Aamori looked back to Celestine as he spoke to her. She absently brushed her hands down the front of her dress, as if there was something that needed to be fixed. She couldn't help but blush a little and avert her eyes somewhat at his compliment. Obviously it had meant more coming from him than it had coming from Sri, but she had still appreciated Sri's compliment. "....Thank you." She uttered quietly and glanced back towards him momentarily, half wishing that her hair hadn't been tied back like it was. She had no free hair whatsoever to hide the fact that she had blushed and she just knew it had to be obvious which only made her blush a little harder. She wished that she had something to say to him... to compliment him... but she dare not tell him how pretty he looked. She knew better and honestly wished that he had been dressed as a boy... it'd make saying something to him a lot easier.

Nero smiled down at Sri a little when she responded so matter-of-factly about Firra liking to make clothes and what not. He couldn't help but stare at her in near mild amusement as she noticed the people that were staring at her... and him... then she began to check herself over, head to toe... or perhaps toe to head was more accurate. He smiled a little and then shook his head as soon as she asked if she looked funny or something. "No, you look just fine." He assured her. "...and they're reacting like that because you're over here being friendly to me." He informed her quietly. "A lot of people are uncomfortable with Reyes and myself being here... so of course they're concerned that you're here with me." He added in a calm tone, hiding all sense of his own discomfort at the situation. If anything it just sounded like he explaining the facts to her as they were written, so to say. He didn't want to upset her or anything so he was trying to make sure he didn't give her too much fuel since he knew she didn't discriminate like a lot of older, wiser people did.

Kyran knew Selenity and her mannerisms a lot better than he might care to admit... so of course it hadn't been too hard to catch a quick glimpse of the disappointment in her eyes... but what was he supposed to do about that? He couldn't do a damn thing and he certainly didn't want to make a scene or anything by being too friendly with the Princess. He wanted to hug her, apologize for the fake formality and just tell her that she couldn't proceed with trying to give Ellior a chance... that he wouldn't allow her to marry Ellior.... but he couldn't do that. She was a Princess and she had people to serve. He bit back all urges of being like her own personal knight in shining armor and forced up a pleasant smile and a short nod when she finally said to excuse her, that she needed a drink. Leave it to her to think of a smooth enough reason to have bumped into him like she did. He liked that about her... hell, he liked a lot about her. "I appreciate the time, Princess." He said with a short bow after she had passed him by for the buffet table. After she had taken a drink he excused himself in a relatively quick manner but made sure that it didn't look as if he were running from her. He just wanted some distance and as many people as possible between them. The more people... the longer she would be detained and the sooner the party would pass by. While he weaved through a couple people here and there he couldn't help but absently feel for the present in his pocket. He knew it was there and it wasn't going anywhere right away.... but he had no idea when he was going to have a chance to give it to her. He hadn't thought that out at all really...

Celestine couldn't help but smile just a little at the way that Aamori was blushing at his compliment. Well, at least he wasn't going to be the only one leaving here red-faced before the night was out. He chuckled softly when she started to glance back to him and he could almost see her searching for a return compliment. It was only natural to want to compliment someone back when they gave you one. "...Don't worry...," he muttered quietly before glancing away. "I'm trying to get over it. You can say what you want." He knew that he was going to be stuck like this all night so he was trying really hard to get over the humiliation. It was still embarrassing but...well, he wasn't going to have much choice other than to make the best of it.

Sri sighed and lowered her hands from her hair in relief when Nero told her that she looked fine, although once he got around to explaining to her why they were looking at them that way she just stared up at him silently for a few moments. After a few minutes she glanced back over her shoulder again, her smile already gone. She gave all of them a good stare down before looking back to Nero again. She stepped closer to him again in a more serious manner and wrapped both arms around his middle again firmly before looking back over her shoulder at the crowd like she was trying to prove a point. The whole gesture was like a 'See? It's nice, he isn't going to bite,' type of move. After a couple of seconds she looked back up to Nero again and smiled weakly. "Don't worry, you're allowed to be here. They don't have to like it. We're friends, and you're friends with Sissy...." She gave him another firm squeeze and then started to glance over her shoulder again but stopped and just turned her face back toward Nero's jacket again. "...Are they still looking?" she asked sheepishly. Another reason that Sri really didn't like these things was because she was shy...and she really didn't like having this whole big room full of nicely dressed strangers all roaming around. Sure, most of them didn't bother with her, but she also didn't really try to get anyone's attention but her sister's or her father's since they were the only ones she knew. She'd already known her sister was going to be busy, so naturally, she ran back here to spend time with the people she was more familiar with.

Kyran really wasn't the only one in the room trying to avoid the princess rather than fight for her attention. Ellior had been standing near enough to the entrance until the royals had made their way inside, but once they had passed, he had started trying to edge his way back to the back of the room. Unfortunately, it was a bit crowded in that area and he had been detained by a few people himself in his attempt at an escape. He was still dressed in white and blue much as he had been the second time the others had met him. He was even wearing the same set of brooches. He was just coming around a few people and glancing back behind him to give one a bit of a smile since she had spoken to him when he walked right into someone's shoulder. "Oh!" he exclaimed before he turned back around quickly. "So--," he started before he realized that it was Kyran that he had walked into...again. Honestly, out of all of the people in this room how did it always manage to be Kyran that he bumped into...literally, no less. He stared at Kyran for a few moments, lost in his dazed thoughts. He was staring at Kyran with the tired, glassy gaze of someone who really hadn't slept very well if at all and was on the verge of being asleep standing up, at least until he caught himself staring that way. He shook his head a little and sighed, starting to raise his hand to rub his eyes, although he caught himself, remembering the silver swirling paint around his face. "...I am sorry," he muttered again quietly. "...Please excuse me," he added before he started to hurry away, edging around another small crowd quickly. He tried to weave his way through the others in the room. Unfortunately, he had about as many issues with height as Kyran given that he was only an inch or so shorter. He was trying his best to just get to the back of the room where he could slide out the back door and go onto the balcony, although he was forced to stop for a few moments when he met a bit of a crowd. It took him a moment to realize that they were all grumbling about the little princess being too close to the riffraff, and even longer to realize that they were talking about Nero. Of course, it was unlikely that Kyran would understand most of them since they were speaking their own tongue, but it probably wouldn't have been too hard to decipher what they were grumbling about if he happened to come in that direction as well.

Aamori looked at Celestine, momentarily forgetting that she had been trying to not look too directly at him because she'd been blushing, and just kind of stared for a moment when he had told her don't worry and that she could say what she wanted. That surprised her a little though she didn't bother taking advantage of the opening that he had granted. She glanced away again almost hastily once she realized that she had been staring like she had. She still couldn't bring herself to compliment him as a girl. She just wouldn't.... even if he did look really pretty. After a moment or two she finally looked back towards him and smiled slightly. She had waited until her cheeks hadn't felt quite so warm, but she was sure they'd be on fire again soon enough. "...Your wings look amazing." She told him honestly. "...The feathers, they don't usually come back this quickly, do they?" She asked, partially out of curiosity and partially to direct the conversation away from compliments she couldn't bring herself to say.

Nero couldn't say that he was surprised that Sri responded the way she did to what he had told her. He just kind of smiled weakly when she hugged him like she did and told him not to worry, that he was allowed to be here. Then continued to say that they were friends and he was friends with her sister... as if that was all that needed to be said. He sighed softly and set his hand on top of her head again gently after she had asked if they were still looking. He picked up on the shyness she was suddenly putting off. He hadn't really ever noticed before that she was shy. Selenity certainly wasn't shy... so he supposed he hadn't suspected that Sri would be. He wished he could tell her that they weren't still looking... or still talking, for that matter... but they'd always be looking, so long as she was still hanging off of him and hovering around him. He just kind of stared down at her for a moment or two after he had cast a quick glance around the room. "....I'm sorry, Sri ...but someone is always going to be looking ...at least as long as you're with me." He told her quietly. "....I wish there was something I could do about it for you ...but there really isn't anything to be done." He added as he stroked her head lightly, trying not to muss her hair at all.

Kyran had for the most part been watching where he was going though occasionally he did have to glance away from where he was going to make sure he was making decent distance. He hadn't even been sure where he was going... but he was going somewhere, anywhere, so long as it put him away from Selenity. It pained him to admit that to himself... but it was the truth. He stumbled back slightly with a bit of a start when someone walked into him and he was fully prepared to apologize although as soon as he got a good look at who had bumped into him all words died right there at the sight of Ellior. Of course. It was always Ellior whenever he wound up bumped into someone. He just kind of stared at Ellior for a moment or two, noticing how the guy looked. He looked really tired, worn out even. He supposed he'd probably look nearly the same way... except that he'd been bunking with Nanashi and that... well, it had helped some. He actually managed to sleep and feel rested and he supposed that was because when it came time to sleep he was more concerned with making sure that Nanashi got a nights sleep than what was going on with his life and Selenity's. He shook his head a little and waved off the apology Ellior gave him and then let him hurry off when he excused himself. He by no means, was going to detain Ellior. He was trying his best to nice to the guy... but it was getting on his every last nerve anymore. He ran into that guy more than he liked and every time it happened it was like a fresh slap in the face telling him that he'd lost the woman he loved... not that he ever really had her to begin with. Unfortunately he hadn't really been paying attention to the crowd and he certainly wasn't paying attention to it after Ellior ran off... so he had no idea what anyone was talking about or that there was even a problem. He was lost in his own thoughts and was too busy trying to make his way to a corner or spare piece of wall that he could try to blend into and be ignored, at least until he could try and actually leave the party without a fuss.

LaRae had been trying to ignore everything that was bothering her and give an honest attempt at enjoying being at this party. She'd never been to something quite this extravagant, so it was a new experience. She was also getting to experience this with Nanashi and having him to talk to and stand with was at least putting her a little at ease. Then of course once Selenity and her family came in and all focus went to them she felt even more relaxed. She somewhat doubted that she could steal attention from Selenity or even Sri for that matter.... especially since Sri went and glued herself to Nero. She supposed it was kind of silly to even think that she'd steal more attention than either Nero or Reyes. Both of them wound up with quite a bit of people focused on them... and it seemed to continue to stay that way... at least if Selenity wasn't near you. It really seemed like there were three main focuses in the room... Nero and Sri, Selenity and then Kanone and Reyes. Well... perhaps it was wrong to leave the King out of that... but really... it was most likely more interesting to focus on the dark dragons. She was on that thought process when she happened to catch a glimpse of that same person she had thought she saw earlier. She got a better look this time and everything that she had been thinking just stopped. She practically froze where she was standing, even stopped breathing for a few moments. She choked on a breath when the person she'd been staring at noticed her and she realized exactly who she was staring at... and then just like that he was gone from her sight again. Obviously he'd known she was there... probably had the whole damn time... and was just toying with her. It took her moment of coughing to get her breath back and as soon as she did she felt embarrassed all over again and disregarded her back and turned to face the wall for a few minutes. She lifted her hand to her temple and absently shielded her one eye while she thought. ".....What in the world is he doing here....." She muttered under her breath as she faced the wall and wished like hell that her eyes had been playing tricks on her.

Celestine couldn't say that he was entirely surprised that Aamori decided not to make any comments about his appearance. She hadn't already...there probably wasn't much point in doing it now. He stood quietly while he waited for her to say something, since he was struggling to come up with anything more to say himself. Once she did finally speak, he was almost surprised that she had something to say about his wings. He smiled a little and opened one up a bit to give her a better view. The feathers really were very nice looking...maybe even the nicest even he had ever seen them considering that they had grown out in a matter of hours rather than over days like they should have. All of them were straight and glossy, which was quite a change from the dull, ruffled mess of feathers that had adorned his back up until they all decided to fall out. He shook his head a little when Aamori asked if the feathers didn't normally come back this quickly. "No...they did something to speed up the process. They grew out in a matter of hours...it usually takes weeks for them to look like this," he responded simply. He folded his wing behind his back again and then sighed. "I guess that's one good thing that came of this mess...at least I don't have to walk around looking like a plucked chicken any longer," he said simply. Then again, it wasn't like he had done too much walking around like that...he tried to hide in his room more often than not and when he wasn't, he tried to make good use of that cloak that Sanura had made for him.

Sri kept her face turned in toward Nero's coat until he started to respond to her question. She couldn't help but let out a little whine and shift her feet uncomfortably when he told her that they were always going to be looking so long as she was with him. If anything that only caused her to latch on a little more tightly and try to hide her fact further. It really wasn't uncommon for Sri to hide from people when they came. Had she not known already that Nero and the others would be here, she probably would have been up on the platform trying to hide behind her father's chair or something of that nature. Nero had won her over pretty quickly when they met, and hadn't been present for the scene in which she had run downstairs unknowingly and came into the group's sight only to try to turn and run back upstairs as soon as she spotted them, even if that had ended with her landing flat on her face. She really wanted all of them to just go away, or she just wanted to drag Nero off somewhere were there were no prying eyes to watch them interact. She raised her head slowly after he had started to stroke her head, her little white cheeks already flushed pink. She just looked at him for a moment and then averted her eyes a little to glance around herself. She ducked her head a bit when she caught a few disapproving eyes and then looked back toward Nero's coat quickly. She stared hard at the black fabric with no apparent intention of letting go of him. After a moment she stomped her foot slightly and raised her head away from Nero's coat again. "Ermmmmmmm...I don't care!" she said firmly, although it sounded more like she was telling herself that than she was telling Nero. "They can look if they want to, I don't care." She finally managed to talk herself into removing her arms from around Nero's waist and simply crossed them over her chest firmly. That...really didn't last long. She finally heard an unfamiliar man's voice address her as 'Princess Sri' and ask her to come there. As soon as he said her name she jumped a little and latched onto Nero's waist again and looked like she was ready to try to wedge herself between him and the wall.

Ellior wasn't really surprised that Kyran had nothing to say to him after he had smacked into him again. He had noticed that Kyran never seemed very happy to see him whenever he was nearby. Honestly, neither did Selenity. She hadn't been as angry with him as she had been and she had even sought out his company once or twice, but she seemed...depressed, was the only word he could think of, the entire time that she was with him. He had been sneaking off to his little acting hobby more and more and staying out later and later. They were still staying here at the palace, so he had taken to sneaking in and out at rather ungodly hours to try to avoid running into anyone. He didn't want to be around Kyran or Selenity if he could help it. Neither of them seemed to want much to do with him either, so he felt much more comfortable staying where he was wanted. Unfortunately...that was seriously starting to cut into his sleep. Last night he had fallen asleep at the theater near dawn and woken up with the dun, just in time to quite literally run back to the palace and get back to his room to pretend that he had been there. Of course...with his luck, his mother had caught him and chewed on his ears for more than an hour before it had been time for breakfast. He was running on less than an hour of sleep, and he knew that it was going to be hours yet still before he could curl up and try to sleep again. Even when he did have time to sleep, shutting his mind off long enough to rest peacefully was becoming increasingly difficult for him. Ever since he had realized Kyran's feelings for Selenity, he had felt horrible for allowing himself to get caught up in this situation, and now, he honestly wasn't really sure how to get himself out of it. He knew that everyone was expecting him to propose tonight...but he really wasn't sure that he could. He wound up standing behind the crowd half in a daze as his thought process trailed off in all directions. He only really snapped out of it when he started to sway a little where he stood and then shook his head sharply to try and wake himself up again. He could barely even remember what it was he was thinking by the time he was through thinking it, although he looked over when he heard a man address the little princess. He sighed heavily, already knowing full well why the man was calling her over to him. He shook his head a little and then started to take a few steps forward. "Leave the poor girl alone," he said simply, glancing over to the man for a moment. "Honestly, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. If you want to talk, talk elsewhere, don't make these two uncomfortable. They aren't bothering a thing." With that he went ahead and stepped past the man, shaking his head a little and wandered a bit closer to Nero and Sri. He could practically feel the eyes on his back, but surprisingly, the crowd did thin a bit after he had gotten onto them. They still didn't seem too happy, but some did seem to think it would be a good idea to take their mutterings elsewhere, although there were still those who were giving Nero the stare down. Clearly, they didn't really seem to like him petting their princess like he was.

