The welcoming Party (08- 28 - 2011) - [everyone]

As Aemilio already suffered from an above avarage disinterest in other people, he lost his concentration for Lugh's act shortly before it had even started and he wandered away from the party area of the garden shortly after, deciding a small walk through the garden would be a less boring waste of time. After about 10 minutes he came to take another look, wondering if Lugh's act was just a psychological patience test, and left from sight again.

Axel watched the act as well, impressed by Lugh's talent but also a bit surprised by the lenght of his act. But as it was entertaining (and he got to enjoy it alongside Dominique, I should add) he didn't mind.

Mrs Nellis on the other hand seemed completely enchanted by the performance, big eyes and continuously smiling happily, and clapping loudly afterwards. Then came the point where she enthusiastically announced Azar.

((I'm racing through it a little but the posting was going a little slow back there. So Miyu, you're up! Try not to set the garden on fire.))

Smiling a big smile Dominique picked up her Isis wings and went off the stage, picking up her blouse she put it back on while walking over to Axel. Her dance had gone great and because of that she was in a fantastic mood so once she had reached him she immediately gave him a hug. "Thanks," she said after letting go, "it was nice."
Turning around to look at the stage for Lugh's performance she was really impressed, despite that it was quite long, the melody was really captavating. Clapping loudly once he was done.
Azar raised a brow and smirked a little when Aemilio actually walked over to her and told her that she was allowed to stare in awe. "I will as soon as there is something to stare in awe at," she told him with a pat on the shoulder and then called out to Mrs Nellis, "I have something but it'll be more fun when it's darker." Her attention remained directed at the stage again when Lugh started playing, therefor not noticing Aemilio walking away. She couldn't deny being impressed by his skills all though it wasn't what she would normally listen to, she still liked it, giving a bit of an applause afterwards.
During Lugh's performance another person came to listen, drawn by the otherearthly notes to stand within the shadows of the trees near the fence, having a clear view of the party. Despite the fact that sun wasn't down fully it had gotten rather dark within the forest and the newcomer was fully covered in black clothes, all but the face, but that was hidden within the shadows of both the trees and the hood of the cloak. Therefor, unless someone would really know for what and where to look, they wouldn't see this new addition to the audiance.
It still wasn't dark enough for her taste but as Mrs Nellis had now annouced her she shrugged and walked over to the stage. First turning off the stage lights before pulling out a lighter and lighting both her pois. Walking to the center of the stage she looked around a little to see how much space she actually had and then started.
Azar's show

Keoki was a little surprised at how long Lugh's performance took, actually getting up to check the time on her camera about half way through it. He was certainly skilled, and it was lovely to listen to, but she still wondered just why it had to take such a long time. When he finished, she applauded with the others and got back up to check her camera again, and it seemed like the battery was fine, but the memory was getting a little low.

It was around then that she felt a light tug on her ankle, and turned around to see if Creed was messing with her. It wasn't the first time after all, and she didn't think it was Toby. She shrugged it off, and turned back to the camera to open the sd card slot between acts. Leaning away from the camera and speaking quietly so her voice wouldn't get picked up, she asked, "Hey, Toby, can you check my bag for an extra sd card?" It was a memory card used for a few different things, so she didn't think she'd have to explain much, "My bag's just over there, in the front pocket, not the inside."

Turning over towards Toby and her camera bag, which she'd left a few feet behind the both of them, she didn't notice Creed peeking up from the ground as she had her back to him by then. She did end up hearing something, and turned enough to spot him. "Creed? Man, you took long enough. Watch the camera, could you?" She didn't want him to accidently step in front, a bit curious how he got around them anyway. Hell, he was probably trying to scare them again before she spotted him.

It wasn't long into Lugh's performance that Tobias found himself enraptured once more, the musical talent Lugh displaying causing him to lose himself in thoughts as he continued to listen. upon reaching the end of the piece, Toby, like the other's clapped along, a smile apparent on his face as he did so. Looking to Keo, he saw her check her camera, wondering if the extended performance from Lugh had took it's toll on the camera's battery or memory. As he looked, like Keo, he felt a tug on his ankle, his eyes moving to the ground upon feeling it. Seeing nothing there, Tobias shook his head, his attention soon being drawn to Keo.

