Oof I haven't posted here in a while. Ok, here goes...

Fauna~

Our little group begins to split up. I watch as the two boys walk away, but not back to the ballroom, surprisingly. Oh well, I think, and start to walk back to the party. Then I glance back and notice Starlight wave to Night Vision and begin to nervously walk over to me. "H-hey, do you mind staying out here for awhile? I could use some company, and Night's going back in, and, um, yeah," she says. 

"Oh-yeah, sure," I say. Star looks embarrassed, which me makes me embarrassed, too, but I'm always up for making a new friend, so after a brief silence I say, "hey, how about we walk around to the other side of building? I haven't gotten to explore this part of our cbers' minds yet." 

Starlight seems glad to have something to do other than stand awkwardly, and I do too, so I grab her hand and start running through the grass, the night air brushing my face. "It'll be an adventure!" I call to her.

When I look back, Star's cheeks are pink and a smile is tugging at her lips. I smile back. :P

Estrella~

Much to my annoyance, we manage to come late, after having given a late reply to Ace's request. I really hope he doesn't mind. 

I hurry through the doors with Sage and Song trailing behind me. I don't even stop and take in the glorious sight of the ballroom like I usually do. I scan the crowd for Ace and see him chilling out alone, leaning against the wall and muching on some cookies. I make a beeline for him. Once he sees me coming, he waves, and I smile back.

"I'm sorry to be so late," I say just as soon as I'm next to him. "We're not usually like this."

"No worries!" Ace replies with a smile. "It's nice to see you. Wanna cookie? I already ate most of them, sorry."

I look at his plate with a small laugh. It's mostly crumbs with a few Oreos left. "Thank you," I say, taking one of the yellow ones. I take a bite.

"Not quite as good as the chocolate cake from the last ball," I comment, "But there's nothing wrong with a Golden Oreo."

It takes a second, but then he gets the joke- if you could call it that. I doubt it was funny. "I remember that. Kind of. It feels like a long time ago."

