Stepping into the auditorium with Jin at her side, Lumi hummed in approval. While the decorum paled in comparison to the extravagance she was accustomed to back at home, by the standards she'd come to expect from Vacuo, she was rather impressed. The color scheme deliberately clashed with the room's dark red walls, letting the primarily cream and lilac adornments and overhead drapes really pop. They weren't too far off from her white and baby blue colored dress she'd had tailor-made for her at just fourteen, and while she'd long since hoped to grow out of it, she couldn't deny she still looked amazing in it. Jin wore a deep purple suit that was about half a size too small, not that she minded of course. There were tables along the walls holding an assortment of food and drink, along with a dizzying amount of sugary treats, then further towards the back there were dining tables covered in cloth that toed the line between fancy and tacky. The pair made their way back to the tables, though not before making a quick stop at the punch had plans to meet up with Scarlet and Jet once they showed up, and the tables seemed like the simplest spot to wait. She fought the urge to pull Jin into her, a part of her wanting nothing more than to hang off his big strong arm, but they were here as friends, and for now, that was enough. Taking another look at the room, she noticed that, while the overall architecture lacked the elegance of Atlas's, they'd still managed to include it in the decorations, the hall adorned with a great rectangular skylight in lieu of the ceiling, allowing the students to gaze up at the stars in the night sky, further setting the mood for the event. As for the other decorations, some of the statues in the room had cloth wrapped around them as makeshift dresses, which, considering most of them were of ancient heroes, kings, and other such manly figures of legend, added a humorous edge to the affair. They'd even brought in some colorful plants she assumed were from the area, potted cacti, desert sage, and even some honest to gods flowers. To no one's surprise, there weren't many others around just yet, the crowd that initially showed up was small, some twenty-odd students beyond Jin and herself, as far as she could tell. All of them were either helping themselves to the free refreshments or mingling with their friends, with the dance floor left empty save for what looked to be a set of soldiers stationed in front of the stage. The lack of students didn't shock her, after all, they'd shown up fairly early into the night, fifteen past nine, it was less punctual than she'd have wanted but by Jin's standards, it was still early, so she wouldn't complain too much.
"Wow, this place almost feels like an actual ballroom." Lumi let herself muse as they settled down into their seats.
"You know, sometimes I come close to forgetting you grew up all prissy and rich, and then you gotta go and say something like that." Scarlet called out from behind them, making Lumi groan as she turned to face the pair as they approached, both holding their own cup. Looking the new arrivals up and down, she had to admit, her partner had good taste. While the black and red attire veered leagues too far into the realm of promiscuity for her to ever consider wearing such a thing; it looked perfect on her, giving her an air of elegance even despite the excessive skin shown. What was far less elegant was the way the redhead shamelessly hung off of Jet like a trophy wife, keeping his arm snuggly held against her. Not that he seemed to mind, he was a man after all.
"It was a compliment!" she defended herself as her partner plopped down in the seat across from her. Her protest was briefly ignored as they got situated, leaving her to stew and pout until Scarlet humored her. The Faunus raised an eyebrow, curious how her partner would spin her little comment. "There was clearly a lot of work put into the decoration. It feels authentic."
Scarlet looked around herself, really taking in the scenery for the first time. Without Lumi's line of comparison, she couldn't speak on the authenticity of this compared to the fancy schmancy sort of events she was used to, but she had to admit, there had certainly been a decent amount of effort put in, at least, more so than back at Patch during the little prom that had been set up. Granted, it couldn't all be blamed on the school, they were a relatively small island community after all, and they had to make do, but this was something else entirely. Leaning back in her chair, Scarlet nodded, a small smile gracing her lips as she looked up overhead at the skylight.
"You know what? It is pretty nice, huh?"
"We'll probably end up in Atlas at some point anyway, maybe you can show them your family's ballroom?" Jin spoke up, similarly reminiscing on the last time he'd been to a similar sort of event. Funnily enough, it had also been with Lumi back when they were younger. He and his family had come to visit, and while he always disliked the cold, he remembered hating the stiff teal suit they'd put him in even more. He was just hitting his growth spurt, so it was even tighter than usual, but Lumi had managed to help him take his mind off of it, even teaching him to dance. Lumi nodded, it sounded like a nice distraction, along with the chance to hopefully inject some actual culture into a certain someone's worldview.
"Atlas? What makes you so sure about that?" Jet asked. While not against the idea, the certainty in his partner's voice was curious.
"Well, after the Vytal Festival wraps up, our first year is basically over, and when we become second years, we're allowed to take training missions, even into other kingdoms. I remember that a few years ago, Aunty was really excited about this new cross-school exchange program thing that meant students could be paired up with teams from other kingdoms and learn to work together in different environments, kinda like what we're doing right now, but more… freeform and focused on practical experience, I guess." Jet nodded, and now that he thought about it, he did remember hearing something like that. It was never really at the front of his mind as a first year, but he could recall BRST mentioning they had been assigned some small jobs between Vale and Vacuo, mainly caravan protection if Ruta's complaints of how boring they were weren't exaggerated. But, he didn't dwell on it any longer than that, as the fact that Jin had just pointed out they were mere months away from completing their first year at Beacon stunned him into silence. The rest of the table, even Jin himself, suddenly grew quiet at the realization, all bearing the same harrowed look in their eyes. Scarlet in particular gawked in disbelief, her mouth hanging open. He almost second-guessed himself, but if his math was right…
"Crap, we're really that close?" It didn't feel real to any of them, because it certainly didn't feel like that much time had passed. Hell, it felt like they'd only just gotten over the whole scandal involving Adam and Cinder along with the attack that followed, and now they were set to become second-years.
"Yeah, time really flies, huh…" Lumi chuckled at the absurdity. They were all one step closer to becoming true Huntsmen, surely she should have felt different in some way, or say with confidence that she hit some new milestone to mark her growth. Yet there was nothing, they were all just older, and maybe a bit more experienced than they were at the start of the year. "It feels like nothing's really changed."
