[GRAM ORP] Kiss Kiss Fall in Love

[Blood_Goddess]

Ballroom - Young Women

At the question, Pyre just tilted his head lightly, making a gesture toward it and answering in a charismatic tone "Hold onto it." The officer suggested, folding his hands behind his back "It might be useful for something later in the evening." It seemed to be more of a hint then a straight answer.
"Are you waiting for someone miss?" He asked, glancing back around the room. "You seemed to be looking for something."  

[Suudonym]

[Ballroom - Pyre (Open)]

Very briefly, she looked somewhat unamused by the response, but ultimately she acquiesced and tucked the card into her bag. "Just looking to see if there's anyone I recognize," she replied airily.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ballroom - Young Woman

the officer took a moment to look back out at the ballroom, the number of people was already expanding, and when you lumped at least half a team of pokemon for each person, it was quite spectacular, without seeming too crowded.
"That looks like it might become pretty difficult." The man glanced around "Did your Pokemon accompany you today?" He asked, obviously curious to hear if she was a trainer.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Shaddaling

[Entrance Hallway-Andre incoming]

"...It sounds like a common enough pastry." Zacharie said slowly, trying to imagine what Lex was referring to. He wasn't particularly knowledgeable with desserts as he preferred fruits. "But I need to stay around this area so Andre can find-" The boy stopped short when he spotted a flash of purple hair. "Excuse me." He stepped a little to the side and lifted his arm. "Andre!"

Said man turned his head at the sound of his name, a pleased smile tugging at his lips when he spotted his little brother. With a quick motion to the pokemon at his side, he made his way over to the pair. "There you are." The elder Dubois tugged a long strand of hair behind his ear before leaning in to kiss Zacharie on both cheeks. "I was beginning to think I had been stood up." He laughed lightly before his pale, sharp gaze turned to Lex. "And who is this?" He asked curiously, eyeing the blonde thoughtfully.

"Andre, this is Lex; we used to be roommates. Lex, this is my older brother, Andre." The younger boy introduced, making vague hand motions between them. "Lex was just saying that he wanted to head towards the dance floor, right?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Sao Kasai

[Buffet Area with Izumi, Aulus, Tambrey...and Jace?]

Izaya was glad that Izumi seemed to forget some of her anxiety when he brought out Mika. She was a pretty cute distraction. He blinked in surprise, however, when his date answered his Joltik as if she were a normal person. "Eh? Izumi-chan can understand Mika-chan?" he asked. "Does that mean you can understand Bug-types? That's just like me! How wonderfully fateful!"

Psyche looked up at Max with a concerned expression. He seemed hesitant, a hint of hurt feelings evident in his features.

Delic clarified to Max, patting the upset Sneasal on the head like an older brother. he explained with amusement.

The Chingling floated up to the Scyther's face and reached out a stubby arm to touch the other pokemon's forehead. sure you're a normal temperature? You're starting to stammer.>

Though delighted that Aulus and Tambrey acknowledged his greeting, Izaya's visible delight was slightly dampened when he noticed Izumi's shrinking away. "Uh oh. Are you okay?" he asked, wondering if maybe she didn't like them. No...it was more likely she didn't know them, considering how rarely he thought Aulus and Tambrey came out to these sorts of events. Not to mention shy Izumi.

"It's alright! I've known them for a long time, now, and they're friends of Jerry-kun's, too! They're really nice, you'll see! Tam-chii's a scientist! She's quiet and a little shy like you, but she's very kind. And Aulus-sensei - he teaches a karate class I take - may seem gruff on the outside, but he's just like a big teddy bear trying to be all tough and intimidating," Izaya bubbled happily. It didn't seem to have occurred to him that the Rockets might have been going by aliases for this event.

"Plus he's got a mechanical arm just like yours! I bet he'd be happy to meet someone else with a mechanical arm! Wouldn't you be interested to look at his too, Izumi-chan, since you're such a stupendous mechanic? I thought I remembered you had a passion for these things." He gave her a small, comforting smile. "But if you decide you really don't want to talk to them, we can go."

However, Izumi seemed distracted by Mika, who, upon seeing Izumi hold her hand out to catch her, dropped from Izaya's shoulder to land in the blue-haired girl's gloved palm. Mika wiggled happily. She attempted to crawl up Izumi's hand and arm to perch on the young woman's shoulder. From there she noticed Paul on Aulus' shoulder and waved her tiny claw.

The young man who addressed Izumi gave Izaya pause before he broke into a grin. "Ooh, Izumi-chan knows someone here, too? That's great! You should go talk to him," he encouraged. "But first - " Leaning over the buffet table, he selected a few items with his free hand and placed them on a small plate before turning back to his date with a mischievous look. "-say 'ahhh'," he instructed, plucking a chocolate-covered strawberry from the plate and holding it just in front of Izumi's lips.