Upon hearing her ask him if he could check her bag for another memory card, Tobias nodded with a smile. " Sure, no problem" he said as he began to turn around, reaching for the bag before reaching into the front pocket. Because of this, like Keo, Toby also missed Creed's emergance from the ground. "Ah, here we go" he said with a smile as he found the memory card, turning back to Keo and handing it to her as he did. " Oh, hey Creed" he said with a smile as he turned back around, finally noticing him. Though he was quite curious as to how he managed to get around in front of them, he decided not to ask, simply dismissing it for the time being.

"Evening Creed," Lugh said taking a seat beside the small group, "Sorry if I took a bit too long. I've a habit of getting lost in the music." he admitted, hoping he hadn't caused Keo too much trouble with memory or battery life, not that he had much knowledge about cameras anyway.
As Azar's performance began Lugh turned back to face the stage, "Should have known she'd play with fire." he muttered although he did have to admit it was a wonderful display, the swirling flames matching the fiery skies of the setting sun. And she had more guts than him to have fire so close to her skin, then again he knew her not to be human.

Mrs Nellis once again let hear her endless enthusiasm for the act just performed, incidentally letting slip lots of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s at Azar’s fire dancing. She wasn’t worried for an instant that something would go wrong, simply too excited to consider it.
Axel clapped as well, impressed by the fire dance but not nearly as enthusiastic as he was about Dominique’s act or her hug. His eyes were searching for his stepbrother for a moment but he quickly (and happily) concluded Aemilio wasn’t there and hoped it would stay that way.

Meanwhile the air had darkened as the day turned into night – unusually fast I might add - but unlike most other nights before the sky was clouded and no stars or moon could peek themselves through to shine some light on the situation. But fortunately the lights went back after Azar’s act and everyone could see properly again. This may have also drawn people’s attention away from the small chill in the air.

(( ok, if anyone has some more business to do with each other, do it quickly because hell might just start soon… soon as I figured out how exactly to start it =P ))

Once her firedance was over Azar looked very calm and relaxed, kinda zenlike as if the dance had washed away all her troubles and worries from her mind. Which in a strange way it actually had done, being close to and playing around with fire was very soothing for her. A little reluctantly she took the flames away from her pois, probably making everybody wondering how that was possible but acting like it was nothing special she got off the stage. Her eyes went over the grounds, not seeing Aemilio in the small audiance which surprised her a little, but she didn't linger on that for all to long. Walking over to the table with the drinks she grabbed a soda her expression had turned thoughtfull, she had noticed the sudden chill in the air.
Standing close to Axel Dominique looked with some awe at Azar's fire dance, it looked both beautifull as well as very dangerous. Clapping loudly at the end she looked at Axel again a smile on her face. "That was a amazing, don't you think? And brave I would never dare to do have fire that close to me." she said with a chuckle. She noticing nothing strange about the speed it had gotten dark or the sudden chill in the air, the high of her own performance hadn't worn off fully just yet.

Creed rose a brow slightly as he was standing there and saw they had gotten distracted by the camera he shrugged lightly before they greeted him. He smiled softly as he replied. "Hey guys...and yeah." He looked to the camera and scooted over a bit. "Got a bit held up while in town earlier." He looked over to the stage. "looks like i missed quite a bit, good thing ya recorded it~." Creed turned and watched Azars performance a bit, he'd seen some acts of that when he was younger and he found them great. His attention turned to Lugh when he came over and greeted him. "Evenin Lugh. Ah I'm sorry, I missed most of the performances but from the bit I heard when coming over here sounded great and I'm sure everyone enjoyed it as well. I'll make sure to check back on what i missed." He went back to watching the performance as well after Lugh turned around.Creed applauded alongside everyone else at the end of her performance.

"Oh? But yeah, it's all on tape, you can watch it whenever. And hey, Lugh, no worries. It's all taken care of," Keoki replied to Creed, then Lugh, before turning to catch most of Azar's performance. That could look stunning on film, with the flames flickering around. It must have taken quite a good amount of practice to get that down without hurting herself. When it ended, she applauded shortly before shutting off the camera. After putting that back in the bag, and closing up the tripod.

