Chapter Text
Chapter 1 - Ascending
Juli stepped off of the elevator, pushing off the floor with slightly too much force and losing her balance for a moment as she made a little hop-step onto the platform. She knew that this hab ring had a lower gravity than she was used to, but it was hard to make the adjustment without actually having the physical feedback to work off of. Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to adjust, taking smaller little skip-steps as she made her way towards the train stop that was a short ways away from the elevator that had taken her down to the ring's surface.
She tapped her foot idly as she waited for the next train to arrive, checking to see if she had missed any messages while she was busy convincing her inner ear not to revolt on her on the trip over. Her friend Lucy had invited her to this party a week ago, and she'd said yes without asking too many other questions. She hadn't realized that it would be on a different hab ring, for one, or that it was apparently supposed to be some sort of masquerade until she'd actually checked the invitation that Lucy sent over to her.
So now she was standing on the train platform with a hastily compiled mask in her purse and an outfit that was probably wholly inappropriate for the kind of event she was going to. The Affini weren't big on shaming people for wearing what they wanted, fortunately, but that wouldn't stop her from feeling underdressed when she walked into what she was sure was going to be an event with at least some degree of formality.
The train arrived and she stepped on quickly, finding a seat that she could quickly clamber atop. It seemed like even with reduced gravity, the Affini liked to make things just a bit too big for non-affini to navigate. She settled in for the ride over to the station near where the party was supposed to be happening. The train was strangely empty, with only a few other humans on board and only one affini she could see, who was currently engaged with a very intense cuddling/groping session with someone whom Juli could only presume was their floret.
She hadn't gotten any texts, and there was nothing particularly interesting to hold her attention to her phone, so she took the opportunity to glance out the window. While she knew that there were other hab rings on the Arecales, she'd only been on the one she'd been brought to when she first got on the ship, so she was curious to see what this one looked like.
The train was winding through what looked like a valley between two mountains. Juli saw no sign of any kind of hab or other buildings as she looked around, and as the train stopped at another station and opened its doors, she saw from a glimpse outside that there were many such small mountains stretching off into the distance, with very little flat ground that she could see, and none of it used. It was already well into night on this ring, and it was hard to see too far in the darkness that filled the air. Were there buildings built further into these mountains? If so, why hadn't she seen any entrances or tunnels? The door closed and the train set off again.
Craggy rock walls on either side of the train - dotted with trees and moss but little in the way of significant plant life or construction - didn't provide much in the way of visual interest for Juli and made her feel like the hab ring itself was looming over her. She felt a brief urge to look up, to seek the peaks of the mountains to try and eliminate that looming feeling, but she controlled herself quickly. There were only so many close calls with the dizzying, nauseating geometry of an Affini hab ring one could have before learning not to look up unless absolutely necessary.
Another affini had stepped onto the train on the last stop and walked up to Juli. They hadn't chosen a human form, or really any form as far as she could tell, and were instead a shifting mass of vines and leaves that seemed to imply the shape of limbs and a head underneath it. "Hello petal!" they said cheerily, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
Juli gestured to the seat next to her. There was plenty of space on the train that meant that the affini didn't need to sit next to her, but that meant next to nothing in the face of an affini wanting to talk to a cute sophont. "By all means," she said, putting on a pleasant smile.
The shambling mess of vines moved over onto the seat, not turning or rearranging itself in any way, but Juli figured that that must count as "sitting" for them. A few masses of vine that were sticking out slightly from the central body bobbed amiably as they settled. "Thank you very much, little one! Ampelops Eltanin, Fourth Bloom, xe/xer," xe said, extending a vine to ruffle Juli's hair in greeting, "Tell me, what brings a Terran like you to the Desmori ring? I haven't seen very many of you over here since we started picking you little cuties up, though I imagine the local gravity has something to do with that."
