It is a large house, almost the size of a mansion. Most of its many windows are not lit, and you wonder if it had been here before.

A large banner hangs outside the front door, brightly colored in a cheery blue. It reads, "A WELCOME BACK PARTY" Under the large, bold prints is a picture of a mini Arrika and Sakiko. You notice the drawing rather strange...perhaps because Sakiko is smiling?

The door is open wide open, and you can smell the warm scent of cinammon and all types of food. It is well lit and welcoming, the atmosphere of a friendly party looming before you.

So what are you waiting for? Come on in and join in the fun!

Up the street, in the entrance to a back alley, a short burst of flame appeared in midair. Out of the mini inferno emerged the hand, arm, and eventually, entire body of Kasei Dornmos Gobi, who stepped into the street. The party, it was supposed to be around here, right? The Rebel Flame thought to himself, and started a quick search for said building.

It did not take him long to find the part building, with a large banner and everything. This must be the place. He realized, and stood in the entrance. Go in, or stay out? Oh, what the heck. He decided, and stepped through the threshold to funky party town. How should I welcome her back, anyway? He thought as he did so.

Eberron stood at the entrance looking at the sign on front for a full five minutes. As of yet, the banner had still not given him any more of an idea as to what this mysterious 'party' was. Still, he had been invited. So it was his duty to go. Prepared for anything, Eberron eyed everything with a slight air of suspicion as he wondered into the house. The smell of food suddenly hit him as he got nearer. Crying out in delight Eberron rushed inside. Perhaps there would be some new rocks he hadn't tasted before in and amongst the usual collection of less appetising food.

OoC: Do you want full control of this or do I get some godmodding of the events?

IC: Arrika stared at the mansion, then back at the crumpled invitation in her hand. Her brow furrowed in confusion. She didn't recognize this place. How could it be? There was no way she could have ever overlooked such a large building, and she had been in Ruto more times than she could count.

"Wait a second... is that... me? And is Saki... smiling?" she burst out loud as she noticed the huge sign. "Who drew this? I'm not that short in proportion to her! Goddesses, Saki, this better be good..."

She looked herself over once more before walking through the doorway. That little Deku had said something about formal wear, and she wondered if this was overkill. She wore a large military coat over a short black dress, trimmed in silver and gold embroidery, and clunky engineer boots with eerie, dark stains. At this time of night she resembled a ruffled crow. All of the above had been filched at the last moment- the invitation hadn't given her much preparation time. It had crossed her mind to find a suit or tux, how's that for formal? but Saki would have thrown a fit. Oh, who was she kidding? Saki disapproved of almost everything she did...

"Um... welcome home. No. That sounds weird. What are we, a married couple? Ah... Why in the name of Din is this so damn hard? Welcome back? Seems kind of cliche. You'd think after all this time one could speak more meaningfully to their best friend. Where the hell have you been all this time, you ungrateful..." The thief mumbled under her breath nervously as she willed herself into the mansion, which, she had to admit, smelled quite delightful.

Aqua boldly walked inside. "Hello, every person of-" She stopped talking when she saw no red headed girl beside her. "Keychain!" Aqua stalked off. Dragging Keychain behind her, Aqua forced Keychain to stay beside her. "I don't see why you don't want to be here."

"I look ridiculous," mumbled Keychain.

"Do not," snapped Aqua.

Keychain had been forced to wear an old dress. It was pure black besides the small white gems that dotted all around it. High heeled black shoes with straps that wrapped up her thighs were on her feet. She kept tapping her feet against the ground. Keychain felt pain. Wearing the shoes wasn't her idea. She wanted to wear her regular leather boots. They were perfect for running. Instead of having her hair up, she had it down. The ashy red locks spilled down her back, almost reaching to her knees.

Aqua scowled at her. Instead of looking like she dressed in the dark, she had a lengthy, dark blue dress that had a sash wrapped around the waist. The regular boots that she owned were on her feet, since she didn't own any other pair of shoes.

"You look amazing, Keychain."

Keychain looked desperate. She looked around. "We're crashing," she said.

