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Even though she recognized everyone in the Dandelions clubroom, Anora got a sudden wave of nausea regardless. There was only, what? Two more people than if she and Ephemer were a part of Pyra's study group? She shouldn't have been this nervous. Maybe she could tell herself that it was the way the clubroom had been decorated. The lights were off, but there were multiple battery-operated candles in bunches around the room. Someone had even put a plasma ball lamp in the center of the round table for extra ambiance. Over by the writing desk was a wireless stereo, playing music that definitely fit the Halloween atmosphere.
"We can leave whenever you want." Ephemer reminded her, giving her hand a little squeeze. Anora looked at him and offered a smile. She could do this. It's not like this was any different than before. She knew everyone. This wasn't going to be hard at all.
"Gang way!" someone shouted before barreling by Anora and Ephemer. Whoever it was ended up clipping Anora's side, and both parties went staggering backward at the impact.
"Urg; sorry, sorry, sorry." Anora's bumper quickly apologized. They hurried back to Anora, quickly brushing her off without permission. "I heard there were goodie bags, and I wanted to see what was in them, and I didn't think to look where I was going..."
The bumper paused for a moment, suddenly aware that they were brushing off Anora, before looking up at the older student with curiosity. Their respite allowed both them and Anora to get a good look at each other. This new person didn't seem to be much older than 10 years old- her long black hair tied into a neatly braided bun, and her chocolate brown eyes staring intensely back at Anora. Her skin was so light, that it almost seemed to glow slightly in the darkness. It likely was not helped by the dark purple formal gown she was wearing.
"Sabrina!" a new voice called out. Anora and her bumper broke their glances to see Ventus come up. Wearing an elaborate armored costume, with matching helmet, the boy looked out of breath- like he had been trying to catch up with the younger girl for miles. Which was odd in and of itself; they only had the clubroom to roam around in, after all.
"Ven!" the young girl randomly shouted in return, startling both Ephemer and Anora. "You said there were goody bags!"
The Second Year let out an exhausted sigh as he shook his head. "No, I said there weren't any goody bags. I didn't have time make them."
"Well, why not?!"
"You ate all the candy."
Sabrina opened her mouth to retort, but froze. "Oh yeah..." she finally decided. "I remember that now."
Watching the duo interact made Anora shrink in mild distaste. She clung to Ephemer as if the younger student planned on kidnapping her in a blink.
"But wait!" Sabrina quickly declared as she grabbed the blonde haired boy by the wrist. "I can make it up to you! let's head to my dorm real quick; we're gonna put on better music than this!"
"We are?" was all the boy managed to say before letting out a yelp in surprise as she pulled him away. Ephemer and Anora watched the duo leave in a flurry. The young man gave a small snort at their display, but his amusement was lost when he looked over at Anora.
"You alright?" he carefully asked her, nudging her a bit so she'd ease her grip a little. "I don't think she'll bite you. I mean, Ven doesn't have any visible bruises on him."
Suffice to say, he earned the dark glare Anora gave him. The young man let out a nervous laugh as he threw a hand behind his head.
"I see you've met Ventus's princess?" Brain mused as he came over to the couple. The Eighth Year student wasn't dressed much different than usual, spare for the long vampire cape. In one hand he had a cup of blood red punch, and using the other he tipped his fedora to them in greeting. The only reaction he got at first was an equally confused blink from Ephemer and Anora.
"Ven's… what?" Ephemer finally questioned.
Brain gave a small snort before explaining, "Sabrina's name means princess- or, at least, that's what she keeps saying. Along with occasionally referring to herself as Princess Sabi, of course."
"You sure it's not because she's wearing a princess costume?"
"Oh no, I'm pretty sure she's always like that." he informed them before taking a rather long sip of punch. "Possibly the last person I'd expect to be one of Ven's friends."
"What kind of friends do you think Ven would have?" Ephemer then wondered- a small accusatory tone was laced in his voice. He paused when he caught himself and added, "Besides us."
"A mother figure, for one." the older student considered. He swirled his cup as he thought over what he'd think Ventus's ideal friends would be like. "And a big brother type. You know the kind; all big and muscular, probably addicted to protein shakes. Not little miss Probably-inhales-an-absurd-amount-of-chocolate."
