“Oh, I never realized…” Kathy awkwardly looked off to the side as she felt Crash’s eyes on her. A large part of her was begging her to just drop her worries and develop a sudden interest towards bikes. Even if it was just to put an end to the strained atmosphere between them. She peeked at Crash as he continued talking, taking in his nervous posture and expression. It felt worse when he tried to reassure her; he was putting in such effort to put her at ease when she was the one that had put them in such a tough spot. She was still at a loss as to what to do when he asked,

"How did you get around when you travelled?"

She hesitated, but just for a moment. “I walked. I did need to travel by plane or bus to cross borders, but otherwise I went around on my own two feet.” Kathy fiddled around with a lock of hair before tucking it back behind her ear. “To be honest, I don’t like vehicles all that much. Cars, ships, even bicycles…” She looked up at Crash with a nervous smile on her face. “It’s not as bad as fearing them, but see… It feels unsettling when I’m on a vehicle because I can’t really use my ability on one. With my ability, I always feel so balanced and sure of my footing, no matter how uneven or tilted the ground is. But that doesn’t help with driving cars or riding a bike.”

“So what I’m trying to say is… I do feel a bit envious that you’re able to ride a bike properly. I’m not sure I’d be able to.” Giving a laugh she added, “Although I do still think they’re dangerous. But if you’ve had one all along maybe it’s not as bad as I always thought they were.” Kathy was watching Crash’s reaction carefully, wondering how he would react to what she had admitted so far.

Back in her room, Kathy walked over to the foot of the bed where she had two travel cases waiting for her and began to dump the contents out onto the floor when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. Having a fairly good guess of who it was, she took the phone out with a smile and… Re-read the short message twice after triple-checking the number of the sender. ‘He… Got my message and sent me a winking face?’ She knew that she should’ve been getting ready for the party, but Kathy was so confused by the message that she actually stopped to sit down on the bed with her phone still held out in front of her. ‘Isn’t a winking face the sort of emoticon you reserve for… Flirting? Or a clever joke? Or…. Flirting..? Crash?’ A number of different possibilities and explanations went through her head- though alas, not of them being the correct guess that he had somehow written that message with a phone-slap to the head- as her face showed a variety of different emotions depending on what her guess was at the moment.

By the time she decided not to overthink things, her brain felt short-circuited from all the blood and heat rushing to her face. “The party… I should really get ready for the party.” She mumbled, going back to the pile of clothes she had left on the floor. Much to Kathy’s dismay, she hadn’t really thought to prepare for the party despite looking forward to it and ended up picking up a simple green dress. It wasn’t a bad dress, she rather liked it and had often worn it outside during warmer weather, but she had been hoping to wear something extra special to impress… Feeling silly and really embarrassed again, she stopped mulling over things that were too late to change and got changed. After smoothing her hair out once in the bathroom, Kathy got to the ballroom rather quickly and waited just outside of its doors for Crash.

As she leaned against the walls and looked down at her feet, she realized why she had made such good time. She had completely forgotten to change her shoes and ended up coming out in the same casual shoes she’d been wearing all day. ‘Do I have time to go back to change into heels? But then I might keep Crash waiting…’ Sighing, she shook her head and settled back against the wall. She was really no good at this. She wanted to show the better parts of herself in front of Crash, but she always ended up getting muddled and nervous when he was involved.

Kathy's momentary hesitation left Crash wondering whether he should have just gone down the bicycle route once he'd realised the mix up...lying wasn't something he did easily but seeing how awkward it had become between them, hindsight told him it would have been the easier path. Her explanation was unexpected, pleasantly so. The nervous smile was enough to trigger one of his own, though his ended up stranded between reassurance and surprise. He remained quiet throughout the entirety of Kathy's speech, looking ahead as they walked with a thoughtful look on his face. When she had finished he was silent for a moment longer before he exhaled and relaxed. The edge of his mouth lifted into a relieved-but-amused smile, crinkles appeared at the edge of his visible eye and it's ruby depths came alive with warmth.

"Thank you" He responded, turning his head to look at her, half expecting to be met with confusion. "For explaining instead of just...judging"

His hand sought out the back of his neck as he continued "It's completely understandable...I mean, not completely, I'm not you...and having balance is a foreign concept to me" His smile grew into a grin "But I can understand where you're coming from on that. And even though I hate to admit it you are right, they're dangerous..."

"...a fraction more dangerous than other vehicles" He just couldn't but slide that in and accompany it with a mischievous smile "Don't be envious, not even a bit. You could do it if you put your mind to it..."

"Thinking on it, I'm a little jealous of you after hearing that" He teased "Walking everywhere must have lead you to a lot of interesting places" Places motorists were more likely to miss in the blur of landscape caught in their peripheral vision or brief glances.



After the text fumble, the time in which Crash had to get ready had dwindled significantly. So instead of moving his bike, he'd used peregrine falcon speed to get him back to his place just outside of the academy. He'd changed as quickly as possible but even moving at sanic sonic speed didn't seem to help. By the time Kathy left her room he was only halfway into his return flight.

