[b]Evelynn Joshi[/b]

[hider=<8:50PM]

[i]There are not nearly enough hours in the day![/i]

One Miss Evelynn Joshi was notorious for taking [i]years[/i] to doll up. That most certainly did not change in a different country, like Germany, or a different continent, and most certainly wouldn't change in a different universe either.
Maybe another dimension. If God played his cards right.

It was 6 by the time she had come in after the delightful meeting with Marcelline, the woman she'd be sharing her balcony with. And the art major, and photographer, Lynn noted. She wasn't bad at all! Keeping the Polaroid on the nightstand of her bed for just the moment, with the thought that nobody would come to clean her room or anything, she then set out to turn the corner into the lavish en suite, and busied herself with a bubble bath that lasted longer than she'd like to admit. The flight was tiring, but the tub was gorgeous, and they'd even gotten four or five different scented bubble-bath mixtures, and scented candles, and...

7:00 crept close as she stood at a tall mirror in a fluffy white towel, blow-drying out her hair. And then, wrapping it up in a smaller towel, she made for the dress and putting it on, though she worried whether it would so much as fit her or not...


[hider=(Bear with me here. I tried!)]
Cut of the dress:
[img]http://www.discount-formal-dresses.com/wp-content/uploads/Blue-Floor-length-Off-the-Shoulder-Taffeta-Short-Sleeve-Elegant-Evening-Dress.jpg[/img]

In this colour:
[img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d7/99/3f/d7993f6091d6fd71a519ee658f2c4e3d.jpg[/img]
[/hider]

Success!

Lynn replaced the tiny studs on her ears with the provided pair of dangling earrings, and she couldn't help but fawn over them in the mirror. The Wolfs really went all out.

The last things she did before hopping out the door were: slip on a pair of black heels she brought with, that gave her a height boost to about 5'10"; check herself one last time in the full length mirror; stuff everything she deemed important into a clutch she'd brought that matched the heels, including her phone (in the rare case she got horribly bored or extremely awkward), some cash, the room key, a stick of lipstick - it was the same soft pink she had opted for, to complement the dress subtly instead of clashing with it -, a tiny vial of perfume (think sampler size) and lastly a little  mostly-empty box of mints; and fimally lock the door twice behind her. Best be safe than sorry, especially somewhere like...[i]here[/i].

She hung around on the first [s](Second, to the Americans.)[/s] floor for some time, unable to help but gaze down at the entrance hall from the ledge and the gaping hole in the floor that looked down on the hall. It was packed, and looked like a giant patch of dark colours, with the odd colourful spots, courtesy of men in bright tuxes, or more commonly, a few women in bright cocktail dresses. The crowd was incredibly intimidating, though Lynn steeled her nerves and decided to make her way down the stairs after all, greeted by none other than a glass of playfully bubbling champagne from the hands of one of many [i]insistent[/i] waiters.

[/hider]

[b]8:58PM - Showtime.[/b]

Evelynn only got the briefest of chances to interact with a very happy Jonas Landvick before the doors were flung open, and the crowd moved as a single entity into the gaping maw of the ballroom at hand. Lynn was caught in it too, and ducked her head down low. It was frightening and claustrophobic to be part of such a big collective movement, and she almost gasped in relief when finally a familiar voice, in accented English, and a strong hand took her arm. "Miss Joshi." It was undeniably the French bartender, and Lynn strained her ears to hear what followed. "Une minute, if you would please." 
He was hard to spot, even with his hand on her arm, because the tux he was in made him a definite part of the crowd. Though his voice was unmistakable. Business as usual, he appeared to forget that she'd rather be called Evelynn. Though she didn't blame him. If it was habit, it was easy to forget someone's preferences, especially if you were already so busy.

Lynn stopped as asked, body huddling closer as the myriad of finely clad men and women, primarily men, primarily German still, drifted by her and filled into the ballroom. Her body was stiff, she was worried something had happened, or she'd done something wrong. Perhaps the Wolfs were offended she didn't come drinking like was asked?
[i]Oh god...[/i]

With desperate eyes darting around behind glossy contacts, she managed to find someone in the throng of people that she recognised. [i]Marci.[/i]
She had also been stopped at the doorway, and stood there just as Lynn did. She was tempted to inch over and ask what this was about, if Marci knew anything about it. Félix's attention seemed to drift from stopping Lynn though, which would have made it easier to cross the distance. The only constraint happened to be time.

