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Lia de Leon

Strange things had been afoot lately, and even stranger was her receiving an invitation to a fancy black tie event for the arts. She almost threw the thing away, but then decided why not. Try new things and all that. She always had been curious how the other half lived. Lia didn't want to go alone though, because that wasn't fun, so she bargained with Dimitri to go with her. Stuffy tie event first, and then Nega-patrolling right after.

Though towering over the man, Lia still held onto his arm as they entered, letting out an appreciative whistle at the decor. She wore a dark red dress for the evening (that showed off her tattoos, of course) and her usual wild mane of hair was incredibly tamed. She had so much gel in it, it was criminal, and it was pulled back into a thick braid of an updo. "Aw man. I already feel out of place." She grinned. "Too rich for my blood." She looked down at the man. "Do you go to things like this pretty often? Are you cultured?"

Dimitri Wayne Avruch

It was not Dimitri's first time wearing a tuxedo. He knew how to do a tie and all of that pointless pomp that went into an event like this. That's what it was: pointless. "I used to go often with my family, " he remarked dryly. "They appreciated what other people were capable of producing. Artistically."

He didn't like seeing Lia like this. He liked her best as Lyon, tall and imposing in her uniform, her own innate energy and enthusiasm pouring over and out; they made a good team, the lion and the clown. He had a harder time relating to her as the girl and the dentist. Technically the same, yes, but he had to act a different way, and she acted differently, too. Tonight, he hated the hair the most. He hadn't made any big secret of it either (his words something along the lines of 'I'm pretty sure I could snap off the end and use it as a weapon' or something like that); he didn't see what was so wrong with her hair the way it was, and it felt like a visible symbol of what was wrong with events like these.

"You fit in fine."

That was the problem.

Frankly, Lia and her promises of hijinks to come later in the night were the only reasons he entertained this at all. Dimitri had experience, yes, but he also had zero interest in events like this. It wasn't that his parents hadn't tried; in his wilder days before he'd conformed to the constraints of societal expectations, they'd hoped maybe art would be some sort of an outlet for him. "They had me play piano for a bit." Ten years. "Hoped for some artistic blood in the family, I suppose." He didn't hate piano, but that would be giving it too much space - he didn't have any real love for it either. It was just - there. A thing he could do with some level of prowess, a check in a box he didn't need to begin with.

Lacked the passion, his teacher had said. Quite often, actually. Heh. He'd be eating his words if he met the clown.

"So how long until we leave again?"

Desdemona Anania

True, Desdemona was more of a mask than a person, and she didn't know if she had much aptitude in the way of anything remotely artistic. She'd tried writing for awhile, back when she'd been more concerned with collecting herself, but as she'd settled she had more or less lost interest, and that had been about it. In this lifetime, she had zero recollection of having ever picked up so much as a paint brush, nor even touched the keys of a piano.

Still. She didn't know much in the way of either, but she had an appreciation for it, or something like that. There was no art in her apartment, no music on her phone. The arts were something she didn't really 'get' and wasn't sure she had the capacity for it now, especially since she'd hardly even know where to begin. Sure, there were the typical pop hits on the radio, the kinds of art one would know from pop culture in society, but beyond that...

But it was so far out of her realm of normal that there was something kind of entrancing about it when she did encounter it. Had Otto picked up on that? Desdemona kept the question at the back burner of her mind, but in either case, she hadn't rejected his invitation to come out here with him. She'd even grabbed a new dress for tonight, her arm looped around him as they strode into the room.

"Alright, " she said lowly. "Where to first? Lead the way, handsome."

Lia de Leon

Man. What she wouldn't give to meet some of his family. She wanted a glimpse into the roots of the man, to see if there was any hint that would back up what he was now. That was the engineer in her. Wanting to figure things out.

Lia was expecting another comment how her hair after he said she fit in fine. She was a bit surprised when it didn't follow (because he had been very blunt and vocal about it). Her grin simmered to a thoughtful smirk as tanned fingers lightly patted his arm. The woman hummed for a moment, head tilting towards him to show she was still listening. "Di, we just got here. If you're asking already, then you're in for a long evening, my friend." She noted the various animal decor, and was kind of bummed that the tigers weren't lion statues. She was incredibly biased.

"Alright---" She said after a moment, "So if you hate these things so much---why go? And don't say it's expected you're an adult now---" Her grin returned. "It means you can do whatever the hell you want, and could have told me no." A hand came up to rest over her chest. "My little ol' heart would have endured the let down." She teased, and for a moment, her voice lowered. "You can't be the clown all the time---but why does right now have to be boring?" Lia asked, genuinely interested to hear the response.

Peter Gallo

Peter kept his hands shoved into the pockets of his sleek dress black pants, ruining the look of sophistication that many of the other guests presented. He had no problem wearing the black suit and bowtie, but he wished he could have worn something with a few more pockets.

He felt underprepared for… whatever. And with all the weird things going on in the city… well… more weird things than usual… Peter couldn’t help but feel some deja vu, the scene reminding him of the New Year’s celebration that went horribly wrong and several people, including his own family members, went missing.

Really, he just wanted to see if his friends would show up to this thing. He knew some would try, or so they said, but he would probably just stuff his face at the hors d'oeuvres table until he was told to go away.



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Chris Gallo

It had been a while since Chris had been to one of these black tie events. Things always seemed to happen during events like this that he’d lost his taste for them. But since it was Paris’s birthday, he figured it might be nice to go out and try to enjoy themselves. Around other people.

“I can’t believe how tall Peter is,” he mumbled mostly to himself as he walked next to Paris, arm lifted so she could hold onto the crook of his elbow. Bringing Peter there meant he wasn’t out looking for youma, so that was a plus.

“Do you want anything to drink?” he asked, his characteristic shaggy hair making him look like he might have been there from another decade. He was going to get it cut once spring training started, but for now he thought he was fine. “Have I mentioned how beautiful you look?” he grinned down at his wife. Yes. Yes he had.

Ciaran Cassidy

Cee was a GAMER, not an admirer of arts and whatnot. She had seen the invitations spread around and had sighed because if she had seen them....Nora had seen them. The woman was a practical bright light for any event that required dress up.

Whether it was herself, Nora or Mason. Luckily, she had her phone tucked away in her 'purse' (hardly a purse at all to be honest, too small but it fit what it needed.) She had told Nora she would only do a short gown, as she didn't want to be tripping on the dress WHILE wearing heels. Long legs were tucked into lower heeled black heels, putting her already tall frame just at the cusp of six foot.

Her gown was short, simple and sweet. Her hair a cascade of blue waves down her back. Her make up was light, without being informal. She came unadorned by jewelry or accessories which made her probably the plainest woman in the room so far.

Or so she assumed.

Since she had no interest in whatever production was happening, she moved to the food, looking at a pretty blonde in a not....not so simple gown.

"Hey there curls!" Cee smiled, wondering if this girl was awkward as she was. "You come for food too?"