"ummm, okaaay..." mathew extends his hand to return the shake, laughing nervously, not understanding that this was a joke.

Vic raises a brow, shifting her eyes to a different corner of the room. Her glasses glare slightly, "You got the wrong idea, man. I'm not nervous, I just don't enjoy much company. At all. From the louder vatos." She dropped a slur, regardless of the backlash it'd cause.

mathew continues"ummm, is there something you would like to talk about, or was it just to make me feel cool that i did something odd?"

Wait if this is a party, shouldn't there be dancing...?

Terra's head immediately floods with this image:



(Terra has JD Moments.)

Diana: You move through the crowd of people, hearing snippets of conversations about politics, unnamed missions, and major spirits from throughout the country. Eventually, you pass by someone who looks like staff carrying a tray of drinks out of what is probably a kitchen, towards the buffet table.
____
Matthew: HAHAHA! Right down to buisness, huh? You seemed interesting so I thought I'd introduce myself! So what do you know, kid?
____
Vic and Terra: One as in district one. You know, downtown? It's pretty fashionable, so I like to brag about it. The rent isn't cheap, though... I don't know what that word means, but it might be a good idea to learn to deal with people! Haha, you don't have to like them, but at least you can milk them for information before abandoning them heartlessly, right? Come on, you should at least hear my banker pal's horror stories about Leaping Gnomes in the vaults! Nasty little earbiters, those things. He waves to someone across the room, and pretty soon you're surrounded by people swapping stories about various spirits they've come across.
____
Sam: As you walk to the buffet table, she speaks to you, quietly. Your socks are pretty threadbare, and those aren't the only things, you know. It's really obvious to me how much money someone has for clothing. Some of these bastards are wearing imported silk suits made just this year, you know... Once you arrive, she starts eating right off the platter, and she's not pacing herself.
___

Terra shirks from the crowd and slowly and carefully sneaks out of it the best she can. Being swarmed by people was not fun.


Still, looks like everyone is in good spirits. She smiled warmly to the side.

Terra then looks around and takes in the detail of the room they are in.

Diana zips over to the staff member and lightly takes a drink that looks and smells non alcoholic.

Sam is taken aback. He half expected to have to hold back his hunger urges to appear more sociable. Obviously, that wasn't going to be a problem. He digs in to the food alongside Trisha, only just failing to match her pace, and not for lack of effort.

Terra:
You shrink back from the crowds and can see the details of the party more plainly for it. You can see people gathering around certain figures, particularly ones who have recent scars, the notably elderly, or unusually wealthy people. There's no dancing, and little casual conversation; only people telling and repeating stories.
__
Matthew:
Yeah? That's good! Around here, the only thing that matters is what you know, after all. But that doesn't mean you gotta have book smarts! We trade all kinds of knowledge here, especially anything involvin' spectral stuff.
__
Diana:
The drink is, indeed, nonalcoholic, as are all the drinks in this room. If you were to ask someone, they'd respond with a line about not wanting to inhibit their ability to learn.
__
Sam:
As you and Trisha empty platters, they are replaced almost immediately by waiters. Nobody seems concerned about the possibility of running out, despite the near-impossibility of shipping from the outside world. Trisha continues to speak as she eats, although it's hard to make out much of what she's saying. You know mpfhcoiblalsdu sale fcoamfpapalfadu 50% off fffmtupombolsiut you know... It seems she knows how to get a variety of stuff within the city on the cheap.

Nothing from Vic, so nothing for Vic either. It's been months, I know... I'm sorry.

'Is this all that this event is?' Terra wondered.

Truthfully she pictured more of a black cloak and jibberish speaking event, she felt a need to apologize to Owstt.

Her stomach growled, she hadn't had dinner yet. So Terra decided to find the snack table, it would be rude to refuse to eat what someone put time into making for everyone after all. She secretly hoped to find the blue haired boy along the way, but is not actively looking.

Sam wishes he could hear what she's saying, but he knows better than to interrupt a hungry person while they're eating. Besides, he's so engrossed in it himself that he would probably be just as intelligible. So, he stays silent and politely attempts to listen to whatever Trisha says.

Diana looks over at the snacks and decides to nab some yummy looking goodies.

