Someone wearing A lion mask has joined the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask arrives, following Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask.

3 Thrax Guards, 1 Thrax Elite Guards arrive, following Someone wearing Spring Evening mask.

Someone wearing a massive leather shark mask with ruby-ringed eyes and sapphire waves has joined the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a blushing bluebird mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

Tanith arrives, following Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon.

Atila arrives, following Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask.

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask arrives, following Someone wearing a mask of a mans face sloughing off.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky elbows the figure in the moon next to her, and points.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures arrives, following Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask.

Ellani, the palm sized spider arrives, delivering a message to Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures before departing.

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has joined the The Misconduct Couch.

A man wearing the Driftwood Mask arrives accompanied by a woman wearing the mask of the Black Rose, the pair making their way to a nearby shadowy alcove to watch the events of the night unfold. The man himself takes a moment to observe the various guests and the numerous costumes exhibited by them.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has joined the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask joins the crush of bodies moving through the Velenosa hallways to celebrate the Bloodmoon, the swish of steelsilk, the glitter of threading, all combining to begin the assault on the senses that this evening will hold. She wears the mask of a smile beneath the /real/ mask she wears, peacock feathers springing to dance around her (hard to conceal) red hair as she moves. Her dark eyes search from behind the mask, an excited ease to her search - one that is filled with anticipation and a wealth of amusement at the masks she finds, and the fact that she totally didn't ask the man she was supposed to be meeting here what he was going to wear. "Is my evening to be one of hide and seek?" she wonders to an anonymous guest passing by, who laughs at her predicament.

A woman wearing a crown of flames stands upon the raised stage where the thrones sit, chin lifted with a welcoming, if not a bit amused, smile on her face. "Welcome" she states loudly enough for those gathered to hear, her voice bouncing from the shadowed marble walls as the room is darkened and the only light is the blood moon shining high in the sky spilling into the room. "House Velenosa welcomes you into our home to celebrate with us. Enjoy the evening, dance, drink, and try not to behave yourselves too much. It would be a shame if there were no stories to share with those people who make bad choices and did not attend." The woman looks around the room behind the veil of her crown, voice taking on a deeper, more sultry tone, "also remember, should you take something home with you, whether mortal or other, finders keepers, and I do not wish for you to return them tomorrow morning."

She makes it all of a dozen steps in before her steps slow and then stop, and the turn of her head and shift of her weight give away that the woman in the Scarlet Dawnstone Mask is having serious second thoughts about having walked in here. It only lasts a moment before she's moving again though, doing one scan of the room before laughing at herself and shaking her head, starting in the direction of one of the many alcoves where she can put a little time in holding up a wall with her shoulder.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask had arrived just a bit early to get the lay of the land, but only just now finds a seat. She randomly chooses the misconduct couch, an amused expression touching just at the edges of her lips. She nods her head to those already seated, "There are some wonderful costumes this evening."

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask arrives, a small, slight person who matches the gold and white owl visage with a golden shell necklace, a coarse robe, and bare feet. He does not look ready to be anywhere or anything in public, and steps with a light-drag of his feet around the edges of the ballroom.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers arrives with someone wearing an umbra mask on their arm. The individual guiding the pair forward can be assumed that they are perhaps male, by the choice of pants over a skirt, but there's no telling in the Lycene ward who is who. Sterling silver eyes peer out from the raven mask, the soft reflections of mocha skins seen at the cuffs as the raven mask turns their hand toward the couches, "Perhaps a dance in a moment, but you know, this is the first time I think I've participated in this Bloodmoon celebration. Shameful, considering."

Stepping into the Ballroom is a rather odd combination. Someone wearing a full mask in the shape of a white wolf, while the other individual has a mask that's more horror then show, as parts of the face seem to be 'sloughing' off. A murmured whisper is given from the man to the woman and then the pair are beginning to make their way over towards one of the quieter section of the room for the moment.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask strides into the ballroom alone, with an easy confidence in his long stride, his cloak of shadows floating around his form. He takes his time surveying the party as it begins, as though the whole thing belonged to him.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask arrives, a tall, statuesque figure in aeterna. Her red hair is loose and long, with a few small braids woven with shimmering gold ribbon to match the details of her gown. She arrives alone, but finds a glass of wine and a comfortable couch to settle upon.

It's incredibly packed and there's almost a wait to get in. A man wearing a lion-faced mask is accompanying a woman in a wing-adorned mask in to the decorated Velenosa ballroom. He's dressed simply enough, in silk and leathers and just enough fur to sell the purpose of the costume. But he assumes everyone will be looking at the lady anyway, so it's just his job to direct her in and watch her sight lines. "You know, I have never been to the big Velenosa ball," he says, in an Oathlander accent in fact. "So many superstitions about it. I wonder if it's everything they say it will be."

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask arrives along with the throngs of people that pour out into the ballroom. Though the tall figure seems to be alone she drifts fearlessly through the room taking in the various masks and finery with a smile on her plum-colored lips. Eventually, the glittering night-sky makes her way towards the ballroom floor.

Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon arrives with the Night Sky on their arm, and immediately starts looking around. Given that the person wearing the mask stands head and shoulders above most of the crowd, it's not difficult. And on spotting the Radiant Sun, the Glorious Moon makes a beeline for the mask in question - and, of course, its wearer.

Someone wearing a massive leather shark mask with ruby-ringed eyes and sapphire waves has left the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull arrives in the company of the Fallen Beloved. The long-coat of blackest leather lined inside with silk so thickly red it drips against the candlelight, resting on broad shoulders like a cloak. In every facet of his attire is darkness and blood. It clings to the contours of a strong figure garbed like some violence-sated knight or brutish killer by the beautiful red handwraps which cling to callous palms and down thick forearms as though countless lives have been ended to stain the material without flaw or break in that crimson hue. This appearance of royal-sanctioned bloodshed is beset by a visage that gives no illusion. A stygian mirror mask carved to resemble a smiling skull. He rests his wrist lazily on the black hilt of a peace-bound sword, the other used to escort the woman in liquid darkness at his side. He murmurs a word, inclining his head toward a place to sit. Heavy boots measured in their pace but not inelegant carry them across the ballroom once his shattered lady is ready.

Entering the wonderfully decorated ballroom of the House Velenosa, The White Rose, enters with someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask, murmuring quietly as they walk along the hall. She leads her companion to one of the seats, the decadent count, to match the prideful smile glimpsed through her veil.

Someone wearing The White Rose mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a golden masculine filigree half-mask doesn't arrive within the first wave of guests, but sometime after that. He moves through the crowded floor of the ballroom like a man searching for something, or someone. There's a self-assured gait to him, he knows what he's looking for. Which means there's no worry to his expression, easy and entertained by the crowds. He doesn't accost any of the guests, and there's a certain scrutiny applied to each as he navigates through them. No, not you. And not /you/ either. When he passes by someone carrying a tray of wine, he deftly plucks two of the glasses from the tray. Rounding the corner on some people in bird masks, he comes upon one that's particularly interesting to him. The second wine glass is handed over to the redhead wearing a Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask. "If only someone would write a book as a guide to these sort of things, hm?" he says, a smirk gracing his lips before he tips the glass back.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames has joined the Grand Duchess Throne.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask arrives with the Maiden of Spiders, pausing right inside to gaze around under his mask and to lift up his bat-wing cloak for some dramatic effect; though he never lets go of the maiden's arm, so just one wing is shown off. They arrive just in time to hear the welcome and he lets out a cheer in completely shamelessness. "Drinks and foods, mingle a little?" he asks his partner, already craning his neck to look around at everyone's costumes, spying for people he might recognize. "Looka t all this, it's CRAZY!"

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask moves all by herself into the hall, joining the couch that best describes her worst vice. "Fire and birds seems to be the themes of the season." She comments, nodding to the compliment of the woman with a fiery phoenix mask.

Someone wearing Mask of the Radiant Sun has been lurking, as much as the sun can lurk, towards the back of the hall, head mostly turned towards the door. When the figure spots the arrival of the Glorious Moon and the Night Sky it shifts towards them. The figure looks perhaps a little uncomfortable in this place, head turning always to sweep the room with his gaze.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars clings to the person in the raven mask's arm like a burr. Dainty steps carry her at the raven's side. "Now that is a disquieting comment with which to open the evening. Perhaps it is a raven that shall follow me home tonight." She takes a seat in the area to which she is guided, her voice lowering as she speaks there.

The sea arrives with the shore, or a ship, depending which one is inclined to read her partner as. Not particularly given to such swishy clothing, she has her skirt lifted just a little as she walks to make it a bit easier to walk. "This is - a lot," she concludes, looking around. "Eugh, yuck." Someone spotted a face sloughing off.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask is a tall, thin figure in yellow-white silk; ebony lips rest under her half-mask, and her hair piled atop her head in ornate braids of silver, white, and black. She doesn't walk or glide, she seems to stride and stalk until she finds alcohol and a place to sit. Her eyes, black and empty in their skull sockets, betray nothing under their dark veil. "Here's hoping it's a good one," she says in a rough, whiskey-soaked alto voice.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask has found herself a mug of something warm since with her ensemble it is more than likely she'll have caught a chill by morning. She gravitates to one of the couches to sit and listen to all the chatter happening around her.

Someone wearing a mask for moonless night flights spies the Dark Side of the Moon when she arrives, intrigued by the fellow themed Euruso woman. And so it is that Moonless approaches her, bowing his head. "Might I offer you a drink and some company? While you are the dark side, I am your absence. I would like to have your presence." Well, it's a line.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask flutters across the room across the room once entering, seeming indecisive on where to start.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk plucks a glass of wine as she enters with the lion, murmuring to him with a sly, her lips a painted red,"You will have to see. Im happy I could be your first for such,"taking a sip from her glass. "These costumes are pretty amazing,"she admits, leading them to a seat.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask may be arriving with a Prince of sorts, but she looks as if she doesn't belong despite the fact that she is dressed in aeterna and duskweave, made by one of the finest tailors in the city. She nods quietly to both question and statement posed to her, her fingers tightening slightly on the Prince of Spider's arm. She mumbles something to him, as she takes just a moment to take in a wide-eyed look around the crowded ballroom.

Whoever hides behind the argent porcelain half-mask slashed with white and black accents and veil is a svelte creature whose dark hair is arranged in a coiffure so impeccable that it seamlessly camouflages the means upon which it's held up, and bathed in the illusory effect her midnight ensemble provides that enables her to appear taller than she actually is. A creation of umbra silk swathes her slender frame like liquid ink and bares pale shoulders, modesty secured by a pair of long gloves. Never late, nor early, she has taken the opportunity to install herself in a place in the main room where she can easily glimpse those who arrive, and while she keeps herself silent and still enough to give anyone the impression that she is part of the decor, eyes like dark embers burn through her disguise, lit and alive with curiosity and a certain degree of expectation, flitting from one mask to another in an attempt to catch hints of identity from the other guests.

The flaming glory of the woman on the stage catches her attention for a brief moment, tugging her attentive focus from the ballroom's grand entryway to listen attentively to the mistress of ceremonies. Light hits her veil at the slight tilt of her head, the occasional silhouette of hidden features briefly visible through the diaphanous film; the darker line of a delicate jaw, the flitting shadow of the shape of her mouth.

Someone wearing The Black Rose tilts her cracked porcelain face, twined with vines and thorns beneath a black rose. The turn of her head is indicative of listening to something Driftwood says softly as they slip into the Shadowy Alcove presumably to watch others.

Someone wearing a blushing bluebird mask makes her way into the ballroom with a distinct clacking of her heels. She arrives dressed in blue silk and immediately lifts a hand to gently brush a wisp of rose-beige feathered down from the side of her avian inspired mask. As she does, she smiles at a few masked guests and makes her way to get a drink.

The woman who arrives on the arm of the Grinning Skull is a shattered sort of darkness next to him. She wears a cracked and shattered mirrormask, shards arranged across her features dangerous and sharp. The gown she wears is no type of silk, but rather shadowmeld that seems to move like liquid in perfect fit of her figure, wrapped tight and clinging from bust through hip to flare in an inky pool below the knee. She plucks a glass of wine from a server and holds it delicately as her escort leads them to a suitable spot amid the crush.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers laughs and says rather teasingly, "Whose to say if the raven won't find many pretty things to collect tonight and get distracted?"

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky follows the Glorious Moon, her hand in his, and upon reaching the Radiant Sun, holds a hand out to the wondrous day-star. "There is an elegant, salacious phrase about the both of you residing in my sky, but." Her voice is full of amusement, and warm. "Shall we find a seat, my loves?"

The three-faced companion of the White Rose saunters confidently into the Velenosan ballroom. As the pair find their way towards one of the many plush couches, the individual sporting three faces leans over to murmur something to their delightful White Rose.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask pads through the ballroom alone, casually skirting the edges of the crowds and the room's perimeter with hands tucked into his cloak. His gait and carriage appear mostly relaxed, head lolling to one side as he sweeps his shrouded gaze across the spectacle of gathered revelers.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame strides in unaccompanied in a vivid swirl of criimson honeysilk elegantly fitted over a petite, feminine frame. She fits the seeming theme of avians and fire quite perfectly and makes her way toward a spot to watch the other guests for a while.

2 Whitehawk Guards arrives, following Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask hears the voice before she turns to see the masked man in gold, his words earning a warm laugh as she takes the offered glass from him. "I fear that if there were such a book out there, I would never see it. It would be promised, and instead of the knowledge it holds, I would be showered with jewels instead." An exhaled sigh at her lot in life, and she's bringing the wine to her lips, taking a long sip. "Mm. You didn't make it very difficult for me to find you. I will say that's because you were so drawn to me wearing this," pale fingers lift to touch the circlet, and then she's stepping forward, slipping her hand through his arm and turning with him to survey the guests. "We're in for a lovely evening, I think." She tilts her head to sweep her gaze over his golden form, ending at his eyes behind the mask, "And you look perfect."

Someone wearing A lion mask can see fine in the mask, apparently, but when handed a glass of wine, has to take a second to figure out how to elegantly drink in the mask. It's really not that elegant, but he settles on lifting it up just a little bit. Lead to a couch, he nods to the woman in the seaglass-shattered mask nearby.

"Velenosa's masquerade continues to pull quite the crowd." remarks the man in the Driftwood Mask to the Dark Rose, his voice amused. "Then again... It would be fitting." His gaze, dark beneath the mask, continues to move over the crowd until he notices... "Ah, and I spy some of our acquaintances from before." At this, the man of the Driftwood Mask raises his hand in a slight wave to the woman in the blushing Bluebird mask.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains is a vision in shimmering reds and small details of gold. The dress, tightly bodiced without sleeves and collar, flares out from the hips in an abundance of ruffled, layered silks, dancing with every step the woman takes into the ballroom. The mask itself matches, a red half-mask that curves up on one side and down on the other, having golden prisms hanging from it and a broken chain link in gold on the top. Everything about this woman exudes wildness and freedom and a joy for life, from the toss of her flame-bright head to the cheshire glint of emerald eyes seen behind the mask as she searches out a glass of whiskey.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures chuckles at the yuck voiced by his companion. "Its almost a shame there aren't more like it." He looks around, scanning the room, before half turning to tell the woman in the coral reef mask "I'm going to find a seat."

The Dark side of the Moon draws short when the Moonless Night approaches. A glittering-gloved hand raises to touch the opal pedant hanging from her collarbones. "I would be delighted." She reponds in a voice toned just high enough to be heard over the din of the ballroom.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask enters into the ball with a curve of lips and a sway of hips. The gown is as if she's been dressed in the blood moonbeams. Her eyes slide around the area in thought before she studies those that move. Within her hand is a set of dice that she is rolling within her hand. It's almost like she's looking for someone or something. Her eyes looking to see who is sitting at what grouping.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky has joined the Libertine Table.

Into the room on the arm of a man wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs comes a lady in mirrorsilver and violet wearing a more simple mask of silk. The lady looks around appraisingly, then smiles. "Is it not amazing?" she says to her escort. "So many amazing colors. This is absolutely spectacular. Come, let us get some wine and take a seat for a bit before the dancing starts!"

Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon has joined the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask nods to his partner and steers them towards the nearest drinks and foods, finding a table for them to occupy for now.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing Mask of the Radiant Sun has joined the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask starts towards the dance floor. This is a ball, after all, and he's come to dance.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask wals slowly and carefully or tries to until the throng pushers her to go faster. the small form trying to keep from getting knocked over pushed along by the wave of people , looking for a safe place to be properly dazzled by the finery

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs shows up in his usual attire which will probably give him away to those who actually know him. Though, he does have a new mask, different than the one he broke the other night. He looks about the room, trying to spot a particular mask out there.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask arrives in the ballroom alone, a resplendant phoenix with no companion. She pauses just within the ballroom, gazing about with curious eyes from behind brilliant feathers, a singular dawnstone glinting as she turns her head this way and that. Eyes linger for a time, simply taking in all the colors and splendor of this year's Mirror Masquerade. Then she is drifting further into the room, trailing fiery feathers in her wake.

Someone wearing a silken dual crescent and full moon mask arrives, following Someone wearing a leather mask with a cutwork crown.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask drifts in alone, a solitary figure in simple black, face half-covered in polished steel with a raven-dark crown sweeping back from the metal. The lips below the mask, painted an arterial red, maintain the barest smile, befitting the square set of her slender shoulders, the delicate lift of her chin. It's hard to say whether she can /see/ anything through that mask, absent of any proper eyeholes, but her slow, meandering pace assures she hasn't bumped into anyone yet.

Somewhere in the crush of people a stygian smirk brazenly dances with herself. She hop-skips, and twirls about people as she makes her way through the crowd. Her fingertips are covered in stygian claws that hold just a >hint< of brass hue on the underside of their curves. Duskweave skirts flutter and dance, showing off long and shapely, olive-toned legs. She side-steps past the winged half-mask and twirls around the lion in a flutter and dance of twilight hued skirts, a little flicker of her claws dancing in the air between the couple, and laughter trailing behind her as she plucks the half-mask's glass of champagne straight from her hands, and then moves to hop onto the edge of the nearby couch.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask snags herself a glass of wine as she abandons her alcove in favor of starting towards the dancefloor; not that she actually moves out to dance, but she lingers near the edge to drink her wine. There's so many beautiful outfits to take in, and she is doing her best to see absolutely *everything*. It's a lot.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask begins to recite. There's something about his voice that suggests he would be a poor singer - it has a reedy, wispy quality, like a breeze through thin branches. "The sun is low, the sky is cold. The bright and the dark grow curious, bold. Soon the moon will be high and red, and such follies will be thought and said."

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames arrives, following Someone wearing a bold black bear mask.

Someone wearing round spiral mask has joined the The Scandal Couch.

All masks are not meant to be alike and really sometimes it is the luck of the draw when they are found. As the female in the white wolf mask looks up at her tall companion, they care clearly as different as nice and day this evening among all there splendor. A delighted chuckle comes from the woman's lips as she nods towards the sloughing masked male, "It would seem this night is to be full of the wonders of the colorful and wild. I am sure there will be some small place we can find to watch the glory of the night.." Her voice is warm and husky, blending in with the scene as her lycen styled wolf dress shifts and paints pictures of the wildness of the wolf. And maybe of the lady herself.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs enters into the ball room of the Velenosa estate on the arm of a woman wearing a Lady's Silk mask. His bearing is regal and his stride fluid. A broad smile can be glimpsed beneath his mask as he offers a nod to the woman on his arm. "It is really something to see. It never gets old coming to these things," he says with a laugh before nodding again and leading the way toward the decadent couch and then waving down drinks for the two of them.

"My first true Bloodmoon spent outside of my own worship and room? This shall prove interesting." Black Rose murmurs to Driftwood. "It is rather large...and impressive. Do take care not to become lost."

Someone wearing a mask for moonless night flights smiles when Dark Side of the Moon accepts his invitation. He takes her hand lightly and places air kisses near each of her cheeks, as the Lycene do, greeting her. "I am enchanted to be worthy of your enchanting company," says Moonless. He takes a glass of red wine from a passing server and another for his new friend. "Shall we find a place to sit?" he asks.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes enters the ballroom, looking around then shuffles off to a corner.

Someone wearing a blushing bluebird mask collects a drink and gives a waggle of fingers to the man wearing the Driftwood Mask, her smile clear beneath her own half-mask. Pointy heels clack as she makes her way across the room to find seating with a few other guests.

Someone wearing a leather mask with a cutwork crown has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask chuckles. "Fear not." he tells the Black Rose. "I've no intention in getting lost, much less on the dance floor. You may rest at ease." he adds with a smirk.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask finds a server to pour her a glass of wine as the two of them make their way to the Decadent Couch, where they settle in and greet those also present there.

Someone wearing a mask of a purple bird clutching lapis eggs has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask glances back as she takes a seat with one sort of driftwood - only to see another, with a Black Rose at that. "Hey look," she says. "Family of yours?"

Someone wearing a haunting feline mirrormask fractured by coruscating starlight tears has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask looks about as he comes in with one in an elegant mask of serpentine flames, the head turning this way and that as it seems to be looking about the room, and there's a nod to his companion, before the low voice issues forth. "Something to drink for you, perhaps?"

There's a slight nod of his head in the direction of the Fierce Wolf and the moment is accompanied by just the hint of a chuckle, "There is so much to be seen and to take in. It's truly a splendid display of creativity, that's for certain." With his arm looped through the Fierce Wolf's, the pair begin to move along the outside of the ballroom, angling over towards a spot that happens to be unoccupied.

Being a one handed man is quite obvious, so it should be no surprise who it is when Someone in a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs steps within conversational distance, with his own glass of wine recently procured in his only hand. There is not a shoulder cat to be seen tonight, unfurtinately.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars gives a soft gasp and a mock glare at something said, her reply largely lost in the crowd noises.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask moves over with a sauntering familiarity towards ---- The Scandal Couch ---- because why not? The smile curves her lips as she moves over to those masked there. When she speaks there is a sort of purr to her voice. "Is it alright with you if I join the lot of you, for now?"

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures tells the lady in the coral reef mask. "Let's hope not."

Someone wearing round spiral mask follows a clutch of revelers into the ballroom, their costume somewhat more complicated than the spiral mask on the front of their outfit given its placement about a foot down on their seven foot bulk. They loom at the entrance for a time before moving further into the ballroom, the placement of the mask making them look like they are slouching their way across the floor. Given the size and the depthless umbra of their costume it might be quite mysterious and menacing, except when they get close to a server a beefy arm sticks out of one side, grabs a glass of wine and someone inside grumbles, "Thanks," before it continues toward one of the small gatherings of partygoers.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing an impish midnight ebon fox mask walks up into the place to explore the night, seeming to find a place away from people, noting the masks all in use, nodding a bit. He, it at least looks like a male, seems to be content while finding a nice place to settle in also.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask raises from her spot and she moves to go find the blushing bluebird, she winks a little to the expressionless man and she laughs good naturedly. "may I have the first dance this evening pretty Bluebird?"

As the party begins to really pick up, the glimpse of the sky above seems to grow more crimson, filling even the shadows with a ruddy, hazy light. Perhaps the wine served begins to taste a little better, the other guests seem a touch more alluring...

Someone wearing a golden masculine filigree half-mask cants his head slightly, picking up the comment about the unfulfilled authorship and laughing. "Would you rather have the guidebook to parties?" he has to wonder, following the path of her hand as she touches the circlet. He brings the glass to his lips, taking a measured sip that speaks to years of perfecting the art of drawing out just one or two glasses over the course of an evening. "No? Oh. I could leave, change and come back if that would suit you. But I feel like that sort of reaction might be overwrought." When her arm slips through his, he leans over and speaks quietly to her, gesturing to some of the people as they pass by.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask returns the air-kisses with a smile and steps back to accept the glass of wine. The Darkside of the Moon's attention is drawn for a few moments by some of the nearby masks and the dark eyes behind her exquisite mask widen a touch and her breath catches. However, she's quick to return her attention to the Moonless Night with a widening smile. "Yes please, but if you don't mind someplace with a vantage. There's so much to see." She lifts a hand towards the crow pin and her smile widens, "A lovely touch. Please, lead the way."

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask continues to recite. "With strangers will we share secrets and lies. Trusting the night to keep our disguise. We will engage in drinks and dance and sin. Trusting that with the dawn the follies will end." He tilts his beaked face upward, studying the sky.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame has made her to the SHadowy Alcove, having collected a glass of red wine along the way. She greets those there, settling in to observe the crowd.

Someone wearing a mask for moonless night flights has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask pads into the hall by her lonesome on slippered feet. She's clad all in white, a diaphanous white gown over the top of a white corset and white tights, while her mask, designed to cover up much of her face, is markedly different. It presents a dazzling, chaotic array of colours. Thorough application of cosmetics has rendered the woman's skin a pallid white, but in sharp contrast, her hair has been dyed a vibrant scarlet. She fetches up a glass of wine off a tray and slips through the crowd, closer to the dance floor, gaze lingering curiously on various different people as she passes.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask is quietly chatting with people at the misconduct couch until she glances up and her chatter stops. She raises a brow slightly and says, "It looks as though the eclipse is starting."

