Welcome to Gaia! ::

Priscilla glanced nervously around the room as people moved about. Some were dancing while others were eating. Great, I'm late. That figures. She gracefully slid across the wall trying to stay out of everyone's way. Her eyes darted throughout the room searching for a place to sit and watch the festivities. Finally her eyes spotted a lone table in the corner where she could sit with her back to the wall. If one looked close enough there was a faint swirl beside her, but she didn't seem to notice. She looked over at the food and wondered if she was truly hungry enough to get up, but decided she could wait. Perhaps, when the line goes down... She allowed her eyes to shift from the food table towards the dancers, watching them glide across the dance floor.

Ugh. Lines. Sang was not a fan of them. Never had been. As the tall girl waited at the buffet, listening to the headmaster's speech, she was suddenly awash with a wave of self-consciousness. She'd never had a very feminine figure, and yet here she was, dolled out in more of Uncle Jacob's finest frippery than she'd even known existed. The man had been delighted when she'd come to him, confused and whiny, asking about a dress. Although she suspected he'd have preferred it if she'd had an escort lined up (if only so that he could deck him out in a matching outfit), he'd been more than happy to find something special just for her. Of course, her opinion had gone widely disregarded. She'd wanted to opt for a nice tuxedo, but he'd been scandalized by the thought. A simple frock wouldn't have done, either; no, not for Sinclair's daughter. He'd originally wanted to dress her entirely in lace, with a large white flower in her hair instead of a hat; mercifully, she'd talked him down. And gotten a new hat in the deal! But then there had been the problem of her shoulders. They were broad, strong, well-muscled... and all the other girls just looked so... dainty in their dresses. The striped gown didn't have sleeves, and now more than ever was Sang thankful for the black velvet... what was that thing, anyways? It was black, soft, and could cover the shoulders but was more fashionably worn down by the wrists. What was the point of that? Shrugging, she moved the fabric around on her shoulders, covering herself while laughing internally. She could climb any mast, scale any line... yet here she was, at a party, feeling like a seal amongst whales. As she clutched her fish-shaped clutch, a gift from Uncle Jacob to pay tribute to her daemon, her attention was drawn from her awkwardness to the food table. Finally, she was far up enough in the line to get something to eat! Hmm... to completely fill a plate with blini and croissants and petits fours, or to eat reasonably? As Sang pondered the table, scanning the room for students she knew, her daemon prodded at her.

It's a party! Who cares what you eat?

Pieuvre's advice was good enough for her. Tucking her angler fish-shaped clutch under one arm and adjusting her black mantle... thing, Sang loaded her plate with enough buttery-sweet calories to make any of Jaradin's venerable matrons pass out from sheer terror. The cafeteria was so lovely; being at sea her entire life, her family had never really done too much for their holiday decorating. The snow was a nice touch. As she appreciated the decorations, she continued to search for somebody she knew, or at least a place where she wouldn't seem too out of place. Many of the tables were mostly full with groups of students, but there was one table, not too terribly far away, where only two places were taken by a boy and a girl who didn't seem too familiar with each other. Sang didn't know either of them, but the hairpiece securing the girl's bun was interesting. Forcing up her courage, she began to wander towards the table, preparing to compliment the ornament. As she slowly picked her way through the chattering crowd, balancing her plate of sweet, sweet death, she continued to scan the room for people she knew.

Priscilla's eyes darted between the couples dancing and sighed. Absentmindedly she twisted her wedding band. She didn't notice any movement from the corner of her eye so when a voice spoke she jumped slightly and immediately released the band. Glancing up while giggling softly at her own jumpy nervousness, she saw a sturdy young man bowing and then hold out his hand. It took a full second of staring at the man and his hand for the wheels to turn and click. "Oh my." That nervous giggle escaped once again as she gently took the young man's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Colton. My name's Priscilla, but please call me Cilla." She offered a genuine smile, a smile of relief that she managed to meet her first person here without incident and nos she wasn't alone.

