CANDY CORN GALA • sitewide social gathering

Grema wanted to get something straight here. She hated parties. With a passion. They were crowded, noisy, the grumpy women was forced to socialize and often be nice, and there were more people to stare at her than usual. Worse than costumes parties, because at least in those she could wear an overly large costume to hide her hideous deformities, were formal parties. With a formal dress code, showing her deformities was not something she could avoid. The cyborg had yet to find formal attire garnered toward females that could hide all of her cyborg parts, her left leg, left arm, left eye, and a good portion of her left internal organs, the burn scars of the left portion of her face, and worst yet her hunchback. There was no dress that could hide all of that, let alone make it look pretty and acceptable in a formal setting. Thus formal parties were to be avoided like the plague. But unfortunately, like the plague, it came to you anyways if you put yourself in a situation that gave it the chance to. Joining a ‘good’ guild tended to do that.

But it wasn’t entirely her fault. For one when she opened the letter invite for the first time, she had felt the most utterly illogical urge to attend. While contemplating how utterly ludicrous that urge was for her Grema had let her hand holding the letter fall down, inviting a certain dog-like creature to sniff it. “Game no!” Grema yelled when her pet Mire Wolf, Game Changer, snatched the note out of her hand and raced out of their house. The scientist might not always fully appreciate her initially unwanted companion, but dammit the dog was still her responsibility so she couldn’t just let it get killed. Her guilds other Mire Wolves might try to eat her. Her animal-like guildmates might also attempt the same thing. So off after the mutt she went.

Predictably Game Changer headed to the train station and illegally boarded a train for Crocus. Grema just sighed and paid the angry conductor for both of their passages, already given up on not attending the party. Her wolf more than took after the genius in his stubbornness.

Upon arrival, she took in the glamorous hallway, the elegant music, and the fancy dining then instantly swore to hide in a corner the entire party until it was polite enough to leave, which she did. Game Changer had trounced around under peoples legs and interacted with a few other pets, overall having a blast. The Mire wolf somehow found and put on a cute black bowtie collar overtop of his magitech armor, looking the best and formal for the occasion.

Grema, on the other hand, had hastily washed and patched up her pirate garb on the way here. It wasn’t a dress, but it looked fancy enough to not make her entirely out of place. Plus like her complaints before, dresses didn’t suit her. She had noticed a few of her guildmates mingling with others, such as her guild master Izayuki, the guild ace Jiyu, the holy mage Hikari, and the popular singer Desiree, along with a few other notables within the guild world. Grema had not noticed the oddity of the building until the odd jack-o-lantern made his appearance. Suddenly the building, the best, and the mysterious urging letter gave her a bad feeling about the night. At her side, Game Changer gave a whine.

WC: 578
Tickets: 1

Shea loved parties, to a degree. Constant back-to-back parties were not her thing, mostly if she felt at all forced to go, but an occasional party was fun to her. She probably wasn’t even required to sing at this one, which was a shame in its own way but nice in another. She could actually mingle and enjoy herself, which the half-elf was fully planning on doing. Getting formal wear was no trouble for her, she had plenty of different dresses for any occasion. This time around she decided on a tight, long, grey dress that faded into black nearing the bottom with a red trim. The dress showed off her curves well, along with probably more skin than necessary, but with the long white gloves and added sliver choker it still looked elegant.

Tying up and styling her hair, Shea contemplated bringing her weapons and armor with her. Her companion Lavia had already left for the party from their hotel room and ways always armed thanks to the ghost’s magic, though unseen. But while Shea’s bracelet might be subtle and suiting to her attire, her lance was not. Looking at it while twirling it around before she was about to leave, the songstress gave a mental shrug and decided to bring it along. You could never know how dangerous thing might get, plus it would be a good deterrent in case someone tried to get too… hands on with Shea. She also didn’t know if she would know anybody at this party, thus didn’t have the immediate reassurance on an ally in case anything went wrong.

She surprisingly didn’t get up to much socializing upon arrival to the party, instead decided to watch for awhile. And attempted not to giggle as the events unfolded. Let’s see, how did things go down so far? She thankfully knew all of the people here’s names, even if they didn’t know hers. Gossiping with her fellow company employees had its advantages. And boy did people love gossiping about the mages of various guilds, even the weaker ones, though some she might not know about yet.

Firstly, the Fairy Tail boy Mura had howed up looking rather spooked, perfect bait for teasing by Black Roses Jiyu Kazehime. Then Golden Pheonix’s Eylx arrived, prompting Jiyu to start a conversation with him as well. Then, to Shea delight, her fellow singer Desiree arrived along with her Black Rose Guildmate Hikari. A mage who Shea couldn’t put a name on arrived as well and seemed to be observing things like the singer. Then Black Roses guild master seemingly appeared out of nowhere and jumped on the spooked Mura’s head, who actually looked less spooked when it happened. The probably guildess girl approached Mura with glee, also greeting Izayuki respectfully. Sol of Basilisk Fang also greetings to those in the conversation, with Desiree also introducing herself to her guildmaster, the woman’s summons acting rambunctious all the while. Everyone in the conversation greeted each other and passed along food. Leia Vergious had arrived but did not yet mingle, then the guildmaster of Infinity Hydra Ardere arrived as well to says his greetings, causing some fanboy excitement in Mura. Finally a more immediately familiar face to Shea arrived though she had never spoken to him personally, her co-worker Ruvel of the West Fiore Trading Company. Jiyu seemed to know Leia and called out for her while Ruvel seemed unware of Adere’s heroic status. More pleasantries were exchanged. Then something interesting happened with the tantrum of the mage Irina, setting the area aglow, then bumping into Adere.

Then another interesting thing happened with the appearance of a jack-o-latern named Sir Yaqtin, greeting them before informing the crowd on the magic restrictions in the party. Which meant no teleportation for Shea, which the woman pouted at. Shea had also lost track of the others reactions at the pumkins appearance.

An acquaintance of hers, Takumi, made himself known afterwards. Then Jiyu fainted, causing worry to erupt from those gathered, with Leila, in particular, approaching the woman. Jealousy emitted from the guildless member of the group as Jiyu recovered and Elyx addressed the pumpkin being. People were starting to get nervous about the pumpkins man’s implications, Desiree in particular. Sol introduced himself to the Fire King while Irina accepted the same man’s forgiveness and offered to get him something to eat. Then the Ryo, Card King or Sabertooth arrived, and also greeted his fellow powerful member.

It was around that time that Shea realized while she did a lot of watching, uncharacteristically very little talking was done. Just as she was about to speak walk up to the group, she noticed a familiar grey wolf weaving between legs. Searching the corners of the halls knowingly, Shea did indeed find what she expected. There was Grema Fen, mage of Black Rose, huddled into a corner as if she had been hiding for the parties’ entire duration. Which she probably did. Giggling a bit, Shea decided to hold off pushing her grumpy friend to socialize. Instead she decided to finally mingle.

She decided to greet Desiree, as they were fellow singers and she looked nervous. Sauntering up to the younger girl Shea distantly hoped she wasn’t interrupting something, and gently put a gloved hand on the girls shoulder, hoping not to startle her. “Heya Des, remember me? You feeling okay? Might want to slow down on the hard stuff darling, might make you regret it tomorrow.” Shea says with a wink, swishing her glass on white wine in her other hand, before looking around at anybody else paying attention and giving Kiwi a small finger wave along with a smile to Ruvel in case he recognized her. “Sorry for not introducing myself earlier, I’m Shea Duskhelm of the West Fiore Trading Company. Don’t worry, I know all of your names~!” Except for one or two, but Shea could make do.

WC: 984
Tickets: 1

((I see how it is Mura ~ignored~ T^T))

Ruvel remained quiet as he watched others seem to enter, his eyes moved to exits and places that unexpected or more to the point unwanted surprises. The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach was coming back, this time he didn't seem to be able to shake the feeling 'Shindara, Amuul... Any idea what's going on?' he sent to the two summons that where keeping watch over him from his shadow 'Sorry our summoner, we do not.' Shindara said but the pair could see that whatever was going on with their summoner it wasn't a good sign 'Perhaps you should head home?' Amuul suggested to Ruvel who shook his head a little in response, he knew it would look good on his guild and would fight the need to leave at least until there was some real reason. 'It's just another trial, I'm just nervous most likely' he sent to them hoping it was just that but he still had that sickening feeling.

