Paper Faces on Parade ~ Masquerade

[Kitten King]

Outfit Listing

Runeric Wayran


Flash Rythos


Mika Rythos


Lilith Andraste


Ezekiel Waters


Harriet Stone


Rosalia Costa


Laelia


Jacob Shirogane


Dragon


Kari Swanson-Trueman


Victoria Wingates


Sky Blue Red


[Skylark's charries to come ASAP unless someone wants to do it for me. 8< Sowwy. Have to reupload to get thumbnails and all.]

Travis Lestari


Dominic K. Andraste

[Kitten King]

It was the day that the school had been waiting for.

Runeric stood at the edge of the dining hall, where tables had been cleared and decorations hung, all in preparation for tonight. Everyone had been buzzing about this since the day it had been announced, and now that it was here, well... he'd heard from the others that getting the students to shut up during classes earlier that day had been near impossible. He wouldn't know, considering that was his class every day... well. At least things were moving along now. The hall was ready, the people dressed up, and refreshments in order. They would start letting the students in, soon enough. That was when things would get interesting.

To say the least.

On the other side of the castle, a certain young man was putting the finishing touches on his outfit. He tried not to worry about a little cat hair, here and there, but when he'd laid out his jacket for today, what had Trinity done? Gone right over and laid down on it. So, he was forced to spend a good 15 minutes lint-rolling the jacket, since it was shedding season. Of course. Nothing he could do about it now, and it didn't matter. He was done with it now, and as he locked the door behind him, he knew she was probably just teasing him. Cats were bitches like that.

"Hey, hey, looking sharp!" Upon arrival to the hallway before the dining hall, he'd spotted a certain other young man, whose (freaking huge ass) wings gave him away instantly. "You look excited for tonight~ Got a special lady this time?" It was something Flash teased about him regularly - guy practically had a hoard of admirers after all. Not that Flash was too bad off himself, but... must've been those wings.

Wouldn't you know it, though, that cat hair on outfits ran in the family?

"Xaaaannn, why did you have to do this tonight?" Mika complained, still attempting to pick cat hair off the front of her dress.

"I didn't know it was such a bother! Yeesh. You humans could do with a little more fur and be just fine, if you ask me, rather than those flashy cloth pelts.." The little cat watched with some amusement as she fussed with getting her mask on, and she scowled at him through the process.

"It's not flashy. God, don't even use that word, it's like my brother could be in the dictionary right next to it. It's formal."

"Still, nothing in nature is ever that bright unless it's poisonous. Did you ever think of that?"

"Shut up." There was a roll of purring laughter behind her, and Mika tactfully ignored it. "Whatever, I've got to go meet Zeke at his room."

"You remember the number, righ-"

"YES of course I remember!" There was a pause, in which both were silent, and Mika refused to look at him.

"...it's 349."

"I KNOW." The door closed behind her, a little loudly. Yep. He'd called it all right.

HARK, that was not the last of Ansem's inhabitants getting ready - not even close. Down the hall, two more students were busy getting dressed up for the big event.

"REALLY Dragon?" She was still staring at herself like she couldn't believe it. In fact, she couldn't. "You had to go with this?" Why they had agreed to pick outfits for each other in the first place, Lilith didn't know. Oh wait, yeah she did. It was her idea in the first place. She hadn't really thought about how that would go both ways... "I gave you something AWESOME!" The only upside here was that she had not been forced into wearing high-heels - almost, but she'd then proceeded to tell a story about how she'd broken her ankle. That was enough to discourage Dragon in that matter.

[Jaydee]

This school year had been all firsts for him. First roommate, first not-Jacob friends, first date, first party, first suit...

Zeke wasn't sure if he liked suits. This one felt stiff and tight around his neck, and Kari had to tie his tie for him, and the slippery fabric felt alien under his fingertips. He surprised himself every time he looked in the mirror - he looked older. For some reason, that made him even more nervous than he already was.

If Mika didn't hurry up he might just chicken out completely...

~

"You really should do more with your hair, dear..."

"I guess so. I just take sooo long to get up in the mornings, haha."

"Mm," Harriet replied, gliding a brush through her friend's golden blonde hair. It hung loose tonight, falling down to her collar bone in curly tendrils - like a life-sized doll. Harriet would never get tired of playing with Lia's hair, soft and light as it was, nothing like her own. She rather envied blondes sometimes. "How's that?" Lia grabbed the little hand mirror at her side and admired Harriet's handiwork.

"Wow! You've got magic fingers," she said with a grin. "It's official." Harriet smiled and smoothed down her dress, a dark, floor-length affair with a rather dramatic V-shaped neckline. Her little doll was the exact opposite, clad in an airy, gauzy thing the color of the sky. It suited her; pretty and vacant.

"Shall we?" She asked, fixing her silver, feathery mask one last time.

"Yes," Lia said, hopping up from her spot on the bed. She adjusted her own mask, blue like her dress with a delicate vine of white flowers crawling up the center.

Arm in arm, they set off for the dining hall.

~

Aryll loved Ansembourg's dances, if only because she got to dress up for them. She planned to get there on time this year - the past two masquerades they'd had, she had seriously underestimated just how long it took her to get ready. Her little roommate had thrown a wrench into matters, somewhat, but Aryll had managed to help her into her costume with minimal damage. Ramsay was a handful, but she was starting to grow on Aryll already - her young age was like a get out of jail free card, as far as the older girl was concerned.

She loved her dress. It was a breezy medium blue with purple showing through the sheer fabric in places, and a little spray of blue and purple flowers completed it at the waist. It twirled when she did, though she'd have to be careful - with how short it was, too much twirling could show a little more than she wanted to.

Her mask was wonderfully eccentric - it was reminiscent of a goblin, delicate purple and gold, and it did absolutely nothing to hide her identity. Oh, well...

"Wanna head down?" Aryll called to her roommate as she fixed a few of the barrettes in her hair. It was pinned up in a way that matched the quirkiness of the rest of her outfit - she looked like a pixie. "It's probably starting."

