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.. Oh. Riley slowly stopped the ridiculous movements, shifting awkwardly for a moment, Her head swiveled when she felt the tap on her shoulder, and her expression visibly softened at Malodore's voice. Both arms lifted in an attempt to reach out and gather the plague doctor in her arms.

But, instead, she gathered Calder.

The mistake was noticed almost instantly, and she dropped her hands and sighed. Ah. Wait. Sorry. She muttered quietly, and reached out more carefully until she felt Malodore's telltale claws. She pulled it into her arms instead.

I am merely keeping up with my colleagues, but any dance with you would stimulate me much greater than the gyrating that has been occurring.

"...!!" An apology, he was expecting. An explanation, he expected. Tears, he expected. But a hug? That came out of left field. His anger instantly melted away into pure confusion; Lizzy's whimpering always did manage to break through any foul moods he had; if it seemed otherwise, he was not angry at her, he was more angry at himself for letting that dull his mood. Stupid, Stupid self! And Stupid, Stupid Demon.

"You have a funny way of showing it." He grumbled instead, his hands hanging at his sides. "First, you ran away." Mac reminded her, that irritated edge moving back into his voice. "And then you went and kissed Mot." Oh, his hackles were raising again. That surge of jealousy he never thought he'd ever feel over a Demon.

It was a good thing that Riley could recognize her boilfriend in an instant. It did help that the Plague Doctor was a bag of bones while Calder was considerable more full and soft. Much more to wrap your arms about, not that Calder wanted a ghoul to do that. NOT AT ALL! He froze, eyes wide and tense as Riley not only got too close, but was holding him for a split second in a way she might a lover, as she first believed he was.

It was beyond awkward, and that pretty much shot down the little chummy moment they were having. It was true that Calder and Riley were starting to be in each others' company without killing each other with more success, which he attributed to exams and saving each other and fighting together, but it was all still very new and awkward. It would still be a ways before their 'whatever the hell this was maybe not quite their friendship maybe or whatever' was going to get anywhere near fully comfortable. It was a strange transition from going to choking someone and wanting them to be slaughtered in various ways to being ...ya know, okay with them being a few feet near you and not wanting to claw their eyes out.

"Uh...yeah.......I'm going to....." He pointed back to where his date was. ".......yeah." And with that, he turned and headed straight back to Invictus. He plopped beside him and breathed out. "Do you want to do something? Talk? Dance? We can walk around a bit? I'm sorry for walking off like that. I didn't expect her to drag me in." He rubbed his brow a moment. Being hugged by Riley really made him want to shake off a shiver. Ghouls hugging him in intimate ways was weird.

Looking to Damien, she half shrugged. "Maybe I'll convince myself to try later. The night is still young, and s**t might get crazy later. There's no telling what I might be up to doing later." Grinning, teasing a little. Of course, she highly doubted she would get up to anything too insane or obscene.

Nodding to Bul again, she waved him off as he made his way towards the buffet table. "We'll be here." Her attention shifted back to Damien as he made a comment about two other students. "You know those two?" Questioning him, her attention remained fixed on the two, looking away shortly after. Almost a year she had been here, and she still hardly knew most of the students at Amityville. It was kind of sad really. Looking over her shoulder, Mei watched as Bul returned with his small plate.

Muffling a laugh with the back of her hand, she breathed out a small sigh. "I don't think you have to worry about manners in front of me. Trust me, I'm one of the worst offenders." This was no lie, Mei had next to no modesty for the most part.

It wasn't long after that when Jericho had arrived, swiping up Damien's glasses with little warning. "What does he mean by blind? Did something happen to her?"

Bul nearly blushed when Demi pointed out his terrible manners and looked away from Mei until his face was clean and he could face her once more. "Erm..."

Before he could say anything though, Jericho came by and snagged the shades Demi had been wearing. What the.. he'd wait until the dragon was out of ear shot to say anything but watched as he gave them to Riley and it all made sense.

DING! the lightbulb went off finally.

"Oooooooooooh... wow how did nobody think of that sooner??" he commented then turned to Mei smiling. "She can't handle all the glowing and flashing lights. I think she'll be good now though.." he said then plucked a couple of squishy eyeballs from his plate popping them in his mouth. "And what's that about being ill mannered? I've never seen such a thing.."

Junko looked back at Seiji when she heard his voice over the music, smiling helplessly. He looked much better with his hair down, oh yes. She didn't even think anything of the fact that she was holding and being held by another boil considering that boil was Nukpana. Actually, she wouldn't think anything of it about any boil, just Nukpana was the least likely of anyone for anything to be happening. She tried not to frown as Seiji asked her what was wrong, biting her lip for a moment.

"I just...um...messed something up. I made sheeeeeeesssssoooomeone cry is all and I..didn't mean to." Where did that shoe go? She rest her head against Nuk's shoulder, tucking underneath his chin. It was even worse because...it was Nuk that had done this to her! And...and...! Ugh. She couldn't be mad at him. Not fair.

At the sudden tap against her arm Junko blinked and looked around to see who it was, looking surprised to see Christof here.

"Um..hi, Christof. Yes..?"

He looked troubled for a moment, but really... he could explain the tongue later if need be. More pressing matters were at hand. "Exthuthe me, um. Thorry to interrupt but ah.. you're friendth with Mith Thehk and er... have... have you theen her?" His face had gone crimson in patches. As an afterthought he added, "The er.. tongue ith only temporary." There, question avoided. How had he let Barth talk him into that? Oh yes. He had said socialization would be good for him.

He was doing a terrible job of it, really.

It sounded simple enough. Getting up again, Shun nodded to the girl and carefully pushed his chair in.

"I'll be right back then," he said quietly before heading off towards the refreshments. There was still plenty of food to be had so there were no problems in the variety of choices. He just had to make sure to get nothing with chocolate for Mitsu.

The reaper grabbed a plate, as well as two cups of punch. Once he had that, he went and got some chocolate-free candy as well as a couple of spookies for them both.

----

Jericho stood by, waiting to see how much the sunglasses helped. He could practically feel the relief she had now. Smiling, he wrapped one wing around her as a sort of pseudo hug before stepping back.

"You're welcome. Enjoy your dance with Mal now," he smiled before glancing at Deacon, shaking his head. He hadn't seen this.. Emily either. Then again, he didn't really know the girl in the first place. So perhaps he had.