After taking a moment to make sure her hair was properly settled from Ampelops's greeting, Juli replied, "I'm here for a party, actually. I didn't realize it'd be on another hab ring when I accepted the invitation, but my friend invited me, so I figured I'd check it out."
She showed the invitation to Ampelops, whose vines quivered a bit in place as xe read it. "Goodness," xe said, sounding excited, "I had no idea that Iresine was extending invitations off-ring now! This is certainly going to shake things up amongst the baronies, no doubt about it."
"Baronies? Is that like a local social group or something?" Juli asked. She really should have done more research before coming to this ring, but she could hardly be blamed for not reading closely when every party Lucy had invited her to so far had been on the same hab ring.
Ampelops rustled in place, every vine and leaf rubbing against its neighbors. "Oh, this is exciting!" xe exclaimed, sounding like a child with a new toy, "I can't believe I got the shovel on this so early! I wonder how Duke Carnias will respond to the influx of new blood? Did Iresine invite you herself, then?"
Juli didn't recognize any of those names and shook her head quickly. "I got the invite from my friend Lucy," she said, "She's Lucius Helian's floret, if you know him? I really just got an invite to 'a fun party"#' and didn't look too deep into it. Is this party a big deal or something?"
"Oh no no, I couldn't possibly spoil the experience of one of Iresine's masquerades to someone who hasn't been to one themself," Ampelops said, xer tone still giddy, "Trust me when I say that you are in for a treat though, little one! Oh, I never got your name, how silly of me."
"Juliana Chiasme, she/her, but you can call me Juli," Juli said, "I gotta admit though, I'm a little nervous since I didn't realize this party was a masquerade until I was getting ready to leave today. You seem to know the sophont who's putting this thing on, you don't think I'm underdressed do you?"
Ampelops paused, and though xe didn't move any part of xer body, Juli got the sense that xe was giving her a once-over. "You look positively delectable, petal," xe said, a note of appreciation in xer voice, "They are just going to eat you up over there. No objections at all on my part, and certainly not from any of the partygoers, I imagine."
Juli smiled as she preened under the compliment. She knew she looked good, especially in the weeks since the class-Gs she'd gotten from her vet had had an opportunity to work, but it was always nice to hear a compliment from someone else. It was good to know that she wasn't going to get any weird looks for showing up to the party dressed as she was. "Thanks, Ampelops," she said as the train pulled into the next station, "This is my stop, I hope you have a good rest of your day!"
"You as well, Juli! Enjoy the masquerade," xe said, waving a couple of vines as she hopped off her seat and made her way to the door of the train, "And if you end up attending another one, do look me up! I'd love to escort a lovely lady such as yourself to such a noteworthy event."
Juli kept smiling and waved as the doors closed, but didn't make any promises. Ampelops was nice, but xe wasn't really her type and seemed a little too eager to please for her liking. A lot of affini were like that, she'd found, bending over backwards to accommodate her in whatever way they could. Granted, more than a few of them were probably doing it with the ulterior motive of domesticating her, but either way it ended up coming across as disingenuous. Lucy's owner Lucius had been one of the few affini she'd actually been at all interested in, and he was apparently entirely uninterested in her, or really in anything that wasn't lavishing attention on Lucy.
She wondered briefly if Lucy and Lucius would have arrived at the party yet. They liked to arrive "fashionably late," though Juli knew that was mostly because Lucius was too busy doting on Lucy and it always ate into their departure time. It usually wasn't something she was worried about, but she was still a little nervous about the party. Ampelops had made it sound like this masquerade was a big deal, so having a familiar face already there would certainly help ease her worries a bit.
One of the mountains that littered this hab ring loomed ahead of her as the path ran up next to it. She started along the path that wandered around the base of it, but her phone chirped and let her know that she was getting farther away from her destination when she did. She pulled it out and glanced down at the navigation app on her screen. It was telling her that the place where the party was happening should be right next to her, but it was also telling her that it was simultaneously almost seven hundred meters away from her. She started walking back around the mountain, but it chirped at her again, encouraging her to turn around so she could get to her destination.