"No we're not. We are just coming with no invitation," Aqua replied, smiling brightly.

"That's crashing."

"Oh, for Goddess sake," grumbled Aqua. She grabbed Keychain by one of her arms and started grabbing her. Pulling the small red head behind her, she announced, "Hello! Aqua and Keychain are here!" She sniffed the air. "Oh, something smells good."

Suddenly, the warm light is gone. The entire mansion is filled with black darkness before anyone can see what is going on. Silence. It rings in your ears, and before the brain can register panic...

CHING

A stream of small lights light up the hallway, climbing through the walls and dangling off the ceiling. They are glowing white, twinkling from the reflection of each other's brightness. The two lines of the small glass orbs make a pathway, and you see a tall figure walking slowly towards you.

"Welcome, guests! I am very glad that you all are here!"

You hear a loud snap, and the lights are returned to normal. Standing before you is Zapheta (Zeze for short...), clad in a tight, navy dress. It hugs her curves in all the right places, giving her an eloquent and sophisticated look. The light bounces off the many jewels studded into the lining of the thin fabric, giving the whole dress a dazzling look. She walked towards Kasei, giving him a glass of wine. She beamed at Arrika, offering to take her military coat. She murmured,

"Take that thing off, Arrika darling. You look rather poverty stricken in it. C'mon, shine with your inner beauty!"

With a wink, Zeze hugged Keychain and Aqua with open arms.

"My, Key-Key, you look absolutely fabulous! As do you, Aqua sweetie. Come on in, and thank you for joining us..."

She gave Eberron a large grin.

"Haven't seen yo u around town, buddy. Say, why don't we get acquainted while we're at it..."

She slung one arm over his shoulder - or rather attempted - and as the words, "Come, let us enjoy--" were slipping from her lips.....

Ooc: Arrika, it's time. (for what we had planned!! MUA HAHAHAHAHHA)

OOC: Hope you two don't mind letting one more person squeeze in before this big 'plan' of yours unfolds.

. . . well, maybe not just one . . .

IC:
"A party."

"Um . . . yeah, but that's just a, um, a coverup! Right! So that no one will suspect it."

"It's a party."

"N-no, I told you! It's a big military meeting. There will be several generals attending and -"

"You're only saying that because you saw General Kasei walk inside a few moments ago."

. . .

Shada finally just gave the charade up; she wasn't very good at lying when she'd already been caught in the midst of her lies. Alpha stood there, arms crossed, glaring at the girl with blazing crimson eyes, obviously more than a little ticked off at her deception. In retrospect it probably hadn't been a very good idea to try and drag her fellow Sheikah here in the first place; it was a wonder she'd managed to convince him to come at all, even if she did promise it was a 'meeting of multiple militaristic minds'. Maybe he had assumed Zaboorak would be brought up; maybe Alliteration had stolen so much of his focus that he had simply not thought through the rest of it.

Maybe there was some otherworldly being authoring their very lives, and, unable to think of a good reason to get Alpha where he wanted the Sheikah to be, he had simply come up with a flimsy excuse that really should have never played out successfully . . .

. . . okay, now she was starting to get delusional about this whole thing. "Fine," she admitted at last, though the tone sounded more disappointed because of her failed deception than anything else. "It's a party for Sakiko and Arrika, and I was hoping you would be gracious enough to accompany me to-"

"You really are getting delusional, aren't you . . ."

The woman found herself blushing at the words, a shade that contrasted nicely with the dress she had chosen for the evening's events. She wore her hair in the same style as she had to Kasei's Christmas party, two thick braids that laid across her chest, this time decorated with a few small jewels woven into her hair - emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and more. No amethysts though - that was the color of the outfit she wore, a vibrant violet that shimmered as it hugged tightly yet comfortably against her pale Sheikah skin. The dress had a single strap around her neck, leaving her back and arms completely. Few would argue against saying she looked just as beautiful as she had at the Christmas party, those few likely belonging in an insane asylum.

And Alpha . . . well, he wore his same old black shirt, black pants, and black cape. Honestly, there was no way she could have gotten him to dress up for any kind of event, including a military meeting, so she hadn't even bothered.