"That's not true, I found out a bunch of people really want to murder me." Scarlet butted in with a poorly contained giggle, waiting a moment for what she had expected to be laughter, or at least a snicker, only to be met with unimpressed stares from her team. Apparently she wasn't allowed to joke about her own near-death experiences now, as her attempt at making light of that whole debacle had clearly backfired, resulting in a sea of uncomfortable glances between her friends. "...Too soon?"
"She kinda has a point, we helped bring down a cult base in Vale. For students, and first years at that, that's gotta be huge." Jin said, doing his best to turn the awkward exchange into something more positive. The team found his innocent smile and peppy energy to be infectious, and he was right. Even if it wasn't felt, technically, they had done more than any other first-year team. So what if they were patting themselves on the back a bit? After all the crap they'd had to deal with, it was more than earned.
"You're right, I propose a toast." Lumi said suddenly, taking a stand and raising up her cup of punch. Jin followed suit without question, as though his own drink was almost empty, he wasn't going to sit it out on something so wonderfully silly.
"A toast? Kinda cliche isn't it?" Taking a quick glance around him, Jet noted that the hall had very quickly filled up with their fellow students and that the two suddenly standing had drawn a fair bit of attention, especially with the Beacon students who were more than familiar with the team by this point.
"Don't be boring," Scarlet said, similarly getting to her feet. So what if people stared, it may have taken months, but they were finally just enjoying themselves, no big drama or fight hanging over their heads, no worrying about being killed, and they were all still friends. As far as she was concerned, her team was cooler than all of theirs combined. "We started as the biggest fuck up team there is and now we're about to win a tournament! That's worthy of a toast."
With all eyes on him, Jet couldn't bring himself to let the three down, they were a team, if one of them did something silly or dumb, then they all did it. Standing up, he joined in.
"To team SJJL!" Lumi declared, followed by the other three, bumping their cups together before each taking a sip of the fruity drink, Jin finishing his meager amount left while Scarlet, feeling the sudden need to lead by example downed her entire cup in one gulp, letting out a loud burp a moment later. The uncouth act caused Lumi to groan while inspiring a small bit of competitiveness in Jin, who similarly tried to force his own, louder, belch. The pair of Faunus laughed, leaving their human partners each equally unimpressed.
"There you guys are." the voice of Blitz called out, appearing next to Scarlet a moment later in a literal flash of light, drawing even more attention their way. Her arm was already slung around Scarlet's shoulders as the rest of BRST arrived at the table, following her lead. "You're late!"
"What? I thought the dance started at nine." Lumi gasped, checking the time, it hadn't even been thirty minutes since they'd arrived.
"Yeah, the dance, y'all missed the pregaming." Ruta giggled, swaying a bit despite standing in place, Sarasvati needing to hold onto her arm to stop her from tumbling down. Seeing the confusion on their faces at the disheveled girl's state, Taimur mouthed the word 'lightweight'. Apparently, they'd missed out on some fun.
"Eh, probably for the best, can't have this boy getting too tipsy and doing something dumb." Seeing the suggestive look being shot his way by his date, Jet was almost offended, especially considering her own history with self control.
"How is it in your mind, I'm the one who'd be irresponsible?" Letting out an exaggerated gasp, Scarlet fluttered her eyelashes and pouted, crossing her arms in a way that pressed her breasts further up into view.
"Are you saying I don't look irresistible?"
The poor boy didn't have it in him to lie and say he didn't, but at the same time, his throat suddenly felt dry, and if the small but mischievous grin on her face was anything to go by; she knew exactly what she was doing to him. Thankfully, he was saved from needing to answer by the lights beginning to dim everywhere but the front stage as the soldiers suddenly stood at attention and the crimson curtains parted, revealing a fair skinned was tall, easily taller than Scarlet and possibly having an inch or two on Alaska, and that was without the black stilettos adding another couple inches to her stature. She had piercing blue eyes, not too much darker than Lumi's, but they were sharper and were far colder. Rather than a dress, the woman was clad in a purple military uniform, complete with an impressive adornment of medals on the right side of her chest. She wore her hair short, letting her violet bangs on the right side hang a bit looser, barely reaching her chin while the left side was neatly brushed back. She looked over the crowd, appraising each of the students as her gaze passed over them. Seeing the eyes on her caused her to smile as one of the soldiers stepped forward, announcing to the crowd.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Colonel Indigo Nasturtium!" As soon as the words left his mouth, the music started to play, a guitar riff immediately setting the high energy mood of the song as the woman stepped forward, grabbing the microphone and letting out her deep but smooth voice.
"Through the crimson sky I scream your names.
Blades clash in hearts of flame.
Marching forward to feel the stride
In the battle of your liiiiives!"
A few looks of bewilderment broke out amongst the students, while they had all expected some variety of live entertainment, for it to be provided by a member of the world's most powerful military? Not so much. Though, if Lumi and her family were anything to go by, Scarlet figured it could just be another example of Atlesian eccentricity. Most of the students put no deeper thought into it either, just making their way to the dance floor, but Jin, on the other hand, couldn't help but look closer at her attire, recognizing the symbol on her armband as the same one on Nick's chest plate.
"Hey, isn't that Nick's boss?" Lumi paused, taking a good look at the woman. It might have been, she'd never really paid much attention to the military outside of events involving her aunt and uncle, yet the name was familiar, and the woman certainly lined up with the details Nick gave about his commander.
"He did mention she's a good singer, apparently she sings to motivate her men."
"Speaking of motivation." Jet's hair stood up on his neck as Scarlet cooed into his ear. "C'mon man, you gonna just stand around drinking punch, or you wanna bump and grind with me?"
It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a demand, Scarlet immediately starting to pull Jet onto the dance floor, waving at her friends with a promise to be back after she'd worn him out. Despite the reserved look on his face, they noticed he didn't once protest as they disappeared into the crowd.
"Oh, that's boy's whipped, isn't he?" Ruta chuckled, watching the pair head off.
"If he wasn't before, he is now." Sarasvati added, waving them off before the girl she kept balanced suddenly grabbed ahold of her arms and started trying to spin around.
"C'mon suga', let's go bussa groove!" Ruta said, starting to gyrate and move in a way that probably made sense to her but was completely uncoordinated to everyone else, including her impromptu dance partner, who struggled to keep pace.
