“I wasn’t tossing you around, I was researching. Varro wasn’t mean to me, so he gets to skip that step.”

He pulled down on his lower eyelid and stuck his tongue out at her, taunting her.

“Straight to third base.”

“Research tossing... Does that mean I need to wait my turn then? Sounds like I need to wait my turn then, to fuc-” Palms drummed on their surface with a squint at his gesture.

She surely wasn't the groomed type, but that didn't mean Ezme let her partners go about a mess. Or wander as one anyways, Shiro was stopped in his antics, where something seemed to bug her; the mess Varro tends to make of either of them during any sources of affection. Not that she was any better, who'd think a mere hug could disturb something - The Doppelganger was trying to fix the lapels of his overgrown white coat, where they weren't cooperating with Ezme either... Leaned in proximity, she squinted briefly before it finally set; not long after had hands made for his tie to secure it and straighten it.

“How dare him and his mess-” She muttered, but as soon as she got closer so she could see how far one could tighten the knot - the sudden, almost bonk like force that caught her, made The Doppelgangers shoulders jolt, features flinching with a small scrunch. A small croon sounded out, Ezme knew Shiro had the frame strength of tungsten compared to her but neither did it really hurt, as much as it shocked her.

Naturally she avoided her other halves partners, she recognized them and always seen them before they'd see her at all - as such, minding herself if she ever had bothered to go out anywhere. She was aware of unfavourable blood amongst the history, be it she only contacted her other naturally. She knew better with the latter, especially that magenta haired one over the copper head, and this exact reason when the doppelganger seemed to miss the perception check and landed her here with unwanted contact. His comment, however was what rubbed her the wrong way...

"Ah. I am thus obligated to follow the rules of Christmas," he stated. Ready or not, he caught Ezme's jaw between his thumb and ring finger and held it in place as he leaned in to steal a soft, lengthy kiss from her lips. Next, he did the same to Varro minus the support of his hand, more or less guessing where his mouth was. In the midst of it, he dropped the mistletoe on the table since he no longer needed it as an excuse. He parted from his lips with a gentle mwah sound and then got back up to his feet, leaving them to their gingerbread endeavors.

"You're too tall to catch off-guard. I wasn't going to use a stool," he said, patting their backs in sync. Before they knew it, he was already gone.

[get sneak smooched and dipped]

The doppelganger was more than ready to jump the sweets, albeit Varro was the more slower one on the matter but as much alert as she was when Shiro made his move. Quickly distracted by the mistletoe, while Ezme was taking the brunt of it full force that words were squished right out of her lips when he caught her jaw. Knitted brows may had looked like confusion but that was far from it, more on a line of; 'oh you've got me', but it was pleasant all the same when she met the softness of his lips, be it Shiro was faster than her. She'd not get much time to get into it though when he made for his part, Ezme practically leaning like a mere moments hypnotization through it until she flopped forward on the counter with partial grabby hands at him since he was too quick to move for her to remotely have made a grab.

"Ended too fast..." She muttered, but no traces of disappointment at all - would she really need sweets now?

Varro on the other hand, luckily for Shiro he needed not to worry about missing his mark since the entity had taken from his habit of hidden features, if at first his lips were met with tight ridge ones. No doubt it still surprised him, but they slacked with ease not long after with a small grunt. But his vice let him at least push back against his lips when he had the window still, be it Shiro had the full reigns on the shared kiss. When he parted though, Varro may as well looked as visibly dazed as someone like him could, but that's because he synced up to the doppelgangers well being before he was almost trying to mimic the sound Shiro made as if it were new to him. "Mm... ma-h--? muah... mwah, mhah-" The patting at his back interrupted him and made the doppelganger perk up. Varro stuck his tongue out partially as if all he were able to lap was the left over taste of his lips, but he wasn't able to get a word in before he vanished - neither of them did.

      Despite his apparent disinterest in the situation, he was trying to save Josiah’s hide in the long run. While Lios scrutinized the doll and gathered up his thoughts, he kept a watchful eye on her even though from her point of view it might have seemed like a glare. He couldn’t do much to ease her pain, but he could at least prevent her for being worse off. As soon as his stream of consciousness came to a satisfying end, Shiro turned his attention towards the Lich and took his resolve to heart with a nod.

