@cloudystar@Belle



Oh she knew well that look, that haughty stare of indignance shot towards her from the woman a few paces away. She could feel her judgmental, condescending glance pierce through that porcelain mask of hers with an uncomfortable heat, a heat that would but scathe the redheaded beauty for her...interesting taste in partners. She smirked, rather insolent towards the pompous lady as her soft lips parted from the blonde's dainty hand. Let them believe how they would. Twas no skin off her bones.

My was she a bubbly thing, Echo. Claudia couldn't help but giggle. Twas quaint, yet so precious to her how curious the blonde was. She smiled, content and enjoying the adorable spectacle.

Sir Quinton returned moments later with a silver tray of champagne, bubbling, sparking amber liquid, and another tray of hors d'oeurves, assorted delicacies and such. Claudia curtseyed to the butler, ~"Ah, gratitude, my dear."~ And delightfully partook of one, as requested by her lovely companion for the night. Well, soon to be. Claudia eloquently popped the tiny morsel into her mouth. The sweet flavor of the mousse complimented so well by the subtle saltiness of the caviar and the light, toasty flavor of the whole wheat cracker. It was quite delicious.

~"Oh my~! That is yummy, my dear!"~ Claudia chuckled. She sipped down the last drop of her wine, setting her empty glass aside. Nearly the womam choked however upon hearing the butler. She laughed. It was charming of him to offer such training, a dear friend's considerate gesture, but alas there was no need for such.

~"Oh darling, please!"~ Claudia smiled brightly. Her cheeks would have been scarlet red...if given other circumstances. ~"It's so nice of you to offer, Sir Quinton, but I wouldn't mind training her myself. This isn't my first ball after all. And besides..."~ She leaned in a bit closer, whispeting to Quinton with a tempting smirk. ~"I would love to spend a little quality time alone with this ravishing beauty. She's such a darling isn't she."~ Yet she did not want her friend to be hurt by cruel rejection, not that that was his plan, but Claudia would never want to chide the sweet butler. She gave him a sympathetic look, a sincere pressure as she held his free hand.

~"I do hope you are not offended however, dear Quinton. It was still sweet of you to ask, and so good to see you again. You look like you haven't aged a day, honey."~ She said with a cheeky grin. My, did he. The butler was always an enigma to Claudia, an interesting fellow.

She smiled sincere, parting from Quinton batting softly her eyes. She slipped over to the blonde silently, taking Echo's hand gently in hers with a soft grin. ~"Come, my dearest. I shall show you how to dance. It's rather simple, and so, so enjoyable."~ Sweetly the woman hummed. That timidness she saw in the dame's eyes, oh she was swooning on the inside. Perhaps Echo was the one captivating her and not vice versa.

He quirked an eyebrow. Just came here? Well, that was certainly great. Indigo's mind wandered a bit as he was passed a flute, titling his head at her curiously. "You have a brother?" he asked lowly, not quite raising his glassy "If it might ask, where are you from? I might be able to do trade with your land, and hopefully we can meet outside the party."

He then looked over to the other guests, trying to hold the sweet and calm smile on his face. He turned his head towards her. He felt she wasn't telling the whole truth, but he pushed the thought away. She seemed nicer than himself, and certainly honest; why would she need to lie?

@ineffable

@sharksama
"An older brother. We're from Celsire." Naina named the first place that came to mind and seeing that Indigo hadn't raised his flute yet, retracted hers. She took a careful sip from the blue liquid. It tasted like cloudless blue skies if that made sense, the undeniable taste of summer and freedom. She observed as Indigo turned his head away to look at the other guests, thoughts running through his eyes. "Well, Indigo...I'm up for a quick spin around the dance floor, are you?" She knew it was rude for the girl to ask first but this was after all a masquerade party. The rules could be broken. Plus the fact that she loved to dance. She gazed upwards at Indigo after her sentence and let a small soft and alluring smile drift across her lips.

The crimson coated gentleman entered the scene of the masquerade with his birdlike facade shining against the bright lights overlooking the location. A client contacted the man with a desire to obtain a small bit of information out of a client, or to give a reasonable person to blame if someone took an unfortunate spill. He was told he'd know who the client was when he saw them so his options were pretty much limited at the current moment, and the best thing for him to do would be to simply take a seat and search for the target he was after, which he was completely fine with doing. He trotted around the establishment with his cane, attempting to blend into the crowd so he wouldn't look suspicious trying to seek his target out.

"Perfectly understandable Madam Claudia and I'm not the only one who seems to have not changed since last time we met. I hope the two of you have a wondrous evening together and do enjoy the ball."

With another low bow, Quinton heads off once more to the snack table...then finding a chair nearby in order to enjoy a brief moment of rest as everyone around him prepared for the large dance that was coming soon. He himself was slowly getting a bit more relaxed with not having to serve anyone and was briefly closing his eyes to enjoy his moment of silence. In his head, he was planning on trying to figure out who to serve next in the ball...depending if the person was worthy enough to deserve a butler.