Lumi, meanwhile, sat back and watched the chaotic scene unfold. Aside from the farm girl's obvious inebriation, there wasn't much that set her seemingly random movement and lack of any real rhythm apart from how the rest of them 'danced'. A part of her wanted to grab Jin by his massive hand and drag him out there, just to make a point as to what real dancing looked like, but it didn't feel right, and she especially didn't want to force Jin into dancing for such a petty reason. If anything, she wanted him to be the one to ask her to dance, but she could swallow her desires for one night and just be happy that they were spending the event together, just like when they were kids. As the ballroom started to fill and they made their way back to the punch bowl so Jin could refill his cup, she searched for the familiar faces of her friends and family. Her first instinct was to search the snack table for Goose, who would no doubt be delighted at the sugary treats available, but there was no luck in that area. The dance floor was a long shot, but there was a chance that if Lao was there, he'd stick out like a sore thumb, though she quickly gave up on that plan upon remembering that Lao was shorter than most of the crowd, which would make picking him out very tricky. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted a familiar, tiny, young woman at the table next to the punch bowl, filling her cup with cold water as she gave the punch bowl a jealous pout that she was sure was meant to be a fearsome scowl. Liz had gone on the simpler side for her outfit, the top could almost be mistaken for a slightly loose shirt, sporting a simple V-neck collar and short sleeves that ended at her elbows. The only part she'd consider out of the norm for her cousin was the medium length skirt and the matching sash that was designed to look as if it was holding the pieces together. Lumi was actually disappointed, the pygmy girl hadn't even bothered to add a bit of color outside of the navy blue she typically wore. Before she could get her cousin's attention, she turned, spotting the group, particularly her and Jin owing to walking so close.
"Well, look at you, walking around with the tamed hunk of man following you around, I never expected to see you showing off so shamelessly." Despite her teasing tone, Elizabeth was proud of her cousin, the fact that she'd even asked the boy to the dance was a sign that she finally made some form of effort more than looking pretty and hoping the boy would make a move on her. Granted, things would go a lot better if she'd just nut up and kiss him or something equally as impossible to ignore.
"Jealousy isn't a good look on you Liz." Lumi shot back, taking a page out of her partner's playbook and grabbing Jin's massive and firm bicep. Smirking at her cousin, she missed the way his face went several shades of red in only a moment as he felt her press her body against him and going almost as still as a statue, a reaction that would have pleased his 'date' to no end were she not preoccupied with sticking her tongue out. Liz could only smile in response, perfectly happy to get catty with her.
"Please, I'd be jealous if you were actually getting any." Lumi sputtered and stumbled over her words as she tried to get out no less than three responses at once, and whether she lied and denied the truth of her words or defended her decision to maintain her virtue, it wouldn't matter, as Liz could easily spin both against her.
"No luck with dates, huh?" Blitz interjected, giving Lumi valuable time to recover, to which Elizabeth shrugged, not bothering to feign enthusiasm.
"For this? Ugh, I almost didn't come, I hate this fancy dress-up crap." the small woman stated, looking down at her own outfit with a disdainful huff. "But Goose kept saying 'it's the first big thing we're doing together as a team and that we gotta go', so here I am."
"Speaking of our dear aunt, where is she, or the rest of your team for that matter?" Lumi asked, having expected them to be all together. As soon as the question reached her ears, her cousin's neutral expression turned to one of slight concern as she realized she had lost track of her team.
"Goose dragged them all over to the dance floor as soon as we came in." The worry in her voice as she looked past the group was unmistakable, Lumi quickly became overcome with a similar trepidation, spinning on her heel to try and find the rest of BGEL.
"Oh no. Is someone watching her? She's a horrible dancer, please tell me Lao or Belka are with her."
"She can't be that bad right?" Jin asked, seemingly the only one with any faith in his cousin, a faith that was wavering at the dead serious stares the Schnee girls met him with.
"Well, there was that one time she tried to breakdance and accidentally knocked over the armor display in Grandma's main hall." Now that had been a sight to behold, the chances of a ten year old spinning out of control fast enough to dislodge the sword in the perfect way so as to slice through the ankles of the giant suit of armor with nothing but her own momentum and Weiss's misplaced bottle of baby oil was probably millions or even billions to one. Thankfully, Weiss had been paying attention and was able to use a Glyph to move everyone out of the way, but it had still been an uncomfortably close call.
"Your aunt can breakdance?" Taimur asked, looking around as if expecting to see a crowd gathered around a girl sliding around as she was attempting to do spins or wiggling about on the floor in some other ridiculous manner.
"Nope, won't stop her from trying to learn though" Lumi sighed, coming to terms with the fact that when they found Goose and the others, they'd probably end up literally flying by due to some sort of improbable incident.
"Hey, not to cut you off, but I've been meaning to talk to you guys about your friends, that team of all girls." Taimur's tone put an end to the joking mood, it was cautious, almost nervous, being completely unlike her.
"You mean JWEL?" Despite them all immediately knowing who she meant, Jin had to ask out of disbelief if nothing else. He wasn't aware anyone from BRST had ever met team JWEL, and based on her expression, it hadn't exactly been a good first impression, but he couldn't think of a reason why they'd get off on the wrong foot.
"Yeah, those guys, we haven't seen them around."
"I guess Juliet and Elena probably got sick, Rosaria didn't really want to come, and Luna…" Jin trailed off as he explained. She probably wouldn't have liked being here without her team, especially with the low light and crowds of strangers. Still, it really was unfortunate, as if nothing else, they could have at least cleared up whatever this was about.
"She'd have been eaten alive in this crowd, probably literally." Liz said matter of factly. While it could have been said more tactfully, the fact that no one actually disagreed with her proved her point.
"I see…" Taimur paused to consider her words, not wanting to step on any toes. While he knew this had to be addressed; it was always more delicate when personal relationships were involved. "It's just, we had this encounter the other day at the gym and we didn't wanna cause any drama."
"What sort of encounter?" Blitz, not having been there herself, said, turning to Taimur for an elaboration. Her ears slightly drooped in silent response, and with a brief exhale, she began.
