Welcome to Gaia! ::

Merci was incredibly hot tonight. She considered it her duty to look beyond amazing for the opening of their new business. After all they were going to have to establish a reputation right? She broke out her best leather for this. Her knee high black leather boots had a six inch heel on them, her leather mini had a sexy chain belt, and instead of the usual white tank top she opted for a strapless purple corseted number.

She was hot, but she was also less then amused. How come none of the specials on TV ever showed how much of a pain in the a** being a business owner was? They only showed night club and bar owners kicking back with celebs and drinking their own stock. Her tail was swishing back and forth at an alarming rate, and her ears were cocked backwards at half mast.

Somehow she felt like she'd drawn the short straw having to deal with the talent. They'd all decided that having live music was preferable to a DJ for the opening, and she was starting to think that perhaps that was a bad choice. "Look the contract said that we get a full set from you. A full set, not a half set, not a quarter set, not even nine tenths of a set. A full one."

The guy the band had nominated to deal with her did not look overly happy. It seemed one of them had gone and forgotten the 'gig' and scheduled some sort of date or something for the same time. Well as far as she was concerned he would have to miss it. Hanz (with a Z, because for some reason that made it cooler or something) turned to look back at his group and shrugged. "Alright lady we got you, full set no one's leaving early." He conceded before he stepped back to start tuning his instrument.

Merci glared them all down till each one of them started sound checks. Artists and musicians were so damned difficult sometimes. She turned to look at Dio, who had been hovering, completely amused, at her shoulder. "Don't just... Float there. Go check the bulbs in the lighting for the stage to make sure none of them are dead."

Dio cackled a little bit and thought at her 'You know your getting a wrinkle between your eyebrows. It's from frowning so much. You should try smiling more.' He phased his body out as he said this to avoid her swatting at him. Nothing was going to ruin his good mood. After all there was a good chance he would see some of the other fiends tonight. With a grin he moved off to do as he was asked, twisting the lights and double checking them to be sure they lit when they were supposed to.

Merci turned around with a growl and stalked over to Cinder, folding her arms. "Everything's ready. As soon as their sound check is over we'll be ready to kick open the doors." She snuck an arm around Cinder and leaned on her, hoping for a bit of a shoulder rub. "I'm glad I left Vance home tonight, I know he wanted to come pretty bad. Dealing with him and prissy musicians would have pissed me off past the point of no return."

Despite all of her griping she was impressed. It really was a gorgeous place. The wood was an amazing deep red, some sort of special ordered cherry wood. The chair backs had a really elaborate ebony inlay that depicted stylized feathers. After all the place was named the Raven's Plume, so the embellishments seemed to fit the theme. Whatever wasn't wood was leather, and the place had the faint smell of it. She was sure that would be replaced by beer and a mix of perfumes in not to horribly long. Red and black leather seats and stools finished off the decor.

All in all though she had to admit that it was a classy place.

Thomas showed up outside the club unsure how late he was. The snakeman wasn't sure why but he was feeling nervous. Maybe it was the thought of being around a lot of people or maybe it was just the newness of everything. It had been a long long time since he had tried something new. He peaked in the door. "Wow, It looks really nice..." he wasn't talking to anyone in particular.

Algie had seen the flyer at Twilight Designs and had pocketed it with mild interest. Merci and he had spent a small amount of time together and he felt like in an effort to continue a growing friendship, that he should go. Of course what cemented it was the phone call from Jasa, another fiend's bond who he'd also had lunch with, asking him if he was going and of course alluding to the fact that he should go. His mood had certainly dropped in the last few days following a night of strange dreams, the disappearance of his grandson Otium, and a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he just couldn't place. A night on the town would be a welcome distraction.

When selecting his evening attire he kept in mind the fact that Merci and Cinder were the business owners. He'd not met Cinder but Merci reminded him strongly of his daughter Halo so he knew this wouldn't be a 'sweaters and tea' sort of affair. Bloo had seemed to want to help him pick clothes but only seemed to focus on the most plain and conservative of Algie's wardrobe. At one point the stone even found an old rosary in one of his drawers. He told the wisp as politely as he could that he didn't feel that was appropriate. Bringing in Hela finally (and she was extremely excited for him about this whole thing) he managed to put together an outfit.

The wizard ended up dusting off his old leather. It was a vintage, battered black leather blazer. It had cracks and wear spots in the joints but gave it a stylishly worn appearance. Underneath the coat he wore a black button up shirt with emerald pinstripes that Hela said made his eyes 'pop'. Simple black slacks and a pair of black on black wing tips finished off his ensemble. Hela of course fussed around him, gyrating with excitement every time something clicked with the outfit. She insisted he do something with his hair so a handful of some good smelling hair product was rubbed through it to give that strategically mussed look. She'd even convinced him to shave!

It had taken him a while to get out of the house, having to beat Hela back and avoid when she started bringing up 'digital cameras' and 'this will never happen again'. After finally making it to the street in the blink of an eye he popped in and out of existence as close to the "Raven's Plume" as he could manage. He admired the outside of the building and the clearly new-but-old-looking sign advertising the place. He loitered outside a few moments, looking for Jasa since he was supposed to meet her here. Algie decided he felt strange loitering and figured the girl wouldn't mind if he just met her inside.

