Located on the opposite side of the hall, just past the restrooms, is one of the museums many exhibition rooms. Though it usually boasts fine art and culturally significant pieces, it has been vacated to make room for an exciting and exclusive exhibit... which will be coming soon. In the meantime, the space has been elaborately decked out with countless handsome pillars, though it's not as it first seems.

The space is in fact a maze of mirrors which reflect your image countless times upon its numerous surfaces. Some mirrors offer you a truthful perception, while others distort your image in amusing ways. Skinny, fat, hour-glass shaped, bug-eyed, by the time you're through you'll have seen yourself in a whole new light. Come and explore the wonders of your image, or your partners, just try not to get lost as it's hard to tell which way is out once you are too far in.

She was here. At the event. Making efforts.

Sure she wasn't as dressed up in costume as the others, but dress ups wasn't her thing. If a mopey ten year old couldn't convince her to try it, then there was little hope for anyone else. This, was as good as it would get. She was still nicely dressed and cleanly presented... so she was in no way damaging the event by looking unsightly. Though she could hardly say the same for Yeronin's eye.. costumes.... this was why she disliked them.

Taking the opportunity to wander away from the crowds, Emily hid away in the hall of mirrors, if you could even call it hiding. Her image was everywhere. Wrinkling her nose a bit and folding her arms around her middle, Emily took a few more steps into the mirror maze and took to hoping her drink would soon find her. Hope, a dangerous thing that was. The idea of rejoining the mass of people in the seating area didn't inspire her to move.

What was Amber even doing here? She didn't socialise, not really. She definitely didn't go out of her way to 'mingle' with people. But here she was, so she'd just have to make the most of it. At least she hadn't gone for a ridiculous fancy dress type thing, she'd come formal and that was the only way she'd be able to bare this.

When she arrived, though, she noticed just how many people had come. Oh, great. She'd have to ease her way into the socialising thing, starting somewhere ... not so packed.

The Hall of Mirrors seemed a good place to start - from what she could tell, there was only one person in there, or a few. Amber rolled back her shoulders and made her way there, momentarily distracted by how many of her there was. Mirrors, of course. After blinking several times, she strolled over to the other woman. "Hey," she said, "busy night, huh?"

Good start, Amber. Wow.

Mirrors. This, was rather narcissistic.

Uncomfortable with staring at herself, she instead took to staring past herself, into the deeper recesses of... well, nothing. Nothing was a good place. It was quiet, not annoying and though it seemed like a waste of time for the most part, it was still a better waste of time than standing and making small talk with a strange and ultimately irrelevant people.

Even off in her own little world, she was conscious of the arrival of another, and clearly not a man, or the man she had hoped. The blonde's reflection in the mirrors caught her attention, if only because of the vibrant red. Hard to miss that was. Attention seeking perhaps? But then... why in a lonely room of mirrors? She could have laughed at her own inside joke, the mental image of Gavin getting himself lost in here came to mind.

"Hi," she replied flatly, "sure is." Yep. It seemed they were both fine conversationalists. Who'd have thought? She'd have something in common with a stranger, and a woman too.

"Come to get away too?" She jerked her head back toward the entrance from the other room... where the noisy chatter was coming from. Ugh.

See, the problem with finding other people that didn't seem to want join the masses in the large crowd, meant that there was always the possibility that they'd be cold or rude. In which case, it would probably have been better to make rubbish small talk with friendly strangers. Luckily for her, this woman seemed more bored than unfriendly. Perhaps she'd been waiting for someone?

Amber cast that thought aside.

"Yeah, you could say that," she nodded, glancing again around the room. "Large, noisy crowds aren't really my thing." Neither was small talk, but they'd probably get past that soon enough. "I'm Amber, by the way." If she could at least make one friend or acquaintance out of this, it would be worth it.

Under normal circumstances... well actually, under normal circumstances this wouldn't be happening. She didn't do social, she didn't do Gala's... no, but, if she wasn't technically on duty, then she wouldn't be conversing with the woman.

As it was, they seemed to have some things in common. "Mine either," she supplied, a slight twitch of the corners of her lips indicated a part-smile. Smiling was not something she rushed into, it took patience and practice and only those deemed worthy enough were privy to it. "Emily... nice to make your acquaintance..." or something along those lines. As with Amber, she didn't supply her surname.

Considering the fact that the woman was freely moving around she came to the conclusion she wasn't here as a plus one, so that could only mean she was an employee. "Pardon, but what department do you hail from? ... I don't recognise you."

