See how they shine.

Through war and triumph (elijah atkins) rises, at (37) years old, serving as (praetorian) residing in (westland). They are a (guardian witch) that resembles (aaron tveit). Upon meeting them, they are (hard-working) and (loyal). Don’t be fooled, they can be (stubborn) and (implusive).

~

Katheryn shrugged, “you’re not going to find them in this frenzy right now, you should just stay here.” Her smirk widening as she straightened his lapel, “with me.” She knew how to pull the attention back to her, “I believe your job at a reception is to enjoy yourself or have I lost the point of a party like this?” She smirked and nodded, “admiring, I dare say you were practically lost in your gaze, love.” She sighed and shrugged, “but you have a job to do so I guess I should leave you to it and deny you the pleasures you were clearly searching for.”

-

She was right, but he had to at least try to find the in this frenzy as she put it. Elijah was looking over a the crowd until she said to stay with her, that caused him look back over at her. “My job is to guard my people.” He told her. “Not to have fun.” Eli pushed his hands into his pockets, watching Kat before sighing. “Fine, I’ll bite. You don’t need to leave.” He took one of his hands out and placed it on her elbow, it was just a delicate touch.

—

         “Definitely a bit of both.” Though the former was the main cause of the slight concern that left him tense and unable to fully allow Rowan to escape his view. Even at a distance Luca could see the other and waited for any signal that she needed him back at her side or a way to get her out of an uncomfortable situation. It might have all felt that way, but she was better at the talking to others than he was at times like this. “You’re not the only one by the looks of it. A lot of people seem to be more out of sorts than then meets the eye — but if that’s the most worrisome thing at the moment, then I’ll take it.” He felt otherwise, a knot in the pit of his stomach, but Luca was tapped to keep an eye on Rowan, nothing else. “She’ll be alright. She always is. What ‘bout you? I thought you’d be nothing more than a shadow tonight.” Same as him. 

--

“We’ll just have to be careful and keep an eye on our own people.” If anything happened, then that’s when they’ll jump in, sure, Eli was willing to help other people but his people came first above everything. “I’m trying to be, but I’ve had people approach to talk to me or distract me, so I asked for a break. Here I am, taking a break” a shrug “i honestly never expected to see you tonight. How’s it been going?”

___

Reminiscing could be considered one of Mischa’s favorite pastimes.  And at an event with so many old friends and familiar faces from all points of his lengthy life, the man found himself chock-full of memories, giving him a warm and nostalgic feeling in his chest.  That is until he saw a face he would have preferred had been lost to time and it’s erosive effects on memories.  Quickly excusing himself, Mischa found himself looking for a vice he hadn’t turned to in a fairly long time, and soon enough ended up swirling the dark amber contents of his glass, as he thought on the times the person who disconcerted himself so greatly belonged to.

Even while his mind wandered elsewhere, his senses honed by centuries of time and instinct never dulled, and his mind subconsciously picked up on the man seating himself down nearby, enough so he wasn’t surprised when he spoke up.  “They’ll forgive, eventually.  They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again.  Long memories, though.  They tend to forgive, but never forget, in my experience.”

--

“Really?” Elijah turned to look at Mischa at the information he imparted with. “Huh, well whatever happens from here on out, I don’t want any part of it.” He shook his head some and sipped his drink. “Are you enjoying this?” Elijah asked him now, he was supposed to be working but some times you just wanted to pause for a minute.

-

Early on in the night, Roxy made a beeline for one of her favorite places at any event, the bar. It used to be that her family and their disgrace of how they’d lost their business had been the talk of any even that she would drown her sorrows with something alcoholic, now it was just a habit. It was also where all the gossip that didn’t involve her or her family occurred. She perked when she heard the question. “Actually, I’d say it’s probably a larger scale than ten. I was helping to plan that big social event, and now I’ve been told it’s back to the drawing board. To throw it all out, and start over? They have to be pissed to a high level of pisstivity. I worked hard on mapping it out, coordinating with everyone. I would have felt slighted, but the Dark World’s Mistress paid me hush money in addition to my regular fee if I helped plan this instead.” She would feel guilty, but money was a motivator for her and something she was fluent in. She would still get to plan the Southland social, but this way she got a two for one. 

