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Jamie Delacroix | 25/25 | talking to Eve, Leila, and Gabriella

Here for the party? They both knew the answer to that one already. "Unfortunately..." he murmured, wringing his hands together beneath lacy, draping cuffs. Jamie wasn't one for this kind of thing otherwise and he looked about as stiff as Leila. Truth be told, he wasn't often invited to get-togethers at all, but that was a story for another time.

"Nice to, um, meet you... I'm okay, I guess." Tugging absently at one of his sleeves, he happened to catch Gabriella's question and his head shot up, an edge of worry in his expression.

"I-I really hope they turn back," he admitted. If Jamie had lost the hat he'd gotten from Shiloh forever, well, it would've been so much more devastating than the loss of any piece of clothing should've been. It may have been a dumb hat, but it was important to him; it reminded him that Shiloh cared. Sometimes it felt like all he had to fight off the loneliness that had been re-encroaching lately.

"I don't understand what's going on with any of this..." Looking back at Eve, appreciative of her attempt at normalcy, but still obviously troubled, he asked, "Do you think what those cats said is true...?"

wil azevedo || 25/25 || stumbling over with nasir

Wil kept tight to Nasir's hand not to get lost in the crowd but the other young man seemed to trip in his shoes and the blonde came jolting along with him and bumping a few shoulders.

He gave apologetic smiles all around.

Lily was there- looking very fuzzy- with someone people he didn't recognize... another of them fuzzy. Since they seemed sane he didn't worry much but Nasir rubbing his arm had the blonde squeezing his hand reassuringly.

"Hey guys-"

Lily Babineaux: 25/25 - Avoiding Ashton and going to hang with Nasir, Wil, Eve, Leila, and Jamie, feat. Nathaniel

Lily's eyes narrowed at the cat's cryptic depictions, but didn't go out of her way to pursue the issue further. She knew when she was being played with, and the only way she knew how to win the little game they were engaged in was to play distant and hope that they tired of her. When Nathaniel spoke, she nodded in agreement, though her ears continued to twitch. "Yeah, dibs on not being the replacement sacrifice," she scoffed, looking back to Nathaniel. "And that goes for you too. No noble martyring, alright? I can't take a tombstone on a second date."

She almost laughed when she peered into a familiar set of eyes, cold and impassive. She might have fooled herself on sight alone, but there was no forgetting the sound of Ashton's voice, even as warped and cordial as it was. Lily was grateful to have a mask to hide behind--it obscured the way her eyebrows shot upwards and her nose crinkled, even as her visible lips bent into a frown. But more notably, her tail bristled, lifted up in alarm or possible warning.

"Ashton," she spoke slowly, as if not to choke. She curled her fingers around Nathaniel's, perhaps as an act of solidarity. "Well, you caught me, hot damn, all out being social and stuff. It's a ball." She pressed her lips together in an attempt at a smile, but her eyes were already darting across the assembled guests, looking for a way out of this confrontation. She found her escape in a growing throng of people, and her ears twitched just as her tail fell.

"You look great, gotta mingle," Lily said curtly, nodding towards Ashton before giving Nathaniel's hand a squeeze, letting go as she wandered over towards the other moonwalkers, beckoning for him to follow. Jamie was the easiest to find, all ears and nerves, and she ruffled a hand through an uncovered section of his hair as she closed in on the group. "Heeey, Cottonball, you made it," she murmured, a soft voice to go with soft hands. Her recognition of Eve came next, if only by proxy of the ears and hair from under the mask, and to her she gave a nod and a smile. "Hi, Mom," she added in greeting, waving softly from behind Jamie's shoulder. She took a quick glance over the other faces, searching for Lucas to complete the set, when suddenly it dawned on her...

"...Nasir?" She blinked from under the porcelain on her face, trying to match the effervescent character before her with an imagined view of the friendly neighborhood chef with all his hair contained. It certainly looked like him, and he was with a certain tall blonde someone that sealed the deal for her. "That's...you look awesome." As an afterthought, she looked to the others, her tail swishing against the ostrich feathers at the base of her gown. "You all look awesome."

"You are meeting the Court! You are within its confines even now. And you are celebrating the red moon and the tithe!" The cats smile at Autumn. Marcus's attempt at naming them goes unremarked; they breeze right past it, as if they don't even hear him.

Alexis and Autumn find that the pink fizzy stuff in the cups tastes oddly of delight, a bright flowery taste that's found in the nose rather than the tongue. It eludes description.

"A wise decision! You must learn the ropes before you may run the course, as humans say! But you also say to not borrow trouble and look at all of you! Such trouble you've borrowed. Better to lose the key than to come to a place like this, yes, yes." The cats' ears p***k up and they turn in unison towards the doors as they swing open to an ivory hall. The earlier crowds have reappeared, all of them dancing or chatting and laughing as if ignorant of the horrors waiting for them. "Humans, it is time! Time to go within the halls! You must be brave, humans, very brave! And very smart, oh yes, yes. Enjoy your night! Be alert! And save those you deem worth your saving, yes, yes."

Before anyone has the chance to move past them, the cats remember to add: "The plum parlor and the scarlet foyer are safe places! No harm will come to you there, no, none! And remember: if you can't dazzle them with logic, baffle them with bullshit. Goodnight, humans! Goodnight!"

As one, the cats peel apart, collapsing into clean white bones and golden, shimmering dust.



Please move on over into the ivory hall! Persuasion and favors will be going up throughout the day tomorrow, but in the meantime yall should get settled in for now!

Nathaniel Parrish - 25 / 25 - escorting Lily and talking to a lot of people


"Dibs on neither of us being any sort of sacrifice," murmured Nathaniel, and he glanced sideways at Lily, letting out a little laugh. "Don't worry, I won't do anything like that. I want to at least figure out what they're talking about before I pull the whole noble martyr thing."

A grin was flashed in her direction, but the sound of Lily's name coming from someone else made him turn as she did. Her tail, which he already found sort of curious, was bristled in irritation, and Nathaniel felt her fingers curl more securely around hers, her voice tight as she answered.

Clearly this was someone she didn't care for too much. Nathaniel didn't pry, but instead followed after her towards a small cluster of people standing nearby, his eyes sweeping interestedly across all of their clothing, giving a nod of greeting and a friendly smile and ignoring the well of unexpected nerves low in the pit of his stomach.

He didn't recognize any of them, of course, except -

"Nasir?" Nathaniel repeated, peering at the one that Lily had indicated. "Really?"

But he'd barely gotten the name out when the cats spoke again, and behind the mask, Nathaniel's eyes slid towards them, his curious smile fading into a slight frown.

Shun Kuroda 25/25 - Heading to the Ivory hall

Nodding once to Jeremiah, Shun turned as he saw the doors finally open up to the lot.

"Well from the looks of things, we cannot stray too far anyway," he said with a shrug towards Connor. That said, he went on through the gates.

wil azevedo || 25/25 || still mingling as the crowd disperses

Wil waved at Lily and her date, who of course seemed to know Nasir. It was one of his boyfriend's best traits, if not a defining one, that he was nice and precious and too friendly to be denied.

"And Wil." Wil smiled, hands going to his mask with the breif desire to lift it and flash his face to them, but he remembered the invitation about unmasking at a specific time and he'd hate to anger a bunch of weird magic people. "I mean-" He did waggly fingers, "Nooot Wiiil and Nasiiir.."

"We got invited by a cat. By accident it turns out," Wil scratched his head, more gingerly than usual due to it's styling.

The stoner slouched a bit and appraised them, "You guys look hot though." Not the same kinda hot that Nasir looked though >3