MASKTOURN

Kyrie arrived at the gala a bit late- thanks, Peregrine- all dressed up in her fancy gala outfit. She found the mask a bit weird, but whatever. She could deal with that. It was better than the goofy hat she had to wear for work. She stood by the sidelines, not wanting to interrupt any conversations but also trying not to look like she was avoiding social interaction. @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

Gale had arrived to the gala a bit late. It took her too long to convince herself to put away the coat out of fear of getting it confiscated, then actually getting ready for the thing. But here they were! The white mask sat on their face, and a pair of golden hoop earrings twinkled around their ears. Her masked gaze fell on a rather interesting figure- someone with wings? The mask made them look like a bird. Gale approached with a smile and wave. “Hey there, how you doing?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie turned to the stranger, and gave a friendly smile. "Oh, hey! I'm doing well, how 'bout you? I just got here, to be honest, so I haven't seen much yet." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Doing alright, just got here, too. I’m Gale, She/they. What’s your name?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I'm Kyrie, she/her." Kyrie smiled, and held out her hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Gale! That's a cool name." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I'm Kyrie, she/her." Kyrie smiled, and held out her hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Gale! That's a cool name." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

@Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

She looked to the hand with a smile, and shook it firmly. “Good to meet you Kyrie. Heh, thanks, it’s, ah, fitting with my powers. I can control wind. You’ve got some nice wings, Kyrie.” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh, neat! That is really fitting!" Kyrie hummed, giving Gale's hand an enthusiastic shake. "Thanks! That's my powers, I guess. I'm corvi." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Heh, yeah. Corvi.. I think I’ve heard of y’all before, you can turn into birds, yeah?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Yeah! I'm a crow!" Kyrie gave a beaming smile. "Hence the crow wings. Some corvi have other powers, like eye stuff, but I'm pretty normal." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

Gale returned the smile. “Aw cool! I’ll be honest, I only heard of y’all from an old girlfriend of mine- I really thought Corvi were fantasy or something.” What was it Roy said about crows..? He always loved chattering on about animals, what was it.. “Huh, crows are real smart aren’t they? I’ll, ha, I’ll be honest I don’t know much about them or Corvi.” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Well, we're 100% real." Kyrie laughed. "I can guarantee it." "Is that a compliment?" She smiled playfully . "Yeah, we are supposed to be smart for birds. And it's alright! We aren't really well known outside of the Loucari, so I'm surprised you know at all. If you have any questions, I can try and answer 'em." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Heh, I can tell you’re real, unless you poof into a pile of feathers in front of me.” Gale was finding the masks slightly annoying as they continued to talk, she was just about to wink before she remembered it was there. “Heheh, imagine I’m winking, there’s your answer. Hmm.. well, can you fly with those wings or are they just for show?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie giggled. "Hah! Imagine I'm winking back," She hummed, in a slightly more flirty tone. "I can! I'm pretty good at it, too, if I say so myself. Maybe I can show you sometime, sweep you off your feet?" @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

The smile on her face shifted- that sort of smile that’s completely involuntary, all in the cheeks rather than conscious expression. Her breath caught in her throat with the shift in tone. You wake up at some weird death cage match, the people that abducted you invite you to a damn party and now you’re smiling like a fool at the first girl you talk to. Yeah, why not. They find themself leaning a bit closer. “Heh, I’d like that. I can shift the wind and fly myself, if you get tired of flying, I could give you a lift. Show you a few tricks.” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs (edited)

Kyrie leaned slightly closer as Gale did, her bright smile widening. "Oh, wanna show me what you've got? I'm down!" She tilted her head slightly to the side. "I haven't flown with a partner in quite a while. Sounds fun to try it again." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