((Took some liberties with where Ramsay is right now and all that. Hope that's okayyy))

~

Despite his many years teaching at Ansembourg, Deryck had never actually been present for the annual masquerade. It was always errands here and meetings there, little things that needed doing; and, for whatever reason, nobody else could do them but him. With a power as useful as his, it couldn't be helped... this year, though, he was miraculously not needed. He wasn't sure what chaperoning would entail in this school - Dmitri's rules were lenient to begin with, outside of security, and less rules tended to mean less rebellion too - but he supposed he'd find out soon enough.

He saw no reason to be flashy here, settling for a dark blue mask with gold designs and a plain blue suit to match. He planned to show up a little later, to make it easier if another teacher wanted to trade him spots and call it a night - that was the usual plan, anyway, according to people who'd chaperoned the dance before. It made sense - kids had a lot more enthusiasm than their elders for this sort of thing. Deryck could relate - he hadn't lost an ounce of energy since he was a teenager, though he did know how to hide it and at least appear like a functioning adult now. Usually. When it counted, at least.

They'd be opening the doors right about now...

[Ixtlilton]

"I'm not nervous," Laelia lied, and badly at that, as she was actively fidgeting while she said it. "Do I look alright? Okay. Thank you. Is my hair alright?" Her straight forward bun probably wasn't going to impress anyone, but Jacob had spent a lot of time dragging a comb painfully through her wild hair, so she wanted it to look at least presentable.

She shifted nervously in her red dress, looking non-whorish for once. Dmitri had bought it for her. He'd also bought her shoes, and the make up she was wearing, and her mask. She couldn't actually remember ever looking this pretty. She stared at herself in the mirror for a while longer, admiring how she suddenly looked like she belonged in a fancy dress with a pretty winged boy on her arm.

"Alright," she said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."

"You don't have to feel awkward, Laelia," Jacob was saying. "We've got plenty of unusual types here, and I'm certain it's going to be half of the people there's first party. Besides, you look great." There was no real specific reason he was accompanying Laelia to the dance... she'd been the first to ask, and he felt sort of obligated since she didn't have class with everyone else and clearly didn't know many other people her own age at Ansembourg.

He was going, of course, because he went every year. Come to think of it, he realized, he'd never actually gone with the same girl twice in a row, but he'd had a 'date' every year since he'd turned thirteen. Huh. Well, that was the way it was, he supposed.

He was dressed up in his halloween best with a silver vest and tie with black shirt, pants, and coat. Black was a halloweeny sort of color. His mask was a little more colorful, with the whole 'slight rainbow around the edge' thing going on, but it was still mainly black and silver, so... he supposed he probably looked alright.

But it should have been a crime cutting holes in clothing that nice for his stupid wings... he could never resell anything.

On the way to the hall, he was accosted by an old friend/acquaintance, Flash. They'd known each other for years, so that was sort of like friendship, but on the other had, he wasn't sure students were allowed to technically be "friends" with faculty. Oh well. "Har har. Yes, this is Laelia. She's new this year. Laelia, this, unfortunately, is Flash, our janitor... er, repairman, that is," he said, eyes twinking behind his mask (which did NO good at hiding his identity. Stupid wings). Two could play the teasing game.

Dragon rolled her blue eyes as she slipped her mask on. "You look about fifty times better than I ever did in it. You might as well keep it, I'll never wear it. Besides, you gave me a freaking costume. I don't even know why this was in there! The doctor bought all my clothes! Why did he buy this... freak..." she grumbled on to herself, her voice only slightly muffled by her full-face mask. The combination of the mask, the dress, and the Mary Jane style rounded toe boots Lilith had talked her into made her look and feel like a (extremly creepy) doll.

"Alright, let's get going. If I have to be seen in public like this, I'm definitely dragging you with me."

Kari was actually as nervous as Zeke. It was his first party, too. He'd never gotten to wear a fancy gown like this before... he didn't go to many functions and it was sort of recommended he dress like a boy for them. This was his first school party, his first social outing, and his first time to wear a ball gown.

It probably surprised absolutely no one that he'd gone with a light powder pink dress that foofed out like a princess dress. He had been insecure about his lack of cleavage, but it went high enough to not make that an issue.

He'd spent hours on his hair. It was tricky to get everything in place by himself. He was pretty sure it was beautiful, though, and he'd even gotten Zeke to help him with certain parts he couldn't quite reach... with heavy coaching of course.

On was the make up and jewelry, in were the earings and hair pins. The only thing left was... the mask. It was hot pink with hotter pink and purpleish feathers. It was flamboyant and pretty, just like Kari.

He'd already dragged Kadin to his room, too, suspecting that the disgruntled boy might sneak off if left alone right before the masquerade. He'd helped both the other boys get dressed properly... they were hopeless, and they weren't even the ones in heels!

She was looking fabulous, of course. She was going to be fashionably late, though. SHe knew it wasn't very nice to want a flair of brilliance when the party was really about giving the kids a good time, but she wanted to leave a strong impression... after all, she'd be handing out candy and cards in an attempt to get more kids interested in drama and/or band and/or counseling. It would help if they remembered her well.

As it was, she was putting on the finishing touches of her make up. She was putting on make up because, well... she might actually take off her avant garde mask at some point during the night, and if she did, she still had to look beautiful.

She was upping hte avant-garde level with a... sort of... pant dress. Or something. It was flowy and did fantastic things when she walked. It made every step look as if she was the most important thing in the universe. Also it was extremely shiny.

Pedro glanced up at her, and she gave him a comforting pat on the head. He was coming, of course, because she never went anywhere without him. He had a bowtie, too, so he was dressed for the occassion.

SKy was already at the party. It had just seemed responsible to get there a little early, since he was a chaparone. He wasn't really sure what good a chaparone was at a school that didn't forbid dancing or kissing and had no real way to prevent late night visits. They were just there to make sure it didn't turn into a riot or a fight somehow, he supposed. Or an orgy. None of those things.

He was at a minimum level of fabulousness with a light purple silk shirt, two thirds buttoned, and basic black dress pants. He'd been unable to resist the temptation he'd seen on eBay, a half red, half blue mask with gold trim. But it was still rather basic looking, and he knew he wasn't going to be the most fantastic fellow at the party, but that was fine. With hair like his, one could never quite be understated, anyway.

