Party. Handsome guys and beautiful girls. Sexy music and sexy floor.

Actually, the latter probably didn't count, but the former applied to the party. And it was key to keep in mind that Ryuu Yamauchi was not excited for parties. Why?

Well, isn't it freaking obvious after four seasons?

"Ugh, parties," he grumbled to himself quietly. "Of course we would have a party."

No, he was not salty that his first party ever in Athalia turned out to be a nearly complete set-up for an all-out brawl, but the presence of those who were "taken" demoralized his senses. And he never really did fit into parties that much; he was the kind of guy who fit best in his room, playing games, reading comics and watching animations with an LED television as big as his father's company projector (no, he did not actually have a television as big as his father's company projector).

Dating this and dating that, he grumbled internally like a kid as he shoved his hands in his pockets, a deathly aura emitting from him as he pressed his lips formed a tight frown. I'll do whatever I want while they're doing this-that, lovey-plat.

As he looked for a moment to escape, however, his eyes fell upon two certain redheads.

Ah, it's Crash and Kathy.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Ryuu was a simple man with a simple mind. If he witnessed the two of them blushing together, then he-

I can't wait for the party.

-just dies internally.

---

As the teachers went up on the podium, Aurelia had only recognized Ryuu.

After the orientation that filled her with fear for her future, news of a party made her even more nervous than before. Should she avoid it? Normally she would scuttle away from parties due to the sheer amount of people that inevitably showed up, but Rain seemed like she wanted to go.

The girl remained silent, glancing between Ara and Rain with a nervous look.

Eric

He nodded when Andromeda stood and mentioned where her room was and before she could protest, he bent down and hooked his arm around her knees and lifted her up once again. Without a word, he made way for her room, walking slowly up the stairs towards her room.

He would have walked faster had it not been for the girl in his arms and he would have made her walk if he didn't feel so badly for her. If he were in this situation... Actually, he'd probably prefer to crawl back to his room on his own rather than ride in someone's arms. It wasn't like a female would be strong enough to lift him anyway and the thought of being carried by the guy Andromeda ran into...

Eric shuddered at the thought of Ryuu carrying him to his room. What an awkward scene to picture...

He continued walking down the hall, unsure of what room number Andromeda lived in...

- Andromeda -

she resisted crying out again as Eric turned around and pulled her up into his arms. she blushed again and wrapped her arms around his neck "th...thanks..." she muttered as he started through the door. she kept glancing up at him as they walked. "upstairs" she muttered and braced herself as they went up, it jostled her ankle a good bit but she took it. 'why isn't he saying anything?' she thought 'I'm a burden, aren't i?' she looked down at the floor as unpleasant memories of her mother tried to sruface "it's um... just down the hall..." she muttered, voice sounding a little empty.

When her room finally came into view, she almost cried in relief. she refrained though and just sighed and pointed "it's that one, I think it's unlocked... if not, I have the key" she'd rather not resort to pulling it out though as her outfit didn't really have any pockets so she had to put it somewhere and would be even more embarrassed if she had to fish through her bra to find it.

- Oliver -

Oliver watched all the kids leave as he debated whether he was going to the dance or not, he doubted his wife would go, he was actually a little surprised she wasn't there. he was tempted to just get his own body and go home, but at the same time he'd never gotten to go to his orientation party and they were supposed to be pretty cool parties, maybe he could find some more spirit based folk to interact with.

when the gym was almost completely empty, he stood up and floated away. he headed for his body. he saw Andromeda being carried and almost stopped to make sure she was alright, as he hadn't had time before. But her ankle was wrapped and she was being brought back to her room, in theory, so he was sure it was fine.
he broke off and went to the storage closet, slipping inside. it was always weird seeing his own body, just sitting there, sleeping, kinda pale and always looking a little like he was having a nightmare. he really wished he could just push the wheelchair to somewhere else but it was against the rules so he quietly slipped back into his body.
he groaned and blinked his eyes open "great..." he muttered, looking down "broken again" he rolled over to the door and left. he returned to his own office, he had a little paperwork to finish and then he'd head to the party as a spirit before going home. he pulled up the first doc and started working.

“Maybe…” She chimed in vaguely. It was a lot to take in at once. She feel bad for Little Feather, losing both her powers and an important companion, but a small part of her was… Kathy was ashamed to feel a bit relieved that Little Feather was unlikely to return. She recognized that she was feeling jealous of the other girl. And while Kathy truly did want to help Little Feather as a friend, she also did not want to meet her with such negative feelings rising up inside of her. She felt relieved that the decision had been taken out of her hands entirely.

