Welcome to Gaia! ::

(( Basil: Dunk Tank ))

Basil watched as she floated several inches higher, perched on her pedestal of thin air to look down upon him. Condescend to him, the shadow beneath her growing smaller. To Basil however, it was almost a game. He could be very difficult to condescend to. Could he be made aware of his mistakes and shortcomings? Absolutely. And he would feel terrible for them if he felt he might have disappointed someone. But when it came to subtle barbs and sidelong glances at his behavior, for instance, his simpleton's smile and lack of grace, he was in a world of his own. No... Those feelings of righteous anger and indignation; Those were tucked away elsewhere. Diverted like a vein in a stream. He might not have been sensitive to her decidedly elitist behavior, but something else was, and quietly stored it like some interior rolodex. Something equally as elitist. The king in King Cobra.

Basil only smiled. His eyes did not gleam in the light, as would imply mischief or knowing. On his eyes the light seemed smudged. Glazed like the milky blindness of a cataract or the vacant shine from a stuffed animal. At seeing her try to elevate herself, he did the same, removing himself from the glass to float even higher, as a child would that was in a contest to see how much taller they were than their friend. If he had tippy-toes to stand on, he would have. Realizing that it was not, in fact, a game, he frowned.

She challenged him with what sounded like a question. Who needed friends, indeed? He tended to think very literally of things. He had come to understand that the word "need" implied something a person couldn't live without. Couldn't function without, like food or water. Knitting his brows, he considered that there might be people in the world that could live without friends. But then... he wouldn't know. Not once in his life had Basil ever truly, entirely felt that he was alone. The flies stirred, burning. Before he could reply, she then peevishly offered him a hypothetical question. Another area in which he was not well-versed. Nonetheless, his expression became brighter, paying her due attention. He remained true to his desire to please others, and he seemed to be genuinely interested in the things she said.

He opened his mouth several times, stumbling for a response. Ordinarily things shot out of Basil's mouth faster than he might have cared for (than anyone might have cared for), and if his pauses were not for the sudden appearance of a filter, it was for his paying the subject a greater amount of thought than before. She had made it painfully clear that she couldn't care less for his opinion anyway. She had asked rhetorically as a means to underline his stupidity. She had given him a nuance, and Basil had not known what to do with it. In the end, he seemed apologetic, nodding, "Well no, I guess I didn't think of that. You're right." He shrugged, a soft layer of dust floating from his shoulders. But then, as quickly as he had allowed himself that moment of humility, a change came over him, reacting. His head suddenly swarmed with heat, his face contorting into itself. His posture began to straighten, a gleam surfacing somewhere in the fog of his eyes. A third voice sprang out from him, accusing. Judging. "Oh, stop it! You can't have it both ways. If your company is so unappealing for other people that you have to spend an entire party by yourself, then you shouldn't act so offended when someone points it out. Unappealing. Peel. Like an apple peel. Your face looks like a puckered old apple when you frown like that! Smile! You're talking to me!"

The tangent broken, his eyes squinted shut, almost painfully. His hand thumped repeatedly against his forehead in time to a certain sound. An utterance that came to him with the surprise and severity of a sneeze. "Fft! Fft! Fft! Fft!" There seemed to be what looked like an inward exchange. A sorting and mixing of behaviors before one entity emerged above the other, and the glint was gone. Basil blinked, the glaze returning. He stared for several moments, disorientated. He was unhappy to find that his head burned in a way he scarcely ever felt. He leaned against the tank for support. Pressing his weight against it, there was a lack of traction between the fur and the glass that nearly sent him tumbling to the ground. He then shook his head, brushing his hair away from his face. His eyes narrowed into slivers, then dilated with a new awareness. They darted wildly around him, almost bulging, until they settled on the new Frei in front of him. He seemed confused, experiencing her as if for the first time. Having collected himself again, he wrapped the furs snugly around his half-body. Getting comfortable in his own skin. Comfortable with the oranges and blacks and overall festivity of the evening. Everything had been condensed in the space of a few minutes. All of it terrible. All of it tragic.

