The Candle Lighting Ceremony

[Lex]

^{Okay, I know this is a super-crappy post, but I'm eager to get things going again, too, so here goes... >.< I'm sorry about how long it took guys.}

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The music volume lowered and the slightly dimmed lights brightened, garnering the attention of the dancing couples. A muffled noise sounded over the mic, and SeeDs turned in the direction of the stage to see Xu at the podium.

"The candle lighting ceremony will commence shortly, marking the end of our celebration. It will take place in the quad, where we have seating established and ready for those of you who would like to attend. This is not a mandatory event, but I strongly encourage all Garden affiliated persons to come and show respect and honor for the brothers and sister lost in the struggle.

"I ask that my Trinity operatives please find their partners and meet me in the quad now. Further instruction will be given there."

She nodded briefly before stepping away from the podium and down from the stage.

[raydensharpola]

It doesn't matter, the fact is you posted *huggles* ^.^ yay! *jumps up and down spraying edible confetti on all and sundry*

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Just as the song neared its end, it started dwindling making way for the next announcement from the higher ups...specifically Xu, who seemed to be responsible for all the announcements tonight.

"It's a good thing Xu likes talking..." Rayden murmured at Gemma with a quirk of his lips. "Because I have a feeling Headmaster Leonhart delegated all the speech-making duties to her so he would have to make as little of them as possible."

After listening attentively for the little announcement from beginning to end--well as attentively as he could with a growling stomach. It was distracting him quite a bit---Rayden turned towards Gemma letting go of her hands.

"As much as I have enjoyed your company, I have no choice but to release you, because I don't think your candle-lighting partner would be happy to see I have occupied the space he's supposed to fill. Plus, I've already asked Stella. So...shall we?" He started ushering Gemma towards the table, but as he pulled out the seat for her, he saw a peculiar scene...something that was illogical according to what he had predicted to happen. Stella wasn't dancing with Hadrian, which he had assumed was a gone case when she started approaching his camera-toting teammate. Instead, she was standing beside an inebriated Brooke with a cellphone in a her hand...while Hadrian was still at the table looking rather amused at his camera.

What the... He barely managed to push in the seat for Gemma properly without effing up. One second more of gawking and he would've made her land on her bottom.

"Excuse me...I have business to attend to..." He muttered distractedly at Gemma, quickening his steps towards where Stella was.

"Babe, I thought you were gonna dance with Hadrian?" He raised a quizzical eyebrow at Stella, and placed a light hand on her shoulder. "If I knew you weren't I wouldn't have left the table..."

[Stella]

Stella glanced up at Xu as she made the announcement a little smile flitting over her lips. Just as she was setting Brooke's cellphone down on the table she heard Rayden's smooth voice behind her. Her smile widened as his hand touched her shoulder sending a little chill through her. Her eyes danced mischievously as she turned to look at him.

"Hadrian's gay" she stated simply with a playful smirk. Looping her arm through his she looked up at him her hair tumbling around her shoulders.

"Shall we head out to the quad?" Stella asked.

[Gemma Ridean]

"As much as I have enjoyed your company, I have no choice but to release you, because I don't think your candle-lighting partner would be happy to see I have occupied the space he's supposed to fill. Plus, I've already asked Stella. So...shall we?"

With a small smile, Gemma nodded and allowed Rayden to escort her back towards their tables. She had to thank him later and she was further impressed as he even pulled out a chair for her to be seated.

"Well I have to thank you" she began as she started to st down, before quickly realizing that the chair was still pulled away from the table by Rayden, who seemed very preoccupied in his thoughts.

He was being so nice to her, that she pretended not to notice and tried her best to muffle the small "Oomph!" that came out when he suddenly shoved the chair back in.

She watched him leave with a bemused smile. Apparently, he had some "business to atttend to." But there was only one kind of business that Rayden Sharpola could be considered about,and Gemma was pretty sure she knew what, or more accurately, who it was.


For the time being, it now seemed she was alone once again. Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled slowly. All that dancing had made her bit dizzy. Not to mention, a buzzing soreness was currently forming in her kneecap after Rayden's act of chivalry had caused a minor "collision" between her and the table.

