Diamond marched towards the crowd with a sense of purpose...only to find herself heading towards long tables of food at the side of the grand room. She thought of mingling with the crowd right away; it seemed like a sensible thing to do to know more of whatever that was happening around her but she was not ready to face them and endure their scrutinising eyes. She took a plate and started piling up food: some fruits, a scoop of garden salad, a small slice of...whatever-cake. And she stood by the table eating while observing like an outsider she was.

With food as a good distraction, Diamond felt the tension within her slowly ebbing away. Without realising, she had been nervous and worried about interacting with the people around her. Would they sense something strange about her and realise she doesn't belong to their world? And when they do, how would they react? [i]Once a worrywart, always a worrywart...[/i]Diamond thought and sighed. It would not come as a surprise if she ended up having lines on her face at the age of sixteen.

It proved a wise decision to be an observer of the party at the edge of the room. Diamond's position allowed her to take a decent view of the dancer who seemed to be the highlight of tonight's party. Quite a fair-looking girl she was, with fiery red hair and matching red dress which made her whole being seemed aflame. Her movements were graceful, and Diamond felt a tiny bit envious of the girl. Nearby, the lady musician was dressed in a similar shade, looking equally lovely. Diamond found herself enjoying the beautiful lively tunes she played with her fiddle; the lady must have put her entire heart into each stroke. "And here I am, lacking talent of sorts..." Diamond mused.

Her eyes continued to scan the crowd. She was never an observant person, but having appeared in another world forced her to be more attentive to her surroundings. There were guards posted at each entrance, distinguished by their uniform, and in the midst of the loosely spread crowd stood a big-sized armoured statue, an odd decoration. Except the statue could move its head and limbs...

Diamond rubbed her eyes single-handedly and frowned. The place got weirder the more she lingered around. Whoever heard of a walking statue, or was that a special trick employed by the organiser of the party as extra entertainment for his guests? A commotion at the main gate briefly distracted her line of thoughts. Diamond tiptoed to get a better view, but all she could see was a few guards' helmet top and a short moment later, someone entered the room, presumably a late guest. Setting her empty plate on the table, she slowly weaved her way to be part of the crowd, listening for information. People were bound to gossip and spread news regardless of era. True enough, for a lady in front of her muttered something about "a man too fat to defend his own heart" and "kind fellow, to carry that pig of a man to safety", so Diamond assumed a good-hearted gentleman must have came to the aid of one of the nobles with the help of the guards before joining the party. [i] Nothing of my concern[/i], she thought and her eyes swept back to the puzzling figure-thing. Her curious side urged her to go close for a little harmless inspection. It wouldn't hurt...or would it?

"If it's some guy cosplaying, I can just say hi, comment that the costume's cool and make friends or apologise and walk away right?" Diamond thought of leaving the figure-thing alone but curiousity was persistent and got the better of her. Biting her lower lip, she slowly made way towards it in small cautious steps.