In A New York Minute: Keys To The City

In A New York Minute: Keys To The City
Date of Scene:	04 November 2012
Location:	Manhattan
Synopsis:	A group of artists and a charity group hold a fundraising ball and art auction in order to help fund the group Hearts Intertwined. Everyone is invited to the party. Nothing terrible will happen at all, surely.
Cast of Characters:	Reize Seatlan, Raiya Fujihara, Riku, Mercade Alexander, Tifa Lockhart, Shiki Misaki, David Xanatos, Gilgamesh, Avira, Oswald, Relm Arrowny, Synestria, Rinoa Heartilly, Cirra Constantine
Tinyplot:	In A New York Minute

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Mercade Alexander has posed:
The Javits Center of Manhattan used to be one of the premiere convention centers in New York Cirt, with a commanding view of the bay through the beautiful glass-mirrored architecture. It hosted many of the leading trade and consumer shows of the year, as well as many special, world-class events. Since the world was engulfed by Darkness, the Center stood dormant and unused. What is the point of an exhibition, if there is no one to see it?

Tim Stilzkin and an organization called Hearts Intertwined think otherwise. Tim, along with many others, are a group of New York artists who have survived the fall to Darkness and wanted to show how it has affected them. Hearts Intertwined is a charity group that recently moved into the city within the last couple weeks, giving counseling and support to people affected by the ongoing Heartless attacks. They are, however, very small despite their efforts. Their insignia, a heart with ivy intertwined over it, features prominently at the event.

The event itself is upscale, but invitations and advertisements have been sent throughout Manhattan and beyond, thanks to Xanatos Enterprises and their forays into crossworld advertising. The schedule includes a dinner and a formal ball, as well as an art showing of the works of the artists. These works will be auctioned off in a silent auction at the end of the event, held as a charity for HI. The fee for a ticket is low, given the current economic status of the world.

Melissa Thorne, resplendant in a white dress, flowing blond hair, and with an array of expensive jewelry, features within the main hall, as well as the many artists who are displaying their works. Almost all of the works are various interpretations of the experiences that Manhattan (and presumably many other worlds) have experienced, with many contrasts of darkness and light, the Heartless, and themes of hope and despair prominent.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Many of the attendees are already in place, awaiting for the main events. Two of them have been walking around the art galleries, chatting with other people around, mingling with the people and trying to act the part. Even if she is dressed up for the occasion, the barmaid isn't part of any nobility, so its a nice change, and quite possibly something fun for her as well.

She steps around accompagnied by Rinoa. The barmaid is dressed up in a long red cocktail dress, which isn't something she's used to wearing, neither are the high heels honestly.

She nods to Rinoa "It's fun to dress up once in a while, but I don't feel like I belong here either, if you know what I mean." She lets out a small laugh at that, shaking her head "But it sems everyone is in the same boat right now. The invitation was broad after all, and not limited to anyone, so there's probably lots of 'common folk' here playing dress up, just like she's doing. "I didn't even remember I had this dress."

Relm Arrowny has posed:
Relm Arrowny is technically not an artist whose work is on display. She would have been, but nobody asked her. That didn't stop her from getting in with a handful of dollars (actual bills; Relm hadn't seen them much before). Her normal clothes were very nearly fancy enough to pass as upscale; she just traded in the sash for a slightly more fancy silk version, switched her headgear, and left her knives at home.

So now...

Now there appears to be a hat investigating the artwork. The hat, which is red, is somewhere between a turban and a beret, with two feathers sticking out of one side and a strange attachment on the other, where it's tied.

There is a small girl under said hat. Relm is about ten or eleven and a hair under five feet tall, but she appears to be here on her own. She could pass for one of the visiting artists, because she has a paintbrush hanging off her right hip, tied to the sash and opposite a puff of multicoloured feathers that hides a small satchel of other art supplies.

She is leaning well towards one of the paintings and is close enough that a guard could probably yell at her for touching it, or at least breathing on it. Only the guide rail keeps her from doing so. "Hmm..."

Synestria has posed:
Attending the ball as well is a woman whom seems almost at ease in this sort of environment. She wears a little blue dress that looks like it was supposed to be black, but it didn't. She strides her way out onto the floor with a rather nice smile upon her face as well as a bit of nice looking jewelry upon her form. She occasionally looks at the artwork, but she's more interested in the people that are coming into the event. She takes a look at a few of the people that are there, apparently more interesting than the art that is presented to this woman.

Riku has posed:
Riku looks at one particular piece of art. It's done in a somewhat minimalistic style. A single flat canvas painted black. To the casual observer, that is all there is to the painting.

A black square. Those who take the time to look more closely see that the square is actually created of an incredibly subtle mixture of dark hues. Green. Blue. Purple. There are flecks towards the bottom that give the somewhat disturbing impression of eyes.

He blinks slowly, raising his head as if he had been so deep in his thoughts as to remain staring at his painting for several long minutes. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, turning away from the painting.

His eyes scan the rest of the room briefly and then further down the halls as he moves away from the artwork with a slow and meandering pace. His shoulders are tensed and he fidgets every so often, not really feeling all that comfortable here.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
"I have to go to a what?" Cirra asks the person delivering her orders, which she tears open and reads, dismay slowly spreading across her face, then she gets handed whats eh's supposed to wear, "Wha..."

Cirra is there, wearing a black dress with far too many ruffles and tafata, long black gloves and a pair of heels. A black sequined mask over her face and...well now one has grey hair like that, right? Must be a wig.

Cirra exhales through her nose. "This isn't what I'd consdier a career boosting oportuintiy..."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
An upscale party is to be had. With may things going on in the party, a lot of people are brought in from all circles of life. One person who is making his way intohe party is out of pla<span class=" bold_fg_y bg_n ++ e.

EARLIER, IN CHIBI FORM!</span>

<Chibi Ivo> It is time that you learn to embrace other cultures and get the feel through attending the ball coming up. I hired Kupiki to handle your outfit.
<Chibi Kupiki> Kupo. Such drab, I shall make you kupo-FAAAABULOOUUUSS!
<Chibi Reize> No no, I think we're good. I don't need to.
<Chibi Kupiki> YOU ARE NOW KUPO MINE, BOY!
<Chibi Ivo> *blocks the exit* This is for your own good, Reize. ~_~
<Chibi Reize> D: DX!!!!!!!!

And thus, Reize needed an adult. Ivo was useless.


NOW

Here Reize is, in the middle of the party. He looks pretty grumpy. You would be too if you are wearing some very restrictive clothes. It's stuffy. His attire? It's a nice red vest-jacket with black gloves tied to it. Some dress slacks and dress shoes. He looks a bit more upscale for the place. He tugs along the yellow hankerchief on his neck, twitching.

"Stupid outfit..." He tugs at it, feeling very uncomfortable. He wanders around, trying to get over the stuffness of the ruffles and he looks up at the paintings.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"I'll make you a better one later," Shiki says.

Also: hey look, it's Shiki.

Today she's the lady in red, wearing an Easy Breezy dress from Sheep Heavenly... she managed to find another Player who was, shall we say, willing to trade. And she's not even got her hat!

Mr. Mew is wearing a tuxedo. Don't even ask.

"Just need to get the fabric for it."

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
Rinoa accompanies Tifa in the art gallery, excited to see so many people from around the 'worlds'. She is hoping to meet some familiar faces from her past as well, but even if she doesn't it's still fun to dress up and admire all the beautiful paintings.

She glances back at Tifa and shrugs, "It's alright, we can still enjoy ourselves, right? It is fun to dress up once in a while, even if we're not all rich important people.." She giggles, looking down at her own ivory cocktail dress. It was the only thing she had on hand when she arrived so soon in this world, and not as fancy as other dresses, but it'll do, for now.

"And dont we look beautiful? So let's mingle and have fun!"

Oswald has posed:
"Something bothering you?" asks Oswald, who has worked his way through the throng of people to find himself next to Riku somehow. He squints at the painting for a few seconds before looking back for a reaction.

Oswald's appearance isn't vastly different to how he usually dressed... possibly a bit of a polish and a more subdued shade of blue, but nothing major.

Gilgamesh has posed:
The Javits Center of Manhattan has never seen anything like what's about to step through its doors in its long, storied history of conventions. It has sat unused for a long time; this new, beautiful event, showing unity and humanity to the world through the POWER OF ART, is just the thing to revitalize the Javits Center. It'll be great! Relaxing with upper-crust exclusives and classy individuals, happily enjoying an evening together. It's the perfect kind of night for relaxing!

Ha ha ha, you wish.

The man(?) is gigantic. Easily ten, maybe eleven feet tall, quite thoroughly grey-skinned, and clad in a gigantic red cloak and...polka-dot pants...., the...thing...makes its way into the room with all the subtle grace of an elephant bounding through. Behind it is a massive green-and-gold wolf-dog-thing that appears to be made of something like animated rock. The...thing...bounds towards one of the more unusual modern arts, and stops, pointing at it dramatically.

"ENKIDU! LOOK! I told you, this treasure map I bought off that man in the alleyway for a reasonable sum led us right to it!"

THE TREASURE MAP: a piece of paper with words scrawled on it. May or may not be a napkin.

The huge rock hound puts its hands over its head as the great grey giant grasps the modern art in both hands. "Nnnng! I guess it's...hnnnnng! Kind of stuck, Enkidu! D-Do you suppose this is another version of that legendary sword, Excalibur?!"

Enkidu barks out something that is almost assuredly a no.

Gilgamesh gives another tug on the sculpture, his huge grey muscles straining...and then exhales, leaning against it. "Whoo...th-this is kind of tougher than I remember last time, Enkidu! You don't happen to have a hammer on you, do you...? I'd hate to use one of my treasures for something so tawdry, is all..."

Enkidu shakes his head.

"EXCUSE ME, RICH AND FANCY-LOOKING HUMANS! DO ANY OF YOU HAPPEN TO POSSESS A HAMMER THAT I MIGHT USE TO LOOSEN UP THIS LEGENDARY BLADE!? IT'S VERY IMPORTANT, YOU SEE! FOR I AM GILGAMESH, GREATEST SWORDSMAN IN ALL THE WORLDS - YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF ME - AND AS SUCH IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT I COLLECT ALL OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS EVER!"

He pauses.

"FAILING THAT, DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE A HARDWARE STORE IS AROUND HERE?"

Reize Seatlan has posed:
His eyes drift towards Shiki, who is presenting herself in her Easy Breezy dress. His eyes glance over towards her new style and then he starts to lower his head slightly.

