Post by Aubrey on Sept 30, 2009 1:20:33 GMT -5
Kovu
(OCC: Yes the punch is "spiked" so after a few glasses you character might get drunk))
Kovu paced around making sure that everything was ready, The cave was long and wide, perfect place for a party. Kovu was a bit hesitant about the theme, he hadn;t been to a costume party before, and he wasn't sure he wanted to wear anything. Luckily he managed to stash his costume in Tess's house nearby, so if he wanted it after awhile he could go get it.
There was a roaring bonfire in the center of the cave, that would provide the lighting for the party. Gina was setting up her equipment, multiple speakers and a DJ stand, at least there would be music. Kovu walked around the cave double chacking everything, all the food was wear it should be, on tables that were pressed against the sides of the cave. Everything was there, chips, dip, Wait where was the drinks?
Kovu went inside Tess's house and got out a large bowl, He poured the punch mix he stole from the store, as he poured it in he noticed, oddly, it smelled of liquor. He added the water, stirring it carefully, Hesitant he took a sip. Kovu grinned at the sweet taste. He took the bowl outside and placed it behind the plastic cups.Finnallly, everything was almost ready, for Matt would be here any seconds.
Kovu took ot the two costumes that were especially for Matt and Tess, they were matching costumes, a, royal blue outit for Matt, and a flowing Dress for Tess. Yep they were Romeo and Juliet, they would provide a bit of humor to the party. He laid them out, ready for when Matt arrived. Everything was in place, Matt would be here soon, the party was ready, and it was only a matter of time befor this thin finnally got underway.
Jullian
"Matt," Jullian said exasperated, "come on!" He pulled one more time against Matt's arm but his slippery paws couldn't get a good enough grip to pull Matt anywhere even if he could over power him. Jullian dropped his hands to his sides in a huff and turned on his faction leader.
"Matt she'll love it!" he said throwing up his paws-er hands. For once Jullian's 'paws' were not real paws. Instead they were a glove like part of his one piece Tigger costume which also came with a hood with ears on it and a tail. Jullian had completed the costume by using a burnt stick to draw whiskers on his face. He was adorable...at least in his own eyes.
"Matt, girls love this type of stuff." They were currently standing outside of Tess' house which was near the collapsed tunnel/cave where the party was being held and Jullian was trying to convince Matt to go in and put on his costume. "And you'll look totally handsome in it I swear.""Matt," Jullian said exasperated, "come on!" He pulled one more time against Matt's arm but his slippery paws couldn't get a good enough grip to pull Matt anywhere even if he could over power him. Jullian dropped his hands to his sides in a huff and turned on his faction leader.
"Matt she'll love it!" he said throwing up his paws-er hands. For once Jullian's 'paws' were not real paws. Instead they were a glove like part of his one piece Tigger costume which also came with a hood with ears on it and a tail. Jullian had completed the costume by using a burnt stick to draw whiskers on his face. He was adorable...at least in his own eyes.
"Matt, girls love this type of stuff." They were currently standing outside of Tess' house which was near the collapsed tunnel/cave where the party was being held and Jullian was trying to convince Matt to go in and put on his costume. "And you'll look totally handsome in it I swear."
Matt
Matthew had Jullian dragging, or attempting to drag, him into Tess's house so he could change into a costume for a surprise party the others had decided to throw him. Jullian was in front of him wearing a one piece Tigger suit with charcoal on his face for whiskers. Matt had his feet as firmly planted as he could and wasn't going to budge an inch though.... or he didn't plan on it. He could see that Jullian really wanted him to have a good time and it was pulling at Matt's heartstrings to see his second dressed in a Tigger costume and how he'd obviously worked hard to get this party set up.
I owe it to them to go for all the effort they put in. Even if I don't enjoy myself with Sara not being here, they still deserve to have their fun with this, he thought, as he'd been arguing with his more stubborn side since Jullian had told him about this. He gave in finally. "Okay, okay. I'll go put it on, and I'll try to have a good time. You guys obviously went through a lot of effort to set this up and I don't want to seem ungrateful."
He let Jullian drag him the rest of the way into the house. Once inside he was handed a costume he didn't really look at and pushed into another room to change. Pulling off the pieces of his L.A. Faction uniform he surveyed the outfit and realized it was something like a Renaissance era costume. Is it supposed to be a joke that I'm Romeo? And.... is Tess Julliet?...... Too many questions, just put it on.
The costume was a deep, royal blue and consisted of a pair of tights, shoes, and a shirt that hung down towards the middle of his thighs. It was completed by a belt on his waist, his head remaining bare. He had to admit, seeing himself in a full length mirror in what appeared to be Tess's bedroom, that he actually looked fairly decent in the costume.
Exiting the door he met Jullian who was still waiting and said, "Ok Tigger, lead the way."
Aubrey
A hippie entered the large cave, dragging along behind a vampire. The hippie was Aubrey and the vampire was Sophie, stumbling along behind Aubrey with a disgruntled, fake-white face. Matt's birthday was a costume party, and Aubrey loved costume parties--or, well, parties in general. She'd been to quite a few during her years in her American high school.
Aubrey let go of Sophie as she neared Kovu, tugging down on her large tie-dye shirt and adjusting the flower head band that was lying across her forehead. There were ribbons tied in various places in her thick hair, and along her arms. Hung around her neck was a giant peace-sign necklace, rainbow-colored. She was also walking around barefoot.
"Is Matt almost here?" Her voice contained some giddy nervousness. She'd been sampling some of the sugary treats earlier, and now it was manifesting as her being just a tiny bit hyper.
"Aubrey. I think I might go back and sit this out." Sophie shifted uncomfortably behind her, folding her arms. Aubrey had picked Sophie's costume and done her 'vampiric' make-up--the white face, red lipstick, and black eyeshadow under her eyes. The make-up had been slathered on thick, and the heat from the bonfire was making Sophie's face glisten. Aubrey thought it looked fantastic, but Sophie didn't seem to like it.
Aubrey gave Sophie a big smile. "C'mon, enjoy yourself Sophie. It's a party. There's no escape." She began humming and grabbed Sophie's arms, trying to pull her into a playful dance. Sophie pulled away, rolling her eyes. Aubrey made a face at her. "Want some punch?"
Illeanna
Illeanna glided feeling that she for once since she'd been in the hospital was beautiful again. She was dressed to kill as far as she could tell, her hair up in a bun her tiara tilt just a bit to add an attitude to it. Her dress a pure white flowed in a graceful but form fitting way her silver heels clicked as she walked toward the other residents of L.A. faction who had already gathered for the party. Across her chest a gold sash saying "Miss Everything" shimmered in the black writing that was written in calligraphy.
“Everyone looks different when we don’t dress like ourselves, but then again I suppose we all picked something to match our personal style, don’t you think?” she said as she strutted the rest of the way in and was speaking to no one in particular. She glanced at the others costumes and they seemed to match the attitude and personality of each person…well as far as she knew.
Not knowing anybody all that well was starting to get awkward for Illeanna she was used to having at least someone to talk to, yes, Matt was easy to talk to but she was looking for someone more feminine someone she could kind of learn from. There was still a lot that Illeanna was yet to learn about everyone and about morphing. This party had come out nicely and couldn’t wait to see what Jullian and Matt were wearing, Jullian because of his taste and Matt because Jullian would be his fashion conscience for tonight.
Illeanna flaunted her way toward the punch bowl and took a cup and filled it with the sweet red liquid. She sipped and let the liquid cool her ego for a second.
Katrina
Everything was finally all coming together. The location was set, the music was getting set up, a theme had been chosen, and now all that was needed was the man of the hour. Kat glanced around at the others floating about in the gave. Most of the others were floating around the caved area in costume; Aubrey was a hippie, Sophie a vampire. There was also what looked like some kind of beauty pageant contestant, the costume thrown together by the LA faction's newest member. She'd glanced at Kovu a bit early and seen that he didn't seem to be into dressing up, but she knew Matt would arrive later as cleverly picked out Romeo, and Jullian was a tiger.
Kat had been rather indecisive when it came to a costume of her own. At first she'd thought of just wearing cat ears and a tale, playing off her name a bit, even if it seemed kind of lame, but then Jullian had chosen a tiger which was pretty similar. Dresses, gowns, and formal wear like Illeanna's costume was out without even having to think about it. After much debate, she decided to just go with the mobster outfit she'd found. Now she stood in the cave dressed in the striped black and white halter top, pants, and tie. She had a black hat placed upon her head as well and even had one of those fake plastic tommy guns to top it off.
She caught a bit of what Illeanna had said as she made her way into the cave. Kat wasn't entirely sure if that was true, but in Illeanna's case it certainly seemed that way. Personally, Kat didn't think the mob costume fit her style too well considering if it did it would have something to do with music. The costume had just been something she'd decided to settle on so she wouldn't be stuck debating all day...
Jullian
"Matt, don't get weird about what I'm going to say, but you look fantastic," he said blatantly checking out his faction leader for a moment before turning towards the party. He grabbed Matt's hand and bounced into the firelit cave like the wonderful Tigger he was dressed as dragging Matt with him and popped down in between Kovu and Illeanna. "Kovu, what are you doing, why aren't you dressed? People are going to be arriving soon." He had kinda been ignoring Illeanna up until that point but he turned and gave her costume a once over.
He had to admit that she looked really nice. The white really worked for her for some reason and in the firelight it all had a peachy glow to it.
On second thought, he didn't have to admit that at all. "Illeanna, why are you dressed as the White Witch?" he asked referencing the Narnia evil doer.
Illeanna
"Illeanna, why are you dressed as the White Witch?" the boy said as he bounced in wearing his tigger costume. "Can't you read", she pointed to her banner, "I'm everything you aspire to be which makes me Miss Everything,” she said with a big Miss America smile.
She had to admit in her head he did have a tiger like air about him; bouncy, hyper, annoying but he'd done a good job in putting things together. The party was slowly beginning to stir as people began to idly chitchat and Jullian and Matthew had arrived.
Jullian
Jullian snorted at her answer. "I don't think I ever aspired to be a-" he was interrupted as Allie came up behind him and grabbed his shoulders screaming, "Boo!" as he did so. Jullian jumped about a foot and turned around to greet the kid who had become one of his best friends. "Jeez Allie."
Allie just smiled at him and winked. He was dressed a pirate, eye patch and all, which made the wink look odd but Jullian had a feeling that had been the point. "This is great Jules," he said looking around and taking some punch from the bowl. He unthinkingly handed Jullian the cup he had just poured and began to pour his own. Over the past couple of weeks the two boys had spent a lot of time together and they had developed a kind of grace around each other and did things unthinkingly.
Jullian took the cup and began to sip at it. The punch had a bit of a bitter taste to it but he drank it anyway and pretended not to notice since he didn't want to insult anyone who had helped put the party together.
Allie sipped from his own cup and looked around at the cave that was slowly starting to fill with some of the friends the animorphs had made in Union while they were here. He spotted Renae over by Gina and some of the guys that worked down in the market. The cavern was blocked off and everyone had to step over the boundary on their way in (Allie didn't know why).
Jullian decided some food would help with the bitter taste of the punch and began munching on the party favors. "Hey, Allie," he said turning to the boy, "where is Tess?" He had confided in Allie about all his mischievous matchmaking plans so when Allie's eyes quickly flickered to Matt and smiled it wasn't a surprise.
"Not sure."
Matt
Tess went to her house. She'd seen Jullian leading someone she figured was Matt to the party and had been informed she'd need a costume that would be waiting for her at her house. She went inside and spotted it. It was flowing dress in a shade of blue, simple and yet beautiful and elegant.
She ducked into her room where she saw Matthew's clothes folded and realized he'd changed in here too. Trying not to think too much about the idea of Matthew undressing in her bedroom she changed into the dress. She stood in front of the mirror and twirled once for good measure. She realized that the dress had a Renaissance style to it, evident in the high waistline. Was Juliet supposed to match with Matthew's outfit? She tried to remember what he'd been wearing, but hadn't really payed attention. She'd have to go to the party to find out.