Bloo shook on his hand as he opened the door, seemingly excited to once again see a new place and new people. Upon entering the older wizard immediately liked the feeling of this new place and glanced around for anyone familiar. Bloo detached from his hand and did the same... well his version of looking.

Merci was thrilled when she turned toward the whistle and saw Zero standing there. "Hey! You look wonderful. I heard my girl helped out with your gams. They also look wonderful" She couldn't help but wink. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted an Algie, and she was momentarily dumbfounded.

Never in her entire life did she think she would see this man in the kind of get up he was in. He struck her as a tweed and khaki sort of guy.

She shook herself out of her stupor and walked over to Zero, giving her a hug. Merci could care less about personal space right now, she was far to excited about this place finally opening it's doors. "Hey Zero have you met Algie?" She turned and with a flick of her tail lead the blue haired woman over to him. "Algie, seriously looking fine. I don't think you'll have to worry about being single for to horribly long if you clean up this nice." She couldn't help but rib the guy.

Merci then blinked and said "Oh right Algie you haven't met Cinder have you?" She turned and scanned the room, and then pointed out the tall red headed pilot. "There she is, that's the love of my life." She sounded incredibly proud when she was talking about Cinder.

Dio was done with his chores and he was practically beside himself with excitement. Some of the other guardians were showing up, that meant that other fiends would have to be coming too. He saw Algie, which meant that there was a Bloo somewhere, and he saw a Zero.

He did not however see a Red, and he furrowed his brows. This would not do at all. Dio floated his way across the room, nodding at random other customers that had come in off the street. Even without the flyers being put out there, they were advertising an opening night sale on alcohol. Which was enough to draw in your average Joe off the street.

The teenager stopped right behind Merci and he addressed Zero quietly, 'Did you not bring Red?'

"Good evening." She said to Algie, a grin on her face. Merci was right, he didn't look bad at all. Clearly a bit older than most other people gathered here, but nothing was wrong with that.

"Red's gonna come in a little later." Zero reassured Dio. "I was ready before he was, and he told me to just go ahead." She wasn't going to say that Red had been reading a book. No one would believe her.

And well, the latter part of her was convinced he had taken over the bathroom and started primping himself up like a teenage girl going to a date, and the thought almost had her laugh out loud.

Cinder milled through the crowd nodding and smiling and doing her best to not to push all the people pressing to close away. Noting that Merci` had a bit of a crowd around her and spotting a few fiends she assumed it was people from Twilight Designs and stopped at the bar to grab up a tray of drinks. "Thanks Clotho," Cinder nodded to the draconian behind the bar as well as the snakeman working with her.

Her height she found helped her navigate the crowd, moving over near Merci` and the others she gave a smile and brought the tray of drinks around - even with the sizable tray she seemed to have little trouble carrying it with one arm, "Evening everyone - anyone interested in a drink?" Using one of the nearby tables she set the tray down so it would be within easy reach for most of those in the area. "Can't say I've met any of you - I'm Cinder."

Rhys knew he wasn't allowed out in the open bar, he didn't know if anyone was going to bother coming to the VIP room, so he had taken the liberty of starting a movie on the television supplied with the room and was curled up on the couch watching it. Tek was less easily entertained, he knew other fiends were going to be arriving and wasn't going to stay hidden away. Moving over toward the door Tek phased through it slinking down the hall before peering around the corner to get sight of others in the bar. He didn't spot the wisps at first but he did know Dio when he saw him, dropping down to the floor he moved along the base boards pausing as the lighting that Rhys had been working on caught his attention. Luckily he'd been watched and warned enough earlier he stayed away from the finicky lights for the time being and moved over toward the group of people and Dio. Hiding inside a nearby shadow his arms reached out and tugged at Dio's tail to get his attention.

Merci stepped over and picked up one of the drinks. It couldn't hurt to have one or two, but she wasn't usually a heavy drinker so she figured one would be her limit. Wouldn't do to get drunk on their opening night. "Thank you Jasa, we're hoping it does. After all whats the point of opening a business that does poorly right?" she gave a rueful smile. "Um, those with wisps might be better off in the VIP rooms. We can't vouch for the people who are coming in here and lets face it, they are floating precious gems." Merci wouldn't leave a wallet unattended in a place like this. A floating gem of obvious value would probably draw attention. "Plus I think Rhys and Tek are back there. They would probably like to meet everyone too."

Dio was amused by the antics of the wisps. He adored them so, and he stretched out his star covered arm to let them brush against his fingers if they wanted to. It was then that he was distracted by someone grabbing his tail and pulling on it. He stiffened up and turned around to see what it was. 'Tek? Why aren't you in the back room with Rhys?' He leaned over and offered the child his other hand. 'You don't have to hide. Why don't we all go back there together.' Dio had never seen so many people in one place to be honest. It made him incredibly nervous. Though it seemed no one wanted to get near him, which suited him just fine. Oddities might abound on Gaia, but he was stranger then your usual fare.

The fact the average man on the street seemed to shy away from the fiends didn't go unnoticed. Merci stretched a hand out toward the the doorway marked 'No General Admittance' and she said quietly, "After you guys. Though don't feel like you have to stay in a group. After all if you have a date," She winked at Algie, "We wouldn't want to interfere."