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Advertisements started appearing in the mall, in every shop window, in stores along the streets of Downtown Destiny City, and even on trees and light poles throughout the park. Many are wary, but a good new years party has a rather strong appeal. The alcohol is free for everyone of drinking age and the party will span three ballrooms in Destiny City’s largest hotel. Hardly noticed at first with the whir of Christmas in the air, after it quickly became the talk of the town. Admission is a meager 10 dollars, which will be donated to charity, easing the minds of some.

Now it’s 7pm on December 31st and the doors to Destiny City’s Umbre Hotel are open to the public to host the event of the year and count down to the new year. Guests are kindly greeted at the door and directed to the check for further direction. Any guests checking in are given room keys, but everyone is given instruction to take the stairs or the elevator to the second level. Admission and is collected outside ballroom A and masks are obtains after admission is paid. The masks are beautifully decorated with soft fabrics, feather sequins, beautiful stones, and a wide range of colors.

After receiving a mask you can choose to enter the main ballroom, where there is formal instrumental music playing, elegant and sophisticated the epitome of class. There are people waltzing, drinking, and talking.

The door attendant are polite and well inform giving each group of arriving guests an obviously well rehearsed speech.

“Welcome to the Umbre Hotel’s Masquerade Ball. The main ballroom is just beyond these doors, but tonight’s ball will span the second and third ballrooms as well. After you have collected and donned your masks, you may have access to any of the three ballrooms and as well as the hotel’s lobbies. The second ballroom is just down the hall and is the most child friendly of the ballrooms. To access the third ballroom, you will need to take the stairs or the elevator to the next floor. Thank you for coming and we sincerely hope you enjoy your evening.”

Children are welcome in all the ballrooms, but the second ballroom is decorated with balloons, in abundance, a dance floor, an ice cream and candy bar, as well as two mounted big screens, one with an Xbox hooked up, the other with a Playstation, and all kinds of games. Please remember hotel attendants will be one hand at all times and stealing will not be permitted.

The third ballroom upstairs, is the mostly lively dimmed lights, the largest dance floor and the years biggest hits booming through the speakers. For those who like to party this is the floor for it. The bar is located off to the side of the door and spans most of the wall. It appears the Umbre Hotel has worked hard to make sure this is the night of everyone lives. One they certainly won’t forget.

Anyone who told Emily she would do a black tie even with somebody would have been laughed at two weeks ago, but here she was, approaching a black tie event in a black gown with silver sequin trin, near-shoulderlength long gloves, her good makeup, her hair's wave-curl border kicked into full-on curls, and high heel stilettos (the final part pure paranoia based in her luck, if the youma encounters and general weirdness of fights and odd magic people was any clue). So while lehally unarmed her growing caution was sated.

And the fact she was with someone kept boggling her anyhow, given she technically barely knew him, but wasn't complaining about going with Andrew at all. Considering what she assumed, she just wouldn't tell a single person who he was if possible beyond 'some guy I know' at best. She figured it worked - she was usually vague about people she knew anyhow on and offline unless needed, so it was easy.

NOT, however, as easy as figuring out what just happened that led to going together, but again, not complaining. Emily coughed, turning red as she got her mask and looked around, blinking and looking towards Andrew with some mix of anxiety and excitement.

"This place is packed." She said, chuckling. "Whatcha wanna do?

One Pierrette Genoise was not missing a ball for anyone. Hell or high water, balls meant princes and knights and dancing and true love, and Pisces was all for going after every last one of those things if ashe saw him again, and she smiled, thinking of Whisler, the long, blonde haired knight she's been utterly entranced by. Sadly, he'd not recognize her unpowered surely, but that didn't mean she wasn't going and hoping despite her knowing seeing him was near impossible. Oh no. She made a formal dress for the occasion, styled her hair, and arrived alone looking as princessly as the Zodiac could manage. There was still dancing, and dancing was all she asked. But one never knew how balls were, especially at midnight and...

And Pierrettge almost floated in as she paid, a whispy, daydreamingh look in her eyes as she sighed. She wore her mask with pride, nudging past a brunette in another mask looking like some kind of awkward turtle at her date and pirouetted on the floor.

