⊰ Murder At The Masquerade! ⊱ [We bid you adieu <3]

[EsmereldaStella]

Stella walked up the grand entryway. Unlike so many others, she'd opted to walk to the masquerade. Resting for a moment on the steps, she watched several others dressed lavishly walk into the party. Finally, Stella straightened up and brushed some imaginary dust off her skirt. It was time to enter and see what was happening in the party.

What she saw made her gasp. The party was grand and beautiful. Stella took a few hesitant steps in and skirted around the edge of the room. She finally stopped and looked back out to the dance floor. Suddenly, Stella really wanted to dance. She wondered if there was anyone around who would ask her to dance.

((Well, this sounds like an absolutely delightful way to pass the time. I love a good mystery.))

[Madame Mae]

[[Welcome! :3]]

Mae swayed a bit to the music as she finished her glass of champagne. Nimbly she set the empty glass on another waiter's tray as he quickly strode past. She could feel the alcohol flowing through her, and began to feel a bit of the wild spirit of her youth, something she thought she had buried to become a respectable wife.

Acting on a whim, Mae pulled her gold and ruby hairpins from her hair, and made her way to the front of the room, and stepped onto the stage the band was occupying.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I see so many beautifully dressed among you, but I cannot help but wonder, is this the best we can do? If someone can show me the best masquerade attire one could dream of, I think I would be happy to give you these." She stopped speaking, to lift her hairpins for all to see. Surveying the room, Mae wondered if any would take her challenge.

[[Mini contest! Please see rules in the freebies & contests post]]

[Black Witch of Ra]

((I'm here! Just got caught up in other RPs. >w>;; ))

Nilda exited her vehicle after the long trip from Barton. She carefully pulled her dress up to make sure her heels didn't get caught in the fabrics. The masked woman turned back to look at her friend, who was sitting in his imp form. "Oh come on, you don't need to be so sour. It's just a party," she frowned.

"Yeah, but I'm having second thoughts about wearing that outfit in public. It looks awful," he made gagging noises to emphasize his point. Red eye glanced up at her golden ones, "Do I have to use my humanoid form?"

"Do you want to fly or walk?" Nilda asked.

"Well," he started, "If I'm like this, I can always sit on your head when I'm tired of flying around. I'm not that heavy as an imp either. So . . . I'll just stay like this!"

"You are impossible, Noir," she laughed as she picked up the small demonic imp out of the car. Nilda headed towards the grand building. "Noir. . Do me a favor and don't cause any trouble."

"Only if there's really nothing else to do," the imp replied.

[Miss Elecy]

Amongst many other cars arriving was a crimson luxury car, one that seemed to drive out of the pages of any antique car show. Coming to a complete stop before the mansion, the driver door opened and a chauffeur, a man well into his late forties, appeared. He crossed to the rear passenger side and opened the door. Extending his hand, he soon found it grasped by a gentle touch. From the interior came a woman draped in scarlet. As he helped her from the car, the woman's gaze immediately fell onto curious sight of a nearby woman and a flying imp. "My my..." She murmured softly. The man turned to close the door behind her.
"Miss Beni?" He called after her, but she was already gone.

Her feet eventually led her into the room where many of the guests had taken solace. Just as she entered, her attention was grabbed by a woman who took the stage. As the woman issued an interesting challenge, Beni chuckled softly. She already had many, many beautiful hairpins. But she was curious to see who would accept the woman's challenge. Such a daring person could be...useful.

"Pardon my...intrusion. But might I suggest another reward for such...daring?" Beni smiled as she stepped closer to the stage, addressing the woman. "Perhaps...something from my art collection, for the one you find most worthy of your hairpins?"

[Ral Zarek]

As more and more guests began to arrive, Kathryn began to make her way about the ballroom, striking up conversation. Reporting the straight facts of a story is one thing, but to get the full depth of a story, especially one of an event like this, one really needs to see more than just the event itself. The guests, the musicians, the waiters, the security; everyone has a story, and each story must be weaved together with the facts to make a truly interesting article.
This was the part that Kathryn lived for. She would go up to a group of party goers, smile, shake their hands, introduce herself in the most friendly way possible. Ask them a few questions about the event; how they heard about it, what they were expecting, if they were enjoying it, who else did they come with. Soon, the string of questions becomes a full conversation, and you'd never believe the things you can get out of people.
After spending a good hour talking to one particularly passionate guest about flower arrangements, she moved on to the next set of people, scribbling notes as she went along.

[[So much exposition. @_@ Do you think I know a bit too much about journalism? lol]]

[Madame Mae]

[[rofl kiwi, I can't help but think of lois lane]]

Mae looked down at the girl addressing her. Even in a room full of brightly colored and expensive gowns, the heavy fabrics and deep scarlet stood out among them.

"Of course. I'm sure whomever can show the perfect outfit, would be more then delighted to receive a piece of, what I can assume from that quality of your ensemble, magnificent art." She smiled down at the girl, before turning to again address the room, "As you may have heard, this young lady has also generously offered art from her collection to the winner. I am expecting great things from this group." Feeling satisfied with her little speech, Mae finally stepped down from the stage, next to the girl in red.

