[center][img]http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o620/Vicier/Vicier%20-%20OUAT%20RP%20-%20Characters/Character%20Page%20Banners/Earth%20Characters%20-%20Banner_zpskeiobvob.jpg[/img][/center]
[center][h3][i][color=MediumTurquoise]Eliza Brie[/color], [color=BurlyWood]Alan Woodard[/color], [color=OliveDrab]Dominic Greyjoy[/color], [color=DarkBlue]Annalise Brie[/color], [color=LightSeaGreen]Daria Belikov[/color], [color=BlueViolet]Rapunzel[/color], [color=OrangeRed]Jaidyn Beachley[/color], [color=Green]Sebastian Beachley[/color], [color=LightCoral]Morgan Reginald[/color], [color=Lavender]Ireneo Funes[/color], and [color=SaddleBrown]Igor Pechorsky[/color][/i][/h3][/center]
[center][h2][i]Present Day - Lake Tahoe, Earth[/i][/h2][/center]

Alan couldn't take it anymore. There was only so much 'faking' that even [i]he[/i] could do in one night. Ever since he found out... ever since he was told about Eliza; about the others... everything changed. It was as though someone had gone into his mind and re-wired the way he saw things and it did [i]not[/i] help matters anytime Eliza- no, anytime [i]Elsa[/i] would brush her lips up against his or hold onto his arm tight. Each smile that she spread across her lips, each laugh he heard her make... it was torture. She was so unknowing... so blissfully unaware of the truth... they [i]all[/i] were. So he made his move.

After about an hour after Eliza's speech, Alan finally managed to convince her to go and get herself something to drink and leave him be for a few moments, and that's when he pounced. He located Dominic within the crowd, making a direct beeline towards the older gentleman and stopped abruptly at his side, keeping his head turned in the opposite direction to keep anyone who might be watching unaware that he was speaking with him.

"Look. I don't know what you, Wheels and Jew-nose got planned for this whole thing, but you've got two options right now Pin Feathers. I'm taking Elsa aside to the balcony and I'm telling her. [i]Now[/i]. You can either back me the fuck up by bringing everyone else out there too, or you can sit there and do nothing just like you have been for thirteen years."

Without even so much as giving Dominic a glance, Alan continued on his way, heading towards the (non-alcoholic) bar where he had spotted Elsa and joined her at her side, shaking off the anger he had just demonstrated towards Dominic and put his mask of normalcy back onto his face - even with a smile.

“Thank you.” Smiling brightly at one of her other co-workers, Eliza reached out taking up the two drinks that she had ordered, her body turning to offer Alan her full attention as he joined her by her side, one hand lifting up to pass him one of the drinks that she had just gotten for them both. She knew it wasn’t something that he would have wanted, he would have wanted alcohol, but she wasn’t old enough to get it legally, and with the Tahoe police as guests at the party, she wasn’t going to push her luck.

“Hey, I was just about to come find you. I got you a drink- sorry, there’s no alcohol in it, I’m still underage and with some of our guests… I’m not going to risk getting us any.” Smiling once he had taken the drink from her, Eliza lifted her own glass up to her lips, taking a small sip of it before she glanced around the room, her eyes catching on people here and there before turning back to meet with his, “If you want, we can leave soon, I did promise you that we only had to stay for about a couple of hours at least.”

"Yeah..." Alan replied in a general statement to everything Elsa said to him. His eyes were off of her, for the moment, however. After taking his drink, the mention of some of the guests, namely police, had his attention turning to Detective Morgan - another unsuspecting victim to the game Dominic and company had been playing for years. He forced his attention back to Elsa, taking a small drink and though he didn't even register what the beverage even was, he gave her a small nod of acknowledgement. "It's just fine. Thanks."

Not exactly having it in him to down the rest of the nameless beverage, Alan shrugged his shoulders and once more looked out at the people within the room.

"I think I can handle a bit more of this..." he told her nonchalantly as he turned to look back at her. "...If you give me a ten minute break and come out with me to the balcony?"

“Heh, ten minute break huh..?” Reaching out with her free hand, Eliza gently took a hold of his as she stepped closer towards him, her hand twisting in his slightly until she was able to entwine their fingers with one another, her brilliant ice-blue eyes searching his as she nodded her head softly. A ten minute break sounded perfect, she needed to get away from the people who were surrounding her. She was fine when it came to organizing the perfect event, she was even fine when it came to socializing with the occasional guest, but crowds like this had never been her thing, they made her nervous… uneasy, it was something she was doing her best to work on.

“I think I can allow that… Let’s go then, lead the way honey.”

