The sudden slap on George's back startled him greatly. He had seen the man from earlier approaching but he hadn't expected the sharp physical contact. After the clearly wealthy man began to insult the dignity of the other guests, George disagreed as politely as he could. “I like to think of it as Geoff having a wide circle of friends.” He said this as the other man very nearly wrung George's hand dry in a strong handshake. As he pulled out cigars from their box and boasted about their price, George's heart jumped into his throat. It wasn't just the extravagant price of the cigars that embarrassed him, but the fact that he knew that he had to turn it down. He suddenly felt envious of Silas, who had maneuvered his way out of the awkward situation. 

“I'm...so sorry, I'm afraid I don't smoke.” George said, attempting to hand the cigar back to him; it was incredibly difficult to tell the man's age, partly because of his frankly ridiculous facial hair. Just then, one of the newly arrived stars approached them, telling them his name and announcing his wealth like everyone else seemed to be doing. “Very nice to meet you, Mr. Van Der Holt, I'm George Marrack.” He thought about introducing Maxwell, who he knew was standing right behind him, but then he knew Maxwell would be getting sick of the social niceties. He also knew that Max wouldn't take to these kind of people, but this Royal Van Der Holt seemed like a nice enough fellow. George wasn't sure about Mr. Moneybags, though. 

Royal had just asked how they knew Geoff, and George was just grateful to get away from the cigar [i]faux pas[/i] as quickly as possible. “We're friends; I met him during a shoot for my show.” George was feeling a bit brave at the moment. Everyone else seemed to be showing off their money, so he thought he might show off what he was proud of. “You might have seen it if you have children, it's called [i]Without My Socks[/i]. I play Mister Wilby, the storyteller, so I kind of host and narrate the show. My character, he lives with all of his sock puppet friends and they go on adventures and learn. The kids love it.” When he was done, George's mood fell back down to sheepish as he realized how silly it sounded when he said it out loud to these people. When he was talking to kids, it sounded perfectly natural, but not here among millionaires. He could practically feel Max rolling his eyes behind him, though if George looked back he would see the exact opposite. In truth, Maxwell was quite proud. “Ah, well, what do you two do?” George continued, trying to climb out of the hole he dug for himself. “I admit I've heard your name before Mr. Van Der Holt, but I'm afraid I can't say where. I'm not good at keeping up with the news.”