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

[Madame Mae]

Trying listen to a group of guests talking seriously amongst themselves, Mae inched a bit closer. They seemed to be speculating more about the cause of death at the moment, then the suspect. From the sound of it, one of them was also a detective. "How convenient." She thought to herself, "A detective just happened to be at a party where a murder took place." Mae looked down, and was surprised to see the little imp from before peeking out from under the buffet table. Glancing around the room, she did not see the women it arrived with, so she bent down and scoped it up.

"Hey there little guy, why are you all alone and hiding under a table? Did you lose your friend and get frightened?" She asked, lifting it up to look into its small red eyes, "Say, don't imps also have a more human like form? Why not switch, or do you not have an outfit for the ball?" Before she could go on, Mae heard a female voice address her, and she turned to face her.

"Beni..." She mumbled, shrinking back, and inadvertently clutching the imp a little too lightly. Would the accusations start again? Her mind was a frenzy of activity, trying to think up ways to not make herself look more guilty.

[Black Witch of Ra]

"I did not lose her," Noir frowned. "I know exactly where she is, but I'm not about to be stuck in her claws of death again." He rolled his red eyes as he was picked up by the woman with feathery sleeves. The bits of soft fabric tickled his little body making him flinch a little. "As for the outfit, I rather not wear it. I look like a damn fool that's begging to be toyed with," the imp's frown went deeper as he was once again held captive.

[Madame Mae]

Startled by the imp speaking, Mae loosened her grip, having forgot she was even holding him. "Wait, this could work," she thought to herself, "Maybe I could use this imp to distract Beni from picking up where we left off." Once again bringing the imp closer to her face to look at, she was surprised to see it seemed to be frowning. If Mae was not wound up so tight from the events at this party, she might have even laughed.

"Her claws?" Mae repeated, looking confused, "And I am sure your outfit is not as bad as you make it out to be. Go on, let us see. I promise I won't toy with you, as you put it." She wondered if he would warn her if he did change. After all, it did not seem very likely that she could support the weight of a grown man if he changed while she was still holding him.

Mae glanced up at Beni, who was looking quite graceful smoking her long drag. She hoped that Beni would indeed become distracted, she had seemed interested in the imp earlier.

[Miss Elecy]

Beni opened her mouth but then she noticed the imp. Her expression changed into a very curious, awe-struck one. "Ooh..." she cooed. It was just...so...CUTE! She smiled sweetly. It looked so plush and huggable.

"What a cutie!" Beni exclaimed, quite uncharacteristically. "It's so adorable! And it talks! Precious! And what's this I hear about a human form? Oh, do show! I bet it's even cuter than this one!"

Beni had completely forgotten why she approached Mae in the first place. As far as she was concerned, it was just to gush over the imp.

[Black Witch of Ra]

"And why on Gaia would I play into this 'Oh I'm sure you don't look so bad~' game like an idiot?" Noir was still frowning. "Besides, I don't like showing off my good unlike some people in the room. I don't mind attention, but being one of the only few guys here, I'm not budging." Was this imp picking a fight? Perhaps. Or maybe he was a little more than annoyed for being held like a stuffed toy for most of the night.

EDIT:

The imp's eyes widened at the squeal from the other woman. Oh no. . . Dare he look? The imp curled himself into a tight little ball, tucking his small wings over his body. He wrapped his tail up and around. Of course in doing so, he might cause more squees. Maybe.

[Madame Mae]

Mae was very pleased to see Beni so enamored with the little imp, even if the imp was being cranky. It was pretty impressive that the little guy could shout so much, considering how small his lungs must be. . . imps have lungs right?

"I am not trying to treat you like an idiot" she said, with wide-eyed innocence. Showing off his goods? Not the only guy? Mae looked around, her eyes falling once again on Konani. This time she did laugh.

"I see, maybe you are afraid Konani might attack you if you change forms? There are so few men here, it is very possible." Mae then mumbled under her breath, "I think you might be a little old for his tastes though." She then smiled brightly and continued, "Or maybe you just like being held and fawned over by girls. Is that it? Do you like to be called cute?" If she had guessed correctly by how he was acting, hopefully this little comment might hurt his male pride, and he'd give in.

[Zazabi]

Ohhh, that did it. The hostess of the evening had the pseudo waitress's attention with the story and challenge. Why did it have to be spooky stories? She had a soft spot for those, as well as scaring the pants off people. It was just so much fun. Maybe she could...

She shook her head. No, banish the thought of it. She didn't want people to notice her. Going up in front of everybody would be doing exactly the opposite of it... plus with the murder and her wielding a sword, that might not go over very well... people might start pointing fingers at her... and the fact she was acting like a maid made that all the worse! Damned that brash decision.

She continued to wander around the guests, despite her self given berates, she couldn't help but think of a scary enough story to tell. What would be scary... the setting of this party gone wrong was already like a story... maybe that was it? But how to make it truly creepy... get under people's skin...

ERGH!

Settign the tray down with almost some force, causing a few patrons nearby to jump in surprise, the waitress made for the stage and ascended the steps to stand before the room. Brash decisons having won out again.

You are wearing a mask, you are partially in your element. You are not you to them, but an unknown. One amoungst many. Right, here goes.

She took a breath, and began to recite, a glint of maliciousness merriment in her half smile.

"It was a grand celebration
I knew not when
Of merriment and jubilation
That began past ten

It was a quaint old manor
With doom beneath its banner
Repaired anew for the few
They knew not the evil that it drew

A masquerade! What a delight!
A crack, a flicker, now there was plight.
There was suddenly no more light.
A scream! A thump! Was there a fight?

