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""Yosh! We're all set," Natsuki said, tipping back her headphones, and looking over the music system with satisfaction. With a couple of key strokes, she built a play worthy list, and hit the play button. The music piped through the speakers at an acceptable level so others could enjoy conversation without being deafened in the process.

Hearing the doorbell chime, she hurried across the room to the door. She knew that Julian and the others would be busy with their duties, and since the music was playing itself, what else could she do.

"Hey there, come on, in," Natsuki smiled, opening the door to find a pair of lovely ladies, one being a familiar face whom she met briefly at the Partie D'Amour, and the other was a brand new raevan whom she hadn't met. Stepping to the side, she held the door open, and continued, "I'm Natsuki, and you are... very familiar. We met back in February, right?"

Shuura rubbed her eyes, blearily glaring at the sights and sounds downstairs that had disturbed her late afternoon nap, a parchment-colored invitation that had been left outside her apartment door crumpled beneath her right foot, unnoticed. What was going on? Was she seeing correctly? A Party? Hosted by Julio? Again? She certainly must be dreaming still. Jules throwing another party, this time without her insistence no less, at his precious apartment complex? That was something akin to.....well she didn't know exactly what, but she wouldn't be surprised if the she woke up next time and found Julian competing in a Beauty Pageant.

Ducking back into her apartment, Shuura found that Vyn had followed her out from her room and now was floating quietly in the doorway.

"Where's Squirt?" She snapped in greeting, pulling on a bloodred top and slipping on a pair of matching red zouri, completing what she dubbed a "rock-star club-style" outfit. The temperamental girl had agreed not to kick out the irrepairably noisy drink-kid only on the condition that Vyn would look after him 24/7 and make sure that he would not, in any way, become a nuisance to Shuura's daily life.

"...Sleeping," came the Frei's hesistant answer, the jarring feeling of sound-production still alien to the previously aphonic Shadow Raevan.

Opening the door a bit more, Shuura ushered them both out of their apartment and locked it, attaching the keys to a ring on her choker necklace. It served as both a fashion statement and also as a method to prevent her keys from getting lost or stolen.

Heading down towards the noise and the bustle of people, Shuura made her way down the stairs towards Jules' grand lobby area, Vyn following not too far behind. "Let's find out what's going on downstairs."

Days had begun to look dim. Even the bright spots of memory that were her past interactions with all of her friends faded a little in the face of the explosion. Thankfully she'd been away with Roux and Parfait when things had gone up (or down?). The unfortunate situation was that every belonging she'd had left was now gone... and so were Roux's.

The Raeven had not taken it well. Rather than the violence that usually came with the cold fury he'd fallen into an even deeper silence. Nothing had been frozen, nothing had been broken. He'd simply found a shard of his full length mirror and looked at himself in it.

She'd told herself before things couldn't get anyworse.. and they had. She was terrified of the future, what would come next? The only thing she could think of worse than losing two homes and all of her possessions was the death of someone loved.

So it was with a little surprise that she picked up the small invitation. It didn't have her name or anything, and normally she would have left it alone but the address was located at Julian's... she hadn't seen him in a very long time... perhaps she'd go visit and be able to see what this was all about in the process.

She arrived at the door with only a little difficulty. Roux had been reluctant to move away from the rubble, and he still carried the broken shard of mirror in one hand. His expression was subdued and distracted as he would hold it up to look at his reflection. Parfait, the little Gwee and constant source of comfort to the woman, was nestled lightly in Chloe's hair. The tiny dragonette had taken a liking to this particular roost, and at the moment Chloe didn't really want to bother with moving her.

With a small breath she reached up and rang the doorbell. "Now... we're seeing Julian, r-remember. B-Be good, Roux. P-Please."

Jae Eun vaguely remembered some of the names on the invitation from the little Valentine's Carnival she had run into. In fact, the odd purple and grey plush doll she had won there was poking out of her bag.