Nanashi had been keeping up light conversation with LaRae wherever he could, although he was also perfectly content with just enjoying the music, and he seemed to be getting a kick out of watching Reyes and Kanone dance. He was almost tempted to ask LaRae to dance with him, but he knew that she wasn't going to want to get away from the wall, and on top of that...he really didn't know how to dance and he didn't want to go and make s a fool of himself. He had calmed down a considerable amount after being here for a while, especially since no one really seemed to notice him, not that he was drawing attention to himself by just standing there. Nero seemed to be doing a good job of it, but...well, he supposed his lack of horns was less noticeable than Nero's black hair and scales. He was watching quietly as Sri tried to hide her face in Nero's clothes. Honestly...he really felt bad for Nero. It was usually him who warranted such a response out of people, so he knew how awkward it must be for Nero to have to put up with it now. He turned his gaze back toward LaRae when he caught her freezing out of the corner of his eye. He blinked and then stared at her in mild concern when she choked on her breath and he rather quickly tried to follow her gaze, but he didn't see anything that should have warranted such a reaction out of her. He blinked and stared at her for a moment, at least until she stared coughing and turned around so that her back was to the room. "LaRae?" he asked, his voice already filled with concern. He reached over to place his hand on the center of her back, half covering the mark that she had been trying to hide all night "What's wrong? Who did you see?" he asked quietly. Logical deduction could easily lead him to come to the conclusion that she had seen someone whom she didn't want to. There weren't only light dragons here, so it wasn't too surprising that she may have spotted someone else. Still...he didn't like the way she reacted to whoever it was that she saw. Her reaction worried him a bit since it was a little extreme.

Aamori smiled a little more comfortably when Celestine looked almost surprised that she had asked about his wings. They really did look good and it was a better direction for the conversation to go than to talk about how pretty he looked as a girl. She took the opportunity he gave to look a little closer at his wings. She leaned in a little, putting her arms behind her a little and lacing her fingers together. It really was kind of amazing how much better his wings looked. She hadn’t ever seen them like this before, they were beautiful. “They look really nice, honestly.” She told him as she straightened up, after he had started to close up his wings again. She stared at him for a moment as he had said that at least he didn’t have to walk around like a plucked chicken any longer. She shook her head very slightly. “They didn’t draw as much attention as you think they did.” She said with a slight smile. “If people were staring it was most likely because of how striking you are.” She admitted. “The bareness of your wings would’ve been a secondary thing to notice.” She added, honestly. She couldn’t exactly be sure that anyone who had stared at him wasn’t staring at his bare wings, but in her eyes even the bare wings weren’t the first thing you noticed when you looked at him. Sure, the wings stood out, especially now that they looked so nice… but they barely rivaled Celestine’s beauty. If anything they mere emphasized it and to her, when they were bare he really over shown his wings more than he usually did. Then again…. Maybe she was biased.

Nero stared down at Sri after he had spoken to her and watched as she glanced around the room, only to hide her face again by staring at his coat. He couldn’t help but smile a little when she declared, to herself more than him or anyone else, that she didn’t care. He was vaguely amused by that, especially since she had stomped her little foot as well. He smiled a little again as she repeated what she had said, saying she didn’t care if they looked and then managed to remove her arms from his waist. That was a step at least… for everyone. So long as she wasn’t touching him like that it should’ve sufficed to a couple of the light dragons… although he knew it wouldn’t please them all. His ears laid back almost immediately after he heard the man try to call Sri away from him and he couldn’t help but glare a little in the man’s general direction after Sri had jumped and wound up reattached to him. He was mostly annoyed that the man had startled Sri like he had and peeved that not many, if any, seemed to realize how uncomfortable the girl was with crowds and people she didn’t know. When a clan had Royalty to look up to like this you would think they would learn things like that about the specific members of the Royal house, but apparently not. He knew better than to tell the people off so all he could really do was glare at the man, which probably didn’t really help him any but he couldn’t help it. You just didn’t go around making a child uncomfortable. He was fairly surprised when Ellior of all people found what was happening and stuck his neck on the line to try and break some of it up. He was glad that some of the people vacated after Ellior had spoke, but he knew better than to hope they all would. He had lowered his hands to rest on Sri’s shoulders lightly once she had reattached herself to him and that was where they stayed even once Ellior had edged closer to them. His expression softened immediately as he looked to Ellior. He uttered a quiet “Thank you.” and left it at that. There wasn’t a whole lot else to say to the guy honestly. He was just glad that someone aside from Selenity had come over to try and help.

Kyran still wasn’t aware of what was going on but once he had reached an empty piece of wall that looked out of the way and had put his back against it he couldn’t help but notice what was going on. He hadn’t been close enough to understand completely but by the looks of it, it had something to do with Nero and Sri. No surprise there… both Nero and Reyes were getting a lot of looks. He also wasn’t really that surprised to see that Ellior had gone their rescue. Since whatever it was, was obviously being dealt with he turned his eyes away from it and tried to become one with the wall and go unnoticed.

LaRae continued to keep herself turned towards the wall while she thought. She didn’t respond to Nanashi when he said her name, but jumped when he touched her back. The sudden feeling on her back had startled her and rattled her thoughts a little. She looked over at Nanashi, failing to keep the startled expression from her eyes. She continued to stare at him for a moment as she tried to force herself to relax after he had asked what was wrong and who she saw. She didn’t want to have to tell him… but she’d rather he know now than find out later… or when she wound up crumpled somewhere in pain since that man could do that to her without even touching her. She was clearly still fighting with herself for a few moments while she stared at Nanashi. She still didn’t want to tell him… but she needed to. “……It’s Renzo……” She uttered on a hushed whisper. “…He’s here, I saw him …and I don’t know why….” She nearly whined helplessly. After she had seen him that last time she hadn’t bothered looking around for him again, obviously. But the guy was doing a good job of blending in and not sticking out so it was kind of hard to spot him.

Celestine couldn't help but smile a little when Aamori leaned in closer to examine his wings a little more closely. As much as he griped about his feathered wings, in all honestly, when they looked like this, at least, he was proud of them. They did take a lot of upkeep, but that was just part of it. He knew wings like his were rare and they were something he could be proud of, especially since they also reminded him of his mother's wings. "Thanks," he said again quietly when she told him that they looked really nice. He looked at her a bit skeptically when she told him that his bare wings hadn't drawn as much attention as he thought. He didn't see how they couldn't. His wings didn't look like typical dragon wings when all of the feathers fell out, they were just skin stretched over bone, much like that of a bird. In his dragon form his wings were probably the most vulnerable point about him since even the skin on his stomach was tougher than what was on his wings. Of course, he couldn't stop his face from flushing with color when Aamori said that if people were staring it was because of how striking he looked, not because of how his wings looked. Striking? Well...that was definitely a new one on him. He had always been referred to as feminine or pretty, but never striking. He turned his eyes away and stared down at the floor for a moment after that before looking back to her again. "Well...if...if you say so," he responded a bit awkwardly. "...Thanks...." It took him a moment to get over his obvious embarrassment and look back to her again, but once he had he smiled a little sheepishly. Once again, he was almost too flustered to manage to find anything to say to her, but at least he didn't particularly seem embarrassed about his current predicament anymore...at least for the time being.

Ellior was giving the man who had spoken to Sri a bit of a look as well, but after getting a look at him, he merely looked confused as to the princess's reaction to him. Obviously, it baffled the minds of many how she could cling to one of them and startle at the sound of one of her own kind. He noticed Nero giving the man a glare as well, but fortunately...that one was one of the ones who wandered away after he had gotten involved. Apparently, Sri's reaction was enough to confuse him into leaving. He sighed and shook him head when a small crowd still remained, although he looked back toward Nero when he heard him say "thank you." He looked a little surprised at first but then he smiled a little. "Don't mention it," he responded quietly. He looked back toward the crowd when he heard another male member of the crowd speak up, this time apparently speaking to him.
"Are you saying that you are perfectly fine with this...this..." he didn't even seem to know what word to use.
"This what? Vexation? Obscenity? Yes, I am. He is Selenity's guest and has been for some time now. Nero is a good man and treats both of our princesses with nothing but respect, so I see no need to cause such a scene over something so innocent. If his scales were any color but black you would be perfectly fine with it as well, wouldn't you?" he asked, and as soon as it seemed that the man was going to argue he simply narrowed his eyes a little. "Wouldn't you?" he demanded again. That seemed to shut the man's mouth and only caused him to respond with a curt nod of his head as it seemed he couldn't come up with a valid argument. "As I thought... So leave them alone," he said firmly and then looked around to the rest of the remaining crowd, "All of you. You are bothering her more than he is."

Sri didn't offer to raise her head again once she had burrowed it into Nero's coat once more. She pressed her face against his coat firmly and whined again quietly, already able to feel her eyes watering. She tightened her grip on his waist again when she felt him put his hands on her shoulders, but she still didn't raise her head, at least not until Ellior started to ream the man who spoke up to him a new one. She looked up at Ellior almost curiously and then looked back to Nero again before nuzzling her head against him a little, still trying not to look around, although eventually she did peek around a little, and was rather surprised to see that nearly the entire crowd had left, save for a few who didn't seem interested in moving, but they appeared to have lost interest in her and Nero. "They're gone," she said in a somewhat wowed tone before she looked back to Ellior and smiled shyly, though she didn't offer to let go of Nero's waist.

Nanashi's evident concern only grew stronger when LaRae stared up at him with that startled expression on her face. "What is it?" he asked again gently. He didn't know what had gotten her so worked up...or who, rather, although once she finally got around to answering her, he understood completely. He started to glance around slowly, but then stopped himself. Finding the man wasn't going to do him any good, there was nothing he could do about him. His gaze softened a little more when he heard the helpless tone in LaRae's voice and he simply rubbed her back gently over the mark. "LaRae, it's going to be alright," he told her quietly, "He can't hurt you here...." Of course, he remembered just after he spoke that the man could easily hurt her so long as she had that mark on her back. He huff quietly to himself, after he remembered, looking a bit disgruntled although after a moment he simply moved his hand from her back to her shoulder and started to pull her around to face him rather than the wall. "Look at me," he said earnestly, "it is going to be alright. Just...ignore him, unless he does something." He wished he knew how to make his words more comforting, but frankly...that was about the best he could come up with. That was what he was having to do with most of the people in this room since almost all of them made him uncomfortable. He understood all too well the fear LaRae had of that man, but standing with her nose to the wall wasn't going to do anything but cause people to look at her funny. "I won't leave you, okay?" he said quietly, trying to help ease her nerves a little.

Nero hadn’t really gotten to know Ellior to any extent other than what he had overheard from others in the group; Kanone and Reyes in particular. He wasn’t sure that he was really surprised that the guy had come to Sri’s rescue like that, or that he continued to help thin the crowd but either way he was glad that he had. Once the other man had started talking to Ellior he had just taken to staring down at Sri while still holding her shoulders. He felt bad for her that just being with him caused this much of a ruckus. It really wasn’t fair, but at the same time he understood why the people were so concerned. His clan had come here and hurt this particular Royal family at least once before and now here he was so close to their little Princess. He would have loved nothing more than to extract himself from this situation just to make the masses happy… but then Sri would’ve been upset more and surely it’d anger Selenity. It was a lose-lose… in his eyes anyway. He remained silent while Ellior worked at getting the crowd thinned out and merely watched Sri while she noticed the work that Ellior had done. He smiled a little weakly when she finally spoke up and said what she had in such a wowed tone. He could’ve thinned the crowd… but it would’ve made a scene, a bad one. He lifted one hand from her shoulder and gently patted her head again. “Yes, they are.” He agreed. “He’s like a knight in shining armor; he saw you in distress and came to help you.” He said quietly. He would have liked to have helped put her at ease but really… there wasn’t anything he could have done. If he had opened his mouth and tried to talk them into leaving peacefully it wouldn’t have gone over as well as it had when Ellior did it.

LaRae wished that she believed Nanashi when he told her that Renzo couldn’t hurt her here. She knew all too well that he could if he really wanted to. He had more than one way to get to her and he really was smarter than most people gave him credit for. It just wasn’t fair that he was here of all places. She had been trying to enjoy this with Nanashi and it was Selenity’s birthday for Christ’s sake, how the hell did he manage to get here. She knew how though… he could get just about anywhere he wanted on his name alone and then of course the name of the Elder that he served. She didn’t believe what Nanashi had said but she merely nodded her head a little, more to be doing something than to agree with him. She hadn’t bothered looking at Nanashi or anyone in particular once she had told him who it was that was here. In fact she had almost immediately started focusing on the wall again. It was safer that way and she didn’t have to accidently look at him again. Right now she really wished that everyone else in the group knew about Renzo. It’d make getting rid of him so much easier… but… it was embarrassing. She didn’t want to tell anyone else, but she wanted to be comfortable too. She turned easily enough when Nanashi started to pull her so that she wasn’t staring at the wall. She slowly, almost reluctantly lifted her eyes and looked at him when he said to. She continued to look at him as he repeated that it was going to be alright and gave a weak smile when he said to just ignore Renzo… unless he did something. Sure… ignore him… she could try and do that… unless the guy went out of his way to get noticed and focused on again. Knowing him like she did, he probably would. She gave a slight nod of her head after a moment. She could at least try and ignore him. As it was he was still making it hard to find him, so maybe it wouldn’t be that difficult. She gave a more confident nod of her head once Nanashi had said that he wouldn’t leave her. That at least made her a little more comfortable. She’d hate to have to try and put up with being here alone with Renzo around. “….Okay.” She responded simply. After deciding to try and ignore him and responding to Nanashi she reached for one of his hands and held onto it. She was pretty sure that she would be more comfortable holding his hand while she stood there, she just hoped it didn’t make Nanashi uncomfortable.

Ellior looked over to Nero and Sri once again when the little princess spoke up and looked at her with mild amusement. Of course, that amusement turned to embarrassment when Nero looked down at the girl and told her that he was like a knight in shining armor. His face flushed almost instantly and he shifted positions a little while turning his eyes to the ceiling, waiting for the color to fade from his cheeks. For being an actor, he certainly did embarrass easily. After a few moments he lowered his gaze and smiled again before glancing back to Nero. "It didn't seem she was the only one in a bit of distress," he told him simply. Nero might not have been as visibly uncomfortable as Sri was, but he knew that he had to have been wanting to do something, and just...couldn't. He reached over and placed a hand on Nero's shoulder lightly. "I apologize for everyone's rudeness...," he told him seriously. He glanced back to Sri again for a moment and then smiled a bit before backing up against the wall to lean against it, similarly to the way Nero was. This seemed as good of a place to hide as any to him. It was near the exit that led to the garden, so if he saw someone coming that he didn't want to deal with, he could rather easily make an escape. He had no doubt that his mother was going to have his head on a stick when she got word that he had been standing up for the dark dragon but honestly...someone needed to. The poor guy wasn't bothering anyone standing over here, and if Sri and Selenity trusted him, so did he.

