Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Banquet Hall had been used for many things in its time, but it had never been decorated to entertain the particular crowd that was rumored to be attending. It was one thing to decorate for politicians and citizens, but it was quite another to arrange a room for royalty.

Once entering the Hall through the two massive steel doors, one was met with a gentle warmth and the scent of complimentary herbal and floral scents. While the air outside could sometimes be unforgiving to the lungs, there was not a speck of dust in the air within the Hall. Each breath taken would be with crisp fresh air with the aroma of both tea and treats.

Barely audible, drifting through the massive space, a peaceful melody played. A lavish ebony rug with velvet ivory trim would guide a guest down the small handful of steps and onto the checkered floor. The floor had not been changed since the creation of the Crane, but tonight it gleamed without a single indication of its age. They could have claimed it was the Hall's grand opening, and none would be the wiser.

Half a dozen pillars framed the rug as continued down the entire length of the room, ending at a long table. These pillars, three on each side of the rug, were draped lavishly with enormous segments of black silk. The fabric, tied to each pillar in a ribbon, hung suspended between both opposite and adjacent pillars. White and black silk were elegantly twisted together and wrapped down the pillar as well, cascading to the floor with inches to spare. Between the spaces of the silk that floated between the opposite pillars were immense chandeliers that, although were electronically lit, let off a warming ambience as the glow reflected off the metallic sheen of the pillars.

The table at the end of the rug was covered with a simple black tablecloth with intricate white lace overlaying it. Placed masterfully on silver platters were an immense variety of tea sandwiches, scones and biscuits of both the sweet and savory nature.

Several tables of similar decoration, albeit smaller, dappled the room. On each of these tables was a tea pot and several matching tea cups of various designs along with a small ivory name tag of sorts. Hand written with a feather pen was the name of the tea, its ingredients, origin and a small list of morsels that would compliment the taste. The flavors varied from Lavender, to Earl Grey to plum to even a few local flavors designed with Mechanical Children in mind such as Galvanized Steel and Tesla.

To the far left of the room, several chaise lounges were placed around another table, a designated socialization area. Paintings of local artists were hung along the walls, offsetting their industrial look with intricately designed obsidian frames.

The entire design of the room was inherently Aekean; there was no mistaking the location of this event. However, there was a sense of refinement that could not quite be described.

((The royals and the rest of the court are all in prep mode for a mission. It's gonna be a while before I can drag them here.))

Muffled mechanical footsteps sounded from the elevator. A man clad in red, gold and black armor entered the room. He looked a bit on the ninja-samurai side. His torso was adorned with battle scarred red armor with gold trims with a pelt of black bear fur tucked into his belt and a sheathed katana hanging of the same belt on the other side. His red and black pants were tucked into his black leather boots. His face was covered with a red mask and faded red long scarf. Eyes were yellow-orange and were framed with black eyeliner. His spiky light blond hair was a mess and bounced just slightly as he walked.

The man looked around the highly decorated room. It has been a while since he had last seen this place. When was it? Oh yeah, the blood and binary. It was a shame that the vampires didn't really want anything to do with the mechanical children. It could have been a great alliance but alas, no use crying over spilled milk. It was worth the shot anyways.

He took note of the uniformed guard in the room. She was a bit familiar but he couldn't recall off the top of his head. He knew that uniform belonged to the old captain of the Aekean guard but who was this wearing it? A new captain? The "Durmite" got lost in thought, another OmniDrink re-ed?

Ha, they really were a cancer. If the guard has been compromised even more than the last time he's seen or heard, then it's a dead end. His other personality really didn't want to believe it, but it was a potential dark reality. Something that the current persona was very aware of.

The warrior began to walk around the room, taking in the amount of careful decorations that had been set up. No doubt that detail was made with potential guests of royalty in mind. Royalty that he also worked with when he wasn't leashed to do OmniDrink's work. He wondered how his friends, or maybe now former friends got this party up and running without much interference from the titan company.

Xanathalas was confused. She had been sent here, for some reason, but she forgot why, or by who, or for what reason, or if she was supposed to dress up any different than she normally did. She didn't however, and stood awkwardly in her labcoat and purple medical scrubs. Her headwings and anklewings swayed gently as the cyborg scanned the room A black and white checkered slingbag rested gently at her hip, housing her laptop and some other various electronic equipment, and of course lots of wires. She took a gentle step forward. Mechanical, programmed, concise. It was strange. From the outside, she looked almost completely human, aside from her left eye. Her left eye glowed slightly, but the color of it matched her right eye at this moment. It was known to change color. The wings on her head and ankles looked organic enough, maybe some kind of mutation. It was somewhat of a mutation, indeed. Her creators had intended for the wings to sprout on her back, giving her the gift of flight, but alas, due to a genetic miscalculation, they grew on her head and by her ankles, providing useless hindrances to the newly created cyborg. The look on her face was completely blank, and she stared forward into the room, not knowing a single one there.

X shrugged and sipped her tea, her face deadpan and steadfastly pointed towards the doorway, where a meek looking girl approached. "Not now, Black. You'll scare off the company." She nodded to the new girl, a scientist she hadn't seen before. Standing up from the column she was leaning on, she approached the obviously confused Aekean confidently. She set her teacup down on the saucer she held in her left hand, extending her right in greeting. "Name's Hayley, I run the guard around here. You must be new to our labs, eh?" Her face was stoic, but a hint of a smile could be seen in her eyes. While she was clearly authoritative, the guardswoman was doing her best to seem welcoming.

Hayley subtly cocked an eyebrow as she firmly shook the girl's hand. Odd bird, wings and all... Good thing we've seen weirder.

"PQ must have invited you, yeah? Impress the city kids with our tech and introduce you to the rest of the gang and all that." She checked the watch on her left hand, careful not to spill her tea. "Still kind of early, though. Go on, grab something to drink." She nodded to one of the many shining tea trays that adorned the tables lining the grand ballroom.

Hayley watched the girl walk off. It didn't take a trained eye to tell the girl was uncomfortable... nervous or a little frightened even. She didn't want to take any chances. As the girl grabbed herself some tea, the Captain walked briskly over to Black. Quietly and firmly, but definitely civilly, she said, "Look, we both know what's behind us, but let's not make that a part of tonight." She looked the witch in the eye and rested a solid hand on his shoulder, not for intimidation but to establish a connection with him. "Let it go for now, soldier."

And she meant it. She was standing next to what was probably the biggest threat to the city, one that had personally left a faint scar on her collarbone with a 7.62mm and much worse on the face of Aekea. She was putting aside the crap the witch had pulled before for the sake of a nice ******** evening. He could afford to do the same.

"Very well, just don't talk to me unless you have to. I've got enough to deal with if His Royal Majesty ever arrives," he stated. It didn't sound like he was on good terms with the supposedly arriving king. The former witch of Ra was willing to keep his mouth shut about issues from both Aekea and the court if no one forced it open.

((You guys might to make the guild public in case they can't post here. >___>))

Having been a bit too focused on the task at hand, PQ visibly jumped at the familiar snicker. Turning around to face who had once been her right hand woman, she pointed a dainty serving fork in Hayley's direction. Static blushed, she looked like she was going to say something from her body language. But instead she lowered the utensil, took a step forward and gave Hayley a hug.

It was a difficult procedure, considering that her skirt extended a good measure away from her body. But PQ made it look effortless, expertly avoiding the tea in Hayley's hand.

The gesture was uncharacteristic of the cyborg, and she did not expect an equally uncharacteristic response. "Nice haircut," she teased in return.