Valentine's Day Dance Entrance

[Olivia Delmore]

Olivia loved dances. She loved being around all of the people and music and having fun. There was only one problem: her dancing. She was probably the most uncoordinated person on earth, but that still didn't keep her home. After all, she had signed up for that matchmaker thing. Mostly because she just wanted to meet new people. All she knew about the person she was meeting here was that his name was Derek, and he was pretty cute.

She hadn't gone overboard with her hair or outfit. She wore a simple purple dress and a thin silver chain around her neck. It was simple and pretty, which was how she usually liked to go. She didn't wear heels because walking in them for her would be like balancing on chopsticks. Impossible. So she had decided flats, which was the next best thing to being barefoot. Her hair was pushed back by a silver headband, falling in waves across her back. She had put on a little lip gloss and mascara for the occasion, but not a lot, just enough to accentuate her features.

So there she was, waiting for Derek by the door of the auditorium, with a smile on her face. She leaned against the wall, swaying a little to the music and observing the people around her. People were awkwardly meeting their dates, some having fun and others not so much. But overall, she concluded that this was going to be a very good night.

[Reece Turner]

Sliding off the biker jacket Reece had on, Reece quirked an eyebrow and held out his hands slowly turning around so that Sage could get a good look of the full outfit.
"My bartender might not have the moves but he sure has an eye for fashion. Gay people normally do..."
Reece only realized he'd said that after it came out and he slowly closed his eyes. It wasn't derogative.

Laker was a girl, with male tools. Reece shook his head and flicked his thick biker jacket over his arm along with his helmet hanging from a strap. Sage made such a fuss over the simple little rose that Reece suddenly felt confident that nothing he did would be seen as wrong. He'd have to bring Sage back to earth at some point right? Reece hitched up his helmet and jacket to his elbow before reaching out to help Sage with the tricky little pin.

"Sage? You shouldn't be putting me on a pedestal. There's a lot of things you don't know about me. "
Reece said carefully flicking his eyes from the rose to the emerald eyes.
"There. Perfect. You're the perfect prince now. "
Reece said carefully brushing his finger carefully across the soft sleek flower petals against the fabric of the jacket.

"Let's just enjoy the evening. Thank you for inviting me. Shall we?"
Reece inclined his head to the blonde boy and held out his free arm like the perfect gentleman to lead Sage toward the dance.

[Jordan Scholl]

Thankfully for Jordan, the teacher seemed rather preoccupied. Not to mention popular. It was easy enough to slink away.

"Okay, thanks for the advice," he said quietly, only just loud enough to be heard, before he fell back against the wall. He kept watching, though, to see if anything interesting was happening. Mostly it was just people finding their dates and looking like they were about to start dancing, but one of the most interesting things was actually the teacher he had just left.

The guy--name, what was his name?--was looking through the crowd, and his eyes seemed to lock on Vincent. Jordan had read up on Vincent. He knew all the trouble attached to that name, and he decided that he, like the teacher, would keep an eye on that corner of the room. Just in case.

For the time being, though, Jordan positioned himself in a corner of the room so he could see everyone else but not really be seen. There he satisfied himself with sipping his punch and watching everyone else. And, of course, recording it.

[Aphrodite Digiovanni]

She smiled as she as she saw Isaac. "No, I just got here actually." She said with a blush. "You look hot, Isaac." She said as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Good wow or bad wow?" She asked nervously. She bit her lip and sighed softly. "I usually don't do dances, so I just winged with the dress." She murmured and smiled. She looked him over, seeing how well he was dressed. "You look really good."

She was also a senior at Hammel. "So, do you want something to drink?" She asked, nodding her head to the table, that held the punch. "I think its tropical punch with a hint of ginger ale." She murmured. Her eyes looked into his, and sighed. "Sorry you got stuck with me, I'm a lame date." She murmured shyly. She toyed with the ends of her pink dress. "Oh here." She said as she pinned his boutineer on his shirt. "There"

[Charlie Becketh]

Charlie watched from the shadows of the fluorescent lights for the twins. It wasn't hard to spot them really, since they looked so sharp in their grey suits. And they were twins. The brunette knew she wasn’t doing a very good job of staying hidden in a yellow dress, but she did think that yellow and grey would go very nicely together. It was easy to tell that the suits weren’t straight off the rack. Great, she would be dealing with another rich kid tonight.

Easily spotted and approached, Charlie saw who she assumed to be Gabriel, grab her hand, but couldn’t feel him doing so. One of the lovely things about having armoured skin. “Gabriel,” she said, almost tasting his name in her mouth, “you’re the one with the scar.” Charlie’s broad lips tugged up into a small smile. If he approved of how she looked, that must mean something. At least he wasn’t snobby. Hopefully he didn’t have a problem with poor girls from big poor families. “Thank you, you looked quite dapper yourself.”