He came out of his own mind as he heard a female voice finally speak to him "Oh, Miss Jiyu" he said with a charming smile his hand going to his chest once more as he leaned forward a little showing manners befitting the guild he represented. "It is indeed a pleasure to meet such a beautiful blossom." he said his voice warm and tender as he spoke towards the other, his eye looking her up and down taking every slight detail that he could so he could put a name to the face and voice at a later date. "May I enquire which guild you call home?" he asked the other standing straight once more his hand moving to his side, if the other didn't want to answer him he wouldn't push it was not his way but he wanted to learn about other guilds and the people within them, so far the only people he had met were from the guild Sabertooth whom he had formed a team with, even then he hadn't seen them in such a long time it made him wonder if something may have happened.

His gaze then turned to the larger male as he answered his question about the alcohol of his home land "Sake? I'll have to remember that." he had no idea what the drink was if he was honest, but normally if sent on tasks he took gifts so studied on what the best one would be for what the task was and whom it was concerning. The youth found it to be a respectful and easy way to break the ice and so had kept doing it. His head moved quickly to a woman that seemed to be yelling about alcohol hiding from them "U-um... is that normal?" he genuinely seemed baffled by the woman and not to sure if he really should interact with her, in her current condition if anything it made him anxious which wasn't really good to begin with.

He watched as many sniffed at the air as if to take in the scents but to him they where making it far to obvious at what they where doing. He could smell the sulphur and the venom like fumes in the air knowing that there where two at least two other slayers in the vicinity, it made him glad his element had no scent to it and due to his bodies natural light he had learned to mask his element quite well. Ruvel reached into his pocket and held out a small box holding it out to the one who's scent made him somewhat dizzy but he manage to hold his own "Never know when you need to make a fire" he said offering his box of matches to the one with the pipe. To be honest he never got cold really even when there was torrential rain due to his upbringing but still he was taught now to take every precaution out there.

His eyes went back to the drunk woman who had gotten close to the gathering of mages and he didn't exactly know how to take it, he had never seen someone intoxicated before and definitely not to this extreme. 'I wonder if this is how Barthenz is after spending time with Dahau' his hand went to his eye still trying to get over the fact out of every bar in Earthland Barthenz had seemed to have dragged him into the one that had the man that had all but destroyed Oak Town hunting him down. That encounter still gave him nightmares to this day. After a while he listened to the pumpkin as he spoke his eyes almost showed a hint of fear in them "Oh no... why does it always happen to me." he sighed moving to the window to have a look outside 'Shindara, Amuul?' he almost asked them the flat of his hand going to the cold glass, he wasn't trying to break out he was trying to feel beyond his shadow moving on it's own drawing his hand back 'Don't do it our summoner, it will only harm you in the long run.' Amuul said to Ruvel.

'We are in a different realm meaning we need to play by the rules of the owner until we are released' Shindara continued from his brother "This isn't going to bode well if I can't call to the others" his hand moving around his body as if he was checking something before letting out a sigh of relief as he felt his dagger meaning that he also had Seiyuki's charms on him too. His eyes going to the window seeing the shapes outside almost like hungry beasts waiting for someone to dare try. His eyes went to the pumpkin lord again. "It's impolite to trap your guests." he said trying to keep his voice level but in honesty he was beyond frightened, he was afraid of being trapped in a place like his old home again and he had just landed himself in another one. After a moment he found a wall and slid down it bringing his knees to his chest his head going to his head as his finger went to ear as he mumbled something soon afterwards his arm moved to hug his knees 'It's happening all over again.' he thought his body trembling a little 'Perhaps, but this time you have free use of your magics' Shindara reminded him but knew it was of little condolence to how his young summoner was feeling, all they could do was help him through this trying time.

Word count: 2'940
Tickets: 4

5693

Considering this was Jiyu being 'evaluated' it was entirely no surprise she woke up just in time to bad mouth or argue with someone. In terms of pushing people's buttons? The Inugami had quite the gift for doing the right act. Maybe that was just years of only needing to get along enough to stay one step ahead though, not thinking about what life would actually be like, only trying to survive. Clearly, her conditions had changed, as a few years ago she never could have imagined going to this sort of festivity and looking like a normal fixture at the event if not for her sluttish dress. So, of course, she didn't miss a single beat in terms of 'snapping back' in some sort of self-defense that was actually unrequired these days. Years of learning to sassily stand up for one's self? Didn't just vanish just because someone's life improved. Also, she had a sailors tongue, so besides for just being slightly confrontational when speaking sometimes her language was also exceptionally foul most times. She could clean up well, but never for very long.

The second her hand was pulled away from toying with the hair of the other woman? Jiyu's face marred into a pout, clearly not enjoying having her 'game' burned before it even began budding. Why couldn't Leila just let her have the fun she loved partaking in?! The wind user levitated about half a foot above the chair's actual seat, but she was in a sitting position, her arms crossed over herself, hiding the fact that her dress was indeed deteriorating more. "It's not like I ask the wind to attempt stripping me bare, it just prefers I wear as little as possible and it so happens the dress I chose for tonight wasn't skimpy enough." and it was clearly not something she actually needed to say out loud, considering the wind had now cut her dress in half, the wind witches hands making sure the two tattered pieces didn't fall away from her body. Apparently? Covering her stomach was too much to ask for, the black rose emblem now displayed proudly on her flesh once more since no fabric hid it again, the lower portion of the ruined dress being torn away until it was essentially only an inch beneath her rump.

Jiyu would be ever so delighted with Leila's new ability to make clothing, as indeed nature-themed clothing would be better than none at all, her tail wrapped around her legs down to her knee's to protect herself a bit better. Shockingly the other girl actually apologized in some fashion. "Alright. And misbehavior is my good behavior." clearly an apology of the formal kind, didn't come easily to Jiyu, but her statement paired with the fact it was given with a smile able to show most of the fang's in her mouth as her elfin ears twitched? Was a good sign it had actually be a veiled apology.

"Uuu- I must have been looking somewhere else I have no idea what he said~" or unconscious due to seeing the flames right before the pumpkin appeared, but from the thing's starting to go on the wind witch was getting a pretty good idea that they may be trapped here. Well wasn't that nice, entrapped in some building with other mages while her element tried to render her nude, this could be embarrassing, not that she would admit it. "Why don't you go try to eat them than Irina! I think they'd likely taste delicious~" she shouted it, to make sure the other mage would hear her, fanged grin still covering her pale face. At Shea's mention of her apprentice's drinking, she avoided eye contact with the blue haired pop idol once more, everyone close to her drank didn't they, it was disgusting.

"Well, if you want to know my guild, just look, my mark isn't exactly hidden anymore Ru." the laugh was kind of awkward though as if the mage who nearly always went around half naked anyways was uncomfortable being looked at in her current state.

Thank goodness that she could remember him. Given by her completely new appearance and all, the shaman had assumed that, due to the time that had passed, she would have slowly put him in the forgotten plane of her memory. He couldn’t quite speak for himself in that case, though, but nonetheless was it relieving to meet her again. She sounded very different from back then; to sum up, on their first encounter, she was more… insecure in her choice of words. Rather, she was pretty shy and unsure of her actions, even doubting her own authorities and underestimating her importance in that mission. But in the end, she helped a lot to put an end to the terrors of the hunted pirate, and that too caused another memory to return… the bikini. Now, did he ever see Hana wear that, though? It was a special gift to her, and honestly, it made him so curious that he held two fingers to his chin in deep thought.

“Ah, I see… well, I hope that she’ll wake up soon,” he replied back to the white-haired maiden, afterwards turning his gaze towards the windows as everything had turned pitch-black. It reminded him of the depths of the Underworld, in which he thought: … Things are getting strange now. What’s the pumpkin monster planning to do, exactly? His thoughts stopped when he was caught by surprise, once again, by a new face; the one of a rather divine-looking entity that eyed him now. She seemed to have heard of his name before, and that lead to the thought that she might have been associated with Leila. It also pointed to that given by her greeting, but he couldn’t keep his face formal when she called him a legend, quickly scratching his head. “A-Ah, nice to meet you too…” he greeted back, “I guess that you’ve heard a little about me. Hehe, I’m surprised, there’s still a long way to become a legend and all if you ask me...”

