A Festival! No a Ball!

[Deleted]

As Diamond was about to much on a piece of delicious looking pie he was dragged off by someone. He turned to see who the heck it was and it looked like a redhead woman about his age was dragged to the dance floor. "So tell me miss is this how you get your men to dance with you" he said and tried to not lose his balance while trying to adjust to his improveto dance partner. Although it seemed that this woman was not the dancer at all. He did have experience just due to some jobs he took and took the lead on this. "Been here in this place long" if shy did take a look at Diamond. He was still dressed in his normal attire although he left his armored gauntlet and shoulder guard at where he was staying.

[Deleted]

By some freak chance, Séanait had ended up with a man even prettier than Breasal. He wouldn't have been her first choice, Breasal was an exception to her rule, but she also knew that she probably wasn't his first choice for a partner, either. He had adapted to her abrupt seizure of him well enough, at least.

"Not just men," Séanait whispered in the man's ear, finding it quite unusual that she had to stand on tip toes to do so, "Women too."

She laughed and let the man lead her in the dance. Despite his looks, she could feel his whipcord muscles and lean frame. Whoever the man was, he did some sort of hard, physical labour. It was not unlike dancing with Breasal, only he was shorter and she normally lead. Her thoughts naturally turned then to her circumstances and her good mood soured.

"Who, me? Nah, I've only been here a week or so. Fucking Fate."

[Roland]

Roland scowled as the part really started to get into swing of things. More and more strange individuals were showing up here. Fate it! He watches figures going onto and off of the dance floor, then something or should he say someone caught his attention. What is that Fating fool doing in public in the middle of this Ai and Zepon horning ball?! Roland curses as he begins to move into press. As he passes through the groups he finally catches sight of the person he was looking for.

There were a variety of interesting spells and charms on display, even an elemental mage walking on the wind. Roland's eyes narrow, he didn't like bards they concealed their motives and more times than not they were spies. Several 'birds' perch on the railing between the dancing pair and where the nobles were, have to keep the riff-raff.

He finally pushes through the crowd and gets close enough to reach the boy he had been looking for. "Sir Jeon, what are you doing here?" He asks as he finds the boy, his eyes then travel to the girl he was with. He could sense magic, but then again there were plenty of mages around here. As he examined her his eyes released a luminescent amethyst light. "My name is Roland, and you are?"

[Deleted]

She had just managed to make it to the tree; taking the time to take a deep breath. The thick smell of pine washing over her in a calming effect. Yes she had just awkwardly abandoned poor Claire in the middle of a dance, however it was a bit unnerving to have your body suddenly do something you didn’t tell it to. Aria closed her eyes just enjoying the smell of the pine tree, when suddenly wham! A warm body ran into her, Aria stumbled slightly, unused to the skirts her foot caught and slipped on the hem of her dress. “Eeep!” A mouse like squeak emerged from her throat as she went to fall on her ass, in the middle of the ball room!

[Noku Noru]

There it was! The noise Noku loathed secretly within the depths of his soul. Noise that would soon take over the entire castle in nonsense and pointless carols of festive cheer. It was enough to ruin a good buzz as he watched the entire ball room fill with all sorts of colorful folk. From peasants to the wealthy. A melting pot of all sorts of individuals coming together under his roof. Hell might as well invite the thieves here too. Noku scowled, remembering that this entire blasted event was all thanks to his advisor.

'Throw a party for the people she said.' 'Brighten the people's spirits she said.' Bah! What more did he have to do for these leeches?! Winter is a month of saving and rations! This was a complete waste of resources. He thought, his index finger tapping against the side of his cup in frustration. After all…

There wasn't really anything he could truly complain about out loud. However his memory of how Mysteria talked him into this was out of his reach. Which caused him to be slightly paranoid at the fact his advisor might have drugged him at some point and tricked him into doing this. Thus the only fathomable reason he could come up with. Though this waste of time wasn't all bad.

At least there were SOME pretty things he noticed walking about. Though Mysteria was no where in sight… Typical.

Noku took another sip of his wine, savoring the brisk berry flavor that had been brewed to a sweet perfection. His golden eyes watching the crowd in silence. Patience is key, first to allow the Royals to come to him. Listen to the first few seconds before interrupting with a long, slow sip of wine. Just long enough to drown out most of the conversation. That is until the wine was gone and Noku was left once again with an empty cup.

