The Honorary Ball

[Jun]

Jun laughed at Zacke's joke/compliment.

'Haha thanks. You look the epitome of handsome too, if I may say so myself. And you know, it should be exactly the reverse. All those adoring fangirls of yours probably wish they were here instead of me." She said half-jokingly. She didn't think it was a coincedence that each time she twirled, dozen pairs of glaring eyes were shooting at her, especially when Zacke gave her a hug at the end of the previous dance.

She glanced at the Trin tables. Stardust had already arrived, and was sitting there with Reese.

"Why am I not surprised that Stardie didn't wear a dress?" She smirked at Zacke. "Oh don't tell her that, but it's my affectionate name for her. She might come after me with Circeronian."

Hadrian weaved through the dancefloor at that moment, leading a confused-looking Blaze with him. A Blaze that wasn't having murder in her face for being lead by a guy...and Blaze in a fiery dress...

"WOW." Jun's eyes were rounder than they ever had been before, even rounder than the time she appraised the plants outside the elevator. "BLAZE. JUST WOW."

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Bleeegrh pointless post.

[Zacke]

"BLAZE. JUST WOW."

Zacke followed Jun's wide-eyed stare. Blaze? His eyes scanned the crowd as he tried to keep himself and Jun in time with the music. He didn't see Blaze anywhere. He looked over at their team-table. He saw Star--Hey! She's not wearing a dress!! Not fair! He had been looking forward to making fun of her in a dress! He filed away a mental note to make fun of her anyway, and continue looking. He saw Reese, Okay... Now it looked like Hadrian was approaching... Who was the girl--holy crap.

His foot landed right down on Jun's. "Shit!" He quickly hopped off her toes and stumbled backward a bit, his back hitting the guy behind him. He mumbled an apology over his shoulder and moved closer to Jun again. "Ahh, I'm so sorry Jun, are you okay?" He was talking to her, trying to apologize because he genuinely did feel bad about her foot, but it was such a distracted sort of apology because--

Blaze?!

That dress was the sexiest dress he had ever seen. On any female. In his life. Including women on television, including women in magazines...

What right did Blaze have to wear it?! It was too sexy for her! Blaze was supposed to come looking haggard because she didn't know how to fix her hair, she was supposed to walk weird on her heels because she didn't know how to wear them. She was supposed to... ugh! Blaze in a dress! It was supposed to be amusing!! She wasn't supposed to come arm-linked with some guy, allowing herself to be lead around and acting all calm and docile. She wasn't supposed to be drop-dead and mindblowingly gorgeous; this ruined everything.

He looked back at Jun. "Blaze?" he hissed. He looked back in Blaze's direction. He wasn't even trying to dance at this point. No, he had been way too preoccupied to attempt that. Now he and Jun were standing still amidst the swirling couples, and he didn't even care, because...

Wow, indeed.

"Closer look," he declared, placing a hand at Jun's upper-back and ushering her along with him, toward the table.

---

>( I knew he was going to step on someone's foot before the end of the night. I'm sorry Jun!!!

[Stella]

"What do you mean by that, do you know something I don't?" Stella asked with a smirk looking up at Bastion. All of a sudden he went rigid in her arms, clutching at her shoulders. His eyes looked wild as he glanced around the ball room almost surprised to see her in his arms.

"Thank Hyne, Stella, you've got to.." he's words were abruptly interrupted as her heel caught on a crack in the tile flooring and both of them went stumbling towards the nearest couple. They collided and Stella almost went crashing to the floor grabbing the closest person to her to keep from falling and almost twisting her ankle in the process.

That person she was clinging to just happened to be Rayden. Hyne, could she just die right now, please? His date was simply staring at her with a look of disdain on her face. She still looked stunningly, completely unaffected by their collision. All thoughts of whatever it was Bastian was on about flew from her head. That feeling of looking like a dumpy cow came crashing down back around her. She had to get out of here and quick.

"So sorry" Stella whispered quietly to Rayden pulling herself up and giving him a small tight smile. She glanced at his date and then back at him and started to back away slowly.

"Sorry" she said to the girl she could only assume was his date. She turned to apologize to Bastian as well but he was no where to be found. Swallowing hard she adjusted her dress and carefully moved off the dance floor.

[raydensharpola]

Rayden smirked back at Brooke. She wasn't the least bit intimidated or shy by the liberties he had taken with her, which was a common reaction with some of the naive girls he used to date. And it also meant he wouldn't be pasted with the "heartbreaker" label again since this wasn't a love-struck girl looking for an emotional connection. Or hoping for some reciprocation from him.

