"Maple frosted?" Lucy asked when she finished her second donut, she was about to asked what frosted was but she didn't dare to do so, "What does a maple frosted donut look like? And what does that taste like?" then a very intimidating man came up to the two and introduced himself. The man practically towered over her making her look like a five year old. Lucy waved her hand that was now holding her third glazed donut, "Lucy Matthews." her ears twitched with curiosity as she kept on staring at Steel.

Kiara was very thankful for her Pantera grace as she Nikolas lifted his arm. Instinctively she began to spin, her dress billowing out as she turned before she landed back in her starting position and replaced her hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you," she replied. "Honest, I think I'm surprising myself more than I am you right now."

Seth looked down at the man clinging to his leg. He reached down and pulled him to his feet. "Very well. I'll help you find the food. Just stop whining about it." he said. He turned to Alexis. "Lexi. I want you to go. Have fun. But remember. I will be watching you."

"Yeah, yeah.." Lexi muttered. She grinned as she walked away from her brother. She hated having to be around him so much.

Seth took the man's arm and started looking for the food. It didn't take him to long to sniff it out. "There. Here's the food." He told him.

Before Steel let go of the woman's hand, he brought the small hand to his lips, kssing the top of her hand lightly "Viktoria. The name of Victory. Beautiful name." he said with a smirk, letting her hand go. Steel sipped the punch and stood tall. His eyes were bright with life, but felt as if they were missing something in them. He blinked, tilting his head at her, he grinned "Your dress is absolutely darling, suits you very well." he said in a velvet like tone, trying to make conversation. Steel wasn't particularly one for being able to start conversation, but he could keep one going for hours. Steel put his mug of punch on the table and grabbed a glass of dark red wine. Swirling it in the glass, putting his nose to the edge of the glass, inhaling it's bittersweet scent.

"You know," Steel said "It's very rare to find a nice smelling wine such as this." he smiled, taking a small sip, swishing it in his mouth. Delicious.

Sumiko smiled as she took the cup from the man and said "Thank you", she sipped from the glass and finnished hers soon after the man did. She looked at him and smiled at the answer he gave her and thought to herself 'Ya it is just getting started and it can only get better'. Sumiko lisend to his question and she smiled then replyed "No, I haven't been to any parties like these" she pasued and then asked "Have you?". She looked at him and then out to the balcony, while she was looking a breeze came through the doors she felt the breeze on her. The ballroom was getting a little warmer as people started to dance and the breeze was cool and refreshing, she turned back to the man smiled and waited for the answer.

Nikholas let out a small laugh at Kiara's comment, watching her twirl quietly, then catching her waist carefully again once she stopped spinning. "I'm hoping that you're surprising yourself in a good way? You're a very graveful dancer," he complimented on her movements. Especially that spin. He was most definitely not a female, so he never had to dance the steps of one, but after the initial unsteadiness, Nikholas was almost surprised at how well she was doing after her prior warning.

Viktoria's face would light up a bit at Lucy's question, or at least what little was shown of it. "What does maple taste like? Hmm..." she paused, trying to answer this in the best way possible, "Sweet. Almost honey-like, really." Then looking over the table's selections again, she pointed on out, "There. The donut with light brown frosting is a maple one." Then, she smiled warmly as Steel kissed her hand gently. It hadn't been expected, and probably would've made a shy girl blush, but Viktoria wasn't exactly the shy type of girl. "Thank you." she replied smoothly with a smile. Her eyes found his, and stayed there for while, intrigued. There was something off about them that drew her attention, caught her interest. She couldn't quite put her finger on what, though. Then, smiling again, Viktoria laughed a little at his second compliment. "Thank you, again. You flatter me." she said simply, in a casual tone. She was relaxed, to say the least, in this environment and could do with meeting new people.

Steel's comment on the wine made her nod in agreement, "That is true. It's fragrance is certainly rare, isn't it?" Viktoria was aware of teh fact that finding good wines was a hard job to be done, but Nikholas had killed it, in her perspective. She had no clue where he had gotten this particular kind from, whether it be imported or grown by him, but she made a mental note to be sure to ask him about it later. "Enjoying your evening so far?" she asked openly, to both Lucy and Steel, before taking another small sip of wine.