The tension is there, his eyes look directly over to the outfit and back to her. "...I...." She can see the cheeks turning red.

His head shifts over away from Shiki, trying to move past her so that she doesn't see his reaction. "...You look lovely--" His voice stammers, "--beautiful, Shiki."

And then Gilgamesh arrives.

He sweatdrops at the man's antics.

"Uhh..."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart smiles to Rinoa "I know, that's why we came after all."

She seems to be enjoying her time, at least the dressing up, the high heels are not quite that comfortable for her, she's used to her boots after all, in the slums high heels would be a liability. Sure, it makes her legs look good, but whoever though these things could be comfortable...

And then she notices Gilgamesh screaming over. She shakes her head "Oh, it's you again." The first time she met him, he was rhyming under a curse and wanted a kiss. The second time, he was about to thrash her bar in a pre-drunken fight with Gaston. If at least they were drunk it'd be a valid excuse, but they hadn't even started to drink yet.

"I don't think you're supposed to touch those. And it's not a sword either, it's art." She's not sure he understands something this simple though, and she loosk to Enkidu, which she already understood that he's the smartest part of the binome "Do you understand art, Enkidu?"

Relm Arrowny has posed:
Relm Arrowny evidently decides that this painting just about meets her standards. She gives a thumbs-up to the artist in question (who mostly looks perplexed at this, as he was not aware he was under the watchful eye of junior art critics). "Keep it up," she says, before turning to look at...

"Hey!" Relm is more or less directing her attention toward Gilgamesh. "No touching the art, I already got yelled at for that!" As far as Relm is concerned, if she can't do it, one of two things is true: nobody can, or she needs to figure out a way to worm around the rule. "And definitely no breaking the art!"

Relm huffs under her breath. "Philistine," she says, more to herself than anyone else.

Riku has posed:
Riku looks to Oswald, rubbing a hand up the old leather of his great coat. He starts to reply "No. I'm--" when the unmistakable boom of a polka-dotted lunatic disturbs his brooding calm. Hidden by the half mask, an eyebrow twitches slightly followed by a more visible frown.

"Ugh. I've been better." he corrects himself, rolling his eyes as they ask after a hardware store. Well. If whoever they are started to sing, he hoped very fervantly that they would be thrown out by security for crimes against humanity and nature. In any case he starts to move pointedly away from the center of the storm.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Flattery will get you... somewhere, Reize. Shiki, who has been a little emotionally unreadable since meeting Neku earlier that day, blushes when Reize compliments her. Mr. Mew, meanwhile, goes to see if there's anything she likes at the salad bar. There's a salad bar, right?

Somewhere out there, Rhyme sneezes.

It's easy to distract herself from the bizarre, rather large and confusing foreigner when there's teenage romance to be had. Shiki didn't even /think/ about, you know, things like 'making herself look attractive' or 'what will Reize think of me?'.

"It's nothing," she says, trying to brush it off but not really succeeding. "It's just a little party dress. Besides, it's not..."

Mr. Mew tugs at her dress and presents her with two plates before she can do something stupid like remind Reize that this isn't even her body. Where would we be without you, Mr. Mew?

Synestria has posed:
Chuckling, Synestria walks her way over towards Tifa and Rinoa. "Some of these art pieces are kinda spooky, aren't they?" While she's never met these two before, she does try to get them to loosen up a little. Trying not to look like deer in headlights in a gala event is quite hard, saying the one that is also in disguise." She says before looking to Rinoa, then to Tifa. "Almost makes you think you're being watched when you're not, hm?"

Oswald has posed:
Oswald looks over at Gilgamesh's arrival with surprise. Though a couple of other people seem used to his exploits already this is the first he's seen of the swordsman and his... dog. Nobody else seems bothered by him so the Lucky Rabbit assumes everything's fine and turns back.

"I see," he replies thoughfully while also moving away from the disturbance as well, not pressing the matter. He measures Riku's reaction. "You know this guy?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Ivo is the opposite of an adult. Reize might be more of an adult than Ivo is.

Might.

On second thought, maybe they're about even.

There are many pieces of art on display, some of it traditional canvas style, some more modern, postmodern, impressionistic, abstract, Dadaist, some sculpture, and even some graffiti, though it might be a bit of a shock to see it on a series of canvas instead of sprayed on a wall.

Melissa Thorne looks at the gaudy man wrestling with a sculpture of a man with a sword, driving a sword into a Heartless. She sighs, and those close to her might even hear her mutter, 'another one of those days' before she draws up to the man, placing a hand on his... very tall shoulder. "Pardon me, sir. I can appreciate your interest in the artwork, but you can touch it all you want when you purchase it in the auction coming up later this evening. After that, you can feel free to make use of it however you wish." She seems to be attempting reason before calling in security on the large man... Probably because she's not sure security would even /work/.

Other pieces of art on display include a child against a swirling black background, holding a small stuffed animal and reaching up to a shining star above that casts down the only light. The oil painting highlights the contrast between light and dark and creates a great deal of shadowing, by one George Morello.

Another is a bright display of a group of chocobos grazing on a savannah plain. A moogle headbobble is visible poking out of a stand of grass. The painting was done by Damian Welks, who apparently went out and did some exploring.

A third piece involves a sculpture of interlocking hearts rendered in red clay, each with a tiny keyhole in them, submitted by Elaine Fairweather.

Avira has posed:
Outside the museum, a lady paces.

It's actually not easy to recognize Avira right now. Clothed in a simple, yet elegant white dress she had literally purchased hours prior to this event, her usually braided brown hair has been allowed to hang free. It's purely for asthetics as her current dress sports an open back and her hair, along with a light green silk scarf she wears looped around her neck, helps conceal the now pretty extensive scarring on her back. Especially useful since one of those wounds is actually still quite fresh.

She's also applied makeup to some extent, going heavy on the foundation to conceal what scars she has on her face. It's somewhat successful, the marks muted, though still visible as bumps on the skin.

Looped over one shoulder, quite inappropriately, is a leather belt to which the sheath to the Spine is attached. She didn't want to leave the weapon behind though to her annoyance now realizes that she'd have to check it with her coat upon entering. Not that she's entered quite yet-Mercade still hadn't arrived. "Where on earth is that..." Suddenly, something within the folds of her coat pings. Clumsily, she searches through before locating the Ma Belle. "Ah, a message...." she peers at the phone, "...oh...so that's where...aww." Slightly dejected that Mercade will be unable to make it, she slips the device away and heads into the art museum. No need to let all the time she spent looking nice (or as nice as possible) for tonight go to waste.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Raiya Fujihara, the Wandering Wutai Warrior, caught word that there was some sort of 'art-show' going on in Mahattan. The samurai had not been able to attend such a function since before the Shinra-Wutai war. It also affords Raiya the opportunity to wear something other than her travelling kimono. Unfortunately, Raiya did not receive the notice that this was a 'costumed' event.

The blonde swordswoman shows up in a floral-printed fuschia and purple silk kimono that reaches down to her just above the floor with only her tabi and sandals just being able to be seen. Her travelling hat is nowhere to be seen and her hair has been left undone instead of worn up with a few strategically placed hair pins and ornaments to bring some order to her long hair. Okay, maybe Raiya will do just fine since she practically looks to be costume anyways.

Now inside, the ronin has absolutely no idea where to go first. There are -a lot- of people here that she does not recognize and some fairly interesting art pieces to look at. She ends up walking over towards Tifa which is one of the few people she sort of knows...well she atleast thinks that is the same person from the bar in Goug. Only one way to find out.

Gilgamesh has posed:
Enkidu just nods politely at Tifa twice; once bowing his head in greeting, then actually nodding in agreement. Yes, the giant green rock hound was easily the smarter of the pair; Gilgamesh was still tugging on the 'sword' thoughtfully.

"A...are you sure? It looks like a weapon to me. Maybe this 'art' is short for 'artifacts'...'modern artifacts'! That sounds like the sort of crafty thing a 'museum' would get up to to hide its real treasures! I bet this is some kind of modern artifact worth tons of gil!"

Gilgamesh looks between Relm and Tifa thoughtfully. "I'm not allowed to touch it...? Hmmmmmmm! But what if...what if I enshroud my palms in my mighty cloak, and thereby..." Gilgamesh wraps his palms in his cloak and wraps the cloaked hands around the artifact. "I'm not touching it at all! That way, I can take this 'modern artifact' for safekeeping, and ensure that it finds its true purpose as a weapon against the darkness! Or the light. I'm not picky, really, whichever one has cooler stuff."

Enkidu grabs Gilgamesh's hand in his jaws and tugs it off the art, then moves to lower his head at Relm. She seems a nice, sane sort; the massive rock hound moves a little bit to get between Gilgamesh and the artwork, politely keeping his gaze fixed on Relm.

Gilgamesh scratches the back of his neck. "Well, I don't really understand it, Enkidu, but if you think it's a bad idea to steal it in broad daylight, then I guess I'll just have to trust your judgement! Besides, I have to admit!" Gilgamesh's hand goes to his chin, and he turns to admire the various ladies in various states of attractive dress.

"The babes here are way more interesting than everything except this mysterious modern artifact...I mean, these are pretty lame-looking artifacts, aren't they?" Gilgamesh spreads his arms and makes his way over to the art piece Oswald and Riku are looking at. "I mean, look at this thing! It's pretty strange, right? Maybe it was made by some vanished modern civilization, disappeared when they started messing with spooooooky magic! They have spooky magic in Manhattan, don't they?"

"Compare that to this lady here!" Gilgamesh sweeps his hand at Tifa, "Or this-...huh? Auction...? Y-you mean you're just going to sell these priceless modern artifacts for cheap?! Enkidu, the...the shock of it all! If only we'd been hunting for treasure to submit, maybe we could've made some serious munny or gil or dollars or whatever, too...!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
ELSEWHERE...

A detective sends out a text message from his phone, looking up in the dank sewer system under Baron and wrinkling his nose. "Ugh, it smells like something died down here..." He mutters.

Moments later, something large erupts from the much, and he yells, "OH SHI-"

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra just stood where she was by the side of the galla, her worders were to 'watch for something strange' well... Gilgamesh counts.

"Thats not a thing to walk off with. It's a piece of art for..." what was this thing for again? "...Uhm." the grey haired woman glances aside to see one of the posters on hte wall. "Hearts intertwined." pause, "For charity." Okay it looks like Melissa has got this under control, Cirra doesn't have to deal with the man...thing.

