The Masquerade

''A shame indeed. I'd tell you, but I've'nt the slightest myself. I am not even certain of wether or not this is actually happening. The only thing about this masquerade that is clear to me is that I am not supposed to be here.
But I see no reason not to take the opportunity to enjoy a good party when it comes my way. The question of getting home can always be dealt with later.

Oh, but where are my manners? Boris Dietrich, at your service.'' I smiled, and bowed lightly.

Asteri wanted to argue that he couldn't afford to wait, not when his friends would likely be worried sick about him, but he bit his tongue. He had to figure out a way out of this, and making enemies here wasn't going to help. He could be patient for once.

"I'm Aaron," he said, giving a strained smile that the man couldn't see.

''Glad to meet you. I'll see what I can learn while I mingle, and if I find anything substantial, you shall be the first to hear of it.''

There was no obvious advantage to be gained by obtaining Aaron's favour. But I was going to be making a few inquiries anyway, and it never hurt to make a few more friends. It was at times surprising who would turn out to be an unexpected godsend.

"Thanks," he said. He was admittedly a little surprised by the response, but he'd eagerly take whatever help he could get. Everyone had to be worried sick about him back home. It wasn't like he ever left the house. He couldn't, not when he looked like something out of a horror movie. It would be clear to them that foul play was involved.

Seeing that Boris couldn't help him anymore, he would find another group of people to talk to. In the distance, he could see Vala talking to someone standing among a group of people he didn't recognize. It was time to return to Eremia, Taber and Vala, then - and find out what their apparent friends knew.


Vala pushed through the crowd of people, Eremia and Taber following behind her as she looked for Maahes' unforgettable scarlet braid. It took a few minutes of searching, but she ended up finding him standing in the middle of three other people: a woman and two men. Both were unrecognizable, not just because of the masks concealing their faces, but because their voices were honestly ones she hadn't heard before.

And, to her surprise, Maahes seemed like he was really enjoying the conversation.

She couldn't help but stand there and stare. He had told her that she was the only person who was really there for him, and that he had no one else in the world. But here he was, chatting like he was with old friends. It made her heart ache in a way that she didn't expect, and when she cleared her throat, it was with a hesitation she never had.

Maahes spun around.

He was already smiling, but the smile grew even larger. "Hi."

"Hey," she replied. She kept her gaze on him, but she continued to watch the three he was with out of the corner of her eyes. "It looks like you made some friends while I was gone."

"We've actually known each other for awhile," he said, confirming her suspicions.

"Oh?" she questioned. She kept her voice calm, kept the doubt pushed back so only she could tell that it was there.

"This isn't the first time I've ended in a situation like this," Maahes said. She didn't the connection, but she didn't interrupt. "It happened a couple of times in the past, and I ended up meeting people from different realities. These are some of the friends that I've made."

Well, she certainly hadn't been expecting that response.

Eremia froze. Other realities? She was only familiar with Fayne and the odd pocket world or two, like the one her boyfriend had been in. The idea that there was anything else was almost unfathomable. Surely they had to all be from the same universe, at least. After all, she knew just one universe, just one reality. Except for wherever The Creator had come from before he had created Fayne, but that reality had been destroyed. Hadn't it?

While she stood there, paralyzed, Taber wrapped his arm around hers and approached the others. "Hey there!" he said, waving. "It's nice to meet you and your friends! Man, I'd feel so much more alone if I was stuck in weird places and didn't have anyone to talk to or be friends with." He focused on the person with the fox mask. "Oh, are you a fox? Neat! I like foxes; a few of them are my friends! And I'm a wolf, so." Taber stuck out a hand.

Eremia made a squeaking noise - had he just exposed part of his identity? - but Taber didn't pay much attention.

Spoiler

I'm going to slip another character into this roleplay. More should follow in the near future, but I wanted to take things a little slower. His name is Second. Part of his hair goes down to his shoulders, and his hair is a bright shade of green. His eyes are dark brown, and he looks like he's somewhere in his late teens. He's also on the shorter side.

