The Endless Masquerade

• Character: Headwiz
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 Aetheric lights play against the deck of the docked Sweet Francine, advanced magitech lamps swaying from all the too primitive scaffolding that lines this secret and cacophanous cove. Here, beneath and within the towering metropolis of Cosmopolis, the aristocrats of the upper tiers and the common folk of the lower levels revel, clad alike in outrageous costumes and gaudy masks. The opening of the Spiring City, sealed for over a century in response to a recently-quelled magical phenomenon called Proliferation, has done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the partying and less-than-licit business here. Performers playing instruments adapted from cast-off devices chime in alongside the roaring of magitech engines, booming and echoing within the vast hollow hidden within layers of sedimented city.
 The Covenant's vessel, apparently upgraded from riverboat casino to seafaring ship, floats proudly amongst her lesser kin, sailed through secret passages beneath the enormous cliffs below the jungle plateau on which Cosmopolis is built. Those who have disembarked have been invited to ascend an elaborate and exclusive elevator to a higher level of the Warrens where a magnificent banquet has been lain upon a crystal table, upon a balcony from which they can view the exciting tumult below. Cheers rise up as a dragster's hovercraft crashes against the wall of a glitzy racetrack, resulting in a [DEFINITELY NON-LETHAL] explosion.
 Unpreturbed by the sound, a figure cloaked in ostentatious black may be seen raising an elegant teacup to their lips, left exposed by their extraordinarily wide butterly mask, its wings extending nearly an arm's length beyond their face on either side. As the guests behind to arrive, they are greeted.
 "Welcome," a feminine voice dripping with dignity issues, "to our city and its delights. My thanks for traveling so far."
 She sets the teacup down, so that an unnecessarily elaborate contraption may automatically refill it, ejecting steam as it does.
 "We have heard of your intriguing investigations and are eager to collaborate. I am the chief representative of the Organization to Protect and Elevate Cosmopolis. You may call me... Black Mariposa."
 The pause for effect seems deliberate.

• Character: Yari
• 1 year, 10 months ago

  In contrast to the elaborate mask worn by their host, Yari's choice in outfit is a touch on the simplistic side. She's dressed in the stereotypical all black of a shinobi, complete with black mask and hood concealing her hair to leave the only part of her face visible her eyes. Hiding her identify by advertising it in a manner that's so obvious that nobody would believe it!

  "Uhhh..." she says lamely in the wake of that ominous pause, head tilted to one side as her eyes flick towards the elaborate tea making device. "Just call me Yari. It's not my real name, but that's not yours either, I'm guessing."

• Character: Headwiz
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 "You don't know that," Black Mariposa sharply replies to Yari. "You can't be sure." It's hard to tell, what with the mask and everything, but she sounds like she's sulking just a little. Nevertheless, unbowed, she daintily swirls her tea as another device upon the table shifts and unfolds to, with agonizing slowness and painstaking precision, deposit a perfect sugar cube into said cup. It then proceeds to spin, whirring almost as loud as the speedship engines below, to mix the sugar into the tea, working it into a froth. Without batting an eye, the aristocrat takes another sip, having regained her composure.
 The sound of an argument filters up from below, something about trying to fit an especially stout pony into an elevator too small for it. It seems that Yari's allies have not immediately followed her, perhaps preoccupied by this conflict.
 "Why, you could be a Revonan ninja in truth," Black Mariposa continues, showing off a knowledge of the outside world exceeding that of the average self-centered Cosmopolitan noble. "None can say in the Masquerade. Oh ho ho ho!"
 Delighted at her own little joke, she gestures toward the inscrutable objects arrayed upon the table, at least some of which have been revealed to be tea-brewing instruments.
 "Care for a cup while we await your companions?"
 It's not clear if she's offering to make one or if she expects Yari to know how to make use of these accoutrements.

• Character: Yari
• 1 year, 10 months ago

  "Yes, anyone could be anything. It's pretty dangerous, don't you think? Everyone coming in disguise, seems like the perfect opportunity for someone to slip in and start some trouble." the ninja says as she watching the elaborate, overengineered device do something that would be essentially trivial to do by hand. But this is a noble she's talking to. If she didn't have a gadget to do it for her, there'd be some poor servant doing the job instead.

