Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been some time since the last night that had given occasion for the sunkissed mariner to indulge in such finery. She'd been uncomfortable with the extravagance at first; the boulder set to rolling once she had opened the door to her chambers and found that box outside her door, flat and secured with a curl of gold ribbon. The gown inside, she remembered, an asymmetrical frock of the finest obsidian silk, had slipped through her fingers like ripples of water as she lifted it from the paper trappings.

The corners of Ever's mouth curved into a bemused smirk as she watched the scenery slip past outside the exorbitant vehicle's dark windows. This time two days ago, if anyone had suggested that she would end up as Roen Jaeger's date to such an event, the seafarer would have laughed outright. Fortunately for him, he had a knack for persuasion.

Opulence had never really been her thing, and even as she'd slipped the expensive dress over her body earlier that evening it had taken a while to grow comfortable enough in her new skin to stop fidgeting and frowning into the mirror. You'd never have been able to tell now, though. Eventually Ever had come into her own, though. She looked as if she'd been born to wear this dress; or perhaps it had been born from the loom solely for her. Her lion-like mane, dark as coffee with threads of natural highlights, had that tousled, voluminous demeanor that looked natural but could only be achieved through practiced experience, brushing against her bare, golden shoulders and swept across her brow with an elegant half-up peak at the crown.

Her lips split into that slightly sheepish, naturally infectious smile as Roen spoke and Ever quirked a brow at her escort. "Thank you. You lay it on awfully thick, don't you?" The brunette grinned, uncrossing her fuller, athlete's legs and instead tucking one ankle behind the other as she straightened her posture. "But I suppose if something's worth doing, it's worth doing well, right?"

The same could be said for the luxury of the evening she supposed. Ever murmured to herself and pretended not to notice the Devil forcing his gaze out the window, her own eyes surveying the spacious interior of the limousine. It easily overshadowed any she'd ever ridden in before, in fact she suspected the vehicle owed at least some of its ample space to a touch of magic. Roen hadn't yet explained to his date how he had managed to cover the evening's expenses, and she hadn't asked, but that was probably for the better. Ever would only have associated the name with the unpleasant memories of their boat trip to and from the Alibi; better she simply assumed he had his connections and remain content to know nothing more specific than that.

Content might have been a stretch; Ever was secretly basking in her one chance to experience how the other half lives. Her earthen eyes finally drifted from the interior furnishings just in time to see Roen pop the cork from a chilled bottle of champagne, foam streaming out onto the carpeted floor. Chuckling too, Ever shook off his gratitude with a smile and took the glass he offered, murmuring her thanks and holding it delicately by the stem. "You're welcome, though I have a suspicion I'll be the one thanking you by the end of the night. It sure beats slinging drinks at the Cloak."

At this, the mariner tilted her flute slightly forward and let the glass surface clink musically against his in a toast. She took a sip, murmuring her approval at the fine flavor, and then reached across towards the small table where the bottle rested in its ice bucket. Beside the pail sat a silver dish of fresh strawberries, to complement the drink, and she plucked one up to sink her teeth into the sweet morsel. A satisfied murmur followed and Ever tucked the stem into her napkin, dabbed at her mouth, and then exhaled in content at the general splendor.

"I had no idea a fighting tournament would be such an A-list event," the mariner mused, leaning back against the cool leather and sliding one leg easily over the other, tapping the toe of her designer heels. Her mouth arched into another smirk. "Are we making a fashionably late appearance, then?"

Iru could feel nothing but the tightness of her dress around her bossism. She was not a fighter by any stretch of the word. Unless she got a cheap shot on the enemy, she was pretty much useless in skilled combat. Of course, not everyone was made for fighting.

"The champion huh?" She looked around at the various strangers attending the ball. Most of them were speaking to their dates, but the party just started so there would be plenty of time to talk to other couples. She smiled for the camera, grateful that Ross gave her a heads up. She didn't want a bad picture of her to be taken.

She took her seat next to her man then began to eat her cake. She was very surprised at how good it tasted. It was the perfect balance of sugar and frosting. Iru wasn't chubby, but she enjoyed her food then worked it off later. Ross helped her with her...exercise from time to time. She looked at him. "Hows your cake?"

Joseph cracked open one of the vodka bottles and poured himself and the challenger a shot glass apiece.
“I would prefer to have more people to witness my heritage in action.”
Joseph felt good, vodka may not have been made in Ireland, but he would be damned if it didn’t sit well with him.
“Please have a drink, but let’s not start knocking them back just let. The more the merrier.”

Robyn rolled her eyes as she took in all the opulence and grandeur that people brought out for this thing. The limos (one even had its own red carpet, what the ******** was up with that?), the food, the spacious ballroom, the dresses, the suits, it was all just...too much for the fox girl. Even before the change, she'd been the casual type. Always go with what's comfortable, yeah?

