#masquerade meme

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.

All sentences on these meme make references to royal balls, medieval ballrooms or regency, basically set during any period drama. You can change names, pronouns, titles and more as you see fit. Most of these were taken from different source materials found via google search. This meme makes references to masquerades, royal dances and partners.

Dancing, at its best, is independence and intimacy in balance.

Dance is the timeless interpretation of life.

Music does not need language of words for it has movements of dance to do its translation.

Masks reveal. They don’t conceal. Masks reveal your cravings, your passion, your deepest most secret desires.

It was you. I know it was you.

Look at me, Kia! Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not her.

And who shall you be once you don your grand disguise?

I don't like to hear you talk about yourself that way. Your scars do not define you, young lady. Your action do.

All the ladies must dress the same and the men have to find their partners. It’s a game of sorts. 

Even the smallfolk have their own version of the ball, at the steps of the castle.

Swoon, Dora. Every young woman deserves to swoon over the love of her life.

Dash it, Everton, how'd you know it was me?

A masquerade could have been a beautiful dance. 

 Oh, well. What's a royal ball? After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull, and-and-and boring, and-and completely... Completely wonderful.

Each finds a partner, and upon the bell, we must change partner until we find the one we came to be. . .or the one we desire.

It has been a while since you gave me the honor to dance with you.

If the princess is not too occupied, I would wish for a dance, perhaps?

The Queen and King have to open the ball but the King is gone. No mind, I shall be in his place.

Sometimes in life confusion tends to arise and only dialogue of dance seems to make sense.

If we want our men to dance, we have to inspire them. 

 But with something more, something bigger, something that will give them a reason to want to dance.

But when balls are held for pleasure, They're the balls that I like best.

Will you be my princess for the Ball?

Keeping pushing, Andrei, and you and I are going to play a game.

Nothing like a ball to cheer a nation, give the old lords wine and the young boys the opportunity to find a nice woman and everyone shows up.

Where are you taking me? The ball hasn’t ended.

Royals is like a beautiful, broken angel: hard to look at, but utterly impossible to turn away from.

Attend the royal ball in all your glory and find out what fate has in store for you.

How many dances is one allowed before people begin to whisper?

You cannot behave like a brute. It is my duty to dance with every suitor. I am their princess.

I do not recognize you, my lord? Are you from these lands? 

It is bad luck to steal a princess.

Attend the royal ball in all your glory and find out what fate has in store for you.

There is nothing quite like dancing in the moonlight. It sets your soul on fire and your heart aflutter.

The beauty of a ball is not just in its grandeur, but in the connections it sparks, the emotions it stirs, and the hopes it ignites.

Just keep your eyes on me. No one else here matters.

I shall keep dancing with you until you stop being stubborn and go speak with me. Or you rather have people whisper?

The princess looks beautiful tonight, does she not?

Father, please, you must dance as well. Your dull looks are making people bored.

You promised me a dance when you were better. Are you?

I've loved you at every dance, on every walk, every time we've been together and every time we've been apart.

I can feel people's eyes on me.

Every time I walk into a ballroom, I know they are comparing me to Daphne.

You both get to choose your passions and adventures, while my beloved is chosen by me. And now I must join them for a dance.

Are you planning on running away when the clock strikes midnight? 

If you do wish to go away, I know a spot, secluded enough.

You wish for me to go with you, alone, unchaperoned. I am a maiden, my lord. 

Aye, but I am no lord, sweet maiden. And these masks allow us some privacy.

This is my last chance to find a match on my own accord. If I don’t. The King will do it for me and I would rather not.

 I'm only a girl, not a princess.

Believe me - they're all looking at you.

 They're all looking at you.

You are requested and required to present yourself to your king.

 I do not even know if that beautiful slipper will fit But, if it does--will you take me as I am?

 It would be an insult to take you to the palace dressed in these old rags.

How charming, how perfectly charming.

When I go back, they will try to pair me off with a lady of their choosing. I'm expected to marry for advantage.

Oh. Well, whose advantage would this marriage be of?

I hope you don't find our kingdom too confining.

I am. An apprentice monarch. Still learning my trade.