********************
Matthew followed Jullian into the cave where the party was already beginning. He had to admit, looking around, that the others had put a lot of work into this. He glanced around, spotting his faction members and all of the citizens of Union they had met. Gina was there as the deejay. Renae was over with a group of people. The doctor had even dressed up, though only to look like a doctor would in an actual hospital.
Allie came up and took away Jullian's attention and Matt found himself glancing around the cave at the party. Some part of him realized that Sara would want him to enjoy the work the others had gone through. In fact, she wouldn't have wanted him to be moping around at all on his birthday.
As he came to a resolve to really enjoy himself, for Sara's sake, Tess entered the room in the flowing gown that had been sitting with his costume in her house. The room seemed to blur out of focus and he had eyes only for her. It was like in the play Cinderella, how when Cinderella had come down the stairs into the ballroom the stage lights had dimmed to a spotlight on her and one on the Prince. She was the only thing he saw. She was beautiful.
And then he shook himself out of it, taking a glass of the punch and downing it to get rid of the dry feeling in his throat. He noticed the odd taste to the punch as he drank it, but he needed the drink. That, and if he had to get over this whole school boy phase by the end of tonight. He was eighteen and he wasn't really sure if he'd live to his nineteenth birthday..... but he had all night so there was no need to rush.
((Slight bit of confidence there and then he got cold feet. I feel like he himself is resolving to tell Tess his feelings tonight if he can get the right moment.... cue the Matchmaker.))
Illeanna
Illeanna couldn't help but finish the sentence in her head and feel a bit of a rush of anger flow through her. Oh how that kid bothered her but made her admire his intelligence and poise. His friend seemed nice but he had a certain mischief in his eyes that sort of bothered her. Illeanna looked at Renae and felt a little guilt for leaving the hospital; still she shook the thought from her head.
Then, her thoughts turned toward Matthew who looked cute in his tights, and looked like he had someone to think about. She giggled a bit to herself love worked in funny ways especially with boys, "It's a good thing it's just me and my sister so I never have to put up with any of those male hormones." she thought to herself picturing her little sister the last time she’d seen her.
Aubrey
Aubrey's back was to the newest arrivals as she dipped two cups into the punch, red ribbons brushing against her elbow. The party hadn't started yet, but there was a certain energy and excitement in her movements. Humming, and with the liquid sloshing and dripping down the sides of the cups, she shuffled back over to Sophie.
"Here!" With a big smile she extended her hand out carefully, handing Sophie one of the cups. It was full to the brim, and the cup shivered in her grip. Sophie gave her a look, brushing away some hair that had stuck to her vampire make-up, then took the cup.
"Yeah. Thanks." Sophie took a conservative sip of the punch, looking over the cup at the newest arrivals to the cave. Aubrey looked in the same direction, noticing that the rest of the faction was almost here. Then Sophie's face suddenly twisted into a strange expression, and she let out sort of a gurgle-cough. Some punch dripped from her lips, and she pulled the cup away. "What's in this? This is punch right?"
Aubrey swirled the liquid inside, looking at it. "Seems like it. Why?"
"It tastes funny."
Aubrey stared at her, then at the punch in her hand. She was about to take a sip of her own drink when she noticed Sophie staring past her, a smirk on her lips. "Oh. Lookie, lookie." Sophie motioned with her head behind Aubrey, lifting both eyebrows.
Aubrey turned to look, and her stomach did a little nervous flip. It was Matt. He was dressed in some sort of Renaissance costume, with tights and everything. She wasn't sure what he was going for, but it definitely worked. The costume looked quite handsome on him. "Oh." Aubrey busied herself with trying to take a sip of the punch, tilting the cup up. Sophie was right, there was something off about the punch--
"What do you mean 'oh'? Go over to him." Sophie jerked her head in his direction, frowning lightly. Aubrey's feet, however, were glued to the ground. Sophie moved forward and gave her a soft push on her back. It bumped Aubrey's flower headband crooked, and she had to readjust it. "Now. I know you better than this."
"Hey, I need to finish this punch first. Then I'll go over." Aubrey pressed the cup back to her lips, gulping the bitter punch down quickly. Sophie shook her head and reached forward, easing the cup from Aubrey's mouth.
Sophie gave her an impatient look. "Come on."
Her blue eyes flickered back to where Matt was, standing and looking around the party. A few more people had filtered in to the cave by this time, and the walls were beginning to echo with the small murmur of conversation. Aubrey wondered briefly how he liked the party, when Sophie gave her another small shove.
"Okay, okay." She grabbed the cup back and gulped the last of the punch, her face involuntarily scrunching up at the taste. Okay. It's just Matt. She handed Sophie the cup, then sighed to herself. She didn't understand why she was acting this way, it was just Matt. She saw him at the Haunt all the time, she didn't have time to feel nervous there. Besides, she didn't like being flustered or nervous around guys she liked. At least, not like this. Maybe it was because this night felt different. Like something might happen. Like maybe he'd actually notice her this time.
Pulling a smile onto her lips, Aubrey adjusted her headband again and started to take a few steps forward. That's when she realized Matt's attention had fixed onto someone else in the cave. She followed his gaze, and to her dismay, discovered Tess standing at the entrance in a lovely gown. She felt her mouth go dry and her shoulders dropped. He was staring quite obviously at her with this kind of entranced expression on his face. Do their costumes match...? She squinted. They match. She bit her lip, feeling her heart pulsing in her throat. Okay. Just one bump in the road, the night was still young.
Kovu
Kovu had heard Jullians question, but Jules had quickly gotten into another conversation, so Kovu ignored it. He wandered around the cave for awhile, the mood was light, and everyone was already having fun. He went back to punch bowl and poured his fourth glass. He felt a littl light headed, but he wasn't quite sure why. He sipped at the punch, for some reason, it seemed to be getting sweeter with each glass.
He saw Aubrey biting her lip. He followed her line of sight and found the culprit,, of course Matt. Kovu sighed, and shook his head. He felt strangely brave, he moved closer to her, and eventually spoke "Aub, what's wrong? It's a party, enjoy yourself" Kovu tried to make Aubrey a bit more cheerful, other than that, Kovu was at a loss for words, he quietly sipped at his punch, and smiled at Aubrey.
Jullian
Jullian saw Tess come in and quickly looked to see what Matt's reaction was. It was a smitten as any matchmaker could hope for. Oh good, he loved it when he was right and this should so be cake. He nodded to Allie and Allie slipped away to talk to Gina. "So Matt," he said casually, like the party?" he asked, making small talk as Tess made her way over to them and buying time for Allie to work his magic.
He took sparing sips of his punch which still tasted bitter to him. The cavern was filling up with people from Union though the party would probably top off at around 30 people and finally the cue Jullian had been waiting for came as Tess reached them, a song.
Taylor Swift's Love Story filled the hall and people began to move around nervously, the first step towards dancing. "Oh look, a song," he said slipping away so that Matt would have privacy and hopefully (this time) do something.
Matt
He turned his gaze and his thoughts away from Tess as Jullian came up to talk to him. He gave Jullian a look with which he tried to ask how Jullian could think he could possibly not like it. "I have to admit you guys put a lot of work into this.... and Sara probably would thank you seeing as I have high doubts she'd have wanted me moping around all day." He stopped, because that didn't really answer the question. "Yeah, I like it."
A few moments of silence passed and then music started to fill the air. Jullian left after commenting "Oh look, a song," and Matt was left alone to hear the end of the violin intro, realizing he recognized the song as the voice of Taylor Swift began the lyrics.
**************************
[image]
Tess reached Matt and a song began. He was still not looking in her direction, watching the leaving Jullian who had done marvelously planning this party. He'd even gotten them matching costumes, though she couldn't figure out why the Renaissance theme other than Romeo and Julliet.
As the lyrics of the song began she listened.
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony in summer air
Suddenly the words of the song took on a whole new meaning. She knew them, knew the Romeo and Juliet motif that was used in the song. At the same time it seemed to mirror her own story with Matt. Even as the next verse began the song seemed to line up with the memories playing in her head.
Matt turned away from Jullian as the song continued, spotting Tess standing nearby. For a moment he felt it again, the way he always froze around her. But the song was almost too perfectly planned with their costumes. He didn't have to be dumb to recognize the Renaissance style to her dress.
I see the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
And say, "Hello"
Little did I know
He managed to say, "Hi." Nearly mirroring the lyrics of the song with his timing. As the lyrics went on he got a little more bold. Even the next verse seemed to egg him on, though if he was Romeo he was certainly doing a lot more in this war than throwing pebbles. Maybe even that was a little too perfect. Just like the Montagues and Capulets, Animorphs and Controllers were supposed to be against each other. Not falling in love.
That you were Romeo; you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you "Please don't go"
As it approached the chorus he made up his mind. Looking right at Tess as the crowd moved uncomfortably and feeling a strange boldness to his actions. "Do you want to dance?"
**************************
[image]
She couldn't do much. She said, "Hi" when he did, but otherwise stood there nervously. The moment was perfect, so why wasn't he doing anything? Did she have him all wrong? Was he feeling something different than she thought he was? Her worried emotions and thoughts made her nearly miss what he said next, but a smile came to her face. It wasn't much, asking her to dance, but it was a step in the right direction.
"I'd love to." And as the lyrics hit the chorus he put his arms around her and hers found their way up onto his shoulders.
And I said,
"Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all that's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story - baby just say, "Yes"
((I'm having too much fun with this. Especially with this song getting thrown in. ^_^ It's a little too obvious it was my theme for them from the beginning when you look at the banner Kiera did...... and when you read this post.))
Jullian
Jullian could have shed a tear as Matt and Tess began to dance. As it was he wiped his eye theatrically anyway as Allie came up beside him and threw his arm around Jullian's shoulders. He crossed his arms in front of him, the cup hanging from one hand almost forgotten. "I am amazing," he said congratulating himself on his success, "uh, I mean we, we," he backtracked not wanting Allie to think that he had forgotten him.
Allie just laughed at his vanity. "Yeah we are amazing. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that they liked each other already," he said his voice innocent.
"I'm not saying it didn't, I'm, I mean-" Allie's laughter cut him off.
"Don't worry about it Jules. I know what you meant. Come on, they're having their fun, let's have some of our own," he said taking Jullian's arm and pulling him over towards Kovu, Aubrey and Sophie, which incidentally lead them across the dance floor.
Jullian all of a sudden felt very clumsy and like he had never learned english. If he had tried to speak it probably would have come out sounding exactly like Matt and he decided in that moment that he would never make fun of Matt again.
Allie was his friend and though Jullian couldn't stop the stray romantic thought from crossing his mind occasionally he had worked hard to remind himself that Allie was off limits. Allie was off limits, Matt was off limits, Kovu was off limits, Steve had been off limits, Rian had been off limits, Bane had been off limits, everyone was off limits. They were his faction mates and if he tried to approach them things might just get awkward, besides...they probably weren't interested anyway and never would be. Jullian, despite his vanity, did not really think of himself as a catch and the fact that, oh yeah, he was a boy and all of them weren't gay to his knowledge tended to put a damper on any romantic aspirations he might have had. And that was ok, loneliness wasn't the worst thing in the world...not really.
He and Allie had reached the others by the fire and Allie let go of his arm. Jullian found that he was grateful though oddly disappointed. He took a swig of his punch as if it were some sort of alcoholic beverage to make himself feel better like a hero might do in a movie. He had forgotten how bitter it was and almost embarrassed himself by choking as he swallowed it.
He did cough a bit though after it was down though he managed to squeak out some intelligent sentences as people around them began to dance. "How's," cough, "the party?"
Lizzie
(According the magic timeline, Lizzie won't leave until after this party-- I was cordially invited to post
Okay, so she was a little late-- nothing to worry about, right? She had to get her costume just perfect. Even though her personality was drastically different than one, she walked into the party as a witch, black hat, shirt, skirt and all. She snuck into the party with a pair of boots on, tip-toeing over to Julian, who had just taken a large swig of the punch. She heard him mutter something about the party, perhaps asking what it was, though, she didn't intend to answer at the moment. She instead swerved so she was behind him and he didn't see her, poking him from behind.
