Chad returned and cracked open a new beer. In his pained and panicked hysterics, he had completely missed Shock’s “hot stuff” comment. As such, he was completely oblivious to the intended revelation that the spiciness of his previous drink had been an intentional retaliation against his earlier comment to her.

“Man, who knew backwash could carry that much of a kick? Explains why none of you took drinks afterward to help with the burn. You guys must have tongues of steel to eat more than one of those puffs! Truly badass, my bros,” he added with a grin. He held out his fist for Barrel to bump.

Lillith continued dancing with her boyfriend for several minutes, periodically taking a sip of punch or wine and slowly relaxing once the double-pronged prank on Chad was determined to be a relatively harmless way to keep him out of the way and out of trouble. Well, the kind of trouble the trio [i]didn’t[/i] appreciate. In any case, he wasn’t hurt, and he wasn’t giving poorly chosen commentary. She was therefore allowed to put her order-keeping duties on the cool side of the cauldron for the time being.

After a while, she glanced down and noticed Lock was just a [i]bit[/i] too interested in his drink, and decided to get his attention squarely back on her. With a smirk, she kicked in her vampiric speed and grace to suddenly grab the glass from his hand and hold it above her head. In the same motion, she swiped his feet out from underneath him and caught him mid-fall, such that he ended up nearly horizontal with her free arm hooked under his lower back. Her own glass ended up resting perfectly balanced on her foot, which she lifted up to keep her leg parallel with her upper body as she bent forward to hold him in the deep dip.