  At that offer she steps up to the machine, peering at it for a long few seconds. "...I don't know how to work this." she announces grumpily after she's decided it's a lost cause. She /could/ just push buttons, but that could just mean she gets a blast of steam to the face, or boiling hot water leaks out everywhere, or something explodes or the sugar gets set on fire or some other horrible, terrible thing that these machines like to do.

• Character: Headwiz
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 "Such trouble was never a concern before."
 An edge has entered Black Mariposa's voice. The noblewoman rises, voluminous garments rustling, and moves away from the crystal table to the balcony railing, looking out over the din as a smoking and dented speedship swerves across the finish line to a chorus of shouting onlookers.
 "Cosmopolis has been a laboratory for greatness," she says, "embodied by our educated elite. We were not degraded by the outside world or undermined by vagrant wanderers. Those who sought to rise above their station were rightly punished. And the undeserving had their entertainments."
 She nods toward the chaos below, though it's not clear only the lower classes are the ones enjoying the proceedings.
 "But the Gate of Creation is seemingly sealed," she grimly goes on, "and so our gates have opened. Our proud city is disgraced by the meddling of adventurers--" Her eyes narrow. "--and the pretender nobles who ally with them."
 She looks sharply to Yari.
 "But now we shall-- eh?"
 The plotter is startled out of her monologue, baffled that someone could not know how to operate a magilectric kettle before remembering how foolish and inferior outsiders are. She wastes no time with expressions of contempt, however, instead approaching to show Yari how it's done.
 "See, first you select the temperature like so, which we'll set to boil, as it is best suited for the spiced black--"
 Black Mariposa, explaining in unnecessary detail how the unnecessarily complex kettle works to Yari, sounds like she's enjoying herself.

• Character: The Capo
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 The distant sounds of argument grow quickly more heated. What are identifiable as a second, exotic language joins the mix, and then the increasingly panicked braying of a pony. A few moments later, the distinctive shattering of ceramics. Another few moments, and the loud rumbling of a magitech jackhammer. Yet another few moments, the sound of a flushing toilet(?).
 Eventually, before the distant sounds become any more esoteric, they are cut off by the staccato of gunfire.

 Ratatatatat!

 ...

 Ratatatatatatatatatat!

 ...

 Ratat!

 ...

 ...

 Ratatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat!

 ...

 Rat!

 ...

 Finally, after a long silence, there is, one final time, the distinctive shattering of ceramics.

 Fifteen seconds later, the elevator dings, and from it emerges a capybara walking on two legs. It is wearing a full tuxedo, and literally just Char Aznable's mask and helmet, guaranteeing that when Star Chaser Story inevitably becomes an anime, it is animated by Sunrise. It pauses to survey the environs, adjusts its bowtie, and then stalks towards where Black Mariposa tutors Yari, unperturbed by the stares and whispers of the other attendees.

• Character: Yari
• 1 year, 10 months ago

  Yari completely ignores the commotion while she's receiving her tutorial on how to use the device. Animals, things breaking, gunfire...it's all quite normal in the circles she runs in these days, after all. So there's a little gunfight, so what? Nothing to get worried about.

  She listens intently throughout the lesson, nodding along with the complicated instructions, repeating things when they're told to her...and then Capo makes his entrance, causing the ninja to glance his way. "Hey boss. You want some tea or something? I need a test subject to make sure it's not poisoned or anything." she says with a wave of her hand.

  With their hostess stood right next to her. How rude!

• Character: Headwiz
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 Black Mariposa, despite her deeply ingrained poise, keeps glancing away as she speaks, brow quirking beneath her great mask at the strange sounds standing out in this already noisy places. She at last stops entirely, hand frozen on the hot kettle, as gunfire rings out, while those previously spectating on the drag race below throw themselves to the ground or scatter yelling and screaming. There is silence unusual for the Warrens when The Capo at last emerges from the elevator with a pleasant ding.
 "W-Welcome to our city and its, uh, delights," the disguised noblewoman tries again. "My thanks for traveling-- um, is everything quite alright?"
 She seems at last unsurprised by the presence of a well-dressed capybara, and therefore aware of who she's dealing with. Or so she thought.
 "What's that?" Not quite catching what the ninja has said, the aristocrat glances back to Yari. "Pu'erh? Of course, we have that too..."
 Valiantly, their hostess attempts to gather herself.

