⇨ THE MASQUERADE

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone! Attendance is mandatory.
When: Late Day 65
Where: The Celebration
What: The Masquerade arrives, and so does the carnival's enemies. For more info, check out the Draculas 101.
Warnings: Further party hell. Also, vampire violence, mind control, etc.

THE HOST & THE HORDE↴ The time of the Masquerade arrives. You've been given free reign of the place up till now, but a few hours before the party commences the Host will inform you that your presence will be required, and will assist you (forcibly, if need be) to sort out any last minute costuming concerns you might have if you've left it until now. When masks and outfits are sorted, you'll be left to your own devices until you are summoned on the evening of Day 65. The Masquerade will start off normally - relative to everything else in this place, at least. Everyone in the Celebration will be called in for this event, centered in a grand hall with side rooms offered to those that need them for whatever reasons might come up. The food and drink is especially ambrosia-esque this evening, and the music will stir your soul, even if you're not usually a music person. Enjoy it if you can - the peace won't last. ► MASKS: Though the masks seemed only mundane before, once within the Masquerade atmosphere, they will magically begin obscuring people's identities beyond what a normal mask should be able to do. When a person is wearing one, it would be supernaturally difficult to figure out who they are - maybe you forget what their voice should sound like, or maybe the other details escape you. Of course, it's possible to figure out if you look for it, based on general shapes and personality traits, but unless you know someone well it could be a challenge. Of course, you can just take your mask off and remove the enchantment entirely - though the Host will hassle you if they notice you going without. Stop ruining the party! ► TEMPTATION: Though it's felt easy to be whisked away by the draw of pleasure and luxury during the rest of the week, that feeling will seem to come to a head at the actual party. If you are aware of what needs to be resisted then it's possible to fight back and ignore it, but more than ever it feels all too easy to just dance your life away. Nobody seems to be dying from it, at least, or 'burning out' any faster as a result - it's mostly just extremely distracting from other concerns. Like vampires, for instance. VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE↴ It's during the latter half of the party that things will start to go bad. Though it will go unseen by the carnival, the Masquerade has gained an additional set of guests - the vampire's of the demon lord that has been chasing them for the last several months. The Host doesn't discriminate, and anyone is welcome to attend the Celebration, provided they don't start a fight. Right. About that. ► THE KINDRED: The vampires don't like to play fair, which means that they are going to be attacking with stealth and trickery - taking advantage of the way that the party has dulled the alertness of many of the carnival's workers. They'll be using that lack of inhibition to lure individuals into places they can be attacked or turned in private - their primary goals are to capture the Supervisors and to turn as many of the Ringmaster's workers as possible before escaping back to their dimension. Some of their targets will be gone before anyone has a chance to notice. Remembering that they will be avoiding big public confrontations, so if anyone starts one of those it will probably by the carnival members striking back. This is going to wear on the Host's patience extremely quickly. ► COLD IRON: Oh, right, and they are definitely bringing iron weapons - as pure as they could get. They'll have things like iron collars or shackles to try to trap people with, as well as iron daggers and guns with iron bullets. They'll have to be on the down low with, but they are going to exploit that weakeness as much as possible. Those that have only been in the carnival a few months will mostly just feel discomfort at the touch of it - as if they are touching something that is slightly too hot or too cold. Veterans that have been around for years will find its touch to be burningly cold - the type of temperature that would threaten to destroy flesh after prolonged contact. Those that have been here for up to three years will take it the worst. See the Transformations page for more details! ► TURNING THE TABLES: Being turned is a mixture of pleasure and pain, and is often hard for mortals to mentally reconcile as it happens to them. Being drained by these vampires is simultaneously impossibly satisfying and extremely terrifying - once they've started in on your, the way it overwhelms your mind and body can make it nearly impossible to stop them without help. Once you are dead or dying, they will feed you their blood - at which point your body will go through a painful transformation as the demon spirit takes its place inside of you and your dead body is violently resurrected. As soon as you wake up, freshly changed, the bloodlust will set it - it will be extremely hard to control, and at first all you will think about is wanting to sate that hunger. Combined with your sire having direct control if your mind through your blood connection, new vampires will be mostly incapable of doing anything but following the whims of the rest of the vampire pack and seeking nourishment. This blood lust will begin to fade after they've fed. Killing isn't necessary to feed, but it can be hard to stop yourself, as a neonate vampire. ► CLOSING TIME: Before the party is officially over, the Host will have had enough. Before you can pursue all of the vampires or take back the people they've stolen, the lot of them will have escaped back to their dimension, and the Host will have kicked the entire carnival out for participating in so much violence. If you want to make any final moves before you go, this is the time.

Comments

The Capture of Koel Babic | OTA

[cuckooed]

[Ah, a masquerade. It reminded her of days long past, when she had graced the courts of kings as a charming young duke, back when morals were as loose as stays were tight and the etiquette tighter. She is a bird again, a merry robin dancing a quadrille. A hawk, staking out all the lovely things with masks. Back when things like this couldn't be spoiled.

She spots a sweet young woman beckoning to her, and she smiles back. To her rooms? Of course. They make it up to the hallways, when her new friend begins to kiss her. On the cheek, on the lips. Teasing, tempting.

Then the girl's eyes lit on Koel's neckline, and dove for it.

Oh.

Oh no.

Koel's hands were on the other's cheeks, yanking her away. She may have gotten carried away but she wasn't THAT gone the she didn't know what a kill shot from a monster was. The girl's eyes were wide and bright red beneath the mask, before they glazed over once Koel cleanly snapped her neck.]

...They're here.

[And from bedroom doorways they did indeed come. A dozen of them, in fact, none of them as pathetically weak as the dead girl judging by the scent of power that filled the hall. They all held iron in their hands, indicating to Koel exactly why they were here.

They hadn't forgotten the last battle either.

For her part, Koel let out a snarl.]

Why don't you drop your weapons and settle this with me the right way. Cowards.

[That got most of them to acquiesce. Vampire pride is vampire pride after all.

So Koel lowered her knees, letting out a war trill as they rushed her. She wasn't going down without a fight and they knew it.

(She could use some help.)]

[pipers_son]

[Unfortunately, all she gets is some feathery asshole suddenly careening from the air into one of the young vampires. Ah- how nostalgic.]

[At least this time Joker knows what he's doing with his wings, foot stomping down into the vampire's head as its kin whirl on him before he tries to take to the air again.]

Koel, christ alive!

[It probably says something about how he's more terrified of her right now than any of the vampire attackers.]

Sora | ota

[destiny_key]

A) During the Party

Out of all the parties Sora's been to this week, this is probably one of the more chill ones. Moreover, it seems like everyone in the entire building is here, and only in the fanciest of dress. Sora himself is rocking a suit and mask that make him look very dashing, indeed.

He'll be around all evening (not like he has a choice), hanging out with anyone he can find.

B) From a Fake Vampire to a Real one [closed]

Honestly, he's not sure why he went into the side room. Looking back, it was super obvious he was being controlled, an easy feat with his guard down like it was, but at the time, he'd just been curious about its contents. The contents were, of course, vampires.

Sora follows the voice, curious, way too curious for his own good (he'd always been like that, though) into the side room. The inside of the room is smokey, like someone's had a cigarette recently, and he crinkles his nose at the smell. He waves the smoke away from his face with one hand, and peers into the dim lighting.

It's at this point that he realizes that perhaps this wasn't the best idea, wandering off on his own, but it was a little late for regrets now. It's a little late to do anything, now, as a hand grabs him by the bicep and yanks him off to the side, pulling him around and shoving him roughly into a wall. Confused, Sora doesn't react for a split second, and his shirt and coat collar are wrenched aside and a pair of fangs sinks into his neck.

His first thought at this development is 'ouch', followed swiftly by something along the lines of 'what the actual hell'. He feels lightheaded, and his knees threaten to give out under him until an arm scoops around his waist to hold him up. Dimly, Sora is aware that he's been bitten by a vampire (a real, actual vampire, not a fake one like him), and he weakly tries to shove them away, to no avail.

Just as he's about to pass out, the vampire releases their mouth from his neck and gently allows him to slide down the wall to a sitting position. His head lolls back against the structure. Something is shoved into his mouth and it tastes like iron, like blood, and it's disgusting, but he doesn't have the energy to fight back, to move at all, and he's forced to drink it.

Again, he feels like he's going to pass out, and again he's pulled back from the brink, this time by a severe wave of pain slamming into his gut. Everything's on fire, god it hurts, hurts worse than anything, and then, he's gone.

C) Got the Munchies

Seeing Sora again in the latter half of the party is significantly different from seeing him in the first half. In fact, it's completely different from seeing him at any other time, period. He seems dazed and confused by the goings-on around him, and is being escorted by an adult man with silver hair and golden eyes, who occasionally stoops to whisper in Sora's ear.

When the party really 'gets going', eg people start fighting the vampires, that's when Sora really starts to move. It takes some prompting, but he's soooooo hungry... You can try to help him, but there's not much to help when his sire is behind him, puppeteering his every move.

C as discussed!

[ophidiarex]

It's not that he's fighting. He's not. Snake isn't even carrying any poisonous snakes that could defend him from normal people, let alone vampires! But not even Joker's orders could make him leave now. Emily is missing.

Emily, the flirtatious milk snake, his primary voice, left his side to watch the party from high ground, but she's not on the pillar he left her at now. In this panic, she could have been stomped on, or worse! He won't, can't leave without her, but his search is getting nowhere. "'Emily! Emily, we need to go!' says Donne."