Sri smiled a little when Nero started to pat her head and then looked up at him again. She tilted her head a little when Nero said that Ellior was light a knight in shining armor and then turned her face toward Ellior again as if she was appraising him. "He doesn't have any armor," she pointed out before she looked back up to Nero again. "But his daddy was a knight! He was the captain of the guard before Ishta was," she told him as if that might somehow connect back to Ellior being like a knight. It made sense in her mind at least. Her mother had been a queen and she knew that when she grew up she would be a queen too, so it made sense to think that all titles and such worked that way...but then how did Ishta get to be where she was? She seemed a little confused when she threw Ishta into the picture, but she shook it off and simply hugged Nero again before finally letting him go and moving over to hug Ellior once he had leaned against the wall. "Thank you," she told him happily before letting him go. She certainly seemed a little more shy around Ellior than she was with Nero, but there were other reasons for that. Like most kids, she had a tendency to develop crushes on guys, and she had developed one on Ellior pretty easily. He was kind, hansom, and a good actor; practically every little girl's dream. She liked Nero as well, but he seemed to fill the role of older brother better than potential future husband in her eyes.

Nanashi could tell that LaRae was having a hard time with this, and honestly, he couldn't blame her. Even he was a bit reluctant to look around the room in case he happened to see him, but he didn't have quite as much fear of the man as LaRae did. The man really couldn't do anything to him here...but LaRae was a different story. He tried to offer LaRae a reassuring smile when she turned her gaze on him, but he could tell by looking at her that she was thinking that this was going to be easier said than done. HIs gaze softened a little and he stared back at her almost helplessly, clearly wishing he could do more to ease her anxiety. Unfortunately...he couldn't touch Renzo, here or anywhere else. He was just a halfbreed, and and earth dragon...could pretty easily crush him. He blinked when he felt something touch his hand and absently flinched away from it until he realized that it was only LaRae's hand. One he realized what was touching him he smiled weakly, looking a little embarrassed and then laced his fingers between hers and tightened his grip on her hand. "...Try not to let his mind games get to you," he told her softly, "He may not even be here for you specifically." Of course Nanashi was only telling LaRae some of the things he often tried to tell himself whenever he was thrown into an uncomfortable situation like the one she was in now. He knew those suggestions didn't always work very well, but really...those were the only things that one could do when something like this happened. Renzo was here, and they couldn't very well leave...so they were going to have to try to ignore him and go on about their night like he hadn't shown his face, and continue to do so. The only time they really needed to worry about him would be if something happened...like he decided to activate that damn mark on her back like he had before when she had lost control. He remembered having nearly had her calmed down and then the bastard had to go and make things worse because he couldn't stand to be outdone.

Nero felt the need to smack his hand against his forehead lightly when Sri responded to what he had said the way she had. He hadn’t meant that quite so literally… but then again it had been some time now since he had had to talk to such a young person. He was a little out of practice he supposed. He shook his head lightly when she continued to point out that Ellior’s father had been a knight, a very high ranking one at that. In the back of his mind he half wanted to ask what had happened to Ellior’s father and honestly hope to some God that he hadn’t perished similarly to Selenity and Sri’s mother. Being in this territory really wasn’t a good thing for him, mentally speaking that was. He kept adding to the list of things that his father could’ve been responsible for and of course he was thinking of ways to try and atone for what his father had done. He got a little lost on that train of thought and completely forgot his comment to Sri. He had started to open his mouth to say something but he couldn’t even remember what it was that he had meant to say. Rather than stand there looking like a gapping fish, he shut his mouth and let out a tired sigh. He glanced to Ellior momentarily after the comment about it seeming like Sri hadn’t been the only one in distress. Unfortunately that was probably obvious to a lot of people if they looked hard enough. How could someone not be uncomfortable with everyone staring and talking about him? He didn’t bother responding, merely nodded his head faintly in a manner that made it hard to tell whether he was acknowledging what Ellior had said or just moving his head. He sighed again tiredly when Ellior took it upon himself to apologize for everyone’s rudeness. “…It’s fine.” Was all that he bothered to respond with after that… he wasn’t really sure what else to say and he didn’t particularly want to stand there and have any sort of conversation on the matter with the little Princess standing with them. Not… that he would stand there and talk about something like that with Ellior… or anyone, for that matter.

LaRae tightened her grasp on Nanashi’s hand a little once he had laced his fingers with hers. She really wished that Renzo wasn’t here but there wasn’t anything that she could do about him being here… and at least by standing with Nanashi like she was she felt a little better. She wasn’t sure that she could help Renzo’s mind games getting to her. As much as she wanted to just ignore him and act like he wasn’t there she couldn’t help but worry about it. It was like trying to ignore the elephant in the room. It was kind of impossible. Then of course she was wondering why in the world Renzo was here. She knew that sometimes his work could bring him places like this since he worked so closely with the Elders of their clan… but… she couldn’t help thinking he’d pushed to come here or something. Regardless of what Nanashi said to try and calm her down, Renzo was most likely here for her, in some way or another. It just fit together too well. She couldn’t help tightening her grip a little here and there on Nanashi’s hand while her brain ran a little haywire. She desperately needed something else to think about and so long as this party wasn’t drawing any attention she was probably going to stand there and worry herself senseless. Unfortunately holding Nanashi’s hand only did so much for her… it did make her feel more comfortable but that did just about nothing for her mind. “….I want to leave…..” She murmured absently, without even realizing that she had uttered it.

Ellior merely smiled weakly when Nero nodded his head in response to what he had said. It really wasn't hard to tell that the poor guy was uncomfortable, especially if one had any common sense. He honestly felt bad for him for being dragged into this territory, and especially into this palace. No one here, save for perhaps himself and the two princesses were going to treat him with any respect. He offered Nero another weak smile whenever he told him that it was fine. "...You are kind to forgive them so easily," he said lightly. "...I am sure you have endured much aggravation since you've arrived here." He sighed softly and glanced back out toward the rest of the crowded room, noticing the wide berth most everyone seemed to be giving this little group. He was a little surprised when the little princess darted over and hugged his legs, but he smiled at her and placed a hand on her lead lightly. "You're welcome, Sri," he said rather casually. He stood there silently for a few moments, unable to help but wonder what bringing these people here would do to Selenity's reputation. She'd always had a...well...he wasn't sure how to put it. Everyone worshiped her, to her face at least, but he had also heard many a person talk about her and her radical views when no one of importance was around to listen. Granted, now that they were "engaged" he ranked amongst those "important" people, so he didn't really hear anything about her anymore. He knew that there were a good number of people who couldn't stand it because she was not as bitter at the dark clan as they thought she should be for what had happened to the queen. He shook off those thoughts after a few moments and then glanced back over to Nero again with a weak smile. "...I do hope that you can enjoy yourself a little...even though these parties are excruciatingly boring if you're not interested in gossiping," he added simply. He let his eyes wander back out to the rest of the crowd, noticing all of the little groups that had formed. There were only a few who were not making themselves a part of any particular one, and those were mostly the maids or members of other clans...and of course, the king and the elder. He only looked at them for a moment before he was taken aback by another yawn and absently raised his hand to cover his mouth before he let his eyes close. With all of the shimmering, glowing paint that had been splashed around his eyes, it was difficult to see the dark circles that had formed there, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was having a bit of trouble keeping his eyes open.

Sri's face started to turn a little red when Ellior put his hand to the top of her head, and she smiled after he had told her that she was welcome. After a second she giggled and then darted back to Nero's opposite side and latched onto his arm, giggling again quietly to herself as she hid her face a little. Of course after she had moved, Ellior hardly seemed to be paying her any mind. She peeked around Nero to look at him once, but he was staring off into the crowd. She tilted her head a little as she watched him and then looked up at Nero when Ellior had said that he hoped he could enjoy himself a little. "You could dance with me!" she suggested with a smile. She laughed again quietly when Ellior yawned and then leaned a little closer to Nero. "I think he needs a nap," she whispered, hopefully just loud enough for Nero to hear.


Nanashi allowed LaRae to hold onto his hand as tightly as she wished after he had offered it to her. He looked over at her sympathetically for a while, though he knew there was really nothing he could do to help, save for what he was doing now. He sighed softly and closed his eyes, although they opened once again and trained on the shimmering tiles before his feet when he felt her squeeze his hand harder. He didn’t say a word, or even move other than to return the pressure that was being applied to his hand, at least not until he heard LaRae speak up. He raised his head a little and looked at her silently for a few seconds before he stood away from the wall. Without much warning, he pulled her forward and turned her around to face him before shaking her loose from his hand. He wrapped both arms around her tightly and pulled her closer to him, holding her almost protectively with one arm around her back and the other angled so that his hand could rest against the back of her head. He took in a deep breath as if he was about to say something, but after standing with his mouth partially open for a few seconds he merely let the air out with a sigh and hugged her a little more tightly. “…So do I…,” he admitted quietly. Even here, he could still feel some reproachful eyes on him, and he had heard more than one comment about the half-breed, spoken in other tongues of course. He didn’t like this crowded room or all of these strangers, nor did he like the fact that Renzo was here. As much as he disliked the guy, he was also afraid of him and of what he might do, both to him and to LaRae. He held onto her for a few seconds and then slowly lowered his arms and backed away from her, though he let his hands rest lightly on her shoulders. “…Hold on…alright?” he asked quietly. His ruby eyes rested on hers for a long moment before he averted them down and off to the side, past her shoulder. “…I’m sorry…I wish there was something I could do…,” he told her quietly. He would gladly get rid of Renzo if he had the ability to do so…but sadly, he didn’t, and he was sure that she knew that.

Before too long, another small group emerged through the entryway, one which may have been somewhat familiar to at least a portion of the group that had been to the light territory. The first to enter the door was Mariah, closely followed by the three boys who had followed Celestine down to the bridge after he had left the wedding party the group had gone to, and two others. Mariah was more fully clothed than she had been the last time that the group had seen her, but just barely. The top of her dress was lavender and fitted around her bust tightly, like a miniature corset rimmed with gold around the edges. As it went down, there were more deep purple and gold designs running along the lower bust and down the center of her chest. The left side was covered with a pale jade material, which went down to the waist to connect to a series of layered ruffles, which ran all the way around her hips and alternated between green and purple. The right side, however, was completely open from the bottom of her breast down to her hip, where the dress connected together only to open up again just below the top of her thigh and split all the way to the floor. Beneath the ruffled layer, the dress was a purple shade to match the top, though it was layered over multiple times with chiffon strips of the jade material, which clipped near the ends with gold and purple clasps that almost resembled the eye of a peacock feather. The base later also split to the hip on the other side, although it was not spaced out so widely as the one of the right and was much more difficult to see, save for when she moved certain ways. She seemed to have completely foregone shoes, although her feet were at the very least not bare. They were covered by a cloth material, which appeared to be silken like her dress and was open at the toes and heels to give her some traction. The ‘shoe’ only went up as far as her ankle before it tapered off into ribbons, which were tied in a swirling, criss-crossing motion up her right leg and tied and clipped at the top with a clasp to match the ones on her dress. The left side was done just the same, save for the ribbons stopping at the knee rather than her upper thigh. She had a gold and purple bangle wrapped around her left arm, and another attached to her right, though this one attached to her upper arm as well as her wrist with a long strip of flowing lavender chiffon trailing from upper arm to wrist in an arch. Her deep green hair hung loosely down her back with only a couple of clips in each side that resembled the ones on the dress as decoration, and her eyes were practically bare of paint, save for what she had put there herself. She only wore purple and silver eye shadow over her emerald eyes, and that was all. She entered the room empty handed, although the group which had followed her carried a few instruments with them. Most of their things had already been brought in and set up where they were intended to preform, but they still carried in their own personal instruments with them. Two had violins, and two had different forms of pipe instruments, and the other had a type of guitar.

The group was met at the door by one of the butlers, and quickly ushered over to the small stage that was set up for them, opposite of the throne. Mariah stood beside the butler who had intercepted them, with the boys just a little ways behind her on either side. They guys were all dressed similarly to the way that Celestine always dressed, with the long silted dress shirts over a pair of pants with a sash around the waist, although the tales of their shirts did now fall all the way to their ankles the way Celestine’s often did. They all stood at attention while the crowd was silenced and the butler formally introduced the lot of them to the crowd, giving both their names and where they were from, as well as informing the lot that they had been invited by the princess (who for the briefest moment looked a little bewildered since she hadn’t invited any one of them to this so-called birthday party of hers) to be their entertainment tonight. As soon as the introductions were complete, Mariah curtsied, and then looked up at the gawking crowd with a warm smile. “Thank you for having us.”

Nero didn’t have much to say when Ellior commented that he was kind to forgive them so easily and that he was sure that he had endured much aggravation. He didn’t think of it really as kindness, though he supposed it was. He just couldn’t really blame them for being the way they were towards him. Sure it was annoying and sometimes it pissed him off… but his clan had done quite a bit of harm here and well, vice versa. The light clan wasn’t exactly adored in his territory either. He could have said something to Ellior just because there were things he could’ve commented about but he didn’t particularly want to talk the guy’s ear off. Then of course he didn’t really want to develop any more attachments by possibly making the guy like him at all. He went back to just keeping to himself after Ellior seemed done talking to him for the moment… or, well, at least until the guy spoke up again. He cast a brief glance over to him when he started saying that he hoped that he could enjoy himself a little. He probably could easily enjoy himself at a party like this…. if it had been in his territory. He did at least agree that these parties could be terribly boring if you weren’t much into gossiping. Obviously… he wasn’t much for gossiping, even in his territory. He wound up staring down at Sri for a few moments when she responded that he could dance with her. He hated to tell her no… but it really probably wasn’t the best idea that they dance together. He had no qualms with dancing with her… but it would only cause more of a problem if the little Princess were seen dancing with him of all people. He didn’t answer her right away on the dancing, mostly because she wound up bringing up that she thought Ellior needed a nap. He couldn’t help but glance over at the guy and see that he did appear to be dozing off a little where he was standing. Or maybe he was just resting his eyes… but either way it looked like he didn’t have too much longer before he was going to be down for the night. He didn’t utter a word on that and merely shifted his glance back to Sri. He sighed softly and shook his head a little. “…I don’t think that would be such a good idea, Sri. I’m sorry.” He said honestly and sounding a little saddened himself. He really wouldn’t have minded dancing with her if that was what she really wanted but he couldn’t bring himself to make her more gossip in the ears of all of these on lookers. She was far too young to have to deal with that as far as he was concerned.

Aamori was still standing with Celestine by the time a new commotion was being made. She had no real desire to run off and leave Celestine by himself, not that she had anything more pressing to do. Her attention had been drawn, much like some of the other guests as a small group of people were ushered over to a stage. She hadn’t bothered moving any closer to see better, but then… she hadn’t needed to. She hadn’t forgotten that girl, not the way she looked, or the way she sounded for that matter. She probably wouldn’t have remembered a thing if the girl hadn’t kissed Celestine like she had right in front of her. She hated remembering that and would have loved to have forgotten it but here it was rearing its ugly head yet again. She refrained from the urge to growl her distaste about this and merely stood there with her hands gently balled into fists. She really didn’t want that girl here… unfortunately there wasn’t anything that she could do about it. She was here as entertainment… and frankly… judging by the girls clothing they might soon regret having invited the likes of her here. That dress was just way too revealing for a party like this and it was in such bad taste in her opinion. She didn’t particularly believe that Selenity had invited that group either, regardless of how it had been announced. Selenity hadn’t really wanted a party to begin with so there was no way in hell that she was going to pick the entertainment for it… not to mention she liked to think that even if Selenity did pick entertainment… she’d pick something better than that girl.

