"I apologize," Sephiroth said mockingly, before smirking. "What is it with Erratic?"

"He's wild."

"So was your father."

"Well, he's wilder than that." Politesse grinned. "He... can get himself into pretty serious scrapes." She coughed nervously. "Maggie? Simon?" she asked the couple coming towards them.

"Hell, there's Blazer and Runner now," Magdalena pointed out. True enough, the two Turks were coming in, looking about. "Where's Erratic?" she asked as they approached.

"Was about to ask you that," Blazer replied. "Where the devil is that bloody brother of yours, Po?"

Politesse's lips thinned at that silly-sounding nickname. "Possibly at the Red Dragon."

"The Red...?" Magdalena's jaw dropped. "Gee, Lita, I didn't know your brother was into that kind of stuff."

The young Turk cringed. "My mother didn't think so either."

"Heck, your bro ain't so much an angel, eh?" Simon winked.

"The Red Dragon?" Sephiroth asked.

"Do we have to go there?" Runner looked ill.

Blazer grinned. "Hell, you should've seen the guys all over him the last time he tried going there," he snickered. "Man, Runner, you're so damn popular!"

"Oh, shut up."

"Shall we just go?" Magdalena asked, hooking her arm into Blazer's. "The Red Dragon is a place for closeted people. It's actually quite a fun place to be," she added, winking at Politesse, who rolled her eyes.

"For you, Maggie. Only you."

Runner and Simon fell into step beside Sephiroth and began chatting amiably with him. Blazer was trying to coax Politesse into sleeping while Magdalena ever so often 'got side-tracked', ran off and came back in a few moments, looking more disheveled than she last left.

"Here we are," Simon said. Runner sighed.

They entered the bar. It was dimly lit inside, the lights a sickly looking orange. There were only men inside and Sephiroth straightaway noticed why Runner was so reluctant so enter. Everyone avoided looking at him in the eye, though, while many threw the other young men that entered lecherous glances. A few even made their way towards the women. Politesse rebuffed them by ignoring them totally, blowing smoke into their faces or with a few words, but Magdalena seemed quite happy to oblige a little kiss every now and then.

"Sorry, dude, another time, maybe," Simon said to one of the men who came close.

"Oh, shit," Runner muttered to himself. "Finally. There he is." He cringed, though. Sephiroth, too, winced a little. Erratic was in the corner, a tie which wasn't his entwined among his fingers as he pulled the face of another, much younger man close with his free hand.

"Aw, man," Blazer groaned as Erratic kissed the object of his attention.

"I wonder if that technique would work just as well on a woman," Simon commented. "Maggie, wanna try?"

"Some other time," Magdalena answered, watching Erratic and his young man still in the corner kissing passionately. "Wonder if he does just as fabulously with a woman," she mused.

"You screw him, then," Politesse murmured in reply. "I'm not about to try that with my own brother."

"Can we just get him and go??" Runner nearly whimpered.

"Dude, you're a Turk! Where's your backbone??" Blazer told him.

"Back in the hard drive of the computer," Politesse replied, smirking. She put her arm about Runner's waist. "Poor baby," she said. "Why don't we go out, hmmm?"

"Much obliged." Runner hurried out.

"Get him," Sephiroth ordered. Magdalena sighed at having the show ruined just as it was about to begin as Simon walked over to Erratic and tapped him on the shoulder.

Erratic turned about, irritation in his green eyes. "Yes?" he asked acidly.

"Time to go, man," Simon answered smoothly.

"Damn." Erratic turned back to his lover. "Some other time, then." The other young man rolled his eyes, then went off. "Man, I was just getting started!! Do you know how long it takes to find a kid that good??"

"Define 'good'," Blazer asked blandly.

"Ask Maggie. She'd be able to explain better," Erratic said sourly, annoyed at having his fun disturbed. "Man, didn't even get a contact address. Now some other guy'll get to him first! Dammit!!" He began lacerating.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. Erratic was definitely worse than his father. He had known Reno was lecherous, but his son had succeeded him... and outdone him, too, it seemed. Possibly because he had a wider playing field.

"Disturbed?" Magdalena asked him.

"At what? Such a display of depravity?"

"Yeap." She smiled at him. "Being human's not cool all the time. At least we don't have those 'preachers of the clean life' living here. They'd certainly ruin everything. It's all hidden, Seph, but that doesn't mean it isn't there." There was a smirk on Magdalena's face. "I'm afraid we're kind of corrupted, Sephiroth. I hope you don't mind."

"Who's 'we'?" Sephiroth murmured.

"Oh, Simon occasionally goes off the straight and narrow, Blazer definitely indulges once in a while, Erratic, well, I don't need to tell you that, now, do I?"

"And you?"