Before he could stop himself, Ephemer said, "Are you sure that it's chocolate she's inhaling?" which earned him a small elbow jab from Anora. Brain didn't seem to notice it.
"No." he admitted. "But I like to be an optimist when time comes down to it."
"I don't like her." Anora spoke up. It surprised everyone, including herself. Brain gave her an interested raise of his eyebrow.
"Well, I guess there's a first time for everything." he mused with a teasing grin. "You guys are allowed to sit, you know. Skuld made the food, so make sure to save some for the rest of us. And there's a lot of drinks to go through. Oh, and Ephemer, you're on the after party clean up duty."
"Got it." Ephemer nodded. "Thank you for the reminder."
Brain gave a smirk as he tipped his fedora at them once more before heading to talk to Lauriam. Ephemer and Anora decided to sit at the loveseats with Skuld and Strelitzia. The four of them went into a very long talk about everything and nothing. It started when Ephemer chastised Skuld for wearing a hospital gown- to which she said she was test subject, not a critically injured invalid, and that he needed to relax a little. It only took one glance between Anora and Strelitzia to quickly change the subject. Strelitzia had made her costume by hand, a very beautiful regency inspired dress with headdress.
After awhile, Anora politely excused herself to get a drink. The snack table had been set up against the same wall as the writing desk. A little smile was on Anora's face. This party wasn't so bad. It was just her and her friends. Because the room had been darkened, she barely saw Sabrina for most of the party. Occasionally, you'd hear the youngest girl laugh or shout for Ventus, but other than that it was rather relaxed.
Anora quietly poured herself a cup of lemonade. She happened to look up and noticed that there was a mirror on the wall. As she gave the reflection a little smile, something about the mirror seemed to change. For a moment, Anora could still see herself in the mirror- but she was older. The expression her reflection made was contemplative. Stern, almost. Her reflection turned its head as if it were talking to someone beside her. Frightened, Anora jumped away from the mirror, landing almost directly into Ephemer's arms. How he was suddenly there was beyond her, she was too surprised that her reflection moved to even react.
"Are you alright?" he worried. "Do we need to go?"
Anora quickly shook her head, pointing a quick finger at the mirror. In a shaking voice she even muttered, "The mirror, it… it had..."
Ephemer looked at her, then looked at the mirror.
"Anora, it's a dollar store frame with aluminum foil in it. It's not a real mirror."
"It's not a…?" she repeated before looking back at it. Sure enough, he was right.
"Come sit back down," Ephemer offered, "I'll get us drinks. We'll leave soon, promise."
Anora recoiled a little. "But I don't want to leave."
Ephemer look at her with a worried frown. "You're seeing things in a fake mirror that doesn't even have a reflection." he bluntly told her. "Obviously this is too stressful for you. We'll leave after we tell Skuld good bye and-"
"I don't want to leave yet."
For a moment, Ephemer blinked at her in bewilderment. She glared back at him with a still expression. The young man opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to say something, but nothing ever came out. Their tense moment was broken when a very loud, very trashy song started to play from the wireless speaker.
"Could someone turn that trash off?" Lauriam demanded from over the song. "There are children at this party!"
"The children are the ones who put in on!" came the mischievous response from Sabrina, which was then followed by a near maniacal laughter.
Anora let out a light shudder at the sound and tried to turn her attention back to Ephemer. But he was gone. The Dandelion leader had gone to Lauriam and Sabrina (the former looking like he was about smack the latter's mouth from talking back) in hopes to stop a fight before it started. Not that he truly needed to- Brain and Ventus were trying to defuse the situation as well. Skuld didn't bother to get up, even though she was keeping a close eye on the events. Strelitzia had gotten up, though, and was carefully making her way over to Anora.
"Should we leave?" the older girl asked the younger. "Just until things have cooled off a bit?"
But Anora shook her head- her gaze still dead set on Ephemer. "I'm not going anywhere." she said under her breath, not meaning for Strelitzia to hear. "I can wait."