Naturally, Sri was not very happy when Nero declined dancing with her. Her hopeful little face fell in disappointment before turning into a pout. She looked up at him for a few moments and then crossed her arms and glared down at the floor. "...Fine," she grumbled, clearly used to getting answers that translated into 'no' in one way or another. She sighed and then leaned back against the wall with her arms still crossed over her chest. Her shimmery blue eyes started to well with tears, but she tried to blink them back angrily. She didn't see why Nero didn't want to dance with her. No one ever wanted to dance with her. She guessed she was just too short for anyone to want to dance with her. Her ears fell back while she stood there, and after a few moments she just sank down to the floor and wrapped her arms around her legs before dropping her chin to her knees. She had really hoped that Nero would dance with her, since he seemed so agreeable as far as doing most things. She had spent a good portion of her time hanging around him the last few days, so she really was a pretty dejected when he decided not to dance with her. She was a little too young to fully comprehend Nero's reasoning for not wanting to dance with her. She didn't understand that it was so that people wouldn't talk about her. She assumed he just wasn't interested, like most everyone else around here. Now that her hoped had been dashed, she was ready to just go get out of this stupid dress and go back to her room. She knew that she would just get in trouble if she kept asking, so she didn't bother pestering him to dance with her as much as she would have liked to.

Celestine had taken to standing quietly beside Aamori, trying his best to ignore the occasional male stare that wound up in his general direction. With all the work that the maid had put into his hair and his makeup, he really did make up one of the most attractive 'girls' in the room, so it was hard not to get himself noticed, even when he was just trying to hide in the back of the room. He did look up briefly when the new group entered the room and was shuffled directly over to the stage. He froze completely solid when he saw Mariah and several others from his village step up to the stage. He couldn't help but stare at Mariah...partially because he couldn't believe that she was well-known enough to be called here as the palace's entertainment, and partially because he couldn't believe what she was wearing. He highly doubted that Selenity had called Mariah here, not after the way that the girl had snubbed her the last time they met, so he half wondered who it was who had invited her here. He did eventually side glance at Aamori when he noticed her glaring daggers at the stage and balling her hands into fists. For a moment, he wondered what in the world her problem was, but it didn't take him long to remember the little incident that had occurred between him and Mariah; which had ended in half of that group she was with trying to kick his ass. He felt his face growing extremely red at the memory, and the thought of what may happen if they saw him like this. He was already teased enough for having such feminine features, the last thing he needed was for half of his damn village to see him in a freaking dress.

Kanone was still very near the stage when Mariah and the others were escorted inside and introduced. Naturally, when the music died, he had stopped dancing, although he never had quite remembered to let go of Reyes’ hands since he had rather quickly been side tracked by Mariah’s arrival. He stared up at her in awe until they had finished the introductions and then finally remembered that he was holding Reyes hostage. He laughed weakly and let go of his hands before taking a step back. “Sorry,” he apologized simply. “…Heh…just kind of surprised to see her here. She’s from my village,” he explained. After a moment he glanced back toward Celestine’s general direction and then motioned with his head for Reyes to come along. Frankly…he didn’t particularly want to get himself noticed here, at least not by this bunch. It didn’t take very long for him to maneuver his way to the back of the room once again, with or without Reyes, although he did at least try to make sure that Reyes stayed with him. He was well aware that no one here was going to really want Reyes just wandering around on his own, and he didn’t want him to get into any trouble, so he was trying to keep an eye on him.

Unfortunately for Kanone, it hadn’t taken Mariah long to spot him. She knew that hairstyle anywhere, especially since he wore it all of the time. Everyone in the village knew Kanone, both because he was a friendly, outgoing guy, and because he was the elder’s grandson. She had already seen him before she even got up onto the stage, though she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing there. Of course, she really didn’t have much time to think about it too much before she was on stage, and once she was up in front of everyone, she merely took to doing what she was there for. They had already been instructed that they were more than welcome to perform as they would in their own territory since the princess was rather fond of foreign dance and music. Once they had been introduced, the group rather quickly moved right in to playing their best. The boys, naturally, were mostly on the instruments, though Mariah did lend her high, whistling voice to the melody, as well as take up a tambourine. For the most part, however, Mariah merely danced to the music as if there was no one there to watch her. The girl was a good dancer, that was rather hard to deny. Her movements were precise and entrancing, even if a bit raw, but that rawness was part of the charm. There was no structure to her dance, she merely moved with the music, much the way Kanone had before, only without the hindrance of a partner. She had chosen her dress carefully when she came, knowing full well that she needed to be proper, but at the same time, in order to dance effectively, she did need to be able to move and couldn’t be covered in so much fabric. The midriff was open to make it easier for her to bend and twist as needed, not simply to show off her skin, although that was something she certainly didn’t mind doing. She had a nice figure, and she knew it.

After breezing through a number of performances, she declared a short break and allowed the original orchestra to take over. No matter how one looked at it, dancing was tiring, especially when you did several back to back. Once she was free she slipped off of the stage and started to glance around. There were a few who stopped her to compliment her dancing, but most didn’t seem to care for her too much…though in her opinion that seemed to mostly be the women who were snubbing her. She really didn’t care one way or the other what they thought. She was asked to come and dance, so she was going to dance as she was asked. Right now, her focus was somewhere else entirely. She had seen where Kanone had made off to, so she was hoping to catch up to him and ask him what the big idea was just running off all of a sudden.

Nero couldn’t help but stare down at the little Princess after he had given her an answer about dancing with her. He kind of hated to see her expression change the way that it had, but he really didn’t want to cause her any more trouble than he already had and obviously… she didn’t understand what he had been getting at. Though he supposed a child of her age wouldn’t quite understand as well as someone older. He glanced away from her momentarily after she had leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. He could spot the little fit she was having even if she hadn’t been physically showing it. His little sister threw plenty of fits, even silent non physical ones that you didn’t even know were happening until they bit you in the tail. He had taken a moment to scan the room a little, partially to see just how many people were still looking at him and the little Princess and partially to see how badly he thought they might react if he were to dance with her. He wasn’t convinced, to say the least, after he glanced around a little. He and the little Princess would stick out so badly… and everyone, the King included would probably be watching. Trying to find a happy medium was going to be so difficult… and he didn’t want to just give into her and have people talking badly about her behind her back. She was too young to have to put up with that type of gossip. He looked back down at Sri about the time that she lowered herself to the floor and started wrapping her arms around her legs. His ears fell back as he stared down at her. He knew he had really ruined her mood by telling her that and he felt bad about it… but it was for her own good, honestly it was. He continued to stand there for a moment or two before he followed suit and lowered himself to the floor similarly to the way that Sri had. He had his knees propped up and just let his arms stretch out across the tops of his knees, leaving his hands free and dangling past his knees while he sat there. He was quiet for a moment before turning his head slightly to look at Sri. “I really am sorry, Sri.” He told her quietly. “I do want to dance with you, but I don’t want everyone here to talk about you.” He paused. “Please understand… they’ll say things, bad things, about you and I… and I don’t want them to talk ill of you.” He tried to explain. “I also don’t want them to talk badly of your father or your sister. They talk enough just by me being around you….” He told her quietly.

Aamori was rather unhappy, to say the least, that Mariah was here. She hadn’t thought that she would ever really have to deal with that girl again… and yet, here she was… rearing her ugly head like most things you dread seeing again. She couldn’t help being agitated after seeing her walk into the place and she tried to ease her annoyance as best as she could as time progressed. But… really… that was so very hard to do when she was the entertainment. Everyone was watching her and honestly, it was kind of hard not to watch her. Though the longer she watched the more annoyed she started getting. She had been so focused on her own feelings that she hadn’t even bothered to really pay attention to Celestine and what he may have been feeling at seeing Mariah and her little group. She really had been far too busy hoping she was imagining things and wishing that the girl would trip or sprain her ankle and have to leave the party all together.

Reyes hadn’t really been paying attention to too much other than dancing with Kanone and occasionally glancing at Nero and around the room to see who all was staring, so he almost missed the fact that the music stopped. If Kanone hadn’t stopped dancing he probably wouldn’t have even noticed right away. Of course once it had dawned on him that the music had stopped and he got a good look at the reason why he just kind of stared. He had never seen so many wind dragons in place before. His attention kind of stayed on the girl though and her dress. It was… interesting and kind of pretty, though it did show a lot more skin than even he thought it should. Although, perhaps that was only because he knew he couldn’t get away with wearing a dress quite that revealing. And yes, he had imagined it, briefly. He hadn’t noticed that Kanone hadn’t let go of his hand either, he hadn’t minded, so it wasn’t a big deal. He shook his head a little when Kanone apologized. “It’s alright.” He responded before glancing back at the girl for a moment. “…She’s …..pretty?” He said with a bit of a question. “The dress is a little much…” He admitted openly. He nodded his head a little after Kanone had motioned back towards Celestine and Aamori and easily followed after him. He didn’t particularly see a reason for him to stay standing where he was when his ‘partner’ was leaving. He stuck pretty close to Kanone once they had started back towards Celestine and continued to hover close to him once they got to their destination.

Sri didn't bother to raise her head once she had planted herself on the floor. She knew she would get yelled at if she was caught sitting like this, and on the floor of all places, but she really didn't care. She was trying her best to blink back tears and keep herself from physically crying. She really couldn't help the disappointment that flooded her when he rejected her offer to dance. It wasn't the first time she had been told no, but she had really expected him to dance with her. She did turn her eyes to the side briefly when Nero initially plopped down beside her, but she turned them away quickly enough. She didn't want him to see her near tears, mostly because she didn't feel like being lectured. She was always getting lectured, about everything. Don't cry, it's unbecoming. Don't slouch, it's unladylike. Don't do this, don't do that, she never got to do anything she wanted to do, and no one ever really praised her except her sister...when she was around. Her sister was very loving, but she was still way too old to be a playmate and had the tendency to tell her not to do this or that like she was her mother, too. She refused to look at Nero at all, at least until he finally spoke to her again, and even then it was reluctantly. She only turned her head toward him when she said that he did want to dance with her. "...Don't lie," she told him flatly before turning her eyes away again. Her little eyes narrowed a little when Nero started to explain to her that people would say bad things about them. "It's none of their business!" she whined, her voice raising in pitch just a little, "They won't dance with me either, no one ever wants to dance with me. It's not fair! Everyone just wants to dance with my sister." She sniffed and blinked again, once more trying to fight back tears, but this time there were too many gathered to blink back and they overflowed down her alabaster cheek. She glared and then raised one hand to dash at her eyes, smudging the makeup there just a little. "You're just as bad as everyone else," she accused him angrily, "You danced with Firra, and the only difference is she's not a little kid!" She felt more tears spill from her eyes and then shut them tightly and pressed her hands against them tightly. "Stop crying!" she told herself angrily.

Ellior was still leaning against the wall heavily, his eyes already closed. He was very near dozing off, although his eyes did open again when he heard Sri starting to throw a bit of a fit. He looked over to where Nero was standing and blinked when he didn’t even see the man anymore. It took him a few moments to realize that both he and the princess were sitting on the floor. He stared down at Sri for a few moments and then sighed softly once his tired mind finally gathered what was going in here. He slowly edged a little closer to Nero and then leaned forward just a little. “…Princess,” he began softly, “…please do not cry.” He stared down at the child, looking just a little perplexed. He knew that Nero was right and that the two of them dancing would be extremely upsetting to many of the guests here, but he did not want to say that out loud, neither to him or the princess. He felt sorry for the girl upon hearing that no one wanted to dance with her, although he knew the reason. It wasn’t exactly the most proper thing to do, to be caught dancing with the youngest of the princess’s rather than the eldest. Normally, someone of Sri’s age would not even be permitted to attend such an event as this, but it seemed that the family had learned over the years that trying to keep her away was not going to go over very well. The girl always managed to get into the ballroom one way or another. Sri was just as crafty as her sister, or so it seemed. He glanced back out toward the crowd and then sighed softly and lowered his eyes back to the princess. He wouldn’t mind dancing with her…except for the fact that he was so tired he could barely stand upright on his own right now. Still…if she didn’t manage to talk someone else into it, he supposed it would not kill him to at least try.

Kanone didn’t waste much time getting back to the back wall where he had left Nero and the others. IT didn’t really look like anyone had moved very much, to be honest. Celestine and Aamori were still standing near Nero, Nanashi and LaRae were just a few feet down the wall…the only one who seemed to have disappeared was Kyran. Once they had returned he blinked when he noticed that Nero was sitting next to one very unhappy little princess. “Geez, Nero…what did you do?” he asked bluntly, coming to a stop next to the two of them.

Celestine had taken to standing silently next to Aamori with his eyes down on the ground. He was trying his best not to watch Mariah dance. Watching her was enjoyable, naturally, but he just didn’t want to make eye contact with the girl. He wished he could just find a hole and sink into it, but he was also well aware that he really didn’t have anywhere that he could go right now. His eyes only raised form the floor when he heard Sri starting to throw a bit of a hissy fit because Nero wouldn’t dance with her. His ears laid back a little as he looked at her, but he didn’t offer to get any closer. Had he not been in a dress, he would have offered to dance with her in Nero’s stead, but he wasn’t about to go anywhere near that dance floor in this dress. He did at least understand where Nero was coming from, but he doubted that Nero was going to be able to explain that concept to a little girl like that, especially not after he heard her tell him that the only difference between him dancing with that maid and dancing with her was that the maid wasn’t a little kid. His gaze shifted uncomfortably to Kanone when he decided to return to the group with Reyes and asked what Nero had done to Sri. “…She wants to dance with him,” he responded dryly, as if that was enough of an answer.

Kanone blinked and then looked at Nero for a moment before he smiled and looked down to Sri. “Aww, you wanted to dance with that grump?” he asked in a playful tone. He smiled a little and then knelt down on the opposite side of Sri and placed his hand on top of her head. He glanced over to Nero and tolted his head a little. “Why don’t you dance with her?” he asked simply. Clearly, Kanone was rather clueless when it came to the whole royalty thing. He didn’t see anything wrong with it. After all…it was what Sri wanted, and it wasn’t like Nero stood a chance of meeting any of these people again anytime soon.

Nero stared at Sri with a straight face when she told him not to lie. “It wasn’t a lie.” He responded immediately after she had said that, sounding a little annoyed as well that she had assumed that he was lying. He didn’t utter a word while she had her little fit, he just listened silently. He looked at her the whole time that she spoke as well and ignored the fact that she had started crying. Of course he knew she was crying but he refrained from drawing attention to it. He had started to open his mouth to respond to her; at least until she had said that he was as bad as everyone else. His mouth hung open for a short moment before he closed it and shook his head a little. He couldn’t believe that she was calling him as bad as the rest of them… then of course she was trying to use Firra against him. He sighed heavily and finally looked back at her. “You’re right; Firra isn’t a young girl like you.” He paused. “But that isn’t the reason I don’t think it is appropriate that I dance with you.” He told her. “Firra is an adult and can handle people talking badly about her. You’re young and a Princess on top of that… I will not be the reason that the people in this room talk bad of you.” He tried telling her again. He wasn’t sure that he could explain it any better to her, honestly. He was about at his wits end and he was going to just have to live with the fact that he had ruined her night and upset her so badly when he hadn’t meant to. He hated that he couldn’t just get up and dance with her… well, he could, but he couldn’t ruin her image that way. It was already a little dicey considering she was so attached to him… but he couldn’t make it any worse than it already was. He glanced only briefly at Ellior when he had appeared to have woken up enough to try and say something comforting to Sri. He knew he couldn’t make this better unless he danced with her… so really he hadn’t even bothered to try and make her stop crying. Not to mention the only thing he really wanted to do right now was pick her up and hold her in his lap and say soothing things to her… and he couldn’t do that either. People would talk… and he was trying to prevent stuff like that. He hadn’t even noticed that Kanone and Reyes had come back over, at least not until Kanone had made his little quip. He turned his eyes straight to Kanone and glared daggers at him, worse than he ever had before. It bothered him to no end that he had made Sri cry and he didn’t appreciate Kanone’s comment even if he knew Kanone was probably just teasing.