It was about then, with the performances over and her focus on the camera gone, she actually took notice of the chill in the air. She wished for a moment that she'd brought a jacket, but didn't think about it for too long, instead picking up the camera bag and slipping it over her shoulder.

Looking over the grounds now that things were over, she noticed that Aemilio wasn't around, a bit curious as to where he might have gone. She could have a look around, but it'd be rude to just ditch the others now. Still, she took a step back to look around again before taking a seat by Toby again and picking up her drink. Maybe she should get a beer instead soon, since the performers were all finished.

Giving Lugh a friendly wave as he approached, Tobias smiled as he took another sip of his drink, his gaze shifting to Azar's impressive fire dance as he did so. As he watched along, he once again found himself quite enthralled, the swirling fire and impressive display causing him to lose focus on his surroundings, if just for a second. Once again and after regaining his composure, Tobias applauded upon seeing Azar finish, her dance certainly being quite the spectacal. It was at this time however, like many others, that he noticed a drop in the temperature, cursing his decision not to bring a jacket to the festivities upon doing so.

Upon having a look around at the grounds and the darkened sky above, he went to take another sip of his drink, noticing that he had finished. Seeing that he had finished his drink, Tobias, after looking to the bottle for a few seconds, turned back to the group. "Hey guys, I'm going for another drink" he said as he motioned to the snacks and drinks on the picnic table. "Do you guys want anything while I'm there ?" he soon added as he looked between Keo, Creed and Lugh, beginning to move towards the table slowly as he kept his eyes on them, waiting for a response.

Creed looked over to Tobias when he asked them if they wanted something. "I'll take a coke if they have any." He looked around the grounds after feeling the chill hit his face as the rest of him didn't really feel it to much since he was wearing a jacket. His eyes drifted over to Lugh and then over to Keoki He removed his jacket and stepped over to her placing it over her shoulders. "Wouldn't want the Keo getting sick~." He smiled a bit and stepped back looking a bit odd in just a black t shirt since he was always in a jacket of the sort.Now he defiantly felt the chilly air but it didn't bother him at all.

"Nah I'm fine." Lugh said to Tobias, lying back on the grass, staring up at the sky expecting stars. "That's odd." he muttered noting the dropping temperature and cloud cover. A cloudy summer night normally provided an insufferable stuffy atmosphere. "Do you think it's going to rain? Because that would dampen the mood a bit." he asked, rather hoping it wouldn't.

"Yeah, it was really impressive," Axel agreed with Dominique when she commented on Azar's performance, smiling at her. He was just about to suggest them getting a drink when he saw Creed - realising he'd seen him around before but had never really talked to him.
"I'm going to get a drink," he said to Dominique, "can I get you anything?"

I should say that whoever goes to the snacks and drinks tables - and pays a moment of attention to his/her surroundings - will notice one, then more human-like figures moving closer to the party. Because of the darkness (and the extra shade provided by the trees) it would be impossible to tell what they are at first but once they get closer you might see.
These creatures (complete description will be added later on) are what I call zimbo's. You may have guessed, they're my version of zombies. They act and work pretty much the same as your standard movie zombie, except they're a little wetter and more swampy. Another difference to some movie zombies is that they're not unnaturally strong, as in: if they've been decomposing for over a longer period of time, their musscles have weakened to the point where they can barely keep themselves on their feet. What they do is mainly just follow you around and cling onto you. Basically they're decomposing fangirls.

(( like I said, I'll post a more detailed description later - probably later today - but this will do for now right?
O and Ps. this is what you get when you look up 'zimbo':
lolXD ))

Not feeling much like standing alone Dominique shrugged at Axel's question if he could get her anything to drink and answered with a smile: "Don't know why don't I see for myself?" Walking with him to the picnic table she saw Azar standing there, her gaze distant. Dominique wanted to compliment her on her fire dance but Azar held up a hand to tell her to be quiet before she was even done greeting her. Giving Axel a confused look Dominique let her gaze go to where Azar's was.
Having been observing her surroundings ever since she noticed the strange sudden chill in the air. Which was the reason why she had noticed the humanlike figures coming towards them from out the shadows. At first she had thought that it was just Aemilio having decided to rejoin the party, but then more silouets had become visible within the shadows.
"Mrs Nellis," she called out without taking her eyes off the group of silouets still too far away to make out who or what they actually were, "did you invite people from the village to the party?"
She highly doubted it and had to suppress the urge to take out her lighter and make a ball of above the approching group to shed some light and hopefully identify them.