He was about to reply with some witty comeback and someone grabbed him from behind, almost causing him to lose his balance in the process. He quickly let go of Brooke, holding out his hands to stabilise the girl who had grabbed at him, but her arm slid out from his grasp and she slipped on the floor.

When she showed her face while pulling herself up, Rayden realised it was Stella, and his first instinct was to help her up, but she didn't need any, recovering without much fuss and plenty of spunk.

I have to hand it to her. She's the only girl I've ever come across that makes tripping on her feet look sexy. He couldn't help smirking.

But the smile she gave him was unnatural. It was unnatural enough to make him feel uneasy. He shook his head, not knowing what to say, glancing between her and Brooke at when she started to back away.

[What was her partner doing? He thought angrily. It was common chivlary to prevent your dance partner from stumbling, and it was an outright CRIME not to help her up as quickly as possible. Letting a girl get up by herself? Preposterous!

He kept glancing around for that guy who was dancing with her, only he couldn't catch sight of him. Where the fuck is he now? His eyebrows clashed together. He couldn't even explain why he was this angry, but if he had lose to someone, it should at least be a guy worthy of his calibre!

Then, a tapping sound behind him caught his attention. He turned around, saw an impatient Brooke annoyed at having been deprived of his attention. He lead her out of the pool of swirling couples, and put on his most persuasive voice.

"Look, Beautiful. I have something urgent to attend to. You get yourself a drink at the bar, I'll meet you there later. And if someone even better than Rayden the Irresistable approaches you, go ahead with him." He grinned. "Don't let me stand in your way of greater love, babe."

With that, he swivelled on his heel and hurried towards the direction Stella had gone.

"Stella!" He called loudly when he caught sight of her. Wait....am I sure this is a good idea?

What the hell... I've already called her. I'll just have to grin and bare with any potential lashing-outs.

"Are you...okay?" He asked gingerly, anxiously afraid of treading on her toes.

[Stella]

She was just about to duck into the ladies room when she heard his voice behind her. Mark it on the calendar people, Rayden Sharpola actually seemed to care about someone.The sound of his words made her freeze where she stood the safe escape of the bathroom door seeming ages away. Slowly she glanced over her shoulder and dared to look at him.

"Yeah.. tripped over my own feet" Stella said with a forced little laugh, "must be the new shoes... or the silly dress." That was an outright lie. The dress was far from silly, in fact it meant a great deal to her, but she would say anything right now to make herself look less stupid.

"You didn't have to leave your date behind... I'm fine really" she lied not sure what else to say to him.

[Lex]

The moment they collided, Brooke frowned deeply and her mouth formed an "o" of absolute appall. Does she have two left feet?! She looked at Rayden, who wasn't concerned with her at all--rather, he was very concerned with this clumsy girl. Nevermind the fact that Brooke had barely suffered a bump, and Stella was practically on the floor due to the collision. Brooke always came first.

She stared at Stella as she came to her feet, mumbling apologies and looking between the two of them. Brooke almost wanted to laugh. How awkward. She arched an eyebrow when Stella apologized to her, and looked away.

"Look, Beautiful," She looked up at Rayden. "I have something urgent to attend to. You get yourself a drink at the bar, I'll meet you there later." Brooke's impassive expression quickly became a haughty scowl. Meet me later?! "And if someone even better than Rayden the Irresistable approaches you, go ahead with him." He grinned. "Don't let me stand in your way of greater love, babe."

"Hah! Don't bother," and with an exaggerated roll of the eyes, she removed herself from his arms and brushed away.

There's plenty of more cuties in this place... like hell I'm gonna wait around for you. She thought, moving through the dance floor and over to the Trinity table.

[raydensharpola]

"It's not a silly dress." Rayden frowned. "And I think the way you handled that...little incident back there was perfect. If my opinion still counts..." He grinned crookedly. "So there's no need to run away or feel lesser about yourself. The Stella I asked to the Ball yesterday was so confident of herself, I hope you haven't chased her away." His grin widened. "Cos I like her that way dammit."

[Stella]

"Not everyone can be confident all the time, not even you Rayden" she said softly with a sigh glancing up at the ceiling. Dispense with the drama Stella, start acting like a normal girl. After all didn't he just give you a compliment?

She turned to face him slowly letting a smile creep over her lips. Even though she didn't want to she had to admit he looked damned good in the suit he had on.

"You like my dress?" she said feeling a bit of her girliness creeping in reminding her of her earlier outing with Gemma, "It was my mothers"

Why she was divulging such private information to him she didn't know. But for some reason him coming after her made her feel just a little better and oh she hated that so very much. If she wasn't careful she could easily fall for this guy and then that would be all sorts of trouble.

