Juniper was on the hunt... but not for romance or a Valentine. She was on the hunt for a party to go to that had free booze and a relaxing atmosphere. What better a place to drop on by than a fancy bar hosting some kind of Valentine couples event? So far the only problem was that she did not have the couple aspect of it. She needed too people, and since she wasn't able to clone herself that meant tracking down someone to go with her. 

She was sure April would have been down, but at the same time she probably would have gotten distracted before even getting to the even with that wondrous woman, so that was off the table. 

Blue would literally burn the house down she was sure, and she wasn't feeling quite up to playing accomplice to arson tonight. Maybe another night though, soonish.

Xavier was too much of a marshmallow to even try to go to a bar. He didn't drink, and everyone would assume they were together and ugh, too much work. 

She didn't have Sam's number because she had forgotten to bother to get it, and going all the way back to the school to try and hunt him down would just end up with her staying there and probably sleeping with him, which, again, would ruin her plans to crash a Valentines party and get free booze.

So... maybe a stranger would do!

"You! With the ears!"

She appeared out of seemingly nowhere, throwing her hands up dramatically to get the guy to stop. 

Why did he look familiar? Had... had she hit on him before? Huh. She couldn't remember. The city had so many faces.

"Wanna help me get into a couples only Valentines event!?" 

She hoped, considering her size, that she was non-threatening. She didn't want to scare another possible partner off just because she'd popped out of a wall in front of him.

The restaurant was a million times busier than the coffee house, and because of the impending doom of Valentine's Day, that was magnified. Zaid had helped prep an endless buffet of different pastries, it seemed. Cakes, snacks, puddings, jobs that ran later in the day than he was used to. While he was often off work and home before Jude, these past few days had worked him past dinner and into evening with preparations. Zaid was a little tired, but in good spirits though. He loved his new job, and each new menu item was something he could learn. Plus, he was hoping he could at least make one or two of these dishes at home. He was sure Jude would enjoy anything with chocolate, that was certain.

Tonight he was making the short walk back to the house, when a girl jumped out in front of him. Actually, it was like she popped out of the wall, and such a sudden appearance made him jump a foot or so in the air. Literally, a foot or so in the air. Rabbit legs, and all that jazz.

Landing more like a cat than a rabbit, he realized the girl in front of him didn't seem to pose a threat. His nose wiggled once, ears swiveling to ensure no other danger was lurking. "Uh, help you what?" Zaid straightened his posture, head tilting to the side, one ear also quirking with the expression.

Good, he hadn't run off screaming yet. Though, that jump had been pretty impressive.

And holy @#$% that nose wiggle was adorable.

"There's an event i'm trying to get into that has free food and drinks for people who come together as a couple." It had a maximum she was sure, but hey, free was free!

"I don't have anyone to go with! Would you be down for like, pretending to be a couple with me for just a few minutes? Like, literally I just have to get past the door and then you can run away."

Unbidden, a grin might had popped onto her face. "Though, I mean if you want you can stay too. I certainly don't mind the company of handsome fuzzy eared gentlemen."

Wait, wait, she was getting distracted by the ears! Back up, Juniper!

"So, what do you say? Can you help a girl out?"

Zaid blinked once, twice, and then awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Was she, trying to flirt? He was used to this in the coffee house when he was dressed in the apron, but out here in the middle of the street it was surprising. She did have ulterior motives though.

"Oh, I mean, if you need help I could probably give you a hand, but I mean...I have a boyfriend." His face turned pink against his will. His brain was still stumbling around like a hamster who tripped in the wheel and just kept spinning. Handsome? Fuzzy-eared gentleman? Spin, spin spin.... He shook his head as if to clear it.

"I mean, as long as it's just a quick pretend?" he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Jude so he wouldn't worry. He had heard stories of his boyfriend doing something similar in the past so honestly, the curiosity was getting the better of him. Free food? It would be a story to tell later if nothing else.

She blinked back, and put her hands up in front of her. "Oh, sorry dude. I'll back off." She wasn't a home wrecker.

...not intentionally, at least.

Her eyes lit up when he still agreed to help her out though, because she'd totally thought he was going to turn her down. When he said he'd help she threw her arms in the air dramatically and spun around in a circle. "Yeessss!"