The wind slid effortlessly through his feathers as he flapped his wings and soared above the clouds to angle himself for a dive. Tucking his wings close to his side, he dipped his head and plummeted down towards the town below, swooping across the rooftops and into the Academy's courtyard at an impressive speed. Opening his wings to steady himself, he flew towards the main building in search of a quick entrance, which turned out to be a large window on one of the ground floor(?) corridors. He'd used it to get outside after the text fiasco, to save him some time rather than running the risk of getting lost...it was a risk for him, even the most simplistic floor plans could confuse him...his brain worked in the most bizarre way.

Pulling his wings in tight and turning onto his side, Crash slid through the gap and into the hallway beyond it...straight into the wall opposite in fact. Bouncing back from the hard surface, he shook his head and took off down the corridor with minor difficulty, his wingspan was nearly as wide as the corridor itself, bordering 119 cm with the corridor being roughly a cm or two bigger. In hind sight he should have shifted back before attempting the journey...but that was the not so glorious thing about hindsight. It was poor judgement on his part. In his head changing into another animal required more energy than he felt he had and wings were faster than legs. Luckily for him the corridor he'd gone into was a straight line away from the ballroom, carefully gliding over a few of the other student's heads, he caught sight of a familiar person leant against the wall.

Unfortunately, what should have been a graceful entrance...with Crash sailing in, landing perfectly on his feet and waltzing over to Kathy...ended up being a crash landing. At the sight of Kathy, Crash's sense of awareness went from okay to non-existent...and he all but forgot that he wasn't floating on air but was supposed to be flying. He ended up sailing straight past her and onto a collision path with a dangling light fixture a few feet away.

The series of events that followed could only be described as a classic Crashisode. When his wing connected with the light fixture, he released an ungainly squawk and spun off to the side, only to then bounce off of a display cabinet and slam beak first into the floor, with enough momentum to roll on a few yards in a mass of red and cream feathers, until he promptly shifted back in a burst of purple smoke. As the smoke cleared, it revealed a slightly dishevelled looking Crash, standing upright and brushing himself down.

Looking up at Kathy, he gave her a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck "Falcon, best way to travel....though the landing could use a little work" he joked, flushing with embarrassment. 'At least I didn't splat against the wall this time' Thinking on it though, splatting against the wall might have been an easier one to recover from...

All in all, apart from being a little ruffled by the landing, Crash and his attire had come out of the episode unharmed. He was wearing a smart pair of dark blue jeans coupled with black brogues. On his torso he wore a black slim fit blazer with a smart button up shirt underneath*...hopefully pulling off a smart-casual look. He figured that if he hadn't he'd soon be set straight, be it by the worlds most fashionable skylark or a fellow student.

He'd even managed to put in a little extra effort to mask the bandana around his neck, changing it's shape to that of black lace necklace around the nape of his neck with a World Triad resting just below his collar bone. He'd been unable to lose the eye patch though, not from lack of trying, trying to glamour it was a massive undertaking and the slightest blip in his concentration could have undone it. He wasn't willing to risk that happening.

Adjusting one the sleeves of his blaze, Crash walked over to where Kathy was, taking in her appearance as he did...finding that he didn't need to be fashion savvy to realise how well her dress suited her. The corner of his mouth twitched up of it's on accord as his eyes briefly rested on her shoes before he returned his attention to her face.

"Sorry, I-I didn't keep you waiting long did I?" He asked, nervously gripping the inner edges of his blazer to straighten it out. He hadn't been nervous before, but now that he was stood in front of her, a fluttering feeling had invaded his chest, causing his heart to beat faster and a fizzle to settle in his belly.

"You look amazing" He murmured, touching the back of his neck as color seeped into the tops of his cheeks 'Really Crash? That's the best you've got...' With that thought in his mind he glanced towards the ballroom doors, before extending his arm towards them.

"Shall we...?"

(* Something like this)

@Theobromine

Not one to betray Crash’s expectations, Kathy’s head tilted to the side in puzzlement. She had hoped for a positive response (though she had also prepared in part for a negative one), but a thank you had been rather unexpected. ‘He looks a lot more relaxed now.’ She thought, and released a breath in relief. ‘And good thing that I wasn’t too hasty…’ During the moment of silence she had, once again, been tempted to do a 180 turn on her opinions and come to a rather untrue epiphany about how great bikes were… But luckily for both of them Crash had managed to slide his response in before she made any hasty decisions.

Kathy laughed, “Hm. Maybe I’ll start with a car license before attempting to travel on less wheels. I believe they’re a fraction safer in comparison.” She gave a thoughtful hum before responding to his last sentence. “It is quite interesting to… ‘Walk the road less travelled’, as some might say. Though I really admit that walking on and on are excellent ways to get blisters and sunburned.”

