Welcome to Gaia! ::

Psykgi watched from the corner of the room, grinning in delight. She had come to the party– how could she not? She'd had an invitation from the queen (or her minions) after all, and it was impossible to pass up such an amazing opportunity to watch trollian interactions, in action! She had, admittedly, lost Leeroi (with his ridiculous outfit!!!) in the crowd, but crowds didn't phase her. She loved them. She would have to get back to him eventually, sure, but watching the crowd – this crowd – was not something she got to do often.

She had dressed up for the occasion, doing up her hair and hiding it under a light-colored hat, topping it off with a peppermint pin, her symbol. She even bought a special red-and-white dress for the occasion. She'd wanted something more daring, but she knew she'd have to grow a little more, fill out a little more, before she could pull off something like that. As it was, she was daring, her color boldly displayed on a top piece, her shoulder daringly bared, a shining brass necklace coyly exposed. The bottom of her dress was very candy-like, red and white swirls, and she wore bright red heels. Heels. (She was starting to love them too, though she would never stop wearing her sandals.)

As it was a masquerade, she had had to bring a mask. Originally, she'd been going to go with a plain red or black mask, but then she'd seen the bloodfest mask she'd made not too long ago, and she knew what she actually wanted to do.

So she did.

On her face was a very dark, reddish mask decorated with black-slera'd eyes with gleaming, red, predatory pupils. Of course, it had eye holes as well, and her eyes glinted mischeviously through the mask as she sipped a refreshing drink, careful not to smudge her red lipstick... not yet anyway.

Finally, however, she grew (temporarily) tired of waiting. It was time to participate in this gorgeous party! She had already seen some spectacular people here, not many that she knew personally (it was hard to tell through the masks, she had to admit) but the adults... oh the adults!

Erilyn for example, was gorgeous, but wasn't she always? And of course she would wear a revealing outfit, just as she revealed herself in the media, but of course all that revelation hid something very deep, and very dark... Psykgi was sure. That was just how it was.

And... oh! There was the helmsman from the spaceship, the one they had annoyed with their fighting... their very justified fighting... Eridia had started it. She deserved what she had gotten. She was also likely here, and it was too much to hope for that she had gotten some terrible gut-bug and not been able to attend. But that was just how it was. Either way... she should probably talk to him at some point... hmm... He seemed to be talking to... was that Elidae? Psy couldn't be sure...

Later she thought, wandering around the crowd... For now, she needed to locate Leeroi, because it probably had been terrible leaving him alone in this place... it was really, really, not his element...

Oh, there he was – how she had missed his... horse head (It made her simultaneously wince and giggle every time she saw it) she had no idea. As she approached, she recognized the adult he was talking to... Goodness, that was Puchen. The commander who had bombed her city. Suffice to say, Psykgi's opinions of the commander were mixed. On the one hand, Civisect would likely have not been Civisect without her actions. On the other hand, she'd had to bribe the officials FOR SO MANY BEETLES to get a new hive because her old one had been destroyed, and it had been such a hassle...

Ah well. With a glance towards Tigwyn to make sure she knew where he was

Psykgi headed over and waited patiently nearby. Let Lee do his thing. Let Lee get his autograph. Psykgi certainly wasn't going to interfere with that.

Mother had been unusually generous tonight, allowing Nahori shelter against the wall for nearly the entirety of the meet-and-greet. It was unexpected, but she wouldn't take it for granted. Admittedly, mother had been all manner of bizarre lately. This acquiescence was only one of a list of things that felt just plain off to Nahori, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Not that she would ever ask or come near questioning her guardian's motives.

As it were, she chose to enjoy the leeway after mother's forced return trips to that weird skating rink in Four Fronds. This was a pleasant unusual in comparison to that. Although, as most good things in life often did, it was all too close to coming to an end.

Guineamom's large, glossy eye settled on her charge before a low—but still somehow shrill, Nahori didn't know how she managed—wheek warbled past her intimidating teeth. Immediately, a frigid dread pooled in her gut. It appeared she wouldn't get away with spending the entire gala pressed up against the wall.

Movements mechanical and stiff, the orangeblood stutter-stepped around her mother, peering out into the crowd. Her lusus had brought her here with obvious intent despite the slow start; this was a wonderful opportunity to show how perfectly subservient she could be in the presence of so many highbloods. There were plenty to choose from.