"Boo!" she yelled, though not too loudly to interrupt anything. "Nice to see you Julian-- having fun?" Correction: her personality clashed horribly with a witch. Oh well, she was having fun, which was the whole point.
Jullian
Jullian jumped for the second time in ten minutes as someone snuck up behind him. Situational awareness? Not so much. The start only caused him to start coughing harder as he turned around and saw Lizzie standing there. "Hey, ag, Lizzie," he said coughing. He finally got his breath back and looked at the costume she had gotten. They had pulled a bunch of them from the costume store and brought them back to Union but it had still been really interesting to see how people had mixed and matched them to make them their own.
And it was especially interesting to see what Lizzie had done. No one had seen her much, well they'd seen her but she tended to keep to herself a bit. He wasn't even sure if Kovu or Illeanna had ever really talked to her even. He didn't know why and he worried sometimes that she didn't like them so he was glad she had chosen to come to the party.
"Hey look," he said poking fun at Illeanna, "now you have a sister here to set you off. But which witch is the bad one?" It was mostly to get her back for her earlier zing. He was glad Allie had saved him from having to reply that first time because he had really had no come back.
Lizzie
Mission complete: she had startled Julian. She wasn't so sure she could do that with everyone else, so this was good enough for her. She caused him to cough more than before though, which worried her slightly until he stopped. He must have been really surprised to see her. That wasn't a surprise-- she had been keeping to herself as of late. A lot of things went on in her mind-- her brother was still out there while she was an Animorph and fighting against his captors. She fully believed he was alive-- she didn't want to think otherwise.
Excusing those thoughts, she put her trademark smile back on as Julian poked fun at Illeanna, someone she hadn't really gotten to know that well. From what she could tell though, she had an air about her. She scoffed jokingly as he made the joke about the witches, looking at Julian with crossed arms. "How could you think such a thing of me Julian. We all know I'm the good witch around here. I'm just... in disguise! Yeah, that's it!"
She had to admit, she was having fun. It was probably the first time she really got to relax and have fun. She could let her guard down a bit at this party instead of constantly being on the move or worrying about her brother. She glanced at Julian again, still grinning.
"Care to dance with me Tigger?" she asked.
Jullian
"I uh," he said taken by surprised by her offer, "um, yeah sure I guess. I mean, yes, I'd love to," he corrected himself worried she might get offended. He turned to Kovu and Allie and finally chose Allie, "can you hold this for me for a second," he said holding out the cup. Allie just took it from him and made a shooing, go have fun gesture that actually hurt more than it helped since it just proved what Jullian already knew, that Allie didn't feel that way about him.
He turned back to Lizzie and held out his arm gallantly, inspired into a bit of foolishness by the Romeo and Juliet theme of the song. "Let's go," he said with his trademark smile. "I hope you can dance because I'm only ok at it."
Matt
So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew.
So close your eyes; escape this town for a little while.
'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said "Stay away from Juliet,"
But you were everything to me; I was begging you, "Please, don't go,"
They seemed to have started something. As soon as they moved out onto the dance floor other people began to couple up and start dancing. Without either of them really realizing it, the gap between Matt and Tess started to close. By the time the second chorus rolled around the were pressed against each other, her arms flat against his chest and her head on his shoulder. It was as if by some unspoken agreement that they had ended up this way.
Romeo save me; they're tryin' to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid; we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story - baby just say 'Yes.'
*********************
[image]
I got tired of waiting,
Wondering if you were ever comin' around.
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
Tess listened to the lyrics as they danced. She'd felt the way the the Juliet of this song had, tired of waiting for him to make his move. All he'd really needed was the right chance. It was like once he was handed his opportunity he had known what to do. She sighed, enjoying the closeness for now and wondering if this would all change once the music stopped. A part of her hoped it wouldn't.
She was also noticing how Nomar had shut himself out of her thoughts, and mental touch revealed that he was doing it for her. This was her moment, and he wanted it to be just as if he'd never been there. Possibly how it would have been if this war hadn't happened and if she and Matt had stayed in the same city. If this were their high school prom.
<<Thank you.>> There was a moment of a happy mental laugh from him, and then he left her alone to enjoy this moment, a moment she hoped she'd always remember.
Aubrey
"Aub, what's wrong?"
Aubrey had been distracted enough to not notice Kovu sidling up to her. When he spoke, she jumped a little. Blue eyes shifted away from Matt, looking to Kovu. "Oh, hey Kovu. I--" she scratched under her headband with one hand, then flashed him a soft smile. "--Um. Nothing's wrong. Er. Yeah, I think something's off with the punch, y'know...?" She was searching for some kind of excuse like she wasn't feeling good or something, but instead just ended her sentence there. All her earlier energy had drained away from her as she watched Tess and Matt nearing each other.
Some music started up, and Aubrey took the chance to change the subject away from how she was feeling. "Are you enjoying the party so far? I'm liking it." Then she took a step backwards, spreading her arms a little. The ribbons attached to her arms fluttered gently and the peace-sign bounced against her chest. "How do you like my costume? Can you guess what it is?" She forced a smile onto her face--she was trying to act cheerful, even though there was this terrible sinking feeling her in her heart.
Aubrey stole a glance over at Matt again while they spoke, and caught sight of Tess in his arms. Suddenly she was feeling much, much worse. The urge to walk over to Matt was gone now, all she wanted to do was go the other way. "Uh. Kovu." Her attention was back on him, and without realizing it she was frowning again. It was an unusual expression to see on Aubrey. "Hey, so. Let's get some more punch and stuff. I ran out." She tilted the cup so he could see that it was empty, then pointed to the punch bowl.
[image]
"Riiight." Sophie scratched her ear, letting her gaze wander away. The moment Aubrey had taken off towards her would-be lover Matt, some guy had schmoozed on up to Sophie and started small-talking her. His costume? He was dressed as a hobo, with pieces of trash taped to various parts of his ratty clothes. He had walked up spouting lines to her, which was far from impressive for Sophie. Before he could utter another pick-up line, her brown eyes flicked over his costume. "Did you pick your costume out of a trash can or something?"
The guy's confident smile didn't disappear like Sophie had expected. Instead it widened as the music turned on. He ignored her comment. "Oh this is good music. Want to dance?" He had a banana peel taped to his arm, and one of the yellow strips flopped over as he held his hand out. "My lady?"
His offer was met with a furrowed brow. "What?"
"Dance with me."
It was like he didn't know what rejection was. Sophie tried not to sigh. "Ahhh, sorry. I don't dance." Sophie looked away again, smoothing a hand over her onyx gown. It was one of those fancy dresses, trimmed with crimson lace and showing too much cleavage for Sophie. It was another one of Aubrey's ideas for this dumb costume, along with the fake vampire fangs that stuck out of her mouth. The whole thing just made Sophie feel uncomfortable. The make-up slathered all over her face wasn't helping either, and she was pretty sure some of it had already smeared off.
"Oh, come on. You don't need to know how to dance to dance." He retracted his hand, then started doing some kind of loopy movement with his arms and legs. Sophie slowly realized he was trying to dance. Despite herself, she couldn't help laughing, a small smile inching its way onto her lips.
"Oh that's rich."
He flashed her another grin, then held out his hand. "Just one dance. You don't even have to talk to me afterward."
Sophie sighed again, staring at the guy for a long moment. "Promise?"
He bowed his head down, motioning her forward with his extended hand. "Of course."
Sophie gave him a long, hesitant look, considering. Then she placed her hand in his, rolling her eyes. "Okay. One dance. That's it."
Lizzie
He looked a little unsure when she first asked. It didn't make her all that nervous. The worst he could say was no. Though, when he answered yes, she smiled more. She watched as he handed his drink to someone she didn't know, then coming back to her with his arm held out for her and a smile.
"All right," she replied, taking his arm happily, "We'll be only okay at it together-- I'm not the world's best dancer, but I know a thing or two. Lead the way."
Katrina
Kat had found a spot close to where Gina had her equipment set up and was sitting close to the music. She was enjoying hearing it played out loud instead of through small headphones for a change. Half a cup of punch was next to her, the liquid rippling a bit from the speakers. It was her second cup but she didn't think she'd be finishing it up. Something was weird about the taste and she'd been debating whether she liked it or not throughout her entire first come, only to come to the conclusion she didn't halfway through the second.
Kat glanced around to look at what the others were doing. There were a few people from union in the cave as well, but it wasn't hard to pick out her faction mates since she knew what costumes to look for. She spotted Matt not far off dancing with the girl who's outfit complimented his own. It looked like Romeo had finally made his move and Kat was sure wherever Jullian was, the younger boy was probably beaming with pride. She smirked a bit.
Sophie wasn't far from Matt and Tess, dancing with someone Kat didn't recognize. She guessed it was someone Sophie knew from when she'd lived in Union. Next she spotted Lizzie who she'd seen very little of recently. She looked like she was waiting for someone and it didn't take long for Jullian to come over and surprisingly it appeared they were going to dance together. It certainly wasn't what Kat had expected. Lastly she saw Aubrey and Kovu heading for the table with the punch and Illeanna wasn't too far from them. It looked like everyone was having a good time which was good. Kat closed her eyes a bit and just listened to the music, moving her body a bit to the tune of the Taylor Swift song.
Jullian
Jullian walked out onto the dance floor with Lizzie and began dancing slowly. His head felt very fuzzy and kind of stuffed but he figured maybe he was getting sick, maybe he'd even gotten what Matt had had. But maybe it was more than that. Whatever it was it caused him to have a loose mouth where he might have not otherwise.
"Lizzie, what is it about me? I mean, why don't guys like me? Kovu doesn't like me? Allie doesn't like me. And I don't like hit on them or anything but I, mean, I'm there right?" What he was saying was making no sense and he had no idea why it wasn't making any sense and why swaying and shaking his head felt so good. "Uh, nevermind I guess," he said, trying to backtrack.
Kovu
Kovu gladly poured more punch. He handed the first glass to Aubrey then poured himsel a cup. "Your costume, let me guess you're a cat lover? A genie? A pscic? Oh I know, a fortune teeler! Kovu continued to make random guesses, he knew what Aubrey was, but he decided to act dumb. He felt strange tonight, like he could do anything, even talk with Aubrey.
"You know speaking of costumes, why am I standing here at a costume party without a costume. I'll be right back" The Taylor Swift song buzzed in his ears, though he didn't mind her music, he knew she would never be as good as Carrie Underwood, He walked into Tess's house, with her permission he had stashed a costume there in case he wanted to wear it later.
It wasn't a costume that suited him, still it would be funny to wear. He quickly put on the white jacket, the cape, the white pants, the wig and the glasses. He soon emerged fully dressed....as Elvis Presely, he saw everyone except Aubrey, Kat and a few others he didn't know were dancing. He walked back over to Aubrey, feeling braver then he ever had. He stood beside her and finnaly asked "Would you like to dance?"
Aubrey
Kovu poured her another glass of punch, and she gratefully took it. "Thanks, mate." She was sure to keep her back to the dance floor, not wanting to catch another accidental glance at Matt and Tess together. Feeling terrible was not high on her list of things to do at this party, even though it's about the only thing that had happened so far. It didn't stop her from imaging what was going on behind her--they were probably leaning into each other or doing something romantic. Aubrey was tempted to look, but instead she focused on Kovu.
Aubrey took a big sip of her punch, giggling at Kovu's guesses. "A cat lover, huh? Makes totalllll sense." She took another drink of her punch, leaning against the table. Then, with a smile she said, "I'm a hippie. Cool, right?" With her other hand, she fiddled with the big peace sign on her chest.
He mentioned going off to get his costume, and she nodded. "Okay, I'll be here." One more cup of punch down, and Aubrey poured herself another one. By the time Kovu was back, she had finished half of it. "Cool, you're back." The more she seemed to drink, the less bitter it tasted. In fact, it was pretty good punch. She wasn't sure why she had thought it didn't taste that good before. Aubrey poured herself another cup, taking a few gulps.
