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Micah had been working for the better part of three days. Baking, cooking, decorating... now her living room was finally finished. This year Micah wanted oppulence. Golds and crimsons and emeralds. Dripping ribbons and the scent of pine. Micah had insisted on a real christmas tree this year. And she insisted and decorating it herself. After all, her parents and brother had no eye at all for aesthetics. Micah sometimes felt like the only one with any creativity. And when surgeons and engineers for a family… she may very well have been. All yesterday Micah was dressing the tree up. Red ribbons with gold trim, cream candles – electric of course – and gold ornaments with red accents. The tree skirt was crimson and all of the gifts were wrapped with red, accented with red ribbon. The room was strung with pine garland, all hung with crimson ornaments. The fireplace was lit and from the mantle hung four red stockings, as of yet unfilled.

Micah passed the side table next to the couch and adjusted the gingerbread house. She turned to the room in her way to the kitchen. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Micah sighed, beaming from ear to ear as she gathered the food from the kitchen. Cupcakes, cookies, cakes, pies, and everything inbetween. Little quiches, cucumber sandwiches, and all manner of savory food sat with the sweet. And punch. Cranberry punch for the minors and champagne for any adults who decided to come. Everyone would be happy. Micah adjusted the glasses for the third time and moved bow around on her tree. Perfect.

Micah changed at the speed of light, enthusiasm propelling her forward. She matched her living room, all planned, of course. Her parents wondered why she didn’t want to stand out… but that wasn’t the point of this party. She was supposed to be synonymous with her work. The room was an extension of her. The room, the food, even the flyers she’d stuck up around town as invites… they all matched.

And of course… there was one girl Micah particularly hoped would arrive. She felt a stirring in her stomach as she thought about the mirror senshi. She’d never seen her as anything but a cat… and of course she’d come powered down… Something in Micah mourned that she would not know her secret identity. I want to know all of you… Micah shut her eyes and swallowed her sadness. No. Today was a happy day. She flew back down the stairs and made one final adjustment on the room. Was the gingerbread house just so? Did that bow look better here or there? Why did I put that garland there, it clearly belongs over here. That’s gold; gold ornaments go on the tree, crimson go on the garlands. One last look. Too perfect. Now all she had to do was wait for guests.

[insert free pixel goodies here... later]

Micah was adjusting Alexij's collar when the door bell ring. She yelped, partially from excitment and partially from fright. Alexij had to pry her hands form his shirt. They grinned at each other, Alexij in amusement and Micah in nervousness. He gestured to the door with his eye brows raised. Aren't you going to answer it?

"Oh... right." Micah gave Alexij another once over before she nodded her approval of him. an expert in moving around in heels, Micah jogged to the door, stopping to smooth down her dress and hair. She'd taking time to straighten and curl it again, so it behaved today.

She almost hugged the girl at the door. All she saw were red eyes, and of course she thought of her beloved green cat come back to her as a human. A moment later, however, she recalled that there were dozens of other people in this city alone with the same eye color. She grinned at her anyway, Leto or not and moved the door aside.

"Welcome," she grinned, motioning for her to come inside. "I'm Micah. Glad you could make it!" Alexij grinned from the background, a male version of Micah.

Fritz, of course, was game for any sort of party. So when he had seen the flyers around town, he had decided, mostly on a whim, to attend and see what it would be like. He didn't know this "Micah," but wasn't the point of parties to get to know other people?

Dressed casually in a pair of tan slacks, a red, long-sleeved shirt, and a grey sweater, a red plaid scarf wrapped around his neck, Fritz made his way towards the door of the house. He had tried to drag Tolliver with him, but his twin had made it quite clear that he had no interest and was therefore sleeping instead of attending. Fritz had the sneaking suspicion that this was mostly due to the fact that his brother was mad at him for disappearing for a week during the whole "cat incident," considering that he'd had no valid way of explaining this, and Tolliver was now giving him the silent treatment in return.

Fritz would just have to bring him back some eggnog and convince him otherwise.

Pushing his fringe of hair out of his eyes, Fritz stood outside of the door momentarily, exhaling his breath in a visible gust of cold air. Then he lifted a gloved hand and knocked.



[ please quote me if you're talking to Fritz, just so I don't miss anything! <3 ]

The door was opened by a curly haired young woman who flashed a bright, welcoming smile at him. Fritz's own expression mirrored hers as he held out a hand towards the other, stepping inside the house to warm up.

"I'm Fritz St. James," he said, with his normal accent. Since returning from the Surrounding, he had mostly given up trying to conceal the origin of where he was (though sometimes he wished he could just get rid of the damn thing altogether), and instead was attempting to embrace his heritage.

It was a slow process.

"A pleasure to meet you, Micah, Alexij - thank you so much for inviting me to your home."

Fritz gave them both a smile, tugging off his scarf as he stepped towards Quinn, extending a hand to her as well.

"Ah, and Quinn, yes," he said brightly. "Nice to meet you as well. All of you look so lovely," Fritz added, with a rueful glance down at his own ensemble. "I'm afraid I feel rather under dressed for the occasion."

