LGBT Youth Prom 2014: The Arrival (Open)

[Dr. Sean Neville]

((OOC: This is backdated to Saturday, June 7, 2014, which is prior to much of the Plague. You decide by your character's timeline whether they are affected yet.))

Every year, the LGBT Youth Center on the outskirts of Pilot Ridge held an LGBT Prom. This was an alternative to the local high school, which held a prom for its students. Hammel, by contrast, as a progressive school, did not, and so many of the Hammel students only had the LGBT Youth Center Prom for their prom experience.

This year was no different. As with every year, this year's prom had a theme: Disney/Pixar. Costumes were not mandatory, although they were allowed and encouraged. Any character related to Disney/Pixar was allowed for a costume, although there was a dress code that involved shoes, underwear, some sort of bottom layer over underwear, and no bare chests. Beyond that, the teenagers could do as they pleased.

The ballroom for the dance was covered with decorations related to Disney and Pixar movies: characters, iconic settings and items. The DJ was playing all types of music, not merely soundtracks, although Frozen was featured prominently due to popularity and recentness.

Entrance was free, food was served along the back tables buffet style, and there was to be no alcohol. All of the regular volunteers were there, and, as always, Sean was heartened to see the excellent attendance. It made him happy to see the youth find acceptance and fun at the Center.

He and Josh stood near the buffet tables in the back, keeping an eye on the teens as they danced and interacted.

[Safia Chatterjee]

Safia didn't have a date to prom, but that was fine by her. Honestly, she probably wouldn't have gone except for the fact that it was held at the LGBT center, and she immediately knew who she was going to go as with the theme they had chosen. It was only obvious that she would be Toothless, right?

Sure, it wasn't the sexiest of most conventional of costumes, but she was having a hell of a lot of fun with it. It helped that she hardly had to actually make any part of the costume herself - with a black, form-fitting spaghetti strap tanktop and skinny leather pants, the only other thing she'd had to do was make a hood with Toothless's little 'ears' and she was golden. Her wings, tail, and clawed hands and feet were all natural; the scales lining her shoulders, arms, and just around the edges of her face were all hers, too. Safia thought she looked pretty sick, if she did say so herself.

Her tail swished around as she meandered towards the punch table, having not yet seen anyone she knew. Safia could feel some pairs of eyes follow her as she walked, and grinned to herself. She was happy to get this sort of attention; it was fun, and flattering, to know people thought she was worth watching. The dragon-girl snagged a cup of punch and turned to scan around, wondering if she was going to see someone she knew, or if she should find a cute girl to chat up with in the meantime.

[Salem Hirch]

So, here he was at the Prom. Well, not there yet; he was still waiting outside for Anthony. Of course he made his best straight friend bring him here. Salem always felt safest around Anthony, his Solider Ant. He watched the people as they strolled into the buildings in their various costumes, and for once actually felt proud of the way he looked. It was a Disney/Pixar theme and the first thing that popped into his mind was Elsa, more to the point, a gender bent version of Elsa. He actually felt, good looking and was slightly excited for Tony to see. He had only mentioned to his bestie what he planned on being and was just as excited to see what the other had picked out. 

Though, thinking of Anthony now put a little frown on his slightly sparkly face. His best friend, the friend that reminded him so much of the brother he lost, was leaving him for college soon. True he wouldn't be that far away, but still; to Salem it felt like he was on another planet. Then again, the boy had been very odd lately. Which of course Salem just brushed off as the end of the year business taking it's tole. He sure missed his friend though, deeply. 

Now little butterflies started to fill his stomach, and he turned away from the building and walked a little ways away. Shuffling through his costume he managed to find his smokes and lit one up quickly. He had no idea how much time he had before Anthony got there or one of the adults caught him. Salem needed it though, his nerves were starting to get the best of him. He leaned on a wall, and watched as the sequins on his costume danced a little in the street light. 

[Deleted]

Phoenix.... Looked ridiculous, to be honest. He'd whined about the choice of costume he and Oriel had decided on, but it seemed only natural that he go as Tinkerbell because of his natural wings. He'd even dyed his hair blonde for the get-up; Oriel was going as a sexy Captain Hook, so Phoenix had decided, despite his cringing at the dress he had to wear, that he wanted to be as legit as possible.