Magdalena's smiled turned coquettish. Sephiroth wished he could ignore her, but she was friendly and at the moment, honest with him. She was shameless and she knew it. She turned her attention to Erratic, still snarling over the loss. "Oh, come on, Erratic," she scoffed. "He couldn't have been all that good."

"Maggie, hon, that was a choice piece of ass and you know it," came the dark reply.

"Well..."

"You've been known to choose pretty boys like that."

"Let's not get personal," she suggested. "Why don't we head home and meet up in my apartment?"

"Hell, sure, Maggie baby," Blazer grinned.

They did. Sephiroth was actually wondering what was he doing, sitting at a table during the early hours, listening to humourous stories of his companions. Every passing hour was getting more and more blur. Dizzy, he could barely feel himself heading someplace else.

The next thing he realized, he was sitting up on a bed with a splitting headache that he was sure he had never felt before. Not even in the labs, not in SOLDIER, not anywhere, anyhow. So where had it come from? He surmised he had been drinking, something which he admitted was a stupid thing to do, but the wild hostess had kept on topping up his glass. He was amazed he had managed to haul himself to bed at all. Inebriation was something new to him.

So it was a painful shock to him when Magdalena, next to him, lazily stretched, sat up and put her arms about his neck, smiling sleepily. "Good morning," she purred.

"Hello, Lita," he said awkwardly. He was so unsure of himself sometimes, she mused. "Did we... do anything?"

"Can't you remember?" she teased. At the consternation in his eyes, she giggled. "No, not really. I can barely recall a lovely make-out session, then we both agreed not to do anything stupid." Not that I would think it stupid at all... she mentally continued wistfully. She pouted a little. "And it had been getting to the best part, too."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just that I... I wouldn't want your father coming after me."

That remark elicited another smile from her. "My father would understand. He's done such things before."

Runner thought of the silent, sunglassed man and decided not to comment. He did care about Politesse, but not that way. Not yet. He winced, wondering if she would take it as an insult. She looked better without her sunglasses. He unconsciously reached out to smooth her eyebrows. "You look better that way."

"What way?" she asked.

"Without your sunglasses. You've got lovely brown eyes, you know."

"This is a great way to start the morning," she sighed, stretching against him and getting up. "Being complimented by a cute guy!"

"Do you think so?" he asked uncertainly.

"Honestly, Runner, we wouldn't want to end up looking like Lucrecia and Storm, would we?" She smiled at him as she headed for the bathroom. "If you're going out, can you save me some bacon?"

"Me? Going out? But I'm joining you!" Runner got off the bed, ignoring the streaking pain in his temples, and headed for the bathroom as well.

"Then join the club," came the crabby reply. "That's the last damned time I'm coming over to Maggie's for the night. Man, have you seen how much beer she keeps in that goddamned refridgerator??"

"Didn't she say something about screwing the lucky guy who manages to hold his own longest?" Blazer groggily inquired. "Damn... quite an incentive for drugging ourselves out."

"She was joking, you ass."

"Did our fine friend manage to down more than he had ever drunk in his life?"

"And then some," Simon smirked. "Saw them heading off to her guest room myself."

"And-" Blazer immediately forgot his next question because there was loud noise coming from Magdalena's other guest room. "She's screwing Erratic now?? Dammit! How come I don't get any??" He looked about. "Okay. Where's Politesse? Now I'm really in the mood."

"Too bad. She's gone off with Runner."

"Runner?? What does she see in that kid??"

Simon shrugged. "His brains? You know how more intellectual they are than us."

Blazer looked glum. "Don't suppose you-d"

"Forget it."

They both sighed. "Oh, well, what the hell. I guess the only thing we can do now is wash up and get down for breakfast."

"Hell yeah. First one to the bathroom-"

Blazer was cut off once again by the sigh of Sephiroth coming out of the afore-mentioned room looking worse for wear. As Magdalena often held parties like these, it wasn't much of a surprise that she had some men's clothes in the bathroom cupboards just in case her male guests didn't want to leave looking disreputable. Sephiroth had noticed immediately and took advantage. After all, she kept clothes of all shapes and sizes.

"How was last night?" Simon dared to ask.

"I don't remember," Sephiroth replied flatly. He looked about. "Where is she now?"

"Maggie? Oh, she's off for a morning screw."

The silver-haired man looked disgusted and shook his head. "I'm going to the cafeteria."

"Wise choice," Blazer murmured. "You go first, Simon. I think I'll wait and see if Magdalena's game for another-"

"Enough!" Sephiroth snapped.

"Okay, okay, okay." Blazer cringed at Sephiroth's irritated glare. "See you later."

"I wonder if Mags did him a bad turn," Simon mused when the door slammed.