Klara spoke up when the six of them had been carefully filtered out, each in their own finery and standing, quite awkwardly, in the entrance hall.

[i]“Herr Wolf has a certain love of theatrics.”

“Are you talking about me?”[/i] 

And there they were. The family, at the top of the stairs, dressed to the nines. They all looked wonderful, the redheaded twins in dazzling emerald, and the man of the house sharp as ever. Even Gertrud looked graceful in the dress she wore, and despite her frailty, her looks held up and she seemed quite comely in the dress.
That didn't stop Lynn from cringing just a little, though.
She had hardly enough time to catch her breath before being ushered, yet again, up the stairs and to the double doors. And then they were flung open just as the ones below.

It was like something out of a fairytale.
The room, the decor, the lighting. Everything about the ballroom seemed from a different time, and had Lynn paralysed throughout Sol's little show and dance, and until she was led around the right to the end of the circular balcony. She felt small, and watched, under the hundreds of eyes that gazed up at the houseguests as they walked by. Though the excitement was tangible, it made her hold a little more tightly onto her champagne. She still hadn't drunk any more than just a tiny sip or two, perhaps because it wasn't characteristic of her to overdo the alcohol just anywhere. Persuasion would be easy, though. If it weren't for the lingering words of Jonas in the back of her mind...

And in comparison to Sol, Lena and Maria, Lynn was a little slower down the stairs, careful not to spill the drink. It was filled quite high still, and she didn't want to embarrass herself just yet. Her heart was pounding enough as is, and her cheeks were hot, and her hand gripped tightly onto the clutch. She fiddled, like she usually did.
This would be one hell of a night, and as her heels finally clack-clack-clacked onto the polished floor, she was helpless to do much more than mouth a silent "Help!" to the nearest available face. Surprisingly, her eyes met those of one Thomas Porter, out of all the possible houseguests, for only split seconds before the eager crowd swallowed her up.
And the rest, as they say, was...





[Center][b]Eeyore and Piglet
(Jonas and Evelynn)
11:20 PM[/b][/center]



There were people everywhere. Evelynn couldn't remember names or faces or comprehend the thousands of questions she was being asked at once. It took all she had to hold herself upright and keep her belongings to herself, and the glass of champagne ever just on the edge of spilling. They asked her name, her history, and everything in between from her favourite drink, to which she had no answer, to her relationship status, to everything else and eventually she got quite frantic. She could have sworn that the guests in the room all had eyes for only her, and the crowd of primarily aryan men of all ages spooked her to the point where slowly, and then all at once, the claustrophobia got to her, and she had to find somewhere to escape. Somewhere to [i]breathe[/i].

She grabbed her purse and slipped through the crowd wide eyed and sweating. The restrictive, delicate nature of the dress made it no easier.  People stepped on the tail and jerked her back time and time again and it made her whimper in surprise but she continued ever on. Thankfully, the two most distinguishable things among the sea of black tuxes were the ballroom double doors and the stained windows at the back. She definitely knew which direction she was heading.

She opened the doors with an unceremonious creak and slipped out as soon as she could, hearing them click behind her as she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. It was intimidating. She couldn't see anyone and couldn't understand the mixture of German and English and it felt almost like a nightmare.

Hanging around the side of the doors, she ran her hand with the clutch through her hair. She noticed the drink and the level having dropped. [i]Sigh.[/i]
She must have spilled some on her way out.

And all at once, like a dischordant saving grace, came the sounds of a grand piano to her left. It was faint over the sound of the crowd in the ballroom and the instruments playing innocently enough along. Lynn wanted to follow this odd piano. Recording or not, she thought it odd the Wolfs would leave something like this playing in another room. It wasn't any good, even.

She made her way to the grand doorway and carefully pushed past the doors, revealing a new room to her. She took in the lounge. It was definitely cozy, with couches and a burner and the walls adorned with family pictures. If Lynn wasn't spooked, she'd probably have gone "Aww."

Her gaze swept the room before spotting the source of the noise. A grand piano in a corner, in all its glory, and even more oddly, a gentleman hunched over the instrument. She couldn't recognise him before he turned around because the tux looked like every other she'd seen, though when he turned around to spot her at the sound of the door creaking and groaned, Lynn knew for sure who this was.
And even more oddly, he sat with water and a pitcher next to him on the pianist's stool.

“Tell me you didn’t see that...” Jonas Landvick said in a small voice, rubbing his head. It was obvious he was ashamed, but for...