Charlie’s dark brown eyes bounced to the other twin, and she nodded her head towards him. “Looks like your brother’s found his date as well,” though really it was the other way around. The girl looked back to Gabriel, glad this ‘match making’ business hadn’t set her up with someone who would rub her the wrong way. “Did you want some punch?” She asked with a smirk. Charlie was used to doing things herself, and was more than willing to get her date a drink. Equality was all Charlie could see.

[Gia Elliot]

Gia couldn't think of anything but that evening the entire day of the dance. What she would wear, how she would look, how Craven would look, the look on one another's faces when they saw one another all dressed up. Of course, Craven would look amazing. He always did. That was why so many other people threw themselves at him, and why Gia still had a hard time thinking she was at all worthy of him. It didn't make it any easier that she got to listen to the thoughts of other people about him when he was around. No, she was trying to prove something to herself. She had been for the last week or so. She was still trying to prove it. she was a worthy girlfriend.

Tonight, definitely tonight she'd make herself believe it. She wiggled into the blue dress that matched the ribbon on the rose Craven had given her before their last real date, and put her hair up. Most importantly, or perhaps not truly, but part of her wanted to impress Jet just as much as she wanted to impress Craven, Gia clipped on the silver bracelet that the crow had also given her and smiled down at it. She didn't really understand the problem so many people had with the bird. It wasn't like it was hurting everyone every time it flew in. Besides, a little respect for the animal had certainly gotten Gia a long way.

Having finished getting ready a little early, Gia glanced into the mirror for one last time before heading out to wait in the common area of the dorm suite she shared. The other students were already down at the dance either alone, or with their dates. Gia hadn't really been certain when she and Craven should head down anyway. Once again, scenes from what might happen played around in her head, the different looks he might give when he saw her, and it got her blushing, even sitting there alone in the room. To still her mind, Gia started fiddling with the promise ring on her finger, twisting it around and smiling at it until there was finally a knock on the door.

[Gabriel & Uriel Raines]

Uriel turned as his date found him. "Hmm? Oh, Lindsey!" He took her hand, giving her a bow and a gentle kiss on the hand. Dances required more eloquence than casual meetings. "Oh, here, let me take your coat.." He offered, slipping around behind her and sliding it off her shoulders, a smile brightening his features.

"I love your dress, you look stunning." He said, disappearing for a moment to the appointed 'coat room,' before heading back out to her, still smiling. "You're a little cold, did you walk here?" He asked, concern apparent on her face.

