One step at a time. Moonlit Ball. [CLOSEDish]

Sunset.

A red-yellowish tinge fades across the horizon as the sun sinks down only to be replaced by a faint blue light starting to rise at the opposite end of the city, giving an serene feel to the ballroom despite the rush of the ushers and waitresses setting up the scene for the oncoming guests. The domed glass ceiling directs most of the moonlight to the room, brightening it up with the help of a glass chandelier hanging overhead, right above the white marble floor where the dancing may take place. Just before they start receiving guests a group of musicians fix up their instruments then start playing a solemn but upbeat melody as the guests come in. Outside the building a well dressed young man starts receiving guests, kindly showing them to their chosen tables whilst another pours them drinks as they sit.

Varius stood at outside the ball wearing a black suit, white buttoned down shirt, and no tie as he waited for Li to arrive. To pass the time he looked over the women that entered and was slightly disappointed. "What ever happened to the days where women actually showed some skin." Occasionally he would spot a beauty and considering going after her but he stopped himself. "Li would not shut up for a week if I left him alone after making him come. Speaking of which..." Varius looked down at his watch and became irritated. "Where the hell are you!"

Fionn stood outside of the large ball as he watched the posh guests arrive and go inside, he himself was waiting for some random rich Bilderberger to arrive as he had gotten a job to gather info on the man, but seeing as this was a classy ball he decided to use this as an opportunity to "gather info" on some of the attractive women arriving to the event as well.

He sighed and continued to oggle the women in their expensive dresses for a while while he himself became increasingly aware of how classless he would look in their eyes; his train of thought would continue like this for a while, his thoughts becoming weirder and weirder bastard children of the original thought before he heard the annoyed voice of Varius, looking over at the man he briefly remarked to himself about his height before deciding to approach him.
"You waiting for someone too?"

Liz walked towards the main entrance wearing an elegant, dark red dress. Liz had been looking forward to going to this for a while, she hadn't been to a formal event like this for some time. Liz smiled as she looked around at the guests, thinking about how nice it was to get away from the problems of school and her team for one night. That smile soon disappeared when she saw a familiar face. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Liz said as she stared at the face of her team leader, Fionn.

"Varius, you don't have to yell," Lí says, his soft tenor issuing forth from a few metres behind the lion faunus. "Not everyone is so lackadaisical about their appearance on occasions such as these." In place of his usual attire, which would pass for semi-formal at the very least, Lí wore a black, three-piece suit with a violet button-up under the vest, a simple black tie, and atop his head, a plain black fedora to complete the ensemble. The effeminate man's hair is tied back just under the brim of his hat, seemingly flowing down his back to the hem of his coat. "Now that I'm finally here, though, are you ready to go in? I would hate to have the time I spent getting ready go to waste."

A yawn paired alongside the quiet beating of steps would signal the nearing of a certain crossbreed. Clad in a classy fashion was he; for this particular event, he was dressed within one of his normal, longsleeved dress shirts; this one of a light, frosty tint of blue, quite similar to his eyes. Apart from this one normal article of clothing, he would be wearing a black tuxedo set, all complete with the coat --- or vest, rather, due to the fact that he had removed the sleeves himself--- slacks, and dress shoes alike; all of a deep, midnight ebony. Around his neck, there would be a neatly-knotted tie of a darkened, navy blue, and a flower would be seen clipped onto his outer layer over his heart area. Atop his head was a rather fancy hat, oddly reminiscent of a a certain feline's, down to the fold of the hat alongside the feather. Slits were apparent within it in order to allow his Faunus auds to breathe somewhat, in contrast to his normal baseball caps.

He walked with the crowd for a short while, ceasing himself at the sidelines when he saw a familiar face. He saw that Fionn had already engaged in conversation with another, and seemed to be spotted by a lass from a distance. Shrugging, he shifted his trail and began walking over ever so casually. May as well have a meet and greet...

Alex approached the entrance of the ball.  Being a daughter of the old families, she was used to formal events, and this would be just the same.  Still, she liked being in such dignified settings.  Alex wore a simple but graceful backless silk dress that was not cut too low, yet was still low enough for her exposed fair skin to captivatingly contrast with the midnight black, almost imperceptibly dark purple, dress.  She tried not to draw any more attention to her than she already had as she walked toward the coat check to check in her belongings.

Alex looked around to see if she knew anyone at that ball, all the while absent-mindedly playing with the small gemstone that hung at the bottom of her necklace. She did not see anyone.  Alex decided to wait for a little while longer, hoping that there would be.

Varius turned to Fionn with a look of annoyance and noticed Li not too far off. He turned his back toward Li and pointed his thumb backwards at him while Varius spoke to Fionn. "Yea I was waiting for the lady wearing a suit." Varius turned back toward Li and smiled at his remark over his more effeminate qualities. "Li you need to get out more and I even invited you somewhere that isn't a bar, maybe you should be a bit more grateful?" Varius made a menacing smile as he toward over his team leader. You're gonna hate me or love me after this night, but either way this is gonna be fun for me.

