RS Ballroom

A massive dance floor has been set up in the style of a traditional Venetian Carnival with long buffet tables spread along the edges of the dance floor and large round tables for people to sit in when their feet get tired. At one end, there is a raised balcony with a full string ensemble playing a variety of classical dancing music. The ensemble itself is in full Venetian getup (Think Phantom of the Opera). There is also a DJ for when the ensemble takes a break and the people want to listen to more modern music.

Come one and come all! Or so said the invitation. Unlike the fashion show, the Masquerade was advertised in a slightly different manner. Elaborate invite cards were sent out while the posters had pictures of masks inviting everyone and anyone to attend (in costume). Two men stand at the door to the reserved facility dressed in over the top footmen's wear with simple black masks that just cover their eyes. Their job? To help people out. Somewhere to the side near the door is a stand selling cheap (and expensive) masks for those last minute costumers. The hostess herself? Putting the last finishing touches on her own costume.

She's late. Roy Fokker has never known Dame Oaks to be late for anything. He didn't bother with a costime - being seven feet tall and blonde tends to make you stand out in a crowd. With the invitation in one hand, the Black Sheep's commanding officer shows it to one of the footmen, before he moves in.

Now that he's in, the Veritech pilot avoids belining to the bar. No, he'll just find a good patch of wall to stake out to wait for the Vangaurd Detachment knight - then scold her for being late. Or not.

If one were to take a very quick, passing glance, one might think that Dizzy were just in her usual black dress. But a closer inspection might reveal...lace. A lot of lace. Frills on the hem, frills on the skirt itself, on the sleeves, at the end of the sleeves. Designs of flowers--black roses--sewn onto the chest. And the collar goes up to the neck, as well, itself trimmed with lace, and a black choker with a gold heart pendant on it. Instead of her normal white and blue boots, she wears a pair that is black as midnight, with black ribbons adorning them. All of this contrasting starkly with what little skin she shows, the pale white of her neck and her hands.

And on her head is the one piece of clothing that isn't black--a pure white bonnet (admittedly trimmed with black ribbons) that conceals most of her teal-colored hair, save for that which spills out behind, down past her shoulders. As for a mask--she has a comedy mask on, the left half black, the right half white. Probably a tad bit uncomfortable, but at least the large grinning mouth lets her breathe easily. And is that dark red lipstick? Her burgundy eyes can be seen through the upper holes as well, affording her a clear view, so she won't be bumping into things accidentally.

Left unmolested are her wings, which really compliment the gothloli style rather well, fluttering slightly as she enters the room. And her tail swishes around against her skirt freely, as usual, though the yellow ribbon has been replaced with a black one--of course.

She moves a little bit uncertainly, again betraying her still-present discomfort at large crowds of unfamiliar people, but she's getting better about it...really. She does look around, trying to see if anyone that she knows is here yet.

Making his way into the party now, looking incredibly self-conscious about his presence, is Relief Society member Uryuu Ishida -- although even those who know him well may not recognize him at first. The tailor's personal tastes in fashion are largely predictable: loose, flowing clothes, usually white and pale blue, the occasional cape... But the costume he wears now exhibits none of these traits.

A tight black bodysuit covers Uryuu from his neck to his feet. Two dark blue lines stretch in V shapes across his chest and his back, then combine and continue along his arms, providing the suit's only splash of color. He also wears a pair of thick black boots, and in place of his glasses, a bat-shaped mask completes the ensemble.

Uryuu seems slightly embarrassed about his close-fitting costume, but he allows himself a small smirk. Of course he can't match the mildly exaggerated musculature in the American comics he'd run across. But his archery and Quincy training have left him with more muscle tone than the average teenager, and he feels he makes a fairly good Nightwing after all.

He doesn't see anyone he recognizes in the crowd yet. Heh, he's early for once. The Quincy makes his way over to the refreshment table, to wait for friends to start showing up.

In the middle of the crowd.....was a trick or treater.

....at least, it HAD to be a trick or treater. The short little thing covered from head to toe by a simple, white sheet, and eyeholes cut out for eyes made it look like the handiwork of a child. No basket for treats in hand though, and the violet eyes peeking from the eyeholes looked way too stern to be a 10 year old's.

"HEY KID! Get back here!" cries one of the bouncers.

Kid? He can't mean HER, can he? Just in case, she scoots out of the way. So one could see just this.....tiny THING in a sheet scuttling away from a big, broad-shouldered, Turk-like creature. And his partner, who seems to have a startling resemblance to Lt. Murtock from the Lethal Weapon movies.

Parties are: One-time events, featuring free food, booze, and shenanigans. This is an easy way to attract the Turtle Tamer. But! Through some clever surreptitious trickery, he has a costume to disguise his appearance! It appears to be a sombrero covering his eyes. In fact, he even has a poncho tied 'round his neck like a cape. What's more, he even has a giant pair of Tiny Maracas, one in each hand, and Mariachi pants! That's right. He is coming in style.

No matter what, there's always one person that just doesn't 'get it' at these fancy parties, and tonight that person is Chad. He didn't quite understand that this wasn't just a formal ball, and that he should have come with some sort of outfit or disguise, so he grabbed the one formal suit he had on hand and that was it.

Even after he steps into the ball room he still doesn't get it. He just figures that since it's so close to Halloween that so many other people must just be dressing up for THAT occasion. Chad hasn't put two and two together yet. Poor guy. But who's going to tell someone THAT huge he's not dressed properly?

From the door in steps a blonde man decked out in black and crimson. Sanji reaches into his vest pocket and brings out a silver pocket watch, flips it open and checks the time, then snaps it shut and slides it back into place so the linked chain sweeps elegantly across his garment. Ah, just in time for the party! And he does love a good party.

The Straw Hat pirate is dressed well, as usual, but this time it's while in costume. The cane he carries taps the ground a few times as he walks with measured steps, almost a swagger with a turn of his hip and a gliding motion. The black, leather gloved hand turns the cane he carries end over end then puts the tip to the ground again. "Wow, look at the all girls!" No matter how he dresses up it's still Sanji under that mask. Even if the mask only has to cover one eye with his hair always in the way.

He stops next to Dizzy and lifts his free hand to tip his hat. "You look beautiful, Dizzy-chan." Sanji? Just call him the Candy Man.

She's late, and that's very unusual for her.

Fortunately, Agrias Oaks managed to arrive without issue. It took a bit of doing to find the dance hall, and her tardiness could be explained by poor directions from a bystander. She had let Roy go ahead, not quite expecting to get lost en route -- but she did manage to find the place, eventually.

The number of people there is a bit unnerving, but she manages to look past that, and her eyes seek out the large figure slouched against the wall. Dressed in the guise of a raven, the woman makes her way over, chuckling when she draws up to the pilot, shifting her weight to her good leg, and tucking the cane at the crook of an elbow. She gives a glance at the rest of the crowd before the mask turns back towards Roy. "Perhaps milord woudl care for soem company...?"

Somewhere in the growing crowd, there is a large, adorably cute plushie black-and-white sheep waddling around. Its feet are making equally adorable squeaking sounds as it makes its way towards the refreshment table, big blue eyes staring out innocently, if somewhat blankly, as is the mini-sheep sitting prettily on its head. Of course, some people might be mildly bemused by the fact that the sheep appears as if it is eating Mint Blancmanche, given that the girl's head is protruding from where its mouth ought to be.

Mint eartwitches happily, currently lost in her own world of plushie comfort and sheer enjoyment. Masquerades are wonderful: she can dress up all she wants, and without fear of being embarrassed, too, because everyone's doing it!

To be honest, Nao originally had no intentions of attending the Masquerade. But then she got roped into another Karaoke night, the true source of her costume! So the redhead was forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. Normally she goes with the one she's never tried before but...she ended up dressed like some kind of showgirl! She just had to make her escape. Nao isn't about to spend her night singing, 'Wind Beneath My Wings.' This should be a safe place to hide out for a while, at least until her next appointment. Though she kind of regrets not being able to see any of the stupid outfits Natsuki will be forced to wear. Nao crosses her arms over her chest, but it's not out of any self-conscious need to cover herself up. She seems pretty much at peace with that. Hopefully no one will get knocked down by her feathers. If you've got anything that needs dusting though, she's the girl for it.

The 'ghost' is running circles around the Turk-like bouncers, and inwardly, Rukia thought the costume was genius! She didn't even have to wear a mask, and since she was told that the entire purpose of this thing is to disguise who you are, then what's a perfect disguise but something that obscured EVERYTHING? HAH HAH! VICTORY~!

Except for some reason, the bouncers think she's a kid. She's not a kid, she's 150 years old!

"Make sure the midget doesn't get to the bar."

"Roger."

The sheet sweeps around, gliding around Chad and diving right into the crowd. She's starting to see people she...well, sort of knows. Chad was quite visible, because he was huge. She wonders if Ling, Hime, and Ishida would be about. Ichigo, she knows what he'll be dressed like this evening. She saw pictures, but she doesn't see him anywhere.

It takes Roy a moment as he is scanning the 'target-rich' environment. Lessee.. there's that one girl he saw once in the wings, with the leather and lace, but she's way too yound for him. Then there's Mint - who has decided to go furry. Again, she's adorable, but she's also 1) of his pilots. 2) too young. 3) freaky mind powers. There's Rukia, but she's like 12, and under a sheet. This is really turning into a bust, even if Hokuto is pretty damn hot.. and the redhead's not bad, either.

That is, until he locks onto the lady in black.

"...wander nevermore." Paraphrased the Raven.

He watches the woman cross the floor. He knows that limp, that shift of weight, and that cane. But he doesn't move to assist. He knows that she would take that as an insult. Instead, he waits for the woman to pull up next to him. And what's worse - she's using that accent. The pilot offers a thin smile as Roy pushes his mask up on his nose. "Well, it seems like my date for the evening was a little late, so perhaps a time with a bird wouldn't be such a bad idea." he offers in a slight tease.

Of course, despite the mask, Dizzy is pretty easily recognizable; she knows this. Nevertheless, she gives a little jump at Sanji calling out to her, and she turns quickly, blinking. "Umm...oh! Is, is that you, Mister Sanji?" She peers at him, recognizing him more by the voice than appearance at the moment. "I like your costume, you look very handsome in it." She smiles brightly and curtseys to him. "I'm glad you could make it."

She then turns back to the people trickling in, looking over all the various costumes. "Everyone's so dressed up--this is the first time I've done something like this. I just hope I can recognize all my friends...with the masks, it'll be a little bit harder." The white wing perks up slightly and rustles. "Thank you, Undine; I'd appreciate that. At least my wings can help keep an eye out for them," she finishes, looking over toward Sanji again.

Sweeping out of some backroom somewhere, Hokuto coughs softly and then fixes her mask into place. She looks around and beams at the sheer number of people who have arrived. So many of them and in costume too! Who does she talk go first? The hostess takes a glance at the door where the bouncers are chasing a wee thing in a sheet and poor Chad is all dressed up but he looks a bit confused. So she sweeps by and picks up one of the cheap masks from outside the ballroom before re-entering and walking up to the large man, "Welcome!" Anyone who's met Hokuto can easily distinguish her voice, even muffled as it is. "Here! Put this on." The girl holds out a simple black mask with gold trim.

Shinji Ikari wasn't behind schedual so much as he spent the past half hour standing approximately a block away from Sumeragi's ballroom, trapped in hesitation about actualy going into the dreaded Social Event. There are people in there and his presence would probably be like some kind of aura of suck that would drain the joy out of the party...or worse, they might want to talk to him. Oh God.

Unfortunately, Shinji really sucks at Rock, Paper, Scissors, so he knew he had to make at least a brief appearence inside, in front of someone he knows so he can honestly say he was here. Shinji had been planning to get out of "Monthly Social Interaction." on account of being broke, but then Misato had the brilliant idea of him wearing this here wig with his favorite non-school shirt and a pair of black shorts. She insisted it would be hilarious. "Good grief." The Third Child mutters to himself, slipping inside the ballroom as inobtrusivly as he can manage.

"...huh." At least the place is nice, which has two benefits for Shinji;
1) He will get to spend some time in a place that he doesn't have to clean every couple of hours to keep from looking like the Huns have invaded and,
2) Lots of dark corners to skulk in. Ha!

Flush with this 'victory', the Third Child procedes to look for one of those said dark corners, hoping to avoid as much of the party as humanly possible, without his Guardian eating him.

She hadn't really expected it to be this fancy! Not that Maze isn't enjoying it, of course. She's hanging out by the punch bowl, pouring herself a cup of something that looks delicious! She hopes it's not alcoholic. Lacking in funds or time to get a real costume together, she's managed to scrounge up something a little lacking in detail, but it's still a costume, at least! A borrowed leather jacket, a pair of fingerless gloves, a big pair of opaque black sunglasses, and some hastily-applied black paint on her boots came together to make a thrifty yet mostly respectable costume. Let's just forget the fact that most classical bikers don't wear button-up shirts. Maze figures that if she can just keep an eye on the clock, she can have a little fun, meet a few people, and then am-scray before her carriage turns back into a pumpkin.

She gets the feeling that maybe Cinderella would have been a better costume.

Hmm, there seems to be a LOT of people wearing masks and costumes tonight. Chad starts to wonder if maybe HE isn't dressed properly! Before he can delve further into that train of thought, Hokuto walks up to him and offers a mask. "Really?" He asks, still a bit lost on the nature of the party, but he accepts the mask from her anyway.

Chad tries putting it straight on, but his long bangs go into his eyes when he tries to put it over them, so he lifts his hair up slightly and slips the mask on over his eyes underneath. When he removes his hands... the mask is VERY hard to see. His hair obscures most of it, but you can see some of the gold trim shining underneath. Looking close enough it's obvious he's wearing a mask. "Th-thanks." He replies. Good thing someone helped him save face, so to speak, before this went on for too long.

