party of the year :: errrybody

Kavi leaned down and kissed the side of Neeva's hair. "You ready yet, baby?" he asked, standing back up and straightening his bowtie in the mirror. Neeva had just finished pulling up her hair at the vanity in the spare room upstairs at the Adhbhar estate.

Guests had started arriving about a half hour ago, but Kavi and Neeva were a bit late because...well, it was their party, and they could be late if they wanted. Arizona, after hearing about Kavi's proposal, had invited legitimately everyone she knew to an engagement party for her brother and soon-to-be sister. Kavi wasn't sure it was exactly something he wanted to do, but Neeva had been excited about it so he rolled with it. He had to agree it would also be nice to see some of the other advisers and overloridians outside of the work environment that he usually interacted with them in.

"Almost," Neeva replied, while applying the last finishing touches to her hair and make up. Once she felt satisfied, she smiled at herself in the mirror then stood up from the chair she was sitting in. "There! Perfect!"

She turned around away from the mirror to face Kavi, and leaned up slightly to kiss him. She knew he hadn't really like the whole engagement party idea, but she had a feeling he was going to have fun anyway.

"I guess we should head on down, huh?" She asked, then giggled.

"I think that's a good idea, yeah," he said with a smile. He took her hand in his, and then led his fiancee out of the room and down the stairs.

The giant ballroom was full of clio, most of whom Kavi recognized. Though Arizona had started doing a lot more of her work lately, Kavi had still been the one doing it for years, and he had worked with most of the clio he saw here tonight.

"Jeeze, there are a lot of clio here," Kavi said to Neeva as they entered the ballroom. "Oh, look! There's Ari and Joel." Neeva and Kavi walked over to where the other couple was standing, drinks in hand.

Joel was standing with Arizona, trying not to think about the last time he'd been at a party in this ballroom. The atmosphere tonight was much different than that awful night had been. Whereas that party had been wild, awkward and had ended in embarrassment, this was a more formal, dignified affair. He was way more comfortable in this kind of environment.

Plus, he was far, far more comfortable with Arizona now. Things had honestly been going great between them. Arizona was having a surprisingly good influence on him. He was more relaxed now, let himself actually have fun sometimes. He was about to ask her for a dance, when Ekavi and Neeva approached.

They all greeted each other. "I don't think I ever formally congratulated you two," Joel said to the couple. "So, uh...congratulations. On your engagement."

Arizona saw the couple of honor approach her and Joel, and she immediately brought them into a tight hug once they were close enough. Of course, she had already congratulated them hundreds of times, and probably would congratulate them one hundred more tonight. She was so incredibly happy for them, they made the perfect couple together, and Ari just loved Neeva, she was such a sweet, wonderful girl.


"I'm so glad you two let me throw this for you!" She told them. "Trust me Kavi, it'll be fun!"

Kolecakes ate a baby

Hadley had gone a little back and forth on whether or not to go to this party, but in the end decided that hey, maybe it would be fun. And Remy had agreed to come with him despite the fact that it was at Arizona's place, so there was that. Oh, and something about fostering goodwill with all the other overloridians and blah blah blah. The point was, they were here, dressed up and ready to socialize.

Well, Hadley was ready to socialize. Who knew about Remy.

"Where's Arizona?" he asked Remy innocently. "We should go say hi." Half of him genuinely wanted to say hi to Arizona since she was always fun to talk to, and half of him wanted to talk to her to annoy Remy. "Oh, I think I hear her voice."

Remy, who was probably irritated, guided him through the crowd until they reached Arizona and whoever she was talking to. "Hey Arizona," he greeted.

Remy pretended that she was unhappy about the invitation to Adhbhar, but secretly she had been extremely excited to go--it was just an excuse to go out and buy a brand new outfit and a new pair of shoes! It also didn't hurt that there would actually be clio around to see her in said brand new outfit and shoes.

That said, she still wasn't Arizona's biggest fan, so when Hadley dragged her over to see her, Remy sighed. Thankfully when they got over there, though, Kavi was there. Remy knew Kavi through her years of working with Adhbhar, as he was both Arizona's brother and adviser.

"Kavi!" Remy said, "It's nice to see you. This must be Neeva," Remy smiled at the pretty blonde that had her arm looped through Kavi's. "Congratulations!"

Kavi smiled at Remy and rubbed Neeva's arm with his thumb. "This is her," he said, turning to look at his fiancee. "Ain't I a lucky guy? And thank you," he said to her congratulations.