Honestly, things were blurring after his encounter with Ardere; as far as he felt, weren’t someone else addressing him back then? Taking a quick glance around, back when his eyes were struck by stars, another male had been rather curious about the shaman’s behavior. Well, Mura was simply fanboying, and if he had seen anyone else do so in front of him by another reason, then he would have acted the same way as this dark-haired philosopher. Now, the only reason that the best name to give that man was ‘philosopher’ was simply out of objective observation; as the shaman had inspected his face from afar, he looked like thinking a damn lot. It almost resembled his own when he was back at home, surrounded by his previous ghost pals… it felt nostalgic to the point where Mura felt bad for have been too drowned in the presence of the God Slayer to answer back. Was that how he was going to act in front of other people? He had to pull himself together for good this time…

It obviously made him feel guilty and gave a driving force to walk over to the man and greet him properly, without interruption from fanboy-ism and all that, but he was quickly taking by surprise from Mythica as she had launched her arms over his chest and hugged him from behind. “M-Mythica..!” he spoke up in surprise, wondering over what she was on about; maybe the punch had punched in. Maybe she was overjoyed, maybe it was something else, but apparently, she was quite engaged in this 'girlfriend' thing that Jiyu had entitled her for the shaman. However, the feeling that he had when she spoke to him… on top of her body leaning against his… was too dark for him to fathom. It caused small drops of sweat to trickle down his chin as he slowly chuckled back just to try and remain calm. At least, she didn’t have any hostile intentions towards him, but she sure was extraordinary. As Kazehime had confirmed her well-being for now, he slowly sighed in relief and decided to accept the hug from Mythica. Leila’s seemingly overprotective proclaim for the small mage made him smile brightly too; despite her change in expression and attitude, she still had a compassionate heart.

Desiree had joined the scene as well, softly worried of the trap thing that the pumpkin guy had done. Were they all trapped now? Obviously, that caused different reactions everywhere, and the shaman did take notice of them all, even with Mythica leaning on his back… which did cause obstacles against his focus. What added up to that was Jiyu’s sudden lack of fabric on her clothes as a quick glimpse of her guild crest passed his eyes, causing the shaman to stand with an almost down and shocked face. He quickly laid a hand over his face while doing so, commenting: “Your wind is even more mischievous than you…” After a second later, he looked up and laughed a little, given that she didn’t really deny her misbehaving nature, “And… hey, it’s getting heavy back here.” He turned his eyes back at Mythica, smiling gently but with a purpose and message. How long was she going to cling to him like that..?

Whilst looking up at Izayuki to make sure that she didn't feel all too clenched or lacking space due to all of this, he overheard the name of the dark-haired ‘philosopher’ that Jiyu seemingly knew of, in which he was ready with an apologizing excuse for his lack of ‘interaction’ with the mage’s curious expression to his fanboying earlier: “Hey, if you grew up with a role model, you’d understand me if you ever met them in person, am I right..?”

WC: 4441

Tickets: 8

@Hat-chan
@Kazehime
@Leila (Aurora)
@Ruvel (LOOK, I THOUGHT YOU WERE ONLY SPEAKING TO ARD- LOOK, I'M SORRY FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY SELFISH (AND BLIND) HEART, SO FORGIVE ME WITH YOUR FORGIVING SUPERIORITY AND MIGHT, MY DEAR TAMA-SAMA ;W; I'VE BEEN A BAD BOI, DON'T PUNISH ME PLZ... nu, for real, I didn't see)

Takumi was finally starting to enjoy himself now that his companions were here. A grin spread across his lips, he had gotten an idea. Twisting his neck around until his face was inches from Wist's, he pecked the shapeshifter on the cheek, watching a blush spread on the other man's face. He gave an internal cheer, having managed to get a reaction out of Wist. The sight of Wist's blush, however, was such a rare and oddly cute thing that Takumi flushed a bit himself. He knew it was odd, and probably a rather new sight to most of the people nearby, but the sun god didn't care as he ended up burying his face in Wist's shoulder. Coal had a knowing smile on her face, though Wist and The Pumpkin King himself were very confused. Regardless, Wist began petting Takumi's furry ears, his other arm wrapped around the other man's waist.

Takumi, meanwhile, simply enjoyed Wist's attention, cuddling up to him with a blush and a tiny smile. The man loved it, the attention, but it was embarrassing, so he kept his face hidden. Neither of them realized it yet, but Coal saw it, they loved each other. Hopefully, her two idiotic friends would realize it soon. Takumi made a noise of content, relaxing a bit now.

WC: 218
TWC: 506
Tickets: 1

Advent had been wandering around getting into who knew what kind of mischief no matter where he went, but then that was to be expected for the curious yet chaotic white haired youth. Somehow however he had found himself in capital Crocus a place he had never found himself before due to his guardians steering him clear of the place. They knew the place was of great importance within Fiore and the last thing they wanted to do was let their ward loose on the unsuspecting public creating chaos, panic and most likely an explainable international incident. Today however was was different he felt a pulling he rarely felt and there was nothing that his guardians could do to stop him when he was like this and they knew it; the best they could do is contain the ripple effect whatever he was going to do done.

Within across way he had suddenly stopped looking each way almost as if he was lost and looking for something. "Something doesn't... sound or feel right..." the youth seemed perplexed by this and he didn't like it, it wasn't out in the open allowing itself to be sensed even by his unique abilities; whatever it was it felt like it was hiding under the surface using it as a mask. Suddenly he turned to the right leaning forward his finger sticking out as if he was telling someone off "I am not imagining things... there's something wrong; I'm telling you." he said with a grumpy tone as he stood up his arm crossing "Fine, lets have a bet... if there is something wrong I get a week off training.. ALL training" he said to his unseen guardians "Hm... okay, if I'm wrong I'll do double studies and training for a week without arguments" he offered his tone only getting worse given he hated studying and training to begin with the training part had adverse effects on him but it seemed like the agreement had been made between them.

Going quiet he moved his head to each of the four streets as if trying to decide which path was the right one but soon he went to the east, his hand going to his head as he took a leisurely walk taking note how it seemed to get that much colder "Did we just cross death again? I hope not the guy is a jerk when he's in a good mood" he sighed rolling his eyes hearing the comment back from one of his guardians "Well it's that kind of feel..." he said shuddering as if something ran down his spine, it was an unusual feeling for the youth given the type of things he done in general and that's before he got to the mess that was his magic. As he walked down the street he heard music a smile crept across his face as it seemed happy and easy going, he was glad that something was happy but he had to wonder if those within even knew the feeling of unease that was just beyond their door. "Hm? Really?" he grinned hearing it was a party open to all, he had never been to something like this his guardians always deemed it for the best. "Oh yea?! You can't stop me!" he called out running up the steps three at a time before they could stop him he had passed the threshold meaning they couldn't stop him now.

He listened to what he was told and tugged on his day to day clothing, he thought he was fine but he had been informed that he looked out of place in less than formal attire making him sigh as he knew where this was going. "Fine, fine..." he pouted like a petulant child his black and purple shirt and bottoms changing to that of a black hanfu with purple hems his long snow white hair tied back with silk cord of the same two colours. "It's not coming off so you can get that one right out of your heads." his hands tugging at his ink black blindfold as he took his first full step into the ballroom, he didn't care if he looked out of place in his clothing, this was the clothing he was raised with as respectable and so it seemed appropriate.

The vibrations felt strange within the air and ground but he put that down to so many people and magics. His face seemed to light up however as he heard a familiar voice and dashed forward towards Ard almost as if he was trying to tackle the larger more bulky man to the ground "ARDERE! LONG TIME NO SEE!" he exclaimed in a voice like a hyperactive child, at that point he didn't really care about his word choice; if he did manage to catch the elder male off guard he would sit on his chest, if not he would hug onto him for a few minutes. Either way eventually one of his hands would end up going into the folds of his hanfu top and bring out what would look like a ceramic jug holding it to the elder man "I have some of that fire sake you like." he said with a grin, if he had to be honest it was a pain in the ass to find but it seemed like the perfect present to have if he ever came across the other again. Given that he had barely made it in before everything became locked down he completely ignored what the pumpkin had said dealing with his own matters, he was sure he would get the information eventually if it was pertinent to him.

WC: 950
T: 1

Hmm... All forms of teleportation jammed, all entrances locked down, and it didn't seem like the walls would react to any form of assault. Together with what was going on outside it was safe to say that whoever had designed this had in fact been trying very hard to keep in account all possibilities and block them out. So... how would she bypass all of that?

She had received the letter, just like everyone else. She had felt the compulsion, just like everyone else. However the compulsion hadn't been complete: she couldn't deny the urge to attend, but she could still decide HOW she would attend. It only told her to come here, it didn't tell her how to come here or what she should do once here. Not complete enough to be enslavement, but too blatant to be a subtle trap. Someone who didn't have the power to do more wouldn't have done this much, and someone who could do more apparently could do enough that they didn't think leaving the guests with their independent thought would be an issue. Either an attempt at saving energy, or they wanted to see how people would react. Maybe it was actually a trap, or maybe it was just an extreme type of prank. It was hard to tell right now, as there was so little information available of the one who had sent the message, so one would have to attend the party to find out... If they even had the choice not to go in the first place.