"Aye, mayhap." Behind her mask, Agrias is grinning a bit. She knows he's already recognised her. He would have the second he saw her -- the cane is no accent; and speaking of accents, her voice is a definite giveaway... but only to the pilot, or those who have had a small chance to hear her speak in such a manner, disconnected from the courtly dialect of Ivalice; a slight burr twisting her words.

"My wings be weary, an' Ah've flown faer many leagues. Perhaps ae storm arose, and pushed tha' yin ye wait for oot o' tha' sky faer ae short time; or some similar unfortunate occurance." Her own veiled apology; sorry she's late. "Sae sorry, but iff'n that be your wish, then ye'll have to settle wi'e this paltry dark bird until y'r ain jewel shows up."

Handsome? *_* Really? "You're too kind, Dizzy-chan!" Sanji practically beams in happiness at her for the compliment. But that was the idea, wasn't it? He did want to look nice at the party. "I'm glad to see you here too." There's still a lot of people he doesn't know but there are plenty to meet at the party. It's always good to start with a familiar face though.

The worry gets more of a gentle look from the cook. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find all of your friends." People will mingle enough and if they're friends they'll realize who each other are. Though Dizzy's wings are a dead giveaway to begin with. With so many lovely ladies it's hard to know where to begin! The showgirl is a definite possibility.

Turtle Tamer is equally hanging out by the punch bowl, peering at it intently as he takes a cup. He has the horrible, horrible idea that it may very well be non-alcoholic. It is highly possible he will have to fix this travesty. But no! He must hide his identity, and such an act of righteousness could have him discovered. Therefore, there is only one thing to do. Mingle. The Tamer grips his maracas carefully, shaking them as he purveys the snacks. Ah. These look decidedly tasty.

You acquire an item: Finger Sandwich
You acquire an item: Prostitute's Eg--(System Message: Hold it, misread. - Xenophobe )-Hors D'Ouevres

My, this is almost as bad as the fashion show! The Besaidian Summoner, blushing very sweetly enters the ballroom in quite the unique outfit for her. How was she ever talked into wearing such an outfit and how can a woman wear such an.... An.... Well... Donning upon herself is an long black dress which shows a lot of her chest, long black gloves, black tight high-heeled boots. There are markings painted upon her chest all in all what Yuna came as is... Lust. That is right, Lust. She looks around, still blushing and lets out a small sigh. Hopefully she won't get too many stares.

She's never seen Chad dressed before, but she could appreciate it. He looks good! The ghost attempts to wave at him, but Miss Hokuto has managed to artfully snagged his attention. And since she's still running around, she, of course, plows right into the bar, and near the punch bowl that's probably been spiked already. She'll get to that later, but where the hell WAS that idiot? She was completely lost in these things!

The first thing she notices about the person next to her, is that he has really well defined muscles. Odd though, they didn't seem REAL...kind of rubbery. Rukia looks up, and up, and up. Hey, those eyes look familiar....

"Oi! Ishida!" says the trick-or-treater. She pulls one edge of the sheet up to peer at him with her big eyes and her beaming smile...COMPLETELY DESTROYING the idea that this was a masque and no one isn't supposed to reveal who they are until midnight. Hopeless. "What are you supposed to be?"

Mint eartwitches.

Shinji would probably have gotten off lucky if Mint hadn't gained something of a Gloomdar through her acquaintance with the Third Child. As it stands, he might find himself intercepted and totally denied by a giant sheep. "Ah, good evening, Shinji!" Mint chirrups, smiling happily. "I'm glad to see that you made it!" The telepath blinks at his getup, tilting her head slightly. "If I may ask- what exactly is that costume of?"

Apparently, the Transbaal Empire suffers from a terrible lack of Peanuts.

"...So everyone is going to be disguised?"

"Probably. Come on, it's not that big a deal--this is just for fun. All right?"

Two more guests pass through the entryway; unlike some of the patrons, these newcomers decided to go with the 'formalwear' approach. Sort of. Simon Parker is wearing a tuxedo, and his hair is done up in a different, Brosnan-esque style. Behind him is a tall, aristocratic blonde woman in a white evening gown; her hair has been pulled into a bun, and she's carrying a leatherbound journal of some sort.

"What...?" says Dinah, giving the ghost a skeptical look. "Why is that child wearing a bedsheet?" And then, in a slightly hushed tone: "Who are these people?" She is trying not to do the 'deer in the headlights' routine.

"Just relax," Simon murmurs, taking his date by the arm and leading her into the room. Incidentally, he is now speaking with a British accent. "There's Commander Fokker. I told you about him, didn't I?"

"...Sheep?" Dinah then blinks at Mint, looking utterly baffled.

"Commander," Simon says, smiling to Roy. He stops to adjust his tie.

"..perhaps next time, you should have a wingman with you." Roy offers, an amused grin to his features. Apology accepted. The pilot shrugs his shoulders as he notices Chad across the room. Wow, someone nearly as tall as he is.

Then there's a pause as the couple is approached. "...Simon." he recognizes the voice. One hand immediately takes Agrias's cane hand. No, dear, you can't go cane-beating the demon in front of everyone. That would just be bad for relations! "... who's your friend?" he asks casually.

Simon should know the Raven already - after all, she wants to make him 'Nevermore'.

"Yes, I did want to let other people know it was me more easily. Well...maybe it kind of defeats the purpose, but I'm not really cut out for the mysterious figure type anyway." Dizzy smiles a bit wanly at Sanji, thinking back to how hard she tried to hide herself before. In a way, this is rather unusual for her.

After a few more moments of people-watching, Dizzy announces, "I'm a little thirsty; I think I'll get something to drink. Would you like anything, Mister Sanji?" She begins to move over toward the punch bowl. She's never had alcohol before, has the vague understanding that she probably doesn't want to try it, either--though it is, indeed, merely a vague understanding. While Johnny indulged a little bit in alcohol, he never had as much as some other people might--he is a ship's captain, after all, and tries to do a proper job of it. But anyway.

Hokuto chuckles lightly at Chad, "No problem. Feel free to mingle. I think I heard Dizzy-san and some people from the relief society." It's a bit strange to hear such a chipper voice coming out from behind such a stoic looking mask. But that's all part of the game. The girl pats the large man on the arm and blinks at Shinji tries to fade into the shadows dressed like... Oh my. One of the classics! Watch out Shinji. One Hokuto coming your way.

If Yuna does, her valiant protector will be there to bean them with a blitzball! He stands protectively next to her, clad in his very bright and barechested yellow outfit, a big blue blitzball bouncing up and down in one hand. "Ya, I think this is the right place, Lady Yuna."

There's something odd about this Wakka however. He's shorter, thinner, and much much less manly looking. The hair is all wrong too, as its the right shade of red, its much longer and... what's the word? Oh, yes: Frond-like.

Envyka? Wakvy? Envywakka? In any case, Yuna and her guardian apparently have partaken of the Fullmetal Alchemist - Final Fantasy X Costume Exchange Program.

It doesn't take Nao long to wander towards the refreshments table. Free food after all! That says something for a girl who takes care of herself. You would think that with all those guys, one would actually take her to a restaurant from time to time! But if they want to go straight to the dark alley, that's fine with Nao. They're the ones who end up regretting it soon after, ahem. For the moment she ignores the other guests and reaches for a shrimp. Though feathers from that stupid headdress keep getting in the way of her mouth! Finally she manages a sample, frowning a little as she chews it. "Not as good as Mai's." Not that she'd admit such a thing in the other girl's presence! But since she's the only Hime representing tonight, she can at least admit it to herself. Nao picks up a cube of cheese next, chowing down before taking a better look at the people around her. Hmm, there might be some prospects here.

Turtle Tamer ponders. He ponders ponderfully as he walks around the table, nearly bumping into Nao. Yes. He cannot be seen spiking the punch. Therefore, if he wants to solve this issue of flagrant-teetotalling, he will need a distraction. But how does one distract an entire party away from its very focus? Yes. This will require much thought indeed.

The Mysterious Mariachi keeps his head bowed, shaking his maracas as he glares at his unfermented nemesis. Victory will be his.

More guests are beginning to trickle in, and among them many that Uryuu recognizes. He's going by spiritual senses, though, rather than visual -- he isn't wearing his glasses, after all. There's Chad, obviously, and Shinji next to Mint (who is within the gigantic ball of wool), and ah, there's Dizzy across the way with a young man he hasn't met yet...

And then a ghost appears! Attack/Magic/Item/Flee? Uryuu blinks down at Rukia as she approaches. "Ah, good evening, Kuchiki-san. This costume is from a comic I read recently..." His fashion sense is pinging him. Something isn't right here. Rukia is a pretty young lady, after all. Does she intend to spend the night hiding underneath this plain white sheet? Uryuu tsks, tailor mode activated. "No, no, this won't do." He looks the sheet over critically... Yes, he can do something with this. "Come with me, Kuchiki-san," he says suddenly. "I need to make a small alteration to your costume."

Resistance is futile. You will be made over.

Shinji stops, as if he had been caught keying his Father's car or something qonderful..err, embarrasing like that. Stupid Gloomdar. Shinji thought that the short person in the ghost outfit was Mint! Running down his mental index of people he knows, the Third Child comes up blank. Mysterious. Shinji also sees Ishida, who is something of a family friend by way of Ayanami, and holds back a sort of laughter, wondering if Ichigo's Beast Boy or something.

He also cracks the (lol)ghost of a smirk at Mint's costume. "Going for the irony prize, huh?" Shinji says, doing his best to not seem like his insides are assuming various kung fu poses in an effort to mitigate the sheer terror of being in a room full of people. He gets like this on the train a lot, too. "I, um...I'm someone from, err, a comic strip. It was Misato's idea..."

Shinji waves, a little, at the people he's presuming are Simon and the nice girlfriend he talked about, and resumes trying to look for a place to hide. I mean standing there.

"Right, thanks again." Chad says to Hokuto as she darts off after another person. Chad's not going to be overly talkative, these large functions aren't his thing, but he supposes he should TRY and mingle a bit. If there's more Relief Society memebers here he could get to know them a bit better.

Unfortunately, he is VERY bad at associating names with faces, and instantly forgets anyone who may be part of the Society he might recognize. Aside from the people he knows very well personally, everyone else is just a blurry memory with a over their faces. So for now he, very carefully, shuffles his way through the crowd, looking for someone who feels somewhat familiar. And he eventually nearly bumps into Yuna and her 'guardian'. "Oh, excuse me." He says, bashfully. Chad doesn't recognize Yuna straight away, but would she forget someone nearly as tall as Khimari?

"Sure, but let me get that for you." What sort of gentleman would he be if he didn't serve the lady? Not a very good cook either, for that matter. Sanji walks over to the refreshment table and takes one of the glasses with his gloved hand. The cane is set down briefly so he can pour a drink without losing a drop. The beverage is then offered to Dizzy. But while he's at the table he looks over to the other girl. Isn't that Maze? Sanji has a sort of 6th sense when it comes to women.

Distracted easily, he then pours another glass and offers it to the food guzzling showgirl. Amazing she stays so trim! "A drink, mademoiselle?" Sanji gives Nao his absolute best smile. Oh sure, easy pickins' here. When it comes to women Sanji might as well have 'abuse me' tattoo'd across his forehead, even if you'd only see half of it the way his hair hangs down. But ask Nami, she can verify that for you.

"Och, aye, an' some birds are na meant tae fly." Agrias gives a dry roll of her tongue rolls her tongue, lapsing out of her accent and back into normal speech. "I will then leave the flying to you, and--"

The raven mask turns to the figure of the demon, and it's amazing how quickly she can go from pleasantly overwhelmed to cold and withdrawn. She says nothing, just staring at the demon with the small, bright but lifeless eyes of her mask. Not cool. She doesn't quite seem to notice that her cane hand is taken up.

"Sir Parker. A good evening to you," she affords him, stiffly, and nodding her hea in an equal display of stiff formality. Her heart's not in it at all. Untruth. Her voice dips into dangerously low, soft tones. "Why are here? And why in the name of all gods merciful and holy do you continue to coincide your little chats with when I am present? I am no saint. I will not exercise saintly patience in dealing with you or your kind," she hisses thinly. "You are safe, here. But so help me, my patience grows thin with you."

...Truth.

As she follows Sanji to the food and drink table, Dizzy notes the girl in the feathery costume. "Oh, that's a very nice outfit," she tells Nao. "I like the feathers." What, no comment on how skimpy it is? Well...she herself does have that battle outfit, y'know, which does cover up a bit more than the showgirl dress, but not very much.

The drink is accepted from Sanji. "Thank you, sir," she says, now deciding not to call Sanji by name--since the stated rules of the party is that you aren't supposed to expose your identity until the end. She takes a sip of punch. "My throat is kinda dry, for some reason, tonight," she comments idly, and drinks a little bit more, watching in curiosity as Sanji now starts hitting on Nao.

Yuna smiles up at her guardian, still blushing but lets out an small giggle at his outfit. "Yes, it does look like it." She speaks with an gentle smile. She looks around and smiles as she recongizes some of the people here, Sanji, Dizzy and Uryuu so far and goes to wave at each one of them. That is, until she is almost bumped into by the gaint known as Chad. She blinks and looks up at him and studies him briefly before going to raise a gloved finger. "I have seen you before, I am sorry if I cannot remember your name good sir."

Wide, purple eyes blink from under the bedsheet she pilfered and mercilessly made holes on. "....what? But I thought it was perfect!" Rukia protests even as Uryuu coaxes her to follow him. She does anyways, because he's her friend, the only familiar face she sees, and he seems to be alone as well - which wouldn't do, considering her Kuchiki sensibilities. Noble men like Ishida ought to be escorting young women! He was young, alive, why did he go alone? She would ask these things, if the fashionista wasn't distracting her by critically eyeing her costume.

"I was told the purpose of these things is to come in disguise so as people wouldn't know who you are." COMPLETELY useless in her case since she revealed to him who she was. "So I thought this covering was perfect. Plus with the eyeholes, so I can see." Though she looks a little curious, even if it's not visible as she has pulled the sheet back on her face as she follows Nightwishida, the Deadliest Man Alive with a Needle. ".....alterations? Like what you did with Kon?"

