The Party of the Century | Social | Brennan, Joan, Kayla, Sol

A white manor sat in the countryside of Peace Village by itself in the clearing of a forest. If one were to follow the dirt road leading to the manor, they would ordinary find it abandoned but in well condition. Today, however, it buzzed with the activity of wealthy men and women, all donning beautiful dresses and suits and masquerade masks. The women's hair were all well kept and the men all wore expressions of glee. They had no reason to be anything but gleeful for the special occasion—a grand ball being held for the rich and famous. The host of the party, Joan Blackheart, was a relatively unknown person to them all but made convincing arguments to get each and every attendant to come. Whenever questioned about her age, she merely waved it off as acute shortness.

All morning, Joan would wait for her guests at the front door of the manor, ensuring that each person wore a mask to protect their identity from any unforeseen consequences. After all, Joan had made it abundantly clear that the latter half of their party was to be an undignified one but an enriching experience nonetheless. Along with her usual white coat and matching skirt, Joan made sure to wear her own mask.

As each person entered the manor, she would greet them with a practiced phrase of, "Welcome. Enjoy you time here as if sin were never a thing." The occasional guest would chuckle at it, but they didn't really know what it meant until they entered the ball room. There, they would find various tables with meats and glasses of wine. There were paintings of various sins—greed, lust, gluttony, etc.—being glorified with pastels, no shame whatsoever. The masquerade masks only seemed to make the party look all the more fiendish.

While various people arrived, Joan hoped for groups from two particular factions: Laughing Coffin and Black Rose, mercenary guilds whom Joan deemed to have enough clout to attend the party. She sent them specific letters to gain their attention:

"To the guild of much respect,

You are formally invited to attend a masquerade ball in Peace Village and partake in the splendor only your type is worthy of. There will be food, drink, dancing, as well as a special event for those of you willing to spend a little coin. Formal dress only is allowed and you must wear a masquerade mask. Do be careful with whom you share your name with at the ball as it is not in the best interest of your public image. Additionally, absolutely no weapons are allowed.

With due respect,
Joan B."

As much money the wealthy girl had sunk into the event, she planned to reap the rewards whether her special guests arrived or not.

When the guild had got the invitation to the big fancy party, Kayla Croft would have refused right away although she has never went to one and she figured it would be fun if she went this one time. A problem was however was that she didn't own any kind of formal clothing or a dress. Thankfully she had borrowed a dress from one of her fellow guild members, although one fatal flaw was that it was way to big for her. Typically more so in the breast away, as Kayla had found out too her own annoyance her dress would often slip down almost revealing something she would prefer no one else too see. She was the only one going that she knew off, the other members from the guild that were also joining were the kind of people Kayla stayed away from.

As for the dress Kayla had worn, it was a long sleek dark blue dress that had sparkled beautifully in the right lighting. Her hair was in slight curls and her lips were painted with a light glossy pink lipstick that was stunning. Kayla never imagined herself in this type of situation, dressing all nice for a party that she vowed not to go to ever since she was a child, well you can say that people change their minds at some point right? On her bedside table there was a plain white face mask that was decorated beautifully with blue and yellow feathers. She felt slightly relieved that no one would know it was her, she felt slightly ashamed too dress like this it didn't really suit her. Grabbing her mask she tied the strings at the back of her head and slipped it over her eyes that were coated heavily with jetblack mascara and curled.

With a sigh Kayla pulled out her sneakers, there was no way in hell she was going to walk in heels. She didn't even know how.. Marching out the door she then arrived too the place where the party would be held. By the first look you could tell that some rich snob lived there, it made her want to puke. With a soft sigh, Kayla had marched her way up too the door where she spotted her first person, Dressed beautifully even though her face was covered you were able too tell she was beautiful from the spot. Kayla gave her a small wave and a forced smile, although her eyes had narrowed at her greeting finding it rather strange. She had slightly rolled her eyes, thinking how prideful rich people were. "Nice to meet you.. Names Kayla, I come from the Black Rose Guild."

