#ariaofmari

Boy, that was a random question, but at the same time he felt somewhat obliged to answer.

...somewhat. He had put the ideas out of his mind, hoping to have some time off, some time to enjoy himself for a while before returning to life as usual.

The answer was quite complicated, wasn't it? And as much as he trusted Aria, that was an answer that he would rather not get into too much detail...though with the fireworks gone, there was nothing easily distracting him from the cold winds, blowing a few different wisps of snow; northern Vales was relevantly calm weather-wise compared to the more southern regions, and deep within the blizzards of southern Vales...

He shook his head slightly to clear the thought.

  "I...come from around Tir Chonial." Gus responded, forcing himself to relax again. "And you? I...I assume you're from...Fillia, since that's where...elves...come....from?"

He highly doubted that was completely truthful, but at the same time really wanted to stay outside. There was currently a pause in the fireworks, but there was sure to be more, right?

  "...alright...but if you get too cold you...can...um...borrow my coat." Gus offered, probably blushing slightly as he did so. Not wanting to look straight at Aria with his face possibly bright red, he looked out across the balcony. There was quite the crowd around at this point, but he could make out the feather from the still un-named stranger who had given him the breadstick - just before the entire switch-bodies fiasco. He couldn't spot Milo - which wasn't a surprise considering the elf's height - or his tall partner Slothie. Maybe they had already left? He frowned slightly at the thought of it - he had actually enjoyed Milo's presence slightly; he had a bad habit of clinging to proactive people, people that didn't mind being hidden behind.

As a bard he liked to hide behind people.

There wasn't really anyone else in the crowd he could recognize, save breadstick-guy's-partner, but did he count? He hadn't even half-talked to him, not even for a fleeting question of a breadstick. Everyone seemed interesting enough, all different kinds of people gathered together...there was something rather comforting about it, even, which was weird - normally he didn't like large crowds, but...it felt like a misfit among a bunch of misfits - heck, there was a Shadow...Corrupt..?...Alchemist out in the crowd somewhere - and it almost made him feel...what was a good word?

  "Sorry, I got really-ow..." Gus said, though his "cry of pain" sounded rather sarcastic - he might of been a very, very squishy bard but he could still hold up somewhat...somewhat. Aria's small punch did sting a bit...more than a bit, but not to the point where it forced a reaction.

Aria muttered something under her breath, now looking rather cold herself.

He stopped for a moment. That...was weird, hearing his own voice calling out to where he was in Aria's body as if referring to himself in third person - by Falias it was possibly worse than when he had been turned into a female.

At least he was warm this time.

When he finally broke through the crowd, he found Aira-as-himself standing exactly where he was, still holding onto the breadstick and, almost ironically enough, with his hood pulled down over his-her face. To the side a bit was the-guy-who-gave-the-breadstick, along with the-guy-who-was-probably-his-partner; the-guy-who-gave-the-breadstick, or more specifically, his partner in his body, was looking a bit pale, which was odd, but...probably nothing compared to the rest of the event.

  "I'm right here, Aria..." Gus said, coming to a stop in front of...her-himself. "Are...um...are you okay?" Everything appeared to be okay, though by the slight twist in his own face Aria appeared to be a bit traumatized...though that was to be expected.

The stranger offered him one of the breadsticks he was holding, which he gratefully took. He hadn't eaten since well before he had come to this strange festival, which was Falias-knew how long ago that this point. He was lifting the breadstick up to his mouth gratefully when the lights went off, quite suddenly, which startled him and prompted a rather loud, startled squeak...

...which didn't sound quite right. It sounded...more high pitched than normal...as the lights slowly came on once more, he looked down at his attire, afraid of what he was going to see and praying that it wasn't what he thought it was...

He was wearing Aria's beige coat again, which was weird...along with her boots and her gloves and...

...wait.

Slowly, he reached up to the sides of his head...and...his ears were now pointy.

...elf pointy.

A full moment with his hands over his ears passed before the realization of what was going on dawned on him.