A cautious sip... victory is hers! Maze smiles and takes another sip of her punch. She can't taste any alcohol, so she probably doesn't have to worry about it. The thought of someone else spiking the punch later doesn't quite cross her mind... Someone almost barreling into the table is met with a quizzical look, but when trouble doesn't start up she seems to relax again, posture easing back into a fair approximation of a roguish slouch.

Sanji gets a smile and a small wave, as does Dizzy. There's an awful LOT of people here, maybe she'll just sort of... mingle a little closer to the wall. Yes, that is an excellent idea and in no way means she's being a wallflower. Just... polite! Maze starts a meandering path towards a less busy part of the ballroom. Sadly, she's forgotten to keep track of the windows, and the sun is getting AWFULLY close to the horizon.

And suddenly, it is clear. A Disco Bandit would use his moxie to subtly slip it in while noone was looking. A Sauceror would moxiously slip into the Cosmic Sauce and ferment it as if he were some kind of soon-to-be-massively-misunderstood religious figure. A Turtle Tamer must use his moxie in the most upfront way possible. From his sack, cleverly hidden under his poncho-cape, (And yet it doesn't make a bulge?) comes a beaker. It is full of the savoir-faire of a secret agent, the charisma of a catburglar, and the sheer, unadulterated gall of a..uh, reclusive novelist. Regardless, it is some serious chutzpah.

The Tamer quickly finishes the drink, and as he wipes his lips, mutters to himself.

"Suck it, Trebek."

Ah, yes. The moxie is building. Within moments, he will be suave enough tosave the day.

Nao Yuuki arches a brow at the Mariachi after nearly colliding with him. Her eyes follow him for a moment before she shrugs and reaches for something else. "You like it?" She tilts her head at Dizzy's compliment, still chewing. "You can have it if you want it." It's not like she paid for it or anything! The offered drink comes as a surprise though. Nao looks up at the candy man for a moment before smiling and accepting. "Thank you so much." That sweet smile, an even sweeter voice! ...No way that's for real. But he doesn't know Nao, so she might just get away with it. How does she blush on cue though? One of the great mysteries of life. The cup lifts to her lips but hesitates before lowering again. Nao squints, leaning closer to Sanji and lifting her hand in an attempt to rub his forehead. Hmm. She could've sworn she saw something there just a minute ago. Oh well. It's gone now!

"This is Dinah," Simon says, nodding in his companion's direction. Roy would recognize her from her picture--she's his girlfriend, the one the guard dog that hates him. Dinah nods politely, managing a little smile as she focuses on the pilot, not the girl in the sheet or the boy trying to disguise his identity with only a wig, or the sheep, or... well, anybody else. She seems to be highly uncomfortable with the concept of the party, for whatever reason.

"Dame Oaks," Simon adds, stiffly, realizing who this other person is. Blessit, woman, why can't you let bygones be bygones? "I will get something to drink. Would you like something to drink?" He does not wait for an answer, instead heading over to raid the punchbowl. The lawyer-agent-something casts a glance at the Mariachi; looks like he's just sizing up the costume, and he starts getting some punch shortly after. He seems to have missed the moxie-potion entirely.

"What has he done to you?" Now Dinah looks honestly concerned. She's already heard something about a boneheaded Malakite, but she's not sure how much of that is True.

Hokuto waves cheerfully at Shinji as she hears his costume, "Ah hah! That's what I thought!" She opens up her fan and flutters it a bit as she tries to think who this young man might -really- be. She's been very out of touch with the IPA and doesn't know it's members nearly as well as she should. "Well. I think it's a cute costume." She grins broadly under her mask, "Misato-san must really like Brown-kun. I hope you enjoy yourself at the party." :)

"Not on purpose!" Mint retorts, fluffing up her wool. "I had just happened to come across this costume a few days ago, and what better time to test it out than at a masquerade?" The telepath nods as Shinji goes some way to explain his own costume, and she smiles slightly. "For some reason that I can't quite place, it fits you well, Shinji."

Letting Shinji sweat for a few more moments, Mint takes a moment to glance around the party hall, taking in the various costumes with a trained eye: a rather quickly-made ghost, a raven, Ishida dressed as... some sort of sentai-show villain? Mint takes a moment to wave at him, regardless... and that over there is the Commander- another wave- and of course, there are always the two or three women who choose this type of party to flaunt their figures! Hmph.

"Shall we go get some refreshments, Shinji?" Mint inquires innocently, just as Hokuto comes over. Her ears flick once. "Ah, good evening; I don't believe that we've met. My name is Mint Blancmanche." The sheep gives a calm half-bow to the other girl (as best as she can in her bulky costume, at least).

With the party in full swing, another straggler appears dressed from head to foot in a what looks like Napoleonic military uniform but every last bit of it is made from red velvet with a black silk cravat to finish it off. A red top hat perches elegantly upon his head and the white death skull (missing jaw) covers his face entirely from view. The gold rapier at his side rattles slightly with step.

The mysterious man in red tips his hat as he passes by the ladies of the party. His direction is aimless, instead merely watching the spectacle with a twisted bitter smile.

"Sure, a drink will be fine." Roy starts to repond as he has a terse conversation with his own girlfriend through the radio. It ends with a teasing, "Good, because I'd rather have other uses for you and a pair of handcuffs." At her response, he grins. "...variety is the spice of life." he responds, then looks back to Dinah. "..I would assume you are.." there's a pause.

He doesn't blow covers here. "..you are Simon's girlfriend. I remember your picture." the pilot comments, even as he looks to Agrias, and mutters to her via radio.

"It is not what he's done, Dinah.. it is who he is. I fear that Dame Oaks has a low tolerance for certain things.. and it was not help.." the pilot comments quietly, "..but his partner's recent actions, either."

Magic mirror, tell me today, have all my friends come out to play? Envy scans the crowd, a hand to his headband as he picks the faces from the crowd: He sees Ishida dressed gay for Batman, Batman himself dressed with a license to kill, Dizzy as scary/cute - he's not sure which, Hokuto as hot as ever <3, the good ol' round-headed kid that outbid him for the shin-kicking redhead at the auction, and... oh hey, a giant. "Lady Yuna, this is Chad. He's one of Orihime-chan's friends from high school." The homunculus only knows him in passing from his misadventures at said school, but guys like him are easy to remember.

Good, at least he didn't hurt her. Chad always has to be so careful in big crowds like this. "You have?" He asks Yuna, a bit bewildered. "Hmmm..." He tries to think... but his memory is a trickey beast, and he met Yuna for far too short a time to call up a decent association. "I'm sorry, I don't really remember." Chad sounds pretty apologetic, he hates forgetting things like this, after all.

"I'm Yasutora Sado. I'm from the same world as Orihime Inoue." He figures that since he is so little known, he can at least let people know where he is from by relation to someone much more famous. "Nice to meet you." He adds.

Can have it...er.... "Um...that's quite generous of you, Miss," Dizzy answers. That's not quite the reaction she imagined. "Um, perhaps after the evening is over, then...." She giggles a little nervously, while her wings flutter a little bit. "I'm sure it'll be okay, Necro," she says to her green wing softly. "She offered, after all." Well, take things as they come.

She drinks a bit more punch and takes an hors d'ouerve...hesitating slightly. The mouth on the mask is large enough to drink through, but the food is a bit larger in size. Hmm. She carefully lifts the mask away slightly, stretching the elastic band that holds it in place, and slips it into her mouth behind the plastic. Eating will be a slight bit of a chore tonight, but oh well. She takes to looking over the crowd again, trying to see if she can recognize anyone.... Oh, there's Commander Fokker near the bar. Not dressed up at all. Well, she will try to say hello to the man later, while she circulates to find more of her friends.

Sanji is a multi-tasker of women. Five dates during the Cocoyashi party after the defeat of Arlong is just him on a good night. He hopes this will be a very good night! The cook nods in agreement at Dizzy's words. "Yes, a lovely costume!" There's no wondering why he thinks so. And if she gives that costume to Dizzy.. well, Sanji can't even think about it!

When Nao rubs at his forehead he gets hearts in his eyes. Nevermind that his gaze is pointed rather downward. *cough* That tattoo really should go there permanently. But he does catch the wave from Maze and is able to wave back just as he sees her slipping away. Hm, if she's too shy she should definitely come over, but he doesn't want to shout across the room. "Do you like the punch, Dizzy-chan?" She seems to be enjoying it quite a bit!

Away from the center of the party, Uryuu shakes his head, holding up his miniature sewing kit in one hand -- wait a minute, where was he keeping that with this costume on? This question may forever go unanswered. "Disguise, yes," he says to Rukia, "but style is another large part of it. This would be fine if you were merely trick-or-treating, but a masquerade requires something that accentuates your natural style. I have something excellent in mind, if you'll just hold still..."

Permit us to pan away for a few moments while Ishida works his tailoring magic on Rukia's former ghost costume. "There!"

Finally, the reagent potion takes effect. The Turtle Tamer is now totally awesome enough to moxiously spike the punch. soon, he will be a hero to all. But first, the performance. The Sombrero is tilted further down, so that he looks properly mysterious and handsome. The Mariachis go to both hands, as he steps forward into the middle of the dance floor. Nao is given a suave, debonair look. Without being able to see the Tamer's eyes. Y'gotta admit, that's pretty tricky. The Maracas go up, and as he shakes them, something poofs into existence above his head. It appears to be made out of stars and lines, and, in fact, actually is made out of stars and lines. "EL MARIACHI DESPERADO, si usted por favor!" The Tamer cries, and for reasons entirely due to narrative convenience, the band both knows Spanish, and feels like fulfilling his request. The Star Starfish acquiesces to his desires, shining a starlight spotlight down on him.

Now the dance begins.

AAAH! Rennisance-Era Italian Aristocracy! Shinji's one true fear.

Oh, wait, no, 'kun'. Shinji smiles, weakly, rubbing the back of his head. He certainly hasn't moved a step behind Mint, as if to hide behind the girl, no, that's an optical illusion. "Um, h-hi. Thanks?" Good Ol'Shinji Brown offers, weakly, utterly failing in his attempts to look akward.

Shinji also notices that Nice Mister Simon's lady friend looks even more akward than he does, which makes him feel guilty. Why would someone dating a lawyer-cop want to be waved at by some punk kid? Shinji, you're an idiot. "Um, we were, j-just..." Shinji points at Mint, nodding. Normally, he'd wonder why Mint was dragging him along, but he's just too frazzled to do much but react right now.

"So kind of you to recognise me." Agrias holds back from whatever anger she may feel, and instead offers a formal bow to the demon. Amazing what a brief conversation via radio can do. The fight seems to fade out of her, though, and the raven's mask turns to Dinah.

She issues a breath between her teeth, shaking her head. "It is not what he did. I had not met him before the Gates opened. It is a... complicated tale." Truth. "Perhaps some time, when we are in more private environs, I may tell it to you. But this is neither the time nor the place, milady." She inclines her head, almost apologetically.

"However, I am pleased to see you again." Truth. She likes Dinah, despite the awkwardness, and remembers her from that strange, strange get-together at the Otherworldly Plaza. "Are you enjoying the party, thus far...?" This would ordinarily be given with the connotation that she, too, enjoys it... but really, the activity and noise just make Agrias nervous.

Uryuu Ishida plucks a white mask from the complimentary table, and hands it to Rukia to complete the look. "Perfect."

Yuna nods towards Envy before going to smile gently at Chad. "We have met very briefly so there is no need to apologise, good sir." She then goes to offer him an formal bow of Yevon. "My name is Summoner Yuna of the Isles of Besaid and it is my highest pleasure upon meeting you, Sir Yasutora Sado and I will pray that the Fayth will smile upon our meet." She states gently as she then goes to straighten herself up.

"Ah, so you are Lady Orihime's friend? Then I am sure that the Fayth is watching this meeting as we speak. She then goes to gesture at Envy. "This is Sir Envy, my guardian." She then looks around and smiles. "Perhaps we should get something to drink and enjoy this night together?" She offers to both Chad and Envy.

Somewhere in the darkness of the 'backstage' of this entire event, is Rukia, in a tanktop and small shorts, crossing her arms self-consciously over her body even as Ishida gets to work on her white sheet. Yes, the censor bars are made of bacon, for some reason. Back elsewhere, Ukitake is wiping his eyes proudly.

"....ano...Ishida, what are you doing...?"

And then several moments later, she's decked out in...18th century clothing? And when handed a mask, she blinks, even when there's a mirror rolled out of nowhere so she could inspect the look. THIS came out of the bedsheet??? But...where did the blue lace come from? It is obvious, ladies and gents, that Ishida was the MACGYVER OF COUTURE.

"WOW! Ishida, this looks great! And all of this from just one bed sheet??" She turns around this and that, and twirls. Though she's kind of at a loss as to how her raven locks are now suddenly curled and loose down her shoulders. Then again, last time Ishida handled Kon, he came back with a dress and curls. That's Bleach-physics for you. "This is amazing!"

"It's all yours." Nao confirms to Dizzy. The feathers annoy her really. It was just the (bad) luck of the draw that put her in that costume to begin with. Not that she had any modesty issues with it. Had it been Mai, on the other hand...

Nao's eyes narrow a little when the blonde man's gaze shifts south. Yeah, this one is just her type. Stupid, probably violent, definitely worthy of punishment. "Oh!" The redhead cries out in alarm while suddenly lifting both arms to take hold of Sanji. "I'm so sorry." She blushes heavily while lifting her eyes back up to his. "It's just this headdress is so heavy, I nearly toppled over! How clumsy of me." Nao pulls her arms tightly against her chest and glances away in her shame. What she really should be ashamed of is that act. ...But she never is. And you'd be amazed at just how many men fall for it!

Nao has the feeling that that body count is about to rise too.

