[OOC: For anyone wondering, THIS is what the dress looks like that Larka's wearing.]

Convincing her to go to a ball wasn't that hard, since she would get to go with the two most important ladies in her life. Convincing her to dance might be a little harder, but with Akira's help and Celeste's persistence Larka would likely get on the dance floor to have some fun with them, she wasn't a total stick in the mud.

No, the hardest part of it all was getting Larka dressed for the ball!

Akira and Celeste had, once they got Larka to go, bought Larka a surprise. A new dress for her to wear to the ball, along with ones of their own since, of course, neither of them had their own either. But they hadn't told Larka about it before hand, so when they had surprised the Reaver with it Larka had been more annoyed at the idea of wearing such a getup than anything else. It was, however, a beautiful dress and it suited Larka's figure well. It took some doing, but mother and daughter convinced other mother to at least put the dress on to see how it fit and see how it looked.

It was black with grey sheer, a sheer back and sheer from her hips to her feet, the black fabric had a floral style to it. It was sleeveless and showed off Larka's raven wing tattoos rather well. It fit her perfectly in fact, Celeste had done a perfect job on getting Larka's measurements right when she was buying it. Celeste had also bought nice earrings, not too expensive ones, but very nice, with three gem stones on each dangling from Larka's newly pierced ears. Larka had also, for once, actually did some kind of styling to her black hair, and while it didn't take a lot, looking at her if one knew her well enough, the difference was stark from her normally unkempt and barely well trimmed hair. Hard to do yourself in a mirror with one arm and a blade, as Larka was want to do at times.

So dressed and looking in a mirror Larka had to admit, she was looked amazing all dressed and cleaned up! So she had relented to her Celeste and Akira and agreed to wear the dress, and the ones they had no were no less amazing and Celeste was as gorgeous as ever. So the three well dressed ladies heading to the ball together taking a horse drawn carriage so make the trip that little bit more special, and the couples wanted to spoil their new adopted daughter a little as well, they'd admit with no shame.

The Cathedral was stunning, Larka had never been here before but had heard of it. The trio took their time heading to the ballroom, allowing Akira to look around at everything she wanted. ”Beautiful, isn't, Akira?” Larka asked with a smile and a loving glance to Celeste, they had made the right decision to adopt the little fox girl, there was no questions about that.

Once they made their way into the ball room itself Larka took everything in, the sights and sounds, the people, everything. She crouched down to look at Akira more at eye level and hugged her daughter. ”You'll be safe here, if you want to look around, but don't leave the ballroom with one of us, okay?” She offered and looked between her and Celeste. ”But, what should we do first? You got me here, you decide.” Larka teased, not hiding the fact that she kept eyeing up Celeste in her own dress.

Ohh, look, a ball! What's a ball? Is it a toy? No, a ball is a fancy dance party. Akira wanna go! Akira wanna go! This was the conversation Akira had with Celeste one morning when they first found out about the upcoming ball in a place called Zets'ki Cradle. Celeste laughed and thought it would be a grand time, and a great experience for the child. It had been a long time since Celeste had a chance to dress up for, and she had never been to a ball before, either. The question was if they could convince Larka to go, and dress up as well.

Surprisingly, the girls succeeded, and Larka agreed. The pair went shopping one day, while Larka was on another mission. Together, they picked out three dresses. A gorgeous black lacey one for Larka, a pretty dark green as the ocean with curling trails of gems, and Akira's personal favorite of the three (naturally). For Akira, they found a really cute white kimono of silk, decorated in the finest pink floral pattern. The sleaves tapered at the end, draping almost as long as the dress itself. Pink ribbon trimmed each and every edge, with a large pink sash to tie around the waste. To top it off was the white with pink flower dress flats they had found for her to match.

When it was time to get ready, Celeste carefully brushed Akira's hair, pulling half of it up into a neat little bun. Right by her left ear was an open bloomed pink flower in a bed of fine white feathers to decorate. Akira admired herself in the mirror as Celeste worked on the adults. She looked at them and her jaw dropped. "Mommies are pretty." To finalize the look while keep her warm, Celeste clasped a thick pink cloak on Akira, lined with soft white fur.