He held his hand out to her, "Hi, my name is Basil." He added warmly, giving her a onceover, "You look nice. I came here with my Genie-- I've never been to a party before. Is there anything fun to do here?"

((The Nao's: Food table | Prajna: Underneath a table~))

Prajna’s scattered thoughts were quickly organized into one simply wave of awe that left the Star completely submerged as it watched Eiry disappear into the table like he had during his grand, noisy entrance. What was he like? Prajna knew but could not define it at the moment. Someone who came and went as they pleased, someone who faded into backgrounds and through people, someone who…

”Prrashna...?”

The feathered raptor found itself blinking a few times, confused by the sudden interruption of thought, but then found itself peering into the emerald green eyes of its new crocodilian companion. Cruz’s clawed fingers curled and caressed the Star’s cheek tenderly and Prajna almost felt mesmerized by the other’s close presence, as if it was this giant snake being charmed by Cruz’s woodwind voice. The redhead caught itself staring at Cruz’s lips again, and the unusual teeth hiding behind it. Then Cruz’s concern brought through Prajna’s thought again, ”Yes...?” Prajna’s hand was pulled closer to Cruz’s decorated chest and the blush returned, for the same reason it had before. Had Cruz caught it staring and acting so infatuated? Prajna’s pride quickly regained the reigns and before Cruz could finish pouting his “…No?”, the Star had pulled at its hand, not intending to be rough, simply trying to break this magic Cruz was casting by removing the physical contact between them.

Prajna turned its face away from Cruz and then glanced over at the Sigel still peeking through the tablecloth, “Come Cruz.”

Prajna then took charge and slithered under the tablecloth before the Mistletoe had a chance, trying more than ever to avoid Cruz from seeing the schoolgirl-ish expression on its face. Its heart was racing; it felt both happy when Cruz had pulled its hand in closer but also frightened, as if unable to control its own feelings. And Cruz’s lips… why did Prajna find itself continually staring at them? If Varun found out, Prajna knew its promise to Namini to stay out of trouble would surely be broken.

Once underneath, mindful of its spiked hair, Prajna turned to the playful Sigel, trying as hard as it could to avoid another unabashed glance at Cruz’s curious lips, it asked, its thoughts having been recollected,

“Is…Eiry a ghost? Prajna has seen on the television and… Eiry goes through and about like one.” If one was unaware of Prajna’s embarrassment and blush, one would have taken Prajna’s voice to be shaking with fear or anticipation.

David immediately liked the suited newcomer as he concluded, taking Zeke’s hand with a firm but friendly shake. David always liked the respectful, the older men of the community, their characters giving a nice change to the women the older Nao worked with, though he had to admit, he was a bit jealous of the friendliness playing out between Anita and the new man. Was this a boyfriend perhaps? The caveman couldn’t help but smirk as he concluded that if this little tomboy was anything like his sister, and she seemed to be, then a boy like the time from the elevator would have been more her “type.”

“The choice in wines has been excellent. Had the apple one myself, still working on a nice buzz,” David replied with a genuine smile as Namini busied herself with Anita. The second the cavegirl had spotted the woodsman taking out her cell phone, the teenager rummaged around this little sack at her hip and then pulled out a brilliant pink phone, decorated with one too many charms, and held it out to Anita, beaming.

“I’ll give you mine, since David works so much! I’d love to set up some more play dates between Cruz and Prajna” she sang. Namini’s blue eyes had searched the barn for a glimpse of her young charge but she did not happen to see it and for a moment, worry overcame her, remembering David’s words on past experiences with the Star. But after seeing Anita’s reassuring smile, the curly haired brunette let her fears get pushed back into the depths of her mind. She was sure they were just outside among the cornstalks or something…

((Zeke -- Buffet Table
Anya -- Dunk Tank to the Pumpkin Carving area ))

He admitted she was right. Of course she was right! Only on few occasions had the spider queen ever been in the wrong enough for her to concede that she was, and this was not one of them. It made her feel quite proud and though she said nothing to it, she lorded that fact over the hapless Cobra with a sharp raise of her chin and faint but present upward curve of her cherry red lips. Unpracticed as she was in the ways of smiling, the appearance of the expression on her sharp-angled features gave Anastacia a cruel look, but it was one that didn't stay for long.