Ah hah! Mint and Shinji. Good names. The hostess nods cheerfully as she tags along with the Sheep and Charlie on their way to the refreshments. "That's a very cute costume you have Miss Blachmanche! Did you make it youself?" She looks about. Poor Shinji, stuttering. This will have to be fixed! But not immediately. "I hope you both will have fun tonight. It's a good chance for you to relax and pretend to be someone or something else."

The Starfish shines. The Turtle Tamer puts one hand up, and one hand down, shaking his mariachis. He must get attention quickly. Tapping his foot, he waits for the music to start in earnest, and then shakes in beat to them. His movements after are best described as a salsa-combined with spanish-swordfight lessons, as he begins to duel with an imagined opponent, as if with rapier and main gauche. And now, he has to get people specifically distracted. We are going to start with ol' Charlie Brown.

Dancing over, with many a parry and thrust overexaggerated for effect, he suddenly, as if throwing a knife, throws a single maraca at Shinji's head. But, before it can strike him (Good grief!), the Tamer almost seems to vanish, reappearing behind the Third Child, and knocking the maraca above the poor boy's head, and into his hand. Hopefully, that has everyone's attention. Now to move on. Ah, yes. The sheep. That's where he's going to go.

"Ya, that sounds like a good idea!" You've probably heard Wakka's goofy strongguy voice. You've also likely heard Envy's sinisterly creepy voice. Now try to imagine Envy trying to be as chipper and good-natured as Wakka and your brain might explode, but that's the voice he's donned for tonight's festivities. "You two find us a seat, ya, and I'll go fetch the drinks!" And test to make sure nobody spiked them. He's Yuna's guardian, and that means No Drunk Summoners!

Chad hmms. Yuna? Yuna.... the name strikes a familair chord, and for some reason he's reminded of Saotome. Perhaps she's that girl who showed up at his apartment that day to speak to Ranma? As Yuna goes about calling him sir he waves an embarresed hand "No need to call me Sir, Yasutora or Chad will do." He has, after all, gotten used to that nickname. It's just so much easier to say than Yasutora for most people outside world. "A pleasure to meet you, Summoner Yuna." ..what IS a Summoner, anyway?

Then he turns to Yuna's guardian and almost, almost, frowns. "Envy?" He asks in surprise. He's still a bit sore over the whole kidnap the princess deal, but he doesn't let it show too much. He promised Inoue that he'd treat him fairly, after all. "Right, we've met before, in passing." So that's the form he's taking tonight? "Sure, a drink sounds fine. I believe I saw your name on the Relief Society roster, so perhaps I'll be working with you in the future." He doesn't comment on her 'fayth' comments, he just assumes she's overly religious.

Dinah's eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. Oh yes, she is going to have a little talk with Mr. Conway about this--it's not Heresy, but chicanery like that is not something that's going to slip by on her watch. "...other uses?" she murmurs, before she can stop herself. Dinah then connects the dots, and blushes. They are humans, Dinah. They are humans in a loving relationship and wasn't Roy engaged to someone else and hurry up with that punch, Simeon and where is Shelemiah? Shelemiah would make this much less awkward.

"Some other time, then," she says, wishing that there was some Song out there that made these humans make sense. "I don't understand it," Dinah says.

And oh great, you offended the little kid over there.

Simon, meanwhile, is taking his sweet time over by the punchbowl. Plotting how to best minimize Holy Knight aggro? Maybe.

Whu-- oh, hey. This music's kind of catchy. Holding her cup of punch carefully, Maze shifts from one foot to the other, making her hips swing just a little bit in time with the beat. Her hair sways in time too, the ends falling to around the back of her waist. She's not overdoing it though, so it's just a gentle swish, swish against the smooth leather of her jacket. Maybe going to a party was good idea after all!

Maybe she'll even work up the chutzpah to go talk to someone in a little bit! After she's done with her punch or something. Yes.

Well, there are two possible reasons why Mint is dragging Shinji to the refreshments table: either she's going to force him to socialize, or let him hang around the less populated corner of the table and give him a reprieve, or tackle him under the table and mind-control him into becoming her unwilling slave when no one's looking. Either-or, really!

"Oh, why thank you!" Mint replies, matching cheer for cheer as she waddles along. "I'm afraid that I didn't make this particular costume myself- I actually stumbled across it a few days ago." And then, of course, Turtle Tamer happens. The sheep quails back a little as the maraca nearly impacts Shinji's head, but before she can ask him if his shattered skull is alright, the Tamer intercepts it. Mint stares, wide-eyed at the crazy dancer, too surprised to really react with indignation. "Wha...?"

By all appearances, Dizzy does enjoy the punch; she finishes what remains in the cup with one last sip. "It's very good, sir. And I'm still thirsty." She begins to move toward the punch bowl, but knowing Sanji, he's going to intercept and fill it for her. Such is the chivalrous nature of this fellow.

Only Nao kind of imposes now, which leaves Dizzy blinking bemusedly, and then Turtle Tamer starts up his routine, which really quite impresses her. "Oh, wow," she exclaims, putting down the cup for now on the table, clapping in innocent excitement. "He's pretty good!"

The red man in the mask skirts the corners of the room and stops when he sees Ishida and Rukia step out into the public. Eyes narrow slightly in anger at Ishida but then stop when he realizes who the boy is NOT. A sly smile crosses his face. His chance? But the girl is so much shorter than he remembers! A quandary indeed. But if that blasted Viscount isn't around, perhaps this is his chance. With direction and a purpose now, the Red Death begins to make his way towards Rukia, carefully choosing a path that would allow her to not see him till too late.

Yuna nods and goes to fold her hands infront of herself. "Ah, then I shall call you Chad." She then goes to nod at Envy. "We shall go and find a seat." She goes to look back up at Chad. He is around Kimhari's height. She then goes to hold up a hand for Chad to take in a leading move. "Yes, I am a part of the Relief Society. Are a part of it as well?" She inquires as she goes to look for a seat. She stops to watch Turtle Tamer dance and goes to offer him a soft clapping for his dance.

Sanji blinks and lifts both gloved hands to catch Nao's shoulders gently. "Are you alright?" Stupid? Well not entirely. Violent? Only to someone who would dare harm his nakama or a lady. Worthy of punishment? Uh.. debatable? Depends on who you're asking maybe. "Do you need to sit down? Or maybe some air?" That might help to set Nao straight. At least he's got a nice jacket to loan to her if she gets cold in those feathers. Ahem.

Seeing a girl in even the mildest distress make sit hard for Sanji to resist helping Nao. "Dizzy-chan, would you excuse me? Promise me a dance later, okay?" That'd really make his night! If he can manage to escape Nao's claws long enough to cut a rug anyway. Though he probably wouldn't complain much either way. *_*

So he does remember him! Envy tosses Chad a small salute at the recognition, and leaves it at that. Water under the bridge, mate. With Yuna under the gentle giant's protection, he's free to raid the punchbowl, make friends, and influence people!

And who should he encounter at the bowl but another familiar face. Or so he thinks. It's much more fun to play along until all the masks come off, so he'll play along for now. "Hello there, ya," he beams broadly with a cheerful wave to the loligear. "Nice party, ya? How's the punch? ... Nobody's spiked it yet, ya?"

Serioiusly, how does Wakka talk like that all day?

Shinji Ikari is just greatful for not having to make a decision while UNDER SIEGE like this. Would anyone really notice if the boy was under someone's terrible mental thrall? ...well, he'd probably stutter less.

And then DRIVE BY ARRIBA, "W-w-whu-whu-what th-?!" Shinji's eyes boggle and his hands waggle around instead of snapping up to guard his face like a normal person, and he wonders, idly, if anyone will come to visit him when he's comatose in the hosbital.

Shinji's gloom-thought was just getting to the part where Pen-Pen, having come looking for dinner, trips on one of the dusty cobwebs covering Shinji's alive-yet-dead body and accadentily pulls the plug, when the Turtle Tamer grabs said marachas. Stumbling over himself, Shinji grabs the table, pants a little, and...

Apologizes. "S-s-suh-sorry...?" Ikari mutters, feeling ashamed at having made such a scene! Shinji has negative chutzpah, for the record.

The Quincy nods with satisfaction, mission accomplished. "That's much better, Kuchiki-san. I'm glad you like it." He also smirks slightly at the Shakespearean reference he's made. "I believe I'll wander about and say hello to some people. Perhaps we could dance once later on." She's a good friend, and he imagines she knows how to dance from her noble upbringing. Uryuu half-bows to Rukia before leaving her to the masked man (inadvertantly, of course.)

Where is he heading? Back to the buffet tables and the punch bowl. His eyebrows raise as he sees Turtle Tamer's antics. "Impressive," he says under his breath. At the table itself, he steps over to Dizzy and raises a hand in greeting. "Good evening," he says pleasantly, refraining from giving her name -- in the spirit of the masquerade, naturally. "Having a nice time, I hope?"

"Mmm, yes." Chad replies to Yuna. "I recently joined up. Inoue requested it, since she mentioned the Society could use some 'bodyguards'." He almost seems embarrassed as he says this, he doesn't like to fight, after all, but he'll certainly do what he can to help his friends. "I know she's been working hard on the Society. I'm not very good with a lot of the humanitarian work that she wants to do, but I'll do what I can to help out in my own way."

Chad leads Yuna to what looks like a decent table. These parties are a unknown affair to him so he's not sure what location would qualify a good table. But it has easy access to the dance floor and isn't too obstructed by other seats.

The Tamer tosses a pack of gum to the boy as he escapes--it's a fourpack of delicious, delicious foreign gum, in less than delicious flavors! But it's foreign, and that makes it all okay.

Next up on the list for the Tamer: Girls. It's one thing to freak out a guy, but now he has to play up the side of the Mariachi everyone cares about: Wooing the ladies.

Admittedly, this is going to be awkward, on account of Mint being in a sheep suit, but--hey, everyone knows they do that sort of thing South of the Border anyway. He lightly grips her, well, her forehoof, giving it a kiss before standing back up, giving her a light twirl. Somehow, by the end of the twirl, she is holding a single red rose, and he is gone.

This is primarily because he is leaping in the air to land next to the next girl. You know, it's one of those bizarrely graceful jumps (Has anyone in these games ever actually jumped, or seen a man jumping? Does it ever really look graceful?) where he lands, not on top of anybody (He's not in it for a high score, here.), but rather by Maze. Here is the part where we have the second red rose, in the teeth, and the tango. As we all know, tangos in these situations are nigh irresistable, so he sees little issue. Regardless, it ends in a dip, and the biker gal is left with...a stuffed heart in her hand. Look. Roses are freaking expensive.

And now, he walks toward Dizzy. All he has to do is both woo her, and spike the punch, all in one go. this will be a test of the man's moxie.

Since the Red Death isn't emitting any sort of strange reiatsu, Rukia doesn't see him as she steps out with Ishida, still marveling at the transformation and slipping the mask over her eyes. Taking up Nightwing's arm, she still glances down. Ever since that tiny little problem back in Soul Society, it seems she's gotten -really- attached to the color White, for some reason, but still she's a little dazed. This isn't the first time Ishida's made her something to wear, but MAN, this was awesome! One could tell, with the slight smile on her face, that she feels that she fits in and that she's finally at ease with her surroundings.

She also notes, with glee, that the Turk-esque bouncers have stopped chasing her now that she doesn't look like a kid.

"Thanks, Ishida, that was very nice of you," she tells him. "Did you come alone, by the way?" She does look relieved, however, that Ishida said he was going to meet some people, which was great. The first time she had met him, he was a loner. It was good, to see him come out of his shell just a bit. "Ah! I'd like that, see you Ishida!" she says, waving from her spot and completely oblivious to the man LOOMING behind her.

He was a male, that was enough for Nao considering her true opinion on the gender. She does at least do a good job of concealing that though. "Some air would be nice." She accepts with a grateful smile to the cook. She glances over to Dizzy when he asks her to save a dance for him. He won't get to cash in on that promise if Nao has her way about it, at least not tonight. It might look like she's stealing Sanji away from her, but that's really not her intentions! They're actually something much worse. And if she could, she'd tell Dizzy that she's better off without him anyway. Ironic considering the way she's clinging to him right now, eheh. Nao links her arm through Sanji's and leads him towards the nearest exit. Maybe along the way she can actually learn his name, what he does for a living...if he's afraid of spiders and screams like a girl. It never occurs to her that she might be underestimating this one.

Agrias draws a little closer to the pilot, black dress rustling faintly. She's blushing a little at the angel's momentary confusion, as well, but thankfully she has a mask to hide this. Twining her fingers with Roy's, she seems a little put off by the angel's obvious discomfort. She can't be too certain what sets Dinah off, and that has her vaguely unnerved, herself.

"Some other time," the raven-masked woman agrees, inclining her head slightly. But wait, the angel's date for this particular event is still Conspicuously Absent. "...Where has Sir Parker gone? I thought he was only leaving to find drinks..." Oddly, he didn't even wait to hear what anyone else wanted, Dinah included. Hmmm.

Dizzy nods promptly at Sanji. "Certainly, sir," she chirps, taking her eyes off of Turtle Tamer just momentarily to answer. "If she needs your help, please do stay with her." The sentiment is genuine, too; coming from another girl's mouth, there might be jealousy or some such thing. But Dizzy is only barely even starting to understand certain aspects of human emotion, and this is not one that she is familiar with yet.

As she continues to watch, she is approached by an odd looking fellow with hair that must have taken a gallon of gel to slick upward. "Oh...hello," she says to Envywakka, furiously searching her brain and picking her wings' minds for any clue as to who this is exactly. She still isn't quite used to his shapeshifting. Fortunately, Necro senses the kindred soul within, and she relaxes slightly. "A very nice time." She smiles, and reaches back toward the table to pick up her cup again.

But she is arrested by the sight of Turtle Tamer now beelining toward her. "...oh dear," she manages to say, looking somewhat like a masked deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. Is this guy going to dance with her too?