The Regent of the Night. An ominous name, speaking of power and importance. The regent of all night, everywhere and always? Or was this a claim, a boast, speaking only of a small area or believing itself to be bigger than actuality. Once more not enough information available. Such lack of information was vexing, and would require remedy through constant observation. Regardless, this Regent and whoever was aiding her had the power to make so many people attend, and seemed to have done a good job shutting them all away, unable to leave or contact anyone who hadn't been able to attend or who hadn't been invited. No knowing who had been invited and who not, other than those who were actually present. Would have to ask others to investigate later, to see how many people had received an invitation but hadn't actually arrived here in time to be locked up with those who had attended. Was everyone who wasn't here simply unable to attend, or had there been people able to fight the compulsion? An important question which would require answering.

Regent of the Night. Addressed as female by her servant. Either misdirection, or an alternate title might be Queen of the Night. But Queen would imply the existence of a King, so maybe the term Regent was used to avoid making it sound like there was another, an opposite, an equal? An interesting theory, but once more the lack of information was making it hard to get a definite conclusion. The question here was whether the answer to these questions was important enough that the arrival of the Regent of the Night would be preferable over her staying away. For her to lock everyone present up like this her intentions were unlikely to be benign, and while those who attended weren't necessarily important to the careful observer said careful observer wouldn't want to be wiped from existence by a trap as simple as an enchanted letter. An embarrassing end it would be, and more importantly it would show a lack of strength, mental or otherwise. She had no choice in the matter as it was, but she would try her best to get out, and once she did she'd have to find precautions to make sure that future attempts to trap her like this would end in failure.

At least she had managed to enter the ballroom on her own terms. She had found someone she had met before, who was in possession of the letter. Silently she had joined that one, followed her into the ballroom like a shadow, so nobody would pay attention to her as they were all distracted by her unknowing companion. That way she could investigate in peace, without anyone bothering her... and even the most sensitive of sensors couldn't find her if the one she had chosen to follow was acting as a jammer, drowning out what faint signals she might still be sending out with her own noise. Once inside she could move more freely, as it became clear that many had attended, enough that the background noise should be sufficient to keep her hidden as she moved about.

Less tangible than a ghost, less visible than air, her presence non-existent as if swallowed by the void of time and even her very soul and magic as if never having been known, never having been sensed. She didn't like being found, so she would make certain that no-one could ever find her when she didn't want to be found. She knew of sight, she knew of hearing, she knew of touch, she knew of taste, she knew of scent, she knew of magic, she knew of soul, she knew of thoughts, feelings, emotions, intent, presence... She had done everything she could to find every single method one could think of with which they might be able to find her, and carefully eliminated every single one with training, knowledge, magic and trickery. Even gods weren't welcome to find her, at least so she hoped... The divine were tricky, information about them was often overblown yet also too small in perspective. If she could still be found she would have to find out how, and eliminate it... either the method by which she was found, or the person who managed to find her that way.

But for now, more importance was in discovering what situation she had ended up in, in all her care and paranoia. All her precautions defeated by a letter which had found her, which had breached her defences the moment she laid eyes on it. Whoever had sent that letter was dangerous, and she'd have to see if it was something she could eliminate as she was right now.

It was fortunate that the Regent appeared to have a liking for the dramatic and the mystique: flickering flames helped cast a lot of shadows, covering everything like slithering snakes and crawling cruelties, allowing her to freely move around without having to rely on lesser forms of stealth, without needing to hide behind the one who had acted as her entrance into this place. The people present, they were all talking, discussing, arguing, partying. Doing things people always did once they gathered. Some of them were wary of the situation, others weren't. One in a corner, looking at everyone else without partaking. Was she taking the situation seriously, or was she like the careful observer, disliking large gatherings such as these? Unimportant, but still a small question which could be answered easily in the midst of all of this.

The walls, the doors, the windows, they all gave the appearance of being made of normal materials. Wood, stone, metal, glass, everything that mortals already knew and could use. A good disguise, because the Regent most likely wasn't a mortal. The methods used to seal them off were grand, mysterious, they seemed to be outside of anything that even the most powerful known mages were capable of. And no mortal, no matter how strong they were, could ever claim to be the ruler of all the night. That would be nothing more than arrogance, pride, folly, and she would help them realize that if only so she wouldn't have to hear such preposterous claims any longer. But there was still the question of what kind of methods were used to lock them away. Beyond the walls, windows and doors the impression was given of an alternate place, one of darkness and dreadful shapes. But was it a reality, or an illusion? To be moved to an unknown realm would explain the inability to escape through any means, if the Regent was indeed not a mortal, and could control who could enter and leave the realm. A pocket dimension, possibly, where the Regent decided who could get in or out. But that the ballroom couldn't be destroyed, that the servant couldn't be harmed... That was beyond just a pocket dimension. It suggested a more tricksome power, something which she would have trouble dealing with unless she solved the puzzle.

If this was an illusion it would explain why they couldn't damage the ballroom, why the host was beyond retaliation. But how would they have wandered into an illusion? Was the letter not a letter of compulsion, but a letter enchanted carefully with an illusion of the highest level, making them all believe that they had arrived here? Such thing would be beyond mortal hands also, unless the whole spiel about the Regent of the Night was false to begin with, and this was a cabal, a group, working together to produce effects beyond that of a single mortal. It was a distinct possibility, something to keep in mind, but for now she'd just have to create theories, think of how to prove and falsify them, and keep them all in mind as she observed. For now there was little she could do but wait, and see what the people who had been trapped here with her would do.

Jiyu would hear a whispering in her ear, so faint that for a normal human it wouldn't have been audible, even though the whisper originated from right next to her ear. There was nothing tangible there, nothing with shape, form, presence, or anything else, but yet there was that voice, faint enough to feel like it wasn't real... but yet it was there, if Jiyu chose to listen, if she chose to accept it as real and take heed, even if she wouldn't have any sign of who had said it, what their allegiance was, what they were planning, what they might be.

"I advise care... The Regent most likely isn't mortal... And while we can't break the ballroom from within, whatever is outside might."

One person warned should be the same as everyone warned. Jiyu, the one she had used to smuggle herself inside unseen, was surrounded by people, so if Jiyu put enough value into the warning she would spread it. From mouth to ear to mouth to ear. To the careful observer those trapped with her had little inherent value, but their presence and their abilities might become useful... Especially if the Regent turned out to be as malignant as the observer had reason to believe her to be.

Well...

This certainly was a fine situation to be in.

Itori had, as a matter of fact, not been compelled to come here. The letter had arrived, but Itori didn't rely on her eyes as much as she relied on her ears, and her ears were capable of hearing very special things indeed. A trapped letter got her attention because she could hear the magic, but was fortunate enough that the magic was designed for the reader, not the listener. The fact that she herself possessed some very powerful compulsion, seduction and deception magic as well made her even more fortunate, since it meant she knew what to look for and how to deal with it. She wasn't completely immune, and actually reading the letter could still make her fall for the trap. Fortunately there were ways to gain information about the contents of the letter without reading it: namely, asking someone who had read it what it said.

And what that person had said made Itori curious, since she couldn't imagine why someone would forcibly have everyone attend a gala unless they had something bigger in mind. Also one had to keep in mind the time of the year that it was: the harvest season, which beyond the harvest also had an increased activity in the spirit realm... in particular the parts which were more inclined towards toying with the mortals in one form of another. As a Kitsune Itori was aware of this, and it was as a Kitsune that she was worried about what this might entail. From what she could tell pretty much every mage had received the letter, so someone was indeed planning something big, and if they wanted to force as many people as possible to come they were either the trickster type or the malicious type... Either way, Itori didn't think that she could just ignore this. By grace of fortune she had been given the option not to come, but even if she did people that she cared for would be coming, and while she had already outlived many people in her long life that didn't mean she would happily watch others die after she had already befriended them.

Which was why Itori was present when the pumpkin lord arrived, introducing himself and promising that the Regent of the Night would arrive soon before also informing them of the fact that they were now trapped in the ballroom. The pumpkin lord claimed that it was for their own safety, as there were not things outside that they were better off not meeting, but Itori found that a dubious claim. It was still possible that the Regent of the Night and her pumpkin servant weren't malicious, but the more complicated the explanation became for why they would do what they were doing without harmful intent the less plausible it became. For now Itori didn't have much of a choice but to be a participant just like everyone else, but she was keeping an eye out, both on the people in the ballroom and those who were hosting this event.

The upside of all of this was that the spirit realm could be strongly felt around here, so even if it was the part of the spirit realm which had ties to the harvest season it still brought Itori some comfort, being a spirit fox. So far the spirits weren't actually doing anything to the participants, instead just providing some background music as the people mingled and interacted with one another. If they just kept doing that Itori would actually quite enjoy their presence, as she was a big fan of music, and didn't have anything against spirits or ghosts either (it would be rather hypocritic if she did). Still, Itori would keep an eye on them since she was a medium and a spirit fox, capable of sensing and interacting with spirits even if they were hidden from the eyes of most.

