His tie was on straight. The thought may have passed through his mind to leave it slightly askew, as women often had this habit of having an uncontrollable urge to make things perfect, but... well, wasn't he Mr. Perfect?

And it wouldn't be Halloween Bond without a perfectly-kept tuxedo.

It was Halloween. He'd picked her up in the family van, and she looked amazing.

He'd invited Riley to the party some days before. It was a friendly get-together with some hip pals of his from law school and his college. They weren't all stuck up lawyers, either. A lot of them were good guys. Some were even cops and fire fighters.

He pulled the van into a handy spot by the apartment and turned the key. The engine shut down. Aurum got out, shutting his door behind him, then went around to Riley's side to offer her a helping hand out of the vehicle.

With a click of his keys, the vehicle locked.

Aurum smiled at the gorgeous woman with her hand in his. "Happy Halloween?" He offered. Then, he glanced to the front entrance and up. "Party's on the top floor."

Riley was nervous. She’d probably been to more swanky parties in the last month and a half than most people went to in a lifetime. She’d rubbed elbows with people at the epitome of society, and even been able to snag a ride in a limo a time or two. Needless to say, that was a far cry from the van she was riding in now, and the modest apartment building they’d pulled up in front of for the party. The difference was that she’d been working then…she’d known what her role was. This was different…and so much better.

She hadn’t been at those parties with anyone. Definitely not with Aurum. Dinner at his place had been an interesting event. The unexpected arrival of a pretty blond had forced a conversation that Riley had to admit to herself had probably been a long time coming.

The problem was…she was horrible at this kind of thing. She’d said it to Aurum before, but somehow she didn’t think she’d managed to emphasize the fact that she simply didn’t date. She was going to try though. When he did things like tonight, Aurum made her want to try…even if she was skeptical of the level of success that would result.

She’d dressed carefully, in a dress that she’d gotten from one of the events she’d worked over the past few months. The dress was black, and only secured on one shoulder, leaving the other bare. The skirt fell to the floor, fitted, but not so tight that it was hard to walk, and it had a slit that stretched to just above her right knee. It was by far her favorite out of all the dresses she’d gotten to keep, and she’d pulled her hair up and away from her face and into a loose French twist. When she’d added the white demi mask and looked in the mirror she’d been happy…and she thought Aurum had approved.

Ditto to him. Somehow, despite his All-American charm and golden boy demeanor, the gentleman spy was a look that he wore easily. Then again, Riley couldn’t remember seeing him in anything that suited him poorly. And it had probably only taken him like half an hour to get ready. Life was so unfair sometimes.

Aurum had offered his hand, and Riley had taken it and she smiled back at him when he said happy Halloween.

”Happy Halloween.” she returned, eyes following Aurum’s to the top level.

”Hopefully the elevator makes it up with no problems.” she said. ”I didn’t spend all this time getting dressed up to spend all night stuck in an elevator.” Though…there were worse things than being stuck in an elevator with someone like Aurum.

"Better than stairs in heels," He commented.

With a light tug, he led her away from the vehicle, towards the doors. Her door slammed behind them, her work. He let go of her hand for a minute and opened the door. That was his work.

He waited for her to go through.

At Aurum’s light tug, Riley followed, letting the door fall shut as she walked behind him.

Better an elevator than stairs in heels?

”Good point.” she said.

They reached the door to the building and Aurum opened the door and held it. Riley couldn’t help but smile, walking through and waiting for him on the other side. She was apprehensive still, unsure of what to say or do once they were around his friends. That…was not something Riley was used to, and it wasn’t like she could put on the model façade.

They made their way to the elevator, and Riley hit the ‘up’ button.

”Up we go.” Riley said…and was that a nervous fidget at the edge of her dress.

Nah.

The elevator dinged as a button was pressed. The doors closed, and... there was a moment of tense silence as it thought about how it wanted things to go down.

Aurum eyed the floor number display dangerously.

The elevator decided to go up. Good for it.

And up. And up. And up. And up.

All the way to the top floor.

As the doors opened, Aurum offered the lady his arm. Arms were very good things for hanging to while meeting people, after all. Hey, hadn't she offered hers to him once before? Funny coincidence! Time to repay debts.

"Come on. I'll introduce you to some of my friends." He said.

He’d introduce her to some of his friends…

The concept seemed so innocuous, but so much was going to happen if Riley took Aurum’s arm. The whole “date” thing, for one. That’s how Riley would be introduced all night. That’s how she’d need to act.

She didn’t have the schema for any of this.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Riley took Aurum’s arm.

”I’ll do my best.” she said. Ugh…interacting with people her own age. Who really were just out to have a good time.

At least she knew she looked good.

The dance music got progressively louder as they went down the hall, towards the party. Other evidence, too, showed signs of the fun to be had. Decorations in the hall. People in the hall. Socks on doors. Lots of Halloween fun.

Aurum led Riley through the open apartment door.

On his direct right, there was a bucket full of water and bobbing apples. Some people were gathered around it. Some soaked, some in the process of goading others to get soaked. The goading group was composed of men. Those being goaded? Females in white, obviously.

A torrent of laughter came from another side of the party as Aurum looked away from the apple bobbing. Charming...

There was a punch bowl on the other side of the room. Also, a DJ with his music machines set up. Relatively low-key. Not club-quality. But dressed for it. A costume. He knew the guy at the tables.

Aurum pointed the DJ out. "That's Chad. It's his party." He waved.

The DJ in shades returned the wave with a flap of his loose-fitting sleeves.

"Nice COSTUMES!" He shouted loudly, over his own racket. With dual-thumbs ups added, for emphasis.

Aurum shouted back "Thanks."