She spun away from the man, loosing a sigh as she accepted defeat in this matter. "Alright then Keyru, I suppose I'll see you around lat-"

She stopped cold as the man brushed right past her, muttering something along the lines of, "Came all this way, might as well get some food from it," and walked inside. Dumbstruck, even if food was the motivating factor, she stood out there for several long moments before finally snapping out of the reprieve and hurrying in to join the Sheikah . . . and the others. Yes. Definitely the others too.

"Well well." Kasei said, as the place seemed to light up. "They sure do know how to brighten the evening." The Rebel Flame smiled gently as he was offered the glass, and stepped further in. As he saw other guests arrive, the Rebel Flame smiled a bit more, taking a quick sip of the drink he was given, before snapping his fingers.

The man was covered in a cloud of smoke with a 'poof'. When it dissipated only a few seconds later, his normal garbs were replaced by a more formal dress suit, complete black over shirt, white under it, and red trim to match the shiekahn's eyes, complete with a small red rose. Clearly, despite his earlier objections, Kasei had planned to come to this party.

"Well, let's see what festivities await us now." He said calmly, taking another sip of the wine as he glanced around, watching the other guests walk in, Ebberon, Keychain, etc. As he did, he could not help but spot Alpha and Shada entering the party.

Normally I should . . . . but what the heck, it's a party. I'll not bother him for now. Kasei decided, and continued to wait for the real party to begin.

"I was just leaving," Keychain said, turning around. Aqua grabbed her before she could get anywhere. Knowing the scholar's speed, she would have been halfway to Rauru Town by the time Aqua caught up with her.

"Stay," ordered Aqua. "Or else I might just have to strap you to a chair. Come on, have some fun. There's food, we didn't eat before we left, now did we?" She grinned while Keychain scowled. "Come on, loosen up. We're at a party."

"We're crashing."

"Zeze doesn't mind."

Keychain fell silent. Her blue eyes glowered at the ground. "Oh, fine, fine. I'll try to have fun."

Aqua gave her a pat on the head. She flinched, glaring at her friend. "That's what I wanted to hear. Come on, show off your feminine side."

"Say that again and I will leave."

OoC: Now? Give it a few.

IC: "Since when do I not look 'poverty stricken'?" Arrika mumbled, and after much hesitation finally complied in handing over her coat. "Be careful with that, that's real silver in the lining," was all she managed to say before a strong aura hit her.

Her head swiveled back to the door. Alpha? What was he doing here? She'd seen him take an invitation, but she never thought he'd actually go. He hadn't dressed up at all, but somehow he did not seem out of place. A beautiful woman followed him, and Arrika vaguely recognized her as having gone to Kasei's Christmas party.

"You look good, Zeze," Arrika said, forcing herself to refocus her attention away from the Sheikah mage. "Where's Saki?"

The thief took the time to observe the room (pointedly avoiding the general area that Alpha occupied). Had Saki really planned all this? She didn't seem the type for overdramatic spectacles. Zeze, maybe, but never Sakiko.

Ooc: But...but....*sigh*

IC: Zeze peered at Arrika's coat, trying to look for the silver lining. And she wasn't the one to ever not see the silver lining in most situations, but in this case, she really couldn't tell if there was one or not. She muttered quietly, "I can't see it, Arrika..." However, she took it with equal carefulness as if there was one.

She drifted towards Shada and smiled pointedly.

"Aw, you look great! Thanks for coming all this way."

She glanced at Alpha and shivered. There seemed to be a dark cloud hanging over his head...but maybe that was her imagination?

OOC: Hm, apparently people are thinking that Alpha is infuriated and has an aura of unpleasantness about him. While he is certainly rather annoyed at Shada, don't expect him to actually display such emotions in public. Tell ya what - I think I'll introduce one of Alpha's . . . 'weaknesses', I suppose you could call it. Should help lighten this alleged atmosphere surrounding him.

IC:
Alpha suppressed a smirk during the long seconds it took for Shada to recover from the shock of him actually leading the way into this 'party' of hers; as long as she didn't ask him to dance or anything he'd be alright with coming in and . . . what was that term that people often used for this kind of event? Mingling? A rather odd word . . .