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask takes a long slow sip of her... appears to be a bubbly cider or champaign. Something light and airy. And not to her liking. The twist of her dark lips indicates she would prefer something perhaps stronger. As the wine is passed around, she reaches out for a glass, plucking it with long slim fingers. In Lycene fashion she takes a fastidious sip and then drinks more deeply. She's pleased, as those lips curve up into a grin.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask turns her head at the one handed man's approach, her face lighting up with delight when she registers who it is. "Oh, there you are," she says, stepping in to wind an arm around his (on the wine-less side). "I was starting to wonder how long I could manage to keep out of trouble, left without supervision," she teases him, sending a look around. "Do you see anyone you wish to go bother, or shall we just find somewhere to sit? You get a pass on dancing until I am out of wine." And she's only sipped, so it will be a while. She sips again, right now.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask must be able to see /something/ as her fingers rather effortlessly find the bowl of a glass of red wine. The color reflects a deep maroon across the polished surface of her mask as she breathes it in, a prelude to lazy sipping as she continues to drift, content to observe from the edges in her not-quite-blindness.

Someone wearing a mask for moonless night flights takes the Darkside of the Moon and begins to lead her towards the Impropriety Couch, squeezing her hand as they move. The wine has so easily taken the edge off, made it easier for him to flirt and smile behind his mask. He touches the crow pin. "It is one of my most-treasured gifts," he confirms. "But nothing matches the splendor of your outfit. When I saw you, I knew I must know you better."

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky leaves the Libertine Table briefly to get drinks, returning to her companions, the Radiant Sun and the Glorious Moon. "Don't look at me like that," she says to their completely covered faces. "It's free booze."

Someone wearing a stygian smirk's own wine is stolen and thus, clearly, tastes all the better. Though when she lifts it to her face, all it does is, clink against the stygian of her volto. Oh what a shame that she isn't wearing a bauta instead! Her shoulders droop dramatically, and she gives a stomp of one delicate foot. A huff is given and she spins about the dance floor by herself, hopping just out of the way of the riot of colors only to twirl back around in a flutter of skirts and thrust her pilfered glass of wine out to her, pushing it into the riot of color's free hand, and disappearing back into the crowd with a giggle.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask looks up from her spot on the Immorality couch. "The booze is /always/ free if you go to the right parties."

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask moves towards the woman in the eyeless mask, fascinated maybe by the mask, maybe (like a bird) by his own reflection in it. Either way, he stops in front of her and sketches out a crisp military bow, then offers a hand, a silent invitation to dance.

Rather than finding a place to sit, the fiery phoenix drifts further into the ballroom and reaches for an offered glass of wine with a slender hand. She lifts it up, and takes a careful sip, minding the molded beak of her mask. Turning, she lingers there to observe the multitude of costumed individuals, nearly drowning in the sea of masks. After a time, she turns her gaze to the windows, watching the change of hues.

A sip taken from his glass finds the man in the Driftwood Mask pausing before taking another. "This would be why Lenosian Red is my favourite." he remarks as the light slowly turns red beneath the Bloodmoon. "Have you tried it yet?" he asks, turning his gaze back to the Black Rose.

The woman with elegant mask of serpentine flames upon the black bear's arm nods and smiles to the offer. "Yes, but perhaps not just yet for me. I would like to enjoy the scene for a moment,"she grins, her eyes lifting up to the reddening skies and back. "But soon. I promise," she flashes a playful smile as she releases the bear's arm so he can hunt down a drink for himself should he be craving it sooner rather than later.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a blushing bluebird mask finishes what's left of her drink and then stands up from her seat to join the lady in the Firebird mask. "Yes, of course!" She smiles brightly and her half-mask shows just how excited she is to make her way toward the dance floor. "I promise not to step on your toes."

"No," the woman in the Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask responds with a quick laugh. "No, I think I understand parties well enough, thank you." She watches him take that sip as the lighting begins to change, an effect of the sky above permeating the ballroom, filling its corners. Her teeth draw over her bottom lip, a quick bite of sensation, and then she's looking past him to the masked revelers he points out. Whatever is whispered has her grinning, her fingers hooked at his arm pressed more firmly against their rest. This is to keep him down at her level for a moment so she might offer her murmured response. And then with a look past him, she wonders, "Shall we tempt the shadows tonight?"

As the sky begins to become more crimson the woman with a mask of the same color stands and starts walking slowly around the room, taking in the other costumes and perhaps just wanting to be seen in her own.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask watches as the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames draws her hand free, before his hand reaches out, gently, to draw her hand back to where it had rested in his arm. "I can wait a while before needing such things," he intones, the slightest shadow of a smile on his lips as he's remaining at her side. "There's time enough for all things." Though the head turns to regard the hue that comes through the windows for a moment.

The one-handed man in a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs easily lends his stubby lim unto the woman in a Scarlet Dawnstone Mask. "You hardly need me to supervise you. If I went to look at the roster," says he with a jest to his tone, "I think you are above me in the Academy. Finding somewhere to sit sounds fine with me. You will find that I am past the age when I might have been any good at dancing." He motions with his own wine glass in his only hand toward any of the arrangements there are where one might be able to hunker down for a spell. "Where to?"

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask is easily led as she drifts along still taken by each new wonder of mask or clothing. The opals on her fingers shimmer under the moon's light as her hand flexes in the Moonless Night. "It makes a statement I can see you are familiar with." Once they arrive at the Impropriety Couch she nods to the others in greeting smiling towards the Half-Skull and replying softly.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask laughs a little as she takes the delicate hand of the bluebird. The firey outfit caresses her form as she dances the colors from the brocade shimmer and flicker in the light, a laugh escapes her as she moves to dance with the bluebird, red and blue swirling hand in hand. Each dancer compliments the other gracefully.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask tips her head up to watch the moon for a while before circling about the room to obtain a drink.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask breaks into laughter as the extra glass is thrust into her hand and declares, though more just aloud rather than to the figure in the stygian mask, who has moved on, "Marvellous! I was at a loss as to what I would do when the first ran out." She takes a sip from each glass, testing them out, then bobs her scarlet-haired head in a satisfied fashion and proceeds, still to the dance floor, though it's anyone's guess how she'll dance with the wine.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask pauses in her meandering when approached, a faint cant of her head conveying consideration for the Fierce Falcon before her. A slight turn of her attention, and she hands off her barely enjoyed wine-glass to passing staff then offers those recently freed fingers to the unfamiliar gentleman without word, with only a nod to further concrete her acceptance of the unspoken invitation.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk lifts her eyes to the crimson sky, finishing the remains of her glass. Then oh look at that! It's refilled! "So many--feathers. Dual purposes Im sure."

All throughout the ballroom are mirrors, some hidden in alcoves, others covering entire tables so those sitting there have no choice but to look downward and see their own reflections. Shards of broken mirrors cover a wall, twinkling outward as light hits them to cause the room to take on an even redder hue with the moon rising, while deepening the shadows elsewhere in the grand room. The woman in the crown of flame, positioned upon the throne watches those who mingle, those who drink and laugh and toast, those who move with others to the dance floor as the music begins and the soft melodic notes seduce even the shiest of people to move along. She seems contect, alone for now, to watch. A servant moves forward to bring her wine, lifting it to his masked lips to sip the liquid first before handing it over to the waiting hands of the woman.

The woman in the half-mask glides as a shadow past the crowd, swathed in a darkness that highlights the pallor of her skin and the silhouette of her curves. She belies her petite delicacy through an elegant certainty, her head held high and stride measured with the economy of her movement. The diamonds at her heels echo each step as she approaches a table of drinks, selecting a slender flute of red wine to clasp in her gloved hand. From beneath dark lashes, she casts a thoughtful gaze along the flow and swirl of people, skimming until a particular corner draws her smile. Swift in her walk, she crosses to the back and inclines her head in greeting to a scandalous couch, "Good evening. May I sit with you?" Her voice is Lycene velvet, a golden alto with the lilt of something unfamiliar.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask takes a moment to stretch her legs, and finds herself near the gentleman in the driftwood mask. "Well, it would seem we had similar thoughts. Sea glass, driftwood -- things of the land made into something new and beautiful by the sea."

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers has evidently started something over at the Misconduct Couches. There's a bit of an impromptu dance, with Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains that turns into a scandalous kiss at the end, prior to the latter being escored to a seat.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask plucks two glasses of wine off a tray from a passing server, one-for-me-and-one-for-you - you being the driftwood-and-sailcloth-clad man with her. "I may /actually/ want to dance a little tonight. Which... would in fact make me dangerous. Who knew. Not all night, though." She drinks her wine and settles back. Color seems to catch her attention - particularly when a lot of them all in one place.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has joined the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask steps slowly forward recognizing no one for certain though she suspects both friends and family may well be here . feeling bold she wanderss toward the man giving recitation in the owl mask and says softly "do ols flock i wonder

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

"As you wish," the woman in an elegant mask of serpentine flames graciously bows her head and smiles. Glancing out across the busy room, her gaze drifts over the crowd of wild and whimsical creatures gathered. "No, what shall we get up to first?" she smiles allowing her hand to be drawn back to nestle in the crook of the big black bear's arm.

There is, apparently, no drinking happening at the Libertine Table, the Night Sky and her two celestial bodies speaking quietly, the former looking a little grumpy, if body language can come off as such. It passes quickly though, she's pointing out something, her gestures animated.

Full of utter mischief tonight it seems, the Stygian Smirk continues her merry dancing through the crowd on the dancefloor. She acquires a glass of wine from somewhere. She twirls around the one-handed man with the emerald and jasper mask and his scarlet dawnstone companion as they seem to make for a place to sit. As she swirls pass she attempts to swap his wine glass with the one in her hand. It's an obvious little switch, after all, the wines are two different colors. Red becomes white, or white becomes red. And laughter trails behind her.

Someone wearing A lion mask gets up from the couch for a moment, giving a passing nod to the one in the seaglass mask as he takes the hand of the woman in the winged half-mask, and does his best to lead her to the dance floor. On his way to the floor, he passes the woman in the snowy owl and gives her a slight elbow, but he's already also moving past into the crowd and onto the floor.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask finds one of those hidden mirrors angled against an alcove. She turns this way and that to look at her figure in the mirror. From the amount of attention she pays it this is something she doesn't tend to do often so likely not Lycene for those that might be keeping track.

Someone wearing A lion mask has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing A lion mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask seems about to continue his recitation, when another owl approaches him. He bows. A narrow little thing. "Owls are solitary birds in the main. Creatures of silent swoops. Mice eated in branches, lonely. But no bird is completely alone all the time, ah? I hope you are enjoying yourself."

Someone wearing a Silver Scaled Lady strides in, another masked presence at a masquerade full of glittering and golden people. It's hard to know where to start. On the other hand: at least the hostess is obvious. The Silver Scaled Lady makes her way toward the throne and, once in sight, drops an elegant curtsy to the woman in the crown of flames. A rustle of umbra and she straightens again.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask is surrounded by the bright colors of the sea and the mysterious dark night and darker still moon. "Ah, the moon is taking on it's bloody tint." The dark liips curl into a smirk, which she glances at in a mirror. She seems to be paying more attention to reflections cast than colorful swirls and ornate designs. But - it's hard to tell with her eyes black and empty as they are. Her rough alto drops as she speaks to her fellow loungers.

Someone wearing a golden masculine filigree half-mask laughs when she declines his offer, his eyes drifting upward to catch the change of light as it settles in across the ballroom. There's no rush to stand all the way up again, so he abides by her bidding, slightly stooped to catch those murmured words. Whatever the woman wearing a Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask says has him laughing brightly, clear and easy. "So am I," he replies. Despite what his common sense might often tell him, he takes a bit of a deeper drink from that glass of wine. Her indication that they should join the shadows is met with a nod of his head, "Yes." Rather than wait for her to lead them to a specific spot, he begins moving his feet first. He uses his bigger frame to clear the path in front of them, nudging people out of the way firmly but also politely. Once they've found an appropriately dark and shadowy spot, he's leaning down into her space again to speak over the music, his voice murmured tones.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures tells the woman in the impressionistic coral mask. "You've always been dangerous."

Tilting her head, Scarlet Dawnstone Mask gives the man in the a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs an amused, skeptical sort of playful look. "You are not old enough to hide behind age from me, I am sorry to tell you," she says, rolling her eyes before she starts to lead him in the direction of one of the couches. "And _someone_ needs to supervise me. You do not need rank, only sense. I am fairly certain you are in possession of that." She pauses for the woman with the stygian smirk that swirls past, a low laugh escaping for the attempt at switching wine out, no attempt made to intervene. "Probably a better choice," she notes.

Someone wearing A Complementary Mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing A Complementary Mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Her near-obsidian regard follows the woman dressed with the flaming crown seating herself upon the Archduchess' throne, hidden lips adopting a faint and thoughtful purse. But whatever smattering of indecision there may be banishes in an instant when the Lady Spring Evening moves in a silken swirl of midnight silks, stopping only briefly to obtain a glass of pale wine, long-legged strides working a quick clip through the crowded room and managing to navigate it despite the veritable rainbow of splendid disguises that has splashed across the Velenosan ballroom. Her gradual circuit around it puts her on an eventual charted course towards the raised dais, ostensibly to greet a beloved cousin, but she halts in increments to search the crowd. A gloved hand absently lifts when she takes advantage of the pause to take a sip of her wine - a sparing pull at best, the draw of an index touching the white moon lily nestled in her glossy chocolate updo.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Up above, the moon grows redder in hue, like a bleeding wound in the sky. The stars seem to recede as the crimson light shines brighter and brighter. The eclipse approaches.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a Silver Scaled Lady has joined the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask speaks softly and withdraws a step or two then, but looks to the other owl expectantly

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask's attention lifts towards the dimming red of the sky as she speaks to those nearby.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a Silver Scaled Lady turns away from the throne and tilts her chin up to survey the room, looking over the costumes. Finding one that appeals, she makes her way over to one of the couches and inserts herself there as though invited.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask speaks something low to his fellow owl, then turns his head upward again as the moon seeps and brightens. "Fall asleep and hope to dream that the solid world is exactly as it seems. That change and terror can be quite confined to a single night, red-moon aligned."

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull sits at the scandal couch beside the Fallen Beloved and despite the expression etched in black stone, it seems that does not stop him from glowering at the revelry with a bloody disdain -- or maybe he's lost in thought.

As the sky begin to grow even redder, there's a glance towards the sky, the sight of the moon taken in a moment before he's looking back to the fierce wolf, to continue the quiet conversation.

Someone wearing a blushing bluebird mask twirls the lady wearing a Firebird mask as they both move in step upon the dance floor and then leans close to murmur something to her.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask is rolling dice in her hand and speaking to those at her couch. It seems that she might be trying to tempt them into things. Her eyes move to the mirrors when she can see them. The look of the changes of the moon causes her to smile even brighter.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask does not look up at the sky as the light in the ballroom spills into an ever deepening red. She keeps her eyes on the mirror and rather than her own reflection that of the people at the party behind her.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask follows in the golden masculine masked man's wake, the path he cuts through the ballroom perhaps giving some clue as to his identity. Or if not that, his station. She watches amusedly as another partygoer is pushed politely to the side. "You make it look so easy," she observes from behind, until they've found some suitably shadowy corner to continue their revelry, her wine glass a frequent companion with her lips as she listens to him. Her responses come quietly, and they fade into the shadows together.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask stands so she can better see the darkening moon. The bone yellow-white of her gown starts to take on hints of the crimson tint. Eyeless sockets drift upward. She's watching. Waiting.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask takes a seat in front of one of the mirrors with the drink she's selected and stares into it intensely.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask dances with the bluebird and then she passes near the Ceramic Mask, "do save a dance for me." she winks under her mask and a little curtsy to the Mirrormask as she moves back to the couch

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask peers upwards to the sky, watching the moon's passage. She takes a swig of the glass in one hand, then one from the other hand, and shuffles backwards to lean against a table as she watches.

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask turns eyes up to the sky and takes a step closer to the Sloughing masked's male. A soft sigh of delight at the very show that nature is giving to the ball that night and then her attention curves back to her partner, her voice a little easier to hear for a few moments. "So many miss what nature give us, this is beautiful.." She is delighted and goes back to there more personal sharing of thoughts.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask takes the arm of the fellow in the expressionless ceramic mask and lets him lead the way to the dance floor. Her eyes dart to the mirrors, not exactly nervously, but like a child taking a peek at something they know they shouldn't.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a mask of a purple bird clutching lapis eggs has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask grabs a drink as she sits back down for a moment, her eyes moving over the crowd and the dancing silks

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

pushes the two swords he wore to one side of him so as to facilitate better movement, shifting into a graceful step.

Someone wearing a mask of a purple bird clutching lapis eggs has joined the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs only has one hand, and so not to break the stem of the glass, he lets go of it and ntakes the white wine which was bestowed upon him. He looks to the Stygian Smirk, then looks to the glass in his hand, then he looks back to the woman in the Scarlet Dawnstone Mask. "It might be." says he with obvious uncertainty about the wine and makes no move to actually imbibe what he has been given. Being in a Lycene estate, he does not chance it and sets the new wine on a passing tray of take aways that a server carries before moving to the couches with the woman on his arm. "I think you have plenty sense." Though, the reasons why remain a mystery to most as he explains them more quietly.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask smiles at her driftwood seatmate, and then - taking care not to make him spill his wine - she lifts his hand, drapes his arm around her shoulders. She shakes her head and laughs. "What are you talking about?" she asks, and takes another sip. She leans back in the curl of his arm, whispers something, and gazes about at the various masks. "Some of the cosmetic effects are -so- stunning. I got dressed. I feel accomplished." She's probably talking about Bone Colored Half Skull Mask, with the apparent empty eye sockets. That's... a cosmetic effect, right?

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes steps out to the dance floor with a somewhat recognizable bottle of mixed alcohols. Drinking and dancing with theirself.

An inhale of breath filters in airy imbibement past lush lips in a shade of bewitching carmine, lungs expanding before veins rush crystalline in sultry exhale, fingers curled into the gossamer drift of duskweave shifting like midnight fog about form. Stilling any rattled nerves chin lifts with an air of vicious superiority as in a glide of heady woodland scent, luminous flesh, and shapely legs this creature of woven briar breezes with sylphic grace into the crowded space dizzy with merriment aplenty. Phantasmal blues shift with hunting attention on each masked visage as if looking to single out one in particular. Deft digits, chiming with a flick of ruby charmed bracelet, claim the delicate stemware of a wine glass before raising it to lips to sample the gory red within.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames smiles towards the woman within the Silver Scaled mask, dipping her head gracefully in response. She doesnt seem overly concerned by the moon's rising or the way it affects the room or the mirrors. Her glass is lifted in a silent toast and she takes a sip. Finally she stands from the throne and moves outward towards those gathered now that people seem to have settled where they have and drinks are making their way through the ballroom.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk appears behind the woman wearing the riven butterfly mask in a swirl of duskweave skirts. She tips her head to the side, vividly green eyes visible behind the mask. She leans forward over the butterfly's shoulder to murmur to her.

Demonstrating that she does not in fact have the good sense presently being attributed to her, Scarlet Dawnstone Mask trades her own glass for the ditched one. Traded wine is apparently superior. There are no other detours, though.

Someone wearing round spiral mask looms at the scandal couch, though they do not sit. It's entirely likely that they can't given their unlikely height. They speak with those at the couches, though the mask scans the room now and again, taking in the colorful display that is the masq. On seeing the woman wearing not much more than belts there is a faint snort from somewhere inside the costume.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars rises from her seat as she seems to be plotting something with most of those with whom she sits. Her glass is handed to Prism who has already been handed a glass by Raven. "Lead the way, kind Raven, I'll try not to tread on anyone's feet as we attempt this."

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask tilts her head towards the stygian smirk enough to see them from the corner of her eye, but still look into the mirror. She says something in return.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask occasionally lets her gaze drift toward the mirrors as well, though whether she is studying her own reflection or that of others is difficult to tell. Otherwise, she sips her wine and occasionally wanders, mingling a little here and there, speaking with this or that person to complement costume choices or masks in a soft-mannered way that is not nearly as bright and bold as the phoenix persona she has chosen for herself. A little by hesitant, perhaps, she lingers on the fringes, like a bird looking for a safe place to roost.

Someone wearing A Mask of Flame and Ashes arrives, following Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask murmers softly "May the sun shine brightly again once the moon has had its time" She says as she looks toward the moon. " it's not really a coversation yer seems appropriate for the unreality of the evening

Someone wearing a Silver Scaled Lady shakes her head gently and steps away from the couch she was previously lingering at. She glances at a mirror, frowns, and leans toward it to examine her face. Sniff. That done, she heads for an exit and eases out for a moment.

Someone wearing a Silver Scaled Lady has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures takes the hint and draws the woman in a coral mask closer into his side, his attention pulled from the coming eclipse and back onto her masked features at the same time. "I'm surprised by the number of birds and impressed by the bravery behind some choices."

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask laughs slightly in response to snowy owl's response. "Come, come, give the moon its due. It has not even finished rising yet, but wish for the sun, do you?"

Someone wearing a stygian smirk cocks her head to the side, that gruesome smirking face pointed at the riven butterfly once more. One hand, covered in stygian claws rests on her hip, a slow blink of her green eyes is given and then she leans past the other woman's shoulder, again too close for politeness, to peer into the mirror herself. She squints intently at it. Before once more murmuring to the butterfly.

The party was at the Misconduct Couch! Apparently the group there is starting to untangle themselves from sitting and begins to follow a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers out to the dance floor. The thing is, they're not in pairs! They're flocking! They're going to dance free-style! The raven spreads his arms and twists and turns A Wolf Mask and then spins Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars out further. There's laughter and arms flying, bouncing feet, jumping, and twisting. There seems to be a lot of energy coming from the group, who is stay that the 'raven' is leading this, when the entire group is in some way leading the dance by creating a whole new tribal bounce sort of thing!

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Well, most of those from the Misconduct Couch. The fiery phoenix stays put where she is, seemingly content to stay where she is at the moment. However, she gives the raven and the others an amused look as they parade to the floor to dance.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask laughs a little as she watches the Raven and wolf go to dance she laughs deply as if she could reckionise a few of them. "I think I do know those two" she motions to the wolf and raven as her eyes flicker slightly

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask releases a loud, free laugh at whatever the stygian smirk has said to her. With a jab of her hand she points towards the mirror, indicating their quiet converse has something to do about the contents therein.

After some embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions, a honey-silk and brass masked person manages to /finally/ get herself to the famed Mirror Masquerade. She moves to immediately find herself a drink; probably a strong one, at that.

Rising from the couches, The White rose leads the a three-faced stygian mirror mask to the dance floor, a smile on her lips as the beautiful music plays. She seems to lose herself in the song, leading her companion in the lovely Lycene styled dances. She seems to speaking quietly, though doesn't stop her movement.

Someone wearing a mask of a purple bird clutching lapis eggs appears satisfied with the answers provided, their gauntlet reaching forward to collect one of the drinks referenced by Night Sky. "Indeed. You are of some familiarity?" the Purple Bird inquires, nodding toward their connected hands.

winds and weaves between dancing masks of beasts and spirits, the angry halo of crimson limning everything into a sinister suggestion causes there to be a difficulty in finding query until in a clear moment does a shaft of light shift to cast a glimpse of a regal avian of autumnal hues, wisdom bearing in those brows but it's the drowning gaze that gives this sylvan bramble pause as the corner of mouth curls into a beckoning flash of pearly whites. Claiming another drink from a passing tray, flashy limbs in daring display carry her forward towards a dashing figure in a rufescent screech owl mask of perception, "Evening." Was rumbled with velveteen quality, the glass held out in offering.

The resplendent woman in the flaming crown makes for an easy beacon under normal circumstances - but a necessary identifier in a gallery full of masks. Lowering her crystal flute of wine from under her veil, the Lady Spring Evening takes a few steps forward in an effort to intercept the woman's path, though she makes no move to touch her, slowing just enough in an effort to catch her attention. It's only when she is well within conversation distance that she speaks; her mezzo-soprano drifts in its precise diction, painted with audible warmth. "Cousin, it's been a very long time, though your eloquent letters have always made it seem as if I've been standing next to you all this time. You've not forgotten what I sound like, I hope?"

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask does her best to keep up with raven. Judging by her movements, it's clear that she isn't trained into dance, especially tribal dancing, but there's still a natural nimbleness there that allows her to be barely passable.

Having re-entered, the lady in the Silver Scales pauses to regard the woman with the brass ship contraption on her head. "Marvelously ambitious," she remarks. "Is it terribly heavy?"

Someone wearing a stygian smirk tips her head to the side, once more; glancing to the mirror though it is a touch dismissive and then back to the butterfly once more. Laughter can be heard in her voice, far warmer than the manic grin that is ever present upon her mask. She wonders something softly over the other woman, once more flicking claws toward the mirror.

Following the White Rose, the woman with three faces engages in the sultry dance, conversing with her partner as the steps are followed as though long practiced.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask tugs down a bit at the edge of his hat's brim with a leather-gloved hand while taking up a station against the wall, seeming content to avoid any dancing or reflections as much as both can be avoided. He nearly pulls his hand down over his mouth in an absent gesture before catching himself - no sense tugging off masks at a Masquerade. A puff of breath jostles the airy fabric covering the lower half of his visage regardless a moment later, and he continues simply observing.. whatever it is in particular he's here to observe. Maybe he's looking for a pocket to pick?

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers twists and turns, making up some of the foot work based on the music beats, dancing with Wolf and Umbra, one in each hand for a moment, before he twists between them and seems to be letting loose! That's the whole point of these things right?! He caws at the Wolf Mask, "Just move your feet to the beat. It doesn't matter what you do. There's no rules when we're breaking them tonight!" He does some light foot work before he slips in beside her to do a waltzing move and then breaks back into a pivoting turn and roil of his arms. There's definitely people gasping! There's got to be. The dance was sacred afterall, wasn't it?! Not to this Raven! He invites others who are near by to break arms with partners and just join in the foot jig going on instead!

