Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a light chuckle. Delilah could picture the look of parents who believed in tradition finding annoyance in a rebel child. She had fought her own teachings but in the end, her parents had won out. Still, she did not do it often. "Now that I can believe. My mother and father insisted I learn some of the traditional dances. Though it has made it rather impossible not to try and tango at social gatherings now." She gave him an innocent 'oops' look as they walked. "It's these new dance moves I don't get. Twerking? What is that anyway?"

His stumble pulled her as well. Stepping on them hem of her dress, Delilah fell forward, using her grip on his arm as her own source of balance. Her second hand came up to hold on as well, spinning herself to face him.

When Delilah finally did stand straight again, her eyes blinked , searching for his own express. He seemed a bit warm and sluggish so she nodded softly in agreement to his temperature concern. "We can continue our game as we find a place to rest. The lobby or some place more open where we might find some air . I worry your coat might not help now. Would you like me to carry it?" She seemed personally alright but a thin layer at the bottom of her dress and bare shoulders kept her cooler. "But I must suggest we stay away from the drink. I fear should either of us have anything else, we might end up on that floor." Her eyes softened to a smile. "Unless that is what you intend?" A playful question.




------
One would have to be deaf not to hear the concern in the young lady's voice as Jasper picked up a beautiful fluted glass and offered it to her. "Of course. With all these people in here, it would be getting a bit warm." Jasper winced again as he turned and spotted a near empty table.

One woman sat alone in a pink mask and from the look and direction of her eyes, she was watching them....or him...as well. Jasper smiled, turned, and picked a second glass of punch. "Let us join the lone lady as well. For as you said, being alone should anyone faint could be heart breaking."

Offering her his elbow, Jasper balanced the two glasses he carried and guided her to the table. Looking at the lone woman, he smiled. "May we join you? I bring a peace offering since we came without invitation."

"Yeah...I don't much like the music down there either. But up here isn't my sort of music either." he added the last part after a few moments hesitation. he liked all kinds of music but most pop music and club music wasn't really his thing and he figured it never would be.

"I hope you find your friends." he was likely, if left to himself, to remain standing here and not entering. it was intimidating and he didn't see a table and chairs set up in sight - all those bodies.

When he saw Faust go boneless, he moved to catch the cat, but there were already people coming, elbowing, moving himself and Chailee back as though a feline were a plague rat. A feline that had already been entranced as a government backed, approved and warranted service animal? And not saying anything to Quenton himself as they just took the animal out? "I'm sorry-" he waved a hand of apology back to Chailee. He moved after them at first, the faceless workers that took out the cats, more than Faust, and deposited them outside. Nothing further though.

The sculptor was feeling peakish in a way that usually only happened by the end of three or four activities, but not so much as to be witless and reduced to browing stuffonmycat dot com. They're not attacking the cats or locking them away out of sight. Those are just workers following orders, not the real enemy. Faust is safe for now. But everyone in here isn't.

This is a trap or ....something. Something is definitely going on.

People are passing out- He watched some masked, beautiful creatures carried to one of the nurses stations for resuscitation. But what is the cause and connection- where is the source. The Negaverse? The Mirror? Something else?

Quenton looked around, scanning the first floor for anyone that he could recognize. The list of civilian names and faces he knew to go along with powers was painfully slim- limited to Jeanne and Ruthie? Arian? Orah? He took off the veil to Stroud's designed ensemble, it was just all the more obscurement beyond the mask. Do I have anyone's cellphone...would they have it on...is anyone else here? There has to be some chance of at least one other scout or knight. Or what?

He moved to the stairs, rather than the elevators, fishing for phone in ridiculous clutch.

Well, she'd kicked his a**, but considering the fact that she'd stone-cold called him out she hadn't been actually offended by his little joking display. Considering Zachary's luck...it could have been a lot worse.

"Cool," he nodded, bounching his head along to the beat as he gave himself some respectable distance between him and those lightning-fast jabs. As an afterthought, he waved Jun down when it looked like she was between forms and added, "Oh, by the way, the name's Zach!" He hoped she could hear over the music, but if all else failed he could try to meet up to chat once she took a break.

In the meanwhile, this muchacho intended to dance.

On a normal night, Zachary had at least an hour of enthused fist-pumping before he even broke a sweat, but something about the crowded dance floor had his head dizzy just shy of the half-hour mark. At first, the man was intended to fight through it, stubbornly refusing to be shown up by a bunch of high schoolers, but when the colors in his vision began to began to blur he begrudgingly shimmied away from the dance floor and towards the bar for some refreshment. Surely he just needed to rehydrate, or take breather away from all of these people and the stupid amounts of body heat they produced--

Zachary barely made it to the edge of the hard wood dance floor when he felt malaise drape over him, his vision promptly going dark. Something in him knew to lift his arms to brace for impact when his world started turning and the floor began to rush towards him, but they suddenly felt so heavy, and he realized all at once that he was so very, very tired. No one would mind if he napped on the floor for a little bit, would they?

The red-head hit the ground with a dull thud, to be scooped up by hotel staff only moments later. No worries, they insisted, just someone who drank too much, it happens at every event.

...Then again...had he even been drinking?

Zachary Esther - Green Mask - Unconscious!