Looking at the familiar number on his screen, she had to clasp her hands together to try to keep herself calm. “Sorry! That was my fault entirely. I’m really sorry for not sending another text to double check.” But even though her words were apologetic, a smile had reappeared on her face. Just knowing that Crash hadn’t intended on losing all contact with her made her feel incredibly happy. ‘Ah I’m such an idiot… If only I had gathered up the courage to send a text from my end…’ Taking out her own phone, she typed out a simple “I hope you get this Crash. :)“ and sent it to Crash. “Ah… Thank goodness.” Realizing something she quickly asked, “Um, your number is still the same right? Otherwise I just sent a very odd text to a complete stranger…”

Despite how red Kathy’s face already was, she managed to deepen the colour by at least another two shades upon hearing Crash’s answer. She felt dizzy with joy… Or was that just the blood rushing to her head? Either way, she could feel herself smiling from ear to ear. “I’m living here.” Getting up to follow him she continued, “I’d like that a lot. Thank you.” She had intended on asking him if that was alright with him; to double check that he wasn’t simply asking out of politeness despite possible inconveniences… But in a rare occasion of selfishness she decided to accept his offer right away. Even if she would see him again for the party, she didn’t feel like separating from him just yet.

Leaving the assembly hall, Kathy matched her pace so that she would be walking alongside Crash. “Where did you chain up your bike? Depending on where it is, maybe it’d be better if we went to get it before going over to the dormitories?” Hearing the word ‘bike’ come out of the clumsy shapeshifter she had automatically come to the conclusion that he meant a bicycle. The safer, not-as-deadly-with-accidents sort of vehicle.

---

Ara had, sometime during the assembly, stuck her feet out onto the chair in front of her in a most unladylike and rather rude fashion. Luckily the person sitting in front of her had preferred to keep himself crouched forward in his seat, otherwise he would have received a rather unusual pair of footprints left on his back from her wooden geta. She lowered her legs back down into their proper position when the announcements were finished. “Finally!” She sighed out, giving her arms a stretch up towards the ceiling. Looking at Rain she answered, “Pretty much. Unless someone decides to toss something at the speaker or make a mad dash to freedom, this is about as exciting as any assembly can get really.”

At the mention of the party Ara let out a loud and exaggerated sigh as she got up from her seat. “Yeah, it sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.” She lamented. Unfortunately for Ara, she had promised to switch out with A in the night. Neither of them had expected there to be something as exciting as a party to occur on just the first day. Technically she still had time to go and enjoy the party a bit before the sun went down but… ‘I don’t really feel like making excuses and slipping out of the party halfway. And trying to explain the entire situation to these two seems like a pain.’ She thought as she glanced between Aurelia and Rain.

“Sorry but I’ll pass. I’m more tired than I thought so I think I’ll just retire for the day.” Walking a few steps away from them towards the exit, she stopped to give them a half-hearted wave. “By the way, don’t forget.” A grin appeared on her face as she continued, “If anyone else introduces themselves to you as Ara, give him a good beating. I’ll catch you two later.”

Going out into the hallway on her own, another grin appeared on her face. She had a wonderful idea. After making such a kind and generous decision to let A take her place earlier than the promised time, surely she could enjoy a small prank or two?

Carmen stood with her legs crossed, casually sipping her Cabernet. As predicted, students and faculty alike began trickling into the ballroom. It didn't take long for Edric to approach the skylark, though as Carmen turned to see a girl with wet hair huffing away from the boy she suspected shenanigans. Either way, she now had someone to chat with, who...wait.

Edric.

Carmen remembered the name. She hadn't met him before, but Lily had said the name before. She said it because-

Ah.

This boy was apparently Lily's son. Carmen decided it was best to just chat normally, as if nothing was up. She was good at that, anyhow. She smiled at him in greeting as he began to speak. Her ears perked up at Edric's statement about being in one of her classes.

"Oh? Is that so? That would be lovely. Intro to Fashion, I presume?" she guessed as she expertly glanced, grinned, and nodded at Criston as he passed without faltering in her speech to Edric.

You'd think I would know my own class rosters by now... she thought, but she hadn't been sent anything yet.

Lily presently showed up in...exactly what Carmen expected her to.

"Hm...phoning it in, are you?" Carmen teased. "You're lucky you're so pretty."

The skylark took another sip of her glass before squeezing Lily's free hand. "I put on your favorite waltz," she remarked, having obviously given Lily a sampling of waltzes to listen to to choose from at a prior date.

As a barber, Norel had cut the hair of many demons. From the pretty ladies to the handsome gentlemen, from the feminine beasts of Hell to even the most brutish soldiers, his pair of scissors worked not for war, but for comfort.

Never did he ever cut the hair of one of Hell's fiercest generals, let alone the one who had become infamous for slaughtering legions before his appearance in the underworld.

Life certainly gets interesting, he thought timidly as he prepared to put a cloth over Apophis' shoulders, only to be stopped in the process.