A gentle tap on her shoulder pulled her from her puzzling at the phone's screen. She turned around to see the other affini from the train, the one who'd been petting their floret. They were holding said floret half-submerged in their vines and giving her a concerned look. "Can I help you, dearie?" they asked, a distinctly maternal bent to their voice, "You're looking pretty lost right now, and I couldn't just leave a cutie like you in need!"
Juli smiled and nodded, gesturing to her phone. "I'm going to a party my friend invited me to, but my phone is giving me some trouble. I don't know if it got confused by all the mountains or something, but it thinks that I'm right on top of my destination now, and keeps yelling at me if I try to go around the mountain," she said, letting a light exasperation into her voice.
A vine extended out and waggled in front of her. "May I?" the affini asked, and Juli handed the phone over to her. There was a brief tapping from another vine at her screen, and then a giggling from the affini. "I see the problem, it thinks you can fly! Must've automatically updated its transportation defaults when you came onto this ring, silly thing. Your party is six hundred eighty-three meters that way," they said, pointing a vine straight up. Juli almost followed it with her eyes, but saved herself from a stomach-turning view at the last second.
"It's on top of the mountain?" she asked, glancing at the screen that had been handed back to her. She saw a faint shadow effect underneath the mask icon that indicated her destination, but if she didn't know to look for it, she would have had no idea it was there. "How can I get up there?"
The affini smiled wide, several dozen thorny teeth gleaming, and replied, "You're in luck, dearie! I am going to the same party, as it happens, and would be more than happy to help you get there. Just let Miss Rosa take care of everything!"
"Thanks, Ro-whoa!" Juli said, caught off guard as Rosa picked her up in her vines. She relaxed again after a moment, realizing what had happened, but noticed that Rosa seemed to be making directly for the craggy wall ahead of them. "Uh, Rosa, where are you going?" she asked.
Rosa didn't slow her pace in the slightest, though she gave Juli a reassuring pat on the head. "It's much quicker if we just climb up there, petal. Don't worry, I've got a good hold of you, now here we go!"
Without any other warning, Rosa thrust a handful of vines forward and upward, grabbing onto several holds on the craggy wall and launching all of them upwards with a speed that blew wind through Juli's hair. Though she didn't lurch even the slightest in Rosa's grip, Juli felt a swirling in her stomach as they rapidly gained altitude. She'd never been good with heights, and the natural architecture of a hab ring making it feel like looking up was actually looking down from several kilometers up had certainly not helped matters. It was generally fine if she took her meds in the morning and tried not to look up, but the sudden change in altitude now was making her stomach quiver in distress.
She wrenched her eyes shut, trying to convince herself that the air rushing past her face was from horizontal rather than vertical movement. Tilting her head back was partially successful, and she felt her stomach settle into a vaguely upset churning rather than the disastrous roiling it had been doing just a moment ago. Rosa was chatting away idly about something, but she sounded about a thousand miles away to Juli as the wind whipped past her. They slowed after a time, whether it was a few seconds or a few minutes Juli wasn't sure, and Rosa placed her gently down on a soft surface. After taking a few moments to ensure that her stomach wouldn't betray her, she opened her eyes.
The craggy rocks and sparse vegetation were nowhere to be seen, hundreds of meters below them. Instead, Juli saw lushly planted terraces lined with reeds of some description and as she brought her gaze further up, a castle. Seemingly carved out of the bare rock of the mountain, a castle bustling with activity rose in front of her, sophonts streaming in and out of it, though they were too far away for her to make much out about them. The building loomed over her, with plentiful balconies and open windows jutting out from intricately carved walls and buttresses. Several towers shot up from the main body of the castle, some open topped, some with peaked roofs. The main entrance looked buried beneath an overhang, shadowed below the main body of the castle which rested on large pillars.