And so, for the next few minutes, she simply stared down at her hands, which were folded neatly in her lap. She didn't feel like going to the candle lighting ceremony anymore. Of course, if she had to be there. Instructor Xu would be furious of any of the Trinity Team was absent for such an important event. Still...

The hall was quickly emptying out as couples headed towards the quad for the candle lighting ceremony. Gemma lifted her head up.

To hell with it...

With more confidence than she had, she sauntered over towards the bar. Having never drunk anything before, she didn't know what to ask for. However, she had caught Jax drinking in his room enough times to know the names of a couple illicit drinks.

The bartender was staring at her expectantly and so, she recalled the first drink that popped into her head.

"Get me a Rusty Nail shaken on the rocks."

The moment the drink appeared, she suddenly remembered how alcoholic beverages had always repulsed her. Infact, she had vowed never to drink because she had seen what the effects of alcohol on good people and that was the last thing she wanted to associate herself with.

And at that moment, the dark amber liquid was looking very tempting. The lights of the bar refracted through the glass so that the entire drink was now illuminated. The murky liquid looked translucent under the light and almost seemed to be glowing a crimson red while the ice cubes at the bottom lit up like diamonds and the milky coffee foam was seductively spilling over the crystalline rim of the glass. It was very tempting.

"Once again. The candle lighting ceremony will be beginning shortly."

She made up her mind grabbed the glass from off the counter.

Cheers.

Tilting her head back, she poured its entire contents down her throat.

It felt like someone had lit a furnace in her lungs. The bitter liquid burned the inside of her throat like acid and a rush of heat of shot up into her temples. Her eyes were starting to tear up as she began to cough, still feeling like the fiery substance was burning a path throughout her body.

But after a few minutes, the angry buzzing in her head began to subside. And it was soon replaced by this strange feeling...she couldn't describe...she still felt warm...but in a good way...like someone had wrapped a blanket over her shoulders...she felt happy...except she didn't need to laugh...just happy...

"Excuse me miss, but I believe you are Miss Gemma Ridean, am I right? I believe you're to be expected in the quad."

For some reason, she felt exremely annoyed by this intrustion. Scowling at the barkeep, she snapped, "Just do your job and get me another drink."

He did and she quickly downed it. And then got another. And another...and another...

"I'm good at this." she murmured to herself "I'm always the best..."

It was after her sixth drink that she suddenly spotted a familiar face. Eagerly, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Ay Hadrian! HADRIAN!!!! IT"S ME!!!! HI!!! What's that you have? You know..that thingy-majig thing there! Yeah! Caught anything good yet?"

[Blaze Sanaku]

"Tell me more about this plan of yours." Hadrian was grinning, his eyes wide with excitement. Blaze almost rolled her eyes. Anything to do with computers and Hadrian acted like an eager little kid with a lollipop.

"Well, I want to hack into Stardust's e-mail account and seeDbook site.. and kinda you know.. mess thi-"

"Ay Hadrian! HADRIAN!!!! IT"S ME!!!! HI!!!" Someone interrupted Blaze.

Blaze scowled and looked to the direction of where the yelling was coming from. Gemma sat at the bartenders next to Deo and Vanesse, horrendously drunk and out of her senses.

What was up with her anyways?? Blaze thought in annoyance, First she beats these guys up, and now she's roaring drunk?

"Well..." Blaze turned to Hadrian, "have you caught anything good yet? Looks like she wants to know."

[Diego Stanton]

"DEO!!!"

Deo didn't bother to turn around, he knew it was Vanesse. He put his drink down when she patted him on the shoulder and asked,"Hey, Deo. Why did you leave Brooke alone?? Are you here to get some bread too?"

"Bread?" Deo sat back in his seat and stared at her. His eyes flickered to the guy standing by her, incidentally the same guy Deo's puke covered shoe had hit. "Erm..umm.. yeah, can't find that damn bread anywhere." Deo said, eyeing the guy strangely. It was no secret how guillible Vanesse was, and "bread" sounded suspicious to him. What was this guy trying to get her to do?

All of a sudden some girl decided to plop down in the seat next to Deo and start downing drinks.

