Action: Come one, come all!

[ofthebeast]

Characters: ALL THE PEOPLE
Open? Yes.
Where: The Palace
When: The night of the 3RD
What: A masquerade ball and a very deep sleep.
Warnings: Part of a comm-wide plot!

The Prince Sif has felled an unknown beast, and presented its stuffed head to the King. This would be reason enough for a ball, but there are victories to celebrate. More heroes arrive every day. The kingdom was aptly defended when the forest wall fell. No one has tried to assassinate the king in several days.

All told, a good night for a party. The theme of the ball is a masquerade, and shops in town have been surprisingly (almost suspiciously) able to provide gowns and masks in ready supply.

The palace has been opened to heroes and townspeople alike, provided they can present themselves appropriately. The heroes have been strongly encouraged to attend, and those who do not come voluntarily may well be greeted with royal retainers at their doorstep, outfit and dance card in hand. Expect a very full dance card, heroes.

The banquet table is stacked full of food – roasts and cheeses, summer fruits and vegetables, rivers of wine and more ornate desserts than should be permitted in a time or war. This evening is about success – best to enjoy it.

In the center of the ball sits the beast’s head. A scaly, purple thing. Its eyes have been taken out and replaced with rubies, its mouth twisted in the same sort of anguished look on its face as when Sif killed it. There has never been a beast like this in Schwanheim before – if you like, come closer and take a look. The king is very generous with his gifts.

[ooc: The party is a LIE. Well. No, it isn’t! Enjoy the party. Your characters will be expected to wear full masquerade gear, or they will be shunted aside and dressed properly.

After the attendees go home, they will be plagued with dreams more tangible than they have ever felt. More information here]

Comments

[somewhatpointy]

Well, going to this party hadn't exactly been on Ryo's list of things he wanted to do. He'd only just arrived, and he was more concerned with finding a place to stay and getting his bearings, but the townspeople had other ideas. They'd been annoyingly persistent, continuing even to bother him after he'd given one a pretty good punch. He'd finally given in and gone if only to get them to leave him alone...and he supposes getting a measure of these other "heroes" might not be a bad idea, either.

And so Ryo has found himself attired in black clothing he assumes is what passes for formal wear in this place, along with the absolute simplest masquerade mask he could find--it's gold, and it covers half his face. Good enough.

He doesn't really know anyone in particular--that he sees, anyway--and so he'll go ahead and try to get a look at that beast's head. It's different from the monsters he fought back home, that's for sure.

If you don't find him looking at the beast's head, he'll be skulking along a wall somewhere, trying to watch everything without really being noticed himself and gruffly shooing away the local women who seem to want to dance with him.

[shiromadoushi]

Oh hey, is this the corner of avoiding women? If so, there'll be an oni-masked Bakura trying to do the same, stubbornly hiding behind the hideous face on the mask and wishing the dark hair on it covered more of his stand-out white poof.

"Aaa~aaah, they never give up, do they!" he sighed, mostly to himself as he half slumped in a chair.

[somewhatpointy]

Ryo glanced over to the guy slumped in the chair nearby. Terrifying horned mask. Now there's an idea... The fact that he was even thinking of transforming into Gills there wasn't a good sign, but he was getting desperate. Desperate and severely annoyed.

Then again, if this guy was having the same issues with the ladies, maybe even Gills wouldn't be enough to drive them away. (Which would probably be for the best, really...no one at the party needed to deal with that...) "Mask isn't keeping them away?"

[shiromadoushi]

"Not enough of them," Bakura lamented. "It's better than it was last time without it, but..." he trailed off, pushing the mask up to rest on top of his hair. "I really don't get girls..."

[somewhatpointy]

Ryo has to chuckle a little at that. "I don't think anyone does." He's interrupted by the sudden need to shoot a glare and a scowl at another townswoman who was approaching and looking hopeful. Fortunately, it drives her away. Some of them didn't take a hint that easily. "And it's not like I'm looking for any sort of relationship in this place, anyway."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura smiled at bit, nodding as well. "Same for me." Even if it weren't for that whole not being interested in girls thing, the people native to the kingdom... sometimes it was like talking to badly written manga characters! He wouldn't have thought people like that could exist in real life... not that anything about this place was like real life.

