❝ Masquerade ❞

[vowelsinyourheart]

{ seething shadows breathing lies }

Traditional thing that Iseul is, he made a point of sending out invitations to every monster and supernatural being with whom he's acquainted the day after telling Damian of his masked ball. Each is written in a large, looping hand and reads:

My Dear Friend,

You are cordially invited to a most exclusive masquerade ball to be held at my estate on the next new moon. The attire is formal with a theme of silver and gold. My doors will open promptly at 8:00pm. Dinner will be served with music, dance, and festivities to follow.

I do so look forward to your attendance.

Kindest Regards,
Your Host

Iseul's calling card is included for those who may not recognize his handwriting. It also happens to have his address on it, as well.

Guests will find the house dark and sprawling, positively goth in decor and style. For those who know or know of Iseul, this won't be a surprise. There's a running joke in the community that the Fae is truly meant to be a vampire... more so than his long-standing vampire rival. Those in attendance will be shown to the parlor, the pocket doors thrown wide to the adjoining suite to make it something of a small ballroom. Musicians sit off to the corner playing with few breaks throughout the night.

The dining room boasts a long table with a veritable banquet. Though, one must be careful about eating Faerie food. Never fear, dear guests, for none of this food was prepared or even harvested by Fae hands. Outside, the grounds are covered with sprawling flower gardens, topiaries, and even a small maze of hedges. Lanterns light the paths since there's no moon for light. Both in and out, the house has many dark nooks and crannies and unoccupied to rooms to disappear into. All guests are welcome to stay if, for any reason, they are unable to leave at first light.

Comments

[flumen]

Nam leans in a little to peer at the invitation as though he might be able to tell the difference between a forgery and the real thing. Not that it truly matters one way or another. Uninvited guests is something he's become entirely too used to. They plague his home. Once upon a time, they were much more welcome but now he would be perfectly fine with closing his home to all but one.

Eyes drifting back to the human's face, Nam raises his eyebrows. Happens to him a lot? "Did it not once occur to you that you should leave when you realized you were in a place that could be very harmful to someone like you?"

[dangernoodle]

Snake’s brows rose up and his lips turned down briefly as he shrugged. “Running from predators isn’t very smart. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to not have too many problems.” Other than that damn chupacabra… Most of his experiences with the non-human creatures he’s met have been pretty positive.

“Given who and what the host is, I kinda doubt there’ll be any trouble. Even for me.”

[flumen]

"You do understand that you won't be under our host's protection forever, yes? You'll leave here eventually to go back to your regular life, and some of the guests may feel inclined to go with you. With or without your knowledge." That sounds a little more like a threat than Nam really intends it to. It's meant more as a warning. He may have a certain distaste for humans but that doesn't mean he wants to see one come to harm. At least not without putting in at least a modicum of effort to see it doesn't happen.

Nam steps out around the human and gets two glasses of a lovely looking white wine, then he turns back toward Snake and holds one glass out to him. "Do be careful while you're here, human."

[dangernoodle]

He offers a sheepish smile and a nod in thanks for the wine. Should they really be eating or drinking? Faerie food and all that. Even with Iseul’s reassurance that no Fae hands were involved in the banquet’s preparation, Snake’s not sure. They can’t lie, but that doesn’t mean they’re telling the whole truth, either.

What the hell. You only live once. Snake lifts his glass in a small salute to his (momentary?) companion.

“I appreciate your concern, friend. I’ll do my best not to make any enemies of people far more powerful than me.”

[flumen]

Of course the Fae could absolutely be skirting the truth, bending it in such a way that allows them to not quite speak it entirely. In the end, it's up to the human whether or not he chooses to partake in the food and refreshments. Nam, however, intends to enjoy all the night holds for him. It's not often that he gets out, after all.

Nam watches the human lift his glass but doesn't bother to return the gesture and simply takes a drink of his wine. It could be that he's unfamiliar with the gesture or merely that he has no interest in raising his glass to a human. There's simply no way to tell for certain. Outside of asking him directly, that is.

"We are not familiar enough for you to be referring to me that way."

[dangernoodle]

Fortunately, Snake wasn’t the sort who was easily offended… or ruffled. He’s met far more than his fair share of creatures; not all have been friendly. Does he blame them? Not at all. Humans can be dangerous. Maybe not one lone human (Snake has no ideas about hunters), but if enough of them found out about the non-humans living among them? Well, that could be a problem for them.

“Okay. I won’t do that again.” Nor is going to ask Nam’s preferred mode of address just in case it seems like he’s prying for the other’s name.