Alan quickly took hold of her hand, eager to get out, to get this growing mass off of his chest. Though as they neared the threshold, Alan took one look over his shoulder at Dominic, and nodded. Whatever the old bird did now was on him, but Alan wasn't playing this game anymore. He had a conscience to clear.

[hr]

Quirking a disapproving brow at Alan's rather harsh and commanding words, Dominic nevertheless retained his front of jovialness, sifting his keen eyes through the swelled crowd in search of anyone he could find at the moment. 

Locking gazes with Jaidyn and Sebastian, the Twins, Dominic nodded once shortly. If Alan was fully intending on going through with his words, he would only have minutes to gather everyone else together before revealing their true heritage. The Sorcerer had told them so just hours before. How long had he been holding onto that information...? Dominic pushed such random questions to the back of his mind for the time being - right now he had to focus. 

Politely making his way through the crowd, Dominic finally made it within speaking distance of the twins, clearing his throat initially to grab their attention. 

“..-see dude, I told you she wasn’t into me like that.” Shaking his head softly from side to side, Jaidyn shoved his hands back down into his pockets, his features no longer carrying his normal happy and welcoming smile, but instead holding a slight grimace as he shot a quick glance over to where he could see Eliza and Alan making their way through the crowd, “And what’s the damage with that guy that she’s with? There’s something not right about that one… I don’t like him. There, I said it.”

He wasn’t going to deny the fact, something about the whole night felt… off… though whether it was just the fact that he didn’t like Eliza having a boyfriend, or whether it was something else about the night, he wasn’t too sure. Hearing someone clearing their throat behind where he stood, Jaidyn raised his eyebrows in surprise as he turned his head to look over at who was making their presence known, his gaze coming to rest on the man that they had been introduced to earlier by Eliza, “Hey, Mr. Greyjoy, good to see you again. Please, come join us.”

Flashing his most dazzling smile (a trait that was far more effective in youth), Dominic planted a single hand in his coat pocket as he strolled closer. "Good evening again. I don't mean to disturb at this moment, but I believe Eliza was wanting to gather....close friends and family on the patio outside, she'd be delighted if you two could be in attendance." Dominic hated lying...it was the worst part of the job, the deception; made the words taste like bile as they left his lips. 

Unable to help the smile that crossed over his lips, Jaidyn nodded his head, his body shifting slightly in place as he shot a glance over at his brother, wondering just what it was that he was thinking about the situation and about what it was that Eliza wanted with all of them, “Yeah, I don’t see any issues with going out to meet with her and the others… What do you think Seb?”

Giving his brother merely half an ear, Sebastian had been eyeing the covered-up drum set in the corner of the room. Such a shame really; a fantastic place for a party - Eliza definitely had [i]that[/i] right, but the atmosphere could have used with a bit more... well... [i]him[/i].

He was even amidst the first half-step towards the drum set when Dominic had his brother's attention. His shoulders visibly slumped after Dominic told them what Eliza wanted. As much as he liked Eliza and reveled in the thought of being able to torture his brother's bad luck with women a bit more, he was itching to liven up the party just a [i]smidgen[/i] more than that.

"Uh..." Sebastian turned his body to face his brother and Eliza's Uncle who they had just met that evening. Realizing that he didn't have much choice in the matter (as there was absolutely [i]no[/i] way Jaidyn would leave him on his own) he stuffed his hands into his suit pants pockets and lowered his head a bit to look at the tops of his shoes. "Yeah... [i]guess[/i] we could do that..." he replied, swinging his right foot a small ways as though he were kicking an imaginary small rock.

"Good! With me, please!" Dominic beckoned, motioning towards the rather grandiose doors that led to the balcony overlooking the slopes and mountains of Lake Tahoe. 

While passing through the crowd with Twins in tow, Dominic scanned the crowd once again, rather easily picking up the massive frame of Ilya sticking a bit away from the rest of the guests. 

"One moment, wait here, please." Dominic directed to Jaidyn and Sebastian, his tone still cordial but a bit more serious than before. 

Making it within speaking distance of the Russian giant, Dominic lowered his voice to that of a subtle whisper, "The Time has come, my friend....gather Rapunzel, Daria, and Morgan and meet me on the balcony overlooking the hills." Not bothering to say anything more than necessary, Dominic continued on his way as though he was simply greeting an old friend, waving for Jaidyn and Sebastian to follow him once more. 