Growing quite comfortable in her spot against the wall, Kathy entered an interesting balance between feeling patient and anxious all at once. On one hand, just standing back and watching the students walk through the halls felt quite calming. There was a certain happy buzz that everyone seemed to have and it seemed to be infectious. But then every time she saw a flash of red, even for something like a red dress or a flower pinned to someone’s short, her heart jumped up with excitement. Then of course, she realized what she was really looking at and her heart dropped back to its ideal rhythm. The abnormally-colored falcon was no exception to this pattern… Except that this time she recognized the now-bird as the person she’d been waiting for so her pulse continued to rise.

First, a smile broke out onto her face as she recognized Crash. Her expression quickly changed with a wince as the shapeshifter bumped the light and fell in a rather YouTube-worthy fashion. Not wanting to miss such action on the first day of school, several students had stopped in the walls and watched curiously as the rolling mass of feathers changed into a young man. Though now that they could see him get up unharmed, they seemed to have lost all interest in continuing to spectate. Kathy, on the other hand, continued to focus her undivided attention to him. “Well, in your defense and as something to frown upon, you were trying to fly through a hallway full of people. I’ll bet you do a much better job outdoors.” She pointed out, unable to keep the corners of her mouth from lifting up with amusement.

Stepping away from the wall, she stood in front of Crash and tried not to make it too obvious that her eyes were moving up and down to try to take in as much of his appearance as possible. “Hm?” And actually, she almost missed his question entirely because of how distracted she was. It took her brain a moment to rewind and make sense of his words before she could respond. “A-Ah, no! Not at all. I haven’t waited long… At all.” Her face became red from both her pathetic sentence, and the worry that Crash would notice how she had been… Well, checking him out.

While Crash wasn’t happy with his compliment, Kathy obviously was. Under her super red cheeks, a wide smile appeared on her face as she beamed up at him. “Thank you. I…” Then she looked down at her shoes and laughed, “I thought that wearing a glass slipper might have been too clichéd. That, and I didn’t want to run away at midnight if the party goes on for longer than that.” Nodding, she also moved towards the ballroom doors. She paused after just a few steps though and looked up at Crash. ‘It’s going to be crowded… It’s not a bad request…’ She fiddled with her hands as she warred with the ideal of holding onto Crash’s wrist or asking to hold hands… Apparently she still needed a bit more time to replenish her courage because in the end she simply said, ”Yeah. Let’s go.” And waited for Crash to join her before going inside.

@FaithsRose

---

This was bad. This was very bad. He wanted to kill B for the thousandth time, but there was a much more pressing and dangerous issue that he had to deal with first.

Ara had to figure out how to escape from the women’s washroom. Ideally, undetected.

B, being the evil witch that she was, had decided to switch places in the women’s washroom. Before he could really get a good bearing of where she was, she had just casually placed her hand on the mirror and invited him to switch places. And of course he’d taken the chance to do so! Who wouldn’t have? It got incredibly boring just floating around in the ambiguous space they shared and called the Fractal World, and he’d been itching to roam around the academy for quite some time.

… He was going to kill her.

Luckily for him, they shared all of their memories the instant they made the switch so he had a fairly good idea of where he was in the building and which hallway he needed to run down in his desperate escape… But unfortunately for him, the washroom was heavily populated. And actually, he had a very heavy suspicion that there was a line forming. It likely had to do with the fact that B had been very careful to select the closest washroom possible to the ballroom.

In hindsight, he really should have just run out the minute they switched. The washroom had, miraculously, been empty at the time but he had made a hasty retreat into one of the stalls when he realized where he was. And, more importantly, he had heard a group of girls approaching. He really should have just apologized and left. As embarrassing as that would have been, he could have easily muttered a quick apology about entering the wrong washroom and not be judged for it.

Well… He doubted that the girls outside would look kindly upon a man that was hiding in the stall of a washroom that was supposed to be a complete forbidden territory for his half of the population. And really, at this point, he would probably need to count himself lucky if all they did was scream at him for being a pervert. Ara had a sinking feeling that a number of the girls actually in the washroom, and probably more waiting in the line outside, had deadly abilities that they would not hesitate to use on him. This was no longer just a matter of his pride and dignity (what he had left of them anyway), his life truly was in imminent danger.

This was bad. This was very bad.

- Andromeda -

Andro cried out in shock as some random man stumbled in through her bathroom door, breaking several of her possesions in the process. she tried stepping back and lost her balance, falling into Eric. she instinctively clung to him, mainly to keep herself from falling over but also because she was a little scared. "Gith me Abbbril!!"
Andro yelped and clung a little closer to Eric "Who... Who are you?" her snakes hissed angrily at the intruder as she tried to make herself seem as small as possible. she looked up at Eric then back at the man, she had no idea what was going on and she was a little scared.

Eric was about as frightened as Andro was. His eyes went wide and his body stiffened. So much so that when Andro clung to him, he barely moved.

Random man...

Dark room...

Memories surfaced of a dark room with a strange man and frightening machines.