She scanned her eyes over Kovu's costume, smiling again. "Oh... Elvis? Right?? Nice costume. I was wondering when you'd put a costume on. Everybody else has one, I think! I have one on too, right?" She looked down. "Right. I do. See?" She tugged at her tie-dye shirt, nodding. "I'm glad you put one on."
Then he asked her to dance. She murmured something inaudibly, the cup pressed against her lips and hiding her expression. Dance? With him? Her first response was the urge to look over at the dance floor, to where Matt was. But what was she waiting for, really? A chance with him? Did she even have a chance with Matt? All she had to do was look at the way he looked so lovingly at Tess to get her answer, and yet that never seemed to be enough. She was an optimist, somebody who couldn't live without just a little hope that there might be something. It was frustrating, and it hurt. Pain was not fun. She didn't like feeling that way.
And why not dance with Kovu? He was a cool guy, she knew that. After she drained the last of her punch, she looked up at Kovu. "Dance? I'd love to."
Matt
And I said,
"Romeo save me - I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting for you but you never come.
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think-"
Something had clicked tonight. Matt had just let go of thinking and everything had gone right. There was no awkward school boy, there were no second thoughts, there was no nervousness. There was nothing holding him back tonight, not even thoughts of the war. After all, this night wasn't about the Animorphs and the yeerks. Tonight he was just himself.
It did help that he was so absorbed in being with her that he was ignoring the people around them. He knew they were there, but it was like they were on stage and he had to pretend the audience wasn't there because it wasn't part of the performance. It helped boost his confidence.
*********************
[image]
Tess held onto this moment. Tonight was everything he could have hoped for. There was none of what there had been other times they'd been together. Tonight Matt was just being himself. And yes, he wasn't stuttering because he wasn't talking, but he'd done something other than stand there and blush. It didn't matter to her how long it took him to do anything more, just so long as she had tonight to hold onto.
She lifted her head off his shoulder and stared deep into his brown eyes, smiling. Things wouldn't go backwards from here, because Matt wasn't like that. Now that he'd made a move once he wouldn't let his nervousness hold him back again.
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said,
"Marry me, Juliet. you'll never have to be alone.
She looked up, and Matt found himself staring deep into Tess's gray eyes. Something about this moment felt perfect, and he knew he couldn't let it slip away. Ever so slowly he leaned toward her, the action seeming to take forever. Yet, for all the boldness in his move it was still very tentative.
The people watching them would have seen her start leaning toward him too. By the time Taylor's recorded voice crooned out "I love you and that's all I really know." the two of them were kissing.
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress;
It's a love story - baby just say 'Yes.'
Oh, oh.
We were both young when I first saw you..
Lizzie
As she started to dance with him, she started taking him in more. He didn't look so well-- come to think of it, a few other people did too. Was there some type of bug going around? Hopefully she wouldn't catch it.
She let those thoughts wander off as Julian spoke, thinking about them for a second. She never knew that Julian wasn't of the same sexual orientation of her. It didn't really bother her that much-- he still was dancing with her, right? "I wouldn't know," she replied, "I'm not good with relationship type things. Though, even though I haven't known you that long, I think you're a pretty cool guy. Kovu and Allie are definitely missing out." She smiled at him as she tried to lift his spirits-- this was a time they needed to enjoy themselves. And when she looked over at Matt and Tess, she could tell that they were enjoying themselves fully.
Jullian
"Right! I think so too," he said too drunk to be modest though he didn't realize that was what it was. "I mean, I try." He had a strong desire to close his eyes and he had no idea why and the music had just changed songs and it was filling his head in an uncomfortable way. It was like, it was like, it was loud and every where and it was affecting his thinking.
He looked past Lizzie and saw Matt and Tess and had to smile even if a small part of him was jealous. And then he saw Kovu and Aubrey, Allie standing by Gina. He just sighed. Tonight was supposed to be fun so he would have fun and forget about the rest. "Do you want some punch? You are the only one who didn't have a cup," he pointed out the obvious as if it was a vital fact that must be established before they could move on with more complicated thinking.
Kovu
Kovu felt on top of the world, he was almost shocked that Aubrey had actually agreed to dance with him. He pulled her out to the dance floor just as the Taylor Swift song ended. The next song was just beggining, and the clear, beutiful voice of Carrie Underwood rang out from the speakers. Finnally, Kovu thought, an actual good singer. Kovu smiled as he listened to the lyrics.
What you got if you aint got love,
The kind that you just waant to give away,
It's ok, to open up,
Go ahead and let the light shine through
Kovu swayed with the music, the song called to him, making him braver. He rocked back and forth as the ,usic played, getting lost in the music, and lost in the moment. He smiled at Aubrey, so drunk on pleasure. He danced, not exactly well, but he tried, disquised as the King of rock. Here he was in a completely perfect moment, with a completely perfect son, by the completely perfect Carrie Underwood.
Aubrey
Aubrey set down the empty cup on the table, her steps uneasy behind Kovu as he pulled her onto the dance floor. She was feeling a little light-headed and woozy now, but also giddy at the same time. She wasn't sure where the happy feeling was coming from, because somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was upset for some reason.
"I--er. Yeahh. You know how to dance? I'm not sure I know how," She said, a small smile on her lips. As they danced, Aubrey tilted her head down to watch her own feet for a few moments, then looked back up. "I think I'm doing this right," Her voice came out as a soft murmur. She was mostly just speaking to herself, as the thoughts came to mind.
The song changed, and Aubrey noticed Kovu's reaction. He must like it. She smiled back at him, her expression gentle. Aubrey hadn't heard of the song before herself, but it was nice. Especially to dance to.
As they moved on the dance floor, however, Aubrey caught sight of Matt and Tess kissing. The alcohol was mixing her emotions up, and she wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling when she saw this. Some voice inside of her was telling her she should be feeling sad at this, that this mattered to her in some way. She did feel a small sting in her heart, but the alcohol was holding that feeling back behind a wall. She didn't want to think about it, and so it was gone.
Sea-blue eyes shifted from the couple back to Kovu's face, taking in his features, his smile, his eyes. The woozy feeling was getting worse, and she had the strongest urge to lay her head down somewhere. As it happened, the nearest place happened to be Kovu. Aubrey slipped close enough to rest her head against his shoulder, blond hair falling across his arm. She mumbled something, eyelashes brushing against the curves of her cheek as her eyes drifted close. She was relaxing, enjoying the sound of the music and the slow swaying of their dancing.
[image]
"That was one. No more." Sophie said, shaking her head at the guy in front of her. He was holding his hands together, a playful pleading look on his face. "By the way, you dropped your banana." Sophie pointed a finger towards the banana peel lying on the dance floor, then turned away. It was a miracle somebody hadn't tripped on it yet, as funny as that would be.
His voice trailed after her. "Thank you for the dance, pretty lady. Maybe next time."
Ignoring that, Sophie headed over towards the punch bowl, wiping her hands on her dress. For some reason it felt like she always had some of her face make-up on her fingers. After she had poured herself a cup, she let her gaze wander back over the dance floor. Another song had started up, and a few more people had joined in the dancing. Unsurprisingly, Aubrey was there. However, not with Matt--but with Kovu. Sophie sipped at her drink, her expression silent.
After awhile, she noticed Kat standing over by the speakers near Gina. Sophie took another drink of her punch, then headed over to where Kat was standing. She waved at Gina, but knew the DJ might or might not see her as she was busy with the music. Kat, however, had her eyes closed and was sort of swaying with the music. Sophie waited to see if she'd stop. She kind of looked like she didn't want to be bothered, but maybe Sophie was wrong. I'll find out I guess.
"Hey, Kat." The music was louder over here, vibrating through the floors. She cleared her throat, speaking louder. "Are you enjoying the party?"
Lizzie
She giggled a little bit when he said he agreed-- he sounded exhausted, and looked it too. He also kept looking around, looking at Kovu and Allie especially. She couldn't guess much about it, but based on what he said earlier, he liked them. She wasn't sure how to respond to that sort of thing, so she just kept dancing with him.
Then he asked her if she wanted some punch. It did look awfully good-- Aubrey seemed to like it well enough. Maybe should try some-- she didn't want to be the only one at the party that didn't. "Sure," she replied with a smile, "I'll go get some and bring you your cup back."
Leaving him for just a moment, she walked over to where the punch bowl was, pouring herself a cup and taking a swig of it. She made a slightly sour face for a minute-- that was not the taste she expected, which was fruit punch or something of the sort. It had a different taste to it, though, she had to admit, it wasn't all that bad. She sipped some more of her cup as she grabbed Jullian's and brought it back to him.
"Here ya go," she said joyfully, handing it to him as she drank a little more of her own. "Wow, maybe I am a witch-- this makes me look like I'm drinking blood or something." It seemed that after drinking the punch, she was starting to feel a little more relaxed-- hopefully Jullian would relax too.
Jullian
Jullian began to giggle. It was an odd sound but it came out almost as if he couldn't stop it. In fact the thought that he couldn't stop laughing only made him laugh harder for some reason. What is wrong with me? a small voice asked but it was being drowned out by laughter. "Witch's don't drink blood Liz, that's vampires," and the thought of vampires set him off again as he watched Sophie shut down some poor guy and walk away.
He started to bend over, trying to get his breath back, when a really dizzy feeling hit him and he found himself swaying. Ok, this was definitely something new and he was starting to suspect what was wrong. He looked down into his cup and gave it a comically exaggerated suspicious look. "What is in this?" he asked almost to himself as the music changed and completely drowned him out.
Up until then Gina had stuck to some slow songs but he guessed she wanted to get people dancing. What came on was some sort of mix of techno and maybe even had some hip hop in it somewhere. It was really cool and had a strong beat and yet was not so fast that you felt like you needed to be on E to keep up.
The beat got inside him and he found himself really wanting to dance and head bobbing just seemed like so much fun. He began shaking his head as colored lights came on and began flashing with the beat. He looked around in wonder at it for a moment. He had had nothing to do with this aspect of the party and as the music slowed down it all just felt all the more surreal.
"So cool!" he yelled, hoping Lizzie could hear him though the large exuberant smile on his face as he looked over at her said much more than words could have. He began dancing with more enthusiasm as the music sped up and looked to Lizzie to see if she'd join in.
[image]
Gina's talented hands moved over the sound equipement as she manipulated the music and, through the music, the crowd. This is what she loved about DJing, seeing the music affect people like this, seeing everyone have a good time to the beats she played.
Large headphones hung around her neck and one black, spongy, sound proof pad covered her right ear as she flipped the switch to bring up the lights. Getting the lights up had been difficult but it hadn't been too hard to find people to help with that little surprise. The animorphs were generally well liked by those that knew of them and even those that didn't know Matt and Jullian and the others were animorphs liked them as people. All she had had to do was mention it was for Matt's birthday and she'd had plenty of help.
And if the party was that much more amazing and she got a good rep for it then everyone came out a winner.
She waved to Sophie as she passed though she didn't have much time to do more than that.
Illeanna
Illeanna sat drinking her punch and for no reason she felt like giggling outloud. THe music seemed louder than before and she felt abit woozy. But, she was comfortable just sitting, everyone was dancing and seemed to be spinning blurs of color. The idea of getting up just made her dizzy and decided to just stay sitting.
She heard people talking and their voices rang in her ears the music began to pound against her brain and her mind was gaining pressure. She didn't know what to do, it hurt but she couldn't come up with the voice to make it stop and she couldn't think long enough to figure another way to make it stop. Her voice came out as a whisper, "I'm sorry..." and she began to sob quietly.
Kovu
Kovu trembled as Aubrey rested her head. His breath was short, evrythig wasgoing by so quickly, he tried to linger on the momet. He wanted this to stay in his mind forever. He breathed deeply, his heart was pounding i his chest, it felt like it was about to explode. The song began to wind down. NO! Kovu screamed in his head, his first moment with Aubrey was coming yo an end.
He swayed, as the last beutiful line of the song come to an end, then, almost as if he was trying to imitate Matt and Tess, he looked straight into Aubrey's eyes, and gave her a soft, gentle, kiss. Then the song ended, replaced by a ast mix o techno and hip-hop. Kovu slowly pulled away, entranced by what had just happened. If only this moment could last forever.
