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Marlon blinked in complete surprise at Jeremiah's suggestion. He was completely certain that his friend had gotten the joke, and yet...... Still, a picture wouldn't be so bad. He imagined stowing it away somewhere, where Herick would never see it and sneer at his disappointing son; of course he WOULD take it entirely the wrong way regardless. If only his mother was just as good at seeing all of the verbal jabs he took at her son the way she noticed whenever he did something that even smelled a whiff of bully! It didn't seem right that he was always seen like that and yet looking at his life, he was the least bully-ish one in it.

He shrugged and smiled an easy smile, one that actually felt more right than forced. "Nah, I wouldn't mind. It would be nice to have a reminder if tonight ends up being nice and.....uneventful."



Jayke smiled and shook his head as Crysta would name an even sillier place for him to transform into.....he didn't even know what. At a party like this with chaperons lurking around every corner, under the Christmas tree would more than likely be the favorite place for teenagers who wanted to sneak a little kiss; other than a forced one under mistletoe. Why, he couldn't help but wonder, do they make strangers kiss and expect everyone else to leave each other alone?

"Well...." He grasped for a way to explain the feeling he had had when he raised his arm. "I know SOMETHING inside me wants to get out; I felt it when I was showing you the bracelet." Carefully, he brought his arm out in front of his body to look at the bracelet, being careful to lift it as little as possible. He wondered if the real magic had been humming in those unadorned clay animal symbols, or if they had merely awakened a slumbering entity that had been inside of him this whole time. "Still, I'd much rather it be somewhere where we WOULDN'T get wither tossed out on our ears or taken away to be poked at." Surely his friend could see that even though they both wanted to unleash the power just bestowed upon him, to do so here would be just plain foolish? He turned and smiled at Crysta, even venturing a mock-pout. "Besides, you got to show me when we were alone; shouldn't I be allowed to do the same?"

"Well boys, isn't this a fun party?" Aphrodite said as she sat between Evan and Jinju on the faux hearth. "You two must have gotten the best seat in the room." She nodded. Yep. She could feel the energy right here. Magic time.

"Who are you?" The darker boy asked. Aphrodite frowned.

"I might be the villain of the story." She replied with a laugh, but Jin didn't get it. He glanced at Evan with a shrug, wondering if his date knew this woman. Women really were weird. Jin wanted to grab Evan's hand and leave. Right now. "Do be cheerful, boys." Hmmm... one or both? They both had potential... Ah, what's wrong with 2 birds with one stone? "I have some Christmas presents for good little children like yourselves."

The pendant around her neck kept drawing her attention... which was a good thing in a way. She didn't want to keep looking at the happy couples chatting away all around her but she couldn't help herself. She felt so miserable, maybe she should just leave. But that would be rude... of course, not as rude as Nathan had been to her and probably to his little brother as his date as well. She just didn't understand how he could go and do something like that... making a fool out of himself and her too in the process. She felt as if everyone was looking at her... as if they somehow knew she'd been dumped and no matter how hard she tried to pretend that everything was okay, it just wasn't and she may as well not try to fool herself anymore. Stuffing another chocolate into her mouth from the buffet she noticed the couple down the line, near to her, the girl eating a truffle right out of the boy's fingers and sighed a little... Her attention taken from that by the pendant around her neck again... It felt a bit strange... and something she just couldn't explain... an energy of some kind? Oh it was just in her head she knew but she couldn't quite ignore the mystical way it felt the longer she wore it.... It wasn't a bad feeling... almost as if it belonged and yet alien because she'd never felt anything like it before.... another chocolate, this one she nibbled on... turning towards the crowd again. She wasn't expecting to see Nathan coming for her, surely he'd forgotten all about her and well, maybe he'd gone and taken Nico home with him. Oh that would be the most humiliating thing! She felt tears begin to sting at her eyes again... thoughts of going out on the dance floor dismissed, what if they played a slow song and she was left out there in the middle of a bunch of couples dancing, looking like the biggest loser in the world. She was just going to stay here and stuff her face until she didn't feel so horrible anymore.

"Ugh." Percival found himself wrinkling his nose. "I think it would smell and taste terrible. Bottled testosterone does not seem like a good seller." He could not help but smile as he spoke. It was a ludicrous idea wasn't it? But ever so amusing at the same time. Percival gently swung Mai about as the music shifted to something a bit more..slow? Glancing about, he nodded his head towards the buffet table. "Shall we get a drink?" He asked, then smiled brightly. It was nice to hear her opinion of lemonade.