I nod. "Yeah." I face the rest of the AEs. "I feel like I barely know these guys."

~~~Aaahh, so sorry for being this late! 

~Abcde~

»"This is Grace. She's Abcde's sister."«  

I glance at Shaow gratefully. Thank goodness for them. I really had no idea what to do with my crazy sister. Who she would like to meet, what she would like to do, nothing. She is a force beyond my reckoning. Luckily, Shaow was able to step in. And introduce Grace to his sister and her girlfriend.

I remember Coral a little bit, we met briefly at the last AE party. She was very busy and tired, helping to host seemed to have worn her down, and she looked very tired. The girl I see standing in front of me now is very, very different. She is standing beside Stargirl, and, although I see the awkwardness that comes from having spent time apart, both girls are glad to be together. Then, I decide to get my nose out of other people's business and into my own.

"Hi," I say.

Coral and Stargirl wave back to me, and I push Grace forward. She's so excited. I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid.

~Grace~

"Hi! I'm Grace. It's nice to meet you? What are your names? You're dating, right? You look really cute together." I am so excited and happy and thrilled to be meeting people. I never get to talk to anyone but Abcde and Rayne. Neither of them are any fun to talk to. Abcde is bossy, even though she's a year younger than me. Which should be illegal. I'M the boss. And Rayne is boring and likes reading old-fashioned romance novels. Which is weird and boring. Then, a fearful thought crosses my mind. "Neither of you like Jane Austen, right?"

Hey Flora, sorry I kinda ingnored you recently...

No, no, it's fine. I don't do much interesting, anyway.

Oh, shut up! Just for being so nice, I'll let you post something. 

Flora~

I've been sitting in this chair in the corner for quite a while now. I've finished my food and punch, so I figure there's no other excuse not to talk to someone. I get up from my chair and look around. Everyone seems to already be in a conversation. Why am I still standing here?! Ahhh!

Flora! You're fine. What would Fauna do? She's the one who's good at this stuff. I take a deep breath and walk over to the nearest AE.

@Everyone, can someone have their AE be friends with Flora?  

Bean~

I smile, relieved. "Oh! Good. I'm glad we're on the same page."

He nods. "Yeah, me too." A more upbeat song comes on and I bounce on my heels.

"So, what kind of things do you like to do for fun?" I ask over the music.

Ace~

I'm standing by the snack table eating cookies when I hear the doors open. Looking up, I see three AEs walk in. I smile when I see one of them is Estrella. I wave.

"Sorry to be so late," she says when she reaches me. "We're not usually like this."

"No worries!" I say, grinning. "It's nice to see you. Wanna cookie? I already ate most of them, sorry." I hold out the plate, and she takes an Oreo, laughing.

"Not quite as good as the chocolate cake from the last ball, but there's nothing wrong with an Oreo," she says.

It takes a second, but then I remember, nodding. "I remember that. Kind of. It feels like a long time ago."

"Yeah," she gestures to the other AEs in the room. "I feel like I hardly know these guys."

I nod, taking another bite of a cookie. "I know what you mean! I feel like besides my siblings and you, I don't really know anyone. I guess that's what these balls are for, though."

"I suppose," Estrella says. "It's still kind of hard."

Upbeat music starts playing, and I start "dancing"- I use the term loosely, it's more like a cross between the robot and a hyperactive squirrel. She laughs, and I grin.

"As you can see, I'm still a ridiculous dancer," I say, and she nods emphatically.

Harper~

I'm on my third cup of punch, and it's getting awkward standing alone. Bean and Archer are talking more comfortably now, and I see that Estrella arrived and is talking to Ace. I look around nervously, trying to see if there's anyone I can talk to.

~

Harper's open for conversation if anyone wants to talk! 

@PygmyOwl, I appreciate you introducing your AEs, and I think her and Rayne or her and Grace could be good friends, but I don't want to take them away from their conversations. Maybe they can talk later. But really, thank you!

Flora~

Just as I am about to say hello to the AE, a shy-looking blonde girl, a small, flying animal lands right in front of her and introduces themself as Kiwi, Lumi's CAPTCHA. "Oh- I, um, I'm Harper. Quill's AE," she says, startled, as a bit of punch sloshes out of her cup.

Kiwi replies,"Nicee tomee tyouu, Harper!" Hesitantly I step up.

"Hello! Y-you're a sugar glider, right?" I ask Kiwi. "I think my sister Flora said something about you." 

I'll post Fauna's next part soon! 

»Coral, Stargirl, and Grace are all talking now, something about romance novels? Honestly, I wasn’t listening, I was watching Abcde. I pull Coral aside and whisper in her ear. “Introduce her to someone else when you’re done?” She flashes me a smile and goes back to talking, so I offer my arm to Abcde. Using a high-society Victorian era voice, I say, “Would you like to take a stroll in the garden, m’lady?” Using the same voice she says, “I would enjoy that very much, good sir.” Smiling, we head out to the garden. It’s beautiful, and somewhere there’s soft violin music playing. We start to slow dance.

•I’m holding Stargirl’s hand and talking about books. This is heaven. I like Grace, and I think Stargirl does too. We move over to cooking, talking about our favorite things to make, how annoying siblings can be while your cooking, etc. A song comes on that I like, and I see AEs spinning around with 4 or 5 others, in some cases. So I grab Grace’s hand, (I’m already holding Stargirl’s) and pul them both onto the dance floor, spinning, our skirts flaring out, laughing like the end of the world is happening tomorrow and we want to live our last day having fun. Well that was morbid. Anyway. Somehow all the groups join together, with everyone laughing and shouting. Why am I doing this? This isn’t me. Then I catch Stargirl’s eye, and I don’t care about anything anymore, just her.•

Arrow - 

"I think we should stay in crowded areas, to blend in. Hide in plain sight," I say to Midnight. We start walking across the ballroom, ducking around snack tables and dodging Midnight's siblings. We make it to the other end of the ballroom, and it was definitely worth it. "Wow," I say. "The food over here is way better than the stuff at the other snack tables!" I grab a lemon tart and eat it in one bite. Midnight laughs. "I guess you're right," Midnight grins, and grabs a snack for himself. While we're chatting, I look around the ballroom at all the decorations, when a familiar face catches my eye. On the other end of the room, Georgia and Diana are staring right at me. Then disaster strikes - I make eye contact with Georgia. She gives me a smug grin, and then starts walking toward me. "Oh no," I say, interupting Midnight mid-sentence. "What?" He asks. I just nod toward Georgia, who's picking up her pace. "Uh oh," He says, as if he's been in this situation before. I look at him, and he looks at me, and I say, "RUN!" Without thinking, I grab his hand and we sprint across the ballroom, then collapse in a crowd of AEs, laughing. Then I realize I'm still holding Midnight's hand, and I quickly drop it.