Hokuto blinks as the maraca goes flying by and then vanishes and then Shinji apologizes. She tilts her head slightly, "Sorry?" She looks over her shoulder at where the source of the ghosting came from, "You didn't do anything wrong, so there's nothing for you to feel sorry about." Now if Shinji was Subaru, she'd also give him a long lecture (and a browbeating) about how he's entirely too nice and needs to learn to stand up for himself! But the pilot is spared that due to the (luckily on Shinji's part) lack of blood relations. She think blinks at TT's show of acrobatics and rose dumping. "I... wow.... Looks like you have an admirer Miss Blancmanche!"

Roy shrugs. "Maybe he ran into someone he knows?" the pilot comments to the Raven knight. "..so, Dinah. How did you and Simon meet?" he asks casually, trying to help the Knight find some common ground in all of this.

A soft nod in response to Chad's answer. Yuna lets out a soft chuckle, noting his embarressment and shakes her head as she listens to his words. She isn't use to parties like this as well. She is just an hic! She lets him lead her to a table and goes to sit down with an distant smile. "You remind me of someone, Chad." She states as she goes to 'adjest' her costume a little with an very rosy blush. How can one wear something like this?!?

After the small adjestment, she goes to flick some hair out of her face and offers Chad an gentle smile. "Have you been to something like this?"

Oh boy. Dinah marshals up her courage, puts on a slightly cheerier face, and actually answers Roy. "We both worked in the same city," she explains. "It was... not exactly like the current situation between him and his current partner, but similar. It is a personal relationship that formed from a professional one."

Fortunately, Shinji gives her an excuse to break off this puzzling 'small talk' thing. She puts on the Concerned Adult face, and hurriedly walks over to him as he starts to panic. "Are you all right?"

Simon returns with two cups of punch. Is it spiked? Who knows. He passes one to Dinah, and keeps the other for himself; he's watching the Mariachi antics, and he almost looks impressed. "Who's he?" Parker says.

For a second, there IS a looming presence behind Rukia but it goes away as soon as it appears and Red Death is there with a half crazed grin as he gathers his cape and drapes a portion of it over one shoulder. "My dear," a gloved hand tips the hat upwards a bit, "how surprising it is that you would be here." The crazed smile turns to something more gentle with the hint of a French accent, "Have you decided to return to me?"

Maze has been so busy swinging her hips and generally doing the nerdy-white-girl-even-if-she's-really-Japanese-dance that the mariachi takes her by complete surprise. Whirl, slink, dip, gift! All but one of these words are verbs that are used during the Tango. One of them is usually a noun but sometimes a verb, and it happens AFTER the Tango. All in all, being swept up by a Spanish whirlwind and then left dizzy with a plush toy in her hand leaves Maze wide-eyed, a little breathless, and incredibly confused. "Wha-wha-"

Unfortunately, the sun she's not been paying attention to chooses that moment to set. Because it's dramatic, and we all know how much the sun likes drama. A soft nimbus of glowing light silently surrounds the girl, swallowing her form completely. Luckily, if someone wasn't looking at her to begin with, it's not bright enough to make anybody turn around and stare. Of course, the spiritual types here might get a swift kick in the brain as Maze's mostly-sweet, vanilla-and-cinnamon spiritual presence shifts, flickers, and is shoved aside by something loud, rude, and tasting strongly of sourmash whiskey that was left in the backseat of a car on a long summer day.

Maze opens his eyes and looks around at the partygoers with a just-awakened expression. Then he checks his clothes to make sure that goody-two-shoes didn't dress them up in something frou-frou. Let's see, just the normal outfit with some sort-of badass accessories! Awesome. He's a little confused by the plush heart though.

Maze switches armor modes to Boy.

Gothloli with wings and a tail. Man. The guys always joked about him getting ta--now is not the time. The Mariachi must dance.

His continued duel-esque travels cease yet again, the maracas dramatically passed to a single hand, shaking as he reaches out for Dizzy's hand. Should he get it, there will be yet another tango. The Star Starfish, however, being a being of, uh, y'know, pretty showy behaviour, knows how this nonsense works, letting off sparkles in addition to the personal spotlight, in time to the music. Waiting for a dramatic moment, he spins the girl, enough to keep her going a couple times, leaving her both dizzied, and holding a heart shaped balloon in one hand, and a thought-shaped balloon in the other. As we all know, it is the thought that counts.

And now, for the climax. He leaps again, now landing...on the buffet table?! And yet, somehow, he manages not to disturb a single piece of silverware, nor dish, nor morsel of food, nor drop of drink, as he performs an intricate tap-dance like maneuver, edging his way across it one way, and then the other. The song is ending soon, so now he has to do his maneuver. That is--to accidentally appear to flip the punch bowl in the air. It's not that he doesn't actually do it, it's that it looks accidental. About half of it flies into the air, and of all things, he tosses up glasses into the air as if to catch them. It is at this point that, in a sparkle of fireworks and light, the Starfish appears to explode blindingly. Right at the end of the song.

When all is left, there are eight cups circled around the punch bowl, a ninth in the Tamer's hand, and the maracas in his hand, as he stands in front of the punch bowl, his instruments pointed at the drink.

Moxious, awesome, but totally direct. You can probably guess when he pulled his trick.

At the very least, Mint is too preoccupied with going 'wtf' to read the Turtle Tamer's mind and see that thing about her and the animals. The blue-haired girl can only stare as the Tamer kisses her hand (well, okay, through her costume, but still), she can only stare as the dancing man prances off, and she can only continue staring as she realizes that there's suddenly a rose in her hand.

Mint isn't sure whether to blush or continue staring with an expression of utter disbelief on her face. She settles on doing both at the same time. "I... have the vague feeling that I am not to be the sole recipient of his admirations," Mint comments dryly, turning the rose in one hand. Hoof. Whatever. -- though, more importantly- "The maraca didn't hit you, did it, Shinji?" she asks, pushing the incident out of her head and turning to the spooked Third Child.

If Chad has blue fur and a broken horn on his head he'd seem familiar indeed! "Is that so?" He asks curiously. He's heard that a few times before, that he reminds others of someone. He then shakes his head. "No, I've never really attended parties like these. I'm sure Inoue likes them, and many of the others too. But they're just a bit too large for my tastes."

Says the six and a half foot 15 year old. I'm sure by now Psycho Mantis got a killer irony headache.

"I just felt I should get more involved with other worldly things, especially with the Relief Society. Besides, it's noisy, but it's been pleasent so far..."

Rukia pauses, and turns around slowly, looking up and blinking at the costume in front of her. Bone mask. Suit. Cane. Cape. Exactly what Ichigo had described whenever she decided to venture out and look for him here. And...well, look at that. He's completely getting into character, how nice, except it's a little strange. She was so used to the scowl, seeing him GRIN was just a little off. She could've sworn he was acting more like That Guy tonight than he usually did. And his words....were they....lines? And the accent! Who knew? "....come back to you? Don't be ridiculous," she says, looking exasperated. "I only stepped out of the house for a few minutes today, but I'm glad you're finally here, I've been looking all over for you." She scans the party. "I didn't think this was the sort of gathering you would be interested either....too crowded," she remark softly. "So what exactly do we do now that we're here?"

Alone again. Roy pauses for a moment, then looks at his watch. They made an agreement. And that time has passed. No Orihime or Ling. Then, he looks over at Agrias, and gets a very playful grin on his face as he leans over towards Agrias, and mutters to her.

Almost as an aside--no offense, really, she was distracted by Turtle Tamer! Wouldn't everyone else be?--Dizzy shakes herself off briefly and smiles at Ishida. "Oh, good evening, sir," she says. "I'm having a very good eveni--eep!"

Grabbed! And tangoed with! Unable to resist, she is swept along by this force of personality known as Turtle Tamer. And spun! She whirls around, skirt flaring (though thankfully not to an indecent height), she wobbles as she finally comes to a stop; her wings and tail extend a moment to help stabilize her, and she blinks a bit shakily at the balloons now in her hand. "Um...wow." She'll need a moment to catch her breath.

She turns back to Ishida. "...yes, I'm having a very good time." A shaky, slightly dazed giggle. "I...think I'll have some more punch." A moment is taken to tuck the balloons into...her wings, of all places (Undine accepts the heart with good grace, Necro with rather less), while she takes her cup and moves to fill it up again.

Poor, poor Dizzy. She is likely going to be Tamer's first victim, and we're not talking about drive-by dancing anymore.

Shinji Ikari looks a little grumpy, which is entierly the fault of nearly getting smashed in the head with a maraca. Totally. Entierly. Yes. "I'm, um, f-fine. Sorry to be a burden..." Shinji mutters, re-adjusting his Bald Guy wig and flushing a little at the brief attention. Thank goodness for that exploding star, distracting everyone! Its actually kind of pretty.

Shinji also looks over at Maze. That's totally a guy. "...I, um, guess the guy goes both ways." Shinji says, a little loudly considering its a dry aside, "Well, it is the twenty-first century..." This may or may not have an effect on the Turtle Tamer's Smarm gain this evening.

The Third Child flushes again, muttering a 'Thanks' at Hokuto and Mint. "I'm going to, um, get some punch." Its not spiked, right? He just needs something cold. "Want any?" Shinji Brown offers, already heading towards the bowl.

Yuna nods in response. "My adoptive father." She states before letting out an small giggle. "Ah, I see. If it helps any this is my first party like this." She states gently before watching the drive-by dancing provided by Dizzy and Turtle Tamer. "I wonder what one is suppose to do at a party like this?" Hmmm...

Hokuto chuckles at Mint as she watches TT flip away and she would be grinning at Shinji if it wasn't for her mask. "Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all." Three more members have joined the web. OH HO HO! She hmms at the offer for punch and then shakes her head a little, "Not right now but help yourself. There should be plenty."

Uryuu's jaw drops as Turtle Tamer pulls Dizzy into a sudden tango, then performs his impressive tapdance on the buffet table. When the song is done and TT's dance is complete, all the Quincy can do is applaud, very impressed and -- yes -- completely without suspicion. (Considering how suspicious Ishida gets sometimes, you really deserves a few extra Smarm points for that one.)

"Heh, I'm glad to hear that. May I ask you for a dance when the next song begins?" Uryuu smiles down at Dizzy, then picks up a glass of the punch and sips slowly. He doesn't really like the taste of it, though, for some reason.

Incidentally, at some point, the Mariachi disappeared. Freaking rollover.

Maze stares at the plush heart. What. He drops it like a hot potato and wanders off towards the highest concentration of hot chicks in the room: scattered near the punchbowl. JACKPOT. He gives the collar of the jacket a confident pop with his fingers, the little flap of leather standing up rakishly.

Sometime between Maze's shift from girl to boy, their shirt got unbuttoned.

After oohing at the Tamer's continued antics, Mint tucks the rose behind one ear- one of the SHEEP'S ears, actually- and clasps her hands together, her face lighting up at the prospect of punch. Some days, there's even more sugar in there than her own candies! "Thank you, Shinji, I'd love a glass!" she replies, trailing behind the Third. "If you'll excuse us, then..."

While the telepath doesn't pick up the Tamer's moxious intentions, one thought DOES slice through her mind like a knife. A knife of pure wrongness. With a twitch of her ears, Mint stumbles a bit, a blush rising to her face, and she stares in her Commander's direction. "What the."

One minute, EnvyWakka's chatting pleasantly with Dizzy, the next she's been whisked away by some maraca-wielding fiend! "Oi- er- Ya! You ask before you cut in, ya!" He won't applaud, because he's Envy and he's very jealous at the fact that someone pulled a floor-stealing dance show before he could. Damn you, Turtle Tamer! Revenge will be his!

Vengeance later, drinks now. Envy pours himself a cup as takes a sip just as Ishida makes his dancing offer. The resulting spittake drenches punch all over manly Maze. Dizzy and the nerd? Well, well! That ought to... work oddly well, actually. Boldly going where neither has gone before! The homunculus pours two more cups and quickly scoots back to his table before someone (Chad) gets the idea of asking Yuna for the first dance.

No, he didn't notice the punch tasting funny in the half-second before it wound up all over Maze.

The knight seems about to say something, but the words die in her throat. She just blinks as the angel moves to go help out Shinji. There goes their partner in conversation. But, that's alright. She still has Roy to hide behind, if necessary.

"Mmmm. Incorrigible." She's blushing, behind that mask, perhaps at something said to her in more confidental tones. Fortunately, the mask does hide that. She leans over to him, tone dropping into lower cadences as she responds to his question. Agrias tugs on his arm as she does, as though indicating to leave.

"Dance? Oh, I would like that," Dizzy says, blushing slightly, then sipping the punch. Hmm...something's a little different. Oh well. She downs the rest of her drink, apparently trying to clear her head; Undine has already mentally whispered to her that this is Ishida, which she'd started to suspect already. Taking a deep breath once her cup is dry, she puts it down once more, and looks around toward the band. "I'm...not very experienced with dancing, so please excuse me if I stumble or...mess up somehow."

Another nervous giggle, and she feels her blush increasing just slightly. She feels a little warm. All the way down to her stomach. It's kind of...strange. Is it...love? Or is it tequila?

Maybe both...!

Looking for him? This makes the Red Death recoil slightly as he puts a hand to his chest. Looking for him? Does the poor man dare hope that he has won? "Do you mean it?" The astonishment and hope is so evident in his voice but then he slips back into his Angel persona. The masked man reaches up and removes his hat, giving his (perceived) angel a sweeping bow as he holds out his leading hand towards Rukia. "Would my dear care to join me in this dance?" Wait. His hair's dark, not orange...

Thankfully, Dinah is not around to observe any more of Mr. Fokker's Monkey Mating Rituals And Prowess Displays.

She's not really into the guy, either; sure, he's kind of cute in a monkey sort of way, but he is seriously lacking in the 'coils' department. When you're really a giant incorporeal snake, you've got different priorities.

"Dancing?" Dinah says, looking sideling at Ishida. Again, she looks like a fish out of water, and her reiatsu is definitely not normal. (Neither is her mind, if Mint is paying close attention to her thought processes.)