"I don't like having things touch my neck," the Deity of Chaos mused. "Leave that aside."

"Y-Yes," Norel attempted to chirp brightly as usual. He stared at the Deity's hair, wondering if the hair did actually grow like a regular human being's in the first place. Maybe it was like a wig?

"Just make my hair a bit shorter," Apophis stated as he stared at the mirror in front of him, his eyes glowing under the hollow skin he wore. "No need to change the shape."

Nodding, Norel began to cut the hair of a Deity of Chaos. As he carefully worked on retaining the shape of Apophis' original hair, the barber opened his mouth to ask why the deity wanted his hair to be cut in the first place.

"Don't ask why I'm cutting my hair," Apophis stated out of the blue. "I dunno why but I feel like you're going to ask that."

...Please don't read my mind.

Nervous, the barber continued to work on a haircut that could potentially go smoothly... or end his life.

Eric

He nodded and, shifting Andro over, reached for the knob, sighing when, while turning it, it locked into place and the familiar ching of a knob clanking against metal made a dull sound. He swallowed and looked down at Andromeda. "I-It's locked." He stuttered and swallowed again. The air in the hallway felt thick and heavy, not to mention awkward as hell.

Thinking for a moment, Eric decided to set Andromeda upright carefully so she could reach her key.

---

Lily

She grinned at Carmen's comment on her dress. "Sorry. I felt like being comfortable today. Fashion can wait for tomorrow. Though... If it were my choice I'd probably don on some slacks and a sweater but..." She replied, shrugging.

"Oh?" She replied at the hand squeeze and comment on the music. Taking a moment to really take the music in, a slow smile found it's way on Lily's lips. "It certainly is. What was it called again?" She asked, but as soon as she did, the music changed to something a bit more... upbeat.

The fast beats flooded the formerly serene ballroom and jarred Lily who's head shoot towards the direction of the music to see Criston grinning and waving at them from the DJ's booth. He had a girl with him and was now walking in their direction.

---

Criston

"Hello you three." He greeted them, nodding at the new boy and then turned to Carmen. [color=yellow]"I hope you don't mind my new selection. Classical isn't my favorite.

He chuckled as Lily herself rolled her eyes and commented. "It was peaceful." Still, she retained her graceful smile and shook her head at Criston, chuckling.

"Well, it is my party, after all." He replied, throwing his nose in the air in mocked pride.

Ayane, the girl at his side, peaked from around him and then stepped out, smiling brightly at the group before her. She lifted a delicate hand and waved in a small motions.

---

Edric was out of place in this group. He certainly hadn’t expected Lily and Carmen to be a thing. He might omit that from the phone call to his father. When Criston and Lily showed up, he went from an awkward conversation with a teacher to fourth-wheeling in an instant. He decided to just slip away unannounced. He stalked away from the group and out of the banquet hall.

He eventually found his way outside and retrieved the cell-phone from his pocket. He looked through his contacts and found his father’s number. He took a deep breath and pressed call.

It rang thrice before Jason Karst picked up.

”H-hell-”

”I found her.”

Edric heard his father drop the phone.

Crash had undoubtedly changed over the years yet, it was apparent that a lot about him hadn't, for example he was still terrible at picking up on social cues. With Kathy's vague response to his encouragement Crash was certain he'd hit the nail on the head, though he couldn't help but notice that she had seemed a little distracted by his words.

The shapeshifter's duelling emotions intensified as Kathy clasped her hands together and apologised '...I have a whole new understanding of the movies now' the stray thought, zipped out of the stream twisting through his mind. He lifted his free hand up to the back of his neck, giving her an awkward smile "I-it's okay. It's not entirely your fault. Pretty sure I can take most of the blame,-_{if not all of it}- I should have been more careful" He apologised in turn. Smiling more easily as his phone vibrated and Kathy's text flashed up on the screen, with a few quick taps he sent back a simple 'I got it, don't worry :D' and chuckled as he saved the number. "Luckily, my number is the one thing I don't tend to change" With his words Crash double checked that he had her number saved before he pocketed the phone.

Code red was in full swing. Having noticed the flush of color on Kathy's face, Crash felt heat rise into his cheeks as well and a sensation of giddiness come over him...mainly because of the smile that had appeared on Kathy's face. It had been a while since his company had been appreciated "Great! I guess we should get going then" He announced, barely able to relax the 'smile' muscles in his face long enough too speak. With a warm sensation in his chest and a spring to his step, Crash hopped up and lead them out of the assembly hall and into the bustle of the corridors beyond it.