As the spider queen settled into the arms of pride and being right, a new voice joined the fray and from the cobra itself. The tone, what was said, all of it hit Anastacia like a slap to the face and made the spider queen stagger back slightly as if she had been struck. Immediately as it started the smirk was wiped from her face and she was left gaping at the Cobra - eyes wide and lips parted in a gape. She stared at him, mind having been blasted clear of her thoughts, before anger began to steadily fill her veins in place of that shock. Had she had the blood to do so, Anastacia's face would have turned a bright shade of red at that time. Given the lack of it, she remained pale but her usually expressionless face contorted into anger.

"Excuse me?!" Her voice was not the raging shriek that had been ripped from her throat after Cruz had kissed her, but it was still loud enough to carry around the vicinity. She sounded every bit as offended as she felt and her voice shook to match. "How dare you!"

She watched Basil's reaction to speaking in that second voice, but did not care about the Cobra's plight even as he fell heavily against the side of the tank. In fact, it was more like her vision had tunneled - she saw the Cobra and watched him, but everything other than the offending Raevan's face was blurred and perhaps even not there at all to her. As with everything, the longer she looked at something, the more she reacted to it. As she stared at Basil's face the anger inside her bubbled and churned in a sicking way that would have flipped her stomach several times over if she had one. Her hands - dropped to her sides at that shocking insult - balled into fists and her entire form shook with suppressed everything. Her upper lip was pulled back to reveal her teeth and because of that her fangs had come out as a yet uncontrolled reaction to the motion and her crown and wings had been thrown up and opened to show their size as well. Put it all together and 'do not touch me' was long gone. Instead 'do not ******** with me' was in its place; its face ugly and well beyond 'puckered old apple' as the second voice had put it.

The reason the Frei didn't immediately run from the ugly little snake was simple - she was once again battling with that little voice in her head that whispered 'hit him' in her ear. As with Zeke when he had tried to explain himself and she hadn't let him, she felt that long ago dubbed bestial urge and fought to contain it. It was so strong though! He had said things to her that no one had a right to say! She cared not that it was a different voice than the one Basil had used up until that point and instead considered the words over the voice. It didn't matter who said what to her when it was negative - no one should call her that! He would deserve what was coming to him for that insult!

In the back of her head reason was wailing at her, telling her if she did it, it would come back and hit her twice as hard. One hit and one as messed up as the fur-coated male would surely start bawling. That would draw attention of the entire party. One hit with everyone present and she would make herself a marked woman and not just in the eyes of her own Guardian. It was tempting, yes it was, but she had to be the bigger one. She was not an animal to just throw a punch and she was NOT an assailant either. She never was one, never would be one. She just had to get out of there, find a corner, and stew. Glares over throws, even if her hands ached with how her nails were being pressed into her palms and her arms felt tight like coiled springs. She wasn't bad for thinking about it, but she would be for acting on it.

'Anastacia,' it said, 'GET OUT!'

"Yes," she hissed to herself in that angry tone, giving her wings a shake in order to get the rest of her partially formed body moving. She had blanked Basil out for the time she fought, but with that shake she came back to earth and saw the Cobra floating there, hand out to her and smiling as though nothing had ever occurred.

Perhaps she had been to hasty with using the 'freak' label of Cruz.

"Back off!" She squeezed her fists so hard, she actually felt something pop - multiple pops in fact - and immediately her fingers grew sore. Something slightly damp came after and that only added to her jarred state, but for the overall moment it came second. Right now was putting as much of this barn between her and this...THING as possible. She turned, but in doing so, ran right into Varun.

Anastacia was sent back - literally hitting the Leviathan in the chest with that fast action - and she stumbled before righting herself. Immediately her angered glare was sent the sea serpent's way and her thoughts went to the negative in regards to his presence. However, she heard him tell the freak - Basil, it was now though she had no desire to know what its name was - off and even in her rage knew to use this to her advantage.

"You," she said through grit teeth and needle-like fangs, raising a shaking fist and pointing an equally trembling finger at Varun's chest. "Keep that," she dared not point at the Cobra, lest she ended up sending her fist into his smiling face, "away from me."