From the outside, he just looks like another frantic partygoer, except running towards, rather than away, and marked by the scaled pattern and unusual eyes that make him look like a carnival veteran. He's looking everywhere, but his eyes are focused on identifying one pattern. He doesn't notice Sora and his sire, even though they're barely 8 feet away when he slips on a spilt drink and falls.

Sherlock Holmes | OTA

[thevictoriandetective]

A. If you stare into the Abyss...

He picked a terrific time to start his trek back into sobriety. Of course, he hadn't gone exactly cold turkey, he didn't want to die. Weaning ones' self off of whatever poison he'd put in his system meant said poison was still in his system, just not to a point of kidney failure or brain frying. Still, the masquerade had its own enchantment and it was all too easy for his mind to get swept away in the party. He wore a mask that looked more like a snake skull, a top hat, and his clothes were quite dapper.

Sherlock is actually a really good ballroom dancer, he's graceful and surprisingly charming when he wanted to be. It didn't take long before he's swept up in the whirling kaleidoscope, masks blurring, laughter, and swirling music.

B. The Abyss stares back...

A woman that reminded him of Irene Adler managed to drag him into the shadows, attracting him not with a pretty face (only, because he supposedly didn't care about things like that, what, not him, no, not at all, he was above all that wasn't he, uh huh) but with a clever wit and intelligence. Whatever it was, he was drawn to her for some reason, and all his thoughts focused on her. She grinned as they went by the curtains, lifting her hand to his cheek as if she was going to kiss him, then--suddenly, he noticed she had pointed teeth and--

--they went right into his neck. Considering he was covered in scales this was probably not that easy.

A second later she pushed him away, holding her forehead and looking astonished and dizzy. She pressed her hand against the wall, steadying herself.

"Whoa. You...how are you even functioning with all that. Your system!?"

"What?" he blearily said, holding his own head. He was a swirl of confused emotions, fighting the effect of when she'd bitten him, he'd just melted...that wasn't...what was going on!? Was she some kind of vampire?

"Yeah, I'm gonna say no," she shook her head, and staggered back to the party, leaving a confused Sherlock behind.

And occasionally, a random vampire would grab him from the dance for a quick bite, much to his bewhilderment. None of them ever took more than a quick bite, but he had the oddest feeling he was being passed around.

C. So poke the Abyss in the eyes

Sherlock had to sit down. It was getting to be too much, and that was saying a lot, especially for him. The occasional vampire bite, the sweeties, the spell of the masquerade itself...his mind was absolutely useless and that's what finally alerted him. He couldn't think...why couldn't he just think!? He felt like he was in the center of a tilt-a-whirl, every thought produced yanked away from him and melting into a swirl of colors. He just wanted to have fun and dance...no...there was something wrong. He had to fight it!

He managed to find a table with some water and drank some as he tried to fight his way past the cotton wool in his brain. There was something nagging him, something the clever part of his brain that hadn't managed to be killled off yet by his bad habits or this place, was trying to tell him.

Vampires.

He realized he'd been noticing them stalking people, stalking him. Just because they hadn't killed him yet didn't mean they hadn't done it to anyone else.

Blast!

His deductive powers, while weakened with his mind like this, allowed him to somewhat figure out who people were despite the masks and enchantment. He raced for the nearest member of the Carnival he saw to warn them and see if they could do something about it.

c!

[kingsroads]

They had tried to shoot him! Whatever it was, those things, those creatures, they had tried to shoot him! Strange's hands tremble as he takes a drink. It's obvious just from his body language that something had happened, as he stands on the sidelines of the dance, wallflowering it up and trying to calm his shaking nerves. As such, even through the haze of the magic, it's glaringly obvious that he's a member of the Carnival.

Unfortunately, while Sherlock's deductive abilities might help him piece out who's who, Strange's entire lack of deductive skills are kicking his ass right now. When Sherlock walks up to him, almost instantly he's a bit defensive, not really knowing who the other man is and still on his guard because of the vampire.

"What do you want?" he can't help but ask, obviously rattled, as he takes another drink of his water.

Lauren .. Well this will be no fun at all

[mylastchance]

A. Tuned In (OTA)
Lauren's own mask is completely nondescript. It's simple, black, and covers his cheeks and nose leaving only his eyes and mouth visible on his face. His finery too is plain, his tunic a kind of green crushed velvet and he pulls at it awkwardly as the rest of the party moves on around him. He can't recognize anyone, and is even having some trouble telling Susan apart from the rest of the crowd. It's a bit concerning, but at the same time it's freeing and he smiles a bit as it occurs to him that tonight he could be completely anonymous.

He isn't sure what it is, but there's something in the air tonight. Despite his usual sour mood he's smiling. He isn't dancing but he's tapping his foot in time with the music, He watches countless others, nameless unrecognizable people, twirl about on the dance floor.

Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.


B. Turned Out (Closed to Susan)
He wouldn't be able to most nights, but for some reason today when a lady asks him for a dance he accepts, gladly. He doesn't have much experience dancing. He's a poor lead and he certainly makes a misstep or two at first, but he's been watching the steps all night. He knows the way direction to move his feet and when to turn around in the song, and it's fun, strangely. Even when he fumbles, dancing among others in a crowd makes him feel almost joyful. He isn't quite sure why he hadn't joined in before now.

When the song has ended and another is about to begin he laughs, stepping back from the stranger to end their dance. She's smiling, and he's glad she's had her fun, but she steps towards him again. She's pressing close now and he raises his hand to protest, when suddenly he feels a bit cold. A sense of fear runs through him and he shivers. She's in his space. He tries to pull back, but her grip is strong. She leans forward pressing her nose to his neck inhaling his scent and he shivers. He starts to struggle, but she wraps her hand around his neck and he stills. The way they're positioned it looks like nothing more than a kiss as she bites into the skin of his neck. Her fangs grow long as she drinks and his breathing shudders to a halt. He can feel her sucking the life out of him, and almost immediately he knows what this is. His eyes widen and he tries to pull away, but he feels weak, impossibly so. It's as though his limbs have been filled with lead.

His fingers twitch, but his hand won't move. He wants to stop her, to get away, but he can't. A fog settles over his mind, it's getting harder to think. His closes his eyes and his posture slackens. When he falls forward the woman catches him. She leans in giving him a kiss, but he doesn't respond. When she pulls back a small drop of blood drips from the corner of his lips.

here comes the drama

[wild_magic]

Dancing isn't quite Susan's thing, and so it was probably unsurprising when he (and his familiar, of course, also wearing a mask) slipped away into the crowd to eat and drink instead. It was more interesting than staying with his brother, after all.

But soon enough he comes back to where he left Lauren, taking longer than normal to find him, but finally recognizing him from his clothes and mask he heads towards him. He's surprised to see his brother dancing with someone, but that doesn't stop him from approaching - even when he sees her leaning into him intimately (although of course he makes a face at that) -

And then Lauren is falling, and the woman is catching him, and he charges forward, not sure yet if Lauren was attacked or if he's just suddenly ill, but either way he needs to be there. He sees her kiss him, and it only adds to his confusion, but at the same time it gives him the answer he needs - after all, if his brother was just ill, that would be an awfully strange thing to do. Not that it isn't strange if she attacked him, but it still makes more sense, somehow.

Soon enough he's there in front of them, immediately grabbing the woman by the arm with a shocking grasp spell.

"What did you do to him?!"

Jamie, OTA

[mildwildchild]

A: Partying!
Jamie didn't want to be here before and he really, really doesn't want to be here now. There's nothing objectionable about the masquerade in concept, except that for some reason it's mandatory for everyone to attend, and in light of his growing concerns about this place the forced attendance doesn't sit well with him at all. An elaborate leather outfit and metal mask are chosen for him, and now he's here, hugging the walls and nibbling morosely on some of the food on offer, simply because it keeps him from thinking too much about how uncomfortable he is.

B: Poor life choices!
At some point in the evening, Jamie feels something like a very gentle tug at the edges of his consciousness, something prompting him to look in a certain direction, head over that way, follow this corridor to a side room. It's quiet here, and pleasantly dim, and there's no one else around. Jamie feels the tension in him begin to unravel, bit by bit, and he pulls off the irritating mask and closes his eyes.

The hand over his mouth catches him by surprise, and before he can think to struggle there's a stabbing pain in his neck that's both the worst and best thing he's ever felt before, and he wants it to stop just as badly as he wants it to continue forever. He twitches in his captor's grip, whimpering in pain and confusion as all the strength leaves him and he slumps back into an unpleasantly clammy embrace. Something flows into his mouth - he recognizes the scent of blood and tries to pull away, but he doesn't have the energy to do anything but swallow the coppery fluid as it trickles down his throat.

He's lost in some black eternity of ingesting blood while he grows colder and colder and colder. It ends eventually, and there's another interminable period of feeling like his body's been packed in ice, but his natural reflexes aren't kicking in to help alleviate it. He's not even sure what this feeling is - has he been paralyzed? Drugged? Or maybe he's -

Something foreign shreds and claws its way into the core of his being, ripping apart the essence of himself and pulling the tatters around it until they've melded together into something Other. This, too, seems to take a very long time, and the pain it brings is indescribable.

Outside the room, the noise of the ongoing party drowns out his screams.

C: Predation!
His return to the festivities is as quiet as his brief exit. He ghosts through the crowd seemingly looking for something, prowling like an animal. At some point during the evening, you may find yourself with the faint, inexplicable urge to look into the shadows behind this pillar or that decorative statue, and find yourself facing Jamie, unmasked and staring at you very intently. And...seemingly bleeding from the corner of his mouth?...