Reyes noticed the unhappy Princess almost right away because the first person she had looked to when he got back was Nero. He was of course curious to know what had happened but wasn’t quite…. so blunt about it, unlike Kanone. He just kind of stared at Kanone in mild disbelief, especially when he noticed the way Nero glared at him. He was glad that it was Kanone his cousin was looking at that way and not him… that wasn’t a look you wanted to be on the receiving end of. His attention slipped over to Celestine when he heard him answer the question of what the problem was and then couldn’t resist punching Kanone in the arm when he went over and asked Nero why he didn’t dance with her. He knew almost instantly why Nero would’ve told the Princess he couldn’t dance with her and he also knew how Nero was with little kids, especially ones that reminded him of his little sister. “He’s a dark dragon and she’s a Princess.” He hissed quietly at Kanone. “He’s trying to protect her image!” He added. “Do you know what these ignorant people would say about her if she was seen dancing with him?” He started to look over at Nero, half checking to see if he’d hit the nail on the head. He assumed he had… but yeah… His brain went a little fuzzy and blank once he looked at Nero and saw that he was getting nearly the same glare that he had given Kanone. Yes…. He had gotten it right and Nero… wasn’t happy about it being pointed out… quite like that… He tried changing the topic as quickly as he possibly could, looking to the little Princess instead. “….Is there anyone else you would like to dance with, Sri?” He asked. “I’m sure Kanone or Nanashi, or even Kyran would love to dance with you.” He said with a bit of a smile, though he wasn’t sure where Kyran had gone to… but if she wanted to dance with him he’d go looking for the guy.

Aamori had absently been paying attention to the fit that Sri had been throwing. She was paying almost her full attention to it by the time that Kanone and Reyes had gone over there, which was probably a good thing. It was better that her attention was diverted, especially now that Mariah was done with her entertainment for awhile. Although, in the back of her mind she was thinking that she probably should’ve been watching out for that girl. She was bound to find someone she recognized from the group… Then again… maybe she was throwing off enough of a ‘stay away’ vibe that the girl wouldn’t even notice them… maybe. She really hoped so.

Sri still kept her head down after she had thrown her little fit, mainly because she didn't want everyone to see her tear-stained face. Sri was shy, and she was also very self-conscious on top of it. She really didn't want everyone to think that she was a cry baby, even if at times that was the case. She refused to look at Nero again, at least until after he had said that that reason that he wouldn't dance with her was because she was a young girl, and a princess. At that point she just kind of glared at him and huffed up again. She really hated having that used against her all of the time. That seemed to be the only excuse that anyone could come up with as to why she couldn't do things that she saw others doing. Apparently, being a princess meant you weren't allowed to have any fun at all. She couldn't climb trees, go barefoot, get dirty...and she apparently couldn't dance at a stupid party either. "...I hate being a princess...," she grumbled under her breath.
Ellior sighed softly when Nero tried once more to explain to Sri why he would not dance with her. Unfortunately, she still didn't really seem to understand. After a few moments, he sighed softly and then placed his hand on Nero's shoulder lightly. He could tell that it was bothering the poor guy that he was upsetting the girl, though he wasn't too sure what to do about either situation. "Sri, you know your sister did not get her first dance until she was sixteen," he told her softly. "...It is not that no one here wants to dance with you. I believe everyone is merely waiting until you are older." He knew that his explanation probably wasn't going to go over much better than Nero's, but he was a little too tired to come up with anything too extravagant. "...These events were not designed to be fun. Many use dances like these as a means to get closer to your family. It would look very poor for someone of our clan to dance with you here at your age," he tried to explain to her in the most simple terms possible. It really was a matter of images. It would look bad for someone who could potentially be a suitor for the girl in later years to be caught dancing with the little princess. It was no secret that many of these men would love to marry into this family, and it would be in very poor taste to start trying to win over the youngest of the two sisters when the eldest was yet unmarried, and even if that was not her dance partner's goal that is how it would appear to many here. There were very few who would look at it as a dance for fun to keep the little princess amused.
Sri glanced up at Ellior for a moment when he started to try and explain things to her a little better. She sat there silently, though one could probably see the reels turning in her head while she tried to process what he was saying. Sri was a smart girl and many times could pick up on the underlying meaning of people's words. "...So they don't want to dance with me because I'm too little to marry and it would make them look bad?" she asked bluntly before making a face. She looked up at Kanone with her teary eyes when he asked her if she wanted to dance with 'that grump' and merely nodded her head. She really liked Nero, he was fun to be around, and she wanted to have fun with him. She blinked and stared at the dark dragon girl when she started to explain to Kanone why Nero wouldn't dance with her and then looked at Nero again. "...What if I don't care?" she asked simply.

Kanone's playful grin subsided a little when Nero gave him that glare and his gaze softened a little. Naturally, the glare didn't frighten him. When you spent enough time with Celestine, you ceased to be bothered by death glares. However, he did look a good deal more appologetic, at least until Reyes punched him. "Ow!" he yelped before rubbing his arm absently. He looked over to Reyes for a moment and then tilted his head a bit as if what the boy was saying didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense to him.
Celestine merely sighed heavily when he heard Kanone's question and Reyes answer him. "...You really are an idiot," he responded flatly. "...Just because you don't care about images doesn't mean that no one else does."
Kanone glanced to Celestine again for a moment and then shrugged. "...I think it's a little late for that," he said simply. The girl had been one of the main topics of the night ever since she attached herself to Nero's hip, he didn't see how dancing with her was going to make things worse. He looked back to Sri and smiled at her when Reyes asked if she wanted to dance with anyone else. "Yeah, I'll dance with you if you just want to dance. I don't mind."

Sri looked between Reyes, Kanone, and Celestine blankly before glancing back to Nero in time to see the way that he was glaring at them. "...But I want to dance with you...," she whined again quietly, sounding rather defeated. She looked as if she was on the verge of just abandoning the whole notion and going to curl up in the corner for the rest of the night. Her eyes wandered back to Reyes when she asked if there was anyone else she wanted to dance with and then looked at Kanone when he offered to dance with her. She might have been satisfied with that, although there was someone else in Reyes' list whom she liked a bit better than Kanone. She looked over to Nanashi for a moment and then glanced back to Nero before begrudgingly getting to her feet and wandering over to Nanashi. She reached over to grab his free hand and stared up at him almost pleadingly. "Will you dance with me?"
Nanashi was still standing very close to LaRae, and trying his best to keep her calm. He was uncomfortable being here, now more so than before. He was trying to help LaRae keep an eye out for Renzo, but he hadn't seen the guy the first time since LaRae had pointed him out. He startled when he felt someone grab onto his hand and absently jerked away from the touch before he looked back down to see that it was only Sri. He relaxed and let out a quiet break before she spoke to him. He could tell that she had been crying very recently and he couldn't help but glance at the others as if to ask what he had missed. He was a little taken off guard by the girl's request and for a moment he just stood there staring down at her with his mouth half open. "...Dance?" he asked before he shook his head, his ears already falling back a little. "...Sri, I...I don't know how," he told her honestly. His eyes melted when Sri's ears fell and she looked as though she was about to cry again. For a moment he glanced over to LaRae and then slowly released her hand for a moment so that he could kneel in front of the girl. "...I'm sorry," he apologized softly, "I really don't know how...."

Kanone watched briefly as Sri bypassed him and then went straight to Nanashi. The girl did seem to have a tendency to attach herself to the two most likely to cause her problems. Then again, he liked both Nanashi and Nero, so he could understand perfectly well why she preferred them. Nero was sweet to the girl, and Nanashi was so quiet and gentle it was hard not to like him. After Sri had gone to pester Nanashi he looked back to Nero again and then moved a little closer to him and knelt down next to him before he reached over to place a hand on his shoulder. "...Hey, I'm sorry...," he apologized sincerely. Kanone may have been a joker and an instigator, but he never made comments with the intent of really angering or hurting someone's feelings. He had just been trying to lighten the mood...and he also really didn't see what the big deal was about dancing with her. She had been hanging off of him since she got here, he didn't think it would made matters any worse to just dance with her. He offered Nero another weak smile and then glanced back to Sri briefly. "...She really likes you," he said simply before he turned his gaze back to Nero. "...You know, Nero...people are going to talk regardless of what you do," he pointed out to him softly. "...It's unpleasant, but it's something Sri will have to learn to deal with. She's already made it perfectly clear that she likes your company.... When you're in a position like hers, people judge every little thing you do. You learn to ignore it. Life's no fun when you spend it all worrying about what everyone else is going to think. You're not going to be here for long, this is probably the only chance to dance with you she'll have."

Nero knew that he had pretty much lost all control of the situation, especially once Kanone had come over. He didn’t know what to say to Sri to make her understand and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He knew he didn’t want to do anything to further hurt the girl’s reputation and he wanted to stick by that… badly. He hated the idea of being the reason that people talked about Sri. She was too young to deal with that… and her sister was a completely different story, just as Firra was. Both of them were old enough to understand what was going on around them and they were old enough to deal with the talk from other people. He knew that Selenity already didn’t have the best image here… some people didn’t care for her… semi eccentric ways and outlooks. Sri didn’t need to suffer the same scrutiny; she was far too young for that. He couldn’t help but stare at Sri for a moment when he heard her grumble that she hated being a Princess. He didn’t utter a word, just sat there beside her quietly and then glanced away all together. He ignored Ellior when he touched his shoulder and just sat there listening as Ellior tried his hand at talking to Sri. He doubted that Ellior was going to any better a chance than he did. Sri was being stubborn… like her sister. He glanced back down to Sir when she asked him the last question… about what if she didn’t care. He stared at her helplessly for a moment before he sighed softly and just looked away again. She was too young to know what was best for her and it really would be better that he didn’t dance with her. It was one thing to be standing around talking with the Princess and to have her hanging off of him… but to be seen dancing together? Ellior’d brought up a whole other part he hadn’t exactly thought about. Possible suitors danced with Princesses… not dragons from clans that were despised. He tried to avoid looking at Sri when she whined that she had wanted to dance with him. There wasn’t anything he could do… he wasn’t going to cause more of a problem and unfortunately that meant he was going to have to upset Sri.

LaRae hadn’t been paying attention to a whole lot other than holding Nanashi’s hand and trying to look for Renzo… discreetly. She hadn’t really even noticed that the little Princess had been having a fit not that far from them. She probably wouldn’t have even noticed the entertainment if they hadn’t had such a noticeable introduction. She hadn’t noticed Sri, at least not until Nanashi had startled like he had. Since she was holding his hand still, of course she noticed that. She glanced down at the girl as she asked Nanashi if he would dance with her. She knew right off the bat how uncomfortable that would make Nanashi, but she didn’t say anything. Ultimately it was his choice what he did… even if his leaving would make her uncomfortable too. She wasn’t sure if she was surprised or not to hear that he didn’t know how to dance, but that aside she couldn’t help but feel bad for Sri when she saw her face. She didn’t fight Nanashi letting go of her hand one bit once he had looked at her. Sri needed some comforting… she knew that. “…….I’m sure Sri or someone could show you a simple dance.” She commented quietly, almost without even thinking. She just didn’t want to see Sri upset and if dancing with Nanashi would make her happy… well… she kinda wanted to push to get him to dance with her.

Nero watched Sri very briefly as she went to Nanashi to ask him to dance. He just wanted her to be happy, one way or another… so if dancing with Nanashi made her happy, he was happy. He didn’t bother looking at Kanone when he knelt down and touched his shoulder. He tilted his head down a little, mostly so that his hair would hide his face a little like it usually did. He waved Kanone’s apology off, it wasn’t worth it to stay angry at him over that. He didn’t glance at Kanone until he started spouting off that people were going to talk regardless of what he did and that it was something Sri was going to have to deal with. He remained silent while Kanone ran his mouth and eventually just lowered his head again. “I won’t do it. I don’t care what you say, or what she says, or anyone else for that matter. I will not be responsible for what other people wind up saying about her if I did something as ‘absurd’ as dance with her and at her sisters birthday party no less.” He said quietly. “As it stands right now very little has happened between Sri and I in this public setting so it will be forgotten with time. Dancing with her at a party like this with so many high-class people in attendance is out of the question. It’s something that none of them are going to be willing to forget any time soon and although it will wash off quickly for me and I’ll be out of this territory, she has to live here. These are people that her family is in connection with a lot and most of them are probably stuck up snobs… she’ll be criticized for something like dancing with me for ages...” He shook his head a little. “I’d much rather her dance with someone else here tonight and if she still must dance with me, then have it be done somewhere where these ignorant masses can’t see it.” He said as he absently waved his hand in the general direction of the party go-ers.

Kanone stared at Nero in silence, watching as he lowered his head and started to respond to what he had said. His ears fell back just a little and he sighed softly before shaking his head a little. "Well, aren't you noble," he said in a semi-playful tone. He smiled a little and then placed his hand on Nero's arm lightly, though he kept his eyes on Nero's face, or what little he could see of it. "...If that is your decision, then don't look so miserable about it," he said in an uncharacteristically sympathetic voice. His voice seemed to have lost all of it's usual light-hearted teasing undertone. He really did feel bad for Nero, for the simple fact that the only reason he wouldn't dance with the child was because of the stupid people around here. He shook his head when Nero said that dancing with him would be something that would not soon be forgotten. That was probably true...but even still, he thought it would be rather hard to hold something like that against a seven year old forever. He finally smiled a little once Nero had said that he would rather someone else dance with her here and then patted his arm. "Well, I'll dance with her here...and you can dance with her later, after this is over with. That way, she still gets what she wants. She gets to dance at the party like everyone else, and she still gets to dance with you."

Sri was not a very happy once Nanashi had answered her about dancing. She had already been preparing herself for a ‘no’ but she still wasn’t any happier when he told her that he didn’t know how. She did want to dance, but she didn’t really want to dance with the only one who was offering. She liked Kanone well enough, but he was a little too loud for her tastes. She would rather have a dance with someone a little less…silly. Frankly, she mostly just wanted to dance with Nero since she had grown rather attached to him while he was here, but Nanashi was a very close second on her favorites list. She merely lowered her eyes to the floor once Nanashi had answered her and kept them there, once again starting to feel like she may as well go back to her room and go to bed. She didn’t even bother to raise her head when she heard Nanashi’s second apology, even though he had gotten down to her level. “…It’s okay,” she grumbled quietly, trying her best to sound as if she really didn’t care either way.
Nanashi sighed softly when Sri didn’t even offer to look at him after he had apologized a second time. His ears laid back a little and he merely stared at her for a moment before slowly, almost timidly, raising a hand to her cheek. He waited until she finally looked at him and then tilted his head a little. “…What’s wrong, Sri?” he asked her softly, knowing that she wasn’t this down simply because he had declined to dance with her. She had already been crying before she had even gotten over here. He blinked when he heard LaRae suggest that someone could show him how to do a simple dance and looked back at her for a moment. He seemed outwardly calm about it, but his eyes were those of a rabbit who was being asked to go into the fox’s den. He did not want to be dragged out into that dance floor in front of everyone, and especially when he didn’t even know how to dance. He took in a deep breath, but he didn’t answer her one way or the other about dancing with the girl, merely looked back at her to see what she had to answer him with.