It was, for lack of a term, magic.

Trinity was not terribly in it for the romance, but charity was good. Trinity McAllen arrived in a glittery pink 80's cut dress, somehow managing to pull formal off with the look of a prom queen a few years her younger by merit of a formal gown and luck, and she sauntered in nimbly, grinning. While not therte with anyone, it was an excellent chance to mingle, and mingle she would, beaming brightly as she looked around. Yes, this was a fine time, and she was going to enjoy this.

It was all for a school assignment. It was all for a school assignment oh sweet god it was all for school was all Erin could tell herself. The journalism studen wore a black gown with a black fluffy sash, and felt entirely anxious looking around, but a small voice recorder was in hand and she was going to hide in her corner and report on events for her school paper so help her God in her own words. The last part was repeated in her head as Erin remembered the horrible nightmares of the future, and trouble for writing the truth and She was not bowing to some jerk. No sir, she was writing for the school paper TRUTHFUL events and gosh dark it she was- was...

Was that a boy in a suit? Erin blinked, distracted as attendees arrived and she adjusted the mask she'd been given, turning pink as her mind roamed dark places. Oh dear. Thids night was going to be long.

Daniel hsated suits. Daniel hated suits more than anything, and his parents had put him and his brothers into the worst clothes for a stupid grown up event, but at least he'd have Bailey. On some level, Daniel wished Almary would be there too, but knew his luck wasn't THAT good, drooping in the car ride and at arrival as he was ushered inside to wait in the (STUPID) children's area, pouting as his older siblings got to roam and he... Was told to be good.

Kid's stuff.

Daniel sighed, huffing, and kicked the ground before looking for sports games. The only positive was the chance Bailey would be there, and then boredom would cease and he could feel human again, not... A monkey.

In a suit.

Stupid suits.









Emily - Black
Pierrette - Red
Trinity - Black
Erin - White
Daniel - Red

If the New Year's Ball was meant to be a source of cosmic trepidation, this information appeared to be lost on Laney Sutton. Having never been on a date, to a formal dance, or in a fancy grown-up gown not provided to her via magical transformation -- and certainly not to a masquerade ball, which popular media had informed her was a breeding ground for romantic connections with acquaintances and strangers -- her usual feelings of social anxiety around people were currently being overwhelmed by sheer, delighted awe at the entire location.

She had a handsome date! She'd bought a gold dress covered with beads and sequins! She had paid actual salon people to make her hair do something pretty! (Something pretty was, in this case, a simple half-updo with jeweled bobby pins stuck in it artfully.) The venue looked like a fairytale setting!

Assuming she didn't somehow manage to screw things up through her own incompetence, Laney was convinced this would be a perfect occasion.

"Aren't you?" she asked vibrantly, still a little oblivious to any tense vibes her companion was giving off. To her, this was just Kairatos, who was always wound tight and ready to spring -- any charged air around him felt par for the course. It didn't occur to her that someone she saw as assertive and straightforward might be suffering a case of the nerves. "I read they were going to have seven different chocolate fountains. What kinds of chocolate do you think they'd even put in -- I mean, there are the three obvious ones, but . . . "

She trailed off, looking at the mask that Xanthus was holding up to his face. For a moment, suit and tie or no, she saw only Kairatos looking back at her, and it gave her a little shiver of alarm that reminded her that they were always, always in danger -- but he laughed, so she laughed too, and her half-second of worry dissolved again into the background anxiety of her mind. "Who could that masked man be?" she said on a giggle. The red mask was pretty, though a far cry from the sturdy, precise construction of the bull's helm she remembered from her dreams.

In a moment, someone was handing her a mask of her own to wear. It was beautiful -- the better part of the construction made from a sheer, soft green, so pale it almost looked luminescent -- she wondered if it might glow in the dark. Broad wings swept upward at the corners, and down toward the cheeks, trimmed in gold and distinct patterns. At the center of the crown were a pair of soft, green antennae like broad, fluttery feathers.

"It's a luna moth," she said, pleased at recognizing it. "They only live for a few days because they -- " At a thought, she cut herself off. Her face fell into a frown, and she ran her tongue along the backs of her teeth. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. It's pretty, right?"

