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Elke waved jauntily (barely within the restraint required by such a formal occasion) to her mother as Aysel joined the society sharks. Then she spun around, staring at the opulent surroundings with a smile. It was like being at home again, when Papa was having fancy state dinners or some such. She missed this.

It was just then that she spotted Howl, recognizing him as the Hillworth boy she had curbstomped a youma to death in front of; she had been about to go say hello, maybe perform Reconnaissance about how he thought of the senshi, when someone tapped on her shoulder. Her society smile in place (Maman had warned her about old men wanting to marry pretty young girls) she turned, and then the expression widened into a beam. "Yes, I am she," said Elke properly, tilting her head and giggling at the strange pronunciation. Still, it wasn't a common name, so she assumed she was the right one.

"Oh!" She brightened, clapping her hands together. Her skirts swished across the floor as she almost danced in place. The bag around her wrist jingled. "Of course I do!" She slipped her arm through Audrey's. "It's so nice to meet you, your hair is so pretty, how do you get it to be so blue? I try but always, always, it comes out teal." With a pout, she checked to see if the other girl was smiling again. Maman had said to be on her best behavior, which meant not effusing compliments, but a friend of Jada's was a friend of Elke's, surely?

It was always the hair! Thankfully somewhere around age ten Audrey'd learned to simply laugh and take it in stride, while assuring everyone that no, it was her natural color. Patting Elke's arm comfortingly, she broke the bad news. "I've never dyed my hair in my life, this is all natural." Realizing that pulling her arm out like that revealed the healing brown and pink scrapes, she immediately lowered it again with an embarrassed smile. "Thank you though, most of the time I love my hair. The hairdresser Jada was nice enough to share with me did something miraculous and made it not frizzy for a change." Fallon had done the same thing with condition, something the teen had been unable to replicate on her own lately.

Quickening her step as they neared the stairs, Audrey disentangled herself from Elke and nodded up to the top where Jada was hiding around the corner. "Gotta make a quick move up the stairs before the Dragon gets you, but Jada should be right up there. I'm behind you though, so don't worry about a sneak attack from behind!" The grin was wide and conspiratorial. This was possibly going to be more fun than she thought!

Calintha was the recipient of a smile and a bow, as well as two curtseys for her small donation, which was whisked away just like the rest of them. "Such a lovely little dress." Szelem complemented her, but her lime eyes were drawn to that little pet pauper of her daughter's talking to Elke Arma. What on earth had- Oooooh! Szelem kept her eyes level, her smile benevolent. "Have a wonderful evening, Miss Johnson." she said finally, to Calintha. "Welcome to the ball."

"...I can sympathize with that." Jaimie noted, wandering through the crowd toward Jaimie. He'd recently managed to get un-casted himself, ((From a run in with Moonstone.)) and was still limping a little. "Can I get you a drink or something?"

Because of his own recent liberation from plaster, he planned to largely excuse himself from dancing, though not entirely. He didn't have that good of an excuse. But talking to a girl in a cast... That was at least good way to tie up a few songs.

Xander was content to let his sisters mind wanders. As of yet he had not have to fend anyone off of his sister and the night was turning out to be a rather pleasant affair. He wondered what time it was and was a bit sore that his mother had insisted that he not wear a watch. Xander of course understood why and went along without an argument.

He was pulled from his though by a tug from Lily, "I know him." She was looking at a boy that resembled a puppy and Xander frowned as he sister began to pull away from him.

"I am going to go say hi, okay Xander," she said walking toward Azzo and leaving her brother standing alone. She gave a smile to her brother over her shoulder. He was goregous and she was sure some lovely lady would come keep him company soon.

She continued onward toward the waltzing pair and Lily wondered if the woman was the grandmother the boy had spoke of. She approached the carefully, not really wanting to interupt, but at the same time wanting to say hi.

"Hello Azzo," she said softly, almost to low for her to be heard.

Zora's voiceless praise made Vanessa beam with delight. Fortunately for everyone in attendance, particularly Kayley herself, the china doll's distasteful sniff went completely over her head. Mr. Rae, however, noticed and, desiring to avoid any kind of violent confrontation at all costs, hastily placed a hand at the small of Vanessa's back as she stood up and endeavoured to get her the hell out of there. The auburn haired girl looked to her father and shook away his hand, not wanting to be pushed around, but followed him anyways as he led her away from the front of the line.

John Jr wanted to stay and chat but, as his father placed a protective hand on his shoulder and started steering him towards the food, the little boy only had time to wink conspiratorially at his new friend. He made a mental note to find Lucas again as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Mr. Rae stopped his children at the buffet, and John Jr, one part hungry and two parts curious, dug eagerly into the food. There were things here he had never seen before, and he wanted to try them all.

Vanessa was less interested in the food than she was the people. Except for in Disney films, she had never seen so many dresses or sharply dressed men in one place. Here, surrounded by all the glitz and glamour of the ballroom and the sophisticated mannerisms of the event's attendees, it was difficult to feel like anything other than a princess. She liked it.

She recognized some of the people here from school. Most of them she had never met before, but there was Azzo, the boy who'd helped her with her groceries, and Howl, whom she'd rescued from a stray dog in the guise of Super Van. Vanessa forgot that he wouldn't know her as herself, and waved enthusiastically at the boy who'd bought her tea. There was a brilliant smile on her face.

After being greeted very respectfully, if not a little distracted by the hosts, Calintha nodded her head politely and swept into the ballroom looking a little lost. She hadn't seen any sign of Fallon, but she would bet that the girl was wherever Jada was, waiting for her grand introduction. She recognized several people from school, but there were even more that she had no clue.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of teal and gold. It was a bit too high up to be someones dress, so that only left one option. She turned and maneuvered a bit checking to see if it was actually the boy she'd given violets to. After a second she spotted him again, with a beautiful older woman dressed in black. Calintha might have guessed that she was his date if they had not looked similar; while the woman lacked his teal hair, she certainly had the same feminine charm that graced Howl.

Calintha weaved her way through the crowd over to him, a smile on her face. She wondered if he would recognize her after all of her primping, considering she did double takes of her own reflections in things. "Howl, I had a feeling you might be here tonight."