"Isn't it a nice drink though? I absolutely love lemonade myself. I am in fact researching the perfect recipe for it. Though I'm not too interested in selling it off." His head gave a very small nod as he closed his eyes for that brief moment. "I am going to make it my legacy you see. A family recipe that will only be passed down along my family line. It will be the thing that people perk up about when invited to bar-b-ques and parties at my family residence." Percival's eyes opened with a faint light glimmering behind them. 'What do I think of Punch? Honestly I think it's sort of the 'left overs' version of drinks. There are too many fruit juices poured together. They all crowd each other out. It's like mixing paint. If you mix too many colors all you end up with is black." Which was to say, he supposed, that he didn't much care for punch. It only occurred to him after answering that Mai had been making a joke. He looked down to his arm and found himself blushing slightly. Gah! He was being too serious! Clearing his throat, he lifted his hand and pointed off to the tables again. "I feel like some chocolate. How about you?"

Nari smiled that Nico agreed they should move. "Maybe we should hit up the buffet first, hm?" Nari was pretty effective in getting people to move aside so she and Nico could come through, without calling attention to Nico's chair. "I donno how we'd dance. But I'm sure we can do it. Cause we're amazing and smart. So it shouldn't be a problem when we get on the dance floor. But... I really want some chocolate." Oh dear, she was after the comfort food.

"Seems they have taste here." Indigo teased Naois. "Hey, do you have a favorite treat? I see gingerbread, and chocolate cookies... and fudge too!" Even though she worked in a bakery, and was around sweets all the time, she was still like a kid in a candy store.

Jinju was about to protest that this lady was in the way, and frankly a bit of a bother to him and his date. But Evan seemed delighted. And now the woman was offering presents. Well, Evan deserved something nice. So he sat back and smiled, though his eyes were trained on the woman's hands. He couldn't help but feel intrigued and compelled by the item, or items she was concealing in her hands.

Jayke was glad Crysta understood. He looked at his friend as she looked at his new bracelet, seeming entranced by it. He always knew that she had an extraordinary gift for perception, even before this strange woman had found her and given her the means to turn into a butterfly. Could she actually see the magic inside of the item, or the magic within him that the bracelet had caused to stir? Her staring at it reminded him of a moth wanting to reach out and touch a candle flame with it's dusty wings. Goodness knows he felt that level of unease at the thought of rashly changing.

"Well...." he started, then paused, taken aback by how fervently Crysta had described the transformation. "I still really want to; I mean I have a feeling that the more I try to keep it inside, the more it's going to want to get out, and the bigger the commotion when it finally does." He smiled a little and offered her his hand, letting the adorned hand fall down to his side. "Tell you what; Deston and Lillian don't have any problem with me bringing my date home; we can always go to my house afterwards and then I can give it a go. Besides....." He looked around at all of the lights, his ears taking in all of the noise. "One thing I already feel is that whatever this is, it would very much rather emerge out of doors."

Oh, don't make me choose! Evan looked over the woman's hands trying to decide. It seemed to take forever for him, but it was more like a few moments. "How about the right hand!" He looked up at the cheery woman hopefully as if trying to gain approval. He looked over to Jinju with a smile. He would probably be handed the gift the blond boy hadn't picked. It made him wonder what could be in her hands.


Mai was delighted at how the dancing was going. It was amazing that she wasn't tripping up or stepping on his feet. She even gigged as Percival guided her around the dance floor. She noticed the music starting to sow down. "A drink would be nice." She nodded, making her way off of the dance floor.

Mai listened as Percival went on about lemonade. What a charming little dream he had. And he didn't even what to sell, that was the icing on the cake. She couldn't help but think that was a little .... Cute. But she wouldn't say that out loud. She gave a curt laugh on his thoughts about punch. "Now I know what not to serve you at parties." There was no doubt that he was very entertaining. "I'd love some chocolate. I bet that, and the other treats they have will calm my sweet tooth."

Miah was excited to get a keep sake from his first ever date but he tried not to show it. With a grin he gestured toward Santa and said, "I'll meet you over there in a minute. There's something I want to do first."

Jeremiah wasn't vain enough to go nuts when he dressed up, but he wanted to look his best so he set off for the bathroom to check his appearance. After straightening his hair self consciously, he wondered if he'd see Indigo before too long. She'd said she'd dance with him and he wanted to wow her with his appearance.

After making sure that his hair wasn't sticking up any worse than normal, he left the bathroom and tried to start making his way over to Santa. Too bad the dance floor was so crowded! Miah tried to look for Marlon but he'd lost sight of him a while ago.