[Firetra]

The two returned to the main hall, Kai's dress flowing behind her, shimmering with reds and golds as the lights above them reflected against it's surface. Arean, meanwhile, struggled to maintain a small smile on his face. He eventually gave up and let his face slip into one of boredom. As they walked further into the room, the band started to pick up and soon a waltz was in the air.

"Oh no." Arean said, his face becoming a bit more pale than usual. He quickly glanced at his wife who grinned and put out her hand for him to take.

"My good sir, would you please join me for this dance?" She said with a smug smile, she knew Arean hated to dance, but this opportunity was too good to pass up.

[Kylo]

(Shoto/Imari)

Imari drug her husband by his hand into the mansion with a giggle. Winter time was her favorite time of year and she wanted to celebrate it with her husband. Shoto followed her into the place with a doopy smile on his face.

They had only recently gotten married and he still felt butterflies whenever Imari was close to him.

She immediately lead him onto the dance floor and he took her other hand as they began to dance freely without a care in the world.

[ToxicShadow]

"Here, you should try one of these," Aria said, as she gently used metal tongs to place a small sweet treat on her brother's plate.

"Hm. Thanks," he replied, looking at what she had given him. "But I probably have more than a enough now."

The twin siblings were standing before one of the tables filled with all sorts of sweet treats, each with a plate well stacked with a variety of goodies.

"Have you seen anything too strange?" Ace inquired.

Aria shook her head in response. "How about you?"

"Nothing really."

[Jaykobell]

Why was it...that no one had noticed them yet? Who were these peasants to not recognize them upon their entrance into this mansion? Something truly had to be wrong. Were these people already drunk? Were they solely lacking education and therefore, did not know of them? Oh, how sad.

Despite the fact they assumed the food could not match the fine cuisine they were used to, they assumed they could be the better person and try it regardless. They expected it to be bland and positively gorged with fat, calories, carbohydrates...disgusting.

But as they approached the table, and just as they were about to put a bite into their mouth... a voice. They heard a voice.

They heard a very familiar voice.

Two individuals, dressed rather professionally, were looking over the food at another table. One of them seemed pensive as he looked over all the choices, but the other seemed positively pleased by the selection. "Shaindel, look here!" She took a small paper and offered the little round meat wrapped in a flaky pastry skin. "Pigs in a blanket...So cheap, but a guilty pleasure regardless!"

[Azura Rayume]

Nothing? Nothing at all? What else was he supposed to do, then, if there was no place to start? He tapped back a message with a frown.

You sure?

Yeah just
Enjoy yourself
Make some friends idk

He sighed, annoyed, as he scanned the crowd. Nothing here seemed suspicious, just... off. Most of the people here were all normal from what he can tell. Except maybe that one, but, nevermind. He shouldn't be so bothered like this. And besides, if this was related to him, specifically, he likely would have been put on the spot already.

[crow]

But, sooner than Koh'a had hoped, Senah's expression shifted to one of resignation. "I suppose I know better than to try and ask you to uphold the dignity of your reputation," she said.

Koh'a laughed, slightly rueful. "It takes the fun out of it if you just give in," he said.

Senah inclined her head slightly. "I know," she said. "In that sense you're not really much different from a schoolground bully. Once they stop getting a rise out of you..." With a shrug, she glanced toward the party proper, then back at Koh'a. "Are you really going to spend the entire night in that sweater?"

[Lilith Michaelis]

Riley had been quietly watching people gather in the main room for some time now, probably a good half hour. But as time went on, the more he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Something didn't feel right.

He felt watched. Not people watching, like he was doing. It felt like someone was looking specifically at him.

Riley tried to ignore it until he couldn't anymore. Maybe...maybe if he moved. He knew there were other rooms in the mansion, presumably with smaller crowds and other activities. At the very least he would feel more comfortable with a smaller crowd and it would reduce the hiding places available for whoever was watching him. So he stood up from his cozy little nook and began walking towards a hallway leading away from the main party.

He couldn't wait to explore this place.