• Character: The Capo
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 The Capo gives a stoic nod to Yari, but gives her no more immediate attention, in favor of Black Mariposa herself. "Everything's quite alright, madame," he assures her. Surprisingly, he has wrangled in his inexplicable Italian-American accent; traces of it remain, but the shift in diction does quite the job of making him seem awfully refined for a talking clothes-wearing capybara. "Better than alright, now. I see the rumors of Black Mariposa's beauty don't do justice to the real thing."
 The Capo does not break his stride as he approaches Black Mariposa, nor does he need to; as he draws close, Giuseppe Stromboli, who had arrived early, rushes in from the wings with a stepstool, hurrying it into place so the Capo can climb up onto it, take Black Mariposa's hand, and adorably press his snout against the back of it. "You may call me the Capo."
 His eyes smolder.
 While Black Mariposa recovers from his incredible charms, he shoots another glance at Yari, then at the tea-making equipment, then back at Yari. "Nothing for me. But Frankie's downstairs. She'd love a Caramel Ribbon Crunch, with half oat milk, extra whip, two pumps of white mocha, light ice, add cinnamon dusting."
 His eyes smolder.

• Character: Yari
• 1 year, 10 months ago

  Blink. "Didn't bring my whip with me, and I have no idea how to milk an oat. I can do the ice, but the rest of that stuff..." Yari says after a long pause, punctuating her sentence with a shrug of her shoulders. "Maybe they have it here?"

  Then she goes back to the machine. Poke a button here, flip a switch there...soon enough it whirrs to life. After an elaborate process the ninja is left with a fresh, hot cup of delicious tea! She raises it to her mouth and with a delicate and rather frigid breath blows on it to help it cool. "Hey. You." she adds, offering the cup to Giuseppe. "Drink this."

  She's just using him as a poison tester, isn't she?

• Character: Headwiz
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 "Oh, my!"
 Black Mariposa, presumably flushing behind her elaborate mask (which *is* very beautiful), is quite disarmed, a crystalline fan slipping from her sleeve so that she might fan herself with one hand using another unnecessarily impressive gadget, a force field crackling along metal veins to produce the required wind resistance, as The Capo presses his snoot against the other hand.
 "The tales of your exploits do not do justice to your cuten-- charisma," the Cosmopolitan aristocrat replies with flattery in kind, just barely catching herself. Though her every movement conveys good breeding, her voice suggests a youth she otherwise endeavors to hide. Leaving Yari to comply with The Capo's orders, confident that the ninja must now understand everything there is to know about the device after their tutoring session, she returns to the railing to gaze out over the Warrens again. Its shadowy corners are weirdly vacant, but people are starting to peek out of hiding again. "I am gladdened to be the one to greet you."
 As Giuseppe faces his toughest opponent since the dark wizard Voldemacaroni, Black Mariposa confers with the capybara crime lord.
 "Naturally, a mansion on the upper levels will be made available for the comfort of you and your lovely daughter," she continues, "but I regrettably must confine myself to meeting you here until we rightful governors of Cosmopolis have regained our proper influence." She nods down toward the speedship hovercrafts arrayed below, near the waters where the boats have been docked. "The rogues here are under our command, and so shall be under yours. More importantly..."
 She looks appraisingly down at the moored Sweet Francine.
 "...your gifts at invention are veritably Cosmopolitan." It is the highest compliment she can give. "I can see now how your Covenant has made these intriguing discoveries into... Chaos." She looks back to the capybara. "Near the now dormant Gate of Creation, on the far side of the plateau, there is a fortress facility where we once researched the Gate's power. We at OPEC have asserted control of its remains. You shall have the height of Cosmopolitan magitech at your disposal in your research into Chaos's power. With its potential..."
 Her eyes gleam behind her mask.
 "...the Spiring City shall again be whole."

