CANDY CORN GALA • sitewide social gathering

Far away from the prying gaze of other people attending this event, she would finally appear. As the texture of one of the walls started fading ever so slightly, a feminine figure would merge out of the solid material as if it was never even there to begin with. When one had such an interesting method of transportation, why would they ever not use it? It was nothing too grand in the first place. Just a simple ability that allowed the girl to merge her own body with the environment around her and move about unseen. With a faint smile, she would look around to discover that no one had seen her enter the room just as planned. And to her surprise, she also saw many familiar faces, as well as unfamiliar ones. With an event this strange, she was honestly expecting much less in terms of guests. But oh well, such was the nature of public events indeed. Despite being a mage for such a long time and a traveler for even longer, Leila had never taken too kindly to these events. Far too many people for her liking. She adored her own privacy and much more preferred moments where she could be either completely alone or with a select few people that she already knew. Presence of humans and more that she had never even seen before in her life meant a constant threat. And while it was bordering paranoia to be worried about anyone trying to pick a fight in a place like this, filled with legal mages always ready to strike anyone down at moment's notice, the worry was simple just a part of her being. Constantly looming over her, making its presence known to the girl.

Even earlier today when she received the invitation itself. She was in a rented room of a hotel present in Magnolia. With everything that has been happening, including her own embracing of Eden and everything that came with it, she did not have any time at all to be paying attention to what she normally did. The old lifestyle she used to have, wandering throughout Fiore and accepting different contracts, completing them and then taking refuge in the nearest hotel like a true wanderer without a home. It has been a very long time since she had done that last. So, even if simply for the sake of remembering the old, she found herself a hotel to stay in for the night instead of warping herself back into the Holy Gardens and restoring her powers there. Suffice to say, it was a very strange feeling that has brought back many memories, including unwanted ones. The image of Yuki sitting on the other bed presenting itself, the sound of a pigeon with a message from the magical council or one of her friends by the window echoing the halls of her mind. It all made her sigh. But not all of those wandering aspects were completely fake. Knocking on the door, it has brought the girl back from her endless imagination and right into the reality of things. But before she was even able to open the door, a letter would slide beneath the door with no footsteps to be heard, suggesting that whoever delivered it was either a special kind of being that did not have the need to walk on the floor, or took a great care to disappear as soon as it could.

That said, Leila lived through many other, even stranger things in her long life. Though, as the irony would have it, only the last twenty or so years of that life had any meaning to it at all. Taking the letter into her hands, the girl would examine it thoroughly in more ways than just the visual one. It was the paranoid feeling again, digging deep into her flesh and soul, crawling all over her like a giant spider that didn't know where to go. Magic, curse or any sort of trap. She checked for it all but found nothing at all. With that, it was probably safe to presume that the letter was completely safe to open and read. But it was almost a shame to do so. Even the envelope was rather fancy, of orange and black color. Adorned with many strange markings and symbols, some resembling pumpkins of all things. The Eden's guardian knew that humans had some sort of holiday these days, but did not quite care enough to actually discover what kind right now. Finally getting to the content of the letter, she was rather surprised to find an invitation to a public event in Crocus. Though it explained why she got the letter in the first place, as they were presumably handing out one of these to every single person they would come across, whoever was actually delivering these mysterious notes to people. Not that it really mattered at all. Normally, the girl would probably just forget about something as sketchy as this. But for some reason... there was this strange desire inside of her that wanted her to go to the place and see the event with her bare eyes. Perhaps the letter was cursed after all, casting a spell on her that forced her to go. Or maybe it was just her curiosity that took over.

And so she found herself here, among all those other people that accepted the strange invitation and were now either enjoying themselves or at least trying to. It was also quite amusing to watch certain individuals in dresses or other formal clothing, people that were very clearly not used to such style of attire and were fighting it as much as one would fight a deadly monster that attacked them in a dark alleyway. Leila herself wore something completely new to her today - a long oriental dress of white color with red accenting. She believed it was called kimono, or at least something similar to that. And she had to admit, she liked the style quite a bit. While the main body of her attire was rather plain, just simply done with one color, she upgraded it a little bit just before she arrived here by adding a floral pattern on top of it all, one that danced in a number of colors that were in the same scheme as this entire place. Red, orange, black and even yellow. This was exceptionally visible on the extremely long sleeves that were done in an interesting style, not going too much over the girl's palm but their side extending out for far more than it needed to, almost reaching the cold ground itself. The only real problem with a dress like this was the fact that it was, well... a dress, of sorts anyway. Long enough to completely cover her legs in other words. The girl was used to short skirts that did not restrict one's movement and this was pretty much as far as she could get from that norm, having to take care while walking so that she would not somehow trip over herself and cause a scene. The last thing she wanted was to be the center of attention in a place like this, at a time as this.

