ioduanlogs | [EVENT] MASQUERADE! PAPER FACES ON PARADE

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[EVENT] MASQUERADE! PAPER FACES ON PARADE

Characters: Anyone and everyone!
Date: October 20
Location: Aisling Tower grounds
Situation: It's the annual event! The Aisling Tower hosts an elaborate masquerade to celebrate Shadow Nights.
Warnings/Rating: In individual threads - please remember to warn!

As dusk falls on October 20th, the bone white spire of the Aisling Tower gleams brightly in the fading sunlight. Once a year, the Tower throws open its doors to begin the official Shadow Nights celebrations. It's a lavish and popular event, attended by all walks of life in Aifaran.

But as the Night Parade approaches, the excitement in the air is tinged with trepidation about the barrier. Perhaps the donning of masks will help Aifaran shed its fears.

In the week leading up to the masquerade, the Tower is a flurry of activity while things are rearranged and set up for the influx of visitors. A special room is designated to provide suitable attire to rent for the evening to those who cannot afford fancy clothes as a staple of their wardrobe. All for the low price of the dry-cleaning bill for the outfit!

When the day finally arrives, preparations are made in earnest during the morning and afternoon, festooning the surrounds with seasonal decorations. The steady deliveries of food, drink, and decor create a buzz about the place. Tables dressed with fine cloth are brought into the courtyard and as the gates open, spirit lanterns in a variety of shapes and colors are lit, and the courtyard shines invitingly as guests arrive.

At the base of the Tower, an atrium that makes up most of the ground floor has been cleared for the masquerade. Wide, sweeping ramps lead upwards, dotted with tables and some cushioned benches for seating. The upper floors of the Tower are still off-limits to the public, and discreet guards stand watch. The interior of the Tower is done in whites and creams, with accents shimmering like pearls. As a result, the vibrant costumes and decorations stand out all the more distinctly, a riot of color across a blank canvas.

Let Shadow Nights begin!

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OOC Notes: The Masquerade log is available for threading throughout the rest of the month. While there are starters available for threading, feel free to create your own top-level comment! Enjoy the festivities.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Valdis bumped her glass against his before finishing it off and calling for two more. She winked at the bartender, turning back to Miles to continue conversing about random things.

Seven drinks later, which brought her count way too high for any normal human, she was telling jokes and giggling, all the signs of being tipsy without any of the negative. Sometimes she wished it could be real.

"I have a riddle for you," she laughed, "A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid. What am I?"

Miles was a little past tipsy, but not by much. The Walrider had upped his immunity, it seemed. He didn't care; he was having fun.

He scoffed. "An egg. Come on, it's not like I never read Tolkien." Then he finished off his seventh drink. Oop - yes, he was feeling it. Nowhere near blackout (thank God) but definitely feeling it. "What do you take me for, some kind of uncultured swine?" He paused. "Okay. You'd be justified, knowing me."

Valdis frowned, she couldn't claim to be original, though she was far from being disappointed. Miles clearly held his alcohol better than most. She poked him, still frowning at his self depreciation.

"I've met pigs and you aren't one of them," she declared, "Clearly I just need a harder riddle to stump you."

She hummed loudly for a moment, pretending to think really hard about another riddle as she tended her eighth drink.

"There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are they?"

Miles giggled when she poked him. Then he listened to the riddle. Hmm.

He made a show of thinking about it, contemplatively swirling his drink in his glass, and then, cheerfully: "I have absolutely no idea. Aside from the basis for something on the darkest corners of the internet."

Valdis smiled, her gaze just the right level of prideful, "The two sisters are Night and Day! Its a very old 'greek' riddle," she replied.

Notably the Greeks were also the ones with the Hellhound myths, the Sphinx was just another creation, a woman who was also a beast. Though whether the Sphinx was a demonic creature or not was unknown.

She giggled, "Your turn!"

Miles took another sip of his drink. He probably should have gotten that one, but...well, his brain wasn't at full capacity. Granted, warm and fuzzy not-full-capacity, but not working normally all the same.

"Okay, I've got one," he said after a minute. "What has eight-and-a-half fingers and is drunk?"

She rolled her eyes, "You can do better than that Miles."

Valdis lifted her hand for another drink. Past midnight and the room was still buzzing, but less so than it had been. She might have to walk Miles home, or at least call him some sort of transport.

"Since we seem to have reached the..." she paused, trying to decide how to finish, as if words were difficult, "point of uninhibited wisdom, what's the meaning of life?"

"You know," Miles said, and finished off the drink he was currently on, "once upon a time I would have given some rambling, pontificating answer that ended with something like 'it's all subjective'. Now, though?" He looked at said eight-and-a-half fingers.

"Now, I know it's to manage to not die for as long as possible."

He smiled crookedly at her. "And have fun, too, but you need the first to accomplish the second."

There was something sad about his answer, something sobering in an non-physical way. She hadn't meant to draw out such a response, but she supposed it was inevitable. Someone who had seen what Miles had seen could have no other view. Valdis didn't have all the details, but she could remember his fear after his nightmare.

"Life shouldn't be about fearing death", she murmured, reaching out to take his hands, "Life should be wonderful and full of hope, and joy and..." a word she couldn't say, because she didn't know the meaning of it, not anymore.