[somewhatpointy]

"Yeah, they're all...a bit annoying. And they can't take a hint." Excuse him, he's got to take a break from this conversation to shoo off yet another hopeful woman. The night might be doing his ego a little good if he weren't aware that it looked like the girls were doing that across the board to every "hero" they came across.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura nodded again. "Like the worst fanclub... I don't even think they know who any of us are. There just must be something that makes it so they can tell we're not from here so that they flock to us...."

[somewhatpointy]

Ryo grimaced. "Maybe they can sense we're not as annoying. I bet the men here are just as bad as the women."

...but at least they'd be easier to deal with. Ryo had no problems with punching another dude if he got too annoying. Annoying women? That was another story.

[shiromadoushi]

"Only about certain things! Though they don't pester about this sort of thing, at least. Most of them just want someone to listen to them, or do chores or favors for them, really. Or at least the ones I've talked to have."

Bakura hadn't punched anyone in his life that he could recall, male or female, despite how often people had suggested to him that he should be more assertive with the locals.

[somewhatpointy]

"Chores or favors? So they're helpless as well as annoying?" This place was just getting better all the time...it seemed that Ryo was going to be punching more townspeople in the future if he weren't careful with his temper. There is a fine line between assertive and aggressive, and Ryo often tended to skew a little towards the latter. "Wonderful."

[shiromadoushi]

"Sometimes they seem to be... though sometimes they really just seem to be lazy.... Though when they do pay you for doing things, it's not too bad. Especially when there's someone you needs healing, they're pretty good at giving me things for doing that sort of thing."

[somewhatpointy]

"So, what, they want a great hero to wash their windows or pull their car...er, cart or whatever out of the mud?" Ryo glanced towards the severed monster head. "Or do they want something more along the lines of a glorified exterminator?"

[for_that_i_run]

Eagle chuckled a bit as Ryo shooed away another troop of ladies.

"It really doesn't matter how many times you do that they will always return."

He no sooner said that than another lady was at Ryo's side, batting her eyes and begging for a quick turn on the dance floor.

[somewhatpointy]

Ryo shot Eagle a pained look. "They don't know what they're getting into."

The woman who appeared at his side definitely wasn't his type, and he wasn't too thrilled at her attempts to drag him out to dance. Hadn't he already rejected her a few times before? "No." There, that had worked before, a harsh word and a glare...

...or not. Ryo got himself dragged out there before he was properly aware of what was happening by the triumphant woman. It's immediately obvious that he either has no idea how to dance or is trying very hard to fail so that no one drags him back out there again.

A couple of minutes later, he returns to his spot looking grumpier than ever. Clearly, he didn't enjoy the dance. "This sort of thing better not happen often."

[for_that_i_run]

They don't know what they are getting into.
How ominous! It really almost sounded like a threat... that is until Ryo's dancing skills were forcibly placed on display like that.

The poor guy, he really seemed out of place on the dance floor. Unfortunately for him the lady just seemed thrilled to be dancing with one of the heroes regardless of how many times her foot might have been stepped on or how silly they both looked. It was still a great honor!

When Ryo returned Eagle smiled sympathetically.

“You don’t really enjoy parties like this?”

[somewhatpointy]

Hey, if you had the string of dead girlfriends Ryo has, you'd be sounding ominous too. Hanging around him for too long tends to make you a target, and he's painfully aware of that.

So glad that dance was over. So glad. If that lady came back, he was going to be forced to make some sort of horribly undignified retreat, and his dignity suffered enough out on that dance floor. Ryo leaned back against the wall again, looking irritated.

"I haven't enjoyed parties like this for a while now, no." He sighed and shook his head. "Do you?"

[for_that_i_run]

Never one to really come out and say his true feelings on the matter Eagle just kind of smiled and focused on the one thing about events like these that he really enjoyed.