((Okay that's the cutest Zimbo ever! XD))

When she felt the jacket on her shoulders, she looked back to see it was Creed, asking "You sure?" But he didn't show that it bothered him as much, so she smiled over and slipped it on as she added, "Thanks. I'll get it back to you after the party." It wouldn't be that hard since he was just one room over from her. As for the drinks, she stood back up, dusting off a bit as she spoke over to Toby, "I'll just tag along, if it's no trouble. I want to see what drinks are out." That and he'd already have to grab a drink for himself and Creed, there was no harm in her getting her own while checking what options she had.

"Alright, a coke it is" Toby said with a smile and a nod as he turned to go to the table. As he did though, he turned back upon hearing Keo say that she would tag along with him. "Ok, cool " he said with a nod as he came to a stop, waiting for Keo to catch up before taking off again. Seeing Axel and Dominique at the table, Tobias turned to them with a friendly smile as he put his empty bottle on the table. "Hey guys, great work with the performance" he said as he kept his gaze on them for the time being. Before he could continue or they could reply however, he began to notice something was slightly off as his attention shifted to something else, the smile disappearing from his face as he looked around.

As his power kicked in, Tobias began to look around, as if to suggest he could hear something in the distance, the noise bringing about a confused look before his eyes were drawn to something in the distance, the barely distinguishable frames of a number of figures approaching the party causing him to raise an eyebrow as his gaze became locked on them. "Um....Keo ?" he said as he nudged her, his eyes locked on the figures in the distance as he did so. It was at this time that he heard Azar ask Mrs Nellis if she had invited some folks from the village to the party, his gaze shifting to her before back to the figures, the confused look persisting on his face as he kept his eyes on them.

Mrs Nellis looked at Azar smiling a little confused; "no I haven't dear," she said, still completely ignorant of the threat that was nearing the party area, "should I have?" she then asked, walking over to Dominique, assuming she asked because there was someone from the village she would've wanted around. But then she noticed the figured in the distance too and her smile disappeared.
"Has anyone else invited...?" she started uncertainly, her eyes widening and her sentence left unfinished when she finally saw what was approaching them.

Axel, much like the others had been wondering who the slowly advancing shades where, then didn't believe his eyes when the uninvited guests finally stepped into the light. "What the...?!" he muttered, considering it some kind of act or stunt after the first scare had passed.
"Is this another act?" he therefor asked mrs Nellis, an unsure smile on his face. But the smile faded when mrs Nellis shook her head, a frown on her face as she called over: "excuse me, but this is a private party! Who are you?"

But naturally the zimbo's didn't react and kept closing space between their little army (15 ones in sight) and the party scene. And the closer they got, the clearer it became they weren't people wearing costumes.

"Is one of you behind this?" mrs Nellis asked around in a raised voice, her eyes wide and not for a moment leaving on the nearing zimbo's, scared what they might do if she would away.

Lugh had ignored the moving figures once mentioned lost in thought, and it wasn't until they got close that he even took notice. But now, well interested was an understatement, "Oh, aren't you a surprise. And damn brazen I might and, no offence. No didn't think you'd take that as an insult." Lugh said bounding over almost giddy. "Now let’s see, dead obviously, living corpses of travellers lost in the forest? Signs of preservation due to the swamp waters. Lack of any kind of speed, muscular control below average, thought that’s to be expected isn't it?" Lugh continued having a conversation with the visitors, or himself, it wasn't clear, maintaining a safe distance all the while.
"Are you here for anyone in particular? Oh did you get Aemilio? You're a little hostile, aren't you." He said as one attempted to lunge at him, falling short. "Calm down calm down, you might break if you keep that up. Keoki see if you can't get them on camera, if you would." Lugh was grinning ear to ear, deep in his element.

Standing by the refreshments, Jack watched each performance enthusiastically and taking snacking on at his leisure. While giving the occasional nod to people who passed by him, he didn't really go out of his way to start a conversation just yet.