Turning as quickly as he could, Eric bolted. He ran as fast as he could as far as he could for as long as he could before he finally realized he was at the gate to the campus, several students staring at him.

---

Jason heard the yelp from Andro, and it started to sober him up but the snakes hissing really brought him back.

He blinked and stated at the girl and nearly jumped when the boy suddenly bolted. "Uh... I'm lookin' for April..." he told her, the snake girl he could barely see, his speech still slightly slurred.

It was a bit odd for a girl to have such a fascination with snakes, so much so as to put them on her head...

- Andromeda -

Andro nearly fell over when Eric bolted. she nervously looked back at the intruder. her snakes hissed again, and she didn't bother trying to shush them. "Uh... I'm lookin' for April..."
"I... I don't know... I don't know who that is" Andro said, looking around. "I uh... I can't help... I'm... I'm sorry"
she shook and took a step away, stumbling slightly as her ankle protested. she grabbed a table by the door to keep her up and stared at the intruder. "who... who are you?"
'this is an awful day' she thought 'and Eric just left me!'

A hunk was thrown at Ryuu.

Not a pretty girl, not a pretty midget, not a manga, but a hunk. Out of all things to happen in the party, the man whose surname just happened to be shared with the principal of the school was thrown at Ryuu.

By who, Ryuu did not know. He was too busy trying to look like a badass. He threw all of that out the window as soon as Criston collided with him. As he was (technically) swatted against the floor, a vein popped in his head.

"...Who..."

His eyes lighting up, the teacher pushed Criston off of him as he bolted up, letting a miniature Gundam helmet- his luckiest of charms- drop out of his pocket as he roared,

"WHOEVER DID THAT, KNOCK IT OFF! GAWSH HILLIBULLET DARN IT!"

And yes, Ryuu was not intoxicated with alcohol. He was intoxicated in anger, though.

Meanwhile, Aurelia flinched as she hid behind Rain. She nodded quietly at Rain's questions- because from what she knew, people usually did not throw each other across tables even in certain crazy parties.

Lily

Lily smiled, listening to her wife complain about Criston. She wasn't wrong, but Lily still didn't want her to be mad at Criston. He was just being... well.. Criston.

She wanted to add something, but Carmen quickly continued, soundly more and more insulted by it all as she went on. To Carmen this was a matter of pride and justice. She felt deeply wronged and Lily understood that. She'd have to have a chat with Criston later and get him to try and apologize, even if it were a lost cause, they'd just find something else to one-sidedly fight about.

The next outburst was so loud, Lily's eyes went wide. She didn't really feel like right now would be the best time to tell Carmen that not everyone really... cared. Lily sighed, smiling at Carmen as if smiling at a child throwing a temper tantrum.

She shook her head as Carmen relaxed and apologized. "It's fi-" Just as she did, the music cut back on and Lily could literally feel Carmen stiffen and stretch with tension.

She thought for a moment how best to handle this.

She could push her along and get her to go back to their room and sleep it off.

They could 'sleep' it off.

She could kiss Carmen and give her such a shock that Carmen would forget about the whole thing. Actually, no. That wouldn't work...

Lily sighed and thought about Carmen had told her once.

"Nothing's better at relaxing you than a nice glass of wine, Lily."

Nevermind the fact that the Skylark was trying to get Lily drunk, but all the same.

"Carmen..." She began, walking up to face Carmen with a smile. She put her hands on her shoulder and let a warm wash overcome Carmen, suctioning off some of the tension in her muscles. "Besides my uncanny ability to relax anyone at all, I've heard that wine has similar properties. Why don't we go back... and get so drunk that the music doesn't bother us anymore. Besides, eventually everyone will get tired of that horrendous music and demand that Carmen Calandra play for them." She explained, leaning in close to Carmen. "I know that I for one already wish for a original Carmen piece myself." She added, winking at her.

---

Jason

He let out a frustrated sigh and walked closer to the snake girl. "You must know her. My son told me she was here and I came as fast as I could. She is fairly tall, skinny, with thin, soft black hair. Please." He explained, pleading with her. He completely ignored her question about his identity. He was fully focused on finding his wife.

He stepped a bit closer again and put his hands on her shoulders, his eyes pleading with her when he realized she was wearing sunglasses. "What? Why are you wearing shades?" He asked, stumbling back, still buzzed.

---

Ayane flinched at the scream of the man she'd thrown Criston into but was more concerned with how he was, so far he hadn't gotten up from where he was flung by the man. She rushed over in a hurry, her dress hindering a longer pace. Halfway over there, she bent down and used her nail to cut the dress so that she could run. (Her nails extend and retract at will, cool mermaid stuff, right?)

She slide to a stop on her knees at Criston, rolling him over. It had almost looked like he was crying but as he was rolled over, the room could see that Criston Cross was laughing his ass off. Her eyes narrowed in confusion and she desperately wanted to ask if he was okay, but was unable. Her brows furrowed as she stared down at him.