"I do have fun meeting everyone one like this. It is more casual than some other occasions have been every one seems so..."

He looked at Ryo again.

"Almost everyone seems so happy just to take a little time to enjoy themselves."

Really the girls clinging onto everyone and dragging their victims off to the dance floor all the time? That was kind of getting on his nerves too. Just ask and then accept the answer you receive with some kind of grace... Instead many of them were just too pushy.

[somewhatpointy]

"It's a little too formal for me to be enjoying myself." Not to mention the weird way he'd been forced into attending. "If I wanted to relax, I'd just go swimming." Note to self: find a good spot to go swimming. There had to be one around here somewhere...and the way these townspeople were acting, Ryo figured he'd at least be able to find someone to help the great hero construct a pool.

"But I guess it gives me a chance to get an idea of what sorts of people this place brings in, yeah." Ryo shrugged. He should probably be circulating the room and trying to meet people, but...no. Lines had to be drawn somewhere.

[for_that_i_run]

"Swimming is your hobby then? That does sound more relaxing than this party. You should be careful where you decide to swim though. Some of the ponds have magical properties."

The party was a bit political in nature and loud with everyone speaking and laughing all at once. Some one who was a bit reclusive would probably find it restrictive. Ryo had Eagle's sympathy.

"Maybe you could slip out after a while and find some where to 'lay low' until the party is over."

[somewhatpointy]

"Yeah, I used to compete..." Here, Ryo just sort of trails off and stares at the incredibly useful advice that Eagle had just given him. A magical pond sounded like just the sort of trap he'd accidentally fall into. "Magical properties? What sort of properties do these ponds have?" Though, really, at least if they went around turning people into weird things, that wouldn't be anything new. He was good enough at weird transformations on his own.

Ryo kind of chuckled when Eagle suggested he try to slip out of the party. "With my luck, I'd be followed. Probably by more than one."

[for_that_i_run]

"All I have to go on are the rumors I have heard from the soldiers I was visiting along the front lines but they claim there are some pools that have monsters in them, or magical swords, or that taking a swim in one of the pools could cause you to forget everything about yourself. Then again there are rumors that if you chose the right pool you might get to swim with mermaids." Eagle shrugs, "It really can be difficult to tell which, if any, of these stories are true so it is probably wise to inspect the pond carefully before you jump in."

Look before you leap? It was always good advice but it especially applied to bodies of water in this strange world.

"I'm sure that would happen. You would need some kind of diversion to distract everyone when you slipped out or some one would surely notice."

It almost sounded like a challenge. He might have to try it later himself... just to see if he could.

[somewhatpointy]

"Sounds like checking would definitely be a good idea, then..." Monsters in a pond? He could handle that. Magical swords? Sure. Mermaids? Sure. Forgetfulness? Not really into that. He doesn't want that to be a thing.

Ryo looked a bit thoughtful at the word "diversion." He could think of a few small things, several of which might not work as well as he'd hoped. He could always transform into Gills; that would make for one heck of a diversion, certainly. No party really needs a spiky green bug-man running around. "About the best diversion I could provide would probably start a panic." Or he'd get attacked. Either one. Possibly both.

[for_that_i_run]

A panic, really? That did beg the question...

"What kind of diversion were you thinking?"

The possibilities Eagle could come up with were more sedate than transforming into a bug creature, ranging from a toast which would require the assistance of a partner in order to allow the one to slip out while the other gained the crowd's attention to getting the band to select a 'special couple' for a private dance. Things like that always seemed to encourage everyone else to watch and the lights could be brought down low to aid in escape.

"We really wouldn't want to panic the crowd, just distract their attention a little."

[somewhatpointy]

"Either yelling that there's a fire or transforming into my other self, mostly." Ryo looked a little sheepish. "Probably a sign I'm getting a bit desperate." He shook his head. "Not like I'm going to do any of that, mind you." He warily eyed a few girls across the room. They looked like they were trying to convince each other to go up to ask one of the heroes to dance. "But it's tempting."

Ryo nodded in agreement when Eagle said they'd need to distract the crowd. "You have any better ideas?"