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[color=slateblue]Time:[/color] Evening
[color=slateblue]Location:[/color] Ballroom
[color=slateblue]Mention:[/color] Nikolai [@Rose]
[color=slateblue]Interactions:[/color] 
[color=slateblue]Appearance[/color]: 

Ari watched Nikolai disappear into the crowd as the dance floor slowly emptied around her. He was swallowed into the sea of people, gone before she could even respond. 

[i]Come back…[/i] The thought came so naturally it startled her. Why was she so consumed by wanting to be around him? Perhaps it was because he made her feel safe, but that was his job she supposed. No... that wasn't the reason.

A smile crept onto her lips as warmth blossomed through her chest. It had been building throughout the dance, subtle enough to ignore while she was wrapped up in the dance with him, but now she realized just how... odd she felt. Not bad. Just different. Lighter. Happier.

Taking a single barefooted step, Ari suddenly wobbled as the polished marble beneath her seemed to shift like a wave.

[color=slateblue]"Whoa..."[/color]

Her arms lifted instinctively to steady herself, a quiet laugh escaping before she could stop it. [i]Maybe I drank more than I realized.[/i]That had to be it.

She fell into step behind the couples leaving the dance floor, trying to blend in. Each movement felt strangely disconnected, as though she were walking through water. To her, she was moving normally however, in reality, her pace had slowed to an awkward, wobbling shuffle. Someone brushed past her shoulder and as she turned to avoid them, she bumped into another guest nearly knocking them into a table.

[color=slateblue]"Oh... I'm sorry."[/color] Her apology dissolved into another soft giggle, making her blink in confusion. Why was that funny? The women scoffed, grabbing the hem of her skirt before sauntering off. 

Ari lingered for a moment, watching the ballroom shimmer around her. Candlelight blurred into warm golden halos, laughter sounded brighter, and every face seemed softer somehow. The knot of worry she'd carried over Callum all evening quietly unraveled, slipping through her thoughts like sand between her fingers. She tried to grasp it again, to remember why she'd been so anxious.

... but she couldn't.

Instead, an overwhelming sense of warmth and happiness settled over her, so effortless it almost made her laugh again [color=slateblue]"...I really did drink too much,"[/color] she murmured to herself with an amused shake of her head. Then her eyes lifted once more, searching the sea of faces for Nikolai, suddenly certain that finding him again felt like the most important thing in the world.
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