"I loog silly," he complained as he walked arm-and-arm with his Squishy pirate to the front doors. His voice was still thick and nasally from being sick; fortunately, he was doing a lot better today than he had been the day before on his birthday, so he'd insisted they come since they'd worked so hard on their costumes (with some help, of course). Still, Phoenix kept tugging down on the hem of his dress. "Id's so shord. Why couldn'd we have made id longer?"

Phen pouted and looked over at Oriel again, scowling at his boyfriend. "You loog fuggin' hod," he complained some more, tapping his palm against Oriel's chest. His wings twitched behind him as they entered the building, and Phoenix automatically started sliding towards the edge of the room, wanting to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. With luck, the dark atmosphere, and his now longer hair, nobody would even know he was a guy. "Whadaya wanna do, Capdain?" he asked, pecking his pirate on the cheek. Phen was determined to have fun, dammit!

[Greg Mackenzie]

Greg wouldn’t have thought that he’d be coming to the Centre’s prom with a date. He would’ve made an appearance nonetheless don’t get him wrong – he did, after all, have more of a hand in this than last time’s Valentine’s Day dance, being the co-head of marketing and promotions and all – but having a date for “prom” to him always seemed to be reserved for people you’re wholly committed to, and since he didn’t really have any at the moment (Richard was gone gone gone, and despite a handful of guys he’s seeing, he didn’t really see any of them as boyfriend or even promdate material), he figured he’d be going stag. Which, since he’s done it during the Valentine’s Day dance, wasn’t really that bad.

But then Stephen learned of the dance when he asked Greg why he wasn’t available to watch The Fault In Our Stars Saturday night, and immediately the Californian with super strength asked why the Canadian hasn’t asked him to come with. In an ideal world, Greg would’ve been honest and told Stephen that he’s not sure they’re on that state in their relationship to go to prom together – they’ve just been casually dating for three weeks after all (Greg says emphasis on ‘casual’). (In all honesty even, he’s unsure if they’ll be able to last for another week). But the world was anything but, so the telepath made an excuse about not wanting to bother Stephen about the costume aspect of prom.

Lucky for them both, Stephen went as Nemo last Halloween so he’s good to go. Great.

Greg went as Ariel (‘cause he just needed neon green pants and a short red wig, and it worked well with Stephen’s) and for a while, was actually having fun dancing with Stephen and his fellow volunteers. But then ‘Under the Sea’ came up and instead of dancing, he found himself dragged to the corner by Stephen, wanting to have ‘the talk’.

Oh it’s so not happening.

The Canadian made a quick excuse about his parents calling him to check up on him, and promptly walked out of the building. He needed some air.

Deciding he needed a bit of guidance on what to do next, he took his phone out of the red pursemurse he borrowed from a friend and dialed Harrison, walking away from the building ‘cause of the noise. “Oh cool. Nice costume. One of Tinkerbell’s snow fairy cousins? Cool,” he said as he passed by a blonde, winking slightly. So maybe he’s watched a movie – or two – that had Tinkerbell as the lead. He has an eight year-old sister ok?

“DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE. I need help,” he said the moment Harrison picked up, not minding if someone else could hear him, “Stephen wants to DTR. Like now. I told you going’s a bad idea fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Why does he have to have that tongue? Like of all people. ‘Cause bro I tell you that tongue is a miracle. Like, I betcha it could’ve brought Jesus to life.”

[Deleted]

Phoenix looked adorable. The only thing that could’ve made it more perfect was if Phoenix actually had a chest to fill out that skimpy fairy dress. And they didn’t even have to get fake wings. Oriel’s costume had been a lot tougher to procure, but through the help of some friends that were probably more friends with Phoenix than they were with Oriel, he managed to show up in his Hook costume. Not the ugly version from the cartoon, but the cool version from the TV show that was clearly owned by Disney.

Unfortunately, Phoenix was still a little bit sick, so there was no telling how long they would be able to stay. As long as Phoenix’s stamina lasted, he supposed.

