Here There be Witches

Untitled Part 26

 The students and staff of the DWMA gathered en masse at the main doors to the school. As Anara reached the top of the steps they could see the giant candles glowing brighter than ever for the party. He took a deep breath and straightened the green brooch at his throat. He looked stunning, in his opinion. Suit vests were his favorite formal wear and emerald was definitely his color, but the thought of socializing casually with the normal meisters and weapons of the DWMA made him a bit nauseous. They knew what happened on the ghost ship wasn't his fault and he knew no one else has any idea about it, but he felt that that the wedge between them and the normal students was far larger suddenly.

The dark parts of his memory bothered him, even more so when he would do his best to recall them and only get head splitting static instead. He knew there was very little he could actually remember from his time before living with Dr. Stein, but now that it was happening again...

No, stop. We're not going to think about that. Use tonight to relax and have fun. Doctor's orders. He swallowed his anxieties and stepped up the last few stairs to the main ground of the school. It had been forever since he started using his magic to fly up instead of watching, he hoped he didn't look as winded as he felt. His pride blamed most of it on the wound in his side.

The first person he saw was Maka, looking lovely in a mulberry colored dress. She had curled her pigtails for the occasion and put a little black choker around her neck. "-start without us if you don't hurry," She finished some urging sentence as they approached, turning halfway behind her to look at her partner in his fully buttoned black suit. They were surprised to see he even had a tie and that it wasn't halfway undone. When he wanted to (or Maka made him), Soul could really clean up.

"You're the one that took forever with all your primping," He complained. His eyes slid over to Anara who stopped next to him and grinned. "Speaking of primping..." His hand was up near his friend's golden hair in a flash, the other boy swatting it away in a narrow escape from the attempted hair ruffle. "What the hell took you so long man?" The two continued their battle above their heads as they bickered.

"I would say I needed to make sure I looked better than you, but that doesn't take very long. I have no excuse." They sighed dramatically.

Soul growled a little in annoyance. "Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" He abandoned his half-assed attempts and full on lunged for Anara, hands outstretched.

They gasped for real this time, and stumbled backward. "Don't you dare!"

Soul's laugh was cut off by a well manicured hand on the back of his collar and another coming to rest gently on the witch's chest. "Now boys, this isn't the time or place!" Tsubaki chided, ever the mother. Her dress was quite simple, but she still looked very elegant. The mint green beaded necklace was the perfect addition to show off her neck and bare collar bones. Blackstar, who looked barely presentable and was only talking about food, had no idea how lucky they were. Their blue hair had at least been brushed tonight.

"You guys look great! I wish my hair curled as easily as yours Maka," Anara complimented.

"Thank you! You do as well!"

"Aw, thanks Ana! And hey, you don't need it to look really good yourself!"

"Heh, thanks. Still wish it did though, curls are so pretty."

"By the way, isn't you dad with you?"

"Yeah he's already here. He had to work late at the school, so I think he just grabbed his suit from home earlier and took it with him." Some would say calling Professor Stein's formal attire a suit was being generous. Unless you looked closely, it would appear the same as his usual stitched lab coat, but with a patchwork white shirt underneath instead.