Juli glanced behind her and saw similar vistas on a few nearby mountains, there were a number of castles carved into the mountainsides, along with smaller villas and cottages below them, though she made sure not to look too far down so as not to make her stomach drop into her feet again. She noticed several figures in the distance flying through the air, and from the heavy beat their wings set, they looked to be large figures. Keeping her eyes focused that far out into the sky made her head start to spin, though, so she turned her attention back to the castle in front of her.
Rosa was still nearby, looking mildly concerned but also slightly expectant with the way she watched Juli take everything in. "It's quite something, isn't it?" she asked, smiling, "Iresine really went to impressive widths with its design, I must say. Some of the balconies are absolute works of art in and of themselves."
"Impressive lengths," Juli corrected idly, still gaping at the architecture on display before her. The longer she looked, the more she found to be impressed by, as she started to get the impression that the entire front facade of the castle was meant to resemble a face, if a slightly bestial one.
"You really think so? You haven't even seen me really stretch out yet," Rosa said, winking at Juli and starting to meander toward the entrance to the castle, "Well, things should be well underway at this point, so don't worry about arriving early whenever you're finished admiring the castle. Enjoy the masquerade, dearie!"
She wandered off, floret still ensconced deep within her vines, and left Juli to stare at the castle some more. As she did, she saw a large figure swoop in from behind, landing on one of the large balconies before walking into the castle. Her eyes were drawn to the towers again, but she had to pull her eyes away before she followed them too far up and upset her stomach again. Instead she fixed her eyes forward and began walking forward toward the front entrance of the castle.
The building loomed larger and larger in front of her as she approached, a massive construction even by affini standards. She noticed again the resemblance it held to a face, and, as she walked between the pillars holding up the bulk of the castle, realized that she was walking between its teeth and into its mouth. The thought sent a small shiver of fear through her, but it was quickly controlled as the large double doors to the castle opened before her.
"Welcome, honored guest," a deep, disembodied voice called as she stepped inside. She figured it must be the hab AI welcoming her, though it sounded a bit more stuck up than any hab AI she'd heard before. "The ballroom is this way, and the festivities have already begun."
The lights above another large set of double doors flared briefly brighter, showing her the way. She began walking towards it, remembering the mask in her purse and affixing it over her face as she moved. As she reached the doors, however, they refused to budge, and remained firmly shut even when she put a hand on one and pushed hard. She glanced around, slightly frustrated at the sudden shutout.
"Madam," the AI intoned, "how shall I announce you?"
Announce her? Oh right, this was a masquerade, she guessed there must be some extra rules for entering. "Juliana Chiasme, she/her," she said, turning her attention back to the doors in front of her.
After a brief pause, the AI spoke up again. "Is that… all, madam?" it asked, sounding a bit confused.
Juli shared in its confusion. "What else would there be?" she asked, "That's my name."
There was another lengthy pause, and what felt like hesitation from the hab, before she heard what sounded like a sigh. "As you wish, madam," the AI said, before the doors swung open in front of her and it continued, its voice only slightly louder, "Announcing Miss Juliana Chiasme, pronouns she and her, unaccompanied, from lands unnamed."
The party was indeed fully underway, and there was a low rumble of chatter from various individuals as she stepped into the ballroom. The first thing she noticed was the floor, an intricately done mosaic of glass and what looked like precious stones that glittered and refracted the light into tiny rainbows and beams that scattered across the walls of the room. The stone of the walls and pillars was a very pale gray, almost white, and carved just as intricately as the walls outside, reliefs of various scenes splayed across the walls.
