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It had been too long since Fritz had done anything outside of his own apartment, which meant that the New Year's ball was the perfect opportunity to change that.

Dressed in a nice white and gold suit, and a deep purple mask that did not quote match the rest of his outfit (but he didn't really mind this), Fritz St. James swept into the room, looking rather pleased with himself.

The first few moments were spent with a drink in hand as he surveyed the room with mild-mannered interest. Fritz had not come with a date, because everyone that he knew, he had not heard from in quite some time (of his own selfish volition, but that was beside the point), and he was relatively all right with attending the ball stag. He could relax, take his time, get to know each other.

He'd gotten there a little late; and perhaps it was the fact that he wasn't used to being out in public again that a weariness had settled over him within a few moments of arriving. Fritz ran a hand idly through his hair and took a sip of his drink, wandering around the ballroom and finally maneuvering himself over to where a young woman was sitting at a table.

"Good evening, milady," he said cheerfully. "A fine night to be out and about, wouldn't you say?"

A proper kiss! Yes, Luca's girlfriend could read her quite well. If the opportunity ever presented itself, she would just glue herself to Jeanne and never let go. "It's upstairs. That's the old farts' ballroom," she said as they passed the main ballroom, despite the presence of some younger people around it making the label a bit off the mark. As she dragged Jeanne up the stairs, a strange feeling passed over her, like a little dizzy spell. "Huh...?" The world felt like it was falling for a moment, and then the sensation was gone. "Hmm." It was odd, for sure; she never got tired going up stairs, she hadn't done any drinking, and she hadn't even gotten to do much dancing. "I think something weird is going on. I just had a dizzy spell for no reason. I haven't even eaten or drunk anything." She shrugged. "Ehh, maybe it was just a little thing. Let's keep going!"



---

"Funny that you say that. I've kind of got the same thing going on! I kind of wanted a date for tonight, but I definitely wasn't going to miss a party. Besides, part of the fun is meeting people," Silas said. This lady seemed open to further interaction; maybe he could get his dance soon. Of course, there was one further step that needed to be taken before he could dive right into it. "Speaking of which, I'm Silas. What's your name?" Introductions were vital. If he could put a name to the face, it would make her that much easier to find in the future if they hit it off. A certain glamorous Cosmos Knight was still occupying a section of his mind, but perhaps it couldn't hurt to have someone a bit more in reach.

The evening was progressing without much change. The couples came and went, the drinks disappeared rather quickly, and even several people of age she was sure should have been in bed were running around.

Delilah though had her eyes on the dance floor when a male voice caused her to turn in a start. Standing there was a man who she thought would have looked perfect in a southern Mardi Gras ball with the white and gold suit. The purple mask added even more too it.

Smiling, Delilah found herself standing to greet him, happy for the excuse to stand. "An eventful night to say the least." She commented to him as her black and white dress fell around her. "I have to wonder if they expected this many people ahead of time with the rooms of so many different themes."

Together, Fiona danced with her boyfriend off and on for the past couple hours enjoying the closeness when saying to the slow melodies and the excited movements of quicker beats. As the night wore on and the night began to heat up, quite literally from everyone dancing so closely, Fiona took a hold of Fionan's hand and guided him through the crowd to an open table at the edge of the dance floor. "Oh man. I haven't danced like this since high school." Sure figure skating could be tiresome but at least the room kept her cool and she didn't have to try and move around in such a heavy dress.

Slate blue eyes hid themselves behind closed lids as she leaned her head sideways to rest upon his shoulder. "I don't know why I'm so exhausted though." She commented, punctuating the concern with a well timed yawn.

Sliding her had across his leg she took his hand in her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I think I'm going to go grab something to drink then head upstairs to take a nap." Sleep sounded good about now, even if it was only for an hour or so. Then maybe she'd feel more refreshed. "Do you have the key to our room still?" Fiona spoke only loud enough for him to hear her over the loud music, her heart beat harshly in her chest and each breath she drew felt like fire in her lungs as if she had just finished running a marathon.


third floor
Orange - Fiona

Talk about hot, he was sweating, and it was all due to all the dancing bodies and the hours of dancing with Fiona. It wasn't that his issue was with dancing with her, why would he mind that, but with the press of so many bodies around them. it seemed this New Years event was more popular than he'd thought it would be. They would surely do this next year, with how much it had to be making and how many people had to be here, and so he would be sure to come here again with Fiona.