"Micah's a dress whore." Alexij had only jsut finished speaking before Micah punched him in a very unlady-like way. He didn't flinch, only continued shoving cookies into his mouth. "Give me those," Micah gripped, snatching them away and passing them to Quinn and Fritz. "You're such a pig, I don't understand why you're so skinny." She grinned to hide her previous behavior and curtsied a little in apology. "Sorry about him. He grows on you."

"Like a mushroom," Alexij added withou inflection, helping himself to more cookies. Micah only pouted at him. When Fritz spoke to Quinn it caught her attention. Her golden eyes went wider than normal in her curiousity. The shock was follwed hot on the heels by pleasure. Oh perfect! People knew each other! No awkward standing around with no speaking. She clapped at the idea.

"Here, let me take your scarf," Micah insisted, holding her hand out to Fritz. While Micah busied herself with that Alexij was the one who answered the door. He wasn't nearly as welcoming as his sister, at least not overtly. His eyes drifted from the girls face to the bag at her feet. He forced himself to smile, something rather foreign to him, actually. "Welcome," he repeated the script Micah had prepared for him before the party was even being shopped for. "Thank you for making it. I'm Alexij." He stepped aside for the girl to enter. Micah peeked over Fritz's shoulder and grinned widley at the girl, waving excitedly. Yay!

Keren was, um, well, technically Jewish, but of the particularly agnostic and secular variety, and furthermore, never one to turn down a party. The fact that Micah was throwing it only sealed the deal: Keren Della-Blue would go to the ends of the earth for her new friend and her fantastic hair, and after the ends of the earth a Christmas party was small potatoes.

She snuck in the door behind Fritz, catching it as it swung shut and pushing it open once more. Micah and a boy who Keren could only assume was her brother were previously occupied, but this was perfectly okay. It gave her a chance to prepare her entrance! Keren pulled off her hat and shook out her pigtails. She'd spent way too long straightening and braiding and crimping and curling and spraying for all this hard work to go unnoticed! Her hair was perfect and she was going to get all the compliments. All of them.

Keren frowned and began working open the buttons on her coat. Her hands had gone sort of numb out in the cold and it was making the double breasted design sort of tricky to get undone. Which was a bummer, because she was pretty sure she'd picked out the best metallic blue dress for tonight! Bummer.

Keren flexed her frozen fingers, glanced over at Micah and her brother and Fritz, and gave the buttons another try. The things she did for fashion! (Like go without gloves!)

Alexij was staring. Presley stared back. Her silvery eyes betrayed no emotion. It would appear they were having a silent showdown, until he offered a forced smile. Presley's brows furrowed. She had no idea what that was supposed to be. It was a smile, right? There were teeth. It looked a bit like he was in pain, though... Presley shrugged when he said he'd make sure she got it. So long as it was at the party, it was no longer her responsibility.

Presley waved a little more conservatively this time, as if saying Yo, when Alexij gave her name to Micah. "Can't come to a party empty-handed," she explained. Even this kind of party, where a gift wasn't required. Besides, it wasn't that much. They seemed like a pretty close pair. Presley wondered, not for the first time, what it was like to have siblings. Family, even. She had parents, and they were somewhere, but she didn't talk to them any more so it didn't really make a difference.

She wasn't really sure what to do about Micah's wink, but she tried to be less formal; Presley wasn't shy, by any means. "He seemed fine," she said, easing up on the weird staring she seemed to be doing a lot. Her face softened, as she took a deep breath and realized she wasn't at a cocktail party like her parents used to make her attend, and she wasn't at one of those stupid parties the Crystal Academy seemed to like. She was at a for-fun party held by a peer. "Nice to meet you too, Micah," she said, reaching one hand out for Micah's.

After the basic introduction, that was when Presley looked to the rest of the partygoers, the few that seemed to be currently present. She waved to Keren, though they had not met, as far as she knew, so Presley didn't quite know her name.

Micah followed the line of Presley's arm. Whow as she waving to? Micha's hadn't heard the door bell ringing. Had someone snuck in? It took her a moment to recognize the girl without her uniform on. But when she did Micah didn't hold back one inch of enthusiasm.

"Keren," she yelped, effectivley abandoning Fritz and his scarf in favor of tacking her best friend. She laughed loudly as she threw her arms around Keren's neck, pulling away to kiss both of her cheeks. "Oh, I just knew you'd make it!" She grabbed Keren's hand tightly, as if afraid of losing her, and lead her into the room.

"Keren this is Quinn, Fritz, Gardner, and Alexij. Guys, this is Keren!" Alexij waved slightly as he was addressed before returning to answer Quinn's question. "Micah is an odd girl, though fundamentally 17. She falls in love at least once a day and has her heart broken twice. She loves beauty, and falls for it instantly. Today, it's you. Tomorrow it will be someone else. It's just how she is." He shrugged and leaned heavily on the table behind him.