Gliding through the door without ever turning back, he at once felt eyes upon him again, causing the vexation within him to rise. He kept it suppressed though, as he always did, though that isn't to say he smiled and became the life of the party upon entering the building. He simply looked around for some food, appearing to ignore everyone present even as his crimson gaze studied and filed away each of the faces of those present. Kasei and Arrika he recognized, and a few of the others seemed somewhat familiar. But he kept his gaze moving slowly, always searching for the -

Ah, the food. There was a table not too far away from him with a handful of dishes littered about. He quickly made his way over to it, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else as he drew closer to them. Eye contact was almost always a prerequisite to starting a conversation, and while he was adept at keeping his facial expressions under control he couldn't say the same about his voice. He only glanced up once, at the strange woman - apparently the host of some kind - greeting everyone. Shada responded to the welcome with a cheerful, "Oh, thank you - you look rather fabulous yourself!", but by that time Alpha had already turned back, finding himself standing almost on top of the table. He glanced down -

He stopped.

Any rage he had been feeling vanished.

His body went still.

Were those -?!

His eyes widened.

They WERE.

How long had it been since - oh, who cared! It had been TOO LONG, that was all that mattered! And here they were, just waiting to be plucked and gobbled up. And he was more than happy to oblige, carefully reaching out with his hands and silently grabbing a handful - and then immediately shoving them all into his mouth at once, allowing an obsession he had not enjoyed in years to be reborn full force.

He turned around and glanced at everyone who might be looking at him, his wide smile no longer having to be forced as he savored the flavors running through his mouth. Then he swallowed, letting the sweet, delicious juices trickle down his throat.

"I love grapes."

OOC: And Alpha gains yet another one of my traits . . . 8D

Arrika wrung her fingers behind her back, twisting them until the joints cracked. She rocked from her heels to her toes and repeatedly stroked her hair. To anyone looking on, she looked the picture of female adolescent insecurity. She took a deep breath and smoothed the folds of her short dress once more before moving forward.

Alpha was easy to spot in any crowd, and her legs seemed to move of their own accord towards him. He was at the tables laden with food, his back to her.

She halted 3 feet behind him, let out the breath she had been holding, and spoke in a rush. "Hey- Alpha- great to see you here, you might not remember me, I'm Arrika-" She moved to the side to get closer to him as she spoke, then stopped mid sentence. The look on Alpha's face was one of pure joy. And not because a female in revealing clothing was speaking to him.

"...oh. Um. Yea. Grapes are pretty awesome aren't they?" she continued dubiously as she took in the sight of the fruits' juices running down the corner of his mouth. "So... how do you like the-"

Darkness.

Arrika gasped and backed up, bumping into a table and nearly tipping it over. A few plates fell and clattered to the ground loudly, the sound of the food hitting the floor making a gooey splattering sound.

"Zeze!" she said, forcing her initial thoughts that she had suddenly turned blind away. "Zeze! Saki?!" She took another step forward, bumping painfully into Alpha. She nervously stepped back. "Sorry, sorry, it was an accident!"

From the similar panicked sounds of the other guests, she realized that she was not hallucinating nor going blind- somehow every single lantern and torch in the room had gone out. But she hadn't felt even the slightest gust of wind... the front doors were closed, so that ruled out natural forces. There weren't many mages among the guests and she hadn't seen or heard any of them casting a spell.

Was Saki making some kind of grand entrance? She wasn't one for theatrics.

The flames flickered to life just as quietly as they had gone out, and an instant later the room was once again filled with its original warm glow.

The thief wasn't the only one to cause some kind of damage, and as she scanned the room she noticed more upset tables and party goers sprawled over each other. From the sleazy looks on some of their faces, most of them weren't accidents.

Ooc: major major fan girl outrage

IC: Footsteps were heard in the staircase upstairs. They rang to every corner of the room; hollow, slow, steady footsteps. Zeze slowly put down the platter she was holding, raising her head to the ceiling. Most of the other guests had fallen silent, their eyes also cast up towards the sound.