@Rusalka

@ineffable
Indigo narrowed his eyes. Celsire. He had never heard of the place, but he was sure his steward had mentioned it once upon a time. This confused him; how did she get from here to Celsire? And what was Celsire like, he wondered to himself. This woman was... very confusing in a way, yet that made him more curious. Strangely, he wanted to know more. Why? Maybe for the thought of the treasure in the land? A smirk came to his eyes as he sipped his flute. No. That couldn't possibly be it.

At her request, he seemed stunned. The steward did not prepare him for this. Well, he did speak of a dance every once in a while, but Indigo had only been half paying attention. The most embarrassing part of it? He had no idea how to dance. "M-Milady-" He stopped himself. Do it for the money. The money. The money. He shook the thought away, flushing under his mask. And leaning in to whisper. "M-Milady, I'm not all quite... skilled, you may say, in ballroom dancing."

@sharksamaNaina regarded the cautiousness in Indigo's eyes and felt a flush creeping up her neck. She just wanted to have a nice night out, no one bowing to her or regarding her warily as if she would order "Off with their heads!" At any moment. She observed at his fluster at dancing and just shook her head eagerly, brushing away his worries.
"That's not a problem. I'll teach you, It's quite easy once you get the hang of it!"She then grabs his hands and positions one of them on her waist and the other palm touching hers gently. She shuffles a bit to the side and then when the music starts instantly steps into her routine, saying the words along with the actions.
"Now! 1...2...3, 1...2...3. Spin!" She laughed, a real genuine one that floated over the guests and made them smile. What a happy girl They thought.

Echo's attention was grabbed by the red haired woman once again. "You'll teach me to dance? Thank you!" she said entusiastically, then her expression turned thoughtful. "But I have nothing to offer you..." she said, trailing off in thought before brightening moments later. "I know! Here!" she said, opening the pouch that hung from a golden cord at her waist. "I brought some of my pieces to show the King at his request, but I don't need all of them. Here, take it. As a thank you and a memory for this night," she said eagerly, offering her hand to the woman.

In her palm was a golden ring with a pearl as it's centerpiece. But not just any pearl. This pearl was blood red and seemed to almost shimmer in the light. Everyone always loved the shining stones that Echo had brought from the sea.
"The color looks like your hair," Echo mentioned as she offered the highly expensive piece of jewelry to her new friend as one would offer a piece of candy. The eyes of people around suddenly locked onto the mentally unstable girl. She may have been crazy but now she was a crazy person with money. That made all the difference. People began to murmur once again, some even starting to approach as if to enter the conversation, but Echo didn't seem to notice the stir she was causing, continuing to smile brightly at her new friend.

@ineffable

Duke Indigo tilted his head at her actions. He felt her move his hand to her waist, their palms touching ever so gently. He thought he felt his face heat up, but that was gone in a mere second. Following her movements with his eyes, he smiled at her laugh. "You're awfully excited about this," he said lowly, as to not catch the attention of the others.

"Let me try." He looked down at their feet for only a moment before returning his gaze to hers. "1... 2... 3..." He repeated under his breath, moving them along with the music. "And... Spin!" He spun her around, his smile genuine and happy. When was he last time he had had this much fun? He wasn't quite sure, but one thing was for sure; he had forgotten all about the treasure for now.

Trei arrived at the gates leading to the Masquerade party, he placed his red and black mask on his face, tying the strap behind his head making sure not to tie his hair by mistake. Afterwards he walked down the path towards the main building, it was a wonder he was sent instead of his sickly grandfather Astor, before entering the building he was confronted by two guards, one male and one female.
"invitation?" she asked and ordered at the same time, Trei revealed a neatly folded piece of paper from his robe, she read it for a moment, "Astor Fulthoth of Theolagius, correct?", Trei forced a smile.
"no, Trei fulthoth, my grandfather is currently... unavailable.", Trei thought for his grandfather and remembered the note he made if they needed clarification, Trei revealed another note sealed with the mark of the fulthoth family, "a letter of approval from Astor himself.", he passed over the letter as well. the guard didn't open it, just pocketed it and motioned Trei in before stopping him again and saying:
"any weapons other than that?", she pointed at the Theolagian sabre strapped to Treis' belt, he shook his head, unstrapped the sword and passed it over to the guard, again the guard let him through.

Inside was much like he'd imagined, just larger. a pair of girls pointed at him and giggled, Trei could hear a few words they said, "he's cute... where's he from...", he bowed elegantly and they giggled some more. Trei leaned on a wall near the main floor where people were dancing, how cute, he'd learnt to dance from his mother but was utter eriga.

@sharksamaAs soon as Naina saw the genuine smile that spread across Indigo's lips she was happy. He seemed free for once and that was good. So as they danced Naina gave him several smiles backs and several tinkling laughs.
"Well, I see you're getting the hang of it, Indigo. Having fun?" She teased as he led her around the dance floor with ease. She flowed gracefully in his arms and she could see some eyes attached to them. They seemed like they were having fun so why not everyone else?
Flutes were downed and soon bubbly laughter echoed around the grand ballroom. A slow song came on and Naina rested her head on Indigo's shoulder, her feet still dancing lightly on the marble floors but her mind, still and serene.