"I'm g-going," she promised when mother made another low sound. And so she did, away from the wall, wobbling awkwardly on heels she hadn't fully learned to walk in. The outfit she wore felt so weighty and unusual, but she hugged the cape around her like a security blanket, and it felt so smooth and expensive between her fingers.

That was another thing Nahori couldn't place... The outfit Guineamom put together for her had been so unbelievably pricy, so much more than they could rightfully afford. Mother was an avid saver, but she'd spent an enormous chunk of their safety net on this one outfit for this one occasion. It had even been custom tailored. Nahori had never felt both so low class and so pampered at the same time as she had the night they'd gone out to purchase it.

She shook her head to rid her mind of the memory. It was hard enough to focus on walking without recalling unusual things.

There were trolls darn near everywhere and it was nothing if not overwhelming and difficult to maneuver. In one sweep of the room, she happened to pass and notice, by mere chance, someone tucked away at the edge of a table, nearly hiding. The orangeblood's lips sunk into a frown. If only she were allowed to keep hiding like that.

"Y-You're so l-lucky..." she sighed out without meaning to. It was an embarrassing slip up, or it would've been, if she'd been given time to properly process her own shortcomings. As it were, she embarrassed herself even worse as she bumped into a redblood, much taller than her, when she let her gaze linger on the troll half-under the table.

"O-O-Oh, I'm so s-sorry!" she blubbered, straightening her mask in nervous habit. It took the place of her glasses. "I wasn't p-paying attention a-and I-" Despite being an obvious redblood, his appearance in military garb and large, off-colored horns was certainly imposing.

Hemera nodded. Right off the bat, Alifax was coming off as a very formal type. Was it the setting? The difference in their blood color, perhaps? Maybe she should not have worn her blood color so with so much prominence. Or Alifax just like this. Interesting indeed. She considered it a decent enough foot to start on; the kind of icebreakers seemed appropriate enough for the setting. The only slippery slope would be trying not to divulge into outright gossip.

"Hmm, yes. Out of all of them, I have only seen Ioyana in the flesh, in Four Fronds during the ship crash. Only one of the crew being here tonight is rather curious." Especially since that second mate was nowhere to be found. Disappointing. "The party definitely feels like a social affair with Awassi here, given their kind of glamor." In mixed company, it was best not to comment one way or the other on most of the other trolls, whether she knew much or not. Even just glancing at Comedi left her feeling like she had spoken out of turn. "Based on who you mentioned, your knowledge seems rather geared towards military personnel out of this crowd. Do you have any particular interests leaning that way?"

The invitation had made Adamaz pretty nervous. He felt obligated to go out of a similar sense of risk as when he had gone to the military recruitment thing a little while back. As a brownblood, he had a vague sense of having something to prove, loyalty and crown-ways; what exactly needed proving was a little beyond him. After talking it over with Papa Roach, he was resolved: Adamaz was going to his first party. Beyond that, his first FANCY party. He was a little nervous – he liked trying new things, but this seemed a little more complicated than taking up jogging or video games. Manners was never his strong suit.

Speaking of suits… what was he going to wear?

It took him a while to find something to his tastes. He first tried shopping for some new clothes (despite Papa Roach telling him how much of a waste of beetles it was), but the starchy, stiff feeling of new clothes made him fidgety and squeamish. Papa Roach was right. The next day, they went “shopping” at the dump, and found something to wear. Adamaz’s struggle with fashion when he realized he’d almost forgotten a mask, leaving the house to catch the bus. He quickly cut some eye-holes in a paper bag and threw it on. His horns punctured bag and stuck out conspicuously. Adamaz felt like that wasn’t very discrete, so he grabbed another paper back and carefully covered his horns with it. Perfect. Problem solved.

The bus driver looked at him funny as he climbed aboard and deposited the beetles. He told the driver he was going to a party. The driver did not understand.

It occurred to him, as he got off the bus, that he hadn’t quite timed the walk to the mansion. He accepted that he was probably going to be late, and hoped that it would come off as fashionable (like the rest of his attire).

