Character Lounge

[Stygian]

At Mel's remark on his health, Stygian had just smiled, and then proceeded to glide away in what those more acquainted to him would recognize as his normal fashion, swooshing away to the end of the room that housed the licquour, making a quick whispering conversation with Salticia on the way which had ended with her skipping away and out of the main lounge smiling. In a few minutes he had shaken up a number of different drinks in tall glasses, and was finishing one of his more recent recipes, while interestedly watching Aisha and Gareeku dance even though he thought the music a bit off. Taking the tray, he turned to the Boogeyman for a second.
   "I expect to hear all about what you did to the girl later," he said, and then slid away.

   Salticia had gone by Stygian's directions, and true enough, in one of the bedrooms upstairs she had found what she had been looking for; something she had not seen in ages, it felt like. Something she was glad she had now. However, returning after a few minutes, she encountered an even greater, and worse, surprise. One driven into a door with force, and with its twin laying on the floor beneath it, Stephen's baton-swords were outside the infirmary. Salticia picked them both up, holding them carefully in her hands and looking at them for a few moments, before purging her mind of her thoughts, taking a quick glance around, and then striding back to the lounge.

   Downstairs, the group of people that seemed to have congregated noticed a slight whispering sound as someone swooshed around them, Aisha's tail ring gleaming slightly, and then Stygian appeared from over Mel's shoulder, offering up a silver tray of seven tall champagne glasses. The liquid in them was almost clear, icily blue-whiteish, and seemed to glow in the dim light of the room.
   "Meine damen und herren, I present to you; Eisdolch. My own mix," he said, and dithout waiting let go of the tray. It hovered in mid-air, and he picked one of the glasses from it.
   His attire had changed again, you realized. He now wore some sort of vest-like necked jacket, carefully cut and with silver details, that hung sideless over his shoulders and left his chest almost bare, save for a silver chain with a similarly coloured rifle bullet hanging in it. Only his left arm was wrapped now, the intricate black tattoo on his right fully exposed, and his pants had changed to thinner, straight-cut ones that matched his "jacket". His shoes were low and blackened, his neck tied with a black scarf, and over the bridge of his muzzle he now wore a pair of small, oval glasses.
   With a careful look, he then faced Mel.
   "It was... necessary. You can't really think of it any other way. And you faced up to it. You did what was necessary without failure. A little hesitation and shock is only to be expected. But we're proud of you," he said with a smile.

   That's when someone else stepped up behind them all.
   "My, what a mood. I thought it was time for dancing. But perhaps we were having dinner first?" Salticia said. She was wearing a dress now, snug, black and slit-sided with white parts to it and with just as many details and as precise cut as Stygian's clothes. One of her legs, in a thigh-high stocking of black, peeked out a bit beneath it as she stood leaning to the side, and on her feet were fine lacquered heeled shoes.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel noticed a flash of anxiety on Aisha's face. It took her a second to remember that some species used clothing for hierarchical purposes and she suspected Aisha had been knocked down a grade by everyone changing. Since dragons only wore clothing sporatically and simply for personal amusement Mel generally missed such nuances. But it was an easy fix. She reached out and put one hand on Aisha's arm while whispering "Think of the most beautiful dress you can." Mel grabbed at the thought and sparked a simple spell. "It's only an illusion and will only last a few hours, but enjoy."

[e_voyager]

e turns just in time to see Mel's magic and smile to himself calls on DGE to materialized the image much the way a digimon materialized in the real world. the dress become fully demi9ntaly and as real as the fur on most the guest head. he does not speak of his act but he smiles satisfied. "say Mel considering your vast knowledge i was wondering is you would care to show me a thing or two about dancing" good grief e that was about subtle as the time you blew up that one planet because the zombies scared you. e inwardly grimaces at the memory but remained smiling at Mel

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel laughed and it was much more natural than just a few minutes ago. "If an encyclopedic knowledge of ways to trip over your feet is what you're looking for I'm just the tutor for you. Come along brave sir." Then she added, "Everyone get dancing. Busy people make poor witnesses."