" Thank you for coming. Though please, enjoy the ball. I shall do the same. " Noku smiled leaving his empty glass on the arm of the chair while getting up from his seat. Which was a for him to say in a pleasant way that he was done with the conversation. He passed the vultures that circled around him and made his way around the ball room. The pink in his cheeks slightly gone now even though he had consumed his entire glass. He made efforts to acknowledge those who dared to stop him and try to chat, however, he would never stay long in one spot. Constantly moving around the room until finally he stopped beside the great tree within the center of the room..

How annoying at least no one was trying to badger him at least… For a minute there a actual smile was present. That was until he felt a disturbance from the vibration off the tree. Noku turned sharply, a complete 180 and lightening reflexes. He caught Aria just as she hit the floor and popped her back up onto her feet. His left hand still holding onto her elbow as he stared at the short clumsy woman.

" You alright?" He asked, his eyes trailing up to look at whom had run into her.

[Deleted]

Aria braced herself for the fall, her eyes squeezed shut as the inevitable impact occurred. She felt strong arms catch her from her fall and firmly place her on her feet. She blinked her eyes trailing over to the hand that held her arm…a richly garmented arm….her eyes slowly trailed up…white hair….gold…shit. Did he just ask her if she was alright???

”I…er…I think I need some air”

Her voice came out as no more than a squeak, her nerves at last got the best of her. Something which had never happened to her before in her life. At that the girls face suddenly lost all color and her large round eyes that were bugged out twice there size rolled back into her head. Aria was out for the count.
Now the last time she had seen this man she was dragging him off into her room and burying him in a plant pot….he made wonderful flowers. However now it was like seeing a ghost….a horrible horrible ghost….

[Deleted]

"Oh, Roland, I..."the room went silent and so did Jeon. He looked at the scene that had just appeared in front of him. Aria had fallen into Noku's arms. Noku was right in his sight. He became stiff in fear. 'Why am I so scared?' 'There is nothing to be scared of.' 'Just breathe.' 'Don't panic.' He just stood in silence looking at the King. Jeon could feel a dark presence coming from the man. It reminded him of all those years ago. Those eyes.

Suddenly Jeon made a deep bow,"Your Majesty," and turned to walk the other way. With his sudden jolt he thumped into a waiter. The waiter had been holding a full tray of glasses. Jeon watched the glasses fly through the air as he fell to the floor. Everything had slowed in his mind. In an attempt to stop them he tried manipulating the wind so that they would disperse elsewhere. Not only was it unsuccessful, but his burst of wind knocked another tray over. The beverages splattered and hit all bystanders. At the center of the disaster was Aria and the King. Jeon accepted his fate on the ground: soaked and reeking of wine.

[Claire]

Claire turned in the dance for as long as she could manage through the song and what she could memorize, but was about to break away when Aria stepped forward with her hand on her waist. She blinked, her eyes widening as the younger girl took the lead. She let her, quietly marveling at how forward the girl was being.

“I- ah. I see.” she looked from the scarred face of the girl to the hand on her waist and back. Very forward indeed. She wasn’t certain of how relationships with the same sex were viewed in Nova- they seemed like a prudish bunch to be perfectly honest- but perhaps not.

The girl seemed to catch what she was doing herself, and it was clear in the look in her eyes. She had gotten carried away, and it threw Claire for a moment. Aria quickly withdrew in a fluster and before Claire could reach out after her, she was gone into the crowd and had been swept back into the throng of dancers. Abandoned! In the middle of the floor in a song she didn’t know!

That look that Aria had given her was sticking with her sharply- that blush on her face, how wide her eyes were. A crush, perhaps? Poor girl. Claire grimaced, looking around the floor for anywhere she could have gone. The tree was where she wished to go before, so Claire aimed herself in that direction and threaded through the dancers towards the tree.

When she finally broke through, she could see the scene before her- just in time to catch the familiar sight of Aria, now with that young mage she had met at the temple. Jeon, was it? And the King. The sight of the two of them Jeon and the King, sent a jolt of something to her brain, half-remembered from a dream. It was so familiar- she must have seen this King before, somewhere. It was too familiar. The gait, the hair, those eyes… something, something so terribly familiar. But when she turned her eyes to Jeon, all she could see was one color.

Red.