Alonso arrived just in time for the opening of the event, noticing the growing line in front of the venue. A bit cut for time, due to his need to perform later, he rushes for the entrance clad in his signature attire save for a dark coat. As he rushed through the crowd he spots a couple of beautifully adorned women and decides to give them a quick wink as he passes them by. One girl wore a simple but graceful backless silk dress, causing Alonso's imagination to run wild before throwing a quick glance at her followed by a provocative wink. Black is such a daring color if I do say so myself. A few steps later he finds himself looking at a girl with quite a regal hold of herself, probably of high class, wearing an elegant, dark red dress and does the same with her, hoping that they both saw his subtle advances. Red! The color of passion and love! Upon reaching the entrance, before going in, he notices a pretty face wearing a suit, not something you see everyday so he throws a rose towards Li, unknowing of his true gender. A woman in a suit! Marvelous.

Noticing he was pressed for time, he quickly makes his way inside, explaining to the man outside of his performance. "Of course, please do hurry, sir. We're all looking forward to it." With that he makes a quick skip inside and heads for the prep room.

"Haha, I see." Fionn said as he stood near the man feeling somewhat awkward, before he noticed Elizabeth staring him down with a look that said "I am going to end you", against all common sense he decided it was time to introduce himself to the woman whom he already knew.

"And there is the one whom i was waiting on." Fionn said walking quickly to his deadly teammate right in her path of vision, before grabbing onto her right hand with his own and putting his left around her hip, swinging her around into an impressive dance as the orchestral music played in the background, he leaned in close to her ear. "Aaaah Liz, surprised to see you here, I'm on a job though so i would recommend you don't tell anyone you know me, social connections and all." He said to her in an attractive tone of voice as they continued to dance.

As the two danced, Liz leaned closer to Fionn's ear and whispered, "Fionn, you do not need to talk to me about social connections. In fact the reason why half of these people are here is social connections, and I am no exception." As she continued to dance, Liz's voice took on a slightly darker tone, "So let me make something clear, if anyone here finds out that we know each other, or you do anything that could damage my reputation, I will make sure that this will be the last job that anyone hires you to do." Liz moved her head away from Fionn's ear, wearing a pure, innocent smile as the two teammates continued to dance.

Lí snatches the rose out of the air, then looks after the man who threw it, a confused look on his face. Turning to Varius, he states, "That was unexpected. I don't quite know what to think." He turns to face the entrance, then takes off his hat, suddenly struck with an idea. He works a small loop on the side of the fedora open, and threads the stem of the rose through before donning the head cover once more. "Well, you're the one who invited me here, let's head on in, Varius." With that, he steps off to head in, expecting Varius to follow.

Fionn continued to dance with the girl impressively as a small crowd began to watch the two, one or two people even cheering the hateful couple on as they moved almost as if they were one.
"Calm down calm down, it's just an intel job, not going to be making any human fuses today." He said referring to the secondary function of Oberursel's.  
They continued to dance for a little bit, before he lifted the girl into the air during a high note of the music, leaning her head down to his he whispered in her ear again. "Besides, how could i possibly embarrass someone as classy as you? Even if i somehow manage to destroy everything and everyone here you'll be standing in the rubble already with a plan to fix it all."  
He put her down and swung her around again.

Liz just rolled her eyes as Fionn put her down. "As skilled as I am at dealing with unexpected situations, I would prefer not to have to clean up after one of your little incidents," Liz continued to match Fionn's movements while glancing through the crowed that was watching them. "Besides, if you do something stupid then I'm the one who'll be explaining to Chelsea why I stood back and did nothing as you got yourself killed. I don't think I would be able to stand the look on her face if I told her that," Liz turned her head away during the last part, actual sadness creeping into her voice before she composed her self and returned to her previous demeanor.

"Liz you imply that you would have the heart to let poor old Fionn die a horrible, painful, excrutiating death." He said before chuckling heartily and pushing the girl into him slightly more for the continuation of their impressive dancing. "I wouldn't let you die a horrible death." Fionn said now whispering into her ear intimately before breaking off the dance slowly as the song had coincidentally just ended, and walking over to a familiar face.

"Oi Haven, long time no see!" He yelled out as he approached the half-breed swordsman, hand held high.

After Fionn left Liz stood there for a few seconds thinking about the last thing he had said, blushing a little as she did so before she quickly composed herself and walked in the opposite direction, quietly muttering "Stupid, mindless jerk."

After calming herself down, Liz looked around the room for someone she could interact with while not risking her family name.

With a sudden grin, the lad upraised his own hand as the other neared. Without hesitation he met Fionn's within a sort of high-five handshake, tipping the frontal side of his head with the remaining extremity. "Gotta say, I never really expected you to be here," he commented, releasing the eastern extremity from the earlier grasp and allowing both to fall back to his sides, slipping them within the pockets of his slacks. "Small world though, man."

As he spoke this, the crossbreed's attention seemed to drift over toward the direction in which his cruising comrade had come from. His right Faunus ear gave a flick which, in turn, twitched his entire hat the slightest bit, as he noticed a lass afar; one he assumed that the man had just automatically ditched. "Yo, she a lady friend of yours? It ain't right to ditch a lady, man; especially at an event like this," he commented, his tone joking and seemingly harmless.