(OCC: Yes the punch is "spiked" so after a few glasses you character might get drunk))
Kovu paced around making sure that everything was ready, The cave was long and wide, perfect place for a party. Kovu was a bit hesitant about the theme, he hadn;t been to a costume party before, and he wasn't sure he wanted to wear anything. Luckily he managed to stash his costume in Tess's house nearby, so if he wanted it after awhile he could go get it.
There was a roaring bonfire in the center of the cave, that would provide the lighting for the party. Gina was setting up her equipment, multiple speakers and a DJ stand, at least there would be music. Kovu walked around the cave double chacking everything, all the food was wear it should be, on tables that were pressed against the sides of the cave. Everything was there, chips, dip, Wait where was the drinks?
Kovu went inside Tess's house and got out a large bowl, He poured the punch mix he stole from the store, as he poured it in he noticed, oddly, it smelled of liquor. He added the water, stirring it carefully, Hesitant he took a sip. Kovu grinned at the sweet taste. He took the bowl outside and placed it behind the plastic cups.Finnallly, everything was almost ready, for Matt would be here any seconds.
Kovu took ot the two costumes that were especially for Matt and Tess, they were matching costumes, a, royal blue outit for Matt, and a flowing Dress for Tess. Yep they were Romeo and Juliet, they would provide a bit of humor to the party. He laid them out, ready for when Matt arrived. Everything was in place, Matt would be here soon, the party was ready, and it was only a matter of time befor this thin finnally got underway.
Jullian
"Matt," Jullian said exasperated, "come on!" He pulled one more time against Matt's arm but his slippery paws couldn't get a good enough grip to pull Matt anywhere even if he could over power him. Jullian dropped his hands to his sides in a huff and turned on his faction leader.
"Matt she'll love it!" he said throwing up his paws-er hands. For once Jullian's 'paws' were not real paws. Instead they were a glove like part of his one piece Tigger costume which also came with a hood with ears on it and a tail. Jullian had completed the costume by using a burnt stick to draw whiskers on his face. He was adorable...at least in his own eyes.
"Matt, girls love this type of stuff." They were currently standing outside of Tess' house which was near the collapsed tunnel/cave where the party was being held and Jullian was trying to convince Matt to go in and put on his costume. "And you'll look totally handsome in it I swear.""Matt," Jullian said exasperated, "come on!" He pulled one more time against Matt's arm but his slippery paws couldn't get a good enough grip to pull Matt anywhere even if he could over power him. Jullian dropped his hands to his sides in a huff and turned on his faction leader.
"Matt she'll love it!" he said throwing up his paws-er hands. For once Jullian's 'paws' were not real paws. Instead they were a glove like part of his one piece Tigger costume which also came with a hood with ears on it and a tail. Jullian had completed the costume by using a burnt stick to draw whiskers on his face. He was adorable...at least in his own eyes.
"Matt, girls love this type of stuff." They were currently standing outside of Tess' house which was near the collapsed tunnel/cave where the party was being held and Jullian was trying to convince Matt to go in and put on his costume. "And you'll look totally handsome in it I swear."
Matt
Matthew had Jullian dragging, or attempting to drag, him into Tess's house so he could change into a costume for a surprise party the others had decided to throw him. Jullian was in front of him wearing a one piece Tigger suit with charcoal on his face for whiskers. Matt had his feet as firmly planted as he could and wasn't going to budge an inch though.... or he didn't plan on it. He could see that Jullian really wanted him to have a good time and it was pulling at Matt's heartstrings to see his second dressed in a Tigger costume and how he'd obviously worked hard to get this party set up.
I owe it to them to go for all the effort they put in. Even if I don't enjoy myself with Sara not being here, they still deserve to have their fun with this, he thought, as he'd been arguing with his more stubborn side since Jullian had told him about this. He gave in finally. "Okay, okay. I'll go put it on, and I'll try to have a good time. You guys obviously went through a lot of effort to set this up and I don't want to seem ungrateful."
He let Jullian drag him the rest of the way into the house. Once inside he was handed a costume he didn't really look at and pushed into another room to change. Pulling off the pieces of his L.A. Faction uniform he surveyed the outfit and realized it was something like a Renaissance era costume. Is it supposed to be a joke that I'm Romeo? And.... is Tess Julliet?...... Too many questions, just put it on.
The costume was a deep, royal blue and consisted of a pair of tights, shoes, and a shirt that hung down towards the middle of his thighs. It was completed by a belt on his waist, his head remaining bare. He had to admit, seeing himself in a full length mirror in what appeared to be Tess's bedroom, that he actually looked fairly decent in the costume.
Exiting the door he met Jullian who was still waiting and said, "Ok Tigger, lead the way."
Aubrey
A hippie entered the large cave, dragging along behind a vampire. The hippie was Aubrey and the vampire was Sophie, stumbling along behind Aubrey with a disgruntled, fake-white face. Matt's birthday was a costume party, and Aubrey loved costume parties--or, well, parties in general. She'd been to quite a few during her years in her American high school.
Aubrey let go of Sophie as she neared Kovu, tugging down on her large tie-dye shirt and adjusting the flower head band that was lying across her forehead. There were ribbons tied in various places in her thick hair, and along her arms. Hung around her neck was a giant peace-sign necklace, rainbow-colored. She was also walking around barefoot.
"Is Matt almost here?" Her voice contained some giddy nervousness. She'd been sampling some of the sugary treats earlier, and now it was manifesting as her being just a tiny bit hyper.
"Aubrey. I think I might go back and sit this out." Sophie shifted uncomfortably behind her, folding her arms. Aubrey had picked Sophie's costume and done her 'vampiric' make-up--the white face, red lipstick, and black eyeshadow under her eyes. The make-up had been slathered on thick, and the heat from the bonfire was making Sophie's face glisten. Aubrey thought it looked fantastic, but Sophie didn't seem to like it.
Aubrey gave Sophie a big smile. "C'mon, enjoy yourself Sophie. It's a party. There's no escape." She began humming and grabbed Sophie's arms, trying to pull her into a playful dance. Sophie pulled away, rolling her eyes. Aubrey made a face at her. "Want some punch?"
Illeanna
Illeanna glided feeling that she for once since she'd been in the hospital was beautiful again. She was dressed to kill as far as she could tell, her hair up in a bun her tiara tilt just a bit to add an attitude to it. Her dress a pure white flowed in a graceful but form fitting way her silver heels clicked as she walked toward the other residents of L.A. faction who had already gathered for the party. Across her chest a gold sash saying "Miss Everything" shimmered in the black writing that was written in calligraphy.
“Everyone looks different when we don’t dress like ourselves, but then again I suppose we all picked something to match our personal style, don’t you think?” she said as she strutted the rest of the way in and was speaking to no one in particular. She glanced at the others costumes and they seemed to match the attitude and personality of each person…well as far as she knew.
Not knowing anybody all that well was starting to get awkward for Illeanna she was used to having at least someone to talk to, yes, Matt was easy to talk to but she was looking for someone more feminine someone she could kind of learn from. There was still a lot that Illeanna was yet to learn about everyone and about morphing. This party had come out nicely and couldn’t wait to see what Jullian and Matt were wearing, Jullian because of his taste and Matt because Jullian would be his fashion conscience for tonight.
Illeanna flaunted her way toward the punch bowl and took a cup and filled it with the sweet red liquid. She sipped and let the liquid cool her ego for a second.
Katrina
Everything was finally all coming together. The location was set, the music was getting set up, a theme had been chosen, and now all that was needed was the man of the hour. Kat glanced around at the others floating about in the gave. Most of the others were floating around the caved area in costume; Aubrey was a hippie, Sophie a vampire. There was also what looked like some kind of beauty pageant contestant, the costume thrown together by the LA faction's newest member. She'd glanced at Kovu a bit early and seen that he didn't seem to be into dressing up, but she knew Matt would arrive later as cleverly picked out Romeo, and Jullian was a tiger.
Kat had been rather indecisive when it came to a costume of her own. At first she'd thought of just wearing cat ears and a tale, playing off her name a bit, even if it seemed kind of lame, but then Jullian had chosen a tiger which was pretty similar. Dresses, gowns, and formal wear like Illeanna's costume was out without even having to think about it. After much debate, she decided to just go with the mobster outfit she'd found. Now she stood in the cave dressed in the striped black and white halter top, pants, and tie. She had a black hat placed upon her head as well and even had one of those fake plastic tommy guns to top it off.
She caught a bit of what Illeanna had said as she made her way into the cave. Kat wasn't entirely sure if that was true, but in Illeanna's case it certainly seemed that way. Personally, Kat didn't think the mob costume fit her style too well considering if it did it would have something to do with music. The costume had just been something she'd decided to settle on so she wouldn't be stuck debating all day...
Jullian
"Matt, don't get weird about what I'm going to say, but you look fantastic," he said blatantly checking out his faction leader for a moment before turning towards the party. He grabbed Matt's hand and bounced into the firelit cave like the wonderful Tigger he was dressed as dragging Matt with him and popped down in between Kovu and Illeanna. "Kovu, what are you doing, why aren't you dressed? People are going to be arriving soon." He had kinda been ignoring Illeanna up until that point but he turned and gave her costume a once over.
He had to admit that she looked really nice. The white really worked for her for some reason and in the firelight it all had a peachy glow to it.
On second thought, he didn't have to admit that at all. "Illeanna, why are you dressed as the White Witch?" he asked referencing the Narnia evil doer.
Illeanna
"Illeanna, why are you dressed as the White Witch?" the boy said as he bounced in wearing his tigger costume. "Can't you read", she pointed to her banner, "I'm everything you aspire to be which makes me Miss Everything,” she said with a big Miss America smile.
She had to admit in her head he did have a tiger like air about him; bouncy, hyper, annoying but he'd done a good job in putting things together. The party was slowly beginning to stir as people began to idly chitchat and Jullian and Matthew had arrived.
Jullian
Jullian snorted at her answer. "I don't think I ever aspired to be a-" he was interrupted as Allie came up behind him and grabbed his shoulders screaming, "Boo!" as he did so. Jullian jumped about a foot and turned around to greet the kid who had become one of his best friends. "Jeez Allie."
Allie just smiled at him and winked. He was dressed a pirate, eye patch and all, which made the wink look odd but Jullian had a feeling that had been the point. "This is great Jules," he said looking around and taking some punch from the bowl. He unthinkingly handed Jullian the cup he had just poured and began to pour his own. Over the past couple of weeks the two boys had spent a lot of time together and they had developed a kind of grace around each other and did things unthinkingly.
Jullian took the cup and began to sip at it. The punch had a bit of a bitter taste to it but he drank it anyway and pretended not to notice since he didn't want to insult anyone who had helped put the party together.
Allie sipped from his own cup and looked around at the cave that was slowly starting to fill with some of the friends the animorphs had made in Union while they were here. He spotted Renae over by Gina and some of the guys that worked down in the market. The cavern was blocked off and everyone had to step over the boundary on their way in (Allie didn't know why).
Jullian decided some food would help with the bitter taste of the punch and began munching on the party favors. "Hey, Allie," he said turning to the boy, "where is Tess?" He had confided in Allie about all his mischievous matchmaking plans so when Allie's eyes quickly flickered to Matt and smiled it wasn't a surprise.
"Not sure."
Matt
Tess went to her house. She'd seen Jullian leading someone she figured was Matt to the party and had been informed she'd need a costume that would be waiting for her at her house. She went inside and spotted it. It was flowing dress in a shade of blue, simple and yet beautiful and elegant.
She ducked into her room where she saw Matthew's clothes folded and realized he'd changed in here too. Trying not to think too much about the idea of Matthew undressing in her bedroom she changed into the dress. She stood in front of the mirror and twirled once for good measure. She realized that the dress had a Renaissance style to it, evident in the high waistline. Was Juliet supposed to match with Matthew's outfit? She tried to remember what he'd been wearing, but hadn't really payed attention. She'd have to go to the party to find out.
