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

[Morty]

[Dragon, Dove and Cyborg]

Fayyaad looks over at Anri and does a good show of being surprised. He has noticed this strange... creature? before, but hasn't paid... it? much mind. It's still a good out.

"Truly? I don't know if I want to drink from it myself, but I will at least take a closer look. I've never seen anything like it. I'll be back soon, my ladies."

With that, he nods politely and departs in Anri's direction.

[Deathkeeper]

[Isaac and Women]

Oh boy, self-deprecating jokes about adults. How old does she think he is, nine? Isaac is at the age he would be picking a college if he didn’t go to Zaff’s.
”No, we were just meeting up. I’m glad Electra is getting steady work. So she asked you to check up on me, did she?”
he asks, speaking casually as if there wasn’t a teenager perched on his shoulder.

The Mercenary

Sam’s expression doesn’t change, though he’s not sure he believes her. Yet, that description does sound vaguely familiar...
”If we have someone like that I’ll see he gets the message. You get back to the party now.” he assures the “innocent” girl.

[Earl of Purple]

HiJacked

Jack will accompany Anchor, though she's a little nervous that she's missed a queue to leave and she's now imposing. Still, she's following.

[Zefir]

Fade returns to the crowed looking out for any troublemaker. His 'undercover' mission can go on.

Agent C slips through the door into an area near the entrance. Behind it are webs everywhere and a number of spiders running back and forth. It will likely occur to him that this might be a problem - spiders are also very small and not liable to overlook even small stuffed animals. Most of them appear to be working on a very large spider silk tapestry, although a number are relaxing around the area doing various leisure activities, drinking, reading, playing on small game systems, and so forth.

[Spy On]

Okay, nothing he didn't expect. So he uses his camonflage to make himself invisible. At least as long as he doesn't move. Then he takes a look around. he is happy now that his eyes aren't inside his head like humans got it so he doesn't need to move. First off he needs a cover. Any carts will do where he will slowly sneak while watching the spiders. moving only when he is sure they don't look. If he manages to reach the cover he can investigae more. What is this tapestry for? do they want to catch some of the guests? Or is there more and they can catch the whole party? He needs some more informations. maybe he can hear the spiders talking in their break or maybe there is a door to an office?

[At the Finger-Friendly Food]


They're not hostile to DM, they're just friendly towards the idea of extra legs.

The top hat suddenly teleported into her claws has always been here, for show.
Moschu bobs happily. It is sparkling. Sparkling things are great.
"Oh, you wanted something more subtle? That's harder, you need to work to overcome the natural changeiness of the fabric. But it's possible."
Sadly she doesn't have a plainer, less sparkly display item.

[At the Finger-Friendly Food]

"Yes, and I think we should discuss this futher after the party. We can't do business without knowing who stands in front of us, right?"

Mia says. She would need to bring her robe with her to show what kind of dress she wants anyway,

[Recaiden]

HiJacked

Jack will accompany Anchor, though she's a little nervous that she's missed a queue to leave and she's now imposing. Still, she's following.

Yes, you missed your cue.
You might technically be said to be imposing.
But Anchor seems willing to overlook it, since she did want to spend time with Jack, just didn't think this was the proper moment for it.
She takes a seat on one of the rustic benches (her outfit only looks like fire, the furniture is in no danger) and indicates that Jack should sit beside her.
"Relax. I mean, this is a party, right?"

[At the Finger-Friendly Food]

"Yes, and I think we should discuss this futher after the party. We can't do business without knowing who stands in front of us, right?"

Mia says. She would need to bring her robe with her to show what kind of dress she wants anyway,

"As you wish, Priestess."
Maschu gives her a bow-
"I'll find you another time."
-and skitters off away from the food.
I think that leaves Mia with the hat.

[Earl of Purple]

HiJacked

Jack will sit down next to Anchor. "Yes, it is. I'm sorry, I'm not always very good at reading signs, and I fear I may have missed one."

[Morty]

[Isaac and Women]

Iknika's ears droop a bit and her eyes narrow at being called sweet. Just because she's small and sitting on someone's shoulder...

"Yeah, we were just wandering. What kind of game do you mean?"

[Murkus]

[TIID]

"Hey, Dena, what the heck? I thought we were doing, like, espionage. Bein' cool. What's the point of espionage if you just give it away right away?" Fettina blathers openly with her wrists propped on her hips, looking at the much taller gorgon. Still misreading, she says, "Totally lame."

[Recaiden]

Anchor is taken aback.
Did Jack just admit to missing a conversational sign? Out loud?
Is that possible?
How do you even answer that?


