SMASHQUERADE

[headmasterhand]

Who: Halloweenies (that's you).
What: A fabulous masquerade ball.
When: Monday, October 31st (that's Halloween). The deep, dark hours of the night (that's like eight PM onward).
Where: The Stadium.
Warnings: ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ON HALLOWEEN

Comments

ablablabla BEES

[voice_of_animus]

There was something thrilling about this. There was just something about the moment that made something very deep inside of Caim liven up. Even if only a mite. The man was so commonly apathetic about everything that it was rare to see him get worked up over anything that had nothing to do with his homeland or his family. And even then, unable to express himself via text appropriately, most probably never knew when chords had truly been struck with him.

But Samus was before him. She could see how he was, not that it would help her put the puzzle together. Caim was certainly more than a little pleased with his enigmatic behaviour and really had no desire to change any of that. Who he was, how he operated, how his mind thought, and so on... Those were all things that only the privileged could learn about. Those were positions to be earned. Samus was beginning to gain precisely that, however, and Caim's respect - something equally nigh impossible to obtain.

She was warmer than he was, he thought in hindsight. But he wondered how much of that was physical versus emotional status. He often felt so cold on the inside, whether subconscious thought or not, that he'd assumed all of him was entirely cold. But when the odd things happened - like Ai hugging him, or this rather charming banter with Samus - he felt a bit of him warm up. To the idea. To the people. To the situation. And so on.

He thought he'd had the upper hand with strength that was greater than hers. Brawn was not everything, however, and Caim prided himself on his intellect as well as his abilities with a sword. (To be fair, hand-to-hand combat was not something in which he had prior experience. He didn't believe the number of times he'd punched Verdelet in his head to count for anything.) He would have said that he was both tactically brilliant and a master of taking the initiative, and could have gotten away with it given an impressive history.

But he'd only thought such vain considerations, and they only lasted as long as he was on his own two feet. Her heel caught onto one. He was captured by surprise momentarily and wondered how he'd managed to not expect that from her. (Evidently he'd given her too much credit to assume she wouldn't fight dirty. He found respect with it, however, as he eventually would have done the same.) His balance was taken from him in only a matter of moments. He forgot about his grasp on her while he attempted to regain his composure, his balance, and his dignity.

There was the sinking feeling, however, that as he pulled her this way and that in the process of remaining upright, he would eventually topple over. And it was with every intent as his mind began to work again that he would simply bring her down with him. Ah, yes. Enjoyable indeed.

gimme day honey beebys

[icequeen_aran]

The startled look on his face was every indicator of success to her, but as they say; what goes up must come down. She trusted her strength would keep her afoot, even with the unstable and uncharacteristically feminine footwear she was wearing. Doubt began to creep in the moment she realized he was much heavier than she was, and he was not making any effort to catch himself, and her heels had far less traction that she expected.

His hands, rough and calloused, gripped on her arm tightly and the rest became dead weight. Samus couldn't tell if it were accidental, intentional, or a very spur of the moment decision to bring her down too... but before she knew it she was careening for his chest. Or... more like most of her chest was careening for his face.

This would not do.

As quickly as she fell, she rolled off him with a growl and got back to her feet in one smooth movement. Frustration had her hands still tightly clamped onto his, and she yanked Mr. Pirate back up on his feet too... in a less than friendly manner. Her free hand supported his back, and somehow, now, she realized, this was not at all unlike a dancing position. A frown.

"You're clumsy." Her mask was askew, but still on her face.

safjaop That made me laugh a lot more than it should have.

[voice_of_animus]

This must have happened many times to her before. He had to assume that was the case. After all, she'd recovered in a way that made it seem like she just let the insult roll off her back. Well, if it had been an insult. Caim considered it more or less just a very, very unfortunate circumstance. And more unfortunate for him than it was for her. Because she was the one who helped him to his feet and not the other way around.

But to be fair, he wasn't sure which he would have preferred more. Letting a woman help him up or... getting an overly endowed woman in his face. All right. 'Overly endowed' wasn't exactly quite true either. If he had to compare, not that he was going to, but if he had to, then there was a noticeable difference between Furiae and Samus's sizes. That was not something that should have crossed his mind, but it did. Just... in the very, very back where he could pretend it wasn't there at all.

His expression wasn't so much different from hers. His lips held in distaste for the predicament only became more prominent when he heard her. Caim had never claimed to be the most graceful man, and to be fair, it was hard to be graceful in armour. But he wasn't in armour, was he? No. He supposed not. He did know how to be graceful when it came to dancing, however, which was exactly what it looked like they were about to do.

How long had it been since he'd danced with someone before, anyway...?

There was a brief moment where with his free hand, he thought about smacking her. But there was something that stopped him from doing any such thing. He wasn't sure if it was Ai. He wasn't sure if it was the lingering memories of Furiae. He wasn't sure if it was himself, but he grit his teeth behind his frown and did nothing of the sort. Instead, he shook his head at her, as if to disagree.

Oh, please. Like you would be at all graceful when someone trips you intentionally. Highly unlikely.

Tits McGee

[icequeen_aran]

Samus did not want to dance... Or at least she didn't want to dance in this manner. She was fine with combative dances but for the sake of the current situation, she didn't see why the two couldn't be combined. It seemed like a near blasphemous combination, much less for her to even consider it of her own will, but here she was, hand in hand with this stranger.

This perpetually silent stranger. She would have to goad him more.

"Are you going to go this entire night without saying a single word?" A couple of steps to the beat of the midnight hour music, and then Samus treated him to a eloquent (and probably emasculating looking) dip. He was taller than her, by far, but again her strength was something to behold.