Diana and Terra:
You both gravitate towards the snack table, where you see Sam and some girl eating a couple days worth of food. As you each grab yourselves a somewhat more polite portion, someone watching the spread starts loudly bragging about the kitchen to her companion.
You see, we rented nearly a dozen Switchboxes for tonight's party, and the human catering staff are all trained supertasters- they just stick a lump of rock, they could use anything really, into the compartment, call up a perfect mental image of the food, and let the spirit take a look at their thoughts. After a second, they open the box and the food is right there, with every nuance of taste and texture and at exactly the right temperature for eating. Best part is, there's virtually no calories and there's never a risk of food sickness! After all, the spirit's only replicating what's in their heads, so anything that is unnecessary for enjoyment of the food can't be in there in the first place. Not much of anything in the way of nutritional content, really, but you shouldn't have any problems digesting it.
__
Sam:
Trisha eventually slows her pace enough for you to start making out what she's saying.
You know, there's some abandoned quarters down here now that the Geoffrites broke up, still got bedding and stuff left in them. I was gonna head over there after the party to grab some for myself, you know? If there's any left, anyways. Mikey's boys might have grabbed their stuff and burned it by now, they're the ones that ran them out of town. They're wasting a lot of stuff trying to draw out Salamanders for the catching before winter hits. Hear they'll swap for any brought to them in a decent cage, too.

Terra, hearing this about the food, decides to wait till she gets home, and gingerly places the rock food back down. She really didn't want to tempt fate that it would pass without difficulty.

'This spectral thing is weird.'
 
Terra hears then the conversation between Sam and Trisha and several key words catch her interest. Words and names: Geoffrites, Mikey, Salamanders. They sounded like names she should look out for.

She turned and looked for an opportunity to pose her questions. "U-um, excuse me. I'm new to this city, a new spectral as well, so I don't know much of what's going on. I've never heard of the Geoffrites or Salamanders, are they people that should generally be avoided?"

Question 2:

"'Mikey' sounds also dangerous."

Question 3: (asked only if indeed they are dangerous people)

"How are they getting away with these things?"

Diana eats the food anyways, slowly though, so as to see if the food was as good as it was claimed to be. She listens to Trisha and takes note of the names. It sounds like Mikey's boys are pretty desperate for Salamanders, but the question is if they have anything of worth to trade for. If you would like some assistance with catching them I could be of some service. I can move very quickly.

'I'm always outa of the loop, aren't I' Terra thinks with slight frustration as it seems everyone else knows what the girl is talking about.

Sam, Terra, Diana:
Yeah, Salamanders are fire spirits, you know the ones, can't pass through physical stuff and put out a lot of spectral heat, can travel instantly between fresh mounds of ash. Gotta keep them in a glass lamp submerged in water or they'll get out and probably burn your house down, you know? The Geoffrites were a group with enough cash to rent some rooms down here, followed a guy named Geoff. They were a little bit nutty, and there were, you know, rumours that they were kidnapping kids off the street and feeding their ghosts to some spirit. No proof or anything, but you know that doesn't matter to Mikey or his boys. Spectral street gang, them, all about protecting each other, you know, keeping the streets something approaching safe for spectral orphans and stuff. You wouldn't want them to hear you were messing with kids or nothing, you know? There's a reason you wont find Geoffrites anywhere near this city anymore, and it's a bit of a bloody one. They're hunting for Salamanders since they'll last all the way through the winter without needing any sort of maintenence. No idea what they got for swaps, though. Probably a bunch of trapped spirits and tools, you know? Maybe some other junk. By the way, girls, I'm Trisha, I do things with rope. And... I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't ok with you helping me out, you know? Can't be sure if its quite safe, going into those creepy guys rooms alone.
__
Still nothing from Levi...

mathew thinks to himself
"specteral stuff, wait... I'M a specteral! how did i not remember that... beter say something before this gets weird."

"im still not sure why you started this conversation, is it a buisseness deal? i make weapons." mathew moves his hands away from each other, streching some clay in the process, as his hands move away the clay forms into well crafted sword.

Matthew:
HAHAHAHAHAHA! No, no, we aren't here for business. We just tell each other about things we've seen or heard! This place is the best place to hear rumors about spectral life in the entire city. That's a pretty useful power, though! Lots of call for weapons down here, especially any that can cut spirits. In fact, I know a guy who's looking to expand his business out from foodstuffs. There's a lot of demand for stuff to eat down here, since we can't exactly bring in truckloads of fresh produce, but he's the type who likes to try new things every couple of months no matter how good he's got it.

Darken presence in Terra's mind got interested. 'Fire spirits captured, sounds like some humans needs some manners, thinking they can tame fire.'

Terra ignored him. "Is keeping warm that big of a problem around here? If so, I might be able to help, though this Mikey sounds terrifying, I'm not sure I would want to meet him, neither these Geoffrites.

I don't mind helping out either, if that's alright."