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains watches the chain of dancing wend its way to the dance floor and she lofts her drinks, one in each hand, in salute, well content to splay out upon the couch and look as indolent as possible.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky tilts her head at the purple bird sitting at her table. Her visage makes a point at looking down at the hands clasped. "The Moon knows the Sun, and they both dwell in the Night Sky," she remarks, humor in her voice.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask hms softly "everything in its time and place, yes?

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask drinks deeply from her glass, but grins wide and sharp thereafter. She touches the mirror light as if she were landing on a flower instead.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair touches her mask contraption and smiles, seen or not, to the Silver Scaled Lady. "Not terribly so, actually. Though I'm used to having a lot of braids and all manner of things woven into those, so perhaps I am used to a bit more weight," is said with a chuckle. "The scrollwork on your own is stunning. It's very elegant. It highlights your eyes in quite a lovely fashion. I'm curious as to the crafter, if you might share?"

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask grins widely as she watches the dancers move joyfully about the dance floor before staring again at the moon. She occasionally speaks over her shoulder to the Driftwood and Coral sitting in their couch grouping.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames's smile brightens when she is stopped by the woman in the Spring Evening mask, head tilting ever so slightly to look over the woman. "How could I ever forget one of my most favorite people? I had heard you had arrived to Arx." Her smile turns into a grin, "I suppose this is a lovely time as any to meet face to face and not through missives finally? Have you come with anyone or have you come alone and wish to find companionship through mystery?" She loops her arm within Spring Evening's arm to hold her here for now without allowing her to escape just yet.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask gently counters. "Does everything have a place and time? Winter and summer come, the sun sets and climbs. But with thinking beasts like you and I, nothing is certain but that we will die."

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady nods to the woman with the brass ship mask contraption. "Ah. Seaborn Weaponry --- I give a design, they somehow make it work. I needed someone to make the necklace so I thought, why bother with two places?" She touches the mirrorsilver scales on her chest. "Who crafted yours? There's so much detail. It's quite clever."

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask dances a little in her chair moving even when sitting, enjoying the atmosphere

Someone wearing The Sly Fox has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing The Sly Fox has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing The Sly Fox has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing The Sly Fox has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars follows along enhancing Raven's efforts with some of her own. The skirt rises as twirls accelerate showing shapely ankles and feet that keep rhythm to the music and the two partners. At one point she grasps Wolf's hand to help spin her back into the trio dancing together with a hint of abandon.

As the sky begins to undergo its final transformation, the ballroom itself begins to change as well. The shadows are darker. Many of the candles and lanterns glow more red than golden. In the mirrors, there are often many more people in the reflection than in the space that is reflected. Wine glasses aren't where they are left when they are reached for. Even the music seems to change, taking on a slightly discordant note as the moon above gleams dark red and bloody. The Eclipse of Mirrors has begun.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask takes a moment to drink some of her wine. Though engaging with those in the group of masks she's speaking with she also becomes easily distracted by each new mask and outfit that passes nearby, fingers idly toying with her pendant.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk's head turns between the butterfly and the mirror and back again. She reaches out a claw to touch the mirror as well ... just as she notices how a nearby candle seems to flicker in blood red. Her lips curve upward a moment and she dips her chin downward, murmuring softly to the butterfly.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures's attention keeps getting drawn back to the mirrors, despite the woman snuggled into his side, and the conversation going on at his couch.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask glances up at the sky and looks all around, wine glass in hand from just moments before. "Things ought to get interesting now. Real interesting," she remarks. "If events from last year are any indication. Or the journals. Oh those journals."

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flamessmiles a little to herself and leans in to whisper to the bear at her side. "I don't suppose you are craving a dance or two tonight?" she invites with sparkle of fire in her eyes as she gracefully rises and smiles at the bear. "I think being in your arms at the eclipse seems rather right. Join me?"

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask tries to keep up with the pace, "That's all good and nice, but where should I move them?" She asks Raven, stepping back and forward to be surprised by his move. A sound escapes her mouth, half gasp, half bark as there's a sense of admiration in there. "This is really magical."

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception has been standing near the outskirts of the crowd, surveying each brilliant colored mask as it passes him by. Both hands cuff together at the lower back casually, gait slow and meandering as he circles the room. It is only when one specific individual approaches bearing brilliant cupridium thorns tipped with visceral crimson that he pauses mid-step and turns to fully address her. The shade passing over vibrant green eyes cannot hide the softening at each corner, pairing with the upturned corners of his lips into a toothy smile. "You found me so soon," he murmurs when the distance is closed, unfolding his hands so that one might reach out and accept the glass offered. "Thank you. You look...ah, /so/ beautiful." Just as he says his part, the setting undergoes a subtle yet obvious transformation, one that manages to draw the eyes away even from the stunning woman standing at his side.

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull downs the remains of his drink while listening to those at the couch speak. He turns his attention momentarily to the moon as it sets upon them and between the black and red of his attire he seems to blend right into the bloody hue.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask grows still as the shadows grow longer, the man taking a deep breath as the world changes around them. "And here we go." He glances to where the musicians are playing before returning his gaze back to the shadowy alcove and the mirrors one might find therein.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Though she's lost in the music, there's one thing that can draw The White Rose's attention away, and toward the mirrors. Her smile is beaming, joyful as she glances towards the mirrors, reddened by the moon. "Join me." She says, her voice determined, as she leads her companion by the arm to stare at their reflections.

Someone wearing The Black Rose glances upwards, but then down to scan towards the mirror nearest. She reachs out pale fingers, brushing the reflection's own before waving once before then turning her attention once more back to Driftwood.

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers looks to the Wolf Mask, "Are you from around these parts?" he says with a sterling silver wink held behind all that cheesey grinning. The awareness of the room's state, might be more or less an absently considered party trick, since he was very much enthralled with the two he was dancing with, making their own dance on the edge of the ballroom floor, grooving and moving, twisting and lithely spinning and gyrating to the music.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask frowns softly as her companion, the Prince of Bats, moves closer to the mirror they are standing in front of. She finally looks up into it rather than at her own hands, studying the mirror only briefly before she murmurs something to the Prince and gestures with a nod back to a couch.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask swirls to a stop in the arms of the man in the expressionless ceramic mask. She takes him by the arm and cautiously approaches the nearest mirror, peering at it obliquely.

Someone wearing a blushing bluebird mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask murmurs to herself, "Here we go..." The blank eyesockets of her mask drift upward. Her gown takes on a bloody tint and her expression seems disconcerned but full of anticipation. Her attention shifts between the moon and the mirrors, taking note of the changes in the very air around them.

follows with a confident stride, a posture of anticipation growing about the man as each step falls one after another.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair makes a draw-out 'aaaah' sound to the Silver Scaled Lady. "I have had some jewelry made at Seaborn myself. I hadn't thought to have masks designed to match my jewelry, but will certainly do so the next time I go to the shop." She goes to reach for her wine glass, which she literally just managed, and blinks when she finds it not there. Rather than linger on that thought, she sighs and continues to speak with the Silver Scaled Lady. "It was a piece from Josephine's shop, long ago. When it was still in this district, actually. I liked the uniqueness of it, though I don't often favor gold hues. Funnily enough, silver is my favorite jewelry metal, though it isn't as fashionable as others, of course."

As things start to get a little weird someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask adverts her eyes from the mirror and instead steps back into one of the deepening shadows, leaning up against the wall with folded arms to watch what's happening in the room beyond.

The quiet of her partner seems to confuse her more than anything, and the woman the coral mask turns to glance at the mirrors, like they might demonstrate what's got him so bothered. "I wonder if it's like this back home," she muses. She finishes her wine - never set down at all, not out of vigilance but because good wine is meant to be finished. But her attention snaps back to those where she sits.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask follows her the man in the bluebird and amethyst mask to the edge of the dance floor, hand-in-hand, and stands beside him in front of a mirror. "I am not sure exactly," she admits to him. "I did attend a mirror meditation once and it was a powerful experience, but this... this is different." She considers their reflections a moment.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers responds to the A Wolf Mask, "Anywhere. If you step on me, that's okay! Just try not to think about it. Pretend you are flying." His arms outstretch to demonstrate as he spreads them wide and does a whooping circle dance, twisting and flapping, leaping his feet to spin himself in the air. He grins, "Do whatever you can do. You're wearing a mask! No one can judge you. This is when you can be most free!"

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has joined the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

The man in the expressionless mask follows with a confident stride, a posture of anticipation growing about the man as each step falls one after another.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask seems to grow more excited as the eclipse begins in earnest. "Look at the light, look at the crowds behind mirrorglass. For reflection, this is the night. Imagine the future and tangle in the past."

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask says, "I am not sure what we would have done up North if this had happened.." Remarks the Wolf masked form sitting in the shadows just as she's reaching for her wine that is not where it was a moment ago. There is a slow confused blink of those blue eyes behind the wolf mask and then a husky chuckle as she leans turns the Sloughing Mask male's side. "The night seems as if it is only going to become more... interesting.." She whispers as her eyes are drawn to the moon."

Someone wearing The White Rose mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing The White Rose mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

The subtle shifts of illumination in the grand ballroom slants across the black veil dominating one half of her face; enough for the woman with the flaming crown to view the way her shadowy mouth curves upward to answer the radiance on her cousin's mouth. It is a muted thing, rendered all the more subtle by her translucent shroud, but affable and affectionate in spite of it. The twining arm that links through her companion's arm, a gloved hand resting lightly on her knuckles in a gentle drift. "I wouldn't have missed supporting you - that and my brother and esteemed sister-in-law are fervent admirers of the tradition. As for company..." There's another glance spared over the crowd. "...you may find it too bold, and perhaps too unexpected, but I sent someone a missive asking him to meet me here, without identifying who I was. Just the description of my mask and the flower in my hair. So yes, you *can* say companionship through mystery - but one I've managed to offer." She cants her half-hidden countenance closer to the becrowned lady, lowering her voice and pitching it in a whisper that may sound even more mischievous than intended. Could it be the wine. "And you're very familiar with my love for puzzles. I received an affirmative response within the day, so perhaps this means he's as susceptible to a good one as I am."

The Dark Side of the Moon's eyes are on the various masks and fabric as the new light takes them giving them a whole new dimension. Her eyes are wide and she seems entranced by the haunting hues everything takes on. Her Moonless Nights masked companion gains a small laugh and she replies just loud enough for those around her to hear.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk takes the Lion's hand and walks him toward the mirrors, murmuring lowly,"Have you seen my drink, I swear I left it--,"but trails her words, noting the sky.

Someone wearing A lion mask steps off the dance floor and toward mirrors, unable to resist the allure of something possibly dangerous at a dangerous time. The light is just right right now, even if his partner's wine glass definitely isn't where she left it. "...I'll get you another."

Someone wearing A lion mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask turns to the Maiden of Spiders, leaving his stare into the mirror. "Sounds good - ah, I'll get us some drinks, I'll talk with some people quickly on the way - find us some seats?" he suggests, leaning in to kiss her, well, jaw. Cheek is mostly covered after all. He winks and slinks off.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs moves beside someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask and stands by her side, their hands still joined as he offers a nod of his head and looks at his own reflection in the mirror. He stares deeply at it, despite what he had mentioned to those others when dancing earlier. He searches out his own eyes, and then those of the woman at his side before looking at the reflections of those around him, and finally back to his own once more.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars glances into a mirror as the dance steps take her that direction and her head turns even as she follows Raven's lead so that she can observe the forms in it more closely before she whirls away. "you have such instesting ideas, Raven, and a way to demonstrate them.

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask looks up to the sky as she joins the dancefloor alone, she smiles a bit as she looks over to Someone wearing an expressionless mask and she winks his way. Her eyes shift as she spreads her arms out and she joins in the trible dance of the Raven, Wolf and others that dance in singles.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask looks only slightly lost when she loses her companion. When the Prince of Bats moves towards the Misconuct Couch, the Maiden of Spiders starts moving towards a place at the wall, falling back on old habits. She doesn't find a seat at all, rather standing at the edges and waiting like a servant.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask doesn't make note of the latest change in the room, other than to lean forward slightly, anticipation growing. Despite that, she continues soft converse with the stygian smirk.

"It would certainly have been .. interesting, to say the least." That's offered with just the hint of a chuckle and then he is reaching for his own glass, not finding it where it was. Or where he thought it was. That draws a momentary pause and then a shake of his head, as if dismissing it away due to other reasons. His gaze follows hers to the moon, arm circling around the Fierce Wolf as she leans against his side, "It certainly does. I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like this before .." And the music has changed, causing him to offer, "They are certainly .. playing things up quite nicely."

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask has to catch her breath in order to reply the Raven, "Further south." She says, shaking her head, "But I've visited the city before, just not to... places like this." She explains, allowing herself to be dragged into the twirl by Umbra and wrapping her arm around the waist of her dancing companion in order to carry on with the movement and make sure she won't spin out of control.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask blinks whatever ever semi-normal response she was about to give taking longer to come to her lips as if it is an act of courage to bring them forward "men are more like storms...coming and going unpredictably

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

With a ripple of sanguine silk the woman in the elegant mask of serpentine flames moves into the arms of the black bear, her ruby red lips parting into a playful smile as sets a high, blood red boot upon the dance floor.

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull checks Composure at hard. Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull fails.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask's lips move as she whispered something, but her gaze is solely on her reflection as the red light of the moon shines down on all.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask approaches the mirror more confidently, pulling the man in the expressionless ceramic mask with her.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask checks composure at hard. Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask is successful.

"Ah. Josephine," the Lady in the Silver Scales tells the woman with the brass ship in her hair with a rueful curve of her lips. "I do miss her. She was very generous. I shouldn't be surprised she accomplished a piece like that. You have my envy to be certain." She casts a glance about for that missing glass as well, then looks up at the mirrors. "...Oh," she remarks. "Well, this is new. I can't believe this is the first time I've attended the bloodmoon masquerade. Apparently they don't exaggerate. This requires alcohol, I think."

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask once again laughs toward the snowy owl, the laugh sharper under the red moon. "I have known women to be storms. I have known many storms. Batten the windows, pile the blankets warm. The rain will still batter down, falling rough and dark on bare head and crown."

Someone wearing a bold black bear maskseems, from how he moves, to be amused at the very least, when he's taking the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames into his arms, though there are faint hitches of hesitation as if this particular battlefield is not the most familiar to him. And still, there's a sense of rhythm, that he's drawing her in to the dance with the discordant music. "Let's hope that I miss your toes," he says in a low, faintly self-amused tone.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask stands absolutely still in front of the mirror. Even breath seems to have left him, save one last gasp, one word. One name. "Damia." He steps forward, reaching out, his hand pressing against the mirror. "No... What have you done? What..." He shakes his head, as if to deny... whatever it is he sees. But what he sees seems all too real, for even in so public a setting, he cannot stop the words to escape from his mouth. "You killed her!"

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask glances around at the mirrors and at those around her there is a glance from one to the other and then back again. It seems a small game is being played at their couch. She offers whispered comments to each of them. However, as the night begins, her lips curve a bit more upwards as she waits and watches. Eyes move from mirror to person.

Spying something, the woman wearing the three-faced mask suddenly smiles. Smiles as though seeing a long-lost friend. She gazes, intently, for what seems a long moment before reaching out her hand...While the other tugs at her dance partner, the White Rose. "Yes," she breathes, softly spoken.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs:offers a small nod of his head toward something his partner murmured as he stands there, looking into his own reflection, considering it closely as the light begins to shift.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask checks composure at hard. Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask is successful.

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl arrives beneath the blossoming of the Eclipse of Mirrors, not with their companion of flame and ashes upon their arm but fully within their arms, held onto like the sort of reckless adherent that is searching for the right time and place to find themselves reduced to cinders. The discordant music seems to play well with the seeming lack of care for grace and dignity as the larger of them shepherds the smaller through the mass of celebrants and out onto the dance floor without hesitation to haunt across it like a couple of old memories the likes of which are hard to let go of.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames pauses as she speaks to the women in the Spring Evening mask, eyes locking towards one of the mirrors they pass during their conversation. She is silent, the smile faultering ever so slightly. It is a bittersweat reaction, a heavy sigh, and then the graceful woman lifts her hand and makes a rather off gesture towards the mirror that perhaps only a handful of people would recognize as 'Fuck you Talen' in an unknown sign language. The smile returns though with another sigh before she turns back towards the other woman. "I forgot to ask someone to be my escort, things have been busy so I am hoping someone pities me enough that they agree to dance with me before the night ends. We shall see though! I think your plan is quite entertaining and I am so proud of you! I hope your date comes and you have the greatest of times."

decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers wraps his arms around both A Wolf Mask and an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars before he pivots and sees that An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask joins in the singles dancing in a tribe over here and not dancing to any etiquette at all! He wings his arm around the phoenix and spins her into the mix, "Welcome feathered one! I have some perfume that would match your outfit perfectly!" He ruffles a hand into his feathered outfit and draws out a bottle, "A gift for you tonight. Luckily."

There's a blissful smile on the The White Rose's as she leads her partner, tilting her head for a moment, toward the mirror. She spins in front of it, admiring their reflections in the reddened glass. "It's wonderful tonight isn't it? Almost like you could fall in." She grins. "Are you alright?" She only tears her gaze away to ask.

The man in the expressionless mask tilts his head back the other way, eyes peering along the surface of the mirror with great relish, both arms coming to rest comfortably behind his back.

the change in atmosphere caused stance to change from loose and languid to one of defense, freed fingers flexing as if wishing a weapon was within reach. Tumultuous sights drift towards a mirror where an influx of ghastly forms float around the many guests. It is then that the compliment reaches ears, that head crowned in thorns shifts with a sweeping gesture of umber waves, "Thank you - I feel naked." Was admitted in a hushed whisper, lips curling in a coy smile,"Shall we find a spot to sit? Preferably not with my back against a mirror."

Someone wearing a stygian smirk's head turns ever so slightly when she hears the sound of someone in distress, but then her attention is turned back to the mirror. A shrug of one shoulder is given and she murmurs something softly to the butterfly. Her head cocked to the side ever so slightly.

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull stands quickly from the couch and knocks the replacement drink out of the attendant's hand as they try to reach discreetly to see it swapped. It crashes and spills, mostly a hidden sound muffled by the music. His fist tightens on the hilt of the sword on his hip, tightens enough that the leather yawns on his knuckles. There's a brief moment, a pause, before he slowly returns to his seat as the attendant cleans up the mess. A snarl audible under his breath.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask sets her wine down, empty, and purses those black lips into a frown. She shudders as if cold water has just been poured down on her. "Ah fuck me," she breaths softly, as she turns away from a mirror. She looks over at another crowd of people with a deep intent.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask leads the woman in the feather crowned, polished steel mask off of the dance floor, now, and towards the mirrors.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask turns to look to the mirrors, she shifts a little in her dancing her eyes look over to the raven and wolf, a chuckles as she spins around them and she smiles brightly, "thank you!"

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair nods her head a couple of times to the Silver Scaled Lady. "I had been to the shop just to see what might be for sale, as my favorite jeweler had closed her shop, and there it was." Then her eyes widen a touch. "It's your first as well? I've never managed to attend one before now, either. It's...more than I expected and yet everything I've come to hear. It seems my wine has gone missing, so I suppose I should fetch something a bit stronger myself, if only to get more bang for my sips." A small, vaguely nervous chuckle follows the words.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky goes tense at her table, arms flexing as she stiffens and grips the hands of the Sun and Moon beside her. She's following figures with her mask, watching people. She's breathing a little faster as well.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars says, "There we go, more joining in with us! We should have done this the year past instead of just sitting and watching others."

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask glances briefly towards the driftwood's cry of dismay, but otherwise doesn't stop converse with the stygian smirk or her study of the mirror.

For those that happen to catch sight of a mirror, by either looking into it or catching one in their peripheral, there appears a woman for only a moment, reflected standing in the middle of the dance floor, in a break between couples. The woman is older, silver-haired and elegant with a regal bearing, unmasked in a dark gown. She isn;t of any nobility, however, and those that do catch sight of her, most would not recognize her. Those that do, that have been in Arx for many years and had the questionable pleasure of meeting her, it is Myrinda Grayhope. Then the moment is gone, as she disappears when a couple passes through her.

Someone wearing The Black Rose stands still beside Driftwood, no longer enthralled with her own reflection. It is he that has her attention, pale fingers beginning to reach towards him but not stilling half-way.

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady nods to the woman with the brass ship. "Let's do that, then," she says. "I've determined we shall keep each other company." She offers her arm to the other woman, casting her gaze about for somewhere to get a drink to deal with this. "And yes, my first time at this ball. And it's been over five years in Arx." She casts a curious glance over her silvery shoulder at a mirror. Just in case there's something mysterious there for her to see. And there is. "That woman... I don't know her."

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk gazes at herself in the mirror, looking at her reflection . She didn't notice the pissible ruckus caused by a certain someone. No--she's watchibg herself for a moment.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask's attention returns to the death-clad woman in the bone mask at somthing before following the shadowed gaze towards the Driftwood Mask then returns her gaze back towards the group. Finally turning towards a mirrors as if to find some clue with inevitable curiosity before she murmurs towards the Moonless Night.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Stops, knees tensing ever so slightly as though ready to jump...or pounce. She nearly spins, so quick is her movement as she looks behind her. And yet...

"We should dance," she says to the White Rose, almost puzzled. That is soon to fall away, however, as she draws the White Rose back into their Lycene-styled dance, with the three-faced woman taking the lead. Confident and engaging, although she manages to mutter, somewhat disbelieving, "Was that...Myrinda Grayhope?"

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask takes a glass of wine back from the man in the emerald bird mask, swallowing from it as she rises, then passes it back to him. "At least if you are sitting, you can continue drinking wine. Your mission, since you will not do your duty and dance with me, is to finish at least one more glass of wine while I am dancing." She looks around and over the others when he does, to see if there appears to be any interest, but she's turning back to him soon enough. "I have been terrible, but thank you for asking," she says with a laugh and another playful smile before starting to walk away from the couches and in the direction of the dancefloor, looking as she moves to spy any poor individual who might happen to be standing by themselves on her way.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask rises from the misconduct couch as the Eclipse ball really gets underway and walks to stand near to the dance floor, since it seems to be teaming with people and full up. When people start appearing in the mirrors she keenly watches them, perhaps hoping for a glimpse of someone from her past.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask suddenly, hardly startles. He stares into the mirror. His tone changes to a sharp growl. "What are you doing here? You are elsewhere, aren't you? Haunting and haunted, not here-- where did you go?" For all the soft threat of his growl, he seems not just a little anguished when the dark-gowned image disappears.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask looks at the man in the expressionless mask curiously. "What did you see?"

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky jolts at the sight of the silver-haired woman in the mirror. "Oh -SHIT-," she says, doing a double-take at a mirror. "Did you just-" She looks at the others at her table.

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception carefully places a guiding hand at the woman's back and gestures toward one of the many spaces on couches still available to them. "Better that your back be at the mirror, I should think," he replies with a slight chuckle affecting his cadence. While they weave through the crowd, the deep red drink is brought to lips for a sip.

Someone wearing the shattered mirrormask of the Fallen Beloved has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing the shattered mirrormask of the Fallen Beloved has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing A lion mask looks into the mirror himself. "...Something scary is supposed to happen, right?" he asks, as if he doesn't quite buy into it and is playigng along with a gag. But then a shape moving only in the mirror, and not in reality, does happen... though he does not recognize her. Then he looks at his own reflection again.

Someone wearing Lady of the Moon mask wanders in, fashionably late, or so she tells herself. So she tells herself, at least. She largely avoids the mirrors, taking a slow circuit of the room to gaze upon all of the masks. She is a tall woman, dressed in a fairly Lycene style, and she certainly presents as female.

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk laughs at whatever the butterfly has said. Her attention focuses on the mirror, her hands going to her hips. The frown can be heard in her voice, "Hmm, that woman looked familiar, but I can't quite place her name." A shrug is given and she laughs softly before murmuring a little bit more quietly.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask seems to note the change in the atmosphere and the spoken words some of alarm and her body stiffens "I have not seen man...what is it..who or what was that?

The man in the expressionless mask shrugged, "A woman with silver hair, and a lesson of sorts." He offered his hand out, "And yourself?"

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask departs the grouping she was in and stalks across the dance-floor. Past dancers, dodging servants. She's a skeleton with a purpose it seems. Her dark gaze is fixed on Glorious Moon. She appears to be equal parts scared and angry.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a mask of a forest-bird clutching green eggs enters the ballroom, wrapped head to toe in shades of green - leaf green and olive green and hunter green and emerald green. Most especially emerald green, from the gems glittering in her mask to the silk that swishes about her hips. Entirely unaccompanied, she surveys the room slowly, her eyes drinking in the sea of faces.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask's demeanor has brightened for the dance, for the darkness, for the deepening depravity of the evening. What had been only a ghost of a smile has bloomed in full, so very pleased with how the evening's proceeding. She keeps close to her Falcon-Masked companion, following his lead, though the glimpse of someone long-dead passing among the reflected figures sees her steps slowing for a moment, her eyeless attention turned this way and that. Looking for a ghost, perhaps? It's hard to tell, but it does leave what little can be seen of her expression, manifesting entirely on her crimson-stained lips, just a smidge more pensive than it had been a moment ago.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers is still carelessly dancing, enthralled by the music and the freedom of movement, no rules, no expectations, no care in the world as he dances around the three that have joined him. Seeing another phoenix on the rise, he waves toward Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk maskas well to join in. Oblivios of what's happening, even if his eyes did wander to the mirrors, there's no recognition of someone who was there or wasn't there. He's too involved with flying around the dance floor.