Brennan's guild had received some sort of invitation to a ball for wealthy people, and Brennan wasn't exactly sure why, but he decided that he would attend, he was curious to find out more about this 'Joan B.' person. It had been difficult to find a tailor who would agree to tailor a suit to a nine year old, but eventually, he had found one. It was difficult, having to live with the frame of a nine year old child, but Brennan had grown accustomed to it, it was a drawback that came with being the wielder of Excalibur. Brennan stared at himself in the mirror, admiring the crisp red blazer and dress pants, and how well these pieces of clothing complimented his black button-up shirt and crimson bow tie. He slightly adjusted his bow tie and grabbed his black mask, slipping it over his small face and tying the strings. He then proceeded to Excalibur, which took the form of an innocent green pillow. He was aware that there were no weapons allowed, but what Joan didn't know wouldn't hurt her, after all, who could identify a green pillow as a weapon? Brennan also wore his black pendant under his blazer, it was very important to him, and he refused to go anywhere without it. His sword and A.I.R.C., however, lied on his pillow, there was no way to make them look like they weren't weaponry. Brennan slipped on his glossy black dress shoes, and started to float, hovering towards the Peace Village.

Eventually, Brennan arrived, and was greeted with a humongous white manor. He proceeded to float towards the manor, clutching his pillow all the while. There was a girl, whom Brennan assumed was Joan, greeting everyone. She looked rather young, but he wasn't one to judge, after all, Brennan looked like he was nine years old. He was greeted with the phrase of, "Welcome. Enjoy you time here as if sin were never a thing." If only she knew... He thought to himself. "I'm from Laughing Coffin." He said as he entered, holding up his right hand, which held a shocking pink symbol of the Laughing Coffin guild. He made sure not to share his name, as per Joan's request, and entered, being greeted with glasses of wine and plates of meat, as well as paintings of all of the sins. Brennan clutched his pillow as he examined the lavish scene, not exactly sure what to do, he wasn't very much at home in this kind of scene. Brennan just sort of floated in the air awkwardly, not really doing anything except clutching Excalibur with all his might. He supposed he should probably go to a table, so he floated over to one and hovered down the the ground, placing his pillow on a chair, and sitting on top of it. Brennan then proceeded to stare at the meat, not sure whether or not he was supposed to eat it yet.

Inside the mansion leaning against one of the walls was Sol with a black mask on his face that covered his whole face except for his eyes, the Slayer was also in a pair of black dress pants and shoes along with a black trench coat. he had been approached by the new member of the guild Joan to co host an event in Peace Village. Sol normally was not one to do something on a whim but when the girl mentioned swindling people out of lots of money the maroon haired man was quick to join in. as the preparations finished he moved from the wall and stood beside Joan to greet guests.

The first guest to show up was a girl from Black Rose named Kayla and she seemed to force her smile slightly and it made the slayer smirk under the cover of his mask. He bowed deeply and motioned for her to enter. “Do enjoy yourself” he said politely. The next one to enter was a man that Sol seemed to remember from an encounter in magnolia not from his looks but the voice and the mans scent was something the red haired man remembered .the dark mage had to bite his tongue and be polite as he bowed again and motioned for him to her. “Please have a good time Sir” he said his voice was slightly muffled by the mask so the tone was distorted which the mage hoped made it hard for the coffin mage to recognize him.

When Kayla introduced herself, Joan nodded and put on her best refined tone she could with, "So nice to meet you, Kayla. You may call me Joan. I've heard many things about her guild. You're a brave, brave bunch." Really, Joan was thinking something more like what a rich, rich bunch you must be! "It's a shame the rest of your guild could not attend." Joan held her right hand out to the side to allow Kayla to step right through. When the Black Rose visitor pasted to enter the manor, the little girl chuckled as she considered how silly Kayla appeared in her dress. The chest region in particular did not bode well for such a refined party but the shameless men in mask who attended the party would certainly not mind a bit. It was an event groomed for depravity after all. She chuckled some more before it popped into her head and she turned to Sol to ask, "Was that woman wearing sneakers?"

The next notable guest was a very young boy from Laughing Coffin who was definitely hard to miss—a boy floating atop a green but luxurious-looking pillow. Joan could hardly see he his whole form with her own short stature but could see the Laughing Coffin emblem on his hand. The girl's immediate reaction was to hide her own left hand when she recalled the infamous Basilisk Fang sat on the back of her palm. Joan merely nodded and gave the regular banter she had with previous guest until he floated past the two. When the boy was out of voice distance, Joan contorted her smile into her a frown and exclaimed, "I do hope that boy doesn't draw too much attention." Joan sighed but felt more frustrated over how few of the mercenary guild members had shown up. Laughing Coffin and Black Rose, the types to take coin for anything, struck Joan as the kind with money to spend.