He's wearing this outfit:



And this mask:

Maahes couldn't really understand at first what Taber was talking about, and, from the looks of it, Vala couldn't either. But then the words fully sunk in, and he began to look at him in a different light - or, rather, a slightly different angle. It had been impossible to tell before that comment, but Taber's little slip-up - as evident from the girl's reaction - made him start to pay more attention to details that he would have ignored. The wolf mask fit awfully well on a supposedly human-shaped face, and he could see tufts of fur sticking up here and there if he paid especially close attention.

So Taber was a gigantic, talking wolf.

Vala came to the realization at roughly the same time Maahes did. She made a startled noise, eyes widening behind her mask as she looked wildly from Taber to Maahes.

He honestly shouldn't have been so surprised by this turn of events; he remembered meeting a few other people like Taber in the past. But it was still bizarre meeting another one like him.

Maahes thought for a moment. "By any chance, do you know a Kendrik, Jaron and Thytes? I never caught their last names, but they're, uh, like you."


He was scared.

Like really scared.

He had been wandering around this place for at least ten minutes now, looking for some sort of exit or something that explained how he had been brought here. He was beyond the point where he thought he'd find someone he recognized. And while that had been terrifying in itself, what had freaked him out even more was his inability to turn back to his original form. That meant he was far, far away from Hero, and being that far from him was never good.

If he didn't make any sort of headway soon, he'd probably start crying. Just as he thought of that possibility, he felt something wet roll down his cheek. He frantically tried to wipe the traitorous tear with his sleeve, but the damage had been done. Someone was heading towards him. They looked absolutely terrifying with that horned mask they had on, but he had dealt with much more terrifying things before. He straightened, took a deep breath and prepared for the worst.

"Hey," the man - no, boy, from the sound of his voice - said. "Are you okay?"

He gave a nod.

"I'm going to take that as a no," the boy said, gesturing at the tears still sliding down his face. "It's probably not a good idea to be crying here with all these strange people."

"Yeah," he managed to get out. It was a smart sentiment, even if he was dealing with someone who was equally as much of a stranger.

"I'm Aaron," the boy introduced himself. "You?"

He thought for a moment, then decided on giving his nickname. "Second."

"Well, Second, I'm about to head over to that group of people over there." He pointed at the group in question, which looked like it consisted of multiple people. "I don't know how much they know, but I'm bound to figure something out by talking to them. Want to come with me?"

Second nodded.

The two went to join the group.

How in the world did he know those names? Eremia hadn't seen any of them talking to strangers (or, in Thytes's case, more than talking to them), and they certainly hadn't up and vanished to an alternate world. Not like Kendrik would bother telling her, the twit.

Taber, naturally, believed every word. "I do!" he said. "Kendrik is really neat, Jaron is super shy and smart, and Thytes is my awesome brother."

"I doubt that you should be saying this," Eremia whispered into his ear.

"Nah," Taber whispered back, leaning down so he could whisper. "It's cool, he seems like an honest guy. And if they do try to kill us, I have you!" He hugged Eremia. She smiled, but it didn't reach up to her eyes.

Spoiler

*yeets character*

From under a table, something shifted. A hand stretched out from underneath the tablecloth, gripping the ground and pulling something behind it forward. Out came a boy in a fluffy pink gown, similarly coloured slippers, and a purple sleep mask.
"Where...am I this time?" he asked aloud, as he lifted his mask. His face was intricately painted with a permanent marker. A moustache drawn onto his top lip, a mask around his eyes and some extra thick sideburns for good measure.

He yawned as he stood up, looking around the place.
"Definitely one of the more weirder places," he thought to himself, scratching his cheek.
"Too many people for this early in the morning...I request backup..." he muttered, shuffling over. In his haze, he bumped into someone particularly large and hairy.
"Hey watch where you're going buck-o," he drawled, before letting out another massive yawn.

Taber started when he felt someone run into him. He breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his shoulders as soon as he turned around and found out that it was just a kid wearing a dress, sleep mask, and a whole lot of ink.

"Hi!" said Taber, leaning down and trying to wipe the ink off the kid's face. It mostly just smudged, which didn't help the kid in any particular way. "Did you just wake up or something?"

Spoiler

Introducing the second character I wanted to add to this! His name is Lorcan Fuery II, but you can just call him Lorcan for short. Some of his more notable traits are his long black locks of hair (which are currently up in a ponytail), piercing blue eyes and a small nick in his left ear. He's tall with lean limbs, and the combination of every aforementioned detail of his appearance with his fangs makes it clear to everyone he meets that he's a vampire.

