⇨ 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.)]

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.

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.

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.]

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?!"

llama llama duck

[mylastchance]

The vampire woman is caught off guard by the attack, and screams in pain as the electricity runs through her body. Her grip on Lauren's body loosens and he falls from her arms to the floor below. She wrenches her hand from Susan's grip, hissing a warning at him as she does so. She's like a cat, her back curved and her nails turned like claws in a threatening pose. She doesn't know what this boy thinks he's doing, but she's about to teach him a lesson for interfering with her business. Striking forward with impossible speed she tries to wrap her hand around his neck.

[wild_magic]

If he had any doubts before about her hurting Lauren, they disappear the second she drops his brother to the floor and turns to attack him. He doesn't want to hurt Lauren (or anyone else, but that's honestly more of an after thought at this point) with his magic, though, and so he has to be careful what spells to cast...

Before he gets out another spell though the woman is coming at him to grab his neck, and he belatedly dodges - he may be fast, but he's not at his best in close quarters. Still, he manages to cast the spell before he's grabbed, two bolts of lighting coming from his hands right towards the woman with a dual-witch bolt.

[mylastchance]

His dodge is much too late. Her fingers close around his neck just as he finishes casting his spell. When the attack hits her she screeches again. It's a scream of pain as much as it is rage. She couldn't be bested by a child, she simply would not allow it. Ignoring the pain she tightens her grip on the boys throat, starting to choke him. Soon her other hand joins the first around his neck.

[wild_magic]

He can't breathe, and his eyes widen for a moment before he glares at her again, sending another shock of lighting at her through the witch bolts. He can't do anything else, but he has to stop her, he has to save Lauren, and this is the only thing he can do - he just hopes it's fast enough that he doesn't need to breathe.

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.

[mylastchance]

Her grip tightens, her hands squeezing him hard enough to leave bruises. Lauren's body lays on the floor behind her, but it isn't still anymore. He twitches as though he's asleep, but he's not. His eyes are closed and his limbs are cold. He's dead, but despite this he is aware, not of the conscious world where Susan is fighting, but of a place inside himself. Though his heart has stopped he can feel a fire burning within him. It starts small, a hot flame in his stomach, but soon it grows, becoming impossibly warm. He grimaces in pain as it spreads. It moves up his arms down his legs throughout his entire body. It's engulfing him and he screams in pain. It hurts like nothing ever has before. He fells something dark in it, and as the fire moves to his heart the darkness settles deep inside of him. He shifts his hands clutching at his chest, clawing at himself as though trying to get at whats inside, buts its useless. Suddenly a ravenous hunger sets in, something inside of his head other than himself screaming at him to feed. He opens his eyes, tear stains mark his cheek from the pain of the change.

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.

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. ]

a. tuned in

[forkedroad]

Annabelle's been having a marvelous time all week. She's all sobered up by the time the masquerade comes around, and she's happy to have her wits about her. People are more engaging due to the set up of the party, and it's a more coherent opportunity for people watching.

She sees someone standing off to the side—he isn't the only wall flower she's seen this night, but there aren't a lot. She's had a few brief twirls with some strangers, which made her feel amused, embarrassed and giddy all at the same time, but now she's ready to stick by the wall again. So, she slinks through the crowd with purpose, then, losing all of her previous grace, she bumps her back against the wall where Lauren is. She cracks a smile at him, visible beneath the beak of her mask.

"With a mask and set like that, you nearly blend in with the wall. You do know the theme is anonymity, correct? Not invisibility," she teases. It sounds mean, sure, but her voice is bubbly with warm laughter that isn't malicious.

[mylastchance]

He's more amused than he is offended honestly. If he thought about it, she was right. His clothes, while fine, were particularly plain and there certainly wasn't any beak to be found on his own mask. The girl in front of him however, was a sight in a dress you could practically see through and a dark looking raven mask obscuring her face.

"Well my invisibility costume must not be working very well if it's caught your attention." It's a rude thing to say, perhaps not as rude as Annabelle's comment, but likewise he looks amused more than he does malicious, even if beneath his mask he's still blushing because of her outfit.

[forkedroad]

Annabelle has seen all sorts of varied nudity by now that her own partial nudity doesn't really register (not that she needed much encouragement in the first place); while plenty of her flesh is visible beneath the lace, it's harder to make out anything more sordid than that. Like many of the other attendees, Annabelle seems completely natural comfortable despite her attire, even if for her, it's not because of the graces of anonymity.

She smiles, then laughs jovially, her shoulders hiking a little. "You're right. Strange, isn't it?" She tilts her head, still grinning toothily. "Your plainness caught my eye, because it makes you stand out in a place like this. Not terribly corvine of me, I suppose."

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.]

[mylastchance]

He laughs at that, surprised by the joke. Most of the people he'd run into here hadn't seemed terribly witty, they'd mostly just seemed tired. Then again, he hadn't given anyone much chance to crack jokes with him either.

"I think they'll forgive you that one Miss Crow."

[forkedroad]

"Well, thank goodness for that," she says dramatically, steepling her fingertips together as she tilts her head back, kind of bumping her head on the wall with an exaggerated sigh of relief. She then looks pointedly at Lauren.

"What am I to call you, then? You're more like a shadow, but that seems as contrite as it does apt."

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?"

[mylastchance]

He looks away, feeling nervous, but he knows even if he does make a fool of himself to this crow tonight she'll have no way of knowing it's him in the future. If they even ever meet again. So instead of allowing himself to feel nervous he smiles.

"You'd rather I choose? I'm not sure that's a wise idea when you already dislike my choice of dress."

[forkedroad]

"I never said I disliked your choice of dress," Annabelle points out, lifting a finger. "Nor do I want you to choose. I was thinking out loud."

She tilts her head, pausing as she holds her chin while appraising Lauren. She laughs when she gets an idea. "Erysimum."

[mildwildchild]

"Mr. Universe?..."

His voice is faint and uncertain, his head tipping to the side to regard the man in front of him as though he's trying to process conflicting pieces of information. This is someone he works with, someone he likes, someone who's full of all the warm delicious blood he could possibly want -

He frowns slightly, as though there's some distant part of him that finds this idea maybe just a little distasteful, and peers up at Greg worriedly. "It's - I dunno, I feel kinda...weird..."

Well, it's not a lie, anyway. He thinks he can practically smell Greg's blood, hear it pulsing through his body, and the thought of it makes his stomach roil as his gaze zeroes in on Greg's throat. The blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth increases a little, a small but steady trickle that drips from his chin.