round robin – partycrashers
There was not a mote of dust on him anywhere, his tie and lapels and folds were impeccable, his expression a cold mask of respectfully distant politeness as he bowed them in.
Mari noticed him because he was so obviously meant to be unnoticed. If she turned her head, she could just see the faint outline of a knife along his trouser leg. He had another in his boot, if she didn’t miss her guess. Doormen didn’t walk away from doors. Any suspicious bulges along his legs would not be noticed if his trousers never brushed against his weapons to begin with.
She smiled at him as she passed. His eyes skipped right over her, and Mari could have made a passing remark about ignoring potential royalty—but she was not, and that smile had been more than enough for him to have remembered her by. It had not been a nice smile.
Mari and Takumi only paused to gape because other guests just inside were doing the same. The huge expanse of the old throne room was bedecked with gold and glitter. Elaborate tapestries adorned the walls, dressed the empty windows. Rugs hugged the floor, muffling the pitter-patter of high heels and the swish of trailing dresses and tailcoats.
Fragile chandeliers ornamented the ceiling, the flames within them illuminating the sparkling diamonds, winking rubies, and scintillating sapphires of below. Every surface was covered to mask the wreck the throne room had formerly squalored in. If Mari hadn’t been in this very room a week and a half ago, she wouldn’t have known the difference.
round robin | Jac the Tripper | 12 May 2009 |
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By Jac the Idiot, May 13, 2009 @ 5:39 pm
Mari blinked a few times. The glitter and sparkle were nearly overwhelming. She didn’t know how the other guests could stand it.
On the other hand…she glanced at them. Maybe she did. After all, people who would dress with so much of it had to be used to the eye-murdering effects of so much jewelry and flashy clothing.
A slight tug of Takumi’s arm, and they were moving properly into the hall. She felt the whisper of his magery across her senses, and as he risked a glance at her, she nodded, and they separated, he to the side of the room the Head Sage was ensconced, and she toward the President of the company that led the cyborgs.
It was a shame the two factions couldn’t get along. But humans never could get along when they had the excuse of the slightest provocation to start conflict. But she should be glad; the cooperation of the two factions would surely be the end of her.
One of the waiters stopped by her, and offered her one of the full goblets left on his shoulder. Mari took it with a wan smile, which dropped after the waiter bowed as low as his burden allowed him and swept away. At least she wouldn’t look strange if she didn’t drink any of it; plenty of other guests were determined not to let any food or drink pass their lips. Mari herself was not keen on the idea of dropping from poison. The fact that poisoning the food would be a stupid move didn’t reduce the risk; wariness of the refreshment would not deter the desperate. The two factions certainly had many enemies, apart from each other.
By sarah, May 16, 2009 @ 4:46 pm
wait, you’re replying to what you started?
By Jac the Idiot, May 16, 2009 @ 6:36 pm
yep. o/
By Jac the Idiot, May 17, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
Mari had the misfortune of being a creature of the day, which made her erratic, nocturnal sleeping schedule an unnatural, and bothersome hindrance for her body and mind. Her body still wasn’t used to a nocturnal cycle, especially as Mari had had, many times, to interrupt that cycle to do work during the day.
Normal sleep, that normal people engaged in, was a luxury, and unreasonable for someone like her, who was normal by no accounts. She knew that. Even so, she wished she had been able to get a few more hours of sleep before having to infiltrate this ostentatious party.
Mari walked slowly, careful not to give away her deliberate pace toward the cyborg corner. A few wandering steps brought her closer to a heavy drape, and she twitched it aside to peer out at backs clad alternately between deep red and pale, pale blue.
Typical of the factions, to hold a party here when their war was literally right outside their door.