[Joat]

“You know. There’s something I’ve always wondered. Would my bracers work on anyone other than me?” I say, “Oh well. Now isn’t the time to test it. If anything went wrong, it could ruin the party.”

I then begin to dance once more.

Sylver sighs. “I can’t dance because I’m a dog and I can’t eat because I’m a robot. What do I do to avoid total boredom?”

“Dance anyway!” I suggest as I continue to dance.

“Weren’t you listening? I can’t dance.”

“Well then, dance anyway!”

Sylver gives a resigned sigh and reluctantly begins to dance. His performance is poor at first, but as he begins to enjoy it, his dancing improves.

[e_voyager]

E chuckles " well we'll just learn together then" inside he can hear a gasp of surprised. i can't believe that worked E holds out his hand to Mel so that she could take it and indicate her acceptance. as he does he overrides the music player locates a classic waltz they he remembered form his time in Europe. " Shall we?"

[Stygian]

Stygian strode beside them, smiling pleasedly and getting quite eager to move. He eyed Salticia appreciatingly and made a small, meaning look to her, which she responded by sticking her tongue out at him. He just chuckled, and then sang something silently to himself.

   "Für die Damen, die tanzen
     und die jungen Männer wer Chancen
     sie gleiten zwischen den Schatten
     int nacht, mitternacht..."

[Joat]

I stop dancing. “Okay, thirsty now. Root beer time!”

[Aisha deCabre]

(("It's My Liiiiife..." Thanks Karl, that song is now stuck in my head... XD ))

After Aisha's two cents on perking Mel up, the panther stood up and looked around the ballroom, noticing how everyone was congregating and showing up in quite beautiful attire.  Psh, and me with my ratty battle clothes... she sneered at herself, but with a smirk in her smile to denote that she cared nothing much for appearances for the moment.  Hearing the upbeat song that was playing, she sidled on over to the food bar with a bit of a kick in her step to the tune of the music.  Finalmente...my pizza awaits.

While Aisha filled her tired stomach, she watched with interest at having her tail ring shimmer.  With as much relief to a dark entity as one could get, she was so to see it was only Stygian having passed by with refreshments of his own for everyone.  She shook her head a little with a grin...as a girl that came from an equivalent to the dark ages she was of course humorously apprehensive at the thought of getting drunk.  Bah...maybe later.  Food now.

Then, while watching everyone else dancing around, she was a bit surprised at Mel's generosity.  "A few hours?  What, I'm Cinderella now?" she remarked with a laugh, but rolled her eyes upward with a smile.  "Okay, why not...but I have no fashion sense whatsoever, lemme warn you."  She did as the dragon instructed and closed her eyes, imagining an outfit that she wouldn't have minded.

When the panther opened them again, she looked down and blinked in surprise.  What had replaced her navy blue shirt and trousers for the time being was a dress of a much lighter shade, like a white misty azure with pearlescent threads woven through it to give it a sparkling quality as she moved, the light color accentuating her void-dark fur and ruby eyes.  It ended comfortably at the top of her ankles with a slit halfway up the left side and had only one strap that wove around her right shoulder.  It fit her form well while allowing her to dance whatever she pleased in it.  Nestled around her head within the long and loose strands of dark black hair sat a little crown of diamond beads.

She inspected herself with surprise and smirked with some shyness.  Being a bit of a tomboy she remarked, "Psh...I look like such a girl."

But that was coupled with a shrug.  "Maybe I can be one for today.  Gracias again, Mel," she smiled at the dragon before brushing away whatever food particles were left on the outfit and walking in to join the others on the dance floor.