-

Elijah turned to look at Roxy when she explained what went into the event and raised his eyebrows. “You planned this?” he asked for confirmation. “I bet it’s pissed a lot of people off.” Eli gave her a sheepish look. “I’m sure whatever the Southland hosts next will blow this out of the water.” 

-

Damien heaved a sigh. “You’re bursting my delusional bubble here. I like to pretend that I’m young, wild and free. I’ve been charming some lovely people tonight. Some seeing through my charms a bit more than others. Honestly, I haven’t gotten into any trouble one wouldn’t expect a Prince that doubles as a lawyer to get into. I’ve been the picture of decency these days. No one chasing me. No fights started because I hit on someone’s significant other. I have been keeping to only the single ones. It’s hard to get in trouble here when everything that could be trouble in other realms is normal here.” 

-

Elijah smirked at the younger mans obvious annoyance at his presence, he was a royal after all and Eli couldn’t just leave them to their own devices, they’d end up dead, or worse. “Tell me about it.” he mumbled that. “Everything’s just so different here.” Elijah looked around. What was normal here, could be look down upon back home.

___

Teddy had left her willingness to attend fancy parties when she left behind the name Althea Frost.  Despite being a nobody in a seas of nobodies, she attended this one only out of respect.  If it were anybody else but the Master and Mistress of Mayhem’s wedding, there’d be no way in hell she’d be caught dead in the place.  Despite her general dislike (perhaps that was too soft of a word, pathological hatred might be more accurate) of those who held titles, the leaders of the Dark World were the only ones she could stomach, having won their salutations through skill rather than inheritance.  

To try and temper her dislike of her surroundings, Teddy hung around the bar, her natural territory, and watched the people of the party, keen eyes picking up shifty glances, stolen touches, covert bribes, and even a key card slipped into a suit jacket.  So interested in the small solar system orbiting around her, she had barely noticed someone taking up residence in one of the stools nearby, and she raised a brow once realizing he was talking to her.

“A thirteen, I’d hope.”  She answered glibly.  She knew the whole purpose of it all was to help legitimize the Dark World, but Teddy herself was most excited about just how many feathers would be ruffled in the Southlanders’ wings.

--

Elijah laughed a little. “That sounds about right.” he nodded in amusement. “Nothing against the Southlanders, but their parties can be so boring and I’m stuck guarding all night usually, can’t have too much fun but here, it’s new, they want to explore so at least I’m not standing in one place all night.” he told her with a shrug.

“I’m Elijah, nice to meet you.” He smiled at her, was he a wide eyed Westlander? Yep, he hadn’t traveled much away from home so it was an honour to be here this week. 

~

Kat hadn’t really been interested in what information they two girls had brought forward but somehow found herself in the crowd. She definitely didn’t appreciate being pushed but when he pulled her back and clearly found something interesting in her, she had to smirk. “I believe someone was eaten by the hydra.” Her brow raised once he let her go but her attention was all on him, “I’m sure it was terrible but then again the two that announced it already looked frail to me.” She waved a hand away at them before grabbing his arm and gently leading him to a more quiet space in the emptying room. “I do accept your apology, although your wandering eye is definitely something you should work on.” She smirked, “unless you were hoping I would catch it.”

-

“What?” Elijah frowned when she imparted with the information so then popped his head above the crowd to see if he could find them because hearing that kicked him into overdrive. “Whatever’s happened, I really need to fin-” Then he was being pulled away from the crowd. “Excuse me, I have a job to do.” Her quip however, caused him to look back at her. “I was just.. admiring you.” Elijah told her with a sheepish grin. “You’re beautiful.” He said with a shrug, keeping it simple the reasons why he had a wandering eye. 

who: @elijahxatkins where: the wedding reception

Having sung for the better part of the night, Lark was afforded a few breaks throughout the course of the reception that she gladly took. Not that she needed as many as were offered, but there were moments when the pressure became too much to bear for an extended amount of time and needed to find a way to distract herself. And maybe another as she happened upon someone that seemed to be out of their element. Granted, plenty were as they had not known they would be attending a wedding in the midst of everything — she only knew because she had been asked to sing beforehand. “You have the look of someone with the world on their shoulders. Tell me, what’s got you all knotted up and if there’s a way that I can help you unwind.”