"Ishida," Simon says, thinking quickly, "This is Dinah. Dinah, this is Uryuu Ishida and... some others. Of course there's dancing."

And then Mint shoots death-ray eyelasers at Roy. This immediately causes the Judge to do the same, to a lesser degree. This makes it more of a "what the hell, Roy?" expression.

"Adoptive father, eh?" Chad smirks, though he can't help but feel a little bad. He's only 15, he shouldn't seem THAT much older, does he? He always was mature for his age, though. "I'll take that as a compliment."

What do we do at these dances? That's a good question, Chad's as stumped as Yuna. The two have a common sort of naivety about them. "Everyone else seems to be dancing...." He says. He also doesn't notice Maze's transformation. Good thing too, that would bring a new level of social awkwardness to the poor guy. "If you wanted to dance with someone, please go ahead, don't mind me." He offers, for a moment totally neglecting to consider that HE could dance too.

He actually never even thought about it before. Dancing? No way.

"......." Rukia plants her hands on her hips. "What happened to being sorry about your hair?" she demands. Didn't they JUST have this discussion a bit ago (a discussion that involved a lot of yelling and a couple of tiny fists) about him dying his hair black? "Is it for this thing?" She pauses. ".....wow. You weren't kidding when you said you were going to go all out than you usually do for these things normally..." At least the mask was there. Or maybe she deserved it with her behavior the other night, it was JUST like him to get even. But he does something surprising. He asks her, in a genteel manner, to dance. This time, it is SHE who looks a little taken aback.

Finally, she rubs the back of her head. "....ah....okay." She takes his hand delicately, stepping closer. "....do you remember how?" she asks.

And in Roy's mind, there is the following:

"Captain Oaks, looking to make a landing on your decks."
"Aye, you are cleared to land on the main deck. Call the ball."
"This is Commander Fokker, calling the ball. Let's go home."
Yeehawwwww, perfect landing on the USS Love Boat, Commander Fokker~

The tug on his sleeve and the yank down into a whisper, and Roy just grins, bowing his head to the feather wearing woman. "Let us make our departure then." he starts to say as he looks up at the crowd..

And notices a Sheep and an Angel giving him a look. Placing two fingers against his lips, he blows a kiss, and starts towards the door with the woman at his side.

...they're leaving..

If the boat's rocking, don't come knocking..
...rock the boat...
...don't rock the boat baby...

Shinji Ikari blinks at Dizzy, who looks a little...um...huh. "Good punch?" Shinji offers, lamely, grabbing a cup for himself and for Minto. He keeps one nearby in case Hokuto comes with them, because Shinji Ikari's a polite young man when he's not eating your giant robot.

Shinji also does not patently smirk at the sudden realization that Mint now has three sets of ears. He mutters, "Here." a little gruffly, despite handing her the cup with his usual gentility. Deciding to see what it is that made the Blancmanche heiress blush for, like, ten solid minutes, Ikari the Younger follows her gaze...

...and gets blown a kiss by Roy. "...I'm a boy, you know." Shinji says, looking flatly at his Commander.

Someone arrives. It's...nobody you know!! Maybe? Ishida probably knows, because his pawprints are all over it - from the white blouse to the equally white long skirt, with white stockings and white cape and iconic blue-stitched cross it's...

...it's someone dressed up as a Quincy. A female quincy, yet! The uniform is clearly supposed to be for a female, anyway, and altered as such. The only unofficial addition is the white mask, which of course has the Quincy Cross stitched into it. The hair is actually brushed down, which makes it a bit harder to identify the wearer:

Tatsuki Arisawa, who has decided to come to this shindig dressed as the only kind of supernatural in her hometown that does not piss her off regularly.

She walks in, looks around, and immediately wonders what the hell she's doing here.

Roy's leaving with a girl, Shinji. You're not that vain, that the song is about you~

Anyway, that kiss was meant for Mint and Dinah, and they probably know it!

There certainly is a lot going on. Uryuu eyes Wakka!Envy after his spittake, but doesn't figure out why the spittake. He returns his attention to Dizzy, setting his half-finished cup back on the table. Her blush makes him blush a little, although he isn't sure why. "It's quite alright, milady," he replies; just calling her 'miss' doesn't seem quite formal enough. "I have danced before, but I'm hardly an expert. It's not too difficult, if you take it slowly."

Then Uryuu's name catches his ear, before he can offer his hand to Dizzy. "Ah, good evening, Mr. Parker." Ah, well, so much for anonymity. He bows to Dinah, noting her reiatsu with interest, but showing no sign of it. "It is a pleasure to meet you, milady." Then to both Simon and Dinah, "Have you met Miss Dizzy?"

Finally, Uryuu notes Tatsuki's entrance, smiling proudly at her display of his handiwork. She wears it well, too.

WakkaEnvy pauses as he crosses QuincyTatsuki's path, turns, and eyes the costume up and down. He can feel the comment in the back of his throat. It's sitting right there, just waiting to leap out!

And if he said it, Envy would be eating his hair. "Nice outfit, ya! Ishida works wonders, doesn't he?"

A quick escape later, and the homunculus from Besaid returns to his table and sets down a cup for both Yuna and Chad before taking his seat. "Lady Yuna?", he asks with a nervous scratch of his head, "Could I have the first dance with you?"

"It's, um, pretty good," Dizzy answers Shinji. She doesn't recognize the costume either, as most of Schultz's creations were lost during the Gear War, and she'd have had little opportunity to peruse comics anyway. She doesn't mention the odd change in taste, figuring that might just be her imagination, after getting spun by a flamboyant mariachi man.

The music starts up, but as she is being introduced, she decides to let Ishida take the lead. "Hello, Sir--oh, I remember you from...that night." She smiles weakly, then looks at Dinah. "And good evening, Ma'am," she continues to Dinah, now curtseying to both of them. She is about to continue, then stops, looking confused for a moment. "Ah...I'm sorry, you seemed familiar for a moment, but I guess I was mistaken." She smiles in a little bit of embarassment.

Somewhere along the way, she has reached out and taken Ishida's hand, or at least, tried to do so.

Since Shinji did snag a cup for her Hokuto is obligated into taking a cup, not that she minds. The girl hmms, holding the cup as she watches Roy blow a kiss towards Mint, Shinji and Dinah. She chuckles softly, "I think he was aiming it towards the girls Mr. Shinji. You don't come out to these kinds of functions often do you?"

Yuna goes to bring a hand to her lips and giggles. "Yes, Kimhari is his name, Kimhari Ronso. The both of you would get along very well." Well... She was 'adopted' by Kimhari when he was 15 so don't feel bad, Chad. "I am glad."

She goes attempt to look into Chad's eyes before nodding and looking out to the dance floor. "Yes, it seems like it." She blinks and tilts her head at the gentle gaint before giggling. "Then perhaps sometime tonight we shall dance?" Yes, she just asked Chad to dance with her.

She smiles as Envy returns and goes to sip the drink that he brought. She blinks at the strange taste but dismisses it as a normal drink for this place, perhaps. She blinks and blushes softly at the question before going to nod. "Yes, of course Sir Envy." She then goes to hold out an hand towards the homunculus for him to take and lead her to the dance floor.

"Evening, ladies," Maze sidles up to Dizzy and Mint, refilling his cup with punch and not-very-discreetly checking out the goods. Well, okay, Dizzy has goods to check out. Mint... Mint is dressed in a sheep costume which Maze hopes is hiding some goods. She's awfully short though... his his loli-radar begins to make some uncomfortable noises. Sort of like |UNDER SIXTEEN, ABORT OPERATIONS, SWITCH TO NEAREST LEGAL FEMALE BIGGER THAN A C|.

Oh man, there're tons of beautiful girls here! The angel chick, the lawyer, the girl dressed as some kind of European clown royalty, and a few more whose costumes he doesn't recognize but still thinks they'd look great on the floor. Oh, however can he choose? Who deserves his love first?!

A lecherous grin on his face, Maze starts spacing out. He does, however, keep drinking.

And the Mysterious Mariachi returns. Ah, yes. His work is done, and his liver is ready for punishment. He quickly darts over to the punch bowl, getting himself some more punch, and partaking of the food. It may be less than optimal food, but it's one-time event food. He's allowed to splurge on such things. Besides, now this party is worth hanging out in, he's made it like a billion times better.

...Ronso? Odd name. But it must be native to her world, so perhaps he'll get to meet Mr. Ronso in the future. "I'll keep the name in mind." He gazes back out to the dance floor, and blinks as he catches sight of Tatsuki, wearing... Quincy colors? For a brief moment Chad's brain hurts very badly, but it's gone a second later. It was as if something was very wrong with the universe for a split second. It doesn't show on his face, though, and he turns back to Yuna. "Dance? Um.. well, we'll see?" He comments, kind of sort of hoping she doesn't push it. Not that he wouldn't like to, but he's a bit too bashful for things like that, this seems obvious.

As Envy returns and snatches Yuna away he doesn't comment on it. Yes, he still rather dislikes Envy, but he's not going to impose his own feelings on others, Yuna can certainly decide who she can and cannot dance with.

Simon might be the only one able to hear Mint's indignant, yet resigned, mutters regarding her commander and his often inappropriate ways, even around his subordinatesMint, a little too preoccupied with just going /// and =_= at their commander's kiss-blowing to notice 1) Dizzy's very suspicious reaction to a supposedly-normal drink and 2) Shinji's stray thought.

"Thank you, Shinji," Mint murmurs, still a little flustered even as she takes the proffered cup between her hooves- a corner of her mouth quirks up at the Eva pilot's own response to Roy, but she doesn't bother correcting his misinterpretation. Instead, Mint takes a long, long draught of the ??? punch- at this point, she NEEDS something cold to take her mind off the insanity that's gone on thus far.

Maze's approach... well, her ears twitch, and the telepath's smile gains the ability to freeze magma. "Why, good evening. And in case you are wondering, I am indeed sixteen." Perhaps thankfully, the alcohol isn't working quite yet.

Red Death blinks, sorry about his hair? Christine is a bit more airheaded tonight than usual. Perhaps it's just the excitement, perhaps it's the overwhelming atmosphere of strangers or perhaps it's just a simple case of mistaken identity. He does take a brief look around the room, watching people come and go before turning his full attention to the petite girl in front of him as she takes his hand, "Remember my dear? Why, I have never forgotten." There's only a brief pause before he sweeps Rukia onto the dance floor.

Uryuu eyes Maze suspiciously as the young man looks over Dizzy and Mint. Dizzy's hand has somehow found its way to his, but he doesn't mind. He shifts very slightly to put himself between her and Maze. "Would you care for that dance now?" he asks her quietly. There's Rukia on the dance floor, he notes, dancing with... Who on earth is that? Well, no matter. He'll just make a mental note to stay out of the way when Ichigo arrives and the inevitable blow up occurs.

OHSHI-- Was he thinking out loud? Maze stares at Mint, then the part of the costume where he thinks her assets should be. Hmm. Well, she's got a cute face! "Oh, in that case. Nice costume. Wanna get busy?" He grins in what is supposed to be a suave, sexy manner. It looks more like he wants to eat Mint alive, with ketchup.

It's amazing. Maze has gone five whole minutes in mixed company without getting bricked, lasered, set on fire, or clubbed. Sadly, it won't last.

Tatsuki Arisawa glances over at Envy. "Yeah, it's pretty go--"

And he's gone. Poof! What the hell, she's not that ugly :( TATSUKI WILL HAVE HER REVENGE, ENVY!! YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY!!

She begins wandering in the direction of the big snacks table, not so much because she wants anything but because she is a grumpy wallflower and that's where all the grumpy wallflowers go.

Once again, Dinah turns a rather interesting shade of red. Oh Roy, you monkey-dog-thing. She nods politely to Dizzy, thanking God that the winged woman has the decency to keep things quiet. Notably, she does not seem perturbed by the aforementioned wings. And Ishida might note that her reiatsu is more-or-less the inverse of Simon's--a metaphorical sunburst of truth, holiness, and so forth.

There is a reason that Seraphim are VOID: Subtlety.

"It's all right," Simon says, chuckling a little at Shinji's reaction to the kiss. That overgrown-transformer-toy-pilot had better not be moving in on his sassyrivalwoman. His. Pause. "Yeah, we've met," he adds, to Ishida and Dizzy.

If there were trumpets on standby, they would be blaring a fanfare right about now. A broad-shouldered man pauses in the doorway, and then strides into the hall, jingling with each step. This is because he's wearing actual chainmail armor, and a more-or-less-period tabard. He is blonde, and almost painfully clean-cut, and there is a stoic look on his face as he advances towards the center of this... party-thing. Which would be the punchbowl.

"......that's a first..." Rukia mumbles under her breath, even as she's swept towards the dance floor. She has a concerned expression on her face, but thankfully, the mask is on and it obscures part of it. Facing the Red Death on the dancefloor, she gets in position, and thanks to her brother's instruction, the girl isn't really that much of a slouch upon it. If she was a novice, she pulls it off like she isn't. She sighs, and with the music taking a turn for the classic considering the authentic venetian orchestra going on, she speaks, her eyes focused on the red suit's cravate. "I....haven't had the chance to tell you, but I'm sorry," she says, keeping her voice low. "About how I've been acting lately. I know I hurt you, and it wasn't my intention to run away like that."

Midnight couldn't come FAST ENOUGH. There'll be a comical breaking-into-pieces later. But right now she's being serious, damn it.

And with a last exchage, Roy takes Agruas's hand, and on out the door they go. Later, kids. Don't get too smashed. He'll have the Sheep in PT at 0430 hours..

...yeah right. Thank Agrias for the repreive, Sheep.

Dizzy doesn't seem to realize that she's put her hand in Ishidas, at least not yet. "Yes, please, Mister...um, sir," she corrects herself, again trying to stick to protocol. More quietly, she leans in to murmur, "The attack on Karakura a couple of months ago...we were both there." Mala Suerte, of course. Then she leans back to a more respectable distance, her cheeks still rather rosy. "Lead the way, sir?" She looks off toward the dance floor, seeing people already beginning out there.