[Gareeku]

Sipping the drink Stygian had supplied, Gareeku smiled as he looked at the others dancing. Turning back to Aisha, his eyes widened as his mouth hung open slightly, in awe of the attire Aisha was now dressed in. To the wolf, she looked utterly
"Beautiful..." He said with wonder as he stared. Realising what he was doing, Gareeku snapped himself out of his state of wonder and awe, shaking his head slightly.
"Wow...Aisha, you look...would you like to...um...to dance?" the wolf stammered, a wave of shyness now overcoming him after observing Aisha's beauty.

[Stygian]

Stygian stopped, and eyed Aisha up and down. She couldn't quite read his expression, but judging from the contrast to his normal expression and behaviour, she could tell that he was surprised. Perhaps even stunned.
   "That's... quite tasteful. Yes. Quite..." he said, sounding a bit off. He made a quick turn to watch Mel and E, and then jumped a bit as Salticia snuck up behind him and laid her head on his shoulder.
   "We never did waltz that time, did we bro'?" she asked, and then started to pull him with her. He cast a last glance to Aisha and smiled at Gareeku, but the next second he was caught up with Sal who began displaying her obviosly extensive dancing skills, and leaning upon him to lead. Round they spun, seemingly floating in their steps, one-two-three, one-two-three...

[Aisha deCabre]

Coming up near Gareeku, she paused for a second and tilted her head, a little amused at the expression on his face...but also she was surprised.  Having not gone to many parties before, the panther hadn't gotten that look from anyone.  She had to keep from laughing when catching Stygian's look as well.

After Sal took her date away to dance, Aisha came up to Gareeku, smiling shyly at the wolf when he stammered.  Who'd have thought he could even do that?  Her face was warm, and she wondered if the blush was showing under her dark fur.

But she kept that thought to herself and instead smiled warmly up to his face with a soft laugh, extending her paw and pulling him to the dance floor.  "Sure, I'd love to.  Bailamos, muchacho."

[Gareeku]

With a somewhat shy smile of his own, Gareeku took Aisha's paw in his, leading her to the dancefloor where he began to dance with her.
Wow...she's stunning... the wolf could not help but think to himself as they danced, transfixed by her eyes. Gareeku had somewhat surprised himself by his mannerisms. He had never been shy many times before, so why now? the wolf was somewhat nonplussed, yet he did not mind this at all. He smiled softly at her as they danced, looking into her red eyes with his own deep blue ones with a soft gaze.

[Joat]

Sylver gets a bit tired and stops dancing.

Seeing this conversation between Aisha and Gareeku, I sigh. “Kinda makes me wish I had someone to dance with.”

Sylver sees my expression. “I know that look.”

[Stygian]

Salticia and Stygian stopped, much to his content as he was not one for the regular waltz, even with Sal's graceful and expertly moves. And for other reasons that he was unsure of. He made a bow to her, and with a smile he then went out one end of the room into what seemed like a walkway towards an atrium. Shortly later, he rolled in a grand piano with some sort of string instrument on top of it.
   "What say you, Salticia?"

[Joat]

I stand still for a moment, deep in thought.

[Aisha deCabre]

Hm, he's a pretty good dancer, Aisha had thought with a smile as they started their round on the floor.  She hadn't practiced the waltz in a bit, but after some trying she was in step with Gareeku and could focus her eyes on him rather than down to their feet.  She gave a little twirl, having a little more fun in this moment than she had all day.

Aisha gazed back into the wolf's eyes, a soothing blue mirroring a flaming red.  She felt a calm come over her...he always seemed to have that effect despite his skill as a warrior, but now strangely she was drawn to the feeling, her heart thundering. The panther never felt this silent and shy before under his vigilant and handsome gaze, and even more strangely she was willing to let it come over her.

She softly smiled back to Gareeku as she let him lead, at one point glancing curiously to where a piano had appeared in the room.

[Joat]

I sigh and open up my laptop. I begin to type on it. Sylver attempts to look at what I am typing.

“Please. This is my diary. Don’t peek,” I say.

“I know what you’re saying in it,” Sylver says.

