“How did I let Kenzie convince me to do this?”

The same thought repeated itself as a slow and languid pulse in Alena’s mind for most of the afternoon, more with each passing minute getting closer to the night. A curling tendril of nerves had settled in the pit of her stomach since early that morning and seemed to be reaching its peak as the demigod dressed in the odd clothes. Well, perhaps not odd – just odd for her. Whenever Alena thought of going to formal events like this it was always in dresses, which made her shy away. She was proud of her accomplishments, but that didn’t eliminate self-consciousness. Dresses looked off on her, not revealing the elegance of a delicate woman but the packed muscle of an athlete, a woman that could likely bench press someone easier than dancing with them. Heels heels only made it worse on top of that, striking her as more intimidating to the opposite sex in most cases. She was past the stinging barbs of teenagers but the shadow still hung over her, which is why Alena was still a little stunned that she was dressing up for tonight. Her half-sister was actually the one who had convinced her to try something new.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Kenzie’s voice was cheerful and a bit forceful that day, having called to check how the younger of the two daughters of Aphrodite was settling into Riverswell, and America in general. “I’ll even pay to have it tailored – don’t argue with me on this, Alena. You can’t really say [i]I[/i] don’t know fashion, can you?” No, she could not. There were things the sisters disagreed on but being good at what they did was not one of them. Alena was strong. Kenzie was beautiful. When a model told you to try a new style, you tend to do it.

That’s how Alena ended up outside of her comfort zone for this event, feeling a little suffocated even with the top three buttons of the tailored white shirt undone. [i]’Don’t wear a tie, leave it open.[/i] She followed the instructions exactly, buttoning up the smooth fabric of the dark vest but not the shirt completely. Her slacks were pressed and perfectly creased, her watch gleaming and shoes polished. A suit. The tailoring helped hug it to her curves, and her more self-conscious aspects were hidden, but it was still odd to her. Kenzie was right though, she ... didn’t look half bad.

Fashion choices weren’t the only thing on her mind though. The last week had been stressful, and not just for the obvious reason. That was to be expected considering she was in new home, a new [i]country[/i], with other people just like her. Well, not exactly like her of course. Alena hadn’t gotten to know anyone like she had Ebbo and Devi that one night when they first met, but that was fine. There was still more time, plus she had her hands full with just them. Unfortunate phrasing, considering the latter appeared to be a [i]nudist[/i], not caring which of her roommates saw – and considering she was across the hall it was usually her.

Alright, that wasn’t fair. Devi just ... wasn’t used to a society that was strict with clothes?

That didn’t sound any better. Of course, she still wasn’t used to her roommate being so free with other aspects as well, such as not knocking. This was clearly demonstrated when Alena, sitting on her bed with her back to the door, jerked her hands up from tying her shoe and managed to smack herself in the chin on hearing Devi’s voice. Ow.

“The ball? No, no, it is not a game – well, maybe to some. It was the dance mentioned in the welcome papers. Ball is fancy word for dance – I do not understand either.” The redhead took a moment to rub where she had hit herself before stooping back down to finish  tying the shiny black shoes. Wasn’t there something she was supposed to ask Devi when she came in? Oh well. At least she didn’t walk in a few moments before, when she was changing. Speaking of which, “No one told you that is tonight? If you want to go you should start getting reaaaaAA-” The words hitched in a high pitched tone before dying an ignoble death in Alena’s throat as she finally stood from her bed and turned to look at Devi. That’s right, she had to ask her if she was actually [i]clothed[/i] this time. While Alena was now presentable in her slacks and vest, her roommate was ... not. Not wearing anything. Except a towel. That was only around her waist. Why always this?!

“De[i]vi[/i],” Alena managed to choke out the shorter woman’s name, in her flustered state almost able to taste the sweetness rolling off her tongue as every syllable dripped with that certain allure that marked Alena’s heritage. Unable to turn it off in any form yet her heightened emotions set the ability into overdrive before the Russian ripped her gaze away from Devi’s assets, spinning on her heel to face the wall. This was not the first time this had happened, not even the second and it had only been a week! It still startled her just like the first, though at least now she knew that the area Devi was raised in seemed to lack modesty. Alena, however, very much had it. What she did not have was a very good reaction to things like this.

“You – you cannot go to a dance like that!”