As for the people in the room... One thing Itori noted was that there were a lot with traits similar to her own. Canine ears, canine tails, although none of them appeared to have more than one tail so far as she could see. Furthermore, nearly all of them seemed to belong to Black Rose, which made her wonder just what exactly Black Rose was about. A guild which gathered so many people which at least looked similar to Itori herself... She had met Gala before, also from Black Rose and a Tanuki. And according to him the Guild Master was, in fact, also a Tanuki. Now, Kitsune and Tanuki were supposed to be rivals because Tanuki were some of the few creatures which were blessed with more talent for illusions than Kitsune, but Itori still found herself attracted to those who like herself had a stronger bond with the spiritual side of the world. Especially since they also tended to have longer lifespans, so Itori could enjoy their friendship for longer before she had to say goodbye.

She wondered if she should approach the bunch which had gathered, but ultimately decided against it. Maybe later in the evening, when they weren't all busy with one another. One of them suffered an episode before, but she seemed to be all right now so she didn't need Itori's healing magic. The spirit fox balanced her Spirit Orb on one of her three white fox tails as she looked around, the noticed that there was someone sitting in the corner. Her spirit was strange... it seemed like it had been messed with in some way, not exactly damaged but tweaked. Itori's ears twitched as she heard the sound of machinery coming from the girl as well... Itori approached Grema, giving her a friendly smile as she halted at a respectful distance, not wanting to be too much of a bother to someone who had taken pains to keep her distance from the rest of the people attending this strange event.

"My apologies if I am bothering you, but given how this gala has turned out I wanted to make sure you were all right." She bowed, the white Kitsune showing earnest respect and worry. "I would guess that just like the rest of us you were compelled to come here, which can be quite stressful. If you would rather that I left you alone I shall do so, but don't hesitate to talk to me if you think it would help."

@Grema Fen

Hearing Jiyu's remark made Irina furrow her brow, did she not hear the pumpkin guy, there was no way out of the Gala let alone a way to kill the things out there as of currently. Shouting back in the direction of her guild mate her words seemed to have gotten translated going from You know we can't leave here right, becoming something much more violent and incoherent. "DAMNIT JIYU ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED! THERE'S NO WAY OUT OF THE SUPPOSED DEATH BARRIER!" She screamed back only to get corrected by someone else that the barrier just knocks you out and doesn't kill you. Despite the translation being corrected Irina still seemed to be steaming with rage until a request from Ardere for another cup of punch caught her off guard. "I'll b-be right back heheh." She stuttered as she backed away towards the drink table.

Of course things couldn't be worse he was asking for an alcoholic drink and Irina already couldn't differentiate the difference between the two punches. She stood at the table for what to her felt like an eternity as she pondered over the difference between the two drinks, it was actually making her feel somewhat depressed in such away. Instead she was just going to have to guess as she took one of each and sheepishly returned to Ardere. "Um... I can't tell the difference between alcohol and water, so um... I just grabbed one drink of each kind, I don't know which is which." She mumbled barely making any eye contact. In the guild people would normally refer to her as being quirky or stern depending on her mood, but here people might actually see her as fragile and hopeless.
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Total Word Count: 1544

"Wooooow! A party! I gotta go! I gotta gooooo!" The beautiful letter had come in recently, and Aiyana had quickly opened up the magically laced envelope to see that she had been invited to a Halloween party. It was a shame it was formal wear only, the woman barely had any wear at all. Well, she HAD clothing, she just never wore ANY of it. Her clothing was all magic based, the only time she couldn't wear it was in the Neutral Grounds, and was done through magical illusions and some of the magic that allowed her to stay here rather than require to be summoned. It was fun, as she could change it at any time, and allowed her the freedom of being naked nearly twenty-four hours a day! Her pet, Memory, seemed enamored by the letter as well, even saying she would meet the nine-tailed fox there rather than just hid in her shadow the entire trip there. Ah well, it was not that big of a deal. Aiyana had pressing matters to attend to, like what the hell was formal for an event surrounding Halloween. Would she just wear something super dressy? Or maybe she could put on some of her normal clothing for this time of year! No, that was a bad idea! Last year she had had pasties on to go with some of her costumes, due to being a zombie and a bar maid at the same time for a small job, and the rest had been destroyed or she had been naked.

It would not take long for Aiyana to make the best of the season and holiday, a witch costume mixed together with her own tails being purple instead of their normal white would allow her to look witchified and look formally dressed with the way she wore it all. It was revealing, but what about Aiyana's clothing choices was not? The place was kind of loud, not that big of a deal for her, due to the large amount of people that were here already. The music, the food, the drink, it looked like it was time to drink, get drunk, flirt, and try to get someone into a separate room! There were a lot of people to choose from, it seemed even Ardere was here! Maybe she could hit on him a bit, he seemed lonely given how it had been with his last wife and all, or she could hit on one of the girls in the room. A few were familiar, even more were not. The Wizard Saint of Pleasure had all night, however, and thus would begin to move through the room with a glass of spiked punch in one hand as she checked out anyone she could while waiting for others to make their moves as well.

Where was Memory? That was yet to be seen, as the place was too packed with shadows to know which one she might be hiding in at the time!

Mura commented on her 'controlled' element being even more mischievous than she was on her own. For one thing? She didn't like terms that insinuated she controlled the wind, as they were partners each equally guiding the other towards some goal or the other. It just so happened? She was the bitch in this partnership, actually thought it was just that she traded her body, allowed it to be a vessel for her power before she understood what she was doing. Oh, the woes of cursed magic. "They do indeed enjoy acting up, even more than myself sometimes." she smiled ruefully as Mura hide his vision, stopped himself from looking encase she ended up more nude than she almost was now. The boy was sweet, and she was happy someone had the manners to look away, in spite of her normal dress she was actually rather modest and timid, especially regarding her body.

Jiyu normally would be more aware of a presence like the one that had been secretly and discreetly attached to her since the beginning of the event. That was under normal conditions though, tonight she had not gone out looking for trouble, so she didn't really 'sense' Akeya the whole time even if she had asked if anyone had seen the half dragoness. A large distance existed between not looking for something and turning off her sense's however, so she did hear when the other female spoke. What was barely even a whisper for most humans? Almost sounded like a normal voice to ears sensitive as Kazehime's, elfin structures instantly flicking to listen to the noise. "Got it." she muttered the comment in her head, nodding slightly, listening closely to the wind around her, to see if anything else was amiss.

"It would not be my fault if you were stupid enough to take me seriously Irina. Plus the barrier isn't fatal." she scoffed it out, before dissolving into laughter, which made her state of near undress all the worse. When Irina rushed to ard unsure of which drink was which? The wind witch rolled her eyes. "Didn't I tell you that you could ask me which is which, I can Smell the difference between them." she would be flicking her tail, but that was keeping everyone from seeing her entire lower body exposed at the moment, so that wasn't happening, she did tilt her head to the side slightly though.

Jiyu was growing increasingly uncomfortable with her current state the way her body was pretty much exposed if she even twitched too much. Even if she went around looking like a whore? She was actually rather modest! Mismatched eyes than spotted someone who may have an idea of her more 'modest' nature and be able to momentarily help. "Aiya!" The wind user gave a brief shout across the room, albeit not too loud since she was calling for another one of the canine family. Then she realized, it might not be a good idea to call out to the kitsune. Last time they had seen each other? It ended up with them falling asleep in the same bed, but Aiyana had gotten nothing out of it, which was not normally how having someone in your bed ended. Jiyu shook her head slightly, laughing at her own foolishness, Kitsunes didn't want to have intimate relations with dog's anyways, and the other girl was certainly a Kitsune. Aiyana was just a good person who ended up finding out how much the dark, how much being alone at night frightened her and decided to make a single night easier on her. Jiyu was actually thankful for that honestly, it had been the first night of decent sleep she had gotten for a while considering she never got restful sleep alone due to her fears. The kitsune was a good person, not a pervert who had been trying to get lucky. "Think you can lend your tails as a shield for a bit until I figure out a better solution? Your's would certainly cover more than mine" and it was true, all nine of Aiya's tails were longer than her single albiet super fluffy tail.

6388

Just as Aiyana was beginning to debate actually going up to Ardere, even though he seemed to have quite the crowd already on him, the woman heard her name shouted out by a familiar voice. It was none other than the scantily clad girl that had most definitely not put out that one night with her! It all sounded like a one night stand after a fun job, and it ended up with a few gropes after the pupper had fallen asleep. Well, at least she had gotten to feel her up in the end. The kiss before the canine girl had fallen into slumber had been turned down, which made her a bit sad, but the cuddling had been amazing. It was a shame that the other girl was not looking for a lovely lady or anything, she could go for some good tail about right now.