[raydensharpola]

"Well of course I like it." He grinned, running his eyes appreciatively over her dress, but not in a hormone-racing male kind of way, because lord knows the last thing she needed was to feel like a piece of flesh. He was surprised he could manage to look at a girl and not linger over her cleavage--well not as long as he used to. A small peep was inevitable.

Perhaps being around Stella raised his standards, or something.

"It's not like any of the other dresses I've seen." He said in a serious tone. "And not many girls would willingly wear their mother's clothes and admit it. Oh, I don't mean that in a bad way...just..."

He scratched his head embarrassedly. He was usually so good with his words, but now he had to feel around for the correct ones to use, treading carefully so that he wouldn't lose the chance to create a good impression on her. And she was standing here, listening to him talk. Right now, she was lavishing her attention on him alone.

Maybe, just maybe, he thought there was a tiny little spark of warmth in his hollow insides.

"I feel it really brings out the best in you." He managed lamely.

[Stella]

Wow, he could look at her and actually not be offensive. Maybe she had been too quick to judge this guy on rumors alone. She grinned at him taking a few steps closer, her heels clicking on the floor importantly.

"You've all ready seen the best of me. Out on the battle field with my guns in my hands. Thats when I'm at my best" she said with a little shrug hiking one of the straps of her dress back up. A soft delicate tune floated out of the main hallway and down towards them.

"Hey, don't I still owe you a dance?" she asked with with a smirk.

[raydensharpola]

"Heh." His face lit up at her question. "I'm surprised you still remember about that." He offered his arm for her to link through, and started escorting her back to the dancepool.

He grasped her hand, putting the other around her waist, holding her at a respectable, comfortable position instead of the so-snug-it-hurts-to-breath one he had while dancing with Brooke earlier.

"To prevent the same thing from happening again, touch wood," He rolled his eyes and smirked at her, "You better hold on tight to me. So that I can rescue you from showing everyone just how lovely your legs are." He chuckled.

[Stella]

It felt nice walking back out onto the dance floor but she could feel people watching them. Probably talking about another girl falling prey to his charms. But she was wasn't she?

The stance was comfortable and she felt as ease in his arms. She was worried this would happen. They would dance and she would like it. Trouble. For a moment she half pondered on giving him a telling off for the leg comment but decided to let it go.. for the moment.

"Gonna be my knight and shinning armor and catch me if I fall?" Stella asked with a grin looking up into his eyes.

[raydensharpola]

"MMM." He quirked an eyebrow. "I don't know if this suit constitutes as shining armour, but I'll be knight, prince, pimp, or anything you want me to be." He winked.

[junkuroki]

Jun: It's okay, I kinda expected it >.O

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Jun was still locking her eyes on Blaze's new look when a sharp pain hauled for her attention and pulled it to her toes. She winced at the soreness, and at her toes which now looked like reddish over-boiled sausages. Her feet had already hurt from tottering in high heels that she had never worn before in her entired life. Zacke's shoe was now pressing down against it. In a very hard way. It made Jun glad that he wasn't wearing his combat boots right now.


"Shit!" Zacke exclaimed, hopping off her toes and stumbled backward a bit, colliding into another guy and apologising again. He was definitely flustered, even through her pain Jun could see it. Well he was being so obvious about it! And instantly it made her forgive him for stepping on her new shoes and pedicured-for-the-first-time toes. It was simply so amusing to look at him try to dance and failing terribly. In the end, he resorted to not moving at all, and just stared at Blaze as if it's the first time he'd seen her.

Which really wasn't that inaccurate. Noone had seen this version of Blaze before. Blaze 2.0, as some computer geek would say.

"Closer look," Zacke finally decided, and started ushering her to the table. She had to hobble a little to keep up with him.

"Blaze." She groaned at the girl. "Next time you decide to peel off your skin and become another person, give some warning. Zacke had to stomp on my feet to convey his surprise." She grinned wickedly at Zacke. "What I'm trying to say is, you look stunning."

She turned to Stardust, sitting at the same table.

"AND YOU CHEATED STARDUST. Why aren't you in a dress?" She pouted petulantly. "I was looking forward to seeing you in one. And I think Reese does too." She teased, looking at a subdued Reese sitting beside the pinkhaired girl.

[Stella]

"Anything?" Stella mused raising an eyebrow as well. What a little player. Oh Hyne this dance was way nicer then it should have been. How could she find him so charming sometimes and so obnoxious other times?

"How about a nice, respectable gentleman who knows how to treat a lady well" she grinned as she spoke leaning in a little.