"Quite an event, isn't it? I'm looking forward to having a marvelous time." She adjusted her mask once more before continuing, "My name is Mae, by the way. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She chose to leave it at that, hoping by not revealing her surname she might forgo the gossip about her, that seemed to be so popular these days.

[[ Updated contest prize! ]]

[Miss Elecy]

Beni's lips curled. "Excellent." She looked to the crowd and smiled. Perhaps another prize would bring out more interesting folk, more daring folk, more...useful folk. She then looked back at the woman with whom she had been speaking, as she stepped down from the stage.

"As am I," Beni replied. Looking past the woman momentarily, Beni could have sworn she saw a woman scribbling away while moving from person to person. Raising an eyebrow, she mumbled, "...As am I..." She shook her head and returned her attention to the woman speaking to her.

"Pleased to meet you," Beni said sweetly with a bow of her head. She had long been accustomed to introductions, after accompanying her father to functions and the like since she had been able to walk. "I am Beni. That was...quite bold, to issue such a challenge like that. I must say, I am impressed by your moxie."

[EsmereldaStella]

For a moment, Stella thought about answering the woman with the hairpins challenge. Then, she thought better of it. She was terrible with costumes. A fact that she thought was obvious by her lack of finery and lavish costuming.

Stella contented herself with walking around a bit more, finding some tea to sip. She saw the woman with the hairpins and the other one who'd offered art as a prize talking. Biting her lip, Stella thought about going over and talking to them. But, another person caught her eye. A woman travelling from group of people to group of people scribbling in a notebook. Well, whatever this night ended up being, there were certainly some interesting people here. Stella looked around once more, trying to decide what to do.

[Black Witch of Ra]

Nilda continued her way into the ballroom, soaking in the fine details and care the decorators had put into their event. "Beautiful. . . I applaud their craftsmanship and coordination," she smiled. Oh she loved seeing the hard work of others to turn out to something so breath taking. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone in darting about. Nilda turned around, but lost sight of that person in the crowd of parading colors of the other guests' attire. "Hm. . "

"Very busy. . . Pretty sure no one would notice-"

"I said not to cause trouble," Nilda growled through her teeth as she cut off her imp friend. "Can we have one night where shenanigans don't start because one of us screwed up?"

[Ral Zarek]

Around this point in time, Kathryn was starting to kick herself for not wearing more comfortable shoes. Wrapping up an interview with another guest (this time on centaur politics), she grabbed a glass of champagne off of the tray of a passing waiter and plopped down into a nearby seat. She drained the glass, set it down on the table, and began to read over her notes to make sure that they were legible.

[Juno Mnemosyne]

It didn't take long to spot who she'd been looking for. With many rude shovings aside to whatever unfortunate partygoers were in her way, she forced herself nearer, stopping just short of being close enough to the journalist to be of any notice. Juno couldn't bring herself to intrude any further. All this way, all this searching, and to lose heart just when she's certain she's found who she came for? This cursed cowardice was going to be the end of her!

Eager to retreat again before she could be spotted, Juno pulled back, allowing herself to be absorbed by the crowd, but not so much so that she couldn't keep an eye on Kathryn. Wherever the journalist went, Juno was never too far away, attempting to blend in and feign interest in the goings-on while surreptitiously watching the other woman's every move. Everything she did was of intense interest, even something as mundane as sitting down or holding a glass.

Oh, to be that chair; to be that glass! Life could be so unfair sometimes.

[Battery Acid Included]

★     ☆     ★ ☆     ★ ☆     ★BatteryAcidIncluded★     ☆     ★ ☆     ★ ☆     ★


BAI stumbled into the area perhaps a little tipsy before she even got there. Eh. Ehhh...not like it mattered, these things were made for partying and stumbling. Er. Drinking. She meant drinking.

Of course, BAI never went with the simple costumes. No, she could have just bought a silly little mask to put over her face and call it good. But that would have been smart and that was the opposite of what she typically dead. Er. Did. So now she had a giant snake head on and couldn't actually SEE.

Completely the way to go.

Gathering herself and trying to head toward the light, which was hard to see through the crack of the mouth of the snake, she inched toward a table with beverages and clumsily grabbed onto a drink and tried to pour it into the mouth, mostly soaking her head.

"Awwwww yeah," came the muffled words from the costume. Only way to go, man.

With a rumbly in her tumbly, she soon started to poke around for food. "Come here, my precious," her voice eeriely echoed out of the costume's mouth....



★     ☆     ★ ☆     ★ ☆     ★ "Murder at the Masquerade" ★     ☆     ★ ☆     ★ ☆     ★

[Ral Zarek]

[[Juno: I lol'd. rofl ]]
Kathryn couldn't help but get the feeling that someone had been watching her. In all of the unorthodox investigations she had performed, she had a good sense for when someone was watching. Not seeing anyone looking at her directly, though, she pinned it up to there just being so many people in the room, and eased back into rewriting her sloppy notes.

[Aitirisa Abatangelo]

[[Ah, this is adorable~ May I join in?]]