Figuring that Adamaz was having trouble seeing, Papa Roach did his best to guide him along the path. When they arrived, Papa Roach flashed the invitation himself. Eager to spend some quality time with his boy, sweet boy, he had enlisted Adamaz to fashion him an outfit too. He was adorned with a top hat made out of a bottle cap glued to a poker chip, and a bow tie that just a candy wrapper tied up with a rubber band. He was so dapper.

Adamaz’s peripherals were limited. He did manage, however, to espy free paper masks neatly arranged on an entryway table. “Neat! Free stuff.” he said to no one in particular, and snatched one up. His bags crinkled as he put the cheap elastic around his head. Nice. No one would ever recognize him now.

He then proceeded to walk into the room and be absolutely at a loss of what to do. He stood there in the hall and looked around at all the people, recognizing no one due to the masks. He wondered why that was a thing. Did not knowing who was at the party make it more fashionable? He didn’t know.

As tempting as it had been to make a fashionably late entrance, Lorata hadn't been able to contain her glee long enough to be anything but precisely on time. Well, in all honesty, it had still been a close thing, because she'd had some trouble picking the absolute best dress to wear and MeduMa hadn't been any help in deciding anything at all, but they'd still made it on time anyway. There was absolutely nothing she didn't love about this gala, from the luxurious hive it was set in to the celebrities attending to the very pretty clothes and masks everyone had worn, and the bright smile on her face more than showed it.

At first it would have been easy for anyone to take notice of her and track her progress throughout the room, because it was hard to miss a giant jellyfish lusus floating from here to there even if she was being very polite in trying to not get in anyone's way, and from there it was easy to find the little seadweller she was following. By the time Erilyn began their address to the crowd, the pair had worked themselves around near to a speaker on the west end of the dining block, a lucky thing since it meant she wouldn't miss a word. As everyone's eyes turned to the gala's host, Lorata took the chance to slip behind the speaker and snatch up the blue parcel she found there, sneaking it into her purse.

When the light brightened again, Lorata had a quick few words with her lusus and then set off with a giggle into the room again to mingle, this time alone. She wanted to be where there were lots of people, and there wasn't much room for her lusus there! So while MeduMa settled in to gobble up appetizers from any serving drone brave enough to offer, her charge set out on a mission to talk to everyone.

The trick of course was to decide where to begin! There were so many interesting adults and teens and tons of kids like her to choose from! Adults were definitely the most interesting, so she wondered if she ought to go right at them or save them for last? Or maybe- Ooh, that was such a cute dress! She adjusted course without a second thought, making a beeline towards the yellowblood she'd spotted. She was even standing near to two adults, so it was a win-win!

Lorata tried to place who the adults were on her way over, pinning Sir's identity pretty quickly (a redblood with whole novels written about her, she wished Aerona could see), but she didn't know the closer orangeblood. Hmm! Shrugging it off as something that'd be answered soon, she came to a stop beside Elidae and Tigwyn and beamed at them.

"Hello!" It actually took a little effort to not bounce on her heels excitedly at having someone new to talk to. "My name's Lorata, Lorata Gorgos, and you all looked really really interesting, so I thought I'd come say hi! Isn't the gala wonderful so far?"

blackbird cake

Hivestuck

Considering Alifax didn't own a box-shaped mass communication devices that transmitted popular moving two-dimensional images and sound in conjunction, and back in Four Fronds there'd been a troll he'd been much more concerned about than the ship crash, even this scant information was more helpful to him than none. He pondered a bit before phrasing his reply - this was important, kind of, right? "I can't s - " Alifax began, and then he was interrupted, by a tiny female troll.

This was a familiar position to be in. Except, actually, it wasn't. Most small female trolls, no matter their blood color, were smart enough to avoid greeting older trolls who bore little signs of physical wear by way of physical altercation, even if Alifax was just about as red as they came. Sure, Alternia rewarded aggression, but fortunately that aggression usually needed to be backed by some logic, weak as it might be. Still, it didn't take very long to figure out that it'd been an accident, and it wasn't like Alifax was going to pretend at a dramatic reaction in a venue like this. Well - also, it was Alifax, and Alifax did not tend to go hand in hand with dramatic reactions. Fortunately for him, he recognized the voice, if not the, ah, frippery involved in the little girl's outfit. This was Frossa and Cerise's friend. Of his companions, she'd been the hardest worker on their team back in Old Hemisect - well. Not that that'd been a hard title to take. He missed Frossa's shameless ferocity more and more every night.

