[Nicholas Acker Villin]

The town hall had been dressed up like everyone else attending the event, it was Addams Family themed. Acker actually didn't mind it that much because he just wore some of the black clothes he already owned and a black masquerade mask that covered his face from the nose up. The moustache was in full view which was Acker's Villin distinctive face feature, so the mask couldn't really hide his identity.

"Acker! Put down that phone! You are here to have fun, stop working for a few hours!" Emilia Villin, Acker's mother, was dressed up as Morticia and Acker's father as Gomez, instead Acker was just a random Addams Family member "Even your father took a day off" Acker rolled his eyes and put the phone back in his suit jacket pocket "Go mingle" Emilia ordered and the son obeyed. So to speak. He went to mingle, but with his assistant.

"There you are! Come here before my mother starts nagging me again" Acker bossed his assistant around, or better, someone he believed was his assistant "We need to handle the..." Acker glanced behind the man who was supposedly his assistant "...aaand she is looking at us, come, if he want to discuss the deal then we have to do it while pretending to enjoy this soiree" the last word was pronounced with a very sarcastic tone.

Acker grabbed the man's wrist with no ceremonies and dragged him towards the dance floor "Listen...the deal must be closed as soon as possible, so I need you to..." Acker twirled the man around effortlessly without regard to how fast it was for the other man to bear. Acker was an experienced dancer due to the lessons he had been forced to take during his childhood. Rich families like the Villins needed to know how to appropriately conduct themselves in these kinds of scenarios.

"...call her and revise the offer" suddenly the music changed to a tango, obviously considering the theme because Morticia and Gomez loved tangos, but Acker didn't. The madman twirled his supposed assistant out of the dance floor and against a wall. Acker smirked at the incident, although it hadn't really been an incident considering that he had seen the wall before twirling his assistant.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation? Shadow me" Acker bossed his assistant around while walking away from the dance floor. That was how Acker told his assistant to follow him, but that was something his assistant would know.

Someone like Acker wouldn't mistake a stranger for his assistant, but this stranger was wearing the exact costume Acker's assistant was wearing which was purposefully unique enough to not be mistaken as any other costume in the venue. How could Acker know that someone had allegedly knocked out his assistant, stolen his costume, and pretended to be him just to get close enough to the Gifted. How could Acker possibly know that a hunter was after him tonight?

Rinse

//let me know if there is anything to edit, especially the last part if you'd like for your character to do something else instead of the knocking the assistant out shenanigan lol i don't want to move your char of course that's why i wrote "allegedly", i just wrote that last part to help move things along if necessary//

[Dane Wayland]

Dane hadn't been enjoying the party. He was unable to accept the drinks trotted out on silver platters. Unable to flirt among the masses or twirl around the dancefloor with his body pressed against someone else's. It was such a shame. Halloween put a dangerous thrill in most people, a thrill further amplified by fancy, expensive balls such as this one — where people were buzzing with excitement at being dressed up; feeling mysterious and bold behind their masks while they boozed up and eyed one another hungrily. Regrettably though, Dane was on the job. On a hunt. And he'd been informed this was a high collar and he could expect powerful resistance.

The job had already been cased for him and required little research to be done on his part, only action — the only thing he could be trusted to do. Staking and learning was far too boring for him. His instructions had been simple: target the man's assistant first in order to get him alone, eliminate the target, and be discreet. Honestly, Dane was a bit surprised the task had fallen to him at all. Discretion wasn't his selling point. But the imagined tickle of pain across his shoulder blades, a promise of unending agony should he fail, was enough for him to (remorsefully) turn down the drinks and pretend not to notice the flirting invitation gleaming in eyes half-shadowed by curious masks. To turn away from the wide smiles and glancing touches brushed against him as he moved across the expansive hall — ugh, it hurt his heart. Wounded his soul.

Getting the assistant alone, at least, had been simple. Just as Dane had been told, it seemed the man was accustomed to fielding those interested in his employer. A small fib — dressed in business repartee that Dane only Googled the night before — had the man pulling him aside to get his contact information. But after his true intentions became clear and the man was sufficiently incapacitated, his elaborate costume stolen and donned, he'd been frustratingly close-lipped when Dane tried gleaning any sort of useful information from him. Some sort of "admirable" loyalty had moved him to silence despite Dane's unfriendly insistence.

Half an hour later, when Nicholas Villin's fingers closed around Dane's wrist and pulled him forcibly to the dance floor, he had to wonder just where that loyalty came from. The other man was convinced he was his assistant, giving Dane an uncensored glimpse into their relationship. He barked information and demands at him as they twirled — in such a fast-paced, disorienting way that Dane was sure it was meant to be domineering — and hardly gave him space to respond to anything. It was just command after command. By the time the impromptu dance ended, with Dane being unceremoniously twirled into a wall, his blood was thumping loudly in his ears and his jaw ached from being tightly grit.

What was this assistant? Some sort of punching bag? What would move him to protect his employer the way he had? It made no sense. But no matter — though thoroughly bristled at the treatment, Dane was happy he wasn't exactly expected to retort. It lessened the chance his identity be questioned before the pair were alone. And alas, Nicholas was moving away from the dance floor, beckoning his puppy-dog assistant to heel.

