Jesse remembered reading about debutante balls for class once. It was a way for members of high society to get introduced into said high society during a 'season'. (Spring or summer, Jesse was pretty sure).
While this didn't feel like a debutante ball exactly, Jesse now saw the need for the formal outfit.
The room itself was a rather grand room- though there were machines and things blowing steam and pistons pumping heated air into the room, which hid some of the grandeur (and which Harper had briefly, in her way, mused if it was on purpose).
Judging by the satisfied smirk Jesse caught on Xara's face as she took a sip of her drink, hidden a moment later by a glass, it probably was.
The room was filled with almost ornate outfits- Jesse saw black velvet and red silk, an abundant of crimson satin- they felt painfully out of place with their dark blue and teal outfit.
(They certainly looked it, if the occasional glance shot at them was any indication.)
The barons, nobles, and half-demons were currently introducing themselves to Xara with deep bows and some guy that Maya had called a 'steward' basically shouting an introduction across the room (or, in the case of the lords, a significantly less deep bow, but a bow nonetheless).
The October Children were not being introduced, but that was mostly because Xara had flatly said, "There'll be a riot if they do. We'll give them a guard uniform for the time being to make it clear what their job here is. They're not here as guests- they're here as hired help."
Despite that, she was genuinely polite to her 'hired help'. She'd snapped at a guard who'd smacked Gill over the back of the head to be civil and had given Aiden a friendly slap on the back before emerging into the 'ballroom'.
Jesse had watched Harper, Isa, and Mevia all go up, bow pleasantly, along with Ivor (who winked at Jesse when he saw them), and walk over to the side to stand at the ready.
A man Jesse hadn't met before was now walking up and politely bowing. The steward cleared his throat, puffing up his chest for the announcement.
Xara rolled her eyes subtly.
"Welcoming Baron Octavian, of Ludiamet."
Ivor inclined his head, checking his boots.
"That's Otto. Ludiamet's the border city between Jupin and Yurin," he murmured to Jesse, so lowly that Jesse didn't even realize they were being spoken to until the last second.
Otto gave Xara a polite smile, before joining Mevia off to the side, folding his hands in front of him politely.
"You're certainly getting better at doing your hair," she whispered to him.
This earned her a sharp elbow in the ribs from him, though the pleasant smile never left his face, even as her own face split into a wide grin at the jab.
Jesse assumed they were friends.
"Welcoming Baron Stella, of Champion City!"
Jesse started, watching Stella glide across the floor in a floor-length purple gown. They'd forgotten she was coming too...
Not particularly surprisingly, the dress was what one would probably have described as more 'sexy' than the other gowns- the long slit in the gown revealed her long legs when she slowed to a stop, the tall purple stilettos gleaming in the lamplight. The dress trailed slightly behind her, glittering in the lamplight.
She bowed politely to Xara, lowering into a grand cursy, before drawing herself back to her full height and striding back to join the other barons.
Jack and Nurm went next, Jack having cleaned up somewhat- which was to say, his hair was slicked back, and his usually-bushy beard was somewhat tamed. It was really weird seeing Jack like this.
Actually, Jesse didn't particularly like the look; it didn't suit him.
"Good to see you again, sweetie," Stella whispered, keeping an eye on Jack as he politely inclined his head, then moved towards where the others were waiting. "You're staying off to the side?"
Jesse nodded, trying not to move their head too much and risk drawing a noble's ire. "Xara's worrying the nobles will try to corner me if they know I'm a human..."
"Makes sense. You are quite the catch, darling."
Jesse considered this. Even without Reuben there (he'd been left in their room), a few of the nobles had shot Jesse sidelong looks.
A few had even licked their lips, which obviously wasn't at all creepy.
"People haven't eaten me yet..."
Stella chuckled, a slightly husky sound. "With all due respect, darling, that's because if someone tried to, they'd get their head knocked into the stratosphere by one of the October Children or one of the lords. Humans who come in wearing Cosmos colors are usually under a lord's protection, so most people won't attack one if they see one for fear of dealing with the repercussions."
Jesse wondered if she was possibly exaggerating about knocking someone's head into the stratosphere.
Aiden's whip flashed through their head.