********************
Matthew followed Jullian into the cave where the party was already beginning. He had to admit, looking around, that the others had put a lot of work into this. He glanced around, spotting his faction members and all of the citizens of Union they had met. Gina was there as the deejay. Renae was over with a group of people. The doctor had even dressed up, though only to look like a doctor would in an actual hospital.
Allie came up and took away Jullian's attention and Matt found himself glancing around the cave at the party. Some part of him realized that Sara would want him to enjoy the work the others had gone through. In fact, she wouldn't have wanted him to be moping around at all on his birthday.
As he came to a resolve to really enjoy himself, for Sara's sake, Tess entered the room in the flowing gown that had been sitting with his costume in her house. The room seemed to blur out of focus and he had eyes only for her. It was like in the play Cinderella, how when Cinderella had come down the stairs into the ballroom the stage lights had dimmed to a spotlight on her and one on the Prince. She was the only thing he saw. She was beautiful.
And then he shook himself out of it, taking a glass of the punch and downing it to get rid of the dry feeling in his throat. He noticed the odd taste to the punch as he drank it, but he needed the drink. That, and if he had to get over this whole school boy phase by the end of tonight. He was eighteen and he wasn't really sure if he'd live to his nineteenth birthday..... but he had all night so there was no need to rush.
((Slight bit of confidence there and then he got cold feet. I feel like he himself is resolving to tell Tess his feelings tonight if he can get the right moment.... cue the Matchmaker.))
Illeanna
Illeanna couldn't help but finish the sentence in her head and feel a bit of a rush of anger flow through her. Oh how that kid bothered her but made her admire his intelligence and poise. His friend seemed nice but he had a certain mischief in his eyes that sort of bothered her. Illeanna looked at Renae and felt a little guilt for leaving the hospital; still she shook the thought from her head.
Then, her thoughts turned toward Matthew who looked cute in his tights, and looked like he had someone to think about. She giggled a bit to herself love worked in funny ways especially with boys, "It's a good thing it's just me and my sister so I never have to put up with any of those male hormones." she thought to herself picturing her little sister the last time she’d seen her.
Aubrey
Aubrey's back was to the newest arrivals as she dipped two cups into the punch, red ribbons brushing against her elbow. The party hadn't started yet, but there was a certain energy and excitement in her movements. Humming, and with the liquid sloshing and dripping down the sides of the cups, she shuffled back over to Sophie.
"Here!" With a big smile she extended her hand out carefully, handing Sophie one of the cups. It was full to the brim, and the cup shivered in her grip. Sophie gave her a look, brushing away some hair that had stuck to her vampire make-up, then took the cup.
"Yeah. Thanks." Sophie took a conservative sip of the punch, looking over the cup at the newest arrivals to the cave. Aubrey looked in the same direction, noticing that the rest of the faction was almost here. Then Sophie's face suddenly twisted into a strange expression, and she let out sort of a gurgle-cough. Some punch dripped from her lips, and she pulled the cup away. "What's in this? This is punch right?"
Aubrey swirled the liquid inside, looking at it. "Seems like it. Why?"
"It tastes funny."
Aubrey stared at her, then at the punch in her hand. She was about to take a sip of her own drink when she noticed Sophie staring past her, a smirk on her lips. "Oh. Lookie, lookie." Sophie motioned with her head behind Aubrey, lifting both eyebrows.
Aubrey turned to look, and her stomach did a little nervous flip. It was Matt. He was dressed in some sort of Renaissance costume, with tights and everything. She wasn't sure what he was going for, but it definitely worked. The costume looked quite handsome on him. "Oh." Aubrey busied herself with trying to take a sip of the punch, tilting the cup up. Sophie was right, there was something off about the punch--
"What do you mean 'oh'? Go over to him." Sophie jerked her head in his direction, frowning lightly. Aubrey's feet, however, were glued to the ground. Sophie moved forward and gave her a soft push on her back. It bumped Aubrey's flower headband crooked, and she had to readjust it. "Now. I know you better than this."
"Hey, I need to finish this punch first. Then I'll go over." Aubrey pressed the cup back to her lips, gulping the bitter punch down quickly. Sophie shook her head and reached forward, easing the cup from Aubrey's mouth.
Sophie gave her an impatient look. "Come on."
Her blue eyes flickered back to where Matt was, standing and looking around the party. A few more people had filtered in to the cave by this time, and the walls were beginning to echo with the small murmur of conversation. Aubrey wondered briefly how he liked the party, when Sophie gave her another small shove.
"Okay, okay." She grabbed the cup back and gulped the last of the punch, her face involuntarily scrunching up at the taste. Okay. It's just Matt. She handed Sophie the cup, then sighed to herself. She didn't understand why she was acting this way, it was just Matt. She saw him at the Haunt all the time, she didn't have time to feel nervous there. Besides, she didn't like being flustered or nervous around guys she liked. At least, not like this. Maybe it was because this night felt different. Like something might happen. Like maybe he'd actually notice her this time.
Pulling a smile onto her lips, Aubrey adjusted her headband again and started to take a few steps forward. That's when she realized Matt's attention had fixed onto someone else in the cave. She followed his gaze, and to her dismay, discovered Tess standing at the entrance in a lovely gown. She felt her mouth go dry and her shoulders dropped. He was staring quite obviously at her with this kind of entranced expression on his face. Do their costumes match...? She squinted. They match. She bit her lip, feeling her heart pulsing in her throat. Okay. Just one bump in the road, the night was still young.
Kovu
Kovu had heard Jullians question, but Jules had quickly gotten into another conversation, so Kovu ignored it. He wandered around the cave for awhile, the mood was light, and everyone was already having fun. He went back to punch bowl and poured his fourth glass. He felt a littl light headed, but he wasn't quite sure why. He sipped at the punch, for some reason, it seemed to be getting sweeter with each glass.
He saw Aubrey biting her lip. He followed her line of sight and found the culprit,, of course Matt. Kovu sighed, and shook his head. He felt strangely brave, he moved closer to her, and eventually spoke "Aub, what's wrong? It's a party, enjoy yourself" Kovu tried to make Aubrey a bit more cheerful, other than that, Kovu was at a loss for words, he quietly sipped at his punch, and smiled at Aubrey.
Jullian
Jullian saw Tess come in and quickly looked to see what Matt's reaction was. It was a smitten as any matchmaker could hope for. Oh good, he loved it when he was right and this should so be cake. He nodded to Allie and Allie slipped away to talk to Gina. "So Matt," he said casually, like the party?" he asked, making small talk as Tess made her way over to them and buying time for Allie to work his magic.
He took sparing sips of his punch which still tasted bitter to him. The cavern was filling up with people from Union though the party would probably top off at around 30 people and finally the cue Jullian had been waiting for came as Tess reached them, a song.
Taylor Swift's Love Story filled the hall and people began to move around nervously, the first step towards dancing. "Oh look, a song," he said slipping away so that Matt would have privacy and hopefully (this time) do something.
Matt
He turned his gaze and his thoughts away from Tess as Jullian came up to talk to him. He gave Jullian a look with which he tried to ask how Jullian could think he could possibly not like it. "I have to admit you guys put a lot of work into this.... and Sara probably would thank you seeing as I have high doubts she'd have wanted me moping around all day." He stopped, because that didn't really answer the question. "Yeah, I like it."
A few moments of silence passed and then music started to fill the air. Jullian left after commenting "Oh look, a song," and Matt was left alone to hear the end of the violin intro, realizing he recognized the song as the voice of Taylor Swift began the lyrics.
**************************
[image]
Tess reached Matt and a song began. He was still not looking in her direction, watching the leaving Jullian who had done marvelously planning this party. He'd even gotten them matching costumes, though she couldn't figure out why the Renaissance theme other than Romeo and Julliet.
As the lyrics of the song began she listened.
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony in summer air
Suddenly the words of the song took on a whole new meaning. She knew them, knew the Romeo and Juliet motif that was used in the song. At the same time it seemed to mirror her own story with Matt. Even as the next verse began the song seemed to line up with the memories playing in her head.
Matt turned away from Jullian as the song continued, spotting Tess standing nearby. For a moment he felt it again, the way he always froze around her. But the song was almost too perfectly planned with their costumes. He didn't have to be dumb to recognize the Renaissance style to her dress.
I see the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
And say, "Hello"
Little did I know
He managed to say, "Hi." Nearly mirroring the lyrics of the song with his timing. As the lyrics went on he got a little more bold. Even the next verse seemed to egg him on, though if he was Romeo he was certainly doing a lot more in this war than throwing pebbles. Maybe even that was a little too perfect. Just like the Montagues and Capulets, Animorphs and Controllers were supposed to be against each other. Not falling in love.
That you were Romeo; you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you "Please don't go"
As it approached the chorus he made up his mind. Looking right at Tess as the crowd moved uncomfortably and feeling a strange boldness to his actions. "Do you want to dance?"
**************************
[image]
She couldn't do much. She said, "Hi" when he did, but otherwise stood there nervously. The moment was perfect, so why wasn't he doing anything? Did she have him all wrong? Was he feeling something different than she thought he was? Her worried emotions and thoughts made her nearly miss what he said next, but a smile came to her face. It wasn't much, asking her to dance, but it was a step in the right direction.
"I'd love to." And as the lyrics hit the chorus he put his arms around her and hers found their way up onto his shoulders.
And I said,
"Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all that's left to do is run
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story - baby just say, "Yes"
((I'm having too much fun with this. Especially with this song getting thrown in. ^_^ It's a little too obvious it was my theme for them from the beginning when you look at the banner Kiera did...... and when you read this post.))
Jullian
Jullian could have shed a tear as Matt and Tess began to dance. As it was he wiped his eye theatrically anyway as Allie came up beside him and threw his arm around Jullian's shoulders. He crossed his arms in front of him, the cup hanging from one hand almost forgotten. "I am amazing," he said congratulating himself on his success, "uh, I mean we, we," he backtracked not wanting Allie to think that he had forgotten him.
Allie just laughed at his vanity. "Yeah we are amazing. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that they liked each other already," he said his voice innocent.
"I'm not saying it didn't, I'm, I mean-" Allie's laughter cut him off.
"Don't worry about it Jules. I know what you meant. Come on, they're having their fun, let's have some of our own," he said taking Jullian's arm and pulling him over towards Kovu, Aubrey and Sophie, which incidentally lead them across the dance floor.
Jullian all of a sudden felt very clumsy and like he had never learned english. If he had tried to speak it probably would have come out sounding exactly like Matt and he decided in that moment that he would never make fun of Matt again.
Allie was his friend and though Jullian couldn't stop the stray romantic thought from crossing his mind occasionally he had worked hard to remind himself that Allie was off limits. Allie was off limits, Matt was off limits, Kovu was off limits, Steve had been off limits, Rian had been off limits, Bane had been off limits, everyone was off limits. They were his faction mates and if he tried to approach them things might just get awkward, besides...they probably weren't interested anyway and never would be. Jullian, despite his vanity, did not really think of himself as a catch and the fact that, oh yeah, he was a boy and all of them weren't gay to his knowledge tended to put a damper on any romantic aspirations he might have had. And that was ok, loneliness wasn't the worst thing in the world...not really.
He and Allie had reached the others by the fire and Allie let go of his arm. Jullian found that he was grateful though oddly disappointed. He took a swig of his punch as if it were some sort of alcoholic beverage to make himself feel better like a hero might do in a movie. He had forgotten how bitter it was and almost embarrassed himself by choking as he swallowed it.
He did cough a bit though after it was down though he managed to squeak out some intelligent sentences as people around them began to dance. "How's," cough, "the party?"
Lizzie
(According the magic timeline, Lizzie won't leave until after this party-- I was cordially invited to post
Okay, so she was a little late-- nothing to worry about, right? She had to get her costume just perfect. Even though her personality was drastically different than one, she walked into the party as a witch, black hat, shirt, skirt and all. She snuck into the party with a pair of boots on, tip-toeing over to Julian, who had just taken a large swig of the punch. She heard him mutter something about the party, perhaps asking what it was, though, she didn't intend to answer at the moment. She instead swerved so she was behind him and he didn't see her, poking him from behind.
