The Masquerade

James stared at the woman with a fixed gaze.

"No, but murder is, in most parts. And I think anyone with a reasonable understanding of human body language - which I think I can assume you do, since you seem an intelligent woman yourself - would know that what I'm referring to was not just an ordinary glance. So I ask again for you to explain what you were thinking when it occurred. And Rendra, you can speak for yourself what the look meant to you as well - but I would like to hear from you, who still remains nameless to me. If your name was mentioned before, I apologize for missing it. So please, do me the favor of telling me, and for gods' sakes, be straightforward."

Raiden's notepad was practically smoking with how much he was writing down.
"I missed the name too," he mumbled, as he looked up from his page. He shook his hand, attempting to get feeling back into it. He remained suspicious of this James man, but he was nowhere near the crime scene when the lights came back, plus he seemed to be makinf quite a few valid points. He'd put aside his suspicions for now.

"Like I said, my name has already come up," the woman in scarlet nonchalantly said. "And I'm assuming that Rendra was likely looking back at me because she caught me staring at her."

Rendra looked over at the woman, held her gaze for a moment, then nodded. This bizarrely - Maahes noted - resulted in the woman giving a very, very brief frown, but the look was so quick and so inexplicable that he was certain that it had just been a figment of his imagination. "I did notice her staring at me," Rendra said. "Which is why I stared back. And then things got awkward, so I kept staring, because I'm terrible when it comes to moments like that. It happens all the time with Thymea. And that's even worse, because the two of us are both very awkward, so we end up staring at each other for a good five minutes."

James wasted no time in connecting the dots. Thymea was Rendra's girlfriend, who was... presumably another God. Or potentially another god. Clearly their looks were because they knew each other, but they still could've meant something. They both knew something the others didn't.

"So why did you choose to arrive now, Thymea?" he asked, addressing the woman in scarlet. "Are you here to help Rendra with whatever this... trial of a Masquerade is? Do you know who the murderer is? Or did you kill Keith as a part of this 'puzzle?'"

The woman stifled a laugh at James's comment.

"My name isn't Thymea," she informed him. "So I don't think I'll be able to answer those questions."

Raiden held up a finger
"But wait, isn't Thymea your girlfriend? Why would staring at your girl for a good five minutes be awkward?" he asked Rendra, ignoring James' ree ree moment.

James put his hands together and let out a slow sigh. A small, impatient smile grew on his face. He ignored Raiden's question.

"Sorry," he said stiffly. "I jumped to an incorrect conclusion. But clearly, you're some kind of partner with Ren-" he stopped, as his thoughts began to catch up to him. Other names that were mentioned. Kartiel. Kartiel.

"Kartiel," he said decisvely. "Are you Kartiel?"

...
Raiden turned to James, and the scarlet lady
"If you're actually sitting there using a clone body I'm gonna take a baguette and beat you over the head with it."

"You got me," the woman in scarlet said, giving a smile and a bow. "Kartiel, god of souls, at your service."

She - or, rather, he - popped back up and looked over at Raiden. "And, Raiden, if you try hitting me with a baguette, I will take it away from you and return the favor."

Finally. A name. An answer - from the person who was at least partially responsible for bringing all of them there, being the god of souls. And of course, they just had to be insufferable.

"Okay then Kartiel. Now that I know your name: did you kill this man?" he asked, pointing straight at Keith. "And if not, did you have any part in assisting his murder? And if so, how?"

Raiden inhaled, exhaled, wished he had a baguette on hand, and looked to Rendra.
"You'll tell me if he's lying," Raiden said, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"And if you lie to me, I'll...set fire to this place and burn everything down."

On spotting the stranger - who was actually Kartiel - Taber waved. "Hey!" he said. "I know you! Aegeas said some...things about you! It's nice to finally meet you!"

Eremia blinked. "This is Aegeas," she whispered, looking up at Taber. "Anyone he talks about for more than five seconds, he most likely hates. Why-"

Then she realized that Taber was being facetious. Which wasn't at all like him. But, if Aegeas hated this 'Kartiel,' Eremia sincerely doubted she'd like him either. So Taber lying - at least, as much as he could - was a sound decision.

So that was the Kartiel that Rendra had mentioned? He wasn't exactly what Lorcan had expected - none of the usual grandeur that his and Second's Kartiel went for when dealing with large crowds, though the dress he was wearing was admittedly one of the fancier ones present.

"Before I answer your questions, James," Kartiel said, "let me just make a quick costume change."

There was a sudden burst of warmth, and Kartiel's body slumped to the ground. Lorcan turned when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye on the very far side of the room. He had sworn no one was there before, but a man was getting to his feet and was approaching the group present. From the little Rendra had said, he guessed that this was Kartiel's true form.

Ah.

There was that grandeur he was used to.

(Even though this Kartiel looked nothing like Levi Quinn.)

Kartiel ran his fingers through his hair. His appearance wasn't too extraordinary - just a plain black suit, a tie and a white half mask. Even his hair was thrown up in a simple ponytail, and it was the blond streaks sticking out from a sea of black hair that were the only outstanding thing about the god.

"I might have been the killer," Kartiel said with the same nonchalant tone as before, "or I might not have been. But why do you think I'd be responsible for it in the first place?"

As he waited for an answer - and as Rendra looked increasingly more uncomfortable with Raiden invading her personal space - Kartiel turned to look at Taber and Eremia. He studied both of them for a moment, focusing mainly on Taber than on anyone else. "It's nice to finally meet you, too, Taber, even though Aegeas didn't mention you much. He was too busy trying to kill me during our time in Atlantis." He held his gaze, a small smile appearing on his lips so quickly that it seemed like it hadn't even been there after it disappeared. Lorcan was almost convinced he had imagined the sight.

Eremia planned to respond - this was more her domain than Taber's - but the wolf spoke first.

"Probably because you didn't like him!" Taber said. "Aegeas said you don't like a lot of people. Maybe he stole your drink or something? I dunno. But you can do that thing where you change bodies and go across the room, which is kind of neat, but also it would explain how somebody could've left the body here." The wolf wrinkled his nose. "But your other body fell over there, so you couldn't have carried in the dead body without there being two bodies, which there isn't. Maybe this guy isn't Keith? Maybe this is just another one of your bodies? I dunno though, that sounds kinda mean. You should always take care of yourself."

Oh. He seemed to have come to a better conclusion. Best to leave him to it, then.

There he was, Kartiel, in the flesh. With his eyes, his earholes, his throat, all so intact, so shamefully unblemished by the touch of a knife. How I ached to rectify that travesty.

It pained me, that I could not recall why I loathed him so. It would have made what I intended to do to him so much more gratifying.
Yes, as soon as this murder business was over and done with, and less eyes were on him, I would make my move.

I addressed the crowd.

"The scarlet lady, of whom Kartiel took the shape. Did anybody see her at all prior to the murder of Keith?"