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[color=lightgray][color=#6C72C6]Time:[/color] Evening
[color=#6C72C6]Location:[/color] The Ball
[color=#6C72C6]Interactions:[/color] [@Tae] Mina [@HylianRose] Lucian [@Remram] Nolan [@Lava Alckon] Drake
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[color=#B3EBC0]"Has anyone ever told you that you are very disarming, Princess Marina?"[/color]

[i][b][color=#6C72C6]"YES."[/color][/b][/i] Marina answered immediately as she untangled herself from Mina. [color=#6C72C6]" I'm a very serene presence."[/color] She said this while still slightly breathless from attacking her friend with affection, which perhaps damaged the claim.

[color=#B3EBC0]"If I had known that you had prepared a gift I would have brought you something as well. Just add that to the tally, I suppose."[/color]

Marina seemed to still be considering his first comment, her eyes drifting upward in thought. Then she tapped her cheek once and added, [color=#6C72C6]"One of our cooks once told me she thinks of me as a raccoon in a tiara."[/color] Then she paused, looked back at him, and seemed to remember what he had actually said. [color=#6C72C6]"Oh yes. Tallying."[/color]

Marina lifted her palm and pretended to write on it with an invisible pen. [color=#6C72C6]"Lord Nolan Edwards now owes me one mysterious future gift."[/color]

[color=#B3EBC0]"I know this is abrupt, but if it please you, would you care for a dance?"[/color]

Marina’s invisible pen stopped, and her cheeks warmed. Her gaze rose, and she stared at him as a sudden rush of nerves caught her off guard.

He wanted to dance with her?

Really?

For a second, her mouth opened without producing anything useful at all. Then her expression brightened, and she offered her hand as if she had not just spent the last few seconds malfunctioning.

[color=#6C72C6]"Sure!"[/color]

Before she could take more than a step, Mina’s voice pulled her attention back over her shoulder. Marina’s smile widened at once.

[color=#6C72C6]"Yes! Slumber party in my room tonight!"[/color]

Then she leaned closer to Mina before fully stepping away, lowering her voice into a whisper. [color=#6C72C6]"Oh, and take good care of Lucian."[/color]

She gave Mina a small nudge, keeping her voice low.

[color=#6C72C6]"Don’t let him drink too much."[/color]

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As Marina and Nolan positioned themselves a little ways away from the group, she suddenly paused, and with no warning whatsoever, she lifted the slit of her skirt to reveal her thigh.

[color=#6C72C6]“Hold this.”[/color]

The command came out nonchalantly, as if this were the most normal request in the world, and she held the fabric out toward him without waiting to see his face or hear his answer. Once the fabric was properly managed, whether by his startled hand or her own impatient one, she slipped her hand beneath the fabric and took hold of the garter strapped around her leg, twisting it until two little hidden pouches came into view.

She opened the first pouch and fished around inside it with intense focus, her brows knitting together until she finally plucked out a bracelet.

Then she straightened, looking deeply pleased with herself.

[color=#6C72C6]“Okay. So, while we were at the museum, I found these little charms in the gift shop of the beetles we saw,”[/color] she explained, holding it up between them, [color=#6C72C6]“but all their bracelets were ugly, honestly, and I have standards.”[/color]

She placed the bracelet in his palm. [color=#6C72C6]“So I bought a bracelet-making kit at the market, and I made you this one instead with the beetle charms.”[/color]

For once, her smile softened before it could turn smug. She lifted her own wrist, revealing her own charm bracelet resting against her skin.

[color=#6C72C6]“Some of the people dear to me and I have friendship bracelets,”[/color] she said quietly. [color=#6C72C6]“It was… something we used to do.”[/color]

Her gaze caught on the bracelet at her own wrist for half a second too long. The brightness in her expression dimmed briefly, like a shadow passing over a flame.

Then she swallowed and looked back at him. [color=#6C72C6]“I thought I might continue it,”[/color] she added, trying for casual and not quite reaching it. [color=#6C72C6]“Make some for the people I meet. The important ones, I mean. So I can feel connected to everyone, even when we all go scattering off into our own corners of the world.”[/color]

Her eyes shone faintly, and for a moment, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Then her nose scrunched, and she grimaced at herself. [color=#6C72C6]“Ugh. I made it sound cheesy, didn’t I?”[/color]

She shook her head and then offered him her arm with renewed brightness. [color=#6C72C6]“Anyway. Dancing!”[/color]

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