The night of partying and drinking had come upon them quickly - while Yuffie couldn't understand where the time had gone, Vincent was surprised he had noticed the date before it, too, was behind them.

"Vinnie, cheer up! Maybe you need to drink more, to get more into the party," the young ebony-haired woman tilted her head, wondering just which alcoholic drink to prepare for him. While she had just hit the legal drinking-age, she had had more than enough experience with AVALANCHE to know which she liked better and which Vincent would enjoy.

Despite his many quietly spoken complaints, a glass was set before him filled with a liquid he hadn't had, nor had he intended on having. Leaving the complaints, which were obviously going to be ignored, he warily questioned, "What is this?"

"That, my dear Vinnie, is a drink called Absinthe; Tifa said it's the strongest she has!" An eager grin lit the woman's petite features, and she bounced all the balls of her feet, clearly waiting for him to drink it.

And he did - perhaps it was the previous liquor he had consumed, or because he couldn't turn her down for anything, or merely because he figured it would get her to leave him alone. It seemed to satisfy Yuffie, because with a quick kiss on the cheek (which Vincent had grown used to, and had long since realized that telling her not to do such a thing would never work) she had flitted off to the others, promising to be back when the alcohol started kicking in.

To her dismay, however, it didn't seem to have any affect on him; still quiet and keeping to himself, she almost suspected it had made him resign further into the shadows. It could have been all those experiments, making it impossible for the cloaked gunslinger to become intoxicated. Or he was just one of those weird drunks who kept to themselves and drowned in their own misery, which really wasn't any different from what he normally did.

Skipping over to his side, made herself a seat on the table, frowning down at him. "You still haven't joined in the party!" Poking his forehead, her brows furrowed in frustration at both him and the drink that hadn't properly done it's job. She received only a pointed glare in response, though something swam in those crimson depths that hadn't previously been there.

Before she could comment on it, the noise of the bar grew in volume, even as the little conversations died; it was time for the count down to the end of the year, and the couples had made their way to each other, preparing for the great kiss that would bring in the new year. Such a thing was something Yuffie had never occupied herself with wishing for, but she had to admit that loneliness was there in the pit of her stomach. The cause of the feeling, she was sure, was that she was sitting by the man she adored but whom would surely never return such affections.

"THREE, TWO, ONE-" Party poppers were popped, confetti rained down, noise makers filled the place with nose - and couples kissed, some simple kisses and some long, get-a-room kisses. Distracting herself with the hem of her shorts, she hardly noticed the vampire-like man shifting and pulling her closer.

She did notice the lips pressed to hers, the taste and smell of alcohol and pure Vincent surrounding her.

When he pulled back, she stared. She stared and stared, stormy eyes not blinking even once. He offered a steady gaze in return, the corner of his lips twitching upward just slightly. Immediately, she wondered if the alcohol did work, if he was just drunk and she happened to be the closest person and the urge to kiss was something he couldn't ignore.

Taking in her flushed face, the man offered a slightly more obvious smile, stating quite simply, "Liquor does not have much of an affect on me after the experimentation." It confirmed her first beliefs, but it left the woman further dumbfounded at the kiss. Until the next words that left his perfectly sculpted lips.

"But you, unfortunately, do."