Oriel smirked as he slid up closer to his boyfriend and lightly smacked his non-existent butt. “I think it’s just perfect,” he said, leaning in with a seductive smile. Oriel backed away and held his head up high, knowing that he was rocking the look. He laughed and followed his date to the corners of the large room, panning his eyes around at the crowd. “Uh….I don’t know…shit there’s a lot of people here,” he mumbled. Oriel was glad that they decided to get over themselves and actually show up to one of these events, but that didn’t make the nervous go away. “Maybe…we should check out the food bar?” he suggested. That was a good start. This was the first time Oriel had been to an event like this so…he was both nervous, excited, and anxious all at once. And didn’t have a clue of what to do.

[Georgina Speer]

Okay. George felt weird. For one, she wasn't really wearing a hat or a head piece or anything, which left a foreign empty feeling on her head, and secondly, she was wearing a skirt. Yes, she had bought a skirt. The girl who hadn't worn a skirt... ever at Hammel, was now wearing one. Her legs felt weird. But her costume wasn't like a fru-fru princess. Pssh, could you expect her to go out in public in a dress? Seriously. No, she was a cool person. Vanellope Von-Fucking-Schweetz. She looked awesome, and she knew it. If she ran into some people, though, she knew that they would probably say something.

Avoiding Greg was an idea, because he would probably squeal like a six-year-old girl at the sight. She hadn't told anyone who she was going to be so... yay.

Oh, and she didn't have a date. But you didn't need a date to have fun.

She had bounded inside, half glancing at those out there and not playing much attention. She scanned around, once inside, and took in the awesomeness. There was... oh my glob, was that a dragon girl? She looked at the girl for another moment and realized... Toothless!!!! Eeeee, that was SO. COOL. She kept skipping around, hands in her hoodie pocket. She could almost seem in character from the way she was acting, but this was just George being George. Plus lots of sugar.

Her eyes caught on red and - okay, there was Greg. She went into Ninja mode to try and stay out of sight, but being the clumsy, loud, awkward girl she was, it was easy for her to be spotted. So easy.

Like how easy it was to spot the Tinkerbell. Yes, she was at the side of the room, but those wings stood out. There were a lot of costumes and people, but when something was obvious, it was obvious. She seemed to be with some dark version of Captain Ho-

Wait. Was that Oriel?

That was so Oriel.

So that would mean...

Nope, not looking anymore. George hopped over to the dance-floor and began boogying like a cool person, busting out all dem moves. People be jealous, bro.

[Deleted]

"Why did I agree t'this..." Kodi mumbled as he and the moron approached the LGBT Center entrance. After some convincing, he'd finally agreed to go to this silly thing. Apparently it would be a sin not to come dressed up, so the dentokinetic had grudgingly dressed up as the villain Scar, complete with the wound over his eye, mussed up black hair, and fangs... Along with a natural scowl. His clothing wasn't much, but he thought it fit the character fine enough.

His eyes scanned around as they entered the building, and he nearly choked as he caught sight of Oriel and his blonde bitch. "Oh my God... Okay, it was worth comin' just t'see that," he snickered, pointing towards the other couple. Oriel, of course, looked hot as hell, but Kodi wouldn't say that. His own boyfriend looked pretty damn fine too.

"You think someone's spiked the punch yet?" he snickered, fangs gleaming as he pulled Gryphon toward the food table. The music playing was... Hard to listen to, but Kodi did his best to ignore it. More likely than not, he'd end up dragging his lover outside away from the crowd for some much needed privacy sooner rather than later. The thought was enough to bring back memories of the last dance he'd come to here... "You don't got any secret dates tonight, do you?" he teased.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon rolled his eyes and smirked a little, "Because otherwise you'd be sat in your room, alone." He himself had actually put effort into what he was wearing, and thought he looked pretty damn hot, too. He'd come as Leon from Kingdom Hearts - yeah, sure, whatever, he wasn't from one of the films, but Disney owned Kingdom Hearts and it was a good game. So hah.

His eyesight followed in the direction that Kodi had signalled, and Gryph blinked a few times. He didn't know whether to feel sorry for Phen or not. He didn't look screamingly happy, but... "I never thought I'd see Phen in a dress." More likely him than Oriel - although, from his conversations with the other boy, it didn't seem an entire impossibility. He tried not to think about it for too long.

In contrast to what Kodi thought, Gryph was enjoying the music and the atmosphere. And he was pretty certain that someone hadn't spiked the punch. "I hope you're not gettin' any ideas." He said, although he was also pretty certain that Kodi didn't have any alcohol on him.