"Let's go. I think that's all we're getting." Joan entered through the front doors, expecting Sol to follow, and produced a small bronze key from her coat pocket. She shut the doors with a mildly quiet thump and locked them with a quick click. Joan joined the crowd of guests in the entrance-ball room and watched as her soon-to-be customers danced with merriment, most of them anyway. A magical music box sat in the corner of the room, playing various tunes built into it but softly enough that it would not interrupt any conversations among the guests. Well placed windows allow light to pass through in very carefully-planned ways, though the windows themselves had all been bolted shut before hand.

As she passed through the crowd in the ball room, Joan noticed faint skid marks on the decorative marble floor. It made Joan cringe behind her bunny mask and guessed the perpetrator to be a pair of sneakers. She gracefully ignored it and continued through the room until she entered a door at the end of the room. The door would lead to a small loop staircase that took Joan—and Sol if he continued to follow—up to a balcony that overlooked the entire ball room. The girl searched the room and swelled up with pride over how many people attended. It looked like a sea of peacocks with different beautiful dresses and masks, the floating boy particularly standing out. She gripped the edge of the balcony and smiled at the room of people like a matriarch looking down at her followers.

Joan snapped her fingers and the music box shut off. The chatter of the crowd gradually died down to a complete silence until the girl cleared her throat and spoke out to the crowd in a tone lacking the immaturity of her age. "Hello and once again, welcome, to our get-together! We did not get to introduce ourselves formally to many of you so allow me to now—I am Ms. Joan Blackheart and this is Mr. Terumi." She waved her hand toward Sol. "Now, I know the rest of you would rather hide your identity for this occasion, but let me just say we have some very important guests her from all corners of the nation!" Throngs of people in the crowd smirked and snickered as they were certain Joan was talking about them. "I'm certain you're all eager to get to the entré of today's gala and we will begin very soon, but for now, mingle and enjoy yourself like the kings and queens you are! This day is just for you."

The crowd lightly clapped in agreement before Joan snapped her fingers and the music box went back to playing a song. The girl stepped away from the balcony's edge and turned toward her partner, Sol. "I trust our merchandise is ready for sale?"

Brennan floated in place, listening to Joan, when a familiar scent wafted into his nose. It wasn't food or anything of the sort, it was a man, a rather unpleasant man. He looked around, searching for the source of the man, and found that it lead to a man wearing a black mask that covered his whole face. Brennan shifted in his seat, ready to pounce, but figured there could be no harm in waiting just a few more minutes. No, it could hurt to wait just a few more minutes, when it came to dark wizards like this man, you had to act instantly. Brennan drifted off to a nearby bathroom - he knew where it was due to its acrid stench - and hid in a stall, taking his pillow with him. He stared at Excalibur blankly and it suddenly transformed into a long sleek spear, which Brennan would not be able to hide in any way, shape or form. So, he quickly snapped his fingers, and the sleek spear morphed into a swarm of ten kunai, each of which discreetly slipped under Brennan's clothes, staying completely hidden from sight.

Brennan paced out of the bathroom slowly, fully aware that people would notice he was missing his pillow, and one of his kunai slipped out from under his shoe. It slithered around the ground, always hidden from sight. It approached the man known as Mr. Terumi and discreetly hovered up, almost glued to his back. The knife quickly flew up to the man's neck, the cold blade touching Sol's skin.

Sol followed Joan as she climbed the stairs to the balcony above the crowd of people and introduced them to all of the rich guests. “I do believe that woman was wearing sneakers and the floors really going to need cleaning after this” he muttered to her before he raised his hand and waved a bit as he was introduced so he looked good to the guests. After stating that the main event would happen soon the two departed from above and towards the stairs before Joan asked if the merchandise was ready. Sol grinned widely “ the merchandise is ready a bit tainted but it shouldn’t kick in untill well after the party is over” he explained as his grin turned very evil.

Sol was eager to see how tonights events would play out after all he had a big part to play in it, before he could speak again though he suddenly felt something cold near the side of his neck and he quickly snatched it out of the air without a second though. It was a Kunai and the fact that it had been so close to his neck made the slayer relize that someone had snuck something into the party. “Joan I think we might have a big issue if someone managed to get a few of these in here" he mentioned as he had a firm grip on the knife just in case it somehow moved again.