Catching sight of Dominic’s motion for them to follow along behind them, Jaidyn shot his hand out towards his brother, lightly tapping him on the chest with the back of his hand as he gestured towards the direction they needed to go in, “Come on Seb, cheer up… You never know what Eli’s thinking- she loves your music, you know that, she might even ask you to get up with the DJ and play for a bit… even if she isn’t thinking it, we might be able to convince her.”

Chuckling softly at the look on his brother’s face, Jaidyn shook his head lightly as he draped his arm around Sebastian’s shoulders, tugging lightly for a moment before his hand returned back to the recesses of his dress pants pocket, his feet carrying him along behind Dominic, knowing that his brother was going to follow along behind him.

Sebastian shot his brother a quick look and though his face lightened up a bit at the idea, he kept his shoulders slouched.

"I know, I know. I'm just bored is all. Being all cooped up in the plane, then getting stuck in this..." he gestured lamely towards his suit and then brushed off the front to make sure everything was pressed correctly. He may have been complaining about what he had to wear, but he still wanted to make himself look the best he could. Stuffing his hand back into his pocket, he shook his head, watching Dominic head away from them for a moment before giving his attention back to Jaidyn. "Ah well. Anythings better than that flying, pressurized sardine can anyway."

One more. There was one more left to find before Dominic could join Alan on the balcony: Annalise. Truth be told, Dominic spent more quality time with Eliza than with her sister, due to their own mutual interests, but the older man was sure he'd be able to lead his other 'niece' on just as easily. 

"Annalise!" Dominic called, loud enough for her to hear at the bar as he approached, feeling much more like a fetching dog than a Guardian at the moment. 

"My, my, how long's it been since I've seen you last? A year, maybe?" He began in his most polite of demeanors, adopting a casual yet elegant air that he carried with him since his youth. 

"Now, I think Eliza's been planning something for her close friends and family out on the balcony. For what, I'm not entirely sure, but I was sent to find you all the same." He finished with a smile, though inwardly was hurtling curse after curse at Alan for rushing plans. 

Annalise was leaning over the bar taking a sip from a glass of water, looking over her shoulder watching as all of the party goers were having fun and dancing. She caught a glimpse of her sister heading out onto the balcony on the other side of the room, but she didn't recognize the man who was with her due to the distance.

She jumped suddenly when she heard her name being called, her eyes going over to see Uncle Dom which made her smile even more and quickly ran over to give her uncle a loving hug. "Uncle Dom! Its been awhile, and it was more like a year and a half ago the last time I saw you. Eliza was at one of her competitions last time you visited." Annalise said with a smile.

She took a moment and looked over at the balcony and nodded. "Lead the way then Uncle Dom."

Chuckling shortly, Dominic strolled throughout the crowd towards the large glass doors that led out to the crisp outdoor air, feeling excitement well up in his chest as his mind raced. This was it....the moment he had been waiting for. Yet it felt so....anticlimactic, almost. As though there should have been more fanfare. No...no that would come later. 

"Go on now, out you go. I'm sure Eliza's waiting!" Dominic declared, trying to usher the teenagers out the door. 

Annalise followed behind Dominic, then she stood next to Jaidyn and Sebastian giving the two of them a friendly nod an smile, then looked at Dominic for a moment. Annalise opened the door and headed outside.

Raising an eyebrow as he watched Annalise wander out before them, Jaidyn tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two sisters that were now out on the balcony. They couldn’t have been any more different from one another. He hadn’t formally met Annalise yet, but from what he saw, she was the more excitable of the two of them, where Eliza kept a cool and level head about her most of the time, “Alright, let’s see what Eli wants, shall we..?”

Shooting a bright smile over at where his brother stood beside him, Jaidyn moved himself forward towards the door, his hand coming up to push it open as he made his way out onto the balcony and into the cool evening air, his feet slowly carrying him over to where the rest of the group seemed to be gathering by the railing.

Letting out one last sigh, Dominic watched as the three teens headed out, taking a moment to look behind him before following in suit, hands shaking in a mixture of apprehension and anticipation. 

[hr]

At this point Ilya had made his way to Funes to relay the news. Funes was happy that Alan had finally taken some initiative of his own, but worried about his methods. He hoped to delay things a little bit, and began to talk to Ilya about more trivial matters. "So, is there alcohol at the bar? I don't drink, but I do recall you and your friend talking about drinking." "There's no alcohol." "Oh, well I'm surprised you got any enjoyment out of it"

 "Funes, I think we have some more important things happening now. We could just stay here and hang out, but things need to move on, and the pace is finally picking up." 
Funes protested, but Ilya had already turned his head and seen Morgan. He motioned for her to come closer and said "Hello, nice to see you again. I have a friend here who'd like to talk to you if you have a moment."