"I never danced like this in high school." He commented as he smiled at her, "I was too embarrassed to dance at that age." He stated with laughter in his eyes. With her head resting on his shoulder he found his fingers combing through her blue hair. "I'm tired as well. I'm normally not this tired." Too many nights up late working on schools things saw to that. "But I am...I think it's the dancing and all the excitement." He said, offering his opinion on the cause for their tiredness.

Nodding, he lifted himself up from the seat, just enough to get the key while not disturbing Fiona, and pulled out the key card, offering it to her he smiled gently. "I'll try and stay up and text if anything major happens." He stated with a smile and returned the hand squeeze. "Go get a drink and head up to our room. You look exhausted Fi." Shortening her name as he smiled gently down at her. "Have a good rest. I'll make sure you're up before midnight." And down here to join in on the celebrations.

It may have only been getting on to nine o'clock, but to Laney it felt much later. She was feeling a little sleepy -- almost groggy -- and while it relaxed her slightly, taking her mind off of her persistent nervousness about her date, it also presented the risk that she might be asleep and drooling on Xanthus's shoulder by the time the proverbial ball dropped.

It was odd to be so tired; they hadn't even tried dancing yet. All they'd done was traipse around the floors, taking in the scenery and hunting down chocolate fountains (they'd successfully catalogued them all), and once, memorably, engaging in a mock swordfight with chocolate-dipped marshmallows on sticks.

"I think the cherry chocolate fountain's gone a little, uh, off," she said, setting down a banana slice on a stick onto the little plate she'd been holding. "Do you feel kind of, uh," she wiggled her hand in the air in a so-so motion. "I don't know, maybe I ate too much. Or I'm not used to wearing heels."



Laney/Hvergelmir - Green Mask

Kor was... not ready for this at all. He hated crowds, big parties like this made his skin absolutely crawl and he wasn't looking forward to facing a night of everyone staring at him and silently judging him. But Laine wanted to go. His fiance was really important to him, so he would do it for her. He'd told her to go on ahead of him because he honestly couldn't bring himself to leave when she did.

And so Kor slowly moved around the amount of people that were there, trying not to touch anyone and ignoring the looks he got. He was dressed in his best suit, which still had a multitude of safety pins and looked very punk like despite how much he spent on it.

Where was Laine?

-----

Kazuo gave the taller man a very impatient look at the repetition and just rolled his eyes afterwards. "You know, it had no effect when you said it the first twenty times, so twenty-one had even less effect. I told you you didn't have to come when I asked you."

Honestly, the short man had been surprised when Kraven said yes to asking him. Kazuo had a few friends that might show up and he wanted to see them because honestly? He didn't get out of his house much besides working at the convenient store near it. He adjusted the mask on his face and just dusted off his suit before looking up to the other.

"If you dance with me I might just give you a kiss." And maybe let the bigger man's hands wander, but honestly? Who knew. It'd be up to how he felt at the time.

Kor/Rutile: Black (Neva Lt.)
Kazuo/Quail's Eye: Purple (Amazon Trio)

"It's not just you." He blinked as though that would shake off the feeling that had crept up on him and couldn't be shaken off. "You'd think we'd be more...uh... wired... with all the chocolate."

The sword fight and the chocolate sampling might have been arguably sort of goofy or childish, but they were also awesome, and way more fun than what some other people were doing.

"I thought maybe I'd put my tie on wrong or something..." He looked around for someplace to put down his own little plate of appetizers. Maybe they shouldn't eat any more? Had the chocolate been spiked? But he didn't feel drunk... he felt more like he was pushing toward the end of a long night and it was starting to catch up with him, except it was only nine, and he'd actually been catching up on his sleep for the most part...

"I thought maybe I'd just lost track of time but unless the clock is running at the wrong time..."

Maybe it was? He hadn't actually looked at it when they'd arrived. It could have been off, though that seemed like something you would check with the whole New Years count down.

"We'd taste it if someone spiked the chocolate fountains right?" He was pretty sure. Reasonably sure. But then Dani had introduced him to a couple mixed drinks where you wouldn't really know...



Xanthus/Kairatos- Red Mask