They decided she was not exaggerating and that they didn't want to test the theory.
"Don't worry. None of the lords will probably leave you alone, or at least not outside a ten-foot radius." Stella winked a bit. "You're an absolute treasure, hon."
Jesse was so red in the face that they could probably have been compared to a tomato and been indistinguishable from it.
A new woman drew up quietly. Her red eyes flashed out from her dark face, framed with black hair and an ornate, intricately-woven golden headband keeping hair out of her face. She had a plain black dress with white trimmings on, a few golden threads sparkling in the dress.
She was surprisingly elegant, and Xara sat up a bit straighter- perhaps out of politeness.
Or maybe this baron was new-ish, and she wanted to not seem tired? Honestly, now that Jesse pondered it, the possibilities ranged from having a crush on this (admittedly quite pretty) woman to simply not being comfortable around the baron and not wanting to scare her off.
"Introducing Baron Binta, of Zadzrati," the steward almost bellowed across the hall.
Binta bowed simply, but politely, and drew level with the line of barons. Jesse glanced up at her; her hair almost glittered in the light.
The steward snapped the scroll shut. "That concludes the introductions. Please enjoy the rest of the night!" he said, a bit pompously, before striding off to... someplace.
Immediately, the line of barons broke up into little social clusters. Otto was being tugged off to a corner by Hadrian, Mevia, and Harper, Mevia pounding on Otto's back in a friendly way; Isa tugging Cassie off to the side with Milo and Reginald, Dan trailing after. Ellegaard moved to join them, Olivia giving Jesse a friendly wave, before Magnus passed by to chat with Binta.
This left Jesse standing on their own, as the October Children headed off to patrol the area and Xara had somehow apparently blinked out of existence for the time being. Awkwardly, they shuffled and began to make their way over to the refreshments table.
Actually, that sounded about normal for Jesse anyway.
Binta smiled as Jesse began to make their way through the crowd of (socialites? Perhaps that wasn't the right word in this particular setting) nobles, her plus-one- a young woman with a black-and-yellow dress- shuffling awkwardly. "Hello, Magnus. How was the Death Bowl?" she asked, pleasantly enough.
Magnus grinned. "It was dope."
The grin fell a little as he glanced at Ellegaard, who had engaged in a very engaged conversation with Cassie and Olivia about something that made Milo look completely nonplussed. "Not going near Ellie, though, she's going to be gloating over how she was right about that one challenge," he mumbled.
"She- she was, though," the other girl said anxiously.
"Well, I mean, yeah? Doesn't mean I want her gloating about it for an hour," Magnus grumbled, crossing his arms- he looked remarkably like a petulant child.
Axel grinned at the girl. "Cam, wanna help me play matchmaker?" he asked, a mischievous grin tugging at his face.
Binta gave an audible little laugh while Magnus shot Axel a betrayed sort of look. 'Cam' twisted her sleeve, smiling nervously.
"- comparator was feeding into the wrong block," Cassie said, rubbing her head awkwardly. "I completely didn't notice until I asked Stampy to come in."
"And then you almost pulled out a fistful of your own hair," Dan responded.
Olivia snorted. "Sounds like you, Cassie..."
The red-haired baron glanced at her, a slightly more guarded expression falling over her face. She shifted awkwardly. "I- well, I guess," she murmured.
Ellegaard chuckled. "I've been doing better, at least. Olivia's been dragging me outside of the Dome of Concentration to eat every day."
"That's because after Jesse and the others left, you didn't eat for three days straight," came Olivia's reply.
"Bad."
Everyone in the group jumped and twisted to see Harper, who'd been patiently standing off to the side listening silently for a few minutes.
Several people passed between them and Jesse; by the time they'd passed, they were already passing Otto, who was fending Mevia off.
Hadrian was shaking his head at a question Jesse had missed. "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary, unfortunately. How has the attempt to find an apprentice gone?"
Otto hummed, touching his chin. "Hm. Not terribly well, unfortunately. Ludiamet's reputation as a scholar is certainly vast, but very few young demons really want to be scholars. I'm hardly going to drag an unwilling participant into the mix."
"What about that fellow who came with us? Sonar?"
"His name is Radar, Hadrian."
