Just as they'd planned on, Di disappeared from the room, and Zen pushed away from the organ, beginning to walk slowly along the wall,  peering into the crowd in search of Michael. She could see him, and his angellic girlfriend seemed to have a death grip on his arm; the girl would have scowled if she hadn't been afraid it would make lines in her makeup.<br/><br/>Ticking and tocking, the ancient clock swung the last arm up to midnight - and as it began to sound, every bit of light in the room went abruptly out. Everybody let out sharp screams, some nervous laughter mixed in, and Zen reached out for the paneled wall behind her to keep her balance in case somebody bumped into her in the dark.<br/><br/>There was no wall there, and with a little shriek she stumbled backward where she'd not expected there to be a room to go into. Inertia and gravity had their way with her as her ankles fouled in her tight skirt, and she fell to the floor with a heavy thud, rolling over with a groan to start pushing herself before she could get stepped on. Even as she did, lights began to come back on - flickering into being, one by one, like candles being lit on the tables.<br/><br/>Tables?<br/><br/>There hadn't been any tables in the ballroom, but now as she lifted her head and began to look around she was somehow in a different room entirely, with a teacandle in a low glass jar flickering in the center of each tiny round table all around the room, like some kind of restaurant or bar or something. Pushing up onto her knees, she looked over to the side, and there was a large shape there, hard to make out in the dim room, like a huge TV or... maybe a fishtank? She couldn't see anything in it though, as she awkwardly scooted her feet under her and straightened - only to fall again with a shriek, reaching out to catch herself on the nearest table. Her grasping only succeeded in knocking it to the ground, the candle sputtering out as it hit the floor and rolled to come up against someone's nicely-polished shoes.<br/><br/>With a groan she rolled over and sat up, moving to brush off her skirt. Paige wouldn't like it if this got damaged, she'd worked to hard on painting the cloth... that wasn't cloth under her hands. She could feel her palms, as if she were brushing off her legs, but under her hands felt cool and a little dry and itchy, and she stared down the skirt, frowning as it shimmered a little differently - and at the bottom there was no sign of her feet. Only a tail, flaring beautifully out from what had, until moments ago, been her legs.<br/><br/>Zen let out what would have been a scream, but her throat felt strange, and the sound was dry and hoarse, hands flying up to feel something strange on the sides of her neck.<br/><br/>She was not the only one to find herself suddenly with altered appendages, to be sure. The very angel at whom she'd so balefully glared was one of those who gasped and let out a frightened scream as the ballroom was plunged in the darkness. Michael's arm was already around her waist, and she welcomed the solid feel of him as she pushed herself closer, arms going around his neck and hugging him tightly.<br/><br/>Someone already had bumped into her wings, and now it felt like they were getting bumped into and battered again and again, acutely uncomfortable where they lay strapped neatly against her back, and she wriggled and shifted in Michael's warm embrace, trying to shift her wings away from the bothersome touch. All the while, her heart beating fast, she tried to penetrate the pitch darkness, and finally it seemed that someone had found a flashlight and lit a lantern at the same time, because she was beginning to see Michael again; he seemed to be faintly limned with a fiery hue, and there was also a little bit of a pale sheen like moonlight helping her to see him as she looked up at him - more up than she was used to, and her brow wrinkled. Could he have gotten taller?<br/><br/>"I don't know - what happened to your voice? ...what happened to mine?" It was lighter and even sweeter than normal, nearly to the point of being airily musical, and her eyes widened at the odd sound of it - and to match her obvious consternation, her wings grown larger and thick with fluffy feathers, ledges lined with magnificent pinions, fluttered behind her.<br/><br/>"Michael," Gabrielle started, and cleared her throat to little effect; his arms were tight around her waist, keeping her pulled securely against him, and perhaps it was the pressure but his arms and chest felt almost uncomfortably warm against her. "You can... you can let go, just a little."