Zane wanted to go on another date with her. And not just any date, but a date to Empyrean Divine's ball. She too had received an invitation since she belonged to Blue Pegasus, though she hadn't intended on attending herself. Balls were new for her. Though they existed in her homeland, they were reserved for nobles or those with similar wealth to nobles. Atani never fell into that class, but it seemed guilds in Fiore did things differently.

She had to admit though, regardless of whether or not she wanted to go to the dance for the celebration, the appeal of venturing to Stella was attractive. Despite the political climate, her stay in Bosco was an incredible experience. With Hildegard soon to be the ruler of Bosco, however, things have finally began to calm down. With the Stellan rebels, there was no way Empyrean Divine would choose to have a celebration in their country. But now, that was not the case, and for once Atani could enjoy a country on her own terms.

She had to admit though, she was a bit apprehensive about accompanying Zane to this ball. The last she had seen of him was in Hargeon when he took on a devilish appearance and then left with little explanation. Transformation magic existed in many forms, but there must have been a reason he only claimed to possess 'wind magic' up to that point. She wanted to know more, but thought it inappropriate to ask at a gala. Perhaps another time.

As for the event itself, Atani struggled picking out an appropriate gown. She knew not what was common for humans to wear at these things, but elected to buy something she had seen in a Stellan store. It was adorned with golden accents reminiscent of the jewelry she had seen many of the native citizens wear. Overall, it was far more extravagant than what the young elf was used to, but she supposed she was indeed going to represent Blue Pegasus of all guilds. Extravagant was what they were known for.

Once she arrived at the ball, she felt far less out of place. There were those dressed in all sorts of attire. She scanned the crowd for the blonde fellow she remembered, but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he simply had yet to arrive... The night still was young.

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Atani regrettably found herself in the middle of the crowd on the ballroom floor. It was the area she felt least comfortable in. Not in an anxious way, but in an... unpleasant way. She supposed that was an appropriate word for it. The reclusive girl liked to retreat to the corner of the room when possible, but that was not a very good vantage point for scouting out her date, nor was it a good place for her to be if Zane was looking for her as well.

There was a moment where Atani was about to give up for the time being. She supposed at this point, if she hadn't seen Zane by now, it was because he hadn't yet arrived at the ball. She was about to reach for a flute of champagne sitting on a silver platter when all of a sudden--

"Boo!"

Atani flinched as a set of arms draped across her shoulders. "Zane!" she replied with alarm. Not a moment later, he came out from behind to face the front of her. Though she knew it was him because of his voice, the man before her was not the same blonde fellow she knew from Hargeon. His visage contained the same impish expression as always and his blue eyes maintained their same childish gleam, but his hair framed his face in a whole new light. It was a light auburn rather than blonde. It was thicker too. Wilder. More Zane.

"You've changed," she said in a surprised tone. Not startled like before, but rather laced with curiosity. "I like it. I think it suits you." The elf flashed him a grin. He in turn complimented her on the dress.

"You think so? I wasn't sure what was appropriate to wear here. I bought it in Stella last minute." As she spoke, she looked down at her dress and flattened out the creases along the skirt. She then looked back up to Zane and his own snow white outfit. "You look rather extravagant too."

Atani smirked as Zane continued on saying all what he usually did. The mage was quite the flirt, and flirts weren't usually her type. But Zane? Somehow, he made it work with his own mischievous charm. Characteristic of the young man, he gave a small bow and offered Atani his hand for a dance. With one hand, she held out the skirt of her dress in curtsy. With the other, she gently took Zane's. "But of course."

A slow song began to play, a Bellan classic if memory served. Couples across the ballroom floor swayed to the music with ease as if they had done it a thousand times. The same was not true for Atani.

"Have you done this before?" she whispered to her date.

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"Do you count the two of us drunkenly stumbling around in a tiki bar?"

"Not really," the girl chuckled, smiling back at Zane. As much fun as that was, it was a far cry from elegantly slow dancing at a famous guild's formal ball. Despite elves having a reputation for being creatures of grace, Atani had to say that her skills when it came to dancing did not live up to such expectations. She could balance atop tree branches with ease. She could step lightly through the forest, not even alerting her presence with the crunch of a leaf or the snap of a twig. But dancing? Some people equated it with combat. Despite being able to flow with her opponent in fight, she could not do the same in dance.