Sri tried to keep her head down when Nanashi touched her cheek, but eventually she raised her face reluctantly to look at him. Part of the reason that she liked Nanashi so much was because he was so gentle. His voice was gentle, his touch was gentle, and when he asked her what was wrong, he actually sounded concerned rather than the usual annoyed tone she was used to receiving around here. She sniffed quietly and then looked up at LaRae briefly when she heard her tell Nanashi that someone could teach him a simply dance, but rather than start begging, she decided to go ahead and answer his question. “…I wanted to dance with Nero…but he said he wouldn’t because people would talk,” she told him before crossing her arms. “I just want someone to dance with me…. No one ever does anything with me at these stupid parties….”
Nanashi blinked when Sri told him that she had wanted to dance with Nero, and for a moment he raised his eyes to look over at him. He was almost a little surprised to see the way Nero was sitting on the floor, looking almost as bummed out as Sri did. He actually felt a wave of pity for Nero, considering that he knew perfectly well why he didn’t want to dance with the girl in a place like this. Frankly, he didn’t want to either. Somehow, he doubted that anyone was going to want him dancing with the girl either. However, he looked at things from a slightly different perspective. Sri was a child, no one was really going to be upset at her for asking them to dance…they would likely be more apt to get angry at him or Nero for touching her. Even still…Nanashi was rather used to that sort of verbal or even physical abuse, so if Sri really wanted to dance and someone wanted to make something of it later, he would deal with it then. He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly before he looked at Sri again. “…No one is really going to like me dancing with you either…,” he told the girl quietly, although before she could strike a protest he held up the fingers of his other hand to her lips to keep her quiet, “but I will try…if that is what you really want. “ He offered a weak smile to the girl since she looked practically overjoyed that someone was actually giving in to her wants and then shook his head just a little as he got to his feet again.

Sri was ready to just throw up her hands when Nanashi said that no one would like him dancing with her either. Frankly, she didn’t much care for what everyone else wanted; it was no one else’s business as far as she was concerned. She had just opened her mouth to tell him as much when he shushed her and told her that he would try to dance with her. Her ears perked up a little and she smiled weakly. It wasn’t Nero, but it was going to have to be close enough. Her smile grew when Nanashi stood up again and she reached over to grab his hand tightly before starting to pull on his arm. “Come on then!” she said excitedly.
Nanashi’s eyes widened just a little when Sri started to pull him away from the wall and he put up a bit of resistance for a moment. He hadn’t quite realized that she had intended for him to go out onto the actual dance floor. “…W-wait…I,” he started to protest before he looked back towards LaRae helplessly. Didn’t he even get a lesson first? His eyes went back to Nero for a moment, once again looking as if he was asking for a little help here. He already knew that Nero knew how to dance; he had seen him. Unfortunately, it seemed that Sri wasn’t going to give him much time. As soon as he let his guard down a little she gave him another good tug and pulled him away from the wall before turning and starting to try and scurry through the crowd and onto the dance floor, almost literally dragging him along behind her.

Nero couldn’t really help looking miserable at the moment that was how he really felt. He hadn’t wanted to upset Sri and pawn her off on someone else to dance, but he hadn’t had much of a choice if he wanted to stay true to how he felt about the situation. He hadn’t bothered to grace anything else Kanone had said with a response, other than to look up at him briefly with a slight nod when he said that he would dance with her here and he could dance with her later. For now, that was good enough for him. So long as Sri was still getting what she wanted, or well, part of what she wanted that was. He continued to sit where he was without offering to get up at least for a little while longer. He had slowly cast his glance towards Nanashi and Sri and was paying attention to them for a few moments. He watched as it appeared that Sri was going to get her way with Nanashi, which would save Kanone from having to try to actually dance with her. Kanone may have known how to dance but he didn’t dance the way that Sri would know how to… so he supposed it was easier to take someone who wasn’t as well versed in any form of dance and get them to dance with Sri. Although, in all honesty… Kyran probably would have been the best fit for this situation, except the guy was nowhere to be found. He sighed softly as he watched Sri getting her way and tugging Nanashi to dance and finally got around to pushing himself up off the floor, making sure that he was ignoring Nanashi when he looked to him. He got to his feet and dusted himself off, carefully trying to make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be with the outfit he was in, not that it had a whole lot going on to begin with.

LaRae felt a little bad for tossing Nanashi to the wolves, so to say, once he had looked back at her the way that he had. But she hadn’t really seen another fix and if Sri really wanted to dance with him then it wasn’t that big a deal, was it? She also knew that Nanashi wasn’t the best candidate for this… but he was better than Nero. Sure people would be uncomfortable with Nanashi dancing with Sri but it’d be looked over a lot sooner than if she danced with Nero. Sure, Nanashi was a dragon-half but the light clan was probably more understanding of his existence rather than Nero’s. She looked at Nanashi and smiled weakly when he told the little Princess that no one was really going to like him dancing with her either. “…It’ll be alright, Nanashi.” She tried to convince him. People were going to stare at first, but she was pretty sure that they might just over look it. Or at least the majority of them might… it’d probably only be the die-hard royal fanatics that spazzed because a dragon-half was dancing with their little Princess. She continued to watch the two of them, even more so once Sri had started to drag Nanashi for the dance floor. She smiled slightly at Nanashi when he looked at her the way he had and just kind of shrugged her shoulders. She knew he’d be alright, it wasn’t that hard to pick up a simple dance and Sri would go easy on him. She hadn’t really realized it too much… but now that Sri had Nanashi she was starting to feel extremely exposed. She had been so wrapped up in trying to make Sri happy that she hadn’t really thought too much about how she would feel once Nanashi was gone. Of course that left her trying to carefully scan the crowd to make sure that Renzo wasn’t anywhere near or that he hadn’t noticed that Nanashi was gone now. The last thing she needed was for him to come pester her now that she’d lost the rock she had been clinging to.

Kyran had been spending a majority of the party just keeping to himself as much as possible… and well, trying to stay out of sight. He spent a good portion of his time in corners or behind pillars, or anything else he could find to obscure the sight of himself. He had wound up having to move a few times, either because he felt that Selenity was getting too close or she’d be able to see him easily… or because some other girls were trying to coax him into dancing. He hadn’t even thought that other women were going to be a problem, but apparently he had thought wrong. He had gotten quite a few more advances than he thought and he supposed that maybe he just looked like he knew how to dance or something. At any rate, he always politely turned them down and then moved away to another hiding spot. He was also occasionally stopped by other guests here and there to talk about something or another, sometimes about work, or just the party in general. Again, that resulted in him saying a few quick words, usually just to appease the guest and then he excused himself again to move. He found that he had to move a lot and wasn’t sure where exactly he could go to avoid the people… at least until he found himself near the doors that opened up to the balcony and stairs that over looked the back gardens. He didn’t even bother to look around to see if anyone was watching and instead made a dignifiedly quick exit and then stepped to the side of the door almost immediately so that he was out of sight. Once he was out on the balcony he let out a heavy sigh and leaned his back against the wall of the castle. This party was turning out to be a lot more work than he thought it would be. Ordinarily he would have been hovering around the rest of the group and talking with them, laughing at Reyes and Kanone’s dancing while they danced, helping to reassure Celestine that he didn’t look that bad and that he’d be out of the dress before he knew it… and then of course helping Nanashi really fast with a quick dance lesson since Sri had wanted to dance with him. None of that had gone unnoticed by him… he’d just kept to himself for the whole party thus far and hoped that everything went alright with everyone else, especially Nanashi.

Nanashi was not at all very thrilled when Sri started to tug him onto the dance floor. While he did not mind dancing with the girl, he had hoped that she would be content with dancing back here, where less people were likely to notice. He did look back to LaRae briefly when she told him that it would be alright, although he didn’t look entirely convinced. He was nervous, and it was obvious. His ears laid back just a little when it appeared that Nero intended to blatantly ignore his pleading stare, although that did not surprise him in the least. Kanone merely smiled at him and gave him a care-free wave while Sri pulled him away. He blinked when he thought he caught sight of Kyran slipping past them and out onto the balcony, but he didn’t really have much time to focus on what he had thought that he saw. Before he knew it, he was standing awkwardly in the very center of the dance floor with Sri clinging tightly to his hand as she turned to face him. He looked down at her and smiled nervously before letting his eyes briefly wander around him. They were, indeed, being stared at, quite rudely in some aspects. There were several eyes on them, but to his surprise, only a few seemed terribly scornful. Most were simply watching with what appeared to be some mild amusement. Already, the area immediately around them had cleared, though whether or not it was because they were trying to be courteous to the princess and give her and her partner plenty of room or because they were afraid that they might brush up against the halfbreed, it was hard to determine. He let out a quiet sigh and looked back to Sri again, although for a moment he simply stood there. Already, this dance was awkward, given his height in comparison to her. He allowed her to hold onto this hand and then seemed to fumble for what he was supposed to do with the other one. He glanced around again, this time searching for other dancers to give him some idea of what to do. After a few seconds he finally looked back to Sri and placed his hand, rather uncertainly, on her shoulder. “…Sri, I really don’t know what I’m doing…,” he told the girl quietly. He could still feel eyes on him, and he hated it. He wanted to retreat back to the corner he was sharing with LaRae, or better yet, out of the room. It was embarrassing to be standing here without a clue as to how to even begin a dance.
Sri was content enough with having Nanashi agree to dance with her. It still was not what she had been hoping for, but it was better than nothing. She pulled him to the center of the dance floor, right in front of the throne where her father could watch, if he was paying attention. Once she had stopped, she turned to Nanashi and looked up at him expectantly. She smiled at him when he looked at her and simply watched him while he looked around a little. She didn’t really bother looking, she didn’t care who was watching, although she did glance up at her father once or twice. She couldn’t tell if he approved of her dance partner or not, but he wasn’t saying anything either way. She reached up to place her hand on Nanashi’s waist when he had placed his on her shoulder. She knew that they were doing this backwards; he was supposed to be holding her waist and she his shoulder, but she also realized that with their height differences, it was easier this way. She smiled a little when he told her that he didn’t know what he was doing and shook her head a little. “Me either,” she admitted quietly. She wasn’t of age to be dancing yet, so she hadn’t really had many lessons. “You’re supposed to lead,” she told him. She did know that much…the girl didn’t lead, that was the boy’s job.

Nanashi half smiled and laid his ears back just a little when Sri told him that he was supposed to lead. That was kind of hard to do when he didn’t know how to dance. All at once, he was taken by surprise when another hand gently wedged it’s way in-between his and Sri’s, breaking their grip apart while gently sweeping Sri away from him. He started to jerk away quickly, thinking that he had offended someone to the point of wanting to separate the two of them, but the hand closed around him and held it fast so that he couldn’t escape. When he looked up, again, he found himself face-to-face with the tall, majestic-looking woman who had been seated by the kind only moments before. He had never seen the woman before tonight, but he knew who she was; she looked just like Selenity, only much older, and with a white forehead jewel rather than a blue one. As soon as he caught sight of her his eyes widened and his body went a little rigid before he quickly caught himself and lowered his gaze, as well as his head, bowing to her respectfully.

Lesedi had not really moved from her seat beside Akito for anything since she had arrived in the hall with the rest of the royal family. She had exchanged a few brief words with a few people, both other than that; she was simply watching her granddaughter travel around the room like a little social butterfly. She was another who knew just how little Selenity cared for these parties. Frankly, she was not very fond of them herself. She had been watching the performance that was being put on by the small group of wind dragons that had been invited here with some interest, but once they had gone on break she did not seem to take any particular interest in anything. She had long since lost Selenity to the crowd, so once Sri decided to pull her dance partner up to the front of the room she took to watching them. She couldn’t help but smile a little at the girl, and at the poor boy she had decided to pick on. She assumed that this one was Nanashi, since it was rather apparent that he was a dragon-half. Selenity had spoken to her in length about her trip so far and how everything was going, as well as a little about all of her new friends. She watched the two of them for a few moments, waiting for them to begin dancing, but it very quickly became apparent that Nanashi was not trained at all in the art of dance. It didn’t take her long to come to a quick decision to go and spare him for a moment. She stood in one fluid motion and stepped down from the throne, reaching out to their hands to take a hold of Nanashi’s lightly. She felt him flinch away from her touch and merely tightened her grip a little and offered him a warm, reassuring smile. Much like her granddaughter, Lesedi was very indiscriminant when it came to who she associated herself with. She looked back to Sri, who was giving her a bit of a pout and smiled at her. “I believe we should at least allow him a quick lesson,” she said simply. She blinked when she looked back to Nanashi and found him with his head down, bowing in her direction. She smiled and then laughed softly before placing her free hand to his shoulder. “There is no need for that, dear,” she told him quietly. “Relax, you’re fine,” she assured him before she placed herself where Sri had been moments before she had retreated back to the step to watch.
Nanashi looked up again slowly when he heard the elder tell him that there was no need for bowing. Still, he did not raise his gaze to her face again, at least not until she had gotten in front of him. He looked up to her in confusion, obviously having missed what she had said to Sri while he was busy reeling from the shock that she had come down and separated them. “…Ah…I…,” he stammered quietly, “What…?” was about all that he could manage at the moment.
Lesedi merely smiled and reached for Nanashi’s other hand, placing it to her waist before she placed hers on his shoulder. “I am giving you a dance lesson,” she told him simply. She looked down when she felt his hand move from her waist to grasp her elbow instead. She smiled, appearing amused, and replaced his hand to her waist. “Leave it,” she told him simply, “relax…. Now, like this,” she told him calmly, starting to take the lead of the dance just to show him the steps. “It’s very simple…one, two, three…one, two, three…. You’re getting i—Ow!” she yipped quietly when he stepped on her foot. She looked a little startled when Nanashi’s eyes got wide and he looked as if he was afraid that someone was going to beat him. “It’s alright, dear, it’s alright; was an accident. I’ve stepped on plenty of toes in my early years,” she told him with a smile. “Come on now, relax, just relax… That’s it, now…let’s go in the other direction.” She continued to count down the beat, slowly, keeping in time with Nanashi’s pace for a few moments. “There you go, now you are leading,” she told him lightly. She let him go for a few moments longer, letting him get the feel of the dance, and watching in mild amusement since she could practically see him counting in his head. Once she was satisfied she smiled and pulled to a stop, pulling her hand away from his shoulder slowly and offering him another smile before turning back to Sri again. “Alright, Sri, he’s all yours,” she told the girl lightly before she released Nanashi’s hand and took a step back. She looked at him and offered him another reassuring smile, which broadened a little when he actually smiled shyly back at her. She reached over to place a hand on his shoulder and then turned around so that she could return to her seat. She couldn’t help but feel bad for Nanashi, for the simple fact that it was obvious that the boy had suffered a lot of abuse. He had looked absolutely terrified when he had miss stepped and crushed her toes, not to mention Selenity had mentioned that he had been having a pretty rough time of this trip as far as injuries were concerned. She just hoped that he would be able to relax and enjoy the party as best as he could. There really wasn’t all that much to do…but she still wanted him to have a good time while he was here.

Kanone couldn’t help but smile weakly at Nero once he had looked up at him and nodded. He wished he knew what else to do but…with him being so stubborn, there was nothing to be done but wait until later. Once Nero had gotten back to his feet, he stood as well and then playfully reached over to dust off his shoulder for him, not that there was anything on it. He was half curious to see what kind of mess, Sri had dragged Nanashi into, but he hardly had time to turn around before he heard a familiar voice behind him.

