Zim got the invitation to the anniversary of the partnering between Paladin and Ariin, and at first, he had decided that he wasn't going to go, he had more important things to worry about. However, Zim decided that he should go, after all the younger pilot had more or less given Zim his blessings to pursue a relationship with Katya, despite his own feelings for her... that had to count as some sort of friendship, right? So Zim decided to support that with his attendance, besides, there was a good chance that Katya would show up. Zim pried himself away from his obsessive search for proof of life in the framewerks, and got ready when the time came. He wasn't sure, to be honest, about how he should be dressed, this wasn't a formal ordeal, but there were actual invitations given out? So Zim decided, ultimately, to go ahead with the military formal uniform. He dressed, polished the buttons, brass, glass, and his shoes and then finally stopped and adjusted everything to regulation perfection before finally leaving his room.

He arrived at the designated room just a moment or two late, while he was the first of the squad to arrive, besides the hosts, some of the engineering crew had made it before him. Zim looked around at the few that were there and instantly realized that he had overdressed for the occasion. 'Too late now,' Zim thought to himself as he approached the host, 'Better overdressed than underdressed, anyway.'

"Ariin," Zim greeted the fellow pilot warmly, looking into his real eye, he then shifted his gaze into the prosthetic eye, he continued with the same warmth, "Paladin, thank you so much for the invitation. Looks like you guys put on quite the spread, how'd you get permission for all of this?" 

They would chat for a moment until other started to arrive, Zim would politely move out of the way so that they could make their greetings, he would chat with whoever approached him. Elizabeth was one of them. Fortunately for Zim, she had also come in some form of formal wear, though it wasn't standard military, it was probably from her home planet. [hider=My Hider][img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/df/15/0d/df150d82bc796a78308451904547fe66.jpg[/img][/hider] She made her way in, gave a polite greeting to Ariin and Paladin and then moved on as well, ending up near Zim. "Do these sort of things happen often here?" She asked Zim by way of greeting.

"Not at all, at least not in the time since I have been here," Zim said in response, "Though I understand that Ariin once stole the supplies needed and snuck into the kitchen to make a cake of some sort previously. I didn't partake, but I hear that it was good. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he made all of this from stollen supplies as well." 

Elizabeth, who was about to bite into her second cupcake decided at that point to set it down, the thought of a royal princess partaking in something made from stolen military supplies didn't sit well with her. She gave a small frown, as she greatly enjoyed the first one, "Well then," She said as she crossed her hands in front of herself she looked away from Zim to hide her displeasure from him, "I am curious as to when everyone else will show up."

Zim raised an eyebrow at the comment, not suspecting that she cared enough about anyone else in the squad to want to see anyone. Rumor had it that her relationship with Val was not a friendly one... Zim would do his best to monitor that to try and mitigate any damage that their feud may have on the squad.

It was at that time that Ana and entourage entered the room. Like a bouquet of flowers, brightening the room each of the ladies entered in a dress of different colors. Zim was just as surprised to see Inara as he was to see her in a dress. And then the bombshell Dariya walked in like she walking out of his dreams. And just like in his dreams, she seemed to only have eyes for him. "Oh, uh, yeah, I've been busy as well," Zim said, sniffing up a nose bleed, hardly able to form words, let alone sentences, as all of the blood in his brain vacated for a different organ. "Oh, no, that wasn't-" She walked away without hearing what he had to say, she found the food more important than her words. As she walked away, Zim's face finally started to return to a shade of color that might be considered normal for the permanently disfigured pilot. Before Zim could even wake himself from the waking dream he had just encountered Elizabeth grabbed his arm and shook him with excited urgency. 

"Hold on, just a second," Zim said as he looked at Elora, he couldn't believe it was really her. He wondered if his and Maria's efforts paid off for Elora and Serah.

"Hey, Zim, Who is that?" Elizabeth pointed at Ana after shaking Zim again.

"I don't know, I haven't met her yet, though I saw her talking to Ariin the other day in the hanger."

"Well, let's go introduce ourselves!"

"Um, Okay?" Zim said, confused on why he was being dragged into Elizabeth's sudden change of character. Perhaps she knew that Irina and Dariya were part of Lorenzo's entourage, and figured that the girl was as well and that getting in good with her would get Elizabeth in good with Lorenzo? It was the best thing that Zim could figure. Zim spoke in a quieted voice, "Let me say hello to Elora and introduce you to her, first. She was why we went on our last mission." He didn't say it, but something definitly wasn't right here.

"Elora," Zim said warmly, "It is [i]so[/i] good to see you up and about. Elora, this is Elizabeth, she is a new pilot on the squad."

"Hi!" Elizabeth said quickly, she then grabbed Zim by the elbow and said, "Ok, let's go!"

The reality was that in her head when Elizabeth saw the girl in the red dress enter the only thing she could think of was how ridiculously cute the girl was. It was everything in her power to not betray her decorum and scream "Kawaii!" as soon as she saw her. However, thanks to the countless hours of etiquette classes that were beaten into her, she was able to retain her composure. While Elizabeth lead Zim over to the new girl she chided him, "Introduce me correctly this time, titles and such."

Elizabeth was already struggling to contain herself, she was feeling things she had never felt before and she hadn't even heard the girl's name yet, but whatever it was, she was sure that she loved it. Visions of dancing in white dresses flashed through her mind only to snap to reality when she realized she was blushing, her bright red cheeks matching the mass of red hair on top of her head.

However, Elizabeth would have to wait as Ana had already latched on to Inara. She gave a pout of disappointment, but she steeled herself to be ready to pounce when she had a chance.