Zane was in the same boat as her. In fact, he alluded to not dancing during their next date.

"Next date?" she teased. Though in reality, she hadn't planned for there to be another one. "You're lucky I was able to make it to this one. I'll be... busy when I return to Fiore."

Helping her friend Lee, founding a new guild, venturing to find what happened to the spirit she once knew... Even if Atani wanted to date someone, she was afraid she wouldn't have the time to do so. But now, she supposed, she did have time at her disposal to do whatever she wanted. Empyrean Divine's event in Stella was a rarity. The mage didn't know when she would next encounter a chance to completely relax for a week or two. Might as well make the most of it while she still could.

"Ballrooms aren't really my thing," she admitted. "So I wouldn't mind if we went someplace else, preferably something a little more private. This place is too crowded for my taste~"

Though for her and Zane to have the same experience as they did last time? Atani wasn't sure if that would happen. Certainly not while she was sober, that was for sure. That said, she and Zane had grown closer since they first met; however, the elf felt as if she needed to know him better before anything greater than slow dancing between the two happened.

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"Pretty busy, huh?"

"Very."

She flashed a smile to the strawberry blonde man. It was her attempt at making it seem as if her business was nothing of the serious nature, just that whatever business it may be-- and she would leave Zane to speculate about that, since she was in no way ready to tell him about her and her friends from Blue Pegasus running off to found a new guild-- it would occupy a great deal of her time in the near future. Much to her surprise, Zane said that he too would be busy with his guild.

There were multiple reasons for her initial shock. The fact they would both be in the weeds with guild work was one thing. It was even stranger he brought it up to be the case for himself when Atani hadn't even mentioned that she would be occupied with the same sort of position. What shocked her even more though was the fact he had said anything about a guild in the first place.

Atani found it curious how he paused after mentioning belonging to a guild. It was not something he had brought up before, and if memory served correctly, she had never seen a guild emblem upon his skin. Now... she knew the night they spent together was filled with hazy memories, but she had seen him in his entirety. A colored emblem on his fair skin would have stood out, but nothing of the sort came to mind.

Zane summarized the extent of his 'guild affairs.' He spoke of the matter rather dismissively, as if it should be of little to no concern of hers. Whether or not that was the truth was up for debate, though Atani was in no position to pry when she herself deflected his question with a certain vagueness of her own. Instead, she gently nodded to his statement. "Hmm, I see."

In what was an easily perceivable way of trying to draw her attention away from Zane's affiliation with a guild, her date switched the subject. Their dance came to a gradual end, which resulted in Zane proposing that they'd steal some shrimp before making their grand exit. Even if the idea might've stemmed from the purpose of serving as a diversion, the impish grin spread across his face told Atani that regardless of his motives, he genuinely wanted to cause some childish ruckus at this painfully formal event. Frankly, Atani couldn't blame him. Most of her guild mates in Blue Pegasus would probably disagree with her, but adhering to these strict codes of elegance were no fun. Though the elf was no thief, she supposed she could make an exception to break her standards tonight.

"Fine," she giggled, covering her mouth with her free hand to stifle the laughter. "Just don't get caught."

Well, in all technicality, they didn't get caught.

Even so, their great heist didn't go unnoticed. Hand-in-hand, the two mages hurried to the buffet table. Zane grabbed a platter not full of shrimp, but full of chocolate (which was even better). They received odd stares from the party guests who certainly couldn't dream of attempting such a thing themselves, but no one even so much as budged from their seats in an attempt to stop them. Considering the ball was filled to the brim with mages of all kinds, there was no doubt in the girl's mind that these people had the means of stopping them, but at the same time why would they feel the need to cause a scene when there were supposedly ballroom guards who were trained to handle troublemakers such as the duo making away with expensive gourmet treats?

Perhaps the guards saw there was no threat to the party and had their fair share of champagne and sparkling rosé. Whatever the reason for their distraction, Atani was thankful for it. It meant that she and Zane were able to escape the party scene without a hitch... with gourmet chocolates as a reward.

The adrenaline high hit them both as they reached the safety of the outdoors. Atani laughed along with Zane as she took a piece of chocolate for her own. It was a dark brown square sprinkled with sea salt crystals. Peach colored dust coated the top layer for décor. Upon taking a bite, the sweet practically melted in her mouth.