It had been the name of "Ravi" that had piqued her interest. She had met him before...in the library. She couldn't help but be curious as to what he had been up to in the meantime. Hearing noise inside, she adjusted the two packages in her arms. Well, it was a birthday party, so she had stopped by a store to pick up some quick gifts. For Dr. Kyou, she had grabbed a couple bottles of some pomengrante shampoo and conditioner, complete with a brush. They were wrapped in pomengrante red paper with blue-grey ribbons. For Chloe, she had bought some stationary and a bunch of hair-clips that she thought would look good on her, she had also grabbed a small hand-mirror as an afterthought. Chloe's gifts were wrapped in silver gift wrap with green ribbon.

Seeing Chloe there, her face lit up in recognition.

"Ms. Chloe!" she called, attempting to wave. Instead, Chloe's present teetered and fell out of her arms. "AAAHHH!!"

Not knowing any better, she attempted to kick the package up, like a hackey-sack. With almost impeccable timing, her phone rang at that precise moment, and with the way she lost her balance, it looked as though the plushie in her bag was singing. Her foot connected with the present, and sent it flying into the air....straight into Roux's face!!!

Niksia had been a little surprised by the invite that had arrived, explaining that there would be a celebration for Chloe and Dr Kyou's birthdays. Not one for knowing what to give people as gifts, she had struggled with what to do and what to wear.

Since when had her life involved having to decide what to wear? Highly unthinkable, but usually something to do with the Lab and the events surrounding it. A frightening pattern was emerging. She was thinking about clothes like a normal person would.

Eventually Niksia realised what she could give them both with good grace and not feel like she had rushed her choice. With that finally decided, and her latest attempt at being feminine complete, she had hurriedly stalked her way to the apartment complex mentioned on the invite. There was a little bit of her that disliked being late and she was worried she would be just that if she didn't hurry up.

Wriggling nervously on the way up, Niksia adjusted her scarf and tried to soothe the feeling of the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. At least the outfit wasn't as startling as the last one, she pondered as the doors opened and the elevator let her out on the right floor.

It wasn't hard to find where the event was being held, between the decorations and the increasing sound of music the slightly edgy lady of questionable taste found where everyone seemed to be collecting together. Pausing near the doorway, she composed herself enough to speak.

'Umm. Looks like the party is getting into the swing already?'

Niksia laughed faintly at herself, running one hand through her hair helplessly.

Blushing slightly, Niksia waved a little to Natsuki and smiled. It was nice to see someone she knew, even if it felt like a little arrow was hovering over her head. Thankfully with everything else going on she was able to sneak by and walk toward the gift tables, even in her heeled shoes.

There were no boxes with Niksia though, she had decided to take a little twist with her gifts. From somewhere apparently in the region of her waist, deep thought of this was not suggested, she took out two carefully folded pieces of paper and placed them thoughtfully on the table. One had 'Chloe' written on it in flowing script, and unsurprisingly the other say 'Kyou' on it in a similar fashion. What each said was a mystery, for the time being.

Niksia wasn't telling, she just made sure the letters weren't likely to be bumped off before slinking away slightly. She pondered what to do now, a drink or even a snack seemed like a good idea...

Well...

Isi looked up from the invitation he was carrying in his hand and he matched the numbers to the apartment floor in front of him. They were the right ones and there was a lot of noise and hubbub coming from within. This must be where Kyou and Chloe's party is, Isi determined. Glancing over his jacket, he checked himself for his appearences before he glanced behind him for his raevan, Eiry.

Licking his lips and wibblewobbling closer to his keeper, the minty frei listened to the sounds from within the home. He hadn't really wanted to come, but Isi pointed out that he would probably like it as soon as he met some other raevans. Eiry secretly hoped that Gage or Lazarus would be there. He knew his brother, Rivener, was going to be here, but he would be coming with Aphi after work. For some reason, Rivener wanted to stay behind instead of come with Isi and him.

Turning his attention back to Isi, the frei asked again warily, "Why is it we're here?" His speech had improved greatly since he had been reading books with Isi during 'study time'.

"Remember the White Man?" asked Isi, fixing his crutches and readying himself to knock the door, "And Chloe? Well, it's their birthday."

Eiry shifted himself in his jacket, one that he had taken from Aphi's closet, and echoed uncertainly, "Birth...day?"

"It's the day that one wakes up into this world for the first time, like you did on January 28th. We celebrate those days when someone first woke up. Each time that day passes, you get a year older," explained Isi, knocking on the door. Hopefully, someone would hear and open it up.