Alternatively, the pull you feel may be much more compelling. Once his newly-turned prey has wandered off to feed, Jamie's sire emerges to do a little more hunting of his own. Tall, sturdily-built and intimidating, Irvine nonetheless moves with a fluid grace that belies his bulk, carefully investigating the partygoers in search of ones that meet his master's specific criteria. Turning one pathetic carnival initiate isn't nearly enough for him; the night is young, and he's eager to add a few more notches to his belt.

[Irvine is an adult vampire and is available to turn or nearly turn your character, fight them, etc etc. He relies mostly on subtlety, but isn't at all afraid to get physical if needed. Let me know if you want him, Jamie, both or either.]

C

[fragileandsoft]

Already, Greg's gotten pulled aside by the Host a couple times for pulling his mask off. Forget the party, he needs to find someone! This is hard enough without this awful enchantment muddying his perception.

It makes it especially easy to notice, however, when someone else has taken their mask off. Or perhaps that's simply the urge to pay attention speaking. Either way, even if this isn't who Greg was looking for his attention is certainly piqued. Particularly by that distressing dark smudge at the lip.

"Hey--you're--it's Jamie, right?"

Greg slips his own mask, a weaving of leaves and creepers, up onto his forehead again. The whole situation has made him agitated and pretty impatient, but his concern overtakes the rest.

"Are you doing all right? Did something happen?"

Night of the MOMPIRE

[sunflowerfields]

A: Prelude (OTA)

Well, here we are at the masquerade. Hinawa is already plenty put-off by the general opulence of the celebration world, and this dance is the most decadent of all. Still, she's wearing a gown and a mask as directed. She hovers near the back of the great hall, content to be a wallflower for the rest of the evening and keep an eye out for her fellow carnival workers in case they find themselves a little too inebriated to dance. Of course, the masks make that last bit a little difficult, but that's not going to stop her from trying.

B: Intermission

As the evening wears on, however, the music starts to lull her into a dreamy state, and she starts to sway a little as she glances around at the crowd. And then she sees him.

A tall, dark man in a long coat and a... cowboy hat? At first she thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her, as he seems to glide in and out of her view, but then it becomes clear that he's approaching her. His mask is simple, but it obscures his features just enough to make her think...

"Flint?"

He doesn't speak, just takes her hands in his and leads her to the dance floor. She can hardly believe it. Flint is here! She's missed him so much, she just wants to fall into his arms and never leave. Sure, his grip doesn't feel the same, and his eyes are red, and he's never kissed her on the neck so passionately...

For a brief moment, Hinawa feels like she's awakened from a deep sleep. She looks around and sees that she's not in the great hall anymore, and she's alone with someone who's not Flint. She can't react quickly enough, though, and the next thing she knows, she feels a sensation like a pin prick in her neck. The man has his lips on her neck and he's...biting her? She lets out a yelp of protest and tries to reach up to push him away, but he's got her arms in his grasp. He bites deeper and begins to drink. It hurts at first until a cold, numb feeling fills her, and she starts to sink to her knees. Gently, the stranger lays her on the ground. Hinawa wants to scream, to run, to do anything at all, but all she can do is lay there and watch as the world starts to go dark.

As she slips away, she feels something hot and tasting of copper forced down her throat...

C: Epilogue (also OTA)

"Now go." It pains Hinawa to leave his side, but she's compelled to slip back into the party. Almost immediately, she's overwhelmed by the scent of the warm bloodbags everywhere. Her eyes start to glaze over. Her throat feels dry. She's starving. Something... is wrong. No, everything about this is wrong. If she doesn't get out of here, she knows she's going to do something terrible. She tries to turn and leave, but she glimpses the man in the doorway, and he slowly shakes his head disapprovingly. She can't leave, and as she runs her tongue over something new and sharp in her mouth she realizes she can't help herself.

c

[perverses]

Meanwhile, Shima has yet to realize everything is going horribly, horribly wrong. Spotting Hinawa, his best guess is a nice lady distraught for one reason or another, which means he'll be breaking away from the dancing going on all around them to stroll on over.

"You okay, miss?" He asks when he's close enough to pop up at her side, smiling cheerfully — or sounding cheerful, anyway, thanks to his all-covering kitsune mask — like he more or less always is. "No, no, let me guess! Whoever you were dancing with ditched ya, is that it?"

Which he asks because, yes, he definitely is about to offer to dance with a much older lady. That's just how he rolls. Too bad he's about to get a new and starving vampire over, you know, an amusing rejection.

Jonathan Strange | open!

[kingsroads]

a: prevampires
[ Aside from the magical 'it's hard to figure out who this person is' effects of his mask, there's a whole other collection of traits that Strange is displaying that are very...well, strange. He's a lot more put-together than he's been before, hair actually brushed and outfit almost impeccable. There's no trace of any sort of wildness or messiness that other carnival workers have come to associate with him.

But most obvious is that he is brooding it up something fierce. Strange will go out to dance if offered and he'll be congenial enough if drawn into conversation. But even the temptations and distractions of the masquerade can't distract him from what he had learned earlier that day, during his conversation with Childermass. It's a bit of a shock to find out surprise, your wife's actually alive and trapped in faerie, have fun trying to have fun with that little bombshell on your mind.

It's at one point that he decides fuck it, he might as well go find Childermass and actually confront him about why he didn't learn this information earlier. Unfortunately, that whole 'magically obscuring people's identities' thing puts a BIG OL'DAMPER on his plan. Damn this magic and damn his inability to actually do something about it! So sorry random person, Strange has lightly tapped you on the shoulder. ]

Look here, I—ah. Terribly sorry, I thought you were someone else.

[ he's grumpy, the magic is messing with his head, and he's a bit tipsy, anyone can be mistaken for Childermass whether they're a tall northerner or not. ]

b: vampire attack
[ One of the neonates had lured Strange away to a private room, seemingly content to listen to the magician natter on about topics ranging from magic to how he's still a bit bitter towards Childermass right now to something about peninsulas. Strange being a sulky tipsy mess makes him a pretty easy target in the eyes of the vampires. Said neonate miiight want to have called for back-up.

Because as soon as Strange spots the gun the neonate's wielding and as soon as the vampire lunges for his neck, Strange panics. He is not getting shot again, not when he's got all the more reason to actually stay alive. The spell's out of his mouth before he even realizes what he's doing, as he points a finger at the neonate. A moment later, the vampire starts to shrink, growing feathers at a rapid rate. It only takes a few moments for what was a vampire to become a small bird, a robin that's exceedingly confused and pretty pissed off about it's new lack of teeth.

Nerves couple with the exhaustion from casting such a powerful spell: he needs a drink. Still tense and still wearing his mask, Strange bursts from the private room and makes a beeline for the punch bowl, pouring himself a drink with shaking hands. ]

They have guns, [ said to whoever's also standing around, getting a drink for themselves and probably not expecting a frantic, tense magician to suddenly start up a conversation. ] That...that whatever it is, he tried to shoot me!

c: actually doing his job
[ The threat's become obvious as more people have started to fight the vampires. And man does Strange wish that this was outside. He can think of so many different combat maneuvers that he could use with actual elements but the limitations of a party hall are doing more damage than he realizes. You can't pull someone down with earth if there's not any earth you can manipulate to begin with. And it's so much easier to manipulate water when there's a well or an ocean, not a punch bowl or glasses of wine.

Still, he's a nightrunner and it's his job to protect the Carnival so he's going to try his best no matter what. By now he's gone ahead and taken off his mask entirely (sorry Host!) and is helping out in various ways of various degrees of subtlety. Perhaps you were about to enter a private room when your reflection in a nearby mirror catches your eye...except it's not your reflection, but that of Strange's, as he mouths the word "run." Or perhaps you're in actual combat when a thick mist appears out of nowhere, oddly localized around a five foot radius, giving you a chance to escape. Or perhaps you're this close to getting hypnotized when the flames of a nearby candlestick dangerously flare up, catching the vampire's coattails on fire and breaking the vampire's concentration. Surprise, it's Strange, just magicking it up in the background despite the fact that he looks exhausted and like he desperately needs a pick-me-up of some sort. Occasionally his magics actually hurt the vampires, but more often than not it's him trying to serve as a distraction. ]

B

[osteothropy]

[And suddenly Sans is there, before he does that. He's been on the prowl, listening to signs of upset, and Strange's attack is just the first of what he expects will be many. The area is too big and the music is too loud to get the word out quickly, but that's the nice part of being able to teleport around.]

A vampire.

[He says it like he's answer Strange's question. He's not totally sure who this is yet.]

Who am I speaking to? You guys all look the same in here.

[Sans tips up his mask long enough to show his identity.]

Yuugi Mutou | ota

[toogoodtoopure]

during the masquerade

[If he hadn't been feeling snappy this morning, still trying to subconsciously fight the effects of the Celebration, Yuugi would have otherwise been pumped for the masquerade. Still, it's easy to brush it off and put it to the side once the mask was on. Now that Chiaki-san had pointed out he was slowly becoming a smaller version of Anubis, the irony of the mask didn't escape him. His outfit is a bit weird, but nothing stranger than usual, and he ignored the strange feeling in the pit of his gut as he mingles amid the masquerade, unable to really spot anyone he recognizes.

Which, y'know, should be a warning sign, but who's paying attention to those these days?]


first bite

[It's the first time in almost a week that he's felt any sort of pain. A searing sort that arches through his neck and sends his blood cold, chills running up his spine. Yuugi blinks, blearily opening his eyes and staring down at the blond head of hair that's nestled itself in beneath his chin as he tried to get a sense of where he was, raising a hand to his forehead to rub it before one comes up to latch around his wrist and pull it down.

