Lady Arachne's Summer Garden Masque - all visitors welcome!

[Earl of Purple]

Jack & Anchor

As she's a self-employed tour guide with no certification or licenses, I don't think she counts as a professional one of those, either. Particularly since she only works when she really needs money or spots an attractive person that looks lost.

"I know, I'll probably do a tour of Riverside first. Then Skyside, which I've heard is a bit more dangerous." When Jack's got less scenes, maybe. Then she's asked if she wants to dance. She's a little surprised, but nods quite happily. "Oh, yes! Of course." She'll lead the way onto the dance floor, but she's a little nervous about it all. She's not actually got much experience dancing, especially not on such a fancy party. In a club or bar she could get away with just wiggling and gyrating a little, here's going to be a little posher.

[Deathkeeper]

[Talking to Anri]

"I have many questions," Choir confirmed. She was glad that this machine human was willing to answer them. This did not surprise her, since it was the social purpose of librarians to help facilitate the learning of others. However, before now she had lacked the opportunity to speak with one.

"Is it typical for librarians to exchange bodies for other bodies? It was my understanding that humans have only one body and if it perishes their self goes extinct with it."

This was a very important question to have answered, which is why Choir asked it first. If humans can migrate their self from one body to another then her concern about eating them is wholly misguided.

[Talking to Anri]

Well, that certainly explains what's going on. She's some sort of creature poorly masquerading as a mortal.
"No, this was done to me against my will. And I'll probably die if it's destroyed. Nothing about it makes sense so I'm not sure, but yes, when a mortal dies they're dead." she says, purposely avoiding an alternate way of phrasing that sentence.

[Snake Guests & Goblins]

It is rather unfortunate that she was stopped: Awen was really looking forward to spending the whole party reading.
Not really, though, because that sounds boring. Why even come to a party if all you're going to do is read?

"Oh." The witch Awen is unsure what to say next; nobody's really said that before and she wasn't expecting anyone to do that. "U-um. Thanks," she manages to say. Really, though? She thinks it's ugly: Messed up hair. Can't even do any good hairstyles, for goodness's sake! "Just don't try to touch them, because they bite."

Rather than voicing her doubt in the compliment, she instead returns the favor by saying, "Your dress is pretty nice, it matches your mask."

Since the ice is already broken, Awen decides to continue the conversation, by using a reasonable question. "So, what brings you to this party?" she asks.

[Snake Guests and Goblins and Elephants]

"We're hear to find someone and give them a piece of my mind. And have fun while we're here." says Iknika's date as he follows behind her. The large cloaked elephant-person is less impressed by the snakes, but that's probably because he's been a number of magical creatures before.

[Zefir]

Jack & Anchor


Gold is very shiny. I think we should count it.

Anchor shakes her head.
"I would feel trapped if I couldn't ever go down to the ground. Even with a whole city of buildings." And falling would be so much more embarrassing.
"Well, I had to go into the mixed-up mirror world myself, of course." After a couple moments, she makes the shiny gem disappear again.

[At the Finger Food]


Is the spider laughing at her? I think it might be.

"No, no, I don't work here. I just thought you looked a little overwhelmed."
"I'm not sure the hostess is even really a spider. Although it can be hard to tell, right? We're all in disguise."

[At the Finger Food]

How rude if she really does.

"Yes I was overwhelmed." the woman agreed friendly.
"As far as i heared she send out little spiders to invite the people so I could imagine you working for her. Also there are oonly masks over our faces. I didn't saw people wearing costumes like in autum festivals. unless I missed that note."

[Rebonack]

[Talking to Anri]

"Oh," Choir replied. "That is disappointing."

It really was.

She had gotten her hopes up for a moment there, but then her suspicions were confirmed. Humans' selves go extinct when their body dies. They don't migrate to new bodies. That would be very strange. Choir can not migrate to new bodies, either. It is only thanks to regular communion with her selves that she remained in a state of concordance with her many bodies.

Choir tried to make a disappointed look with her human-like face.

But it was behind a mask, so no one saw it.

Which was likely just as well. Choir wasn't very adept at making expressions yet.

"Mortal. I know that word. All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefor Socrates is mortal. I am uncertain who Socrates is, do you know him?" Choir inquired.

[Morty]

[Snake Guests and Goblins and Elephants]

"Thanks. I didn't have a lot of time to put it together." Iknika grins toothily under the mask. "And yeah, we have to tell someone he's a jerk. But that won't take long, so we'll have fun while we're at it."

[Felandria]

[Interesting Company]

Holly stops.

She considers the offer.

