Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alma looked up from her feet as she reached the bottom of the steps. From what she could see of the ballroom down the short hallway, it was the same as she left it, maybe. The crowds had increased and there were few hints to where any commotion would be coming from. Bracing her self, the goth slid into the room and tried to avoid dancers, overly enthusiastic couples and having her toes trodden on. It was a dangerous place for a loner to be but maybe there was someone that would help her understand the confusion of this place.

<<

Oual nodded, watching Cross and listening to Violet. When she finished her statement, his head swung towards her, an intrigued expression spread across his features. “Can you tell me a little more about this lady who drives you? She sounds nice if she plays games with you. How do you two treat each other?”

Violet was seriously neglected, but to what extent? What were these games? Would it take more or less than a social worker? Could she even name her own guardians?

"Your father worked security for a project I was involved with," Gore smiled. "When that explo- was disbanded, I hired him as a personal bodyguard." Gore moved to let a blond girl in an extremely tight dress and her date by. "The things they let kids wear these days... Anyway, Danielle told me to go in the back door. I don't suppose you know where that is?"

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From the moment she walked through the door, Penelope's dress caught everyone's attention. She noticed, with perhaps a touch too much satisfaction, three separate guys get in trouble with their dates for staring. But how could they not? The dress fit Penelope every bit as well as it had when she tried it on (or did it try her on?) in the attic. The strange material molded to her body, but was somehow so stretchy that she could move without hinderance. It turned her somewhat flat and plain frame into something far more seductive. For the first time in her life, Penelope felt like a hottie and it felt amazing.

The only head Penelope wasn't turning was the one she most wanted to impress. Josh eyed the prom nervously, clearly way out of his element in the company of so many people.

"See anyone we know?" He asked, almost franticly.

"Not yet, but I'm sure we'll find someone," Penelope smiled and patted Josh's shoulder. "Will you relax? You look like you're going to bolt out of here!"

"The thought has crossed my mind..." Josh almost joked.

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"I'm Danielle West," Danielle suddenly replied, hopping to ease some of the sudden tension at the table. "Sorry I spaced on you, but I've got a lot on my mind right now..."

James Cross found Gore's story about his father interesting, but something did not seem right. James let his mind wander back and then he remembered Al Gore. James had met Mr. Gore at a cocktail party Cross's father had hosted years ago. James remembered vaguely being introduced to the man standing before him when James was about seven years old. Cross's father had talked very highly of Gore back then. Then two nights after the cocktail party was when it happened....

James had to lightly slap himself to make his mind stop wandering to what had happened two nights after the cocktail party. He let his mind come back to the present. "Hm..." James said in reply to Gore's question on the back door. "Let me think... yes! I know exactly where the back door is. But just case..."

James turned to the beserk little robots still going around cricles. "Hey! Guys! Cut it out... we need to know where the back door to this place is!"

One robot stopped going around in circles and said, "COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE! Luke... I am your father... father... father..." And with that it zipped along its way.

James just shook his head and looked at Gore. "I guess its this way sir. Follow me if you will."

<<

“You definitely do,” Oual smiled, watching her prove her point. Her answer about the woman hadn’t told him much, and so he decided not to ask about the father-figure just yet. “Do you think maybe I could meet this man and woman after the prom? I love meeting new people.”

...

<<

The red-haired girl just walked away without even giving her name. Don watched the music carry her away and tilted his head a little bit – kind of like the way Sam did when he wanted something and he knew you were holding it back just to mess with his head. When he lost interest, he sat back and scanned the crowd, deciding that being a security guard would be really easy and maybe a little boring.

<<

So, it's the man I need to worry about, Oual decided. “Is that your family?” He asked. “Just the three of you and nobody else you see occasionally?”

He considered asking her to leave the prom. He didn’t know that he could keep her entertained all day – and really, nothing big was going to happen here. But he was the transportation for both Cross and Don.

(OUAL continued below...)

...

The new security guard had taken to wandering the crowd looking for something social – but soon he felt like the students would think he was only trying to get them in trouble. He quickly decided he would talk to Oual so that he’d feel like he was doing something. Don located his uncle a distance from Cross still talking with an odd looking girl. Don decided she was retarded and had somehow ended up here. He beamed brightly at her as he walked up to the two of them. “Hey there,” he said to her – a little louder than necessary.

He turned to Oual. “Hi. I’m feeling kinda useless here – so do you mind if I – you know – converse with you two?” He caught himself and eyed Cross. “Unless it’s a mistake to have all three security guards posted in one spot? It’d be a shame if we were all here and something happened over there, you know what I mean?”

Oual smiled slightly. “It is perfectly fine, Don, if something major happens, we’ll hear it. Then we’ll run towards it,” he replied, knowing there were no huge concerns. All he worried about was BAND making the crowd a little too rowdy. Until they came out, they could virtually stand around and do nothing. “Violet, this is my nephew, Don. Don, this is my new friend, Violet.”

“How do you do?” the young man asked, bowing his head with his usual foolish grin.

"They aren't my family," Violet said, emphasizing the word by rolling her eyes. "Just because you live with somebody it doesn't make them your family."

Violet looked confused when Don walked up and addressed her loudly (which probably only helped solidify his theory that she had a severe mental handicap). She didn't much care for this new shouty man coming over and stealing her new friend. Violet stood with her arms crossed and an impatient pout on her face as she waited for Dom and Oual to finish their short exchange. When they had finally finished speaking (after what, Violet decided, must have been a million minutes or more) and Dom addressed her, she stuck her tongue out at him.

Violet looked indignant, her arms crossed and a sour look on her face. She never needed much justification to dislike someone.

"You talk too loud," Violet said simply. "And you treat me like I'm stupid. I'm not stupid. I just forget things and don't listen to the stuff that comes out of my mouth sometimes and get lost a lot but I mostly always figure out how to get back to where I was except for this one time when the man whose house I live in had to find me. But that doesn't make me dumber than you. I bet I know lots of things that even you don't know, Mr. Shouty, like what color elephants dream in and where to look to find the little invisible places that lost things fall in."

Violet seemed to lose her train of thought then. She paused for a moment with her head cocked slightly to one side, as though she were listening to a far off sound. After a second or two she closed her eyes and shook her head, returning to the conversation.

"But I'm not stupid," she said, finally.