Turning, he wheeled Riley towards another group. He introduced her to a black man with a clean-shaven head. "Marvin, this is Riley. Riley. Marvin. Marvin here is studying... what was it again, Marvin?"

"Tax codes." Marvin said. His voice lacked passion. His face was blank. Like he'd answered the same question too many times to count. And each time, to the same reply. Relative disinterest. Ever one to take himself too seriously, that Marvin. "How are you doing with your 'criminal defense' stuff?" He changed the subject.

Aurum shrugged. "About the same as you."

At this, Marvin smiled. For a good reason. "I've been hired."

And then they were there…

As they entered and walked around, Riley couldn’t help but think again about how little she really knew about people in their 20’s. They were out in force here, and Riley should have felt at home. Instead she felt awkward and unsure how to act. Had she gone too over the top with her fancy dress? A lot of the costumes seemed much more dressed down. People were bobbing for apples, and the realization that they were white-clad women made her lip curl a bit. Fat chance of that happening.

Aurum pointed out the host of the party, behind a DJ’s set up and she nodded her head, smiling at the thumbs up they got on their costumes. Apparently she had made the right call.

Things were moving fast, and people were drinking and dancing all over the place. Aurum stopped one such partier and introduced Riley. She smiled and did her best to involve herself in the conversation over the din of the rest of the party.

The man’s name was Marvin and he was studying…tax law. It was hard not to make a face at that, and from the deadpan look on Marvin’s face…he knew it. Aurum chatted, and Riley hung on his arm, feeling a little silly.

Ah…Marvin had found a job. Those were at a premium, but probably a little easier to find when you worked with encyclopedic amounts of tax nonsense instead of flesh and blood people.

Not really sure where to put her two cents in, and where to keep her mouth shut, Riley simply stood, waiting to see what Aurum would say.

Dot dot dot.

"Congrats!"

Why hadn't he felt like that was his normal voice when saying that?

"Anyways, we should probably be leaving you. Lots of people for her to meet." He nodded towards the woman on his arm.

Marvin nodded understandingly. "Ciao."

Ciao... freakin' jerk.

As the pair of them walked away from him, Aurum muttered "Sorry about that." to Riley. "Some of these guys are too competitive. Had to stop him before it became a competition." A competition he would have lost.

Suddenly there was a small chill in the air between the two men. Aurum responded and Riley could tell from the tone of his voice that there was something wrong with the exchange that had just occurred. Surely he wasn’t self-conscious about his lack of job. Seriously…that guy practiced tax law. How was that even law at all?

Riley was about to say so, heedless of present company, when Aurum announced that they needed to meet more people and steered her away from the number cruncher.

As he apologized, Riley glanced over her shoulder then back at her date. ”Competition?” she said, ”That guy?”

She gave him a look. ”None.”

This was not something he would normally have done. Normally, he would have been cooler. Or laughed it off. Or thanked or. Or something. But. With the combination of Aurum's being slightly pissed from talking to his 'friend', who always topped him, and was so 'ugh'... and with how he'd been being apologetic, and how the compliment had come at his blind side...

... Aurum blushed.

"Oh. Um." The slightly-neurotic apology-fest he'd been getting ready to do (along with the whole related grumpy 'some of my friends are dicks' borefest) suddenly blanked out of his head. Aurum smiled appreciatively at her. "Thanks."

He'd needed that.

Riley shrugged, she wasn’t going to make a big thing out of this. Especially with the way Aurum was reacting, she didn’t want to send him into convulsions or something. ”You know I call it how I see it.” she said nonchalantly with a smile.

Looking around the party at all the drinking, dancing, apple bobbing, chatting, and socializing, Riley tried to figure out which thing seemed the most interested (Or the least obnoxious) .

”Any other friends you want to talk to?” she asked, standing close so he could hear her. ”Or would you rather find a party game to join in on? “

Suddenly, he didn't really care about introducing Riley to his friends. Suddenly, he really only cared about spending time with her.

He dismissed the momentary blush-smile with a single 'heh', then asked her. "Do you want to dance?"

People were indeed dancing. And it did look fun. Maybe it wasn't strictly ballroom, like they were dressed for, but...

Dancing? Riley looked out at the improvised dance floor, trying to gauge exactly what kind of dancing was happening at the party, and whether or not she could manage it in her current ensemble.

The DJ was playing a pretty nice selection of rock music, and Riley decided that there was enough give in her skirt that she could probably manage. Aurum seemed really happy with the idea, and based on who she’d met already, Riley wasn’t entirely keen on meeting more of Aurum’s “friends”.

”I’d like that.” she said. ”Lead the way.”

Aurum slipped his hand free of her elbow, then took her hand, leading her towards the dance floor, then--

"Hold it!" The music screeched to a stop.

Everyone was glancing around, confused.

Chad leaped over his music table, snagging a boom box along the way. He jerked to a halt in front of them, dropping to one knee.

People were staring.

In his hands, held aloft, like a kneeling knight with a gift for his king, was the boom box. Chad's head was bowed. Dutifully, he noted. "My friends. I was told by the Oracle that something like this would happen today, around this time. Snappily-dressed fellow and his maiden. Did not expect it to be you, bro." He chanced a smirk at Aurum before he continued. "Take this. Please. And go to the rooftop. Should be an elevator and stairs a bit down the hall. My posted signs shall lead the way. We must avert whatever crisis... it is... that the oracle predicted. Yeah. I think that's about what I was supposed to say."

Aurum blinked. Turning his head, he looked to Riley for her say on all of this. Seemed very strange, with what Chad was saying. Almost like fate was conspiring... for, or against them?

Crisis, huh? He really had to wonder what crisis his dancing to rock and roll music with her might cause.