[Stygian]

Salticia placed herself behind the piano, making a few light practice strokes to work up her hands. Stygian took down the other instrument. It looked odd, like an eight-stringed guitar, but with an adjustable bar at the top of the long neck, and an odd resonance box that was more metal and squareish than that of a guitar. He took it, and plugged it into the stereo via a long cord, along with one from a microphone inside the piano. As the music stopped, he pulled out a long metal pick of some kind. Then, he stroked the strings with it. A smooth but at the same time sharp sound came from the speakers, and he quickly adjusted it to a high tone very much like a violin's, but with another kind of lustre to it and sounding a bit distorted like an electric guitar.
   Stygian and Salticia began playing, her wandering all over the keys of the piano with four hands, and him expertly sweeping and picking the strings of his strange instrument. It was a steady, passionate and dance-like piece, a little like a faster and more intense minuet, with an edge of sharpness added by the rhythm and the sound of Stygian's strings. It was effortless to glide into.

[Boog]

Boogey strolled down to where the rest of the group was, but not close enough to get in the way of those dancing or there being any danger of interrupting the various moments going on throughout the room. Hearing Mel, Boogey looked around, Annnnd, yeah. Outta pretty girls to dance with. Figures. Knew I should have kept that last angel around. Sipping his drink carefully, and working hard to convince it to not be alcoholic (drunkeness can be quite dangerous for something made of thoughts. Who knows what sorts of ideas that sound good when you're drunk he could end up incorperating?), he merely listened appreciatively to the music and kept an eye on the dance floor.

[Gareeku]

Also noticing the presence of the piano, Gareeku smiled before turning back to Aisha, losing himself in her eyes as they continued to dance. The wolf was not the most observant of people at times, but now that he had seen the panthress' eyes up close like this, he was dazzled by the pair of beautiful ruby-like eyes that Aisha possessed.

Looking up momentarily at the music stopped, Gareeku smiled once more as Stygian and Salticia began playing the music, looking back into Aisha's eyes and losing himself once more as they danced.

[Joat]

I close my laptop. “Well, while I’ve nothing better to do, I might as well do some more testing with my cubi form,” I say.

“What are you going to try to do?” Sylver asks.

“Oh, just various things,” I say.

“Oh, okay. Maybe you could try to transform into me.”

“No. Crawl before run.” I transform into my incubus form.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha's only notice to the fact that the music had changed was that one of her ears had turned in that direction to listen.  The new notes played by instruments so closely seemed to give the place a better air of culture and sophistication.  Without lyrics, she believed, music was more hypnotic, easier to concentrate on...and that's what it felt like, easing close to Gareeku and into the dance.

She kept her gaze locked on his, also hypnotized a little by the gentle sapphire-like eyes he possessed; as he seemed the same way to her.  She was taken in by his presence, happy to dance for however long either of them wanted throughout the symphonic waves of sound.  The girl had found a peace that, for a while during the whole battle fiasco, she thought would never come again.

Almost beneath her notice, there was a quiet purring sound in her throat.  Unable to really stop it, she just smiled shyly, as if the sound didn't seem to match the rest of her.

[Joat]

I make a here-I-go sigh. Suddenly, my back set of wings sprouts four tendrils (which look remarkably like the ones Dan has, actually; in fact, other than the white color, EXACTLY like Dan’s).

“Wow! You did it!” Sylver says.

“Did what? Sigh?” I ask.

“No! You sprouted those little whatchamacallsits on your back.”

“Hm. Wow, that was easy.”