He laughed once at the question, and then nodded, "Yeah, him," he pointed at one guy, "Him," he pointed at another, "Him," he accidentally pointed at Phen, "And him." He pointed at a girl. Raising his eyebrows, Gryph looked at Kodi, "Hope you don't mind." He joked, grinning mischievously. He was silly.

[Deleted]

In exchange for forcing him to enter into a contest that Anthony didn’t even think he’d win, Salem was in turn forcing the soon-to-be graduate to be his prom date…with Kailin’s permission, of course. And her loving support for him and his best friend. Anthony was a little bit less than amused at the turn of events, but it was fine. Just a night, and who knew? Maybe Anthony could find someone for Salem to hook up with? That’s what wingman-ing was all about, after all!

He decided…well, after hearing from Salem what the blonde intended to be for the event, Anthony felt it his duty to have as much fun with it as he could and take it a step further. So, if Salem was going as a gender bent Elsa, then Anthony was going as a gender bent Anna…because who didn’t like Frozen? Seriously, who didn’t? And Kailin’s approving nods had nothing to do with him being okay with this, by the way.

Anthony approached the building, after parking in the nearby lot, and looked up to see his blonde date waiting for him outside. He had to hold back a smile, but the look really did suit Salem. He skipped up beside the boy with the cigarette and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, haven’t I told you enough times that those thing’ll kill you,” he said with a small laugh. He was just teasing. While Anthony didn’t really approve of smoking himself and would never do it, he wasn’t going disown Salem for something so small and stupid.

[Salem Hirch]

In typical Salem fashion, his mind had wandered to...well, wherever it felt like really. Some of it was summer plans, others of his friends, parents, but mostly his brother. It had been so long since they heard any news and the boy was losing hope more and more each day. Still deep in his trance like state, a voice clicked in his ears and he looked up. It was guy whom he'd seen around, but never really talked to, which of course made Salem stiffen for a moment at the prospect of having to speak to someone new, luckily he didn't have to. The guy was gone to quickly and talking on his phone. Though Salem was a little miffed about being called a fairy. Even muttered a few words under his breath about it. 

Eventually, his ear caught the sound of the music from inside and he drifted away, occasionally taking a drag off his cigarette. So of course as Anthony approached, he was clueless. The touch on his shoulder almost sent him to the nearest roof. He coughed on his smoke some and then glared, playfully, at his dear friend. "Yeah, and you giving me a heart attack isn't helping things." He chuckled and put his smoke out of curtesy to Anthony. It wasn't until he was crushing the thing into the ground that he noticed Tony's costume and his eyes lit up.

"Oh. My. God." He walked around the other boy, practically spinning and beaming with happiness. "You're Anna!" Salem looked him over and then hugged him tightly. In his heart, he knew he would repay his bestie for doing this for him, somehow. Letting go, he holds his hand out for Anthony. "Ready to go stud?" He teased as he waited.

[Benjamin Park]

Of course Benji was going to prom. Why wouldn't he? It was fun, there would be dancing, and if he was lucky he'd find a cute babe to make out with by the end of the night. Well, maybe... Straight people could go to the dance too, right? Ah, hell with it, he was going regardless!

To fit with the theme, he'd gone with a fairly simple Aladdin costume, purple vest and all. He didn't have a date, of course, because... That would be no fun! Then he wouldn't be able to chat up all the other cuties that would be there. Wait, he wasn't going to get hit on by dudes, was he? Hmmmmm...

Whatever! Benji bust into that place like the awesome shiz he was and immediately headed for the dance floor. The music wasn't exactly the kind he was used to dancing too, but it would work. Soon enough, he was busting out a rhythm, moving his body with fluid grace from years of practice and experience.

Suddenly, he noticed a familiar face. Ooooooh look who it was! Benji couldn't help himself, he swayed over to George with a grin, and a cocky one at that. "I didn't realize I'd see you here!" he told her over the music. "Nice to see a familiar face." He was all smiles and shaking hips. "And you lied to me, you're totally dancing!"

[Deleted]

Phoenix squeaked as his boyfriend tapped his ass, sending a scowl back at Oriel. "We're in publig, Squish," he whined. Phen didn't want everyone to see Oriel treating him like that.