[Adelie]

This wasn't the first time he'd been invited to the Quest Master's holiday party, and he hoped very much that it would not be the last. He had been a bit surprised, in fact, when he'd gotten his second invitation, seeing as he had done absolutely nothing of note at the previous one - he hadn't even worked up the courage to approach the Quest Master and thank them for the invitation! - but he supposed that with the scale of the event, he wasn't expected to do much but show up and enjoy himself.

That was his plan, this time around. Last time, he had been so incredibly nervous; he'd worried about embarrassing himself, he'd worried about embarrassing the people around him, he'd worried about wearing the wrong things or eating the wrong things or saying the wrong things. He'd hoped to come back with ideas for how to improve his own business, and he'd barely managed to touch on that because he was too busy sweating bucket.

This time, he'd just take things in stride. One thing at a time, one breath at a time.

[FrostWynd]

Now it was Bacca's turn to have huge eyes, but obviously for a completely different reason. Where Kassia had done it out of wonder, his was a look of terror. Ears were flattened against his head, fur was starting to stand on end, and he made no sudden moves, remaining as still as a statue.

"Kass... Get up already...! We have to get out of here...!" He tried to mew as quietly and subtly as possible to his friend, who was now in the process of picking herself back up. "Owie..." The girl grumbled to herself as she started to nurse her now sore nose. It wasn't feeling too great, and she was embarrassed about having fallen like that. Normally she was so much better about landing more gracefully! Y'know... when she was still a cat.

[Day 8]

[GrayGriffin]

The Werebetta let out a groan as he realized the question he'd been hit with. Of course he enjoyed his companion's company! As much as he groaned about their common nature tying them together, it wasn't as if he couldn't just ignore the pull of the bond most of the time.

But damnit, the Diosol was good company. No matter how hard he tried to be professional or serious about it, he always had a way of poking at things that drew him out.

[SpringsSong]

Xyshari. Lana.

"It certainly isn't," Xyshari said with a chuckle, looking around the room around them. "Can you imagine what some people could do if they had the Quest Master's powers?"

"I'm not sure I want to," Lana said. "Some people might use it for nefarious ends."

"Like the Emperor," Xyshari said with a nod as she looked around. "And he definitely could have, if he wanted to... but maybe, because he was trapped in my mind, he didn't have that power anymore, and that's why he tried so hard to break me."

"Perhaps," Lana said, looking down and away from Xyshari for a moment. "That moment was..."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Rheese arrived flustered but happy, waving merrily as she stepped through the door.

She hadn't planned to come tonight, but her friend had begged her to take her place as she had another event to attend and didn't want to let the invitation go to waste, so here she was after all.

A tall glass of something pink and bubbly was pressed into her hand by a smiling waitress, and she waved her thanks as she wound her way further into the crowd, stopping only to check out how many remained closed in the row of brightly-wrapped boxes on the wall.

[Firetra]

Kai dragged Arean out onto the floor, causing him to stumble as he was forcibly pulled from the edge of the crowd. "Hey, wait! Stop pulling so hard!" He said to his wife, still trying to catch himself from falling.

"I wouldn't have to pull so hard if I knew you would take any opportunity to escape!" She said with a smile brimming across her face. "Now here," she said, twirling him in place and grabbing his hand. "Put your right hand here, and hold your other hand out like so." She said, guiding the placement of his hands and feet. "And now, we waltz!" She said with her gorgeous smile.

[ToxicShadow]

"So, how is it?" A man asked, glancing toward the winged, two tailed feline that walked beside him as they navigated through the party crowd.

The Kuhna, too, looked at up at the man briefly, its two tails swaying back and forth as it gave the question some thought. "A little... odd," it admitted. "Who would ever think that an entire ship would fit inside the mansion and attend the party?" It was a truly unbelievable thought.

But that was what Spirit was, a ship, and the form it took now was a physical manifestation of its very soul. Meanwhile, the ship was truly stashed behind the mansion.

[Azura Rayume]

The crowd moved around him, but no one seemed to notice him. Dancers kept on dancing, friends and associates and partners kept chatting, and no one approached him. With or without the mask, he barely seemed to exist to the rest of them. He should feel lonely, but he didn't. Now, he was realizing how much of a gift this might actually be.

Wyatt reached for his phone again, this time with a smile on his face:

I should have brought you with me after all. At least I would have someone to talk with.

I said make some friends

You know that's not easy for me.