Crash tucked the tips of his fingers into the back pockets of his jeans as they walked, once again positioning himself so that Kathy was on his good side and he could see her. "I didn't chain it up, I just parked it out the front" He replied, though he didn't quite catch on to the confusion. "It should be fine...I didn't leave it in the way and I'm pretty sure nobody would want to steal it anyway. At least not here" He grinned "Plus I remembered to take the keys out of it this time" With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a motorcycle key coupled with a worn orange surfboard key ring.

"Wait..." He murmured as the gears finally clicked into place and his face colored with embarrassment "I-I got a new -ahem- motorbike...n-not a push bike" He stuttered out, instantly feeling guilty for not realising the mix up sooner...that and a small part of him was expecting her to disapprove. 'Disapproval has been everyone else's go to place...' the small voice in the back of his mind reminded him as he glanced around in search of signs to the dormitory. "I know there are a lot of accidents relating to motorbikes but I've been driving them for years and I'm always extra careful...I've only had a...few close shaves." He told her, in an attempt to justify himself before she had the chance to react, be it positively or negatively. Though there was plenty of time for them to talk, between following sign posts and Kathy's instruction should Crash lead them wrong...it didn't take the pair too long to reach the dormitories.

---

Rain seemed particularly unsatisfied with Ara's answer in regards to the assembly "Well...this is my first and last assembly then" She decided. Between Ara's exaggerated sigh and unspoken 'but' and Aurelia stood glancing between them with a nervous look to her and the scent of a spooked deer, Rain sensed that she was going to be flying this one solo. A smile lifted the corners of her mouth as Ara politely passed on her invite "Shame, we'll let you know if you miss anything good" She promised with a smile, lifting her hand to bid Ara farewell as she walked away from. "Won't forget" Rain added with a small smirk, watching Ara leave before she turned back to Aurelia. "So Aurelia, are you with me on this?" She asked, looking Aurelia over curiously.

She had been...studying Aurelia's behaviour, since they'd met. And so far she hadn't been able to work out why the other girl was so quiet, not just in the speaking sense either but rather, she rarely gave herself away with her body language. "Not really sure what you're scared of, but if it helps I promise to watch your back" She added, trying not to show how taken aback she was by her own words "Trust me, nothing will get past me" and even more surprised by the determination in her voice. 'Sirius preserve me, I've been here for two minutes and I've gone soft...'. Rain wasn't exactly sure what she was offering to protect Aurelia from mind you, the image she had of a party in her mind was bound to be different from the reality of it...the assembly had proved as much.

Rain ran her fingers through her hair, waiting for Aurelia's answer. Unfortunately sitting through the assembly had all but drained her of patience so she didn't wait for long. "Come onnnn...we might be missing something good" She urged, glancing at Aurelia once more before promptly turning on her heel and making her way out into the corridor. Whether Aurelia followed her or not, Rain wasn't going to stop moving until she'd found the party. Which was easier than she'd expected, she was accustomed to following her nose but considering how busy this place was, the unfamiliar scent trails all merged together and lead in every direction. Instead she had to rely on her hearing which wasn't quite as effective but it seemed to do the job "Where's a vampire when you need one..." She murmured under her breath as she concentrated on the faint sound of music. It didn't take her long to find the party, thankfully.

Once she was there though, she found herself wondering what to do...it seemed rather quiet, excluding the music. '...this is going to take some getting used to' She thought, looking around the room. Her eyes caught on Carmen as she did, taking in the skylark's impressive form before moving on to inspect Lily and the rest of the group. "This could be harder than I thought..." She sighed, glancing behind her to see if she was alone or not.

- Andromeda -

she groaned internally when Eric tried the handle and it didn't open. 'this is just my luck' she thought 'what's he going to think about me reaching into my bra to grab the key?' she sighed slightly as he pulled away and said "I-It's locked."
'thank you Eric, for pointing out the obvious' she thought, then scolded herself, even if he couldn't hear her thoughts it wasn't fair of her to get mad at him, this whole day had just been an example of her astounding luck, she should have guessed she'd have to something even more embarrassing to get it over with.
she could feel the awkward tension in the air just as well as he could so she didn't fight when he went to set her on her feet. 'just get it over with Andro' she thought to herself as she put a hand out to use the wall to keep herself up, using Eric to the same effect would have made the whole thing that much worse, so she pulled the hand closer to him to her chest. "um could you... look away... a little... please?" she stammered out, before turning her own body and reaching into her bra.
she found the small piece of metal relatively quickly and unlocked the door. she didn't put the key back just kept it in her hand as she pushed the door open. "there we go..." she muttered, glad that this meant she could hide in her room for the rest of the day and stew in her own embarrassment and not hurt anyone else. 'knock on wood' she thought, quietly tapping the frame, before looking at Eric. she almost wanted to ask him in for tea or something, just to thank him again but the air was still thick with the awkwardness of the whole scenario.
"um... thank you... again" her voice was tiny and she scolded herself mentally. "you uh... you don't have to... to help me any further... i'm sure i can make it... probably... um but... if you wanted... I could...could make some tea or... or something?" she cringed internally 'wow Andromeda, great job, that was probably the best sentence you've said to another human being, or you know whatever, in years' she almost immediately stammered out "no i've... taken too much of your... your time, you... thank you... you can leave me here" she looked up at him and thought 'i don't think that made it any better but good try'

Carmen put her hand over her mouth as she made a dramatic gasp. "Fashion? Waiting? Please Lily, being fashionable is a full time job!"