Instead she looks at that sculpture of hearts with keyholes, huh. Then theres that one of the child... she looks away from it for somereason

Relm Arrowny has posed:
Relm Arrowny looks right back at Enkidu. Riiight back. He got Gilgamesh to stop grabbing art, he's fine by her. "Hi, dog!" she says, brightly, before correcting herself: "Wolf? Rock wolf?"

Straightening rather than trying to look Enkidu in the eye, Relm says to Gilgamesh, "There were some babes over there," pointing in the direction of Tifa. Without looking. How does she /do/ that?

She's not looking at Tifa because she just got distracted again. "Oh /hello/." Relm's eyes are locked on... Mr. Mew? "It's a moogle! Except... black? And no pom-pom?" She pauses again. "Okay, not quite a moogle."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head at Gilgamesh. Well Enkidu seems to have managed to stop him, and not to mention the lady of the auction. She turns back to Rinoa, and waves to Synestria as well "Well, yeah, some of these are so lifelike that you think the eyes are following you."

Actually, some of them might have real eyes following them, but hard to say. Who knows what's behind those walls.

She looks back to Enkidu as Relm addresses him "This is Enkidu, apparently he's Gilgamesh companion." She doesn't have any better explanation, honestly, she doesn't understand why Enkidu puts up with him after all this time either.

"Oh, this is Mr Mew, Shiki must be close by." She takes a look around, trying to spot her. Its hard to recognize some people when they are all dressed up.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
During the course of the travel, Reize looks at Shiki, sighing a bit before he reaches for her hand. His glance is given her way. He knows he screwed up with Shiki with the situation involving Neku. He's feeling crummy that it affected Shiki in a big way.

However, when the boy look along the way to see one of the art...

The child against the swirling black background, holding a stuffed bear catches his attention. That oil painting, in fact, is very vivid to the boy, especially since he's reaching for the light.

However, another voice is joining nearby. Someone who is interested in Shiki's Mr. Mew. His attention falls towards Tifa, "Oh! Tifa!" The boy brightens a smile, then he tugs on his outfit. "Ugh, I hate this outfit, I still needed an adult from that moogle and Ivo is the worst adult ever."

Riku has posed:
"Not really. He just tends to bring chaos with him wherever he goes, and I think I've had more than enough of that." He completely seems to ignore Gilgamesh, editing him out of existance. He nods to Enkidu, moving away again to stare thoughtfully at the three interlocked hearts exhibit, stopping there for a minute or two before moving on, nodding to Cirra politely as he passes by.

He blinks several times. No-- why would Reize be here? That doesn't. Riku shakes his head. It doesn't have to make sense. It never does. "Excuse me." he says to Oswald, walking over towards where the shard seeker was camped. "Hey Seatlan.. I was not really expecting you here."

Gilgamesh has posed:
"F-for charity? You mean they're going to make all this money, and then just GIVE it away? To...to /poor/ people?" Gilgamesh stares at Cirra incredulously. "B-but if you just GIVE poor people money, how will they learn to be master thieves and steal things from the rich to then support their lifestyles? That's just not fair...you're denying them so many opportunities by just GIVING them things! I should protest this! Besides, I'm poor, nobody gives me money. ...are you saying that in this world, if I go be poor somewhere, people will just GIVE me money...?"

Enkidu groans, then bows politely to Relm. He's a polite giant green rock wolf, that's for sure. He shrugs his big rocky shoulders.

"Ah! Yes, small little blonde girl! I am Gilgamesh, the greatest swordsman slash sword hunter in all the worlds! This is Enkidu, my stalwart companion, king of all Rock Hounds! Say hello, Enkidu."

Enkidu barks politely at Relm.

"Of course he stays with me because we're best friends! Why else would a pair of manly men like us stay together through thick, thin, and everything else! We've had epic battles! We've gone through epic quests! We've...we've severely underdressed for this party, haven't we?"

Gilgamesh glances from Reize, to Tifa, to Relm, to Shiki, to pretty much everyone else standing around, and then looks down at himself - posed in mid-dramatic-sword-swing to illustrate epic battles and quests properly, of course. Gilgamesh frowns under his mask. "Enkidu, this just won't do. We need to look stylish! Styling. We need more razzle-dazzle, more pizzazz, as the kids these days say! How are they supposed to know we're master adventurers slash swordsmen slash derring-do-doers if we're dressed like this? These look like amateur clothes!"

Enkidu shrugs.

"Hm! One moment, little girl and other innocent story-listeners! I'll fold myself into a more appropriate form, and then I will resume the story!"

Gilgamesh...contorts. Enkidu does the same. They twist, they turn, they contort, they shrink and shrink and shrink, until in moments, the eleven-foot-tall grey giant is a six-foot-tall white man with spikey blonde hair, dressed in a red tuxedo and a polka-dot tie. The giant green hound is transformed into a large golden retriever with a diamond collar and unsettlingly intelligent eyes.

"There, that's much better! Now I look the part, right? I look like I belong with all these fancy people, now...that'll make stealing this weapon that much easier and more pulse-pounding, don't you agree? I mean, this artifact." He winks at Relm.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Mr. Mew, having handed things over, takes a bow to Relm and waves to Tifa. He's the most adorable animated stuffed toy you've ever seen! And he's wearing a suit! Can it get better than this?!

Meanwhile, Reize and Shiki are holding hands.

Holding hands.

Holdinghandsholdinghandsholdinghandsholdinghands.

All of a sudden she's in front of some sculptures, or something? Other ones the big guy's not trying to manhandle? OK? "Um... bears are cool..."

Suddenly, like three people! And people she knows! And someone she doesn't! Augh what the why what is going on why did we even go here.

"Hi! Guys! Hey there! Isn't it strange that we all met one another here, again, at this party, where there's an auction and stuff?" she says, gesturing a lot with her arms and forgetting one of them's attached to Reize's. "In weird clothes! Yeah! They're kind of bad."

Mr. Mew facepaws.

Oswald has posed:
"Sure," Oswald says with a small nod of the head. He busies himself by looking at the paintings and general people-watching until something else interesting happens. It helps to get a view of people sometimes.

Riku has posed:
"Good evening, Shiki." is all Riku adds to her flailing conversation. He smiles slightly, inclining his head to her as she attempts to remove arm from socket. This is bad possibly because it's not her own arm but someone elses.

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
Of course, Angelo is here, somewhere, not dressed in a silly doggy dress, but she does have a cute pink ribbon around her neck. Even if Rinoa is not armed, Angelo never strays far from her mistress' side. Which causes Rinoa some alarm, when Angelo does wander off to sniff at the other dog, Enkidu, and his owner, finding them to be a curious pair..Angelo seems more interested in the other dog however.

Rinoa turns around to peer curiously at the giant grey skinned owner of Enkidu, gasping a bit at his strange appearance..But after the likes of Jack Skellington and Kaydin and the heartless, Rinoa is getting pretty used to oddities in the world.

"Oh.." an arched brow at Tifa as she registers recognition with this one. "Friend of yours?" She cant help but giggle at his garish outfit. "Well, aren't you dressed colorful today! But if you're a friend of Tifa's.." She sweatdrops when he tries to move the statue. "Er, I dont think you're supposed to touch it.." And then Synestria wanders near them and she glances over at her relaxing. Finally, someone normal. "Yes, they really are quite realistic looking! but, do you really think they're following us? That's kinda spooky.." Still, she peers intently at one of them, wondering if there is some truth to that. Who really knows in this bizarre world anyways?

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
The kimono wearing Raiya nears Tifa, but she is distracted by discovering the epicenter of all the yelling. It is that strange giant who was also at the bar in Goug with his intelligent wolf companion. What strange tidings to bring some people altogether once more. In even stranger occurences, the giant and wolf turn into a shorter, but still tall person and some sort of dog. At one point of her life, Raiya would find an act like this amazing. But now, this is really just par for the course.

The samurai then does her best wallflower impersonation as she studies the piece of art that is closest to her. Eh? Okay. This 'modern art' thing is pretty lost upon the swordswoman. But at least that Chocobo painting is nice!

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart smiles as Reize calls her over, and comes over closer with Shiki "Ah there they are. Hi Shiki, Reize, you both look pretty well dressed too." She nods to Rinoa "I've met them before, yes. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are a strange pair, but they don't seem to want ill either. Maybe just misguided." Gilgamesh at least, Enkidu seems to know what he's doing but just follows along for whatever reason.

She looks back to Reize, Shiki and Riku as well "This is Rinoa, I found her a few days ago passed out near my bar, so I've been helping to ease her back into this strange new world. And the doggy is Angelo. She's a darling dog too." Don't know how Angelo would react to a tuxedoclad Mr Mew though, but its like not its a real cat either.

Synestria has posed:
Synestria says, "Spooky isn't the word I'd use." She says softly to Rinoa. She then makes a face at Gilgamesh and how he acts, but shrugs, turning to Tifa. "If the eyes were following us, I'd take a test poke at them, if they weren't being auctioned off. Just to make sure they weren't real." She then looks to Angelo, and even offers a sniff of her hand to Angelo.....who would definitely know something is not quite right about this human.""

Relm Arrowny has posed:
Relm Arrowny is thrilled by the mere presence of Mr. Mew. When he bows, she curtseys. It is literally the only time in her life Relm has ever done this. (It shows. She has no idea what she's doing and is hampered by not actually having a skirt.)

But he has other things to do, and isn't very talkative, and Gilgamesh /is/ (so is Enkidu, but she can't understand him). "The trick is to be poor where people don't want you to," she says, having already figured this out (not that she has ever used it herself; she prefers to sell sketches if she can't do anything else).

She is rather impressed by Gilgamesh's transformation though. Or at least he probably hopes that's why she's laughing. "Nice tie," she says, trying not to /keep/ laughing at either it or... actually, really it's just the tie, the rest of it looks okay. "I don't know. They might make you... /bid/."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Ooooi! Riku!" Reize gives a cheerful smile towards Riku. The young boy runs a hand over to the back of his head, grinning to his friend sheepishly, "Ivo thought I should see more of the culture, so he---" And the arm is manhandled. "ACK!" The boy's arm is facing the situation of being twisted, lifted, and trying to leave his socket.

"Owwww..." Reize lowers his head. However, when he sees Gilgamesh and Enkidu contort to shrink. "....Uhhh..."

Sweatdrop.

When Tifa introduces her friend, the boy waves to the woman, "Hi Rinoa! I'm Reize, and---" He lifts a hand holding onto Shiki's, despite being draged around, "this is Shiki!" ...My girlfriend? My good friend? Uhh.... Reize doesn't know how to introduce Shiki. His eyes look over towards Angelo, brighten into a grin.