"It's not quite fearing it," Miles said. "Just staying one step ahead, and living your life anyway. Like I always say, I'm here for a good time, not a long time. Although I'm doing my best to keep it going as long as possible."

Being drunk allowed him to forget for a moment that the Walrider meant that he most likely was going to be here for a long time. Immortality was too depressing to think about.

"Not that life shouldn't be those things," he said as she took his hands. "You just gotta be able to stick around to enjoy them. Am I making sense?"

Wait. Something that just happened was odd. Eh, I'm drunk. Who cares.

Valdis looked down and took a deep breath, it was all so depressing. He didn't seem to realize that he was no longer human. Not a monster, but not human. He would likely outlive his friends and family, though by how long, she couldn't know. With whatever that thing was, it was possible that Miles was now like her, and she didn't mind that.

The realization caused her to quickly withdraw, both physically and emotionally. Valdis let go of his hands and refused to make eye contact for several breaths.

"You make sense," she replied quietly, "I'm just tired. It's getting late."

Miles had had ample time to contemplate his potential new immortality when he'd been in the hospital. Especially after that one monstrous incident with the Walrider. The parasite wouldn't allow the death of the host. Would he even age anymore, or would he go straight-up Dorian Gray?

He liked absolutely nothing about it. Sometimes he thought he'd rather have died.

But this train of thought was far from his mind now, because he wasn't alone at night staring up at his ceiling.

"I mean...chugging all those drinks would get to you, especially since I'm not even sure how much you had before I got here," he teased. "And it's okay if you don't really think I make sense. A lot of people don't."

"It's just sad," she replied, trying to pretend that it was just the twelve plus drinks she had had, "It's sad how much you make sense, even to someone like me."

Maybe the drinks were actually getting to her, or maybe the method acting was just going to her head. Miles was human, even if he outlived other humans, even if whatever possessed him was hard to kill, death could still come. It was a very human thing, fighting death.

Valdis sighed, pushing away feelings, "I don't know how you humans do it."

Miles took another sip of his drink. "I mean, we don't know any other way to be. It's not like anyone where I'm from is immortal." Pause. "Probably." With the kind of shit Murkoff had been pulling, and probably still was, he had no goddamned idea.

"So we just live and do the best we can. Or the worst," he finished darkly. Murkoff really were bastards, and there was no shortage of genuinely awful people in the world. "We try not to die, and we spend the rest of our time just living." He paused. "I don't know if that makes sense."

"Lucky you," she commented, "Immortals are a pain."

She was one, she would know. Valdis still didn't know how she felt about the human race as a whole, though she'd met many good humans in her time, she'd also known many bad. She shook her head.

"For someone who is drunk, you are oddly philosophical."

Miles shrugged carelessly. "I get philosophical when I'm drunk. Sometimes. Most of the time I turn into a hot mess."

Then he smiled sardonically at her. "We are, aren't we?" There was a little edge of bitterness to it. He knew the score. He knew what he was.

Valdis' eyes narrowed at his bitterness, Miles was a depressing drunk, but with what he'd seen, perhaps that shouldn't have been surprising.

"I think it's a side effect of the condition," she said, "Unfortunately the condition is permanent."

She sighed, swirling around what was left of her drink before lifting it to her lips and finishing it off.

"I should go," she said, "Do you need me to get you a ride home?"

Miles waved away her concern. "Nah. I'll get home when I'm doing a little better." He grimaced. "Sorry, I got kind of depressing, didn't I? I should probably stop for the night. This stuff's pretty good, though."

Permanent? Yeah, he supposed so. That was a good thing and a bad thing, he presumed. On the plus side, not dying. On the downside...not dying.

She rose, pushing her glass away and placing a tip on the counter, "It's alright. Not everyone can be a happy drunk."

He'd get home just fine, seemed like he should sober up quickly enough and it wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself.

"Thanks for a great night, Miles, we should do it again sometime."

Not to go home and get out of this dress, fashionable as it was, it wasn't comfortable long term.

"Usually I am," he countered. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind these days." Oh, to return to the halcyon days of undergrad, where he was twenty-one and invincible, pulling stupid stunts with his friends just because he could, blacking out and waking up with a half-eaten Hot Pocket in his hand and glitter in his hair.

But those days had ended, and would never come again. There was Miles pre-Mount Massive, and now there was Miles post-Mount Massive, and the door to his carefree past had slammed shut that night.

Fuck, I am depressing.

"Back atcha," he said, then grinned crookedly. "For a cop, you're actually a good drinking buddy. I don't usually have good experiences with cops and drunkenness."

Valdis paused, holding her breath to avoid lashing out right away. Miles truly was an idiot and this grated on her nerves more than anything else. He always had to go and ruin things, and she didn't even know why she cared so much about his constant insults concerning her choice of career.

"You're lucky I chose the law," she replied, keeping her tone light, "I doubt you'd like the alternative much."

The city could use a bit of chaos, but not the kind she would bring. Besides, those days were mostly past. She shook her head, then set out toward to exit, leaving Miles to what was left of his drink.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[EVENT] MASQUERADE! PAPER FACES ON PARADE

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