Her? Late? He smiled once again. "You're not late, trust me. A lady is never late - she arrives right on time, no matter what." He told her, smiling. She was smallish - not in a bad way, definitely not in a bad way, but very pretty. Along those lines, her dress was beautiful - his grey suit fit in perfectly with it.

~~~

Dapper. Gabriel loved that word - dapper, it was an excellent word. As she offered to get him a drink, he couldn't help but laugh, the smile twinkling up easily into his eyes. "Haha! Maybe I'm just a bit new at this, but isn't that my job?" He asked with a wink, before offering her his arm. "Come on, we can go together." He offered, letting her loop her arm through his.

As he led her to the punch table, he glanced over to her. "So armored skin, right? How does that work?" It was a simple enough question that if she didn't want to talk about it, she could give a quick answer and just move on, or if she did, she could go into as much depth as she wanted and he would - of course, gladly listened.

He was genuinely curious as to how to worked. He was curious as to how gestalt pairs happened, but it wasn't really explained. Just one person split into two bodies. It meant they both skipped that whole 'finding themselves' stage in life, though, they're just gradually both meandering towards the person they were meant to be. Nothing complicated.

[Lindsey Turner]

The relief that flooded through Lindsey as the twin said her name was astounding. Thank goodness she had assumed correctly. The two boys were identical, unlike Lindsey and her own twin, and Lindsey hadn't really gotten into a habit of recognizing differences between twins, especially when they were so inseparable and alike. Oh no. was it okay to say that identical twins were alike in personality too? She needed to stop that. She wasn't a worry wort normally, and tonight of all nights was to have fun. Not to work yourself into an anxiety that would make the most ocd person in bedlam think she was crazy.

Her coat was taken, and Lindsey slowly let a little of her nerves drain into the air around her, hoping that no one around her felt more than a few butterflies, and assumed it was from their dates. Oh that would make Lindsey a happy little matchmaker-helper-person. Was there a name for that? Oh well. She rubbed her arms lightly, though she let them drop back to her sides as her date reappeared, and Lindsey blushed at the compliment. Her dress was actually rather simple. And quite soft actually. And a black satin ribbon-belt around the waist as an accent. "Thank you. You look great in your suit as well. And yeah, but it's no big deal. My sister took the car we were supposed to share tonight."

His line about never being late made Lindsey grin, all the excess anxiety fluttering away from her. That was a useful line to have in her arsenal. On the off chance that she was ever late to a class, she could use it to argue that the teacher had merely begun the class early, right? "I like that! Mind if I steal it from you at some point?" She glanced around the auditorium at the pink decorations and smiled. It was certainly Valentine's-y. Props to the decorating committee, whoever it was. And the DJ wasn't half bad either. "Hey, how do you feel about dancing?"

[Delilah Grande]

The bright brown eyed girl had been having loads and loads of trouble getting ready for the dance. Her makeup had smudged, her dress had torn and had to be sewn and there was a powder explosion from her blusher because Lily had been having trouble unscrewing the lid. Oh and her curling iron had nicked her in five places across her hand and her face which she had layered with loads of cover up. Hopefully it would do to keep from being revealed to a date. A girl. She was ever so relieved it had turned out to be a girl.

Guys were just sometimes too much to handle. Cocky and snobbish and Lily just couldn't deal with it at all. That was about the only thing that had gone right during the day. Lily had burst into tears halfway through her get ready time and had to take about 30 minutes out in order to cry. She knew the boys and Abi would hear her crying but they kinda just left her too it. She was more then grareful for that because Lily was sure she looked like the monster from the blue lagoon right about then.

Finally, thirty minutes into the event, Delilah made it to the auditorium trying not to stumble on the shoes she was wearing. She was horrified when she saw the romantic mood. No preasure then? Delilah reminded herself that this was a school even and there were chaporones everywhere to keep kids from getting tooo snuggly so she'd be okay right? Taking a deep breath Delilah pulled out her date card from her tiny over the shoulder purse. Once her head inclined downwards, her curls bounced into her face, the perfect veil of auburn hair.

Awkwardly Delilah shifted out the way as couples passed through the doors and the lost girl sought the crowds for a lone soldier waiting to be her blind date. Okay, this would be embarressing but what wasn't in Delilah's life anyway? Slowly Lily moved across the walls of the Auditorium and started saying 'Rebecca Turner' over and over again in hopes of catching her blind date's attention.

[Taitum Marshall]

Taitum pulled up in his sleek black 4 x 4 into the parking lot of Hammel institution after having gone to pick up his ... well... lover. He was not gonna label her save for HIS. He'd already marked her as his in more ways then one anyway. He killed the engine and stared out the front where people were filling toward the building then slowly turned to Aracelli. She'd mentioned she was trying to get employment here at some point once she graduated from Uni. Being twenty four, they'd hardly take her on the research team, that was for certain.

There was the reason he was doing this stupid dance though. Getting her in with the locals who would more then likely become her co-workers. Oh and there was the fact that he wanted to keep an eye on his boys. He'd heard of the fight and he was not happy about it. He'd make sure they knew sooner or later. How typical that Lani and Thyme, his boys, had been fighting and even knew of one another. The connection to him with the two of them was quite entertaining.