With the words spat out, she wasted no time after that. Anastacia took off, shoving past the molting Leviathan and out of the vicinity of the Dunk Tank. Though she dropped her lip - and just in time, she was starting to dribble - her face did not lose its overall contortion as she went, and she made a beeline for the first dark corner she saw that was on the opposite side of the barn.


”I'll be baby butt smooth again by the end of the night. You're keepin' that scruff, so you win by default.”

"Damn right I'm keeping this!" Zeke raised a white gloved hand to his goatee and gently rubbed the beard between his fingers. If anyone were to ask him what feature (hair not included) was a trademark or part of him that he couldn't be without, the vet would say 'my beard' every time. Piercings a close second if not a tie. He loved his beard and really would feel naked without it, even if he was feeling the same right now without all his studs and bars.

A tease about Anita's scruff would have come after, but the woman and Namini got into a titter about cellphones and play dates and for that Zeke decided to gracefully bow out for now. Instead, he focused his attention on David, returning the smile the other man gave him as he spoke about the wine. To the topic, Zeke nodded.

"I've yet to have any myself," he explained, "but I saw the list earlier when I was here helping set everything up. I'm thinking I might try the raspberry first when I get around that way." Apple and raspberry sounded delicious even though he was more a cocktail man than a wine one. Still, his motto in life was as clear now as it had ever been, and so when he did make it out toward the tasting table he was going to have a sip of everything offered. Who knows, he just might end up favoring one enough to buy a bottle or two.

Maybe three. Mom and dad like wine and I could give a bottle to Brad.

He figured they would like that, and if Alex mentioned at all tonight that she had and favored a particular wine, he'd get a bottle of it for her too. Perhaps dress it up with a mesh shirt and leave it on her desk...And that thought, as well as one of Alex's face upon finding said set up, made him chuckle. Though he wasn't one to mind the weird stares, the raver still shook his head to clear the idea and instead looked back at the caveman. He was one of two guardians to a Raevan and, not knowing the Star, Zeke had to openly wonder--

"How long have you and your sister been with the Lab?

((Genie: Outside --> Parking Area))

Genie smiled, lifting her hands and awkwardly shoving them down the sides of her dress, only to realize.

The worst part about wearing a dress for any occasion, was having no pockets to put her hands in. Not even a jacket. She huffed an embarrassed laugh through her nose, a mist of white clouding her face before disappearing. She instead folded her arms across her chest, walking with the woman as they made their way to her car. Due to the slight incline in the path, she was happy to have chosen flats for tonight. She felt a warmth flush into her face at the woman's kind words. She could tell she wasn't giving her empty platitudes. Basil truly, and absolutely had a friend in the world, for all his strangeness. All his accidents. Suddenly she didn't feel quite so worried for him in the barn. "That's great news. Cordelia is such a sweetie, Basil needs more friends like her. They're probably in there chatting it up right now."

She peered into the basket she lifted, and saw that there was an instrument inside. Genie to this day carried around a certain grudge about violins. Not that they weren't lovely instruments, or that they weren't the epitome of culture and discipline. She had just been forced to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on one a hundred times too many as a child. However, she still stirred up respect for those who had the patience for it, "Oh, she plays?"

It was then that Ebony had asked her how they were. How Basil was. She took her time responding, looking away. Essentially, she had asked her how ownership was working for her, and how much progress she had made with Basil since the last time they met. Here Cordelia was playing the violin, probably bell of the ball. Sociable and bright. And Basil... Well. Basil was nearly the same as he'd always been. His vocabulary had increased tenfold, certainly. He was reading now, and even writing a little. She knew it wasn't a race or a challenge, or that Rome wasn't built in a day. But something held her tongue... The way she had alienated her brother when he had accused Basil of being a burden to be gotten rid of, and only recently reconciled with her. The way he crushed flies with books and moved the furniture at night. How she was smoking again to cope. All the pacing, wailing, laughing, crying, banging and mumbling. It all became a blur of faces and frustration. Her love for him persevered, mighty against the storm, but she could not say their lives were the ideal. Every day, every moment, she wondered if he was happy. Not blissfully, blindly or stupidly the way a baby is happy to have keys jingled in its face, but happy. Fulfilled. Or if every day, he managed to hide the hurt a little better than the day before.