Mustard was dragged along by Seth as he stumbled around, he was actually quite used to be dragged around,usually by his sister. When they arrived at the food table Marco's face lit up "Waaah~" He began stuffing his face with different foods and looked at Seth "Fank fuh!" he said smiling with a moth full of food. In one big gulp he swallowed all the food in his throat "I'm Marco! What's your name?!" He said trying to shout over the music that wasn't really loud enough to obstruct other sounds. He gave Seth an innocent smile then began to stuff his face again with his faintly sparkling eyes still peering at the boy.

Selena looked around and took in everything. She loved everything about the ball and how everyone seemed to have fun. The one thing that kept catching her attention was everyone's mask. They were all quite nice and very different then some she's seen before. So, she saw how everyone had started to dance and she thought about whether she'll dance or not. She played with her dress a little as she looked all around just waiting. Jace was watching everyone and everything. As he watched everyone dancing, out of the corner of his eye he saw that Selena was eyeing everyone and playing with her dress. He could tell that she wanted to dance, but he couldn't work up the courage to ask her. So, instead he told her that he would go get them some punch. 'Something to distract myself from being to nervous to just ask.' he thought to himself. He walked up to the table where the punch was at and started to pour two glasses of punch.

Maria was still at the refreshments table causing a ruckus when Jace appeared to get some punch. 'Oh-ho-ho~ This one looks interesting~" Maria walked up behind Jace and grabbed his butt and placed her head on his shoulder. "Ho ho ho ho the mask you're wearing looks really nice~ little boy won't you come play with me?" Maria said seductively and playfully "Come have some fun ole' SinSister!" She pulled Jace infront of her and used him as a sheild to walk through the crowd as she laughed some more like the witch she is.

Mark shook his head while holding his empty glass, "Nah, I was mostly overprotected when I was young so I've never been to a party. So this is my first time." the wind blew through his hair and tickled his ears. He went to get more sparkling cider, he didn'tlike wine because he would turn loopy. When he came back Mark bowed again and smiled, "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Marcus Matthews, but you can call me whatever you like. My cousin would call me Mark."

Lucy felt like she was interfering because Steel was pretty much flirting and kind of ignoring her. Well, no wonder. You look like a freaking twelve year old even though you're practically twenty! Lucy looked over to find the light brown frosting donut. She grabbed it and took a bite. Soon Lucy was back into her donut heaven and barely listening to Vicktoria's question but somehow she managed to answer it. "The best.... evening... ever.. wahhh... donut..." she replied dreamily as she was surrounded by imaginary donuts as her ears laid flat down on her head instead of pointing up.

Steel shrugged wearily, sipping the wine in his hands, licking his lip lightly, his eyes turned to Lucy. He hadn't noticed her but he'd felt another pair of eyes staring at him. He blinked a few times and looked down at her "Hello, Lucy." he said, bowing his head politely. "My apologies for missing your introduction." he said, lifting his head, using his free hand to brush his white hair from his eyes. Steel tilted his head and smiled softly "Are you old enough to be here?" he asked Lucy in a joking tone, winking playfully at her, he grinned. His smile seemed to light up the room, even though his grungy appearance threw off a lot of people.

"My evening is going alright, having just got here, I'd say the night has only just begun." Steel replied to Viktoria, turning his head and looking at the party, and all the dancing that was going on.

Sumiko giggled when he said that he was over protected, she looked out at the balcony while he went and got another drink. When he came back and introduced himself she turned back to face him and said "Markus, thats a nice name my name is Sumiko Lovelocks, but everyone back home calls me Siko". She smiled and then looked over to the refreshment table and saw that the lady who was being mean to everyone was now pushing someone in front of her into the dance floor. She thought to herself 'Poor guy I wonder what he did to fall victum to her' she giggled at that thought and then looked back to the Markus and said "It is your first dance too" she paused and said "Well at least I know that I am not the only one who is new here" she looked down at the ground and then back up to Markus and smiled.

Jace was busy pouring a drink and then all of a sudden he felt someone grab his buttox. It spooked him and he managed not to spill the drink at the same time. He the person behind that he suspected that grabbed his butt, talk to him and call him boy. 'Boy, really. I way way odler than her.' he thought to himself. Then he felt a pull into the crowd, so he made a halt and turned to face the young lady. "Thanks for the compliment on my mask, but I have someone to get back to." he told her.