At Aulus' remarks, Izaya was either being incredibly naive or playing incredibly dumb, because he responded more joyfully than ever. "A sticker? Yay! I didn't know you gave out stickers in class, Sensei! But...do you mean next class? You're not going to surprise me by saying we're secretly in class now, are you?" His eyes, pink from his contact lenses, were wide and inquisitive, revealing his sincere belief and worry that they really might have secretly been in class and he just hadn't known until then.

His evident worry was promptly banished from his face to be replaced with a flattered blush. It seemed that the non-compliment wasn't as clear in nature to Izaya as the scarred man meant it to be. "Aww, thanks, Sensei! You look very nice, too. But, um...maybe next time you should add your own personal touch or something. Maybe a different colored tux or a Valentine's Day-themed tie. Or even cuffs!"

He pointed innocently at Aulus' gloves. "Those make you look like a butler. And the fact that you're wearing a typical tux...well, let's just say it's a good thing Tam-chii's not wearing white, or people might forget this was a Valentine's Day ball and think they were here for your wedding reception!" For once, he didn't seem to be teasing them with ill intentions or even for a reaction; just stating his opinion. Izaya blushed and giggled like a girl shipping her favorite character couple. "You two are here on a date together, right?"

"Oh! Speaking of dates, this is my date, Izumi-chan! She has a mechanical arm like you, only I think she made hers herself 'cause she's a mechanic. Ne, you're so considerate of those weaker and smaller than you, Aulus-sensei! See, Izumi-chan? I told you he's nicer than he likes to let on. By the way, Sensei, that Joltik is Mika, my new Bug-type! Isn't she cute?" Whatever the behaviors that Izaya exhibited differently this night than usual, his talking wasn't one of them.

"Hi, Paul-chan! Cute as ever, I see. Perfectly fitting for the occasion, too!" He waved his free hand at the Spinarak with a pleasant smile, which was a stark contrast to the expression he'd worn the last time he'd interacted with the purple bug. "You're like your trainer's 'lovely item' to balance out his intimidating factor! Good job!" He held out a fervent thumbs-up to Paul. "But if you're going to move locations to your fox friend, I'm sure Tam-chii will be able to take on that role in your stead."

And then said Tambrey was addressing Izaya directly. "You dooo? You always say the nicest things, Tam-chii!" the gleeful man chirped. "Actually, I didn't do anything to it - this is a whole different coat from the parka I usually wear. See the buttons?" he pointed out the large, pink, circular adornments. "While we're talking about outfits, though, that dress looks stunning on you! No wonder Aulus-sensei seems so flustered being by your side." He laughed like a child as he remarked, "I could swear his face is redder than usual, and not out of anger for once!"

Izaya's attention was diverted as Aulus and Tambrey each received a new Valentine. "Ooh, pokemon came up to you, too?" he noted. "They gave Izumi-chan and I cards as well!" He put an index finger to his cheek. "I wonder... Hey, hey, Tam-chii, you like experiments, right?" The black-haired man's pink eyes lit up. "I wonder if those pokemon are waiting for us to do certain things to give us these cards since they seem to be giving them to specific people at specific times. Like...do you think they'd give one if Aulus-sensei gave you a kiss?" he hypothesized.

"It can just be on the cheek, but why don't you give it a try?" He chose not to mention it, but part of the reason Izaya had suggested such a thing was because he wanted to see if Kiss Kiss the Raichu had anything to do with it. Her name seemed like a pretty big hint as to what she might have visited Izaya for earlier, and he had given Izumi a small kiss on the cheek, before.  

[Suudonym]

[Ballroom - Pyre (Open)]

"No," she said, "they're not fond of places like this." She brought her hands together at the small of her back, "Is it true that members of Team Rocket often infiltrate events such as these?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ballroom - Open

"What? Pastin what is it?" Rosie couldn't help but laugh as she found herself being nudged by the flaming horse. Though he was careful not to catch his horn on clothe or flesh, his muzzle brushing up her back, the strength of the creature made almost purely of muscle was enough to move his trainer forward, but the familiarity Rosie had for dealing with his strength only encouraged a few steps at a time our of the girl.

Whatever it was that Pastin wanted, and Rosie could at least guess, was highly delighted by and encouraged by Floribel, who too was still tugging on the the shoulder drape.

the gleeful girly cry of Kiss Kiss as the Raichu made a B-line for her team caused the attention to shift as she skidded to a halt just at Rosie's shoes.

the blond blinked down at the electric type for a few seconds "Wow you're out already?" Rosie asked, reaching down down to hand her a few more valentines to hand out.

