Welcome to Gaia! ::

Having left Aoi and Elst behind at the Nursery the evening before -so much work to do without the aid of Banning's mansion staff!-, Timka and Misha were now waiting eagerly, anxiously even, for the guests to arrive. Ten on the clock, time tick-tick-ticking ahead.

Neither they nor Banning knew what to expect from this initiative, but with the amount of beer, wine and soda coupled with lots and lots of cookies and other munchies, at least nobody would go hungry. Well, the front door was open, one of Banning's confidantes was keeping an eye on the entrance to make sure nobody unauthorised slipped inside, and by the reception desk, miss Longway was waiting. At least no dresses were involved this time, casual worked fine. Misha was trying to keep himself busy idly snuffling about the movie posters and the adverts for stage acts that were regularly open to the public in the building. His self-distraction wasn't working too well to dispel that tension keeping him on edge, and it wasn't before his owner made a snarky remark about it that he dimmed his nervous glow and sat down on the row of seats in the waiting hall. Thinking.


Many of the invited people they hadn't seen in ages, not since the Midnight Ball. Others of the people who might show up would be entirely new to the club. At least Timka had met Joseph and Feodor before, but she had never gotten around to introducing them to the Duke.
Speaking of the devil, where HAD the man gone off to? Miss Longway'd lost track of his whereabouts a good hour before, but she assumed he couldn't be far away, and she could handle the situation well enough without him hawking about.

On the topic of introductions, both her and Misha still weren't quite sure if they should bring up a wholly different topic up today. Perhaps it was best if they just went with the flow. Perhaps things would smoothen themselves out. Perhaps Aoi would have managed to rope Vin into this...

Who knew.

Ten on the clock. Time to start.

"You're right on time." a merry voice called from inside, quickly coming to meet him.
"You're the first to make it here, congratulations." With a bright smile, miss Longway greeted him, motioned for him to come deeper inside quickly, where they were safe from curious onlookers peeking in perchance. It wasn't long before another beaming individual joined them there, blond and sunny like a summer's day, the spot on his forehead and the matching marking on his abdomen glowing with faint warmth in resonance to Nyx's essence pattern. Surely the small Proto would be able to sense his in turn.

"Hello there~!" an overjoyed greeting, though hushed to hold back from being much too overwhelming. "I'm glad you could make it~"
Teehee, smugly pleased bunnybuns. Giving Misha some time to say hello, Timka went to swiftly provide some crackers and beverages.
The Party's on.

"Oh, hi!" Astan said, taking a smattering of seconds to register that the woman in front of him was Longway. "You have... ears." If anything, his reply made him sound even more confused, but only for a moment. No, actually he was delighted. Cat ears? How cute! It seemed everyone was finding their inner animal lately.

"Nice to be here," he covered, smiling.

Rahk began to climb from the bag up Astan's t-shirt, settling on his shoulder as Nyx had with Shade. "Go in, go in," she urged. He complied.

The girls waved back at Misha but stayed quiet. There was a new sibling to stare at, one that was their size! And stare they did. It was kind of creepy.

[[ OOC| I apologize for the wall of text. Dx]]

The nursery had been closed today, both for a new shipment of plants...and for the fact that Elst actually had somewhere to go for once, surprise surprise.

He’d made some efforts to look nice, hair a little more well-combed than usual, wearing nicer brown slacks and a green shirt to replace his usual ensemble. It was casual, after all, hopefully the shirt wasn’t too casual…and that was that, wear some brown shoes and he was set. Wait, no, don’t forget to grab a light sort of green jacket to go with it, yes, hopefully that would look nice.

Aoi was in a spectacular mood, as he got himself all ready, comfortable jeans and a bold blue long sleeve shirt with white accents colorfully contrasted with his own grey pallor. Fortunately the petals that had been dying had fallen from him, and had since grown new ones to replace them, still grey, but definitely alive.

They made quick work to get over to the theater, Fair Theatre was the one, right? The instructions they had looked up proved accurate enough as Aoi could sense the minds of Misha and Longway around the corner, and they showed their invitation to the doorman, making their way in.