Criston kept laughing and slowly, slowly the laughter faded into a small chuckle and a warm smile. "Sorry, Ryuu. I guess Ayane doesn't know her own strength." He told Ryuu, promptly sending him into another fit of laughter. Nevermind the fact that his side hurt like hell from smashing into a wall like Ryuu. Such a small girl like Ayane had flung a man like him into a man like Ryuu. It was actually very humorous. He sat up into a seated position and smiled at Ryuu. "I suppose this as a good a time as any to ask how you are. So... How you doin' Ryuu?" He asked, chuckling.

All the while, Ayane was looking confusedly at Ryuu and then Criston and then Ryuu, as if trying to check if this was normal behavior for the white haired warlock.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit

His father had hung up. Edric had no doubt in his mind that he'd immediately make his way to Athalia. If he really tried, he could make it up in a matter of hours. Coincidentally, Edric had been scouring the school for an hour or two.

"Jason?" He said, poking his head into an empty storage closet.

He had sprinted back into the ballroom. A quick scan led him to believe that his father wasn't there. He figured a drunken adult stumbling into the ballroom and yelling for his wife would create more of a scene. He ran to the dorms.

"Jason!" He yelled, running through dorm halls. Speaking of, where the hell was his room? He was fairly sure he'd been given a key. He shook that thought aside. Finally, he skidded to a halt outside a door that was ajar.

"...wearing shades?".

Edric cocked an eyebrow. That was his father's voice, but he could not think of a feasible reason for Jason Karst to be inquiring about someone's sunglasses while on a drunken search for his wife.

"Maybe he's sober.

Fat chance of that, Eddy.

He sighed. Azamor had a point. He took a deep breath and walked into the room. There was his father, as well as a girl with snakes in her hair.

Uh...

She's a gorgon.

Thank you, Aza. Knowing why the girl has snakes in her hair completely alleviates the strangeness of this situation.

Sarcasm? Wonderful, I really am a bad influence.

Edric shook his head. He walked over to his father, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Dad. Dad, her name is Lily now. You dropped the phone before I could tell you." He took a shaky breath, steeling himself for Jason's reaction. "She's suffering from some sort of amnesia. She doesn't remember us." He didn't have the heart to tell him that she also seemed romantically involved with a Skylark. That would certainly be an interesting conversation, but it would probably be best saved for later. He turned to the gorgon, mouthing the words I'm sorry.

- Andromeda -

Andro did not recognize the woman he described. it could be anyone "no.. i-i don't..." she muttered, pressing herself closer to the table she was using to keep herself standing. "i don't know who that is, i'm sorry!" she cried. then he brought up her sunglasses and she just got more confused "i uh... that is to say..."

then someone else came through the door and she nearly jumped out of her skin. her snakes went from quiet hissing to full on aggressive, and Andromeda paled more then ever. after a second she recognized the new-comer as he spoke to the intruder, calling him 'dad', he was one of the other students, they didn't really know each other but she'd seen him before. Andro's knuckles were turning white from her grip on the table and she felt like she should just leave. there was nothing in her dorm room worth the anxiety she was currently feeling, btu she also wasn't entirely sure she could make it out of the dorm without falling over and that would just make things worse. then Edric mentioned Lily. 'that's who he was talking about? but that description doesn't fit her...'
Edric mouthed his apologies and Andro just nodded slightly, mentally telling the snakes to chill out. their hissing quieted but did not disappear completely.

Crash hadn't been aware of the people staring at him as he'd shifted back, they'd blended into faceless props, as soon as he'd caught sight of Kathy. His face split into a wide grin at her comment, though he resisted the urge to touch the back of his neck, just. "Heh, I'll admit it, err, wasn't my best move...it was meant to be a little more impressive than that" He admitted, his hand lifting up towards his neck though at the last minute he looped his finger into his necklace, running it along the string until it touched the triad before dropping his hand again.

As a rule of thumb the red haired man wasn't the most perceptive individual around...unfortunately for Kathy, when he was around her this rule seemed to bend. 'Was she just...No, I must have something on me, somewhere...did I scuff my trousers?' Resisting the urge to look, he cleared his throat and glanced down at his own feet, a coy smile on his face "Good" He responded, seeing as he couldn't see any damage to clothing, the shapeshifter came to the conclusion that Kathy had been checking him over for injury, rather than checking him out. It was the only rational explanation...right?

With that 'rational' thought seated in his mind, rather than the realistic one, Crash felt a little more confident with his compliment after watching Kathy's reaction. With a chuckle of his own Crash looked down at Kathy's shoes again, moving over to the ballroom as she did "You definitely made the right choice then" He grinned '...smooth...I'm so out of practice. A social party is a terrible idea...fate, I'll do whatever you want tomorrow just please let this go right tonight' He was so busy worrying, that he almost didn't notice Kathy had stopped to look up at him. Suddenly feeling even more self conscious than before, Crash lifted his hand up to his neck and raised his eyebrow questioningly at her "Everything...okay?" He asked, not entirely sure what it was she seemed conflicted about. Though he decided against reading too much into it as she gave him a simple answer and waited for him before heading into the ballroom.