"Hi Angelo! Pleased to meet you!" He then looks over towards Raiya. Blink. Blink.

"Ooooii! I remember you! You were around when Lily and I first got to Traverse Town! Good to see you again!"

Avira has posed:
Seconds after Gilgamesh casts his shape-changing magic to make himself...slightly more "inconspicuous," Avira walks in through the door. Steps inside, she slips her long and heavy coat off, folding it carefully around the length of her weapon. Wistfully, she looks at the bundle before walking over to the coat check.

Her coat dealt with in short order, Avira starts to wander the exhibits, lingering on the very one that Gilgamesh himself seemed to be so interested in: the lovely Heartless-being-stabbed statue. Now that was a piece of art she could appreciate!

Her interest in the art quickly wanes as she begins to notice just who else showed up to this charity event: Tifa! Reize and Shiki! Even Raiya was here! Come to think of it, perhaps Raiya had grown interested in Manhattan. Considering her personal situation...well, maybe a defection to good ol' New York was in order?

Gilgamesh, on the other hand? Well, Avira does not recognize the now-blonde man at ALL.

Awkwardly, Avira begins to tug at her scarf. She was never a fancy party person, even in her "previous" life. "...wish I was wherever Mercade is right now.."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki Misaki doesn't notice Gilgamesh's transformation, because she's just sort of... you know, distracted.

Mr. Mew, meanwhile, is very impressed by Relm. He's gonna stick by you all night, now, you know! It's cool, he's the strong, silent, non-judgemental type.

Eventually Shiki realises she's probably dislocated Reize's limb and sort of sheepishly drops the handhold. Realising he's searching for something to describe their relationship, she just shrugs disarmingly and sums it up with, "Partners."

"Nice to meet you, too!" Shiki says to Rinoa. "How do you do?"

Gilgamesh has posed:
Enkidu is perfectly happy to meet Angelo. The rock hound-turned-golden retriever bows its head politely at the other dog, then barks, then resumes standing its vigil to avoid letting Gilgamesh do anything mind-numbingly stupid. Which, to be fair, is basically like trying to stop a tidal wave from smashing into a coastline - you can't really do that, you can only prepare for the damage. Enkidu also politely bows to Mr. Mew, but bowing to a stuffed animal is somewhat beneath the King Of All Rock Hounds.

Gilgamesh adjusts his tie imperiously. "Thank you! These pants...erm, this tie was a gift from a very good friend of mine, who has no idea that he gave it to me and doesn't really remember my name! But I cherish it nonetheless, because it's very important to me, or something like that."

"So you're saying I have to be poor in front of rich people...?" Gilgamesh further adds, looking somewhat conspiritorial. "Do you think they'd give me any of their weapons if I was poor in front of a weapons store? Perhaps with a sign that said WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR WEAPONS...? You're sort of cunning, small blonde child! What's your name?"

"Ah, hello again, Avira!" Gilgamesh holds up his hand at Avira. "It's me, Gilgamesh! From the bar fight! Did my CUNNING DISGUISE fool you?"

Riku has posed:
Riku smiles and greets Tifa and Rinoa but it looks like it takes a little effort. "Nice to see you again somewhere there isn't fighting involved. " he nods to Rinoa. "A pleasure to meet you.' he pauses, then looks to Angelo, then at Rinoa. "May I pet him?" he asks the woman politely, not commenting on Reize and Ivo and the entire 'culture' idea.

Ivo probably wouldn't know culture if it bit him on the ankle. Then again, Riku supposes he wouldn't know it himself unless someone had hit him over the head with a stick so-- the positions were very similar. RIku looks to where Gilgamesh and Enkidu had been and were now shifted into something less ostentatious.

Of course-- shapeshifting magic right out in the middle of a party is itself a very loud thing to do. Riku rolls his eyes again, letting the hostess and others deal with him rather than doing so himself. He tries to keep track of Oswald in the crowd without being ostentacious about it.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
The graffiti pieces are a riot of evocative images nestled amidst distorted graphical word-art. They appear to have been donated by one CAT. Apparently he's quite popular among those who appreciate his work.

There is a Dadaist painting that makes features a distorted Shadow Heartless and an elephant with a curling, elongated trunk with some people on its back, set against a bacground of rolling hills of skyscraper. Some might be unsure how this works, but believe us, this is /very/ arty. This one was submitted by a Klaus Freidrich.

Another submission from Theodore Marchand displays a somewhat ill-defined form shrouded in light, wielding a large, vaguely-key shaped object, charging into a horde of black, clawed creatures. Behind him are a large number of people, also armed with an array of weapons. It has a very classical feel to it with the highlighting, or perhaps more Renaissance period.

The issue resolved for the moment, Melissa simply smiles at the compliment. "Thank you, sir. You appear to have a very... unique taste about you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make an announcement."

She moves away from the building group, where she speaks into a microphone that is hooked into the center's speakers. "I thank you all for coming so much. We at Hearts Intertwined are completely astounded at the support that you all are showing just be arriving here. Please feel free to see the front desk if you wish to make a contribution outside of the procession of this event."

She pauses, ant then continues as a man in a tuxedo, appearing to be somewhat British in nature with long, oiled black hair, a thin moustache and a large, slightly cleft chin speaks with her. She nods, and then gestures to him to have him leave. He does so, and she speaks. "I have just been informed that dinner is ready. Please feel free to assemble in the dining hall, where you will be served promptly."

The dining hall is, as the rest might indicate, an upscale affair with real silverware. Candles and chandelers provide light to the dimmed room, and small baskets of warm, fresh-baked bread are available for those who like rolls with their appetizers. There is a stage in the back, currently empty.

As the guest sit, the catering service begins with salad, providing their choice of caesar or house salads, with a variety of dressings available. Drinks available range from sodas and water, juices, and various alcoholic beverages for the older clientele. The bar is open.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Mr. Mew checks to make sure there's an open bar, first of all.

Then, he makes completely sure CERTAIN PEOPLE go nowhere near it.

Also, somewhen, Shiki gives Riku a little "Hi!" amongst all the business.

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
Wow, so many people! And a lot of them seem to know Tifa too. "wow Tifa, you sure know a lot of people!" She chuckles, "But I guess tha'ts a good thing.." she nods to Reize, Riku and to Shiki, and anyone else being introduced to her, although arching a brow at Mr.Mu. "Very nice to meet you all. Wow, what is that..A black moogle in a tuxedo?" without a pompom? Weird..Still, she nods and smiles to them all. And offers a friendly smile to Gilgamesh and his dog to. "Nice to meet you all.."

As for Angelo, she's pretty well behaved, and simply sniffs at all the newcomers, but mostly keeps near to Rinoa. When Gilgamesh contorts and shrinks, she growls a bit warily, not sure what to make of this weird duo. "Heh..." Rinoa chuckles nervously as she watches them. "Wow, how did you do that?"

Again Synestria grabs her attention when she talks about shifty eyes that she's rather poke out. "Err, are you sure? I mean..They couldn't REALLY be alive, could then?" still, she peers intently, just to make sure..Meanwhile, Angelo pads over to Riku when he introduces himself, sniffing him curiously. "Oh, sure! Angelo's pretty friendly, feel free to pet her!"

David Xanatos has posed:
Nodding his head to Owen, David Xanatos, the man who not only is providing security for this event, but is also one of its sponsors, motions wiht his hand. The motion gets a curt nod, and Owen pulls the Mercades Benze to the front of the building, and then hops out to open the door for his employer.

"Thank you Owen. Park nearby, at one of thsoe coffee shops. Enjoy a break, but leave your phone on." Xanatos says as he adjusts the suit to be absolutely perfect. He doesn't wait for the reply, he's late, which was naturally planned, and he knows Owen will do as he's told. He walks casually, with a confident grace that only he could pull off. Masculine, graceful, confident and powerful all powered into each step the man take.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart smiles to Rinoa, nodding "Well I've been around. I've been helping out with mercenary work on top of working at the bar. Reize and Shiki helped me find Goug, since I was lost. Gilgamesh was there when I first arrived, so was Riku in fact. We met a few times afterwards. I fought with Avira a few times, same with Raiya, different reasons, different bad guys, different situations really."

Then the spots the playboy millionaire that doesn't have the desillusions he's a flying mammal at night (but that doesn't account for the rest he does either, honestly). "I know him too, David Xanatos, met him when I arrived, he's quite the charmer." Xanatos will probably find quite a few to attempt to charm today at least, with all of the classy-dressed girls around.

Riku has posed:
Riku listens to the announcement, kneeling to pet Angelo and turning away from the conversation for a moment. He sighs, taking in a steadying breath and letting it out as he stands up again, turning back to his friends and those he has met. He fidgets briefly, scratching his forehead and disturbing his mask briefly before he recenters it on his face. He extends a hand to Rinoa. "I guess it's time to eat. Shall we all find a table together?"

Gilgamesh has posed:
"How did I do what?" Gilgamesh stares at Rinoa for a really, really long moment. His eyes are completely, unnervingly white, exactly as they were when he was a jolly grey giant. "Oh! Oh, you mean this?" And then he's a giant grey man again, and Enkidu is a giant green rock hound. Another moment of contorting, twisting, and shifting, and they're back to being relatively normal-looking once more, the six-foot tall blonde and his very large golden retriever.

"It's easy! I just think about it, and I do it. It's one of the most amazing parts of being me, the amazing and legendary Gilgamesh! And Enkidu, of course. I didn't forget about you, Enkidu, don't worry!"

Enkidu is far more preoccupied by Angelo at the moment. He barks politely at Angelo; he hasn't seen many female dogs in a while. Nevermind that Enkidu is quite a bit more the gentleman than Gilgamesh ever has been; he's quite capable of being polite to other things.

Gilgamesh throws out his hands. "That's a great idea! Let's go find a table together! If there's free food, I'm all for it!"

Relm Arrowny has posed:
"Probably not," Relm says, "because stores tend to be a little picky..." She's not entirely sure who this man is (well, besides the name). "You're a little weird, aren't you? I mean, if you don't even know that. But I don't think they have weapon stores here."

There isn't a magical staff to be found /anywhere/ in New York. She was disappointed.

Relm jabs a thumb at herself. "Me? I'm Relm Arrowny, the great arist! - But they didn't put any of my art up. It's like they don't even know me! Maybe I should go find some canvas..." She does have enough materials to paint something, aside from something to paint it /on/. Or like the graffiti, maybe she'll use the wall.

This is a bad idea.