"Boo!" she yelled, though not too loudly to interrupt anything. "Nice to see you Julian-- having fun?" Correction: her personality clashed horribly with a witch. Oh well, she was having fun, which was the whole point.
Jullian
Jullian jumped for the second time in ten minutes as someone snuck up behind him. Situational awareness? Not so much. The start only caused him to start coughing harder as he turned around and saw Lizzie standing there. "Hey, ag, Lizzie," he said coughing. He finally got his breath back and looked at the costume she had gotten. They had pulled a bunch of them from the costume store and brought them back to Union but it had still been really interesting to see how people had mixed and matched them to make them their own.
And it was especially interesting to see what Lizzie had done. No one had seen her much, well they'd seen her but she tended to keep to herself a bit. He wasn't even sure if Kovu or Illeanna had ever really talked to her even. He didn't know why and he worried sometimes that she didn't like them so he was glad she had chosen to come to the party.
"Hey look," he said poking fun at Illeanna, "now you have a sister here to set you off. But which witch is the bad one?" It was mostly to get her back for her earlier zing. He was glad Allie had saved him from having to reply that first time because he had really had no come back.
Lizzie
Mission complete: she had startled Julian. She wasn't so sure she could do that with everyone else, so this was good enough for her. She caused him to cough more than before though, which worried her slightly until he stopped. He must have been really surprised to see her. That wasn't a surprise-- she had been keeping to herself as of late. A lot of things went on in her mind-- her brother was still out there while she was an Animorph and fighting against his captors. She fully believed he was alive-- she didn't want to think otherwise.
Excusing those thoughts, she put her trademark smile back on as Julian poked fun at Illeanna, someone she hadn't really gotten to know that well. From what she could tell though, she had an air about her. She scoffed jokingly as he made the joke about the witches, looking at Julian with crossed arms. "How could you think such a thing of me Julian. We all know I'm the good witch around here. I'm just... in disguise! Yeah, that's it!"
She had to admit, she was having fun. It was probably the first time she really got to relax and have fun. She could let her guard down a bit at this party instead of constantly being on the move or worrying about her brother. She glanced at Julian again, still grinning.
"Care to dance with me Tigger?" she asked.
Jullian
"I uh," he said taken by surprised by her offer, "um, yeah sure I guess. I mean, yes, I'd love to," he corrected himself worried she might get offended. He turned to Kovu and Allie and finally chose Allie, "can you hold this for me for a second," he said holding out the cup. Allie just took it from him and made a shooing, go have fun gesture that actually hurt more than it helped since it just proved what Jullian already knew, that Allie didn't feel that way about him.
He turned back to Lizzie and held out his arm gallantly, inspired into a bit of foolishness by the Romeo and Juliet theme of the song. "Let's go," he said with his trademark smile. "I hope you can dance because I'm only ok at it."
Matt
So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew.
So close your eyes; escape this town for a little while.
'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said "Stay away from Juliet,"
But you were everything to me; I was begging you, "Please, don't go,"
They seemed to have started something. As soon as they moved out onto the dance floor other people began to couple up and start dancing. Without either of them really realizing it, the gap between Matt and Tess started to close. By the time the second chorus rolled around the were pressed against each other, her arms flat against his chest and her head on his shoulder. It was as if by some unspoken agreement that they had ended up this way.
Romeo save me; they're tryin' to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid; we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story - baby just say 'Yes.'
*********************
[image]
I got tired of waiting,
Wondering if you were ever comin' around.
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
Tess listened to the lyrics as they danced. She'd felt the way the the Juliet of this song had, tired of waiting for him to make his move. All he'd really needed was the right chance. It was like once he was handed his opportunity he had known what to do. She sighed, enjoying the closeness for now and wondering if this would all change once the music stopped. A part of her hoped it wouldn't.
She was also noticing how Nomar had shut himself out of her thoughts, and mental touch revealed that he was doing it for her. This was her moment, and he wanted it to be just as if he'd never been there. Possibly how it would have been if this war hadn't happened and if she and Matt had stayed in the same city. If this were their high school prom.
<<Thank you.>> There was a moment of a happy mental laugh from him, and then he left her alone to enjoy this moment, a moment she hoped she'd always remember.
Aubrey
"Aub, what's wrong?"
Aubrey had been distracted enough to not notice Kovu sidling up to her. When he spoke, she jumped a little. Blue eyes shifted away from Matt, looking to Kovu. "Oh, hey Kovu. I--" she scratched under her headband with one hand, then flashed him a soft smile. "--Um. Nothing's wrong. Er. Yeah, I think something's off with the punch, y'know...?" She was searching for some kind of excuse like she wasn't feeling good or something, but instead just ended her sentence there. All her earlier energy had drained away from her as she watched Tess and Matt nearing each other.
Some music started up, and Aubrey took the chance to change the subject away from how she was feeling. "Are you enjoying the party so far? I'm liking it." Then she took a step backwards, spreading her arms a little. The ribbons attached to her arms fluttered gently and the peace-sign bounced against her chest. "How do you like my costume? Can you guess what it is?" She forced a smile onto her face--she was trying to act cheerful, even though there was this terrible sinking feeling her in her heart.
Aubrey stole a glance over at Matt again while they spoke, and caught sight of Tess in his arms. Suddenly she was feeling much, much worse. The urge to walk over to Matt was gone now, all she wanted to do was go the other way. "Uh. Kovu." Her attention was back on him, and without realizing it she was frowning again. It was an unusual expression to see on Aubrey. "Hey, so. Let's get some more punch and stuff. I ran out." She tilted the cup so he could see that it was empty, then pointed to the punch bowl.
[image]
"Riiight." Sophie scratched her ear, letting her gaze wander away. The moment Aubrey had taken off towards her would-be lover Matt, some guy had schmoozed on up to Sophie and started small-talking her. His costume? He was dressed as a hobo, with pieces of trash taped to various parts of his ratty clothes. He had walked up spouting lines to her, which was far from impressive for Sophie. Before he could utter another pick-up line, her brown eyes flicked over his costume. "Did you pick your costume out of a trash can or something?"
The guy's confident smile didn't disappear like Sophie had expected. Instead it widened as the music turned on. He ignored her comment. "Oh this is good music. Want to dance?" He had a banana peel taped to his arm, and one of the yellow strips flopped over as he held his hand out. "My lady?"
His offer was met with a furrowed brow. "What?"
"Dance with me."
It was like he didn't know what rejection was. Sophie tried not to sigh. "Ahhh, sorry. I don't dance." Sophie looked away again, smoothing a hand over her onyx gown. It was one of those fancy dresses, trimmed with crimson lace and showing too much cleavage for Sophie. It was another one of Aubrey's ideas for this dumb costume, along with the fake vampire fangs that stuck out of her mouth. The whole thing just made Sophie feel uncomfortable. The make-up slathered all over her face wasn't helping either, and she was pretty sure some of it had already smeared off.
"Oh, come on. You don't need to know how to dance to dance." He retracted his hand, then started doing some kind of loopy movement with his arms and legs. Sophie slowly realized he was trying to dance. Despite herself, she couldn't help laughing, a small smile inching its way onto her lips.
"Oh that's rich."
He flashed her another grin, then held out his hand. "Just one dance. You don't even have to talk to me afterward."
Sophie sighed again, staring at the guy for a long moment. "Promise?"
He bowed his head down, motioning her forward with his extended hand. "Of course."
Sophie gave him a long, hesitant look, considering. Then she placed her hand in his, rolling her eyes. "Okay. One dance. That's it."
Lizzie
He looked a little unsure when she first asked. It didn't make her all that nervous. The worst he could say was no. Though, when he answered yes, she smiled more. She watched as he handed his drink to someone she didn't know, then coming back to her with his arm held out for her and a smile.
"All right," she replied, taking his arm happily, "We'll be only okay at it together-- I'm not the world's best dancer, but I know a thing or two. Lead the way."
Katrina
Kat had found a spot close to where Gina had her equipment set up and was sitting close to the music. She was enjoying hearing it played out loud instead of through small headphones for a change. Half a cup of punch was next to her, the liquid rippling a bit from the speakers. It was her second cup but she didn't think she'd be finishing it up. Something was weird about the taste and she'd been debating whether she liked it or not throughout her entire first come, only to come to the conclusion she didn't halfway through the second.
Kat glanced around to look at what the others were doing. There were a few people from union in the cave as well, but it wasn't hard to pick out her faction mates since she knew what costumes to look for. She spotted Matt not far off dancing with the girl who's outfit complimented his own. It looked like Romeo had finally made his move and Kat was sure wherever Jullian was, the younger boy was probably beaming with pride. She smirked a bit.
Sophie wasn't far from Matt and Tess, dancing with someone Kat didn't recognize. She guessed it was someone Sophie knew from when she'd lived in Union. Next she spotted Lizzie who she'd seen very little of recently. She looked like she was waiting for someone and it didn't take long for Jullian to come over and surprisingly it appeared they were going to dance together. It certainly wasn't what Kat had expected. Lastly she saw Aubrey and Kovu heading for the table with the punch and Illeanna wasn't too far from them. It looked like everyone was having a good time which was good. Kat closed her eyes a bit and just listened to the music, moving her body a bit to the tune of the Taylor Swift song.
Jullian
Jullian walked out onto the dance floor with Lizzie and began dancing slowly. His head felt very fuzzy and kind of stuffed but he figured maybe he was getting sick, maybe he'd even gotten what Matt had had. But maybe it was more than that. Whatever it was it caused him to have a loose mouth where he might have not otherwise.
"Lizzie, what is it about me? I mean, why don't guys like me? Kovu doesn't like me? Allie doesn't like me. And I don't like hit on them or anything but I, mean, I'm there right?" What he was saying was making no sense and he had no idea why it wasn't making any sense and why swaying and shaking his head felt so good. "Uh, nevermind I guess," he said, trying to backtrack.
Kovu
Kovu gladly poured more punch. He handed the first glass to Aubrey then poured himsel a cup. "Your costume, let me guess you're a cat lover? A genie? A pscic? Oh I know, a fortune teeler! Kovu continued to make random guesses, he knew what Aubrey was, but he decided to act dumb. He felt strange tonight, like he could do anything, even talk with Aubrey.
"You know speaking of costumes, why am I standing here at a costume party without a costume. I'll be right back" The Taylor Swift song buzzed in his ears, though he didn't mind her music, he knew she would never be as good as Carrie Underwood, He walked into Tess's house, with her permission he had stashed a costume there in case he wanted to wear it later.
It wasn't a costume that suited him, still it would be funny to wear. He quickly put on the white jacket, the cape, the white pants, the wig and the glasses. He soon emerged fully dressed....as Elvis Presely, he saw everyone except Aubrey, Kat and a few others he didn't know were dancing. He walked back over to Aubrey, feeling braver then he ever had. He stood beside her and finnaly asked "Would you like to dance?"
Aubrey
Kovu poured her another glass of punch, and she gratefully took it. "Thanks, mate." She was sure to keep her back to the dance floor, not wanting to catch another accidental glance at Matt and Tess together. Feeling terrible was not high on her list of things to do at this party, even though it's about the only thing that had happened so far. It didn't stop her from imaging what was going on behind her--they were probably leaning into each other or doing something romantic. Aubrey was tempted to look, but instead she focused on Kovu.
Aubrey took a big sip of her punch, giggling at Kovu's guesses. "A cat lover, huh? Makes totalllll sense." She took another drink of her punch, leaning against the table. Then, with a smile she said, "I'm a hippie. Cool, right?" With her other hand, she fiddled with the big peace sign on her chest.
He mentioned going off to get his costume, and she nodded. "Okay, I'll be here." One more cup of punch down, and Aubrey poured herself another one. By the time Kovu was back, she had finished half of it. "Cool, you're back." The more she seemed to drink, the less bitter it tasted. In fact, it was pretty good punch. She wasn't sure why she had thought it didn't taste that good before. Aubrey poured herself another cup, taking a few gulps.
