I'll be Beating You!

James snorted in his effort to stifle laughter, quickly disguising the sound in what he hoped sounded like a sneeze.

"That's great, mate," he said in a voice shaky from with-holding laughter.

Vance had finely had enough.

"Glen, you look bloody ridiculous," Vance growled at the man from a distance, afraid to be seen with him, "Mug....People don't dress like that. I swear, you have no culture!"

Glen sized Vance up, standing with his chest out proudly.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Glen argued, "Jack said that it's of the highest fashion! You are just jealous that I have been enshrouded in the finest of garments!"

"...and it's comfortable too!" he added, wiggling his hips experimentally.

Jack would have pegged Vance for the party pooper of the team if there had to be one. Jack's glare was not the only one directed his way, and Nora seemed to look as though she were preparing to punish him later. Vance looked ready to argue after Glen's claims.

It was Victoria that got him though. "Nonsense!" she cheered, "I think he looks smashing!" She stepped forward, once again pinching Vance's backside as she passed him, before resting a hand on Glen's shoulder. "Absolutely smashing!"

Glen smiled, sneering over at Vance. The barman arrived with the beers and Jack began handing them around. "Alright, simmer down, drinks are here!"

James buried his face into his mug to hide the smirk on his face as Glen turned to see his reaction to all this commotion. Catching the bartender's eye, he shrugged uncommitedly, making a brief circular motion with one finger beside his temple to signify craziness.

Glen didn't notice, however, as he was immersed in his drink. After one gulp, he resurfaced from his mug, hacking.

"W-W-what?" he exclaimed, dumbfounded, "What is this stuff?"

He looked down into his mug, scrutinizing the contents.

"It don't taste like any beer I've ever had!"

James grinned and whispered to Jack, "He drinks a lot of butterbeer. He's not used to it being so bitter."

Jack grimaced at James' words. "Then he's not going to realize how much alcohol he's actually taking in, is he? Oh boy, day one, and I'll already be dragging someone unconscious home."

She grinned. "Then again, it's not really a night out drinking unless someone gets completely sloshed. Bet's on Glen."

She took a swig of her own beer, drinking it with ease, before telling Glen, "Trust me. It gets better the more of it you drink!"

James eyes widened as Glen said, "Really?" then tipped back his mug and draining it like a champion.

"I'll have you know, Jack," James chided her, "that Glen is to be your responsibility tonight, and don't expect me to interfere when he goes trick or treating for your goodies after he's slovenly drunk."

Nora and Faye giggled, sipping daintily from their own beverage, keeping beady eyes on Glen and his progress. James took a hearty swallow from his own mug, not wanting to be outmatched by a lightweight.

((It is Nora, right? lol, I keep typing Norma and having to correct it.))

Jack sighed. "Great. I better be made a saint after I die. Jack Dyllan, the patron saint of drunks who needed a ride home." She paused, ticking her head as though admitting a point she had only just registered. "Watching him attempt to trick or treat might make it worthwhile, I'll admit."

Jack took an expert swig of her beer- one didn't room with an alcoholic and not build up a tolerance for drink. "This can't become a routine, I imagine. I'm pretty sure Glen would fall apart if we got him hooked on muggle drink."

((Yeah it's Nora. I checked when I was figuring out who fancied Vance))

"Fall apart?!" James echoed in mock disdain, "I did't realize the man was all put together in the first place!"

In return, Glen gave James the bird, something he had only seen muggles do. Wizards typically had other ways of telling each other to 'f' off.

"Oy! James said loudly to the group in general, "Who taught that to Glen?!"

((lol, sorry. Still recovering from my weekend. Won $120 at the casino, though!! ))

(($120! Sweet! And no worries. My muse is shaky lately anyway))

"Fall apart relatively," Jack explained, rolling her eyes as though this were obvious. "If we're considering his current state put together."

Jack snorted as Glen expressed himself to James, and Nora looked away as James tried to figure out where Glen had picked it up. It seemed Nora had been tutoring him in Muggle Studies...

Jack smiled, suddenly feeling a little strange. Here she was, out and about, laughing with new friends. Where was Nemo? Was he okay? Jack looked deep into her drink and then threw the glass back, finishing off the whole bottle.

James gave Jack a sideways look, clearly impressed. He had been nursing his own drink, and the only other player at the table who had finished their first was Glen....though it seemed that Nora was in the process of engaging Glen in a drinking contest.

"Been doing a bit of practicing at home?" he teased her, indicating his nearly full bottle next to her emptied one.

"And Nora," he warned, "It'll be you dealing with the matter of Glen's transportation home if you get him participating in a drinking contest!"

Jack hadn't noticed her increased rate of drinking in comparison to the rest of the team until James pointed it out. Jack did feel a little awkward about this, but she, as usual, showed no shame. Instead she said, "Practice makes perfect" though the joking tone in her voice was a bit flat.

It sounded better than 'I've been taught well by a murderous poltergeist and a suicidal alcoholic Seer.'

She allowed her attention to be drawn by James' words to Nora and she smirked at Nora, who seemed thoroughly pleased with the arrangement. Jack glanced at James, "I don't think she'd mind that."