Ooh, seems there’s some new additions, now. Is that Shade with a little one? And…someone else with…wait, hadn’t Longway mentioned twins? Those must be them, and the guy that found them, too, interesting. Aoi had remembered these things, Elst had not, but their constant exchange of information via their link helped keep the plant man informed, at least. Aoi made a beeline for Misha and Shade, while Elst kept to the spot, wanting to perhaps talk to Longway, or was she too busy, no, wouldn’t want to bother her..

Typical Elst frettings.

As for Josev…

He’d prepared everything the day before, that being his nature to be prepared, and Feodor, well, didn’t really have to prepare much. It was terrified of the notion of being around this huge crowd [it was a huge crowd in its mind], but was glad Aoi would be there, at least, hopefully Orpheus as well.

“Do…must we come to this…party?” Josev smiled softly down at his Essentic as he heard its delicate, quiet voice. “Yes, Feodor, there are many new people to meet, they are practically your siblings, remember? You will be with family, just like with Aoi and Orpheus, there is nothing to worry yourself about.” Feodor, who was sitting on Josev’s bed while he prepared, knitted away almost frantically at some blanket or another he’d been working on that day; it was made of the strange, very light blue thread produced by his arachnid half. The finished portion of the blanket was sitting in his ‘lap’, the thread seeming to glow, almost. “I…I have never met any of them, though, they do not know me, what would they want to do with me…" Josev couldn’t help but sigh a little as he smiled again for the Proto. “Do not worry yourself, little one, all will be well, I am sure they will love to get to know you.”

He finished getting dressed, a casual-yet-well-chosen ensemble of black cotton shirt layered with grey collared shirt, a pair of black, buttoned jeans and nice, but not quite formal black shoes. The young-ish man had been trying to dress more relaxedly as of late, knowing his usual style of dress could be a bit much. His cologne for today was chosen for being less noticeable, simply a pleasant scent was all.

Anyway, let’s be off, shall we? He had long ago created an odd sort of duffel/travel bag designed to carry Feodor away from the public eye, yet still in comfort, and the puppy-sized Essentic was indeed quite comfortable within. He had a liking of the enclosure and the feeling of safety it gave. The small gem-like glowing portions of its ‘mask’ were able to keep the interior rather well-lit. Josev could have driven to the theatre, but that would be overdoing it a little, and besides, today was so nice for a walk.

And walk they did, the duffel bag carrying both Feodor and Josev’s precious book slung over the tailor’s shoulder. It was a fairly long walk, but Josev was in pretty good shape; it was nothing that would break a sweat when at a leisurely pace. They arrived very shortly after Elst and Aoi, and Josev was pleased to see his green friend finally wearing something that looked even remotely comfortable. To his recollection, actually, the clothes the plant man wore were of the Maestern design, what a compliment that Elst would wear them here. He had gotten by the doorman, and before going over to Elst, took Feodor gently out of the duffel bag, taking the Tome out with his other hand and setting the duffel bag away wherever he could find a spot. He would set Feodor down later, but for now the little one needed the comfort of being held to keep it calm.

He walked up towards Elst, who was standing there being his usual awkward self, and spoke up. “Ah, Elst, so good to see you again…” Elst, pleased to hear his friend’s voice, hadn’t really thought about the fact that Josev would certainly attend such an event, despite how, well, obvious that fact was. Friendly banter was had.

Feodor, keeping close to his owner, looked around timidly, observing the new Essentics around him. The arachnid half was still, yet seemed oddly aware of the surrounding life, and each 'gem' on Feodor's body seemed to resonate to some unknown signal.

[[For future reference, Josev refers to Feodor as a 'he' because he finds the term 'it' for a sentient creature a little derogatory, Aoi does the same.]]

"Do you think Feodor will be there? I'm sure Aoi will be there, which means Uncle Elst will be there too, right? And Misha and Miss Timka should be there, and Shade's going with Nyx, and I bet we'll see Lauss too! Maybe Lauss will be wearing the outfit I made for him! Oh, and Shade can help me with my Pokémon game; I still can't figure out how to get Cresselia 'cos she keeps running away."

Verdant was following behind his younger brother, groaning at the incessant annoyance that was Orpheus. It was Verdant's fault, he'd said it was alright to drink a case of energy drinks. He didn't think Orpheus was serious, but now he regretted giving him permission. It was a wonder he was able to dress himself properly; when Verdant checked on Orpheus, he had donned a dress he had meant to give to Rhian, but it apparently fit him just right, so now the wyvern was decked out in lace, petticoats, and a very adorable mini hat. Verdant, in quite the stark contrast, was wearing what could only be described as a Tetsuya Nomura wet dream; he had never worn so many zippers and buckles before - on just his coat. Thank God his thigh-high boots helped to calm down his look.