"Nah she's just a member of my team, likes to dance, likes to make my life hell even more." Fionn said before laughing a bit and putting his hand on Havens shoulder in a friendly way.
"But really, I'm on an intel job here and I saw her so I thought i would say "Hi"." He said before cracking his neck a bit.
"Anyway enough about me, what about you Haven, what are you doing here?" He asked the shorter man as he removed his hand from his shoulder and took a sip of his alcohol, flipping the canteen in the air before sliding it back into his coat pocket.

"Pfft, regardless, man. A gentleman doesn't leave a lady on her own at a special event like this, unless the situation is dire," the swordsman shot back, a slight laugh in his tone all the while. Shaking his head, he began shrugging that topic off. He would soon feel a sense of contact upon his right shoulder, followed by the incoming inquiry by the other. "Ah. Believe it or not, I'm actually one for formal occasions. Also somewhat a dancer myself...I work part time down at a dancing academy in Vale. I'm more into the upbeat-type of dancing, but I know my way around tangos and slow dances, too," he said, his grin ever lingering.

"Implying she's a lady and also that the situation wasn't dire, she loves dancing and hates my guts, plain and simple." Fionn said in a happy, edgeless, carefree way as he yawned a bit, the wear from the exceptional dancing obvious on the somewhat-drunk alcoholic boy.  
"Really Haven? That's actually pretty damn cool, maybe we can have a dance contest when we go inside and we can let the girls decide which one of us can tune ourselves to the music better." He said after hearing the rest of the swordsmans words, letting out a hearty chuckle his challenge both serious and non-serious at the same time, only being a valid challenge if his opponent accepted.  

(OOC: Does it count as a fight if they are dancing at eachother?)

Laughing a tad louder, Haven shook his head, snowy locks of his rustling faintly at the action. "Aha...I'd say yes for sure if it weren't for the fact that dance battles don't really seem suitable for a ball," he commented, giving a carefree shrug. His arms and hands soon lifted over his head, fingers intertwining with each other as he gave a good stretch for a couple of seconds. "And unlike you, I assume...I'm fine going without any unneeded attention from people --- be it ladies or men alike," the teen added in regards to Fionn's little suggestion. A foot of his would lift before the other, and soon he embarked within a brisk stride toward the building's entrance, looking over his shoulder in the process. "Unless the people inside were willing to make an exception for a dance-off, I'd be happy to make a schedule for that some time in the future, though."

OOC: i guess it technically does but not the normal aggressive kind
...unless the dancing got weird and out of hand
all sortsa freaky stuff happening and all that

Varius trailed behind Li holding back a laugh. Li I knew you were bad at this but how dense can you be? Oh I am going to have fun with this. Varius reverted back to a normal expression and began to gaze around the ball seemingly bored but actually keeping an eye out for the one who threw Li the flower. "I feel like this is going to be a very fun night, but first things first." Varius placed a hand on Li shoulder and began to lead him toward a server with drinks. "You need a drink to loosen up and another one to give to a lovely lady." Or man. Varius passed by a server and grabbed three martinis, handing two to Li and taking one for himself.

Outside the venue, a young man wearing formal attire starts leading the rest of the guests inside, while another shows them tables where they could sit. Being spacious enough, there were plenty of tables for people to pick from but most seats were arranged in such a way that they would face the dance floor that was now dimly lit by the combined lighting around the room and moonlight seeping in through the glass dome on the ceiling. A couple of waiters pass by the already seated guests holding trays of appetizers and light drinks, smiling as they did while every now and then one would offer a towel or so to anyone in need of one.

Alonso, now donning his dashing red and black dance attire checks himself in the mirror, swaying his hair back in such a way that suits him best. Ahhh, quite a pleasant evening. I must not keep the guests waiting. If only my partner would show up. Tapping his foot on the ground and rapping his fingers against a table top in the dressing room, Alonso patiently waits for his partner to arrive before receiving some grim news, his partner got a sprained ankle and was sent to a nearby hospital for further checking. Somewhat taken aback, his hand balls into a fist and slams against the table, but his face showed no emotion. Now I guess I have to look for a replacement. With that he heads out the room towards the guests, looking for anyone who would be willing to have a first dance.

After waiting for a bit, Alex looked at the people going in to the ballroom. "Looks like I don't know anyone here tonight," she thought. "I guess I'll have to meet some new people." With that, she entered into the ballroom and sat down at a table near the dance floor.

Upon reaching the ballroom, he notices a girl taking a seat near the dance floor, she definitely looked the part so he decided to take his chances. "Excuse me, madame but may I have the pleasure of asking you for the first dance?" Alonso said, bowing slightly before extending his hand to Alexandra. "You see, my partner had an accident so I'm in desperate need of one at the moment. It's but a slight Waltz is all, and if you don't know how, I'll gladly show you how." With that he pulls a rose out of his inner coat pocket and presents it to Alexandra as well, more hoping for a dance partner at the moment than a woman to flirt with.