Ah, right. He'd been sort of hanging out (read, not really dancing but pretending to) with a guy that reminded him idly of Jounouchi-kun, from what he could read behind the mask, before he'd dragged him off into a spare room, idly making out along the way. There was a thought about someone important to him, but whatever it was, it was gone by the time they reached the room. Then it was lips, tongue, teeth, the slighter teenager pressed against the wall, head tilted back...

He wakes up with a snap of wide violet eyes, feeling warm but thirsty, sated but not. There's a nose pressed into his hair at the nape of his neck, which throbs as he sits, curling in on himself with a small whine of a whimper. It hurts. Oh gods does it hurt. Yuugi draws his hands up to claw at his arms, only to have them drawn down and away and small kisses along his skin and purred words in his ear.

It's okay. Everything's fine.

Not much time has passed at all since Yuugi disappeared from the ballroom, but returning, there's something...different. He tilts his head, willingly following the young blond man across the room to, hopefully, a new source of food.

He's so hungry...

He growled, low in his throat, ears pulled back against his head as his sire turns to him with a small sigh and a wider smile.]

Be a good boy and don't leave your dinner unfinished, hmm~?


[ooc: Yuugi's going to be a bit hard to reach, due to the fact that he's pretty much feral for a newborn, but people can try and wrench him away from his sire. Add to the fact that his mask is now quite literally his face as part of a change, he's more bestial than anything.]

first bite

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She'd lost track of him. It was something with the masks - she should be able to recognize his snout-like face without problem, but between the magic here and the vast number of animal-esque masks, it's a bit harder to tell.

And after too long without seeing him, she's starting to worry. ]

Yuugi-kun...? [ More focused now, she darts through the ball, hopping across and around the floor in an increasingly worried search for him. Everybody's here and it's not a huge room. She's got to find him eventually... right? ]

Psi .. Panic at the Disco // OTA

[dorkypantsuit]

He's in a pretty good mood when he first arrives to the party. His mask is gold and black, and formed into the shape of a butterfly's wing on one side. His outfit a black dress with sheer stripes along the bodice. It's not often that he wears dresses, but out of everything in his closet this was the combination he had liked the best.

Unfortunately his good humor doesn't last for long. He's swept away by a handsome stranger to one of the private rooms, and then stabbed with a pure iron knife. He makes short work of his attacker, but it does little to make him feel better. The wound at his side pulses with pain as he walks. His breathing is haggard. He does his best to cover his injury with his hand, but it doesn't do much to stem the flow of purple blood. His eyes spark, red and blue color bleeding into the air around him. His mask has long been forgotten. The only thing on his mind now is finding his crew and protecting them.

"Chiaki? Ginko?!" he calls out each of there names in turns as he staggers through the party, the music and dancing that before had seemed so grand now making him nauseous. "Joker!? Sans!?"

His eyes sweep through the crowd searching for familiar faces but all he can see are strangers.

[destiny_key]

Sora's wandering around the party, slightly more coherent than he'd been earlier now that he's had a drink or five. Still pretty hungry, though.

At first glance, he's by himself, but looking closer, one can see a golden-eyed man watching him like a hawk as the boy practically runs into Psi. It takes Sora a moment to even recognize him. He's got an arm wrapped around his middle, nails digging into his side, like he's trying to hold himself back.

"Psi...?" he asks, trailing off.

Lambert | open!

[whattaprick]

dreaming

Unlike others who've had more time to absorb the idea that the celebration's not what it seems, Lambert's still struggling to shake off its effects, with only partial success. His gold-horned mask and heavily embroidered coat to match aren't characteristic of him, but the thick cloth conceals the potions and bombs he'd had the half-sense to take from his pack, insurance against trouble. He'd have brought his sword if he could, but he'd lost the meaning of why he was doing it half-way through. But it had seemed too much trouble to remove the other items, so on to the party he goes with them, silver wolf medallion still around his neck.

Instead of drinking (for some reason, he feels like he should stay away from that) he's occupying himself by dancing, and it's your turn next, it seems, as he's holding out a hand.

"May I have this dance?"

awake
A group of giggling 'lionesses' have tugged Lambert off to a side room, their gold-and-wood masks glinting merrily under the warm lights of the Celebration. He thinks it's going pretty well, right up until one of them bares a little too much fang, and then he's throwing himself off the furniture and rolling to his feet on the other side of the room.

A fighter, aren't you? One of them giggles, sliding what looks like little more than a metal tube out from under the folds of her skirt and pointing it directly at him. Lambert's never seen a real one before, but he remembers seeing one before -- when he was playing games in the arcade with Tamaki, although it had been flimsy and artificial then. He knows what that's called: it's a gun.

Do you know? It's like ... bang!

And it's a weapon.

Quen slams up at a flick of his fingers, absorbing the impact of the shot that makes his ears ring. The other two are drawing weapons too -- thankfully, no more guns, but no less wicked-looking. His reflexes are still sluggish, but he fumbles at his belt. A flash of teeth isn't enough for him to identify what he's fighting, but he knows one tried and true method of dealing with a lot of things.

Anyone walking past the doors at this point will hear a soft paff and then a sudden roar as things burst into flame. Lambert barrels through a moment later, still smoldering slightly.

Beyond the door, three silhouettes move closer. It seems this fight isn't over yet.

[ ooc; I'll be tagging around as well, but if you need him to show up anywhere or want a specific set-up post, just hmu on el plotting post! ]

awake, unfortunately

[osteothropy]

More than anything, Sans really wants a drink right now. What he gets, though, is a stabbed fellow coworker and the knowledge that vampires have infiltrated the party, with the Ringmaster nowhere to be found. This is the moment he's known was coming. The moment when handling this was entirely down to him and Mari, by job description.

He's left his mask on, after realizing, because when there are vampires out to get you being unseen might actually be a key advantage. It means that he can skirt around the party and observe, trying to locate other carnival members with visual evidence, and tell them to get the hell out.

A room bursting into flame is more visual evidence than was strictly necessary, but he'll take it.

As soon as he sees Lambert roll out, Sans reacts instinctively. With a gesture of his claws, a row of bones pierces up through the floor, blocking the doorway as Lambert recovers. The first question is simple.

"There anybody else in there?"

SANS | OPEN AND CLOSED ISH

[osteothropy]

► IT'S A LIVING, HOPEFULLY
Sans barely gets the enjoy the party - as if he even could, left undisturbed. Once the violence starts, he's on it post-haste, the panicked tales of sudden assaults and shootings making it clear that the enemy has followed them. Out of everything he was concerned about this week, this wasn't one of them, but at least it's a problem he knows how to fight.

Mostly, anyway.

Sans is still wearing his mask as he patrols the area, escorting carnival members back to the dining room when he can find them, hoping that larger numbers and lack of random bystanders will make them safer while the Supervisors find the Ringmaster. The anonymity of the spell is a double sided sword - it makes it harder for him to find his charges, but it also makes it harder for their vampire assailants to track his movements.

He'll be trying to whisk anybody he can away from the danger, so if you are a vampire who wants to throw down of a carnie that needs rescuing, this is place to be.


► WEREWOLF VERSUS VAMPIRES (CLOSED ISH)
But it can't last forever. Keep diving into the action and eventually he makes himself a prime target - or maybe he always was a prime target, and it's only now that they've managed to close in on him. His mask has helped to protect his identity, but his actions have given it away just as surely.

Of course the Warden is a key target. This is exactly how Kiwani died, in the position before him. He still remembers her, sucked dry and left empty on the ground.

He doesn't really think of that until he's found himself cornered in one of the grand halls, leading down towards the dining room. He'd been checking for stragglers, but as it turns out he is the straggler, because he doesn't see anyone else here besides the two vampires looming in. If they were neonates, this would be easy. He could handle it. But they're not, and he knows as much as soon as they move in, at blinding speeds.

He can dodge them at first, but he's outnumbered and their speed make it too hard to calculate. He could try to escape, but then these two would just be free to carry straight on to the dining hall - the place that members of the carnival are hiding. He needs to take them out while he can, or what's the point? It's what he's supposed to do.

But they're too fast, and he knows it. If they hit him even once it's going to be over for him. So he takes the other option - the one he bargained for, just for this specific event.

He teleports far enough away that he'll have the time he needs to shift. He strips off his coat and boots, and his bones begin to crack and shift as they reposition and grow rapidly in size. It hurts, but not as much as he's going to hurt them.

Before they can find him and catch up, his much larger bone-wolf form has leaped up onto the stairs, ten feet at the shoulder and at least twice as long. For just a moment, he sees them hesitate as he growls, wondering what they've gotten themselves into. It feels good to see that.

So, he leaps at them, all claws and burning magical light. Let's see who's on the defensive now.

that's not a sans that's a giant wolf

[spaghettimonster]

Between the actual fights breaking out, and the noisy fear of the people gathering, Papyrus finally starts shaking off the party fugue. It's enough for him to notice missing faces from the people around him in the dining hall, missing voices from the people calling in that they're almost there.

The big threat of the vampires seems to be that they can turn other people into vampires, because then friends forget about caring for each other. They get bitey and angry and more than a little bit murdery. It's one of the worst things imaginable. But he heard there might be a way, if they're knocked out and dragged back safely, to fix them. The Great Papyrus can do that.

And since being a skeleton makes him immune to being turned into one of those vampires, he's one the best choices to run out and look for stragglers. Mostly, by vaulting down the halls, literally leaping overhead, shouting names and looking for anyone he can recognize through the lingering enchantment.

"Koel! Mari! Sans---HEY! You! Is Sans near here??"

When he turns a corner and comes across a bunch of vampires fighting a giant bone wolf, well, his first reaction is to shout out a question. After all, everybody knows to pause fighting and let people take turns for phone calls and answering questions, right? And even if they're rude enough not to, the bone wolf is like a blaster that thinks for itself. Between them, it'll work out.