She certainly can't just answer Jack.
"Well, I don't want to take up all your time at this party. I mean, unless you want me to."

[Arkhosia]

The Mercenary

The woman shakes her head, playing up a sense of slight anxiety as she hastily types another response. I can't ask you to relay it, the news I was sent to give is far too sensitive to share. If it's security you're worrying about, maybe you could ask another staff member to retrieve him for me, or escort me to him?

[Earl of Purple]

HiJacked

"I don't know. There's lots of interesting people here, including yourself, and I don't want to impose." See, not telling Jack that she's missed a social cue won't actually help her spot the same cue in the future. This is why people are so frustrating.

And I just realised that my autism might be bleeding into Jack a little.

Women and Isaac

Natalie would make a comment about being an elephant-girl that probably outweighs Tina, but Tina's currently made of metal so she's not sure she actually does. "I thought gorgons were pretty much immortal, though I'll admit to not having met any before." Which undoes the 'mortal coil' remark, if true. She flaps her ears a little in consternation when Tina totally misses the point and talks openly about espionage, which isn't really what somebody should talk openly about. Unless 'espionage' is a code, but even so there's better ways of doing it surely? It leaves Natalie a little speechless, at least for now.

[Shadowcaller]

[TIID]

Dena looks to Tina. "The point of the game is that we find out stuff, not that we're sneaky, Tina. Besides, if you pay close attention you can find out all sort of things about these kids." She grins at them. "No offense to you of course. But yeah, Electra wanted to find out what you were doing in your studies in exchange for some information about another guest at the party. That is all the game is."

She raise her eyebrow at Nathalie. "Beats me kid, and I don't want to test that theory either. But why don't we play another little game for information then to entertain my friend here?" She pats Tina's shoulder. "Pretty simple, two teams, we two against you three. Each team spend a minute looking at one another and then we try to make some educated guesses about the other team based on what we already know about one another and what we look like. Winner gets... the honor of being great. Then Isaac can tell us about his studies, regardless of who wins. Sounds fun? You get a little handicap as we need to make guesses of three people of course but you're cool with that, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

Isaac and Co.

Isaac stares flatly at the two women before them. He immediately decides that he has had entirely enough of this. If there’s one thing he has no patience for, it’s adults who decide that they’re going to treat you like a child and then want to be your friend right after. They’re obviously butting into the conversation he was just having with his friend and his girlfriend, but now they want to play games like they’re friends? Has she ever talked to a teenager? She’s still acting like they’re nine.
”Tell her that I perfected that spell I was working on when I met her, and that the Force magic is going well. In fact, you can do it right now, because I don’t know you and I have no interest in playing elaborate games with people I met fifteen seconds ago. Leave us out of whatever job you’re doing.”

[Recaiden]

But is helping Jack spot cues in the future anyone's goal here?

"Well, you already have plans to see me again. On the other hand, will anyone else be as interesting to spend time with?"
Probably yes, actually.
Anchor looks around the Masque, seeing who they can see from here. Everyone seems pretty grouped up, except-
"Maybe that girl with the book?" Sitting all alone and reading at a Masque? She must be lonely.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Dragon, Dove and Cyborg]

Electra, for her part, seems unfazed by the potential origin of her drink. Instead, she allows her gaze to linger on Fayyaad's bottom appreciatively for a moment as he excuses himself, before giving Xunafae a wry grin.

"He is quite lovely, isn't he? Did you come together, Miss...?"

[Morty]

[Isaac and Co.]

"Uh, yeah. That does sound pretty weird," Iknika says. She might have been interested herself in other circumstances, but as it is she'd rather not do it.

[Earl of Purple]

HiJacked

It should be, she's young and naive.

"Everyone's interesting to talk to at least once. You, possibly more than once." Which is a compliment! Hopefully. "She looks quite interesting." Not quite the same kind of interesting she's particularly looking for, but interesting enough. "If I may be excused?" She says as she prepares to stand up. If she receives permission, she'll head over to Awen.

A Quieter Place Made (Possibly) Nosy

Jack will approach Awen. "Hey. What're you reading?" And why come to a party to read? But Jack thinks that question is borderline rude so she's not actually asking that yet.

Jack is a female, mostly-human and young; probably around twenty, a few years either way. She's got short black hair mixed with matching feathers and grey eyes. She's wearing a mask with a long, upturned nose and a carnival grin, though it leaves her chin bare, and a slit black dress that occasionally grants a glimpse of bare leg and the black hiking boots she wears underneath. The dress is backless, allowing a pair of black feathered wings to rest unconfined. The central joint of the wings bears a grey eye, and she's missing a finger on her left hand.