The room itself seemed fairly sparsely populated to Juli, with only a few sophonts occupying some of the shadowed corners of the ballroom, and nowhere near enough to match the volume she'd heard upon entering. Glancing upward briefly, she saw that there was an entire second level to the ballroom, balconies overlooking the dance floor with many more sophonts gathered on it talking to themselves. Being built to affini scale, the balcony was nearly ten meters up, even that distance enough to make her start to squirm slightly. She turned her attention back to the main floor, trying to make out some of the figures hanging out at the edges of the dance floor, hoping to recognize Lucy and Lucius in the crowd. As she was squinting out into the darkness however, she heard a heavy whump sound behind her and turned to look at it.
Straightening out in front of her was the largest affini Juli had ever seen up close. Nearly seven meters tall, they dominated the space in front of Juli and made her shrink back a bit in surprise. Their vines and foliage all carried a deep reddish tint, verging towards purple in some parts and nearly maroon in others. Most notable, however, was their shape.
They looked to Juli mostly like an enormous bat, with immense wings currently folded up and hidden behind them. Right before the primary fold in the wings, there were a number of dexterous vines arrayed in the shape of fingers, which reached down and plucked Juli's hand from her side. "Miss Chiasme, it is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am the Duchess Lady Iresine Sangri, Fourth Bloom, using she and her pronouns. I am the host of this humble gathering, and I hope that you will find it very enjoyable," she said bending forward to plant a gentle kiss on the back of Juli's hand.
Iresine had a leaf-nose splaying out with the same crimson as her other foliage and was wearing a mask of smooth, bone-white wood. Juli noticed that the mask had no eye holes, instead a solid piece of wood with slight indentations to suggest the location of eyes. Behind the mask, large horns made of dark, red-tinted wood sprouted from her head, framed by massive cupped leaves on either side that looked like ears. As she withdrew her mouth from Juli's hand she smiled, and Juli noticed that in addition to the normal thorn teeth she expected from affini, there were two massive, scything fangs at the corners of her mouth, made from a similar dark wood to her horns.
Up close now, Juli noticed that Iresine's torso was both incredibly fluffy looking, filled with reddish grasses and leaves, and also dotted through with pale white flowers that wafted a sweet, sugary scent into her nose. She pulled back away again, taking that sweet, alluring scent with her as she regarded Juli expectantly. "Thank you for inviting me Iresine, you have a lovely-"
A sharp snap came from one of Iresine's wings, the crack of wood against wood as her wing shut itself quickly from its relaxed, untensed position. "I will forgive it this once, since it is your first time at one of these events," she said, a dangerous edge to her voice, "but you will address me as Lady Iresine, My Lady, or Duchess. You will extend a similar courtesy to any who choose to provide you with their title at this masquerade. Is that understood?"
Lady Iresine's mood was intensely chilly as she spoke, sending a shiver up Juli's spine at her intense displeasure. Juli nodded her understanding quickly, and as suddenly as it had appeared, the chill was gone and Lady Iresine was back to her previous charming self. "You are one of the first Terrans I have ever invited to one of these events, you should be very proud," she said, her voice rich with an expectation that Juli couldn't place, "I know exactly who would like to meet you next, my little hors d'oeuvre. Come greet our guest, my core's treasure!"
There was a whooshing sound from behind Juli and a much lighter thump as a miniature version of Lady Iresine landed next to her. She wore an identical mask, pale white with no eye holes, though her horns curled towards each other, almost looking like a halo or a crown, and even though she was much smaller than Iresine, she still towered over Juli by more than half a meter. Her fur was a deep sable, though her chest was spotted with little flecks of white - much like Iresine's flowers - from what she could see of it over the neckline of an extravagant dress. She gave a brief curtsy, a powerful looking, scaled tail curling around from behind her as she did so. "Greetings, Miss Chiasme," she intoned, her accent slightly stilted and uncertain, "I am the Countess Lady Benethalia Sangri, Fifth Consort to My Lady Duchess Iresine Sangri. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, and I hope you will enjoy the party."
Juli noticed as she was speaking that her nose was twitching slightly and she began fidgeting slightly as she finished her introduction. "I must say, Miss Chiasme, it is quite the evocative outfit you are wearing to this event. May I ask what inspired it?" she asked, her tone implying more than she was saying.
