in the tradition which must not be named. Or, some of them at least. Sarah looks back over at Shinobi, who is very obviously avoiding looking at _anyone_. She stretches out her leg and kicks him, not hard, just to get his attention. "You're such a wuss," she says with a grin.

He blinks once as he's kicked out of his meditation, looking up and allowing himself a slight smile. "Guilty," he confirms, shrugging his shoulders and looking to his lap again, lifting a hand to rub at his nose. "Product of a very sheltered upbringing. Not used to any of this."

"Uh-huh." she runs her finger around the rim of her glass, and fights back a giggle. "How the hell are you going to survive the parties Emma takes us to?"

"The Club parties? I've had years of practice finding a quiet corner to skulk about at those. They aren't interested in _me_, after all." He glances up, with a self-depricating smirk. "Or are there other parties I need to be afraid of?"

"Lots of leather. And chains and collars and piercings, and balloon animals I wouldn't give to Leech. And alcohol and loud fucking music... and you're going to be scarred for life." Not like that really answered the question, but still.

It takes him a moment, but Shinobi eventually offers up a reply: "Only if I pay attention. Or, I suppose," he amends after a little thought, casting a dryly amused look back towards the group, "..only if I don't try acquainting myself to the effects before I'm made to attend. Then the scarring will only be minor, at best."

"Hang around me long enough, and you won't even notice. Or you will, and won't care." She stretches a little, and sits up with her knees to her chest. "Even better, you'll like it or something."

"That would take a bit of doing," Shinobi chuckles, looking to Sarah with a fairly amused expression. "But seeing as how you're at _least_ as stubborn as I am, I suppose that if anybody could pull that off, it'd be you."

She laughs and glances over her shoulder to see what the rest of the room is doing. They're beginning to wind down, and some are getting ready to leave for their own rooms. "I'll do my best. Or something. At least the corruption process'll be fun."

"I'll resolve to be open-minded towards the corruption if you resolve to be gentle," Shinobi offers, grinning lopsidedly and quirking an eyebrow expectantly. "It seems pretty fair to me."

"Gentle? Where's the fun in that?" She starts to get up --very slowly--, and grabs her glass from the floor. "I won't make you do anything you don't want to. Not yet anyway," she winks down at him, and leans on the chair for a moment to get her bearings. No, definately not drunk. Just a little tipsy.

"Much obliged." Shinobi peers up at Sarah for a long moment as she works to regain her balance, and with a wry smile, shifts to get up to his feet as well, tucking his nearly-empty box of Kleenex under an arm. "Do I get to insist on being a gentleman and walking you back to your door, or would you be too amused by the prospect?" Because really, asking her if she can safely navigate stairs likely wouldn't have worked out so well.

"I can get down the stairs, I haven't had _that_ much..." She puts the glass on the table, and stuffs her hands in her pocket. "But I don't expect you'll take no for an answer."

Shinobi shrugs, similarly stuffing his free hand away into one of his pockets. "Why not? You're a grown woman, perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. If you don't want company, I'll not force it on you."

And ladies and gentlemen, he took no for an answer. There goes all Sarah's theories. She scratches her bare shoulder, and considers how bad a trip down the stairs could end up being. She doesn't like stairs _sober_. "You might as well come and be amused. Heights and I don't get along. Ever."

"I suppose that's as good an invitation as I'm likely to get," Shinobi reasons, smiling a touch and bobbing his head once. "Alright, then, I'll come along. Promise I won't be amused without more than due cause, even."

"Right." She's not so bad with this whole balance concept once she gets to actually moving. "So were you as miserable in there as you looked?" she asks when they leave the room and go a few steps down the hallway.

"Depends on how miserable I looked, I suppose," Shinobi replies with a blink, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully as he follows alongside, keeping watch on Sarah out of the corner of his eye in case she should start losing her balance. "I was kind of looking forward to vegging out in front of the TV and enjoying having the room to myself for a few hours.. but I guess getting out wasn't all that bad, even if I didn't schmooze as much as they might have liked."

Sarah holds onto the railing tightly as she makes her way slowly down the stairs. "God I hate stairs," she mutters, and glances over at Shinobi. "I'm glad you came. Even if you didn't look like you had a good time. And neglected your mocking duties."

With a slight grin, Shinobi nods, eyeing Sarah for a moment before offering an arm for her to support herself against. "I'm glad I came, too. Promise I'll make up my lack of mocking to you somehow." He considers for a moment, and then grins cheerfully. "Keep you company at Emma's next party? Means I can't run and hide unless you do."

Sarah's not about to take his arm, but when she feels the bone rip through her shoulder, she reaches for it and she loses her balance and practically clings to him. It seems her fear of heights is a little worse when she's having trouble walking. "Sorry..." she's quiet now.

He blinks once at the rather suddenly-appearing bone, but he doesn't seem to mind his arm being clutched, silently shaking himself and offering her a reassuring smile. "Nothing to apologize for," he insists, his voice gentle. "You alright?"

"Yeah." She shakes her head slowly, and reaches her arm back to grab the bone still protruding from her shoulder. "I'd like to not be on the stairs anymore, thanks."

"I'd offer to ghost us down, but I don't know if I can take others with me," Shinobi frowns, sounding rather apologetic. "Let's get you downstairs nice 'n quick, then. I'd offer to carry you so you didn't have to worry about it so much, but I doubt you'd care for the idea too much, somehow."

"I'll make it." She's quiet for the rest of the stairs, and still quiet heading into the basement. Somehow, she's still got Shinobi's arm. Odd that.

Not that he particularly seems to mind - his arm still being claimed, or the quiet. Once the door is finally reached, Shinobi glances over to her, offering a slight smile. "Well.. here you are, then. All in one piece, too."

She nearly laughs, but instead decides she likes the uninterrupted quiet more. Instead she smiles. She releases his arm and once she's sure she's got her balance she puts her hands back into her pockets. "Thanks."

"Anytime." With a smile, he lets his arm fall back to his side, thumb absently hooking through one of his belthoops. After a moment, Shinobi nods back towards the stairs, coughing quietly. "Suppose I best get back up to my own room, then. Pray Angelo's not brought the hayseed back with him. Don't think I could stand the cavities."

This time she definately giggles. Well, there goes the quiet. "Tell them to go back to Paige's room. She's got it to herself now, and there they can do whatever they want without driving you up the fucking wall. I still say you're an absolute wuss though."

"I'm still not arguing." Grinning, he shrugs his shoulders helplessly, casting a look down towards his shoes. "I'll scoot, then.. let you tend to that and get some sleep."

"Wait-- lesson number one." She steps forward a little, and before Shinobi can react, she kisses his cheek. "I'll owe you a real one when you're not carrying a tissue box under your arm," she says with a grin. Blush in five-four-three-two...

And right on cue, there it is, though it probably isn't as vibrant as she'd have liked - but it's definitely there. Shinobi blinks twice, giving Sarah a rather surprised look before slowly cracking an odd grin, ducking his head slightly. "Should I take that as a 'get well soon', or an order to go play in the snow so I stay sick a bit longer?"

Sarah shrugs, and opens the door to the room, pushing back against it so she can watch his reactions. "Making yourself sick will only screw with your corruption. Too much of that, and I'll be forced to tie you up and corrupt you instead." She laughs, and gives him a wink. "Night."

"Heaven forbid," Shinobi chuckles, and likely as desired, his blush deepens a few hues. "I'll see about kicking the cough as quickly as possible, then. Can't have that." He takes a few steps backwards, lifting a hand to offer a little wave, odd grin still firmly in place. "Night, Sarah. Happy new year."