No more than fifteen minutes after the doors opened Mei stepped out of her fathers silver Nissan onto the sidewalk just outside the Umbrae Hotel. "Just remember to have fun and don't go kissing any boys." He called out from the drivers seat to which Mei raised her eyebrows anything but amused by his last choice of words.

"Really dad? I'm not in grade school anymore." She replied all the while looking around to see if anyone had heard. With a sigh she turned back to him and leaned into the car to give him a good-bye peck on the cheek "I'll give you a call once I'm ready to be picked up."

Nodding his head once, he decided to not push the subject any more. His little girl seemed to have grown up in the blink of an eye; one moment a chubby cheeked baby and the next... He paused that train of thought and smiled more so to himself than anything. Like a slide show flashing through his mind he remembered the day she was born and now here she was standing in a pink dress both she and her mother had picked out, radiant as ever. No matter what Mei said, she would always be his little girl.

Standing up once more to close the passenger door, she remained rooted in place till her father took off down the street; weaving and winding his way through traffic effortlessly as he made his way to the freeway. Mei drew in a deep breath then and proceeded inside to pay for her admission and receive her mask for the evening. The only thing she hoped was that she'd run into someone she knew if only to avoid being a wall flower watching everyone else have a good time.

------------------
First floor

4- Yellow - Hannah
5- Pink - Mei
7- Orange - Fiona

Lovely Belrose was not the sort to be late to public events. Rather, he preferred to be fashionably early. Attired in a dark blue suit accented in black (a perfect match for the black mask with which he'd been previously provided), Lovely entered the hotel ahead of the crowd and took up a spot in the main ballroom.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Lovely stood to the side of the room and scanned the developing crowd. His expression was not what one would expect of someone used to grand parties. Rather, he looked decidedly unimpressed—disgusted, even. He sneered openly at a few of the attendees.

“Look at all the bottom feeders pretending to be someone,” he said. He didn't bother to keep his voice lowered. What did he care if one of the aforementioned bottom feeders happened to hear him? “I should have expected as much when I heard admission was only ten dollars.”

This was a farce of a charity function if he ever saw one, a pathetic attempt to liven up a dreary city that often seemed dead.

Not for the first time, Lovely cursed his fate. He could be attending a real party in the much more glamorous locales of Paris or Milan. Instead, he was stuck in the trash heap that was Destiny City associating with the rabble.

“And here you were worrying you wouldn't fit in,” he jeered, shooting his companion for the evening a scornful smirk.

Nega Agent Mask: Black

Luca was, to say the least, hyped for the event. Finally, something she could get all gussied up for! She had been waiting for ages for a classy event that she could look absolutely gorgeous for, since her date with Penthesilea and Megiddo had not been the lavish, romantic affair that she had been dreaming of. That wasn't to say she didn't enjoy it; she just would have preferred a fantastic dinner date to "kill a Nega, then head to someone's house for some absolutely amazing lovin'" (and boy, was the lovin' amazing). In any case, she had asked Jeanne very, very nicely to meet her at the ball, because getting to dance with one of her girlfriends would put her on cloud nine. She wasn't sure if Keren would be coming, which made her frown a bit, since she wanted to enjoy this fabulous night as much as possible, but she couldn't really force anyone into this. Neither of her girlfriends really seemed like the type for fancy-dos, so she wouldn't be surprised if Jeanne had decided to opt out in the end. If she did, there would be Words for her nonetheless.

At any rate, Luca proceeded through check-in, obtaining a soft red mask with red feathers coming out from the sides and red stones dotting the main body of the mask. The color she had been given made her frown a bit, since originally she had wanted a red dress, but had been convinced by the lady at the dress shop to wear a lovely strapless blue number. Something about "color theory" since her hair was orange and how it matched her eyes. It was only a minor setback, though; she still looked rockin' as far as she was concerned. She had even had her hair done up in a nice half-up half-down style, with two strands meeting in back and the rest of her hair down.

After check-in, Luca lingered in one of the lobbies, people watching and looking for her special someone. Hopefully she'd be able to find Jeanne (and Jeanne find her) with the mask on.



