Welcome to Gaia! ::

Noel couldn't help but laugh as his daughter slowly got ready for the gala held by the people from where she came. Noel always had a problem saying their names, so in the end, he just called them By their first name. However, that was not the point. The point was, Alome willingly let herself be dressed up and prepared for the Gala. It seemed that recently.. An event had occurred, and it had made Alome's heart soften considerably. Her mood swings had stopped, and she seemed to always carry a faint smile. That night.. when she had disappeared... He wondered what had happened..

Either way, he know found himself dressing his daughter just how she should be, a princess. Being unable to decide what to wear, Noel chose a dress for her, one that seemed to fit her well... Almost too well.. Sure, anyone could say they were a 'prince' or a 'princess' but Noel was proud of the fact that through his and his daughter's veins flowed royal blood. A thought passed his mind.. What would have happened if he had stayed back in the Lepke country...? Would his daughter have been happier? Would she even be around..? It was a perplexing thought, to say the least.

"Dad, I'm dressed.." Her voice, soft and shy called out, making her way down the stairs. She stood at the base, shifting around in her lilac dress, which began right above where her wings would have been, the nubs showing through slits in the back of the fabric. They didn't seem to be awkward at all, in fact, they seemed that they were simply little buds, just waiting to unravel. Upon her face was the mask with eye holes covered in a thin white sheet, so her eyes were completely hidden. She seemed to keen on wearing that mask recently, and even more keen on trying to take it off. yet.. she could not bring herself to do so, not just yet. at e very top of her head, she wore the Lepke Country's royal princess tiara. In her mind, she felt ridiculous, no one ever needed this as a symbol of separation from the lower class. That just led to those who are power hungry to have an even bigger ego.

"Oh sweetie.. You look so beautiful.. You're growing up so fast.." Noel murmured, pulling his daughter in for a hug and a kiss on the forehead. The butterfly child looked up at him, though the eyes that looked back seemed to go off into the distance.

"We... Should go now.." She whispered, heading towards the door way, waiting for her father. Deep in her heart, she wished that she could see that boy again, the one who had been there for her... She wished that the boy could have been the one who took her to the gala.. But.. That couldn't happen.. It would be too good to be true.. Wishes such as this never came true..

During the whole ride, her gaze was at the sky.. A pull was felt on her heartstrings as she recalled the sensation of flying... Something magical. It seemed she was lacking that greatly in her life as of recent.

Upon arrival, and a warning to be home before midnight, she waved to her father, making he way into the ball room... Lights.. People.. Children, young, old.. Such a place was overwhelming for the child, but she was still unsure if she even belonged. Then again.. she never was told she couldn't come. For now, she would sit in a corner, relaxing, calming down from the sensation of so many people before she began to interact with others.

The Lord of the Night walked in with his head held high, faunt face covered in an intricate golden mask. His costume was dramatic; ancient clothing from his time, with a full cravat and hose, covered head to toe in gold. On such short notice, he had little time for anything other than a storage raid.

On each hand was a daughter. Deirdre looked about excitedly, her anger at being later slowly ebbing away. Kaito wasn't here, so this was technically her party, and that made it better. She clutched her inflatable guitar in her free hand, a big smile plastered on her face. What to do first? Who to talk to first? It was all so...so overwhelming!

Then she spotted him and she knew. "Be back, father." She looked up at Adrian, and slipped away. The child by the wall, the one next to the doll that looked like the older two; he had to be the same one from the fair. Right? Deirdre approached slowly. "Hi. Member me?"

"She looks happy," Adrian commented, almost in shock. It was a rare thing indeed.

"Calm, more like." Said the second daughter. Always on the back burner, Sophie held up an enchanted broom with a forboding look. She was still more than a little peeved. Just because she was a witch didn't mean she wanted to dress like one! "These shoes hurt."

The vampire squeezed his daughter's hand comfortingly and bend down to her level. Lovingly, he brushed back a strand of curled hair, "I know, sweetness, but it made your Aunt happy. And you look beautiful." He grinned, poking her nose, then smiled brighter when she did the same. "Now, should you not be finding your husband?"

"You think he's here?"

"I know so - I smell his stench from here."

"Her Dad, huh?" Suddenly, Lance found himself wondering if he should be keeping an eye out - Kali lived with her uncle, right? Would he be pissed if he caught her dancing with him? Nah...it wasn't like he was her Dad or anything. He probably wouldn't care.
"I haven't met Dimitri yet." At least, he didn't think that he had. Thinking about this distracted him slightly, causing him to lose count of his steps.
This unfortunately caused him to slip a little. He caught himself, but the hand on Kali's waist slid lower, accidentally feeling her rear up. Not that he minded, but it HAD been unintentional. "Ooops!"

"WOOO! YEAH LANCE!" And of course, Charlie had to put his two cents in...dumbass.

Cain waved to Katia as he and Luka paused in their spinning. "Vim vim!" He was so proud of what he and Luka had accomplished! Then, he grabbed hold of his friend's hand again and resumed their spinning dance. This was the most fun that he'd had in a long time!

Dimitri was a little surprised when two other boys rushed up to the snack table. Well, more like one rushed, and the other was dragged. He watched as cakes and treats disappeared into Ellery's mouth, cheeks eventually bulging out. He looked, Dimitri thought, like a chipmunk. He couldn't help but laugh.
"How much can you fit in there?" Even his dad didn't eat that much! At least, not all at once.