"We should dance." The White Rose agrees. "Though... you know who that was?" She blinks a few times, dancing around, though she keeps her gaze fixed on the mirror. There seems to be an almost blissful smile on her lips. "She was so unfamiliar."

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask:stares at his wife within the mirror, his lips curling into a grimace she never saw in her life. "You knew I was preparing. We were all preparing. Had it been but a day more... You..." The hand upon the mirror closes into a fist. "You killed her. You stole her future. You stole our future. I thought it was me. And all this time... It was you?!" The man is beginning to visibly shake, though it is neither from fear nor cold.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask swiftly dismisses the snowy owl. "A gownmaker. A woman dead, a woman killed. Of no interest to the millers in this room, no doubt. But there was no one better."

"Impossible," the woman in the elegant mask of serpentine flames seems untouched by worry as the black bear speaks. A glance up to the sky and then across the room and back. "Tonight I am barely touching the ground," she laughs as she moves into his arms and they begin to dance.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask nods. "Much the same. I thought... was she truly there?"

Someone wearing A Mask of Flame and Ashes stumbles into the ballroom with her masked companion as if already a bit drunk, though maybe she is simply excited. She doesn't need much coaxing onto the dancefloor as she is guided in that direction. The discordant seems to suit her steps and she twines herself around her partner in anticipation of a dance.

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask shoots a glance to the dancefloor and cranes his neck - his eyes widen, and then he looks around to find the Maiden of Spiders, having lost her in the crowd.

The man in the expressionless mask shook his head with a silvery laugh, "Oh, but that was not the lesson... Whether she was truly there I mean."

Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars's primary attention is on the group of single dancers led by the Raven as more join the group. "A way that none should be left out should they wish to join. The reflection in the mirror passes in and out of her view as she moves with the slightly discordant music. There is no sign of recognition in what little shows of her expression behind the mask.

Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing round spiral mask has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair takes the Silver Scaled Lady's offered arm and grins. "I am in agreement with your determination. Both the company and the drink. I imagine there is no lack of strong ones available," she remarks and glances about for as much, it appears. She then looks the way her party companion has, though it's a quick look. "Perhaps it is the lighting," is offered in a slightly hopeful tone. "I've actually been in Arx about as long myself. Came just as winter was licking at our heels. At least spring is upon the city for us all now. Do you have a favorite season here?"

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask does see Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers, but she gives a small shake of her head. The floor is too full and she's unable to get on it until someone else leaves. She nods toward the Mirrors, her expression hopeful before looking back to them, biting her lip with the edges of her teeth.

The Lady Spring Evening is unable to help it; the faltering on her cousin's expression and the dismissive wave towards the mirrors draws her dark gaze towards it, suddenly inundated by the glowing wash of bloody scarlet through its reflective surface - and while she sees nothing, she is familiar with the gesture the crowned woman adopts. Her dark eyes swivel away almost immediately, the briefest pause shading their lively conversation, but when she continues it is as if she did not notice. There is, however, a sympathetic squeeze on the lovely woman's forearm. "*When* someone does, it would not be a pity, but an honor on his part," she stresses with her crystal-clear, decisive intonation that practically appends the remark with 'or else' at the end of it, even unvoiced. But mention of her date ellicits enough of a reaction that the woman gives a small cough, muffled against the inside of a wrist that comes up to barricade it in a timely fashion. There may be a correction incoming, but when faced with such effervescent sincerity from one so beloved, how could she? "...yes," she elects to say instead (because she's not about to admit that this, too, is *somehow* work related). "I hope so also. Perhaps I ought to be putting my problem solving prowess to good use and find him before he finds me. And with very little to go on, besides. Between you and me, I'm curious to discover who between us is the better investigator." With another final squeeze of her fingers, she posits, "But I should release you to your other guests. If you need me, for anything, you know where to send the word yes?"

Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky tracks the woman with the Bone Colored Half Skull Mask as she fixes her gaze on the Moon at the Night Sky's side. She murmurs something.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask doesn't show any reaction to the phantasm on the dance floor, but with a mask covering all his face, there's not much potential reaction for him to show. He looks into the mirror with his arm draped comfortably around the woman in the eyeless mask's waist and slowly cants his head to the side. But he' been looking at his own reflection the whole time they were dancing, so he's not acting like he really expects to see anything new, now.

Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon appears to be mostly looking at a mirror - that is, until the Bone Coloured Half Skull starts towards him. That serves to pull his attention away from what he's looking at, and towards her instead.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask stiffens when the woman in the mirror disappears when a couple passes through her and reluctantly says to the stygian smirk, "I don't recognize her." She looks long into mirror once more before coming to her feet, standing close to the stygian smirk as they talk.

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs takes back the glass from Scarlet Dawnstone Mask even though there is but a drop left which is not worth the tilt it would take to get it out of the glass. He looks to her through the holes in his mask, but his expression is unseen. His words convey what cannot be seen, though. "I am sorry that you have been terrible. We can talk about that sometime, when you are not at a party, yes?" He leans back in the couch and watches to see if she will be successful in her hunt for a partner.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask slips and pads through the crowd, and she happens along near the person in the forest-bird mask. She draws up short and declares brightly, "Oh, how lovely! I could put that up on the wall and think it a delightful decoration."

"You say that, and yet you've not seen me dance, my lady." The one in the black bear mask is not shying away from the matter of the dance - indeed, he's doing a passable job at it, as he gazes to the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames - but there's that sense of amusement that lingers about him as they trace out their steps, his gaze clearly following hers to the sky, to the mirrors, and back to her. "Though I delight in knowing that I can please you so."

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask smiles a little to the Man in the Expressionless Mask and she reaches out his way "May I have this dance?" she calls to him brightly. The discovery of the Greyhope seems to not really register to her as she dances with the others on the dancefloor. Practiced courtlike steps, she moves and shifts around the wolf, her laughing eyes catch the Raven before shelooks over and across the room her eyes following along.

Blinks, then shakes her head. "You mean you didn't hear the name spoken?" But they remain dancing, the moves as smooth as if nothing could possibly be amiss. In fact, her own smile returns. Confident. Pleased, even.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask turns to look back on the dance floor briefly when she sees the woman in the mirror, but when she does not see her she returns her gaze to her own reflection and whispers something to the man in the bluebird and amethyst mask.

After the person wearing the Replica Stygian Mirror Mask speaks to them, the person in the round spiral mask steps away as if stung. After replying, they turn and move away from the couches and migrates into the throng of the ballroom. Making their way over to the midnight and crimson mask set atop a dozen well placed belts, they say, "How much help did you need getting that on?"

Someone wearing a stygian smirk tips her head to the side, listening to the butterfly, though her gaze is focused upon the mirrors. A frown is given and a glance is given over one shoulder to look at the yelling driftwood, and then back toward the mirror.

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady seems to figure out where they might procure drinks; she walks with the woman with the brass ship in her hair toward someone with a tray. Selecting a glass, she offers it to her companion. Along the way, she casts a glance toward the woman with the forest-bird clutching green eggs mask. "Lovely dress," she remarks of the honeysilk affair. Again to the woman with the brass ship, she notes, "Early autumn. The crispness, the colours. The ability to wear long sleeves. Just early autumn, though, before it gets so cold it limits the wardrobe. What brought you to the city? For me, it was a new beginning." And now a glass for her, too.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask remains on the side of the ballroom, holding up a wall very carefully with her hands folded in front of her. She holds a pose of someone ready to hop to attention, as she tracks people around the ballroom, trying to place some and keep track of the Prince of Bats.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Maybe the wearer of that pale blue wolf mask should have noticed the vision in the mirror, but even if it appeared as she turned her head from the moon itself and her companion there is no reactions other than her wine glass moving to her lips and the conversion going back to whatever the Sloughing Mask male is offering.

Someone wearing A Complementary Mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has joined the Decadent Couch.

The man in the expressionless mask nodded, "Of course!" He slipped his arm around the waist of the person in the firebird mask and immediately slipped comfortably into the rhythm of dance.

"No, I just saw a woman standing." The White Rose admits as she keeps her gaze fixed on the mirror. Her movements are dexterous, as though she's used to doing this dance many times over. "Who was she? Did you know here?" She turns her gaze to the mirror mask, hard to tell her reaction. Though when she swivels again, her attention shifts to the mirror, as if anticipating something.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask looks up when she's addressed then further up to actually find the face of the mask, "Not as much as I'll need taking them all off. But shh, stand here and listen with me as everyone spills their secrets to a room full of people willingly because they freak themselves out after too much drinking. This may just be my favorite night of the year."

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask folds her arms over her bony chest as she approaches the Sun, Moon, and Sky. "We should talk. Or at least, I have something to tell you... about the shit I just saw." Her arms untangle and she motions to their corner. "May I?"

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask finishes her drink and sets the empty glass on the tray of a passing servant, then lifts the feathered fan she carries with her, and idly fans herself with it, the fiery feathers drifting lazily in front of her. She watches the changes come over the ballroom, observing them with interest from her vantage. She catches a glimpse in the mirror of the woman who appears on the dancefloor, other reflections dancing through her, but then her gaze passes on, not recognizing her. Eventually, she finally moves toward the Inviting Couches, because they look so inviting. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asks those seated there already, her voice pleasant.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask slows down her pace as she notices the heads turning and searching for someone, wary that something beyond her understanding might be happening. However, as soon as no screams or blood came into her sight, she just resumes the rhythm, growing more confident in her own movements.

Someone wearing A lion mask walks up to the shattered seaglass mask, and looks in the direction of... where a Grayhope might have been, but clearly is now not. "I thought I saw the same thing you did, but it could just have been a trick of the light. It's crowded, after all. Did you still want to dance...before the moon moves on?"

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars is with the group not actually on the dance floor but dancing in the open spaces near the couches. She finally looks toward Raven to say. "We've been dancing a pretty good while. I'm going to sit for a little while and enjoy watching the others. And it will give more room if any others wish to join in here."

Someone wearing Lady of the Moon mask seems entirely oblivious to anything strange going on in the room, though she does have the sense that something is wrong. But there are too many people, and the crowd is too uneven for her really to notice much more than swirling dancers in beautiful costumes.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask smiles as she leans into an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips and she laughs as she tilts her head a bit sharing in small whispers as they danced, her eyes alight

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs:follows suit with the Lady's Silk Mask and glances over his shoulder toward the dancefloor where the person in the mirror had been before looking back to his reflection and nodding, murmuring something to his partner.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask draws up a step past one of the mirrors; she'd been not quite looking before, but now she stops, turns, looks. The blonde only spends a moment staring before her attention jumps back away, and she returns to prowling around.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk glances at the man yelling at the mirror and lifts her eyebrow. Taking a sip from her glass, she goes shakes her head at the mirror,"I didn't recognize--who that was." Because there WAS someone there, right? Looking up the Lion, she asks,"Did you want to go and mingle?"

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask stands easily from the scandal couch, it seems the games there have been played. The woman looks around at those in the room as she begins to prowl it. There is a feline saunter to her walk as if she has not care in the world. She's rolling the dice in her hand as if perhaps waiting for the next to play one of her games.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask laughs and hands her empty glass to a passing server. Turned from the mirror now, she fully faces the stygian smirk.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk checks composure at hard. Someone wearing a stygian smirk is marginally successful.

Someone wearing a haunting feline mirrormask fractured by coruscating starlight tears has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames says to the woman in the Spring Evening mask, "I saw..." then she shakes her head, her smile returning fully. "It is a night to reconnect, to embrace the unknown and see other sides of yourself you might not recognize. It is a night of passions, of release, of balance. It is the night where the unimaginable might just be closer than you could imagine. Enjoy yourself" she returns the squeeze before releasing the woman fully, "do not fear what you see in the mirrors, though do not always trust the things you witness either. You'll be fine, cousin. But yes, I shall go see if anyone else needs me."

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair takes the glass from the Silver Scaled Lady and dips her head in thanks before taking a few sips. Her gaze shifts to the forest-bird clutching green eggs mask wearer and outfit. "Truly, there are so many stunning outfits here, I hardly know where to look next," is admitted. "I love all of autumn, but when it is first visiting the city, it is the most beautiful, I think. The chill on the skin, the trees like fire..." She lets out a sigh. "Ah, for me it was my mother sending me along to help with the family. Duty, really, and I was of an age to assist, I suppose," she says and lifts one shoulder in a quick shrug. "New beginning, hmm? Has it gone well, I hope? All that you hoped it might be?"

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask wanders away from the edge of the dance floor after a moment and heads over to the scandal couch to settle, taking a seat alone. She switches out an empty wine glass for another on the way there.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask's cursory search of the dimlit crowd turns up nothing. Whatever she'd thought to find among all those inhuman faces isn't there or isn't caught. It isn't held onto either, that curiosity readily abandoned for another as they still before the glass. Does she look at herself, at the distorted reflection echoed back in twisted imperfection as flate and curved surfaces converse? Or does she consider the impassive Falcon at her side, his poised and strength, the glittering colors and matched feathers which show so little of the person below? It's impossible to know for certain, but she does grow more thoughtful the longer she looks, a curious curl to her lips as she dwells on identity and its perception and all the chaos which frames them.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers seems to wind down on his energy, panting a little as he puts his hands on his hips, "That was fun! And you're doing rather great there! See, you caught on," he notes to A Wolf Mask, and as an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars retreats, and the Phoenix is looking for another dance partner, he grins underneath the pointed hooked beak of the mask, "But I think I need to go excuse myself for a moment, regain my breath. Find something to kick start the next dance with a bit more pizzazz to my step." He starts to head somewhere quiet to settle. "Have fun!" he notes to Wolf before he settles to the side, easing through the masses to find a mirror, to fix his attire up in - because of all that dancing.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing Mask of the Radiant Sun gestures to the woman in the Bone Colored Half Skull Mask, pointing to the Libertine table where the three addressed, and the person wearing a mask of a purple bird are sat. "Please. Join us," he offers lowly.

Someone wearing a haunting feline mirrormask fractured by coruscating starlight tears has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask has joined the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask nods, opens her mouth, her eyes hidden behind her mask, and the momentary war within "Your memories are your own" she sighd softly and increases the distance between the snow owl and herself

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask has joined the Inviting Couches.

The Smirk watches the mirror intently, suddenly focused upon her. A hand lifts to touch her mask, right where her cheeks would be-- where the corner of her mouth would be. A shudder runs through her body and she laughs ever so slightly. "Oh, sweet Tehom." A claw reaches out to touch the mirror and she murmurs softly, "Thank you." Then she turns to focus upon the butterfly completely once more.

The man in the Driftwood Mask suddenly hits the mirror, though the effort is futile, the glass strong enough to handle such a blow. "You should have gone back to the Wheel!" he is heard accusing... nothing. Yet the anger and all various emotions raging beneath it fade. He places his hand upon the mirror again, head bowed... and says nothing more.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask smiles softly across the room, nodding subtly as the Prince of Bats gestures to her. She seems less nervous now, waiting, than she was in dancing or joining any of those noble seating arrangements.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask grins to the man as she dances with him her grace matched his own, her eyes on his and only his trying to determine who might be beyond the mask as she dances. The yelling of the man in the driftwood mask captures her attention and she murmers softly to her dancepartner

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing A lion mask looks at the winged half-mask wearer, and says, with a nod exaggerated to make up for the way the mask covers his face, "I think that's a fine thing to do at a party. Of course if you ever get bored, just find me, and we can sneak right out any time."

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask settles into a seat, letting her fan drop to rest across her lap in a splay of feathers, arranging her skirts delicately before folding her hands on top of the fan. She offers a smile to the person in the mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs, then turns her attention to watching the ballroom. Her eyes scan the mirrors, searching them boldly for any other anomalies.

"The new beginning went very well," Silver Scales tells the woman with the brass ship. "I've accomplished so much here. I rather wish I'd come to the city sooner. This? Here, now? I wouldn't have dreamed of it years ago. It was an impossibility." She raises her glass in a sort of toast to herself, has a sip, and then asks, "I hope you've found some sort of satisfaction from your duty."

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask lets the snowy owl withdraw. He resumes, quiet, a bit guarded, his recitation. "Perhaps the dead do not dwell behind the mirror, but memories do, errors, every shudder of snow and ice. Every hope for stillness. Every store devoured by mice."

"No," she answers the White Rose. "But I have heard of her." She dips her partner, looking down her neck and beyond, to those sharing the dance floor with them. Seeking, pursuing. "The night is still young. You up for a game?" As she pulls the White Rose back up, something is murmured in her ear, and the three-faced woman nods. Determined.

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask checks composure at hard. Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask is successful.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask drifts away from the Sea-treasured couple and Moonless Night for a few moments to find someone passing to trade her glass for two fresh glasses of wine. She's careful to ensure that she doesn't brush past anyone though she gets distracted once or twice by a flash of gemstone or the shimmer of fabric she does eventually get back to the couch.

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady casts a glance over her shoulder at the man in the driftwood mask hitting the mirror. She winces.

"Perceptive as always," the Lady Spring Evening replies to her crowned companion, a more visible smile curving upwards from underneath the veil. "I'll see you soon, and without this." She gives her veil an emphatic tug, but once released, she eases back and gives the mistress of ceremonies a proper curtsey before pivoting again, drawing away so she can see to her guests. Passing by the mirrors, a glimpse of *something* within it causes her to slow, but once again, she averts her stare - a few brief seconds is enough, her strides taking her away from the front of the room and towards the back where the main entryway looms. Not to leave - at least, not just yet, but to start from the beginning and start the hunt fresh.

Someone wearing a grisly red executioner's mask sedately makes his way to the ball room, head bowed as if he's about to fulfill the presumed task of his costume. His destination? Who knows, he seems rather aimless -- until he simply makes his way to the mirror. Adjusting his mask.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask watches the stygian smirk's profile as she seems to find something pleasing within the depths of the mirror. Is that a faint curve of jealousy in the corner of her mouth? Perhaps, but it disappears as she speaks once more.

There's a pause in her steps before The White Rose lifts her veil, stepping closer to the mirror as it remains crimson. She studies it intently with amber eyes, though she keeps her companion close, talking quietly.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask walks over to THE MAN IN THE DRIFTWOOD MASK who is hitting the mirror. A soft 'tsk' is heard from behind her mask. "It is not always the choice of the person to enter the Wheel or to avoid it." As she walks over, her eyes are drawn to a mirror instead. There is a blink and her attention focuses there. Her hands are lifted up to study them. She makes a soft hmming noise and wipes them down on her blood colored dress. Then her head tilts to look in the mirror. "Oh..." That is her only reaction at the moment. Oh.

At the sound of a raised voice, of a fist slamming into something hard, the green lady's eyes turn, seeking out the source. A glance, and then another, and... ahh, there. And the woman at his side. Whatever expression she may be wearing his hitting away, but her head tilts in an avian gesture. Fitting, given her a mask of a forest-bird clutching green eggs.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair offers another nod of her head and a warm smile to the Silver Scaled Lady. "I'm very glad to hear that. Some find the city not what they expected and, often enough, return home. I suppose, though, it depends on what one hopes to accomplish and how hard they wish to work to do so. Others find new paths. I suspect there are thousands of stories out there." Pausing to sip from her glass again, she seems to consider a moment before answering. "I've found satisfaction in my duty, I believe. I feel that I've assisted my house well, if not always as well as I have hoped," is decided. "I've learned so many new things, and met people I can't imagine my life without, too, which helped make this place almost like home. Do you ever visit where you came from? Or hope to again at some point?"

The music seems to grow stranger. Musicians in the crowd would notice that there are combinations of notes that would be almost impossible for someone with only ten fingers to perform. The wine tastes sweeter on the tongue. In some cases, it tastes entirely strange, coppery and rich like blood but a visual inspection reveals only wine within the cup. The dance floor is crowded with figures that spill out, the dancing seeming to grow in intensity. Up above, the blood red moon gleams in something like malevolence as the lights of the ballroom become more sanguine and ruddy hued in response.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask has left the The Misconduct Couch.

"Oh dear." says the Smirk, glancing over her shoulder as the Driftwood man starts to hit the mirror. A shake of her head is given, a glance is turned back to the butterfly at her side.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing A lion mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask finally rocks off of the wall with the ripples of chatter that spread across the ballroom like a stone tossed into water at the sightings of activity on the opposite sides of the reflective surfaces, ambling his way around the dance floor in a circuitous fashion, seemingly aware of the mirrors and their placements given his capability in weaving past them to stroll further away from his cozy camp near the entrance. Now, though, it's hardly just his mask that's red beneath the crimson gaze of the intensifying lunar activity.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Content so far to linger alone near the entrance to the ballroom, head shifting about at various nearby mirrors, the man in the Wolf's Skull Mask is draped in a black cloak of fur fitting his costume. His body is largely concealed by the heavy furs, motionless other than the bone mask turning to consider the strange sights of the masquerade. The Spring Evening draws a nod of recognition as she nears his lonelier part of the ballroom, but with no vocal greeting offered.

Someone wearing round spiral mask snorts at the midnight and crimson belt-woman's comment. "I'm certain that with very little effort you could find a person or two who would be willing to assist you with removing them. With scissors, if necessary." Their attention is pulled toward a mirror, less due to mysterious ghosts and/or spooks than that they're a part of the evening and there's something pointless in resisting the urge to glance their way. "Secrets without the faces to match those secrets see to it that your blood moon game can last until the next eclipse." When a server passes by a hand pops out of the shroud of umbra to collect another glass of wine. "This is the best part of the night," says the figure to the woman in belts. "Just don't stop drinking." A pause, then, "That may be good advice in general, though."

"Oof. No, never," the Silver Scaled woman tells her companion with the brass ship. "I'm not even a little tempted, no. That's..." she trails off, eyes narrowing behind her mask. She briefly seizes her lower lip with her upper teeth. "The music is... strange. There are notes that are almost impossible? It's hard to explain." She turns slowly in place, seeking out the musicians. The glass in her hand is given a wary look. "That's not just me, is it?"

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask strides across the floor, weaving past revellers, homing in on the Maiden of Spiders again and finding his way to the wall. But when close enough he looks around mischievously, then looks at her intently. "Weellll, hello there," he breathes, holding a drink out. "Am I dreaming? Are you real? Cause truly, someone so beautiful can not truly exist in this world," he tells her, smiling wide and charming. He moves to stand with her against the wall, nudging her with his elbow.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask's reflection executes a crisp bow to the woman in the polished steel mask. The man himself, standing behind her, does the same, but it's accomplished in such a way that she'll see his reflection first. Then he steps away from the mirrors and her, leaving her to whatever waits for her in her own reflection while he himself goes in search of whatever it is that he'll find on his own side of the mirror, here in the ballroom.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains rises from her couch, taking the hand of her counterpart, the golden masked man of Prisms and Broken Chains, leading him toward the dance floor. Though she doesn't relinquish the glass of whiskey in her free hand.

Someone wearing The Black Rose remains beside Driftwood even as the strike happens against the mirror, silent for a spell. Words of iambic rhythm can be heard, though they remain soft and hard to discern even by those nearest to her as she recites to the mirror before her.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask reaches out toward the mirror with her free hand, like one trapped indoors might reach to touch a window as they longingly gaze at the world outside. Eyes search for... something. Anything. Her fingertips press against the cool glass as she whispers something to herself.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers is inspecting the mirror near to where Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask is standing.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask moves a bit closely dancing, following the Expressionless mask along the sound of the strange music, her eyes close and she simply lets herself dance. Firey brocade dancing exquisitely around her, the colors dance along the the shadows, there were others there but her attention seems sharply focused as if afraid should she let her partner go he would go missing in the night.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask wonders, "Does he think that will work?" She shrugs, half watching the man in the driftwood mask beyond the stygian's smirk as they talk.

"You sound as though you would have difficulty doing so," the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames smiles back and then follows the black bear's eyes to the sky once more. "Do I seem the difficult to please?" she teases a little as she lets her eyes fall to his again. Her steps are sure and graceful, back lightly arched as she turns in his arms. "But I'm glad you take such pleasure in it. The pleasure is mine, I assure. I think I will have to find a way to repay you," she smiles again.

"Her only excuse is ignorance. She made that choice, regardless." the man in the Driftwood Mask tells the woman in the Replica Stygian Mirror Mask. He turns his gaze to her then, witnesses her reaction. But he says nothing. Just stands there before that mirror, where one might see something... or absolutely nothing at all.

Having nearly abandoned her quest for a dance partner, the woman wearing the Scarlet Dawnstone Mask starts to turn towards the dance floor and pauses. She considers the weaving man in the Bandit's Mask for just a moment before her feet take her to plant herself in his path with a smile. "Will you dance with me? Please?"

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask turns as the sound of the man in the drifwood mask strkes the mirror looking to see if someone goes to aid but she cannot sww much less reach him anger passing her lips

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask says with such intense confidence that it might not even be bragging, "What makes you think I haven't put a face to every name here already?" She watches as some people avoid the mirrors and other people flock to them. Someone hits one and another person seems to find a lost lover there. Another a friend. Maybe an enemy? She takes it all in from beneath that mask of hers.