GONGENZAKA | OTA

[betheman]

[(Don't) Poke Angry Bears]

[He is very uncomfortable. At first, he thought he could admittedly cheat the 'mask' rule. Dishonorable as it was, he enjoyed being able to see/smell/hear properly, and the mask was both uncomfortable and in the way.

After the third round of one of the Host's extensions clicking their tongue at him, Gongenzaka was stuck leaving his mask on, to say the least. Which was really not helping anything, as the more it sat there the more it felt like his ability to smell and hear was going haywire-] Nnnngghhhhh...

Headache? [At some point, a young woman tries to take him off to get some medication-he refuses politely, and despite her insisting, she sighs and leaves. She is not the first however, and after the fifth one, the migraine is increasing to possibly the worst level of aggravation he's ever dealt with, forcing the teen into a corner of the dance room.]

Ffffh....hhhh... [Breathe. Breathe calmly. Try meditating, try anything-]

Are you alright..?

I, THE MAN GONGENZAKA, AM FINE ENOUGH..! [For those who know Gongenzaka, they have probably rarely-if at all-ever seen him truly angered.

To see him snap at someone so loudly that they bolt is probably new entirely.]

[Hunting Season (NPC Prompt)]

[Something wasn't right about this ball, and the more he sat at the side in his (frankly wonderfully tailored) kimono garb, the more it felt as if there could even be something dangerous. Something in the air pulled at him, and the shadows of the hall nearest seemed to in particular scream 'suspect me'. Part of him wondered if he was being too paranoid-but the pull demands his investigation, and logically even if it's a trap, that means he should go.

He's patrol. It's his job (even if he is, off duty) to check for danger if there is danger. And if what lures him in is in fact danger, then, well...

He follows it. Half ready to bring his nose closer to the ground like an actual mutt, Gongenzaka lifts his mask off a now slightly lengthened snout and sneezes, shaking off the effects of confusion to focus on the trail. Something is here, he's sure of it. SOMETHING, he just knows it-]

My my my! What a unique shape, and this is what that Carnival creates?

[He turns immediately to growl and pounce, but finds the sound caught in his throat just as he freezes. For a moment he almost thinks of Yuuya's father-but the colours are wrong, not to mention the face in particular. The man across from him dips his hat, leans on his cane, and smiles.] Now that's a good decision, 'son'...wouldn't want to upset anyone right?

[The vampire-and he knows very well this is a vampire, he has seen them, fought them, KILLED them and been killed by them-laughs when he manages to growl again, the rumble low in his throat and growing steadily in volume. Something feels different about this vampire...not just the shadows, but the hold they have over him feels twisted and wrong, and as the man talks, he finally snaps-

He lunges-] Hohhh! Right in the middle of our conversation, so rude! [And suddenly he feels the man's cane slam against his back, a searing shudder of pain coursing through and forcing a canid 'yelp' from his throat.] Heel! Heel I say! [the vampire 'jokes', and Gongenzaka finds himself groaning from the floor in seconds.] Good 'dog'! You are a dog, I'm assuming, the bottom half is so confusing, you know!

Kghhh...you dare..to mock me...when you-

Ahhh-ahahahahh...shhhh, [the vampire hums, stooping down with a smile.] If you can't make jokes about yourself, then you can't be that at home with what you are, can you..? And what a shame! [he sighs, clicking his tongue.] A single blow with an iron cane, and you come down as fast as a tumbling tower..!

HHhgg...Get away, [Gongenzaka hisses, struggling to force himself up. The cane connects, and he roars-the sound muted by a hand swiftly locked over his mouth.] MMGNH-

Now...most likely, you were going to say something about our lovely crew not going unnoticed. We're very aware of our limits, don't worry. But the thing is... [He removes his hand, and Gongenzaka feels a great pressure upon his mind and senses, eyes meeting the other's own as the vampire smiles.] That doesn't matter.

[Draining. He can feel the draining again, his arm held forward without his realization. His eyes are locked with the other's own, and he can feel himself fading away, weakening the longer the stare holds. He needs to close his eyes (but he can't), he needs to (but he CAN'T), and the only thing keeping him upright is the stance his drained body was left in as the one across from him drops the arm to grip instead the shoulder.]

Drink up, [the vampire encourages, forcing the other's mouth open. He isn't bleeding yet, but with alarming ease, Gongenzaka finds himself 'allowed' to bite down, snarl meeting the air even through the haze of the other's control and hypnosis. The taste of copper fills his mouth, and as much as he wishes to spit it out on the spot, the fluid is ingested. His vision grows hazier the more he tastes. And the last thing he sees before passing out is..

That smile...]

There we go...welcome to the family, my boy... [The vampire lets the body down and gives the shoulder a good firm clap, before standing to stretch.] Now...what are my other young ones up to..?

[SHOW MUST GO ON-! (NPC PROMPT)]

[Allegro wasn't the oddest vampire by far, but it was certainly odd that he'd joined in with a few others on this task, or at least that he'd joined with so much zeal. Perhaps not TOO odd-there was something fascinating about the carnival creatures, all their different shapes and forms and powers, and it made things very interesting when it came to a potential new neonate. But all the same, he wasn't one for keeping things quiet too long. He needed something with more flash. More 'piazz', more...]

Ahhhhh, [The vampire chuckles from the shadows, as he spies one of his neonates start struggling beneath the hands of another.] It looks like that's the cue..!

[And the vampire rushes from the shadows with a grin-]

SHOWTIME-!!

[(Don't) Feed The Bears]

[He knows in the back of his mind what happened, but his thoughts are a scrambled mess when he reawakens. What is he doing here, in this hall? What was he doing, when he came here..? His nose wrinkles, and the 'taur' stumbles, hooves and claws scrambling for balance. Everything hurts-a blinding, numbing pain-but everything feels strong as well, in a way that some part of him insists isn't normal, isn't right!

Yet there is this wordless, soundless 'presence' in his thoughts that keeps insisting: it is fine. It is all fine. Just embrace where his feelings take him, and all will be fine.

He is hungry. One part, that same first frantic part, cries to ignore it. And as Gongenzaka walks through his vampiric haze, his ears droop somewhat, tail limp behind him. He walks like a dead man-a strangely accurate term-and his eyes flash from one person to the next much as he would eye the choices at the cafeteria table, before shouting...

Before shouting...

'I, the Man Gongenzaka, shall have...-!]

Hhh....Haaahhh.... [Don't do it don't do it don'tdoityou'rebetterthanthisyou'rebetter-

Now now, LET LOOSE-!]

HHHRRRROOOOHHH-!

[THAT ONE-]

[[OOC - Strongwilled as Gongenzaka is, this prompt in particular has his Sire paying especially close attention to making sure he let's things go for a bit; there's the combined effects of Sire Loyalty, Neonate Bloodlust, ramped up beast instincts, AND over all confusion and disorientation from prolonged hypnosis/mask effects at hand. It'll be possible to shake him down for a conversation, but it'll be HARD, and he won't be able to make much sense of things.]]

(Don't) Feed The Bears (also welcoming any NPC vamp encounters too!)

[thevictoriandetective]

[Sherlock's determined. He's also struggling against the effects of you-know-what and multiple vampire bites, but his sheer willpower was doing a lot to keep him focused, despite the pain in his head and the bouts of dizziness. At least his deductions were working again (somewhat) and he was going around, trying to find members of the Carnival to warn them about vampires.]

Gon!

[It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that--

A. That familiar taur-person was Gon

And...

B. He had been turned.

Despite the danger, Sherlock could NOT leave him. There was something though--the scaly detective's shoulders slumped, his eyes widening. Gon didn't deserve this. No one did. He was a good kid and this was horrible...those dastardly, miserable creatures! If he found out who did this to the lad--]

Gon! Look at me. It's me, Sherlock.

[He took off his snake-skull mask, running in front of him.]

shima (and then some), ota

[perverses]

i. party time!!!

Life's just one big ball, right, so why not make it a masquerade ball? At least, that's Shima's opinion and, to be honest, his opinion is the only one that actually matters, right? Obviously, he's there to have fun, in spite of Rin's earlier misgivings about this entire place, and he's dressed up for it, too. His own mask is, hilariously (to himself, anyway), a monstrous-looking kitsune mask, worn with his hood drawn up. If certain other students from the academy were here, they might not find it just as funny as he does, but! They aren't. Not really, anyway.

"Hey, hey, I love this song!" Shima doesn't even know what this song is, but he finds himself loving it regardless! That and pretty much every song, so don't be too surprised when he pops up at the side of just about anyone intent on wallflowering to offer them a huge grin — supposedly, though it's hidden behind that mask of his, which is helpfully always offering a huge grin, so! — and a hand. "C'mon, let's dance!"

Admittedly, it's more often than not a girl he'll sidle up to and ask to dance, but hey, anyone can dance for fun, right?

ii. or demon time. demon time? yeah, definitely demon time (shima & rin & a demon + you!)

Too bad the party gets crashed, right? Because Shima goes from having one hell of a good time to dragging his classmate around while trying to lose a pair of vampires! Vampires! Who could have anticipated vampires?! He had intervened on Rin's account, the sudden blaze of blue flames from an otherwise secluded corner snapping him out of his dance party haze. There was no missing who that fire belonged to and what seeing it must mean. The downside would be that, apparently, Rin's weird-ass demon body decided to twist itself up all of the sudden!

And yes, he is attributing it to Rin being a weirdo and not the carnival's magic for now. He'll catch on later, all right?