She paused her celebration long enough to re-focus on him. "You're a life saver, my man. I've been searching for like, an hour for someone to go with me!"

She motioned at him to follow her and started off down the street, back toward the building the event was being hosted at.

"I'm Juniper by the way!" She added over one shoulder, before flipping around to walk backwards so she could face him and talk.

Zaid had a moment of panic when the girl put her hands up. Had he been too rude? To forward? He didn't want to upset the girl, but he did want to make things clear, based on the fiasco with Zee. It seemed helping quickly forgave that crime though, and she was more than ecstatic to take the offer. Feeling like he was getting swept up by a small cyclone, Zaid let her lead the way toward the event and the promise of food. It couldn't be too bad, right?

"I'm Zaid. Nice to meet you. Uh, there isn't a dress code or anything, is there?"

He glanced down at his jeans, which were clean despite the busy day. His shirt was a solid blue, baggy but presentable. It wasn't a button down or anything fancy though. He was glad they hadn't worked with flour today or he would have likely had some of that left in his fur.

"I hope not, Zaid, or you and me are going to be severely under dressed." She grinned, plucking at the baggy sweatshirt she had on, with black leggings and white tennis shoes. "Then again maybe being the anit-fashion is back to being all the rage?"

She spun back around to see where she was going as they hit the corner, spying a guy in a suit guarding set of doors under a red clothed wooden trellis. Ooh, fancy entrance. She fished her fake ID out as they approached, naturally reaching out and offering a hand to Zaid in order to keep of the appearance that they were a couple.

The gruff looking guard, who also looked rather tired, took her ID from her gingerly and gave it a once over, before his eyes flicked to Zaid. Her ID said she was 23, which wasn't terribly off from her real age. Only three years difference, really.

With a huff, he didn't even bother checking the guys ID. He looked close enough, and women hardly ever brought out younger guys anyway. They always tended to go for the older, charming, rich ones.

"Enjoy the party." You could practically feel the arctic wind radiating off of him.

Juniper breezed off past as he opened the door for them, grinning at Zaid widely as they made it through the doors and into the foyer beyond.

A woman in a red mask promptly appeared and shoved two masks into their hands, and her grin faltered a bit.

... Why was there a mask?

"Make sure to stay for the mystery drawing!" She warned cryptically, with a sly smile on red painted lips.

... And then the two of them were alone again.

"Huh. Hey, she gave you a mask with bunny ears!" Looking at her own mask, she noticed it had little round ears, like a bear. "Wanna trade?"

A booming voice popped up suddenly from down a dark hall, earning a jump from the blonde. "I didn't know there would be masks involved. I wonder if this has anything to do with the group hosting it?"

Zaid wasn't an expert in fashion. In fact, Tim Gunn was probably in New York somewhere, lamenting a wasted opportunity of a fashion savvy bunny mutant who instead wanted to do nothing but cook. It wasn't that he dressed badly, but there were certainly more forward thinking individuals in this city.

Juniper was probably not one of them. "I mean, parachute pants were a thing, I am thinking even over-sized sweaters could be the next big hit. Just, own it." That was the trick to anything, really. The right swagger and sass, and people didn't question you.

Taking her arm, Zaid was calmer than he had been in many situations. Maybe it was because this was a very obviously fake date and he was very aware he did not like women in a romantic way. It was like taking a sister to their prom as a chaperone. He was a well placed decoy with bunny ears, sweeping her through the door without a backward glance.

The mask did earn a raised eyebrow though. "Like I said, just own it." He popped the mask on and looked the picture of confidence. His ears stood proud and he gave her hand a sort of friendly pat. "I mean, if it starts looking too crazy, we can always sneak out? I hear running for the exit is always an option when you crash a party."

Huh. The bunny was full of great advice, it seemed. Just own it! Hell yeah!

"You're a genius, you are." She only pouted slightly when he kept the bunny mask for himself, before slapping her bear mask on and whipping her phone out of a picture. "Surprise selfie!"

She made the ugliest face she could, tongue sticking out and all. That was what selfies were for, right?

"Heh, sure. We can make a run for it after we gorge ourselves on free food and drinks as much as possible."

Tucking her phone away again, she headed toward that long dark hall.

The booming voice kept creeping back up every now and then, like some sort of announcer or DJ, maybe? There was also music, but... it almost sounded classical from where there were.