Lynn froze in the doorway for just a handful of seconds at Jonas's pathetic look and, with a heavy sigh, shut the door behind her for some further quiet and walked further into the room, towards the centre, heels clack-clack-clacking against the floor with each step. She was still huffing a little, sweat only just beginning to form on her olive skin. She was afraid with too much exertion, her made up face would come off in horrible squidgy bits.

"See what?" she asked, though moreso rhetorically, "If you meant your...err. Rendition of Beethoven, I most certainly could hear it."
And in that hollow room, with just the two of them there, the joking tone of her voice was evident enough, albeit a little dry, as she sat herself down on one of the sofas and stretched her limbs out. She put the clutch down right beside her. There were firm imprints where she'd been squeezing it all night.
"Why are you all alone here, anyway?"

She felt Jonas's eyes on her, hard too. They were bleary at best, and Lynn couldn't help but feel sorry for the hazy look he gave her. It didn't last too long though before he went to pour himself another glass of water, and then proceeded to rest his head on the side of the piano. He absently poked at the keys which made low deep hums, as he sat on the left where the bass would be. He stared at the keys. He took a sip.
“‘m here cuz...I dunno. Our hosts are jerks. I don’ like ‘em.”

"Aw...and I thought they were nice people too." Lynn put down the glass of champagne she'd been gripping just as hard on an end table just beside the couch she was sitting on, and though it was not still filled to the top, the delicate, shimmering meniscus was pretty high up. Credited to her spilling just a tiny bit in her little brisk walk out of the hell hole filled with people. 
She walked over to where Jonas was after a careful moment of hesitation, arms crossed across her chest in a protective self hug. She blinked down at him, "What'd they do to you? The guests...they were the ones that irked me."

Jonas, head still on the piano, blinked up at her, and he appeared almost as if he was trying to decide if he should tell her what happened or not. Sighing, he began again, a series of sentences and words that were once held back now tumbling out, “It’s like...they give us tons of money and fly us over here for no reason an’ then act all nice...and I just decided to start having some fun, and the Sol shows up outta nowhere and…” 
He paused, with an intense look of concentration. Was he gauging something? Recollecting something? Lynn didn't know, but he shrugged his shoulders with a bit of a 'screw it' look about them before continuing. “...he’s a looker, okay? ‘m not gonna lie, I liked the guy. So, he shows up an’ decides that he wants somebody to drink with, and we’re sittin’ there, slammin’ down these pretty drinks and I can’t complain, right? I was havin’ a good time. And then he leaves, an’ I leave and that Lena’s all mean about it, and then at the ball I go say hi, an’...and Sol decides that I’m just, like a joke or somethin’. Starts showin’ me off to his dumb friends an’ all, laughin’ at me. And then he tells me to dance with this lady and I fall an’ they all just laugh at me som’more. It ain’t right. It ain’t funny…” and the rest was lost on Lynn as the man trailed off. He appeared distressed, even moreso as a shaky hand reached out for the glass to take another sip before replacing it on the bench with its trusty friend, the pitcher.

"I..." Lynn was dumbfounded, her eyebrows raised at the story, primarily because she didn't expect that of Sol, though she knew Jonas had been drinking with him earlier. He'd mentioned it before, something about Sol being crazy good at holding down his liquor,  and some yellow drinks. "So this man gets you drunk just to make fun of you? My, my. I didn't know." Her words were a little wrongly chosen, though she made up for it with actions, spontaneously placing her hand on Jonas' head and ruffling his hair a little. In response, Jonas looked quite grateful for this little moment, managing to smile the teensiest little bit. [i]Success![/i]
Either it was the little she drank at all, but more likely the situation that made her that much more forward with her actions. She even surprised herself. "That wasn't funny at all. Are you hurt? It wasn't too bad a fall, was it?" 
Lynn felt her motherly instincts kick in. If someone was having a worse night than her, it was Jonas. She tutted and poured him some more water carefully. 

“Nah, I’m okay, I think. If it does hurt, I really can’t feel it.” 

Lynn looked relieved at the confirmation of no major wounding, except perhaps to Jonas's pride, and sighed a little, relieved, shaking her head. "That Sol better know, if he really did fly all of us here, the last thing on his mind should be to...humiliate us. Besides. Since I'm presuming this really isn't a battle to the finish, we're all in this together, right?" 
She smiled warmly down at Jonas, the free hand wiping the remnants of sweat from her brow. It was clear she seemed in a much better state now, even if it came from self reassurance that she wasn't having it the worst that night. "I'll walk you to your room if you'd like. It's quieter up there."