The lights came back on
One of them was gone.

Who, who? Who has gone?
They asked around
You? Was it you? your face is drawn
Accusations abound

Here, here! The missing found
But alas she was on the ground

What happened? Is she asleep?
It must have been deep
They gave her a nudge
She wouldn’t budge

Her founders swore
tragedy!
She was no more
The humanity!

A blooming of red on her breast
Showed she was in eternal rest
Flicker, flash! Another clash!
Lights were out as fast as a lash
Another scream, now a crash?

Was there a murderer ever so brash?
Was there another to lay under the grass?

Once more the lights flickered on
Was another one of them gone?

A sign, a struggle!
What was the tussle?
Was this encounter a bit more humble?

The horror! A man was dead!
Alas, he was without his head!

His body rested on the table
Head rolling, how dreadful
Surely this murder was mental!
Or at the least very vengeful

The lights died down once more
The night destined to become grisly lore
Raked through them, trepidation
Who was next for their final destination?"

Once finished, she just stood there for some moments, gave a short bow of her head and quietly excused herself from the stage.

[Black Witch of Ra]

((xDDDDDDDDDD))

Without warning, the imp ballooned in size and changed into a more human figure. His dark head wings flapped several times to keep himself upright. There was a slight clink of metal and stone as he moved about but one could say it was from the clashing of gold trim that kept attacking his jacket buttons and belt. The imp gave another frown, "Call me a toy again and you may find yourself in the rain."

He finally had his talons to the polished floor of the room and straightened out his attire. His once beady red eyes had changed into a more orange color which glared behind his red mask. "As I said before, now I look like a fool for falling for that deception."

[Magnificent Moonbeam]

Lunar was in a state of thought...'Normally those like waiters and waitresses aren't usually suspects in a murder, but then again...the sword of hers could be used as a self-defense weapon against anyone that went in to attack her...there are other people we have to be cautious of...' She thought as she got up to adjust her dress.

[Madame Mae]

[[ Zazabi, that was an awesome story/poem ;o! ]]

When the imp began to expand without warning, Mae cried out, letting go of the creature. Her eyes grew in wonder as it changed into a very well dressed man, well a man with wings on his head and claws for feet. When he gave his little threat, Mae just rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to start tossing people out the window?" She asked skeptically, "And besides you don't look like a fool at all. Your outfit is very smart, you look handsome." Mae did not intentionally talk to him like a child, it was just hard to make the transition from him being a tiny imp to a full grown man. She turned her attention to his head wings, it was her first time seeing a real imp in human forum, and she was curious.

"I want to ask if I can touch your wings, but knowing your personality, you will just say no. So I'm just going to do it anyways." Reaching her hand out, she lightly touched the wings, not knowing if they were delicate or not. Mae hoped that the imp in this form was still as interesting to Beni as the little one.

[Black Witch of Ra]

"I can always do that, but leaving people out on the roof is always an optio-" He was cut off as the woman's fingers violated his head wings. The wings were warm, soft and leathery to the touch. Of course there was always the case of bone and muscles in the wing, though it would be hard to tell where they were unless she started to pull the wing out to full spread. Noir's eye gave a visible twitch. "Oi, quit it! Who do you think you are? My wife?!" he growled as he tried pulling his wing back in away from her.

[EsmereldaStella]

Stella tried to focus on the investigation, but was thoroughly distracted by the waitress with the sword making her way on stage. "Look," she said, tugging on Taller's sleeve to get him to look at the stage. Stella listened to the woman's story, shivering as it finished. "Well, murderer or no, she's a wonderful storyteller." Stella's eyes glanced about, and she noticed a man with wings sprouting from his head. She was caught off guard for a moment, but soon, she was just impressed with the man's outfit and how well he pulled it off. She was getting distracted from the investigation. Obviously, she was not a very good detective.

[Magnificent Moonbeam]

Lunar heard about this dark winged imp entering but she kept her focus on the investigation, as she stood after adjusting her dress and looked around with her head turning to find any clues of the sort.

[Miss Elecy]

Beni brought her hands up to her lips, covering them in awe, the drag still in between her fingers and carefully avoiding hitting her in the face. Her eyes seemed to glow in excitement, as the imp transformed from an adorable ball of plush into a rather handsome man. "Ooooh," She cooed again. But this time, it wasn't a coo at the sign of cuteness. It was more...sensual.

The fact the imp-man seemed to hate the attention just made Beni more intriqued. The Japanese had a word for that, didn't they? Tsun-something or another. "I agree. You look very handsome indeed," Beni nodded. She snorted slightly when Mae went ahead and began to grope the man's wings. By the way the man reacted, you would've thought she was touching something well below the navel.

"Oh, Mae. I think he doesn't approve of all this bad touching."

Beni would be lying if she said she didn't want to touch them too.

[Madame Mae]

Mae quickly pulled her hand back at his comment.

"Wife? She asked embarrassed, "Just how sensitive are your wings?" Mae was not a prude, but it was something altogether different to accidentally touch someone's. . . personal spot? When Beni pointed out the fact that he did not like the touching, Mae felt her face becoming hot.

"Yeah well I'm sorry, but I don't normally get any complaints." Her confident words not matching the redness in her face, "Your wings are very soft though, I was surprised." What made this worse was the fact he was actually handsome, and by how Beni acted when he changed, she agreed.

"Wife. . ." Mae thought to herself, "What a silly thing for him to say, after all it is dangerous to be my husband." Turning her attention back to the awkward situation, she fidgeted with the onyx rose brooch on her chest.

"So, what do we call you?"