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[color=deepskyblue]"Hand over the lighter too please."[/color]

This guard was killing him. First you can't have phones, then no magnesium strips tucked away in your sock, and now lighters. He should've brought cigarettes as a backup plan so he could pretend to be a smoker. No, they'd probably confiscate it anyway; people's comfort didn't seem like a priority here.

[color=deepskyblue]"And take those off,"[/color] Guardy McStick-Up-Ass ordered wearily as he pointed to the plates on Max's wrists. That was where he drew line; he wasn't going to have his affinity rendered worthless in the middle of a dark forest.

Other people got away with jewelry, so clearly that wasn't the issue, and Max saw no way to cheat with armor that he couldn't do without it. If anything, it was a liability - he'd ditched the cuirass earlier for that exact reason. If he argued too vehemently, it would look like he intended to cheat, but like hell he was going to let this underpaid functionary win. Okay, if he was arguing along the same lines as the people that got to keep jewelry, his excuse was fashion related, so what would Eris do? Probably whine. Not an option. What else? Degrade their outfit. That'll work.

Max made a point of eyeing the guard's attire up and down as he summoned up his best Eris look - like he'd just seen someone wearing socks with sandals. No, not potent enough. Socks [i]in an out of season color[/i] and sandals. Perfect.

[color=8585ad]"I know you probably wouldn't recognize current fashion trends if they smacked you in the face, but this is a Feliks Vasiliev piece. It's decorative, so if you let Countess Tacky over there through with that [i]eyesore[/i] of a necklace without complaint, you should be fine with this."[/color]

[color=deepskyblue]"Current fashion trends, really,"[/color] The guy repeated flatly. He wasn't buying it, shit, Max needed more big names than just Feliks. Eris had to have mentioned someone he could use...

[color=8585ad]"Mhmm, Emmett Anderson wore something similar on the red carpet last month."[/color] He really hoped that was an actual celebrity and he wasn't remembering some useless secretary's name. [color=8585ad]"It's supposed to be evocative of chivalrous valor and knightly prestige, while also acting as a subdued part of any outfit."[/color] What a load of crap, he couldn't believe people actually talked like that.

The guard mumbled another incantation as he looked at the vambraces, no doubt scanning them for... Max really had no idea. Hidden blades? A GPS? Eventually, Max got waved along, though he took the opportunity to make a nasty face back at the guy as soon as his head turned to the next person he was grilling for contraband.

When he returned to his partner's side, Eris still looked nervous as ever, which Max took no small delight in basking in - pass or fail, he still won here. He even had the audacity to flash Eris a shit-eating grin every time the leech looked in his direction. In fairness, Max might give him a pass later; Eris hadn't tried to bully him into compliance, so he really had no reason to be deliberately spiteful. Though if the vampire was posed to walk into a tree branch or two, he was sure they both knew Max wouldn't stop him.

When the announcements were made, Max filed off toward the refreshment stand, throwing a wave and a sarcastic [color=8585ad]"Have fun Eric!"[/color] back at his partner as he went. The exam would take six hours tops, though he didn't know how energy-intensive maintaining a spell for that long would be. With the way his magic was always pouring out of him, he assumed he might have some stamina advantage here. Or maybe a disadvantage, since he was wasting magic all the time. Why couldn't he just be normal?

He paused at stuffing granola bars and trail mix into his pockets to look over at Varis' progressing tantrum, immediately scanning the area for Eris on the chance he joined in on the whining. Too bad they already took his phone, a recording of that online would be viral in hours. Unfortunately for him, Cinnamon was being too quiet for Max to pick up what he was saying and Eris looked like he was talking shit on the sidelines with some other vampire like a gossipy schoolgirl instead of joining in.

Vampires were such fragile creatures, it was almost funny. Even the slightest loss of control and they collapse into mass hysteria; Max was certain the air of subdued anxiety rather than outright panic was only due to the fact that none of the leeches wanted to be the first to lose face in front of their peers.

[hr][@Hero]