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She never explained the unicorn comment. Nor would she ever; there was never going to be a this is why I think you're a unicorn conversation. Tate could only hope that one throwaway comment had been forgotten, because even if she didn't regard Howl in quite the same light--and when did that happen, she wondered--she still didn't want to be seen as some kind of weirdo. So she was grateful when it went unmentioned, and the blush faded away to Tate's normal pale skin.

Too late, apparently, she thought; she watched Ladon go, confused. "Ladon?..." The look on her face was hurt, and she didn't seem interested in wiping it off until Marlo spoke again, and she stopped watching Ladon's dark head to turn back towards the two boys she'd approached. "I'm sorry," she said, shrugging. And she watched Ladon as he stood at the bar out of the corner of her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, "No, he's not my cousin, he's sixteen, he's my friend." Ladon, her cousin? She smiled at that thought. No, he wasn't her cousin. Her friend, though, most definitely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Marlo. Again." She didn't blush when her hand was kissed, and she curtseyed. If Ladon didn't come back, well, she'd have a good time without him anyway! It wasn't like they'd come here as a date, anyway...

Trying to be airy, she said, "I'm sure he just saw someone he wanted to see," and pressed a hand against the bun at the nape of her neck, as if to make sure it was still there.

"Mr. Shepard it is, then," Howl offered with a polite smile, tilting his head carefully in Ladon's direction. Though he did come across as a boy in appearance, the lad had good manners, something which Howl could appreciate. It was a bit strange that he excused himself so abruptly, but as Marlo pointed out, they might have scared the young lad away.

At Tatiana's explanation, Howl kindly mentioned "Ah, he is the same age as myself then? He is quite a polite young man, my dear. I do hope he returns so that I might be able to speak with him." Manners obviously meant a good conversationalist, or at least based off of Howl's prior observations, it usually translated to such. It was not a written rule. There were always rule breakers.

"Now, Miss Tatiana," he uttered, reaching for her hand and elegantly placing a soft kiss upon her pointer finger knuckle. As his lips pulled away, his turquoise eyes flickered up to the brunette's dark eyes. "I hope I am not being too forward, but I would rather enjoy your company on the dance floor. I would like to request the first dance, if that is okay?" He smiled gently rather than in a handsome fashion, since many times a handsome smile would come across as more cocky. The gentle smile usually read as something much more humble.

Dale enjoyed ballroom dancing greatly, and enjoyed taking Jada into her arms even more. Yes, her dancing was a little flamboyant, especially for this slow song, but it was fun. Spinning was always something that seemed to get her partners giggling.

"I'm happy to have such a graceful partner," Dale flashed her teeth again, trying to ignore the sound of her bandaged hands scraping Jada's soft dress. Damn her injury!

Pierrette waved to Elke, and was promptly squeezed tightly.

"Oh, it's so good to see you too! I'll definitely sit with you!" I'm really not anything like Glinda. Her dress was a lot... bigger," Pierrette stuck out her tongue. "This is actually pretty simple for me. I wanted my shoes to be the main attraction!"

Though many people didn't know about it (since she chose to be more vocal about her plush fixation), Pierrette loved shoes. So, it was no surprise when she lifted her dress up so her ankles and feet, dripping with pearls, could be seen.

It was hard to breathe in this crowd, and Pierrette needed to find a place to ground herself. Sitting with her friends would be wonderful, and she thought she spotted Grayson in the crowd, too!

"I'll meet you at the table, I'm going to get a glass of water," Pierrette squeezed her friend's shoulder. When she saw Elke move off to sign the guestbook, Pierrette headed towards the bar, and saw--

"Ladon! Ladon, is that you?!"

She watched Marlo go, even more confused than she'd been a minute ago. Did she give off go away vibes? Oh god did it look like she was looking for that sort of thing? She took a deep breath--the ruby in her necklace, which might have detracted from her ensemble or made it christmassy if it had not been ensconced in silver like the embroidery on her dress, and barely there, like a pinprick of blood--and smiled to Howl. "He's a good friend," she said, glance sliding to him again. He wasn't looking at her. That's good, she told herself. But damn it, she wanted his attention--

Okay, calm down. Think of something else.

"Alright," she said, more than a little pleasure at the thought of Ladon seeing someone else pay attention to her adding to her smile. At least it didn't look at all vicious; and she continued, "It's perfectly all right. Let's dance, then." Luckily, she had taken ballet, and knew the basics of waltzing. She wouldn't make a total embarrassment of herself, not like with conversation. The only shame was that Howl really was shorter than she on a good day...

Elke laughed. "Your shoes are so pretty! They will definitely steal the snow. Show? One of them!" She patted her teammate's hand, watched the younger girl go off; she moved towards the guestbook, signed her name and her school, and then--

Someone was messing with the speakers. Elke could see them, and her loyalty to her fellow Zodiacs who deserved to have a good time brought her over there to ruin the stupid, stupid boy's good time. "Hey," she said, grabbing the boy's wrist. Ugh! What kind of jerk would try to ruin a party like this? "Don't you touch that!"

Luckily, none of the wires had been pulled out when she had yanked the boy away. She frowned at him, then glared. "Mon dieu," she said to Ignacio Araya, "Are you totally thoughtless? You are friends with my brother, why are you trying to ruin his night? Don't you know how unhappy he's been?" She looked out to the dance floor, checking again--yes, Grayson was dancing with Imo, she looked happy and he did too. So her glaring at Ignacio was fully rationalized; she didn't like him, anyway...