Taitum raised an eyebrow at Celli. She looked good enough to eat. The higher that lacey little number of hers rose, the more appreciative he became of having her by his side that night.
"Okay so here are the rules and yes there are rules. "
Taitum narrowed his eyes at her for a moment daring her to go against him. He was not in the mood for fooling around with this. This was serious. This was his place of work and he wanted his personal life to be kept away from his cold exterior in his work life.

"No kissing, no cuddling, no hand holding or whatever else is done at one of these events."
Because honestly... he didn't have a clue.
"Public affection is something I do not display often, if at all. I'd like to keep it that way. Secondly, there will be no labelling you as my girlfriend. I'd appreciate that very much and lastly, I'm NOT going to dance with you. Don't even ask me. I don't dance."

Taitum took a deep breath and waited for Aracelli to start arguing because he could almost imagine her doing that. Oh come the day when he had her right under his thumb, like his little puppet on a string. His eyes darkened at the mere though and a ghost of a smirk played across his face. His gift, his prize. His.

[Becca Turner]

Becca sat and watched as people entered the dance, glad that her additions to the decorations had gone unnoticed, both by the people who were already at the dance when she'd arrived, and the people walking into the giant pink prison afterward. She just had to bide her time well and wait for the right moment to set the trick off now. She took a seat along the wall and crossed her arms over her chest, jutting her legs out in front of her. If one person tripped and ripped either their, or their date's dress tonight because of her legs, Becca would be happy.

She watched Lindsey walked in, too happy for Becca's tastes after the girl had been forced to walk to the dance, and found her date. That was bust. And the frown only deepened as Reece walked in with some kid. At least the last girl had been close to graduation. The boy looked like a mouse that the upperclassman, and certainly Becca, might snack on. What was wrong with Reece? The dates just kept getting younger and younger, eventually he'd be taking five year olds on romantic nights out that ended in Reece's bedroom. Intervention would definitely be necessary.

As she pondered through this, and watched her siblings enjoying themselves, a whisper coming along the wall toward her caught her ear and attention. Nobody called her Rebecca. The sloppy-looking girl kept muttering it, despite the scowl that was clearly on Becca's face until she passed by. Becca let her continue a few steps and repeats past her before she actually said anything. "It's Becca. And what?" Perhaps not the best first impression to have on her blind date, but hey. Lying about who she was on the first date would mean lying through the rest of the unlikely-to-happen relationship.

[Craven Grimley]

Craven stared at the laptop scream where his uncle gave a somewhat awkward smile in return.
"You'll do this for me right, Craven? Make them feel welcome?"
Craven's lips parted for a little while before he forced a smile on his features. Why did he have to get told NOW? Gabriel and Dilan had done so much for him and Gia though. Were it not for Gabriel and Dilan, Gia and Craven would not have any sort of promise for eternity together at all so... Technically he was in their debt.

So was Gia and they were most definitely in this together. Craven nodded slowly.
"Yeah sure. We'll be our sweet accomodating selves. Tell Mrs. Elliot 'Hi' from me. Give Rose a kiss and Gabriel a hug. "
Craven straightened and pointed to the door.
"I've got to go pick up my Cinderella for the ball. I think I'm late already. "
Dilan smiled and nodded at the screen.

"Go on then Prince Charming. I'll speak to you both soon. "
Dilan waved and the screen went black causing Craven's eyes to flick away from the screen and to the black bird sitting beside it also having peeked and watched the conversation.
"You know the deal Jet. You stay away from the Auditorium tonight. Don't mess this up for Gee and me. "
The crow tilted her head back and started knocking softly while Craven closed the laptop and leaned over to open the window for the black crow to fly out.

He hoped she'd listen him. Just this once would be nice. Once she was out and he had time to finish up, slipping on beautiful diamon stud cufflinks and straightening his royal blue tie, Craven was finally deemed appropriate to take his princess Cinderella to the ball. He scooped up the red rose (cause he was making her collect them now) and the tiny box with a pretty little red heart set from the table.

She had diamonds and rubies and she had to have sapphires and garnets and well... all the other precious stones he could manage to pick up. His shopping habbits had begun to revolve around his girlfriend. He wanted to show her just what she meant to him. Low self esteem with him was not an option. Once last check in the mirror to make sure his Outfit was perfect and Craven was out the door.

It was good that Gia lived right down the hall from him. Through their lives, he wouldn't spare any expense to make it so for always and ever. He wanted Gia within arms reach all the time. Once Craven reached the door and knocked softly, he shifted his weight for a moment before opening the door. There was no one in there anyway. He knew she'd be the only one left. Sage would have left already because Thyme had and had mentioned he was going to pick up his cousin.

He didn't know too much about the other roommate Gia had but he knew his girlfriend would be waiting either there for him or in her room. Upon opening the door Craven froze. All he saw was one beautiful leg rising up under curls of royal blue fabric and disappearing. The high heels she wore were arching her delicate feet into a curve that could make any man shiver. His eyes made their way up the rest of her. OH God. Her dresses around the top... she had cleavage showing. Craven let out a breath and cleared his throat.

Craven quickly crossed to her and set the rose and the jewelry box in her lap stroking the back of his hand across her cheek.
"I forgot my boxing gloves in my room. I'll be right back baby..."