Morgan was talking with her partner, and she had turned her head to see Ilya from earlier today motioning for her to come closer. She sighed, and expected that Eliza Brie told him to escort her out of the party. She groaned and she told her partner "I'll see you later. I think I'm about to be kicked out," 

Morgan walked over to Ilya and she raised an eyebrow at the fact that 'a friend' wanted to talk to her. She came to the conclusion that this friend was Ms. Brie. She greeted politely with a heavy sigh, "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Pechorsky. I have a pretty good idea what Ms. Brie wants to say. I can escort myself out, Mr. Pechorsky,"

"Did I say it wrong?" Ilya said, sounding confused  "I just meant that my friend here would like to talk to you. You see, he likes to read a lot, and one of his favorite genres is detective stories, he even knows an author who's written a few. He's always wanted to talk to a real detective, and now that you're here I was wondering if you'd help him out." Ilya pointed to Funes, who was doing his best to hide his annoyance at Ilya and act genuinely interested in speaking to Morgan.

Morgan blinked and she answered in realization as she spotted that his friend was actually the man in a wheelchair, "Oh! Oh, I see," She then apologized "I apologize, I made an assumption. You didn't say anything wrong," She then answered "I can talk to him and help him out," 

"Thank you so much. I've got to attend to some other business, so I'll leave you two to talk." Ilya hurried away, heading in the direction where he last saw Daria.

Funes waited to speak, letting an awkward silence arise. He then said "Well, what he said is true. So, uh, do you ever read any stories about detectives? Do you think they're realistic?" 

Morgan walked up to him, and at first there was an awkward silence. He soon broke it with his statement, which made Morgan raise an eyebrow inquisitively. When he asked, she answered "I haven't read detective stories in a long time. But the ones I have read seemed unrealistic to me in retrospect," 

Funes kept on talking, using it as a launching point for further inquiries. "I'm not even sure if realism really necessary for a good detective story. The first real detective story was part of 1001 nights, and is still highly acclaimed even though the reality that created it is far removed from the one we experience today. My friend Borges always aimed for fiction to feel convincing, but only occasionally worried about realism. Some people even argue that the line between fiction and reality isn't a defined as it seems. Discovering forgery can change what we think of as real, and fictional stories can have a real influence on their authors and others. Now, sorry about that, but I've got a lot stored in my head, sometimes I need to share it."

Morgan listened to Funes talk about realism and she raised an eyebrow at the mention of Borges. When he apologized, she answered sincerely "It's fine, I don't mind listening,"  

Funes got a strange feeling that it was time to see what was going on outside. "Come on, let's talk more on the balcony, it's nice out tonight."

Morgan nodded and answered "Alright, let's go outside," She then led the way to the balcony.

Daria was dancing away on the dance floor, trying to just have fun. Annelise had gone somewhere... She hadn't seen much of Eliza and beyond Rapunzel, who was sitting alone at a table, she didn't know anyone else really. Daria never had a problem with not knowing people though. She always found a way to still have a good time. After all, a boring life was a life where nothing changed. 

She did a little spin and noticed Ilya walking towards her. She smiled at him, "[i]Do you intend to dance[/i]?" She joked, using the Russian language once more. He didn't seem like much of a dancer.

Ilya chuckled a little bit "I would need more alcohol and better music before trying to dance. Are you and your friends enjoying yourselves? I must've missed where the Brie sisters ran off to, I hope they didn't abandon their own party."

Daria laughed a little, she had assumed as much of him. When he mentioned the Brie sisters, she stopped her own movement and looked around before shrugged, "I saw Annelise earlier... I don't really know where they've run off to though," She glanced over at the table that she had seen Rapunzel sitting at earlier and nodded over to the girl, "Rapunzel is still here, so I don't think Annelise has run off completely...."

"There's a few other people who I don't see around right now. The odd characters, the magician that likes to hang out in the front lobby, and my friend from the history museum. Life around the hotel is a little more interesting with them around, although I might prefer it if Alan didn't become a fixture around here."

Daria looked at Ilya as he rambled on about the people who were attending the party. At some point she lost interest in the conversation, that moment was when she saw Alan and thought of better things to do. Things that might actually include some alcohol. As she started to make her way over to the older man, she noticed Rapunzel sitting by herself at a table and caught her arm, "Come on, I'm going to show you how to party. Come along."

Rapunzel jumped slightly but didn't question it any, merely allowing the girl to drag her along toward and out onto the balcony.

Ilya was glad that this worked out naturally, and wondered if the others would say that he took too long. He followed them to the balcony.