Since it was the beginning of the dance, the bar was not occupied which gave Ladon time to breath. As more people filed in, mingling and moving to the dance floor, ‘getting da party started’ as some would say, the bar was only visited for quick drink request. Many people were eager to see their friends and forget about the holiday.

Ladon couldn’t. For a ‘Singles Awareness Day’, the only thing he noticed was that this was not a party to celebrate being single, as he would have thought, but it seemed to make everyone aware that ‘Why yes, I am available.’. This was very clear as Ladon looked out and watched Mr. Wickman bow low to kiss Tate’s hand. The pristine white grin could be seen from where he sat, and he watched the little drama unfold. He’d seen enough movies to know how this worked out, and turned to ask for a water, mouth dry.

It was really rude now that he thought about it, inviting him here. HE didn’t WANT to be here, and Tate told him to come because she didn’t want to be alone. Well, it didn’t LOOK like she was alone. Actually, she was quite popular, and he felt more in the way than anything else. Hi, I’m Ladon. I’ll be your third wheel for the evening. This was not what he expected and even remotely wanted. Despite how he didn’t want to be here, he expected to rip on couples and the idea of Valentines with Tate. He expected to appreciate their singleness, and be damn proud of it. He didn’t want to address romance at all. This was suppose to be a romance free zone. A place where he didn’t have to think about that stuff. He didn’t expect Tate to flirt. He didn’t expect romance to be in a party that was SUPPOSE to leave that at the doorstep.

He never liked social situations, and turning about, he took in the couples moving to the dance floor. Howl and Tate were both tall, and her green dress only accented his green hair. Hand in hand, they looked made for each other. Tall, lank, and very comfortable.

He didn’t even want to wait for his drink anymore, and slipped off the stool just in time to see Pierrette. The girl was even daintier up close, dressed in pink that seemed to make her red hair even softer. Still miffed, he was about to politely leave her side, but he reminded himself that this was a place to meet friends. He had friends! Tate wasn’t the only one who was social, and Pierrette seemed to understand him. “Hi Pierrette.” He pushed himself to smile and looked her over. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” He remembered to be polite. “You look very nice.” The idea instantly made him regret having not treated Tate the same way. He had not mentioned her dress or anything, but then again, it seemed she would probably be getting compliments all night.

The attendant at the bar caught Ladon’s attention and he took his water. “Are you here alone? Of course for a Singles Awareness day you are, but did you come with your friends?” Wow he was smooth!

As a gentleman should, he extended the crook of his arm to Tatiana so that he could escort her to the dance floor. He was no fool and was quite aware that there was a height difference. Yet, it was not his first time dancing with a young lady taller than himself. When he was of an average height, he had encountered just as many young ladies taller than him as he encountered that were shorter than him.

Once the young lady had taken his arm, he guided her towards the dance floor. "That is good to hear that Mr. Shepard is a good friend. I know that good friends can be hard to find. I suspect the younger Mr. Xanis and my roommate are the closest people I can call 'good friends.'"

The moment he heard the brunette's heels upon the polished wood floor, he laughed politely. "I hope I can prove to be an excellent dance partner for you, my dear. Even if I am lacking in the proper height to lead this dance." Quite familiar with the basic waltzes, the young teal-haired gentleman held out his hand, inviting the young lady to take it before he rounded his hand along her back at a respectable place.

He flashed her a much more dashing smile this time, since she had already agreed to the dance and asked rather formally "Shall we, my dear?"

In all honesty, Howl was a tad rusty, but it probably went unnoticed, since Miss Tatiana had no prior knowledge to his dancing skills. As they glided into step, he made certain to hold the girl close, yet at a respectable distance as to not mislead her in regards to his intentions. The extent of Howl's musical knowledge was being able to move in step with a song. Not too fast, and not too slow. His mother would have preferred if he had been able to play or compose. His mother loved music, it was her passion.

As they moved to the music, Howl finally responded in regards to the girl's comment about the number of his own "good friends."

"I do also consider you a good friend." There were no scare quotes, though the girl obviously could not see this. "I enjoy talking with you and spending what little free time I have in your company. We may not necessarily be 'close friends,' but you have been nothing but kind to me, Miss Tatiana." If it was not for the height difference, he might have attempted to sneak a small dip, but the teal haired lad thought better of it.

With a lovely smile, he looked into the girl's eyes as he shared an observation with the brunette. "I must confess, you look rather lovely this evening, Miss Tatiana." His hand gently squeezed her hand that he held, as if to reassure her that he was sincere with his compliment.

Swing dance was Imogen's first love it was true, but the redhead loved any kind of dance. She settled into the rhythm and was glad to note Grayson knew how to dance himself. Had his talent at BP had anything to do with dancing, or maybe it was a hobby of his too? She honestly couldn't recall.

"Been reclaiming my life somewhat. Paperwork about not-being-dead, new school, going back to dancing, looking for a job..." Running from monsters and getting saved by senshi.

She almost tagged it on. In Imo's opinion maybe half the people here had seen a youma (and she didn't know Senshi and Negaverse agents could be attending!) because most people she knew had. When a girl in your math class just randomly says she's seen a youma along with the weather one day - and she had seen four herself. But she didn't want tonight to take a serious turn. Sue's reaction to finding out Imo'd been attacked four times had sobered her up somewhat about her nightime adventures with Gemini, Badass and Vanadis.

"What've you been up to?"