Our prince seems quite taken with her.

She went straight for him. You have to appreciate her efficiency.

Walk into the room knowing you are the best. Shoulders back, chin up. Their attitudes will totally change.

You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams.

The ball is about to come to an end, and you have yet not told me your name. 

I thought we agreed we would remain strangers.

I’m afraid my true identity would put you in danger. 

Have you ever been kissed by a stranger at the end of a ball? If not, let me be the first.

Put him on all the invitation lists, he's a divine dancer.

I’m afraid I’m more used to swordfight than ballroom.

You will ruin your pretty gown, princess. I would not wish to step on your toes.

 Silly, I am a great dancer, no one ever steps on my toes.

No. Let them dance. Interrupting would cause a scandal.

One of these men will be my husband one day. What a thought.

The art of husband seeking at it’s peak, during royal ball season. 

The corner of his lips curve slightly as grey eyes flicker around the room, music is playing and the crowd sways along with it. He did so hate the fine clothing and high society with their entitled attitudes, though he was not a stranger to them. Though masquerades had always been interesting and it had been such a long time since he had attended one.

He lifts long slender fingers to the mask, which concealed the upper portion of his face, toying with it before dropping his hand, sighing. "Then it blends together?" He queried softly, finally looking at the woman.

The castle had beencarved out of the side of a great underwater canyon, the bottom ofwhich served as a city for the region's merfolk. It had great coralturrets and kelp and anemone gardens on the outside, hallways pavedin mother-of-pearl and ceilings with vaults made of blue whale bones.And this was where the royalty of merfolk lived, and the gentryfrequented, for merpeople have their castes too just as landfolk. Butonce a year, when the moon shines so bright in the sky above that itcan be seen even in their deep city, there is a ball where all cometo the palace, commoner and noble alike, and they are masked so thattheir may mingle without concern for class.That's the claim,anyway. In reality, of course, it is instantly apparent what stationsomeone belongs to---the dress they can afford, their way ofspeaking, their mannerisms, and so on. The mask does nothing todisguise this. But it affords the illusion of it does, and thus bothsides get to indulge in the fantasy of being seen for something theyare not, and pretending to do the same for others. It keeps themhappy, thus preventing runaways from the upper classes andrevolutionaries from the lower ones. For instance, it waspretty easy for everyone in said upper classes to recognize a certainpair of their peers. Both orcas from the waist down, being siblings,Fabian and Anne Marie had very different but very...distinctbehaviors. Really, even if they'd covered their equally distincthair, it'd had been a no brainer who was behind those ornate goldmasks surely picked out by the former. But they themselves didn'tknow a lot of the commoners here, who also likely did not know them.Again, the whole purpose of the party was for the social classes tomix, because they usually didn't outside of commerce and employmentrelationships.Someone really should have given the poorpeasants some warning. Anne Marie was swimming around, pokingmasks, pulling on costumes, openly blurting who people were. Rememberthat part about mannerisms marking the upper class? That did notapply here. Regardless of her birthright, Anne Marie a class of herownFabian, on the other fin, a more subdued form of scandal,but also far less innocent. He was currently working his sleazycharms on small school of wide-eyed mermaids who all thought this wastheir chance to be Cinderella at the ball and catch the eye of a mannormally far beyond their reach. His fingers twined in their hairlike seeking tentacles, or trailed up their tails like the slimybrush of seaweed as he cornered them against the palace columns.

Anne Marie just saidhello with hugs, flinging her arms around perfect strangers with nowarning.Fabian had started on one side of the room. AnneMarie on the other. Little by little, without realizing it, they wentthrough person after person towards the middle...until they bothtouched the same mermaid, each in their own way, at the same time.

“Oh, I didn’t realize they handed out invitations to just anyone.” [ Vanitas ] @wyrdify​

The compliment had escaped his lips before he could even think about it, and yet Nyx wouldn’t have taken it back if he could, either.  It was the unadorned truth - the mask truly did make the woman’s eyes breathtaking to look at.

His own costume, while not overly ornate, did compliment him.  Deep grey and and swirling silver piping to make bring out the blue of his eyes.  Simpler in design to most of the other guests here, but that suited Nyx just fine.