Juli suppressed a groan at that. She knew that she'd get in trouble for wearing a clubbing outfit to a fancy party like this! She gave a bashful smile and shifted slightly in place as she answered, "I'm sorry about that, Lady Benethalia, I didn't realize that this was a masquerade until I was getting ready to leave, so I'm wearing something much more casual than I might have otherwise. I hope it's not too far out of line?"
"A… casual outfit," Benethalia replied, puzzling over the words as she spoke them, "Are you saying that you wear this sort of thing normally?"
Juli shrugged. "Well, this is a bit done up, showing off, you know. My day-to-day isn't quite this extra, but yeah, pretty close to this," she said. She was glad that Benethalia didn't seem upset at her casual dress, but there was something in her demeanor now that Juli didn't quite know how to place.
Benethalia tugged at one of Lady Iresine's vines and whispered something into her enormous leaf-ear. Lady Iresine smiled again, her fangs glinting in the light, and nodded. "Anything for you, my treasure," she said, gently ushering her off towards the rest of the ballroom, "Miss Chiasme, would you take the air with me out on the balcony?"
Her tone made it clear that while it was phrased as a question, this was an instruction that Lady Iresine expected to be followed. Juli nodded and followed her as she led them out onto one of the balconies Juli had noticed when coming into the castle. She kept her eyes trained slightly to the floor to avoid any unfortunate glances at the sky as they settled just ahead of the railing.
"Ah, the aurora is out early," Lady Iresine noted, a pleased timbre to her voice, "I hope you will not think too harshly on this masquerade for not being aware of its nature, Miss Chiasme. I am certain you've already made quite the impression from just your introduction. There will be many clamoring to meet you before all the dances are done."
Juli felt her ego fluff a bit at the compliment. "Thank you, Lady Iresine," she said, a smile on her lips, "I'm glad you think so. To be honest, I was a little nervous I'd be underdressed for your party, so I'm glad it's not an issue."
Lady Iresine smiled and shook her head, a chuckle escaping her. "An issue? Of course not. Why, the crowd will be absolutely ravenous to catch your eye in an outfit like that, my little hors d'oeuvre. Do you crave that sort of attention?" she asked.
There was a flutter out of the corner of Juli's eye, and as she turned she noticed that Lady Iresine was wearing an absolutely gargantuan cape, one that covered the entirety of her back and hid the majority of her wings within it. Or rather, she had been wearing that cape, as it was now fluttering to the ground as Lady Iresine spread her wings fully.
The membranes of Lady Iresine's wings were dazzling to behold. They swirled with vines of various colors - blacks, greens, and reds, all twirling and mixing together in complex patterns that drew her eyes along them. Wherever a pattern terminated, a scintillating affini eye sat, gleaming with brilliant colors across its many facets. Juli's eyes wandered from eye to eye to eye to eye, dozens on one wing alone, and found herself swaying along with the whorls and swoops in Lady Iresine's wing patterns.
"Well, Juliana? Do you crave attention?" the Duchess asked, her voice layering upon itself in Juli's mind as she nodded, "Yes, you do, don't you? You want to be seen, approached and spoken to by every sophont gathered here. This is a party, after all, you should enjoy yourself."
That was the whole reason she'd come here, it was true. Sure she was accepting Lucy's invitation, but really, she went to a party to enjoy herself. That's why she dressed the way she did. She wanted to attract attention, and wearing clothes that showed off how good she looked would definitely do that job. Besides, she'd worked hard for these tits! They deserved to be admired now that she finally had them.
"Yes, it's important to enjoy yourself at a party like this. There are refreshments back in the ballroom you know. It would certainly help you enjoy yourself more if you were to indulge, wouldn't you agree?" the Duchess said, her voice ringing in Juli's ears like a chorus of bells.