His mood of keeping to himself was broken however when he heard the commotion. Finishing his food, but still holding onto some napkins, he made his way calmly, almost strolling, towards the crowd that made their way onto the grounds. Jack stopped a couple feet from the one who had played the violin and had ran ahead of him to meet the guests.

"You're not really bothered by this are you?" Jack questioned, noticing the other man's nonchalantness of being lunged at. Upon getting this close to the man did Jack notice something, "You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" ((I'm assuming this is the same Lugh and not a retconned. I'm not going back to check.))

His thought was broken when he too was lunged at. More out of instinct, he fist flew out and struck the attacker with a loud crack. Rather than respond like one would if punching a regular person, Jack let out, "Eeeewwww! That was nasty!" having noted the zimbo's decomposing and very moist texture. Wiping down his knuckles with one of the napkins, he took the rest and wrapped his knuckles to protect them from coming in contact with any of the zimbos' skin again.

Once Dominique could actually see what the approaching group was her eyes grew huge, a small yelp escaping her. Moving a little closer to Axel, even though she hadn't got a clue of what good that would do, she did felt a little less scared.
Azar on the other hand got quite curious to the zombie like creatures. Moving towards them as well to get a better look, her pois still in her hands as well as her lighter. Keeping her about a 2 feet distance from both the zimbo's as well as from Lugh and Jack. Though she did notice Lugh near childlike excitment, mainly because it was hard to miss, but it was sort of amusing to watch.
"I wonder how good they burn..." she mused turning on her lighter, but instead of there being a small flame come out of the lighter her pois got light again. Swirling them a little around she hit the first zimbo on the face that came close enough for it, but it didn't seem to have much effect. So instead she let her poi hit the zimbo again and this time the entire zimbo caught fire, and yet it kept walking. Tilting her head she took a few step backwards as it kept walking; "Interesting..."

Creed looked to Lugh when he asked if it was going to rain and he looked up to the sky and made a slight face. "hmm..looks like it might." He scratched the back of his head then shrugged the thing he hated the most was that it messed up his hair.He looked over to the tables when he heard the commotion from everyone and he rose a brow,he couldn't see much with everyone standing there and headed over to see what was going on. Though he heard Lugh talk about the zimbos before he got to see them, He stopped near Axel and Dominique. "What the hell..."
They didn't creep him out though, he was used to strange things from the forest but he had defiantly never seen them before from the times hes been around the forest. He watched as one attempted to get at Lugh then as Jack hit one and his reaction caused him to snicker. "Well...looks like a mini version of the zombie Apocalypse." He looked to the two he stood near. "great performance by the way~." He said so though he missed it then headed over to Toby and Keo. "Soooo whos ready to go and bash some swamp zombie things?~" He jumped easily over the table and punched the nearest one in the face before making it stagger back, when it did he used its stall to kick it down so he could stomp on it.

Keoki glanced over towards the crowd of zimbos after Toby pointed them out to her. And hearing Lugh's analysis, she noted, "Yeah. We've got zombies. From a swamp. Anyone have a crowbar?" She was joking of course, but soon enough, the things closed in, and one even got set on fire. That was basically breaking one of the standard rules of zombie killing, a zombie on fire really doesn't help. And usually doesn't kill them either, at least not before they grab and set something else on fire.

She didn't have the time to take out her camera, so she put her bag down on the table before grabbing one of the slimy freaks. They were hardly scary, in fact, they weren't even biting... just grabbing. As weird as that was, Keoki did know one solution for zombies. And better yet, it was night, her favorite time of the day, seeing as she was strongest right about now. Grasping its head with both hands, a sickening and audible crack followed as she twisted the head too far to the side until its already decaying neck snapped. She moved her hands away, wiping off the slime while she expected it to fall down and die all over again.

Then she looked back up, to see its head just rolling limply to the side, while it kept moving, "What the hell?! Lugh, these freakin' things aren't following the rules!" In fact, she pulled out her phone, quickly grabbing the thing by the shoulder to push it away from grabbing her and waiting for it to still again before snapping a photo. Lugh had asked her to try and record them, but that wasn't a good option at the point, a photo would have to make due. "Sorry, that's it for now, I gotta go!" If these things didn't die that easily, that was just bad news. And Aemilio was still missing. She didn't exactly like that.