"Are you sure you can't heal those faster?!" Shima yells, already out of breath between hoisting Rin out of the way from where he's leaning on his shoulder and throwing both of them out of the way when a vampire cuts them off and makes a grab for them. They're fast, too fast for Shima, so at this point, he's assuming they're only playing with their prey. That assumption is confirmed when he turns one more corner and finds a dead end.

"Aw crud, this isn't the dining hall..." No shit, genius. Well, they're stuck. Hopefully, Rin can forgive him for shouldering him off and pushing him straight towards that same dead end, effectively putting him safely behind while he turns to face the pair of bloodsuckers grinning and prowling their way towards them. "Fine, you guys want to play rough?"

Before the vampires can really react to that, Shima puts his hands up in front of them, fingers pressed together to make some kind of sign. The lights immediately around them in the hallway flicker as he rushed through the summoning chant and as he nears the end of it, his own shadow begins to warp and shudder, the outline taking on the shape of flames for all of a heartbeat before actual fire, black fire, leaps up into actual existence. It's a massive tower of hellfire at first, then spreading through the air and filling out into a physical form. Into four arms, horns, huge red eyes taking shape and opening to glare out at the world around that the demon, Yamantaka, has been called into.

"Let's go!" Shima bites out at the end, letting his own grin match what the vampires had, previously, been wearing before. They're sure grinning a lot less all of the sudden, though. The exertion of pulling Yamantaka into this is already causing sweat to spring up on his forehead, but he'll deal. "Just try and get closer!"

a monster hunter and two teenagers WHAT COULD GO WRONG

[whattaprick]

The party seems to be doing its best to conceal the increasingly unconcealable sounds of bodies hitting the floor and various household objects being broken, but no swell of violin music or spotaneous indoor fireworks displays (the Host must be getting desperate) is going to hide the sound of a fight from a witcher close enough to hear it. Lambert sees swift-moving shadows on the wall as vampires race to join their kin, and he knows whoever's on that end is probably with the carnival.

He skids around the corner as well, gripping the axe he'd liberated from a vampire in one hand. What he's not expecting is the towering pillar of demon fire stops him dead, though, opening and shutting his jaw a few times before he realizes there's a bunch of distracted vampires between him and the whatever-the-fuck that is and the obvious dead end of the hallway.

It's as good a cue as any: he flings out his hand, and a blast of pure force fans out as Aard takes effect, sweeping more than a few vampires off their feet and making others drop their weapons. If whoever summoned that thing is on his side, they'd better take that cue to step in, before the vampires the spell wasn't as effective on gather their wits.

susan \\ ota

[wild_magic]

before...

A masquerade party wasn't something Susan had been to before or even considered attending, but if it was happening he wasn't going to miss it. It hadn't taken him long to convince Fluff to wear a mask of her own, and since she was wearing a "human" mask, it didn't take him long to decide to wear a cat mask himself. Finished with a nice, brightly colored tunic and a cape (because it's awesome, okay), and he was ready to go.

He may have started off by staying by Lauren's side, but it didn't take long for him to wander off to see the food, drink, and whatever everyone else is up to. He's still as all over as before, still flitting from place to place as before. He's not dancing, per se, although if someone tried to get him to he would definitely try.

...and after

He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that something was wrong. Lauren was attacked, and even though he'd killed his attacker - burning her to nothing, turning her to ash in what was probably a very obvious display of fire magic - he still was worried; if there was one person attacking, who's to say there aren't more?

His clothes are burnt and tattered from the fireball he accidentally pulled down on himself, his neck has a darkening bruise from where she tried to strangle him, but it doesn't matter to him. He has to find Lauren, make sure he's safe; he has to find the people attacking, so on one else gets hurt. His familiar stays close as he runs through, trying to find someone to help, someone who knows where Lauren is, but everyone has masks and how can he find anyone?

He looks a mess, and his rushing around probably draws a lot of attention, but all that matters is finding his brother.

after

[forkedroad]

Even with the identity obscuring magic, Susan is somewhat recognizable. At least, his stature is, and Fluff is a little bit of a tell as well. Which is why, seeing him so frantic, with his clothing all singed, Annabelle reaches out—somewhat thoughtlessly, considering the circumstance, to gently touch his arm.

Annabelle has noticed the change in the energies of the room, being sensitive to its currents as it is given the nature of who and what she is; it's off, and it's tense. She hasn't been around this sort of danger, so she doesn't yet recognize that's what's happening. All the same, she has her own unease.

"Susan? Is that you?" she asks, pushing up her mask to look at him. More to clarify her identity to the young mage, really. "...Are you alright?"

CARLY | OTA

[fortuneglass]

[A Spark of Life]

[Carly's mask is a beautiful one. It took some convincing to get the somewhat zombie-like bird from the spa, but somehow the idea of a ball filled with many many people was suddenly very enticing.

It might have had something to do with Aslla crying in the background. What was he craving again, souls..?

Well he could live. She was busy trying on dresses, tying her mask on, and ignoring the light numbness around her ears and eyes and getting off to the dance floor.

...There is one thing that stands out as a bit of a drawback here, however.] Hmmnnn...just who is who...

[Don't mind if she tries to guess at your name once or twice-or perhaps, you can guess at hers? You'd think with all their changes, recognizing each other would be easy!]

Ugh, you're both so dense. [Ignore the shadow, he's cheating as he can't actually WEAR a mask.]

[And the Fires of Realization]

[When it becomes clear that a vampire attack is at hand, Carly's mask comes flying off. Her ears seem somehow different, perhaps even 'hard', but there is no time for such matters, and those who had wondered how she earned a place among the Nightrunners are about to learn a very unsettling thing.

Her dueldisk sits on her arm-a true duelist always carries one, even if she herself wasn't someone she considered a 'true' duelist to begin with. But while vampires start to slowly turn and mutter about why someone with no heartbeat and a somehow familiar spark about them is looking to them as she is, Carly's voice drops.

It's serious time, and there is no place for her high-pitched excitement here. At each side stand two 'women' with spear-like wands, and bat wings for ears. Both stand ready, but they are not here to fight.

Not as violet-orange flames lick the sides of Carly's arms and wings, and not as her eyes fill with their light.] I offer two monsters as tribute, and I open the doors to the Underworld once more..! Now, transcending five thousand years time, the souls of the enemy will become food for the new world! DESCEND UPON US, EARTHBOUND GOD, ASLLA PISCU!

[This is not the sound of a hummingbird, and what breaks through the earth in a flurry of fire is also not a hummingbird in the truest sense. They are most undoubtedly going to get kicked out now, but quite frankly Carly finds herself uncaring as she points the beast forward, a cloak of flames surrounding herself as the targeted neonates start scrambling.]

DIRECT ATTACK!

fires of realization/confusion let's be real

[kingsroads]

[ The thing about regularly going from dining room to ballroom and back via mirrors is that occasionally, you miss some things. The thing that Strange has missed this time is apparently an entire goddamn summoning ritual. Strange tumbles out from a mirror a few feet behind Carly right after she summons some large bird thing and she is also apparently on fire and oh good Lord what on Earth happened.

Honestly, he's got no idea what that is or what's going on. But well. There goes subtlety. Sorry Ringmaster, it looks like things have gone exponentially to shit. ]

What is that thing? [ he can't help but ask, partly in awe, partly shocked, a hundred percent confused. And then, he looks over at the person near that odd firey thing and wow, Strange definitely wasn't expecting that. ] Carly?!

[ Thankfully, Strange isn't wearing his mask anymore so Carly can properly see who's getting mad confused at Aslla Piscu's everything. ]

[spaghettimonster]

► One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer

The costume party was the only thing of the future that Papyrus has managed to remember and plan for, possibly because it's important to the Host. Whatever the reason, between his own preparation, suggestions from friends, and forceful assistance from the Host, he arrives in a glowing, skeletal saber-toothed tiger costume that comes together to look something like this. He took artistic liberties with it, and stuck to the short dress so his tail could move freely.

While he's drawn to drink and dance, the influence of the feline mask and the mystery of everyone's identities has him following random people around, half-way to wanting to pounce on them. Papyrus settles on tugging at people's shoulders and laughing, exclaiming "tag" if they say anything, and twirling off into a cluster of dancers. With all those glowing rings on his tail, he's not hard to follow.


► You don't have to go home but you can't stay here

The time after the Foreman's radio announcement is the worst part of the stay. Fights can be very fun, but fights where people are genuinely afraid for their lives, or even more afraid for their minds? Not fun at all.

Papyrus wakes up enough to the situation worry for missing friends and family, then run around the halls in search of them. After all, he's tough and seemingly immune, at least to the vampirism.

Anyone still in the grand hall, or the hallways around it and the dining hall, here's your chance to encounter a loud, leaping skeleton. He waves down everyone he recognizes, running up to them to try to get them to go join the rest of the crew.

If they attack him, well... He is the Warden's brother. It's possible that, by now, he already saw Sans get captured... and it's possible that the older vampires will recognize those attacks.

[vitrissimo]

Viktor is wearing a pretty typical raven mask, the black feathers sticking out in every which direction, decorated by very bright sequins. When he's tagged by Papyrus, he's a bit tipsy, so he naturally plays along. And much like the bird whose mask he is wearing, he caws back at the stranger before following after him, almost tripping on other guests along the way.

You'd think a bird wouldn't chase after a "tiger." Oh well. "Wait, come back! That's not fair!" He's laughing despite it all, trying to "trick" the other person to come back out of fairness.

[amusicaladventure]

Before It All Goes Down

Ash made a mistake. A rather stupid mistake. All the while she'd been sitting at dinner, occasionally humming a snatch of quiet music that flickered full accompaniment through the air like a broken loudspeaker, and she'd forgotten to ward against more mundane dangers. Where the temptations and influences of this dimension had failed to break her, simple pharmaceuticals in her drink had succeeded.