... Oh, that was a lie, Phoenix had no pride and everyone probably knew it by now anyway. And besides, Oriel looked so hot right now Phoenix would likely just let him get away with anything... Not that he didn't usually anyway. Sigh.

"Of course you thing id's perfecd," he sighed. It the dress was any shorter, Phoenix was sure he'd be showing off things the public shouldn't see. "I thoughd you haded blondes, though," he added, playing with his now-lightened hair. "Hobefully this sduff washes oud..." Nope, it was not going to wash out and Phoenix was going to be stuck like that for a month.

"'Course there's a lodda people, id's a dance," he mumbled. Still, Phen was nervous too - he and crowds just didn't do well, and his wings were already out, which made him more nervous because he was more likely to freak out and dust people and.... Yeahhh this wasn't a good idea. Too late now... "Food sounds good," he agreed with a nod, glad for the distraction. Phen let himself be dragged over to the table, whereupon they were met with both food and a dragon. It took Phen a minute, but he recognized a girl he'd seen in the shop a few times to buy crickets. "Hi," he said shyly, looking down. She might not even recognize him, he realized. Phoenix quickly grabbed a cup and filled it with punch, chugging down the sweet fluid as he clung nervously to Oriel.

[Deleted]

"Yeah, with a nice, long, thick.... Book in my hands," Kodi retorted with a grin. Honestly, he should be fine as long as he and Gryph stuck together. There wasn't a chance in hell he was gonna dance though, nope.

"Gotta admit, the faerie's got nerve for comin' in public as a... Faerie." He snorted and bumped his forehead against Gryph's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I've seen a dress'r two in Oriel's closet. He probably just borrowed it from him." It was a huge turn-off to Kodi, of course, but whatever.

"What, me? Spike the punch?" Kodi made an incredulous expression. "You think I would do that? Oh, I'm hurt~" He put on a mock pout before he broke into laughter. "Nahh, I ain't gotta flask on me. Silly." He stood on his toes and pecked his boyfriend's cheek, slipping his hand into Gryphon's own. "You look hot, babe," he murmured. Then again, he never didn't look hot, but whatever.

He snorted as Gryph started pointing out his 'dates', giving a very big roll of his eyes. "Well, I guess I'll just have t'go outside an' make out with a lamp post," he pretended to grump. "Seeya later." Kodi slipped away from his boyfriend and purposefully sauntered his hips, taking a few steps before looking back with a grin that showed off his fangs. "Come on, moron, let's get somethin' drink before I drag you out back t'snog." Because like hell was he gonna stay in here much longer.

[Mia Bell]

Mia stood in front of the doors to the LGBT center, it was prom night… She was never nervous, especially since she was going with her roommate Amelia… She was pretty confused as to what type of night this would be. Was this a date? Why must all these things be confusing… Maybe it was better for her to think this wasn’t a date, and this was just a dance between friends? Mel wouldn’t probably go dance with some of the other girls… But that didn’t explain why Mel had the sense to rent a limo just to go to this dance… This wasn’t anything special for her, unless Mel was planning on hooking up with someone tonight. If that was the case than Mia understood where the limo came in. Still she couldn’t help but think she was going a little too far for a dance that wasn’t even hers..

Not that she even regretted inviting Mel to the dance, was it an invite? Or was it more of her asking Mel to be her date? How could she really not know… The bigger question, what did Amelia think? She guessed it didn’t matter, wait what happened to her not even thinking about it?

Amelia somehow tugged her away from her thoughts as she stood in front of the entrance doors awkwardly. “Oh, Sorry!” She walked through the doors and found her way inside. It was very, interesting, she recognized everyone’s costume, except for the Asian boy who was just wearing a black shirt… She was pretty amazed at all the gender bent costumes, mostly because she always wondered what they would look like. Mia was dressed up as Kairi from kingdom hearts, it wasn’t a character from a movie, but it still counted. To go with the costume, because she was preparing this ever since the activity Council had decided on the Disney theme for the dance (it paid to be a member). She had grew her hair out for it, so it would look like Kairi's in the second kingdom hearts game, she also dyed her hair a burgundy color. She was pretty intent on the costume...