[Coconut]

When Kadin had first heard that there would be a party, a masquerade, he'd forgotten about it. He didn't care. It didn't matter to him. He wasn't going. He hadn't gone last year, even if everyone in the entire school had gone absolutely insane about this thing, and nothing horrible happened to him that would ever make him reconsider his decision not to go.

Kadin wasn't going.

Why, then, did he suddenly find himself dressed up in a ridiculous black getup that he'd have never picked out for himself and holding a simple, plain black mask in one hand? The answer was simple. The poor grumpy boy had been swept up by Hurricane Kari and he wasn't going to let him out of the vortex until he'd been dropping on his ass right in the middle of the dance floor and agreed not to leave after the first five seconds.

Shit.

"I really don't see the point of all this." He grumbled from where he sat on a randomly placed bright pink chair that made him feel all the more ridiculous in the stupid suit. "Everyone spends so much on this one dance to go parading around in costumes they'll never wear again. Can't you drag me to a normal dance?"

"Ah- hmmm?" Ramsay, the little devil, had actually just been about to sneak out of the room without her roommate (who she considered to be just another one of those adults who tried to spoil her fun, even if she was one of the fun adults that she still liked, she couldn't trust her TOOTOO much. Hehe. Tutu. She should get one for next year). Anyway. Without her roommate who might actually want to (geez) spend time with her like the WHOLE walk down and then WHERE would she? At the party and while she DID want to be at the party she didn’t want... well, people to be able to see her.

She had her own plans.

But now she was caught and what could she do but smile and grin and spin around in her cute little purple dress, adjust her mask mask just so, and give a bright, affirmative, “Yes!” She giggled cutely, clasping her hands behind her back and keeping that impish smile. “You can walk me down, but I have to meet someone once we get there, ok?”

Oh dear, he had way too much enjoyment with putting together his outfit for the evening. It was supposed to be the children, the students who became all excited for these events, but those marvelous young people just had a way of infecting the staff with their good spirits and catchy chatter, he couldn’t help but be swept away as he prepared himself for tonight!

For this year’s masquerade, the charismatic teacher had chosen a lovely blue suit that, may I say, looked marvelous on him. It made his yellow-green eyes take on a hint of blue as well, dazzling, really, as you gazed into them through his eye-catching mask which simply spoke for itself.

Before he had started teaching, Toharn had always loved to go to parties, especially ones such as these. He fed off the atmosphere, breathed it in and soaked it up like a drowning man gasping for air, letting it consume and live within him. And it all showed in his dancing.

The young teacher laughed softly to himself. That was all behind him now, however. He couldn’t go off and do his own thing tonight, no, he had responsibilities now. But if any young ladies seemed at a loss for partners... and if the other teachers had everything under control... why, maybe he could indulge in just one dance or two. How could it hurt? It would only bring smiles to faces and that was what he cared before, the lively teacher with the spring in his step as he made his way towards the great room where the dance was being held.

Time to go be a teacher. Sort of.

Ethan’s theme was tan and gold tonight. Somehow, the bear shifter had managed to find a suit (completely by chance, mind you) that was almost exactly the same shade as his fur when he had four legs. Of course, he had to get it, because he always felt... strangely comfortable in anything that color. Well, that and his mother had always been shoving him into shades of tan and ALWAYS told him how good he looked in it so I guess it could be called a bit of a confidence booster, too.

He hated having to tie ties so he didn’t wear one and even, in a spirit of boldness, decided to leave the top two buttons undone. SHOCKING. Was Ethan breaking out of his carefully constructed shell? Probably not. He fiddled with the buttons of the suit himself as he headed towards the large room where the party would be held, unable to decide if he wanted them buttoned or unbuttoned. Buttoned or unbuttoned. If he didn’t feel this... undeniable urge to be on time, he’d still be in front of the mirror in his room buttoning and unbuttoning those damn buttons.

As it were, he couldn’t be late, so he grabbed his simple gold mask and headed out to face the music. As he arrived the bear shifter slipped through the doors quietly and found his own little corner of the room where he could fiddle with his buttons in peace, determined, DETERMINED not to look around the room just incase a certain someone who he didn’t want to see and would be terribly embarrassed to talk to was already there. God. He hoped they’d dim the lights even more. Soon. He just wanted to spend the night pretending to watch over the students and avoiding people in peace. Stupid teacherly duities.

Of all the days of any days when he could have showed up, this was the best day it could have possibly been. Matt hadn’t been on Ansembourg grounds for more then ten minutes before he heard talk of a dance on campus. And not only was it going to be a dance, but a Masquerade. Where people dressed up. In AWESOME, sexy clothes in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where people’d be more receptive then ever to meeting new people.

Fuck. Yes.

The clothes weren’t difficult at all. The boy, luckily, had a sexy black suit with silver trim among his wardrobe. He wore a silver-white shirt with it and no tie or bow. He knew that he’d look ridiculous with converse on his feet, but they were silver, too, so they fit with his image. The mask, on the other hand, was harder.

Matt had skipped a tour and introductions to his classes in order to scurry over to town to find a mask that’d be as close to perfect as a last minute finishing touch could be. All in all, he was pretty happy with the silver metallic creation that fit his face just right. So he had his clothes, shoes, mask... Matt stood around in his room (which he shared with some kid who he hadn’t met yet, haha, yeah...) staring in the mirror and grinning at what he saw. Yeah. He was hot.

The boy ran one hand through his dyed-black hair (with silver-blue highlights, of course), looking into his own amber eyes that lent a splash of gold to the otherwise silver and black getup, and stepped out of the room, making his way towards the masquerade that he jokingly considered his welcome party.

[Kitten King]

Some might have called him unprofessional, the way he interacted with students, but as long as it didn't escalate to threatening his job, he really didn't care. As far as he was concerned, he was practically still one of them - living in the castle, focusing his powers more and more with each passing month, flirting with the girls. He hardly saw much difference between him and the students other than that he wasn't forced into classes, and he got paid. All in all, it was a good lot.

He hardly even considered being careful about it.