"One of the girls, Juliet I think, got violent, real violent, with Siyah." The group, all having seen firsthand, or in Liz's case, having been told about, the sort of person he was, immediately lost any sympathy they could have had. They'd all dealt with SLVR and their constant string of harassment, and team SABL was a similarly annoying, if thankfully much less persistent group of punks, so it was fairly easy to imagine them doing something that would warrant such a response. Seeing that she was losing them, Taimur started to bristle, even if it was understandable given the context, that didn't mean it was acceptable. Taking a deep breath, she decided to lay it out plainly. "Look, I know you don't like him, hell, none of us like him, but your friends could get into serious trouble if one of them loses their temper and hurts someone for real."
"I'll make sure Scarlet says something, she's closer to Juliet than I am." While still not exactly concerned over the boy getting what she thought was a well deserved consequence, Lumi elected to keep the peace rather than argue. After all, while she admittedly didn't know Juliet as well as her partner, let alone any of the other girls from JWEL, the girl becoming violent was still unlike anything she'd ever seen from her.
"That's all I can really ask for, I get that I probably didn't meet her at her best." With that, they collectively dropped the issue, the last thing they wanted to do was drop the edge over what could have just been a moment of frustration boiling over and not a pattern to be concerned about. Looking for something, anything really, to move on from the awkward conversation Jin scanned the crowd, suddenly snorting in amusement as he saw his cousin and her dance partner.
"Wow, you were right, she is a horrible dancer." Jin chuckled, pointing Goose out in the crowd. The rest of the group quickly followed to where he pointed, and stifled a few chuckles of their own. It was easy enough to spot the tall girl, and with her was the rest of Liz's team, who were accompanied by three of the members of KRMA, Anga being nowhere to be seen. Her dress matched the colors of her hair, being a frilly, black and white shoulderless dress that flowed down to her knees in alternating colors. Lao was with her, wearing a standard black suit with a pink dress shirt underneath. She was trying to copy something she'd seen in a movie, the only problem being that she was attempting a highly choreographed routine entirely from memory. Spinning on her heel, she stopped too late, stumbling before regaining her balance and dramatically raising her arm. To say the least, the dance was horribly uncoordinated, yet despite this, she had a big toothy grin on her face the entire time, and somehow Lao was keeping pace with her, or at least not managing to trip over her movements while doing a half-hearted shuffle. Belka was paired with Whiskey, the pair doing a mirrored dance, Belka stepping a bit too far before quickly correcting her footing. She felt out of practice, it had been almost a year since they'd danced together and never in front of so many people, adding a layer of nerves that wasn't present when they'd decided to learn the moves together. But, pushing through and falling back on muscle memory, she synced back up, the pair pointing at each other as they gyrated their hips in clockwise motions before suddenly spinning around and bumping their hips together before locking arms for a finishing pose, one Jin immediately recognized from a rhythm game Guang used to practice his own dance moves, causing him to laugh once more, this time much harder.
Doing his best to just go with the flow, Lao was unprepared for Goose to suddenly grab his wrist and pull him closer, raising their arms in an attempt to spin him. Reacting with surprise, he pulled his hand back, only to be flung away by accident. Ken, who sported a full set of green attire, was doing his best tap dance, doing his best to get Mercy to join in on the fun on the dance floor. He just didn't get these people, Anga had skipped out entirely, calling it 'a distraction, a waste of valuable preparation time, and an opportunity for opponents to glean additional information on their strategies', and Mercy was refusing to dance like some weirdo. However, suddenly he straightened up and reached back, catching Lao as they suddenly twirled together. He moved with the sudden source of momentum, spinning a few times before dipping the smaller boy, and at the same time suddenly realizing who he'd been holding, his tail suddenly going rigid and the color draining from his face as he froze up.
"Not who you were expecting?" Ken winced at the deadpan tone and expression from his unintended dance partner, looking away as he cursed at himself for waiting as long as he did to react.
"Uh, no." He didn't take any offense to the way Ken's face cringed above him, in fact, he was also rather uncomfortable with how they were posed as well, it was putting unnecessary strain on his back.
"Would you mind letting me go then?"
"No, hang on Kenny, I'm still lining up the shot." The giggling voice of Mercedes tried to tell them, the pair both looking up just in time for the camera flash from her Scroll to catch their expressions.
"Mercy!" In his rush to grab the Scroll out of his friend's hand, he dropped Lao, who fell flat on his back. Wincing from the unexpected impact, he looked up to see Mercedes smirking down at him as she held the scroll just out of his reach, laughing all the while.
"Oh, oh, send that to me please!" Goose said, helping Lao to his feet before walking over to get a look at the moment Mercy had captured, Ken still trying in vain to get the Scroll and erase the image. Dusting himself off, Lao decided he'd had enough of dancing, and while making his way over to the table he just noticed was occupied by Liz and some of the others, he paused as he noticed a chair just out of the way of the main area, propped up against one of the side doors with the back of the chair wedged under the doorknob. The door shook as something banged against it, the sound drowned out by the music, but as he approached, he could faintly hear a familiar voice, though he couldn't tell who the voice belonged to with the music as loud as it was.
"Hello? Please help! Pleaaaase! It's dark and spooky in here an- AH I HEARD SOMETHING MOVE!" Lao approached the door cautiously, looking around to see if anyone was watching or laying in wait. Confident he was alone, he carefully removed the chair and quickly stepped out of the way, expecting whoever was locked behind to burst out, however they just kept banging on the door, apparently having given up on trying to actually open it. Sighing, he stepped back over and turned the knob, and immediately, the door flung open as a head of messy pink hair lunged forward, latching onto him and squeezing like a vice in appreciation, the girl's equally pink fluffy tail wagging back and forth. "Oh thank you, thank you, tha-"
Loyal went silent, sniffing the chest she was up against, her tail slowing to a stop as she recognized the scent. With a small 'eep!' she jumped back, tensing up as if expecting to be hit. However, Lao just tilted his head curiously, it wasn't like he had a reason to be hostile currently, and since she'd been locked in the room for what he assumed was a while, it was unlikely she could have been a part of any scheme that may change that in the immediate future. Instead, he was more curious as to how the girl had ended up in this situation in the first place.