Refreshments did sound pretty nice right now, now that she thought of it. And if they'd been laced with something, like Affini refreshment were, then all the better. She was here to have a good time, and if there was one thing she knew about xenodrugs, it was that they were designed to make sure you had a good time. Plus, if she was a little tipsy, she'd probably attract even more attention.
"Go then, Juliana. Enjoy yourself, indulge to excess, and when you find yourself on the verge of collapse, find your way to me, to the safety that my vines promise."
Juli nodded absently. She really should get back to the party, there were refreshments that needed drinking, drugs that needed sampling, and people that needed talking to, preferably in that order. She wandered back through the door to the ballroom, noting as she did that the windows were actually very subtly stained glass, shining from inside with a dozen different colors. The artistry on display here was really very impressive, she'd love to spend some more time examining it in the light.
That was a task for tomorrow's Juli, though! For now, there was a refreshment table with her name on it. She wandered over to a table piled high with sweets and pastries of every description, all helpfully labeled with what kinds of xenodrugs they contained. Juli joyously sampled one of everything on the menu, feeling her mind begin swimming almost immediately as the cocktail of xenodrugs she'd imbibed took effect. She giggled and wandered out onto the dance floor, waiting for someone to approach her.
She glanced up at the balcony, much less bothered by its height now that she was high to go along with it. There seemed to be a lot of attention on her, but nobody was making any moves yet. "Come on!" she called out, smiling widely, "I don't bite!"
A chuckle rang out from the cloud and she noticed someone leap from the balcony to land in front of her. It was another enormous bat-sophont, though this one had a more masculine aspect than Lady Iresine or Benethalia - how she could tell that, she wasn't sure, maybe it was the drugs. "May I have this dance, Miss?" he intoned, stretching out a folded wing expectantly.
Juli giggled again and leaned into him, more than happy to let him lead in whatever dance they were about to do. He smelled like ozone and iron, but not in an unpleasant way as she used him to keep her balance. She felt him leaning in close to her in kind as they danced and she got a slightly dizzy, giddy feeling as they twirled.
Eventually, the dance ended and he thanked her for the dance, his mouth gleaming wetly for some reason. It was quickly forgotten, however, as another sophont approached to ask her for a dance. She fluttered her eyelashes and agreed, basking in the attention that she was receiving.
The night proceeded on like that, with Juli wandering from dance partner to dance partner, each time leaving a little more giddy, a little more lightheaded, and a little more unsteady on her feet. She felt like she should be getting hot and sweaty from all this dancing, but instead she noticed she was actually feeling a little cold as the night went on. Fortunately for her, these bat-sophonts were all incredibly fuzzy and more than capable of keeping her nice and warm as they danced. She looked down at her arm at one point and noticed that she seemed very pale, but chalked it up to an effect of the light.
Dance partners piled up, each one leaving her embrace with a wet, crimson grin as they passed her to the next sophont in line. Soon, she could barely even see straight, her thoughts spinning just as heavily as her head was. "Thnk I miiiight've had a bittoo much," she slurred, stumbling off the dance floor. She felt some kind of magnetism pulling her somewhere, an irresistible gravity bringing her in, and even though she could barely put one foot in front of the other, she still made her way towards it.
At the end of that pull she found Lady Iresine, lounging with her floret on a long couch. She smiled as Juli approached gesturing with a wing. "You see, my treasure?" she purred, deeply pleased, "Just as promised. Now, she is all yours."
Benethalia rose from the couch and embraced Juli like all the previous dance partners had, but when Juli went to start twirling, Benethalia remained still. "Come to bed, my treat," she said, her voice so cutely accented, "You have had a long night and need your rest."
Juli was feeling fairly tired, she realized, and so she followed along readily as Benethalia led her through a winding maze of hallways before arriving at a luxuriously appointed bedroom and the softest, comfiest bed that Juli had ever felt.