The fox seems to look around while he nods, impish mask looking to each of the mirrors while to the place in full, exploring.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs:tilts his head at the curious change in the music that reaches schooled ears. His eyes don't stray from the mirror, but rather look in the direction of where the band should be in the reflection past himself, straining to catch sight of the musician's reflection before looking back to his own reflection again. "That's an interesting combination of notes..." he comments quietly to no one but himself.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask rises from her seat as the blood moon lingers, and the music grows more discordant, seeming restless as the evening wears on with no one to talk to. She really should not come to these things alone! After a time, she seems to seek the company of her reflection instead, drifting toward the nearest mirror, and gazing into it through the eyeholes of her mask. Her lips curve into a faint smile as she does so, as if to see if her reflection will smile back at her on such a night. She clutches her fan anxiously in one hand as she does so.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars frowns as the odd music catches and holds attention. Fingers twitch as if trying to mimic the way such notes could be accomplished and apparently, the effort is futile.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask lets the increasingly raucous crowd swallow him, his middling stature making that much easier than it otherwise would be. He reappears on the dance floor and lays a hand on the shoulder of the woman in the scarlet dawnstone mask.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask flushes deeply, shaking her head as she mumbles back, "You are-- don't tease me. I still feel silly, Ev." But she accepts the drink, staring down at the wine for a moment before she takes one slow sip. She winces a little even at the taste of the sweet wine on her lips, the wince of someone not used to drinking, but them she takes another long sip. "The moon--." She gestures slightly to the windows, as the world gets bathed in red.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask spreads his arms under the red light. "Blood beats through our veins. The eclipse throws such bloody rays. Red is vital and dark and -- bright, a shivering, complex hue for a shivering, complex night."

"It's but a kindness for a kindness. Think nothing of it, given that if we had to do an accounting, I'm still far in your debt." The bold black bear gives the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames a twirl as if it's something that comes naturally to him. "But no, you've not come across to me as one who is difficult to please. Difficult perhaps to let others please you, but that's a different matter." The masked head bobs faintly, even as he continues to lead the dance. "Thank you for the encouragement to enjoy this with you."

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask's dress sparkles, the myriad of gems catching and twinkling even as the colors of the nightscape dress deepen with the hues of the eclipse. She doesn't shy away from the wine taking poised small sips. As she returns to offer the second glass to the Moonless Night she smiles and greets the Lion-Masked individual that has joined the couches they're settled at. "Lovely evening."

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness exchanges a clandestine murmur with the one in stygian before she flows to her feet and vacates the couch, slipping through the crush to a shadowed alcove at the very back. Her heels barely echo, a light step or something else. She settles into the cushions of the plush sofa there and reclines into the softness, slender legs crossed as the diamond at her heel flashes in bleeding light. Her tousle of pearls and ringlets splays about her as her gaze upturns to the mirror, no fear in the quirk of her smile. Clasped between three gloved fingers, her wine rests, unfinished and heady.

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness has joined the The Immorality Couch.

"It is an interesting sort of night," the lady in the simple violet silk mask replies to the man wearing the mask of a bluebird and amethyst eggs.

there is a tension that runs visible as ears pick upon the careening music, lush lips drawing in a thin line as another sip is sampled but it's nearly spat back out into the glass with eyes widening a fraction. A shake of head is given sending a shift of cardinal hued waves dancing about luminously bare shoulders, gaze shifts to the sky above where another exhale is given mind drifting before it is drawn back to companions upon the couch where the woman of thorns sits.

With a beaming smile, The White Rose hugs her companion, before releasing them, keeping them close as she turns back to the mirror. There's a determined gaze as she studies it.

Hidden along the walls at a table with her partner, the fierce little wolf has taken to sliding a little closure in her chair to her companion. This seems more in reaction to the change in the room than most other things, if the turning of her masked chin towards the moon can explain anything. Dark blue eyes reflect the red of the moon and the hues of the ballroom for half a moment before she blinks and says something to the Sloughing Masked male.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask doesn't turn to watch the Falcon go, content to let his reflection portray his departure regardless of its potential inaccuracy. She studies her own imperfect reflection for a moment longer--or, perhaps, all the movement and color beyond her own slender shoulders and tall feathers--before turning away, settled into a rather comfortable melancholy at odds with the heated pitch of the eclipse. Again taking up a glass of wine, she drifts. Toward a small voice, a thread of which she keeps catching through the crowd, hints of White and Gold eventually catching upon the curved steel of her mask.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask curls an arm around the Maiden of Spiders and gazes with her up towards the window and the moon. He sips the wine, then blinks and purses his lips to stare into the beverage. "TAstes weird," he comments, and then shivers. "And I swear there is something with one of those instruments. Not tuned right? Some new instrument?" He shakes his head, focusing on the moon for a moment. "Oh theres's someone there with a dice game," he says and stands up more straight, waving to the lady in the Replica Stygian mirror mask. "I'd LOVE to play!"

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask reaches out a hand towards DRIFTWOOD. "We all make our own choices." She rolls the dice in her hand again. "I was just playing a game of fates and futures. They are not always consistent. For that which one does not ripples both ways. We think time is a line but... it is almost like we can be everywhere and no where. I am sorry if her choice has hurt you. I am sorry if you are walking a path that you did not wish to step. If there is anything I might do. Please let me know." She nods her head lightly and lowers to her knees facing the mirror. It's almost like copying an image. She reaches around her as if gathering up items and ... sews? It almst looks like she's pretending to sew. Perhaps to encourage a copy of her actions.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair chuckles a bit and nods again to the Silver Scaled Lady. "Fair enough," she replies and then turns a bit to hear the music a bit better. There's a slight pull down of her lips as she does so. "I've been to no few concerts, and even one that had a rather...odd chorus...but this..." A hand waves toward the music. "Sounds...not quite /wrong/ but not right either, if that makes sense? I suppose it can't be a trick of the light."

Someone wearing a grisly red executioner's mask studies the woman in the resplendent fiery phoenix mask, tracing her trajectory to the mirror and the way she observes it. "Are you hoping for a surprise beyond the mirror? I'm told that is a very bad idea."

Someone wearing a stygian smirk checks composure at daunting. Someone wearing a stygian smirk is marginally successful.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask glances to the mirrors from time to time, a hopeful look on her face. She's chatting quietly with the latest occupant of the scandal couch.

The figure nodding to her in the Wolf's Skull Mask gives her pause; while he clearly recognizes her, she doesn't appear to recognize him - and it is this halt in her steps during her momentary consideration that allows the man in the Bandit Mask to slip around her that puts tension borne from recognition to coil through slender shoulders. She whips around then, unable to help herself; her reaction is an immediate thing, reaching out for the cuff of his sleeve in an effort to stay him. "You're-- " Words leave her lips; undoubtedly there would be more, but the lady in the Dawnstone Mask stops her from saying the rest. "...forgive us, my lady, I've just managed to find my companion for the evening, who I've been waiting for this entire time. But if he chooses to delay our conference for a little while longer, I won't object."

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask offers a tip of his hat in passing to the woman in the Spring Evening mask as they cut in opposite directions, ambling onward a few lackadaisical strides until the the Scarlet Dawnstone's bearer draws his patrol short. There's a bowing of his head to an angle, with an air of rippling amusement tracing through tempered tenor notes. At that a foot slides forward to angle for the floor and an arm crooks out at the elbow in offering before he replies, "Turning the tables to be holding the bandit up short, aren't we?" But he doesn't stop to allow the rhetorical query answer before continuing, "I can hardly refuse a please, but you may well be asking me kindly to stop stepping on your toes in a song or so."

There is a pause in the conversation between the butterfly and the smirk. The Smirk gives a slow tilt of her head to the side, green eyes narrowing behind the smirking mask. Her claws flick in the air, briefly; like a cat flexing their paw. Then she murmurs something quietly back to the other woman.

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask gives up on dancing as the rhythm goes too complex for her understanding, tumbling and spinning her way back to the couches, where she can rest with the drink. For now, her eyes will do the dancing, shifting between the crowd to see if she can spot anything out of the ordinary.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask purses her lips a little, before smiling softer at the Prince of Bats. She nods, telling him quietly, "Go, play. You might have to wait-- until after that man." She watches the woman in the replica stygian mirror mask pretend to sew, her brows knitting together with a look as if she might like to ask something, or say something. But then she looks back to the Prince of Bats, and adds: "I don't think-- I'd rather not do such dice tonight. I can stay here, though."

Someone wearing A lion mask stands up from the couch suddenly and looks directly at one of the mirrors. His casual flop has changed quite suddenly into a stride with purpose. He crosses several steps to it, looks directly at it, and then says - apropos of nothing, since it clearly said nothing. "Who. Give me a name. Tell me --" It looks like he's trying to reach out toward it, and then realizes it's a solid surface, obviously his hand won't go through. Then he pulls it back, shaking it as if it was struck. The mask covers any foolishness of his expression.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames takes a sip of her wine and wrinkles her nose, lifting her attention towards the moon and then back towards one of the mirrors. She announces once more to the gathered, "I assure you, the wine has not turned. It is not the wine, it is you." Yes, blaming the guests. "I will send each of you home with a bottle of wine so you can make an educated decision on the quality of out vineyards within the Lyceum." She clearly wont let the Bloodmoon ruin her people's economic growth.

The man in the Driftwood Mask shakes his head, looking back down to the woman in the Replica Stygian Mirror Mask. "There is naught anyone may do, short of changing the past. And that would require a mastery of the Now that has grown quite impossible." He smirks, though there's little amusement in so bitter an expression. "Save perhaps for a few." He does, however, focus on her actions. Either curious or just finding it a suitable distraction.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask glances toward the Executioner, tilting her head to study him in bird-like fashion. "I would not call it 'hoping', no," she murmurs lightly, her voice a musical contralto, lifted a little to contend with the buzz of voices in the ballroom, so that he can hear her. "But I do find the effects of the Eclipse fascinating to study. Don't you?" She reaches out to catch a glass of wine from the tray of a passing server.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask cuts short with a light laugh when his offer is begged forgiveness from the Spring Evening, offering to the Dawnstone with a notable amount of sincerity washing away most of the mirth that carried through his air, "I shall owe you one, if ever I cross paths with a dawnstone again, or you're still searching later this evening. Apologies, and hope of forgiveness, my Lady."

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask takes the arm of her dancing partner and she moves out of the ballroom for some air. Her eyes look upwards to him as she smiles.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask speaks with a low-volumed intensity. Occasionally she glances at the mirrors or up at the bloody moon but her focus seems fixed on the quartet before her, Glorious Moon in particular.

Someone wearing An exquisite fiery, Firebird Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips has left the Ballroom Floor.

"Or you can come with me and bring me good luck," Prince of Bats suggests, squeezing her shoulders. "Please?" he says, and gives her puppy dog eyes. "Hey.. I thought I saw Myrinda on the dance floor earlier," he adds lightly. Though it can't be seen, one can guess he's raising an eyebrow.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers wasn't checking the mirror for cracks, but he was looking, before the raven does some wallflowering near the shadowy alcove, content to take another drink but this time after a taste, he looks down into the cup, suspicious. He turns out his other palm and pours some into it, as if thinking.. but no, it looks like wine. Poisoned? Now that's possible. He takes another sip. Squinting, then shrugs, and drinks further of it, watching a pair leave with a lifted brow.

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady has a long sip from her glass, frowning at the sweetness. Hopefully she just got a sweet one, anyway. "An odd chorus?" she prompts the woman with the brass ship in her hair. "Do tell. That sounds intriguing." She pauses, then asks, "A spell of a song, perhaps?" This is perhaps an odd question, but then, it's an odd night. The shining scales on the Silver Lady are lustrously red.

"It was foolish of me to suggest otherwise," says the figure in the round spiral mask to their midnight and crimson companion. "I try not to recognize people. Easier that way." Looking to some of the empty seating they gesture broadly. "Would you care to find someplace to sit and we can play the game of me pointing to masks and you telling me their story? If you get one wrong I'm not like to know."

There is a long moment's pause, but the woman wearing the Scarlet Dawnstone Mask eventually bows her head to both Bandit and Spring Lady. "Of course," is her soft reply, and she shifts a few steps back. There's a glance in the direction of the couches, but she doesn't circle back that way, instead moving away from both couches and dancefloor.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask's gaze sparks with confusion, as she glances to the dance floor and then back to the Prince of Bats. Her next words are such a soft murmur, that they couldn't be overheard by even those close to her.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask covers her heart, letting out a laugh that sounds more delighted than not as she watches the stygian smirk's response.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk is about to respond to that of the woman at the couch when the Lion shoots off from couch. She blinks, unsure of her wine at the moment, she sets it down. "Pardon me a moment."

"What can I say? I enjoy seeing others delighted," the crimson clad woman in the elegant mask of serpentine flames replies back only to catch her breath as he spins. Her eyes light up and she smiles a little more. "Keeping secrets are you? You never let on you were so graceful a dancer," she smiles softly up at him and lets the music and the bold, black bear sweep her away.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask's curiosity turns toward the assurance that the wine is alright, amusement rising once more, a breath of laughter unheard below the din of the ball. She's certainly had no problem with her own, the glass she'd claimed some short while ago already half-enjoyed. Though the crowd yet holds curiosity for her, reflected in colors and shadows playing upon her polished mask, she takes more interest in the Flame-Crowned host and sets her patient steps toward drifting that direction.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask angles his head as the woman in the dawnstone mask walks away from him, but his mask hides his reaction, if there is any. He threads his way through the press of people, disappearing again.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures rises from his seat at the Impropriety couch and places a hand on the small of the coral masked ones back as they move towards the dance floor.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Hugging the White Rose, the woman in the three-faced mask first looks around the ballroom, and then peers back into the mirror. Alert. Ready.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing round spiral mask has joined the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic masknods to the woman in the Coral mask and her Driftwood companion though she does watch as the woman in the Shattered-Seaglass speaks to the Lion masked one distracted by the mirror.

Someone wearing A lion mask checks composure at hard. Someone wearing A lion mask fails.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures has joined the Ballroom Floor.

"A dance with a blade or with another is little different," offers the one in the bold black bear mask when he's listening to how the scarlet dressed woman in his arms is delighted with how he moves and has her moving. "Though I think all credit's due to the others of my house for being sure that I know what I'm doing when faced with this particular enemy." And again, for a moment, his gaze strays to the windows, as if waiting for something to happen with the eclipse.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask shakes her head softly, her green gaze going towards a mirror. Or more accurately, slightly beside on rather than looking directly into it. She bites down at her lower lip, before saying: "Perhaps we-- I mean, /I/ should go. You should stay-- if you want."

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask looks up at Driftwood. "Sorry, you hit a mirror and I try to teach one how to sew." She reaches up a hand to let him help her to her feet. He didn't offer, but she's still there. "You would be surprised what people know and can do. It's all relatively able, just perhaps not worth the sacrifice." Here her eyes move to the PRINCE OF BATS. A tips of her head thoughtfully as she tries to place the creature. "Of course. The dice game is simple you roll to beat a number and if you are successful. I will tell you a tidbit of your future. I cannot promise it will be good news. Should you fail, then you owe me a secret. Do you care to try your luck?" The black and gold dice are offered out.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask draws the man in the driftwood mask - the one with all the secret treasures, up close - to the ballroom floor, a pleased tease on her lips. "Why would I? Wrecks are the best." And she pulls him, like she's going to give /him/ a turn under her arm.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask straightens a bit, whatever slinking air that might have been in his stance ironing out into something more rigid as he pivots on a foot toward the Spring Evening and adjusts his plain cloth cloak with a roll of shoulders and a tug of hands like it were something finer that it apparently looks.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk tilts her head backward, her hands onto her hips as she peers at the butterfly once more. A snort is given from beneath her mask and she murmurs quietly.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair takes a few more quick sips of her drink, wrinkling her nose briefly but a drink is a drink, before replying. "Princess Sorrel did a concert that was incredibly intriguing. It was...a spell of a song, though, you might certainly say. I didn't get to attend many of her other concerts, so wanted to be sure to make at least that one," is explained and there's a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth again. "Have any favorite events during your time in the city?" Her own outfit seems to be turning a bit more rose-gold in the darkening of the moon.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair says all that to the Silver Scaled Lady.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask sighs heavily, and when her companion in the mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs says something to her she looks up at him and smiles. "Maybe just a few more minutes, then we can go back to being social. Would that be all right?"

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has left the The Scandal Couch.

"Study? I don't study the Eclipse, I suppose, for fear of what such studies might bring to light. A bit of a paradox." The Executioner replies, reaching for a glass of whiskey, which he sips. He glances around again, for a moment, then turns to regard the lady in the resplendent phoenix mask.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask exhales a slow, thoughtful breath as she stares at the Prince of Bats, but then she turns to the Replica Stygian Mirror Masked lady. She takes a deeper breath and then offers: "I will go first, and then my companion? I am not certain I have any secrets you would wish, or that you have any future that I want to know, but--." With that enticing offer, she reaches for the die.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask stands up straight as the Replica Stygian mask with the dicegame approaches, nodding and grinning. "I'll give it a try," he answers, "it sounds intriguing. A secret..." He rubs his jaw. "Accepted." He indicates for Talia to go ahead first however, but stays near her.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask tilts her head with curiosity as she tastes her drink, as if listening to something unheard in the room. After nodding approval, she drinks some more. Running a finger along the top edge of the glass she answers the stygian mask.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask once more rises from the couch she was on to walk over toward the mirrors, biting her lip as she looks at them. Do they hold what she wants to see, any answers? There's no telling. But she does take her opportunity to go over to the ballroom floor. She's by herself, but that doesn't seem to matter. She starts swaying in time to the music, her body moving in a sleekly elegant and athletic fashion, even with the discord being played. She doesn't pay much attention to anyone else around her unless they approach her directly.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask starts to step away from the man in the Fierce Falcon Mask, but pauses; stops, turns. Oh, no, there really _is_ a person there. Was? She moves after him, reaching to catch his arm. "I thought I imagined it," she apologizes. "Would _you_ like to dance?" Hopeful, that.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs:offers a smile in response to his companion and offers a nod of his head. "Of course," he says with a chuckle before he glances back toward the mirror. "The way the light changes does make it look interesting, in any case..."

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady nods to the woman with the brass ship in her hair. "Was it the one that turned out wet?" she asks. "That required some cleanup. As for favourite events, I rather liked Lad Monique's Legendary Gala some years back. The other favourites are the concerts or plays at the College. I suppose I'm not doing a good job at keeping my identity secret, but I never cared much for being unknown." There's a shiver of a shrug. She isn't really apologetic. "We should really work on another concert soon. There's an opera in the works, but that will be a while yet."

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures says "Please tell me you wouldn't." to the woman in the coral mask as they reach the dance floor and she takes the initiative and pulls them into a dance. The first few steps are a no doubt entertaining mess as both of them seem intent on leading.

Another smile curls the lips of the woman in the elegant mask of serpentine flames. "Hmmn, I hope you do not see this as a battle. I can think of many more things that are pleasurable than fighting," she notes leaning lightly forward as she speaks with a slightly hushed voice, her eyes dancing impishly up at him.

Someone wearing A lion mask, still not too far from the couch, accepts a gift of a flask as he makes himself turn away from the mirror. He goes back to sitting for a second, trying to steady himself it seems... not able to immediately get back to the dance floor now as if nothing had happened.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask turns as the woman in the scarlet dawnstone mask follows him. In response to her question, he bows to her and offers his hand.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers pushes away from the punched mirror and the alcove, his sterling silver eyes roaming the room and the mirrors, taking in the rudy tones that sweep over everyone. He's looking for someone sparkling in his direction. Maybe there will be one.

Someone wearing A Snowy Owl Mask folds her hand loosly over her midsection eyes finding the other snow owl for another brief moment and then raises her hand in an uncertain wave of parting, a sad smile crossing her lips

There's a slight dip of acknowledgement from the Lady Spring Evening when the elegant form of the Dawnstone Mask's bearer eases away from them. Somewhere underneath her veil is a slight twist touched faintly by regret. Hidden lips part in a subtle exhale, translucent fabric fluttering to make room for it before angling her new companion a sidelong glance through the eyeholes of her mask. "There'll never be any shortage of lovely people in such occasions in want of a partner to dance with," she observes. "I could have waited, if you wanted to partake in some of the revels, though I do appreciate the decision to stay." Casting an obsidian net over his mask and hat, and the flip of his cloak over his shoulder, aural amusement brushes over her air. "It's clever - almost fitting, for one such as myself to bait a thief. You know me?"

Someone wearing The Black Rose finds herself enraptured with the dappling of shadows and sanguine array on the mirrors. Her hand drops from Driftwood's shoulder and stands bewitched, just staring.

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness glances away from her mirror a moment as a voice catches her ear.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask seems, from his demeanour, still amused when the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames speaks to him so, even as he's continuing to move with her. "Don't take any of it to mean that I'm not finding it pleasurable," cautions he. "Just saying that there's definitely places where one's applied to the other so easily, and for your benefit in this case."

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask is settled in her spot on the couch with her wine, but she finds herself following the lion-masked man's gaze, looking to see if she can see what he saw in that mirror.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk tilts her head to the side, once more considering the riven butterfly again. A hand settles again to her hip, which is shift slightly to the side. The sound of a lip being sucked on can be heard from underneath the mask and then a soft murmur is given from there.

"Wouldn't what?" the woman in coral and sea asks her driftwood-and-treasures dance partner. "Make a shipwreck of you? Need a lot more motion for that. I'm sure you can handle me." Mm, sure. She is not an adept dancer. She really, really doesn't care.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask seems to be pausing his recitation. Just standing in the atmosphere. He does raise his hand back to the other snowy owl. A mute farewell.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask chuckles mirthlessly, but he does help the woman in the Replica Stygian Mirror Mask up, some politeness remaining even after his outburst. "Always the question of sacrifice. You are right, of course. Good luck, and thank you." he nods, apparently taking his leave finally after such an outburst. He glances to the Black Rose, but does not disrupt her staring into the mirror, leaving silently and soon lost in the crowd.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a mask for moonless night flights has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask takes a sip of the wine in the glass she picked up, then peers into the cup suspiciously. She wets her lips, and then glances back to the Executioner. "I suppose it is in my nature to study things that I do not understand," she counters, a bit wryly.

Relief and gratitude crossing through her smile, Scarlet Dawnstone Mask takes the Fierce Falcon's offered hand. "It's been an evening," she tells him quietly. "I am grateful for your forgiveness. Lead on."

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair, once again, gives a few nods of her head to the Silver Scaled Lady. "The very one. Oh, I attended Lady Monique's Legendary Gala. She has thrown no few grand events, and one of my first big events when I came to the city was one of hers. There are some mementos from them in a library I help upkeep," she explains and sips her drink again. "I've been meaning to get to the College more, to be honest." There's a bit of a laugh and she shakes her head. "I'm not terribly good at keeping myself secret, though this is my first masquerade in the longest time. I'm not used to being sly. In any case, an opera? That sounds like it will be quite the fete."

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask's cloak of shadows flutters around him as he leads the woman in the dawnstone mask to the dance floor. It's crowded, but he's confident in claiming them a space as he lays one hand on her shoulderblade and takes her other one in his.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame:has been led to the dance floor by The Sly Fox, and the two seem content to ignore most of what happens around them. However, as they converse in whispers, the short lady catches the eye of an impressionistic coral reef mask and smiles in acknowledgement - of the amazing mask, of course. Her dancing is smooth, nearly effortless with her partner, and her attention quickly shifts back to him.

"I do owe you a debt of gratitude for that," The Executioner remarks, to the Lady in the resplendent phoenix mask. "Thanks to you, and to one other, I learned enough to trailblaze, to try and seek my own path. Without any masters, just the will to move forward. I am not sure how long I can sustain said momentum, but I will try. This is a time for that, I suppose." He drinks the rest of his whiskey, placing the glass atop a passing servant's tray.

Someone wearing the Driftwood Mask has left the Shadowy Alcove.

"You certainly should," The Silver Scaled Lady tells the woman with the brass ship in her hair. Her lips quirk into an almost-smile. "Only that one concert got rained on, after all." She has a longer sip of her wine and looks upward at the bloody moon. "I wonder if it's time to go. I don't think the mirrors have any secrets for me that I don't already know. Shall I wish you visions or none for the rest of your evening?"

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures chuckles at the woman in the coral mask "I'm sure I can't", as he guides their dance in a way that doesn't actually threaten anyone elses feet. "Its a good thing I like a challenge."

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers has joined the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask bobs her head back and forth, maybe to the super odd music, maybe to the conversation being had. Either way, it makes the dead half of her wing flutter sadly.

"Oh, I can appreciate that," the one with the elegant mask of serpentine flames replies to the black bear as he navigates them with easy grace across the floor with spins and turns that find them chances to share little looks and smiles with the others dancing there. "Though I have heard some say that the court and event like this is very much a battleground in it's own way. The armor one's composure and experience in etiquette and diplomacy, and the weapons sharp wit, silver tongue and disarming smiles."