"Why were you locked in there?"
"I dunno, I didn't do anything bad!" Lao's face remained blank, though the silence that followed expressed his doubt far better than his face could have regardless. Loyal, after taking a moment to pick up on it, pouted and started stamping her foot on the floor, whining all the while. "I didn't!"
Not wanting to make a scene, Lao decided not to list his many valid reasons to doubt her, instead shrugging as he turned and once again started to walk away. As he did so, he found more and more dancers bumping into him, with annoyingly few actually acknowledging their mistakes, most laughing it off or ignoring it entirely. With his desire to leave the floor growing exponentially, he glanced around, looking for a spot to sit when he felt someone's presence behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Loyal following him through the crowd as she fiddled with the hem of her simple green dress. She was also looking around, though far more frantically, her tail lowered between her legs. He walked a little farther, just to the edge of the dance floor before turning to face her, and again, she jumped, though not as hard as the first time, instead just surprised at the sudden stop.
"Are you following me?" Now it was Loyal's turn to be confused. She thought it was obvious, it was a big crowd! She didn't wanna get lost! 'Laska would get mad!
"I-I don't see any of my teammates..." She tried to explain before it set in that maybe he didn't want her to follow him, after all he didn't look very happy to see her. Maybe he still held a grudge about the fight they had? "D-do you not want me to?"
Lao paused, considering it for a moment. Did he want her to leave him? It would make sense, their teams had been against each other since their third day at Beacon, and their mutual animosity had progressed to the point that they'd actually come to blows over it. Despite that, she didn't bring out any contempt from him, and as he looked into her eyes, he didn't see any for himself. He saw no reason to push her away when she clearly didn't want to be alone.
"I just didn't think you'd want to be around me considering our last encounter."
"Well, that was a while ago, you don't seem as scary right now." Lao couldn't help but to find the idea amusing, he'd never considered himself to be 'scary' by any metric, he was five foot four with a soft face that resembled his mother, who was, Magnhild aside, one of the least threatening people he could imagine appearance-wise. Seeing the small hint of a smile on his lips, she beamed, her tail once again going wild. He didn't hate her! She'd been so worried he'd tell her to go look on her own. Now she just had to find her team, maybe they'd be at the punch bowl, that's where Aethelflad had been going after all, and she could get some for Lao since he was being nice! "Have you had any of the punch?"
"No."
"Do you wanna? It's really good." Lao shrugged, he was a bit thirsty after all, and it was away from the dance floor.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt." The impromptu pair made their way over to the punch bowl, each grabbing a cup. As Lao raised it to his lips, he found it was surprisingly sweet, so much so that he recoiled. The amount of sugar added in almost made it taste like candy, yet there was another taste he couldn't quite name, and weirdly, it left a soft tingle on his lips. Taking another, quite smaller, drink allowed him to adjust, meanwhile Loyal was happily slurping down her cup. They hadn't gone unnoticed, however, as a familiar voice promptly spoke up from behind him.
"Lao, what are you doing?" Lao turned to see Elizabeth staring at him like he'd grown a second head, glancing between him and Loyal. Blitz and Taimur were with her, and both bore a similar expression, though it was more so aimed at her reaction. He looked down at his drink, unsure what exactly the problem was.
"I was recommended the punch. It's a bit sweet for my taste, but it's not too bad." Elizabeth just facepalmed at her partner's misunderstanding. Right, she'd need to be more clear this time.
"No, I mean what is she doing with you?" she said, pointing at the pink-tailed girl so there was no way she could be mistaken.
"I can't find 'Laska or Vera." Loyal explained, somehow not at all offended by Elizabeth's tone.
"How about the skank?"
"Aeth is busy, last time I saw her she said she was gonna do something about the punch's… lack of punch." While her words went over her own head, the rest of them quickly realized what had happened. Looking out into the crowd again, they noticed that the amount of uncoordinated dancers had grown considerably, and, taking another sip of his cup, Lao was able to identify the element that had confused him the first time. There was indeed alcohol in the mix, and a non-negligible amount at that. Loyal, still fully unaware of her friend's actions, continued on explaining. "I dunno where they went, I was talking to this girl who seemed nice enough, but then she locked me in a dark room and I couldn't find the door and I think I broke something!"
"Let me guess, little brat named Alyx?" Blitz sighed, already knowing the answer even before she saw Loyal's head start nodding furiously.
"Uh-huh! How'd you know?"
"She's been a little shit since she got here. C'mon, I'll help you find your friends, and maybe have a little talk with this Aeth girl." Not picking up on Blitz's obvious frustration, Loyal's tail started to wag at the idea of finding her friends again, following the women as they walked off, taking one last moment to turn and wave back at Lao.
"Okay! Bye Lao, thank you!" Lao waved the Faunus goodbye, as despite the awkward circumstances, the encounter had been fairly pleasant, it was a shame that they seemed to be enemies simply for the fact that her teammates decided to make his friend's lives harder. As soon as she was out of eyesight, he tossed the mostly full cup into the trash, having no plans to become inebriated. Turning back to his partner, Elizabeth gave him a confused and unamused look.
"You helped her?"
"Is that a problem?" Elizabeth hummed as she thought about it, maybe it was somewhat of a problem, after all, she belonged to SLVR of all teams, but at the same time, she seemed harmless enough on her own. As long as this didn't come back to bite them later, she supposed it could slide.
"No, I'm just surprised, that's all. No one would have blamed you for leaving her to deal with it herself… Then again, that does track, you always let things slide too easily." Lao couldn't tell if that had been meant as a compliment or an insult, though he'd always gotten the impression his demeanor annoyed his partner. They stood in silence, Elizabeth finishing her water as Lao lingered. Eventually, they found themselves looking back out into the crowd, spotting Goose dancing wildly with Belka, their leader desperately trying to keep up while Jin and Lumi watched from the sidelines along with the present members of KRMA.
"You know, you can go dance if you'd like. You don't gotta just hang around me 'cause I'm all by myself up here." Elizabeth spoke up, noticing Lao watching their friends dance, yet to her surprise, he shook his head.