If, quite literally. She brought him back up quickly and then released him, taking the opportunity to straighten her mask.

"It's still on. You're not trying very hard."

Samus' new nickname~ ♫♪

[voice_of_animus]

I hate you so incredibly much at this very moment.

More because she was prodding at his inability to talk. Except she didn't know it was an inability. She thought he was doing it intentionally. And to be fair, unless Caim really had something to say, or unless he was asked a question, he probably wouldn't have said anything anyway. (Never mind that she'd just asked him one anyway.) So any considerations she might have had probably weren't too far from the truth, provided that it had been the proper circumstance.

The second reason he hated her was that dip. And the strength behind it. It meant that she was remarkably strong and Caim could not - would not - accept a woman somehow proving she was better than him. A man, perhaps he could understand that, but a woman's place was to either be resourceful or to be as demure as Furiae had been. In hindsight, Arioch seemed neither, and Caim had momentarily forgotten why a cannibalistic elf was dragged along on his never-ending journey of torment and anguish.

He pointedly turned his head aside and gestured to his mouth. How did one explain his disability? Was that even possible to do? He was beginning to think it wasn't. Not without something to write with and on, anyway. Unless of course, he'd had Riley there to translate for him. Then he shook his head as he narrowed his eyes at her.

You are nearly the most infuriating woman I have ever met.

Like his look could simply get his thoughts across to her and he was certain the stare didn't even come close. And as if to dismiss her like she were a simple insect, his right hand reached forward. But instead of attempting to remove her mask, he lightly flicked her in the nose with only a small fraction of the annoyance she was beginning to stir up in him.

[icequeen_aran]

It was quickly becoming apparent that this man wasn't unwilling to talk but simply could not for some reason, as his gesture implied. It also became apparent that he had passed up an excellent opportunity to flick her mask and instead he went for her nose.

Samus quickly became more puzzled than perturbed from the sting on her snout. The blonde took a step back and gave him another long and cold stare.

Who in this school can not speak...?

There were only a few possibilities, and one came to mind more than the others. Samus had only his eyes to go by.

"...Caim."

[voice_of_animus]

And Caim was an honourable man. Honourable enough to give the lady her prize.

A hand lifted to remove his hat and he offered a surprisingly sincere bow. And perhaps it was too elegant for him to do. Perhaps too much of the prince showed through it. He couldn't imagine what people would have thought of him if they knew of his status where he came from. They'd likely wonder why he had turned out the way he had... for royalty, anyway.

The free hand drew up to his face as he remained inclined and he removed his mask for her benefit. And there he was in all of his mute glory. That wasn't a surrender. It was simply him. Being. Honourable. At least for the next few minutes.

[icequeen_aran]

Samus associated royalty with arrogance and she didn't know what to make of his bow. It seemed she had guessed correctly either way and he was putting himself in a prone position, so she made no inclination of moving. No moving, no change in her facial expression or sound of surprise in her voice.

"That explains a lot." She was a little surprised. The pirate's identity was one mystery solved, but that still didn't explain why their eyes crossed at all to begin with, why they had actually managed to share a few steps in a dance and why they hadn't killed each other yet as a result of that.

And then strangely enough, the woman under the mask smirked. Playing with Samus Aran was almost guaranteed trouble. For all the unanswered questions mulling through her mind, she somehow, miraculously, managed to push them aside and accept what it was. Fun? Not quite, but...

It wasn't enough to earn him a favor, but a reward (however tiny and vague it was), she felt, was warranted. Call it a bounty hunter's strange sense of honour.

"I warned you to say out of trouble."

[voice_of_animus]

He rose to full stature, set his hat back upon his head, tucked his mask along the edge and as he eyed her, his gaze switched from one blue eye to the other and back again. He made no effort to nod or to protest, which could have been interpreted as him agreeing with her. After all, there was nothing to disagree with. She was right. And in hindsight, she might have been considering how obvious it was with his adamant nature against speech of the colloquial form.

Her next words caused his eyebrows to lift. Ah. Yes. He knew who she was now. She had been the only one to tell him that, too. As though she didn't trust him. But she didn't even know him, which was an excellent reason to think him more than a little suspicious. If only she knew. He had no way to tell her unless he wrote it out or had Angelus do so for him. The latter suffered a missing variable, however. There was no Angelus.

His hand extended again and very carefully, he flicked at the edge of her mask, the slightest bit amused by her words, by her reminder. Then he motioned back to himself confidently. (Perhaps a part of him was arrogant. No. A lot of him was. And he probably would have boasted about that as well.)

Me? I've been perfectly behaved. Unlike you, Lady Aran.

[icequeen_aran]

Interpreting his gesture took a moment. There was no doubt that due to her upbringing her social skills were lacking; instead etched and formed from her own individual--very often solitary--experiences. Samus spent a large portion of her life alone with only her helmet's reflection to keep her company. Said helmet left her with appreciation for non-verbal communication. She didn't have to worry about what kind of face she was (or wasn't) making or who was trying to read it, nor did she even have to speak; she could be as rigid as the cold, unfeeling metal she was often mistaken for.

A very effective mask, which Caim had deliberately not removed.

In a way she was almost disappointed, but didn't show it, or even flinch. If anything she might of flashed him a fleeting smirk. She would walk away from this game; stepping slowly backwards to turn on her heel and fade into the crowd, no favors to give for him. But, this was probably the closest equivalent to a fun evening with a stranger that she could get, and wondered if he thought the same.

They could dance again another day.