"Charmed to meet you," Flash replied to Laelia, flashing a grin a her. "And the correct term, if you don't mind, is electrician." He directed the last part to Jacob, half teasing (but half serious - janitor? Ha, yeah right. Like you'd ever see him sweep anything up…) before turning his full attention back to Laelia. He dug in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out of the small bundles of silvery metal he'd constructed earlier. "And for you, m'lady…" He sent a quick jolt of electricity through the metal, which went through the circuitry and caused the delicate petals of a metal carnation to unfold. The center of it began a slow, glowing blink of purple light, driven to start by his charge and kept going by a small watch battery. He had about half a dozen on him, which ought to last him the night. Hopefully - it took ages to make them, after all, and they were far from cheap.

"You're lucky as ever Jacob - you always get the pretty ones."

When Mika had gone to school events before, she'd never really gone… with someone. Well, her and Zeke were only going as friends, but still. It was kind of a foreign notion. She'd always hung out around the edges for awhile, enjoying the upbeat atmosphere, and ducking out before too long. It wasn't that she disliked people, just that she often connected more with animals than humans. Maybe that was why she was doing so much better at Ansem - people here were different. It didn't hurt that several of them were almost part animal, either.

She got to the room before too long, and she managed not to trip down a staircase once. (Of course, she would probably trip at least once by the end of the night, but for now, she was taking it in stride.) Knock knock, she tapped on his door, adjusting the corners of her dragon mask. She hadn't actually picked it out with him in mind - the thought had come up later. It was kinda funny how that worked, wasn't it?

Keep it? To most girls Lilith guessed being offered free clothes like this was probably like a dream, but in her head she was pretty sure she'd never wear this again. It didn't matter much, if neither of them were ever going to, but still. It seemed rather stupid dumb idiotic silly to take something you weren't ever gonna use. Naw, she was just borrowing it.

"Hey, don't dis my choices, ya look great! Fits the occasion." Lilith wasn't much picky with fashion, but even she had to admit the combination Dragon had worked. It was made a bit creepy by the mask, sure, but masks in general were kinda creepy. That's just masks for ya. She put on a little pout at her roommate's last suggestion, and sighed dramatically as always, but it was just for show. "Alright Shadey," she said, using the nickname she'd been using in her head for awhile now aloud for once. "Let's get goin'."

[place rest of post here]

[Jaydee]

He tuned out Kadin's usual complaints; they were directed towards Kari, anyway, and Zeke was quickly getting used to the two of them being... them. Like an old married couple, really, but he kept that thought to himself - he didn't fancy getting set on fire tonight (or ever, really, but especially tonight).

Kari had convinced him to tie his hair up, nothing fancy, just a small ponytail with the shorter pieces hanging down in front. It felt weird. He fingered the delicate gold chains on his mask, nicer than anything he'd ever owned before - it wasn't just nice, it was beautiful. Weird, weird, it all felt really goddamn weird... where was Mika?

Just then, a knock on the door made him jump; he nearly dropped his mask.

"Um..." Answer the door, idiot. He did just that, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was finally her. "Hey," he said, opening the door wider to let her in.

~

They made their way to the dining hall, falling into a comfortable silence as they walked. The castle was filled with the soft sounds of people in the halls, footsteps and excited whispers, all moving towards the same place.

Harriet wasn't excited about the party, though she did enjoy the costumes. She went because it would look strange if she didn't - and besides, Lia loved these things. She had enough of her own mind left for that much, and despite all the boys who would be more than happy to go with her, it just wouldn't be the same without her best friend there too. It was just for one night, and if it kept the silly girl happy, well...

"Harriet! Lia!" Another girl's voice pulled her attention back to the present, where a small group of them approached from behind. Friends of theirs, if you could call them that. Like flipping a switch, Harriet put on a smile and turned to greet them, which, as she'd learned last year, meant lots and lots of hugging.

Women.

"Ohmigod, you look so pretty!" Lia followed suit, much more genuine than her dark-haired friend. They continued on their way towards the dining hall with the rest of the group, chattering the whole way about dresses and hair and boys, somehow picking up more people as they went. By the time they finally reached the hall, they had what appeared to be a small army of teenagers clad in suits and bright silk. God, did they ever shut up?

They spilled into the dining hall, breaking off into smaller groups to socialize some more. A few teachers and students had arrived already, and the masquerade had officially begun.

Just a few more hours and they could be done with this. That would be her mantra tonight. Just a few more hours...

~

"Okay!" She smiled back down at Ramsay, sisterly instincts turned up to eleven. If she ever did get a job in the resistance, it would certainly involve children; there was no doubt about that. "Shall we?" She took the younger girl's tanned hand in her own pale one, and together they made their way down from their tower room to the very center of the castle.

It wasn't long before they came across other students, too - "fashionably late" wasn't something many of Ansembourg's students seemed to believe in. By the time they arrived in the main hallway, there were people everywhere, and it would be all too easy for Ramsay to slip away whenever she liked.

((sorry for shortness :|))

[Ixtlilton]

Laelia, unfortunately, was not having it. She stared at the janitor/repairman/electrician and found herself largely unimpressed. Flirts were perverts, and perverts were a waste of space and time. And how old was this guy, anyway? She and Jacob were both eighteen, but how was he supposed to know that? Was he some kind of pedo freak?

Her face stayed entirely unamused, and possibly very judgemental as she watched his little display. She'd dealt with types like him before... thought they could charm a girl into forgetting what they were. She had him fixed with her eerie, unblinking eyes, and stared way longer than was entirely appropriate, before finally breaking off to wrap her arm around Jacob's and not-so-subtly pull him off, brushing by the pervert. "Do they have punch here, Jacob? I've never been to this kind of fancy dress party before, you know?"

Oooh... Jacob knew Flash was making a mistake the second the flirt's eyes landed on Laelia. He covered his mouth with his hand to avoid laughing, and politely averted his eyes as Flash crashed and burned. He could almost hear the gears grinding in Laelia's head as she fixed Flash with a steely stare. Poor Flash... Laelia had that carnivorous air around her when she stared like that.

He allowed himself to be dragged off by Laelia, smirking just a little bit at Flash as she snuffed him with all the skill of royalty. Flash'd have better luck with some of the single girls at the party, no doubt, but he really did need to be careful. It wasn't like Mr. Abelev considered statutory rape to be a light charge.

"Mmhmm," he replied to Laelia, certain she didn't really care about punch. "I'll get us some."