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers makes his way over toward a section of couches that isn't necessarily overcrowded.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask looks at the dice as they are rolled. The first by the Maiden of Spiders. The woman allows her lips to curve up. "It seems you owe me a secret. I ask for any that you are willing to give on a blood moon. It is your choice and I cannot force you to tell me which one. Allow your heart to know which to share. Perhaps... the one that you question the most. Perhaps those are how you get answers." Then to the Prince of Bats. Whatever those are. She stares at him a long moment and then leans in to whisper his fate, his fortune and his future. Then she pulls back to watch both of them.

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask watches as her companion moves off towards speak with a messenger. How messengers seem to find even the Masked is just one of those wonderful mysterious and pulls a husky chuckle from the lady. Now that her attention is not taken for the moment, blue eyes that are made more blue by the mask turns towards the crowd once more.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask twines her fingers through the Fierce Falcon's and rests her free hand at his middle, touch barely there at least at first. She's fairly prompt to nudge as needed to start moving with the music; the occasional discordant note does not seem to trip her feet up all that much. She relaxes before too very long, eyes closing halfway -- apparently expecting the Falcon to take care of navigation. There are a few quiet words spoken, coupled with a playful smile.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask clicks his tongue softly beneath his own facial coverings at something said by the Spring Evening, hands rolling in a supine gesture that sends the lower edges of his simple cloak swaying. "How much can one ever really know another, especially on nights such as this that bring out parts of us we don't even know ourselves?" he inquires to this new conversational partner in something approaching amiability. "But I am one that tries to take the high way when I can." He pauses a beat, another puff of breath ruffling the covering of his lower facial features. "I wasn't certain that was enough of a clue, though once I was made the game was up, even if I do now stand at one debt accrued for the evening. I'm curious how many I'll be up to by the time we finish discussion business."

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask leans in to listen to the woman in the replica stygian mask, having won the dice roll - at least if his wide confident grin is any clue. But as he listens, that grin fades and he's looking a bit uncomfortable, eyes darting around as if wondering if someone listens. The more he is told, that changes to confusion and puzzlement, but... he nods and murmurs to himself, as if repeating her words to memory. "Thank you," he says and bows his head. He squeezes the Maiden of Spiders' hand and gives her a rueful smile.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair dips her head and smiles as she looks back up to the Silver Scaled Lady. "And who could hold just one rained-upon concert against anyone," she wonders with a small laugh. "Truly, I do hope to attend more. I was allowed to act in one play and truly enjoyed the experience a great deal. Getting to see people's works made into something so many can enjoy? It is amazing." She, too, glances up to the moon a moment. "It may be time to go soon, indeed. I don't often get visions, but perhaps it is a bad night to wish for them. We shall see what happens. I wish you a pleasant evening and thank you for the conversation. I'm not sure I would have lasted here as long as I did without your company."

sighs as there is most certainly something wrong with her drink, with primal grace does the woman of briars stand to claim another, glancing over to her companion before with a full framed curl of lips in a feral grin does a finger curl in a beckon, "I need to grab a fresh glass." Is uttered in a husked tone waiting to navigate the crowds all in various states of being to find a drink cart. There is a pressure however all around the willowy snippet of blooming vine, against the buffet of revealed skin in moonlit display and senses weighed down by corrupted drink.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask finds a sort of harmony with the off kilter music as he and the woman in the dawnstone mask dance through the crowded floor, but the end result of the compromises he's made with the music are a very close, very Lycene sort of dance.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask seems about to reply to the Executioner, and then... she just seems to have stopped listening to the man in the grisly Executioner's mask, her attention snared by something she sees in the mirror. She goes very, very still, and seems to be unable to tear her eyes away. Her eyes widen in the eyeholes of her mask, and she starts to tremble, her mouth opening as if she wants to scream, but no sound comes out. Her breaths come out raggedly, and she seems suddenly terrified. Maybe that Executioner is on to something. The fan falls limply from its cord around her wrist, and she clenches her hands into fists, seemingly frozen in place.

"I'm far enough removed from such concerns for now." The bold black bear inclines his head when his companion in the elegant mask of serpentine flames is voicing her thoughts on the matter. "Not that I'm opposed to them in the slightest. Though I think I'm far outclassed if I have to meet someone in combat on that battlefield." And still, he can be heard to be chuckling by those closest to them when they're taking their turn on the floor.

Someone wearing A lion mask still holding a flask, looks over and sees the woman in the phoenix mask have a moment of fear. He gets it now, though, so he just finishes off the flask, and nods to the woman who gave it to him. He seems steadier now, if only because of the dizzy fortification, which may not be so great in the long run.

Someone wearing The Black Rose only seems to finally release that her escort to the masquerade has departed. She turns about once in place, duskweave shedding a few scorched petals with the movement. Finding herself alone she turns back slowly to regard the crimson-lit mirror.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask checks composure at hard. Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask is marginally successful.

Someone wearing mask of the Silver Scaled Lady inclines her head to the woman with the brass ship in her hair. "I could say much the same. Thank you for your company -- though I will admit I haven't guessed who you are. Perhaps we should have a drink sometime, when it's less sinister." She passes off her glass of wine or whatever it was and bows a slight bow to her companion for the evening before beginning to wend her way out of the ballroom.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask drops the hand that touches the glass, fingertips sliding along the surface as she gives her reflection a final glance. She looks up at her escort. "I think I would like to sit a while and have another glass of wine. Will you join me?"

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask's is too busy worrying over her own secret to notice the Prince of Bat's reaction right away. She worries at a lose piece of skin on her lower lip, before she leans forward to whisper to the woman in the replica mask. Once done, she curtsies softly to her, before she turns to her companion as he squeezes her hand. She nods towards a place of seating, only asking him once they start moving away in a murmur, "What did she tell you?"

Someone wearing The Black Rose has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing a grisly red executioner's mask stares into the mirror after obserbivng resplendent. Since there is no reply and she's paralyzed as she looks into it, perhaps it is important that his gaze follows hers there. Because he is supportive, his hand reaches for her shoulder in a single, reassuring squeeze. "Do you want to leave?" Definitely an offer to escort her out.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair inclines her head to the Silver Scaled Lady. "A drink, certainly," she offers in parting and then tries to sip her drink again, perhaps hoping for a less sweet taste.

observing*

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk hears the woman in the fiery Phoenix mask and lifts a brow. She takes in her fear as she looks to the man in the lion mask as well. Her eyes then look to the mirror, watching.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs offers a nod of his head toward someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask and glances around to take stock of those who are left and where the drink carts are located. Considering for a moment he gestures with a hand toward one of the carts and then begins to lead his partner that way to collect drinks.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk tilts her head to the side and considers the butterfly once more. A clucking sound of her tongue against the roof of her mouth behind her mask is given.

Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl carries a glass in one hand, a fan in the other, and drifts around the edges of the room, watching the dance floor, taking in all the fantastically shaped masks and glittering attire.

Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask checks composure at hard. Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask is marginally successful.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask does perhaps start with an attempt to keep some measure of distance, but it doesn't take long before she's drawn in by the Lycene dance. It does not seem to be outside of her skillset either; she moves in close to the Falcon and follows his lead. She does -- EVENTUALLY -- stop talking. For at least a whole minute.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask laughs, smile curling awhile after. A flourish of a hand suggests she appreciates the bird aflame as well; of all the fiery birds, here, it's the only one that's particularly caught her eye. Perhaps only because she doesn't want to trip over that huge skirt. But it's her dance partner she speaks with. "Keep trying," she says, stepping lightly even if there's no real art to it; the gown makes it work. And she laughs again. "You could have just said that in the first place. But when you give a lady something /this/ pretty we have to wear it somewhere." That's with a brush of fingers over the elaborate octopus necklace she's wearing about her throat.

Listening to her companion's words, The White Rose physically reaches into the mirror, unperturbed by what others in the room might thing. Tracing the lines of her reflection as she studies it. Her smile seems to warm as she does so, as if getting strength from the gesture.

Someone wearing an Umbra mask adorned with silver stars rises from seat seat and approaches a mirror, silently looking into it for a long moment.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes checks composure at hard. Critical Success! Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes is spectacularly successful.

It's the strange turn in the ballroom that plucks the strings of additional tension on the Lady Spring Evening's frame, straightening her spine. There's a sip pulled from her wine as she listens to her companion, but this is one that she quickly relinquishes to a passing sever once the copper tang of it hits her tongue. "Plenty, if one is observant enough and pays intense attention," she replies, swallowing down her growing discomfiture. "But spoken like a reputed philosopher...and an inveterate punster." Easing a foot back, she finally turns to face him fully, regarding him with dark eyes. "Truth be told, I'm loath to go into the details here..." A subtle, but pointed glance towards the gleaming scarlet light from the surrounding mirrors. "But I do want to ask you based from your prior presentations whether Dreams interest you. I was not exaggerating in the slightest when I mentioned that I'm interested in a theologian's perspective."

Someone wearing a mask of a forest-bird clutching green eggs slowly, slowly circles the room, slippered feet moving in something approximating time to those discordant notes. Floating past a table, or perhaps a tray, delicate fingers pluck up a glass of that oddly scented wine and drink deep. Poison was not a consideration.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask continues dancing about for a bit, still glancing at the mirrors every now and again. She lets out a soft sigh when she tires of dancing and moves to take a seat over at the Shadowy Alcove, with the intent with mingling with others in the room.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has joined the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing A lion mask getting up from the couch now and heading to the floor, confesses to the woman in the seaglass mask: "It isn't entirely the first time I've faced dread. I don't think it will be the last." On his way up, he passes by the woman in the winged mask again, standing close to her, having a brief exchange of words quietly. Then he moves toward the dance floor.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask says as she walks and holds her partner's arm, "There is still some time tonight. Perhaps I will catch something out of the corner of my eye. I am usually very lucky."

The three-faced woman follows suit, reaching out to touch the mirror, palm-to-palm with her reflection.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask seems to have forgotten that she has a wine glass in one hand, and as she clenches that fist, the wine glass stem snaps in her white-knuckled grip, the glass shattering and cutting her hand, before falling to the floor in splinters. Blood drips from her fingers unheeded, as if whatever she is seeing in the mirror is worse than any cut from a shard of glass. Her eyes seem locked onto whatever she is seeing, her body swaying slightly as if she might faint in shock or horror.

Something seems to quietly changing about them as the dance. Looks of fear and dread begin to ripple through the crowd. The woman elegant mask of serpentine flames seems to frown softly as her attention slips away from big black bear she is dancing with to rest upon the face of those who seem to be troubled. Leaning forward she speaks softly into the bear's ear.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic maskmoves to the dance floor with the Moonless Night and she's settled into a graceful sway before they've even settled into form. Her attention finally focusing away from the bursts of color and sparkle from the myriad of costumes around her to simply enjoy the music and dancing with her partner.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures says "I could have." to his coral themed dance partner. "But this is something I just had to do." For the briefest of moments he glances to the mirrors around them before once again returning to his careful effort not to look. "And you did say you wanted to dance."

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask is led to dance once more, this time by the man in the lion mask. The dance floor proper is full of bodies, but any floor is a dance floor if you try hard and believe in yourself

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask nods respectfully at the woman with the Replica Stygian mask once more, then talks quietly with the Maiden of Spiders and steers them towards a corner with a mirror.

Someone wearing a haunting feline mirrormask fractured by coruscating starlight tears has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask leans in to whisper something to Glorious Moon and murmurs something for his sake before her attention goes to the shattering glass. It's as if she's drawn to the sound and the sight of blood.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips collects up a glass of wine and takes a grateful sip, leaning back on the couch he had found and lounging indolently.

Considering the way his conversation partner is acting, the Executioner decides to take matters into his own hands. He slips his arm around her shoulders and pulls her away from the mirrors, so that they are facing away from them rather than at them. Hopefully she goes along without much of a fight, because he's starting to lead her out to the door. There is a measure of care in his body language, though anyone obstructing their path might get a light shove aside.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask does seem to glance about at his companion's comment to him, with the slow consideration for what they are seeing under the scarlet light. His head dips slowly, mindfully, before he's murmuring back to her, and yet still without interrupting the motion of the dance.

glances over a shoulder to make sure the rufescent owl steeped in perception is following, meeting verdigris sights with a clash of ethereal blue before the pair find themselves at a drink cart. A hand reaches out to collect a glass from a collection near a decanter cast in a burgundy glow, is it whiskey? Maybe. But the pressure mounts as a reflective surface looms and the woven rose briar looks up to stare. Body is poised as fingers expect to close around the cylindrical tumbler, all attention settled on the moving shapes of those in attendance and for a moment she relaxes, "Alright, you've got me before a mirror." Is spoken in demure cadence, reaching back a hand to slip into the owl's clawed own in barbed claim.

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl doesn't appear to sip from the glass she's holding, only carrying it for the moment in fact, and notes that she isn't the only one rifting around the room or carrying a drink. As featureless and nameless as everyone else, she just picks the nearest person who's driving around and nods a greeting, lifting the glass she's holding - a subtle gesture - as well in a salute. Poison or less exotic substances potentially contained therein.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask turns to the mirror once more, despite what may surely be rudeness to the stygian smirk. With -unhuman- hunger in her voice, she whispers, "Soon." With a sideways glance she looks to the stygian smirk, half surprised to find someone so close, half sinister, but that might just be because of the dark half of her body. With a negligent flick of her hand, she resumes conversation.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask nods her head towards Prince of Bats and watches the Maiden of spiders for a moment longer. However, she turns to look at the Black Rose and then back to the mirror. These are the nights that one always studies the mirrors. She doesn't hide from them, it's almost like she's captivated as everyone else. Her fingers lift up to touch the surface lightly. "Sometimes there are only more questions and never enough answers."

Someone wearing The Black Rose finally stands back from the mirror and sees about procuring another glass of red wine. She weaves about at the fringe of the dancing floor, watching but a moment before slipping back to play at wallflower.

The dance floor is very full, yes, but the Lion Man Mask promised a dance with the seaglass mask and is going to keep that promise even if he's not as steady as he was before. It's definitely a crowded party still, and now there's a sense that if he does keep dancing, maybe the light will fade, and that eclipse will pass along with every bit of strangeness it brings.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask checks composure at normal. Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask marginally fails.

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask perks up as she finally notices those looking within the mirrors. A frown appears just under the edges of the mask she wear and now that her attention is not taken by another and she is not being kept in place, the woman gracefully stances as if to get a better look. And again, so mutterings of.. "Always so tall... now, just move a little that way.." flow from under her breath as she takes a few slow steps away from the table she has settles for the longest part of the night.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask angles his head however briefly he can manage toward the ballroom floor and the drift of people presumably around the mirrors interspersed around the space, a quietly contemplative 'mm' trailing somewhere beneath the din of the dance's commotion. "Come now, keep it up and you'll be giving away my very limited details of covert identity," he warns blithely to the Spring Evening, and just as she's turned to face him he turns further to angle toward the door, with a cant of head and a roll of hand. "But by all means, wherever you wish to discuss further." Apparently that's confirmation that he's interested in whatever is being hinted at.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs has joined the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask checks Composure at hard. Botch! Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask is simply outclassed. This is monumentally beyond them and the result is ruinous.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask has joined the The Immorality Couch.

Nodding at her companion, The White Rose keeps her hand on the mirror (not through the mirror) still keen to see what it is the mirror wants her to see. She doesn't take her attention away, as though the music is faint to her ears.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask pauses near a mirror and keeps murrmuring with Talia - he does stop to look into it though, for a minute. Him and his spider companion sure do look very fancy!

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask goes very, very still as something catches her attention. Her eyes are riveted to a mirror and her face goes very pale as she breathes in sharply. Her wine glass drops from her hands as she looks down at them suddenly, falling to the ground with a shattering sound that's likely drowned out to most by the discordant music. Whatever she saw, she's more than disconcerted by it.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic maskslips free of the dancefloor again and drifts in search of another glass of wine. A small smile on her face as she lets herself be distracted as she studies everyone.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask seems, at first, rooted in place as the Executioner tries to steer her away from the mirrors. But finally, she seems to break free of whatever terror gripped her long enough to let him pull her away. Her footsteps seem to drag, however, as if she is suddenly weak, her body shaking. "She is.... near... she is coming!" she cries, incoherent with terror. And then... the resplendent phoenix faints dead away.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask has left the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask nods to something that the Prince of Bats says, but while he draws towards the mirror, she only lingers nearby. She doesn't peer into it, maybe a glance or two, but it seems like she doesn't want to tempt fate any more tonight, feeling revealed already tonight.

Someone wearing a leather mask with a cutwork crown after some time, at last turned toward the mirror and dared a glance there, but there was discomfort in a perpetually comfortable frame.

Looking away from her reflection and that of the White Rose, the three-faced woman glances across to the Phoenix that had fainted.

The impish fox seems to be walking up to a mirror to look into it.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has joined the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask hmphs. "Just had to, huh." She continues dancing around - she almost runs them into someone else, lion and seaglass, and doesn't even murmur an apology. It's the eclipse, come on. Apologies are for other people.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames takes the arm of the woman wearing the Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask, pulling her closer as they speak in hushed tones. "I would love to dance" she informs the woman more loudly in her response, tugging then towards the dance floor with a grin before her voice drifts a little softer once more.

Someone wearing A Wolf Mask has left the The Misconduct Couch.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask had been focusing on Respendent Phoenix after she first heard the glass break and saw the bloody fingers. After a moment of words to the Celestials, she draws away from the Libertine couch and hurries over to the fallen woman. "I'm a doctor," she says in her rough voice, likely giving away who she is to some.

The Smirk is about to respond to the Butterfly but then she hears the cry from one of the other mirrors. She tilts her head and sees the Fiery Phoenix fainting. A hand lifts, claws flexing briefly. "Oh, dear. I don't think she liked what she saw in the mirror. I do hope someone picks her up before she gets stepped on." A shake of her head is given and then she asks of the butterfly, "Would you care to dance?"

Someone wearing an impish midnight ebon fox mask checks luck at hard. Someone wearing an impish midnight ebon fox mask is marginally successful.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask checks luck at hard. Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask marginally fails.

Holding her cousin's hand, The White Rose leads them back to the dance floor, keeping her gaze on the mirror as they dance around.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask checks luck at hard. Someone wearing a bold black bear mask fails.

Someone wearing an impish midnight ebon fox mask seems to be deciding to move from a mirror to dance, though he does seem to glance towards the mirror on occasion to see if there is anything in it in particular.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl appears from amidst the gathered and moving of the dancefloor in the dangerously ruddy glow that the Eclipse of Mirrors has cast across the lights of the House of Velenosa's extravagent estate. They wind through the mysterious and the merry and take the paths farthest away from the mirrors until they can wander up to the arrival in the asymmetrical mask of mother-of-pearl, one all too similar to their own. "Is it still fashionable to be late to the dance? Then again, with the rise of the moon and the strangeness of the evening perhaps you're just in time to the masquerade.", they say by way of greeting, sweeping out a hand to add a bit of a flourish to the bow that is given.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky watches the Half-Skull woman leave her table to attend the fainted Phoenix, her head tilting slowly to the Moon at her side.

"Is punning a rare talent for thieves and ne'erdowells?" The Lady Spring Evening wonders to the Bandit, in a tone so grave that it may very well be serious were it not for the obvious glint of mischief glittering from beyond the holes of her mask. "If so, I apologize for outing you so gracelessly - may whatever consequences that intend to visit you fall upon me instead." She offers her hand after that, for him to take, her gaze captured by the fallen phoenix. "...and believe me when I say you and I are of the same mind as that. I hope you don't mind if I take you someplace further out."

Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull checks luck at hard. Someone wearing a stygian mirror mask sculpted like a grinning skull is marginally successful.

Someone wearing The White Rose mask checks luck at hard. Critical Success! Someone wearing The White Rose mask is spectacularly successful.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask adjusts his mask and his coat and brushes off some crumbs on his shirt, then offers his arm to the Maiden of Spiders. "Shall we?" he offers with a charming smile. "Let's go see the moon outside, walk homewards."

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception does not yet take a glass of whiskey for his own, preferring to keep his hands free. And it is a good thing, too, for one of them has been deftly threaded into his date's own. However, he grants himself only a brief moment to revel in that moment before twirling the woman of crimson briars around so that she might stand face-to-face with her reflection, and with him standing close behind her. The hand entwined in her own is forsaken in favor of placing his palms face-down over her shoulders, holding her steady but not forcefully. He whispers under the din of conversation and discordant music filling the hall.

Someone wearing a brass ship sailing through hair blinks a few times as she catches what looks to be someone fainting. There's a slight wrinkle to her lips, hidden as that may be behind the beads of her mask. There is a glance to the dance floor and various mirrors before, it seems, she is ready to make her departure. Finishing her drink and setting it down on something out of the way, she heads toward the exit.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures says "I'm sure i've told you how much I love a masque." to his coral and octopus themed dance partner. The near collision causes him to laugh a little, throw an apology in the direction of the shattered-seaglass and lion masked couple, and lightly chide. "Behave." Again he lets his gaze drift to the mirrors before snapping it back onto the coral mask. "I like the necklace on you."

"Shit." The Executioner bends down to pick the resplendent Phoenix up, carrying her in his arms. "Wake up," he mutters to her, glancing around for a moment. His linens are, by now, stained with the blood that drips from her hand as he starts to carry her out to the exit.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script steps into the Ballroom, which.. it is hardly surprising. Understated attire, an understated mask-- easy to overlook, really! The mask turns, glancing about the room before heading straight for the nearest libations. Priorities, right?

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs checks luck at hard. Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs fails.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has decided to sit in the middle of the dance floor staring at the mirrors, their bottle of alcohol nearly depleted. Talking to no one at all, "If you watch them long enough they will smile."

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask finally finds herself a glass of wine and a spot to settle herself while she watches the party, a small frown tugging her lips when someone drops and someone has to run to assist.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask relaxes into her drink and glances towards the fainted, not moved to particularly care to go pick her up. "The first time is rough." Being asked to dance, she looks towards the dance floor. "Sure, why not. You may remember who it was you saw."

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl gives a quiet laugh, lips curving from beneath the edge of the mask as she offers a curtsy to the wearer of the asymmetrical mask of mother-of-pearl that is a pair to the one she is wearing. "But of course. Being fashionably late allows one to catch all of the end of the evening drama without risking giving away who I might be in the delicate intricacies of small talk."

Someone wearing The Black Rose stares transfixed before a mirror, her grip on her wine tightening until her knuckles turn white and a small fracture appears on the glass stem. Softly she mutters, responding to some thing unseen in riddle with her own. The fracture of her glass cuts a delicate finger, a singuler red rivulet dotting down to her palm.

That eerie music doesn't let up as red light fills the room. The dancing seems even more strange and a few times, some could swear they seems dancers -floating-. Surely, that is just a trick of the wine or the weird light? The music shifts and changes and some dancers are starting to feel as if they cannot STOP dancing...

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask's gaze meets the Prince of Bat's, her lips curving into a soft smile. She nods simply, before sliding a look towards the mirror. She looks into it for one long moment, and then looks-- in front of it. "Is it ok if we go now?" she questions quietly, not to her companion but to the mirror. And the she nods, turning to slide her arm in the Prince of Bats' to allow him to lead her away.

Someone wearing Black Rabbit with Glowing Red Eyes has left the Inviting Couches.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask laughs, quietly enough that it doesn't carry far, but her brightened demeanor is easy to catch beneath the shiny surface of her featureless mask. She follows the Flame-Crowned blonde to the dancefloor and takes up an appropriate posture... to follow her partner's lead. Right up into the air, if she's lucky. There's a nod for the sort-spoken words, a softening of her smile, but her answer is just as quiet.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask is still dancing with the Fierce Falcon, being twirled and following in a very Lycene sort of dance that mostly manages to stay with the music. So far, she has not descended back into attempting conversation.

Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask falls into step with the Lady of the Spring Evening, countering "If there's anything we can learn from the Harlequins, it's a better appreciation for the nuance of tongues no matter our walk of life," as he offers a crooked elbow to rest the extended hand upon while tipping the wide brim of his hat with the other. "Take me away for interrogation, Inquisitor," he says, pointedly not looking back for the floor. "I may even go quietly."

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask leaves, following Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips crosses his legs once more, watching the dance contort and twist into the spectacle it was becoming.

"This is..." The three-faced woman mutters, suddenly a little perturbed. "Not right." She leans in to murmur something to the White Rose.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask claps in rough time from the edges of the hall. He does not dance. "Excess. Excess! Such passions, such drives. They're what make us alive. Listen to the music, sway and swirl. Until the world is the dance and the dance is the world."

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask takes a step towards the fainted Phoenix and the Executioner as she is close to the exit he seems to be using. "I can send to the healers guild, or if you will wait a few moments, we can tend to her wounds.." She voice is loud enough for him to hear and her eyes look over the fainted woman with worry.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask arrives, following Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask.

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs said he was not gonna dance but for some reason is compelled to get up, even though he tries to sit back down, but soon he is dancing, right out there to the dance floor. He lets out a harumph!

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask is lifted up into the Executioner's arms easily enough. She's limp as a ragdoll, almost tooo limp. As if she's suddenly just extremely tired. What skin is visible, normally a shade of light olive, seems a bit paler than usual, and her skin seems a bit clammy with shock.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script gathers a glass of deep red wine, starting to make her way towards the mirrors-- and finding herself swaying as she moves towards the Black Rose mask.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers is intrigued and seems to make for Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask.

"Oh, don't do that on my account," says the Lady Spring Evening as she rests light fingers on the crook of the Bandit's elbow, steered towards the entryway. "When it comes to the hunt, I prefer a challenge."