"This chocolate is so good!" Dare she even say, it might've been the best she'd ever had. It was certainly the fanciest. Perhaps she should attend galas like this more often. She finished off the rest of her chocolate before proceeding. "Empyrean Divine really knows how to host a ball, probably just as well as Blue Pegasus even by the looks of it. Which reminds me... I guess I shouldn't be surprised you're in a guild since only people from one got invited to this event, but how come you've never mentioned it before?"

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Atani chose to bring up Zane's mysterious guild while his mouth was still full of chocolate. Apparently, that seemed to be a mistake. For one reason or another, her question caught him off guard. She tentatively inched her hand forward as she saw Zane seemingly begin to choke on the chocolate, but then retracted it as he began to croak out a response. He pounded his chest and cleared his throat, the sort of gesture that would be indicative of some sort of big unveiling. A confession. But even if it appeared to be the case, Zane instead danced around the subject.

Whatever guild he was part of, he called it 'not-so-savory.' From what she knew of Zane, she found that hard to believe, but the look behind his eyes told her he was telling the truth. Then, he said the one thing she never expected.

"I'm a member of the guild Eternal Nightmare."

If Atani had still been eating her sweet, she probably would've choked on it too. The rest of what he said went through one pointed ear and out the other. Although it contained all of his regular Zaneisms, all but confirming he was still the same person as always, Atani couldn't get over just how... unexpected this was.

"Eternal Nightmare?" She forced a smile. A shaky half-smile as she secretly held onto the hope that this was all some sort of joke. "You mean the dark guild run by a Wizard Lord? The one full of mages with bounties on their heads? That one that isn't usually seen questing with light mages like me? That Eternal Nightmare?"

This just made her future guild settling in Astera that much more complicated.

bloop ♡

"Eternal Nightmare is not evil."

'I know that.'

"From what I've seen, all our members are redeemable."

'I know that too.'

She had an opinion to everything coming from Zane's lips. Though that may be true, she didn't utter a single word. Not until he was done talking. Silent as a mouse, the elf simply listened. All the while, the same stoic expression stayed upon her face, not changing for even a moment. Not while Zane tried to justify his guild's actions, not while he spoke of their accomplishments, not even when he tried to change the subject by flirting with her. Once he was done, she removed his arm from her waist and shifted away to separate their bodies from one another. Now, it was her turn to speak.

"I haven't been in Fiore long," Atani began. She paused to gather her thoughts and then continued. "I don't know all of Eternal Nightmare's history like the others here. I never thought your guild to be 'evil.' Your guildmaster and I... had a similar understanding during the Boscosi war for the throne. I appreciate him for that. And you? I don't think I have to explain anything there. I know you're a good person. So Eternal Nightmare itself? That isn't the problem here."

Well, it kinda was. Or rather, it would be once Infinity Wolves was officially established, but perhaps... ? Perhaps she could convince her guild mates not to stir up too much trouble, just long enough for her to come up with a better plan to deal with the situation that is. But regardless, there was a more pertinent issue at the moment. One that Atani felt very strongly about at the present time.

"The problem is you lied to me." Her emerald eyes darkened as she glowered at Zane. "Because a lie of omission is still a lie. You didn't think that tiny detail was at all important when we spent so much time together? When we took that job together? I don't care if your guild isn't evil. The law doesn't care if your guild isn't evil. It is still illegal and everything you've said led me to believe you weren't involved with anything of the sort. I'm sure you could see how that's a problem."

She wouldn't have cared if he failed to explicitly mention Eternal Nightmare. All he needed to do was not lead her astray. Hell, even mentioning 'underground jobs' would've been better than going out of his way to make it seem like they were in the same line of work-- fighting gangs and criminals being one such example if she remembered his words correctly.

There was more to it. A lot more. But she didn't want to waste her breath. Not when she wasn't sure she could fully articulate the position she found herself in as an inhuman foreigner still new to the laws of the land.

"So no. Sorry to kill the mood, but I don't feel like 'exploring' tonight. I just... I think I'd rather walk myself back to my room."

She turned her back on Zane and began to leave the hotel's premises. Before she could go too far, she paused. The elf turned her head to glance over her shoulder, just far enough to see the silhouette of the dark mage out the corner of her eye.

"Goodnight."

- exit -