So there was a beautiful girl leaning on the table with closed eyes and the barest twitches of motion in her tail, hand propping up her chin, looking seventh-eights asleep and fading fast. A damsel in unwitting distress, for anyone to spot -- and react to according to their instincts be they good or bad.

[sunflowerfields]

((Let's say this is before Hinawa is turned))

The masks make it considerably harder to pick out members of the carnival, but Hinawa's trying her best anyway. And even if this young lady turns out to be a stranger, she looks like she could use someone to talk to. She takes a seat at the same table and smiles.

"Everything okay, dear?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Pre-Attacks

To The masks only had so much they could do to obscure the fact that Zecora was equine and rhymed constantly. All credit to them, they did their very best, but even with her domino on Zecora was almost impossible to mistake for anyone else.

Which was good, because this was a working dinner for her. The longer this went on, the worse everypony ended up, and in a sullen and sulky mood the doctor was attempting to hunt down members of the carnival to check up on them now that they were all obligated to be in one central place.

It was going horribly, because she couldn't figure out who anypony here WAS. Which had her behaving very much like a zebra indeed -- teeth bared, ears back, tail lashing as she glared at people who were getting in her way. This trip hadn't been fun at all.

Zebranapped!

"Ma'am, one of your carnival folk has taken ill," said a masked figure to Zecora. No need to play off lowered inhibitions when they could catch her by duty far more easily. With a frustrated sigh, Zecora followed the seeming-servant down a hall and into a side room--

She got out precisely one startled yelp before an iron collar snapped shut around her neck, and a spiked bang dug into her muzzle on the top and bottom to pin it shut. Two vampires sealed her lips with tape, while another wasted no time in slashing their knife through her flanks. Liquid silver and gold lost their cohesion and felt to the floor in striped puddles as smoke poured out of the wound where her tail had once attached.

"We can't turn her," one of the vampires commented, observing the pouring smoke.

"We knew that," said a sterner and more confident voice. "Besides, did YOU want to drink from a goddamn animal? Knock her out and toss her in the cage."

Concussions could kill, but what did they care? A sharp blow to the back of the head from a pipe was all it took to render the zebra limp and docile.

pre-attacks

[dontpokethat]

Frankly, Ginko is incredibly glad for Zecora's unmistakable appearance right now. He'd felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't find anyone he recognized soon.

"--Zecora! Hey, it's me-- uh, Ginko. You doing okay?"

Ginko | OTA

[dontpokethat]

A - Professional Party Pooper

Ginko wants to be at this party about as much as he wants to stick his arm in a hornet’s nest - which, contrary to what some might assume, he does not actually want to do.

The mask and kimono he’s ended up in aren’t too bad, he guesses. But the issue lies more in… everything else. The crowds of anonymous people, the noise, everything.

In the end, he winds up jamming himself into a relatively uncrowded corner of the hall, straight-up sitting on the floor with a plate of food and a glass of uncomfortably fancy champagne. At least it’s alcoholic.

B - Whoops [closed to foster]

After a while, he can’t take it anymore. Ginko edges out of the hall, ducking into one of the side rooms and pulling his mask off as soon as he’s out of sight of the rest of the party. However, he only gets a couple minutes to try and relax before someone else enters the room. Ginko barely has time to start to ask if he needs the room for something before the stranger grabs his shoulder and pushes him against the wall.

“Wh-- hey!” Ginko frowns and tries to push past the man, ears pinned back. “What do you think you’re doing? I don’t--”

His objection is cut off when the man shoves him against the wall again, hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs, at which point it suddenly occurs to Ginko that this might not just be a matter of this guy deciding to make advances on a random stranger.

He makes one more effort to shove him away, this one being cut short by the cold burn of an iron knife against his throat. Ginko’s breath catches in his chest, frozen in fear, and before he can move or try to call for help, the vampire’s fangs sink into the side of his neck.

C - Wildcard

((Let me know if you want to do something else! After he’s attacked Ginko will be trying to find other carnival workers to check on them, though he probably won’t be hugely helpful with fighting draculas.))

B

[control_freak]

There is no reason for Foster to be following this guy. He just felt like it. Call it impulsivity, call it curiosity, call it whatever. Foster has a limited capacity for enjoyment--even magically enhanced enjoyment--and an even more limited capacity for people. But he felt like following this guy down the hall, so he did.

He... honestly, when he saw the guy turn into the side room, and saw there was someone else in there, he assumed the same thing Ginko did: that he was about to have to make a decision regarding someone else's privacy, and maybe how much he wanted a free show.

Instead--

viktor | open to all!

[vitrissimo]

a. during the party
[ Viktor is wearing a charming raven mask for the event, along with a simple black and white suit combo. His mask, sporting hundreds of black feathers and sequins, seems to make his usually beautiful blue eyes beady. His movements, despite being drunk, seem a bit more calculated.

He seems... flighty, in a different sense of the word. Hovering around people without saying a word, just observing rather than intruding as per the norm. It's odd. ]

b. turning the tables

[ He's been turned. He was caught off guard while he was trying to make an escape through the far right corridor. He'd been pinned to the wall, and in a mix of pleasure and pain that he wasn't even sure was humanely possible, it had happened. His eyes, once a beautiful blue that he spent most of his life reciting compliments on, narrowed, slitted temporarily, then flashed between a yellow and red.

When he comes back from the haze, when he reopens his eyes, slumped against a wall, all he can think about is blood. Is doing the same thing to someone else that just happened to him. Someone... else. His eyes flick around excitedly, and yet nervously. Deep down he knows this is wrong, so wrong, but he can't help it. His body is acting on impulse and he can't help the devilish smile that creeps up, usually reserved for only one person. ]

b

[kingsroads]

[ Somebody give the poor magician a fricken Gateorade.

Because turning one vampire into a bird, helping out a few people by sending them places via mirrors, and setting a few vampires' coattails on fire has tired out Strange more than he wants to admit. He stumbles into a nearby hallway, almost empty except for Viktor and just pauses for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He's still wearing his mask as he mops his brow with a handkerchief, trying to catch his breath for a moment before going right back out there to help more people escape.

And that's when Strange realizes oh hey, he's not alone. There's somebody else here. He gives Viktor a small little smile and a nod of his head before saying, ]

I like your mask.

Miko Nakadai | OTA

[pullingamiko]

A - Party Time

This is all a little fancy for Miko’s tastes, but you know what? Right now she doesn’t mind too much. The dress and mask she’s picked out aren’t exactly her usual style, but they’re pretty cute, and the idea of getting to socialize and hang out with the anonymity this party seems to provide is pretty intriguing.

Miko can be found all over the central hall, trying out the food, dancing, and generally having a pretty great time. She might even make an attempt at flirting if she gets the impression someone is around her age, though with her it might be hard to tell apart from her usual ribbing.

B - Party Time is Over

So some things happened, and some mistakes were made, and long story short Miko sure did get turned. Whoops.

She can’t remember ever having been this thirsty before, but the drinks actually provided at the party don’t really hold much appeal at the moment. So, as soon as she can find someone who’s a little more isolated from the rest of the party, she’ll make her move.

Hope you’re ready to have your night ruined by a tiny teenager attacking your neck.

C - Wildcard

((Let me know if you want to do something that doesn’t fit into these prompts!))

C - HELLO MIKO TIME TO GET BIT

[destiny_key]

It's getting worse, the thirst, he just knows it. Sora hasn't had a drink since that first one, and that was ages ago. It's already worn off. It's all he can do not to go after the nearest body just to sate his thirst. He doesn't want to hurt anyone else... but maybe just a taste would be okay?

Xabat, still following him and whispering in his ear, isn't helping him. "How about that one? I know you're thirsty, little one, you're going to have to give in eventually..."

[control_freak]

A. When The Party's So Good You Just Gotta Stab Yourself

[Foster's never been what you might call 'a party animal.' But right now, like this, it's a party like he's never experienced before, a party where the energy is... infectious. Energising. Exhilarating. Exciting?

Yes. It's exciting! It's fun... he's having fun! With people… having fun WITH people? Like he even belongs here...!?

He doesn't deserve it. He's having such a good time, but he doesn't deserve it... something like him, befouling a place meant as an oasis for others...

It’s... like wiping your hands on someone after using the toilet, but worse, so much worse, there is no metaphor strong enough for the violence and violation of his presence, his very existence--but instead of reacting with disgust, they eagerly invite you to hang out later.

He can voice his gratitude, his appreciation a thousand times over, but it isn't enough. It isn't enough just to say it, he has to show it. He knows! He knows he doesn't deserve to be having so much fun...! He knows he's filthy and revolting repulsive sickening vile, having fun, laughing--

This constant excitement is too much for Foster's poorly-managed brain to keep up with. The longer it goes on, the more the frayed and damaged wires begin to spark and smoke. So to speak, anyway. His swallow reflex has been basically lost in the whirl of enthusiastic events, and he has to keep wiping his chin--that is, when he remembers. But the mask prevents him from having easy access to his own face to wipe the saliva off anyway. It's a perfect storm of heightened emotions and decreased inhibition--on top of already disinhibited tendency--that was honestly unavoidable under these conditions.]

I know words aren't enough! I know, I can show you! I can show you how grateful I am!

[He slams his hand onto the buffet table palm-first, fingers spread. With his other hand, he snatches up the knife and plunging it straight through the back of his hand, driving the blade through tendon and flesh to finish buried deep into the wooden table.

That… uh. That probably made more sense to him than it did to onlookers.]