"Ay Hadrian! HADRIAN!!!!" She was shouting.

Uh oh, someone is drunk Deo automatically stiffened, the image of 'Brooke' puking all over him was still fresh in his mind. He leaped out of his chair and scuffled three chairs over. He was pretty sure if this girl barfed all over, it still wouldn't have the powers to hit him from such a distance.

But you never know... Deo pondered how far barf could actually fly from one's mouth, when he came to a brilliant solution. Shields!

"Hey uhh Van's new friends, could you stand maybe 5 inches to the right?"

[stardust]

Stardust paused and looked up, hearing the announcement about the candle-lighting ceremony. The sole purpose of why she wanted to be here had finally come. They couldn't have made it even later than it already was.

"They sure took their time for this," she suddenly grumbled, mussing her spiked hair. Bringing her gaze back to Reese, she casually said, "Come on." She pivoted, preparing to head back. "Let's get this over with."

[Hadrian D'arcell]

"Hadrian's gay" AHAHAHA XD
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Hearing the announcement, Hadrian felt like cursing---whether it was from joy or annoyance was debatable. He thought this candle ceremony would never come. "Hoh? They remembered there was a candle lighting ceremony. Amazing." He stared at the speakers. Turning to face Blaze, she mentioned she wanted him to hack into Stardust's email to....

Mess things up? Even if the girl wasn't able to finish, he already got an idea of what to do. That was too easy. She should've made it more complicated. Like...

"Ay Hadrian! HADRIAN!!!! IT"S ME!!!! HI!!!

Hadrian's brow raised when he heard a familiar, yet not so familiar voice somewhere.

He turned around to see the people at the bar. There were Vanesse, Gemma, Deo, and some other people he didn't know.

"Who's that drunkard who just called me?"

"What's that you have? You know..that thingy-majig thing there! Yeah! Caught anything good yet?"

Gemma? He blinked. He thought Jax would be so proud of her once he saw her like that. He lifted his camcorder and motioned her to come over. "I'll show you. Come here."

"Mess things up, huh? You got it," he told Blaze, standing up from his chair to see if Gemma would really come over. He had a feeling she wouldn't want to see the clip of her dance partner getting pwned by a cat.

[vanesse]

AHAHAHAHAH Deo always cracks me up!! XD
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Vanesse observed Deo when he scooted away from Gemma. He was being silly. There was no way Gemma would pull a Brooke.

"Deo! Don't be mean." Vanesse frowned. She stood up and sat beside Gemma. "Hey, are you okay? You drank too much! Why? We have to go to the Quad for candle-lighting. Tell your part--" Then, something hit Vanesse. She looked around. Where was her partner for the candle-lighting? She heard Hadrian telling Gemma to approach them.

Who would want a drunk girl waddle over table and chairs? What if she tripped??

/And why are you so exaggerated?/ Paridge sounded bored.

"Hey! Are you planning to---" she asked Gemma and stopped her from standing up. "Deo! Saffron! Can one of you help me with Gemma to the candle-ceremony? She's already this drunk to me. And I think her partner deserted her." She frowned in annoyance. Then her eyes rested on Deo, as if to say her request was more directed to him.

[Jax Ridean]

There seemed to be some kind of commotion going on over at the bar. Jax grinned. Looks like someone had too much of their invisible drink.

"Ay Hadrian! HADRIAN!!!! IT"S ME!!!! HI!!!

The voice immediately caught his attention. Call it intuition, but there was something very familiar about that voice... Distracted, he let of Jaime's hands and turned around to get a better view of what was going on.

"What's that you have? You know..that thingy-majig thing there! Yeah! Caught anything good yet?"

Shit.

There was no mistaking who's voice that was now. He turned around and faced Jaime, who was looking at him somewhat questioningly. "Sorry." he muttered roughly and glanced back once more. "I need to take care of something right now."

Not wanting to say anymore, he quickly walked off the dance floor and headed straight towards the bar.

And then he saw her, slumped over the bar counter. His quiet sister. His mousy, bookworm sister. The sister who started a temperance movement at Trabia Garden...was completely wasted.

