Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Official event: Winter Masquerade 2023

"Ah, I see! It must be marvellous having a library all your own," Caelus said, dreamily. "Quite so! Well, when I was a child, there were these little insects that lived near my village, and they were the most marvellous creatures I'd ever seen. At night, when the hills were dark and quiet, they'd bring their little melodies and light." He waved his fingers in the air. Around them, a swarm of silver lights appeared, like tiny stars, and emitting a rather ethereal sort of melody; closer inspection would reveal they were in fact little insects (and closer inspection still would reveal them to be the product of magic - merely an illusion, but a well-constructed, and perhaps well-practised, one). "They capture the moonlight and carry it with them. I wanted to learn how, and so I studied them. Nobody ever had before, you see, because they only occur in a very specific geographic region, and we don't have many scholars. From them, my passion grew." He waved his hand again, and the starry illusory insects dissipated into nothingness.

"Why not?" Cris's eyes beamed behind the mask. "Then everyone could go home with a gift that is both a present *and* a memento, a keepsake. WHat do you think, my friend?" she asked the Duchess.

"You want to do crafts?" asks the Duchess mildly. "That's such a coincidence." The servants pull aside the side wall of one of the tents, and inside is a table laden with cardstock, colorful pipe cleaners, glitter, glue, all the sorts of things one might want to create a crafty something. "I wasn't certain that this would come in handy... But be quick, the dream is fading," she says, her eyes flicking to the white rose where it floats near the dance floor. Indeed, it had begun to drop its petals, its once proud bloom dropping toward the ground.

Getting a bit overexcited, the dog leaps forward and attempts to close his mouth - gently - around the ferret's middle, attempting to pick it up.

Tairloth gave the table a bemused glance; "Don't necessarily have the steadiest hand, but if this is what we're doing I'll see what I can whip up"

The ferret wiggled between the teeth of the dog before licking it's snout and play biting.

"Woaahh!!" His eyes lit up once again as he rushes over and looks at all the colorful things he'd never seen before!

"A masquerade Party huh?", She noted to herself. Then it hit her, it was like that visit to the magical lake. They were sent to another dimension to party once again! How sweet, she thought to herself.

She then materialized and wore a fox mask akin to those from Japan. She materialized and gave Ren a bakeneko mask.

"Really?", He said, "Not only do I hate cats, we're just gonna party... again?"

"Mhm!", She giggled at her summoner's complaints

Ollie looks STUNNED and DELIGHTED when this gambit works. He goes frantically gallopping over to Cris, excitedly showing her the critter he caught!

"Indeed, a masquerade party. You're most welcome, friends, though I fear you've caught us at the tail end of the event."

He looks up at Ren unamused.

Cris cheered at the sight of the creative tools. "Now we're talking! Come, Rosy, let's get to work! You're gonna be my little Santa Helper, aren't you?" she chuckled, booping her daughter's nose with her mask and motioning over to the table. She inspected it, then her eyes lit up. Placing Rosy down next to her, she gave her some scraps of paper to play with while she herself got to work on a piece of cardstock. Humming quietly, she cut out a circle, then traced a second, smaller one inside and two straight lines departing - one from the smaller circle, one from the larger one. To an outsider eye it'd make little sense but she seemed quite self-assured in her actions as she collected some glitters, glue and fabrics and began to assemble them according to the bigger picture in her mind. Soon, the fabrics were molded into a pattern similar to.. fae wings?...

The ferret suddenly went limp, pretending to be dead. Na'aiyah didn't bother interferring as she knew it could very well protect itself. Instead she went to look at the stuff on the table, picking up things and trying to figure out what they all were. "Huh.. These are some.. odd items."

"Mhhph mh mh mhhp mh mhp mhpph mhhpp!"

The world seems to gently contract around the gathering. The dark on the outskirts of the glade grows darker, sound muffled by falling snow. But at the center of the glade, where the gathering is still occurring, there is no snow, and the moonlight is still bright and the air curiously warm. The smell of cinnamon and sugar is on the air, especially around the craft table. The Duchess keeps an eye on those making crafts, a soft smile on her face.

"I feel like the party is ending soon... It was fun!"

Deftly and expertly, Cris's fingers adjusted the fabric over the external ring of the cardboard; then she proceeded to carefully cut along the outline of the smaller circle, and folded the external one in a half-cone. This made the smaller circle stand up like a head on a body, with the edges sticking out on each side exactly as the wings of a fae. Now it was time to decorate the dress, and of course, the face. Some plain paper was adjusted - not as complex as an origami - into the guise of snowflakes, and covered in silver glitters. Now she needed some pale blue fabric... and for the hair, hmm. Ah, there - some dark wool, that'd work perfectly! Cris's fingers were nimble as she worked the wool into tresses and curls, then carefully glued it to the head of the cardboard doll-fae that looked... more and more like the Duchess?

It only needed a final touch and Cris carefully cut out the outline of the mask from sleek foil-like sheets, then glued it on, decorated by the snowflakes.

And there she was. A tiny fae doll modeled after their host. Scooping up Rosy in her arms, she left the table and approached the Duchess, with the craftwork dangling from a thin golden string.

"This is to thank you for everything you have done to make this event exceptional", Cris's eyes smiled behind the mask. "A gift in return for the gift of this invitation!"

Finding Cris busy, Ollie instead brings the ferret over to Caecilius and Umbra for the inspection, his eyes half-crazed with delight.

"Hello, Ollie!" Caelus crouched to greet the dog, offering a hand to pet his head. "Who've you got here?"

The dog attempts to explain, but it just comes out muffled through the little ferret's body. He finds he has to put it down - only a little bit more slimey than it was before - at the feet of his friends. "I think it's a kitten!" he borks, beside himself with glee.