--

“Oh.. hey Lark.” Elijah shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just being here. It’s given me the heebie jeebies.” he shivered a bit. “I guess it’s called the Dark World for a reason. Did you know that there’s a Hydra on the edge of a cliff? What the fuck.” Eli then slumped his shoulders, he didn’t really have much time but he could take a few moments with Lark. “You look great up there but then again, you always do.”

-

Damien had been planning to head to the bar to grab a drink. His attention was only half there when he was heading that way. He had even heard someone speaking about Southland but he wasn’t paying attention to the familiar voice until he was right beside them. “Damn…Please tell me that you’re off duty, and not going to take this opportunity to guard me? I’ve been avoiding…I mean, I’ve been otherwise occupied all night.” What he actually meant was that he was successfully evading those that were guarding his family. Damien appreciated what they did, and how hard they worked. He simply had the young, dumb mentality of being invincible, even though he was anything but compared to other species. 

-

“I’m not off duty.” Elijah told him. “Your dad gave me a break so here I am.” He lifted his empty glass up, only intending on having the one but now that Damien had seemed to find his way to him, Elijah turned to face him. “You’ve been avoiding us all night, I know. I’m trained to tell when avoidance is happening and you just think that you’re not being watched” he tapped his own temple “mind games. Completely off the record, but what have you been doing this entire time?”

Who: Kat

Where: Outside the reception 

After all the noise and panic, Elijah had lost Jakovan, Damien and Wren so he wandered outside to see if he could find them among the crowd. “Shit.” Mumbling, he pushed his way through the crowd and accidentally pushed someone a bit too hard, he had to reach out and grab her just in time. 

“I am so sorry I didn’t mean to...wow” he paused, remembering his manners so cleared his throat and let her go once he was sure she was okay on her feet “do you know what’s happening out here?” Elijah made sure to shift back to the topic in hand.

_

The reception was filled with people she’d never met before but given she was something of a social butterfly she hadn’t been without company for too long. In fact her current companion had only just left when another voice caught her attention, eyes widening slightly before a warm smile spread over her lips at the familiar face. “Of course! I never forget a face.” Hand waved away his worries, always so quick to soothe others in any situation. Besides, it was a nice change to be the one being recognised when at times it could feel like she was always the one doing the approaching. “No, not at all, I’m glad you came over.” Bright eyed gaze followed the direction he motioned in, sympathetic smile given at the fact that he was on duty. “Well I’m flattered that you chose to use a few moments of down time to speak to me. Have you had any time off to enjoy yourself? Or has it been work non-stop?”

--

“Non-stop work honestly.” Elijah told her. “There’s three of them here tonight so I thrice as busy, it’s nothing I can’t handle.” He shook his head with a smile. “But how have you been? Do you know the bride and groom?” Eli didn’t, he only knew what they were willing to tell their guards before coming over here so everything so far was a complete surprise. 

—

          “Water. I’ll need something stronger later when we’re no where near this place,” he spoke, letting his voice lower ever so slightly by the end of his words. He had expressed his displeasure in attending long before they stepped foot in the Dark World, but it was impossible to think that Rowan of all people would be swayed away from such an event. Even when she knew that this had been all planned out from the start as he glanced down at the glass of water that was slid over to him with a silent question on his face. “She’s here, putting on a braver face than most of the people here under the circumstances — and asked for a small break so I am giving it to her for the moment.” But only as long as they stayed in the same room.

--

Elijah couldn’t help but chuckle at that, a feeling he knew very, very well but at least this one drink wouldn’t be too much of an issue. “This party or the Dark World in general? I gotta say, the whole reversal of the seasons has caught me off guard and I forgot to bring coats.” He rolled his eyes at himself. Elijah had been assigned here for the night, he’d rather be back home but duty called and he had no choice but it answer that. “Hope everything’s okay with her? A lot of people seem to be on the edge around here, mostly the southlanders, but my point still stands.”

Who: Luca

Where: Wedding reception

This was one of those rare moments where Elijah had a bit of a break tonight and he was spending it at the bar, downing a glass of whiskey when he was joined by a familiar face. “Something strong or water?” he turned his attention to his fellow guard and gestured to his own glass with a smile. “not surprised to see you here, where’s Rowan run off to?” Elijah took a look around to see if he could spot them.