Kiss piped back with a wink to her trainer. Gesturing for her to hand her a few more valentines.
She asked, giving Rosie a questioning look to show she was showing curiosity.

Pastin explained

"I'm pretty sure Pastin wants a dance." Rosie guessed, looking at the Rapidash, who neighed and pushed off of his front hooves excitedly.
Rosie laughed again, turning to face the Rapidash and giving him a curtsy. "Yes sir, I would love this dance."

Kiss offered, hopping up and down and reaching out for the stack Rosie had been holding to help supply all the Pokemon running around.

After getting her point across, Kiss Kiss sat by one of the tables, with Vahy'n, who gently turned the dance down in favor of simply watching as Rosie, Pastin and Floribel moved onto the dance floor.
Pop, who very pointedly turned the offer day, sat alongside the other two watching with a look that suggested that she was probably a little bit regretful of not going out there.

Kiss Kiss pointed out, sitting up high on her back legs, her front paws gripping a valentine to her chest as large blue eyes searched the room of guests.

Pop corrected.

Kiss tilted her head but didn't look away from her job

Vahy'n said, watching the three of their team on the dance floor  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ballroom - Young Woman - open

"I see." He replied "Well that is a shame," Her next question looked like it caught him a little more by surprise, though only for a few seconds until his gentle expression and calm smile once again took over. It was clear that he understood the gravity of this topic, but was choosing not to bring gloom over anyone's heads.
"We can't always be certain, but its always a possibility with public events." He replied with a nod. "But that's not a reason to worry, the KSO is aware of the risks, and we've taken steps to minimize any desire they might have to try anything like they have in the past." To proove his point, he made a gesture to another Officer that was in the room.

Despite his words, there wasn't an overwhelming presence of KSO officers at this event, at least, not as big as one would think there should be.  

[Sao Kasai]

[ Buffet -- Izaya, Aulus, Tambrey, Jace ]

Izumi nodded, "Y-yeah. I just found out... not too long ago. W-which explains the headaches." It was really interesting that they both could understand the same type of pokemon.

him touching her> Max tried to back-peddle after inadvertently hurting the other pokemon's feelings. Conversing was hard, and he was starting to get flustered with the effort. The scyther turned his head, looking away from the Chingling and towards the new humans that were approaching.

"Oh--H-hi again." Izumi waved at Aulus, who she recognized from her shop that one time when she fixed his bike. "Y-you two know Jerome?" Izumi's eyes lit up a smidge. "I-is he here?" She was distracted away from that topic when mechanical limbs were mentioned. Aulus hadn't had that when they'd met the last time. "S-sorry..." She frowned a bit, expressing sympathy with the man for losing a limb. It wasn't fun. "I-I'm okay--Un-unless you n-need it looked at!" Izumi added hastily at the end, not wanting to come off as un-helpful. "N-no, I-I didn't make it. I... I've done some modifications, a-and I can fix the moving parts, b-but the programming is t-too much for me. E-especially with something th-this complex..."

Izumi was a bit relieved when Izaya told her it would be alright to go speak to Jace--But was somewhat dumbfounded when he took a chocolate covered strawberry and held it so close to her face. "A-a-ahhh?" Her cheeks reddened furiously as she was fed the fruit.

"E-excuse me, s-sorry, I-I'll let you all.. um... talk..." Izumi gave the group an apologetic look and stepped away towards Jace. Izaya was being very nice tonight, but his unusually energetic demeanor was a lot to handle--Izumi needed just a short cool down.

[ Buffet - Aside with Jace ]

"H-hi. Um. I-its nice to see you, um... again..." And not accidentally intruding at his home.
 

[LexThetaSigma]

[Ballroom - Open]

The open invitation caught his attention more for what would amount to a night outside of the lab than the ball itself. Once he made the decision to go, Rory pulled together a decent black suit coupled with a red tie, the closest he could come to matching the theme of the night.

Walking in behind him was Jace while Thor took up his perch on his shoulder, both with their own blue ties tied around their necks.  

[Suudonym]

[Ballroom - Pyre (Open)]

She followed his gesture to the other officer, but the young woman's expression didn't noticeably change - she seemed neither relieved nor unimpressed. "I've been away from Kodo for quite a while," she said. "Could I ask you to tell me about the current situation - how things have progressed to where they are now and where they're expected to go in the future?"  

[Shaddaling]

insidiousEnigma

[Entrance Hallway to the Ballroom!-Andre /Zach / Valentines! ]

"They come in tins and you can stick them in coffee and other things and hmm, ooh?" Lex paused, looking down and smiled at Kiss, Kiss, taking the Valentine. "Thank you, sweetheart." He said and stepped back as Zach started to flag someone down. Ooh, was this the brother? They had the same hair.