Even after seeing those familiar faces, she would rather turn her attention to the nearby tables and chairs that would provide bowls of fruits, plates of food and plenty of drinks to choose from. So once Leila's attention became focused on this specific area of this ballroom, she would run one of her hairs through the snow-white hair for a moment and start moving. That too was still quite new to her. After she completely embraced Eden and re-evaluated her existence, the girl's old appearance was lost and completely replaced. Though this new look of hers wasn't as far from the original as she probably thought. Silver hair replaced with white which was no longer completely straight but instead tied into a single ponytail about half-way down its length. Though that was only for this specific event, as she normally still had her hair straight. Her skin also appeared to have become paler than it was in the past. And perhaps one of the biggest changes, at least to the girl herself, the deep blue eyes were replaced with a shining emerald-like green. She was also still getting used to her pretty much completely new smell and magic. Truly, the only thing that seemed to be still completely same about her was the soul that she carried inside of this body. A small soul, one that was shattered in the past and was now still only about as big as four-tenths of what a regular soul would be like. But that was something unchanging, something that was always this way. Even such a tiny soul was perfectly capable of continuing to live on, even in a world most cruel. And that was perhaps one of the most beautiful things of this reality, something that the girl treasured greatly and would refuse to let go off even in the direst of situations, even in the greatest of perils.

But enough thinking about how different she was right now. With this much food present in one place, she might have as well tried to enjoy herself to some extent, yes? And so she walked around the different tables until she finally found one that suited her most, seating herself down. In front of her was a glass filled with whiskey, of all things, and a plate with Canary melon. It was to be expected that an event like this would lack watermelons, something that was completely out of place with its coloring. But the more yellow and orange alternative was still quite appealing to the witch, as she did not hesitate to bite down at a slice and drink it all down with the strong alcohol. The taste quickly reminded her just how long it's been since she last had a drink like this. In fact, it was rather difficult to actually remember when the last time was. Perhaps that day when she was hired by a traveling agency to test out their new tour? Back then, she had to visit three different countries and enjoy the festivals there. It was in Midi where they had a giant feast, food, and drinks everywhere. She got quite drunk back then, only to be exposed like that in front of her friend, Jiyu. Someone who apparently found herself at the same task. Those days seemed so far now... hell, back then the girl didn't even look the same. Having a transition from a regular human to something that resembled a human but had a fluffy tail and pointy ears. It was not a bad change in a sense. But the problems it caused, Leila did not even want to remember. Which might have been quite ironic, considering the girl's own situation right now.

Not only did her basic appearance change quite a good bit, she also had few new features now that she did not possess prior. Mainly, she had a pair of animal ears instead of human ones atop her head and there was a fluffy white and black tail sticking out from the kimono behind her. Yes, with the embracement of Eden, Leila became even further connected with the Gardens and all that inhabited them. Which meant that she became closer to nature itself than ever before. So much, in fact, that these animalistic traits showed themselves on her body. She didn't quite know what to think of it... but at least it was something that wasn't completely new to her. There was a certain bell that she had by her side even now, one given to her by the spirits that lived in the Gardens of Eden as a gift. Its abilities were changing over time and at some point, it was capable of giving these extra body parts to her at random. If she recalled correctly, it was also something she used to show Jiyu that it was perfectly fine being different. Or something to that extent anyway. There were so many memories, many of them damaged by the girl's own death that happened and were reversed afterward that it honestly became very difficult to recall certain events that happened far in the past. She didn't like feeling like an old granny that was becoming unable to properly use her memories anymore, but there was not much she could do about it all. With a sight, she took another sip of the strong alcohol and looked around. People were dancing and chatting all over, so much so that the girl had to ask herself - what even were they all talking about? Despite working with so many people in the past, Leila herself was usually quieter than most, at least in these situations. She could never find the right subjects to talk about.

"It's all just more of that useless chatter, don't you think? It's completely pointless to be even worrying yourself with what they could be talking about. Their words matter not. The mundane is not something that is of interest to us, the higher force in this world. You know that full well yourself now, right? After all that you have shown me after you broke the cage..."

"Perhaps. But if you truly believe their chatter to be completely useless, then feel free to suggest a different way of passing time here that does not involve me downing multiple glasses of alcohol while eating melons. I'm all ears."

A little mental conversation passed in the girl's head as Aurora, the other six-tenths of their soul finally showed up. Or rather, just started talking, as no one actually showed up. The two girls were connected on a level much deeper than anyone could even imagine, which allowed them to freely communicate like this. Though it was not always something advantageous. The goddess of Eden was perfectly capable of becoming much more annoying than anyone Leila had ever known for a variety of different reasons. But the biggest one was probably the sole fact that they were one and the same. In a literal sense, they were the same person. As originally, there was only Aurora, who's soul split into two pieces. And from the smaller piece, Leila was born. But the different environment they were exposed to for many years made them grow into two completely different entities, ones that often did not even share the same goals. With a sight, the girl would just finish her glass and pour another one as she watched all that commotion around her happen, wondering how it feels to be among the more popular people here. Even if she were to try her damn best, she could never be like them. She wanted to be a hero but did not want to be the center of attention. She wanted to be a hero, but used to question morales of these people and if they truly wanted to help, or were just after the money. She at least had the courage to admit her corrupted desires and joined a treasure hunting guild. Though it seemed that even that premise was slowly starting to peel off, revealing what was truly beneath it all. Though in Leila's case, there was nothing at all. It was a hollow space, devoid of ambition and goals to achieve. None that would be pure, nor corrupt. It seemed that alcohol was rather good at making the girl think a lot about senseless topics.