"I was unaware there was a Winter Ball." Maximilian responded promptly in a somewhat intrigued yet obviously aloof manner. "I suppose I should pay attention to these things more often." He smiled as he raised his arms with a shrug. He was of course lying, he wasn't idiot and he was far more attentive then he pretended to be. He knew of the upcoming social event and he knew exactly what Logan was trying to do by putting him on the spot.

"Y'know, I've just been so busy this year with school life and club business- I haven't had any time to really get to know anyone. And I don't mean to dodge the question, I just really can't fathom coming up with any plans now on such a short notice." He was quick to try and change the subject away from the Winter Ball. He wasn't quite sure how far Logan was willing to go with his little game but he sure as hell wasn't going to make a fool of himself in front of Evelyn just so he could get a quick laugh.

"How about you two, don't you find it hard to deal with all the work they give us while having a social life?" He originally thought to ask Evelyn what her plans for the Winter Ball would be but felt that it would be impolite to put her on the spot like that... well, perhaps his motives weren't all that genuine. He was also a bit concerned she would say something regarding the ball that he really didn't want to hear and so instead he tried to move the conversation else where.

Alice c*** her head at Lloyd. "A makeover?" She said. "Is that really all you want to do?" She thought about it for a moment, then shrugged with a "hmmph." "Okay!" She smiled, still a bit red in the face. "Why don't we head to a more private place so we can begin this makeover?"

Lloyd smiled in anticipation. "Alright, lead the way. Just make sure we have the supplies when we get there."

Alice nodded and lead the way back to her room, as Phora followed on foot behind her. When they reached her room, Alice grabbed the doorknob before turning towards Lloyd. "Don't tell anyone what you see in here!" She said. Opening the door, she dodged a baseball bat that came swinging down on a rope. "Security measures. You know the drill." The girl stepped into her room. The whole place was littered with all manner of otherworldy objects. "Phora! I told you to clean up the mess you made last night."

Phora shrugged. "I put away the staff of infinite donuts." Alice just shook her head. She pointed to a makeup kit that was on her bed.

"My friend brought this here and forgot it. Let's get this over with."

Evelyn restrained the urge to smile broadly at the mention of Logan and Bernice going to the Winter Ball together. While she herself was quite apathetic to the idea of romance and love, she found that her best friend and the Scott made a cute couple. As the focused turned to Maximilian, she was mildly surprised that he had not heard much about the Winter Ball. It was all anyone seemed to talk about lately, then again, what he said was true. Balancing club life, school life and a social life was quite difficult.

In all honestly, she had stepped back from the more spiritual aspects of life. If she tried hard enough, she actually felt like a regular girl, going to a regular school. There were no ghosts, or otherworldly spirits constantly threatening her. Her knowledge in the wielding of Medieval weaponry was not important, nor her encyclopedic knowledge of spirits. She felt guilty though, the entire city of Darren was being threatened by an army of demons, and their ruler had possessed some poor soul.

"You're right," she said softly, "I guess you could say I've been neglecting my club duties to pursue a normal life. The absence of any major missions or disturbances have allowed me to become complacent. My father would not be pleased."

Logan had to stop himself from booing as Maximilian shifted the subject. The segue was smooth enough that most people would have had difficulty noticing it, but for the Scot, reading people was second-nature. However, he had been the one to put pressure on his classmate in the first place, so he couldn’t complain. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was alienate anybody. For the time being, he conceded and went along with the conversation.

“Bah, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Logan responded to Evelyn’s comment. “Sure, we may be prodigious and supernaturally gifted warriors, tasked with defending the world at large from malevolent forces the likes of which most could never hope to comprehend, but we’re still human. Everyone needs to relax once in a while.”

"Sure." Lloyd said, with a crazed look in his eye and a wild smile on his face. Snatching the kit, he opened and peered into it. Of course he didn't know what he was doing, but certainly it wouldn't stop him. "Now, hold still. There's a master at work here..." He confidently boasted as he drifted off in deep concentration. When he finished, he handed Alice a mirror.

She had dull yellow lipstick on, and dark rainbow shadowy eyes. Her cheeks were blushed with an orange color, her eyebrows had a bright purple layer and looked connected. The very tips of her hair were blue. His voice softened. "Nothing can stop how beautiful you look..." He rebounded. "Remember, you have to keep this on until tomorrow, because of the bet." He said in a good hearted sing-songy voice.

