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Clopin sighed, smiling at her words. He had always been so dedicated to their holt, that he sometimes missed how others felt towards him.

"I'll always be here, Esme." He knew it wasn't true. Someday he would be gone, everyone passed on sometime. But that didn't matter, that was a long time from now and he would make the most of what he found that he had. They needed to talk more about this, but this dance was certainly not the place. This was a conversation for their den, not a party.

He leaned up and kissed her forehead, to all observers like a parental gesture.
"We should talk about this at home. Once the party is over, we can't leave the guests," he replied softly, giving her a fond smile.

Did she mean it, or was it just a tease?
Connor's throat closed up briefly at her smile. It wasn't something she gave him, nothing honest. They weren't friends, he kept her from killing others, from going too far. He was a reminder of her problems, of his father, of her desires. She didn't know him here, if she had she probably wouldn't have let him touch her, not like this. His eyes closed for a heartbeat and he gave her another smile, something he never gave another creature, either.

He could have let anger move him, moved away from her and left the party so that he wouldn't have to deal with this ache he suddenly felt. But when you went through life without goodness as he and his sisters did, you took what you could get. And if he could have one dance, one evening where they could escape their worries and just be normal young otters, he would take it. Even if he had to pretend to be someone else.

"You have such a pretty laugh, Firebird," he said, a small sigh in his voice as he moved them from the shadows at her nudging.

The female tilted her head down at the new voice. She gave a long suffering sigh as her vibrant red hair fell forward to shield her face. Did that otter really think she didn't know that? She swore silently that every time someone new did talk to her they simply proved what she already knew. Everyone was an absolute imbecile. She shuddered, she hoped it wasn't something in the water. Perhaps she should run some tests to make sure...

"It's called sarcasm, ma'am," she retorted, voice seeming to scoff at what some might have considered a respectful address. "He may not be blessed," she stumbled a bit on that--two opinions warring over that word, "but that doesn't give him the right to invite himself into my tree." It didn't matter that this was the first time she'd seen or been up this particular tree because every tree was hers. Every plant and greenery was a part of her. Which made the whole thing all the more insulting.

What she wouldn't give--hmm, on second thought. She wondered.

"Hmmmmm," Damshe thought to himself. "This isn't what I'd had in mind...."

Indeed, it was not. He should've checked the tree before jumping into it. Then, he'd have at least known that it already had an otter in it. With that knowledge, he could've found a more empty and suitable tree from which to get some sketches. As it was now, he probably wouldn't be able to find the right moment for any.

He'd watched wearily as the otter in the tree had climbed to stare him in the eye and chattered in a seemingly sweet enough voice. Of course, he hadn't understood her but he had gotten the feeling that there was some double meaning to her otter speak. Since he wasn't sure, he hadn't said anything back to her. He'd just sat on the branch and tried to ponder a suitable response.

Then, another otter had approached the tree and had a brief exchange with the one already in it. This confirmed that the otter in the tree was annoyed, probably with Damshe's intrusion. It also worried Damshe that the unorthodox situation might attract more otters to the scene. The delightfuly festive night that he'd hoiped to capture via pencil and paper would soon turn to one of confusion and embarrassment for him. So much for a peaceful evening's worth of art.

Although Damshe could not understand the otters, past experiences told himthat they could probably understand him. Probably. In any case, he'd better get his say in before things escalated out of hand.

"Heheh, sorry about this..." he said apologetically to the otter in the tree. "Didn't know you were up here. Wouldn't have jumped up if I'd known... Didn't mean to bother you or interrupt your little party. Just wanted to get a good vantage point for some... drawings..."

Damshe was aware that his words sounded weak. It was most likely the party atmosphere still working on his nerves. That and he still wasn't sure of exactly what was going on right now. Once again, he cursed his inability to understand otters.

Digging into the inner pockets of his leather jacket, he brought out his pencil and sketchbook. He waved the items feebly for the otters to see in an attempt to prove his intentions. It was going to be a rough night.

Ophie was beginning to regret coming to the party. It seemed that everybody had somebody, and she didn't know anybody in the groups well enough to butt in. Grousing by the refreshment table, she chewed some kind of cheesy human snack grouchily. "Man, it sucks going to parties where you don't know anybody and everybody else has something to do. Somebody better to talk to than you."

"Oh, not necessarily, dear," a calm voice said. Moonglow had returned to stand by the punch bowl and help ladle it out for the young ones. "I'm finding just seeing strangers and their costumes interesting."

"That's true," the younger female said, pursing her lips. "All the same, I wish I'd dragged my friend Clarence along. He'd have enjoyed the food, I think. And we both need to meet new people. Oasis society is so... it's almost incestuous sometimes. It seems pretty much impossible to break into a new social circle- like they don't want you there."

"I'm sure that's not true- incestuous is a pretty harsh word, really. It's just difficult to make new friends. Now, come over here by the punch and talk to me. I'm Moonglow," the elder said, proffering a paw for the angelic femme to shake. She sympathized greatly with the poor girl. It really was difficult to make new friends at that age- young adults were so stubborn! "While we talk, we can help serve the punch.

Esmeralda kept a close eye on Clopin but slowly drifted towards two females who seemed to be chatting. She smiled at Moonglow recognizing her and blushing a bit, she had swept the host away after all. Well now at least she ought to push thoughts of future talks out of her head and be a proper hostess.

"Hello, I hope your having a nice time? I'm sorry about earlier, I suppose I was overeager for a dance." She offered Moonglow a half apologetic smile then looked at the younger otter. "Are you having fun?" Then she realized she hadn't introduced herself, that was common around here wasn't it? She was so used to being anonymous, in their old home her kind were nameless, like sparks that flashed into appearance and vanished as quickly. She was still hesitant when it came to introductions, secrecy was still so ingrained in her as a form of protection.


For a moment Melantha was startled as he moved them back into shadows. Was it over so quickly? Was it because he had sensed what she feared he would? Then he was lifting her chin asking her what was wrong...caring. She blinked and then glanced around uncertainly before slowly taking his paw and stepping back, away from the party and into the shadows. She could explain things better where others wouldn't be likely to overhear.

Clopin, hers? Ha in her dreams, but maybe someday...maybe...she hoped. Esme laughed and shook her head softly with a grin gesturing around at the party. "Sadly I didn't help with a single thing, Clopin surprised me with all this, but it's lovely isn't it? We used to have lavish parties in our old home, I normally didn't decorate I was more in charge of entertainment."

That was to say she usually was the entertainment, nothing seemed to make young males as eager to give up their trinkets as Esme dancing. It was always amusing to her at first how quickly anyone could 'fall in love' more like lust. Except now she sort of felt bad for all those males she had teased, she was getting a taste of her own medicine now that SHE longed for someone.

She smiled at Opheliac and softly toasted her. "Good! To enjoyment!" Once again Esme's mood seemed to be high and once again she was in constant subtle motion. The metal on her outfit created a soft tinkling sound with every little shift of her hips or movement of her paws.

"Of course I'll tell him, most of this food and decor is very human inspired we used to live where there were a lot of them." She smiled and motioned to her dress with a paw. "This was actually human inspired as well but made by moi, Clopin sews as well he's far more talented at it then I. I'm better at fabric draping."

She touched the crown on her head and then the little metal circles at her waist. "These were actually human things that I...liberated." She smirked softly and undid one of the bits of metal to hand it to the young female. "Humans call them coins and use them to trade for whatever they want, the more coins a human has the greater their power."