"Orpheus, please chill. Don't make me say it's name."

Orpheus immediately stopped talking and walked silently beside Verdant. He had been reading Lovecraftian novels as of late and he feared the name of the mighty Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu. He had told Verdant that he should never say the name Hastur and started crying when he realized he'd said it and would soon go insane. He didn't, but he considered it dumb luck.

"Look, I know you're excited, but chill out, Orpheus. You'll have plenty of time to spaz out when we get there."

"Where are we going anyway? The Fair Theatre?"

"Yup. I've never heard of it before, to be honest, but knowing Banning, it must be one hell of a theatre."

The two brothers finally arrived at the theatre after getting lost for a bit (alas, even wyverns don't like to stop and ask for directions). They admired their surroundings, but were a bit busier trying to look for a familiar face. Of course, that didn't take very long at all. They made a beeline for Elst, Timka, and Josev. Orpheus was torn between Aoi and Feodor. Which should he hug first?

"Elst, Miss Longway, Josev! How are you all today?" Verdant asked as he gave them his warmest smile.

Well, Elst was certainly happy. He returned Longway’s affection in full, nosey-ing and all, before turning to see the others she introduced him to. We know Shade, yes, Nyx is new…Astan and his two, nice to meet you all…yes, let’s see if we can remember at least one of the new names for more than three minutes, that would be nice…He took the opportunity to get a drink for himself, a simple mix of lime juice and tonic – he didn’t mind the potency of the mixture of sour and bitter, and besides, it reminded him of those tasty mojito things he’d enjoyed so much at the last EBI gathering. “It wasn’t too hard to find…”

Josev returned her handshake, offering a pleasant smile and a polite “Hello.” to both her and the introductees. If anyone also wished for a handshake, he’d certainly oblige. But now…drinks. A cup of sparkling red grape juice was more than enough to keep Feodor quite happy. For Josev, however, something with a little more finesse. He trusted in Banning’s quality of staff, and put it to use here, requesting, if they could, a Kir Royale, yes, crème de cassis liqueur is preferred, I favor it over the pèche or mûre varieties…yes, please feel free to improvise if that’s best, I certainly don’t mind, much gratitude to you for the trouble… Point being, he eventually had the champagne flute in hand, the Kir not carrying the usual blackcurrant liqueur topped with white wine he most enjoyed, but mûre, blackberry instead; a perfectly acceptable substitute in his opinion. They were so kind to have even bothered with the drink after all. They even remembered the lemon twist as garnish.

He wasn’t one to begin drinking so early in the day, but this French mix was intended as an apèritif, a light drink to stir the appetite before eating, simply enough. And face it, from the looks of the spread Banning offered, much eating was inevitable.

Elst was a little captivated with Longway at the moment, but as Josev turned he easily caught sight of Verdant, the nymph and wyvern in their usual flamboyance of attire. He took a sip of his Kir, approaching the duo as they entered the area. “Ah…Verdant, Orpheus, so good to see you again…I’m afraid Elst is somewhat…distracted, at present.” Feodor, previously absorbed in enjoying its juice [the little bugger loved grape juice], froze in fear as it felt Orpheus’ approach; it knew hugging was inbound.

Aoi grinned cheerily at Misha before he was introduced, looking at the tiny protos. “Hey, new…” he paused as he sorted through what mental signals he could identify. “Sisters?” His voice already carried affection in its tone towards them, happy to have new little siblings in the mix. He smirked a little, maybe the sibling thing needs explaining. “If it wasn’t obvious already, I like to call other Essentics as brothers and sisters…except Zia, it’s a little harder with the whole genderless thing it’s got going on…but you three, you seem like sisters, or am I wrong?” Just some friendly chatter, always nice to know what people like to be called and all…

[[Edit:]]He then turned to Shade, hello there... "Oh, we're doing pretty well, just the usual, how've you been? How's school?" He felt the incoming presence of a certain former wyvern, but certainly couldn't just ditch his conversation, so it would seem Orpheus would have to come on over here~