After adjusting her dress, Amber gave the other woman a quick look up and down. She'd very clearly not come in a themed costume - not that she could tell anyway - she looked to be formally dressed, like herself. Another thing they had in common besides a dislike for crowds and general socialising.

Noting the almost smile, she nodded and gave her a small smile in return. "I thought that might be the case," she explained, indicating to the practically empty room around them. Well, empty if you don't include the countless reflections of them on every wall. Which she wouldn't. "Lovely to make yours, too, Emily." That sounded right, right? Never mind, it was of little importance. Only pleasantries.

"Accidents and Catastrophes," she stated. Speaking of which, she probably could have found someone to talk to from her department. Natasha, maybe. However, she'd figured she'd either not come, or would be the 'crowd' type. Turning her attention back to Emily, she raised her eyebrow slightly. She, too, must be an employee, as she'd mentioned not recognizing her and had brought up the Ministry. "And you?" She asked politely.

The look up and down didn't go noticed, how could it when she saw it not once, but 100 times more due to the perfectly positioned mirrors.Despite hating dresses, she hated dress ups even more... so this was considered the lesser of two evils. That being said, she still made out to be a team player... buying into the Department Heads theme of Order of the Phoenix. Who was to say she didn't dress like Tonks? Hmmm? The name tag made it clear she was. The Auror had been a metamorphmagus, and there was no reason why she couldn't have worn a dress too. Admittedly, wearing her old Auror attire would have worked just as well, and would have been more comfortable. But no. No dress ups.

Emily returned the look-over, and noted the smile while she was at it. How very perceptive of the blonde... Amber. Pleasantries were all well and good, this much she could do, but it didn't particularly pique her interest. Or at least not until she mentioned Accidents and Catastrophes. "Ahh, you're one of Aron's," she mused, still wondering how she had missed the woman before. Level two was her home, but she spent some time on level three as well, she supposed perhaps the lock-out the previous year had something to do with their not seeing one another before.

And her? Ha! Emily smirked slightly before turning her attention to one of the mirrors, staring at their reflection, her lips pursed in slight amusement. "Magical Law Enforcement," she replied, playing along with this game of cat and mouse they seemed to have going. This for that. The woman revealed nothing about her position, so she revealed nothing of hers. Fun, no?

On closer analysis, Amber noticed a badge reading, 'Hello, my name is Tonks,' pinned to her. It took her a couple of seconds more to pin down where she'd heard the name. Nymphadora Tonks. From the Order of the Phoenix, if she wasn't mistaken. Her lips curved up at one side as she appreciated the genius of the outfit. She couldn't quite call it a costume, because it wasn't, but it was as close to a costume as you could get without it being formal. Just because of one name tag. Amber wouldn't give her the satisfaction of having a better thought-out outfit than her, though. Not yet, at least.

One of Aron's? "I suppose you're right about that," she allowed with a nod. Technically she was part of his department, but the way Emily had phrased it made it sound like she was a pet ... or a child and she was neither. In fact, she was very independent and not reliant on others, much unlike children and pets. But she'd let it slide anyway.

Magical Law Enforcement. Somehow that was fitting. But there was something else, something that Amber couldn't quite put her finger on it. Instead, she focused on Emily's expression; she seemed amused. Hardly surprising as they seem to have a little game going on. Giving one piece of information at a time, not giving too much away. That was when it hit her. "Ahh. Emily .. Emily Browne?" She asked, raising her eyebrow slightly. "Department Head," she stated, now sure of herself. She should have realised before, but she'd never actually seen her before and had only heard her name mentioned in passing. Amber smirked slightly, now she knew about Emily than she did her. This was oddly fun and definitely made her stop thinking about the crowds not too far away.

Gavin.....was NEVER leaving this hall EVER.

What started as a simple trip to the bathroom led to the most magnificent discovery of possibly his entire life, beating out other trivial memories. Could anything compare to this right now? No. Definitely not. It'd started out when he spotted one wall of mirror and following it he found himself in a cavern of...well...Gavin. Nothing but his own beautiful face going on for what could and should have been miles.

There were a couple times that he'd stopped to stare but could you blame him? This was the stuff love was made of. Mirrors. Him.

The Senior Undersecretary walked further and further into the mirror wonderland convinced he didn't have to go back. He could stay here with himself and all those people back out there could socialize together. It was never for him anyway. Somewhere nearby he could hear voices and he would have gone looking but this mirror right here, reflected his face just perfectly. How did it do that? Could he take this one home with him?