"I think I'm all danced out for tonight."
"Well, in that case, I'd be happy to keep you company." she said with a warm chuckle, remembering his little run in with Kenneth. Seeing as neither of them had any desire to be on the dance floor, she motioned for Lao to follow her over to the dining tables, where they were less likely to be accosted by an unwittingly drunk dancer.
As they walked off, the lighting dimmed once more, accompanied by the music slowing into something more intimate. Indigo still serenaded the students from the stage as the casual dancers started to leave the floor, and amongst them, Jet and Scarlet paused. For a moment, it didn't set in to them that the crowd had thinned, and all that remained were couples, leaving them out of place on the floor. Jet sighed as their dance was cut short, it had been too long since they'd just cut loose and been stupid together, and it didn't help that he could have watched her dance for hours if he was allowed either, the way she moved was downright hypnotic in that dress. Then again, it really should have been expected, it was a dance, of course they'd eventually make things all sappy and romantic. As he turned to walk off the dance floor, a hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him back. Looking behind him, he saw Scarlet, her hand firmly holding him in place as she raised an eyebrow, silently asking him what the hell he thought he was doing. It hadn't been talked about, he'd assumed they'd only be dancing for the first part of the night, but at the same time, the idea of slow dancing with her was shockingly alluring, he didn't know the first thing about how to dance 'properly', but he had no intention of letting that stop him. Screw it, last time he overthought about this kind of stuff, he dropped the ball, she clearly had the right idea. Scarlet smirked as he came back to her, slowly and carefully he reached out, hesitating for a moment as he tried to find the right place to put his hands. She had no such difficulty in deciding her place, snaking both arms around his neck as they slowly moved in an unfamiliar but welcome rhythm. Eventually, he found his spot, holding on around the middle of her ribcage, a spot that was far too safe for her liking.
"C'mon, quit being all shy." she demanded, placing her hand over his own and starting to gently tug it down, enjoying the way his hand felt running along her side. It was so cute to see him all nervous, but him straining to just look at her face wouldn't do. "I put this thing on for you, you're allowed to enjoy it."
At her words, he let his eyes wander, much to her delight. Were it anyone else, she'd have backhanded them on the spot, but him? Oh, she thrived on his attention, even pressing her elbows in a bit to press her chest up and show off. Despite his initial hesitation, he let his hand drift as Scarlet led it down to her hip, his breath catching in his throat at the way her supple skin gave way to his touch. He wasn't really thinking about his next moves, the way he pulled her closer was all instinct and urges until he heard the unmistakable sound of his best friend gasping as her hands raised up, pressing against his chest in an attempt to steady herself. He almost cursed himself, half expecting her to push him away for his sudden advancement, but instead, he could hear her breath grow deeper as he pulled her against him. Drawing his gaze back to her face, he saw her amber eyes almost looking darker than he was used to as they filled with something that looked to be hunger. Her hands on his chest started to playfully tug at the buttons of his dress shirt as if asking permission to enter, all the while pressing her own chest into him.
"I doubt I'm the only one enjoying it." he chuckled nervously, and he was right on the money, a few wandering eyes had landed on her, leering at her voluptuous form and no doubt harboring lecherous thoughts about her. For some reason, it didn't bother her as much as it should have, not when the person she actually wanted to gawk at her was seeing exactly what she wanted him to.
"What's wrong, don't wanna make them jealous?" Gods above, the way she purred into his ear, if her breath against his skin and soft body pressing on him made his resistance weaken, then that could have shattered it altogether. He didn't even realize he'd let his hand drift once more, now holding the small of her back just above her- Shit, no, he couldn't think like that, at this point he didn't trust himself not to follow through on an intrusive thought like that. The worst part was, that at this point, he was pretty sure she was more than okay with his hands exploring, the way she'd toyed with his suit making it pretty clear she wanted to feel him just as badly as he wanted to feel her. But even though they were in public, he couldn't deny that this felt right, like he belonged in her grasp more than he belonged anywhere else in the world. Though, he wasn't going to press that little bit more while people were watching, that was for them, no one else. So, much to both of their disappointment, he forced his hands to behave. Scarlet, on the other hand, was more than happy to push just that little bit further, looking into the beautiful crimson eyes of the boy she'd loved longer than she'd really known; it felt like the world around them faded, there was no dance, no music, no eyes other than his. It was just them. Her hand slid up his neck until she was cupping his cheek. It was adorable, his skin, made even darker than usual under Vacuo's unforgiving sun, meant she couldn't actually see him blush but she could feel the blood rush to his cheek. He was adorable, and in this moment, he was hers. Looking down a bit at his lips, she had an intrusive thought of her own, it would only take her leaning in and they'd be kissing, she'd have his first kiss and he'd have hers. The moment the thought left her head, she started to psyche herself up to push through with it, taking a deep breath and counting backwards from three in her head.
She didn't get the chance, as in focusing so much on each other, they'd lost their place, and she bumped into another girl, pushing her into Jet in a way that was much less romantic or sexy than a moment ago. Groaning as the moment passed, she turned to apologize, only for the other woman to beat her to it.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry, I should have been paying attention." Lamia said, wincing self-consciously, used to zoning out herself.
"No, it's ou-" Scarlet stopped herself as she realized who exactly she'd bumped into, partially because she never thought she'd see an edge lord like Siyah all dressed up, or that he cleaned up shockingly well. Then, she suppressed a giggle as she realized Lamia had somehow gotten him into a yellow suit with cream highlights while she wore a primarily red dress with black highlights, swapping their preferred styles. Normally, she'd just think it was a cute outfit idea for a date, but it just contrasted so hard with the hardass he normally presented himself as that she couldn't help but giggle. Predictably, Siyah was far from pleased, growling at the pair.
"What? Got something to say?"
"Siyah." The boy winced at his date scolding him, while her slapping his shoulder didn't really hurt, the last thing he had wanted to come from this was her being upset with him. "C'mon, you promised tonight would be nice."
"Right… I did." With a sigh, he begrudgingly nodded at the pair, doing his best to mask his irritation in front of the girl still in his arms. "Sorry, we'll be more careful."