There was a sudden smash of glass and Claire blinked, suddenly seeing red. But it was richer, almost purple. Wine. Wine soaking the three of them! The two she knew looked mortified and Aria looked terrified and before Claire could even think about it, she was striding over quickly over shattered glass and dripping wine.

“What a terrible accident!” she called out into the stillness, walking to Aria’s side. “You should have worn a red dress, my girl.”

Claire turned her head to that terribly familiar man, a curious smile on her face. “My Lord, you must be thankful to be wearing such dark colors.”

[Roland]

As Roland sees Jeon go silent he looks up and sees Noku. Ai's tits why the Fate is he here? Roland curses again as he frowns and inclines his head in a gesture of respect and deference to the king. He eyes the girl who sees to have fainted, he finds his attention drawn to her, but then again she passed out due to the king, not that abnormal, but still there was something...Roland's attention is drawn to the woman who emerges from the crowd and draws closer to the king.

As the woman gets closer Roland's eyes let out a dull amethyst glow as he gathers his magic. He was ready to stop an attack against the king. For as much as Roland complained Noku was still the king and overall was a pragmatic and damn good one, and it was part of Roland's job to protect him.

[Sima Oratio]

Sima smiled her way comfortably, trying his best to maintain himself. Ilta didn't have much dance experience, and Sima was trying to speak in a way that made sense to her. Step 2 is posture, well at least for Sima, he felt it hard to make a good standing impression without it. "In dance you need to be in complete control over you body, and at least for me having proper posture is essential, it's a baseline let's say" Sima tried to explain to her. Although Sima could not detect and defects in her posture, he was just trying to teach her enough so she felt comfortable. "This dance is very simple, " Sima explained. "We are going to do a weave of sorts, roughly  6 quick steps, all on the toes, and if we move on to slower steps, do them on the heels" Sima didn't know how to explain why dancing was done in this fashion. Of course this was a dance from his own heritage, he didn't know how it correlated here, however the dance would look similarly to the foxtrot. "Just work on keeping your footwork smooth, and sway with passion" Sima spoke confidently, attempting to center his body closer to hers. Now this dance was quite easy for Sima, however it could be much more difficult for Ilta. He decided to start naturally and slow down if Ilta had a tough time. 

It started with the first 6 steps, each on the toes, while Sima attempted to hold his second hand around Ilta's waist, keeping their bodies close enough to keep the style of dance going. He wasn't close enough to touch, as the dance was meant for, but really close enough to cause people to be nervous. Sima was used to dancing with people, being closer then regular conversation, and chest chest wasn't all that uncomfortable for him, however he was taking into consideration that other people may not be able to do the same.  So the dance evolved from the first initial quick steps forward, to a 2 slow movements, and then a continuation of the 6 quick steps, into a pattern following the beat of the music. Sima felt like he may have to change things if Ilta had trouble with the dance. 

"So, tell me about yourself" Sima added among the steps and music of the ballroom. 

(I apologize for the length of time this took, I've been quite busy with Christmas events x.x )

[Deleted]

Diamond just raised an eyebrow once the woman had mentioned on getting both men and women. This had to make him laugh a bit "Highly brazen of ya to say that" he said as it seemed that the mood somewhat soured for the woman he was with. Although the white haired male had heard that she only been there a week and blamed fate. Which was odd for him as she was either mentioning the concept of fate or the god himself. "I got here only a few days before the snow started to fall. Its been a while since I had been back to Nova. Since I travel all over where ever there is war and money to be made I guess" he said. Although a look had come across his face as if he forgot something that was on his mind.

"My caretaker taught me better on my manners. I am Diamond Corsica and you are miss" he said introducing himself to the redhead. Since he forgot to give his name to the woman.

[Deleted]

“Suspicious? Were you planning something Rivers?” Lia jokes, “I’d say you lie probably in the middle of completely innocent and clearly up to no good. However, I think I performed for a group of bandits once, so my spectrum there might be a bit skewed.”

Lia is glad to see that they are on the some page. She glance back at the king, maybe they’d have some success tonight. It’s not like they were in the back of the ballroom. She smiles back at him as he asks her to keep up. “I don’t think you could lose me.” She nods as he asks if she knows ‘The Midnight Ball’. “And if you were trying to lose me, you’ll have to do far more obscure than that.”