Viktoria's gaze was again on the dancing going on, admiring the different types of masks and dresswear before she caught something out of the corner of her eye near the punch. It appeared that a blond guy was going for a dirnk when a woman, Maria, came and pulled him off to dance. Viktoria tried her best to stifle a laugh at that happening, instead smiling, amused. She caught Lucy's reply to her question, earning a smile and small, musical laugh from Viktoria again, "I wouldn't fill up on those, if I were you. There's real food to eat too, you know." her tone was playful. Then at Steel's response, she nodded, "And I would have to agree with you."

Seth didn't look at the boy as he was eating. But he turned to him when he started speaking. He found that it wasn't necessary for him to yell. "My name's Seth." he told him.

Alexis walked around for a while, looking at all the people. She eventually ended up at the food table. She picked at some food, not really hungry. Just bored.

"Sumiko...Siki... May I call you Sumi instead?" Marcus asked, he didn't want to call Sumiko Siki, sounds like sicki. Or looks like it said Siki. But he didn't dare tell the blonde that. He glanced at his cousin and smiled a little, Hey, Lulu is actually making friends while pigging out at the dessert table! That's what I call great progress there. I'll congratulate her later. Mark turned back to Sumiko, took a drink out of his cup, and and replied to her comment, "Me too. I bet some people at this masquerade haven't been to a party either." the fox caught the blonde's smile and blushed a little, She has a nice smile.

Lucy smiled when Steel finally noticed her, Stupid shortness... But hey he finally noticed me! The little fox brushed off the donut crumbs from her pink dress and grabbed another donut, but it was a smaller one this time. It had chocolate frosting with rainbow sprinkles. Before she bit into her baby donut, Steel asked her if she was a little too young to attend this party. Lucy knew that he was joking but she couldn't help but feel offended instead. The brunette slowly dropped her arms and tried to glare at Steel but she sucked at glares so instead it was mostly a happy stare, "I'm obviously twenty years old!" then she bit her donut and chewed on her donut happily. Lucy grinned at Vicktoria's comment and shrugged, "I know there is. But these godly gifts are so addicting!"

Sumiko giggled and said "Yea, sure" she paused and said "Sumi sounds like a good nickname, I wish my family thought of that one". She blushed a little becuase she didn't like the nickname Siko and was glad to get a new one, She thought to herself 'Sumi, it is a lot better then Siko and besides it was only the people in the palace that called her it everyone else called her by her real name or by your majesty'. She looked at Markus and then said "So did your cousin come along with you?", she looked over to the table and saw that a group of people were talking and she smiled. She looked back to Markus and said "It is getting warm in here, would you like to finnish our conversation out on the balcony?", she need to get some fresh air because it was getting a little stuffy in the room.

Maria smiled as the boy tried walking away from her but he was't going to let him go. Maria was a violent soul and wasn't afraid to hurt anybody, "Oh is that so~..." She stepped on the boys foot digging her pumps into his foot. With a devious smile lain across her face she wrapped one of her arms around his neck and took one of the drinks from his hand, chugged it down, grabbed the other cup and threw it at some random person. "Ho ho ho ho~ Maria likes you!" She lets go of Lace and then jumps on his back wrapping her arms around his neck and whispers into his ear, "Neeeh~ You aren't expecting to leave the beautiful angel Maria for some other chick are you?~<3" She follows that up with a kiss on a cheek and then grabbing his hair and tugs on it "Giddy up Giggy up!!~" When Maria realizes her target is unattainable she resorts to playful persistence, instead of luring in the target then torturing them she skips straight to torture.

Marco looked at Seth and with a bewildered expression on his face he swallowed all his food at once again and bent over int Seth's line of sight. Crumbles lay all over his mask and clothes as he asked, "You okay Koby?", Marco didn't hear the name correctly so he made a random guess that was far off. Marco examined Seth's face, "You know....you have a girls mask on" Marco bluntly said even though he was worried about his new friend. (Well they weren't friends but Marco believes having one nice conversation with someone makes them your friend, so he ended up considering countless homeless people and store workers as friends)

Viktoria smiled kindly at Lucy's exclamation. Yes, obviously. She shrugged as the mention of real food was put down for the desire for more donuts, sincerely hoping that Lucy wouldn't be sick later fromm eating too many of these. Again her line of sight spotted the mad woman, Maria, now on her dance partner's back. Viktoria cringed, staring at the scene in a curious manner. That's... obnoxious. Why is she...? Shaking her head the slightest bit, she smiled. Nevermind that. As long as they're having fun, it doesn't matter. Finishing her last sip of wine, Viktoria disposed of her glass and simply stood there, watching the dancing couples, again looking about the room for Nikholas.