No beacon offeminine beauty shown brighter than Fabian Cortez, and no mask coulddisguise his majestic loveliness. As always, he was the belle of theball, in his blue dress—corset tight from the waist up, pannierswide from the waist down—decorated with ruffles and bows thatextende down the length of his chest in two rows that met in atasteful V, though he needed no help in drawing the eye to him.

And yet…tonight,the eyes of his fellow coquettes, debutantes, and socialites werecertainly being drawn to someone else as well. Attention? On another?This matter must be investigated.

“What’s all thisfuss?” he asked a lesser noble from behind his fluttering fan, asif he couldn’t care less and was simply bored enough to ask even themost inane of things to pass the time.

“Some mystery gent,”huffed the fellow, clearly jealous himself, “You know women, sometall dark and handsome type walks in that they haven’t seen before,and all of a sudden they get their hoop skirts in a—oh! Beggingyour pardon, m'dear!”

At this exclamation,Fabian remembered to feign a look of shock at such language. Afterall, he was a delicate flower of the utmost decorum! And like one, hecordially thanked the man, voice fluttering like his fan, as if stillslightly shaken from ALMOST hearing something VAGUELY crude, andproceeded to absolutely accidentally and not at all on purpose go tomake his way through the crowd to this so-calle mystery man. And ifany ditzy little doxies got bumped out of the way by his own ampleattire, well, clearly that was their own fault, because he wasgraceful as a dove. They clearly were the clumsy oafs who hadmisstepped into him. All eight of them.

Finally, byabsolutely coincidence, he happened to be near enough to by chanceglance upon the curiosity who was causing such a stir amidst thosewomen empty-headed and shallow enough to be intrigued by such things.And just by equal chance he happened to turn his head a certain way,and since all the girls around here were dwarfs while he was astatuesque goddess, it wasn’t his fault that his eyes happened toalight—no, no, just accidentally pass over—the man that they wereall gathered around.

And what a man! Notthat Fabian noticed such things, being far too pure and refined andchaste, but the rugged angles of his face could ALMOST rival Fabian’sown artfully carved cheekbones…just, of course, in the masculine.Fabian’s square jaw would be far too overwhelming on the visage ofanother, he granted, but upon him, it was positively sylph-like.Speaking of his face, if he just happened to be fluttering his fanright now, it wasn’t to draw attention to it, it was just dreadfullyhot in here with all these people. That was the same reason he wassuddenly playing with his hair—not to make one, especially notanyone in particular, notice its beautiful fiery ginger hue and silkytexture and exquisitely perfect length, but because it just got warmin here and that helps, alright? Not like this stranger would know,of course, with his rugged yet refined short haircut and intriguingbangs, trimmed tresses the colors of midnight and raven andmysteries, which Fabian of course did not think about because a fairmaiden like himself never thought of such things, was not even AWAREof such things, and certainly was not aware if his fan happened to befluttering near his chest while he flipped his hair. No, he mostcertainly was not!But this man certainly ought to be aware.How could you NOT be aware? How could you especially not be awarewhen Fabian, this spectacle of beauty and glamor and charm, had beenin your line of sight for a full TWELVE SECONDS now?! Action had tobe taken. Just to ensure the poor fellow wasn’t going blind. That wasFabian, so compassionate, always thinking of others. For instance,just happening to trip and pinch and covertly kick a few others toget them out of his way to, er, examine the man for cataracts. Whichrequired closeness. Closeness of the completely innocent and not atall untoward kind. Once within the needed range, Fabian diagnosedthat while the fellow’s clear, dark eyes like a dream were free ofapparent injury, his face did sport rather dashing scars….whichFabian only noticed in a medical capacity, not being that kind ofgirl.

“Well hellothere,” he said. Oh, was he speaking to Fabian? He must be,everyone did.“And who might you be?”

Awww, he waspretending not to know him! Like he surely hadn’t been asking everysingle one of this fugly-floozies who that tall dreamy redheadgoddess was! Fabian would play along.

Extending a glovedhand to be kissed, he answered, “Fabian Cortez.”

🎭 Masquerade Ball Starters 🎭