Cirra Constantine has posed:
"Thats not how it works." Cirra frowns and turns back to find... someone completely different from the hulking grey man she saw a moment ago "Eh?" she glances around to make sure she isn't mistaken as to who this is.

When dinner is announced, she turns away with a 'hmph' and follows the crowd in to sit down at the dinner table and takes a salad first. The arrival of David Xanatos is noted, but not acted on.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize had been looking over various of the paintings. The next one that catches his attention is the lead person charging with a vaguely key-shaped weapon and an army of peopl following behind him.

It makes the boy wonder about the situation. Nevertheless, Reize shuts his eyes and he places his had over towards his chest. But once the announcements are made, Reize listens in and he loos up. "Wow!" He brightens, "Food!"

With Mr. Mew guarding the drinks, Reize scratches his head. Nevertheless, Riku's recommendation comes, Reize's exuberant energy spikes up. "Yeah! Let's go eat!"

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Raiya turns towards Reize and his lady-friend when she is addressed by him. She bows her head in acknowledgement. "You are quite correct in your remembrance. I can only hope that your fortunes have improved since then." The ronin says in a cordial tone to Reize. She notes that Shiki is not Lily, but chooses not to comment on such things. It was not her place afterall.

The green-eyed samurai looks out across the room idly to spy another familiar face, she thinks. Was that Avira? Fate has deemed it fit for their paths to cross time and time again. It would be folly to not acknowledge this and say hello to her. "Greetings once again. I hope this day finds you well," says Raiya to Avira simply.

Gilgamesh has posed:
Gilgamesh stares at Relm for a really long time. Then he crosses his arms and nods. "In that case, you should definitely use a wall! You should always do what you love, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! That's the philosophy that's served me for...uh...for...Enkidu, how long have we been doing this?"

Enkidu shrugs.

"FOR A REALLY LONG TIME! A lot longer than you've even been alive! Probably longer than a lot of these people have been alive, now that I think of it...E-Enkidu, I think we might be really, really old..."

Synestria has posed:
Synestria turning her head as dinner is announced, she smiles to Rinoa. "I don't think they're alive....not at the moment anyways." She makes a face before the door opens and she spots Xanatos. "Come with me if you wish." She says to Rinoa before she strides over to Xanatos. "GOod evening Mister Xanatos." She says giving him a curtsey. "Dinner has been announced if you'd care to join."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
As they filter on through to the dining room, staying with the group, Shiki takes a moment to look at the same picture Reize is.

"You noticed that one too, huh?" she says, looking closely at it. "There's really something about it... it kind of reminds me of..."

"His keyblade."

It's also nice to see some of CAT's work, and Shiki's happy to explain the details behind the mysterious artist and pin designer to anyone who wants to hear.

"Food is good," Shiki concurs. She's going to closely peruse what food is available! And STILL end up eating mostly stuff from the salad bar unless someone stops her!

Avira has posed:
"...wha?" Avira looks up, hearing her name, and spies 'Gilgamesh.' She stares at him for a long moment and, even after he introduces himself again, she's still staring, "That's really you? I just thought..." she trails off. New York was full of weirdos. Gilgamesh could have very easily been one of them. "W..well yes, it did fool me. I had no idea!"

She smiles, embarassed, and waves back. "It's kind of surprising, I didn't know this event would have been able to draw so many people from other worlds." Embarassed, yes, but not embarassed because she is associating with the obnoxious man that apparently starts bar fights. Avira's rather oblivious when it comes to social graces.

Out goes the alert for the announcement, which brings the advent of FOOD. Excitement dawns upon Avira and she reaches out to tug at Gilgamesh. "Dinner is being served, come on." She doesn't get that far, confronted by another familiar face, though this one she is more readily able to recognize.

"Hello Raiya." Avira's excited tone changes completely into something far more polite sounding. "To be honest, there have been a few...bumps tonight, but otherwise it has been fine. Welcome back to Manhattan, by the way." Strange that she sees herself fit to welcome people here.

Another familiar face is spotted, though one she has never seen in person before. Avira knows very well who he is, "Oh my...Mercade did not say Xanatos himself would be showing up to this event. I guess I cannot be too surprised. He was one of the richest men in the world, though now he's just the richest man in this city." She seems to be telling Raiya this for her benefit seeing as the lady samurai was curious enough to come here. "Now if you'll excuse me...I think I'm going to go enjoy the dinner."

David Xanatos has posed:
Xanatos nods to Synestria and pats her on teh shoulder. "Thank you my dear. I don't mind if I do. Let me know if you need anything. I can send one of the other guards in to replace you if you'd like." He waits for her reply, and then moves into the room to make casual with the guests.

As he enters the room, Xanatos nods and greets various peoples of importance. He makes his way deeper into the room and picks up a wine glass willed with Red Wine casually as he moves. Almost as if it is second nature. He takes a small sip and looks to the glass. "Ah. Excellent, they did recieve the 1773 I sent." is said quietly.

He approaches the pairing of Tifa and Rinoa and when he comes close he bows elegantly to the women. "Ladies. I trust this evening is going well?" He smiles warmly to Tifa and nods to her in greeting. "Miss Lockheart. I see you have found a dress to match those stunning eyes, and a freind for the evening that is not only as lovely a match as you my dear, but likely the only other person in this room that stands a chance of drawing eyes form your vision of loveliness." He bows to Rinoa and takes her hand to kiss it gently, keeping eye contact the entire time. "David Xanatos, kind lady. Simply a pleasure to meet you."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart knew that Xanatos would lay it on them, but she still has a slight blush. Hey, she can appreciate the compliments too, despite being used to them. Well, she gets more crass comments at her bar usually, but honey-coated words like that can still get to her sometimes. She bows to Xanatos in return, greeting him "Welcome Mr Xanatos, pleasure to meet you again. This is Rinoa Heartilly, we recently met and I have been helping her out in getting settled here."

She hears the call for food, and paces toward it quietly, but not letting herself get too far ahead of David either, since he seems to want her company as well. And hey, its not like he's not handsome either. "Are you here for the auction, or just the company?"

Gilgamesh has posed:
Gilgamesh is tugged on. "Enkidu, I'm going to go get food with these pretty girls! I don't think they'll let dogs near the food though, so either find a new shape or enjoy hanging around with your new friend, alright?!"

"Uh, people from other worlds? Is that where all these people are from?" Gilgamesh shifts his attention to Avira. "I thought this was some sort of modern artifact collection, taken from a bunch of modern civilizations that mysteriously disappeared under mysterious circumstances! Are you telling me this is just a painting-and-sculpture show? That's..."

"THAT'S SO DISAPPOINTING!" Gilgamesh wails, "I-I thought it was something really interesting, not just a bunch of paintings and stuff...although, if that Relm girl is as good as she claims, maybe she'll put on a really good show...!"

"Still...I thought that weapon was real...so disappointing...th-that means that man's treasure map wasn't real after all..."

"Oh well! It was still a good adventure!"

Riku has posed:
Riku looks to Xanatos who steps up to meet with Tifa and Rinoa but doesn't say anything. He just keeps track of the man as he sits down, taking a roll from the table and beginning to open it up and apply butter liberally. "Mr. Mew cutting you off again, Reize?" he asks the younger boy, smirking faintly as he continues. "Maybe that's for the best." he has a bad feeling about Relm.

Possibly because she had the look of someone looking for blank canvas and a way to further 'contribute' to the evening. He also /didn't/ mean Gilgamesh but he's sort of stuck now so even as they wail about the adventure being sub-par, he tries to be polite at least to Enkidu, inclining his head to the rock hound and taking another roll from the table. Do rock hounds eat? He's not sure.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Mr. Mew gives Riku an affirmative gesture from the bar.

He feels, somehow, like he wants to give Gilgamesh a pat on the back, but he's too short. Alas.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Perhaps one day Avira and Raiya can officially make peace with each other. It is not as if things have gotten worse, but a certain strain still exists in the samurai's mind as if she is constantly on her guard still when talking with Avira. However, Avira's advice bequeaths a polite smile from Raiya Fujihara. She has little knowledge of this strange town and the lords and ladies that rule it. The presence that this Xanatos person gives off marks him a lord in Raiya's head. Perhaps even a magistrate by the way the security seems to nod his way when they are close.

Raiya nods her head towards Avira when she excuses herself. With no one else nearby, the sober samurai saunters off towards the open bar. Is it folly to drink on an empty stomach? Why yes it, but the out of place samurai simply does not care.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
A smile is given towards Raiya, "Thank you, I hope you are as well."

"Yeah!" The boy frowns slightly, looking over towards Shiki, "...wasn't Lily supposed to join us? He thiks over the matter of Lily's lateness, or if she is showing. "...Maybe she got distracted with her new puppy." He smiles, "I think she deserves to have her peace time. It's good for her!"

And the keyblade that Shiki mentions, "...You know, I met a mouse who wielded one of those..." When the man of presence arrives, Reize turns to look him over.

Then Riku's comment earns a frown. "...I only was hung over once..." And he woke up on Shiki. Now that was a morning. With taking a seat at the dining area, Reize...

Welp, Shiki, Riku, it is time to be embarassed by Reize.

He's reaching for some of the food and scarfing it down. It would be like a train wreck.

Relm Arrowny has posed:
/Would/ Relm start drawing on the walls if she got bored enough?

Well, yes, probably. But she isn't quite that bored yet, especially with dinner in the offing. She does kind of wish she'd thought to sneak a painting or a sketch or something in and hide it with the others for sale, half to see what the reaction would be and half to see if anyone had the good taste to buy it (and for how much).

Relm does not have the patience for a fancy dinner, entirely, which is why she ends up sitting at the back, where she can skulk away if it suits her. For instance, if she wants to go explore the place, which is actually rather likely given it's Relm.

Rinoa Heartilly has posed:
Rinoa chuckles at Tifa's musings of where she met the various heroes. "Wow, that sounds exciting! I hope I can help you guys out too, in the future. I guess I'll be looking for income pretty soon too, but I'd love to help you with mercenary work, Tifa!" Angelo barks in agreement.

Then food is announced and she smiles and nods to Riku, following, "Food? Sounds good! Let's go!"

Synestria has posed:
Synestria nods to Xanatos before she walks along with him to meet Tifa and Rinoa, keeping somewhat quiet as Xanatos works his magic on them. Eventually, she says "I am Synestria. It's a pleasure to meet you both." She says giving them both a curtsey as well, noting their names too.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"I didn't know Lily was coming. I'll make sure Mr. Mew keeps an eye out for her," Shiki says, sitting down around one of the bigger tables.