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask continues to dance, unpreturbed (or not visibly preturbed anyway) by increasing alarm coming from some of the other dancers. Almost all of his attention is focused on the woman in the dawnstone mask, with only just enough reserved for their surroundings to make sure he doesn't dance them in to anyone. A prospect that's becoming more real as some of the dancers turn frantic...

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask is deep in conversation with her lion-masked dance partner when a peculiar expression crosses her face, then panic. "My legs. They're moving on their own. They're... I can't stop them." Then she realizes her arms are in the same boat. She breaks away from the lion, twirling on her own in a wild, graceful dance, like a wildfire. "I can't... I can't stop," she manages to get out.

Of all the distressing things to happen to the woman in coral - well. Being unable to stop dancing is not the worst; it might not even be something she's totally aware of. After all driftwood is likelier to stop well before she's done. And who's ever seen the sea stop? She does at least seem to realize it's been a bit, and brushes lips to his, once as she steps past, an aggressively Lycenee step, insinuating herself in his space. "How you doing?" she asks, hushed.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask nods to Snow-Wolf. "Yeah, she sliced up her hand on broken glass. Nothing enough to cause serious blood loss," says the woman. "If one of the Velenosa servants can go fetch some bandages, we can wrap it up here and have it seen to somewhere less..." her eyes flicker through the red light towards the frantic dancers, "Somewhere less weird."

3 Thrax Guards, 1 Thrax Elite Guards, Someone wearing a Bandit's Mask leave, following Someone wearing Spring Evening mask.

Reaching out to the three-faced mirror mask, The White Rose seems perturbed but it is hard to say. "Maybe we should have stuck by..." She nods to the mirror, trying to keep her partner stable. Somehow she doesn't seem to fall into the dancing spell. Her eyes shift to the mirror once again, curious.

Someone wearing The Black Rose sets down her cracked glass on a nearby table as she steps closer to the mirror she riddles with. The bloodied finger and palm reach out towards its surface, the woman seemingly freezing in place.

Someone wearing A lion mask seems to not be taken by the same madess, necessarily, but he did feel the slight pull of it. As his dance partner starts to panic... his head glances down at her feet. "I'll... try to keep up with you, but... do you ... need me to force you to stop?" He dances along with her just keeping pace.

Someone wearing a Lady's Silk Mask finishes her glass of wine as she watches the dancers, and when some of them appear to float she turns to her partner. "We should go," she warns him. "I think things are taking a turn, and we should get somewhere safe." She takes him by the hand and starts to lead him toward the exit, removing her mask as she walks. She turns and gives the dancers, the mirrors, all that remains of the event one last look before departing.

Someone wearing a fiery phoenix silk mask abruptly stands from her seat at the Shadowy Alcove and looks around. She's looking for anyone familiar to her, or seemingly so, pressing her lips together.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask has joined the Grand Duchess Throne.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures tells the lady in the coral mask. "Just slow down a little mm?"

Someone wearing a stygian smirk steps toward the dance floor, holding her hand- palm up -toward the butterfly. The smile can be heard in her voice, "Might I? I don't think so. I think it was someone I knew in passing... Unless you mean what I saw in the mirror? Trust me... I will remember that."

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask whirls on her own, her dance growing wilder and more frenetic. When Lion asks if he needs to make her stop, she calls out, "Yes!"

Someone wearing The Sly Fox checks luck at hard. Someone wearing The Sly Fox fails.

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs glances toward the dancefloor as his partner mentions it, then offers a nod of his head her way. He doesn't seem to mind as he follows along at her side when they head toward the exit.

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl glances around, their lips pressing thin into a brief smirk as they gesture toward the dancefloor where it would seem that through some trick of the low light or the strong wine, some few dancers almost seem to be floating off the ground as they whirl and cavort, "You may wish to arrive later yet if you're going to avoid the dramatics on the Eclipse of Mirrors. I understand it is the night for drama. If not the sort of casual drama one might stumble over in their crawl across the other social scenes of Arx.", and there they take the hand they had flourished seconds ago and offer it out as if in invitation to mingle amidst the celebrants all around.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk watches the dance floor. Did it grow in numbers? They appear to be whirling faster and faster, causing Thea to look away,"Gods, I don't recall being that swift on my feet."

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask checks composure at daunting. Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask fails.

"Perhaps..." Looking down at her feet, and then back to the dance floor's periphery. "Lead me to the edge?"

Someone wearing a mask of a bluebird clutching amethyst eggs has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing The White Rose mask checks strength and athletics at hard. Someone wearing The White Rose mask is marginally successful.

"Just tell me where to take her. At this point, I'm deferring to your medical expertise." The Executioner replies, glancing down at the lady in the resplendent phoenix mask.

Someone wearing a crown of sharpened flames has arrived at the dance floor with her partner, grinning slightly as they take the appropriate handholds for the Lenosia tango, one of Jaenelle's favorite dances. She looks around for a moment at those dancing before she and her partner take their first step. Perhaps she doesnt notice that the dancers seem...different. It is a quick exchange of movements, the face paced shifts of hips and feet while other parts remain still.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask alights her hand upon the stygian smirk's as they move towards the dance floor. This provides an excellent view of the floating dancers and she laughs, almost childlike in delight. "Fly dancing!" Giggling again, she says, "Ahh, no mysteries resolved tonight, then."

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs has left the Inviting Couches.

Zoey has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask is turning away from the mirror to lead the Maiden of Spiders out of there, but then he stops abruptly, and swings back to face it. Despite the chaos on the dance-floor, he barely seems to notice; instead he's suddenly walking INTO the mirror, a hand first in an attempt to reach for something but all he meets is the reflective surface. "No!" he calls out. Both hands go up to the mirror, slamming hard against it. "No no no no, that can't just have happened," he growls desperately.

Someone wearing A lion mask checks strength at normal. Someone wearing A lion mask is successful.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame begins to slow, wishing to find a glass of wine. She attempts to lead The Sly Fox from the dance floor, but finds he is unable to stop dancing. Her crimson painted lips twist in concern, stepping close to try to still his movements.

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl's lips curve into a grin, not just a smile but a genuine grin, letting her voice and inflection do what expression can't. "The dramatics are part of the fun. The mystery. The wonder. Not just about who is who, what's actually happening. And, most importantly, what's in the wine?" she moves at the side of the person wearing the mask that pairs with the one she has on. "And, check out the dancing, or is that floating? Gravity changing now!"

The woman in the flowing sanguine dress with the elegant mask of serpentine flames seems to lose herself in the dance. Her eyes lifting to the moon above, her attention to turn to a more dreamy candor than anything, her dress rippling like water as she sweeps and spins about lost in whatever magic seems to have taken her.

tenses at another shift of music causing a ruinous melody to ooze over senses, the only moment of clarity however was the cool press of a hand to bare shoulder and the hushed usher of a whisper in ear, tickling tendrils of sable against neck as the owl dipped face to intimately converse with the Maiden of Thorns - challenging her to at least peer to see what she may. There is however a smile that forms, feeling particularly emboldened by her feathered companion.

Somehow The White Rose manages to drag her uncontrollably dancing partner to the edge of the dance floor, back where the mirrors are, watching her with widened eyes to see if the dancing has stopped. "And there I thought it'd be easier back there." She says with a wry smile. She sinks onto the floor to rest, tilting her head back as she stares at the mirror with a triumphant smile.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask frowns softly, stepping closer as she asks in a murmur, "What? Ev, what just happened?" She pauses, worried, before she offers quietly: "Maybe we should-- go. Don't-- don't break the mirror. It's probably just a trick."


*** Someone wearing A lion mask has called for an opposing check with Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask. ***
Someone wearing A lion mask checks stat strength at easy. Someone wearing A lion mask is marginally successful.
Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask checks stat at easy. Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask marginally fails.
*** Someone wearing A lion mask is the winner. ***

Someone wearing The Sly Fox is overheard praising Aconite: A LOVELY OUTFIT

She swirls. "Oh don't ask me to slow down," she pleads. And then follows a puff of breath, and quieter words, a spring of sweat: "I can't." There could be more distress in that voice; our lady of perpetual motion might... sort of like it.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask continues to drink her wine and watch as the party continues. Her head tilts a little as she watches th party with interest. Dark eyes glued to the dancefloor with interest.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask has left the Grand Duchess Throne.

Someone wearing an impish midnight ebon fox mask would keep on dancing while he moves along, seeming to actually do well, then looks to a mirror a bit expectantly, while he peeks to it.

Not seeing anyone in particular that she's figured out, the fiery phoenix turns to make her way for the exit just as alone as she arrived.

The woman in the a mask of a forest-bird clutching green eggs? Something has caught her eye. The pools of blood that have slickened the floor from those shattered glasses. Or the whirling of the dancers faster and faster, higher and higher, as if that were possible. Whether she's frightened or amused is unclear, but the laughter that slips out of her just then is too sharp. Not right. Not quite.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask checks perception and investigation at normal. Critical Success! Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask is inhumanly successful in a way that defies expectations.

Someone wearing The Black Rose keeps her bloodied hand on the mirror, though now she can be heard talking to herself - or it. Her molten gaze goes distant, detached from the voices of others near her.

Someone wearing round spiral mask looks up from the couch where he's been standing when the Prince of Bats starts to make a scene. On seeing who it is he steps away from where he's been, curses to himself, "Fucking stupid..." and pulls himself out of the costume he's been wearing. Though he keeps the spiral mask itself held to his face, it's not hard to pick out Blessed Hamish, who steps up and sets a hand on the Prince of Bats' shoulder and leans in to speak to him and his date.

Someone wearing A lion mask, since he was asked, decides to solve the unlimited dancing problem with a brute force method... He leans over and picks up the woman he's dancing with, and lifts her over his shoulder. He's gentle about it, but it's definitely an unusual way to answer the question of how to stop an endless dance. It's a bit of a struggle certainly. Her legs want to keep dancing even after he's taken them away from the surface of the floor. He ends up with his hand around her waist as he keeps her held up. "What a way to end a performance."

Someone wearing a resplendent fiery phoenix mask leaves, following Someone wearing a grisly red executioner's mask.

Alone, those words from the lady in an impressionistic coral reef mask wouldn't have worried the man in the driftwood mask (not the same driftwood wearing man who beat on a mirror earlier.) but he noted the occasional echo of those same words from those around him. A brief frown and then he simply lets go of his dance partner and takes a step back, watching, studying.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask steps back, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, breathing heavily. "She... was coming for me, but he... I think she's gone," he says incoherently. Still, the maiden of Spider is a calming presence and he takes her hand to hold it in a firm grip; not to console her as much as needing to feel comfort himself. He looks at her with clear fear in his gaze, shudders, then looks around the room. "What is going on with the dancers?"

Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask nods to the Executioner and turns to move out into the other room, or atleast far enough away so that something can be done for the fainted Phexonix. She turns to make sure he is following before disappearing from the view of the ballroom.

Someone wearing a stygian smirk looks up toward the floating dancing as well. A soft laugh is given as she dances around with the butterfly, leading the other woman into a classic Lycene waltz. A chuckle is given and she asks, "Are mysteries supposed to be resolved tonight?"

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script steps up near the Black Rose and the mirror, peering into it like she might somehow see what the other is seeing-- Still swaying, still dancing, though rarely letting her eyes leave the mirror's surface.

Atila leaves, following Someone wearing a fierce snow wolf mask.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask has joined the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask seems a little concerned, but only insofar as he's drawing the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames closer so that he can be sure she's not in danger, seeing if he can't slow the dance somewhat as they're moving to the music...

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask's cloak of shadows settles around the woman in the dawnstone mask as she moves closer to him. The 'cloak' is little more than fluttering wisps of umbra, barely more solid than real shadows would be, but it nevertheless forms something of a protective cocoon.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask whispers a few words to the Executioner before he and the Resplendent Phoenix left, letting Snow Wolf take care of it. She turns, dark shadowed eyes surveying what's left of the scene. Dancers. People staring into mirrors.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask lets out an indignant squawk as she's put over the lion's shoulder. Even in this awkward position, she keeps dancing, arms and legs swinging awkwardly through the air. "Thank you," she says to him. Then pauses. "But now what?"

Left to dance alone, maybe that's something: something to leach the endless restlessness from her. And besides, she's not the only one who can't stop dancing? If she really -needs- a partner, she can find one.

Someone wearing a leather mask with a cutwork crown has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask squeezes back at his hand softly when he grabs hers, but her gaze moves to the person in the round spiral mask. She nods, simply, in agreement, for all that she looks confused and impressed by the costume she sees. "They are right. We should-- go," she agrees quietly. "It was probably just-- a trick. Of the mirror, the moon."

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Tugged to the edge of the dance floor, the three-faced woman...appears really determined to continue dancing. Sometimes you just -have- to.

Drawn in a little closer by the black bear's arms doesn't seem to slow the charms of whatever song she is moving to. Softy,the petite woman wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames begins to hum the song she hears as though lost in a happy dream.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures asks "You really can't stop?" As he steps forward again to offer the coral reef mask his partnership in the dance once more. "Or is it that you just really dont want to?"

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask's attention is almost certainly entirely upon her Flame-Crowned partner as they find their place upon the crowded dancefloor, among the throng of gleeful and panicked dancers. She certainly seems more the former than the latter, a giddy laugh escaping for the first set of swift turns she's lead through. One might wonder if she's ever danced the Lenosia Tango before for how a few of her steps are hurried, attempts to catch up and keep up, but she /does/ follow well and gladly.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame looks over to see impressionistic coral reef mask still dancing as well and attempts to move the Fox toward her and her Driftwood companion. She begins seaking in urgent, hushed tones with a driftwood mask with secret treasures.

A hint to how he's holding her, but the one in the bold black bear mask is being mindful of how his partner is losing herself in the music. That hold of his on her firms up, and his head looks about as if he's trying to get an idea of what is happening, much less if the same is happening to anyone else, or if it's something entirely isolated to her...

Someone wearing a mask of a forest-bird clutching green eggs stops, somewhere amidst that rising laughter. Something that she's seen, someone that she's seen, has caught her eye. A step this way. A step that. But no, no, whatever it was she saw is simply a mirror, one of so many mirrors. With that same avian cant of head, dark eyes peer into it. And then her laughter begins again, higher this time, until it cracks just like so many shattered wine glasses tonight.

Someone wearing A lion mask is standing there, and says, "Admittedly, that was my entire plan." A pause. "Oh, I know, we'll move away from the music." And then he starts to try to do that, getting off the dance floor as much as he can while still utilizing what might be called a fireman's carry.

The music reaches a dizzying, crashing crescendo... then just stops as do the dancers, leaving the ballroom in complete silence for nearly a minute before the music starts again, this time softer yet no less disturbing.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips rises from where he was sitting and moved to the edge of the dancefloor, glass of wine still in hand, watching the goings on with eager and curious eyes.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask slinks to her slippered feet as the music picks back up, and winds her way out through the crowd.

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask looks far less merry than before, more grim-faced and definitely more pale. He grabs a glass of wine, tosses it down for some liquid bravado. He gives the person wearing the spiral mask a bit of a stubborn look. But, it is the Maiden of Spiders that makes him relax and listen, and he nods to her. "Looks like they were having one very intense dance," he says, squinting at the others. "As for the mirror..." He steals one last glance at it, then shudders. "Let's go," he agrees, offering his arm to the Maiden once more, to lead them out of there.

Someone wearing a disquieting seaglass-shattered columbina mirrormask suddenly goes limp over Lion's shoulder, exhausted and worn out from... whatever that was.

Someone wearing a riotously colorful silken mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask leans back on her couch though she continues to watch, listening to the music almost through her third glass of wine and eyes already seeking out another. Offering quiet greetings to anyone to passes close she seems intrigued by the music, the dancefloor and the dancers on it and how their movements have changed.

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask goes silent when the music does. He seems to be holding his breath. And despite something like delight in the wild dance, he does seem relieved when the dance ends. When he speaks, recites, again, it's softer. A match to the music. "So many kinds of excess. So many forms of self revelation. So many ways to form distress. So many ways to chase sensation."

There's an excellent answer to that question, when the sea stops swirling, dress hanging at an odd angle. "...can?" says the woman in a coral mask, and - moves. Experimentally, in the silence, which might feel more wrong to her than the movement. A vague smile, and she reaches to take her companion's hand, watching the approach of the fox and flaming bird. "That was..." puff. "Weird."

Stopping of a sudden, just as sbruptly as the music, she seems to heave a sigh of relief. Yet for all of that, when the music resumes, she tenses. Perhaps not so eager to be caught unawares this time, the three-faced woman paces softly towards the White Rose, steps as light as prowling cat.

There's a smile as The White Rose looks upon the mirror but she rises in time, holding her companion's arm. "I will give everything for those I love." She says, with affection in her voice. Her smile brightens and she holds her in an awkward embrace.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers was trying to gain the attention of a particular mask wearing person, all but tapping them on the shoulder, apparently the crowd too thick. When the music stops, he lifts his raven mask a bit, looking around, before he readjusts feathers, "Well this isn't as fun as I thought. Hoping to play games, but..." he sips on the wine with a little curl of his lips, muttering birdlike to himself.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness rises from her repose across a shadowed couch, exhaling as she sweeps the length of her curls over her shoulder. Her eyes follow the whirl of the dancers, the frenetic motion, the settling fear. Under her breath, she huffs a soft laugh. Her wine is finished in a single quoff, her lips coming away no redder. She passes the glass to a bystanding servant and turns to melt into the crowd, emerging a moment later before the Prince of Bats and his maiden. Rosy lips offer a warm quirk to the spider as she inclines her head, but her eyes linger on the winged counterpart, an unreadable intensity there. "Hello, you two," she greets, her warmth in her voice.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask walks over to EXPRESSIONLESS and puts out her hand. There is that set of dice upon her palm. A cant of her covered head as she offers, "Do you want to play a game? I have one of two we can play."

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness has left the The Immorality Couch.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask curtsies, quick and shallow, to the person in the spiral mask with a murmured goodnight and thanks. But then she allows the Prince of Bats to lead her once again, letting him have that little gesture to steel himself with, perhaps, as she places her arm in his.

Someone wearing A lion mask sets the seaglass-mask down... his body language a bit embarrassed, in spite of the mask. "All right. No harm done! A great dance. Amazing energy. Let's do it again some time without the... sinister strangeness."

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips chuckled and nodded his head, "Sure, that seems quite appropriate actually." He murmured to Sygian Mirror Mask, "Shall we?"

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask takes in a deep breath and holds it as the music suddenly comes to a stop. She waits. The moment passes and she lets it all out in a rush, what can be seen of her face looking relieved as if she was expecting worse. She grabs a fresh glass of wine, having abandoned or lost a previous glass, and takes a long slow drink. "Tehom grant me clarity," she mutters into the glass. Her black eyes lift up to the ruddy moon again.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures smiles at the lady in the reef mask as she stops dancing. "I think it was just one of those moments." to the lady in the fiery mask he says "Thank you. Perhaps if it happens again we should exchange partners." to the lady in the coral mask he asks one more thing, voice lowered so that it is shared only between them, and then suggests. "Perhaps its time we took a break?"

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk whisper=are you--alright?

Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs boogies just outside the dance floor then finally stops during the musical lull before going wide eyed behind his birdy mask. He soon makes for the escape route, if he can. Though, there are people around whom to dodge, indeed.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask Hearing that voice, they turn around to see them just before they put the mask back on in their readjustment. Smiling under their own mask. Then striding across the dance floor to them. "You like games, do you?"

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk nods naturally, glancing to those getting off the dance flooe.

2 Whitehawk Guards leaves, following Someone wearing a mask of an emerald bird clutching green jasper eggs.

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception waits as long as he has the patience to wait for something interesting or scary to happen, and thereafter lets out a drawn-out sigh, blowing warm air out between parted lips which rustles the raven-black hair of his date. "Well...it seems we're doomed to stare at our own reflections for all eternity," he murmurs, then drops those hands away from slender shoulders. "Which is perhaps the best case scenario when you really think about it." At that precise moment, a server walks by with a platter topped by glasses of alcohol. The owl steps aside and reaches out to pluck one up with a grateful nod of his head to the server, then turns to address the woman in a crown of thorns with the glass poised near lips, hesitating. "I would introduce you to my cousin, but she seems preoccupied, and with someone I can't discern. Curious." Eyes flicker toward the very location this cousin can be found, but only for a brief moment so as to preserve her anonymity. All the while, the glass is pressed to his lips for a healthy sip.

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl can't help but share a laugh with the person in the mask matched to their own, offering over, "Let's hope it's just wine that's in the wine, though I danced past someone earlier who was speaking to the taste of blood in their wineglass. Mystery certainly is the watchword of the evening.", and though there is a strangeness to the hour that doesn't seem to spare the dancefloor of the Velenosa ballroom, one seems to lead the other in that direction nonetheless as if daring, "I've never before floated. Do you think it would chill you to find your feet wandering away from the safety of the ground while you danced?".

Suddenly without warning, black bear's companion in the elegant mask of serpentine flames stops, her body drifting softly as she stands in silence. Slowly, she seems to come awake again, her eyes blinking softly. "Is it over so soon?" she ask her voice soft and confused.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask nods her head to this as she moves. The fact her dress already looked crafted of the blood moon, makes it moreso in the eerie lights of the casting of the party. "I would say we should dance, but I fear that I do not want to do it endlessly. Tehom has the worst taste in humor. Then there are those talking and bleeding on mirrors. So I shall ask. Do you wish a game of luck? You may roll the dice and if you win, I will tell you what your future is. Or if you lose... you shall tell me a secret. They are very special dice. Only used for tonight. Or.. I can offer a riddle. We may either barter in truths or dares. The path is yours to choose."

Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask pats the Maiden of Spider's hand on his arm, then turns to the woman in the velvet darkness mask, grinning - even if it is a bit strained. He's clearly shook by something. "Hello, mysterious lady," he greets, winking playfully however. "We are just leaving - I'm afraid I've, uh, drank too much." He did not just slam his hands into a mirror, nope. Didn't happen. "You look amazing - as always. I'll catch up with you soon," he promises, winking again.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask follows the Fierce Falcon off of the dancefloor, her expression *devastated* for all of two moments before she regains her smile, blinks it away. Once they've left the dancefloor she releases his arm, offering a few quiet words and a dip of her head before she turns to scan the ballroom. When she spies the emerald bird's fleeing back, she lets out a low laugh and shakes her head, starting off towards one of the alcoves and taking a glass from a tray as she passes. She is careful to step over any blood on the floor.

Someone wearing Maiden of Spiders mask leaves, following Someone wearing Prince of Bats mask.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask Smiling to a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers, "What game would you like to play? Or would a continued dance be a good start?"

Someone holding round spiral mask to their face steps back as the Maiden and the Prince step away from the mirror, then nods to the Maiden in response to her curtsey, then starts back over to where he left his wrecked costume. "Shit. I'm not getting that deposit back." He leans down and gathers up the umbra, considers it, then shrugs and tears off a strip and ties it around his head to hold his mask in place, then heads back over to where he was sitting before.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask seems to chuckle softly, and there's a shake of that mightily masked head as he's breathing out. "It's over for the moment," comes the low voice as he's still moving with his companion. "The question's if you want to continue to risk it, given how you got swept up on it.'

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers watches as Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask brushes by and seems not to have heard the question, left to stand in their wake as they go play a game with someone else instead. He sighs quietly, muttering further into his drink, until the other raven comes over to him. He immediately seems to brighten up, "Gambler, is that you--" he recognizes the voice and tweaks the bird beak of the other's mask, "Fancy seeing you here. In a raven dress as well!" He looks over and shrugs, "I was told someone here was a teller, but, tell you what, we could definitely dance.'

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask bows to the woman in the dawnstone mask and steps away. He might have had some particular person in mind, or maybe just wandering, but as he passes a mirror, what he sees there draws him up short. He turns to face his own reflection, his head canted to a sharp angle, just watching... something. After a pause of several seconds, the man in the falcon mask bows to the mirror. This isn't a crisp military bow, but something far more exaggerated, even sloppy. There's something decidedly... inebriated about it, even though the man in the falcon mask has yet to drink tonight.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips the answering chuckle is rich and warm, "Well, I would be willing to tempt fate with a dance should you wish it, ill sense of humor or no. But a game of chance or bartering in truths and dares sounds fascinating as well." The birth of a quicksilver grin is barely visible beneath the mask, "Would you like to ask a truth as we decide?"

"There, there," she says to the White Rose, wrapping her in a less-awkward embrace now that she is not possessed by the Spirit of the Dance. "The music- it's softer now."

Someone wearing a half-mask of velvet darkness dips only a subtle nod to the two before they depart, lingering to survey the backlit crowd. She seems to consider as a goer twirls past her, musing in the curve of her smile, but decides against the lure of the dance. Soundless, she turns on her diamantine heel and slips out.

The woman with the elegant mask of serpentine flames looks a little torn. "I fear I might have gotten carried away. It's been some times since I danced so. I'm sorry," she replies, her eyes wincing in apology. A lingering look to the other dancers and then mirror before turning back to the large black bear and she seems to concede. "Perhaps we might sit for a moment. I feel a little breathless," she agrees with a graceful nod. "Is everything alright?" she pauses to ask.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask laughs to that from EXPRESSIONLESS. "Oh no.. my most dearest of players. It is as this. If you want to play in truths and dares, then you must choose a riddle. Then state if you wish to win a truth or a dare. Should you win, I will give you a truth or give into a dare. Should you lose, you give me a truth or give into a dare."