Once inside, Crash felt a small wave of anxiety pass through him. There had been quite a few people outside but he'd barely noticed them once he'd caught sight of Kathy. Inside the ballroom was a different matter, there were a lot of people in here, almost all of whom he didn't recognise and most probably hadn't met before. The last time he'd been around this many people had been just over six months ago...with this in mind, Crash subconsciously edged a little closer to Kathy, brushing his hand against hers as he lifted the hand furthest from her and tugged at the collar of his shirt before touching the patch covering his eye, drawing his fingers through his fringe in an attempt to hide it better. Taking a deep breath, the shapeshifter glanced down at Kathy and tried to smile but the corner of his visible eye was unnaturally tense.

Looking back up at the dance floor, he lifted up onto his tip toes and caught sight of a few familiar faces. Ryuu and Criston were on the far side of the ballroom, across a sea of unfamiliar faces and next to the speakers. Unsure whether Kathy would have seen, Crash turned back to her and leant down so he could say "Ryuu and Criston are on the far side, I can't see anyone else yet. But did you want to go over to them?" He asked, trying not to raise his voice too loud but conscious of the fact she might not be able to hear him. He'd hoped that they'd be able to talk a little more, but with so many people in the room, his confidence had plummeted quite spectacularly and being near other people he knew, seemed like a safe move.

Torn between wanting to spend more time with Kathy...alone and his invented idea of 'safety' with the other Athalians, Crash ended up standing there like a lemon. In an attempt to explain himself, he bashfully added "It's been a while since I've been...to a party"

@Theobromine

‘Ah… Did he catch all that?’ She inwardly groaned. With Crash’s question just before they entered the ballroom, she knew that her strange actions were not nearly as invisible as she had hoped they were. Stepping inside, they were instantly greeted with loud music and social chatter. Kathy had started to scan the crowd for any other familiar faces, but a light touch on her hand made her look up at Crash again. She had momentarily wondered if it was a sign to hold his hand… Until she saw the shapeshifter fiddle around with his attire. ‘Too bad it was just an accident… Though more importantly, is he feeling self-conscious about his eye?’

The smile did little to reassure her that he was fine, and really it ended up having the reverse of the intended effect. Frowning, she tried to recall if Crash had been this nervous at the previous party but her memory failed her. She opened her mouth to say something that would, ideally, lift his spirits again only to find her head blanking out as he leaned over to speak to her. Plus, she’d lost the timing now that he asked her a question.

“I…” Kathy hesitated to answer. On one hand, she did want to greet Ryuu and Criston. It had been far too long since she had last seen them, and they were people she had dearly missed. However… She had missed Crash most of all. It did make her feel guilty at times to have such favouritism for one individual, but it was an undeniable fact that she had longed to see him more than anyone else. Running her fingers through her hair, she tried to weight the pros and cons of the two choices in front of her. “It’s been a while for me as well.” Putting a smile back on her face she continued, “Let’s just go for a quick greeting. And then we can… Dance?” Apparently she was a lot greedier than people gave her credit for; she wanted the best of both choices.

Lifting the hand closer to Crash, Kathy gently placed her fingers over his wrist before sliding down to actually clasp his hand in hers. Tip-toeing slightly she whispered right next to his ear, “You can pull your hand back if you’d like, but I’d be greatly offended.” It had been quite a smooth delivery and execution on her part… But as soon as she took a step away, a fierce red blush was quickly spreading from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears. Pretending that she couldn’t feel her face burning up, she pointed in the direction she had seen Crash facing last. “This way?” Unless he decided to interrupt with a different plan, she led the way through the crowd towards where Ryuu and Criston supposedly were. She purposely avoided the centre of the room where it was the most crowded, taking a round-about way to them with her hand still holding onto Crash’s if he allowed her to.

Jason

At the sound of his son's voice and the tab on his shoulder, Jason wheeled around, which was probably a bad move on his part because now he was losing his balance and the room was spinning. He steadied himself on a nearby table after teetering for a few seconds.

"Edric!" He shouted, a half smile on his face now, the lady's sunglasses now irrelevant to him. As Edric spoke, Jason's manners changed. His smile faded and he stopped moving around so much and he had to fight the urge to fall to the ground in a giant man-heap. "Lily? But... April wouldn't need to change her name, would she? Why would she change her name, Edric?" He completely glossed over the 'amnesia' bit, more concerned over the fact that it seemed his wife really was trying to hide from him.

Part of him was just glad she was alive, but another part of him, the selfish part of him, felt betrayed. It felt like his heart was ready to stop beating at any moment, as if everything was slowing down around him. But at the tip of all of those emotions, was the relief that at least she was alive.