Jax took a deep breath. He had never imagined Gemma in such a situation. At the same time, he knew that his sister would never have done anything like this. The fact that she did worried him.

"Deo! Saffron!" Fortunately it seemed Van was already there.

"Can one of you help me with Gemma to the candle-ceremony? She's already this drunk to me. And I think her partner deserted her."

He cut in. "Thanks Van. But I don't think my sister is in any state to go to the ceremony. I'm going to take her back to her dorm. "

At this point, he suddenly remembered his promise to Jaime. "Oh and Van." He felt a slight twinge of remorse. "Can you tell Jaime where I went? I'll try to get back as soon as I can."

[Reese]

'They sure took their time for this...'

Reese casted a sideways glance in the direction of Stardust. What did she mean by that? His face was impassive, but he wanted to frown. Why was she so disgruntled and annoyed by this whole affair? It was a little corny, yeah, but it still didn't make sense that she had such a sour attitude about it. I guess she just wants to get this over with so she can return to her normal everyday life.

Pausing at that thought, he wondered what exactly her 'normal, everyday' life even consisted of. Before he had time to venture that thought further, she spoke again, "Come on." She pivoted, preparing to head back. "Let's get this over with."

This time he didn't just want to frown, he did. A little. A small sigh escape his throat, a quiet one she wouldn't hear. He reluctantly turned to follow her. She wasn't annoyed by the affair. It wasn't the others. She was annoyed by him. Or made somehow uncomfortable by him. That was the feeling he got, anyway. Like she couldn't wait to get off the balcony and back inside. It was nothing like Fisherman's Horizon.

Whatever. he thought to himself. Stardust. He had done everything he could do for her. Incidentally, she had also done everything she could for him. There was no denying that after all they had been through, they had saved eachother on some scale. And maybe that's just all there could be. There couldn't be a future here. Because of who and what he was, there couldn't be anything more, really.

Maybe she's already accepted what I still can't.

"I'm not going to the candle lighting ceremony." he said flatly, following her across the balcony. "There's no point in showing my face at an event like that."

"There's no fucking point in showing my face anywhere, anymore." he said under his breath, passing through the doors behind her and abruptly turning his direction away from hers.

[Zacke]

Zacke sauntered into the ballroom, now all clad in sneakers and jeans and the customary hands-in-jacket-pockets status. Well, at least the jeans are a nice pair of dark ones, not one of the lighter more worn-out ones he usually preferred. He came just in time to hear Xu's announcement, and stopped whistling an off-key tune to listened.

Well, he thought to himself, I managed Gemma and Jun. He withdrew a hand and counted on his fingers. That's... two out of eight? His shoved his hand back into his pocket with a dismayed grunt. Two out of eight? Pathetic.

/Maybe you should have spent a little less time spanking Stardust and hyena-laughing with Blaze./ Iris commented lightly.

He rolled his eyes and headed through the crowd, in the direction of the quad. A lot of the people were heading in that direction as well. It seemed like the candle lighting ceremony was being taken pretty seriously by Garden faculty and students. It was a good thing to see. As nice as the night had been, no one had forgotten those who had given everything to make it so. At this thought, he felt slightly self-conscious about his medal -- now pinned to his casual leather jacket. He was proud of it, but almost felt like he shouldn't be. There were many, many people who had given more than him.

He emerged in the quad to find several rows of folding chairs occupying a large area of the concrete, situated before the a flight of stairs leading up to a small veranda. They were quickly filling up with people from the ballroom who had come to pay their respects. Xu stood at the veranda beside an ornate glass table, upon which stood eight tall and fat white candles.

Behind the table sat fourteen chairs, all lined up neatly. Xu turned at Zacke's approach and motioned for him to come closer. He mutely complied, circling around the rows of chairs to meet her at the stairs.

"Where is your partner?" she asked. She had cast a lingering glance down at his attire, but apparently decided not to question it.

He shrugged. "I hadn't really worked that out yet,"

He inquisitive expression immediately transformed to something more along the lines of displeasure. Her voice lowered. "If the group of you can't stop squabbling long enough to pair up, I'll choose partners for you all."

Zacke couldn't help but smirk a little. "Hey, it's not me causing the problems, I really don't care who I'm with. And to be honest, you might have to."