She scanned her eyes over Kovu's costume, smiling again. "Oh... Elvis? Right?? Nice costume. I was wondering when you'd put a costume on. Everybody else has one, I think! I have one on too, right?" She looked down. "Right. I do. See?" She tugged at her tie-dye shirt, nodding. "I'm glad you put one on."
Then he asked her to dance. She murmured something inaudibly, the cup pressed against her lips and hiding her expression. Dance? With him? Her first response was the urge to look over at the dance floor, to where Matt was. But what was she waiting for, really? A chance with him? Did she even have a chance with Matt? All she had to do was look at the way he looked so lovingly at Tess to get her answer, and yet that never seemed to be enough. She was an optimist, somebody who couldn't live without just a little hope that there might be something. It was frustrating, and it hurt. Pain was not fun. She didn't like feeling that way.
And why not dance with Kovu? He was a cool guy, she knew that. After she drained the last of her punch, she looked up at Kovu. "Dance? I'd love to."
Matt
And I said,
"Romeo save me - I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting for you but you never come.
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think-"
Something had clicked tonight. Matt had just let go of thinking and everything had gone right. There was no awkward school boy, there were no second thoughts, there was no nervousness. There was nothing holding him back tonight, not even thoughts of the war. After all, this night wasn't about the Animorphs and the yeerks. Tonight he was just himself.
It did help that he was so absorbed in being with her that he was ignoring the people around them. He knew they were there, but it was like they were on stage and he had to pretend the audience wasn't there because it wasn't part of the performance. It helped boost his confidence.
*********************
[image]
Tess held onto this moment. Tonight was everything he could have hoped for. There was none of what there had been other times they'd been together. Tonight Matt was just being himself. And yes, he wasn't stuttering because he wasn't talking, but he'd done something other than stand there and blush. It didn't matter to her how long it took him to do anything more, just so long as she had tonight to hold onto.
She lifted her head off his shoulder and stared deep into his brown eyes, smiling. Things wouldn't go backwards from here, because Matt wasn't like that. Now that he'd made a move once he wouldn't let his nervousness hold him back again.
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said,
"Marry me, Juliet. you'll never have to be alone.
She looked up, and Matt found himself staring deep into Tess's gray eyes. Something about this moment felt perfect, and he knew he couldn't let it slip away. Ever so slowly he leaned toward her, the action seeming to take forever. Yet, for all the boldness in his move it was still very tentative.
The people watching them would have seen her start leaning toward him too. By the time Taylor's recorded voice crooned out "I love you and that's all I really know." the two of them were kissing.
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress;
It's a love story - baby just say 'Yes.'
Oh, oh.
We were both young when I first saw you..
Lizzie
As she started to dance with him, she started taking him in more. He didn't look so well-- come to think of it, a few other people did too. Was there some type of bug going around? Hopefully she wouldn't catch it.
She let those thoughts wander off as Julian spoke, thinking about them for a second. She never knew that Julian wasn't of the same sexual orientation of her. It didn't really bother her that much-- he still was dancing with her, right? "I wouldn't know," she replied, "I'm not good with relationship type things. Though, even though I haven't known you that long, I think you're a pretty cool guy. Kovu and Allie are definitely missing out." She smiled at him as she tried to lift his spirits-- this was a time they needed to enjoy themselves. And when she looked over at Matt and Tess, she could tell that they were enjoying themselves fully.
Jullian
"Right! I think so too," he said too drunk to be modest though he didn't realize that was what it was. "I mean, I try." He had a strong desire to close his eyes and he had no idea why and the music had just changed songs and it was filling his head in an uncomfortable way. It was like, it was like, it was loud and every where and it was affecting his thinking.
He looked past Lizzie and saw Matt and Tess and had to smile even if a small part of him was jealous. And then he saw Kovu and Aubrey, Allie standing by Gina. He just sighed. Tonight was supposed to be fun so he would have fun and forget about the rest. "Do you want some punch? You are the only one who didn't have a cup," he pointed out the obvious as if it was a vital fact that must be established before they could move on with more complicated thinking.
Kovu
Kovu felt on top of the world, he was almost shocked that Aubrey had actually agreed to dance with him. He pulled her out to the dance floor just as the Taylor Swift song ended. The next song was just beggining, and the clear, beutiful voice of Carrie Underwood rang out from the speakers. Finnally, Kovu thought, an actual good singer. Kovu smiled as he listened to the lyrics.
What you got if you aint got love,
The kind that you just waant to give away,
It's ok, to open up,
Go ahead and let the light shine through
Kovu swayed with the music, the song called to him, making him braver. He rocked back and forth as the ,usic played, getting lost in the music, and lost in the moment. He smiled at Aubrey, so drunk on pleasure. He danced, not exactly well, but he tried, disquised as the King of rock. Here he was in a completely perfect moment, with a completely perfect son, by the completely perfect Carrie Underwood.
Aubrey
Aubrey set down the empty cup on the table, her steps uneasy behind Kovu as he pulled her onto the dance floor. She was feeling a little light-headed and woozy now, but also giddy at the same time. She wasn't sure where the happy feeling was coming from, because somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was upset for some reason.
"I--er. Yeahh. You know how to dance? I'm not sure I know how," She said, a small smile on her lips. As they danced, Aubrey tilted her head down to watch her own feet for a few moments, then looked back up. "I think I'm doing this right," Her voice came out as a soft murmur. She was mostly just speaking to herself, as the thoughts came to mind.
The song changed, and Aubrey noticed Kovu's reaction. He must like it. She smiled back at him, her expression gentle. Aubrey hadn't heard of the song before herself, but it was nice. Especially to dance to.
As they moved on the dance floor, however, Aubrey caught sight of Matt and Tess kissing. The alcohol was mixing her emotions up, and she wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling when she saw this. Some voice inside of her was telling her she should be feeling sad at this, that this mattered to her in some way. She did feel a small sting in her heart, but the alcohol was holding that feeling back behind a wall. She didn't want to think about it, and so it was gone.
Sea-blue eyes shifted from the couple back to Kovu's face, taking in his features, his smile, his eyes. The woozy feeling was getting worse, and she had the strongest urge to lay her head down somewhere. As it happened, the nearest place happened to be Kovu. Aubrey slipped close enough to rest her head against his shoulder, blond hair falling across his arm. She mumbled something, eyelashes brushing against the curves of her cheek as her eyes drifted close. She was relaxing, enjoying the sound of the music and the slow swaying of their dancing.
[image]
"That was one. No more." Sophie said, shaking her head at the guy in front of her. He was holding his hands together, a playful pleading look on his face. "By the way, you dropped your banana." Sophie pointed a finger towards the banana peel lying on the dance floor, then turned away. It was a miracle somebody hadn't tripped on it yet, as funny as that would be.
His voice trailed after her. "Thank you for the dance, pretty lady. Maybe next time."
Ignoring that, Sophie headed over towards the punch bowl, wiping her hands on her dress. For some reason it felt like she always had some of her face make-up on her fingers. After she had poured herself a cup, she let her gaze wander back over the dance floor. Another song had started up, and a few more people had joined in the dancing. Unsurprisingly, Aubrey was there. However, not with Matt--but with Kovu. Sophie sipped at her drink, her expression silent.
After awhile, she noticed Kat standing over by the speakers near Gina. Sophie took another drink of her punch, then headed over to where Kat was standing. She waved at Gina, but knew the DJ might or might not see her as she was busy with the music. Kat, however, had her eyes closed and was sort of swaying with the music. Sophie waited to see if she'd stop. She kind of looked like she didn't want to be bothered, but maybe Sophie was wrong. I'll find out I guess.
"Hey, Kat." The music was louder over here, vibrating through the floors. She cleared her throat, speaking louder. "Are you enjoying the party?"
Lizzie
She giggled a little bit when he said he agreed-- he sounded exhausted, and looked it too. He also kept looking around, looking at Kovu and Allie especially. She couldn't guess much about it, but based on what he said earlier, he liked them. She wasn't sure how to respond to that sort of thing, so she just kept dancing with him.
Then he asked her if she wanted some punch. It did look awfully good-- Aubrey seemed to like it well enough. Maybe should try some-- she didn't want to be the only one at the party that didn't. "Sure," she replied with a smile, "I'll go get some and bring you your cup back."
Leaving him for just a moment, she walked over to where the punch bowl was, pouring herself a cup and taking a swig of it. She made a slightly sour face for a minute-- that was not the taste she expected, which was fruit punch or something of the sort. It had a different taste to it, though, she had to admit, it wasn't all that bad. She sipped some more of her cup as she grabbed Jullian's and brought it back to him.
"Here ya go," she said joyfully, handing it to him as she drank a little more of her own. "Wow, maybe I am a witch-- this makes me look like I'm drinking blood or something." It seemed that after drinking the punch, she was starting to feel a little more relaxed-- hopefully Jullian would relax too.
Jullian
Jullian began to giggle. It was an odd sound but it came out almost as if he couldn't stop it. In fact the thought that he couldn't stop laughing only made him laugh harder for some reason. What is wrong with me? a small voice asked but it was being drowned out by laughter. "Witch's don't drink blood Liz, that's vampires," and the thought of vampires set him off again as he watched Sophie shut down some poor guy and walk away.
He started to bend over, trying to get his breath back, when a really dizzy feeling hit him and he found himself swaying. Ok, this was definitely something new and he was starting to suspect what was wrong. He looked down into his cup and gave it a comically exaggerated suspicious look. "What is in this?" he asked almost to himself as the music changed and completely drowned him out.
Up until then Gina had stuck to some slow songs but he guessed she wanted to get people dancing. What came on was some sort of mix of techno and maybe even had some hip hop in it somewhere. It was really cool and had a strong beat and yet was not so fast that you felt like you needed to be on E to keep up.
The beat got inside him and he found himself really wanting to dance and head bobbing just seemed like so much fun. He began shaking his head as colored lights came on and began flashing with the beat. He looked around in wonder at it for a moment. He had had nothing to do with this aspect of the party and as the music slowed down it all just felt all the more surreal.
"So cool!" he yelled, hoping Lizzie could hear him though the large exuberant smile on his face as he looked over at her said much more than words could have. He began dancing with more enthusiasm as the music sped up and looked to Lizzie to see if she'd join in.
[image]
Gina's talented hands moved over the sound equipement as she manipulated the music and, through the music, the crowd. This is what she loved about DJing, seeing the music affect people like this, seeing everyone have a good time to the beats she played.
Large headphones hung around her neck and one black, spongy, sound proof pad covered her right ear as she flipped the switch to bring up the lights. Getting the lights up had been difficult but it hadn't been too hard to find people to help with that little surprise. The animorphs were generally well liked by those that knew of them and even those that didn't know Matt and Jullian and the others were animorphs liked them as people. All she had had to do was mention it was for Matt's birthday and she'd had plenty of help.
And if the party was that much more amazing and she got a good rep for it then everyone came out a winner.
She waved to Sophie as she passed though she didn't have much time to do more than that.
Illeanna
Illeanna sat drinking her punch and for no reason she felt like giggling outloud. THe music seemed louder than before and she felt abit woozy. But, she was comfortable just sitting, everyone was dancing and seemed to be spinning blurs of color. The idea of getting up just made her dizzy and decided to just stay sitting.
She heard people talking and their voices rang in her ears the music began to pound against her brain and her mind was gaining pressure. She didn't know what to do, it hurt but she couldn't come up with the voice to make it stop and she couldn't think long enough to figure another way to make it stop. Her voice came out as a whisper, "I'm sorry..." and she began to sob quietly.
Kovu
Kovu trembled as Aubrey rested her head. His breath was short, evrythig wasgoing by so quickly, he tried to linger on the momet. He wanted this to stay in his mind forever. He breathed deeply, his heart was pounding i his chest, it felt like it was about to explode. The song began to wind down. NO! Kovu screamed in his head, his first moment with Aubrey was coming yo an end.
He swayed, as the last beutiful line of the song come to an end, then, almost as if he was trying to imitate Matt and Tess, he looked straight into Aubrey's eyes, and gave her a soft, gentle, kiss. Then the song ended, replaced by a ast mix o techno and hip-hop. Kovu slowly pulled away, entranced by what had just happened. If only this moment could last forever.