Whoa. That was surprisingly quick. Envy stares blankly at the offered hand for a long moment before gently taking it into his own and leading the summoner away from her seat. "Thank you, Lady Yuna," he whispers with a warm smile. Chad gets a polite nod as they depart, nothing threating or arrogant or silly like that. See? He can behave! Not like Maze, who's going to meet the business end of Mr. Hamster any minute now.

Shinji Ikari chugs his punch, wondering if he should just stop speaking forever. "It was a joke." Shinji offers, lamely, at both the Commander's 'lol'ing and Hokuto's 'You're a social leper, aren't you?' statement which stings a little even though its TOTALLY TRUE. Kaji got the joke.

Wordlessly, Shinji hands the fuming cloud of Tatsuki a glass of punch. "Its good." Shinji mutters, getting himself a second cupfull. Really good. He actualy feels like letting loose a war cry of good cheer.

...nah. Sip. Sip. Sip. "Like the punch, Mint?"

Yuna also gives Chad a polite nod. She will request that dance later, Chad! But first, to let Envy have the first dance but not before taking another sip but really a small drink of her punch before following him to the dance floor. She returns the warm smile and nods. Once on the dance floor she waits for him to make the first step as she is in complete following mode.

"Aah!" Hokuto chuckles lightly and being not totally oblivious, she realizes that perhaps her presense is doing more harm than good for the introverted boy. So for now, she leaves him alone. Next time Shinji! Instead, the girl watches him offer a glass to Tatsuki and she smiles at the two. They seem to be friends? Or at least know each other. So she goes back to observing the rest of her party. Is that.... Ishida dancing with Dizzy? Oh my.

Mr. Sheep-clad Mint favors Maze with the flat-eyed, aloof-yet-politely-smiling stare she reserves for people so transparent that she doesn't even need telepathy to read their minds. "Thank you, but I am afraid that I will have to decline your... eloquent, yet classy, proposition," she replies curtly, not holding back at all. "And in any case, I am already taken for the duration of the evening," Mint continues, reaching up to loop one arm around Shinji's, giving the Third Child a brilliant, though flushed for reasons completely unrelated to the contents of her drink, smile. "Isn't that right, Shinji?"

Left unspoken is this: please play along with me otherwise I am in troubl. In the meantime, she takes another sip from her drink. "... and the punch is quite good, I have to admit."

Things had been a little rushed in setup, hadn't they? The boxes of supplies had been hastily piled outside the ballroom, filled with extra tablecloths, napkins, and other party supplies. But there's a small pile on the floor nearby-- various supplies strewn about, their containers missing, somehow. And amidst the pile there lies a single black marker.

She'd come earlier, you see, following a few of her dearest vict^H^H^H^Hfriends to see why they're dressed funny and how she could get in on whatever activity required them to wear such things. After all, it seems right up her alley, doesn't it? But without a clever disguise, she'd get caught, maybe even thrown out (if they could catch her). Happening upon some not-so-cleverly-hidden-boxes, the occasionally brilliant mind of one Yachiru Kusajishi found itself alight with creative ideas.

Which brings us to where we are now, this evening, when the chandelier starts to shake slightly, casting strange, moving shadows along the upper walls. The strangest shadow, of course, is cast by the rather blocky figure perched atop it, holding on to the chain with strong, tiny fingers.

She waits.

She watches.

And she's found the perfect landing spot.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The sound of terror! Of doom! And of a small girl covered in cardboard and duct tape, leaping from the chandelier to land in the middle of the dance floor. She hops to her feet quickly, striking a pose with her cardboard-cut-out beam rifle. It even says 'Beam Rifle' on the hastily cut cardboard, and 'Gundam' is written in blocky katakana on the main box she wears over her torso. From the box on her head (it also says 'Gundam') to the small boxes covering her feet (they say 'Gundam' too), she's decked out in the finest a storage closet can offer!

And Chad will either awkwardly decline or awkwardly accept the dance, Yuna, depending on his mood. It'll be awkward either way for the giant.

For a moment Chad takes in the entire gathering, the number of people around. It's much more than anything he's ever taken part in, even school functions weren't quite like this. Speaking of school functions, Chad notices Tatsuki nearby (wallflower zone ahoy!). "Hey, Arisawa." He motions to her. "Come to the party too?"

Chad would say more to Tatsuki, but a certain pink-haired girl who decided to perch on a cardboard gundam caught his attention for a moment. Isn't that Yachiru? Does that mean Kenpachi is nearby, Chad doesn't think he can fathom what sort of chaos HE'D bring to this party.

Uryuu smiles at Dizzy, squeezing her hand and leading her out to the dance floor. (Hokuto's observance of this fact remains unnoticed.) Her whisper causes his smile to flag slightly, and he replies with a quiet, "Ah, I see. I apologize for not being there, but..." He can't even remember off-hand what forced him away from Karakura for the time. (His player's absence from the MUSH is to blame, but of course he doesn't know that.)

Anyway, tonight isn't a time to dwell on such things. Uryuu gently takes Dizzy's free hand and places it on his shoulder. "Ah, forgive me. Your hand goes here, and mine..." Rests gently on her waist. "And then we --"

And then we stare at the cardboard Gundam that has just dropped from the ceiling.

The moxie potion has worn off. The Mariachi is suddenly rather frightened, the guy flinging up his maracas.

"AAAH! IT'S A GUNDAM!"

He says, quickly pulling out a Cloaca-Cola grenade from his sack, ready to throw it at the girl. A one. A two. A.

"Oh, wait, it's just a girl dressed up as one. Phew."

The Tamer tosses the grenade back into his sack, sighing in reli--wait a second, the pin was pull--

BOOM! OW! OOF! EEK! ARGH!

At least noone else got hurt.

Wakka!Envy downs the rest of his own drink in one hasty gulp. Hmm. That certainly tasted odd. Oh well, he'll worry about that later, he thinks as he tosses the cup on the table. For now, WE DANCE-

Or at least that was the plan before Yachiru happens. Envy hasn't even gotten to the point of directing hands and feet when he asks the question that will ultimately doom him:

"It's... a Gundam?"

And Simon and Dinah are once again left in their own little corner. "Dancing?" the Seraph murmurs, putting a hand on her date's shoulder. "I admit, it's been quite a while since--"

And then Yachiru happens. "...Interesting," Simon murmurs. "That's Vice-Captain Kusajishi," he adds, for his date's benefit.

Lancelot continues on his way to the punch table, looking determined and devoted and so forth. And yes, Maze, he has forseen what you may do to his lovely lady (Miss Moneypenny over there). "Ahem," the knight says, clearing his throat. He is, for the record, looming over the currently-boy, looking like some kind of medieval bouncer. "Don't you have somewhere else to be, lech?"

In response to the momentary sag in Ishida's demeanor, Dizzy shakes her head and offers a soft smile. "It's all right, Mister Ishida...we can't be everywhere we want to be." Unfortunately, this brings a moment of melancholy to her face as well. Ah, where is that Gate back to Gear-Earth?

But it, too, is quickly gone as Ishida proceeds to arrange their hands properly for the dance, gently squeezing his shoulder, wriggling slightly as his hand goes to her waist. "All right, I'm rea--"

Crash.

Similarly dumbfounded, Dizzy can only stare at Yachiru, wondering what on earth this is all about. Okay...that's a costume of sorts...cute little girl...hmm. "Huh..." Happily, she does not declare the obvious, so she won't be vaporized tonight.

Yuna watches Envy as he downs his drink and continues to wait for him to direct her when.... Flying girls in cardboard causes her to move closer to Envy before tilting her head.

Tatsuki Arisawa accepts Shinji's punch. She is slowly calming. "Thanks," she says, and brings it to her lips---!!

---and then stops, blinking, as Yachiru crashes to the floor. "....huh," she mutters. "...I didn't think she liked Amuro that much..."

Tatsuki, although somewhat proficient with robot anime because she's friends with ORIHIME INOUE, has actually never seen Gundam. Surprise!

Red Death leads Rukia across the dance floor with a fluid grace as parts of his cape flutters behind him. Though her confession surprises him, he is entirely too much of a gentleman to stop. Instead, he spins the girl in his arms before responding, "An apology?" He inclines his head slightly, "I understand." He can afford to be so generous tonight. After all, Christine has ditched that silly boy of a Viscount. How could this night get better? "So you will return with me? To that place where we belong, just you and I?"

Rats. Well, she's probably flat anyhow. Sadly, Maze does not know how to block his thoughts. Inside their head, female Maze is yelling at her counterpart, and threatening him with the deaths. Male Maze, having control of the body for the night, is totally ignoring her.

Gulping down the rest of his punch (and feeling really much luckier than he should have any right to), Maze turns towards the rest of the dance floor to look for the next lucky girl to woo. Oooh, a blonde! And she's smokin' hot too! Sadly, before he can make his move, there's a knight headed right for him. Maze snorts rudely and slouches threateningly. "What're you, the morality police? Buzz off, I'm busy."

"...." Luckily Hokuto is wearing a mask! Or she'd be -staring- at Yachiru and her cardboard Gundam, "... ..." Her shoulders begin shaking and then she bursts out into laughter, "OH HO HO HOHOHO!" How lady like. ._. "That's so cute!" She walks over to the little shinigami and laughs, "Welcome!"

Shinji Ikari finishes his second glass of punch, and blinks as he's be-grabbed. Shinji is pretty good at unspoken cues that do not involve someone thinking they do not hate him for existing, and pauses to wave a little at the departing Hokuto. She'll have a better time with other people anyway. The Third Child coughs, flushes a little, and goes, "Shure...I mean-ah...yeah b-buddy sho beat i..." And Maze is gone. "...t." Shinji tries not to scowl at the fact that the guy didn't even let him finish his sentence. He doesn't move his arm.

And when Yachieru...makes her entrance, Shinji boggles a little, and then scowls. There's only one thing to do. ONE THING TO DO. Shinji points at Yachieru, his eyes shrinking as he channels the dark power that has been festering inside the Third Child for his entier miserable, abused, joke of a life. Shinji...

Goes, "AMURO RAY!" in his very best Char the Red Comet impression, which is suprisingly good-he had to practice for his Profesor R gig-and playfully flicks a cheese-puff at the littleist Shinigami, going, "Char Kick!" for good measure.

Shinji smiles a little, and says, "Its good punch." nodding in agreement.

Rukia furrows her brows a little bit at the Red Death. What? Go back to the Kurosaki Clinic? Where ELSE was she going to go? She knew Ichigo had separation anxiety issues, but she didn't realize everything else was bringing it all back out again. "Yeah, an apology. I know, it doesn't happen often," she says, a strange quirk to her lips as she says it as.....wow. He's gotten very good with the dancing bit, then again, he was always a quick learner if he focused. She sighs, shaking her head once. "Don't be an idiot," she sighs. "I don't know about the just you-and-me part, but of -course- I'll go back with you. Where else am I going to go? I promised to stay with you, remember? Just because we haven't....exactly been getting along lately doesn't mean I've forgotten." She looks up, and gives him a slight smile. "Don't be so paranoid about that. I'm not going anywhere."

This. Is SO going to be messy later.

There is one absolute guaranteed way of keeping Captain Hitsugaya away from showing his face publically when he's supposed to be on RS guard duty (self-appointed.) What is it?

Force him to wear a costume.

When he heard about the costume requirement of a masquerade, he automatically rejected it. As the date approached, he was harried to pick something or he wouldn't be allowed to go. To that he waved off the costumers, 'Fine, pick something. I don't care. Just nothing that would constrict my movement.'

The day before the masquerade, he found himself staring at the little Cupid staring back at him in the mirror. Cute little wings, a halo, and a bow and arrow.

The next day, mere hours before the masquerade...a highly shaken costumer handed the Shinigami captain a padded silver costume with a decidedly pear shaped body. The moment that Toushirou saw the paper slip reading Hershey's Kiss hanging from the top of it...he had no other choice.

But Orihime was sick and Ling stayed home to care for her. Guard duty at home. Sorry guys, you can't make fun of Shiro-chan today.

"PYEW PYEW PYEW!" Yachiru shouts, shaking the her beam rifle at various people. And then she turns to grin up at Hokuto. "Hey, you look like one of those execution escort guys!" she says cheerfully, "You gonna have someone die tonight? That'd be fun!"

But suddenly, she's under attack?! The cheese puff bounces off of he cardboard helmet, the girl blinking behind her box-mask and turning to look at Shinji in cardboard-surprise! "Hey, don't waste snacks!" she cries indignantly, shaking her cut-out gun again. "PYEW PYEW!" And then she kneels to pick up the projectile snack food and, without a glance to see if anyone's looking (because most assuredly, everyone is looking), she stuffs it under the box on her head and eats it.

Tatsuki Arisawa also blinks over as Chad approaches, because she's NOT BLIND, SERIOUSLY. "Yes," she says. "Amuro said he might show up, and I didn't want the poor guy to be lonely. Besides." She points at Gundam Yachiru. "If I didn't come, I'd never be able to tell Amuro he's got a zillion-year-old midget for a fangirl.. She pats her dress, and adds, "And Ishida does good work, anyway, I couldn't very well turn it down once I had this idea."

"Yes," says Caleb, currently costumed as something... appropriate for his general demeanor. "Yes, I am." A hand reaches out to take Maze by the shoulder, and while the knight isn't looking to hurt the guy, his grip is firm, and he's stronger than he looks. "I'm sure you have better things to do with your abundant free time."

Why yes, this is Dinah's guard dog. What, you were expecting a rottweiler or something?

Simon laughs. He is only somewhat familiar with Char and Amuro, but... it's Shinji flinging cheese doodles at a little kid in a cardboard costume. Pause, at Tatsuki. "...Hey, it's not like she's the first to go fan-crazy over a giant robot pilot." C.f. Jitters, who is probably attempting to make a Purpleguy costume out of printer paper and a spare set of magic markers.