There was a great deal of silence and equal measures of observation it seemed, which was appropriate considering where they were. Mirrors demanded observation. Quite at her leisure, Emily took a few paces, watching the images in the mirrors shift, she could see her dress, and her company's from almost every angle. It was in its own way, fascinating.

As for supposing she was right, of course she was. Emily Browne was rarely wrong... and would you look at that, the woman did know who she was. Not that it mattered, it was simply amusing that some people didn't know who she was straight away, it might have been an ego thing. Maybe, only slightly, but flying under the radar was something she had always preferred, and something she could seldom get away with now. "You got me," was her reply. Such was life.

Footsteps alerted her to another presence in their hall of mirrors, and from her peripherals she could see Gavin.. or rather, his reflection standing and staring. No doubt at his own reflection. The man was insufferable. He could have at himself for hours if she let him, was even convinced he might waste away in front of the mirror should the opportunity arise. Or maybe not, only in the case if he lost his mind... otherwise he couldn't possibly let himself and his good looks waste away.

She didn't say anything, instead she turned back to Amber. "Enjoy the Christmas break?" she asked, attempting this chatting thing people did.

Ferris figured of all of the places that humans would not want to interact the Hall of Mirrors would be at the top of that list. And, to be frank, he was not exactly comfortable with human interaction as a convention. People expected talking when it came to conversing and he was not good at that...or anything that did not involve running away from other people.

Dark, quiet holes of space. That was his niche. He did most of his best tinkering and creating in there. In fact, last week he had cracked the way to improve productivity for young witches and wizards tenfold by--

EEP. There were people in here. Not nearly as many as the other places.

Oh, um, well, you see, uh....

Ferris froze.

Not a single muscle moved. Not one.

With all the observing the two woman were doing, it wouldn't be surprising to find that they could make describe what the other was wearing - in detail. Emily seemed to be taking in different angles of her own and Amber's dresses, made easy by the countless mirrors that surrounded them. Somewhere deep in her stirred and a wave self consciousness came over her, but she shook it off. She knew she looked perfectly fine. Better than that, in fact.

And she was hardly being judged.

Much to her own surprise, Amber didn't feel even slightly inferior or intimidated by being in the presence of a Department Head. If she was the woman she was a few years ago, that might be different, but as it happened, she wasn't. Amber gave a little chuckle at Emily's comment. It was probably uncommon for her not to be recognised straight away, but Amber wasn't particularly observation of things that weren't of immediate importance.

For example, it perhaps should have taken her less time to realise that they now weren't alone in the Hall of Mirrors. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man ... and countless other images of him. It seemed that Emily had also noticed him, but was giving him little attention. Instead she had turned back to her and was asking about Christmas break. This wasn't a problem for Amber as conversing with more than one person wasn't someone thing she'd enjoy and the man seemed to be ... preoccupied anyway. "Hm. Very much so. I could do without the shopping and crowds, though," she explained and gave a little shrug with one shoulder. Crowds were an unavoidable part of Christmas and she'd learned to put up with them a long time ago. "And you?" She asked, she gaze wandering to the other side of the room where she noticed someone else.

Yet another person.

Just great, Amber thought, sighing slightly. Did people all have the same idea about this being a good place to escape to from the crowds or were they all self-obsessed and had come for the mirrors? The first guy, definitely seemed to be the latter. This one, however, looked terrified and had frozen where he stood, staring at them. She turned her head to look at him properly.

Amber cleared her throat. Did he want something, or .. ?

"Are you okay?"

Because he was frozen and probably needed some sort of help. What kind of help he needed, though, was yet to be seen.

Gavin was oblivious to any and all other people in the hall of mirrors....or so he wanted to be but he'd already heard the voices so it was a matter of pretending he didn't. Shouldn't be too hard when he had such stunning distractions all over him, filling every surface for as far as he could see. Simply amazing.

A glance from the corner of his eyes revealed another man--taking up his mirror space Merlin. He turned, wondering if he could persuade him to step perhaps a few feet to the left and that's when he heard something that could have been directed at him. Really there was no way to tell before taking another look around and spotting first the red then the woman wearing it--and Emily, she was in here too. When did that happen?

"And me what?" He asked, clearly lost to whatever it was they'd been talking about. Was he included now and if so, in what? Gavin found himself in a fix, stand here and admire himself or greet the girlfriend.

Merlin life was hard sometimes.