The extent to which Viktor cared was something Lance was about to find out. He hadn't seen him slip, his view blocked by Luka at that convenient moment. No. All he saw was Lance's hand slip lower, and grope his niece's rear. He was over in a second, Katia beside him, large hands gripping Lance's and covering them completely. He considered breaking them, for a moment, but didn't. He also didn't loosen his grip.

"Oops is right, boy." He growled, his deep voice accented lightly, giving him just that further edge of intimidation.

"Uncle Viktor-" Kali said, but he clearly wasn't listening. And, Charlie didn't help.

"What do you think you're doing with my niece?" If Lance had thought, somehow, that this was a strange crazy man attacking him, there was no doubt now of the reason. This was Kali's uncle. And he wasn't happy.

Luka turned as he heard Viktor's voice, not loud but clearly angry. For a moment, he thought he was mad at him; but for once, this wasn't the case. He was mad at Lance! Which was really too bad, but Luka much preferred him being mad at Lance to Viktor being mad at him.

Viktor would not have been pleased had he been able to read Lance's mind. But, he couldn't, and so he was only angry about the 'grabbing of her a**' incident.

"I bet you slipped." Viktor growled, pulling Lance closer to him and glowering. "Did you 'slip', and forget where you were? Who was here? Like, say, me?"

"Uncle Viktor knock it off...!" Kali hissed, pulling at the arm that held Lance's hand. "People will notice, this will get awkward, and we might get kicked out."
"Kicked...out?" Katia gave her father the saddest look she could possibly muster, and it was this that ultimately loosened Viktor's grip on Lance. She looked so sad. He didn't want to upset her.

As Kali noticed his grip loosening, she slipped Lance's hand quickly from Viktor's and took it in her own gently.
"Uncle Viktor...this is Lance. He's a...friend, of mine. And what happened was an accident. He's not very good at formal dancing." She laughed as if it were a joke, and hoped Lance could act as if Viktor wasn't an enormous and burly bear.
"I was going to introduce you two later..." She trailed off, fidgeting. "You know. Under...better circumstances." Like, without her a** getting grabbed. It was actually the tamest butt groping she'd ever recieved. An honest accident; had he been trying to cop a feel, he could have gone lower, and groped harder.

Viktor grunted, staring at Lance. He didn't trust him. Didn't like him. He lifted his lip a bit, showing his teeth. Kali scowled. If he was this bad with her, she thought, she pitied any boy who went near Katia.

"He apologised."
"I didn't hear it."


Luka cocked his head to the side, wondering if, perhaps, he should help. He had gotten Lance in trouble before, at that restaurant...maybe he 'owed' him. He didn't really understand the concept, but stopped twirling and looked at Cain questioningly.

"Ja?" What did he think?

Viktor's lip curled as he listened to Lance apologising; he sounded sincere, yes, but it all seemed because he had mentioned it. Would he have apologised had he not been there? Perhaps. But then again, he may not have. And Viktor didn't like not knowing. He stared hard at Lance, scrutinizing him.
He had to respect the boy. He was hiding whatever fear he had rather well. His voice didn't even shake as he offered Kali an apology. Not as gallant as Viktor would have liked. Not that Viktor knew who Howl was, but the boy probably could have given Lance a few lessons on slithering out of situations.

Kali also thought that it could have been a bit more perfect, but personally couldn't be anymore pleased. Lance wasn't peeing himself. This was good. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand, reaching out to brush his cheek with her fingers lightly.

"I understand, Lance. And so does Uncle Viktor. Right?" She turned and looked at him expectantly, half a step in front of Lance and between him and her tank of an uncle. Viktor didn't respond verbally, only grunted. And glared. Always with the glaring. But Viktor wasn't the only Kovak in the room, and Kali treated him to an icy stare of her own. Neither gave the other any ground.

Luka knew very well how to get Viktor to stop paying attention to Lance. Yes, it was probably not a good idea to intentionally piss of Viktor, but maybe he wouldn't get mad.
Right. And maybe he was actually a rainbow. None the less, Luka let go of Cain and zipped over to Viktor, hovering in front of his face. He offered him a beaming smile, regurgitated each T.V remote that he had ever swallowed out at Viktor, and zipped away to hide.

Kali figured this would be a pretty good time to slither away, rather like Howl if she did say so herself, and dragged Lance after her, throwing up a quick illusion in front of them. To anyone except maybe another mage (Not witch, mage) they would seem to be an entirely normal wall.

"There are so many ways that could have gone better." She whispered, leaning against the actual wall in front of them.

"Gee, ya think? Be glad it really was an accident. He would have KILLED you otherwise..." She muttered, peeking out from behind her illusionary wall and watching her uncle.
Viktor had managed to avoid being beaned in the face by Luka's remotes, and was now staring at them on the floor, counting them all in his head. Seventeen. That blasted thing...had eaten...SEVENTEEN of his T.V remotes?!

"That's it, Katia, he's going in a jar!" He yelled, turning to grab for Luka. Still flying away, Luka chirupped, laughing, before pulling both himself and Cain into someone's shadow.
"Oh, Papa, don't be so angry..." Katia said, taking his large hand in both of hers. "You have them all back now, don't you? And you can keep those in jars, right?" She knew the idea was mostly nonsense, but gave her father the most wide eyed innocent look she could muster. And, as usual, he melted into a great teddy and smiled at her.
"Ah, Katia-doll..." He chuckled, shaking his head and swinging her up. "You're right, I suppose. I'll just keep a close eye on them..." He'd be damned if he was letting Luka eat them all again.

"Oh good. Katia's calmed him down. I think it's safe to come out now...what do you think?"