Welcome!

[kusuri]

"N-nice to meet you Yosefal-I mean Seffie."

The boy blurted hurriedly towards the end. He wasn't used to nicknames, but he would manage if he talked to his fellow wher Candidate longer. But his attention wavered as another form approached. Someone tall and achingly familiar. His lips upturned in an embarrassingly happy grin as he finally recognized Elliadan. Tidur was delighted to see that El looked just as happy to see him.

"Hi El."

He wished he could have said more, but he feared that he would say something stupid in the face of the handsome boy's smile. He noticed El's emerald eyes drop down to the table and he had to struggle to keep from rushing to his bubbly pies. He really wanted his friend to try a piece of his dessert!

He was reminded that there were more than two people in the room when Yosefal exclaimed the obvious. Tidur's shoulders shook with the effort of holding back his laughter. It wasn't that funny, but for some reason he wanted to burst out laughing.

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"Ah, good cook, that is why you are my favorite. Life gets dull if you are stuck in the same monotonous routine day in and day out. It is a pleasure to finally meet you Xanderick. I'm sure you'll brighten the night of many wher Candidates. I believe there are twenty or more actually."

At this, the dragon Candidate extended his slender hand to the stooped man.

"I'm Kalhatcer and I must insist that you rest your feet. I'll go fetch your wine right now."

And Kal swept away as soon as he had come, eager to please the one chef that catered to his rather expensive pallet. He spotted some stragglers and grinned, relieved that some Candidates had come. He was afraid that none would show up and he'd have to throw a party for those unworthy drudges.

Full wine cup in hand he swooped down to greet his first female guest. The willowy blond smiled, trying to be at his most charming and greeted her.

"Hello my fair lady. Welcome to the Midnight Mash. I hope you enjoy your evening. Might I suggest the bubbly pies or the ribs? "

Before the young woman could answer, he heard a loud call and his perfectly styled hair whipped around to follow his head. Oh? Had he ordered a Harper? No matter, if the man played for free, who was he to disrupt the performance. Kal's unblemished face wrinkled as he tried to think of a good song to get this party started. Turning to his guest, he inquired.

"Any favorites you would like to request my Lady?"

[Avalene]

"Hello.." El replied to Tidur and the blond young man. He seemed cheerful enough, that was for sure. He shrugged a little at the boy's comment. There was no denying his height, but way to state the obvious. He wasn't one to give people a hard time, though, when they were being friendly with him. Well, he had a bit when he was younger, but those were his friends and they knew he was just messing around. And then he noticed.. Tidur's shoulders seemed to be shaking. Repressed laughter?

"Something funny, Tidur?" he asked, tone light. It was odd, how normal this was. He had been rather isolated for some time before coming here, and it wasn't until meeting Eld, Julies, and Tidur that he began associating with others. Not to mention, Allek and Allesk. If it hadn't been for their conversation, he might not have realized.. that he had closed himself off to others. He had to thank him sometime. It was good to have friends again..

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As a dual candidate, Luce had a nodding acquaintance with both worlds, though she wasn't extremely partial to either. They both had their positive and negative qualities. However, it had been apparent from the start that the wher candidates were more... elusive. If she wanted to meet a dragon candidate, well, it was pretty simple to find them. Wher candidates seemed to keep their own schedules.

This was the first gathering of where candidates that she'd be part of.. She was almost nervous as she was getting ready. Her long blond hair brushed and left down, she looked at her selection of clothing. She wasn't used to nice things, but her half-brother had bought her this pretty dress for special occasions. This would warrant a nice outfit, wouldn't it?

Pretending that she wasn't extremely pleased with the pretty thing, she dressed and finished getting ready, leaving the note behind in her room. She'd have to thank the greenrider. It was so strange how easy it was to accept him as a brother, but maybe it was just because how friendly he was. And his dragon... oh, she was a darling. She hadn't much interaction with the whers or their handlers yet, but they seemed to be creatures of a much different mold. Fascinating in their own way.

Finding the way to the party was easy enough. 'Follow the painted glows' indeed. She wondered briefly whether anyone who should know, knew of the party, then dismissed it. Of course they would know, no one would be foolish enough to throw a party as lavish as this one was. The blond girl peered into the somewhat dim room. Seemed to be it. Not overly packed, much to her taste. A musician of some kind, dressed outlandishly. Food. Comfy furniture. She gave everyone and everything a glance. Then she ignored everyone to settle down on a sofa, crossing her long legs at the ankles, staring at her shoes. Also bought by her brother. She needed to tell him that buying her stuff wasn't necessary. If she really needed something, she'd ask..

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As more candidates arrived, the various planned games would become apparent. A short young man with dark brown hair, an innocent smile, and mischievous eyes decided that there were enough people to get things started. Before he could address the slowly growing crowd, however, a musician of some sort beat him to it. From the knots, an apprentice Harper. Did his master know that he was here?

That amusing thought in mind, he shook his head and stood on an empty table. The better to be seen and noticed. He then addressed the party in general, his pretty tenor voice easily cutting through conversation, "Hey children, the games are gonna begin soon, so sign up to whatever looks good. I suggest the drinking contest, to start with. I swear, none of you could out drink me." Having challenged the entire room, the young man smirked and hopped down from the table, cheerfully ignoring the irate drudge that scrubbed at the scuff marks he left on the table.