Dane straightened and followed, doing his best to imitate the strong, fluid stride he'd witnessed in the assistant as he'd led Dane away earlier. As Nicholas turned his step away from the hall that Dane had hoped they were straying to, he took a risk and stepped forward decidedly, slipping his hand into the Villin's and pulling him toward the wing which he'd quickly staked while following the assistant. It was quieter, off-limits it seemed to the public, and Dane had made a mental inventory of all the technological devices he could see. Mantled the fastest and most efficient way to use his beasts to knock them out. He'd be better prepared there, and — if worst came to worst — the assistant was tied up in an adjacent supply room. Some good-natured threats leveled toward the man could perhaps change an ugly tide, even if it was hard for Dane to believe Nicholas held any particular care for him.

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Nicholas Acker Villin - Hope this is okay! Lemme know if I should change anything or if you need me to give a bit more! Or if you want me to assume Acker followed him and Dane should go ahead and reveal himself in this post! 

[Nicholas Acker Villin]

Acker was heading towards a quieter part of the town hall, an off limits room where they wouldn't be disturbed, the doctor wanted to work and not waste time tonight, luckily his mother was too occupied with the other guests to wonder where Acker and his assistant had ended up "WHAT are you doing?!" Acker was startled by shock when he felt his assistant's hand in his.

However, the mad scientist was astonished even more when his assistant dared drag him into a wing away from the rest "Are you drunk?" that was just a mocking question, he knew that his assistant would never get drunk in a situation like this "This area is not secure enough, we cannot discuss business here, you should know this" seriously, what was wrong with his assistant, he was acting weird. In fact, Acker's tone was puzzled instead of disappointed for the assistant's sudden lack of judgment.

The only reason Acker wasn't twisting his assistant's hand away from his own was because he genuinely believed that there had to be a logical explanation for his assistant's actions, perhaps there was something urgent the assistant needed to report. After all, the wing was off limits to the public, but still not a closed room.

"Can we please stop holding hands like two schoolgirls and just tell me what's going on? Why did you bring me here?" it almost sounded like Acker was barking orders at the assistant, he surely was annoyed, but he still had enough patience to wait for a reasonable explanation. Barking suited the doctor well considering how much he liked loyal dogs, the animal kind and person kind like his assistant.

Dane Wayland
OOC: Your post is perfect! You can reveal your char whenever you want of course! If you'd like for Acker to mistreat Dane aka his assistant a little bit more let me know lol

[Dane Wayland]

Nicholas wasn't happy with being led and Dane wasn't surprised. Judging by the treatment he'd endured so far, he couldn't imagine that the Villin's assistant was one to make any untoward moves. But he ignored the other man's surprise, mocking inquiries, and demands; choosing instead to only quicken his stride before Nicholas decided to defiantly plant his feet or yank his hand away.

Once they reached the relative seclusion of his intended wing — what appeared to be a lounge of sorts where Dane imagined people were shuffled off to wait while the important, three-piece suits of Town Hall finished whatever boring politicking they were about — he finally slowed. The room was empty and quiet; the sounds of dancing and merriment far enough removed now to provide some small reassurance. Nicholas barked more questions, sounding increasingly irritated, and Dane rolled his eyes.

Be discreet. Ugh. He'd much rather play around and have a little fun. Make it a performative spectacle as he preferred. Initiate an amusing game of taunting and be taunted. Rip off his mask and enjoy the dumbfounded confusion on the other man's face as he whirled around with a cheesy beam. Perhaps even chide him about the way he treated his employees.

But Dane was a little too aware of the phantom pains ghosting across his back, making his skin crawl and his muscles tighten with the imagined agony that could split there should things go terribly wrong. So, though regrettable, it was to be quick and without fanfare. Better to strike now while the Villin hadn't yet pieced together that he wasn't whom he was pretending to be. He could at least take comfort in the fact they hadn't told him he needed to be neat.

His grip skipped from Nicholas' hand and up to his wrist, where he curled his fingers and tugged, pulling the man toward him while his other hand simultaneously slipped a blade from its concealment within the folds of his elaborate costume. An amused grin cracked behind his mask as he imagined that this was just a continuation of the dance they'd already had. Only this time it was Dane being domineering, twirling the other man to meet his knife with the same abandon of regard that Nicholas possessed when he'd flung him into the wall.

Inspired by the thought and unable to help himself, Dane shifted his weight as he pulled, his hidden grin tugging wolfishly wider. He planted his feet firmly as he wrenched the other man against him, hand lifting to the small of Nicholas' back to press them close together. He let a beat pass in what he hoped was wild discomfort for the other man, his eyes (dark behind his mask) roving Nicholas' face, hungry to witness a reaction bloom across his features. 

Then he laughed sharply and swiveled to force Nicholas into a dip, the movement not as smooth as he would have liked as he struggled a bit with the man's weight. "Why... I only wanted to dance, Dr. Villin." With a practiced flick of his wrist, the blade he'd kept pressed parallel against his forearm, neat and out of the way, twisted in his palm; catching the dim lighting for only a brief, fleeting moment. Dane's lips parted around a soft, appreciative exhale and his eyes widened with fond anticipation — the beautiful, strangely-suspended moment before a kill was always so special. Then his lips pulled tight against his teeth and he drove the knife toward the Villin, aiming to slide the blade neatly between his ribs.

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Nicholas Acker Villin
Dane: Ugh, I have to take this seriously, I don't wanna get in trouble
Dane: *proceeds to not take things seriously*