Welcome to Gaia! ::

The vampire lamented to himself in silent thought, his eyes falling half-closed. Chin lowering, he turned his lazy gaze to the palm of his gloved hand. It was the material that irritated him, he realized. It was white and caught the light of the place, was almost illuminated by Seyumi's incessant glow, he concluded.

How could that be possible? She wasn't even near him.

Fear gnawed at the vampire, an unfamiliar emotion that made everything feel prickly. His body could not create the sensation, as his long-dead flesh had no form of self-preservation. There was only the perversion of his will that could form emotions, each of them a crude mockery of their original form and function.

Ultimately, he knew that he could kill many of the assembled persons... but that would be a road to failure. He needed to play by the rules of men for a time. In order for his grand designs to bear fruit he would have to set aside his nature for a short time.

His gloved hand nearly ebbed into a steely claw as he spread his fingers and imagined the White Mage's still-beating heart splayed upon it, like some bloody pedestal. A testament to the unholy the likes of which would be found in some barbaric and wayward shrine.

Enough. Victory or Death.

Opening his eyes and lowering his hand, the vampire strode purposefully to the center of the dance floor. Alone, the monster waited for fate to weave him into place. He turned and his eyes locked on the target of his ambition, the soft glow of his irises drowned out by the artificial light around him.

All in due time, Sey.

Joseph was starting to be less Cocky, and a bit more tipsy.
Having found two bottles of the best Russian vodka in the joint, as well as about six shot glasses, he proceeded to find a place to set up ******** yall’s fancy a** dancing, anybody will some balls will sit down and drink with me. I got ten grand that no-one here can beat me!”
Joseph was ready to start some s**t, but not with fist, but with a more civilized method for a more civilized era: good ol’ Russian vodka.

Rhoslyn could feel the energies mixing together in the room, and was, in fact, looking over the heads of everyone to see how many people he could place by aura. He could feel the metaphysical and metaphorical flames of James next to the more warming, friendly light glow of... that healer woman, the cool rush of KB over in the wherever the hell he was-

"Oh, I know a few. The inventor of the Deitric burger? He's a champion of the GTB. If you look over there, you'll see James with... I don't remember her name. Healer woman. And... I know these people through their biographies and applications, too. But a lot are friends, or I at least know them. Smile for the camera."

He did, hoped she did, then sat down and looked around, eating his cake. Maybe someone'd try to meet him and take out beef from his rejection of their applications - and he did note the fact that his arsenal was wider and deeper than most, so it was amusing for him to reject people on the grounds of being too powerful.

He heard her before he saw her and he could not keep his lips from cracking into a wide grin at the mere sound of her voice. It had indeed been a long week away from her, and this night would make for a much needed reunion. He turned to take a look at her and almost stumbled forward in surprise. She looked stunning, with the deep black her attire presenting a stark contrast to her pale hair and light skin. He immediately felt a rash of regret for dressing like he had, and he would only have felt worse had he the ability to read minds. He lowered his head bashfully, running a hand through his hair and looking away from her like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Didn't think much of it..." He mumbled his weak explanation, though knowing him she would know the validity of that statement. He did not care for these kinds of formal engagements normally. But she made him want to care with how gorgeous she looked. Vivid crimson eyes flicked back to her and Rylen's grin also softened to a warm, genuine smile that would not have seen the light of day if it wasn't for her pretty face there before him, shining like the sun.

He did not object as she pulled him away from the comfort of the wall, because being with her was better than being anywhere else in the room. He spared a fleeting glance here and there around the room, staying far too alert given the circumstances that the two of them would be surrounded by potentially unruly types. But that was not going to stop him from enjoying his time with her.

As they reached a nice spot out on the dance floor, he took her in his arms to start them off in an easy waltz. It felt really nice to have her so close, and he started to let the colors and the sounds of the rest of the world drain away as he was drinking the magnificent sight of her in. His tail swished about and his ears perked up, tilting and pivoting every few seconds to keep the otherwise occupied half-wolf cognizant of the goings-on around the two of them.

"So, how have you been holding up?"

Loner plays the loner

At least that's how it goes when you're near emotionally dead and have not a care in the world except to test your strength.

Which meant this droll-fest was nothing even close to anything that Haku would entertain. This wasn't to say he wasn't aware. Oh no. Surely you could also argue that he should be scoping out his competition. But alas; Haku had no interest in any of this.

Somewhere that could be labeled as 'No where'; the competitor sat alone with his back to a rock, swigging away on a bottle of cold sake. Well, open night air temp to be exact. Whatever. It didn't matter. He was finely tired, well worked out, and he had been since he signed up for this event.

If he could categorize anything as feelings, he'd have felt that he was prepared for this.

However; somewhere deep down inside he knew that he was out of his league. Only after his first round would he know for sure.

In the mean time; he'd be training diligently. Or at least far as any pre-match activity went.