Thirsty as she was, Aiyana listened to her summons and came over to the quite loud woman. Fox ears were still better than a human's, so why she felt the need to shout was beyond her reasoning and logic. Jiyu's clothing was quite torn up, not really covering much, and was holding it in place with arms and tails while blushing brighter than a red sun about to go supernova. "Well, I guess I could use my tails to cover you up. My hands would do MUCH better at it though. Suit yourself!" The nine-tailed fox would walk up behind her chair as she leaned in to whisper to the doggo female. Tails would wrap around from all angles, giving them privacy so she could better cover up her nearly naked form. "It really is nice to meet you again. This time you have even less clothing than the last time, maybe we can give you another good night tonight as well." The whispered words had a double meaning, one the canine would likely not even notice, as she waited for her to give the okay on being ready for her to unveil her once more.

The party was starting off with a bang for Aiyana Shuer. Near naked girls, a strong punch, and a look around the room would show her that she was not the center of attention. It was nice, being allowed to hit on who you wanted to without being stopped by everyone. Sometimes official notice was annoying, especially when you're trying to set up some good times in private with others. Bars, parties, outdoors, shopping, all of it was difficult if people wanted to ask about your life as a mage, or if you wanted to do jobs with them, or even ask for advice and teaching on how to do certain magics. Hell, at this point she would gladly take a drug-fueled binge with some party goers over doing a job with a person that just wanted to learn a magic instead of have fun. But that was why she was at this party, to get some entertainment before going back to that lifestyle again.

Sol only nodded as Ardere answered his question about  his sister and the slayer mentally grumbled as he learned next to nothing useful, as far as he was concerned his sister could train until she was blue in the face and she still wouldn’t approach the level of strength  he had,  before he could get his Kiseru lit by Ardere he found a blazing card suddenly lightning the pipe end and he blinked as he saw the man and the source of the vampire scent  he introduced himself as Ryo and offered his hand to shake, Sol took a breath in of the poisoned tobacco  before he exhaled it to the side to avoid hitting either men in front of him with the fumes before he took the mans hand  and shook it. “ A pleasure Im Sol Terumi the dragon king” he introduced though  there was no arrogance in his tone. Out of the corner of his eye Sol saw and caught a scent of Akeya and he made a mental note to talk to her at some point,

Another scent hit his nose and the poison shadow dragon got hit with nostalgia for a moment before he gained a very small smile and he caught sight of Itori walking in and he  ducked his head.”Excuse me Gentleman I see a familiar face and I’d like to greet her” he said pardoning himself as he  approached the woman from behind and he took another puff of his pipe as he approached. As he got closer he opened a small shadow portal and he placed his Kiseru in it so he had his hands free. Once he was close enough he would tap the young woman lightly on the shoulder  and waited for her to turn around. Once she did or if she did he would bow respectfully to her before he spoke with a small smile on his face.”its been a while Itori would you care to dance?” he asked remembering their valentines date a long time ago.

It was a long time ago and yet the dragon still remembered it, the blind date had been a random idea for him but it had not disappointed him and he had made a friend oddly enough in a light guild. Sol knew that despite what he had done Itori had been okay with his presence when she encounterd him and he in turn caused  no trouble when he was with  her area or vicinity. It seemed like many more people were arriving and coming out of the shadows. It was still very unerving to him for the simple reason that he was the only dark mage here that he knew of and the fact that everyone here was very powerful and well known.  Sol just had to avoid talking about his misdeeds and his most recent attacks on either the country or the magic council. Though he might have to mention his two hundred death threats to the king

3000 wc

6 tickets

Annnnnd there it was. The catch. The great big surprise. The plot twist! Or was it?

Kiru couldn't say she hadn't expected as much from something as mysterious like this. Which is to say she wasn't overall surprised, but still quite a bit concerned. The entire time she had been here, the demon slayer made a point not to be noticed by anyone. She stuck to a particularly dim corner of the gala, watching from a distance at an empty table... Watching. Her cyan gaze were wide with anticipation and thought, but none of it was a good sign. No one would ever see these emotions from a this demon slayer. Especially not tonight. The window that sat next to her, once bright and colorful from the city's many lights and streets had been quickly replaced by an ominous dark and mysterious world. She could feel the sinister energies creeping up upon the building's walls and field... And how did everyone react?

Simply put. They didn't.

Kiru was honestly surprised to see that most of the people here payed little attention to the obvious situation they were ALL stuck in now. This so called "Regent of the Night" had played nearly everyone for fools. Kiru on the other hand had expected something like this happen, which was exactly why she was here. If this had indeed been a trap like she suspected it might, the people here may have needed assistance. That, and several of the demon slayer's guildmembers, and guildmaster were located here. While she was aware they were all perfectly capable of handling themselves, she still knew that if things went south, they'd need every able bodied mage they could find to help. Kiru had enough experience in combat, and had battle the darker forces of this world on several occasions. Hopefully she would be able to handle this. However, whoever was behind it all must've been very ballsy. To lure all of the world's strongest wizards into one room... If their plan wasn't PERFECT, it would backfire.

That fact alone, could worry many. But Kiru was confident that whoever this was... May not intend on exactly harming the group. However, their intentions could still be just as sinister, and she wouldn't continue to sit in her dark corner for much longer. As a result, Kiru would get up from her table and then continue to walk towards the walls of the gala venue. She'd place a hand on them, and drag her open palm across it with her eyes shut... Sensing. Looking for something. A weakspot maybe, an irregularity. All that focus however was broken when she accidentally bumped into another woman with white hair who had been standing near the wall. Kiru's eyes blinked a few times to recognize it was Astrid. She never knew the girl well, but Kiru remembered when Astrid was a Black Rose member. These days she was now known as the Golden Phoenix guildmaster... And judging by her expression she too was worried about something. It wouldn't have taken much detective work to figure out what that was either.

"Apologies Miss Astrid. I wasn't aware you were here..." Kiru stated blankly in her normal unquivering tone.

Everyone was being loud and obnoxious right now, the party seemed in full swing when some really weird pumpkin guy covered in ice cream with a unicorn on his head came out and said they were all tripping in here... no wait trapped in here. Oh crap, was this not what she thought? She could have sworn the date was may twentieth, oh wait no it was Octo... Octopus month. That's right, the month where everyone dressed up in weird costumes in order to appeal to the octopus. Sadly Erika wasn't wearing a costume, just more of a gothic black dress, which complimented her pink and brown hair color nicely, but it also meant she couldn't appease the octopus at all. If only the pumpkin hadn't come along to remind her about that maybe this night would be better. Maybe she shouldn't have shown up to this party after taking those narcotics, but where is the fun in that? It seemed that everyone was having a great time, especially with all the fireworks and colors everywhere. Avoiding the punch bowl as she walked around the room, her mismatched eyes bloodshot from the euphoria she was feeling, Erika noticed a few faces that were familiar, and only half of them were made up cartoon characters she had seen once or twice before.

There were a lot of well known and strong mages here, it was a little funny seeing all of them in this giant trap. Erika wasn't trapped like the rest of them however, she had the ability to escape at any time, as she still had a little bit left over in her purse, maybe someone else would want to have a bit of fun, then again the dealer did say this would kill a human outright, and most people were humans... right? With mages no one really knew, maybe they were all just special snowflakes or something! Regardless, Erika didn't feel like dancing, or mingling with the various other mages, she just wanted to have a nice night and possibly murder some bad guy or whatever that tried to hit the dancing characters in her vision. Strangely it didn't take Erika long at all to find someone who looked familiar, and no it wasn't just Tony the Tiger saying the coco puffs were great in the corner of her eye. It was even better, it was Astrid! Yeah, she got to trip AND got a booty call, man tonight was freaking great!

Walking up towards the elf, Erika noticed that some girl with black and white hair bumped into her. Oh man, other people liked different shades of hair colors, this was even better than she thought, she already had an icebreaker. As Erika walked up to the now two, she smiled towards Astrid and motioned to smack her bum.

"Oh man, it's Astrid, hows it going, this place is just like Sombra's mansion thing, but like, with more people and stuff. It's great! I hope I get to brutally murder another guy tonight!"

Looking towards the cyan eyed girl Erika's own bloodshot eyes would immediately give away that she wasn't all here.

"You have different hair shades too, that's so cool, black and white, yin and yang, so great. Say you two look worried, want to just smoke up or something, I mean we could smoke pumpkin spice and it would be thematic or something. Can you even get a rush from the spice, maybe if we smoked the pumpkin dude... I don't know, so like what's up?"

