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Harata had heard about the ball from her hiding. After loosing her courage once, she decided to run in head first. That was, to go to the ball they were hosting. A small donation was to be made, but surely that could be arranged. Surely she had enough. She was, after all, by no means, strapped for cash. She slipped in quietly, leaning against the wall, just daring somebody to notice her.

The clock kept on ticking, and the hall kept on filling up. It was half an hour after doors opening, and the place was already packed almost to the brim.

"Meep!" said Steff, as she was accidentally squashed up against the table by a big, six-foot-plus guy, who'd in turn been shoved by the crowd. He mumbled an apology, as Stephanie squirmed out of the way of his body mass and clung very dramatically onto the arm of her 'date.' The big guy looked in horror for a moment at the red-haired man, as if he might pick a fight with him for unintentionally squishing his girlfriend, and made an exit as fast as he could through the jostling bunch of people.

"Wow, did you see that?" Steff giggled, "That great big guy ran off like he was frightened of YOU! I guess he must've thought what they say about redheads is true, huh?" she teased, picking up the end of Odin's long coil of hair and tickling her chin with it.

What she saw next stopped her dead. "Meep!"

Immediately, her grip on Odin's arm became vice-like, and she tugged at her forcefully until they began moving sideways, skirting along the crowd and the table. "L-let's go... this way...!"

A few metres away, like a lion hunting a lamb, Gloria was feverishly trying to force her way through the crowd, which was forming a solid barrier between her and her target - Steff, and her delicious, unknown date. "Damn it, let me through!! I'm staff here, you know!"

Nobody paid her any attention, and she snorted in frustration, craning over the heads of the crowd to keep her eye on Steff's progress. She followed her and her date's bizarre arm-linked crab-shuffle until they were lost behind the many bodies in the packed room.

"She can run," she hissed, "But she cannot hide."

"Wow, I take it back - she's scary, man. You can have her."

Steff managed to find them a haven she supposed to be safe, tucked away by the wall on the other side of the stage from where she's initially made her dash away from Gloria. She looked around, unable to spot the combat instructor, and gave a small, grateful sigh.

"Phew... got away for now!" she celebrated, "Sorry, it's just I saw Gloria making a beeline for us, and she's one of the people we definitely don't want to s- MEEP!"

She squeaked again, stepping to her side so that she was hidden from the corner of the room opposite them by Odin's frame. She grabbed on to her friend's shoulders, holding her steady and in place. "Don'tturnarounddon'tturnarounddon'tturnaround."

Because, as the undulations of the crowd moved people in and out, she'd spotted through a randomly-occuring vent none other than He Who Must Not Be Named. The a*****e himself.

They were trapped - Gloria on one side, a*****e on the other. It was a pincer movement of nightmarish proportions. At least Aiden didn't appear to have spotted them yet, as opposed to Gloria, who'd probably spend much of her evening hunting them down.

In a way, it was silly to be scared of seeing people, since they'd come down there together as an act of protest and all. But in another way, in the time they'd spent in the hall together, Steff had begun to enjoy the anonymity of the experience just as much as Odin. As far as everyone was concerned, she was here with a good-looking stranger... and for the girl who despite being cheerleading captain had never been to any real dances with a real date or even attracted any real attention from guys - poor little Steff, always overlooked and forgotten - it was a really nice change of pace!

It was strange. Not just because she was wearing a strapless dress and wasn't used to it, but because Total wasn't with her. He had run away a few days ago and hadn't come back yet. The girl felt pained that she was unable to find him.

Turning toward the mirror to adjust her wig, Alexi Silver looked at herself with slight disdain. She was beginning to regret buying a strapless dress. She'd hated them; why had she been suckered in? But it didn't matter; she had solved the problem. Taking out two skin-colored straps she had made in advance, Alexi quickly sewed them strategically under the front of the top, instantly making invisible straps. Her dress looked good, and she felt more comfortable. It was a win-win situation.

"That's better," Alexi said to herself, smiling.

But was it really better?

There was one final thing to do. She was all dressed; the girl wore her violet dress now with straps, sheer-colored stockings, black-bottomed high-button shoes, white gloves, black collar necklace, long pink wig styled in an updo with sideburns, and a ruffled white headband. Although she didn't really think she did, the girl cleaned up pretty good.

Alexi looked down at the flower in her hands. It was the flower that Total was going to give her that she had dug up in the forest just days ago. She placed it in her hair.

Total was right, she thought. It really does suit me.

As soon as she said this, she felt the tears coming. But this was not the night for tears. It was the Benevolent Order Christmas Ball, for Overseer's sake! This was a night to party!

She looked at herself one last time. Smiling brightly, she headed to the ballroom.

~~~

The view was stunning. Plenty of people on the dancefloor, delicious food worth salivating over, and the ambiance was amazing.

"This is gonna be one helluva party!" Alexi said happily to herself, temporarily forgetting her sadness.

"MAKE WAY FOR THE PRINCE OF MER-ANTIUM!" a voice suddenly boomed through the crowd. "AND HIS SUPER-SEXY CONSORT!"

Muted gasps and shrieks rippled through the room in a curving line as His Royal Highness Prince Zain made his hallowed way through the crowd.

Impossible? Everyone had thought so, until earlier that day. Ther hadn't been time, permission nor money to dig the appropriate trench into the main hall. Having a great big hole filled with boisterous mermen in the middle of a dancefloor was not the most Health and Safety conscious idea in the world... so the young prince and his followers had had to improvise.

"Move it or lose it, people! VIPPP coming through!" he barked, whacking some poor unfortunate around the behind with the head of his mop, and prodding another's rear to get them out of the way. Both had the same effect as the crack of a whip, and the crowd parted even further to allow Prince Zainire's bathtub to cruise by.

His bathtub. On wheels.

God be with us all.

"Oh.. Ah.. Uhm... I, I see. T-that's nice. And.. pretty," she said absently, mind lost in the spectacle that was unfolding a few meters away. Odin shook her head and tried to pry her eyes from the.. the parade that was passing by.

She looked back at her friend, "Well, I've never wanted a boyfriend so.. it doesn't really bother me.. but.. I think.. that it's better that someone treats you like a little sister rather than nothing at all." She made a long pause, mostly to make way for the noise coming from the bizarre motorcade, before speaking again. "Because then you're sure that person does care for you, one way or another."

---

"Well, look at that," Aidan said catching sight of the strange parade parting the crowd. The two beside him had grown quiet again and were now gawking at the spectacle as well.

As his eyes moved along with the rolling bathtub he suddenly caught sight of someone on the other side of the room staring at the merman prince and his rolling tub. He stared at them for a moment before the person whipped back to talk to someone else.

Odd, he couldn't quite place the face but he was sure he knew them from somewhere. Fortunately the noisy talk among the spectators the merman left in his wake was enough to break his train of thought for the time being. He figured he'd wait for later to worry about that stranger again.

Harata let out an incredibly loud derisive snort at the entering of the Prince. "A prince? Honestly? They have royalty here now? Not that he looks like much. He's not even human."
She rolled her eyes at the behavior of the prince and his followers, and even debated stepping in front of them.
"That is exactly the sort of behavior I used to loathe in SIN."
She stood off the wall, glaring at the group.