She starts singing, but starts to look around as wind builds around her. Everyone else didn’t seem touched by it. It’s somewhat reassuring for her sanity when Rivers whispers to her. Alright, magic. As disorienting as it is to suddenly lift off into the air, she doesn’t show it. They dance in the air, and she can’t help but wonder if they get a second performance how were they going to outdo this?

She keeps her eyes on him as they sing and dance around the air as if reenacting the play itself. And as the song comes to the end, she softly kisses him on the cheek before turning back to the audience for a bow. Her eyes go to where the King is, who was clearly uninterested. She sighs and looks back at Rivers, “I think we just gave one of the best performances here, but he seems to appreciate redheads more than song.”  Perhaps, she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up there.  She nods toward the tables, "Let's get a drink."

[Deleted]

Ilta stands up straight when he says posture. Complete control over one’s own body. Control and restraint were important lessons. There was something every dragonion came to learn. How to manage fear and anger. How to keep things under complete control. How to not ever lose it, even once. “Yes, that does seem essential,” she says.

She nods as he says six steps. “Alright, that doesn’t seem completely terrible.” Surely, she could memorize and keep up with six steps, right? However, keeping them in beat might prove to be the more difficult part here. She raises an eyebrow as he says sway with passion, “But you just talked about control. Passion is… well, that’s getting close to the opposite.” Besides, at the moment, she hardly felt passionate about much.

She does her best to keep up with her movements. She makes a few missteps as she tries to keep up with the timing, but eventually she falls into the natural rhythm of it all. Having a conversation and dancing seems a bit hard. “Me? Well, I’m Fated, so I’m not really from around here. So pretty much, you know, trying to find a place here as well as not get too homesick.” Her dancing gets a bit more sloppy as she talks.

[Rivers]

"You honor me with your trust." Rivers replies as he takes her hand and begins dancing. It had been a while since he had danced with an attractive lady so he was enjoying himself right up to the point where he noticed Aria's freak out on the dance floor below.

However Rivers was a practiced performer and he simply let his body run the show while he tried to figure it out. For someone who supposedly spends a bunch of time with the Grand Mages, Boss is surprisingly weak at social events. He thinks in surprise though then he is forced to return his attention to the task at hand. "You've adapted pretty well, if you ever do develop magical talent let me know, and perhaps we can teach you how to walk the winds.

As they land gracefully and Lia pecks him on the cheek Rivers offers her a rougish grin, but his attention is suddenly drawn like a magnet to the source of the uproar in the room.

"Aria." He whispers under his breath as his eyes turn very cold when they rest on Noku. He notices the red on her dress and was about to summon a weapon and strike when he realized that it was merely wine. He relaxes slightly and turns to Lia, perhaps I can take you up on your kind offer in a little bit. It appears I will need to make an appearance before the king first.

With that he suddenly steps off of the stage onto the air again, and with mask still in place skims over most of the crowd landing in a small opening in the press before weaving his way through the rest. When he emerges he removes his mask, it would be rude to wear it in the King's presence and falls makes a proper bow for a mere performer of his station. "Your majesty I am sorry if my companions have brought you trouble, and for their lack of custom and manner. With your permission I would like to take them back to where we are staying." He hopes that Claire will play along, though either way he needed to get Aria out of here, preferably without having to resort to anything drastic.

[Muse]

Muse wasn’t entirely sure how it happened. She was perched on his shoulder one minute, and then they were separated. From these, she ended up flying between three odd worlds by herself. Despite getting into substantially less trouble that Rivers, it was perhaps more of a frightening ordeal due to the nature of her condition. She was beginning to fear she’d have to live the rest of her life alone as a common crow.

Eventually, she found herself pulled into this world in the middle of large white temple. Thankfully, there was a woman kind enough to let her out. From there, she flew just about all over the city twice. She settles on top of the highest point in the area, a castle on a mountain. There, she finds a good portion of the city’s populace. This seemed to be a rather large event, filled with commoners and nobles alike. Perhaps, he was here?

Flying through the large doors, she sees a few birds flying about. Wonderful, no one would be upset by her appearance in this massive ballroom. She circles around for a few moments before spotting him besides the old king… or the current king in this world wherever that may be. And there was Aria on the ground, covered in red. She flies besides the woman, giving an absolutely panicked and terrified look before realizing that it is wine and not blood. Still, she is alarmed and confused by all that is going on.