      “The blip,” he snorted to himself and hid the trace of a smile behind his sleeved hand. His other one gently pushed the doll into Lios’ arms, inviting him to hold it for the time being. But that’s when the air changed and the emotionless tone of his voice was replaced by a more affected one. “There’s two of them here,” he murmured, averting his gaze to the side. “But more than two of them exist at the same time. More than one of me, and more than one of you… Ergo, in one reality, you and Varro might even be best friends.”

      Fortunately, he caught himself before he spoke too much about it. That might have been too much to unpack all at once even for the doppelganger, if she hadn’t heard him rambling about it before. But just as quickly as the light left his eyes, he made an open gesture with his arms, wordlessly telling them to gather around in a tightly knit circle.

      “Our existence isn’t singular. Under normal circumstances, I would say something like that might be hard for you to believe, but you’re a giant with daggers for fingers, so I think you’re pretty open minded.” Following his attempt to crack a joke, he closed his eyes and lifted his hand, preparing to snap his fingers. “I’ll never get used to this part… The no floor part.”

 Despite what earlier, she was more level to say the least but that was far from one issue after the other while making no assumptions - often it was no surprise to being gawked at in such a manner. More so, the feeling only earned him a blind sided glance even if she wasn’t able to see him properly, she knew where he was. However it was, was it is to her and she was only stuck on the sidelines like her other and unknowing much else from the lack of information, knowing who not who the Lich was or this other entity. Nevertheless being out of the know, she appreciated his efforts.

Lios craned his head with a small puzzled look when he pushed it back to him, though he wasn’t going to damage it either but he didn’t want to pierce anything with his grip. But he stuck to it, with visible confusion being subject to the for once lack lifelessness a moment ago - he was two handing two items for now, though cradling the doll more to his frame securely. When he was explaining, his gaze visibly shifted, and despite the space him and the doppelganger came out of he wasn’t as aware of it’s tendencies and properties... Not nearly as much as her from the time spent. The alternatives that weren’t in this space they existed in though made two sets of eyes turn to him, from Ezme and Lios. Although Ezme wouldn’t have been bonked from the chatter insight.

“Sounds l-like a mirror... e-e-specially if you put two-- or similar people in front of it.” Lios added to himself, just as the others was his knowledge no matter if he came from a place that could sever existent ties, let alone individualize them. “We-weird to-to imagine the fa--fact for friends... but-” His gaze narrowed a little bit, not into any scrutiny but for sight sake. His gesture didn’t go unheeded, while Lios was processing, Ezme and Josiah moved from their spots to meet them in the circle now - whether that was brushing one another. The Lich burst a small snort, having that dropped on him but his joke certainly reached him even if this body wasn’t something he could’ve helped. Though he was slow to pick up his latter comment about a no floor, he wasn’t prepared like Josiah either.

- Shiro @ Varro (is he talking about himself, who knows)

It felt like a personal attack when it came to that, it would be anyways if Varro had any sense in knowing what that was - it had him looking at himself due to his small human characteristics. Hands pulled the lapels of his coat open more, looking around at what visibility of his body, and more so a hand slipped his hat off that landed on the floor. All before combing into his locks that were already flattened down and shagged even more from him ruffling them.

- Miki @ twins

Having a small get together in their events that lead up to it, no doubt it was meant for the staff group but it didn't mean they wouldn't get Miki in on it too. Even if it was the same for them, it was only a little employee group to talk about idle project work around closing, given though they invited him along and found their own surprise that he even bothered to accept.

"Same. There's really no other reason to be at these, I don't even know if it counts as a party but they always bring the expensive snacks-- he tends to haul them home when we leave if he didn't eat them all. And the free canned drinks... Not that we are broke or anything, but other than that, the party is pointless." Niklaus added, stuffing a mini cupcake between his lips. Although next to them, was Markus who looked to be stuffing those exact things into his bag.

- Shiro @ Ez

Ezme nodded her head, although it was to confirm his words but not agreeing she was one of those people who had that ability. Far from it in the end, but of course it wasn't hard to spare a few words overall.

"Can you believe it? Somehow people have such an easy time talking to a complete stranger, imagine being able to shut off your brain long enough and form coherent sentences. Or don't, you just shut down and not realize what you’re saying anymore. Just enough to get you by in a conversation. Sure as hell isn’t an easy feat for me, social settings got me fucked up.” She complained, not that Ezme attended them ever in that matter, three is a crowd for her as is. It didn’t bother her though.