Her face first became a little grim, then expressionless. She turned to Ebony with a patient smile, and only said, "Oh. We're fine." Ebony didn't need to hear much more than that.

[[ Dunk Tank ]]

Had he arrived too late? The spider Frei was whirling around, slamming into Varun and sending the seasonal Frei back a few feet. So shocked was he that he simply stared, flaring his wings as he tried to keep up with the rate the conversation was going. While he hadn’t exactly expected the lilac-haired Raevan to fall into his arms and sing his praises (though if he had a woman to do that for him, the nautical knight certainly wouldn’t be against that kind of offer), he hadn’t foreseen the frosty female turning on him as well. He was trying to help. Bristling like a cat pet the wrong way, Varun bared his fangs back, silently warning the stranger not to use the weapons she was made with. If she was that turned about, then she had best get her head back about her.

His wings still fanned and frilled, he turned back to Basil, his teal eyes narrowed as he gave the hideous fur cloak a once over. If what he said wasn’t enough to offend the spider queen, his peculiar get up certainly was. Unable to restrain his curiosity, the redhead reached out to touch it, pick at the hair. Was it real? Basil, he ground out, remember the cobra’s name. What did you do to her? Why so mad? he demanded, swiveling to watch as the female Frei huddled alone in a corner. Something inside him nagged to go and check on her, but there was the cobra to deal with, for the time being. Anya‘s face had looked…well, unpleasant. Not knowing the younger Raevan at all, he had no idea if that were normal, but going on instinct, he would have to guess not. Why did you hurt her? Does no one teach you? You do not hurt ladies. Do not.

He should go check on her. Who was she?

What is her name?

[[Aphismet = Wine Tasting // Rivener = Food Table > Dunk Tank]]

With a reluctant smile, Aphismet decided that one more reply on the whole unpleasant topic of his ruined house was acceptable. "Isi's coping. He was not pleased with the need to move, but there was no choice. I think he likes the new place though, so it's not so bad."

He should have known nothing deterred Alex when she spotted a friendly face. Seeing the two men in conversation did nothing at all to stop the coming train, and Aphismet's chocolate-brown eyes had slowly widened more and more as she came closer. His breath was stuck in his chest, his heart refused to work, his brain was a complete useless flatline of nothing. If Josh said anything in reply to whatever Aphi had been babbling before, he didn't hear it. He was too busy admiring the woman he still loved so much, noticing her familiar walk, the way she smiled, that ambience of sheer happiness that surrounded her and made the world seem bright for once. For a moment it struck Aphi as odd that she'd look so joyous when coming to see him.

Then she called out his name the first time, and it was like an electric shock. He hadn't heard her say that name in person in such a long time! Since his birthday in February! He blinked at her, unable to come up with anything to say or do, frozen in place again. When she said it again and wrapped her arms around him, he tensed with confusion and hope.

She kissed him. Aphi flinched all over in surprise, eyes popping wide and staring at her features up close, his cheeks flushing bright red over the edge of the mask he suddenly cursed to hell for being in the way. His fingers had twitched so strongly he outright dropped his glass of wine, and both hands were then left hanging in mid-lift, unsure if he was allowed to touch her. Only for a split second did he glance at Josh in shock, embarrassed at the display...

Then just as he was beginning to wonder why he should care about anything but kissing Alex back, moving to finally place his hands on her hips, the Italian broke the contact and looked at him with a smile he'd missed so incredibly much. His very intelligent response to her quiet admission of loneliness was a flat, befuddled: "...-Ah..."

And now she was going to leave him and Josh to talk?! The chef flushed brightly again, gaze snapping to Santa Claus, eyes wide. H-he'd have no idea what to talk about after Josh had seen THAT up close! "Er..." he continued, adding to his repertoire of very intelligent retorts.