Weighing the long term consequences against each other, the Senior Undersecretary drifted over to the too, giving Emily a kiss to the cheek. Unfortunately he hadn't noticed the dress. The mirror behind her had caught his attention. It just wasn't the same when his image had to be sharing the space and who was the other guy?

Chit chat... it was times like these she realised why didn't bother in the first place. It was merely a futile attempt at playing nice, but playing nice she did. Wearing an expression of mild interest, Emily listened as Amber expressed her feelings about the break, and she found herself agreeing. More or less. The shopping and crowds was a pain in the rear to say the least, but it was to be expected, and from now on she'd be doing her Christmas shopping in June. Having nodded along to Amber's reply, there was little more she could add to conversation regarding the break, so she merely paused to smile some... it was hard work. "It was nice," she mused, emphasis on was... seeing as all that seemed to be over now. She spared Gavin a glance, not at all surprised that he was still admiring himself, though she found it increasingly annoying as time passed.

"I'll be glad for the distractions of work though," she supplied eventually, "I like being kept busy... it's easier that way." Just what was easier, she didn't let on, it wasn't any of the woman's business.

The presence of yet another in the once quiet space slightly irked her, but he didn't seem to be disturbing them... except with his stares. Why was he staring? Emily looked to Amber who called out to him. Perhaps he was staring at the red. There was a great deal of red.



For whatever reason, it appeared as though Gavin had snapped out of thoughts of himself for a moment long enough to realise there were other people present, including herself. Still, her attention remained with Amber and now the stranger that was simply staring, even as Gavin approached and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Gavin, I thought you'd gotten lost" she stated simply, not bothering to pay him much attention for the time being. She was correct in thinking that he had, however, as he seemed to be very much lost in himself. Any more attention she might afford him would be lost on him with all the images of himself in the vicinity.. how he wasn't a drooling mess was beyond her.

Ferris had once read something about animals that used a defence mechanism of standing completely still to avoid being attacked or noticed by oncoming predators. In the back of his head, the logical part, he knew that human beings were not unsee a person standing completely still. Yet, in his panicked state he had, well, panicked.

And so, here he was standing like a fool with sweat dripping down his face in puddles.

MEEP. He did so not want to be here. He wanted to go home and play video games and hide in dark holes and this was very stressful.

But now, instead of being able to move and run away (which was his latest inclination), he was actually frozen. Even if he wanted to move he felt like his feet would not have taken commands from his brain.

All he did to their inquiries were widen his eyes and panic. A lot.

Tiffany had been walking around for what felt like AGES. Snoooze. Maybe she should've brought a date. Or just anyone. Any escort was better than no escort. YET, she had no one. Absolutely no friends. She didn't know anyone here, didn't have anyone here with her, and had no clue as to where she even was anymore? One minute she was in the banquet room and next--

Oooh, *wiggles eyerbows* Who's that beautiful girl? And that one! And that one! AND TIFFANY WAS EVERYWHERE! But wait, what was that? A hair out of place? NOOO can't be! Tiffany ran up to one of the millions of mirrors in the place and started adjusting. Ugh. It was probably that dumb baby who she had met earlier. Messing up her hair and tugging on her necklace.... Children.

Pulling out some emergency bobby pins from her Chanel clutch, Tiffany began redoing her hair. Luckily, constance vigilance (in the hair department of course)!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Tiffany had been walking around for what felt like AGES. Snoooze. Maybe she should've brought a date. Or just anyone. Any escort was better than no escort. YET, she had no one. Absolutely no friends. She didn't know anyone here, didn't have anyone here with her, and had no clue as to where she even was anymore? One minute she was in the banquet room and next--

Oooh, *wiggles eyerbows* Who's that beautiful girl? And that one! And that one! AND TIFFANY WAS EVERYWHERE! But wait, what was that? A hair out of place? NOOO can't be! Tiffany ran up to one of the millions of mirrors in the place and started adjusting. Ugh. It was probably that dumb baby who she had met earlier. Messing up her hair and tugging on her necklace.... Children.

Pulling out some emergency bobby pins from her Chanel clutch, Tiffany began redoing her hair. Luckily, constance vigilance (in the hair department of course)!

Gabi wasn't sure WHY she was in the hall of mirrors, but it was probably due to the fact that she was bored. She was extremely BORED. Where was Armen?? He was running LATE, and he knew how much she hated people being late!