[Alesari]

[Luce, anyone]

To go or not to go? Raisa had spent much time trying to decide ever since a hide was slipped to her inviting her to what she presumed was unprohibited party. The duel candidate hadn't thought herself very popular for thinking it funny that Perosk targeted many of the wher candidates for cruel and unusual punishment. If that wasn't enough the girl hadn't proven herself all that social either, so it wouldn't be surprising that rumors spoke badly of her. It mattered little if no one made an effort to know her, she was here to bond with a wher and so far she could see little chance she could fail after meeting the golden clutchmother.

Unsure what to expect or who was hosting this, she had dressed only casual formal in her second best tunic and skirt of white and navy blue. Raisa wasn't surprised to find only a handful of the wher candidates in attendence. Some might have been hessitent to attend an 'illegal' gathering, and it hard to tell this had been arranged as a private gathering by the luxury items available to them. How did they get much of this?! Someone really knew how to pull some strings, the girl was genuinely impressed!

However, this was still a party of fairly unfamiliur faces and making new friends was quite low on her priorities. She had taken one glance at the so far out of place harper, but decided not to bother him with conversation. No, thre was someone else she might be able to connect with; a fellow blonde haired girl who had just seated herself on a sofa. While she might be dressed a cut above the rest if she proved to be nothing more then a snob she could always take her leave. "Looks like you feel just about as comfortable her as i do." Settling herself on the sofa too she added, "I'm Raisa, by the way."

[Avalene]

[Raisa]

Luce glanced up as a girl suddenly spoke to her. Well, that hit the nail on the head. "Parties like this just didn't happen back home. Or, well, any kind of party," she admitted with a shrug, at the comment. She didn't mind the girl settling down beside her on the couch. It was a little less awkward to have someone to chat with, even if she didn't know her.

"I'm Luce," she responded, smiling a little. The blond girl, she was at least her age, maybe older, with equally blond hair, and nearly the same height. Prettier. Friendly seeming. Maybe coming here had been a good idea after all. There wasn't really anyone that she knew, past faces and sometimes names.

"So.. this was unexpected. Do you have any idea who set this party up?" she asked, looking around a little. There were several boys and a short haired girl. Any one of them could have been the 'genius' behind this overdone party. Sadly, didn't seem like there were going to be as many as he seemed to have anticipated.

[saki]

Julies walked slowly down the hallway. His amber brown eyes glazed over slightly due to his not blinking. The painted glows leading the way memorized him to the point he forgot why he started following them in the first place.

Earlier Julies awoke to find his roommate gone. Elliadan must have gone of somewhere. While stretching with a yawn something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. A disregarded hide with a note written on it. There was to be a Wher party in the lower caverns somewhere. He yawned again as he scratched his left should with his right hand.

While not a surprise to sleep so soundly he couldn't be woken up, Julies missed Elliadan getting ready for the party. Now this definitely fit as one of those moments where he wished he did not sleep like a rock. Lucky for him he woke only moments after his roommate left. Probably left with the knowing better not wake up the Sleeper. However, this wonderful fact was unknown to him.

Julies quickly blinked out the sleep from his eyes. He changed rapidly into his best clothes (that actually fit) and ran his hands through his unruly hair (which only made it appear messier). Looking decent enough he threw on his shoes (with a layer of caked on mud) and stalked off to find the painted glows.

The echos of voices coming from the room snapped Julies out of his daze. There was a party tonight. It was his first get-together type deal. He didn't want to be late. Not knowing the time the tallish boy half-ran/half-walked into the room. With luck he ran into no one. A slight flicker of a smile formed on his face when he realized one thing. There wasn't many people here so he was not late. Great!

[Alesari]

Raisa shook her head, so she wasn’t the only one who didn’t seem to know many details about his event. Then again the invitation didn’t express anything further then what and how to get here in one line. “No, but I presume it was one of the boys. Who else would need to stroke his ego with an elaborate and unapproved party?” Despite being impressed that so far he had pulled this off, her voice was quite sharp on the fact that this was still just an attempt to gain popularity.

On a better note, Luce so far was proving herself quite sensible. A lot of girls spoke too much about nothing, boring her and wasting time. Maybe she had finally found someone she could be friends with in the number of candidates. “So Luce are you a duel candidate or just wher?”

[Reverie the Masked Magician]

Amidst the conversation, a tall figure appeared in the doorway, inconspicuous in the dim light. He strode slowly and steadily through the hall after only a moment's hesitation.

It was not he that caused heads to turn, however, but the distinctive shape beside him, and the noises echoing in the large cavern the minute they began to descend into the room.

Only one noise sounds like a wher's claws clicking on stone, and that's precisely what it was.

"Remember, we're going to supervise the candidates, who will be Wherling pairs before long. Be on your best behavior and be tolerant of the little ones." Johnas had told his wher sternly.

Johnask knows. Not dumb nester. The brown tossed his head, eager to live up to Johnas' expectations.

Johnas had laughed at his wher's idea of a proddy female, and rewarded him with a skritch behind the wrinkled headknobs before leading the way to the cavern.

Johnas stopped behind the food table and surveyed the room, which had hushed as he walked. All eyes were on him and Johnask, and he could feel the excitement rolling off of his wher in waves.

Calm, he thought quietly before nodding to the crowd. "Don't mean to interrupt. Jus' here to make sure you don't get out of hand. We still need candidates left after tonight for Perosk," he said with a chortle, then sobered slightly. They were bound to have fun and Johnask was ready to play pet for the evening.

Johnas just hoped that the host, the spoiled Holder boy he'd heard about, didn't pitch a fit over supervision. Especially if he was used to getting what he wanted, and disliked having authority reinforced.