"...Why, oh why, do I have the feeling we are walking into something weird."

There was a heavy curtain at the end of the hall draped behind two sets of open glass doors. The music was coming from inside and wasn't terribly loud. The din of chatting could be heard, as well as the clatter of heeled shoes on the floor.

Juniper reached out to push aside the curtain and froze like a statue at what she saw on the other side.

It wasn't just a couples only party like the online blurb had said... it was a fricken masquerade party!

There were a good number of people scattered around in very period accurate dressed and suits, with a few people sporadically who looked like they had jumped back in time, seemingly because they couldn't afford the expensive costumes.

"....well... I take back what I said about being under dressed."

Zaid was doing fairly well handling the situation, all things considered. Given his past drama at the hands of a serious Mad Hatter, anything out of the ordinary ran the risk of sending him Noooopeing for the door. But the curtains and the voice did not feel the same as those memories, so he was going with it. He had bunny ears, and a bunny mask. He belonged here, and no one could tell him otherwise.

He even made a face for the selfie. Why the heck not? Jude and him had been snapping surprise selfies in a war lately and he was getting good at responding with something other than his mouth open. He would make Kpop idols proud.

They entered the hall and Zaid blinked, looking around at the variety of outfits. Stars... They were like peasants who had stumbled into a castle. Zaid straightened his back, and gave a dip of his head to the nearest gentleman. He pulled his date in the direction of a table that seemed to hold drinks, moving with his head high. Heck, he spent half his life being stared at. If he couldn't handle this, what had he been training for all those years.

Yes, I'm a bunny. Enjoy the view of my fluffy butt!

"So what's your plan? Small talk? Drinks? Pretend to have different accents every time we get close to someone? I know Japanese. I can just not know English for the night?" He lifted an eyebrow, but the mask made that a difficult expression to convey. He tilted an ear instead. Psh, people and their one dimensional ears.

"There was a masquerade at a con a few years back, but I never bothered to go. I feel like I may have been missing something," he admitted. He was a little jealous of some of the suits. He wondered what he would look like dressed up. A little voice said he would probably look like the Easter bunny at a wedding. Maybe it was best he hadn't had the chance yet.

She was drawn out of shamelessly ogling some of the designer corsets she was seeing mulling about, and drawn away to a table so they weren't both standing in the doorway like rubes. Jesus, she hadn't been expecting this. Like, she was expecting older, drunk, needy people all crammed into a room, or like... hipsters.

HolyS@%^lookitthatwaist-

"Uh." She physically shook herself. They were at a table and Zaid, the bunny king of confidence, was talking. Different accents? Heh! What had Valkyrie sounded like again? Or Blue for that matter? "Whit, ye mean blether lik' this tae some fowk?" Christ, it was hard to do that with a straight face, and without spitting everywhere. She was thankful she had been practicing some, if only in a mocking sort of way were certain teachers would never find out.

She adopted a decent impression of how Blue talked next, attempting to mimic his infuriating lazy smile as well. "Or should I talk like this for the rest of the night, luv?"

Lord, she hoped he was just joking because she really couldn't pull off accents for more than a few sentences.

Her interest perked as she reached out to snag one of the cups on the table, taking a sniff of it- smelled like punch- before a cautionary taste test. She was familiar enough with @#$%ing cults to be wary of mystery punch, but highly doubted anyone would plan a mass murder in the middle of the city.

... hopefully.

"I really need to get myself to a con one of these days. I hear about them all the time and I really wanna go. It'd be great to get to see some of the voice actors from like, Kuri on Ice, in person." Of course, this would be her first year actually in a city big enough to host a con, so... she might be able to strike that one off of her bucket list.

Zaid tried to keep a straight face but the accents were too much, especially the second one. He swooped a laugh and covered his mouth, smirking to himself. ”It sounds like you’re using personal experience. There must have been quite the personality attached to those accents, luv.” he mimicked.

Needing something to stop more laughter, Zaid reaches for a drink without paying much attention to what he got. It was, fruity. Not bad, but he had expected a bit more given the well dressed nature of the other, more elite, individuals.

”What, no Champaign?” he commented. He took another chug of the punch and looked for signs of what was coming next. Then his ears perked up.