Suddenly, Jason remembered the sunglasses girl. He turned to her, his heart still hurting but the pain had seemed to sober him up quite a bit. "I'm terribly sorry about this, Miss. We'll... We'll just be on our way." He told her, suddenly grabbing Edric and walking out. "You have to help me find her, Edric. Even if it's just seeing her, I'll know." He explained, speaking to his son as they walked down the hall.

@Animelover_princess@Nevix

Ryuu took a deep breath.

Before he relieved himself from going nuts any further. He was in a party full of people. Old friends and new faces. It was a time of celebration, not a time of brawling like a kid. Okay, maybe he fought in a fashion that was way more straightforward than a "kid," but Criston was a good guy. Even an idiot like him (who somehow became a Math teacher) knew that much.

"Nothing much, but that's just my opinion," the short-haired man grumbled. "Still got a bunch of crap to finish before I could sit on a couch with no worries."

The last part was a lie. Anyone who knew Ryuu well enough knew that he was lightning fast at finishing his work, and for one simple reason.

Anime.

I'm such a freaking stud, the otaku thought to himself.

"Aside from work, though, got nothing much under my belt. What were you up to, anyway?"

Ryuu raised an eyebrow as he turned to Criston, still slightly aggravated that someone just had to throw the pile of man juice at him. He then glanced at the woman next to Criston, who he almost considered to be smoking hot had it not been the case for literally any other mature woman at the academy.

"...And who's this again?" He muttered, staring at Ayane with a rather incredulous and confused look.

_@HylianRose

Criston and Ayane

"Ahhh... Now that, that is an interesting story. You see here, Ryuu, it all started with a certain Skylark." He told him, lowering his voice in case she happened to be within ear shot, as she almost always was.

Ayane was still confused and now had a rather large looking at her weirdly. She squirmed under his gaze, suddenly realizing every small detail she hated about her body, including the small shimmers of scales that appeared on her shoulders when she's nervous.

"See, I just wanted some music to pump everyone up, you know? I'm pretty sure 16 year old high school students don't want to listen to... whatever she had going. I mean, hell... Anime music would be better, yanno? At least that would get my blood pumping. So, When Carmen stormed out of here after breaking all the equipment, I was... uh... distraught. Until!" Criston explained, pausing for effect, "Wait until you hear this..." He paused again, "Ayane here fixed our problem! You see, you hear that lovely music? Well, it's coming from a conch Ayane here provided, and damn does it fill the room!" He finished, grinning to himself.

Ayane listened, still suspicious of the man Criston called Ryuu who was still, for whatever reason, staring at her. She put on the best smile she could manage and waved at him slightly before pulling her shaking hand back down to her side.

Criston, meanwhile, had forgotten to introduce Ayane to Ryuu and in looking around the room to demonstrate to Ryuu, he remembered something very suddenly. He noticed it as he turned his head back to Ryuu. Slowly, his head rotated back and he lifted him self a little straight to see who it was. Yeah... Sure enough. It was Kathy and Crash. Criston forced a smile onto his face as they were too close for him to run away. Besides, Ryuu and Ayane would notice and tell them and...

Shit...

He prepared himself for what was to come, preparing for painful smiles and sinking hearts. Ayane, meanwhile, was looking to and from Ryuu and Criston again, hoping Criston would notice her. After a few moments, she tugged at his coat. He didn't move... She tugged a little harder. Still nothing... She stepped forward to get a better grip to tug just a little harder but managed to step on her dress and began falling.

Ayane closed her eyes to prepare for the impact but her side was only met with warmth. Confused, she opened her eyes to see the ceiling with Criston watching the crowd silently. His whole body seemed to be tense but he'd still managed to catch her as she fell.

He felt the tug every time but couldn't bring himself to take his eyes off of the two making their way around the ballroom. He was trying to discern if they were or were not holding hands, something he desperately wished wasn't happening. But when he noticed something blue begin to tumble in front of his, his arms reflexively extended and he caught her, pulling her up in a sort of 'princess' carry, still watching those two.

@NarayanK@Theobromine@FaithsRose

Mentioned briefly: @Driving Park

Carmen sighed.

It wasn't just that she was angry, it was that she wanted to be angry. To the skylark, this was something that could not be resolved peacefully. However, when Lily was on the case, it was very easy to be seduced by her ways of peace. Carmen of course realized that this was mostly because of the angel's abilities and that it was an unfair advantage, but she preferred to forget about that and just think of it as Lily's comforting aura doing its thing.

And so, it was with the audible sigh that Carmen finally admitted to herself that this situation could not be resolved by destroying the audio equipment over and over again. It seemed like expensive theatrics for something that, while completely unacceptable, was also something that didn't even register in the brains of the Academy's students, who were probably already busy shotgunning beer and trying to impress each other with their drunken dance moves. Carmen had to remind herself that even most of the other faculty members didn't really care for classical music and keeping the ornate ballroom a formal space and not a party house.

She decided that this obviously couldn't be rectified right now, because all the guests were already in the room and the event would be very ruined if she made a second scene. Then again, Criston had already ruined the event for her, so maybe she should...