Alice barely recognized her own reflection. She stared at the mirror for about ten seconds before looking at Lloyd. "You're really good with makeup, but..." She weighed her words. "Everyone's going to scream and run away." Still, the girl was impressed by his skill and bizarre sense of fashion.

Phora was amused. "You look like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga fused!" Alice smacked her on the head for that.

The girl gazed at Lloyd. "Is there anything else you want to do?" She asked. "Last minute touch-ups or something? Or..." She looked towards her closet.

Lloyd knew he had to choose his words carefully. He didn't get much of a reaction from her so he didn't know if he screwed everything up or not yet. "No, it looks... finished. But I don't think there going to scream. Perhaps look perplexed and wonder what we do here, like always." The upperclassman still gazed at Alice and followed her line of sight. "Do you have an idea in mind?"

"Well..." Alice said as she looked between the closet and Lloyd. "... My classmates are always buying clothes and trying to get me to put them on." She fiddled with her hair as she met Lloyd's eyes, blushing deeply. "I could... I could try some on for you, if you want."

"You're right, I guess you could say I've been neglecting my club duties to pursue a normal life. The absence of any major missions or disturbances have allowed me to become complacent. My father would not be pleased."

Maximilian shrunk as he watched a look of a guilt and sadness develop on Evelyn's face. He didn't mean to upset her and he never expected her to take his passing words so... harshly... She didn't deserve to have to feel this way, what happened thus far happened through no fault of her own and among the group she was definitely one of the must diligent and studious, she was by no means lax.

He just felt awful making her suffer like this and without realizing it Maximilian's usually indifferent expression was beginning to warp into one of concern and regret. He couldn't stand to see her like this and even if it hadn't been his fault that she was upset he still couldn't bear it. In his mind all he could think of was her crying back Apollon, how pathetic she was not so long ago. She hadn't cried to him because she trusted him or even liked him, she did because she couldn't hold it back anymore. She was so emotionally overburdened that she broke down in front of the first person she saw... Maximilian was beginning to feel ill due to his inaction... Deep down inside all he wanted to do was stand up and grab Evelyn. He wanted to talk to her, embrace her, take her out for tea again- he wanted to do anything to let her know that she wasn't alone and that she didn't need to carry the burden she was forcing upon herself. He wanted to help her, he felt compelled to do anything he could to remedy his current wrongdoing and clear her conscious. He didn't understand why he felt this way, he didn't really have time to think about it. He wanted to help, but before he could even think of what to say to Evelyn, Logan had interjected.

“Sure, we may be prodigious and supernaturally gifted warriors, tasked with defending the world at large from malevolent forces the likes of which most could never hope to comprehend, but we’re still human. Everyone needs to relax once in a while.”


"Yeah..." Maximilian followed up absent-mindedly as he tried to recompose himself. "You're too hard on yourself sometimes. I mean, you can't just blame yourself for everything. You're doing your best and your best is a whole lot better than what most of us could ever hope to do." Maximilian eventually was able to spit out a string of words to form what he could only assume was a sentence. It was quite hard for him to think straight at the moment, he was still busy trying to hide his distress and recompose himself.

OOC: The night we've been waiting for!

Evelyn smiled warmly. Even though she had started the year determined to solely look out for herself, her experiences over the last few months have led to significant personal growth. She never imagined herself being friends with Logan and Maximilian initially, but over time she found that she could rely on them. It wasn't just them either, Johnny, Damian, Tsubaki, and everyone else, each of them she had judged on her arrival at the beginning of the school year, and each of them proved their merit in one way or another later on. Perhaps this is what her father wanted for her, and why the St. Augustine children were sent to Arclight Academy.

"Thanks" she said with a rare yet sincere smile. It was true, though they were gifted with great responsibility, they had to remember to live.

"Well children" said Miss Rachel with a yawn,"I believe it is time for us all to turn in for the night" She began to herd the students out of the room where Miss Sullivan, and the ghost remained to clean up after the party. Good nights were said as they walked back to their rooms and all was silent.



Winter, Friday 19:00 (7:00 PM) - The Arclight Winter Ball

A silver crescent moon hung low in the winter sky as a steady stream of limousines and luxurious cars pulled up to the Darren City Hall. It's Baroque architectural facade was illuminated with bright spotlights moving back and forth as elegantly dressed students walked down a red carpet into the interior. Certain groups huddled around each other as they stood to take photos, while others made their way directly inside.

