Above it all, in a few senses, the Guardians had their own meal up on the balcony. They, too, had assigned and prepared seats, but in their case, it was by the classes, and therefore, other Guardians, they were going to work with over the next four years. But, Angels being as they were, they had split, reconvened, and mulled about, chatting and enjoying the delicacies.
Alice Ananiel I had slaughtered monsters, put down demons and heretics, and saved more lives than she could remember. In most contexts, she'd be the most powerful, decorated person in the room, but among her angelic peers, she was nothing noteworthy. Between the names she recognized and the honors the others wore, Alice knew she was in the company of legends. And some other normal people, but the legends made it easier to slink away and nurse her… - she thought about it, and failed to come up with a concrete answer – severalth glass of wine. She leaned against the wall, and looked out over the balcony to the dance floor below, watching the students awkwardly twirl around, stepping precisely to the beat – Maybe not awkwardly in a literal sense, but she knew what it was like to be down there on this night. Hopefully they appreciated just what they'd been given.
“Man, the little runts are kind of cute, if you tilt your head,” said an oddly-dressed woman who was leaning over the balcony, elbows on the railing. She must have taken the brief interlude between the Pairing ceremony and the dinner to change out of her formal uniform, for the Angel was now in a form-fitting crimson top and high-waisted white trousers, something that fit exactly nowhere in their uniform regulations. Alice wasn't quite sure whether she should be frustrated by the frivolity of it or amused by the audacity of it, and ended up feeling both.
The woman pulled herself up, far too quickly, spun around fast enough to send her hair horizontal, and grabbed a short glass full of something as dark brown and nearly as opaque as her eyes off a nearby standing table, clinked it to Alice's glass, and smiled.
“Mallory,” she said, holding the glass in the air.
“Alice,” Alice replied, somewhat bewildered.
Mallory knocked the glass back, and made an unflattering noise as the taste hit her. Alice shrugged, and followed, finishing off her glass of wine. She looked down at the dance-floor. “We have to make them better than us. How are we supposed to know how to do that?”
“Well, if they're anywhere as dumb as we were, should be easy, right?” Mallory said, grinning. “Not to assume anything about you, but I-”
“We were all idiots,” Alice said. “Look at them. They don't know anything about the world.”
Mallory nodded. “I don't know how you can tell that from up here, but you're probably right. But… That's good, isn't it?”
“For us, maybe.”
“Oh yeah,” Mallory said, “They're in for a wild ride. But hey, that's their problem. As long as the Church is serving food and drinks like this here, it's worth it to me.”
“Amen,” Alice said. She turned her gaze to Mallory, and thought for a moment.
She could stand Mallory's company.
Mallory let out an “ooo”, followed by a “Hey, are you seeing this?” Alice went to her side, and followed her pointing finger to a dancing student couple. The boy was unremarkable, with short-cropped blond hair, while the girl was significantly shorter than him, with near-waist-length white hair, so brilliant it felt like you could catch sparks off the glints of light in it. They were very focused on the task at hand. “They look like a normal Pair. What about them?”
Mallory smirked. “Wrong. That's not his Pair.”
Alice dug through the recent memories of the Pairing Ceremony. “Interesting. Not unheard of to dance with people other than your Pair, but uncommon. And that aggressively, too.”
“And how are the Church's finest doing tonight?,” asked a voice cool enough to freeze the air, and hard enough to crack it. Alice immediately straightened up, recognizing its owner. Cassandra Ananiel II towered over Alice by at least a head, though it was like she'd just been stretched out. Cassandra was unnervingly thin - she wore her uniform less than she was enveloped by it, and her thick cloak only added to the sensation. With her pallid skin, perfectly smooth black hair whose front framed her face and back ended around her elbows, and those eyes, dark enough to make the pupil indistinguishable from its surroundings, she gave off the distinct impression that you were looking at a wraith, or some kind of ghost in the making.
“Just watching the show,” Mallory said.
“Oh?” she said, and seemed to float over to peer over Mallory's shoulder.
“Isn't that one of yours?”
“So it is.”
“She's spent more time fooling around with him than with her own Pair,” Mallory said.
“Yes.”
“And that's not a concern?” Alice interjected.
“No,” Cassandra said, and the slightest hint of a smile formed on her otherwise impassive face. “I like her already.”