Waving over to Toby and Creed real quick, she added, "Let me know when you figure out how to kill 'em!" Kicking the zimbo back enough to make it fall over, she jumped over the living corpse and started running to see if she could find out where Aemilio had gone off to. Considering how the zimbos were moving so far, she was pretty confident that she'd outrun any of them that tried to chase her.

Unsure if the zombie attack or the Meinior inhabitant's enthusiasm for fighting back had pushed her over the edge, mrs Nellis stood there with wide horrified eyes, completely frozen and unable to utter even a single word.

On Axel all this action had an opposite effect and he finally woke up from an uncertain statue-like state. He was glad to have Dominique close to him but unlike Lugh, Jack or Azar he had an extremely passivistic nature, not to mention little to no fighting experience. He would help them but first he wanted to protect Dominqiue.... and mrs Nellis, who he just now noticed was standing there helplessly.
"Help me get her inside?" he said to Dominique in an urgent voice, gesturing to the frozen housewife who never seemed so cheerless as now.
As he did he already headed over to mrs Nellis and with words and a little demanding pulling her along starting getting the petrified woman back into the mansion. He wasn't even sure if it was safe there but it was more likely and he wasn't much good in a fight with undead things anyway.

(( more is to come, just wanted to save this because my posts keep disappearing... and I just wanted to get rid of mrs Nellis =P ))

Upon finally seeing the true form of the figures that had been slowly making their way towards the party, a confused look appeared on Tobias' face as he began slowly moving back, his eyes locked on the approaching Zimbo's as he continued to do so. "Well, suddenly my Yeti theory isn't seeming too farfetched" he said to himself, turning to Keo and Creed upon finishing. Seeing Azar set one of the creatures on fire, Tobias looked on, the sight of the burning corpse causing himself to lose himself in thoughts, if only for a few seconds. It was in these few seconds however, that he missed Keo attempting to snap the neck of one of the beasts, Toby turning back to her upon hearing her curse.

"Wow, these guys are playing by Return of the Living Dead rules" he said as he looked to the zimbo whose head was now hanging limply on its shoulders, Tobias deciding it best not to get involved just yet until he had a decent idea on how to deal with them. " Good to se you have your priorities straight by the way Keo" he said in a joking tone as he watched her snap a picture of the zombie. As he did so, he soon found his attention turning back to the Zimbo's, continuing to avoid their grabbing hands as he soon heard Keo mention that she was going off. "Keep safe Keo, and don't worry, you'll be the first to know" he said with a smile as he looked back to her again.

As he watched her run off, Tobias soon felt a tug on his shoulder, his eyes widening as he turned around to see one of the beasts had gotten a grip on his shirt. Deciding not to beat about the bush anymore, Tobias, in a rather uncharacteristic display, jerked forward, the creatures grip on his shirt breaking as he did so. After a few more steps, Toby clenched his fist and turned on the spot, now facing the beast. Upon twisiting around, Tobias took a few more steps towards the beast and in a impressive display, delivered a lariat to the zimbo, the force of his lariat knocking the beast off it's feet and sending it to the ground.

As he worked mrs Nellis inside Axel caught a glimpse of everyone's fighting skill and had to keep his mouth from falling open with awe and jealousy (even at Azar who seemed quite eager to set the zombie-like creatures on fire, which seemed like an unorthodox move at best, even if it would work around soaking wet or highly moist zimbo's who seemed unsensitive to heat.... or at Keoki's less that admirable move of wanting to take a picture).

Meanwhile Aemilio could be found far away from the party, in the darkness by the fence sepperating the Meinior grounds from Burglinde forest. He sat there facing the forest with his hands clining to the steal fence, his posture suggesting he'd become unwell or had tumbled over and had desperatly tried to prevent himself from falling, by holding himself up in grabbing the fence but hadn't made it int he end and slowly slid down.
The way he sat there so motionlessly was a little eary though - especially with the current situation at hand, that he seemed completely oblivious of by the way. Fortunatly there were no signs of damage to him.