Genevieve was late, she knew it, but she had needed to get dressed and make up and she'd had some things at home to do with her parents who were home for the holidays. Rushing into the place the cream and gold dressed female nearly tripped over a heel but managed to maintain her balance. As she reached the desk she reached out and took a mask, having paid hurriedly as she entered the hotel.

The moment she had scooped up the white mask, which matched her dress perfectly, the female took off for the first floor ballroom. Unaware of all the people who had and were passing out she was shocked when someone fell into her and as she stepped back they landed on the ground. Wide dark blue eyes stared at the woman for a moment before someone from the hotels staff lifted them up and carried them off, well that was good. They must have been tired...though that didn't make much sense. No, they had to have drank too much - that made sense.

Any other thoughts she might have had shifted right to the party and finding food and seeing if anyone she knew was here, as well as scoping out the decorations and see what ideas this set up might inspire in herself.


Color Mask: White.
Sailor Nephthys senshi of Vampires.

It was already long past bedtime for small children by the time Gigi arrived at the ball with her eight-year-old cousin in tow. The little girl was a bouncing ball of energy despite the late hour – perhaps because of it. Only a few days off the flight from Australia, Kirra hadn’t adjusted to local time yet, had refused to go to bed at a sensible hour then stayed up nearly all night watching cartoons. Gigi sympathised, having not too long ago had to make the adjustment herself, but it was clearly driving the adults insane. Gigi had volunteered for this outing to give her mother and aunt a bit of a break, and hopefully tire Kirra out enough to sleep till morning. And it had been fun getting dressed up, Gigi in a pastel-pink gown with white and gold accents, Kirra in a more violently hot-pink dress that clashed with the red tips of her hair.

“We’re only staying till midnight, okay,” Gigi reminded, paying for their two tickets and collecting their masks. Second ballroom sounded like the place to be. “Once we’ve rung in the New Year, it’s home time.”

“Okay! But it’s already the New Year, though, since yesterday!” Kirra waved her phone up at Gigi, displaying the time and date for the other side of the world.

“I think your clock is wrong.”

“Nope, it’s the real time! And it’s tomorrow in Real Time!”

“Oh.” Gigi changed tactics. “Well, no need to stay at the party, then. It’s already New Year, let’s go home.” She turned away from the door, holding out her hand to lead the child away.

Kirra pouted, and offered up the phone. “Put the American time for me!”

Gigi knelt down to slip the blue mask over Kirra’s head, fluffing out the child’s colourful hair. “At midnight, okay? It’ll be just the right time when the clock strikes. Come find me and I’ll fix you up. Stay in this ballroom! Don’t get lost!”

“Okay!” the child almost cheered, stashing the phone in her little child-sized purse and waving as she turned to the roomful of balloons.

Gigi donned her own purple mask, adjusting it as best she could without a mirror, catching new tangles in her carefully controlled curls – the hairspray was never going to last the night anyway. She watched the little girl hare off into the crowd, and let out a sigh that surprised her half-way through by turning into a yawn. The frenetic preparations and struggle to get here at all seemed to catch up with her in a rush, leaving her too tired to go looking for entertainment of a more grown-up variety. Children were just waaay too much effort. She propped herself against the wall just inside the second ballroom doors, watching the balloons being batted around by the younger revellers. Alcohol was out of the question for the nineteen-year-old, but she wondered idly if she could persuade the staff to bring her a coffee.

*

Party party party party! It was all Kirra had thought since her big cousin told her they could go. She wasn’t tired at all, not even a little bit, and it sucked that she couldn’t wear her Elsa dress, but Gigi had said they would be matching pink, and it was super cool to be matching.

She forgot about the phone and the time as soon as she got a good look at the second ballroom in its full glory. She kicked the balloons out of the way, watching the pretty colours bounce and float, which was fun, but the real draw was the ice-cream bar. She hitched up her fluffy pink skirts and wormed her way around the other children until she found what looked to her like a queue, snagging bowl and spoon, and taking her place in the line for ice-cream and candy – which was American for lollies. She hoped for red ones, but all colours were yummy.

It seemed like a lot of the kids around her were older than her eight years, but that was okay, she wasn’t biased against making friends with old people. Everyone here could be her friend. But she thought about her new school uniform, hanging all starched and stiff in the cupboard, and wondered if any of the other kids here were from Knightside Elementary. It would be super-awesome if she could make some school friends before she even started at school!

*

Gigi (Sailor Subamara): Purple mask
Kirra (unawakened chibi): Blue mask

Boaz was running a little late for the New Year's Eve ball but he had a very good reason for his uncharacteristic tardiness, having checked into the suite room he had made reservations for first to ensure that things were in order for a private New Year's Day celebration that would follow after the main event for the evening had come to a close.

Decked in a black suit, he exited the elevator at the second level as advised by the reception upon his check in, heading directly for the registration counter located outside of the main ballroom so as to get the registration under way. Handing over the 10 dollars that was the admission fee for the event, he quirked a brow at the smile that the lady gave him along with a black mask in exchange for it, glancing down at his watch for the time before scanning the immediate area to see if he could spot his date for the evening.

Boaz/Amethyst
Mask: Black (Nega)