tampered | (no subject)

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WINTER GALA IS OPEN ~ !

Seen the sign? It’s everywhere.

And every little corner, and every little street, strident and glistening and snow everywhere. Statue here, statue there – North, South, East, West – they do call it the Square. There’s word they’re war heroes, or troubled hallows, or nothing of the sort. That might be ice they’re sculpted in – or the sliver in some champagne glass, because giants drink too, and the City knows things. The City doesn’t tell.

But the tap those statues once or twice, and tap them strong, and tap them well, and they’ll whisper a secret. The little Elf army scuttling about has seen better days for wear (mostly Thursdays), but they’re only three feet tall, and the silver powder on their cheek’s both rigidly applied, and rented. Kick’em. They’re fluent in seven languages, you know. They have a degree. Naghladi’gjamarai got a Nobel nomination last year; no one knows. The human reporter didn’t look down to his knee when he was interviewing. Humans, so damned righteous.

Like the lights everywhere can never go out.

Like they’re the first ones here, dancing all too merry.

Like it’s their celebration.

Like it’s not all coming out of their City taxes.

Idiots.

[ooc: OK, kids, as per Jesse instructions: please title your comment + replies in such a way that you mention if they're directed at anyone in particular. Free-for-all ball, enjoy ~ ! ]

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Despite being in a suit and in a setting a bit more formal than what he was used to, Vash was rather excited about going to the gala. He still wasn't crazy about wearing what he was, but Zaheela had been nice enough to go with him and even wear a dress, so he owed that much to her.

And it made him feel a little better that Zaheela wasn't much better at this than he was... After a brief discussion (http://henkonasuisho.livejournal.com/57333.html?style=mine), it was decided they should find someone to "waylay" or "engage in friendly conversation." Now that was something Vash could do.

"You realize once we waylay some people and have some drinks, you're going to have to brave dancing with me, right?" Vash said to his parter with a grin.

The though crossed her mind and a sigh escaped her. Vash had mentioned lessons in the past, but that didn't mean her feet would escape unscathed if she wasn't careful. Her grip on his arm tightened slightly before she attempted to relax. It wouldn't be fair if she ruined the mood with a sour attitude.

"I'm sure i'll live." Zaheela joked as she placed one foot down on the ice platform which would serve as the dance floor.

Vash patted Zaheela's hand and gave her an innocent look.

"I will make sure you survive the evening, I promise," he assured her. "That includes not stepping on your feet or anything."

He'd only had a couple dancing lessons, but it was like fighting, right? Putting your feet in certain places at certain times... It might not be a graceful display, but he could at least avoid causing physical injury.

Somehow... that wasn't comforting. A nervous twitch of the ear and she just smiled.

"I trust you won't, but for now, drinks and conversation. I don't think my nerves could take a full on assault on such a daunting task."

"I think I should be a little offended, but I won't be to give you the benefit of a doubt," Vash teased gently, steering them towards the drinks. "Just so long as they aren't spiked with that 'hyper' stuff or anything..."

He'd forgotten about the "hyper" incident while he was being hunted for his bounty until Jr. had brought it up on the Network...

They reached the table just as he uttered the two most dreaded words when it came to open punch bowls. An unknown substance and the word spiked. Surely... this early there wouldn't of have been anything laced into the bowl.... Yeah... couldn't have.

"Hyper? I don't remember anything with that, though I'm sure it wasn't pretty." She bluntly stated, before picking up a cup and handling it gingerly. "Shall we try our luck, as small as that'd be?"

"Oh, it wasn't," Vash assured her, picking up a cup of his own and eyeing it. "Jr. thought it was hilarious, though."

He lifted his glass towards Zaheela and gave her a grin that would have made people who knew him back from his world wince with the suspicion he was about to do something extremely stupid.

"Life needs a little risk now and then, right?" he said right before taking a taste.

It's his infectious personality, I swear. was all that was going through her mind at that moment. Normally she wouldn't follow suit so quickly, but there was just something so... Vash... about Vash that made you do things you normally wouldn't do. Following his example, she sampled whatever was in that cup.

...Nothing... Nope... Still the same.

"Hm."

Vash took a second to look himself over. Nothing was missing; nothing new had sprouted up; the world wasn't spinning...

"I think we're good!" he announced brightly with a thumbs-up. "...Wow, this is pretty good, actually..."

"Just wait an hour, then we'll see it turn into something else." Zah uttered before putting the empty cup down. ~~when did she finish that again? Vash would be Vash...~~ Looking around, she found the room to be a lacking in the energy most formals had. The floor was mostly empty, perhaps it just needed someone to take advantage of it?

"Vashi?" She said with a smile, "How about we hold off the badgering of wallflowers and get a crash course in dancing in so you can impress the real ladies?"

Edited 2007-12-29 03:46 (UTC)

That was a good point... Oh, well, if he had an hour before something horrible happened, he'd make the best of it.