"I'll give you that," Dragon grumbled. She definitely looked scary. But this wasn't a costume ball, it was a masquerade, albeit a Halloween one. Still, she was rather uncomfortable in this sort of outfit. Not to say she wouldn't have been uncomfortable in any kind of vaguely appropriate outfit, but... Still.

Dragon and Lilith set out together for the dining hall turned ball room. The people were really starting to arrive now. She recognized the telltale feathers of Jacob, the boy who'd given her (and apparently everyone else who'd arrived that year) a tour. There was Mr. Ethan, the stupid nosy math teacher who wouldn't leave her alone. Thank goodness he looked as embarassed to be there as she was.

And there, most unfortunately of all, was an annoyingly familiar voice. She had a little spin of dread as she stood behind Jacob and his attractive female date with her gorgeous dress. Largely because they were between her and the door, but also because she wanted to shadow (not literally this time) Jacob and his huge wings in so the annoying voice wouldn't see her, god forbid.

Of course, that meant she heard everything the cad was saying, and once Laelia and her unamused face left, Flash was left looking at Dragon's unamused face. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the full effect of her contempt, since she was wearing a full face mask. She let him feel the distaste for a few full seconds before turning to Lilith. "Do you think they have punch? Let's go get some."

"Sure," Kari was saying absentmindedly. "Right after I drag you to this one. They probably have some kinda Christmas dance that's pretty average. Maybe a prom." He leaned into the mirror, giving his lips a quick glossy touch up, at which point there was a knock at the door. "Oh, hey, I bet that's your uh... what was her name again? Miku? Misa? Crap. Mika? Was it Mika?" He glanced around for some form of confirmation as Zeke opened the door. It was probably Mika. ...Probably.

"Hiii," he chirped from a few feet behind Zeke. "Mika, right? We're just about ready to go, so should we all head in together?"

And all at once, everyone was showing up. He saw Ethan, over in the corner. He really wanted to go talk to him, but things had been... awkward... since their... well, since their first meeting, really. He would definitely like to take things to a new and more "bow chika wow wow" level with the shifter, but Ethan seemed the opposite of interested. He seemed, frankly, furious at Sky, so the walking fish kept his distance for now. He made a little sighing noise under his mask. Maybe he could ask Wingates for advice. God KNEW she'd be showing up eventually.

Flash was being Flash, too. Sky would be the first to admit that some students were hot, but he was smarter than the blondie. It wasn't worth getting fired and possibly arrested over, that was for sure. Looked like he'd gotten doubly burned, though, by Jacob's date, whom he didn't recognize, and by some strange girl in a... was that Dragon, the black haired girl with all the physical fitness of an overweight squid? Wow, he would not have thought she'd pick something like that out. But then, one glance at Lilith kind of answered any questions he might have had about that.

No sign of Wingates, though, or, in fact, any other teacher. Good thing he'd shown up early. There was supposed to be at least one more... right?

[Coconut]

Geez, this hadn't been part of her plan at all! What was going on here! What was this girl thinking! She had had it all planned out. she'd go run down into the kitchen RIGHT before they put out all the food and drinks and test them and make sure they were all 'appropriate' beforehand (because she was a little angel like that). But with how sloooow they were walking down the stairs (they weren't even JUMPING off the last three steps!) she couldn't help but fidget uncontrollably. When they finally (FINALLY) got to the big crowd, Ramsey saw her chance.

"Oh, ah! I forgot something- I gotta go get it! Don't wait for me, I'll see you there!" And with a flash and a grin the masked princess was gone, scurrying through legs and ducking under cover to stay out of sight until she could slip into the large hall being used for the dance. She made a bee-line to the table with the food and, most importantly, the drinks, being very sneaking and ninja-about it (in other words, crawling under the tables).

But once she got her hands on the punch bowl, she'd WON. It looked like no one had taken any yet, either, score! She played around with the concoction a little bit, approving of the flavor but adding a bit more of a kick to the chemical arrangement that she was sure the cooks wouldn't have thought of. Just a little extra incentive for everyone to have a bit more fun this evening. One cookie later she was back under the tables, running around to see what other mischief she could cook up.

Oh my god. Was this. Was this really a school? How could he get so LUCKY? How could there be such a high concentration of sexy ass all in one PLACE? And it was his for the taking. Well, sure, some of them might not want to get down and dirty with him in secret one lonely night, but that sure as hell didn't mean that he couldn't flirt and enjoy himself with everyone in this damn school. Plus, a guy needed friends that he didn't fuck. It was kinda one of those things, you know? There always had to be at least one person around to put you into perspective.

But that perspective wasn't something Matt was thinking about tonight. Oh hell no. He got an eyeful of a bunch of the students as he walked down the hallways, eventually finding his way to the right place. He didn't make any moves yet, no, that'd be too early, hitting on people in the hallway. They wouldn't be open to his flirting until they'd at least gotten inside and relaxed a bit. That was what he was looking for, someone who was already inside. And as the boy slipped through the door and let his eyes wander around the room, he spotted the perfect first shot of the evening.

"Hi there."

Matt had wandered over to a man in a corner, one who was cutely fidgeting with the buttons of his shirt, smiling with that smile of his and reaching out to unbutton that annoying button he'd been doing battle with ever since he first walked in the room. "It looks better like that, you should just leave it open."

There wasn't any particular reason why he chose Ethan. Honestly, he just liked how he was undeniably cute and standing all alone in his own corner of the room, not guarded by friend or some guy or girl who'd want to ruin all of Matt's fun. He was vulnerable and therefore he was the perfect target. Not that Matt was intending to do anything awful to him, far from it. He just wanted to fiddle with his shirt a bit and grin at him, asking him, "So this seems to be a pretty fancy party for just some school, but maybe I just don't know how this place rolls yet. I'm new, the name's Matt. What's your's?"

He wasn't really paying attention when someone was walking up to him. To be honest, part of him was afraid it was Sky and he was hoping that if he just didn't look up that whoever it was would just pass him by and go away. But then there were these hands that entered his field of vision, you see, and they replaced his hands where they were fidgeting with buttons and then, then, he had to look up. And listen. And see.