God, they wished these stupid masks weren’t a thing. At least they could see her smile. She smiled with a light hum. “Hm, I’d love to. I’ve never had the chance to fly with someone else.” “In the meantime.. tell me a bit about yourself, Kyrie. Special interests, favorite color?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"We'll have to find some time for it, then." Kyrie nodded affirmatively. "Ohh, interests.... I'm really into hiking, seeing nature, that sort of thing. And my favorite color is yellow, I'd say. That, or a peachy warm pink." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Of course. Well, if this party sucks, maybe we can go make our own fun, how about that? Or we could wait ‘til after.” “Aw, that sounds nice. I probably don’t go out enough, heh.. though, there’s this little meadow out in the middle of nowhere, flying around there is always fun.” She smiled fondly as she spoke. “Those’re nice colors, you must like sunsets a lot then, huh?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Hah! Well, I wanna wait around a bit longer and see if there's anything important they've gathered us all here for, but maybe we can ditch in a bit." Kyrie hummed. "Imagine I'm winking again." "Oh, that sounds nice! I love wide open spaces, especially for flying." She laughed. "And yup! I live in a really coastal area, so the sunsets are all really nice. What about you, what do you like?" @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Heh, smart plan. Imagine I return it.” This was nice. She could almost pretend she was back home, meeting some girl at an old friend’s party. “It’s really nice, yeah! Smells great, I like to practice my tricks there. Hm, I’ve never been to the coast, heh, closest is the Great Lakes.. you’d be surprised though, Iowa has some nice sunsets.” “Hmm.. I like writing, journaling, heh, cloud watching. I can sow and I’d say I’m a decent cook. What’s your favorite food?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh, that sounds great. You have to see the coast someday- it's beautiful. And maybe I'll have to come see Iowa!" Kyrie, admittedly, did not have the best grasp of where in the world Iowa was. "Oh, you're a writer? What kinds of things do you write about?" She thought a bit about her favorite food. "Ooh, I really like pistachios. All sorts of nuts, really. What about you?" @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Heh, there’s really not much in Iowa, honestly. Some parts are pretty, but it’s mostly farm fields, cows and bigots.” To be fair, she had no idea where Loucari was either. “I used to do political journalism, but, ah.. somethings came up and I haven’t been doing it for a bit. I write poetry sometimes..” She smiled sheepishly, rubbing her neck. “Oh, nuts, huh? Just on their own or in something? For me.. I like pork, pulled pork and barbecue, that sort of stuff. Hm, favorite drink?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Aw, lots of places in the Loucari are like that too. Well, less farm fields and more lumber yards up where I live." "Oh, that's unfortunate. But poetry, that's neat! I've tried to write some myself, especially when I was younger and angstier, but I was never able to get a handle on rhythm. If you wanna show me some, I'd love to see!" "I am a crow," she laughed. "Ohhhh, that sounds good. I don't think I've ever had barbecue before, but it sounds tasty. Hmm, favorite drink... I'm a big fan of herbal teas." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

They clicked their tongue with a little sigh. “That’s a shame. Guess they can’t stand to see a bad bitch winning, heheh.” She grinned. “Yeah, ha, I haven’t written much in recently, I don’t have any of it on me either.. I write when inspiration strikes I guess. And hey, teen angst is a great start for art! I started there too, heheh.” She nodded. “Ohh, can you only eat stuff crows can handle? I bet you could eat barbecued stuff though, probably not with the sauces though.. mm, tea’s nice, I like the canned stuff, bit more flavorful, heh. I’m a fan of sour stuff, grape and lemonade.” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Mhm, they can't handle us." Kyrie hummed. "Ah, yeah, I forgot they took all our stuff... bummer." She sighed. "Hey, maybe I'll try again! Write murder-tournament sonnets, or something." "Eh, mostly, though I can tolerate more spice and sodium than the average bird. I can also eat things most humans can't- like worms, and some berries that are poisonous to you folk. I'm kinda in the middle, diet-wise." Kyrie explained. "Oh, that sounds good! I'm not a big fan of sour stuff myself, but to each their own." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

She gave her a playful smile. “Eh, we’re too good for them, right?” “Hey, not the worst inspiration, bound to be unique that way.” They gave a nod as she explained. “Ohh, makes sense, I guess. Are.. worms good?” Gale turned as the announcement started, eying the person speaking. Albanes was right next to them- was this the predecessor she talked about? Ellie was against someone named Kenji- not someone she knew. And Ace.. didn’t Ellie say that name? “Ace.. mm, haven’t met them yet, have you? Or this Isi person?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Well, I like 'em! They're really juicy." Kyrie commented, in response to Gale's worm comment. Her bright smile shifted into a frown as she listened to the announcement. "Ah, damn- I did meet Isi, they're really nice. Man, that's a bummer." She sighed, clearly pretty upset about this. "I've never heard of Ace either- but maybe you two can... work something out, or something?" @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

Their face mirrored her frown. “Ah, that’s a shame. Sorry, Kyr. Hm.. alliances aren’t a bad idea, I’ll try to talk to ‘em. Maybe you and Isi can work something out, too?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Yeah, I hope we can. I'm not much of a fighter, and I don't want to hurt anyone..." Kyrie sighed. "We'll all figure it out. I can't imagine too many people here actually want to kill each other..." @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

“Yeah..” She shakes her head with a sigh. “Maybe we can find a way outta here before anyone has to fight.. but alliances are probably our best bet for now.” Nobody wants to kill each other, but the prize for winning… They shake their head once more, and give her a small smile. “Well, how ya feeling? Still up to ditching this party, or do you wanna stick around?” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs (edited)

Kyrie scanned the crowd idly. "Ehhh.... I don't really have a reason to stick around. Sure, let's ditch this place. Then we can actually see each other's faces. Wanna come explore with me?" @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄

Then we can actually see each other’s faces. The visible parts of her face are light with blush and a grin. “I’d be happy to, Kyr. Let’s go.” She held out a hand, hesitating slightly. “If- ha, if you’d like to, of course.” @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Hah, 'Kyr,', I like that." Kyrie smiled. A warm blush formed on her face, but she didn't hesitate before taking Gale's hand in her own. "Alright, let's go!" @Sauce | Gale🌪+Carrion🍄