[5a Violista]

[A Nosier Place]

The chair-and-table-filled grove is pretty filled with things. Awen is in the back corner, with a clear path through the chairs leading to her, and...now I guess the other woman's there too.

Awen is also female, may have once been human, and used to be around twenty with black hair. She was that way when she first arrived in the Nexus but has changed in several ways: becoming older, growing black snakes in her hair that always seem to mess it up in new ways, sharper fingernails, and a few other small things. Her eyes haven't changed (blue-gold center heterochromic), she's still unhealthily thin for her height and a bit too pale, ...and she still wears a translucent veil, a head-scarf with some hair and snakes sticking out, and more clothes than is good for the weather. And a mask, obviously.

...and she's interrupted!
Although she wasn't really making any progress, she does lose her place in the page.

Awen looks up. "What...? Oh! Oh." She shows the book cover. It's about the science of summoning. "I tried summoning a fairy the other day. Something went wrong and...something else came instead." The 'something else' is, in fact, the source of her broken ribs. "I managed to stop it but I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong."

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

Show

[Dragon, Dove and Cyborg]

Fayyaad looks over at Anri and does a good show of being surprised. He has noticed this strange... creature? before, but hasn't paid... it? much mind. It's still a good out.

"Truly? I don't know if I want to drink from it myself, but I will at least take a closer look. I've never seen anything like it. I'll be back soon, my ladies."

With that, he nods politely and departs in Anri's direction.

[Dragon, Dove and Cyborg]

Electra, for her part, seems unfazed by the potential origin of her drink. Instead, she allows her gaze to linger on Fayyaad's bottom appreciatively for a moment as he excuses himself, before giving Xunafae a wry grin.

"He is quite lovely, isn't he? Did you come together, Miss...?"

[Dragon Dove and Cyborg]

Xunafae shrugs. "Suit yourself," She says to Fayyaad as he heads off to investigate. She too watches him go, but unlike Electra, her eyes aren't lingering in any lustful sense.

Indeed as Xunafae turns to address Electra, her eyes glance periodically in Fayyaad's direction. It's the behavior of someone interested in his actions and his location more than his body. Though it may be mistaken as the latter.

"Xunafae. He is quite, but I'm afraid we just met. And you are Miss...?"

[Recaiden]

HiJacked

It should be, she's young and naive.

"Everyone's interesting to talk to at least once. You, possibly more than once." Which is a compliment! Hopefully. "She looks quite interesting." Not quite the same kind of interesting she's particularly looking for, but interesting enough. "If I may be excused?" She says as she prepares to stand up. If she receives permission, she'll head over to Awen.

Perhaps people hope to exploit that naivete. Or they just don't think of it.

"Of course. I mean, go on, I hope she's as interesting as she looks." Anchor allows. Then she takes a minute to rest.

Jack's shadow follows her only after a bit of delay. It'll probably be acting weird all evening.

[Murkus]

[TIID]

"Oh my god Dena, that was supposed to be better than stealth?" Fettina looks all aghast, melodrama rife in her tone. She abruptly spoils it with laughter. "You're even worse with kids than I am! Bahahaha! You're a big dork!"

"Should have offered them, like, something snuck from the bar if they could win instead," she posits. "Now they just think you're like... their mom asking them to have a board game night."

[Earl of Purple]

A Nosier Place

Jack's wings, incidentally, have eyes on that can see magic and various other things, though Jack can't fully decipher everything she sees with them. Forgot to mention it before. "And you thought a party would be the best place to study that? Or are you a party wizard, who summons faeries for the delight of the guests?" Because then it'd make more sense, to prevent the accident which occurred in rehearsal from happening at a party like this one. "May I sit?" Awen is, of course, perfectly in her rights to say 'no', in which case Jack would probably have to go find someone else to talk to.

Women and Isaac

"Even offering illicit booze wouldn't change the fact you interrupted our conversation." Is the female elephant's response, though she glances at Iknika and Isaac to see their reactions. She's not normally a naughty girl, but this is the first time somebody's even spoken about offering her alcohol despite her age, and... And accepting alcohol offered to her isn't the same as going out and deliberately looking for such things, right?

[5a Violista]

[A Nosier Place]

Awen is not currently being magic so unless you count the inherent property of being born after a ritual and as a result being slowly turned in to a medusa-monster to be magic...then there's no magic for the wings to see.