"...and Aspen will be the older gentleman, he's the overloridian of Ughdarras," Liam finished, walking arm-in-arm with Marisol as they were led to the giant ballroom by one of the staff at the Adhbhar estate. He'd just finished giving Mar a rundown of each of the overloridians, and who he assumed they would have brought as their plus-ones. It turned out Marisol hadn't paid much attention in her eilemaiden classes at school, and thus wasn't very well versed on any of the rulers of Amelia. Liam didn't expect her to remember everything he'd just told her, but it would be nice to walk in with a little prior knowledge, when the inevitable introductions began. This was Marisol's first overloridian party--the fanciest thing she'd ever been to before was a Redfern dance.

When they walked into the ballroom, even Liam was impressed. Arizona really had done a lot to commemorate her younger brother (who was the reason for the party) and his new fiancee. There were pictures everywhere of the couple amidst what looked like very expensive decorations.

"Think you could get used to parties like this?" Liam asked with a smile, looking down at Marisol. Even though she was just a teenager still in school, she seemed just as confident as ever. It was one of the reasons Liam liked her so much. Not much phased her--not even the thought of being surrounded by the most important clio in Amelia.

Liam Biam wrote:"...and Aspen will be the older gentleman, he's the overloridian of Ughdarras,"

"Oh yeah, he's like my something-cousin-once removed thing or something," Marisol said, furrowing her brow as she tried to figure out exactly how she was related to Aspen in her head. It was fairly distant, and she'd never actually met him. He was her grandma's nephew, whatever the heck that made him.

Marisol wasn't nervous to be at a ball with such important clio, despite being a fairly normal young girl. Quite the contrary, she had been ecstatic when Liam invited her. Dressed a beautiful, sparkly blue cocktail dress and walking arm-in-arm with the most handsome man in Amelia, she felt ready to jump right into this exciting new world.

"Definitely," she said with a grin, looking around and all the amazing decorations. There was even live music playing. "I want to meet everyone!"

Liam laughed. Marisol was so cute, looking around with wide eyes. "Alright," he told her, looking around at the clio that were there. He quickly spotted Paisley, who was talking to someone he had never met before. Paisley was the overloridian Liam dealt with on the most regular basis, and thus was probably the closest clio he had to a friend at the party. She and Tahnee, who had been Liam's default date for years, usually spent the night chattering away when they attended overloridian functions. Marisol and Paisley would probably get along too.

"Remember her name?" Liam asked, gesturing across the room where Paisley and her mystery date (they were dressed in matching outfits, so Liam assumed) were standing. He started leading Marisol over as he waited for her response.

"Ummm," Marisol replied as they started walking over. Liam had described two overloridians with blonde hair; Nadar and Adhbhar. She decided to guess that this one was the Nadar overloridian, based on her green dress. "Paisley?"

Paisley (if that was who she was) was standing next to a tall, cute guy that she didn't remember Liam describing. He must be Paisley's date, not another overloridian. Gods, everyone here looked so attractive, all of them dressed up all fancy. Of course Marisol had the most attractive date of all.

She beamed as they approached the couple, waiting for Liam to introduce her.

Liam nodded. "Good memory," he told her, as they walked up.

"Paisley!" he greeted when they finally got close. Paisley turned to look at Liam, a smile already on her face. She was always smiling, Liam had noticed.

"Liam," she said warmly, leaning over and giving the Cuir overloridian a hug. "It's good to see you!" Paisley had delegated most of her work to her advisers over the past few weeks as she helped settle the matter of the criminal organization that Henri and Petra had recently taken down, and so she hadn't seen Liam in awhile.

After Paisley broke away from the hug, she turned to smile at a short girl that stood beside Liam. "Your date?" she asked, noticing the matching blue that both he and the girl wore. It was interesting--in all the years that Paisley had known Liam, he'd only brought Tahnee to events. Paisley had always assumed there was something between them. "I'm Paisley," she said, holding out her hand for the girl to take. "And this is Nils, my boyfriend" she said, both to Liam and his date.

"This is Marisol," Liam answered with a nod. He looked down at Marisol, who was a head shorter than him, with a smile.

"Marisol, your dress is beautiful," Paisley said. "And your earrings are gorgeous!"

Liam took Nils' hand. "It's nice to meet you, Nils," Liam said. Afterwards, he put an arm around Marisol's waist.

Marisol had been thinking about how kind Paisley looked as they approached her, and seemed to be proven right when the Nadar overloridian immediately enveloped Liam in a warm hug and introduced herself to Marisol, who took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully.

Paisley wrote:"Marisol, your dress is beautiful. And your earrings are gorgeous!"

"Aw, thanks," Marisol said, flattered. "My sister helped me pick my outfit. I really like your dress, too. And your hair."