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl hmmms thoughtfully and, because timing is everything, happens to make that thoughtful 'Hmm' of sound just as the music comes to a crashing crescendo and there's that moment - a minute? more? perspective is everything - when she's making that hmm of sound. Instead of being embarrassed she grins and continues moving at the side of the person wearing the masculine version of the mask she has on. "I think it sounds more fun than frightening," she tips her head, lifts one shoulder, "nothing ventured, nothing gained. Shall we dance?"

On the dance floor, the Fallen Beloved's steps are liquid grace, even as she moves and twists and twirls ceaselessly, breathlessly, impossibly -- until, all of a sudden, it stops. She is breathless, near to panting in her escort's arms, that silence both a weight and a relief all at once. And then she lifts a hand to pull her mask off, heedless of where the glass cuts her hand, so that she -- Berenice, that is -- can steal an inappropriately public kiss from the escort that danced through madness with her.

Someone wearing Stunning Feathered Peacock Mask has been engaged in a rather charming conversation with the golden masked man in the shadowy corner, and when she looks away from her enticing partner, she spies an owl. One of man to adorn the floor tonight, but this one she recognizes - probably for his mask. She smiles, the hand not currently resting on the man's shoulder lifting to blow a kiss to the figure.

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask presses a hand to her stomach, taking a moment as suggested. Then there's a flickering smile, and she takes driftwood's hand. "Less fun," she comments, of the music. She seems uncertain, not about an answer to any particular question, but the amorphous set of everything that might be handled with large hand gestures.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips stretches both arms out before him, "Very well then, a riddle is chosen and a die is cast... But only proverbially so." Once more the arms fold beneath his waistcoat, "Ask your riddle gamemaster." The mirth is plain and full in his voice.

"Let's dance." The White Rose is resolved to say, leading her partner back to the dance floor. She still seems to be trembling despite her smile, and there's something almost stricken in her eyes. As though she's melancholic. But she dances nontheless, spinning her three-faced mask around.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

feels tension ebb away, offering a spill of breath in a laugh as she glances over those unclaimed shoulders to flash a crimson smile towards the deceptive owlet, "Well, I can't say that I'm terribly disappointed because I'd had to have to accidentally punch it." Collecting her drink which was certainly not where she thought it was, the glass is now raised to lips for a sampling before the bramble follows where verdant eyes briefly go in signal of the hidden cousin, "Well, wouldn't she be happy to see you? Or is she the sort to get herself all sorts of tangled in an unsavory embrace." Nose wrinkled beneath the pliable leather of mask, "Perhaps not if she is."

Someone wearing The White Rose mask checks dexterity and performance at normal. Someone wearing The White Rose mask is successful.

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask continues through a few swift steps after the music dies so very suddenly, a breath of exasperated laughter escaping as she tips toward her dance partner in the silence. Her smile grows remarkably warm, then brightens, as she listens to her Flame-Crowned companion, as she nods and offers some answer. After, once the music has picked back up again and the crowd is sorting itself out or filtering off, she turns a look to reflect the White and Gold Snow Owl in her mask to ask something else of her friend.

Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask checks dexterity and performance at normal. Someone wearing a three-faced stygian mirror mask is successful.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask checks dexterity and performance at normal. Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask is marginally successful.

Someone wearing Scarlet Dawnstone Mask does not quite make it wherever she was headed to; she takes a swallow from her glass and sets it down, heading for the ballroom doors and slipping out.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains releases her partner, the man wearing the golden mask that is the mirror opposite of hers, and, wiping sweat from her crimson hairline, stumbles off the dance floor looking happily dazed as she watches him go.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask seems content to study the room. Drinking her heady wine, watching the Replica Stygian offer her game to Expressionless. Her body posture says she's still guarded, though, and she occasionally turns her head to face a mirror and gaze at what reflections still hold there.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures first squeezes the hand of the coral mask wearing lady as he starts to walk with her towards the edge of the dance floor. Somewhere around the line marking dance floor from ballroom though his hand falls limp and falls away and he starts walking, in that slow dreamy sort of way that sugests he doesn't even realise he's doing it, towards one of the mirrors, companion forgotten.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script has joined the Ballroom Floor.

"Are you serious?" The three-faced woman retorts, hands spread down to either side. Yet as the White Rose returns to the dance floor, it seems as though her companion cannot yet quit. "Very well. If he wants a dance, he'll have a dance. And a hunt is no different than a dance between predator and prey, is it not?" But who shall be the hunter and who shall be the hunted...was quite obviously not to be determined. "I have more stamina than any might give me credit for!" She boasts to the White Rose, chin lifted ever so slightly.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask gets her fourth glass which she sips at the wine a few times. As the dancfloor becomes less crowded she stands and sets her wine side and makes her way that direction. The starry dressed young woman came to enjoy the party and dance and she intends to do just that.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has left the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask smiles wonderfully, "I would not say I'm a game mistress. For my ability is to know the here and the not so here. However... I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I alive with the wind. What am I?"

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers pulls Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask close to him and murmurs something quietly then smiles, "Gambler, ... you would be interested in the game too." A moment, before he grabs Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask's hand and drags him after the Replica Stygian wearing mask, "They're playing games tonight."

Someone wearing Mask of the Radiant Sun rises from the Libertine Table, moving apart from those there. He's careful to avoid the crowds and the dancefloor, pausing by one of the mirrors to look at his own reflection, movements hesitant as if he's afraid of what he might see within.

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl looks a touch amused as the music crashes to a sudden halt to leave their conversational companion left in almost-quiet for her thoughtful musing. "I suppose the difference between fun and frightening is all in how one spends their moments afloat.", is mentioned almost casually as they break away onto the dancefloor with the owner of the mask matched to their own, rounding out the seconds before the music comes to life once again with the admission of, "Then again, perhaps the difference is really all in the eye of whoever or whatever has decided people should float at all.", with an air of mystery to their tone.

With glass coming free, unveiling the princess, the Grinning Skull sheds his with as little elegance. It clatters to the floor with a loud sound. Harlex takes her in his arms deeply and returns the /inappropriately/ public kiss. Awash with relief and desire, it lingers on and on. His strong hands seizing her at the waist as he drinks from her more fully than any glass of wine or whiskey could abide. Himself breathless in the aftermath. Everything else, everyone else, shadows on the wall cast by candle-flame and that gods damned moon.

Oh, look. There's someone with wine. Because there's always someone with wine. The woman-as-a-reef plucks up a glass and drinks, turning where did driftwood drift? She blinks lazily, and drifts after.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask looks a little bit concerned when he's listening to the one in the elegant mask of serpentine flames, but he's shaking his head. "I'm glad to be affording you a lovely evening out, in that case," offers he, when he's shifting to draw her in a hint closer, as if to be assuring himself that she's truly alright. "But come, and we'll get you something safe to drink and you can rest a spell." And with a gentle tuck to bring her hand back into the crook of his arm, he's guiding his companion off the floor.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips a soft chuckle issued from the man's throat as he takes a long few moment to consider before shaking his head with a soft laugh, "I am afraid that I am stumped. Would that I spend more time reading more than just poetry." He draws himself up with all due melodrama, "You've won our wager."

Someone wearing A lion mask has left the The Impropriety Couch.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script drifts further out into the ballroom floor, twirling and dancing to the music regardless of the unsettling, eerie tone. She doesn't quite invite herself to any particular group or gathering, rather weaving around them, and around the mirrors.

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception shakes his feathery head at the cornered peacock sparing a glance and a kiss to him, though from beneath the shadow cast by his mask, his mouth forms an amused smile. "No, I suspect if she were to tangle herself up in anyone, I would know who it is. She does not oft keep secrets from me," the man murmurs as he turns to address the lady of briars once more. "Then again, how could I really know for sure?" An arm is offered to the woman, presumably for her to take. "Let us see if we can locate a friend of mine. He would...ah, most assuredly be easy to discern in this crowd." Should the woman accept his offered arm, he would lead them through the gyrating crowd, eyes bent upon each face in search of one particularly familiar coif of hair and confidence of posture.

Berenice is certainly breathless when she finally draws back from that kiss, and she finally looks down at her hand -- cut and bleeding a bit, but not deeply -- and has to laugh. She takes Harlex's hand, leaving everything else behind, and moves through the crowd to the darker halls of the estate.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask beams at Expressionless. "I shall give you the answer and I shall ask what I desire..." She smiles to the Raven Mask to let them know they are next though as she drops her voice.

Hand slipping back into place, the woman in the elegant mask of serpentine flames nods and shakes her head. "For a moment it felt as if I was float as I said," she smiles aside to the big black bear as he leads her a soft place to sit and gather herself. "I did not wish it to stop. I think I could have danced all night in your arms," she smiles again with shy amusement.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script checks dexterity and performance at normal. Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script is marginally successful.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame slips from the dance floor and back to the relative calm of the shadowy alcove, now that the two people she was concerned about not being able to stop dancing have stopped. She scans the room as she does, unsettled by certain displays. A glass of wine is found for each hand, the first of the two downed quickly and set aside so she might nurse the other.

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl makes that quiet 'Ahh' of sound again and concentrates on the music for a moment before she begins to dance. "Flailing and screaming would not be my first choices," said with that same amused smile. "And, there's that question again. Are people really aloft? Or do we just think that they are? Is it a trick, illusion or something added to the liquid in the pretty glasses that everyone is able to sip from?" The smile turns just a bit impish, "Is there really a glass in the first place, or liquid?"

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask grabs some wine passing by from a server and quickly drinks it down, with only a slight chase to grab another glass before the server weaves back into the crowd. "This wine is something better than I have had before." they mutter to themselves.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask returns to the dance floor after communing with the mirror, a little abstracted at first, but more focused when he notices the person with the volto mask dancing alone. Smooth as silk, he steps up to her and moves to take her hand, and take her for a partner.

Someone wearing A Fierce Falcon Mask has joined the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing Bone Colored Half Skull Mask has had her fill of music, mirrors, and rich blood-red wine. She makes her way towards the exit, sparing a glance back over her shoulder. A curve of a smirk tugs at her ebon lips as she shakes her head, rueful.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains catches sight of the White Rose on the dance floor and, once her balance is restored and a drink back in her hands, she turns her elegant steps in that direction, approaching with a single-minded focus.

The Dark Side of the Moon had just begun to dance to the slower music spinning enough to catch herself in the mirror, how her dress flows with the movements before she slows in her next turn and she pauses in her dance. Head canting to the side and her lips draw a bit thin and she looks over her bare shoulder and then the other. hands knitting over her stomach for a moment and clenching there. It's only a moment but the dance has been forgotten for a moment and her search for wine taken up once more.

Noting the a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains, The White Rose seems to stare for a while before she recognises her. She beams, lifting a hand to wave when she notes her coming over.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips "An echo, of course. How thick of me." The man leaned in to whisper the secret to the wearer of the Replica Stygian Mirror Mask.

Someone wearing A lion mask catches back up wih the woman in the winged half-mask. He looks a little tired after everything. Is the party not technically, really totally over? Some people are at least leaving and after a few weird events he seems likely to want to be one of them. But he keeps his shoulders square... and he'll remember tomorrow why he has a new flask that he didn't have before.

Up above, the eclipse passes slowly. As time ticks by, the sky grows less and less crimson and the moonlight slowly begins to fade back to its normal cool white. The music takes on a more normal and natural cadence. The wine is just wine and no one is floating. The mirrors are just mirrors. Of course, since this is a Velenosa party, the revelry will extend into the early hours of the dawn. With so many couches about, there will be more than one partier that ends up falling asleep here only to slink away in the brighter light of the dawn. For now, the Eclipse has been survived. At least physically.

Harlex's fingers cinch with her hand as she guides him from the ballroom. The blood earning a faint, thoughtful smirk. It's dry, edged with concern that finds the minute she urges him onward. His mask forgotten.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

"Be careful how loud you say that, lest others think I'm that tempting." The one in the bold black bear mask seems very amused when the one in the elegant mask of serpentine fire is suggesting to him that she could've danced all night. "Not that I think I am at all, but I'm pleased to give the image of it, at the very least, and to have enticed you to do so with me."

Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask looks back at the sky one more time and exhales. He raises his hand as if saying farewell to the passing eclipse. And then he soft-foots away.

Ugarte leaves, following Someone wearing a white and gold snow owl mask.

Someone wearing a winged half-mask of shattered mirror and colorful gems set upon pure white silk has left the The Scandal Couch.

Berenice has left the Ballroom Floor.

Harlex has left the Ballroom Floor.

Harlex leaves, following Berenice.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures reaches to touch his reflections chest before seeming to remember that he's not even alone. He looks across to the woman in the coral mask, blinks and then looks back at the mirror. Whatever was holding his attention before seems to have gone though since, when he turns back to the coral masked lady again he seems almost dissapointed. Dissapointed yet relieved. "Are you ready to go?"

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script reaches out to accept the Fierce Falcon's hand, sliding easily into step with them and letting them lead. She looks up, of course, to take in the mask of her partner as they dance.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky tracks the path of the Radiant Sun as he moves, remaining where she is by the Moon. Her head tilts and she looks at the true moon as it begins to fade from read to its cooler ivory, her shoulders relaxing.

Follows suit as the White Rose waves to someone approaching them, lifting an arm sheathed in black silk in an amiable gesture.

offers a nod of head, the thorn entangled waves shifting with the gesture and offered owl wing is taken up in order to go find this infamous friend, "I'm surprised that you so easily call someone out as a friend." Mouth curves into a becoming lure of teasing suggestion. As everything seems to fade on and the eclipse passes, whatever lingering tension seems to dissipate.

Someone wearing a leather mask with a cutwork crown has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing The Black Rose lowers her hand from the mirror only when all traces of vermillion hues have left the ballroom. The ceramic face stares down to the bloodied palm and turns weakly to head for the door.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask stands from where she was sitting, saying to the spiral mask, "I think you've had an exciting enough night without wanting to look into a mirror. Why anyone would want to display how they haunt themselves throughout the year to an entire party of strangers is beyond me. It's better not to look and just bring your ghosts to bear on a night when they won't talk back."

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask has left the The Scandal Couch.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask has joined the Decadent Couch.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask turns with a smile to Someone wearing a RAVEN MASK decorated with plumes. "Darling of Fates and Favors, you wish to play a game on the night of the moon's blood?" Her eyes slide towards Black Rose for a fraction of concern before looking back to the person. "Will be with riddle or with dice? Do you wish to know your fate, or do you wish to learn a truth?"

Someone wearing Mask of the Radiant Sun has left the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask drives over to where she'd been seated her gown's deep colors ligtening and sharplling once more as the ecelipse passes. She's in search of her wine and pauses as she notes there

Someone wearing round spiral mask has left the The Scandal Couch.

*Is someone there.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains finds the White Rose and, bold as you please, slides an arm around her waist, leaning in to whisper something to the beauty.

"Just let me finish my wine," says the coral-masked woman, who has a drink - pauses, glancing at it, like she wonders if it's the same wine she's been drinking all along. Didn't it taste better than that?

"I would again. A thousand times," the woman in the elegant mask of serpentine flames smile to the bear. Glancing up, she sighs sadly as the crimson ebbs and washes from the sky. "It is sad when such things are over. I suppose we shall have to find new adventures, you and I." A graceful hand smooths her dress as if resetting her composure. "I think I've had enough dancing for tonight, however," she laughs softly, her eyes glimmering again. "Would you care to walk with me?"

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers is nudging the other raven masked person about, a bit teasingly, before his sterling silver gaze reverts to the Stygian Mirror Mask, "Ohhh... that's quite the choice. Fates though," he chuckles, "We all die in the end, some way, so no, I don't need to know that. Already know how that happened once, don't need to know more. How about a truth, mmm?"

Someone wearing round spiral mask inclines his head toward midnight and crimson, saying, "I wish my ghosts were ghosts," but nevertheless follows her out to the streets.

Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon rises to his feet, offering his hand to the Night Sky with a nod to the Bird Clutching Lapis Eggs. A few polite words are exchanged.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask Towards Replica Stygian Mirror Mask, "This game sounds intriguing."

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl shakes their head a bit at the question of what is real and what is not, offering in response, "I rather think I err on the side of what I can see as being what is real, save for very certain circumstances. But the Eclipse of Mirrors, I imagine, is an Eclipse of questions as well. May we all leave with more than we had when we arrived. A fitting spirit for the kind of night it represents, I believe." Again though, he seems amused by something that's offered and responds with a smile that overtakes him, "You aren't wrong about the craftsmanship of the masks. Exceptionally talented and extraordinarily easy to work with."

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky takes the hand of the Glorious moon.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame has calmed thanks to her wine and loks around again, spotting a leather mask with a cutwork crown by a couch. She wanders close to say something quietly.

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception casts a glance over his shoulder to the mirror one last time, hoping against hope something might appear there. It is just their reflection he sees as they meander away. "Do you think me so distasteful as to be void of any friends?" he inquires with an air of surprise detectable in his voice. After searching for some time, this friend simply cannot be found. "I'll make it a point to introduce you when masks are not a hindrance. Shall we go?"

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains is overheard praising Jaenelle: Tehom has never been so well honored.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask smiles a bit. "Wonderful. To win a game of truth, you must answer my riddle. If you answer correctly, I will tell you a truth of my choosing. If you cannot answer, you will tell me a truth that no one knows of you. Are you prepared for this?" Her fingers curve to cover the black and gold dice.

Someone wearing a mask of a purple bird clutching lapis eggs has left the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script dances with grace, easily following the Falcon's lead. She doesn't shy from closeness, or from Lycene leanings, either. The slender Volto twirls and embellishes were time, music and movement allow.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures gives the woman with a coral reef mask a vague nod and goes right back to staring at his reflection.

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask smiles warmly. "I would delight in it, my lady." His hand shifts to ensure that her hand is sell settled in the crux of his elbow, and there's the gentle guide to draw her with him. "Shall I walk you home, and we can figure out where from there, perhaps?" It's the most gentle way that he can find to suggest how best to depart from the festivities, and he starts to lead her to the door.

"This is my dearest cousin. And... a sister in truth. Now that I have none." The White Rose gestures to the three-faced mirror mask with a warm smile. Introducing them.

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames is overheard praising Jaenelle: Another triumph. She always does Lycene so very proud. Bravo!

Someone wearing a rufescent screech owl mask of perception is overheard praising Jaenelle.

Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon and the Night Sky make their way towards the doors, without further ado.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask is overheard praising Jaenelle.

Someone wearing A Mask of Flame and Ashes is overheard praising Jaenelle.

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl tips her head subtly from side to side, "And not easy to accidentally dislodge," is remarked with another of those smiles. "Something like this, these masks I mean, they're a work of art. Worn once and never again. Retaining the mystery and adding to the element of fun that is tied to all of this. If you can guess who everyone is, at a glance, then it's takes away a bit of the thrill."

Someone wearing A mysterious dark side of the moon ceramic mask is overheard praising Jaenelle.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers laughs quietly, a nervous sort of laugh, "Perhaps I should have went for the fate. I'm no good at riddles. Too late then?" He nods, "Proceed. Perhaps I haven't had too much to drink yet, that hasn't muddled me competely. Here's to hoping anyway."

Someone wearing a Feather-Crowned Polished Steel Mask is overheard praising Jaenelle.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains nods to the three-faced stygian masked woman, offering, "Then we are bound to be friends, for I can think of none whose judgement I trust more than the lovely White Rose." Her eyes are distracted, dancing towards the other stygian masked woman, and the Minx looks distinctly intrigued at the dice. "Would you both like to play? I don't like my luck tonight but Minxes /love/ games."

Someone wearing a bold black bear mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing an elegant mask of serpentine flames leaves, following Someone wearing a bold black bear mask.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask offers softly, "I am sure you will do fine. All you have to lose is a truth." She glances at him and offers, "You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I'm quick when I'm thin and slow when I'm fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?"

glancing around the room set now in the comforting white light of a familiar moon, bathing skin in a starbeam luster claimed by thorny duskweave, "I only recognized one person this evening aside from yourself and I was hoping to find another. But yes, I do think it would be better to meet friends and kin without a mask that makes me appear as if I wish to conquer all." Leaning in is a kiss pressed just so to the owl's cheek, "Lead the way, little night owl."

Someone wearing Visceral Briar Mask is overheard praising Jaenelle.

There's a little eyeing of the driftwood mask and his sailcloth clothing - coral mask finishes her wine, and catches a servant by the shoulder, ahhhh genteel manners, where art thou. Just so she can put that glass on the tray, not have more underfoot. A sigh, and: "Alright. Let's go. I don't... really want to take this off, though. Is the unmasking optional?" She'd caught a few glimpses from the corner of her eye. Lowering her voice, a grin seeping into her features: "Nothing says we have to. I think this is the most I've liked a dress -" well. She doesn't finish that thought.

Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon has left the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky has left the Libertine Table.

Someone wearing Mask of the Night Sky leaves, following Someone wearing Mask of the Glorious Moon.

Gesturing to the White Rose, the three-faced woman says, "Feel like temping fate once more this evening?" She then turns her gaze, for it was never truly averted, directly to the woman wearing the mask of prisms and broken chains. "I thank you for the lovely compliment." Again, gesturing towards the White Rose. It seems, she, too, holds the woman in high esteem.

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures takes his eyes off the mirror to give coral a sweeping look from her toes to her throat. "Yes." a single glance back to the mirror and then he reaches for her hand. "We can take them off at the gates. Lets go."

Someone wearing a stygian smirk has left the Ballroom Floor.

Someone wearing a midnight and crimson simple mask leaves, following Someone wearing round spiral mask.

Someone wearing a volto mask painted with delicate script whisper fierce falcon=:doesn't look away, letting the music and peripheral guide them. "Thank you for the dance," is offered with amusement, her voice pitched low.

"I am willing to." The White Rose turns to the crimson mask with a grin, clutching her cousin's arm. "I'm feeling bold today. I can't imagine being brought down this night."

Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask offers her arm - the wrong way around, like she'll escort driftwood (but of course she will) - and heads out with him.

Someone wearing a raven mask decorated with stylish plumes of iridescent feathers taps his finger to his chin, "Measure life by hours..." he tilts his head back and forth, then looks over at the other raven, before he considers, "The wind. The wind is the enemy hmm." The man does a few more toe taps and hands on his hips, then a finger snaps, "Before clocks, like we had on the tower, we measured by the melting of a candle. Which fits, with the wind being an enemy. A candle?"

Someone wearing a driftwood mask with secret treasures leaves, following Someone wearing an impressionistic coral reef mask.

Someone wearing an expressionless ceramic mask with black eyes and lips leans against the railing that surrounds the dancefloor, still nursing his wine and contenting himself people-watching.

Someone wearing a crimson mask of Prisms and Broken Chains wastes no further time, leading the duo of cousins towards the Stygian Mirror Masked Replica, a determined grin on her lovely ruby lips. "You can't shake dice at me and expect me not to come running. It's a weakness," the Greenmarch beauty says, lofting a glass of whiskey in offering to the other masked woman, after she's given her attention.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask leaves after some more drunken mingling.

Someone wearing a riven butterfly mask has left the Ballroom Floor.

And just as quickly as it came, the Bloodmoon shifts from it's position high in the night sky. Things settle, people relax, and the mirrors appear to simply be that...reflective glass with little secrets within. The music continues, and will likely do so till early morning. Servants continue to move throughout the room, offering their wares. Some of the guests have slipped out, others have foung quiet corners to continue the mystery that only comes with a masque. The brazers and sconces are dimmed further, adding a cozy and intimate feel to the already intimate setting. The night has given what it wished, until next year.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame rejoins the Sly Fox and the two make their way to the door.

Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing The Sly Fox has left the Shadowy Alcove.

Someone wearing The Sly Fox leaves, following Someone wearing a mask of a bird aflame.

Someone wearing a masculine mask in mother-of-pearl sweeps across the dancefloor with the person in the mask made to match their own, leading through the nuances of an entire dance with the conversation weaving between words spoken louder and those which are given more softly, amongst them, "Oh of course, though I can't help but think I've placed names to a few of these masked visages. The artwork is the other half of the fun. You're not wrong that every mask is a piece of art. It's almost tragic that some of these are only ever going to be worn once, isn't it? I do wonder what people do with their masks after they've worn them that once." He pulls the dance along to its natural end as the pair of them wander closer to the edge of the dancefloor, "This was truly a fine conversation, though the night has other plans for me as it's growing later. I would say we shall dance again on another evening, but will we ever truly know?". They laugh at that, proffering another smile.

Someone wearing Replica Stygian Mirror Mask nods her head to that with a smile. "You win. I shall give you a truth." She looks to the other raven with him. "If you want to know your future, I have a roll of dice. I will see what the fates tell me. If you win, the knowledge is yours. If you lose, you must give me a secret. Or.. you can try a riddle." She leans in to wiser to the RAVEN MASK that won.

Someone wearing a black, feathered raven mask Nodding to the Replica Stygian Mirror Mask, "Roll the dice."

Someone wearing an asymmetric mask in mother-of-pearl steps lightly through the end of the song and, in that last beat, sinks into a graceful curtsy, holding the sides of her gown as she sweeps down then straightens again. "Wondering what to do with the mask, or if it'll be worn or seen again, is part of the fun and the mystery. As to whether we'll dance again," there's the mischievous smile again, "that's also part of the fun. Thank you for both, by the way. The conversation and the dance. May the rest of your evening be as entertaining."