#[linus might cause problems & get on your nerves but he's absolutely got your back buddy pal BESTIE]

[justicefanged]

Raven hears Linus before he sees him, and he briefly considers keeping his distance - he wasn't in the mood for yet another fight, for something else to go horribly wrong. But it occurred to him, then, that things were going terribly for everyone at the event, and if he really cast his mind back he understood that - in his own particular flavor - Linus had somehow become as staunch an ally as he could have made.

He frowns, rubbing the back of his neck, until another mouse waiter walks by, squeaking as it offers him champagne from its tray. Sighing, Raven nods his thanks, and takes two of them.

"Hey." Pushing the second flute into the other man's hands, Raven taps their glasses together - perhaps a mite more forcefully than he meant, but intended well enough - before he takes a long swig.

Squinting into his flute, Raven pointedly ignores the watchful eyes of the elementals as he murmurs under his breath, "I'm almost waiting for them to get bored."

Considering things had gone a bit different than what a lot of people were expecting, Linus wasn't trying nearly as hard to rein himself in. He'd caught sight of Lloyd several times, but his brother was so far leaving him be; he'd either not been too bad yet, or Lloyd was stuck in his own head again. Hm, might need to crack him out of that shell so that he could try to have some fun or something, but...

For now, he's just going to enjoy himself a bit. Which meant drinks with people he hardly knew, rat food that was actually pretty damn good, and making a generally light-hearted ruckus as people danced or mingled.

Being loud came natural to him, but it was nice to be in a space where he could be loud and it wasn't entirely out of place for once.

"Hey."

It's a short, soft greeting. A somewhat rough but now familiar voice speaking in the undertones of the music and other conversations happening around them.

Linus rakes over Raven with a surprisingly careful expression, like he was trying to gauge the gesture. It didn't last long. Linus took the glass the other was pushing into his hand, face breaking out into a grin as Raven even clinked their glasses together -- they both did it too hard, thank the Saints whatever magic was here made these things sturdy or there would have been shattered glass on the floor.

"Well, hey there yourself, Red. Didn't take ya for the drinkin' sort, even if it's this stuff," Linus remarked, swirling the liquid around to watch it bubble and fizz for a moment before downing it in one go.

Just a drop in the bucket, really.

Linus barked out a laugh, leaning into Raven's shoulder and speaking conspiratorially in his ear, "Ain't no way one of 'em doesn't! Already feelin' some kinda way myself. Got this...buzzin'. More 'an usual, at least." Wasn't exactly out of the realm of normality for him. He didn't like to sit still or quiet for too long, so filling up empty spaces was what he did.

Considering the ones they'd dealt with before, he wouldn't be too surprised if things got a bit...chaotic for one reason or another.

"So," he hummed, his friendly grin shifting into a mischievous smirk as he brought his hand up to Raven's line of sight, the crackling mark of lightning aglow on his battle-roughened palm, "Care for a dance? Y'know. To stave off their boredom, or whatever."