Neela had been doing her best to fight past the unusual timidness that was taking her when presented with strangers but while she had managed to avoid shying away from the ball completely and had even enjoyed herself catching up with Jace, Temo and Dalgina she couldn’t quite bring herself to enter the press of bodies that occupied the great hall even this late into the night, There were too many unfamiliar faces, too many alien smells, for the collie to feel safe within the crowd.
She had made one attempt to mingle but it had ended badly when some wolf she didn’t recognise had accidentally (she assumed) elbowed her in her sore ribs, sending her retreating out of the crowd with a quiet yelp that she hoped nobody had noticed. Neela had since retreated out of the crowd and was leaning by the fireplace, leaning against the wall and resting in the warmth. One arm was curled over her ribs in what Neela hoped was a casual enough pose to hide the fact that she was actually trying to shield her side from further harm - something about her mindset tonight refused to let her show obvious weakness - and the other was lightly holding her best flask, filled with whiskey as always and being slowly sipped every now and then.
Neela ran one finger deliberately over the black coloured leather making up the grip of her flask, tilting it and focusing her attention on the reflections running across the shiny steel frame in an attempt to not flinch when a dancing couple came too close to her. She was regretting returning to the hall now, wishing she was back perched on her roof, enjoying the night air and talking to Dalgina. She had returned to the hall half to try and make a point to herself, to try and work through this unexpected fear of strangers that had popped up but instead she had trapped herself, a crowd of people who didn’t even know the distress they were causing her between her and the exit.
Neela tried to return to focusing on the flask but she couldn’t help the way her eyes started to dart about, or the almost unnoticeable quickening in her breathing. They were small signs but noticeable ones if somebody was looking.
Hopefully nobody would notice.
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