Inside, the halls had been decorated with a clean and pristine crystalline theme. Bright white lights illuminated the halls that were decorated in colours of white, silver and blue. In the main foyer a banquet table had been set with various hors d'oeuvres, while virgin c*** were served at a bar. Servers glided about the room as they took the jackets of the arrivals, and provided guests with hors d'oeuvres served on plates.

The main hall was likewise decorated in the same theme of crystal and ice. The polished wooden floor, built from the time that the town had been called Arclight, bore a star similar to that of the crest of the Academy, and was largely vacant, serving as the dance floor for the students. Aside from this, there was a bar in the far side of the room set up to serve virgin drinks and water, and on the stage in the front of the room was a booth from where the DJ played music. Behind the stage were three large windows letting in the brilliance of the moon onto the floor.

Bernice entered the room on the arm of Logan. Instead of the usual microbraids that she kept her hair in, she had it completely straightened, and coiffed into a wavey hairstyle that rested on her shoulders. She wore a sky blue gown with silver accents along the trims, and a thinner white material for sleeves.

Evelyn followed closely after her friend on the arm of Kyle. She wore a slim cream gown that flourished at above her knees and swept the ground as she walked. Her arms were bare, though she wore a white translucent shawl over her shoulders. As usual, her crucifix hung on her neck, and her hair had been curled into a series of ringlets and put in an updo, with a curl framing each side of her face.

It being a school event, the rest of the students soon appeared, some of them with dates, some of them arriving with friends and some of them arriving alone.

"Ummm... Ummm... That one!" Alice said as Phora held up two dresses. "No, wait, this one!" She picked up another dress on the floor. "Oh, this is hard! I don't even know who brought these! I don't think there's this many students in the school!" Nearly every surface in her room had a hefty stack of dresses on it.

"Forget this!" Phora said. "Close your eyes and pick one!" Alice decided she didn't care anymore, and did what Phora suggested. She reached into the stack of dresses and came away with a flowing red dress. The two of them looked at each other and shrugged in agreement. Good enough.

"He's probably going to be upset at the lack of clown shoes, but I'll make it up to him." With that the master and her totem left the room and stood in front of the door.

ooc: poor daniel i always forget him

IC: Daniel gave himself one last look in the mirror. His black tux fit perfectly and the red bowtie was even. His reflection went in for a high five, and of course Daniel didn't leave himself hanging. Before leaving, he picked up the bouquet of wildflowers he had grown himself with Stereomancy, and then crystallized with glass. He activated his tablet and sent a message to Lotus.

Good evening. Where would you like me to meet you?

Keeping to his usual character Maximilian decided it would be best to avoid the Winter Ball despite whatever interest he had feigned earlier that afternoon. The boy had no reason to attend this particular social event anyways, there was just nothing there for him. He hadn't promised to attend with anyone and as far as he was personally concerned he had no friends at the school to join at Hall. To him most of the students at the school were just people he interacted with daily, or that's at least what he tried to tell himself. In Maximilian's world, floating between a social space and his sequestered one just felt too comfortable, too easy. He never needed to worry about going out with friends or keeping dates with people. All he needed to do was put on a smile and act invested around the others.

"Maybe I am a bit of sociopath." He smiled and simply shrugged off the idea as he walked the empty hall between the cafeteria and his dorm. It seemed most of the other students had left by now and if he was lucky he could come back from eating dinner and go straight to his room without running into another student but just as he was preparing to enter his room a devilish idea had crossed his mind. With most of the students and faculty gone he could wander about the school and possibly get into all sorts of places he wouldn't normally be allowed into.

The headmaster's officer... no... the counsellor's office first.

Maximilian turned and quickly bolted back past the Cafeteria and down the business quarter of the school. At the very end of the hall he could see it, Miss Rachel's office. With any luck she wouldn't be in her office and Maximilian could look through whatever records she might have on hand about the school's past and current Omnivident, perhaps maybe he could even find some information tucked away about the schools past encounters with demons and creatures from the unknown.

Carefully Maximilian pressed his ear against Miss Rachael's door, but not before looking about the hall to make sure no one was following him. He needed to be careful since there were still some students leaving the school after all.