"Alright, Radar then."
"He's a nice young man, but he's got a bit too much spunk. Talked back to the Head Librarian and, I can tell you this now, they were not pleased," Otto chuckled, but there was a spark in his eyes. "I fear the war that will be waged if they're put in the same building together for extended periods of time."
Jesse passed Jack and Nurm sitting together quietly; Jack bowed his head for a moment and Nurm squeezed his shoulder. They debated going to talk to the two of them, but then Jack leant his head on Nurm's shoulder, shoulders shaking, and they decided not to interrupt the moment; so it was in this manner that they reached the refreshment table.
Several nobles were mingling there. Jesse shied away to grab a drink- hopefully one that wasn't alcoholic.
"Oh! Look. It's the darling commoner that was standing up with the other lords."
Jesse looked up to see the entire lot of them bearing down on Jesse like a flock of vultures.
"Hello," they said, deciding to pretend not to have noticed the comment.
The ringleader of the group- a female demon with hair curled into ringlets, a ridiculous amount of blush on her cheeks, and enough jewelry that Jesse could've opened up a jewelry shop and been stocked for a month- beamed down at them.
It was more like baring her fangs at a particularly tiny prey.
"Well! We were wondering why the dear steward didn't introduce you. Would you mind giving us your name, darling?" she simpered, flashing perfectly white teeth at Jesse.
Jesse crossed their arms and swallowed the nervous little click at the back of their throat, avoiding meeting her eyes. "I'm not comfortable introducing myself to a stranger," they said simply.
While this was, in part, true; however, Jesse had read somewhere that names had power. Especially when it came to beings like demons.
While Jesse wasn't entirely sure that giving their name would give this entire group power over them or something like that, they certainly weren't about to hand out their name to what were essentially a group of virtual strangers.
The entire group tittered. Jesse was starting to be reminded of the popular kids at school.
"My name is Lady Karen of Ludiamet," the pompous female demon said, laying an overly-ornately-decorated hand on her equally-ornate dress. Really, Jesse could've probably strung her up from the ceiling and used her as a mirror ball.
"I'm a very important noble here. You must've not been paying attention when they introduced me."
To be fair, Jesse hadn't been paying too much attention; but still. This woman (demon? succubus? Jesse didn't know what type she was) gave off such a discomfiting feeling that Jesse felt like they might be sick on the spot.
The demon smiled at Jesse, tapping their forehead with several ring-clad fingers. "So. Your name?"
Jesse shrank- really, flinched- back at the touch, lowering their eyes to their shoes with a furrowed brow. "I don't know who you are," they said, starting out as boldly as they dared and ending in what was barely a whisper. "I don't want to tell you."
"I just told you, sweetheart-" Stella used the term of endearment fairly often, but it never really sounded that condescending. The way Karen said it, she might as well have said "maggot".
"Yes, you did, Karen," someone broke in, just off to the side, "but there's a phenomenon that some of us do that is called 'lying.' You may have heard of it."
Jesse looked over to see Xara taking a sip of some undoubtedly alcoholic beverage, leaning on the table slightly and watching the interaction.
A/N: yes I put a Karen in here
But hey! Party's finally underway. And it only took 80 chapters to get here xD
Responses to reviews!
jessicanightmarewolf: She does, haha. / I mean, I don't think bringing a pet to a party's a very good idea, no matter how well-behaved the pet is. / Thank you!
TheAmberShadow: Nope! Medicine isn't as advanced due to demons relying on magic. / They are, haha. / Well, I mean, it sure won't make Xara go to sleep anytime soon, but she wasn't planning on it anyway. / :D / Yeah haha
Happygoluckymegami: Oof lol / Lords aren't all-powerful so he probably would've gotten a lot of snotty comments haha / :3c / time haha / We have a Karen! :D
Toni42: boy I sure hope Karen's not likeable xD / Jesse's used to it xD / Indeed :P / mwa
DubstepDragon14: That's pretty accurate lmao / :3c / Aw, that's fair haha. Thank you!
Syra Nyth: Unfortunately Cosmos isn't really well known for therapy / To be fair, Jesse's also mostly just like that. / Karen appears :D
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x.X. A.L. X.x