"What's with everyone?"

Sakiko came down the stairs, donning on a long, chocolate dress. It was strapless, brushing against the wooden stairs. It was tight around the torso and the hips, but the train was ruffled and fell down in several graceful layers. Her pale skin almost glowed in the warm light, and her silvery hair had been curled into an up do.

Zeze almost screamed in delight, and ran towards the Mage.

"I thought you wouldn't show up!"

Sakiko shrugged, keeping her reasons to herself. She had been upstairs the entire time, watching as the guests came in to the house. She had spotted Alpha, pure joy radiating from his very being as he devoured the grapes. Then Arrika, as she tried to bring him into conversation. Then, the darkness (which she had no clue about; perhaps one of the guests were hampering with the lighting?) and the 'accidental' bump into the grape lover.

Blushing, but still keeping mum, she made her way towards Alpha and Arrika. After giving a disapproving look towards Arrika's short dress, she stood beside Alpha. She cleared her throat softly, keenly aware of the awkward situation. But she had to do something...

"I didn't expect you at a place like this, Alpha."

Zeze, hiding a small smile, slid into the background, letting the guests enjoy themselves. She made her way towards Keychain and Aqua, feeling comfortable with these two.

OOC: I found perfect picture of saki's dress

Sakiko's: http://upload.ecvv.com/upload/Product/2 ... 119540.jpg

With a satisfied gulp, Alpha swallowed his first round of mouthfuls, feeling a tiny bit of the juices trickling down his chin. He brought up his sleeve to wipe it away, only to pause as a familiar voice greeted him from behind. He half turned, only to find the fast talking beauty already by his side. Words kept flowing out from her lips, fast enough that the Sheikah didn't get much time to put a word in edgewise -

Abruptly, the lights vanished once again, leaving the mage surrounded by the darkness that enveloped them all. To be fair, he was probably one of the better prepared ones for an event like this - whereas he heard Shada yelp as she tripped and fell almost immediately, his feet immediately spread a bit wider to give him better balance while his eyes swiftly adjusted to the sudden lack of light. It was a good thing the former detail happened automatically, because he was still getting used to the darkness when Arrika slammed into him.

Barreling backwards, his hand instinctively shot out and managed to latch around Arrika's wrist, giving him enough stability to stop the motion; had he not already been prepared balance-wise he probably would have fallen onto his back and dragged her down on top of him. "Thanks, Arrika," he muttered as he released her arm and glanced around, trying to figure out what might have caused -

He had to shut his eyes quickly as the lights abruptly came back on, a burning sensation in his head being narrowly avoided. After a few seconds he reopened them, glancing around to find most guests having fallen in the midst of the chaos - and while some of them appeared to have fallen strategically, it would probably surprise most people to find Shada had no admirers sprawled out over her. At least, it would until they noticed a pair of unconscious males lying in a heap not a meter away from her.

Like the rest of the crowd, though, he found his gaze drawn skyward as the sound of footsteps approaching the hall caught his attention. "What's with everyone?"

Sakiko descended down the steps in a rather eloquent fashion, somehow even maintaining her cool when another woman ran up to her excitedly. She brushed past the woman and walked . . . right to where he was, actually, which was something of a surprise. "I didn't expect you at a place like this, Alpha."

He smirked before turning and giving her a pleasant smile; he would have probably been very handsome if not for the scar marring his features, but that did not detract from his grin. "You and me both, Sakiko." He motioned around the room. "Any idea what caused that blackout?"

* * *

A violet dress imposed itself in Zeze's direction of motion: Shada's wide smile and vibrant outfit came to a stop right before the woman before she could reach Keychain and Aqua. "Zeze, where is the beer being kept?" the Sheikah asked most pleasantly. Her head turned towards where Sakiko and Arrika were gathering around Alpha. Her tone never faltered in its sweetness, even as she continued, "I need to be drunk enough to not feel bad while I'm killing those two."

From anyone else, this might have been seen as a joke, but for those who knew how efficient Shada was at killing . . . um . . .

Let's just say this was bad. Very, very bad.