---

WC: 587

The party hadn’t changed much. People talked. Introduced themselves. Drama happened. Drama didn’t happen. The popular mages were being mobbed just as Grema thought they would be (she did not envy the Fire Lord Adere or Jiyu one bit). Jiyu fainted which almost gave the cyborg a heart attack, causing her to crush the wineglass she had previously been holding into pieces. For Earthlands sakes, such influential people shouldn’t be allowed to scare people like that, even if it wasn’t their fault. Such things should definitely be made illegal. But it was a good thing Jiyu had so many friends since it meant the paralyzed Grema was free of guilt for not immediately running over to aid the Ace of Spades. Which was more than reliving since it meant she could stay tucked in her corner and remain antisocial. Like so.

Game Changer was having none of that and after he had finished sniffing the butt of another wolf and was chased off, he returned to his master to try to convince her to be friendly with the other hoomans or to play with him. The scientist was having none of that, and the Dire Wolf had given up a few times. For the next few minutes, the only thing interesting happening to Grema was stopping her pet from slobbering all over the fancy buffet table and ruining everyone else’s meal, and covertly stopping the pooch from putting his nose under the long beautiful foxtails of Jiyu’s friend Aiyana. Actually, at this point, every animal-like creature was in danger of a butt-sniffing. She wasn’t sure if anyone actually caught Game doing it yet, but she was more severely regretting letting the mutt into the building than attending the party at all at this point. She couldn’t even boot him out since they were trapped. Which did, in fact, concern her quite a bit more. She just couldn’t do anything about it.

But other than herding her pet, Grema had been using what little technology she had on her at the moment (which was a lot more than most people anyways) to attempt to scan the energy signatures of the enchantments on this place. Her A.I assistant M.A.I was aiding her in this attempt, speeding up the process. Unfortunately for the engineer she was well versed in magitech, not pure ethrano magic and the formulas of pure spell work. To get these reading she had subtly stuck her magitech leg into a crack in a nearby wall and brought up her holographic database to start doing the readings. Barring wolfish interruptions she had made some leeway, but nothing useful. She got data and magical readings but without a magic code index (which she, unfortunately, didn’t have in her database) the magitech mage could only guess half of what the code of magical runes and glyphs showing up on the screen meant. They MIGHT be in some sort of pocket dimension they accessed unknowingly when walking through the front door, not unlike Fiore’s Wakusei Portals, which has its own natural magic rules which explained why they couldn’t teleport. Or it could just be layers and layers of magical barriers and spells that creates the guise of them being in another dimension. Or a whole load of other possibilities, most the genius hasn’t even thought up yet. Gah, magic was confusing, Grema much preferred magitech. Which she could at least confirm was not involved, to her major disappointment.

She was so engrossed in her work that she jumped a (metaphorical) mile high when someone spoke to her. She quickly put away her holograph detailing the calculations already done and pulled her foot out of the crack before swinging around to see who it was. And was surprised to find it was neither a guildmate, Shea (who she had noticed had arrived and purposely hid from), or a job partner but a beautiful fox-like girl. Which immediately put a scowl on Grema’s face because she hated beautiful people since they so directly contrasted her ugliness. But before she could snap at the innocent girl who had done nothing wrong, Game Changer seemed to sense his master's mood and bounded over from where he was about to mark his territory, over to the robotic woman, then put his paws on her shoulder to put a big slobbery kiss on her face.

“Oh gross! Game Changer, down!” Grema said to the over-enthusiastic puppy, but he had already gotten down and started to circle Itori while Grema whipped the slobber off of her face. Then, after deciding he liked the foxy woman, rolled onto his back in front of the two woman, and obviously a gesture of ‘please rub my tummy and love me’, tongue cutely rolling out of his mouth and all.

It worked. Grema forgot about her jealousy and just gave out a sigh. “Sorry about this. Uh, ya it’s no problem I’m just… doing stuff. And things. Ya. Thanks for the concern.” The hunchback said unhelpfully. Then thought of what the nice kitsune said. Compelled huh? That would explain a lot. Grema wasn't all that good at fighting mental stimulations like that unless they were illogical enough, and the Mire Wolf less so unless it involved harming his master. Then realized that she was probably being rude happened. “Ah right, my name is Gremalin Fen of Black Rose. Call me Grema. Could you expand on that ‘compelled’ business?” Rude or not, she was a scientist and wanted answers.

WC: 914
Tickets: 2

@Itori

7361

The wind witch looked at Aiyana as the celestial spirit spoke up about how her hands would be better at covering things. "Three thing's need covered and last time I checked you have nine tails and two hands unless you have a third hand I don't know about." the shot female cocked her head to the side, scoffing slightly with a giggle. Even if the antics of the kitsune were sometimes strange, the only other person she met that dressed half as slutty as herself, was an intense form of entertainment. However in spite of Aiya's comment about desiring to use her hands for some unknown reason? The other mage did indeed come use her tails to aid in covering her up, which made thing's much easier on Jiyu, since she didn't consider the person guarding her body a pervert it allowed her time to check the true extent of the damage herself, see if some convenient sailor knot skills could fix it or not.

"Its not li-" at first she thought the other girl was taunting her about her lack of clothing, but her face went down from her defensive stance and her eyes softened as the other girl mentioned the past. Due to Jiyu's history? She rarely managed any sleep when she was in her room, in her bed, all alone, yet the warmth of another person could help quell her nightmares and permit sleep sometimes. Aiyana had been that comfort for a night after they had taken a mission involving Makoto's father, one that had been expressly hard on Jiyu, a night she was beyond grateful not to fall asleep alone. However that had been as far as it went, in spite of being a bitch, Jiyu wasn't loose. "probably yeah, I could use the sleep." she whispered it to the point only someone extra close to them with the same hyper-advanced hearing they possessed could detect it. The thought of a restful night? Was far too tempting.

"Liel-?" the wind witch went to reach for her friend when she mentioned leaving, but she was still drained from passing out, and thus unable to reach in time, plus she had no strength to stop someone anyways. "What is that about?" she shook her head for a moment and glanced at the fabric she had, the wind witch having desired to see if she could fix it herself before anyone else fixed it for her. While the fabric would certainly not make a dress once more? There was likely something she could manage with this, considering the remnants were rather large. Using the wind's aid she trimmed the uneven edges left from where the same element had torn the fabric, refining the top so she could tie it around her chest like a cupless halter top bikini, and then slicing up the skirt until it could be used like the bottom half of a string bikini. The kind that was substantial and covered someone's ass, not the thong kind that only covered between one's legs.

"This should work, though I guess the formal theme is out the window for me." she would just have to buy some super fancy underwear sometime and call that her formal outfit, sadly. Anyway's, now that she had her makeshift new outfit, the female levitated higher once more, hand lightly tugging on the fur on one of aiya's outermost tails, and pointing in the direction she would be heading. Considering their species? She didn't need to do much more than that. Jiyu could go on ahead, as she saw Astrid with Kiru and.. did someone just slap the smol's ass?! The female swiftly came to levitate beside her childhood friend, listening as the other girl spoke with familiarity towards Asty, than her friends comment made her chuckle as she understood what was going on at last.

"Oh come on Astrid, don't be so stingy towards your girlfriend." said the girl who was the reason that Asteid thought everything could get her pregnant. Eight-year-old Mikka had thought to tell Asty numerous things could get pregnant was funny. Of course, when she had repeated it at Nine Years old, hammered it into the other girls head, it had been her way of protecting her. Mikka knew she may have had to go eventually, she didn't want some boy coming along and taking advantage of Asty, and convincing the light haired girl everything could get her pregnant was the ultimate 'activity' block without being there. "She just wants dat ass~" the wind witch was giggling already, finally properly turning her attention to Erika, optics widening. At first? She had overlooked the word's the other mage had spoken, but seeing the bloodshot eyes, the 'wild' in those optics? Jiyu knew Erika was high. During her time as a runaway, especially the early days, she often slept in the same alleys as junkies and partying teenage kids, and that was not counting what happened on casino boats and other illegal establishments that functioned only because they were at sea, that could empolye a minor they couldn't verify because they didn't follow the law. Jiyu may be a good girl most of the time, but that didn't mean she hadn't done thing's nor that her time as a runaway had always been pretty.

"I don't think the pumpkin spice would do much." actually, no that would do nothing, Erika beyond was extremely high if she thought that other's could get high on pumpkin spice! "Though since the pumpkin dude is magical, he might work. Anyway's, why don't you introduce me to your other friend's Erika~" As she started communicating for some fun with Erika, the female let her eyes widen as she whirled around to face Astrid again. "Wait you still don't believe someone smacking your ass can get you pregnant, right?"