And on that mention, Jonas grabbed his glass of water and stood up from the stool slowly, “Yah. That sounds good. No more dancin’ for me.” Lynn nodded her confirmation, and the two began to make for the door. Though she couldn't help but notice the man in thought again, brows knit as he mulled over something unbeknownst to Lynn until, “It’s like high school, or somethin’.” 

"Haha, with all the jocks, I think you call them, making fun fun of all the weaker kids? I suppose the jocks in this case have a tiny bit of a one up. This whole mansion and their home rules make it an unfair field." a tiny shrug came from her shoulders and she perked up for a second, suddenly remembering something. She briskly walked over and grabbed her clutch from where it was resting against a pillow of the couch, leaving the still glistening champagne on the end table after all, and after a quick moment of thought leaving the pitcher where it sat as well. Joining Jonas as he made it to the door, she idly stared down the walls and pleasantly noticing something that makes her eyebrows quirk.
[i]That picture. Oh my god.[/i]

She barely noticed Jonas's reaction to her mention of highschool, or the way his eyes drained and he got lost in some unhappy memory of ages ago. No, Lynn didn't notice that at all. She didn't even notice it at first when he looked back at her and asked her, quickly changing the subject,
“Uh, how ‘bout you? You feelin’ okay?”

She looked a little confused when he asked her out of the blue, though later realised it must have been obvious, even if subtly so. Her hair was a mess, and her make-up probably was too, and she was sweaty and [i]ugh[/i].
"Me? Uh...it...I." There was an awkward, evident fumbling with words. "There were too many people in there. I don't think I've ever even been around so many people. And...and I couldn't find anyone familiar, and they all were asking me so many questions, and it got so claustrophobic, and I couldn't breathe and-"
She wrapped her arms around herself again because the thought was just too vivid and jarring to live out again. "...mm. I'm a little helpless, huh?" she said in a soft whisper, eyes focused on the floor and her sighing to punctuate.

A hand on her shoulder gave her the little gentle nudge she needed to look up, and she met Jonas' concerned eyes before he spoke, “Nah. I guess we all got our little weaknesses.” 
There was a pause between the two as he looked over Lynn’s shoulder at what she was eyeing earlier and she could have sworn his eyes doubled in size. And why wouldn't they, if he saw what she whad been eyeing, “...Holy smokes.“ He stared at it for a bit, pointing it out to Lynn too and...giggling?

[i]Bingo.[/i]
Lynn was sure it was exactly what she had had just a glimpse of. She followed his finger and for the first time got a better full look of the picture mounted on the wall.
"Oh my god!" her face went all weird as she tried to stifle her own giggles, though it wasn't long till she was actually cupping her mouth and laughing openly enough at it. "Oh my god, that's so cute! I gotta get a picture of that, hold on." 
And just as the words left her mouth, she fished for her phone in the clutch and whipped it out, positioning it just right and taking a quick snap of the younger Sol in his glorious lederhosen.
Something clicked after a few moments of thought and her head turned to look over at Jonas again, "I saw a bowl of phones earlier. I didn't think we counted for whatever it was for, since we probably weren't on par with the locals. Besides, why would they need them from us poor unfortunate international citizens? There's no service, anyway..." She was still smirking wide when she looked over at Jonas before the reality of her words sunk in, "Shit. That means no service, period. I'd send it to you if there was any. You got your phone on you?"

“Mmyep.” Jonas, who was still snickering at the picture, pulled the phone out of his pocket only to drop it on the floor. Lynn only just resisted the urge to giggle again. “Oopsie.” He picked it up again, normal as ever. It didn't faze him in the slightest. “Mine don’t work either. I checked.” And on that curious note, the pair left the room, Jonas pulling the door behind him shut before they left the lounge.

Unlocked.  

Lynn still fiddled with her phone on the way out, oblivious to what was happening around them. It seemed just too odd to not get service anywhere in the house? Huh.
"Ain't it weird though? We should be getting service somewhere as big as this...it's really weird we aren't." Lynn hung at the bottom of the staircase when they approached it, with a little twitch looking up. She shrugged before actually sitting on the immaculate steps and taking off her heels, shrinking her down to her normal 5'6 when she stood up again. She couldn't help but miss feeling tall around the bearded man, "These are crazy uncomfy, but they're cute. I couldn't resist." She quickly swapped the clutch with her phone safely back inside now to the hand with the heels, using her other hand to hold up the trail of the dress. "Much better, heh."

