Business Up Front, Party In The Back [OPEN!]

[poetryinfashion]

WHO: Anyone! 8D But hosted by the Hitachiin Twins and Penelo~
WHAT: Open House Celebration!
WHERE: Eagle's Splendour
WHEN: Day 189 (Oct 2)

Comments

Party Time! - The Backyard

[poetryinfashion]

7pm-2am

[omnomeyeballs]

Such a curious little city. So full of innocence and darkness, so full of secrets. It was almost like a playground for him. After all, as... frustrating as it was to lack his full power, he was a nightmare-- an immortal-- and if what the others said were true, he would likely be back to his full power within a couple years, perhaps a decade at most, and then, and then... Oh, not just this island, but this whole world would become his playground.

But for now, he would interest himself with these, with the amusing little mortals here, their fears, their desires, their secrets, their unusual powers... Oh, he had no doubt. They would keep him entertained for quite some time.

So, as he drifted among the crowd, "eyes" hidden by dark, reflective, he smiled, and bowed, and introduced himself, his tongue silver, his wit razor, every bit the Arlecchino that his harlequin costume identified him as.

[smokeandwires]

It was a costume party that didn't know it was one - that was what Youji thought. He'd come dressed normally, if not a bit fancier; dress to impress, after all, but there were quite a few people in Halloween getup milling about.

Fashion was fine, and he could talk his way around it if there was a girl to impress, but that wasn't actually on the top of his list for once. Youji was a bit wary that Natalia had been invited as well and kept himself on guard for when she showed up.

He decided he would at least have the decency to smoke outside and made his way to the backyard, unlite cigarette in mouth. A man with sunglasses was making the rounds and Youji waved to him. "Gotta light?"

[pinkprincegirl]

Having not been on the invitee list, Utena made her way to the backyard, dressed in the only way she knew how - as a prince. Smiling back at Natalia, searched the crowd for a familiar face.

"Pretty lively party, isn't it? It looks like everyone's dressed up." Out of the people she saw there, there was only one head she recognized - and it happened to be sporting white hair and sunglasses. She felt a little uneasy about the guy, but he hadn't yet given her reason distrust him, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to say hi. "Come on, I know that guy!" She said, offering an escort's elbow to Natalia before she made her way over to Youji and the Corinthian.

[ilikeredheads]

Natalia had been chatting nonstop at Utena since they had left the Keterburg lofts. It felt so good to have a female friend to talk to, someone who would understand or at least listen without the slightly distracted look that caused Emperor Peony's eyes to glaze over when she started mentioning decidedly girly things.

She had put on a simple pink flowery dress, with a high waist, lovely puffed sleeves and ribbon trim. To accessorize, she had tied a ribbon -and attached a flower- in her light blonde hair.

"I'm so happy you agreed to come with me, Utena, I think this will be positively delightful!" She laughed girlishly, catching the arm Utena offered her. She might be escorted by a girl, but it was a girl who was prettier than most of the princes she had ever seen -and she's seen quite a lot!-.

She turned her eyes to the man Utena pointed at and barely repressed a frown of displeasure. Youji was there... that smooth-talker who had pretended to care for her when Asch had disappeared and left her broken-hearted. And who had turned

[pinkprincegirl]

"Well, I'm glad you decided to come with me, too!"

Utena smiled right back, easily keeping up with the chatter. After hours upon hours of listening to Wakaba's ranting, Natalia's conversations were a piece of cake. But she frowned, noticing the frown on her face and following it to the man with the cigarette.

"Natalia? What's wrong?"

[ilikeredheads]

Natalia looked startled. Like many girls her age, she had always thought that she hid her emotions rather well when, really, she was wearing them on her sleeves, more often that not.

For an instant, she wished she was like the Colonel. That she could display that same perfect poker face for all to see... that façade she only saw crack once, the day Emperor Peony was murdered. She often wondered about that, and about how different he had been...

But this was not the time, and her efforts at dissimulation had obviously failed. She leaned close to Utena to whisper: "I know this man."

[pinkprincegirl]

She knew that look. Wakaba had it when she saw her love note posted on the bulletin board, Anthy had after every one of Saionji's slaps. Even she'd had it, when she felt that second Sword stab her in the back. The man had done something terrible to Natalia, and Utena was determined to find out what - and give him what he deserved for it.

"Natalia," she said seriously, hands squeezing her shoulders gently, but firmly. "What did he do?"

[ilikeredheads]

Natalia looked down at the floor. She didn't want to admit it, because she felt that she had deserved such a fate, for even thinking of being able to put Asch behind her...

"I... cared... for someone once. And he... disappeared in the jungle. Then I met him, and he looked at me like I was so incredibly beautiful. No one had ever done that before and I... I thought that maybe... but while he was telling me all these things he went off and..."

She coughed and looked incredibly embarassed.

"And... you know... with this girl. In the jungle. And..."

She stopped. "I'd rather not talk about it. I'm... all right. Men never really want me anyway, at most, what they want is my country."

[pinkprincegirl]

"Oh, Natalia..." Utena gave the girl a comforting hug. "Don't judge yourself based on one jerk! You're a beautiful girl, and I'm sure lots of guys would fall in love with you!" She winked. "Like your friend Guy."

She turned, glaring out at the cigarette-man. "Some men can just be jerks sometimes."

[smokeandwires]

He looked up only briefly, and the cigarette fell from his mouth to the ground. So she was here.

"Shit," he mumbled, and looked away. Natalia almost certainly hated him - after all, that was why she'd completely stopped contact, right? - and there was no reason to add to the problem.

She'd seen him, though. There was no clean way to get out of this.

[pinkprincegirl]

"Hey!" Utena turned to him, glaring angrily at the man. "Don't turn away from this!"

Utena stepped between him and Natalia, stepping over to stamp out the cigarette and poke Youji in the chest.

"You abandoned this poor girl! Aren't you going to apologize!?"

[smokeandwires]

Oh, so now he was being blamed for what had happened? Go figure.

He laughed. "I think you're misunderstanding. She wants nothing to do with me. I would never abandon a woman."

[pinkprincegirl]

"It's no wonder she wants nothing to do with you! She just doesn't want to get hurt again! You broke the poor girl's heart, right when she was going through something horrible!" She stepped up to him, grabbing him by the shirt front.

"Not even going to own up to it, huh? What kind of man are you, avoiding responsibility like that!?"

[smokeandwires]

He jerked back, eyes narrowing at Utena. "I don't think you should interfere with situations where you don't know what really happened." He glanced over quickly at Natalia. She wasn't even meeting his gaze.

"Maybe you should ask her why she stopped talking to me. It seemed to me like she ended things that night she ran off with Guy."

[pinkprincegirl]

"I know enough!" She wanted to clarify with Natalia, but the girl looked so hurt and helpless that she didn't have any reason not to believe her.

"And I trust Natalia's word. She wouldn't lie about anything like this!"