Forget about it. Well, not forget about it, but...

Lily was being too cute and too effective for Carmen to continue having thoughts of destruction and yelling.

So Carmen turned her attention to Lily's suggestion:

Alcohol.

Lily had suggested the one thing that would truly allow Carmen to walk back into that ballroom with the appalling music without deafening everyone in the room as she silenced the infernal noise.

But to do so, she had to act quickly.

"Alright, Lily," she finally spoke. "Wine does seem like a great solution, and..." she paused as she peeked into the ballroom. "...it looks as if nobody else is drinking it." The Skylark scoffed. "How uncultured...anyway. That just means more for us, right? Right."

She looked deviously at the angel. "And for the record, I plan to drink everything on that wine table, and fast." She flipped her hair dramatically as a sly grin appeared on her face. "Then we'll see who's the real queen of the dance floor." With that, she walked briskly back into the ballroom, trying her best to ignore the music and the fact that Criston was still in the room. She picked up the closest bottle of wine (a Merlot) as soon as she got to it, quickly poured a glass, and began pounding down wine at an alarming rate.

Somehow she still managed to look classy doing so.

@HylianRose

Lily

She smiled, her heart filling at the sight of Carmen perking back up at least a little bit. She nodded when Carmen asked if she agreed with her. She was glad to see Carmen's steam had cooled off. She'd often let Carmen vent but today she wanted to have fun with her, needed to let loose. If only she could release her own stress. In fact, taking away Carmen's stress had just increased the tension in her shoulders and back, causing it to ache. Maybe the alcohol would help smooth it away.

Lily raised a brow at Carmen's comment on drinking all the wine. "Not if I drink it first." She replied, running clumsily in her dress to beat Carmen to the table. She wasn't really successful but she did not have a glass of wine in her hands. After downing it, she looked around the table to see if the stewards had happened to leave a bottle laying around. Eyeing one such bottle, Lily lifted the bottle to Carmen, chuckling as she began to drink it from the bottle.

"To hell with the glass." She told Carmen, wanting desperately to just be rid of this anxious feeling.

@Driving Park

Ryuu Yamauchi

Ryuu blinked when Ayane waved at him. So he waved back while trying to soften his expression, though it only softened by a minuscule amount. He never was one to have a good smiling ability, even if some people around him told him that it looked better on him than an eternal frown.

"...A conch, you say," the otaku mumbled, raising an eyebrow at the thought. Well, it wasn't the first time a quiet girl brought something unusual to the table. That's how he met Aurelia, after all. As he looked up to Criston, he noticed his gaze heading to somewhere else and followed it.

Only to grin slyly at the sight of Kathy and Crash together.

Oh.

It's happening. Another chance for them to get closer and FULFILL THE ONE TRUE PAIRING! Ryuu thought. They should be doing lewd things together like... like...

Exchanging phone numbers.

DEFINITELY!

As if that weren't enough, Ayane suddenly fell over before Criston caught her. The otaku remained lost in his own reality, only slightly paying attention to the sound of Criston pulling Ayane up next to him.

_@HylianRose

"Oh, alrighty then." Edric said to himself as he was pulled into the hall. Once they left the room, he began walking of his own accord. "She's in the ballroom right now, which is...this way. I think." He hadn't exactly gotten lost, but he was pretty close.

Left here. Azamor's voice said.

He went right. He remembered this turn. Besides, when it came to things like this, it was never a good idea to trust the demon. Sure enough, when he made the turn, Azamor spoke.

Damn it. Worth a shot though, amirite?

I'll give you that, Aza. It's always worth a shot.

Though there were a few wrong turns on the way, they ended up at the doors to the ballroom. Before they stepped in, Edric grabbed Jason by the arm.

"Dad, I'm going to advise you not to do anything rash, and, uh, good luck." He supposed he should have mentioned the Skylark, but the timing didn't feel right. Besides...

...he'll find out soon enough. Well would you look at that? We're finishing each other's thoughts now, Eddy-boy.

"Remember, her name is Lily, now. You're going to confuse the hell out of her if you call her April." He scratched the back of his neck. "Do you need me in there, or should I get back to my room?" He asked. While he wanted to be there for his father, he knew he'd never live it down if something crazy happened, and he had an inkling that something crazy would happen.

_@HylianRose

- Andromeda -

Andro was pretty positive this was what a heart attack would feel like. she was slightly calmer because Edric was at least familiar but she couldn't get much of anything out because she was still freaking terrified. Edric was clearly trying to get his father to leave, which she appreciated, she didn't really understand what the pair was talking about, something about Lily clearly but that was all she could tell. when Jason finally said they were leaving she smiled a little in relief and scrambled to the side as they went for the door.

she waited until they were completely gone before she dropped to the ground. she was torn between going and finding someone to help her calm down or staying right there until she felt better. she noticed the door was still open and so was the window but she didn't feel the need to go close either of them until her near panic attack subsided.