If Fel shrinks, then that's all normal. The boring option.
If she "comes up", however, then they'd stand out a lot...wait, never mind, that's not a huge concern, her conversation partner already stands out. What sort of method would be used? she wonders. Would it be one that agrees with her, or...? Presumably, everything would work out. This is a masquerade, anyway: nobody ought to be expected to recognize her or seek her out later, so there's no downside there. But, being higher does have its benefits: she'd likely be better able to do her job as security in case something happens.

Having discovered that there is no downside and only benefits, the half-elf agrees. "Okay. I'll 'come up'. May I ask how you were planning on doing that, however?" she asks for clarification, as she turns back towards the taller woman.

Felandria smirks playfully.

It’s a simple matter, really.

Just take my hand and close your eyes.

[5a Violista]

[Snake Guests and Goblins and Elephants]

You know, that makes Awen a little curious about who it is they're going to cuss out.

"I'm curious now," the woman says, "what did he do to deserve it?"

...
She pauses.

Then, fearing she was too forward by asking that, she tacks on: "Y-you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."


[Interesting Company]

The half-human is halfway concerned about where this is going.
...
It's the human half that's concerned.

Her other half decides to go along with it. She reaches out her hands towards Fel's, and closes her eyes. "Okay," Holly says. "But I better not look ridiculous when I open them back up."

[Reinholdt]

[Dragon and Dove]

"Have no fear," Tanin assures her with a mysterious smile. "The sign of a good dancer is to match their partner's pace."

[Dragon and Dove]

"I'm to set the pace then? Try to keep up, monsieur," Xunafae says, moving into a more open location where she begins to dance a modified form of salsa that's a little more restrained for the party, but not by much. It still sets a frenetic pace and a wide range of movements. Xunafae won't be breaking any professional dance records, but she does possess good flexibility, a strong understanding of tempo, and the endurance to back it up.

So it'll at least be fun instead of disastrous.

[Deathkeeper]

[Talking to Anri]

Anri is honestly fairly confused by this person. She’s clearly some sort of alien or something. One with limited exposure to literature but just enough to be confusing.
”Socrates was a philosopher who died a very long time ago. Generally.” There’s probably some universe where he’s still around but that just gets confusing when you’re trying to keep it in mind.

[Snakes and Goblins and Elephants]

”He has been inconsiderate of his servants and has gone to this party at my friend’s expense. That’s it, really.” Isaac can’t tell the whole truth as that would involve telling about Lucas’ secret which he swore he wouldn’t do except that one time he told Iknika.

[Rebonack]

[Talking to Anri]

Choir was not confused.

She was acquiring valuable information.

Socrates was a philosopher. A human that studied ideas. If one were living for things beyond consuming and growing, ideas seemed to Choir a valuable thing to collect and study.

She surmised that 'men' in this particular case refereed to humanity as a whole rather than only male humans. She had seen female humans perish before. They were no less mortal than male ones.

"Thank you for answering my questions," Choir said, trying her best to convey the emotion of gratitude. She had learned that fellowship with others had to be a 'give and take' engagement. Or, ideally, it should be. So she needed to respond gracefully to the librarian's input. "I have many questions, but I do not want to-"

What had that strange, unnerving human said regarding the Host?

"Monopolize your time."

That was it.

"If you have more pressing concerns, I understand."

[Morty]

[Dragon and Dove]

Fayyaad, after being mildly surprised, proves more than able to match Xunafae's tempo and zeal. Whoever he really is under that mask, it seems he does know dancing quite well.

"You judged yourself unfairly," he says. "You're quite a dancer."

[Snake Guests and Goblins and Elephants]

Iknika may or may not have been about to say too much, but thankfully Isaac's answer reminded her to keep quiet.

"He's a selfish jerk all around," she simply says.

[5a Violista]

[Snakes and Goblins and Elephants]

Awen nods. She agrees: "Yes, it sounds like he deserves it," she says. Having grown up as a servant, Awen feels it is totally justified and wishes more people would be like these two.

...
Back to the matter on hand.
Awen asks them a very important question: "You two have had a chance to look around the party, right? Have you seen any quieter places that would be good to read?" She shows her book, which appears to be about the science of summoning. "I just got here, so I haven't found anywhere good yet."

[Recaiden]

Jack & Anchor

As she's a self-employed tour guide with no certification or licenses, I don't think she counts as a professional one of those, either. Particularly since she only works when she really needs money or spots an attractive person that looks lost.