She could see Jonas peering at the heels, blinking slowly. He seemed...in awe? Lynn couldn't tell. “Glad I’m not a lady. But the phone thing...it’s weird. The whole deal is fishy. The briefcase ‘n all…” Jonas mumbled a bit and rubbed his head again. Thinking almost seemed to hurt. “Ugh. Ten days…”

"It really is. Can't help but wonder why they chose us, huh?" The last few stairs left Lynn panting a little bit, though she was glad to have made it to the top. "Whew. They could have picked anyone and they picked us. I'm almost honoured. Though I feel that Gertrud didn't have a say...I spoke to Marci. You know, the..." Lynn paused, grasping for descriptive words and phrases and words and phrases in general. "Marci. Marceline. The girl with the dangly necklaces and short black hair?" To which Jonas nodded, and Lynn looked relieved for sufficient explanation, "Her. She's real swell, though Gertrud seemed to freak her out as much as me. The old lady is...cold, to say the least."
Evelynn glanced blankly to the side, mentally putting two and two together, the incident of the party guests and Gertrud's own coldness. And then it clicked. Lynn swore under her breath in an almost-growl, "Racist bitch."

Jonas simply stared, wide eyed, “No kiddin’? That’s mess’d up. Betcha the whole fambly are jerks.”

"Betcha you're right." she shrugged it off, though it left a sour taste in her mouth. They turned to reach Jonas' door, where Lynn stuck her tongue out a little "Aw well. Earlier, when you said Sol was good looking...got me wondering. You swing that way?"

And at this, Jonas froze in his tracks, his room keys in hand and in the lock. He pondered a moment, then answered simply, smirking a little in a way that made Lynn flinch for just a second, “Yes ma’m. Thanks for the walk ‘n all.”

"I see." Lynn's eyebrow quirked a little, and after a tiny following pause, she laughed! Not a mocking kind of laugh but an in-on-the-situation-wow-I-was-right kind of laugh. She continued, smirking her own smirk now, "Well, our butler, bartender and resident beefcake is a looker, huh? That Félix? Hot damn." And if it wasn't so late at night, she'd definitely Wolf whistle. Though she spared the house that, instead curtseying to Jonas with one hand holding the edge of her gown again and her voice a playful lilt, "T'was a pleasure, milord. And I got to enjoy your company as well." 

Without looking up, she could hear Jonas laugh at the curtsey, and did look up to see him grinning at last.

It made her grin too.

It even made her put on on an obscenely stereotypical British accent for the next bit, with an exaggerated uppity voice to boot, "Will that be all for the evening?"

He pushed open the door to his weirdly decorated room, which he acknowledged with raised eyebrows Lynn later noticed, “I think I got this, thank you, madame.”

"Spleeeendid." she finally straightened herself up and when curiosity got the better of her, peeked into his room with her own eyebrows raised at the sight of it, "Wow. This is...uh, lightyears different from mine..."

She looked over at Jonas for his thoughts, though he was frowning...odd. “Yah...’m not a fan. Yours any better?”

"Mine is...weirdly enough, exactly what I'd dreamed of it to be. I was wondering if everyone had the same decor, but I know now that wasn't the case." Lynn actually stepped into doorway to get a better view, "How curious."

Behind her, she heard Jonas sniff, probably eyeing the room disdainfully “...I don’t even like antlers...not exactly into huntin’...”

"Really? That's so weird. I think Sol personally might actually dislike you." here she nodded, very seriously, though she shrugged it off with a little reassuring smile up at the man, "Oh well. Stay strong, Jonas, stay strong. It's just ten days." and her smile became a smirk in no time.
"And if you swing that way, you could sleep on the couch in mine and I wouldn't have a problem." She offered him a wink. She might actually get along with this Jonas fellow over the course of this little 'vacation'.

And it wasn't a half bad idea. Jonas grinned at her again, throwing her the same thumbs up he did from before they entered the ballroom. Lynn laughed. She was tempted to warn him to 'be careful, everytime he gives her a thumbs up something might end badly!' -but she let it slide. He looked happy, and that was good.
He spoke up again, a laughter in his voice too, "Gotcha. See you later.”