Rivener waited with a grin as Cordelia scouted around for a friend to visit, his arms crossed over his painted chest. His own gaze wandered a tad, finding that handsome Egyptian God again and drinking in the sight shamelessly. He rather liked ogling from afar, he decided, when the view was so amazingly delicious. His grin turned decidedly lewd, and the Scorpion even indulged in a small sultry chuckle. He'd need to visit Zul later tonight and compliment him on his flawless choice of costume.

Suddenly, without a word, Cordelia was off like a shot. A slow shot, thankfully, due to her restricting clothes: otherwise Riv might have lost her in the crowd for a moment. He blinked and took off after her, easily catching up and putting a hand on her arm. "Hey, where are we going?" he asked, having missed the show-down between Anya and Basil. All he saw now was the fur-coat snake and something that looked like Jack Sparrow, and Rivener quirked an eyebrow in confusion, glancing back at Dells. She was clearly in an upset mood now, charging in like a knight to the rescue... And that Jack sparrow did seem to be picking on the fur-clad person. But these two were not known to the dark Sigel. With Varun's haircut and mangled fin-wings, he was hardly recognizable from a distance. So for now the Sigel just stuck by Cordelia's side, unsure which side she was going to take when they got there...

((Josh: Wine tasting ))

He stared back at Aphi with much of the same astonishment and shock in his saucer sized eyes. Eyebrows were quirked and brown irises were focused on the supposedly split couple. His jaw rested slack as he slowly absorbed everything he was seeing. The boy was beginning to have doubts about just how separated they really were. Either Aphi was a bit confused about their relationship or Alex had developed into quite the stalker. Josh sincerely hoped it was the former option.

CRASH!

Josh jumped in place when Aphi's glass shattered. His wine sample pooled on the wooden floor lost forever. Fortunately, the hay littered about the ground would probably soak up most of the mess or at least hide it. The boy waved a hand flippantly in the air to dismiss the older man's clumsiness. A bit of conversation would hopefully lighten the mood. "You are being a bit loud for a ninja Aphi. Do not tell me you are tipsy already." His eyes wandered between Alex and Aphi once more.

Forgoing the awkwardness of the situation, there was an obvious connection between the chef and the Italian. They ebbed and flowed together. As Alex pulled away Aphi moved to fill in the space, undermining the fact that they had been apart.The boy moved away from the puddle of wine, a bit wary of its slow spread towards him. He commented mid step, "I'll be sure to Alex. But, honestly, I have a feeling you would prefer to take Aphi off my hands." The boy could not help but grin at his words. He shot his friend a questioning stare as if to ask why they had broken it off. Even if they had called it quits their chemistry was as apparent as ever.

(( Wine Tasting ))

Simply smiling at Aphismet's befuddled reaction, she gently extracted herself from the white-haired man despite her heart's cry not to. "Don't worry about the wine, I'll get it -- my fault," Alex remarked in a chipper tone, "you two have a lovely time -- and Josh, I'd like to talk to you later too. See how things are going." There was a brief flash in her eyes that hinted to the last time they'd seen each other - LuLu's check up after Lucia's attack - apparently having no qualms with the public display of affection. It was just a quick, harmless kiss, and goodness knows she'd practically been attached to Zeke by the hip just moments before. Using her hands and gun to indicate the two should side-step, she used her high-heeled boots to scuff it over with dust. It's not like she could get a rag or a mop when it came to a barn for goodness sake!

When she was certain none would slip in the coagulating booze, she gave a happy smile to Josh and a brief, hopeful glance to Aphi before departing their company again with a wave. After the fact, she couldn't have explained to anyone why she needed to kiss the man just then, but she had, and she felt so much better for it. Casting her green eyes back towards the entrance, she spotted the other Delaran she had been intending to lavish attention on -- and as an added bonus, it looked like her boss was there, too! However, she didn't want to interrupt them much as she had Aphi and Josh, so instead, she started to rearrange some items on the buffet table. In her straightening, her eyes glimpsed a lot of flesh, making her head lift with surprise, looking to the rather trim form of Ronan. Near by she saw two other unfamiliar costumes - a beautiful zombie of some sort and a roguish cowboy - and not far from them, Pasha and Zul's silent silhouette beyond them.

"Hey!" she exclaimed with pleasure and surprise to the selkie. "You made it!"