Her lips pursed, she eyed him for a moment before tilted her head back toward the row of chairs behind her. "Very well, just have a seat."

---

Okay, all you have to do is have your charrie come and sit. There's no rush on this though, if you guys want to work out partners amongst your charries before you come, it's totally cool. I'll wait to start the ceremony until everyone is present.

[Lawric]

^{Lil >.< okay, I backtracked and I don't think Lawric and Jun have really moved from where they were at before, just standing and talking at the edge of the dancefloor. If they have, kick me and I'll edit this.}

---

Lawric laughed at Jun's comical mockery of her Guardian Force. As annoyed as she seemed, he couldn't help but think the GF wasn't as bad as she made him out to be. Incessant nagging would still be better than startling screaming, right? Grass is always greener...

The fading music and Xu's subsequent voice over the podium broken his attention from Jun. He turned back to her at the end of the announcement.

"Umm... I guess I'll watch you from the crowd?" he asked tentatively. His official position this entire night had been somewhat ambiguous. He had sat at the 'Trinity' table, but he wasn't ever really a part of the 'Trinity' team. He hadn't been called up for a medal or anything -- and rightfully so, he hadn't really done anything but die. So he wasn't part of the candle lighting ceremony, was he? Nah. he decided. Probably not.

The whole thing actually gave him an eerie sort of feeling. It was a little morbid. Well, not to a lot of people. But it seemed really morbid to him, to be reflecting on the deaths of others. Not for people in general, just for him. Because of what had happened and how he felt. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to attend this event, but he also didn't feel like he had a choice. It was a moral obligation.

"Come on," he took her hand and turned them in the direction of the quad, trying to stifle some of his nervous feelings by focusing on her. "I want to get a front row seat." He looked back at her briefly with a teasing wink.

[ST]

In case anyone is confused as to what the whole layout of the quad actually looks like for this ceremony (I sometimes read my own descriptions of places and I'm like "o.O wtf?" XD) I made another special ghetto blueprint! huzzah!

i193.photobucket.com/albums/z167/trinakening/ghetto_quad.gif

[Reese]

Reese had only taken a few steps away from her, but each one he took pumped an adrenaline-filled rush of anger and frustration through him. He felt the impending end of their night. All of the carefully restrained feelings he had been harboring were starting to unravel wildly out of his control. From where he stood, he could not reach her. He could not connect. In that sense, it felt just like Fisherman's Horizon. In another sense, everything felt very different now. There were no more secrets between them, and yet, it didn't make a damn difference. She was looking at him in a way he couldn't read; or maybe a way he just didn't want to. She was foreign to him, now. Distancing herself. 'Genuine friends?' It wasn't amusing anymore, it was unnerving and filled him with a mixture of fear and disbelief.

But no, he did not feel sad. His temper was rising at an alarming rate. He felt angry. He felt deprived. And he could not reason through these feelings because he was thinking nothing. Jaw clenched, his legs became lead and he stopped moving altogether as the people around him passed by.

Why care... ? he thought darkly. Why be considerate?

Hardly knowing what he was doing, he turned and unintentionally bumped shoulders harshly with someone as he made his way back in the exact opposite direction. He moved past quickly, ignoring their protest as he closed the remaining space between him and Stardust, his dark form moving in both a gracefully fluid but strikingly strong, solid way. The moment he was an arms length away, he reached out and grabbed a hold of her arm, twisting her around to bring her attention to him and pulling her closer with a tight grip.

He stared down at her fiercely, still holding her in her place with his grip around her arm, regardless of what others might see and think of it. The world of sounds and color around him blurred into a sort of murky distance as all of his senses were consumed by this moment with her. He couldn't read her expression, but he wasn't trying to. His own raging emotions had too strong a possession over him. An edgy panic burned behind his blue eyes, but his jaw was set.

"I am not your friend." he said firmly.

And without another moment's hesitation, his brought his mouth down upon hers.

---

_{Wanted to keep going for a bit, but I figured I would give Stardie a chance to react to this. >.> Feel free to shove him away. Do whatever is in Stardie's character, of course. ^_^}