Ethan, quite frankly, was speechless. He'd been hit on before, sure. There'd been Sky and some girls back in high school, maybe once or twice in college some drunk guy would get... friendly. That much wasn't what really got to him. It was the fact that this... kid. This student who was, apparently new, but was to be HIS student in the near future actually had the gall to come up to him and basically tell him in no uncertain body language that he wanted to get in his pants. Right now. And he was just damn... attractive enough that he could feel himself blushing. Fuck.

"D- I." Brilliant statement there, Ethan. God he just wanted to go crawl in a hole and die at the grin on this cocky kid's face. Who the hell did he think he was, coming up to him and just hitting on him as if he'd already gotten him in bed? "I- I'm a teacher. You- d- this is highly inappropriate! Pl- just go- move along and flirt with the students." Oh, shit, did he just give him permission to flirt with the other students? "But! But don't do anything... inappropriate, the teacher- I! I- the teachers are supervising this dance."

But he wouldn't stop grinning. "Oh I wouldn't mind just being supervised." If you wanna take it that far in your mind already, go right ahead... Shit this was going to be a fun night.

How was it that this kid could take so little of what he said seriously? He was damn SERIOUS. He didn't like this stupid dance, he didn't like any dance, he didn't appreciate being dragged to a social function he had no interest in, and he certainly didn't appreciate how Kari just seemed to assume that he'd be able to get him to go to any of them. Any at ALL. Well, except this one, but this was going to be the only one, he sworn his fucking powers on it.

"...There's no way in hell I'm going with you to a prom, Kari." The last thing he needed on his plate was for people to start thinking that he was going to these things with someone. You could tell those morons that they were just friends all you wanted, but the only way to get them all to frikkin' stay off your back you just had to not go at all. And Kadin planned on not going. At all.

Kadin got up from the bed and, in a grumpy huff, passed by everyone else who was in the room to slip out the door, jamming his hands in his pockets and heading down the hallway. He didn't give a shit if they were behind him or not, he was going to go now and get this damn thing over with.

((Toharn is in there, too, but he hasn't done anything remarkable since my last post so I don't see the point in writing how unremarkable he's being just standing there and smiling at students as they enter. And how impatient he is for the dancing to start.))

[Kitten King]

The door opened, and she was greeted by a familiar face. She smiled back, ignoring the little prickles on the back of her neck with seeming expertise. Zeke was great, once you got over that little tidbit - y'know, the whole 'feeling like you're dinner' thing. It took a little care.

"Hey, don't you look dashing?" He even had his hair up! She honestly hadn't been sure how he'd react to the whole thing, and he'd been awful reluctant to even come at all. She could understand why, but still. He was a sweet boy - he deserved a good time. Her attention was, of course, easily distracted by Kari. It was a little difficult not to get distracted by Kari. "Ah, yeah, sounds fine to… me." It was at that point that Kadin decided he wanted no part in this whole affair (apparently) and brushed past her. She turned her head, watching the boy go with a frown. "…wow your roommate's a little cranky, isn't he?" She was, of course, assuming that Kadin was the roomate, which made an honest amount of sense considering the alternative. And since she wasn't really looking at the room itself - if she paid any attention at all to that sort of thing, the choice might have been a lliitttlee clearer.

Haha, victory! She was smug with herself as the duo left their dorm, but it quickly melted away into a faint sense of insecurity. She fiddled with the edges of her outfit after a little while, eyes darting around once they started spotting other people. God damn it.. she wasn't entirely happy with this. She was giving off the entirely wrong air. She felt all.. warm. And inviting. She quickly fixed this by glaring at the first person to meet her eyes. The boy, around her age, quickly ducked his head and went on his way. A small sense of smugness began to return - just a small one.

Lilith was just as unimpressed by Flash's advances as the other two were - and was it just her, or could she feel the dislike just flooding off of Dragon in waves? Brr. She didn't want to be on the wrong side of that cold shoulder… Ha, she had to hand it to Dragon, though - it was quite the nice double-burn she'd let loose. She sneered in no subtle way at Flash, tip of her tongue poking out through her teeth, and took Dragon's arm.

"Agreed." Though unlike the other two girls she actually had a direct interest in the punch - for where there was punch, there was typically other food, and Lilith thought with her stomach. As they left, she remembered what else she'd wanted to do, and with her free hand flashed a quick bird back at Flash as well. Heh. Unfortunate douche.

Ho-ly shit. It'd been awhile since he'd made this mistake. The burn hit him full-force in the face, but at least he managed to avoid physically wincing. Standing there looking a little dumb-founded, well.. that only last a couple seconds. So maybe it didn't count, since maybe no one had noticed. …nope, no such luck. In fact, his atrocious streak of luck that had been continuing as of late just kept going with him. Like God was enjoying toying with him.

God could go fuck himself.

It wasn't the build, or the hair, or the general attitude, or even the voice that gave Dragon away - it was the eyes. Sharp, annoyed, icey. Those same eyes that had glared at him when they'd first met. They'd been red for the majority of their meeting, but the cold-shouldered pale blue that they'd been when they'd first met was unmistakeable. Cranky as ever, she seemed, and her friend wasn't much more polite. God damn. Was every girl here going to do this to him? He'd have better luck just brooding around by the punch bowl doing nothing, at this rate. He ran his fingers through his hair, irate with the whole situation, and made his way to where he was supposed to be. God damn. This was not the best start to the night for him.

"I dunno, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I am. You look great, and you'll be great. The whole affair will be fantastic - you'll see." Despite Dominic's reassuring words, and odd sense of certainty on the matter, Travis frowned. He remained unconvinced. He paced around the room again, hesitant and unsure, before stopping in front of the mirror and messing with the front of his suit again. He opened his mouth, but Nic wouldn't even let him get a word out. "If you ask me again I'm going to let you have it. That's my last word on the matter." Was he serious? Let Travis have it how? He wasn't exactly formidable.. but hell knew what his power was. Travis had essentially forbidden talk of powers, after all, with how rapidly he'd change the subject…

His suit was okay, but it wasn't anything special. It wasn't great. He sighed, fidgeting and messing with it again. It was an old, second-hand one - the most he'd been able to afford, with how much even his simple mask had cost. Nic had offered to pay for a better one, but Travis had fought valiantly against it. He wasn't entirely sure why. He'd never liked to accept money… was that because he hated his past, or because he couldn't let it go? Hell only knew - he didn't. He looked up into the mirror again, still fidgeting with the buttons on the front, and it caught the reflection of something behind him. A familiar pair of eyes, and a broad grin, full of pride, on a face he knew too well. He turned to look at Nic.