B. HIS Dead Vampire Now

[The revelation of the vampires’ sinister plot and all-out attack… is worrying Foster a lot less than it is everyone else. Part of it is the knowledge that he’s immune to their power of turning--he’s already dead. And he could only hope to truly die in such an interesting way… which means it’s unlikely happen.
Then there’s the fact that he really did not actually want to be part of this carnival to begin with. And part of it is that… well, he just doesn’t CARE about anyone here. Sophie, maybe, might have crossed his mind, but she can take care of herself.

With that in mind, rescuing Ginko was… a bit out of character for him, but it was definitely an interesting experience. To learn that he was not only capable of such a task--killing a sentient being and not just an animal--but that it was… really, easier than he expected. Now that the vampire is dead, though, he has a plan. A use for the body.

And in the empty cafe space, he’s drawn a vast, painfully elaborate ritual circle--in what, if anyone were paying close attention, appears to be a combination of wet coffee grounds, chalk, and mocha drizzle. In the centre lies the corpse of the neophyte, gold Atlantean coins over its eyes--and one in its mouth. Small tea candles--stolen from party--are arranged in careful, numerous geometric asymmetry.

He’s still working on it, crawling carefully amongst the markings with a sense of grim focus, stabbing forks and butter knives into the floor at specific intervals, the knife he’d appropriated from the buffet table earlier that night clenched tightly between his sharp, prehistoric teeth.

Nothing to see here, folks. Nope. Just your everyday garbage necromancer at work.]

Stabby Stabby

[detonarrator]

[So there's this guy she sees out of the corner of her eye, and she does a double take. He seems really familiar, like. Man she knows she knows him, but can't put her finger on it. The mask of course doesn't help, but she's not that great with faces anyway so it surprises her that it's throwing her for a loop like this. Maybe it was somebody she's met at the carnival last time? Hmmph.

Clearly the answer is to surreptitiously follow him around the masquerade. She's taking full advantage of the fact that his mask cuts down his peripheral vision, and carefully watches him as he wanders around the party, seeming sort of punch drunk. He keeps wiping at his mouth...God damn it he is so familiar.

And then he starts talking, she sees him grab the knife, and it clicks. Well, it feels more like a the bang of a shotgun, complete with the recoil in her chest and the temporary deafness. How the FUCK is he here and what the FUCK is he doing jESUS god fuck, FUCK. People are staring, there's a few gasps and Sophie shoves her way through the gathering concerned throng. She grabs the wrist that was wielding the knife and twists, breaking his grip, then yanks the knife out of his hand. She tosses it to the side with a clatter of metal and splatter of blood droplets, and grabs a cloth napkin and presses it down on Foster's bleeding hand with possibly slightly excess pressure. Angry, frazzled, definitely tipsy, she leans in and tries to speak quietly. It's still pretty loud.]

How the hell are you here? What..HOW. Did you follow me here somehow? What the fuck. What the fuck!

For (Snake's) Everything | OTA

[ophidiarex]

There is a (Party) Season

Snake may not be a particularly social being, but he's also not one to turn down a seemingly mandatory invitation. Thusly, he attends the dance despite his urges to just wait it out. Only two of his snakes are in tow today: Emily the milk snake, who despite her companion's nervous shyness is having the time of her life; and Donne, his tiny garter snake, who is the kindest and gentlest but also the most together of his snakes. The others are still in his room, for now.

The party is... intense, but not as intrusive as the other aspects of the celebration. No one grabs him, or tries to grind on him, at least not immediately. It's a little more refined, at least on the surface, but decadent. Snake can be found by the food tables, sharing with Emily and Donne, before trying to sneak some back to his room for the others. Unfortunately, that plan fails when he's stopped by an aspect of the host, and asked to put his mask back on, and asked politely if he would rather stay at the party, or at least to tell someone if he's leaving.

Emily wishes to stay, so she is left on a pillar to people-watch. He trusts she can watch out for herself. After that, he's lost his social advocate, and drifts around the edges of the room, largely avoiding the dance floor and trying to find familiar faces. This lasts until he finds Psi, after which he's in a mad dash to find Emily again and as many carnival workers as he can.

((OOC: Feel free to encounter Snake at any of the aforementioned locations!))

Turn, Turn, Turn

It's during this scramble that Snake encounters Sora, and the rest is history. After that brief interlude, Snake is more... predatory. He's trying to resist, and not hunting down carnival workers in particular, but with a newly vampiric Emily draining him, he's got to get enough blood for two. He will return violence with violence, but is unlikely to strike the first blow without his sire egging him on, though he is at least much less shy about prowling through the party. His mask is long lost, his outfit stained with blood.

Turn, turn, turn

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock has clearly seen better days. His suit's torn and bloodstained, he's got vampire bites on his neck, he's got blood on his chin, and his snake skull mask is broken, and just sitting on top of his hair. For all intents and purposes, it looks like he'd been turned, but he hadn't, ironically. The various substances in his blood for once protected him. Didn't stop people from grabbing bites though. He'd lost more than a pint. The color of his scales had turned a grayer shade of green, his slitted blue eyes bloodshot and bleary.

And right now, he was frantically trying to save as many members of the Carnival from vampires as possible. He'd already failed two people, Sora and Gon, and each failure weighed heavily on him, he couldn't stand up to someone as powerful as Sora's sire. It was clear he'd been injured, he'd cobbled together something to wrap around his chest for the time being, his ribs had been unfairly targeted multiple times.

"Hey, hey you!" His deductive abilities let him spot members of the Carnival, even if he didn't know them very well. "We have to get out of here!"

Sherlock noticed the smaller snake and stopped in his tracks. He'd been trying to bury his own beastial instincts but they'd come to a head with what just recently happened and he wasn't able to suppress them anymore. His forked tongue flicked out, and he could scent the blood reeking from them.

Oh blast, too late again.

Joker - ota

[pipers_son]

A - Party Games

[After getting carried away with Psi, Joker remembers what he was supposed to be doing- which is being on his best behavior while Snake is still adjusting. A little bit of guilt churns in his stomach when the thought hits him, and he spends a lot of time before the masquerade clearing his head with a bit of flying in the only open space he can find. He knows he's changed a little, too, something stone-like shimmering in the cracks of his wooden arm and antlers, but that's inconsequential, really. Eventually, however, the Host manages to call him down, and get him all dressed up.... So here he is.]

[But he's still trying to keep a hold on himself, even as his feet bounce to the music, so anyone wandering about and not immediately busy will suddenly find themselves coming face to face with a fine gentleman in deep purples. Staring at them are themselves- or, rather, their reflection in the shattered mirrored shards of the mask Joker wears. He's grinning, as usual.]

Care ta play a guessing game?

B - Dance the Night Away

[Eventually, he can't hold back anymore, and some lucky random stranger will suddenly find themselves the recipient of a cheeky little bow.]

Might I steal ya away for a dance?

[He winks playfully.]

C - and then everything went tits up

[It's a pretty little thing that steals him away in the end, their dance taking them just a bit far from the main throngs of the party. Joker doesn't think much of it, for a second, just laughs and tries to steer them back- he's had Atlantis and he has Psi, he thinks he's done for at least a while with that.]

[Except then suddenly metal is clasping around his wrist- not the first time unsurprisingly. What is a first is how it burns, colder than fire yet twice as hot, and Joker sees fangs curling over lips a split second after. The vampire's mistake is an amateur's one, instinctually looking for his other arm instead of remembering that it's to her that she should lock him to, and by then he's slamming his foot into her chest with a swear. He's dealt with vampires before, and he's better now- he's up in the air in a flash.]

[There will be time to swear about the Ringmaster later- it's god damn England all over again- but for now, he swoops over the rest of the party and tries to ignore the iron quietly but steadily burning through his goddamn wrist.]

Performance! Oi, Performance, answer yer Stage Manager right now or God help me!

[Not exactly the partying kind of tone, anger and desperation, but it should hopefully get through to people.]

c

[whattaprick]

[ It's hard to miss a figure flying in the air, but Lambert isn't exactly subtle himself -- by now, skirmishes and ambushes in cul-de-sac have left him worse for wear, his formerly-shiny coat now tattered and torn at the edges. He's back in the thick of the party because he thinks there might still be carnival workers trapped in with the dancing, but he'll look up right quick when he hears the yelling, something that's causing a murmur of discontent among even the most vapid, burned-out guests. ]

Get down from there, you idiot! [ He'll call -- though Joker may not recognize the voice, with the mask's magics in effect. ]

Jimmy Novak - OTA - Mostly to keep track of what's going on with Jimmy.

[empty_vessel]

A: Just Another Face In The Crowd

Jimmy's mask was nothing fancy. Black domino mask with silver trim. Very understated. He'd been forcefully turned out of his room and escorted to the Masquerade. He didn't like it. At all. Too bright. Too loud. Too many things seen out of the corner of his eye. Forcing a retreat to something he could fake as a 'designated smoking area' and digging out the cigarette case to calm his nerves a little.

He didn't like it, but he could wait out the last few hours of their stay in Celebration and get settled again when he was back in his own trailer.


B: Some Things You Never Forgive.

Jimmy'd been hiding. Trying to, anyway. He'd been heading for the closest bar when everything had gone to hell. He'd missed the first Vampire attack on the Carnival, and he wished he'd missed this one. Sneaking around the edges of the chaos and trying to avoid getting noticed had gotten him noticed.

He'd been pushed up against a wall by a very attractive female vampire, and she'd been all kinds of interested in getting her hands on him, topping off with her licking a stripe up his neck before backing away and making gagging noises. She dropped him like a hot rock, telling him in a disgusted tone that he tasted 'like guilt and god' and left him on the floor, to try and start slinking back towards where the call had said the rendevous was.