@cloudystarKhalid knew he should have been interacting more and putting himself out there, but he felt such a foreigner and wasn't even sure how to start. That was how he found himself heading over to the refreshment table. He got himself a drink and some pastries then made his way over to the chairs nearby to sit and eat when he noticed a young man, already sitting there, but his eyes were closed.

Initially, Khalid panicked a little. He was getting better at understanding people, but he thought they only kept their eyes closed for such long periods if they were sleeping - or worse.

"Sir?" he asked, sitting next to the young man. "Are you alright?"

Right. Don't panic, just follow the instructions. Ara clutched the sheet of paper in her hand harder. On it were specific instructions Karl had for her. She glanced down at the first one again. Show up late on a donkey. She dismounted from it, and shuffled nervously up to the large guard in plate.

"Excuse me, sir, I have here a formal invitation to the masquerade ball of Afterclaw, which I believe is going on right now?" The man brusquely snatched the letter from her hand and scanned it.

"You don't look like a Karl to me," he said, his brows furrowing.

"Gran-Earl Karl of the Feldings is my . . . elder brother. I am to attend in his stead," Ara said, in a ridiculous, high pitched imitation of the sophisticated dialect of the noble courts. The guard didn't look like he believed her, but parted his halberd to let her in anyways.

@bloonewb
Trei saw the "uniquely" dressed girl walk in through the main building doors, he walked up to her and bowed, "what an interesting way to come to a masquerade..., Trei thought for a moment, "ah, now I understand, you're masquerading as a farmer, quite, lets say... significant?" he said, trying to make light of the situation, somehow Trei felt drawn to the girl, her appearance just screamed "talk to me!". "come, my lady, where would you like to go? the banquet table, the gardens?"

Ara struggled to remember what the second instruction on the list was. It would be difficult to consult the cheat sheet with someone looking at her, watching her moves. Remain calm, try a distraction.

"Lovely to meet you, sir . . ." she began in her "nobility" voice. Then she pretended to be distracted by something. "Ooh! Tell me about that!" she said, pointing at something random over the man's shoulder. When he turned to look, she glanced down at the small note. Right, talk only about incredibly boring subjects.

@bloonewb
Trei looked to the side but noticed the paper in the girls' hand, he quickly swiped the paper from her, "let's see what we have here...
1. Come to the masquerade on a donkey?
2. Only talk about incredibly boring subjects?
No, no, we're not having this.", Trei ripped up the page and placed it in his robes, "we won't be having any boring talks, you and I, instead we'll talk about that. tell me, my lady, what would make you want to do this, are you deliberately trying to make your time here a regret? Or is this some sort of dare?", his accent was thick in theolagian (think German and French) but his way in the common tongue was fluent.

The scarlet-coated gentlemen realized that a few people were giving him rather dirty looks when they glanced over and simply saw him sitting there looking around, fiddling with his cane. He figured that he could probably join in on a group of any sort and make it seem like he could fit in with the crowd of people, at least until he finds his target. Westley scoured the area for a group that he could jump into and hopefully make a few friends with, and noticed two individuals speaking over in the corner, and he heard one of them speak the word 'dare'. Immediately thinking of the silly game, he wondered if he could use them to blend in. He approached the pair and spoke in a slight Australian accent - "Mind if I join you two? I'm not a fan of being a lone-wolf."

@Shmektheshmuck@bloonewb

Oh no, oh dear, oh no! Apparently, Ara wasn't nearly as subtle with her hands as she thought she was. As the guy burst into his angry tirade, hundreds of expletives were running through Ara's head in as many languages as she knew (admittedly, a rather meager two). She tried to focus her eyes on something at the back of the room, and pretended that he was speaking some foreign language, probably Theolagian or Gurrivan. Then, a random person broke off from the crowd and joined them. This situation can't possibly get any worse! And to top it all off, he ripped up her cheat sheet. She only had enough time to memorize about half of them. Oh well, better make do with what she had.

"I am fine dear sir. Just resting my eyes for a brief moment as I think about things...do you need assistance in anyway while I ponder? I can do my best to aid."

Quinton was honestly just thinking about plans on what to do during the ball and afterwards but this man's interest should be quenched at least. He wouldn't mind aiding the man after studying him for a brief moment, seemed like an honest fellow.

"The name is Quinton, a butler who was invited here to be entertained but I much prefer to work than relax. Do you mind in sharing yours sir? Would help to know your name if you need or desire my aid."

@SilverFallen

'Resting his eyes' was not a term Khalid really understood, but then again, humans said a lot of strange things he didn't understand. What was important to him was that the man was in fact, alright.

"Oh, no," he said, pleasantly surprised. "I do not require any aid. I merely wanted to check that you were alright. Do you mind if I sit?" he asked, gesturing to the seat next to Quinton.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Quinton. My name is Khalid." After a moment, he smiled. "You know, there are actual servants here. You are a quest."

@cloudystar