"Hey, umh… I'll be out in a second. Can you give me just a moment alone? To, er… clear my head. Or.." He wasn't really sure what he should be saying, but Nic caught his drift. He always seemed to know what Travis meant.

"Okay, but only a minute! We can't be late." Travis knew that if Nic had gotten his way, they'd already be there by now, nice and punctual and maybe even early. That was him for you. "See you in the hall, a minute sharp!" With that the younger student turned and opened the door, pausing just once to peek back before closing it. Travis sighed, relieved, and turned away from the mirror.

"I hope you're happy with this." His sister seemed to bounce on her feet, and moved forward to give him a hug, smiling all the way. He tried to huge her back but.. well. Complications.

"Yup, sure am." She stepped back again, putting her hands together in front of herself. "Damn, you look so handsome, Cruz… so grown up." Travis shuffled his feet a little, embarrassed.

"Th-thanks…" He looked up at the door when he heard Nic move around outside, then back to his sister. "Uhm… and… Nek? I-"

"I know." Another smile - she always knew. "Now get going. I'm proud of ya." She gave him a little shooing motion and he turned for the door, smiling a little himself now. Sometimes he wondered if he was just imagining this whole thing, and he was really just batshit - but moments like this made him think otherwise. He.. couldn't decide how he felt about the whole thing.

"There you are." Dominic couldn't be sure what Travis did, those times when he asked to be alone, but he knew that really, it wasn't any of his business. He also knew that it was more than likely that, despite it being absolutely none of his business, he'd find out sooner or later - and not by fair means. It was.. kind of annoying. The most he could hope for was that maybe it would give him a little insight on how to help. God knew Travis needed help.. "Ready?"

"Uhm…" Travis paused once, looking over his shoulder and back into the room, as though checking for something one last time. Then he left the room, clicking the door shut behind him. "Yeah. Let's go…" Nic knew better than the ask what that was about - it was just Travis. He nodded, smiling, and trying to pour a little confidence into Travis.

"Ooookay then. Off we go!" Side by side, off they went. What either of them would find that night, well… that was up to fate.

((No time for Rune I think - he's just watching things unfold, I suppose. Probably feels for Ethan but is still amused by it, lol. He's on the opposite side of the room, closer to Sky, but still not RIGHT there either. A little removed, farther back from the doorway, waiting for people to migrate that direction.))

[Jaydee]

Zeke felt a rush of heat to his face and pretended not to hear Mika's compliment, silently thanking Kari for the interruption.

"Sounds good." Going down as a group made him feel a little safer doing this, though it still meant he'd be spending the next few hours in a room full of people. At least he had more friends to shield him now - that was really the only reason he was willing to go this year. He flinched a little when Kadin brushed past him to leave. Okay, so maybe they weren't all strictly friends...

Kari led them down to the dining hall, and Zeke tried to radiate less awkward than usual as they approached the mass of people going inside.

[Ixtlilton]

Laelia, despite her apparent flippancy, was pretty aware of what was going on around her. Namely, how many people were around her. So she noticed when another group of people came in. She glanced over idly, not really recognizing any of them, until... "Oh, hey! It's Mika! Jacob, I know that girl! She has golden eyes, like me!" She tugged on Jacob's sleeve. "Let's go over and say hi!"

Jacob looked over where she was pointing. That was indeed Mika, and there was Kari, and Kadin, and.... ZEKE?! He and Laelia positively swept over, Laelia going right up to Mika and Jacob going right up to Zeke.

"Zeke? I thought you said you weren't coming? Heck, you NEVER come! And you have a date?" He looked happily at Mika. He hadn't even realized the two of them were friends! Jeez, wasn't he out of the loop! They must be close, too, if she could convince him to go to a dance. Jacob hadn't even been able to do that, although to be fair, he hadn't tried too hard, not wanting to drag Zeke out of his comfort zone too quickly.

He did wonder passively why Mika looked so intensly unhappy to see Laelia, though.

Dragon was exasperated with Flash, so she actually did drift towards the punch and pour herself some. There was an absolutely huge bowl, which worked, she supposed, cause there was a decent number of people here. Not that she really recognized many of them. She had class with a couple... There was Mika, Flash's unfortunate sister (anyone with him for a brother was unfortunate).

There was some snacks, but she wasn't interested. She'd just drink some punch and try to remember why she'd come to a masquerade anyway. "Lilith, do you know any of these people?" she asked.

"Well then why did you ask about normal parties?" Kari said, rolling his eyes slightly. Kadin could be so weird sometimes. He stormed off though, and Kari was left slightly exasperated. "Oh, don't worry about Kadin, he's just a huge grump bug. I think he's one of those guys who aren't happy unless they're unhappy, you know? Anyway, he's not my roommate. Didn't Zeke mention? I'm Zeke's roomie, that's why we were all in his room."

Kari chatted idly as he lead them to the dining hall and inside. "I should probably find Kadin," he admitted. "But I'm more interested in socializing." But soon, two people swooped up (one of them, at least, was Jacob, Mr. Popular) and engaged the lovebirds in conversation, so Kari went ahead and excused himself, looking for people to talk to. This was his big chance to make friends that weren't in his classes, after all!

Oh for the love of...

The gods all prayed that the newest manslut in their midst didn't wind up hitting on Flash. It'd be a shame to have an expulsion and a firing so early in the school year. That was one thing that Mr. Abelev did not joke around with. Students and students could get away with it. Teachers and teachers could go at it all night long so long as it didn't effect their working. Teachers and students, however, would find themselves out on their asses. Especially the teachers, who were "supposed to know better." (Sky distinctly remembered knowing better and not caring when he was in high school.)

No one else seemed to be moving in. That was the excuse Sky gave himself as he walked rather briskly over to Ethan and the new boy. "Hi, Ethan, he said, not even glancing at the boy. "I was wondering if you could give me some advice on a problem student? Thaanks." He gripped Ethan's arm, not to hard, but firmly enough, and dragged the man away. "Man," he said while bringing Ethan over to a safer corner. "You get hit on by everyone. Unlucky bastard."