"I know, I'll probably do a tour of Riverside first. Then Skyside, which I've heard is a bit more dangerous." When Jack's got less scenes, maybe. Then she's asked if she wants to dance. She's a little surprised, but nods quite happily. "Oh, yes! Of course." She'll lead the way onto the dance floor, but she's a little nervous about it all. She's not actually got much experience dancing, especially not on such a fancy party. In a club or bar she could get away with just wiggling and gyrating a little, here's going to be a little posher.

Well, you don't need a certification to be a professional. Even if you're just part time.

"Skyside is dangerous day-to-day, but I mean, also it's insulated from a lot of the big problems that shake up Riverside and Inside. It's interesting. And horrible. But interesting."

Oh, look, Jack's already heading to one of the dancefloor groves! Anchor follows along behind her.
"Great! I don't get much chance to - I mean, just at parties like this."
And thus, Anchor starts off with a simple and easy dance - more than wiggling, but just a few steps - that has them circling each other as they move around the dance floor.
Despite the inexperience she admitted to, Anchor moves very smoothly, in perfect time with the music. There's a little flicker of magic involved.

[At the Finger-Friendly Food]

How rude if she really does.

"Yes I was overwhelmed." the woman agreed friendly.
"As far as i heared she send out little spiders to invite the people so I could imagine you working for her. Also there are oonly masks over our faces. I didn't saw people wearing costumes like in autum festivals. unless I missed that note."

"Well, even if it's just a mask I have no clue who you are." the spider says after finishing its laughter. So that makes it an effective disguise.
"You see, that's exactly the problem with having so many bipeds around. You assume that the spiders all know each other. Tsk-tsk-tsk."

[Earl of Purple]

Jack & Anchor

"I've gone to clubs and rooftop parties and things like that, mainly. Not the same kind of dancing." More free-for-all wiggling to the music, sometimes with a partner but as often alone. She appreciates the dance's simplicity, and has quite good time. She's light on her feet, and her wings help balance. Not as in-time as Anchor, and she's letting Anchor lead so she can mimic her partner's movements.

[Felandria]

[Snake Guests and Goblins and Elephants]

You know, that makes Awen a little curious about who it is they're going to cuss out.

"I'm curious now," the woman says, "what did he do to deserve it?"

...
She pauses.

Then, fearing she was too forward by asking that, she tacks on: "Y-you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."


[Interesting Company]

The half-human is halfway concerned about where this is going.
...
It's the human half that's concerned.

Her other half decides to go along with it. She reaches out her hands towards Fel's, and closes her eyes. "Okay," Holly says. "But I better not look ridiculous when I open them back up."

Felandria reduced herself until she’s her old height of 6’4”, then takes Holly’s hands in hers and concentrates as she grows back to her usual size, as she does so, she concentrates her magic towards Holly and once it is over, Holly will open her eyes to find she is now double her original height and in scale with Fel.

How do you feel?

[5a Violista]

[Interesting Company]

...Or, in other words, she's now only two feet shorter than Felandria.

Holly looks down and discovers that the ground is now farther away. "Tall," she says. "Maybe a little light-headed." Then, she looks back up at Felandria. "Wait, never mind, I still feel short."

After a beat, the masked half-elf laughs. "So I was actually a little worried that you'd just hold me in the air with my feet dangling down; I read that happening in a book once."

Holly is a little curious to see if it will wear off on its own - transformation-style magic generally works slightly differently than it ought to, takes longer to wear off, and leaves a couple of side effects that she has to take care of on her own later, so she wonders if this should be the same. At least it seems to have worked properly, so that worry's out of the way. All of her clothes still fit, right? She has to double-check and pat herself down just to check.

"So." Back to the important question, the one about dancing: "Do you want to lead, or you want me to?" Just in case, Holly mentally runs through what the right stiffness her arms should be for each part, where hands should go, and so on.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Dena and Company]

Electra chuckles to herself for a moment when Tina asks if they're working the same job.

"No, not so far as I'm aware. Was there another job that came up?"

[Zefir]

[At the Finger-Friendly Food]


"Well, even if it's just a mask I have no clue who you are." the spider says after finishing its laughter. So that makes it an effective disguise.
"You see, that's exactly the problem with having so many bipeds around. You assume that the spiders all know each other. Tsk-tsk-tsk."

[At the Finger-Friendly Food]

"And you never assumed 'bipeds' no each other?" Mia replies. It's mostly the case that those thoughts are shared by both sides.
"We are just the most common kind in many worlds. You could allways throw a 3 leg+ party."

[On Watch]

Fade tries to merge with the crowed, observing the groupse that have build so far. He's not a guy to jump into talks. Aftzer all he got near nothing to talk about at all. His job? No that would be bad if he really needs to be undercover. Hobbies? What hobbies? And there he got out of themes to talk.