As she was going to make a turn, she nearly ran into a girl who was standing there, doing her HAIR of all things. Why had she picked THIS place to do her hair? Did she not know that these mirrors were all funky and not at all ideal for hair fix ups? Gabi would know, she was practically an expert on mirrors. She'd never met one she didn't like!

"You know, there's some REAL mirrors in the loo that would probably work better," she said to the girl.

Just as she pulled a blond bobby pin out of her designer clutch, WAS THAT REALLY WHAT HER HIPS LOOK LIKE IN THIS DRESS?! Ohmygosh! She definitely did not look like that when she walked out of the house. She only had a few chocolate shavings off the cake earlier! She watched her calories, for Merlin's sake! There is absolutely NO way that she gained THAT much weight THIS quickly. Was Witch Weekly right about chocolate going straight to the hips!? BECAUSE THAT WAS LITERALLY TWENTY MINUTES AGO.

There's no freaking way. This is impossible.

In her panicked state Tiffany hadn't even realized that she had company. "OH!" she let out a small squeal. "Ahem, like wow, I didn't even see you there," oops. Real mirrors? What is this chick talking about? "Real mirrors?" she questioned? Uh yeah no, these mirrors were working REAL fine actually. Except for the fact that they seemed to reveal (and accentuate) the flaws that Tiffany's full body mirror at home, didn't show her.

The man was here and walking down the halls. Or at least that's how he'd like everyone to think of himself as that, if they chose not to use his name. Deacon had gone to do a little exploring past the facilities in the museum. It was a little interesting the sights.. and only a little, for obvious reasons to him.

Then he came across the hall of mirrors. Hm. He turned his head left and right.. Adjusting the cap on his head, making sure his hair still looked good under it. Heh. He smirked into the reflections. Maybe he could have some fun with this as he wandered in a little more.

As far as Stephen was concerned he'd spent enough time dragging his feet, when he had heard there was a hall of mirrors he had been itching to check it out...well he had been itching to check himself out and what better way was there for him to admire himself than with a whole space dedicated to mirrors?

He stopped and looked to his left, leaning in to the mirror closest to him. He grimaced, for some odd reason his head looked like it had expanded four times its usual size. Maybe his ex was right when she said that one day his head would swell out of proportion because of his ego... hmmm.... nah that couldn't be it and so he continued along as far as he was concerned that mirror was probably broken anyway or charmed as a joke.

The next mirror must also have been broken for his face looked slightly distorted which in itself gave him the chills, to think of his face as anything but ruggishly handsome was blasphemy in and of itself. What was wrong with this place. A scowl had begun to make its way across said gorgeous face, he placed his index finger on his chin contemplatively then reached into his pocket and retrieved his emergency hand mirror, He honestly didn't know what he would do without it.

It was in this process that his eyes did a quick scan of the room and to his relief he spotted his best mate at least there was some one else in this room that could fully appreciate the room as much as he did, he noticed that said mate was accompanied by two other females. Sending a quick thank you up he made his way over, It appeared he had rubbed off on him in some way or another.

Once he arrived he clamped the man on the back.

"Gavin you sly dog looks like France wasn't a waste after all" he resoundly stated, his infamous grin in place. Without further hesitation he turned to ladies, he quirked his head to the side. He knew one of them.

"Ahh we meet again" He gave her a slightly crooked grin, Gavin had said as much as she could be a violent one and since Stephen wasn't the type to really retaliate when it came to women no matter if she deserved it or not he would have to keep his distance. For now anyway he was confident that he would grow on her like the rest, If he could get someone like gavin to accept that they were best friends he could show her he could be a "good" boy.

He then turned to the other lady there his classic charming smile in place.

"Hello there im pretty sure we've never met I would definitely remember someone as gorgeous you, My names Stephen"

Tiffany had heard a few footsteps roaming about the room, but all she could think about was HOW BIG HER HIPS LOOKED IN THIS MIRROR!? So naturally, most of her attention was being focused in on that and the other tiny bit on the woman who had appeared next to her only moments ago. She did not have anymore to spare on the other two people who were in the room now. Deciding that the mirror was probably the problem, because she most certainly wasn't, she decided to move to the mirror next to it. For Merlin's sake. She is in a room of mirrors after all, it'd be a shame not to use them to her advantage.

Ah much better. Her hips looked normal again. PHEW! Now that's a total relief! But wait, WHAT HAPPENED TO HER LEGS?! They looked like tiny little stumps. Okay no there must be something wonky about these mirrors. Whose idea was this anyways? Hpmh. Putting trick mirrors in and worrying her like that. Not cool. Not cool at all.