She gestures to allow Jack to sit down.

"W-well, I'm religious, and so that's probably where I get my powers, so I think that disqualifies me from being a wizard, so I guess I'm a witch instead?" she says. "But, no...I just wanted some fresh air and a break because studying's not really my thing: I prefer fiction novels."

"Wait, maybe that's why?" she says, suddenly coming to a realization, and flipping through the book towards the beginning of it. "Like, maybe summoning assumes you're a wizard or some other person like that who gets magic from themselves?"

Still flipping through the pages, she turns towards Jack: "Do you happen to know anything about summoning?"

[Earl of Purple]

Nosier Place

"I don't know, I'm afraid. I don't know that much about magic." And it fascinates her, too. She'll sit nearby and look at the book with interest, but it probably won't tell her much. My other character in this thread would probably be more use, but her summoning is likely different to Awen's so how much help she could offer is slim. "You get magic from your deity? Are you a priestess?" See? She doesn't know much about magic. Awen doesn't have to be a priestess.

[Deathkeeper]

The Mercenary

The woman shakes her head, playing up a sense of slight anxiety as she hastily types another response. I can't ask you to relay it, the news I was sent to give is far too sensitive to share. If it's security you're worrying about, maybe you could ask another staff member to retrieve him for me, or escort me to him?

The Mercenary

Sam shakes his head.
”I didn’t say I would relay it. I said if he exists I’ll tell him to find you. Which I will. But I was told no non-employees back here, so you’ll have to go. I’ll tell him to find you.” he assures her.

[Morty]

[Dragon Dove and Cyborg]

Tanin heads to take a closer look at Anri and maybe a drink... or so it seems. Xunafae might notice, depending on how observant she is, that he's paying close attention to Cantata. He's doing quite a good job of hiding it, however. The other MERC security will hear a message on their closed channel.

"She seems insistent on meeting someone, but I didn't catch who it is."

[5a Violista]

[Nosier Place]

The witch considers the questions together. No, she isn't a priestess, so how does she know her magic comes from her gods?

...Also.
She considers the unspoken assumption in that question. Deity, singular. She's always found it weird that so many people here only really worship one god, in spite of acknowledging the existence of multiple.

"No, I'm not a priestess," Awen says, deconfirming that option. "Priestesses are, y'know, ..." She mimes something that implies 'fancy clothes' or 'regal' or 'rich' "...nobles. Upper class, right?"

Not wanting to leave the thought on that, she returns to the previous question: "But, I mean, I probably get magic from my gods" - emphasis on the hard 's' sound - "because I'm not a heretic or a cultist, right?" Then, as an afterthought, she adds: "But I guess magic works differently for people from different worlds so you wouldn't know anyway.."

[Earl of Purple]

Nosier Place

"Really? I thought priests were chosen by the gods, not born into privilege. But, uh, closest my home town has is a shaman, who doesn't really get powers from gods but more from the lesser nature spirits that inhabit the world around us." Her hometown's pretty backwards; stone age, in some areas. And the shaman is the only magic-user they have. "I'm pretty sure I'm a Nexus native. My hometown's not moved recently, but we don't have any written records, and it's possible the whole chunk entered the Nexus within my life time."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Dragon Dove and Cyborg]


"Stella Celeste Domina, but please, call me Stella," Electra says, with a slight bow. She hasn't used this persona in ages, and never in the Nexus, but it'll do for a high class party such as this. "It's wonderful to meet new people, isn't it? I just adore these events. Have you met our gracious hostess yet?"

"Find out who she's looking for, if you can. We may need to add more coverage to our client."

[5a Violista]

Nosier Place

Awen only has a minor comment to add: "The circumstances of your birth is one way gods can make someone chosen." It's true, too. How many people were born under such-and-such prophecy to defeat a dark lord, or who were born to two legendary heroes and were destined for greatness, or were born in to their divine right as kings, or were born under the right stars, or had the right genes, etc, etc? On the other hand, people like Awen were born out of wedlock due to an affair with some mystery cultist woman and, as such, were cursed by the gods into being born into the servant-class and having a poor constitution growing up...and, of course, slowly transforming into a snake-monster. Though, she's not entirely convinced that was her gods who did that part.

Anyway.
She found the page she was looking for. "W-well, yeah, it looks like different magic types are sometimes expected to work slightly differently."

The witch closes the book and sets it on her lap.

Back to the conversation. "A native, huh? I guess that would make you more used to all the stuff that happens here." Even if Jack's hometown entered the Nexus all together, she probably still is somewhat used to it.