[Stygian]

Stygian watched Gareeku and Aisha as they glided across the floor. He was one with the music, stringing his Ululatus more like it was intended to now. As if on command, Salticia stopped playing for a moment, a strange look on her face as she watched him. Then, she fell into his melody with a lower, more improvisatoric accompanyment but still rock steady rhythm. Stygian had fished out a longer metal "pick", that worked like a bow, allowing him to take longer and more intricate, wailing tones. With fluency, he changed the form of the piece, easing down the pace slower and changing the melody to a lamenting, dramatic tango-like one, putting more pressure on the melody and passion rather than the beat of it.
   Behind the piano, a basso of some strange kind that had thus far stood still, suddenly came alive, starting to strum low tones that underlined Stygian's. And with that, the piece took on a whole new character. It entwined and twisted, balanced and fell only to come back more vibrant again and again. It practically cried with passion, seemingly guiding the dancers into the perfect moves all on its own.
   As Stygian held out a last long diminuando, gently easing out the previous climb to a high C with a sad, smooth D minor, Salticia had stopped playing altogether and simply looked at him with sadness. Then, the basso behind her settled once again, and was still.
   Stygian lowered his instrument and placed it beside him with a sigh. He rubbed at his eyes for a moment, then said something faintly and went over to the table to get another drink.

[Gareeku]

Gareeku could not help but smile as they danced. At that moment, happiness and peace that the wolf had not known in a long time returned to him, a soft smile on his face as he looked into Aisha's warm eyes.

Upon hearing Aisha's purring, Gareeku smiled softly, finding the gentle sound to be pleasant and soothing to his ears.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a beautiful purr?" he asked in a soft voice, the soft smile still on his face as he spoke.

[Aisha deCabre]

At Gareeku's compliment, Aisha averted her eyes with a soft smile, a tinge of red barely visible on her cheeks, but the warmth eminated from it.  When the music started reaching its crescendo, she chuckled quietly.  "Not until now...but thank you."

The purring sound lingered like a little pulse, an instrument all its own.  As the true music wound down, the panther rested her head on Gareeku's shoulder, a gentle smile on her face.  She watched the musicians with half-lidded eyes as the notes lingered away, curious as to why they looked a somewhat sad after such a performance.

When the dancing started to slow, she whispered,  "And I bet you've been told a hundred times you dance very well...and you're charming as heck," she added with another quiet laugh.  "It was wonderful."

[Joat]

“Now let us see here. Let’s try some shapeshifting,” I think aloud. Suddenly, the pain hits again. “Ow! Headache. I need to find out how to prevent this.”

[Gareeku]

As Aisha rested her head on his shoulder, Gareeku closed his eyes, nuzzling softly as he listened to the panthress' soothing purrs. He no longer cared about the tone of the music; he only cared about being with Aisha in this moment. Listening to Aisha's words, he smiled softly once more, his cheeks growing warm with a soft blush.
"It was indeed wonderful. You were, and are, wonderful." the wolf said softly. For a long time the wolf had always been very good friends with Aisha, but now he subconsciously wondered to himself; was there something else...something more?

[Stygian]

Stygian poured himself more of the Eisdolch he had made. It was a strong drink, but not that strong, and he couldn't get inebriated unless he let himself, but this seemed the perfect occasion. He could feel it, a warm flood heavy in the place, emanating from the two figures on the dancefloor and practically reflecting off the walls. And as much as he wanted to shut it out, he also wanted to drink it in, to allow the wonderful sensation to pass through him, and feel the pain of loss with it...
   No. This was a party, and he was not going to spoil anything through clumsiness. The very presence of something that intense was a sign. After being but a bother up until now, he should make himself helpful instead. And just how was pretty clear. He swigged another glass of the liquid blue, and pushed the emotions out of his head, consciously numbing his senses from the psi. Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem, he thought.

   When the dance had ended and the room was still yet again, he looked at the room's occupants. Mel and E had been following through too, and actually done a very good job for the inexperienced dancers he took them for. Joat and his dog-creature seemed to be experimenting in one corner of the room, while the Boogeyman was standing to himself. And Gareeku and Aisha were having their moment.
   Salticia moved around the piano and the floor against him while casting a glance at the pair, her face a mix of concern and seemingly also anger.
   "Why did you pl..." she started, but he cut her off by quickly laying the tips of his fingers on her lips. With no further explanation, he took another glass, and silently and as unnoticeably as he could he moved out of the room and up the stairs. Salticia just stood with an indignant look to her for a moment, and then walked out after him.