Masquerade
By AvidAkiraReader
I DON'T OWN ANYTHING
Masquerade at Mains' Hall! Dress in your best, and buy or make your masks to hide yourself from the world!
Time: December 3rd this year starting at 9:00 PM!
RVSP To: Monsieur Crea Main
231-321- 1131
A stray blue jay wandered through the crowds of birds, animals, formally and strange monochrome dressed mortals quietly. How curious it was to walk right near friends whom it knew so perfectly when they could not recognize it.
For example, the sound of hearty laughter was from a burly adult with blue hair, hidden by a gold wire mask and a dark blue tailcoat over white pants and a shirt. It knew the man quite well, along with the lithe panther stalking along behind him, green tresses running down a pair of thin shoulder blades. Blue, intelligent eyes masked by a dark feline 'masque', the panther jumped the formally dressed man with a mimicked purr.
The blue jay laughed under its own mask. The two were a good couple, and were close to hitching it off. Only the panther's patience and calm mind prevented the feline from killing her beloved from stalling. But feelings couldn't be contained this exciting night.
The jay had a mask with the lower half sawed off, only one half of the beak branching out from a nose under black rings where the eyes were. The mask itself was a harsh white, with the black beak a contrasting object, glued on securely. Blue feathers edged off equally in a graceful arch; two holes punched out on the temples secured black ribbons, where it tied off behind the blue jay's head.
It wore an elegant shirt of a creamy white with a black pair of tights under it, dark blue lace tying at the waist. A satin dark blue, almost black, thin sash tied itself to its owner's tanned awrist. Its blonde hair was pinned tightly to prevent it from being tangled into the blue feathers. Over its shirt was a black leather vest, buttoned until the last two at the top.
The blue jay turned its head at a lion that was shadowing its lioness from unwanted lecherous stares. The lion's muzzle didn't twist into a menace at its harassers, but rather glared from icy blue eyes; blonde hair spiking behind darker brown hairs of its mask. Its lioness walked with poise to a side door, and glancing with its gray-blue eyes, looked directly at the lion himself. Her hair was braided and tied into a coiled bun, her mask unmoving and emotionless.
Walking to his lioness, the lion opened it and bowed to her, following behind without a word.
The lonely blue jay watched with jealously hidden in its eyes. It still wandered albeit with its hands clutched tightly at its side. A thick strand of blonde hair fell from its pinned state, and it hastily stuffed it back behind its ear with a growl of discontentment.
A violinist started from the background along with a viola player. The harmony began a merry tune, and the blue jay found itself pushed to the back, with no one to dance with. As the violin moved its bow back and forth, a cello began its low tune, occasionally adding a pizzicato. The violin pitched its high note, and the few dancers, who they were the blue jay identified quickly as they spun each other around in happy circles. Otherwise, it looked away to someplace else.
A spotted jaguar held a cougar's delicate hand in its own, and seemed to kiss it lightly behind its speckled mask. The cougar had a sense of nervousness, and a hint of anxiety in its mind, but the jaguar paid it no mind. Its dark brown hair was pushed back, save for a few bangs to accent the mask. The cougar's golden hair framed a softly toned mask that showed only light blue, almost a pale gray, pair of eyes that showed its secret excitement.
The jaguar's compactly built, yet tall and slim body pressed the cougar's against the wall, its head going close to whisper huskily in its ear a phrase or two; the blue jay couldn't hear with the music.
A monochrome man in black and white with its mask seemingly sliced in half by the two contrasting colors made his way to a lone cardinal, where she was contemplating whether to sing or not in its trilling, bell-like voice. His dark black eyes were filled with a child-like innocence, and his blonde hair was slicked back with a cowlick he could not see. The red masked cardinal, sighed, and its red plumes and bold dress flowed against her body as it walked to the trio who were composing a piece on the spot.
The blonde man followed the cardinal to the musicians where she began to sing a little ditty, and then a mournful song as an encore. The music turned soft, and depressed into a sadder song, one of heartbreak. The cardinal's blonde hair suddenly let loose, whether by a draft loosening its tie or something else, but it fanned out in a magnificent blonde blaze, her own black eyes glistening at the sound. That's when the monochrome dressed man hopped on the stage uninvited, where he started to conduct the trio to their surprise.
No one had expected the black and white male to pull out a beautifully crafted silver baton; neither had they expected him to start moving the trio into a slower melody, where notes began to croon a forlorn chime, letting the cardinal begin to trill a lover's heartbreak. He soon joined in with her, his deeper voice blending in perfectly. The cardinal began to wonder if this entire masquerade was real, for men didn't desire to sing such songs.