As Itori greeted the mechanical woman she studied her with polite curiosity, since Grema most certainly wasn't like most others. She really did seem to have metal integrated into her body, not as a direct replacement of flesh and skin but more as an alternate. Itori herself had very little experience or talent for advanced tech, but she could recognize that Grema's body contained some very interesting metal design, combined with magic which hummed softly in Itori's ears. She was certain that the woman in front of her had quite the story to tell, if she felt so inclined to actually tell it. It was also curious to watch the woman use some devices on the wall, Itori guessing that like she herself Grema was actually taking the threat of being locked up seriously. It was somewhat surprising how calm everyone was in light of recent developments, although Itori saw it as a blessing. Panic would only have made matters worse, and maybe the issue could be resolved without having to ruin the fun for others. Or maybe there wasn't any real issue and this was just a prank, in which case it was even better if most people weren't bothered by it.

But Itori's main interest wasn't in the girl's body, nor was it in whether this all was just a prank or not. She was interested in making sure that everyone was doing all right. That most people were just continuing their conversations and interactions was a blessing in that aspect, and it was why Itori had approached Grema out of everyone present. Grema was sitting in a corner doing something completely unrelated to the party, and while she could be just as fine as everyone else here Itori was concerned enough that she was willing to be impolite enough to intrude if it meant making certain that the girl in front of her wasn't in need of any support. A strange attitude from a Kitsune, to prioritize making sure everyone was all right, but Itori had always been a bit more subdued and gentle-hearted than most Kitsune. They liked to play pranks, to play, to indulge themselves, whereas Itori was happiest making sure everyone around her was satisfied.

Because she was so attentive of the wants and needs of others she was also pretty good at paying attention to the small signs, both from the facial expressions, the body language, and the way they talked and acted. Of course since Grema's body was a bit unusual she wasn't as certain as she would have been with most others, but she could still see how Grema seemed to be displeased by her presence... or by her. She couldn't say why, but the scowl did make it clear that the mechanical woman would have preferred for Itori to not have approached her. Which meant that it was likely that Itori would have to bow out of the conversation again, since she doubted that the woman was actually very interested in having a conversation with her.

The Kitsune was surprised when the wolf that accompanied the mechanical girl also appeared to have caught onto Grema's opinion of Itori, and decided to interfere. The fox girl watched with surprise and some amusement as the wolf licked her all over the face, as enthusiastic as any dog that Itori had ever seen. The woman herself didn't appear to be as happy, pushing the wolf away while exclaiming angrily. However the scowl did seem to have disappeared, so whatever dislike Grema had towards Itori's appearance the wolf's interference was enough for her to put it aside and speak to Itori calmly. Itori in return smiled warmly and kneeled, placing one hand on the friendly wolf's belly to give him the tummy rubs that he seemed to be so eager to receive.

I am glad to hear it. I won't bother you with questions about what you are doing, as I have to somewhat shamefully admit that I have very little understanding or knowledge of the devices you make use of." Itori was a creature of spirits and magic. Technology really just flew over her head the moment you could no longer understand how it worked at a glance. Maybe magitech, where magic fused with technology, would be a bit easier to understand, but as it was right now Itori was a hopeless case.

It is a pleasure to meet you Gremalin Fen. I am Shirokawa Itori, of the Sabertooth mage guild. And I shall do my best to explain about the compulsion, since you have as much a right to know as any, having been lured here together with the rest of us." Itori kept rubbing Game Changer's tummy even as she fished out a black rectangle from the folds of her kimono. It was flat, and the black came from a fabric that was wrapped around something, almost certainly the letter which Grema and everyone else had received. "As you may know from folklore and tales of myth, Kitsune such as I are familiar with the arts of seduction, deception and manipulation. This familiarity allowed me to ascertain the nature of this letter before I actually laid eyes on it, which allowed me to study it." She frowned slightly, looking worried. "This letter, which I am sure everyone one of us received, has been enchanted with a powerful but subtle magic. It is a magic of multiple layers, as before anything else it would amplify and enhance your curiosity upon seeing the letter, giving you the irresistible urge to read the letter and find out what it contains. The second layer is even more insidious, because of its complexity. Whoever cast this spell was not only skilled but also clever, as the magic is designed to enter your mind together with the understanding of the contents. Magic which can influence concepts and thoughts on such a fundamental level are rare, which is why it took me a while to figure out the exact workings... but I digress. To summarize, the magic of this letter is directly tied to the contents. As you read the letter the magic helps place your understanding of the contents of the letter in the portion of your mind which decides what is necessary and what isn't. Where normally you would first deliberate on whether to listen to the contents or not, with this magic you'd immediately conclude that to visit this event is something you must do, because it bypassed the consideration and was directly planted into the list of certain necessities." Her frown had grown deeper as she spoke, putting the covered envelop back in her kimono. "A lot of effort indeed... unless the one who invited us is strong enough that for them to affect the way your mind reacts to new information is child's play."

When Sol approached her Itori blinked, looking around but also smiling as she recognized the voice. It was from quite some time ago, from a valentine's day when the two of them had both signed up for a blind date and had happened to be paired up with one another. It had been a nice evening, even if in the end nothing else had come from it. Itori hadn't expected it to go much further than for them to become friendly acquaintances, and she was happy that she had managed to make another friend. Although she could tell that Sol had become more... dangerous than before. Not less reliable, more likely to attack at any moment, but if he at any moment chose to attack Itori knew that it would be difficult to oppose him. Especially for someone like Itori, who wasn't much of a combatant to begin with.

"Ah. Greetings, Sol. It has indeed been a while. I am pleased to see that you are in as good health as ever." The question itself had Itori frowning in thought for but a moment before she smiled again and shook her head, patting Game Changer on the head before standing up and bowing towards Sol. "I certainly would like to do so later on this evening, but for now I would rather not risk finding myself distracted when the host of the party shows up. Also, it would be very impolite of me to break off a conversation like this, when she was so kind as to allow me to play with her friend the wolf. Once I feel like we are safe again I wouldn't say no if you asked again, but until then I would prefer to move with caution." She gave Sol a concerned gaze as well. "I trust that you are in good health? I doubt that being compelled to attend this party would affect you much, but if something is bothering you I wouldn't hesitate to lend a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen. Although currently you would also have to allow me to continue conversing with my companion here." She indicated Grema. "To introduce the two of you, this is Gremalin Fen of the Black Rose mage guild. Gremalin, this is Sol Terumi, whose affiliation I am actually uncertain about. However he is a friend and a good man."

Aiyana thought everything was super fun. But things were not super fun yet. Not even close, not with what happened next. Jiyu would get dressed before her eyes, some of the best peeking ever being done as she simply had to look down to do it, and a light tug on her tail and a point would be all that was needed to show she was walking towards....what the hell was Erika doing here? And why was she an associate of Jiyu? My god was this girl playing her this whole time? Maybe she was purposely being hard to get! Whatever, Aiyana had not seen her in a long time so why not try and socialize with her? It wouldn't end too bad as to ruin the night, that much was obvious, so the woman would follow shortly behind the floating slutty one and listen in to the amusing conversations that took place. Apparently, the third girl was some kind of special, having at one point believed that being slapped on the ass could get you pregnant. What was this? Trailer Park Trash facts lobby? God, she could feel the pregnancy from here! Maybe the girl was just...special...a little...slow? Yeah! That had to be it! Not that that was a bad thing, they could get along in life when raised properly. But with Erika? Who knew what was going on.

Now Erika Skittles, THAT woman was on some interesting stuff. She may not really like her, not really knowing her well but knowing she was kind of aggressive and assertive, but she had the good stuff and Aiyana was curious. "A pleasure to meet you, Astrid, and good to see you again Erika. I'd love you join you in whatever trip that is, but I have never been able to find anything that could affect me since the Celestial Spirit body incident happened. Would be nice though. Just be careful coming down from that, you may have done a bit...much." Erika's eyes were bloodshot, the female CLEARLY hallucinating, and it looked like a bloody good time for this party that seemed like they were trapped in. Well, if one even cared if they were allowed to leave that is. Some were worried about being trapped in here, even magical escapes impossible such as Aiyana's ability to go to the Celestial Realm. Oh well, a good party didn't let people leave until the drinks were gone. It was time to party!

Smoking the pumpkin was an idea, though what Ms. Skittles meant by the words was up for debate as the pumpkin was still quite alive, and there was no way of knowing just how basic they would be considered for spicing up that much pumpkin. Well, if he died they would find out, would they not? Guess it really depended on their state of mind by that point, or if someone else tried to stop them. Aiyana would chug the rest of the spiked punch in her hand, the alcohol not able to affect a Celestial Spirit, and looked to see if someone else might have something fun to take if Erika was not willing to share.

[527/1536, Three Tickets]