He smirked and backed away slowly biting into his bottom lip to show his appreciation for the way she looked tonight. This was perfect partner and they'd have their happily ever after. He stopped halfway across the room and motioned with his hand before digging his hands into his pocket.

"Open it... The box."
He said softly watching her with nothing but adoration in his blue eyes.

[Samuel Rixon]

It was rare that Sam showed up to school events sober. It was even rarer that he showed up in some semblance of a nice outfit. He was still the proud owner of a few choice items of Vincent’s clothing, and he’d taken advantage of the fact that a) they were clean, and b) he still had them in his closet. It was the same thing he’d worn to the last dance, minus the tie and the guyliner.

He’d also brought flowers to Spencer’s dorm, because... well...

Okay, it had been Levi’s idea. The conversation had been fairly short lived.

”You should get Spencer flowers for the dance!”

“... Flowers? Like... what kind?”

“Roses, Sam. Duh.”

So, he’d showed up almost on time with a handful of pink and red roses before escorting one Spencer Ellis to the auditorium. He hadn’t said much since he’d picked her up, mostly because... well... when one looked that hot, there wasn’t much to say. Speech was rendered a little useless.

Thankfully, the dance environment seemed to coax him back into his loud, annoying self. The pyro tugged Spencer into the dark room, grinning at the flashing lights and the music. “Oh my God babe! This is gonna be awesome!” Then, in a moment of genuine affection, he nuzzled closer and pressed a quick, warm kiss to her ear. “You look mega hot, by the way.”

Hotter than Vincent’s date. No matter who it was.

[Aracelli de Rosales Salamanca]

Hours had been spent getting ready for this, the first Valentine’s activity with Taitum. Reece had always made a huge deal out of it when they were together, and although she had a feeling Taitum wasn’t as overt as Reece had been, she didn’t know where he fell on the spectrum, so she was trying to make sure she was prepared for anything. When he’d asked her to the dance, it had been reluctant, but she’d written it off as not wanting to share. Taitum was fiercely possessive of her, although it wasn’t anything to send up red flags to the Spanish girl. Perhaps it should have, but she was caught up in the newness of the relationship and all the excitement that such situations came with.

She’d gone shopping just for the date and had found the most magnificent dress for the dance. Luckily, she already had accessories, so she was able to put together a rather unique outfit. Most everyone tended to wear reds and whites on such a romantic day, but she’d wanted to wear something different. Plus, she was going with one of the staff members, so black seemed like a nice way to be able to fade into the background if they didn’t want to be noticed. Although, perhaps the glittery black of her lacey dress wasn’t the best choice for fading into anything.

Taitum had picked her up and they’d gotten underway, his sleek 4x4 cutting through any snow on the roads. She always felt extremely safe with Taitum, but it was difficult to verbalize exactly why those feelings were there. The ride over to the facility was quiet, the Spanish girl not sure what to talk about or discuss on this their first real public outing as a couple. It was a bit surreal to her actually. When the vehicle rolled to a stop in the parking lot, and Taitum began to go over his “rules”, Aracelli’s happy little bubble burst into a million tiny pieces. What was the point of her even being there then?

Brown eyes lit with fire, and her hands tightened on the small clutch, but as she kept her mouth shut and thought before she spoke, a valuable talent she’d begun to perfect around Taitum, a small smile ghosted over the glossy red lips. She wouldn’t argue, no, that would only cause them both sorrow. No, she’d simply make sure that she obeyed each and every one of his rules, to the letter, and making him utterly miserable that he’d even thought about dictating her actions in such a situation. After making sure that she had herself under control, she smiled up at Taitum and spoke quietly.

“As you wish, Taitum.” They descended from the vehicle and made their way inside, she was on the lookout for Reece. As a past alumni, he’d likely be here, with or without a date, and she could whisper in his ear to dance with her. After that, she’d get Reece to introduce her to people, since Taitum seemed to want to be here without her, she’d simply ignore him all night. She was quite certain that would get her message across to him. She was also certain that he wasn’t going to like it.

[Sage Ersilia]

Sage could fully admire the outfit Laker had chosen for Reece once he removed his biker jacket, and the comment that ‘gay men had a better eye for fashion’, although a bit stereotypical, amused the blond. He understood full well what Reece had meant, but he rather liked how the brunette’s words came out. It was a part of him it seemed to say things in a way that could have a different meaning entirely, but his good intentions could always be found.

The boy blushed as his date leaned in to assist him with the rose, and he enjoyed the closeness between them. However, Reece’s words caused him to frown ever so slightly as he tried to discredit himself, and Sage shook his head, his smile returning as the rose was perfectly placed on his suit, and he nodded in thanks.

“Thank you. It’s perfect…”

As the brunette’s fingers brushed the petals, Sage took his own hand, resting it over his for a brief moment.

“I told you I wanted to know you, didn’t I? So, I am already prepared. And why can’t I put you on a pedestal when you put me on a throne? I’m not perfect either, you know”

Sage was joyful at the thanks for having been invited, and when Reece held out his arm to lead them into the dance, he tried to take it without looking too eager. They entered the room, and Sage was surprised at how many people had shown up. He thought for sure that there would be less people, but thanks to the blind date sign-up, the dance had a real great turn-out. Sage smiled again at Reece, his body glowing with excitement. This was going to be a great night.