She was opening her mouth to remind Lily what her favorite waltz was called when it was suddenly cut off and replaced with something you would sooner hear in a trashy house party than in a formal ballroom.

Carmen's smile quickly evaporated.

"Who..." At that moment she saw Criston walking towards them from the DJ booth with a stupid grin on his face. As she connected the dots in her head her face did everything it could to stop the scowl her heart had from showing itself, to no avail.

Unlike Lily and her calm and graceful reaction, Carmen's brain also didn't do a good job of stopping her from speaking her mind to Maria's son.

"'New selection'?" she began, her words dripping with annoyance.

"You ruined the atmosphere. Has your mother taught you anything?! Look around you. Does this look like a trashy house party to you? Do you really think that this formal ballroom, that I spent hours painstakingly designing down to each individual light on the chandeliers, is an appropriate setting for loud, overcompressed EDM that's so bland and devoid of real rhythmic intensity that even the drunk frat bros at the trashy house party you should be playing this at would yell and complain about the DJ's terrible taste in music?"

Carmen's face, which was known for being simultaneously beautiful and intimidating, was in full force as her tirade continued.

"Well, what you think doesn't matter, because it is abundantly clear that you have no idea how to run an event, or how to have good taste in music. So allow me to address my last question for you: it's not. It's not appropriate for anywhere, least of all and exquisitely prepared ballroom with wine and cocktails. A ballroom is for waltzes and other traditional dance music, like the one that you so rudely and heathenistically interrupted. It's not about what you like, Mr. So-Called Host. It's about what the event demands, and this event demands that you leave the music selection to someone that actually knows a thing or two about it. Or, better yet, just leave entirely."

When he didn't leave in the 0.3 seconds of silence after she finished, the skylark continued. She had noticed that Edric was nowhere to be seen, and assumed that he justifiably would rather not be in the company of a Calandra tirade. She also noticed the girl Criston was with, and almost felt sorry for the girl, who had tried to be friendly moments ago. Under other circumstances, the skylark would have responded in kind, but she was...occupied.

"Look at me, Criston. I am wearing a ball gown. In a ballroom. While I recognize that I may be the only one who wants to waltz to Strauss, it is insulting and degrading that you would subject this beautiful room and these beautiful people to such hideous low-brow music, and cut off Lily's favorite waltz in the process. Have you no decency? Have you no respect for others? And have you no care that this trash is what the new students are being welcomed with?"

"Actually, don't answer that. I already know the answer."

And with that, Carmen wheeled around and began to leave. "I'm going to find Maria. You're free to come along, dear," she said to Lily. Before she left, though, she pulled her trumpet from her back and to her lips, sending a powerful sound wave to the sound speakers, short-circuiting them. "Even silence is better than that drivel," she said to herself as she walked out the door.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, Mizuki chuckled and didn't know why.

Kathy’s not-quite-repressed smile widened against her will as she caught the shapeshifter’s familiar gesture. The complicated bitterness she had felt about Little Feather had all but faded to the background now. It was still there, but luckily the unexpected wave of relief kept any negative thoughts at bay. “Thank goodness.” She repeated. Seeing his text appear on her screen, Kathy’s fingers tightened around her phone as she fought the urge to hug the device to her chest. One, she decided that she was far too old to be making such obvious displays of joy. And two, she had no idea how she would explain herself to Crash to make her actions seem less… Awkward. “I’m glad. I’ll keep my number the same from now on too.”

She wondered if the delight she felt was being transmitted to Crash, or if she was the one being affected by his good mood. Either way, she noticed that they were both grinning from ear to ear as they walked down the hallway. ‘Keys..? Even though he didn’t chain his bike up?’ Something about the conversation seemed disjointed, but Kathy didn’t feel any need to question it. Even when she noticed that the keys he held up looked suspiciously like something that belonged to a vehicle that actually ran on an engine instead of just peddling. She felt happier than she had in years and she was subconsciously avoiding anything that could spoil the moment.