Now, Vash had never been fond of being called any variation of "Vash" besides the original name itself, but somehow Zaheela was one of the very few people who could get away with it. Perhaps it was how she said it without sounding condescending... Maybe the way she said it was just adorable... Even he wasn't sure. But at any rate, he grinned and offered an arm to her.

"I seriously doubt I'll be impressing anyone except by how spectacularly I can fail, but that's very nice of you to put it that way!" he said.

"You doubt my teaching skills, I'm hurt." She said with a fake wounded tone, holding her nose up high. A moment of a huffed look, before she broke down and just smirked. "Even a peglegged orc can learn to dance, all it takes is the ability to match the beat." Grabbing one hand, She guided him into the first posistion.

"You'll have to catch on quick though, I won't lead you for long. Now, first move your right foot forward, while I move mine back." All was uttered in hushed tones, as if to deceive anyone watching into thinking they were just getting used to the other's style.

Edited 2007-12-29 04:00 (UTC)

Vash opened his mouth to say something, but got distracted by Zaheela's putting him into position. Checking himself a bit, he nodded at her instruction. Spending over a century of basing his movements on others' would really pay off here.

"Ready," he said quietly and started to move forward, blinking at Zaheela and then snickering as he did. "I'm sorry, it's just been a while since I've done this sort of thing."

Asuka was not one to ask, or to wait. Especially when she was out with a definite mission.

Stomping over to Vash, she had both her hands on her hips. She wore a bright dress with very high heels, but she hated that she was still much shorter than he was. Even with her diminutive height however, she was trying to stare him down.

"Ask me for a dance," she demanded. His partner could just go shoo somewhere.

Vash nearly jumped a foot in the air when he heard Asuka's voice insisting for an invitation. He looked 'round and his face quickly lit up with a smile when he saw the girl looking up at him.

"Well, now, how could I say no to that?" Vash asked brightly, excusing himself from Zaheela and turning to face Asuka, holding a hand out to her. "Asuka, would you care for a dance?"

Asuka smirked in confidence at his reply. He really knew how to get on her good side. "Oh, why not~" she said off-handedly as if it was really his idea to ask.

She did realize Zaheela walking away from the two of them, sending her a quick victorious glance before returning to Vash. "You picked her for a partner?"

Vash smiled and shrugged a little, guiding Asuka into a simple waltz.

"Now, now, she's very nice!" he said. "She keeps to herself, but that's just because she can be a bit independent. But never mind about that, tell me how you've been! Did you get the dress I got you for Christmas?"

"I did~!" Asuka practically squealed in reply, before pouting to accent her next words. "But they did nothing to show off my body! You didn't possibly think I couldn't pull off something sexier, did you?"

Her voice was positively menacing, but she was still letting him guide the waltz. She wasn't as angry at him as she seemed to be, really.

Vash raised an eyebrow at the young girl. Sexier? He had a feeling this girl would turn out to be one of those women who wore revealing clothing and screamed at men for looking at what she had on display.

"And have all the perverts around here looking at you?" Vash said. "No, thanks. I'm sure you can take care of yourself, but that doesn't mean you should invite more trouble. What would Wolfwood think?"

Actually, she already was one of those women. Only, she did not qualify the age requirement to be referred to as a woman yet. Not that it deterred her from acting in exactly the same way less a lot of maturity.

"Wolfwood would think I look good," she defended herself. "I'd never get anyone to dance with if I wore that dress!"

"Well, except for you," she corrected herself. "And that's just because you think of me as a kid."

"Actually," Vash corrected, "I think Wolfwood would throw a fit. And what's wrong with the dress I got you?! I think it's really pretty!"

He twirled her around and took the opportunity to roll his eyes. What was it with girls, anyway?

"I think of almost everyone as a kid," he informed her as they came face-to-face again. "You shouldn't take it personally."

"No, he won't!" Although she knew that he would.

Even after yelling at him, she made a giggle when he twirled her around. She was definitely not the best dancer around, but she couldn't care less. At least it was fun.

"You think of Wolfwood as an equal," she retorted.

Vash smiled a bit as Asuka laughed and made an exaggerated thinking face at her last remark.

"Only some of the time," he said with a grin. "He's just as much of a kid as the rest of you more often than not, you know. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

She laughed at that, "one true thing you've said tonight."

Asuka looked into the distance in thought for a moment, trying not to meet his eyes, "you think of me as an equal some of the time?"

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mildlyreckless.livejournal.com - 2007-12-30 06:23 (UTC) - Expand

The forcefulness was not only rude, but unexpected, but the other woman didn't bother putting up a fight. She simply smiled, posture gone cold, before waving to Vash and disappearing into the crowds. It wasn't worth fighting pushy, little girls to her anyways.

besides, she was somewhat parched.

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Open to anyone and everyone~

Let the chaos begin

Still open to anybody unless said otherwise, I suppose?

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For Vash and/or Zaheela

For Asuka~

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