~~~~~~

Heeheeheeeee I love this ship. 

Archer-

I grin "I like to do just about everything, I play guitar and sing in my band, I play soccer, and I will pretty much do anything you can throw at me, though not necessarily well." I hear the music picking up and break out dancing.

Jeremy-

I run outside with her, feeling the cool air on my face. Suddenly I break out into a sprint, feeling wonderfully free. Blaze runs alongside me, both of us laughing. We collapse on a stone bench outside of a maze. I turn to Blaze, "you want to try the maze? It looks fun."

Estrella~

I laugh at Ace's absurd "dancing." I almost want to ask him if he's having a muscule spasm, but I don't want to sound rude. Still, I'm glad for his weird entertainment.

"As you can see I'm still a ridiculous dancer," Ace says. I nod, still smiling. Ace is one I'd least expect to have fun with, and yet...

His dancing slows, and we stand in silence together for a moment, lstening to the thumping of the music, observing the other AEs. It's true that I don't recognise much of anyone, save for Ace's siblings and Agent Winter's. I know some names for the newer AEs, but I'm not able to put name to face. I wonder if that's something I should do; I'd like to know whose company I might be in.

"It is nice to see so many new AEs around," I comment.

"Yeah!" says Ace. "I do miss the old guys sometimes, but you're right, it's good to see how many there are now."

I smile again, and both of us, I'm sure, are thinking about Balls and Chats we remember. After a pause, Ace starts to laugh.

"I bet I sound like some old man, talking about the good old days."

Now it's my turn to laugh. "I'm the one who brought it up, after all, talking about all these new kids I don't even know."

"Yeah, you might be right," he agrees. 

Fauna~

Out of breath, after we reach the end of the floating pies (isn't it nice how things just spontaneously appear in these mind-worlds?), and dertermine a tie, I snatch a pie out of the air- ok, after a minute of trying to snatch one- I grab it, hold it above my head, and say, "Hey, why don't we..." Starlight flinches, "have a picnic!" 

"Phew, thanks. I was not looking forward to being covered in cherry jam for the rest of the night."

She chuckles slightly, and it's kinda cute... "Well, first we need to find a good place to sit," I say. We step out into an open clearing, bordered by a thick forest, which should have been pitch black, except...

"They're beautiful!", Star says in a breathy voice. Out of the darkness there are emerging what looked like hundreds of tiny, multicolored lights, flitting around, almost like they're celebrating.

"Yes... but what are they?" I ask, enchanted and curious.

"Fairies, I think. Or pixies, I'm not sure what the difference is..."

Now they're forming a huge, glowing cloud in front of us, and I run up to them, dragging her with me. "Excuse me," I say to the fairy in front.

Star interjects, "Your Majesty,", noticing the crown-like thing made of leaves perched apon her head.

Thankful, I continue, "Are you fairies or pixies? You're very beautiful, by the way."

She replies, "Excuse you, you should really know the difference. Although I will thank you for noticing my majestic-ness and beauty." 

@Heroes, You can continue! -DG