Steel chuckled and looked around "I would have never guessed." Steel teasingly replied to Lucy, giving her a charming smile "Well, then my apologies, miss." he said, giving her pouty eyes. Like, Viktoria, Steel looked around the room again, tilting his head and looking back at Viktoria. "You look like you're searching for someone." he said, taking the last gulp of wine from his glass and grabbing another.

[[AHHH. I don't know what to write. *headdesk*]]

Seth sighed slightly. He grabbed Marco's arm and dragged him off. He led him outside where it would be easier to hear. "Maybe now you can understand what I'm saying." He said. He was starting to get annoyed by this guy. He really was.

"I'm not much of a socialite," Kiara admitted. "I prefer to be reading or painting so I don't get the chance to attend things like this very often. I couldn't refuse this invitation though." She smiled at the last comment. Who in their right mind would want to refuse an invitation to the summer masquerade? It was a time hunoured tradition and it was one of the most magical and wonderful experiences in any creature's life, one that they treasured for a very long time.

"That's good." the fox took a sip of his drink, "Siko looks like it said sicko instead, no offense. So I thought it might be better to call you Sumi instead." Marcus swirled his drink and paused when Sumi asked him the question. He tried to think of a unique answer until he thought of one, "Yeah, my cousin came. Lucy is probably pigging out at the dessert table by now." Mark chuckled when he thought of Lucy running people over because she turned into a round ball. Then the blonde maiden asked him of they would go into the balcony and of course he said yes. The playful fox walked out into the balcony and into the cold air where was at ease.

Lucy pushed the donut plate to the side and decided that she didn't want anymore. The little fox looked up at Steel with a little smile and curtsied, "It's no problem, kind sir." she replied teasingly. Of course he wouldn't notice she was twenty, but Lucy couldn't help but play along. Lucy glanced at Viktoria, she noticed that the lady was looking for someone. Lucy didn't want to point out that Viktoria was looking for someone because Steel had already pointed that out.

Sumiko giggled at Markus's comment about his cousin and walked out onto the balcony, it was a lot cooler out her then it was in the ballroom and she was glad for that. She looked at Markus and said "It was the nickname that my parents gave me when I was little and I guess it stuck" she shruged and turn into the wind. She smiled and said "I like Sumi a lot better then Siko just because of your point", she turned back to him and said "May I call you Mark please". She turned back into the breeze and smiled, she was happy that someone had decided to talk to her she looked out at the surondings and said "This place is very beautiful". She closed her eyes and thought of her home and then opened her eyes and turned back to Markus to wait for his answer.

Nikholas let out a small laugh, smiling and nodding his head in understanding of Kiara. "I can understand that. I'm not much of a socialite either, but this is the one event I do partake in annually." The song's tempo began to slow, as did his movement, and he did eventually stop when the song stopped. He removed his hand from her waist when the music stopped, gently taking the hand of hers that he had been holding, and kissing it very gently before letting it go as well. "Thank you for the dance, Miss Kiara." Nikholas said sweetly, "Would you like a drink? I could go for some wine right now."

Viktoria was caught off guard by Steel's comment, an embarassed flush coming to her face for a moment as she realized that she must have made it obvious. Unfortunately for her, it showed, thanks to her choice of mask. Turning to face steel and Lucy, she replied, "Oh! Well... Yes. I apologize, I was just expecting to see an old friend of mine here." That old friend being her king, not that she was aobut to say that. After all, it would've broken the rules. Then with a smile, she looked back out over hte dancing once more before giving Steel and Lucy her full attention. "He usually comes to greet me by now, I suppose I'm just surprised that he hasn't yet." she shrugged, grinning, "Ah well. Do either of you know anyone here? Have you been been to this masque before?"

[Ahh, I'm sorry, that's my fault!
I'll make Viktoria talk. :3]