----

Silas had a bit of a (questionably secret) thing for getting all groomed up and going to a classy place to meet classy people. The black suit he was wearing was a bit old, though not really worse for wear; he was tempted to wear a red tie, but then he remembered that the event was called "black tie" for a reason. He did manage to sneak some of his signature red in through his hair tie, though. His hair was in its usual ponytail; if allowed to flow free, it might get in the way or otherwise be unfitting for the event. He had tried to rein in some of those stray flyaway curls more than he usually did, but they were persistent. Ah, well, he'd have an opportunity for letting his hair down eventually.

As he proceeded through check-in, he was handed an orange mask with darker orange fabric zig-zags along the sides and some stones along the center. Not thinking anything of it, he slipped the mask on and made a beeline for the main ballroom, where the classiest music and, most likely, the classiest people were. Hopefully he could find a lovely lady to test out Cornelius's dancing lessons with. Heck, he'd dance with anyone, even another guy, if it meant it'd help them have a good time here. It was a time of celebration, and damned if he wasn't going to celebrate to the best of his ability.



Luca: Red Mask
Silas: Orange Mask

Jonah Sinclair despised parties.

Alright, so maybe “despise” was too harsh a word. He didn't really despise anything. But parties and other such social gatherings of this caliber made him uncomfortable. First there were the suits and ties, which he never felt like himself in. Then there were too many people he didn't know, all of them dancing and laughing and drinking and—he was certain—judging him for his lack of enthusiasm and his quiet demeanor.

“Speak up,” his grandfather always told Jonah when he was dragged along to these sorts of things. “Socialize. Mingle. Project your voice. Annunciate your words.”

That was easier said than done, in Jonah's opinion.

Jonah was quick to fasten his mask in place (at least that way people were less likely to know who he was at first glance) and slipped away from his grandfather as soon as his grandfather was engaged in conversation with one wealthy person or another. For his part, Jonah found a nice, quiet corner to tuck himself away in, sitting heavily into one of the chairs. He hunched over like he could make himself invisible to the crowd, one of his legs jigging up and down compulsively.

Jonah's Mask: Black

Leo's life is not the lion's share he hoped it to be.

He possesses small successes: a trophy wife that left him years ago, two children, one with a learning disability and another with eye shadow as dark as her views on life; a hardware store that somehow manages to stay afloat despite selling tools too good to break, and a Rolls Royce he restored from the ground up. These are the small successes he uses to define his life. It's what he justifies to himself every night, breathing an exhaustive count to banish nightmares. To say prayers.

Leo himself is not necessarily an honest man, but a good man. He harbors no ill intentions. He's no more selfish than anyone else. But he's struggling with the frets of middle age, and his daughter's learning to act out, and his customer base keeps dying to broken cars or poorly planned projects or these youma he keeps hearing about.

So it's time to go to a ball.
It's time to drink away all of the problems he could ever dream of.

Maybe the new year wouldn't be much different than the old year. Maybe he won't meet a new girl at the party, or his business won't pick up, or the kids will bask in another year of obstinacy. But for now, that didn't matter. He had a mask on his face and a glass in his hand. He was one grain of tuxedo among a sea of dresses and corsages and silk flowers and lace veils. He was a nobody with no past here, no future, no credibility and no limit to the amount of alcohol he could flood into his veins.

This was freedom.

He lacked the fancy trimmings of some of the more extravagant costumes - the ones dressed in the lavish attire of the Phantom, or those similarly decorated in avant garde fashion to draw every eye in the ballroom. He owned a tuxedo, one just a little yellowed from age, that fit too tight around the waist and too loose in the biceps and chest, he realized, as he found just how his body emigrated downward from the day of his marriage. He wore a black tie from his mother's funeral. He slicked his sable hair back, salt and pepper around his temples. He polished his shoes, even though a stubborn scuff on the left shoe refused to dissipate. He bought a boutonniere that came in a plastic takeout box and pinned it to his lapel with the help of his daughter, who begged to go.

Maybe she was here, maybe she wasn't. He never told her yes or no.

For now it was time to mingle among the crowd, who looked a little too young for his taste. Maybe he was just a little too old for their taste. It wouldn't matter - a few drinks in and he'd lose the inhibitions about age difference in fraternizing.

Green mask