One of her red-furred ears flicked as she sighed. Too bad she couldn't get away with that tonight. She wasn't all decked out in one of those giant ballgowns, hell no, you couldn't get her into one of those for a million bucks. But at least she wasn't in her denim outfit. Probably would have caused some odd looks. No, Robyn was actually looking very nice, but still somewhat plain amongst all the fancily dressed attendants. A flowing, black skirt that reached to just below her knees, the left side cut with a slit that stopped only a few inches from the waist. Her top was mostly black as well, a loose blouse whose sleeves cut off just past her shoulders. She said mostly black because of the red sequined swirls that patterned themselves randomly throughout the shirt, flashing in the light and creating a fiery effect that matched her own red fur. Her shoes were black sandal-like heels, although very short heels.

Although the outfit made her cringe despite its lower level of dressiness, she didn't show it, her tail calmly swaying behind her as she walked and her ears calm and perky. Her long light purple hair was loose and swaying as well, no decoration or anything like that. No hat, either, and her ears twitched at that thought.

Much like Rylen, she'd simply walked to the event, lacking transportation of any kind. And so she made her way through the ballroom, catching glimpses of a few recognizable faces from Heaven or Hell, and many more new ones. Of course, she spotted Rylen quickly amongst the crowd; while not uncommon, up-top ears still stood out. Seeing him dancing with some girl she didn't know, the half-fox decided she wouldn't interrupt them just to say hi to her friend. It was interesting that they were both in the tournament though.

((bleh, just wanted to get an intro post in while I had the chance, although stupid to do it right before I'm going to bed lol))

"Oh I haven't had that in a while. Though, I think I'll get something meat related on my next snack table trip." She saw a nice martini glass with shrimp in it that looked quiet appetizing.

She thought it was adorable that he was trying to feed her cake. This was technically their first date wasn't it? She was about to lean in to eat the cake when Ross scared the reporters away. They were apparently about to snap some more pictures of the mushy scene. They could get o be very annoying. They only needed to take pictures of their entrance and maybe when they were dancing.

"Heh. Well you do draw their attention with your shiny." She teased before leaning over and eating the cake from his fork. She intentionally showed him a peek down the front of her dress. She liked to tease him once in a while.

If he had the mind to even think about it, Rylen would have surprised himself with his dancing skill. Truthfully, he had only danced with a woman like this once before in his life. She had been the one to really teach him all that he knew about it so that it came as naturally as breathing to him when Isabella pulled him onto the dance floor. He felt utterly and completely relaxed, his body limber. Being with Isabella soothed him, putting his mind and body at ease so that his movements became fluid.

He gave her a dubious tilt of his head and quirk of his eyebrow when she told him about Dayo. Yeah, he misses tormenting me... The half-wolf thought, though it was true he and Isabella's butler had gotten on a bit better towards the end of his stay with her. Of course between two men who had Isabella's best interests at heart in their own ways, that simply meant accepting the other man existed and trying to stay out of each other's ways. After the initial incident with Mr. Locke, Rylen became comfortable working diligently under the leading businessman whenever he was needed. The wishes of good luck were welcome. It was good to know he actually had someone in his corner for this tournament, because otherwise he was a lone unknown.

Of course, that also put a new kind of pressure on him. He could sense a bit of hesitance in her voice when she asked about his first round opponent. Broaching the subject of his abrupt participation in this fighting tournament with her had not come easy. She respected his desires and gave him his space without qualms, but the fact that he was basically putting his life on the line meant there was an ugly elephant in the room with the couple. He pressed his arm into the small of her back, pulling her in close in a secret embrace as they continued to dance.

"Don't know yet," He said, his tone taking on a somber note. Deep down, he felt a pulse of excitement at the thought of his first fight. However, it was accompanied by a pang of guilt because now he had someone who cared about him. He realized how his voice sounded, so he quickly straightened up and flashed her a confident smirk.

"Yeah, doesn't matter. I've been training all week for this-" His voice trailed off as he apparently saw something of interest just over her shoulder. He craned his neck forward to get a better look, and then his face lit up in amusement. He had spotted Robyn and her outfit was just... priceless. Knowing the fox-girl, he knew she probably despised wearing it, and that nearly brought a chuckle to his lips. On closer inspection he would have to admit she looked good--pretty. But neither Robyn nor Isabella would much appreciate his commenting on it. Which reminded him just who his date was, and his crimson eyes shot back to Isabella in a small panic. Hopefully she didn't think him the type to go ogling other girls, but he had spent more than a few seconds staring at Robyn with a distracted expression.

A good many heads followed Sey's trek across the ball-room, James's included, albeit not for the reason you'd think. He just wanted to make sure she was okay, hope she didn't do something like trip and fall flat on her face.

... ********, he just jinxed it with his thoughts didn't he? The watch he kept wasn't for nothing when he noticed a certain vampire get in the way...

KB.



James was displeased. If he had lasers for eyes, they'd most definately be boring a set of holes through the vampire's skull. It was bad form to steal one's date away for a dance when they haven't tangoed yet, and the slayer didn't trust the vampire to any real degree anyway. At any rate, the vampire would probably know the slayer was watching him. Some things just invoked instinct.