"...that's strange, though," she thinks out loud. "When I met that guy, it felt as if that key was a really unique thing. How mysterious..."

The keyblade had a unique power, and a strange feeling when she touched it. She wonders where that boy is now, and if he's travelling with friends. And then she wonders about Reize getting drunk.

"And it was one more time than it ever should have been!" Shiki admonishes.

Subsequently, when Reize gets near food, all she can do is cry on the inside.

Riku has posed:
Riku oddly enough isn't all that embarrassed. He grins as though he's seen this all before, rolling his eyes at Reize. "Yo." he says in a quiet voice as he takes a bite out of his buttered roll. "Try to take in a breath every once in awhile, eh fearless leader?"

He looks over the crowd briefly as if searching for something then goes back to what he was doing. Mainly eating as slowly and carefully as possible as contrast to Ye-Olde Vaccuum cleaner over here.

David Xanatos has posed:
Smiling lightly to Tifa, Xanatos moves with her as they advance toward the food. "So, I trust you are finding Manhattan to your liking? Or perhaps you prefere Traverse Town?" He asks by way of making conversation.

To Synestria, Xanatos comments, "My dear Synestria, I must admit, you look positively stunning in that gown. As lovely as these teo here. Please don't think I had forgotten about you. I certainly did not intend on being rude." He bows his head slightly and then takes a sip off that Red Wine.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Frowning towards Shiki, the boy mutters, "Smmm wmmm..." Oh right, no talking with your mouth food. He pauses. He starts to swallow down the food. REAALLY hard. Gulp. His head reels back, rolling his neck around before he looks at both Shiki and Riku.

First, to Shiki, "Skoll was a nice guy! He knew some good jokes! And.. it tasted interesting!" And now, Riku gets his full attention, "Right, right.." He takes in a bit of a breath, then he brightens while rubbing is tummy. "The food is good! The chef did a great job!" He beams.

Avira has posed:
Turns out there is a point where Avira can become embarassed by someone else's behavior! Gilgamesh manages to hit it within seconds, revealing that he thought it was a display of artifacts from a lost civilization he was seeing. "...what? No, I mean...can't you tell? All of these pieces here are inspired by the sundering of the worlds and the attack of the Heartless? See..."

She points at the Heartless part in the statue Gilgamesh was trying to disarm. Then she points to the Theodore Marchland piece. "...all those over there clearly represent Heartless and all those people with the weapons clearly represent /us/."

Wait is he even paying attention at this point? What little Avira knows about interpreting art is wasted!! To assauge her disappointment over this, she will instead go enjoy some warm rolls and liquor.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart steps toward the table with Xanatos, thinking over the question as she reaches for the food. Taking a plate, she puts some salad and a few pieces of chicken on her plate, nothing too heavy, but she shows the signs of a girl that doesn't need to watch too much what she eats either, probably because she's so active the rest of the time "I can't say I have any preference as of yet. Traverse Town is peaceful, Manhattan feels alot like Midgar, or Goug of you prefer."

She picks at her plate quietly, sweatdropping a bit at Reize. "But there differences, even if there's alot of concrete and metal, at least you can see the sun here, and there are parks and flowers and trees too, not just roads and cars. And then there are wonders like this building. I never thought I'd see such a large building made out of glass walls."

Synestria has posed:
Synestria smiles to Xanatos. "I know you're not ignoring my, Mister Xanatos. And thank you for the compliment." She says with a wink to him. However, she does slip her hand onto Xanatos' arm and 'gently' guides him into the dining area, where they all are supposed to be anyways.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki has this sort of mental list.

1) Teach Lily not to cause mass devastation whenever she goes.
2) Learn to ride a wyvern.
3) Figure out what this whole closet thing is about.

Now she adds 4) Teach Reize table manners or at least a way to eat that is less like a python.

"I still haven't figured out where that guy got his shirt from..."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
There's even a few more pieces being shown in the dining hall. There is a statue from Tim Stilzkin, crafted from granite to show a large number of small butterflies with keys for wings flying around a granite heart inset with quartz designs.

Another piece hanging in the back is of the Statue of Liberty, rising high and bright over the bay, a light against the darkness that the Heartless appear to recoil from. The oil on canvas work is done with care, depicting a great deal of accuracy from one Robert Paulson.

A third piece here shows a hundred points of light in the darkness, all arranged like stars in the night. Each has different lines running from it towards other stars, making a complex network of glittering silver. It's when you stop looking at the details, however, that you see that the lines form a series of connected hearts, all in rings. Yolanda Childs is the artist for this piece.

The food keeps coming! The second course is soup (Beef Minestrone or vegetarian vegetable), pasta in tomato sauce (meatless), and then an array of main course meat choices: Roast beef, grilled chicken, or ham with pineapple. Sides of spiced garlic roasted potatoes are available as well.

Melissa Thorn takes her place on the stage, and speaks. "Thank you all for coming tonight. Hearts Intertwined, as well as all of the artists here, all appreciate your appearance. Your help and your trust in us allow us to reach ever more people, those who need our help after what they have experienced. There are many lost souls out there, all of whom need a helping hand to find their way to where they belong. Your attendance here helps move this cause forward, and will bring peace to so many who would not have known it before. And that is why we all thank you tonight."

Synestria has posed:
Synestria sits down near Xanatos and.....begins to eat. She's not literally sutffing her face, but she is eating an abnormally large amount of food, especially for her size. Just about anything that is near her is carefully put upon her plate, and eaten. She's polite about it, but she still eats a LOT of food.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
At the bar, Raiya is handed an odd half-hourglass shaped beverage with a glass stem that ends in a flat disk. The samurai had never seen this strange glass before and also never had whatever drink now occupies it. She gently raises the glass up and it smells....fruity? Now just how did they make rice-wine smell like this? But...it does smell great nevertheless. A sip now. And it tastes great too! Screw the food, Raiya has found her new home at the bar. It's time for the samurai to get her drink on!

Riku has posed:
Riku snorts very faintly at the announcement but doesn't really appear to be paying attention when there is food to be attended to. He glances up at the woman making the announcement, frowns slightly and then takes some ham with pineapple and garlic potatoes. He stares at the potatoes for a moment, and one can almost envision him molding said potatoes into a strange shape-- but the moment passes and he figures he just rather set about eating them.

As he does so he stares thoughtfully at the third piece in the dinner showroom. (As opposed to the dinner show, which he supposes was Gilgamesh and Reize) tracing the hundred points of light and their delicate connections as he eats even more slowly, somewhat abstracted from it all. "Yeah. Whoever made this did a good job." he looks to Shiki. ".. shirt?" he asks curiously, turning to look at her.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Poor Shiki.

She made a bad choice, choosing an inelegant adventurer for a potential beloved. Nevertheless, Reize is istening in as Melissa takes the stage to speak. His eyes does drift over towards the food that keeps comming.

Oooh. He reaches out for the roast beef and the garlic roasted poatoes.

ON NOM NOM!

...Of course, he stops to listen to the announce some more. Do they have enough to donate? ...Oh, why not?

He rummages into his po--...

"...I don't have my pouch..." Comical tears run along his eyes. "Stupid outfit..."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra stops to look at the piece by Yolanda Childs, it interests her for some reason. She steps back from the picture to try and get a better sense of it and propmtly steps on the hem of her own dress, "Uhp?!"

This may result in a hilarious collision if anyone was behind her.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Minestrone! Shiki loves Minestrone!

And the chicken's ok, she guesses, but oh my god get a load of this soup, om nom.

Eating like a dignified human being, unlike some people she knows, she explains.

"There's this guy called Skoll, I don't actually know him very well at all but he sort of flits in and out of the group base? He's got a Def March shirt, which is a band from Shibuya. Really curious as to how he got it."

Also: man, she turned Neku Sakuraba around, if I can teach /him/ social skills in a week I can teach /you/ table manners.

David Xanatos has posed:
Nodding Synestria, Xanatos remains wisely quiet about the sheer quantity of food the woman devours on her plate. Politely, but devoured is still the proper term. He himself takes modest, small, but polite helpings of each item, which amounts to a fairly impressive meal in and of itself. He studies the art that is on display and otherwise simply listens and watches the procedings of the people around him. His keen mind catalogging everything he sees and every name he hears.

Riku has posed:
"What, you didn't bring your pouch?" Riku shakes his head. "What Reize, did you get mugged by a clotheshorse on the way here?" he then turns to Shiki and has some minestrone soup along with his ham. Of course, this table may already be full up on the ham front. "Oh. Did you ever get around to telling me about Shibuya, Shiki? I'm-- not sure I remember all that much."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart lifts an eyebrow at Synestria as well. The girl can eat. And she thought she could eat alot herself, Synestria got her beat. And yet, that shape doesn't show an extra ounce anywyere. Well, that's another mystery to file over.

She takes a small bowl of the soup as well, smiling "Is there anything that caught your eye in the art galleries, Mr Xanatos? I'm not sure if I can afford any of them, but it probably would add a little touch to the bar if I could find an interesting one."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Shibuya's a great place," Shiki exposits over chicken. "It's kind of like here, actually, but, you know, eastern. Lots of tall buildings, lots of video screens, shops... subway system... CAT started off there, I /think/? He makes pins for Gatito, it's a sort of 'underground' brand. Fashion's really big in Shibuya. Twelve major brands and Gatito. Noise tend to cling to people and make them depressed, so Players do work to get rid of them and make the city better for people."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Reize responds to Riku's comment with a big frown, "Ooi! Ivo had the dresser take away all of my stuff and put me in these clothes!" Reize is not particularly happy with his situation, after all. "These clothes are stuffy and...." He sighs, then he starts biting down on his roast beef.

"I may hopefully have something to donate." His eyes drift towards the other people around, now trying to assess his surroundings a bit better.

Avira has posed:
Being an adult, Avira fully takes advantage of the opportunity to drink. In short order, she procures a glass of wine-the red, in fact, on recommendation of the Somelier. She hasn't sat down to eat yet, opting to look over the other pieces on display. Unlike Gilgamesh, she can actually appreciate an art piece! Especially when those art pieces depict such heartfull scenes of triumph.

She seems fond of the Statue of Liberty painting, but gives all three some consideration. Politely, she will also listen as Melissa Thorn speaks and thanks all for their help and attendance.

As she looks around again (oh hey, it's Riku! She will say high later), she spots Xanatos once more. Mustering a bit of courage, she approaches the older man. As long as she's here, she may as well endeavor to meet him.