"Charmed to meet you Andre," he said and nodded. "I was, I hope you don't mind me snagging your brother for a dance?" He questioned and handed the Valentine to Yoketron who swiftly made it disappear. "Thank you, Tron."

The Zororak nodded, giving a rumbly noise as he nodded to Andre.  

[TawnyAngel]

[Buffet area - Tambery, Izaya, Izumi, (Jace)]

Oh of course! He shouldn't be surprised that Izaya went shooting his idiot mouth off like that he supposed and yet a small part of him actually was, more fool him for thinking somebody who'd been branded a traitor was capable of- Ugh!

It wasn't really the end of the world that Izaya had used his codename; it wasn't tied to anything nefarious and in fact he'd gone by it in civilian life once upon a time when he had been a dramatic pretentious late teen/early twenty-something but he hated having control taken away from him like that, and that the same had been done to Tam. Later on he planned to have a chat with Izaya about this but for now- for now he was going to control his temper.

For a moment Aulus had tensed up, anger etching hard lines into his scarred features, but with an exhale the ugly expression was gone and at least most of the tension with it. "Sure, go ahead and share every detail of my personal life with the whole world why don't you?" he said sharply to Izaya, flexing his right hand slightly. He wasn't actually talking about the hand at all - though he wasn't thrilled about that bit either - but so far as the girl was concerned that was exactly what he meant. "Your sticker is revoked by the way, I don't give a Butterfree's fart what you think of my outfit, and you know that 'Tam-chii'," he made air quotes, "has a boyfriend who is not me so I don't know why you'd think we were on a date." He didn't like giving away even that small detail about Tam to an outsider, a stranger, but it was an innocuous one - certainly moreso than giving away the detail about his arm he felt. "Mika looks healthy though," he allowed with a shrug, though he still frowned as he added; "But you, given you're her trainer, ought to be keeping a closer eye on her too."

Aulus now turned his attention onto Izumi. "Just so you know ninety percent of what he says about me is crap. I do know Jerome - don't think he's here tonight - and for my sins I do teach your charming companion karate, but I'm not a teddy bear, and I certainly don't want anyone looking at my arm. If I did," he shot a glare at Izaya, "I wouldn't have worn gloves tonight."

Flustered! He was not flustered, it was just... nice to get off base with his partner. Okay former partner but still she was one of his two best friends and... Ugh. Why had Izaya had to show up? What had he done to deserve this? Other than join a terrible criminal organization and so on that was- What?

Okay feeding the obviously uncomfortable girl - Izumi or whatever - a strawberry had been pretty weird and gross but now he was on about kisses for science? Really? He honestly didn't know how the hell to respond to that immediately other than by biting Izaya's head off and so he bit his tongue and glanced at Tambery, leaving it to her to say... well whatever she was going to say. She was dating Rory in any case so it was probably inappropriate.

The stranger who walked up and greeted Izumi got a nod of acknowledgement, with a hint of puzzled at the rock candy. Where had he got that and was he just going to stand around with the saliva covered thing? That didn't seem like fancy party etiquette to him but then again he himself was practically walking anti-fancy party etiquette so he was hardly going to bring it up.  

[TawnyAngel]

VerityHattress

Entryway with Keita

"Keita," KO echoed with a small nod, doing his best to commit the name to memory. "Pleased to meet you then, or to meet you properly? I'm sure I remember you from a training course - that team building thing in the forest? - but I could be mistaken." He wasn't going to go into more detail than that; maybe she really didn't remember or maybe he really was mistaken. That would be embarrassing.

"And thank you!" KO continued with a slightly smirky smile as he indicated his suit with an airy gesture. "I made it myself, oh, nearly a year ago now I think? I'm rather proud of it, enough to have worn it at least six times without getting bored of it."

Speaking of bored, or boring, she had called her electric type 'Shock'? Some people just had no imagination though he supposed at least it was easy to remember. Nevertheless KO smiled at the bug type and gave a little wave. "Well hello there, pleased to meet you as well." He didn't much care for pokemon other than his own but that was an unpopular way of thinking and KO never liked to be unpopular, it made life so unpleasant when people took against you. Turning back to Keita he added; "It's probably no bad thing that you brought Shock, both to let - her? Him? - get out more, and Serperior are quite large... Though I think I've seen bigger accompanying people tonight, I suppose this being a league event they would make sure our friends were accommodated!" It was a little sickening really but there you had it.

"May I accompany you inside?" KO continued after a moment, indicating the ballroom ahead of them and offering Keita his arm. "I'm afraid we clash terribly but I think we might be forgiven- Oh!" KO paused as the KSO officer stopped beside him and handed him a card. "Well thank you," he smiled, tucking it safely inside his jacket, "I hope you have a good time too!"