I said, "A *New Era* in Plutonian History!"

As Keres and Leokadia continued chatting, Gene and Amy finally came back down. Keres was the first to see them, and waved them over.

"Hey! Welcome back." The couple could barely hear Keres over the crowd and music, but just 20 minutes into the New Year, the crowd was already starting to dissipate as the partygoers began heading home. Amy and Gene took their seats, with Gene next to Leokadia.

"How was it?" Leokadia asked casually, resting her chin on her forearm. Before Gene could respond, Amy answered first.

"This little dork here took way too damn long to pay attention!" Amy semi-scornfully exclaimed while playfully smacking the back of Gene's head.

"Hah-Ow. Ha." The King reacted as Keres snickered halfway through a quick sip she was taking

"Turned a half-hour time-warp into over an hour. Thanks a lot, Keres!" Amy joked. A tall, slim brunette walking by heading for the cafeteria overheard the comment and stared at her as she went by, suppressing a grin with a fake scowl; slowly shaking her head as she went up the stairs. Only Keres seemed to notice, but she was more suprised by the passerby's long black devil tail, barely visible in the dark to begin with, than her reaction.

"Oh yeeeeahhh. That." Keres remembered humans weren't the only ones inhabiting the Plutonian Empire. She finished her wine and lazily looked around, surveying the large arcade room while her cousin and the royal lovers caught up on bullshit small talk. She saw a couple of women step out the doors heading home. The blue and violet ambient lighting was coming from magic neon lights, which will surely disappear once the party's over, crowning the walls. It was also finally feeling less claustrophobic now that the dancing crowd was thinner, dancing to some tacky rock party song from 2035.

Keres grinned. She suddenly felt a wee bit mischievious.

"Don't you dare."

Keres almost jumped from startlement, but as she turned forward again, realized it was Adelle speaking telepathically. Sternly, but with a touch of repressed humour in her tone. Adelle was leaning on the wall browsing the web on her smartphone, very slowly shaking her head.

Keres momentarily sat up straight, pretended to adjust her position, faked centering her ice cup, then threw it over her head.

"Hey now!" Amy exclaimed as she saw the prank in her peripheral vision, sitting up to glare at Keres, then glancing towards where the cup flew....

"Wait, where'd it go? why didn't it shatter and hit someone?" Amy wondered. Then it clicked. She finally understood her gut was telling her that Keres has abilities too. The cup melted into drops of water as it rapidly flew through the center of the room. Adelle's only reaction was to half-grin, half-scowl, squinting her eyes and shaking her head still, before going back to her phone.

Gene and Leokadia briefly glanced around, wondering what was up. Gene saw his gf giving Keres that "implied facepalm" look, before turning around to see Keres snickering and Leokadia backhanding her cousin's shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, Gene saw a redhead with wavy hair emerge from the crowd.

"Oh hey, Mom!" Amy saw the woman too, which turned out to be Shea. Shea didn't respond, instead staring at Keres, slowly stepping towards her, arms crossed.

"Oh shit. Back up, kids!" Amy telepathically told her bf and friends. She knew what was about to go down. Keres sensed it too, pretending to ignore Shea. After hesitating a few moments while Amy and co. backed up to the other end of the bar, Keres half turned around to look at Shea.

"Problémo, pissed off lady? Hehehe." Keres giggled, purposefully triggering Shea further. Shea merely squinted before speaking.

"Do you have any idea how much I spent on this fucking outfit?"

"Wha--?"

"ANSWER ME!" Shea yelled, distracting some of the remaining party-goers.

"How dafuque am I supposed to know, I've never fucking met you, bitch!"

Shea gasped in outrage. She was offended that she wasn't all that famous, apparently. Amy snorted and pinched her nasal bridge in a brief facepalm. She knew exactly what her mother was gonna say next.

"I'm a fuckin' movie star, how do you not know who I am?!"

Bingo.

"Ohhhhh so you're an Amerrrrican, eh?" Keres rolled her eyes. "News flash, you suck. Now fuck off, Trump voter!"

Slap.

"Fuck you!" Keres responded to Shea's bitchslap. Shea lunged and grabbed Keres and the fists and profanities started flying. Half the crowd promptly ran out and left, not in the mood for drama, the rest staying for the eye candy.

The fight lasted for several minutes before Keres finally had Shea pinned down long enough to win it.

"Be glad I didnt use my powers, dear Shea." Keres said as she got up before heading for Gene, Amy, and Leokadia. Shea groaned as she mentally connected the dots, tiredly getting up. Before they yould say anything, Keres grabbed the King's arm to bring him upstairs. "C'mon sexy boi. I need some stress relief."

Amy snorted and facepalm-pinched her nose bridge again. She was absolutely loving this place. Free sex and fisticuffs for all indeed. Leokadia squinted her eyes and slowly shook her head at Keres, who responded playfully with a middle finger before disappearing upstairs with King Gene.