Spy On

The man with the scales start to search futher around. Somehwere he will find the clue he needs to. Oh is that a personal only door? Hmm Wonder what#s inside. The man takes a look at the guards and if there is a chance to slip in he will use it.

[Deathkeeper]

Talking to Anri

”Well I don’t really have anything specific but-“ she cranes her neck to see over Choir’s shoulder.
”But I think I have other customers.” Which is silly since she has so many taps she could serve quite a few people at once.

Snake And Goblin And Elephant

This question seems highly confusing to Isaac.
”Why are you trying to read at a party?”

[Rebonack]

[Talking to Anri]

Choir looked over her shoulder as well to ascertain what the librarian slash drink dispenser was looking at.

And there she saw!

People milling about the party.

There was one other person worth mentioning, though. A fellow in a blue outfit and mask that simply walked around Choir and acquired a drink from the drink dispenser on the other side.

This made sense.

The dispenser had many interfaces to interact with. But Choi decided to remain silent in case the human wearing blue wished to converse.

He did not. He was merely treating the librarian as if she were a machine. Which... she was. But she was a machine for strange reasons? The situation seemed odd to Choir. She remained silent as several other humans acquired drinks, standing off to the side and observing. None of them spoke to the librarian. Though a few spoke regarding her. As if she were an object.

Once they were relatively alone again, Choir spoke.

"Is it normal for you to be treated as a tool?"

[Morty]

[Snake And Goblin And Elephant]

Iknika appears to be just as confused as her boyfriend is, if not more.

"Yeah, I don't know if there is a good place to read at a party like this."

[5a Violista]

[Snake and Goblin and Elephant]

Don't worry, I'm sure Awen has a perfectly good and natural reason for going to the party with the purpose of reading a book about summoning.

"The library was too dusty and boring, and I needed some fresh air," she says pretty bluntly.

Well, that and it's really painful to sneeze when you've got a broken rib. Dusty books makes sneezing commonplace.
Since neither of them really suggested a place, the witch decides "It's okay, I'll just try to find a spot on my own."

[Reinholdt]

[Dragon and Dove]

Fayyaad, after being mildly surprised, proves more than able to match Xunafae's tempo and zeal. Whoever he really is under that mask, it seems he does know dancing quite well.

"You judged yourself unfairly," he says. "You're quite a dancer."

[Dragon and Dove]

"Did I?" Xunafae says teasingly, catching her breath. A part of her considers mentioning that judgement earlier was a test, but ends up leaving him guessing. Instead, she gets much closer, allowing her heat and energy to invade Fayyaad's personal space. "I'm really much better at other forms of dancing."

[billtodamax]

["Fae" Lady]

The pooka makes no indication that he has grasped the aelf's possessiveness.

Not one bit.

He's acting as if he totally missed the subtle clues.

He didn't, though. He understood perfectly. He's just going to be contrary about it now, as pookas typically are. That's the problem with trying to be subtle about your intentions to a creature that's a capricious trickster by nature. They'll just use it as an excuse to cause you move trouble.

"You don't know who I am? Golly. I really don't get around enough anymore, do I? Most folks around the Nexus call me Maphtey. But if we wanna be all proper about it, I'm The Hedley Kow, King of Pookas!" he declares, striking the best regal pose he can manage. Then he begins rummaging around in his wool with one foreleg. "Hang on, I think I've got a crown in here somewhere- ah HAH!"

The leg withdrawn, he now clutches a tiny golden crown much taller than it is wide. He places it atop his head at a jaunty angle.

"There. See? I'm a very important person, obviously, since I've got this hat."

He angles himself a bit, turning his face toward the 'Miss Raven' and giving the actual faerie a pretty nice view of his haunches.

"You into dancing, Miss Raven? Any feelings about kings, hats, or kings with hats?"

"Fae" Lady

Sekhmet is still pretty confused. She manages to recover partly. "It's a very important looking hat. Dancing is fine, hats are, uh, okay, and I'm, not, uh, quite sure about kings." She likes the new fae a bit better. He's less condescending and more respectful, to her at least; he also seems like he'd be more fun to be around.

"Fae" Lady

An outdated institution, Kings. Very last season. Gruffydd says. Present company excluded of course, I am sure you're quite modern, Hedley Kow, King of Pookas. Gruffydd adds, with a short bow and a flourish.

The Mercenary

There's a tad bit of disappointment on Cantata's end as she gathers that Arthes hasn't quite gotten the memo on her own reason for being there, and she nods to respond that it is impersonal... before pausing, glancing off to think for a moment, and tilting her head slightly as she shakes her hand from side to side once again. Looking for the enemy of an acquaintance is at the very least a little more personal than if it were a stranger who hired her, after all.