[Kitten King]

There were a lot of people around at the Masquerade, as was only to be expected. Mika wasn't honestly that good with people - it hadn't even been her idea to ask Zeke. It had been Xan's. Was that sad, her cat convincing her to get out more? …ooh that WAS sad. Well. Facts of the matter aside, she was here, and she was determined to make a good impression. If that was possible. She was really better with animals than people.

Well this was why she came with Zeke! She was much more comfortable being here with Zeke than alone. That was friends were for, after… all… ohmigod why was HE coming over here? Before she knew it, none other than THE Jacob had swept right over to them, silver-suited and wings trailing behind as graceful as they ever were and oh-my-god, he was RIGHT THERE. OK. Don't freak out Mika. Don't freak out. DON'T. FREAK. OUT.

Wait. Wait who was that hanging off his arm? Oooohh, hey… it was Laelia. Right. Her. And she was talking. …SHE WAS TALKING OH. PAY ATTENTION.

"H-heeeeyy Laelia! Uhh, good to… see you?" Great, she was within hearing distance of Jacob, and she couldn't say more than that? STUPID. Come on don't let skunk-hair get to you.. "Been a little while. I, uhm, uhh, guess we're both pretty… busy." Shit this was NOT going well… bother. Bother to the thousandth degree.

And since when was Jacob so interested in ZEKE? That was news to her! Oh god she really needed to start paying more attention, all this was KILLING her.

---

Lilith was all over those snacks. Snacks were for eating, after all, and Lilith was the MASTER of that specific task. It was due to this distraction of instant snacking upon arrival at the table that her response to Dragon was momentarily delayed.

"Mmm, wha?" She said looking up from being halfway through a lemon bar. "OHF, uhrm," She paused a moment to swallow, before glancing sideways around her. "Well, not really, but-"

"Wow, someone cleans up nice." Scowling, Lilith turned around, knowing just who she'd be facing. Two mismatched eyes, one bright blue and the other gray-green, shined back at her over a content little smile.

"Don' make me punch you, Nicadee." He responded with a laugh, only making her scowl more.

"Oh, come now! You look pretty. It's not something I can say of you often." Now teasing was normal between them, of course, but so was her socking him lightly. She had a huge urge to do so in his FACE, but settled for dodging his hand when he tried to put it on her head and punching him on the shoulder instead.

"Shaddap. You want me to mock your outfit? I certainly can, and I'll start with that mask of yours if y'like. I mean, a RABBIT? C'mon man! Can't you do anything better than that? And your shirt, come ON, you look like a-"

"Alright, alright! I get it," he said with a laugh. Ha, certainly RIGHT that he got it. She was smug for a moment, though it turned right back into a scowl as he succeeded in getting a hand on her head to tousle her hair. "Now then, er. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend..?"

"A'ight, a'ight." He had a point, as he blinked placidly at Dragon. "Nic, this is Dragon, my roommate. Dragon - Nic, the sod who's unfortunate enough to be my brother."

"Twin brother, to be precise. Dominic Kieran. It's.. nice to meet you." She could tell he was nervous, as he always was around girls. She didn't really get WHY - after all, she was perfectly pleasant, right? …well. I've been wondering who in the world could put up with my sister well enough to room with her." Lilith rolled her eyes at that and gave him a little shove, nearly knocking him off balance. "H-hey! Do you always have to do that?"

"Yeup," she responded with a smug face. "I'm your sister. It's my job."

...well. He really supposed he should have seen THAT one coming. He was her brother, after all. That was his job.

[Jaydee]

Zeke tried his best to resist the urge to turn around and walk away from the ever-growing mass of people before him. He knew there were a lot of students here, but he also knew his way around the castle well enough to avoid the crowded hallways whenever he could - he rarely got to see just how many kids there really were. Wide-eyed and just a tad queasy, he shrank into Mika, who seemed to be holding up better than he was. A familiar voice drew him back out again and he brightened, glad he knew at least one other person here.

"Uh, yeah!" He smiled, gesturing to her with a nod of his head. His attention flicked to the tall girl with Jacob for a moment, but he tried not to stare. "I've mentioned Mika before. She kinda convinced me last minute…"

~

Something was wrong. A small blip on her mental radar, blinking in and out before she had time to process it - something she didn't recognize. Harriet stopped and raised her head, scanning for it again. It was the tiniest pinprick hiding under layers and layers of white noise, but she found that if she focused behind her, she could pick it out from the familiar thoughts and chatter clouding up the room. Whatever it was, she didn't like it.

[Ixtlilton]

Laelia knew when she was being ignored. She traced her eyes from Mika, to Jacob, then back to Mika. Then she smiled, a little too widely, showing off her pointed teeth. She didn't much care for being ignored, not in this context. She leaned forward slowly, waiting to see if Mika would look over. Nothing... nothing... Eventually, she was close enough to blow a steady, sudden stream of air right into Mika's ear. She jerked her head back, ready for the inevitable yelp and flail.

She glanced over to the other boy momentarily, not too particularly interested... And then realized he was kind of staring at her a little bit. Huh... did she look that weird? Well, yes, she did, but there were weirder looking people here, right? Sort of? Yeah? No. No, not really. She was, after all, a bit of a jaguar among delicious, fleshy bunnies. That, she supposed would get a few stares. She let her eyes cast over the crowd momentarily, letting her mind dream for a second about what it would be like to.... And then she snapped her eyes back onto Zeke, who was still staring a bit.

"I guess I didn't realize you two had become such good friends," he said, which was saying something. It was sort of his job to stay on top of those sort of developments, especially with Zeke. He didn't mention that, however. He was too busy noticing Mika staring at him, and noticing Zeke staring at Laelia. Hmm.

"Oh. Hi," she said, not bothering to remember to be particularly polite. It wasn't like he looked particularly harmful. Quite the opposite, in fact. That was just sort of her default attitude with people she didn't know. "I won't lie," Dragon said with a thin smile, remembering who'd gotten her to come to the party, and in THIS outfit. "She's a bit of a handful."