Le Renard Roux strode with a sly look in his green eyes towards a Malurus cyaneus, a rather promiscuous looking one if the seductive look in those alluring, cyan eyes. The colors of her mask and dress were those of the male birds however, and that confused Renard. The females should be pale brown, an unattractive color compared to the males who flaunted their wings ever so often.
But she, she was dressed in the brightest of blue, the only shade or tint that marred the appearance was the grey silk tie she used with her violet hair. A feathered fan, with luxurious pale blue feathers planted in ebony.
Sliding closer to her in spite of his raging consciousness, Renard smoothed down his red hair, absentmindedly tucking a curl of white hair behind an ear. Bending down to ask a question in her ear behind her, he smiled secretly in delight at her flushing. He couldn't exactly see it behind her blue and black mask but if the creeping red along her pale neck was any hint, she certainly was.
Falco Pèlerin walked gracefully down a staircase, a brown half-mask covering his blue hair and hiding his frightening eyes. He strutted down, a hidden smile gracing his lips by a beak, a black spot on the tip of it. Muddy clothing served as his costume, him being a peregrine falcon and all. It wasn't hard to find it: an overcoat, ragged pants and a shirt with black coal dust staining some of it permanently. He stopped abruptly, looking out onto the floor.
Beggars weren't hard to find these days, what with the economy and all. His eyes momentarily darkened. He was a wealthy guy, and he could easily buy clothes anywhere. But Pèlerin was charitable, and had given a white jacket to a man for the overcoat, his starched trousers for the raggedy ones, and his collared shirt for the spotted one.
What would happen in the future…Pèlerin could only hope it would be better than now. Currently, there was a little caracal running around…flaunting some attractive assets…
At this point, the solitary blue jay's eyes flashed an angry red, and its thin lips tightened into a single line. It stood up angrily, and its harsh white mask turned to a creaky wooden staircase, which led to the rooftop. Walking to it with its heeled shoes clattering noiselessly, it looked back once to see nothing look after it. Snarling silently, it began to walk the twenty paces towards the rooftop.
Ten steps later, she looked over a banister to see couples dancing, and to see Renard hungrily kiss a Fairywren without regret.
Nine left, and Pèlerin moved in on a gamboling caracal, shifting an arm to snuggle closer to her.
Seven steps left, and the blue jay heard the sweet voices of the cardinal and the monochrome man's singing turn slightly happier.
Five; the jaguar danced with the cougar, all the while guiding it to a little side door to a private room.
At three steps to the roof, the blue jay gazed down to see the lion and lioness burst out of the room, both exhilarated.
At the last one, the blue jay stared at the panther and dressy man one last time before tugging off the pins that held its hair, letting short straight locks of blonde hair fall. It pulled off the mask regretfully, and it revealed the upper side of the blue jay's face. A young adult brushed a hand through its hair, and its dark, red intelligent eyes looked at the roof.
Walking silently across the snow covered roof, the blue jay reached a statue of an ange, its arms outstretched in a silent gesture and plea for… What was it, hope? Love, perhaps? Maybe it longed a hug? The blue jay stifled a cough, and stood there, looking at it blankly.
The statue was a dark metal, beginning to rust in age. Wings were outstretched, it's feathery appendages forever staying in place. Garbed in metal clothing, designed for either man or woman, the ange had sandals and curly hair. Its face was molded into a facial feature the jay couldn't describe. A grimace?
Or was it simply something else?
The jay looked at it for a while, and it opened its vest to take out a rose, somehow managing to stay in its red perfection inside the jay's vest. Taking the sash around its arm, the jay unwrapped it, and tied it on the green stem. The jay laid it before the ange with dull eyes, and walked a few steps back to the stairs where it had come from.
Glancing back at the statue where it had laid the rose, the jay resolutely straightened its vest, and buttoned it once again. A few words slipped from its lips; a low mumble, nothing more.
Aime-moi, cher
Lol, I bet you didn't the French or foreign words, did ya? So I might as well tell you now instead of making you look on Google Translate. 'Course, if I did get it wrong, then you might as well blame me and Google Translate. The translations for the French, occasional Latin, words are the next chapter if you wish to see what it all meant. And the people there that I inserted are also in order. One note: I made a great effort to not have the blue jay have an exact gender. Pardon me if I still had the obvious 'she', 'her', 'he', 'him' still in there.
And here's another note: There aren't many lines (if I even put any) inserted in the story, because...I honestly have no excuse. If that's all the things I cleared up, good. If there are still stuff that confuses you, let me quote my teacher.
"Go ahead. Ask me a question." R&C!
*Other notes and translations are the next chapter