Right. He should probably talk to her. "We're both still standing," he shrugged, bad as ever at providing comfort to anyone. It wasn't like he had the social skill to make a joke out of that - or the inspiration for one. Anyway. Don't ******** this up, Alifax. From what he remembered of the girl she wasn't likely to be offended if he misremembered her name - she was no Lorata Gorgos - but he wanted to be careful anyway. "Are you...Nahori Caviap? Have you met Hemera Moachm?" Actually, did she remember his name? He hoped so, but Alifax wouldn't have recognized himself if he hadn't been looking for it.

(Moachm's name was fresh in his mind - she'd just introduced herself, after all. He'd let her introduce the nickname herself, though - he wasn't that close to her. It felt a little like overstepping his boundaries - although Alifax had to admit that he was by nature a fairly private person.)

"We were just discussing some of our company - apparently one of those adults was a crew member from the ship at the Four Fronds?" Okay, yes, Alifax had to admit it: he was back to digging lightly for information the moment his introductions had been made. Actually contextually he was fairly certain whose names he needed to be paying attention to (Frossa probably only cared about bluebloods and badasses, right?). But still - it'd be nice to know for when he eventually had to recount the night to her. He inclined his head at Hemera in acknowledgment of her previous question, though. "I'm seeking a career in the military, so I pay a bit of attention to that field," he allowed, although it was probably evident enough from his rows of pins and his jacket - the only part of his ensemble that hadn't been picked out from one of Frossa's nightmarish fashion stores. Of course the real reason for his inability to recognize anyone else could be attributed to a complete lack of interest in learning about popular culture that wasn't FLARPing. "And yourself?"

As Tigwyn pressed his lips to her hand, Elidae’s cheeks flushed a deeper gold, unable to contain a fit of giggles. She felt delighted and dazzled. "No, sir, I don't. Only you!" Beaming, she fluttered her eyelashes once more. However, a very special "gift" was to be delivered to her; Elidae had not forgotten.

"Although, I have been trying to look for some friends. Hmm." Scanning the room, Elidae squinted into the sea of trolls. In a small distance, a pair of highbloods spoke among themselves, both looking to be her age. Was that Eridia and Chiara? Most likely! They would be at such a gathering, wouldn't they. The pair was so gorgeous and regal. Another pair of lowbloods stood around, a redblood and a yellowblood, but Elidae hadn't the faintest idea who they were. Tilting her head to the side, she blinked wildly, a ghost of a smile appearing. Was that...? Couldn't be... but maybe? The greenblood in the unusual cowboy attire reminded her vaguely of someone she hadn't seen since the first time she met them. With an exaggerated wave in their general direction, she half hoped one of them would respond or notice, however it seemed they became preoccupied with their own company. “I dunno if I can even recognize them. Kinda hard when everyone is wearing masks.” She blurted out, laughing.

Upon hearing a whimsical voice, Elidae turned to acknowledge its owner, but was caught by surprise. Bringing a gloved hand to her cheek, she stared at the little seadweller in awe, her expression immediately illuminating. Tigwyn addressed Lorata while Elidae stayed silent, gaping. She called her interesting, interesting! She came back to reality when the adult orangeblood wished them a lovely evening.

"You as well, Mr. Ioyana!" Oh no. As Tigwyn returned to Schrad, Elidae slowly, turned to Lorata, a huge lump in her throat forming.

"He-He-Hello!" Elidae squeaked, her normal high pitched voice reaching a new octave from sheer excitement, "I'm Elidae! Elidae Bonbon. You look very pretty tonight, um, um, Miss Gorgos." Doing a quick curtsy, Elidae gave the girl the most inviting smile she reserved for special circumstances. Lorata looked to be about identical to her age, though the many differences between Elidae and Lorata would start with the fins. It was rare for Elidae to speak with a seadweller; she felt elated. Resisting the urge to reach out and touch Lorata's beautiful, delicate curls, her fingers twitched with longing. She needed to be her friend. "Yes! The gala is absolutely wonderful so far.I feel so fortunate to be here and I'm, like, soooo excited for the events tonight! Aren't you?" She was nervous and it could be heard in her voice, but the grin she bore for the seadweller was genuine and true.


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