He was in Aria's-

His train of thought was interrupted by a loud THUD that resonated through the entire room. He looked over to see Milo's partner...Slothie, her name was, right?...laying on the ground, apparently passed out, with Milo standing above her, looking quite helpless...or was it Milo on the ground and Slothie standing over him? Considering how he had just switched bodies with Aria, he could probably safely say that it was another mini event thing part of this large festival...the Crystal Bearer, or whoever was pulling the strings, messing with them, playing with them...but why? And how? Now whoever was pulling the strings was really moving into the realm of some seriously impossible magic. Seriously...

But, that, for now, wasn't important...

He smiled to himself. Aria seemed like a bit of a social person...maybe, under her disguise, he could go around talking to people, finding out about them...or at least try to, since everyone was probably switcherooed by now. But, hey, they were partners, and if there was supposed to be some kind of fight thing planned, it was probably going to be as a two-vs-two set up. Or, maybe he could play a bit of music to bypass the-

-wait. His equipment...his stuff was still with Aria.

Which meant all his instruments were still with Aria.

Which meant -!

His gaze quickly shifted over to where he was pretty sure his body with  Aria within was, but it was hard to see over the thick crowd that had formed, not to mention the panicked and confused movements from many of them.

Aria, from now standing in her body, felt like she had some power in her - more magic than anything, but power still. If someone decided to try to take advantage of the chaos and start trying to swipe things...he had kept all his expensive instruments at home except...

He moved closer to the crowd, raising himself up on his tippy-toes to try to see over the heads of the crowd. He couldn't see much, but there was someone who he swore he had seen hanging around the stranger who had given him a breadstick - maybe they were partners? He was forcing his way into the crowd, looking like he was in quite the hurry. Maybe if he could follow him through the crowd...!

He moved quickly, rushing over to the closing hole in the crowd behind the breadstick-guy's-parnter and pushing it open again.

The direct answer?...no, not really.

The indirect answer...?...he could...function in heels, since a few close friends of his dared him to wear heels for a day...given he did nothing but run errands for Glennis in Dunbarton...but he could still walk.

However, before could respond, he was interrupted by a strange feeling. It was enough to make him stop and wonder what was...however before he could fully process whatever that feeling was, whatever it may be, he saw, out of the bottom corners of his eyes, some kind of light emanate from his body, though only a quick flash. Confused, he looked down as he brought is arms up slightly and...

He was wearing his coat again!?

After a very quick and frenzied self-patdown, he determined that, yes, indeed, he was back to normal - his regular coat, boots, everything, no weird maid outfit, and he was a guy again with no...chest. Of course, he was also still wearing Aria's coat...which was...getting slightly stretched due to the fact it was a coat on a coat, but nothing too damaging. Excitedly, he took of Aria's coat, thrusting it into the air as he thrust his hands into the air, shouting -

  "I don't have to walk on heels!"

He instantly regretted the reaction - at least half of the remaining room turned to stare at him, causing...forcing?...him to curl up slightly, reaching up and pulling his hood further down his face in embarrassment. Slowly, he shuffled over to where Aria was standing, half giving, half shoving the coat back to her before bringing up his other hand to pull the hood down further.

  "...let's just...go..." Gus muttered, sounding a bit like a groan, before shuffling off towards the staircase.

He made one, small, happy clap before turning back to the balcony...only to find that the balloon had already taken off with its occupants.

  "...well...there goes that plan..." Gus said, probably sounding more sad about the situation than she really was. She also hoped that the two sitting in the balloon's basket wouldn't drop to their deaths if the balloon really was another guest and the strange transformation magic wore off anytime soon...

...if it was going to wear off. And hopefully it did, and hopefully when it did, he could get his regular coat back.

She turned back to Aria, looking towards her for something more to do, if there was anything more to do, because as she could think of was dancing but no way was she going to dance especially in these heels, and noticed that a few of the party guests, each with their own strange thing, had started moving towards the staircase down to the bottom floor again. Was something going on that she wasn't aware of?