Unless he's actively eating right now (it's rude to bother people when they're eating), Avira will speak to him. "Mr. Xanatos, hello." she says politely, "Allow me to introduce myself-I am Avira, a semi-recent associate of Mercade." She doesn't know how often Mercade meets or checks in with this guy so she doesn't assume he's been alerted to her affiliation with the Twilight Detective Agency.

Synestria has posed:
Synestria makes a couple of faces as she eats. not the yuck face, but the 'this is delicious' face. She definitely keeps eating though. You'd think she was starving with the way she eats. She does slow her eating to talk to Lifa. "Has something caught your eye, Miss Lockhart?" She says before going back to eating, even some of the rolls are eaten. Gotta have a well balanced diet after all, even if she's eating a lot.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
These drinks are really, really good! Raiya downs the rest of her drink and takes another one before fiiiiiiinally leaving the bar. All this drinking has made her rather hungry afterall. The kimono wearing woman finds an empty seat and sits down with drink in hand. Okay! Time to eat. Wait a minute.....where are all the chopsticks? Raiya looks right and the looks left. Uh oh. She eyes the cutlery suspiciously before picking up a what some call a 'spoon'. What in the world do you use this for?

David Xanatos has posed:
David Xanatos stands and offers Avira a slight bow. "Ah. Mr. Mercade. Quite the intretip individual. Dear Lady, it is quite a pleasure to meet you." He gestures to the table and then nods in approval to her drink of choice. "Red Wine. Wonderful choice Miss Avira, it is 1773 from a vintage in France. It is one of my sincerest hopes we will b able to free Earth from this terrible afliction, in at the least, to be able to procure us some of this wonderful refreshment once again." He gives Avira a slight wink.

Looking over to Tifa, Xanatos chuckles ever so lightly. "Ah. It's for a good cause, and I've been meaning to speak with you miss Lockheart about your bar. Why don't I get that painting that caught your fancy, as a token of good faith, and in repayment you make an appointment to meet with me at my offices for a bussiness proposition?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Cirra is caught with a quick motion by the British man with the exquisite hair. He smiles, stroking his curled moustache for a moment as he helps Cirra up. "Pardon me, madam. You seem to have narrowly avoided an unfortunate situation, my dear." He smiles, and it about to speak again when a short, rotund man with an advanced case of male-pattern baldness runs up to him, calling in a fawning voice, "Captain! Captain H-!"

There is a sudden motion, and the short man falls, whatever he was going to say lost as he tumbles onto his face. "See? Rush around and all kinds of unfortunate things happen. Now, come, stand up, Mr. /Smith/." The man says. He looks back over and looks back to Cirra. "Pardon me. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Captain Hawk, of Hawk Transportation Industries. And yes, I do captain my own ship." The smile widens faintly at that, revealing a row of bright teeth.

Mr. Smith comments, "Captain, she won't sell!"

Captain Hawk sighs, eyerolling dramatically. "Curses! I suppose I will just have to acquire it during the auction then. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. Business has been..." He pauses for a moemnt. "Booming."

Dessert is served as Melissa finishes her speech. "Once everyone is finished, please feel free to proceed back to the exhibition hall, where all of the artwork you have seen today will be made available for silent auction. Before each piece will be a box, where you can write down your top bid and insert it into the box. Whoever bids the highest on each piece will recieve the piece. All proceeds will go to charity. Bidding will end one hour from now. Thank you all!"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart tilts her head a bit, picking a glass of the wine as David seems to be fond of that one. No harm is drinking a little bit after all. She should know about control, being the barmaid. "A business proposition?" She has to wonder about it. She already got into a deal for the sea salt ice cream, so she does keep her ears open for something interesting. She's not 'money grubbing', but she's piling up for future project. Projects she hasn't talked about to anyone for now, just worried about who could be listening.

"Well, you make a compelling proposition Mr Xanatos, but I wouldn't want to abuse of your generosity either." She plays it up, testing to see how serious he is about it, and perhaps some of his intentions.

"Oh, it's a silent bid, that's right..." she hmms, glancing back toward the art for a moment, considering which one she would like.

Riku has posed:
Riku frowns slightly at the mention of Noise, but his mood lightens as desert appears. Something of a molten chocolate cake arrives, and he cuts into it, the darker chocolate goo leaking onto the plate.

There is a thump as if a person somewhere is planting their face into the floor, but he no more than flinches at the sound. Riku looks up and around in confusion, but turns back to his dessert when he locates the source of the noise. He eats the dessert more quickly than the first course or two, scraping at the plate with irritation.

"I'm going to go look over the exhibits again." he stands from his table. "Then I think I've had just about enough culture for a week. How about you Reize? Had more than enough? Maybe you and I can plan an appropriate 'thanks' to your co-leader."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Welp. It looks like dessert is served.

ON NOM!

Now, dessert is no more. However, it is about time to go back to the Exhibition Hall. Reize looks towards Riku, offering the older teenager a smile. "I think we should head back to see the auction, Riku." And then, a mischevious smile forms at Riku's idea, "That is a good idea. We should plan a 'thanks' to the co-leader."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra is promptly caught by the british man with amazing hair and moustahce. "Ah?" she blinks a few times. "Th-thank you." she says as she straightens up, a little emberassed. She hasn't done anything like that since her first year at the academy. "I'm-I'm not used to long dresses like this."

"Captian Hawk?" she repeats the man's name. She looks to mister Smith as he falls down, sell? "You're here to bid on the auction then." she takes a piece of paper out of her sleeve while Captain hawk is distracted and reviews her orders, she quickly slips it away again.

"I'm Cirra, Cirra Constantine. I represent hte Archadian Empire for tonight."

Avira has posed:
Charming and personable-Avira hadn't expected that. "Isn't he?" she smiles, "A shame he couldn't join us tonight." Having learned her lesson about snorting beverages about a month ago, she doesn't sip between speaking. Well enough, since it is a bit of surprise when Xanatos actually confirms the wine's vintage. "Really? It's that aged? Did it come from a private collection?"

...Xanatos's private collection, she realizes, seconds after she says that. "I've heard this world was very large. It must be very claustrophobic to have it reduced to this single city."

Being there, she can't help but hear the business between Tifa and Xanatos. She feels a little bad inadvertantly eavesdropping but does have to wonder what he'd want with a bartender in Goug.

Bidding begins and Avira becomes awkwardly silent. They were all nice pieces but she didn't have the funds to bid on any of it. Sure, she would help out just to drive the prices up for charity's sake, but if she accidentally bought one...well, there goes her 'saving for an airship' fund.

Riku has posed:
Riku shrugs, but nods as he stifles a yawn. "Sure Reize." he heads out into the Exhibition hall. "Have you seen all the pieces? I think I've missed one or two." he snorts faintly, wandering about and peering at the art. "And I think for Ivo?" he grins mischievously at Reize. "I think the gratitude should fit the crime."

David Xanatos has posed:
"Nonsense Miss Lockheart. It is not taking advantage of me when I offer. Especially when the procedes go to such a good cause." Xanatos says with a slight smile. "I promise, this is nothing mroe than me doing good for the people, while hopefully getting an appointment to discuss my proposal." He bows his head and takes a sip off his wine.

Nodding over to Avira, Xanatos says simple, "Indeed. Earth was a fairly large place, though I imagine our beliefe in the size of worlds will change with the discoveries of other dimensions." He sips the wine and says looking at the glass as he swirls the liquid in teh glass, "Yes, that old. I sent several bottles from my private collection earlier today. I felt it would add a bit of... Flavor to the event. And, I've always wanted an occasion to break oven the 1773's. I had several bottles, and I felt that a charity auction such as this was jsut wildy appropriate."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart takes up a small plate with some cake with her, as she starts moving toward the auctionning room "Well, then, I would like a bid on that sculpture with two interlocked hearts in red clay. I think its pretty interesting." She smiles to the millionaire charmingly. Of course, there's a bit about her namesake in her decision too. "I will gladly meet with you." He didn't make her promise to anything but a meeting, which is okay in her book.

he is rather good at making people lower their defenses around him, isn't he?

Synestria has posed:
Giggling as Xanatos works his magic, Synestria continues to eat, even asking for a few deserts being handed out. Cake, ice cream, brownies, heck....she takes one of everything. She's still eating when the arts is being auctioned off, but she doesn't put up a bid.

Raiya Fujihara has posed:
Raiya gives up on the food and merely contents herself with drinking the rest of her alcoholic beverage of choice. It seems that Synestria and Raiya are kindred spirits as neither of them head out to where the art is being auctioned off. There were a few pieces that caught her eyes, but Raiya Fujihara is homeless. Whatever would she do with the paintings if she won one of them? Raiya decides to ponder this over another drink, her pale face becoming flushed now from the alcohol.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"...There was something that came to my mind..." Reize notes regarding some of the artwork being sold. The one artwork in particulr was the one of the boy with the teddy bear reaching out to the star.

He rubs his forehead, then he looks over to the painting by George Morello. The boy reaching for the star. A faint smile grows, then he turns towards Riku, "I may bid on something myself."

Riku has posed:
Riku looks at the painting for a minute, then nods in approval. "Go ahead. I was thinking about doing that myself." he looks around, putting his hands behind him as he tries to get his bearings. "After all." he says with a snort. "It's for a good cause, right?" he locates a few papers, pausing before the black square and some of the ones from Stilzkin and CAT, scribbling a number onto each of them as he drops them into each box.

Avira has posed:
"Agreed. I have endeavored to keep track of all the worlds I've visited with my own efforts as mapping. It's all gotten pretty large in a short amount of time." Avira admits, finally taking a moment to sip on the red. "But those are all fragments too. I've yet to find a world fully intact."

Avira slowly smiles, clearly very impressed with their semi-host. "That was very kind of you, I'm sure everyone's thankful for your generosity." At least those that know a thing or two about wine are.

As the bidding goes on, her thoughts go back to that piece with the Heartless being stabbed. That would be great to put in Traverse Town, she realizes. Or in the main area of the as of yet nonexistant VALKYRI headquarters.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Nonsense, you're doing well enough!" Hawk says maganimously. "A little more practice and you'll be the toast of the town!"

She mentioned the Empire, and nods. "Well now, an Empire? You must be trusted and influential. You're in good company here... Good company indeed." He hands a note to Mr. Smith, who scurries off towards a box in front of the cyclical star-heart artwork, entering a bid there.

Time appears to be running out to enter a bid for the artwork. IF someone wants to bid, they should do so soon!