He's wearing this outfit:



With this mask:

He opened his eyes to find that he was standing in the middle of an elegant ballroom. It was unlike anything he had seen before, and he had seen his fair share of strange and beautiful things during his time traveling his home world. The room was filled with people in all sorts of elaborate gowns and suits, their faces hidden behind masks of every color and design. He was swept awe by the beauty of the scene before several facts hit him simultaneously.

One: he had no idea how he had gotten here.

Two: he had no idea where here even was.

Three: he had no idea who these people were.

Four: he had no idea where his friends were.

And, worst of all, five: he was undoubtedly stuck in that form. There were several things that clued him into this. There was the feeling of very unfamiliar clothes pressing against his body, and he was noticeably taller than he was in his usual form. When he tried to tap into the magic that would allow him to change his forms, he was unable to - which meant that Hero was very, very far from here.

Oh, and there was a mask on his face.

A mask which he quickly learned was impossible to take off. He tried multiple times to remove it, but it stubbornly remained. He did the first thing he could think of, and searched for some sort of reflective surface. That surface turned out to be one of the impeccably clean walls he was standing beside. When he peered into it, he saw that he was dressed in clothes that did nothing to help what his current appearance made him look like.

"Really?" he whispered, staring accusingly at his reflection. "Really?"

He backed up to get a better look at himself, but ended up bumping into the man standing nearby him by accident. He spun around to get a better look at the man in question and began to profusely apologize for the accident. He didn't want to get into a fight with a complete stranger. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

People had begun to flock to them like flies. James remained out of politeness, and because he trusted Maahes, but he remained silent. It seemed that... some of the people were from the same sorts of world that he'd been stuck with in the cave. All of which was distressing and did little to answer any of the questions in his head.

He pulled away from the group slightly, remaining on the outward edges.

''Oh no, the error was mine.'' I paused to look the fellow up and down, and was not disappointed.
''And a fortunate error it was indeed. I am Boris Dietrich, glad to make your acquaintance. I'd love to further this acquaintance, but if you'll pardon my forwardness, you seem a little preoccupied.''

Maahes noticed James slipping off to the side of the group. Giving a brief glance in Vala's direction - since it didn't seem like she was going anywhere in the near future - he moved over to where James was. It was impossible to tell what had happened in the time they were separated, and he didn't want to pressure him into opening up in front of all of these people. So he just awkwardly stood beside him, hoping that the meaning behind the gesture would be understood.



Whoever that man with Maahes was, Maahes seemed to trust him. Their connection was honestly a little hard to fathom. But if Maahes trusted him, Vala would go the extra step and do the same. So she went to do exactly that by taking a step in their direction, but was distracted by the sudden arrival of Aaron with a boy in tow. She hadn't even noticed that Aaron had left them in the first place, so she was more than a little confused when she saw him reappear.

"Is he your friend?" Vala questioned, gesturing at the boy. He looked like he had been crying - poor kid.

"Now he is," Aaron said, and left it at that.

"I'm Second," the boy said. He wiped the last few tears off of his face and gave her a warm and friendly smile. "It's short for, uh, Jerry the Second."


The words took a moment to register. When they finally did, Lorcan's face turned bright red. He tried to come up with some sort of intelligible reply, but all that he could think about was the fact that yet another person was flirting with him. He should have become used to it by now, but it still took him by surprise.

He wanted to slip away and go hide in a corner, but he couldn't. Not when someone had just started talking to him, and not when this man could possibly provide the answers he needed. "It's pleasure to meet you too, Boris," he said. "I'm Lorcan Fuery II. You were right when you guessed that I was preoccupied. I'm not exactly sure how I got here."

Raiden rubbed his eyes.
"Yes? I think? I was under the table, and I had this sleeping mask on, so...yeah." He finally looked up at who he had bumped into.
"Taber! Is that you?" he asked, a smile forming on his face. The mask obscured his face slightly, but the big wolfy-ness was enough.

James was aware of the non-spoken message Maahes was sending. He wanted him to stay. Which was fine, except that the group was only growing larger, and everyone had the same questions, only multiplying the confusion.