Mariah had finally managed to weave her way through the crowd and back to the small group that had gathered itself near the back wall. Her eyes focused first of all on Kanone, since she recognized him the best. “What are you doing here?” she asked him simply, placing one hand on her hip. “I was starting to think you’d just run away from home,” she said playfully. She glanced around the group once again and her eyes landed on Aamori. She blinked when she saw her, and then the memory of their last meeting came to her and she narrowed her eyes, looking at her the way that she might have looked at a crushed bug on the bottom of her foot. Her eyes then swept over to the young girl from their clan who was standing next to her and she couldn’t help but stare for a moment. She looked so familiar, and yet, she was pretty sure that she had never met her before. She was pretty sure that she’d remember someone who looked like that…after all, she tended to pay attention to girls who could rival her in looks and made it a point to try and make herself look better than them. “Oh, who’s your friend, Kanone?” she asked casually, turning her gaze back to him.

Kanone had to suppress a groan when Mariah caught up with him and asked him where he had been. He forced up a bit of a smile and looked at her causally, shrugging his shoulders a little before he crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back against the wall next to Nero. “I’ve got things to do,” he responded to her simply, “Don’t worry, I’ll be coming back some time or another.” He watched at Mariah went about eyeing up Aamori and then Celestine and rolled his eyes just a little. He blinked when she asked him who his friend was and then glanced to Celestine briefly. His face was already completely red, and he looked as though he wanted to just become one with the floor when Mariah had asked about him. “Oh, her?” he responded lightly. He moved away from the wall and draped his arm around Celestine’s shoulders loosely. “This is Ciel,” he responded in the same tone, choosing a name from their clan that was both short and very similar to Celestine’s already existing nick name. It was the first time that he could think of off the top of his head, and it would also probably save him if he slipped up and called him ‘Cel’ by mistake.

Mariah eyed Kanone suspiciously when he said that he had things to do, but she didn’t press further. She didn’t really care all that much to begin with. Once Kanone had gotten around to answering her question, she looked Ciel over again, not seeming all that happy about the way that Kanone had put his arm around her. She didn’t really like Kanone, but even still she was used to boys at the very least showing her some attention, so it threw her off just a little that Kanone didn’t seem interested in her at all, especially since she was all dressed up. As much as she hated to admit it, she half wouldn’t have minded dragging Kanone out there for a dance herself. Once he decided to clean up, he was actually a bit of a looker himself. She had never seen him in nice clothes before, although…she’d never really seen anyone in clothes like those before. She finally put up a smile and looked at Ciel again, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ciel. I hope he hadn’t been giving you a hard time.” Already, she wasn’t so sure that she liked this girl. She only made eye contact with her once, and as soon as their eyes met, the girl looked away from her. She couldn’t decide if the girl was really shy or just stuck up…although judging by the look of her, she was leaning a little toward the later.

Celestine was watching Nanashi and Sri briefly when they went up to the front of the room, but his attention as rather quickly grabbed when he saw Mariah approaching. Instantly, he edged closer to Aamori, practically trying to hide behind her. This was…the absolute worst thing that could have happened. He didn’t raise his head or even offer to look at her, when she started talking to Kanone, although he did glance up briefly when she asked about him. His eyes caught hers for only a moment before he looked away again. He didn’t want her to recognize him…he knew he would never hear the end of it if she did…ever. He flinched just a little when Kanone suddenly dropped is arm around his shoulders and then looked up at him quickly, shooting him a bit of a glare when he introduced him to Maraiah as a girl…named Ciel. Honestly…he wasn’t sure which was worse, being found out as a boy in a dress, or having to pretend to be a girl around a girl that he had once upon a time had a crush on when he was five. He completely missed the once-over that Mariah was giving him, although he did glance back in her direction once when she said that it was nice to meet him. “It’s…,” he started and then faltered a little. He felt his cheeks burning red when he started to answer her, raising the pitch of his voice ever so slightly. “It’s…nice to meet you, too,” he answered finally. With that tone of voice, anyone who did not know that Celestine was a boy, probably would have been one hundred percent convinced that he was a female. For now, he supposed that was a good thing…but it was still embarrassing.

LaRae felt a little bad that she had helped throw Nanashi to the wolves, so to say. But once you got a look at how happy Sri appeared to be, you couldn’t help but feel a little better about it. She watched silently once the two of them had reached the area Sri wanted to dance in and couldn’t help but cringe a little at just how much of a focus the two of them had become. She had known that people would stare but she supposed she hadn’t expected so many to give such a wide berth to them. She had kept her eyes on them for a while, at least until it looked like they might start to dance and then let her eyes quickly skim through the onlookers and the crowds. She couldn’t completely squelch the feeling that Renzo was in the room somewhere, waiting for a chance like this one. She needed to stop thinking of only the bad, she really did. Her eyes trailed back to Nanashi rather quickly when it appeared that there was a slight change in the crowd. It wasn’t that drastic of a change but it had been enough that it brought her eyes back to Nanashi, just in time to see that the Elder was going to give him dance lessons, apparently. She couldn’t help but stare at that site for awhile; it was just too amazing… and strange… for the Elder, Selenity and Sri’s Grandmother to be giving Nanashi a dance lesson. She was going to have to apologize to Nanashi once he got back… she hadn’t known that something like that was going to happen and she knew he was probably scared out of his wits. She had been so focused on what was going on with Nanashi that she hadn’t been scanning the crowd any longer and startled so badly that she jumped noticeably when she felt a hand take hold of her elbow, like she was about to lead somewhere, and when she heard that all too unforgettable voice in her ear.

Renzo had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to go and steal LaRae for awhile and honestly, it had been hard with her so attached to that damn halfbreed. He was nearly thrilled at the fact that the younger Princess had dragged him away from LaRae, which had left her all alone… well, save for the rest of the group that was kinda close to her. But they were growing busy themselves and probably wouldn’t notice that much if LaRae vanished on them. Not to mention he was positive that LaRae hadn’t told anyone else about him. That would’ve hurt her pride too much. So ultimately, he felt pretty confident in approaching her now while that stupid halfbreed was too busy with a child. As soon as he carefully weaved his way through people to LaRae he put his hand on her elbow, intent on leading her away from the others. His grip had enough pressure that if she tried to go the other way she would only hurt herself. He wasn’t worried about that though… her back was completely exposed so she was very conscious of that mark and the last thing she would want was a light show from it while she cowered in pain. He leaned into her a little, close to her ear and uttered a simple “I thought he would never leave.” before straightening up again and giving her elbow a tug to get her to follow him.

LaRae felt her blood run cold at the sound of that voice, mostly because she had been trying to spot him… or… no… she had been watching Nanashi… She hadn’t wanted Renzo anywhere near her but here he was and there wasn’t really anything that she could do about it. She knew that she couldn’t plead to Aamori, Celestine and Kanone for help… and Nanashi was busy… Kyran was nowhere to be found… not that she really wanted to tell anyone about this problem… She felt rather helpless and just kind of stared out at Nanashi for a moment when she felt that tug on her elbow. Her eyes trailed over to Aamori, long enough to catch her gaze and force up a quick smile to try and assure her friend that everything was fine before giving in and letting Renzo lead her off to wherever he wanted to take her. Aamori looked like she was going to be having her own problems to deal with, so she had tried to not look like this was a big deal and that she didn’t want to go anywhere with the man who had her arm.

Aamori had been watching too as Nanashi got dragged off by Sri but her attention was caught easily when she heard that girls voice again. She glanced over at Mariah for a brief moment while she was asking Kanone a question, but wound up staring at the girls dress, or lack of it in a few places. From the distance she hadn’t really seen the dress all that clearly, she had known that there was quite a bit of skin showing but up close… God… the girl needed a better sense of fashion. That was too skimpy for this type of party. Of course she had been staring and inspecting Mariah’s dress while Mariah was looking at her like she was, so she almost missed the look she was getting. But she had raised her eyes in time to see the look and couldn’t help but glare at her a little. Her glare wasn’t as menacing as Celestine’s could be, but there was certainly a level of distaste there for Mariah. She really didn’t like Mariah… her personality was atrocious and well, she had kissed Celestine right in front of her… but really, her personality did suck. She looked to Kanone almost too quickly when she heard Mariah ask who the girl was next to her. Obviously Mariah hadn’t noticed it was Celestine… it worried her that it was left up to Kanone to try and conceal Celestine’s identity. It worried her a lot. She couldn’t help but look back to Celestine once Kanone had made his way over and put his arm around him, and then introduced him as ‘Ciel’. She wasn’t sure what her expression was but this whole situation just seemed like it was bound to fail at any given moment, unless Mariah really was the idiot Aamori thought she was. She had been really focused on what was going on right in front of her but she hadn’t missed what was going on with LaRae. She was mildly curious about the guy who had come up to her and was obviously going to take her somewhere, but the smile that she had been given made her brush her curiousness aside for the time being. The guy had been someone from LaRae’s clan, so maybe he just wanted to talk with her or dance, or something. Her curiousness may also have been put aside partially because she really was more concerned with what was going on right in front of her with Celestine, er, Ciel.

She was really rather worried that Mariah may catch onto the fact that that was Celestine, not some other girl that Kanone was hanging off of. Sure the makeup and the dress was a bit much and it could help hide who he was, hell, even the pitch change in his voice was helpful… but if you really liked Celestine, you’d figure it out eventually. Especially if you were given the opportunity to look at him long enough. She also wasn’t sure just how common it was for dragons from their clan to have wings like Celestine’s… so that concerned her too. She was nervous for Celestine and she was pretty sure that even with as nervous as she was, Celestine was probably ten times as nervous. She wanted to distract Mariah from Celestine, or just move Celestine out of her direct line of focus… but she wasn’t sure how to go about that. She supposed that Kanone could probably distract Mariah well enough if Celestine wasn’t around… but that would be like throwing the poor guy to the wolves since she imagined he wasn’t that thrilled with this predicament either. Her eyes trailed out to the dance floor and she absently watched as Nanashi and Sri danced and some of the other couples either joined in or resumed their dancing. She glanced to Kanone briefly, thinking that maybe he should take Celestine out on the dance floor, which would get him away from Mariah… but that would probably leave her here with the harlot. If it came down to leaving anyone here with Mariah between her and Kanone… she’d much rather leave Kanone. No offense, honestly… but she couldn’t stand the girl. She couldn’t really think of anywhere that she could take Celestine though that Mariah may not follow… well, she could think of one place… but she wasn’t positive how that would look. She bit her lower lip slightly while she mulled over the idea and finally caved. She knew how much Celestine didn’t want to be found out and especially not by someone from his clan and she would much rather distract him and Mariah at the same time than worry about how strange something might appear to others.

She looked to Celestine, and then to Kanone and smiled slightly before reaching out to take Celestine’s hand. She was conscious about how she did so, taking his hand much the way a girl would grab the hand of her best friend, rather than a boy. “I’m sorry Kanone, but I’m going to steal …Ciel, for a little bit.” She told him just before giving Celestine a tug to coax him away from his cousin. “I haven’t been asked to dance yet and I’m tired of waiting for an offer, I know Ciel will humor me… so we’ll be back.” She added mostly to encourage Mariah to stay away. Dancing was a two person thing, three was a crowd. If her words didn’t give off the ‘stay away’ vibe then surely to God the girl could sense it emanating from her. She really wished that girl would just go fall in the lake out back or something….

Nanashi was a little thrown for a loop after Selenity’s grandmother had come to give him that little dancing lesson. Not only was it awkward because he did not know this woman at all and was expected to touch her and keep his hand at her waist; it was awkward because he knew who she was and what she stood for. A brief glance around the room told him that some of her people were appalled that she had gotten up to teach him how to dance, but of course…with her being who she was no one said a word. He felt his cheeks burning red the entire time that she was trying to show him how to dance, but soon enough he got the gist of it and was able to manage…although that was sometime after he had accidentally stepped on her foot. That…had been one of the most terrifying few seconds he had encountered in a few days. He could almost see one of those people who was already glaring at him as if they wished he would combust making a scene because he had slipped up and stepped on their elder’s foot.

Once the elder had surrendered him back to Sri, he felt the urge to hurry out of sight as fast as he could. He could feel eyes on him, even without looking around. Of course, Sri wasn’t going to allow him to escape so easily. She had rushed back to stand in front of him as soon as her grandmother had moved and was looking up at him expectantly. He looked down at her again and offered her a weak smile before taking hold of her the way that they had been before, with his hand on her shoulder and hers on his waist since that was the only way that they could really reach one another. This time, he did not hesitate so long to start the dance. He seemed to have caught on fairly well how the steps went, and after he had gotten started, he soon found that it was his toes that were getting stepped on. Of course, he didn’t bother to comment on that fact, considering that Sri was so tiny that it didn’t really hurt. Besides…she had already told him that she didn’t know how to do this either. The girl was spending most of her time watching her feet, and he simply smiled at her and tried to keep to the tempo. It was extremely difficult not to look around at everyone else, but he found by simply concentrating on Sri and only Sri that it was doable. He wanted to look over to LaRae, since in the back of his mind he knew that she was still uncomfortable about the prospect of Renzo being here, but he couldn’t bring himself to raise his eyes long enough to search through the crowd to find her right now…not when he knew there were still people looking at him. He did not want to meet anyone’s eyes but hers, and he knew that if he looked up, he would.

Kanone sighed with relief when it appeared that Mariah had fallen for his bluff, at least for now. He knew that it was a poor disguise, even if Celestine was painted up and dressed like a woman. His wings were just a big uncommon, just like the golden slits in his eyes. He had only seen a few others with feathered wings such as his, and he had never seen anyone with golden pupils, aside from Celestine’s father himself, so when both of those features were combined, it was not difficult to distinguish Celestine from any other feather-winged wind dragon. Unfortunately, his relief was rather short lived, since Mariah wasted no time bringing up another question.

“So, where is Celestine?” she asked curiously. Mariah had been well aware that Celestine had been traveling with that girl before, and she suspected that Kanone had gone after him since he had left only a few days later. She was looking forward to seeing Celestine, partially so that she could try and wrangle him into a dance.

Kanone almost grimaced when she asked him about Celestine, but he covered it up with a smile. “Knowing him, probably hiding in the most secluded place he can find,” he said simply. “he hates being around people.” That statement, at least, was an honest truth. If Celestine had been given the opportunity, he was sure that he would have refused to even come to this party. After all, he really did dislike being around large crowds of people. Even small ones seemed to bother him. He tilted his head a little when he caught sight of another male from LaRae’s clan out of the corner of his eye and looked at him curiously as he was pulling LaRae away. He blinked, but he didn’t say anything, since she appeared to be going with him willingly. LaRae was an attractive woman, in spite of her stubby, broken horns…so maybe the guy was just wrangling her in for a dance.

“Oh,” she responded, sounding rather disappointed, although her eyes did trail over to Ciel once again briefly. There was something terribly familiar about that girl…. Mariah may not have seen Celestine in a very long time, but she did at least remember certain key features about him, one of which being his wings. Of course, she knew that those wings, while rare, were not exclusive to Celestine, but there was something else about her that she could not quite put her finger on that struck her as familiar. She blinked when Aamori suddenly apologized to Kanone and decided to drag Ciel away from them and out onto the dance floor. At first she seemed almost surprised, but then she simply laughed. “Aww, poor thing…,” she commented, although there was something mocking in her tone. She found it thoroughly amusing that the girl was so desperate for a dance that she would ask another girl to dance with her. Then again, that also struck her as a tiny bit suspicious. It had been made quite clear that Aamori liked Celestine on their last meeting, and somehow, she seemed a little too…proud, perhaps, to ask a girl to humor her and dance when Kanone was standing right there. Even still, she shrugged it off after a moment and turned back to Kanone again, smiling at him a little when he seemed a little confused by Aamori’s comment.

