[b][center][h3][color=orange] Lein [/color][/h3][/center][/b]
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[b][color=orange]Location:[/color][/b] The Royal Ball
[b][color=orange]Interactions:[/color][/b] Fanilly [@VitaVitaAR]
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	Lein despised balls. Pretentious one-up-man ship, ridiculous clothes, loud in all the wrong ways - everything Lein loved about the Lonely Frame, those damned dance halls did the opposite.

	Yet as Lein marched alongside the knights into the castle, onlookers cheering the Knights on, he felt anticipation. Excitement. Lein beamed at the adoring crowd and made sure to acknowledge them with a flourish. For no other reason other than the fact that he paraded wearing a giant white ball gown. The outfit was complete with a jeweled fan, those fancy white gloves Lein could never quite figure out, and deftly crafted make up that made the usually boisterous Hundi unrecognizable. Apart from his terrible impression of a north Ithillin accent, Lein very convincingly passed for some exotic northerner just having a look around the Crown.

	It was quite the impressive effort. Lein had spent the entire night after espousing the legend of the Griffin Riders helping the bartender clean up after the rowdy guests (forced to, actually, since Lein had been the primary spur into everyone's alcohol consumption that night), and had almost missed the news that the Knights were invited to a royal ball. A royal ball! The very first reaction Lein had was to simply blow it off. But no matter how hard he tried to convince the seniority - and no matter how hard they agreed, the decision was final. Pretentious or not, it was of royal request. All must attend, period. 

	Thus came another scheme. Sure, he'd play the royal game, but why not make it a tad more entertaining? In fact, he had just the person in mind to make it all work. Lein turned up in front of Cecil a few nights before and one recitation of his plan later, Lein came away with a large pack of clothes for all sorts of purposes and an overly detailed instructions list on how to don them. Lein had questions on how she could source all these so quickly - but considering Lein already owed the other archer, probably best not to pry.

	Lein tugged at the corset bands, uncomfortably trying to ration his breaths. It wasn't the perfect plan. First, the gown was far heavier than Lein had anticipated, and every step in the gown felt like he was carrying full armor. Sure, he had the endurance for it - but certainly it would get grating when he would inevitably have to blow off some pompous noble. Second was that Lein was suffering from success. Whether by miracle of the makeup or Lein's naturally androgynous looks and voice, he fit a little too perfectly into the image of a haughty noble's daughter. He had been stopped on multiple occasions from joining the Knight's cohort and though it was funny the first time explaining everything to a firmly confused guard, the subsequent times got a little complicated. Perhaps Lein succeeded a bit too much in perfecting '[i]the honorable Dame Cteline, Heiress to the Chateau les Roseaux[/i]'.

	Either way, Lein kept his head high, grooming his tail as any self-absorbed Hundi noble would and taking a good stake of the ballroom. Two things. First was the kitchen. A ball this fancy was sure to have a storage of fancy hor d'oeuvres. Second, a secluded location. A space where he could stash some clothes safely. The dress was step one. Steps two to seven was tucked discretely into the folds of the dress, and Lein needed a place to tuck them somewhere.

	Lein spied the Knight-Captain from across the hall, looking not quite out of place, but not quite in her element either. He glided across the hall and approached her, a glass of fruit punch held delicately in between his fingers. [color=orange]"Knight-Captain Danbalion, it is quite the pleasure to meet you again. Quite the dazzling ball, wouldn't you say?"[/color] He said, a smile mixed with both gentleness and coyness.