“O-Oh? Really, that’s… I hadn’t expected that.” Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide her surprise when she realized that Crash had been talking about a motorbike. A two-wheeled insurance nightmare associated with daredevils and fatal accidents. She actually paled when the shapeshifter explained himself; her ears zeroing in on the mention of a ‘few close shaves’. However… Looking at his face, she didn’t have the heart to voice her objections aloud. At the very least, not right away. She wondered if there was actually a way to ease into it… “Er, out of curiosity… Was there any particular reason why you got a motorbike? I don’t think you had it before, right?” Kathy tried to make the question sound like casual small talk, but was likely failing miserably from the strain that was making its way into her voice.

With a bit of guess work and pointing involved, they eventually reached the female dormitories. Stopping right in front of the door, Kathy hesitated to go inside. She wanted to say something, stall for time and talk a bit more, but knew that the sooner she went inside to get ready the sooner they could go join everyone at the party. ‘Stop being so silly Kathy,’ She scolded herself. “See you at the party Crash.” She awkwardly gave him a last-minute smile, having just remembered to do so after finishing her sentence. There was another slight pause before she opened the doors and began to step inside. Reaching out, she brushed his shoulders with her fingertips and added, “And thanks for walking me over here.” Feeling another blush ready to make an entrance, she turned away from him and hurried inside.

It wasn’t until Kathy found her dorm room and shut the door behind her that she realized that she hadn’t specified where she would meet him. “Ah!” Quickly drawing out her phone, she sent him a rather apologetic text asking if it would be alright to meet just outside the ballroom when he was ready.

Eric

He tried to turn when she asked but by the time his eyes reached the door, she'd already reached to unlock it. He turned to watch her, silently. He chuckled on the inside, his face stoic, as she knocked on the wood, as if asking permission to enter her own room. A small smirk did appear on his lips however, in the form of a small smile.

When she offered to make him tea, he silently resisted the urge to ask for some. She was probably already tired of his social awkwardness anyway. He shook his head and held up his hand as if to say, no thank you, before walking in the direction of his own room.

Where he stayed for a while before walking back to check on Andromeda again. He knew she was probably tired of him, but he wanted to check anyway. Make sure she had everything she needed and that she hadn't... well... fallen again. He lifted a hand and gentle knocked on the door, quietly at first but soon a bit louder.

---

Lily and Criston (And Ayane)

Cristion chuckled as Carmen went on her tirade, not really having any other way to react to it. Lily shook her head and chuckled, mostly at Criston.

Lily followed behind Carmen, quietly before deciding to speak up. "That last part was a bit uncalled for, don't you think?" Lily asked, a soft, yet knowing, smile on her face. "They'll just have to fix that later and you can't blame everyone over there for Criston's mistake, you know." She added before she began humming to herself softly the tune from before (the one Carmen had played obviously).

Criston, meanwhile, was trying to fix the sound system with his magic, but failing miserably and with every spell, he felt more and more tired.

He felt a soft tap on his shoulder and turned to see Ayane giving him a big smile. He lifted a brow as she knelt down next to him and produced a small shell. She placed it on the speaker and then motioned for his phone. Still very much confused, Criston handed her his phone. He watched curiously as she set the phone down next to it, waved her hands over the shell and music, that was much louder than before, played through the rather small shell.

Turning around, Ayane grinned with her hand politely behind her back. Criston grinned as well and for the first time, felt like he could like this small annoyance. He wrapped her in a hug and spun her around.

"You're a miracle worker, Ayane!" He shouted, laughing.

- Andromeda -

Andro managed not to frown when he shook his head, and as he turned to leave she waved weakly before stepping into her room and quietly shutting the door behind her. 'he was nice' a part of her chimed in, as she worked her way from the door to the couch, using furniture to try and make it as painless as possible. 'yeah...' she thought sadly, as she dropped down onto the couch with a huff.
she pulled her sunglasses off, dropping them onto the coffee table. she glanced at the door before rubbing her eyes. there were benefits to living alone. the day had practically just started but she was already exhausted. she laid down and dropped one arm over her eyes, already feeling herself slipping into unconsciousness.

as such, she was rather rudely awakened when someone knocked. she shot up, her snakes hissing rather loudly. she quickly shushed them and grabbed her glasses. "c-coming" she wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd fallen asleep, or how long the person had been knocking so she quickly pushed herself up to her feet, holding back a cry of pain as her ankle took some of her weight. she painstakingly picked her way back to the door and pulled it open.
it was Eric. she smiled "hey, um... what... did you... need something?" she cursed herself for her inability to speak people. "ummm what time... is it?" she asked quietly, blushing a little from embarrassment.

Jason dropped the phone as soon as Edric finished his sentence and was out the door as fast as he could, leaving behind a confused bartender who'd just been talking Jason out of his funk, trying anyway.

With stumbled steps, he made a beeline for the road, nearly getting hit when he tried to stop a cab.