Nils, on the other hand, hadn't been nearly as confident about fitting in among these powerful and important clio as Marisol was. He'd mostly been worried about inadvertently making Paisley look bad somehow, despite her assuring him (more than once) that that couldn't possibly happen. However, once they'd actually arrived, he'd been surprised to find that the atmosphere was a lot less intimidating than he'd expected. In fact, it was pretty laid back, and everyone so far had seemed polite and friendly. The overloridians all seemed like regular clio, as opposed to powerful political entities.

"You too," he said to Liam, as the overloridian shook his hand. It was so surreal, standing her in the Adhbhar mansion, wearing an expensive suit, shaking an overloridian's hand.

You're DATING an overloridian! Tanith pointed out.

Well, that still felt surreal sometimes, too. Not to mention, Nils could sometimes almost forget that Paisley was the overloridian of Nadar.

"Well your sister has great taste!" Paisley said. "You're lucky you got a sister--I got stuck with two pain in the butt brothers!" she laughed. She loved her brothers dearly, but it would have been nice to grow up with a sister. She put a hand up to her hair, which fell around her shoulders in ringlets. "Thank you! I couldn't decide what to do with it--I'm glad it looks okay!"

"I'm gonna go grab us some drinks," Liam told Marisol with a kiss to the top of her head. He knew that Marisol would be comfortable with Paisley--she wasn't intimidated by anything, and he felt like she and Paisley could hit it off. It would be nice for Marisol to make a friend in this crowd.

"Care to join me, Nils?" Liam asked, looking to Paisley's boyfriend.

Paisley smiled encouragingly over at Nils. Go! she urged with her eyes. She and Nils had been inseparable at the party so far, which she was completely fine with, but she thought it would be good for Nils to go with Liam.

Marisol laughed. "Trust me, sisters can be a pain too," she assured Paisley. The number of fights she and Skylar had gotten into over the years proved that. Of course, that didn't stop them from being best friends.

"'Kay," she said to Liam as he kissed her on the head and offered to go get drinks with Paisley's boyfriend.

"Um, sure..." Nils said hesitantly, glancing quickly at Paisley who clearly wanted him to go with Liam. Nils had been glued to her side since they'd arrived. Hopefully that hadn't bothered her. At Paisley's prompting, he walked off with Liam to the drink table.

After watching them go, Marisol turned back to Paisley and smiled. "You and your boyfriend are really cute," she told her.

"Hadley!" Arizona chirped happily. "I'm so glad you could make it!" She spread her arms out wide and hugged her blind friend tightly. "Hadley, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Joel!"

Neeva smiled brightly at Remy, and shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you!" She said, "And thank you!" Neeva had never met Remy before, but she knew Kavi had worked with her on numerous occasions.

Neeva blushed slightly and giggled, while playfully swatting at Kavi, "Oh stop!"

Hadley hugged Arizona back. Of all the other overloridians, she was his favorite and probably the only one he'd consider a friend, even if it was in the loosest sense of the word. "Of course," he said, despite the fact that he'd totally considered not coming. They stepped back from each other and Arizona introduced her boyfriend.

"Nice to meet you," Joel said, automatically sticking his hand out for Hadley to shake before realizing a fraction too late that he wouldn't see it. Luckily he was saved from an awkward situation, because Hadley happened to hold his hand out in Joel's general direction once he heard him speak anyways.

"Likewise," Hadley replied, wondering what kind of patient saint would put up with Arizona's antics. Not that he was one to talk, having found someone who put up with his antics. Speaking of which. "This is Remy, my adviser slash girlfriend."

"Thank you," Paisley said, her smile causing her forehead to get a little crinkly. She and Nils were cute. "You and Liam are really cute, too! How long have you guys been dating?" She was still really curious about their relationship. "He's such a good guy--you're really lucky!"

---

"Is this your first time in Adhbhar?" Liam asked conversationally as he and Nils walked away from their dates and over to the open bar. He ordered a beer for himself and some fruity cocktail for Marisol.

---

"It's nice to meet you too, Neeva," Remy said with a smile. "Wow, your ring is gorgeous!" The ring was absolutely stunning--with a bunch of different jewels decorating the band. If it were Remy she would only want a single diamond, but the ring seemed right at home on Neeva's hand, the different colors shining.

Kavi laughed when Neeva swatted him away. "I can't help you're the prettiest girl in Amelia!"

Remy turned back to Hadley when he introduced her to Arizona's boyfriend. She looked him up and down. He seemed way too stiff to be with Arizona. She wondered how the poor guy had ended up with her. "It's nice to meet you, Joel," she told him, holding out a hand for him to take. "And it's nice to see you, Arizona," she added, as an afterthought.