Reize Seatlan has posed:
After Riku makes his move to put his bid in for one of the paintings, Reize finally makes his movement to finally get his way towards the box. He scribbles down a number, and th he places it into the box.

He approaches Riku after a moment, "What should we get for Ivo?" The boy's look is becoming a tad evil, his desire to make Ivo suffer come to mind. Reize is definitely not above mischief.
"...It's been a while since I've actively took part in mischief."

David Xanatos has posed:
David Xanatos bows his head to Tifa and takes her hand to kiss it, keeping eye contact while he does so. "Thank you Miss Lockheart. I'm sure we will find a means to be very profitable, and assist others while we do so."

To avira he shrugs a shoulder with a slight grin. "Its nothing really." Xanatos says simply and wiht that slight tone he has saying he's enjoying the moment. "The appreciation comes from simply being here, and seeing this art, which is most wonderful. Tell me miss Avira, where do you come from? Do they have art such as this there?"

Cirra Constantine has posed:
"I don't really have much reason to wear long dresses." Cirra looks around for a moment, the back to Captian Hawk. "Excuse me a moment." She moves over to the sculpture of hearts with keyholes. She's not sure why Dr. Cid wants this one, but she writes an amount on the ballet and puts itin hte box. She then turns and returns to Hawke. "I'm really just here to perform an errand, but since it involves a potentialy large amount fo money, they decided to send a Judge..."

"Some other Judges think I'm just muscle though." She can't fault them, not when she can barely walk in this dress and not fall over.

Avira has posed:
"Ivalice. Rabanastre, to be specific, but it's not where I was born. That place is currently lost to the darkness." Avira smiles in spite of the subject. "As for art such as this...well, not exactly. It's..." she seems to pause, considering something.

"...oh what the heck. Excuse me for a moment." Avira says, as politely as possible to Xanatos and the nearby Tifa. She stands and, naturally taking her wine with her, heads back out to the main hall where that statue was.

Maybe she could borrow some money from Mercade for this.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart smiles at the hand kissing, offering it to the millionaire playboy. Oh, she knows how he is, she can feel it, but doesn't mean she can't enjoy it a bit for now. She nods to Avira as she moves away to the auctionning, moving after her "We should probably go attend to it anyway, don't we?" She brings her glass of wine with her, taking elegant sips from it "That win *is* very good too."

Riku has posed:
Riku smirks. "I don't know. What's the silliest thing you can think of? I don't know Ivo that well." he snorts, wandering back to Reize after he's done bidding. Well. Except that he gets exceptionally drunk and his judgement goes out the window. "Then I'll add something to that, and we'll have something to work with."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Uhh..." Reize can't help but think back to dealing with Ivo. "He likes to tinker around with stuff. I think he is an inventor of some kind. And he has that floating blade for a sword." He thinks over, trying to figure out Ivo.

"...I don't know too much about him. He tends to talk to the girls a lot though." He looks over towards Riku, "Maybe you may know?"

David Xanatos has posed:
David Xanatos watches as Avira leaves and raises an eyebrow as he takes a sip off his wine glass. He looks around and watches the procedings of the auction, "Indeed." He says to Tifa. "I'm hoping that through some hard work we cna unite the dimensions and then hopefully save the individual worlds from the darkness."

Synestria has posed:
Synestria is quietly listening to Tifa's and Xanatos' conversation whileshe continues to eat. She's clearly put a LOT of food away, but eventually, she actually stops eating.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Finally, the auction ends.

The exhibition hall is now once again the scene of note, as Melissa Thorne is given a page to read. "All right, the bidding is completed. There were many bids placed, and we appreciate all of your effots to give these artists the chance to be a part of our ongoing work.

She begins by walking to the painting with the child reaching towards the star. "This George Morello work has been won by Reize Seatlan!" She didn't say for how much.

Next up, the man with the blade striking down a Heartless. "This piece, by Francis Thompson, has been purchased by Avira!"

Next up, the interlocking heart statue with keyholes. "The bidding was fierce for this piece, but the winning bid goes to Judge Constantin of Archades!"

The starry night piece, which was brought in from the dining hall, is up next. "This artwork from Yolanda Childs was purchased by Captain Hawk."

Next up is the Statue of Liberty art. "This wonderful piece by Robert Paulson was purchased at a most generous price by David Xanatos." She smiles faintly at this, before moving to a group of three items: The black art with eyelike flecks, the CAT graffiti, and the statuette with the key-shaped butterfly wings around a granite heart. "And these three pieces were all purchased by the same person, Riku has won the auction for all three of them! His support will continue to help our work."

She looks over those present. "Those of you who reside in Manhattan can have the artwork delivered to the place of your choice. Please make all payments and delivery arrangements at the front desk. Those of you visiting from other worlds will have deliveries provided by Mr. Hawk, who has offered his services for the auction."

He bows, his oiled curly hair falling about his shoulders as he does so. "It is an honor."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Finally, the auction ends.

The exhibition hall is now once again the scene of note, as Melissa Thorne is given a page to read. "All right, the bidding is completed. There were many bids placed, and we appreciate all of your effots to give these artists the chance to be a part of our ongoing work."

She begins by walking to the painting with the child reaching towards the star. "This George Morello work has been won by Reize Seatlan!" She didn't say for how much.

Next up, the man with the blade striking down a Heartless. "This piece, by Francis Thompson, has been purchased by Avira!"

Next up, the interlocking heart statue with keyholes. "The bidding was fierce for this piece, but the winning bid goes to Judge Constantin of Archades!"

The starry night piece, which was brought in from the dining hall, is up next. "This artwork from Yolanda Childs was purchased by Captain Hawk."

Next up is the Statue of Liberty art. "This wonderful piece by Robert Paulson was purchased at a most generous price by David Xanatos." She smiles faintly at this, before moving to a group of three items: The black art with eyelike flecks, the CAT graffiti, and the statuette with the key-shaped butterfly wings around a granite heart. "And these three pieces were all purchased by the same person, Riku has won the auction for all three of them! His support will continue to help our work."

She looks over those present. "Those of you who reside in Manhattan can have the artwork delivered to the place of your choice. Please make all payments and delivery arrangements at the front desk. Those of you visiting from other worlds will have deliveries provided by Mr. Hawk, who has offered his services for the auction."

He bows, his oiled curly hair falling about his shoulders as he does so. "It is an honor."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart nods to Xanatos with a smile "Well I would like to everything to be at peace. Can't say its always been a possibility though, with the heartless around, and those that seem to be stirring the heartless for their own designs." She saw Magicka among others, and lots of heartless, a few giant ones too. She shakes her head a bit "We'll have to keep hope on that side."

She listens up to the results of the auctions, and raises an eyebrow as Cirra gets the interlocking hearts she asked for "Well, I'm surprised you could get outbid on anything Mr. Millionaire, but I will keep to my word anyway." She smiles, sipping from her glass some more.

David Xanatos has posed:
David Xanatos nods once and shrugs a shoulder. "That's the problem of the silent bid. You can't use your vast wealth unless you know what somebody else is bidding." He sighs and takes out his phone to take a picture of the art piecve that Tifa wanted. "However. It also means that I can pay somebody to make a recreation of that for you and your bar."

Cirra Constantine has posed:
Cirra doesn't seem all that excited about winning an art piece, she just sort of softly goes 'Oh' and raises both eyebrows. It's not relaly /her/ money she's spending, but the Empire's... or rather, Dr. Cidolfus Bunansa's budget.

Why does he even want a piece of artwork from another world anyways??

"Probably thinks theres Nethicite in it..." she murmurs under her breath. Then she comes back to full attention, "Uhm. Thank you. Lady Thorne." she bows then looks to captain Hawke. "And transport provided. That makes things much easier for me, thank you."

Riku has posed:
Riku looks sort of stunned. He almost appears to glare at the hostess as he rubs the back of his head and chuckles faintly to himself. "Hmm." he looks at Reize and grins, chagrined and rather put on the spot. "Wasn't expecting that. Hey. It looks like you got yours as well."

He slips the mask back away from his face, putting it away in the pocket of the coat as he looks around. "Hey." he asks Reize. "Do you think you can take the CAT pictures back with you? I don't have space for all of these anyways and I think Shiki said something about knowing the artist, or at least his work."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart laughs at that "You don't have to go that far for me. You said the money was going for a good cause, you should be donating that money instead of using it for a simple replica." She smiles, showing that she's not sour about it either, she was only teasing the playboy after all. "But if you REALLY want to find some art for me, something else with locked-hearts would be fine too."

She lifts an eyebrow at Synestria "Still eating?" Now she's starting to worry about the girl.

Avira has posed:
Avira returns, her wine glass notably more depleted in the process. She's not sure if her bid would be enough and part of her kind of hopes it isn't. But when she settles down to hear the results...

...well the surprise on her face is pretty evident. Though not as surprising to hear that there was an Archadian Judge here bidding on pieces. It couldn't have been that same judge from yesterday, was it?

Then the matter of transport is mentioned and Avira pales. This statue would take up too much room in the small guild house in Rabanastre's Lowtown. She's nowhere near securing a place for VALKRYI in Traverse Town yet...where on earth could she put this thing?

Her thoughts go to the absent man she was escorting. "Aha!" she snaps, "I'll have it delivered to Mercade! He can hold onto it for a while."

Reize Seatlan has posed:
Blink.

Reize ooks very stunned when he looks back at the older teenager. "Wow! That's amazing Riku!" The young boy has a bright smile on his face, "You did it!" He tilts his head over to the teenager.

"Yeah, I can take the CAT pictures with me. We should have space at the headquarters for now." He smiles, "That is amazing, you helped contribute a lot for the people!"

Synestria has posed:
Synestria giggles at Tifa. "Yeah. There's a lot of good food here." Oddly, she doesn't look any bigger than before. "I think I asked for a few recipes too." She says with a giggle and a wink. However, by now she's still casually eating a chocolate brownie with chocolate drizzled onto it. She's already finished the ice cream and cake....

Riku has posed:
"Now. Back to what you were saying, Reize. I think the best way to get to Ivo, is his compulsion to flirt with women." he snorts. "Sometimes to his downfall. I think we should think of how to exploit this." Riku smirks and starts to head out of the building. "Just a minute." he arranges to have the pieces sent to where he was staying in Manhattan for right now before rejoining Reize. "Come on. We'll plot as we walk."

David Xanatos has posed:
"Well. It could also be I dislike to loose." Xanatos says with a wink toward Tifa. He nods his head to Synestria as she returns and chuckles a bit at the mention of the recipe's and eatings.