Chad glances back at Yachiru as Tatsuki mentions her and nods. "Yes, that would be... odd." Yachiru's antics cause Chad to crack a smile, though. She's chaotic and random, and probably totally clueless, but she's not causing any REAL trouble.

"So... Ishida made that costume for you?" Chad asks the obvious, much in the same way someone would ask 'so the rain comes from the sky'?, as if, who ELSE would make a costume like that? Chad's starting to wonder now if he should have put more effort into his own outfit. He just thought it was a FORMAL party, no costumes needed! Luckily Hokuto snagged him early on and slipped him a mask, so he doesn't look like a TOTAL idiot.

Uryuu chuckles and shakes his head at Yachiru. The girl is scary some times, but she can also be cute. "I don't know if you've met Kusajishi-san," he says to Dizzy. "She's actually a vice-captain with the Death Gods, though she doesn't look it, of course." He glances out at the dance floor, which has calmed down again, and smiles at his dance partner. "Now, then..." He begins the steps of a simple slow dance, taking his time and allowing Dizzy to get used to it.

"Kill someone?" Hokuto blinks, "Not at all!" And then the little snack flies past her. What's with flying things at the party tonight? But she shrugs again and offers her hand to the mini-gundam, "Let's go get some more snack foods okay?"

Mint breathes a sigh of relief as Shinji plays along AND as the lecherous guy moves off, taking his looney and possibly split-screened thoughts with him. "Thank you, Shinji," she asides, fluffily hugging his arm perhaps a little more tightly than strictly necessary. "For your assisshtance." The telepath drains the rest of her glass, which doesn't seem to help with her blushing problem at all-

- and Mint nearly keels over laughing as Shinji provides the Char to Yachiru's Amuro. "Oh, my, that'sh brilliant," she titters, leaning her body against the Third Child's arm for support. Yes, that seems to be correct. "It is really too bad Amuro ishn't here to see this..." Wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, Mint moves to refill her cup from the punch bowl, somehow managing this with only one hand and the other arm still hooked around Shinji's. "I imagine that he'd get a kick out of it!"

Mint takes another long draught, her ears twitching happily. She hiccups once.

Tatsuki Arisawa is also totally snickering at Shinji and NOT FORGETTING PEOPLE EVERY TIME SHE POSES, WE SWEAR. "Good one, Ikari," she quips, and then glances up at Chad. "Yep. I figured it can't hurt to have a really good costume on hand, right? I don't usually bother, but Orihime loves 'em, so..." She shrugs.

...and then stares at Shinji and Mint. Mainly Mint. "...you're, uh. ...slurring a little there, shrimp. You OK?"

It's not so hard for Dizzy to believe that, actually; though it is the opposite of her own state--being older than you appear, by far--she grasps it. Though for some reason, her brain feels a little fuzzy right now. "Ah, I see. Maybe we'll get a chance to chat sometime." For some reason, she follows this statement up with a giggle.

But Ishida is now in motion, and her face turns into a slight frown of concentration, trying to follow his lead, careful not to step on his feet. The rest of the world disappears for now, because it takes extra focus to learn how to dance while intoxicated. Not that she realizes this to be the case, of course, but she does her best to push through the haze.

To that end, she casts her eyes slightly downward, tilting her head so that she can keep an eye on the footwork. "Mmm...I think I can get the hang of this." Another giggle as she nestles her head against Ishida's shoulder to keep steady.

Groooowwwl. The look in Maze's eyes is clearly one of smirking overconfidence. "Heh, too bad for you pal, but I don't plan on going anywhere." Making as if to slip out from beneath the man's grasp, he instead lashes out with a fist, aiming to cold-cock Caleb in the mouth, phantom light powers be damned. He doesn't need any fancy Form tricks to take down one guy intent on ruining his night with ladies.

Maze is sort of not-really tipsy, but pretty buzzed, and does not understand that a large man in a costume can easily kick his ass in hand-to-hand.

Yes it will be. But wait. She promised? When? This thought is interrupted by Yachiru's grandiose entrance. Red Death does stop at this point, spinning Rukia fluidly so that she's placed securely behind him, his hand at the hilt of his rapier and an angry snarl erupts from his lips. How dare someone interrupt his moment? Seeing that it's a mere child that is causing the disruption, he lets go of the sword and bows again towards his dance partner, holding out his hand.

"A mere child. Shall we continue my dear?" Whether or not she does, he continues the conversation as if it was never interrupted. "You must forgive me. If you will stay by my side then there will never be any reason to fear." He smiles back, but it's not Ichigo's smile. Not really.

"Ish no phoroblem..." Shinji actualy had to do the same thing for one Hikari Horaki, once, when some jerk from class 2-D decided to spend an entire week declaring his eternal love for her. Course, Toji got the wrong idea and...well, Shinji decides to stop remembering that week. He smirks a little at Tatsuki, giving Chad a cordial nod since he's nearby. How's it going, socially inept bro?

Shinji wobbles, a little, at Mint's acrobatics, and turns it into a full on 'I've been shot!' spin-possibly taking the arm linked, laughing Mint with him, as well as posessing the very real and terrible danger of smacking Tatsuki with said Mint. Or someone less likely to kill them all. "Oooooooh...you got me! Next time, Amuro Ray!" Shinji shakes a fist a little at Yachieru, having somehow loosened up to the point of being willing to play Dumb Uncle.

Shinji wobbles a little more, sipping at his punch. His face is flushed as he abruptly remembers where he is, and coughs. "...um, s-shorry, I...err..." The Third Child coughs, a little-Amuro seemed to like the whole 'Make Fun Of Char' line, but he knows his friend is a little sensitive about his archnemesis.

"Yay, snacks!" Yachiru says, reaching up to take Hokuto's hand. It's a good thing too, she was about to pull her 'Beam Saber' out on 'Char', for sending a cheesy mini-colony plummeting to the floor! "Ne ne, Lampshade, what's going on, anyway? Nobody told Yachiru about a party! Nobody tells Yachiru about anything anymore." The box on her head tilts towards the floor, the girl beneath pouting a little. She's been so bored!

Caleb was more-or-less expecting this sort of thing from ruffians, meh meh mortals and their indiscretions and their lechery meh meh stay away from my charge. This is the guardian angel's train of thought as he reaches out to... grab Maze's fist. Again, the guy is much stronger than he looks--once he's got the kid's attention, the other hand reaches out to grab him by the scruff of the neck. Assuming he does not resist, Caleb will bodily haul him off to the nearest open window, and drop him onto the pavement outside. Then he will close said window. And notify the bouncers to keep that guy the hell out, thanks.

Simon and Dinah are still off in their own little corner; the topic of discussion seems to have changed some guy named 'Mike DeWine'. Fortunately, this means that neither of them has noticed the drunken debauchery about to unfold. Yet.

"Oi!" Maze snarls at Caleb, trying to thwack the bodyguard in the ribs with his free fist. Sadly, it doesn't work very well. "Hey wait, that's a window I don't wanna go out the--"

*fweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeethud* "...Ow." Several minutes later, something blows up outside with a WHOOSH and a pretty pretty explosion of shiny red light. And that's the last anybody saw of boy or girl Maze for the whole scene!

".....wha??" Rukia is swept in a circle, pulled back by the Red Death by the threat that was Yachiru. She reaches out to rest a hand on his shoulder. "Oh calm down, that's just Kusajishi-fukutaich--" She blinks a little bit. A child? Well, that WAS Yachiru, but she's never heard him say the actual word before. Then again, this was a Masque, and people were supposed to be pretending to be someone else. And when he bows again, she sighs and takes his hand with that same, delicate touch. "It's just a party," she confides to him carefully. "Relax, nothing's going to happen."

AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH.

And yes, it was the same old speech, worded a different way. He was always obsessed about protecting people, and she huffs at him just a bit. "Who says I'm afraid of anything?" she asks rhetorically. "And yes, I know. As I said....I'm not going anywhere." Back to the dance they go, her skirts brushing on the floor as she's whirled around.

There was something....odd...about that smile though...

Ohnoes! Envy's been shot! WITH MIND BULLETS. "Ya, that's a cute costume, little girl," he grins, wondering just where he's heard and seen the Mini-Gundam before. When she mentions her name, then he remembers. Oops. Yuna is quickly shuffled off to a different part of the dance floor before 'Palmy' is summarily headlatched.

"Sorry about that," the would-be Wakka apologizes to his dance partner. "Now, where were we- oi, right!" His hand finds Yuna's again, as the other slides behind her waist. "Now, I'm not sure how they dance back in Besaid - you can teach me that next song - but just take a short step like this-" He leads, one foot ahead of the other, sweeping the summoner into an impromptu waltz.

"I knew you'd get it." Uryuu doesn't think the giggles are strange; he's just glad that Dizzy is in such a happy mood. He blushes slightly as she rests her head against his shoulder, and his gaze wanders around the dance floor as the pair sways gently to and fro. Hmm, that guy Rukia is dancing with seems suspicious. He's going to have to ask her about him when they pass by each other. And is that Envy dancing with Yuna? Well, that's interesting. He wonders idly if there's anything between them, or if they're just hanging out as friends. That would be nice for them, if there was... His mind wanders, just a bit fuzzy from half a cup of punch.

Mint squeaks as she's taken for a quick spin, somehow managing to keep up with the Third Child by virtue of hopping, stumbling, and stubborn clinging. If she were at all in the right state of mind, she'd let go and/or protest being carried along like this, but now? Now, the sheep-clad Angel's just having a grand old time, laughing in a most unladylike manner- of course, if Tatsuki doesn't skedaddle, she might get clipped by a hoof. By some small miracle, her punch glass doesn't spill.

As Shinji slows down, Mint stumbles back into some semblance of balance, still giggling madly- that is, until Tatsuki speaks up. "EkschUSH me?" the telepath says/slurs frostily, favoring the martial artist with a half-lidded glare. "I am NOT shlur- slurrng- shlursh- a /shrimp," she continues, taking another long sip from her glass. Mint still doesn't let go of Shinji, holding onto his arm rather possessively. "In fact, I'll bet that I'm older than you are! And beshides, it'sh not as if you're that much taller than I am."

Her pride still hurting from Maze's insulting thoughts and aborted advances, as well as the abundance of other women in revealing costumes, Mint's eyes flicker down from Tatsuki's face to the front of her costume, before glancing away. "Not that much bigger, either," she mutters indignantly, in the tone of one who clearly believes that she's not speaking out loud.

Yuna blinks as she is shuffled off but then smiles and shakes her head. "There is nothing to apologise for, Sir Envy." She blushes softly as she feels where his hands are but goes to nod up at him. "I would be glad to teach you how to dance like an Besaidian." Hmmm... She is starting to feel quite warm and perhaps a little fuzzy. She didn't have that much of the drink... Did she?

She continues to smile up at Envy as he leads her in the impromptu waltz, matching step for step.

Caleb dusts off his hands as he returns to the dance hall--now, to find the poor girl that jerk was annoying. He approaches Mint and Shinji discreetly, stopping at a respectable distance. "Miss?" he says, softly, "He's been dealt wi..." Pause. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

"...Well, well, well," Simon murmurs; he's looked up during a break in their conversation, and spotted Caleb. "Looks like your guard dog's decided to show." Dinah looks... just a tiny bit embarrassed. Simon leaves her for the moment, approaching Shinji and Mint and Tatsuki and friends as well.

Tatsuki Arisawa expertly parries Shinji's Spinning Lolita Sheep Attack by sidestepping. She puts the cup of punch handed her VERY FAR away, because they are both slurring now and that never registers as a good thing to TATSUKI ARISAWA, PROFESSIONAL STICK-IN-THE-MUD

She looks down as Mint rants, rambles, and raves. "Look, kid, you're dressed as a sheep and you're like three feet ta--"

...

....

......

"Oh, it's on," Tatsuki says, and moves to roll up her sleeves.

"Like DONKEY KONG," she adds.

"This is fun," Dizzy murmurs, lifting her head back up to look at Ishida. She feels a little more sure of her movements, no need to watch her feet so closely. Right? Of course, that's when she accidentally kicks one of his feet with a misstep. At least she didn't stomp on his foot! "Eeep! Sorry about that...still learning." She looks down again, to make sure that she's stepping right.

"It'd be nice to do this a little more often," she says, with a sigh. "I think I do like this after all. Was a little nervous beforehand." Once more, a sweet smile at the Quincy, before she looks around to watch the other couples again. "But having you here puts me more at ease." She spies Yuna with Envy, blinks as she realizes that it is indeed Yuna. "Oh, they look cute together," she remarks, with a smile.

Doom approaches from a little further away, but she doesn't know this yet.

Hokuto assumes that she is the one Yachiru is calling Lampshade, "What's going on? Why, it's a party! A costume party to be exact." She holds up a finger and grins, "It's supposed to be fun and when it turns midnight, everyone removes their mask and SURPRISE! You get to see who's behind the mask!"

"You're gonna throw a barrel at her?" Shinji slurs out, uncomprihending.

"Hooohhhh? But I already know who most people are!" she says cheerfully. "I know their voice or their reiatsu! Hee hee!" Yachiru beams. "Ne ne, do you think anyone knows who I am? They can't see my face, they must be really curious!" Nevermind the pink hair clearly visible sticking out from under her box-mask. "Mousey thought I was Amu-ko, hee hee! Yachiru is a master of disguise! But cardboard is kinda hard to cut with a zanpakuto..." Woe to the floor it was on at the time.

"You wann' fight? I'll buy whatever fight you're tryin' to shell!!" Mint snaps back, her face beet red and all attempts at civility thrown to the wind. The miniature Mr. Sheep sitting on her costume's head moves to roll up ITS sleeves, and there's the worrying glint of futuristic metal somewhere in there. "An' I'm four feetsh tall, you... you... you gangly flat-chested ninny!" she slurs at Tatsuki.

Chad throws another glance at Yuna and Envy, and decides to lose himself in the crowd. Hard thing to say, for someone of Chad's size, but he somehow manages it. It's a big enough crowd, after all. 


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