Just as Tiffany had come to the realization that these mirrors must be charmed with some type of magic, she heard the voice of a man coming towards her. Eh, now that her attention wasn't really on the mirrors anymore, she had some more to spare. Turning around, now, to face them, she noticed both were handsome men. Eh, sure beats that baby she had met earlier, that's for sure. When one of them began to smile, Tiffany completely melted under his beam. But nope. Nope. Keeping composure.

She smiled back, attempting to mirror (heh) the same charm. She cocked her head to the side and could feel a blush burning on her cheeks. Gorgeous? Who, her? Noooo pft. "Hey, Stephen, I'm Tiffany," She held out her hand for a shake. Because that's what professional people in the ministry do right? Then she looked towards the other man in the room and gave him a smile as well. If this is what all the ministry guys looked like THEN LET'S START WORK NOW! Hehe.

....

The man looked like he was about to pass a stone. What was wrong with him? ................ "Is he diseased? Should he even be here?" .... All that sweat did not look healthy, the man must be terribly ill, and if she was a caring person then she'd offer assistance. As it was, she had very little to care about in the world, so she would pass.



This Gala thing, was turning out to be the makings of the worst night in History. Okay, so that was an exaggeration, but it was awful. Mirrors not only reflected her flaws but had her boyfriends barely divided attention, there were too many people in her space, there was a diseased man in their vicinity and on top of all that... Stephen was here.

Sly dog? France? Waste? ...........

.......

She was not only eyeing Stephen for his remarks, but eyeing Gavin too for whatever it was he was a sly dog for. Please, do share with the rest of the group Mr Isaacs.

"Stephen," she greeted curtly, indulging him in a brief nod!grunt.

If that was enough, the sickly googly-eyed girl responding to Stephen's sickly flirting was ridiculous. No self respect. Apparently.

People were making her sick... she should have stayed with the food... and then found a dark corner to sit in by herself.

He had done the very boyfriend thing to do; he greeted the girlfriend--gave her a kiss and everything, so why was his attention still being demanded of him? Was it too much to ask that he be allowed to enjoy his reflection for the little while he had? Contrary to what he was sure many believed, he was not constantly surrounded by mirrors to remind him of his gorgeous looks. Had to take the time out to remind himself--not that he needed a reminder. Something as stunning as his looks was hard to forget. So no, he didn't hear anything about getting lost and at first he didn't hear other footsteps, forget the guy standing there, he'd become nothing but a fixture by now. A fixture in a hall of mirrors was common place, was it not?

He ran a hand through his hair, sparing himself the slightest of satisfied smirks. This mirror might have become his favourite, who was to tell? This one he wanted to take home with him.

Then it happened, the hand clamped on his shoulder and were it not for the mirror alerting him as to WHO it was, he might have gone into face preservation mode. Stephen. Of course. Gavin turned, given him a puzzled look as he spoke of dogs and France, the scowl came with realization. What? And of course he was already trying worm his way in on a woman, he couldn't say he was surprized, sparing the woman a polite smile himself. There. He did the social thing. It was a greeting to the new woman.......before looking at Emily and noting the LOOK she was giving him.

Was it too late to go back to the mirrors? Have nothing to do with this coversation? He didn't think so. Aheeeeemmmmmm back to staring--was that a BLEMISH???????? The Senior Undersecretary's brows creased as he stepped closer to the mirror and further from the group of them. This....no......MERLIN.

So the woman's name was Tiffany eh? he took hold of her hand taking the time to gently let his thumb briefly caress her knuckles.

"No need to be so formal darling, I'm sure by the time the nights over we'll all be rather chummy with each other" then taking her hand he gave her knuckles a quick peck.

He turned to Emily, "As well with you Emily no need to be so stiff love,if it helps I apologize for my lack of tact and grace at our last meeting" he then sent her his most apologetic smile the one in fact he always used on his own mother which always seemed to do the trick.
"I say we call a truce of sorts, after all we're basically family now"

He couldn't actually say he was surprised at Gavins lack of response, he had actually been counting on it and his best mate certainly didn't disappoint.

"Now mate is that anyway to act, we've been through this" How many times Stephen wasn't sure of, Gavin had been a stubborn one during all his impromptu lessons on handling women.

"A way to always keep your lady happy is by giving her all you attention, no matter how tempting anything else maybe. In this case it would be staring at his reflection, which was a lesson Stephen had to learn the hard way.