Kanone blinked as well when Aamori suddenly snatched Celestine away from her and said that she was tired of waiting for an offer to dance. “Huh? Why didn’t you say something?” he asked her before he had time to catch onto what it was that she was doing. Once he realized that she was simply trying to give Celestine some means of escape he laughed a little and shook his head slightly. “Alright, well…have fun, I guess?” he said lightly, giving them a little wave.

Mariah watched only briefly while Aamori pulled Ciel away from them and then decided to go ahead and make her move. “Well now, if you’re waiting for someone to ask you to dance, Kanone, I would be more than happy.” She stepped a little closer to him and reached over to grab his hand, as if she intended to haul him to the dance floor much the same way that Aamori had pulled Ciel.
“Eh?” Kanone stared at Mariah strangely for a few moments and then titled his head, not even offering to move from where he stood. “Wait…you want to dance with me?” he asked, as if it didn’t make any sense. “Uh-huh…. Did you fall and hit your head or something?”
“Oh don’t be silly, Kanone. Come on, it’s not every day I get to see you when you’re not dressed like a bum. Besides, don’t you want to dance with me?” she asked.
Kanone blinked when Mariah said that it wasn’t every day that she got to see him not dressed like a bum. Honestly, he never really dressed that shabby…he just didn’t go out of his way to look good. It annoyed him just a little that the only reason she seemed interested in him was because he had been cleaned up and thrown into this sort of setting, and it annoyed him even more when she asked him if he didn’t want to dance with her. He had asked her to dance once…and she had completely turned him down flat. “Well, when you put it that way…,” he started, and then smiled at her and grabbed her around the back, pulling her closer to him while simultaneously leaning over her, forcing her into a back bend. For a moment, he looked as if he was going to kiss her, and she did not seem at all opposed to that idea either. “I think you should get over yourself,” he said bluntly. With that, he released her, not bothering to straighten up before doing so. Mariah was so taken aback that she plopped on the floor with a thud, making a quiet ‘oof’ sound as she hit, and at that point, he couldn’t help but laugh as he returned to his space by the wall and crossed is arms behind his head. “Sorry, Mariah…you’re not as irresistible as you think you are, and I don’t play those games.”

Celestine’s eyes were practically glued to the floor after he had spoken to Mariah. He didn’t bother trying to look at her again, partially because he was just trying his best not to be recognized. Honestly, he was surprised that Mariah had even fallen for Kanone’s charade in the first place, but he was also thankful. Unfortunately, his nerves frayed a little when she had to go and ask where he was. He swallowed hard and his body tensed beside Kanone. He stood there stiffly while Kanone tried to lie for him, and felt a wave of gratitude for his cousin. Once Aamori reached over to take his wrist, he nearly startled as he looked up at her with wide eyes. “Uhm,” he started to protest when she gave him a tug, but it didn’t take long for him to give in. He did not particularly want to dance while he was dressed like this, but if he was going to dance…he supposed he would rather do it with Aamori than anyone else. He allowed Aamori to pull him away from Kanone and through the crowd until they had reached the dance floor, which for the longest time had been occupied mostly by Sri and Nanashi, though by now there were other couples joining in to dace as well since the shock seemed to have worn off. Celestine hadn’t even really been paying much attention to what was going on beyond what was happening directly in front of him. Once they were on the dance floor he looked up at Aamori and let out his breath quietly. “…Thank you,” he whispered softly, allowing his voice to return to its normal tone. He glanced around for a few moments and then looked back to Aamori again sheepishly. “…Do you…really want to dance?” he asked her quietly. He reached down to Aamori’s hands and took a hold of them loosely, as if he was prepared to get ready for some sort of dance. He wasn’t sure if Aamori really wanted to dance with him, or if she had just been trying to come up with some reason to pull him away from the group. Either way, his cheeks had already flushed a pale shade of pink when he asked her what she wanted to do.

Reyes had kept pretty much close to Nero once that girl that was part of the entertainment had found Kanone. He kept his attention on what was going on with the wind dragons whilst looking like he was too busy watching Nanashi getting his lesson and then dancing with Sri. He pretty easily grasped the idea that no one wanted Celestine to be found out, especially not by someone from their own clan. He understood that, or well, understood that Celestine wouldn’t want anyone to find out that he was who he was and that he was a boy in girl’s clothing. He felt the same way, but for other reasons. He didn’t particularly want everyone knowing that he was really a boy and not the girl that he acted like he was. He didn’t have anything against admitting that he was attracted to men, but things just went smoother if everyone thought that he was a she. He was momentarily surprised when Aamori took the initiative to pry Celestine away from that other girl’s sight and took him towards the dance floor. He hadn’t really expected her to do something like that, mostly because she didn’t really appear to be that bold to him. She just hadn’t looked like the type to make the guy that she liked dance with her, although he supposed the circumstances were the main drive behind that action. He also couldn’t believe that Kanone hadn’t grasped what Aamori was doing right away. If he hadn’t been trying to act like he wasn’t paying any attention at all he would have slapped his hand to his forehead at Kanone’s inability to piece that together fast. So far from what he was listening to and occasionally glancing at, he didn’t care too much for this female wind dragon. She seemed rather snooty and stuck up and although he didn’t care for Aamori that much either, he felt that it was wrong for her to make some comments that she had. By the time that the girl had started trying to get Kanone to dance with her, he had actually turned his eyes in that direction so he was blatantly watching and he was kind of glad that he had. As soon as Kanone appeared to be coming on to the girl and then wound up dropping her on her tail he couldn’t help but chuckle openly. Even Nero had openly snickered in her direction, which showed that even Nero had been silently paying attention to what had been going on.

He inched a little closer to Kanone after he managed to stop chuckling and stared down at the girl, Mariah. He just stared down at her for a moment, as if he had been contemplating the idea of helping her up but instead lifted a small hand to his face and gently pulled down on his lower eye lid with a single finger while simultaneously sticking out his tongue at her. He released his eye lid quickly enough and just smirked. “You shouldn’t insult someone while asking them if they would dance with you.” He told her and then rolled his eyes a little the way a girl would. “And besides, Kanone’s already promised me another dance.” He teased, even though it hadn’t really been true. “Why don’t you just go back on over to your little troupe, at least they looked like they enjoyed your company.” He suggested. He was positive that he was being mean to the girl and probably over stepping his boundaries, but it had been kind of obvious that neither Kanone or Celestine had wanted Mariah around… and what better way to get her to go away then to have a dark dragon tease and belittle her and possibly scare her off?

Aamori hadn’t really been paying much attention to Kanone after she had started pulling Celestine away, so she had kind of missed some of what Kanone had been saying. She vaguely caught him saying something like ‘have fun’ but that was about as far as it went. She had been on a mission and hadn’t wanted to be derailed by anyone, so it hadn’t been intentional that she ignored him, it had just happened. Better to ignore everyone then get stopped by Mariah for some reason or another because she finally figured it out. Once she got out onto the dance floor and came to a stop she just kind of stood there for a brief moment after they had come to a stop. She smiled a little at Celestine when he thanked her and let his voice return to normal. She hadn’t entirely thought about what to do once they had gotten out here; she just hadn’t thought that far ahead. Her cheeks flushed a little as well once Celestine had asked her if she really wanted to dance. Of course she had, she had wanted to as soon as she knew they were going to this party… she just hadn’t bothered voicing an interest since Celestine was dressed like a girl and she was concerned with how he felt than what she wanted to do. She honestly felt a little nervous now that she was out here with him and could actually dance with him. She knew she wasn’t that great of a dancer on surfaces like this, even though she did know some dances. She didn’t want to embarrass herself or Celestine… but she did still want to dance with him. She smiled a little, almost shyly. “…I was trying to give you a way out…” She admitted firstly. “…but I did want to dance with you…” She added lastly, feeling her cheeks heat up a little more.

Mariah had not at all been expecting Kanone to just suddenly take the support out from under, so as soon as he moved his arm, she had no option but to fall straight back on her rear end. She stared up at him with an expression of mixed shock and outrage twisting her features. "Why you!" she growled at him angrily, though her gaze drew over to the black dragon when she drew close to her and started to look at her. Her gaze was like ice when the girl made a face at her and she started to pick herself up off of the floor, albeit not as gracefully as she might have. Her dress, while revealing, was still rather big and it was difficult to get back to her feet without stepping on pieces of it. She glared daggers in Kanone's general direction again, even more offended that he hadn't at least offered to help her back to her feet. Her gaze hardened even more once the dark dragon pointed out that Kanone had promised her another dance, meaning he had obviously already been dancing with someone, not that she was terrible surprised. Even still, a dark dragon over her? What in the hell was he thinking? Her nostrils flared a little when the girl told her to go back to her troupe. Her angry gaze wandered from the dark clan girl, whom she was not in the least afraid of, since she was a little bit bigger than her. It was the other one that made her a little nervous, but she wasn't talking to him, so she didn't think she had much of anything to worry about. Her icy gaze fell on Kanone again and her tail flicked angrily. "Fine then, I will. Since you three seem to get along so well, why don't you just go home with them?" she growled at Kanone before pushing some of her hair back over her shoulder. "You've always been a pain, I don't know what I was thinking even coming to talk to you." With that, she turned on her heel and started to stalk back toward the front of the room where she had left the rest of her group, trying her best to cover her embarrassment and ignore the strange looks she was getting from the people who had been close enough to see what had happened.

Kanone didn't say a word when Reyes wandered over to Mariah and started making faces at her, although he did snicker just a little. He did not seem to care at all that Mariah was furious with him, nor did he seem to really be paying too much attention to her reactions now. So long as she did not try to strike Reyes, he didn't care what she did. He watched in amusement while she tried to get back to her feet and laughed again when she suggested that he should just go home with Reyes and Nero. "Hmm, now there's an idea," he said thoughtfully. He glanced over to Nero for a moment and grinned a little. "What do you think, you want to take me home with you?" he asked playfully. He shook his head a little and then looked back to Mariah when she told him that he had always been a pain. "I don't either," he responded simply when she told him that she didn't know what she was thinking coming to talk to him. Once she was gone he sighed and shook his head a little. "And to think...she was so cute when she was little...," he said, almost regrettably. Kanone was a few years older than Mariah, and he still remembered her from back when she was younger. She really had been sweet and adorable once upon a time, but as she got older and started getting more and more male attention, it went to her head and her personality went all to hell. After the incident that had killed Celestine's parents, their generation had dwindled a little so, at least in their village, there were not very many options as far as girls went. There were more boys in town than girls, practically three boys to every one girl, so competition could get pretty heated when it came to trying to win one over. Kanone, fortunately, had never really gotten into that. He had contented himself with being like every girl's older brother and let everyone else duke things out. If a girl ever happened to like him more than just a friend, then he would get involved in trying to shoo other guys away from her. Thus far, however, that hadn't happened. "Oh well...," he sighed before glancing back to Reyes. He smiled a little and then shook his head. "You're so mean," he said playfully.

Celestine stared at Aamori for a few moments when she told him that she had just been trying to give him a way out, though his own cheeks flushed as little more when she told him that she did want to dance with him. He couldn't help but look away for a moment before a small smile crept to his face. "...Alright then," he responded quietly. He laced his fingers between Aamori's and then pulled her a little closer to him before taking one hand away and placing it to her waist. "...I'm not very good at...ballroom dancing," he admitted to her quietly. After a moment, he started to move slowly, stepping backwards while pulling Aamori along with him, assuming that it would probably be easier on Aamori moving forward than backwards in those heels. Celestine did not seem to have too much trouble maneuvering the heels, since he had been in them for a little while and managed to get a feel for where he needed to put his eight in order to keep his balance. He didn't seem entirely sure of what he was doing at first, but soon enough he seemed to get into the flow of the music. He was not doing a waltz, per say, but he also was not being quite as wild as Kanone had been. He was conscious of his partner's inability to keep her balance so he was trying to accommodate for her and not get carried away, although once he had actually started dancing it was a little difficult not to want to do just that.

Nero had kept to himself mostly while he did what he usually did so well, people watch. Of course he kept an eye on Sri, only because he felt so bad that he hadn’t been able to dance with her and partially because he wanted to make sure that Nanashi was keeping her happy. Once the female wind dragon had wandered over however he took to silently paying attention to her and her interactions with Kanone, Celestine and Aamori. Of course he was also aware that Reyes was watching too. Maybe it was a dark clan thing… to be keeping your eyes on something totally unrelated to what you were paying attention to. Both he and Reyes did that well… but then again; maybe it was something a lot of people did. He hadn’t voiced anything at all since Sri had gone off with Nanashi, at least not until Kanone dropped that girl on her rear end. That warranted a snicker and he couldn’t really help himself. Of course once he realized that he’d even made a sound he promptly shushed himself and went right back to looking like he hadn’t been paying any attention at all. He cast a brief glance in Kanone’s direction when he spoke up and asked him what he thought about taking Kanone home with him and then momentarily glanced at his cousin, resisting the urge to shake his head. He just stared at Kanone for a moment with that ‘You’re kidding’ look to his expression. “I don’t need any pets.” He jabbed at him and then resumed his people watching.

Reyes couldn’t help glancing to Nero with a look like ‘Can we keep him? Please~’ when Kanone asked Nero about going home with them. Of course he was only joking around with his cousin, knowing full well a dark dragon didn’t just come with a wind dragon attachment. He chuckled lightly at Nero’s response and then looked back to Kanone briefly now that Mariah was done talking out of her ass. He cast a momentary glance at Mariah as she stalked off once Kanone had said that she used to be so cute when she was little. “She’s an airhead.” He commented with a shake of his head. He didn’t care for girls like that, not even to befriend. He turned his eyes back on Kanone when he heard him say that he was so mean, playfully of course. He gave a sly smile. “I didn’t think she would go away if I were nice to her.” He paused. “And besides, I couldn’t think of a single nice thing to say… even her dress is something to gawk at.” He said with an overly dramatic wave of his hand in the general direction that she had stalked off in. “…Now… it’s just a damn shame that Celestine and Aamori couldn’t have been here to see that.” He teased. He may not have been on best terms, so to speak with Aamori… but he was pretty sure that she would have gotten a kick out of what Kanone did to the girl.

Aamori couldn’t help but blush a little once Celestine had gotten his answer and he wound up lacing his fingers with hers, pulling her closer and putting a hand to her waist. It may have seemed silly to blush at the actions since it was just a set up for dancing… but it wasn’t like Celestine willingly did stuff like this that often; taking the lead and touching her that is. She rested her eyes on his face when she heard him say that he wasn’t very good at ballroom dancing. She smiled weakly. “…It’s alright; I’m not very good at dancing on a surface like this…” She admitted quietly in return. Although… after she admitted that she only felt embarrassed, not like she was trying to reassure him that it was alright. She had been trying to get him away from Mariah and of course she hadn’t thought about the fact that she wasn’t a very great dancer when it came to dancing like normal people did, on floors… She was at least decent enough at following lead. She had had to learn how to dance ballroom, even though she wasn’t great at it and her brother had always helped her with the partnering. When it came to partner dancing… so long as there was a strong lead, she felt comfortable and then she usually didn’t have very many slip ups… but then, Celestine didn’t dance a traditional ballroom dance… so who knew how this was going to turn out. Putting that aside though… she didn’t particularly care; she was just really happy to get to dance with him.