Not that she ever felt alone these days, it seemed someone was always with her, comforting her. the swirl at her feet slowly seemed to take some shape, a soft gentle outline of a deer curled up around her feet with it's head laying lazily on the floor, that is if anyone noticed it. His eyes seemed to light on the woman coming their direction and for a moment the deer became a wolf, still without getting up he watched, and waited.

Annabelle had arrived a little late catching only the tail end of the headmasters speech. "See Inaki i TOLD you we were late." She whispered in an annoyed tone at the cheetah that now stood by her.

Inaki could have cared less, no one arrived to a ball early! That was not done! You came slightly late so that you could join in the dances not start them.

Oh hush yourself Annie we are here now and thats all that matters.

He chided his girl and began to scan the room for anyone of interest.

Annabelle sighed and began to float into the room, she had been practiced in parties since she had been taken by her mother she knew how to walk without tripping which often enough was a skill onto itself. But not tonight, she had chosen a drape and loose fitting gown that was comfortable and luckily had gold highlights to it that seemed to match her Daemon who of course walked beside her checking out every single thing they passed. She didnt head straight for the buffet tables, she was a little hungry but the lines seemed to still be a bit long so she took this oppertunity to explore the room and marvel at all of the decorations that were layed out.

The Tree was what caught her attention and she glided over to it standing a few feet back to really be able to apreciate its splendor. "Oh Inaki look at this! Its like the forest back home, except all decked out with decorations." She was entranced by the sight of it, her eyes drinking in the sight as if it were water to a parched desert plant.

Hey hey Annie look its Sang! Lets go say hi!

Inaki began to tug at Annabelle to get away from the tree and lead her towards her new friend. He had been itching to show off his new settled form to ANYONE but since Annabelle was so UN SOCIAL thusfar he had no oppertunity so he was sure as anything not going to pass up this oppertunity!

Annabelle let herself be dragged towards Sang it was always good to see a new face and afterall they hadnt said hi in a while. She passed a seemingly scarred up boy with a rather large daemon mist hanging about him but before she could even utter a hi Inaki took hold of her dress and began to tug her to move faster.

Come ON pokey! I wanna say hi. Inaki muttered impatiently around his mouthfull of dress. Annie could make friends later he wanted to show off NOW!

"Okay geeze I'm coming, let go of my dress or you'll rip it, remember you have teeth now." of course inaki would foil her one attempt to be social. Well Sang was closer now so she might as well say hi. She glided the last few steps over to Sang and gave a winning smile. "Hey Sang! How have you been?"

Of course Inaki had come for a reason and so coonviniently stood in between the girls sitting up and looking like a proud and vain Cheetah. He wanted someone ANYONE to see that he had settled and he was proud of it!

Annabelle giggled at how silly her daemon was acting and wondered what Sang would do.

It really was a pity Doric was so unable to put the past behind him, Abernathy thought dramatically from his perch on his human's shoulder. Doric was pointedly ignoring him, focused solely working his way through a cup of mulled cider and becoming more and more certain that this was offered for the sake of people not getting themselves too drunk on the festivities. Too drunk? Was it possible?

"Of course it's possible," Abernathy responded acidly. He wasn't settled, yet, but he was growing more and more solid nowadays (and after eight years, Doric certainly hoped so!), and the form of a peacock, albeit a slightly misty, semitransparent peacock, was fairly obvious on the young man's shoulder. He had gotten Doric to dress up for the occasion, and so Doric was wearing black with gold accents. It was as fancy as he got.

"I'm bored already," Doric remarked, finishing the cup of cider with a sigh and casting about for drinks that were more likely to be capable of getting him to that happy pink drunken state he so relished at gatherings he didn't want to be a part of. It wasn't that he hated Christmas, just that...he hated Christmas. He had headed for the bar even as Headmaster Haylen was talking, and by the time the man and the maned wolf daemon had headed for the food, Doric was already down one glass of punch and working on a cup of cider, and had discovered that both were apparently not at all alcoholic.