Kavi shook his head slightly at Remy. He knew she wasn't Ari's biggest fan, but it still irritated him a little when she acted so cooly towards her.

"Not that long, just a few months," Marisol replied. She glanced over towards the bar, where Liam was. "He's just so..." Fun? Smart? Handsome? "...great. I feel really lucky, to've met him and everything. He helped me through some hard times."

She realized that probably wasn't really a topic for someone she just met, so she quickly asked, "What about you and Nils?"

---

Nils followed Liam to the bar, wondering what to get Paisley to drink. Did she even drink? He took a wild guess and got her a gin and tonic, hoping she'd like it. For himself, he followed Liam's example and got a beer. "Uh, yeah, actually," Nils replied. "Even though it's my eilemaiden."

"Almost ...four months?" Paisley answered, trying to think how long it had been. It seemed like so much longer than it actually was, she'd fallen for him so quickly. "I met him in Nadar and we just... clicked." Paisley never talked about the details between the beginning of her and Nils' relationship, but she didn't have to lie to Marisol. Paisley had been enamored with Nils since the boat ride from Nadar to Linius, only a short week after she'd met him.

---

"Really?" Liam asked. "How are you liking it?" He wondered how much Nils had seen in Adhbhar, besides the estate.

He led Nils across the room, back to their ladies, drinks in hand. A smile started growing on his face when he saw that Marisol and Paisley were deep in conversation. He was so proud of Marisol, who looked like such a natural, here in the ballroom. He was so happy to have her here with him. Her confidence made her easily the most beautiful girl in the room.

Paisley smiled and waved a little as Liam and Nils returned back towards them. Nils was so handsome in his brand new tuxedo. He and Henri had gone out to pick out suits together--Henri's to wear to court, and Nils to wear to the party.

Liam came up behind Marisol and brushed against her arm. When she turned to look at him, he handed her the drink he'd got for her. "Don't let us interrupt," he told her, kissing her head again. "I thought I'd take Nils and show him around a little."

"Aww," Marisol said. "I met Liam at Tamar Falls...but we didn't click for a little while after that." She laughed. She, of course, had become smitten with Liam right away, but he had taken a little bit more time to see the light.

---

"It's...fine," Nils replied, after searching for the right word in his head and not finding it. He hadn't really seen much of Adhbhar yet. Not to mention, a good portion of it was underground. He didn't think he'd like that, honestly, but he didn't want to say that when the Adhbhar overloridian was the one hosting them. "It's nice to get to go all these places I've never been."

They returned to Paisley and Marisol.

---

Marisol jumped slightly when something brushed against her arm, and turned around just in time for Liam to give her a drink and a kiss. "Oh-okay! Thanks," she added, sipping the deliciously fruity drink he'd given her. Her favorite.

---

"I didn't know what you wanted," Nils said apologetically, handing Paisley her drink. He looked over in surprise when Liam said he was going to show him around. "What? Oh...okay."

Neeva laughed again and kissed Kavi on the cheek. He was such a goofball, but he was her goofball.

"Oh thank you!" Neeva replied, as Remy admired her ring. "Kavi made it himself!" She looked back at Kavi as she mentioned  him making the ring, total admiration and love on her face. They had been engaged for a few weeks now, and sometimes Neeva thought it was still unreal. Life couldn't be more perfect.

---

"Good to see you, Rem!" Arizona replied, smiling brightly and patting her arm. She knew that Remy wasn't her biggest fan, but she could give two shits about what Remy thought about her. Arizona marched to the beat of her own drum.

"Wow, that's incredible!" Remy said, both to Neeva and Kavi. She'd never been interested in Adhbhar, but she had to admit the ring he had been able to craft was beautiful.

Remy smiled stiffly as Arizona patted her arm. She honestly was surprised Arizona wasn't smashed already--but she also wasn't going to stick around to wait and see how long it would take. Looping her arm through Hadley's she said, "I think we're going to go walk around now." She looked back over at Neeva and Kavi. "Congratulations again."

Kavi half smiled at Remy, and nodded at her congratulations.

Joel glanced subtly between Arizona and Remy. Was it just him, or did Remy seem a little cold towards her? What was that all about? He waited until the Earalas couple disappeared before turning to Arizona. "Is there a history between you two, or something?" he asked, wondering if maybe Arizona and Remy had had some kind of disagreement in the past. Even Arizona's friendliness towards Remy had seemed to have some kind of negative undertones.

---

Hadley was smirking slightly as Remy pulled him away from the two couples. "Sure felt chilly over there," he said to Rem, once they were out of earshot. He'd picked on Remy about her dislike for Ari ever since the hilarious jealousy incident. It would never stop being funny to him.