The Mercenary

Slightly impersonal then? Arthes asks, reaching to one of the serving golems and taking two wine glasses from them, offering one to Cantata. Wine? She asks, before continuing: Well it's not personal to you then, certainly. How many degrees of separation am I looking for here? Is this a favour for a friend, a friend's friend, a friend's friend's friend? She says with a smile. Well I hope you get something worthwhile in return. She adds, going back to peering around the party.

[Lord Magtok]

In An Enclosed Grove Somewhere

Magtok will find a woman in a very practical, if somewhat wide, black dress, looking back at him. Her lower face is veiled with a scarf wrapped around her head, but 8 solid black eyes look out at him from above it. You're welcome to bring any help you need. Just please keep anyone dangerous (there is a slightly meaningful emphasis on that word) inside this grove.
As far as impression - I would prefer no one run away screaming. But I'm sure you can do more interesting things than simply colors in the sky, without hurting anyone. If some folk are startled that is acceptable.

"Certainly, Lady Arachne. I'll have something together in no time," Magtok promises with a thin smile that doesn't reach his asymmetrical eyes. Disappointing, this one. No artistry, no imagination, no vision. It's liberating, to be given that much creative control of this project, but he would've been so much happier with some kind of direction, a starting point to build off, more stringent rules to bend and twist into pretzels than just 'do not hurt anyone or scare them out of the party.' Magtok will make do, but...blegh. His rebellious spirit will just have to find some other devious outlet, then. Once everything's all set up, maybe we should don a mask and socialize with the rest of the schmoozers. Our host wouldn't mind too terribly if we went looking for Kram and stuck a 'kick me' sign on his back, would she? I mean, he's sure to be here, and he's sure to be gross and leery and make other partygoers uncomfortable with his creepy aura, so it'd be a righteous and just act of party-heroics, right?

[Arkhosia]

The Mercenary

Cantata shakes her head, reluctantly raising her hand to decline the proffered glass before pointing to her eye and ear, then bringing the hand closer and splaying it open - an attempt to apologize by stating that she had to keep her eyes and ears open. The favor for a friend's friend earns a ready nod.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena and Company]

Fettina smiles and nods, assuring. "Front desk work hm? Hell of a good first impression," Tina nods sagely. "And what kinda work is this tonight? I'm not gonna get in the way, am I?" She looks at Dena, pausing, even as she's squeezed. "Dangit, you two aren't on the same gig are you?"

[Dena and Company]

Electra chuckles to herself for a moment when Tina asks if they're working the same job.

"No, not so far as I'm aware. Was there another job that came up?"

[Dena and Company]

Dena make a 'tsk' sound, which almost sounds like a snake's hiss when she does it. "You wound me, Tina. Thinking I would take you here just to work. No, the only 'job' I have, which just came up, is to make sure Electra and her pals don't get distracted by the pretty guests." She eyes Faayyad and Xunafae dancing by. "And I'm doing a pretty poor job already, eh?"

[Morty]

[Dragon and Dove]

That's... considerably more forward than Fayyaad was expecting. Normally he'd be all for that, but tonight he's got a job to do. It won't do to let himself be distracted.

"Other forms of dancing, you say?" he asks, keeping his tone level and his eyes on Xunfae's face. "There's so many of those, certainly. I'm mostly familiar with the everyday ones, I'm afraid."

[bc56]

Fae Lady

Sekhmet quietly rolls her eyes at Gruffydd's feigned obeisance. Even she can tell he's far less than sincere.

[Felandria]

[Interesting Company]

...Or, in other words, she's now only two feet shorter than Felandria.

Holly looks down and discovers that the ground is now farther away. "Tall," she says. "Maybe a little light-headed." Then, she looks back up at Felandria. "Wait, never mind, I still feel short."

After a beat, the masked half-elf laughs. "So I was actually a little worried that you'd just hold me in the air with my feet dangling down; I read that happening in a book once."

Holly is a little curious to see if it will wear off on its own - transformation-style magic generally works slightly differently than it ought to, takes longer to wear off, and leaves a couple of side effects that she has to take care of on her own later, so she wonders if this should be the same. At least it seems to have worked properly, so that worry's out of the way. All of her clothes still fit, right? She has to double-check and pat herself down just to check.

"So." Back to the important question, the one about dancing: "Do you want to lead, or you want me to?" Just in case, Holly mentally runs through what the right stiffness her arms should be for each part, where hands should go, and so on.

Felandria smiles warmly.

Don't worry, one gets used to it.

You can lead.