• Character: The Capo
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 Giuseppe Stromboli intently watches Yari stumble through putting together something that she figures is probably close enough to a Caramel Ribbon Crunch, proving why she is not yet married despite already being - at Giuseppe's best guess - somewhere around fourteen years old. He accepts the offered drink without complaint nor fear; he knows her intentions, but he is The Boy Who Lived. What are the odds he would die now, to a clumsily made Starbecks imitation drink?
 He raises the cup to his lips, takes a long sip while maintaining eye contact with Yari, and is immediately killed.
 Giuseppe suddenly begins sputtering and choking, his face flushing red. He doubles forwards, eyes bulging, pushing the drink out away from him and doing his best to avoid spilling it everywhere (with only a modicum of success.) All over the room, hands go into jackets and people half-rise from seats, instantly alerted.
 Disaster is averted when, after a few seconds, Giuseppe manages to choke out, "Wrong pipe--! Swallowed-- bad! Okay! I'm okay!" Grimacing, the armed men dotting the room revert to their ease.
 Giuseppe, meanwhile, gives Yari a watery-eyed, grimacing smile, and assures her through coughs, "It's-- it's good!"

 At no point does The Capo react to Giuseppe's possible death by poisoning. He turns with Black Mariposa, still atop his stepstool, to look out over the Warrens with her. "That will be more than enough," he assures her. "For too long has the fate of humanity been at the whims of an uncaring puppet master. With the power of Chaos, we will regain the right of self-determination we are owed by the universe."
 One tiny paw clenches into a fist, as if he were Arthur the Aardvark.

• Character: Yari
• 1 year, 10 months ago

  With a nod of satisfaction Yari grabs the half-spilled 'drink' back from poor Giuseppe. "Uhh...I'll find my own place to stay." she says after hearing the offer of a mansion for the group. It does make a certain degree of sense. As a ninja she'd be far more comfortable concealing exactly where she's planning on sleeping, and it'll give her the opportunity to snoop around the general populace while she's at it.

  And then behind her mask she frowns, the expression just barely visible in her eyes. "...you're not humanity." she declares bluntly at the capybara, gesturing at him with the 'coffee' carrying hand. She is of course ignoring the fact that technically, neither is she. Strictly speaking she might be even less human, if the soul is to be factored into these things.

• Character: The Capo
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 "It's an umbrella term," the Capo assures Yari, without changing his dramatic pose at all.

• Character: Headwiz
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 Black Mariposa also does not react to Giuseppe's trials and tribulations, though as the Covenant's escort reach for their jackets, a keen eye may notice the barrel of a spellgun half emerge from the magilectric kettle. As soon as everyone relaxes, the barrel retracts.
 Good thing Yari didn't just press random buttons on it.
 "An estimable goal," the noblewoman remarks, her curiosity piqued by The Capo's unexpected flash of conviction. "Those fit to rule themselves should not suffer under those who are not. It is to avert such a fate that we nobles of Cosmopolis must act. The power of Chaos must be bent to the cause of order here, lest the Spiring City unravel." Her eyes suggest that behind her mask, she now smiles. "But of course, the Covenant may wield Chaos elsewhere as you see fit."
 She turns back to Yari, whom she now regards fondly as her student in the ways of tea, in part because she keeps missing the ninja's comments.
 "Should you wish to hide in plain sight," she remarks, in the tone of one to whom this thought is just occurring, "perchance you may venture to the new offices of the Vanguards Association in the Rookery. They are naturally much degraded as an institution since being cut off from Cosmopolis--" Naturally. "--but the so-called reformers at court are fixated on the place, consorting with adventurers and plotting some sort of grand affair to bring in outsiders. Anyone who might foolishly seek to interfere with our plans would be like to congregate there. The dragsters of the Warrens will assist you with equipment or an entourage should you judge it useful at any time."

• Character: The Capo
• 1 year, 10 months ago

 "Not a bad idea," the Capo agrees, turning his attention to Yari fully once more. "My reach is long, but even my eyes and ears are dulled in Cosmopolis." His expression is hard to read as he says that, but that might be just because he is a capybara. "So thank you for making so many of your resources available to us, Black Mariposa."
 "And if you want some aid more close to home... take Giuseppe with you," he adds to Yari as an afterthought, with a vague wave of his hand.

 Behind him, Giuseppe Stromboli is on all fours, dry-heaving.