The horse drawn carriage was spent with Akira half hanging out the window, watching the snow and pretty trees pass by. However, it was the myriad of colors splashing against the crisp white snow from the windows that truly captivated the child when they reached the actual city. Even that paled in comparison to the Cathedral. Statues of green, malachite Celeste named it, yet neither of them could tell her who they were. She ran from etched carving to etched carving, stared at all the dangling lights. "Uh-huh!"

Finally, they got into the ballroom, and Akira pointed at the ceiling. "Stars!" Larka gave Akira a hug and gave her permission to explore, but not to leave. "Okay, Larka!" With an excited nod and a huge smile, Akira gave each of them a hug and ran off, disappearing in the crowd as well as her pink and white outfit would let her.

[THIS is Celeste's dress, where THIS is Akira's.]

The Reverie Ball was generating a lot of buzz, everyone was excited. It was all anyone could talk about. While Celeste had lots of gatherings in her youth with her family, they all seemed to end when Lirin was banished, as if Lirin was the life of the community. Outside of those festivities, there was no other gatherings such as a ball in her past whatsoever. This would be her first.

Larka would not miss a chance to have an outing with her wife and their daughter. But she also knew that Larka was a practical woman, so getting her in a not so practical dress for the sheer fact of appearance was going to be a challenge, one Celeste was preparing for. Getting Akira to help her was all too easy. The child was all too happy to go shopping with the elf. Finding a dress for her was easy, finding one for herself was a little more difficult as she didn't quite have a desire to wear too fancy of a dress and couldn't quite find one to mesh well with her fashion preferences. But for Larka, that had been almost too easy.

While Larka was going to be flattered in black, Celeste went with a nature tone, finding a dress in the deep green ocean waters, studded with sparkling crystal dust. There were curling lines of gems and pearls in intricate patterns from her neck, across her right, and down to her hip. The dress was backless, hugging her neck, sides and hips. From mid thighs down, there were folds of fabric which rustled as she walked, showing off her black, open toed heels. Her hair was pulled up to a bun with lots of curls. While it looked messy, it was also quite gorgeous. As for her own earrings, they were jeweled scrolls looping up around the entirety of her ears.
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To watch Akira as she explored the rather amazing place was worth the trip alone. Everything was crafted from rare and exquisite materials, some enchanted to float, everything made to look like the night sky. Celeste was quite aware that Larka kept looking at her with hungry eyes, bringing a permanent pink glow to her cheeks. It was no secret she kept doing the same to Larka. That dress truly was the perfect choice for her wife, showing off the new tattoo quite splendidly.

With a wicked grin, which quite honestly mirrored Lirin's mischievous smile a little too well, Celeste grabbed Larka's hand and began pulling her toward the center of the room. "Alas'nir i em, ma vhenan." This was a distraction for herself. Surrounding her, pressing in against her, was hundreds of faces she didn't recognize. Not a single one she knew, and it reminded her how utterly alone they currently was in this new land. However, she froze when her eyes fell on a drow, all movement halted, her grip tightened in Larka's hand.

Larka smiled when Akira hugged her and then Celeste before taking off into the crowd to explore, Larka knew she'd be safe here. But it seemed she was one of the few children here her own age, and with her pink and white kimono and fox ears she stood out a little more than the rest.

But Larka's attention was quick to fully attune to her wife, both of them eyeing each other with hungry eyes. Celeste had picked wonderful dressed for all three of them, even if Larka wasn't a fan of wearing such clothing to start with. But he hand was taken by Celeste and she was pulled towards the center of the room, Larka wondering how Celeste was holding up inside with all these people around her. They pressed close together hand in hand as Celeste spoke, Larka had no idea what Celeste thinking.

She was surprised however when Celeste suddenly stopped moving, grip tightening on Larka's hand. Larka leaned back enough to look to Celeste's eyes, but they were staring past her. Larka glanced over her shoulder and followed Celeste's gaze to spot the drow she was staring at. Ah, that made sense, she was still scared of them, she hadn't encountered anymore since being freed.

Looking back to Celeste Larka squeezed her hand back and forcibly but gently made Celeste turn to look away from the drow. Larka smiled as she placed a kiss on Celeste's lips before putting her forehead to Celeste's to look her in the eyes and block her view of anyone else. ”You are safe, my love, we are together and we can fight any threat. That drow doesn't know you, we took care of all the ones that held you that day.” Larka spoke softly. ”Dance with me?” Larka smiled, dancing, another thing she wasn't used to doing, but for Celeste she'd do anything.