"What just happened?" Jet whispered, his face in utter bewilderment at the way the other man had completely changed his attitude. To Scarlet, however, it was obvious, especially considering the way he pulled her into him afterward to try and make up for his transgression.
"You mean it's not obvious? They're totally fucking."
"Scarlet."
"Look at them and tell me I'm wrong." Looking over at them as they went back to dancing, he saw the same thing as Scarlet, a boy, more than happy to act like a total prick to strangers, being sweet on a girl and cracking a small but heartfelt smile as she giggled at some unheard joke.
"Okay, yeah, they totally are. Still, you shouldn't say it so casually."
"Do you think people are thinking that about us?" His exasperated groan was music to her ears, partially because they both knew anyone watching would absolutely think they were a couple. Then again, were they? They were holding each other in a way that was too intimate to be something between people who were 'just friends', he'd absolutely considered grabbing her ass a minute ago, and… she was about to kiss him… the line between 'friends' and 'more' may have still been in the balance physically, but emotionally? Neither of them really knew. For the moment though, she was happy, leaning in and resting her head on his shoulder as they danced in silent bliss.
Back off the dance floor, Jin was astonished at how rude some of the people had become, stumbling about into people and just laughing it off or ignoring it completely. It was one thing when it was him being bumped into, his large frame and muscles made it easy for people to accidentally hit him, and it was pretty hard to push him around, but more people were bumping into Lumi as well, resulting in her needing to stay right behind him to avoid getting bowled over. It was frustrating, didn't people have manners? All they were doing was trying to make their way over to the tables back from the bathroom, something that had somehow turned into a challenge. Lumi didn't mind the attention of course, in fact, it was nice feeling protected in such a way by a boy she fully trusted, though she similarly found it strange. It wasn't everyone, but a strange amount of the students had suddenly become uncoordinated and surly, a lot like the club they'd visited back in Vale before leaving, but that didn't make any sense, seeing as there shouldn't have been any alcohol at the event. Maybe they were just drunk off the atmosphere? It didn't quite sound right, but what other explanation was there? Maybe it was just a placebo, most people never actually went to a proper ball, so they may have assumed that it was just an excuse for rich people to get drunk off champagne and act stupid, which, admittedly, it could be, but those sorts of events were the exception rather than the rule. As they came to the tables, she assumed that their struggle to get across the auditorium was over and that no other buffoons would get in her way.
"Luuumi!" Apparently, she was wrong, as a woman with a familiar set of bright blue wings suddenly made her way over. The downright giddy Lapis was followed by a worried-looking Argentio, who stopped and gave apologies to the people as she pushed past them, quickly falling behind as the Faunus came right up to Lumi and threw her arms around her in an unexpected hug.
"Oh, uh, hello. Lapis, right?" Lumi asked, awkwardly reaching around her wings and patting the girl's back in a faux hug as she looked to Jin for help. He really didn't know what she expected of him, it wasn't like he could just pull them apart, especially since she technically wasn't doing anything wrong.
"Off coursh! Who else haz muh wings?" The poor girl sounded utterly trashed, a point further proven as she tried to twirl to show off said wings, only to stumble back into one of the tables. Rather than get upset as orange punch spilled onto the side of her pristine dress, she laughed heartily, but soon the laugh died as she started to sulk, rubbing her arm. "No one… No-not a single other Funish anymore…"
"Lapis? What're you talking about?" Jin asked gently as he pulled her back into standing up straight, but they were given little in the way of answers as she quietly mumbled to herself. Thankfully, Argentio finally caught up, wincing at the state his friend was in, trying to hand her a cup of ice water.
"I am so sorry about her, someone put liquor in the punch bowl." Lumi's eyes went wide at this revelation, for a brief moment, she couldn't believe someone would pull something so childish and dangerous, then she remembered the caliber of students she was unlucky enough to have met over the course of the school year, and it was suddenly far more believable. It also explained the number of drunk students, dinner was provided by the school so most hadn't eaten in hours, intending to grab a plate near the end of the night.
"Really?" Lumi groaned as Jin tested this information by raising his cup and taking a sip out of the supposedly spiked drink. "I don't taste or feel anything strange."
"Nathin', I gots a bones to pick on yo- wi-with you." Lapis announced, ignoring the news that she'd unwittingly drank gods knows how much liquor, not even fully comprehending it, and jumping right back to where she was before, poking Lumi's chest accusatorily. "Wh-why aren't whe friends?"
"Excuse me?"
"Itsh like, you're- you're like bashically a princhess, right? An-and I am a princhess, a really real princess. We should, like- like totally be buddies!" Lapis explained gleefully, doing an exaggerated curtsy as she called herself a princess, nearly falling over before catching herself and giggling once again.
"Lapis, you can't force someone to be your friend." At the end of his rope, Argentio gently grabbed his friend by the shoulders in an attempt to keep her still, a move she responded to worryingly positively, leaning back against him and fluttering her wings happily.
"It's okay, really. I'm sure that if we spent more time together, we'd get along swimmingly." Lumi said, mostly just trying to keep the peace. Internally, she was debating on using a glyph to force the girl to lay down until she passed out, but unlike her cousin, she was no brute, so diplomacy it was.
"See, see! We, you an' me, got lots in common, we even like the same sorta guys!" It wasn't as if she'd tried to make everyone in their tiny group lose their composure, but she wasn't going to let the opportunity pass her by. As Argentio let go of her and tried to get out some explanation they both knew was an excuse, she once again moved in and threw her arms around Lumi, this time leaving the smaller girl unable to suppress her groan.
"Lapis, please stop." Argentio pleaded, at this point having accepted his new role as a babysitter rather than a date, but to his surprise, Lumi held up a hand, getting an idea.
"Hey, Lapis, you should come sit with me." Lumi said, taking the Faunus's hand and trying to gently lead her over to the table in order to get her to sit down. Unfortunately, it was at this point that Lapis stopped being cooperative, as, looking over and seeing the various couples on the dance floor, she imagined herself as one of them, being held by her big muscular knight, then immediately growing mad that her fantasy wasn't her reality.
