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

[canistricari]

"Oh yes," he answered easily. "Something like it, to be sure." Not this particular breed, but he has the nagging feeling he has heard of it before. He doesn't care enough to try to place a name to it.

[consultmybooks]

Well, that's something. More information than he's gotten all night, actually.

"I-Is it, um, terribly common, then? Well, um, I suppose it wouldn't be, not when everything else gets, um, locked up in the forest at night."

Or...well, so he hopes. Giles knows that the problem of the thorns is one that has to be tackled eventually, but he's come to like the barrier that rises up every night, especially after watching two friends nearly get eaten by the beasts that apparently appear after sunset.

[canistricari]

"Not at all!" The man gets an odd look in his eye, something wild. "What a fantastic beast! I do hope some of them survived..." Beasts live and die all the time, he doesn't truly care, but it's always a pity when something rare and fantastic fades into myth. And not even the kind that wander the world, like Coyote does.

[consultmybooks]

"You sound like Helios."

Giles almost, almost rolls his eyes. And then, because he isn't Helios, Giles feels safe enough to add, "There are some fantastic beasts the world is, um, better off without. Whether or not this one happened to be one of them, um, d-doesn't change that."

[canistricari]

He turns to Giles with a smile and a manic look in his eyes.

"You think so? And what if the world is better off without humans? Would you murder them?"

[consultmybooks]

Giles finds himself taking a step back at the look in Coyote's eyes. Intangibility be damned, he doesn't want to press his luck that far.

"...I've, um, I've generally come to find that humanity is, um, the lesser of multiple evils. At least where my own world is concerned, I've, um, I've yet to be proven wrong. I suppose it might be different here, but, I, I-I did spend most of my life there."

Besides, said seven billion humans would kill him off before he could make a dent.

[canistricari]

A smile formed on his face that seemed to stretch further than it was ever meant to.

"And how long was that? A hundred years? Less?"

[consultmybooks]

...face that isn't behaving like a normal face. Coyote mask. Acting like a hundred years isn't an impossibly long time.

Ever seen a ghost facepalm, Coyote? Of course you have. Well, Giles does so anyway.

"I, um, I'm not sure the precise duration is, um, relevant, actually. I, I was referring to my world specifically. Not this or, or any other."

[canistricari]

Good work, Giles. Don't be silly, of course he's seen a ghost facepalm. He's usually responsible for it.

He laughs, an animal, barking laugh.

"Is your world so special?"

[consultmybooks]

"Oh, I certainly think so. Have you ever seen one quite like mine?"

Coyote was one creature that Giles had been hoping not to see at the party...or, indeed, ever again...but he holds no illusions about being able to extricate himself from the conversation until Coyote gets bored.

[canistricari]

"I haven't seen your world yet!" He laughs again. "I shall have to visit when I leave here!"

[consultmybooks]

"I hope you will. I'm sure you'll find it quite entertaining."

Also, because he has every confidence that Buffy will somehow find a way to, metaphorically, swat him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Misplaced and irrational confidence, perhaps, but confidence nonetheless.

"And then you can, well, give me your..."informed" opinion."

[canistricari]

Coyote would probably enjoy that a great deal more than he was meant to. The only reason he hadn't been there already was likely because he had never seen Buffy.

"Oh yes, of course!"

[consultmybooks]

"I look forward to it. Tell them 'hello' for me, will you?"

And, with that, and before Coyote can twist things up any more, Giles is going to make an attempt to blink out of sight and slip away into the crowd again. Getting walked through is slightly less of a trial than talking to the god.