Together they danced slowly in circles, Larka trying not to trip over her own feet, for one that danced with a sword she was rather clumsy at this kind of dance. But she did her best and stayed close to Celeste, but after a little while Larka whispered. ”What's bothering you, Alas'nir i em?” She asked carefully, wanting to help if she could.

Celeste would not say she was scared of much of anything. She feared something happening to her family, but she was definitely leery of the drow. While she was frozen from the sheer shock of seeing one up above the ground, Celeste was well on her way to shaking with hatred. Larka pulled her attention away and kissed her, pulling Celeste back to here and now.

She pressed her forehead against Larka's, showing her that she had her attention. "I know, I know." Celeste breathed, attempting to release her anger and hatred. If she lost it tonight, what would happen to everyone in the room? Would she be able to control her magic? Once more, Larka's voice cut through her thoughts, and Celeste realized they had been dancing and she wasn't even paying attention to the lazy circles they moved through.

Throwing her head back, Celeste burst into laughter. It was the best thing Larka could have said. When it finally subsided, Celeste wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. Great pronunciation, but that's not what it means. Dance with me. That's what you said." Before she could answer the question, however, Celeste took Larka's hand and guided her to the refreshments table. With a goblet of cider in hand, Celeste stared at a decoration on the wall before them.

"I'm afraid. Not of the drow, but of myself. What if… I can't control myself? How many will I hurt? I don't know if we should even be trying this. Seeing that drow, I was so angry… If you hadn't pulled my attention, what would I have done? For all we know, that drow is innocent. Will it be like this for everyone? Will I always second-guess myself now?" She whispered her fears and self doubts to Larka, her eyes following the curves of the depiction.

Larka nodded when Celeste spoke, at least she had Celeste's attention again. They danced in lazy circles, before Celeste laughed, a beautiful sound to Larka's ears, about her pronunciation of the words. Larka smiled. ”I do my best.” Larka giggled lightly. Celeste pulled them off the dance floor and over to the refreshment table, getting a goblet if cider, Larka taking one for herself, before Celeste started to answer the question posed by Larka.

Celeste stared at the wall but Larka was watching Celeste as she spoke of her fears. Fear of losing control of her powers and harming an innocent with her water magic. Larka set her goblet down and moved closer to Celeste pulling her close. ”It won't always be like that. Your instinct to survive has always been sharp, and it was two years, your instincts can change to match your situation. You see a drow you get on edge, maybe next time as well, and the time after that, but it will get less and less I'm sure as time goes on.” Larka thought for a few moments, she wasn't an expect at these kinds of things, she was a mercenary, not a healer of any kind. ”Maybe once a week we'll take a walk through the city together, each time we'll make sure to go somewhere new or we don't go often. I'll be right there with you the whole time, and I'm sure Akira will be happy to tag along as well.” Larka offered, it was the best idea she could come up with at the moment. Expose Celeste to new people and places slowly until her instincts came back in line with what she was like before.

Smiling Larka cupped Celeste's cheek carefully. ”Do you want to dance some more to find a place to sit and cuddle for a little while and watch the dancers? Might be a balcony somewhere we can go for some fresh air and watch the stars.” Larka smiled, she knew that Akira would be alright, the child had a way of getting into trouble but always coming out of it no worse off than she had been before.

Larka seemed so sure that as time went on, her instincts will change once more to reflect current circumstances. Two weeks by her father, a few hours with Larka before they started dating, two years by drow… The elf was beginning to wonder if she would always find herself locked up, bound, and imprisoned. This line of questioning had her shaking, evident in the ripples of her cider, regardless of the fact that Larka was holding her.

With a sigh, she concentrated on calming down while contemplating the suggestion. ”I don’t know if it’ll work the way you’re thinking, but we can try. Let’s sit for now, ma vhenan.” Together, the couple found a table lining the edges of the room. Moving a couple of chairs together, Celeste leaned into Larka who wrapped her arm around the elf.

Alternating between sitting at the tables, dancing, or merely taking a stroll outside, the night slowly slipped past them. A few times, their daughter was found, even spent some time with them before dashing back off. By the time everything began to wind down, it was well into the wee hours of the morning, and the pair left, Celeste cradling a sleeping Akira as they found their way to the inn, to spend the night before heading on home.