His words were a furious slur, but somehow the driver managed to understand him and made way for the nearest ferry, nearly an hour out. Jason jittered in the car, speaking nonsense about some woman named April, cussing him out everytime he said he didn't know her.

Next, Jason stumbled his way onto the last ferry, nearly being kicked off if it weren't for the nice old lady that seemed to want to take care of him. For an hour, the drunken Jason listened to the old woman lecture about alcohol, not being able to get even so much as a word in edge wise, even drunk. In fact, her lecture almost sobered him up a bit, enough to start feeling the pain again.

The ferry docked in Oasari and Jason, now a bit more sober, caught another taxi to Athalia. As they rode, he pulled a flask from his inside pocket and began drinking again, quickly as if the liquid contained inside would save him.

Yet another hour later, and more angry screaming at the driver, Jason stumbled onto the campus, probably more drunk than he'd been at the bar in Elaniel. He stumbled for a few minutes before he found an opening. If he'd been sober, he'd have noticed it wasn't a door but a window and that he was crawling into some unsuspecting female's dorm room. When he finally rolled in, he got up, breaking a few things in the process, and opened the door to find a girl with snake hair and a boy staring at him.

"Gith me Abbbril!!"

Crash didn't catch on to just how happy Kathy was as his text came through, he was inwardly hoping she really meant her last comment...he'd already begun dedicating her digits to memory. He did however catch her surprise at hearing that he owned a motorbike, his smile shrunk back when he realised his justifications had caused the color to drain from her face.

Glancing off to the right he reached up to rub the back of neck "Actually I had one before...I didn't bring it with me when I came here. Mercy had it taken over to England for safe keeping. It's...sentimental. So I left it over there and got another one to travel on" he admitted, peering back at her.

"As for my reasoning...I like bikes" He shrugged "I like looking at them, repairing them and riding them" With that said he chewed the inside of his mouth and looked down at his shoes. "It's okay if you don't approve, I'd understand why" He assured her, his smile returned but it was tighter than usual. Somewhat strained.
"How did you get around when you travelled?"

He hadn't expected the walk to her dorm room to be as short as it was...though he only realised this once they were stood outside. He glanced at the door as disappointment settled in the pit of his stomach flitting through a plethora of ways to stall for time. Unfortunately nothing seemed to stick, if anything the ideas were becoming increasingly absurd...'Wait, you can't go in there yet...in case the flying monkeys haven't finished cleaning...they can get real nasty if they're disturbed' not to mention ridiculous.

Puffing out his cheeks Crash opened his mouth to say something, cutting himself off as Kathy spoke first, he nodded his head and planted the most enthusiastic smile he could muster on his face. It gave way to surprise as Kathy reached out towards him, a simple brush of her fingertips and his face started to heat up again. "Y-you're welcome" He stuttered out as she turned away and hurried inside.

His hand shot up to rub the back of his neck as he took a moment to gather himself, which took him all of a second before his smile returned and he calmly walked away from her door...'I should have said it then' He thought to himself glumly. He'd wanted to say it. But he'd missed his chance to.

Whilst he tried to remember his way back, he absently tugged his phone back out of his pocket to read Kathy's message. 'Outside the ballroom?' He mused, rubbing his head as he rounded the corner 'The party...the party!' Instinctively he slapped his hand to his head...stupidly using the one holding his phone.

"Ow! Ah! Granny-Norma-that-hurt!" he exclaimed, peeling the screen off of his forehead and rubbing at the red mark it had left. Giving the phone his best Why-I-Oughta' glare, a sent message flashed across the screen.

"Huh? Say what now?" Continuing on down the hall, Crash clicked back to see what had happened and almost choked on the air.

His forehead slap had sent Kathy a ';)' face as a response to her text...blinking down at the screen, he debated whether to quickly send her another text or not 'How would that even work?!...hey, funny story, I slapped my forehead with my phone and it sent you that'

He bit his lip and turned back the way he'd come, then back the way he was going unsure whether he should go back and explain what had happened or wait until he met her outside the ballroom.

Crash held his phone at arms length, deflated with a drawn out sigh and ran a hand down his face, 'Okay, you're overreacting...'

"...It's just an emoji" He told himself, standing straight he glanced around him to make sure nobody had seen his outburst before he continued on down the corridor.

@Theobromine _{(or today, my internet hates me)}

Aurelia

After following around Rain for a bit, Aurelia decided that she was the only person she could rely on alongside Ara, mostly due to her lack of awareness of her surroundings. There were quite a lot of people, some of them looking particularly intimidating despite being either pretty or handsome. She had seen parties before, though never did she observe the way humans enjoyed themselves.

And some were acting a bit... odd. Such as the odd person yelling not too far away from them.