”I am dying to meet the voice actors from Kuri on ice! It was one of my favorites to watch! Heck I wish I could ice skate st least a little bit sadly, I would make a fool of myself if I tried. The animation in that o e is sooo beautiful though!” he gushed.

Her grin widened slightly. "Yeah, I know the owner of that one. He's a real hothead." She sipped a bit more from her cup, licking her lips and trying to figure out what the mixture was. Definitely a fruity vodka drink if she had ever tasted one. Well mixed though, so it was really hard to pick out. There was some pineapple in there to help cover the flavor.

"Maybe they only serve the fancy stuff to those cosplaying gods over there? Where do you think they were the suits and corsets when not attending yearly masquerades?"

"I actually do know how to ice skate a bit. The lakes where I used to live froze solid every year for a few months, so I had plenty of practice time. The show actually made me want to take it up again with how pretty the animation was! And god, don't get me started on the Manga."

She downed the rest of her cup and set it back on the table, perusing with her eyes for their next target.

"Ooh! Buffet table at five o'clock!"

A waiter dressed in classic black and white waiter uniform headed on past with a platter full of what looked to be plastic champagne flutes. She snagged two quickly as he passed, and handed one out to Zaid.

"Your champagne, good sir Rabbit!" There might have been an exaggerated flourish there with an arm and much hand waggling.

Zaid was envious. "That sounds so cool. I lived in Japan, so I guess there would have been chances to skate if my parents had wanted to. They just, didn't. They were usually too busy for things like that. I hear there is usually a rink in the park here. One of these days I'll go, but I did not intend to try that alone. A bunny flailing helplessly on ice is a recipe for jokes to come."

They made their way toward the food and Zaid beamed, taking a swig of the champagne flute. It tasted...awful. He coughed slightly and laughed. "Why does it always seem the more expensive something is the worse it tastes? Heck I could pay for a lot of drinks that taste better..." He remarked. He finished the little flute of liquid before it quite registered what he was drinking.

Champagne...has alcohol. Stars... Maybe if he ate something it would stop it from really hitting hard? Zaid had flashbacks of dance mania and felt a bit of heat in his cheeks. Wait, was that the alcohol? Stars, how long would it take to actually settle into his system?

"So, other than Kuri on Ice, are there any other Manga's you like?" He went to set the flute down and felt like the table was a bit harder to maneuver to. Nope, he was just imagining it. Everything was fine. This was fine. It was only one champagne. He could tooootally handle that.

He selected a fancy finger sandwich and munched on it, and found another punch to wash it down with. He mildly wondered about the flavors in the drink now that he had a second. Was that pineapple?

"I don't know how you're wearing a sweater, it feels kinda warm in here..." Zaid remarked. Despite his efforts his ears were starting to slowly flatten in what could only be described as a look of a content bunny who just found a cozy place to cuddle.

Her eyes twinkled a bit as thoughts swirled in her head. "You know what's great for ice skating and not doing it alone? Boyfriends. It's like, basically a cliche at this point how perfectly the two go together." She chugged her champagne like a champ and ditched her cup somewhere off to the side of all the food.

"Like literally neither of you even need to know how to skate. Flailing all over the place brings you close and lets you laugh at each other. It's the perfect date scenario. Plus, he gets to see that cute blush all the time with it being cold out."

What kinda manga did she like other than Kuri on ice? Heh... most of the titles weren't fit for being discussed in public. "Dude, I've got a treasure trove of favorites. I don't keep physical copies or anything, but my accounts online are jammed full of books like "Kisses kill" and "Because you're shy at night"... I like others too, like HalfHardwear Magician, and Hysteric; You know, that one with the chick with the girl sword who murders everyone? Classic."

Uh-oh.... Were flattened ears a bad thing? She could vaguely remember something about that being a sign of like, sickness or something? He didn't look ill...though...

Her eyes dropped to the cup in his hand as realization dawned on her. "Oh. My. God. You're a lightweight, aren't you?" She cackled. Like, full on witch cackle. It drew a bit of attention from others who were close by.

Toning herself down, she reached out to snatched the cup from his hand, liquid and all, with her power until she could figure out just how much of a lightweight he was.

"You know this punch is a mixed drink, right? There's at the very least vodka in it!"

Juniper hurried to get a small plate and fill it with a few more of those tiny sandwiches he hadn't seemed to mind.