"I cn't, I gotta get dis big, hunky shnak to dance wit me!" Lumi had given up trying to understand the woman, mostly too frustrated with her antics to care, leaving Argentio to try and steady her alone.
"Not while you can barely stand."
"Stahpit! Yer bein' a... dummy, a big ol dumby!" They'd officially started a scene as she shrieked and stomped her foot to the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. However, before he could muster up some sort of response to get her happy once more, Lapis shoved her finger into his face, a smug lopsided smile forming as she got an idea. "Imma' tell Naoh- he-he's teh-the boss, he'll order you to dansh!"
And with that, the girl suddenly turned on her heels and started off to find her fearless leader in order to tell him about what a stick in the mud her date was being so he'd make him dance with her. Back in the real world, Lumi and the others stared in stunned silence as Lapis ran off, giggling to herself. Just as she was ready to wish Argentio luck and head back to her seat, Jin started after her, seeing the woman not in her right mind weave in between a pair of students, nearly knocking them over with her wings. With an annoyed huff, she and Argentio followed in pursuit, trying to catch up and put a stop to the girl's chaos.
The watchful bio-mechanical eyes of Touko watched as the group followed the winged girl. A part of her felt that maybe she should have stepped in and helped, but honestly, it was a lot more fun to just watch, and besides, no one was being hurt. Taking a sip of her punch, she couldn't help but wonder why it suddenly tasted worse since her last cup, maybe her body was just trying to tell her she'd had too much. She also felt strangely warm, something she'd had to grow used to in Vacuo's gods forsaken heat. It was a little weird that it was happening at the start of night, but then again, it was probably her cybernetics being a pain as usual. They weren't all bad though, her auditory implants, for example, made it nearly impossible for someone to sneak up on her, like right now, as she could hear the soft footsteps coming up behind her even over the obnoxiously sappy song. Casually, she turned around and spotted Ruby, sauntering in like she hadn't just missed two whole hours of the event and left her to chaperone with total strangers from the other academies.
"Look who finally showed up." she drawled, putting her hands on her hips and wearing her stern teacher face. She had to hold in an amused snort as Ruby winced like she was being scolded, slinking over next to her off to the side of the dance floor.
"Yeah, sorry, I had to blow off some steam. Did I miss anything exciting?" Dropping the act, Touko chuckled. If only that were the case.
"Here? Not a chance." Despite being pleasantly surprised by the news, Ruby almost didn't believe it. Considering her luck, she'd been certain something big and stupid would've happened while she was gone.
"Nothing from the usual suspects?"
"Scarlet and Jet are dancing, Lumi's following a drunk Faunus girl, and I think SLVR's being well-behaved for once." Touko said, almost disappointed at how well-behaved her students were. Sure, it meant the event was going smoothly, but it meant she was bored out of her mind watching teenagers and young adults dance in ways that looked outright bizarre to her. Not only that, but it meant she'd lost a twenty thousand lien bet to Jaune, and would have to give the stupidly rich man even more money.
"So… an actually easy night." she said, the relief easy to hear in her voice. With all the talk of security and potential cultist activity, she'd let it build up in her head that they'd let something slip through the cracks and that, once again, her students would end up getting to it before them, so the knowledge that they'd gotten to have a good and honest night to relax like kids instead of worrying about some big plot like she had lifted a weight off her shoulders. "Good, they deserve it… Hey, remember our dance?"
"Mostly just falling down the stairs and into the punch bowl while trying to dance and you disappearing." She couldn't help but cringe at the memory, an embarrassing moment from her teenage years that she could never forget despite desperately wishing so, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur in comparison to how vividly embarrassing that moment was.
"Yup, it's a good thing Cinder sucked at sneaking around, or I'd have probably fallen flat on my face." "Still, sometimes I do wish I'd have danced at least once."
The wistful expression on her friend's face wasn't one Touko was used to seeing over something so mundane. Sure, she had regrets, they all did about that point of their lives, but she knew Ruby in particular tried not to think about it, how what should have been their time to screw around and learn about themselves and the world was instead spent being inducted into a shadow war between two immortals that would likely persist long after everyone they knew had long since passed on. It was one hell of a wake up call, but at least most of them were adults by that point. Ruby though? She'd gotten it the worst, still just a kid by most measures, and suddenly she was expected to think, fight, and kill like a warrior she shouldn't have had to be for a good few more years. The fact that she'd handled it as well as she did without suffering some sort of mental breakdown was one of the most admirable things about a woman she already admired to a slightly obsessive degree. But, even with how well she handled it, it wasn't like she didn't miss out. Damn it, why couldn't she just fix it, give her friend the carefree experience she should have gotten… Actually… She still could, they were literally at a dance floor after all.
"You wanna fix that?"
"Huh?" Ruby had to do a double take, was Touko asking her what she thought she was? It almost felt too bold for the cyborg woman she knew, but… it sounded nice.
"I mean, I never got to dance at one of these, you never got to dance at one of these…" Touko trailed off, starting to second guess herself, Ruby probably wanted to dance with someone who actually knew what they were doing. "I dunno, maybe it's stu-."
"I'd love to." Ruby said, cutting off her friend before she could talk herself out of it, a smile growing on her face as she unclipped her cloak from her shoulders and set it down on a nearby chair.
"Really? I mean, yeah, totally… just a fair warning, I uh, can't really dance." she muttered, the memory of how she'd been stared at after faceplanting into the punch bowl once again worming its way into her head. Gods above, she'd felt so gross and sticky, and the dress she'd rented was ruined. If she messed up again, they wouldn't live it down for the next few years. After all, they'd already be standing out like a sore thumb on the dancefloor, given that neither of them had dressed up. In fact, both had taken the opportunity to dress down, yet Ruby wasn't deterred in the slightest.
"Who cares, neither can Goose, and that's never stopped her, let's make fools of ourselves and have fun!" Ruby grabbing her hand and dragging the woman onto the dance floor with her. As expected, neither of them were amazing dancers, or even just good dancers, yet for some reason, it felt easier than she remembered, and seeing those silver eyes almost literally light up, even with the obvious stares they got, couldn't make her regret this moment.
Unless, of course, she ended up covered in punch again.