Her eyes darting around the place, she silently followed Rain while maintaining a smaller distance than before.

Criston and Ayane

As Criston went to wrap his arms around Ayane, she jerked her hands up and from them a glowing bluegreen light poured that surrounded Criston.

In the blink of an eye, Criston was being flung across the room, headed in the direction of an unsuspecting Ryuu. Ayane watched in horror at what she'd just done, looking down at her hands with her eyes wide and filled with fear.

Carmen sighed. She was far past the point of raising her voice and was currently in the business of forgetting the whole thing. Of course, if there was anyone she wanted to talk to about the scene she had just made, it would be Lily.

"I hardly blamed everyone," the skylark replied, beginning to walk aimlessly as her mind decided it was too much effort to find Maria and explain everything to her only to have her probably just shrug. "The blame is squarely on Criston's shoulders. Did you see how rude he was? He had the DJ cut off the music that fit the scene so well and that I lovingly compiled for the event without so much as asking...in the middle of a piece. Then he strutted over with the most smug look on his face, like he was happy he cut me off. And then...and then! Did you hear how conceited he was with his little 'explanation'? It was...it was revolting."

The exasperated woman sighed again.

"And as if all of that wasn't bad enough, he replaced the waltzes with the most putrid excuse for music I've heard in a long time," she huffed. "His actions, his demeanor, and the drivel he put on that sound system wasn't just something I had an issue with. It was disrespectful and frankly insulting to not only me, but you, that room, everyone else there, and the Academy as a whole. And, well...I can't not speak up when something like that happens. You know me, Lily...I can't help it. If someone's going to try to desecrate the Academy like that, I'm going to make a scene. It's something I'm good at."

There was a pause, before another outburst suddenly broke it.

"And in front of all of those new students as well! What kind of image is he trying to portray to them?! Of here, of us? I care about you and everyone else and the Academy too much to let that happen."

There was another pause, before the skylark continued in a more relaxed voice.

"Forgive me if I made you uncomfortable...I really am sorry. But I couldn't just stand and let that slide."

At that moment the speakers in the ballroom cut back in even louder than they were before. The strawberry blonde-haired woman stopped, frozen in her tracks, her face wearing an expression that seemed to say "I'm about 3 seconds from snapping and going truly insane."

"Lily, I'm about 3 seconds from snapping and going truly insane. Please help me to not do that," she said strongly yet quietly.

Standing in a doorway wasn't the smartest move, unless one needed to make a quick exit. Rain was in two minds as to whether she did or not, for one thing she hadn't a clue what she'd walked into and another was she didn't possess the tools to deal with it. She could wear the dress but she wasn't sure she could walk the walk. Folding an arm under her chest, she lifted her other hand up to her face, pressing her index finger against her lower lip as she took in the scene before her. Turning her head to glance at Aurelia to see how she was doing...she was clearly nervous, the dwindling gap between them made it easier for Rain to sense it.

The yelling seemed to especially set her on edge...it had quite the opposite effect on Rain. Subconsciously perking up, her eyes focused on the small group of people off to the side of them. Two of which she remembered seeing at the assembly, the other two she couldn't place. Simply observing seemed like the best thing to do at that moment, especially when Carmen was in the middle of having, what could only be described as the most elegant tantrum Rain had seen, about the music being changed.

Trying very hard not to smile at Carmen's display, the werewolf was forced to hide her disobedient mouth behind her hand as she swiftly stepped aside to allow the skylark to breeze past her and out the door with Lily in tow. "...Wow" Was the only word, Rain felt safe uttering aloud 'Be still my beating heart'

"That was quite...something" She added with a shake of her head as she glanced around at Aurelia.

"I'm guessing the aim of the game here is to talk to people...do you know anyone else here?" She asked, deciding it was probably the best way forward for the time being. "We could go find them, from what I can see you'll be perfectly safe here as long as you don't touch the music" She assured the dark haired girl.

"Everyone seems really...placid" It was passing comment that was timely proven false as the most peculiar thing happened. As Ayane suddenly flung Criston, like a rag doll, across the room at Ryuu. It was so unexpected that Rain's arm flinched out in an attempt to shield Aurelia...from what she couldn't tell you, it just kind of happened. "...spoke too soon" She murmured.

Rain was used to being in a 'charged' environment, the chilled atmosphere of the academy was completely unfamiliar to her, so much so that the slightest hint of familiarity seemed to evoke an immediate reaction within her. The human canonball event, was just enough to send a burst of adrenaline through her veins and wet her appetite for violence. For the most part she kept that nugget of information under her belt, but her eyes did change color as they followed Criston's flight across the room.

"I was starting to think humans were dull...no offense....But that's not something you see everyday...right?" She asked Aurelia, for lack of a better thing to say or do.