"You're an oaf and a lout, you know," Abernathy snapped, pecking at Doric's ear in an irritable way that made the young man yelp and clap a hand to the side of his face. "Serves you right," the daemon muttered. "Come on now, do something other than drink, won't you?"

"Pah," was Doric's only answer, and he cast a glance over the hall. It was admittedly quite beautiful, wintry and lovely in a warm, soft way, and it was a pity all the festivities had to be wasted on Christmas. He sighed softly, picked up something in a delicate glass that was a rather lovely shade of gold (almost, but not quite, champagne, cordial, perhaps?), and made his way through the crowd, looking like everyone else for somewhere to sit.

Ah, there! Empty table but for a single boy with a surprisingly bright daemon-mist about him. He should likely recognize him, but...ah, whatever. Doric didn't bother recognizing faces often. He made for the table and sat down, not sitting so much as folding up and falling into the chair with a peculiar half-grace that he thought rather suited him. "Evening," he said to Zarek, inclining his head with a smile."

"Hey there!" he called out, catching sight of a head of blond hair he thought he might recognize. Some other boy, been there a while, he thought. "You, uh...pardon, if I ever knew your name, I've forgotten it, blond boy! Open seats here!"

"And now you're being rude and an oaf."

"Shut up, Abernathy."

Ah, it was that time of year again.

You know. That time. When everyone is extremely cheerful, usually, or at least are supposed to be.

It was around this time that Hector often felt desperately lonely, though he had the constant companionship of his Festaever. It didn't change the fact that his mind would wander to past loves or crushes and he wished he had a human companion. It was that thought that miffed his daemon, who took it almost as an insult.

Still, there would be no frowning faces here.

The Scout stood cheerily, taking in the Headmaster's speech with a nod and a smile. His odd, ring-tailed daemon perched on his shoulder, his long tail draping down his human's back. It would twitch no and again and his bright eyes were alert as ever.

This ball was bound to be fun, as it was each year.

The best part, for him, was the alcohol. Too bad he was technically a chaperone, else he would of been more than eager to indulge in more than his fair share.

"Oh, behave yourself, Heck. Cheer up, too. It's a time to be happy, not sulky. Besides, you can meet a few more of the students. Best to know everyone, right?"

"Right as always, you ring-tailed buffoon." The wiry man teased his daemon affectionately, comforted by the weight on his shoulder.

"You always do this," came the voice of the solitary girl's daemon, sitting next to her at one of the less crowded tables. She could just see him out of the corner of her eye, a disapproving expression on his gray face; right now he was a wolf, as if to urge her to join in on the party. Caitlin had no intent of that, however. Too many people she didn't know...it was a wonder she'd come at all, really. Just as with the beginning-of-the-year celebration, she had been ordered to come to this one by her stern daemon. "It won't do any good to be all locked up in your dorm, you know. Be social for once. It won't hurt you." She had been social, though. Just...not with groups as large as this. Only her classes and dorm mates had seen a hint of how boisterous she could be. Sadly, she wasn't all that keen on showing it now.

For lack of anything better to do, and not wanting to answer her daemon, she pushed the feathery mantle around her shoulders down. How, exactly, had she ended up wearing this? Mother had sent it to her, and well...Cayne had instructed the rest. Her dress was, she had to admit, nice, and the hairbraid in the back with the bow tied into it was cute. The necklace was actually pleasant. The mantle and small cape-thing, though, were very nearly too much. She now regretted wearing them, though the wolf daemon continued to tell her, in very firm words, that she looked beautiful. Still...she couldn't quite agree with him, and so tried to take her mind off of that by watching the buffet table for the line to shorten, sometimes glancing at the elaborate Christmas tree and shaking her head to remove the fake snow. Her foot tapped along with the beat of the music; oh, how she loved a good rhythm. She thought she noticed Zarek, her roommate, there, but not anyone else.