#wor.masquerade

After his mandatory time spent with the head of the guard Cas wasn’t too keen on sticking around. Not only did he remind him too much of his older brother, but Cas somehow doubted he would let him get into any trouble while in the general vicinity. If there was one thing Cas had learned growing up with parties like this, it was that the best way to enjoy himself was with getting up to trouble. 

"I hate this." The words were mumbled under her breath as she pulled at the tight fabric of her dress. Usually dressing up and looking glamorous at one of these things was enough to put her in a good mood for the evening but apparently not even that could make her like the castle any more than she did....which was not at all. Drumming her fingers on the table, the brunette eyed a waiter passing by with a tray full of champagne flutes and quickly reached out for one as he passed only to knock another one over in her haste. She gasped as the whole tray went toppling out of his hands and onto somebody else's shoes. "Oh my god...I am so sorry." She'd been talking to both the waiter and the other person as she stood and did her best to bend down so that she could help clean up. But the waiter gave her a kind smile and held a hand up to stop her, letting her know that he would clean it up. Which had her sending him an apologetic smile before she turned to the other person. "Could I be anymore of a disaster? Are your shoes okay?"

It wasn't his first masquerade and he was pretty sure it wouldn't be the last in his lifetime but Matthias was pretty sure it was first time he hadn't been completely prepared for such an event. He'd heard rumblings of something  big happening but it wasn't like he had come to the castle with a mask on hand especially considering the fact he hadn't known they would be throwing major events when he was shipped off. Naive probably thinking that they wouldn't do all l they could to appease the Royals and make them less...bored, for a lack of a better word. But somehow he'd scraped something together after the invitation had been slipped under his door and the boy was now enjoying strawberries and creme as he watched some of the ballerinas that were dancing around the room, not really aware of anyone else around him. "How the hell did they get this many performers here without anyone knowing what was going on?"

Rhiannon had attended a few functions alongside her parents in the past, some lavish, but none as lavish as this. What she preferred, however, were bonfires with beer and laughter with s’mores over heels that killed her feet, a dress she admittedly kept tripping over, and champagne that promised a hangover the next day. 

It had been weird to be an invited guest to the ball and switch his guard uniform out for the suit he was now working and working well. The seamstress had done an absolutely fantastic job to match him with something that brought out a little of his personality but the mask...the mask had been something he'd found on his own. The ball was in full swing when Gio had finally decided to stop following the wait staff around so he could eat every canape they had available to the attendees that night and he stood off to the side to take in the full scene that the palace had laid out for them. It was the most extravagant thing he had ever seen and he would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying it. As the song playing switched over to something a little slower, the guard held out his hand to the person next to him, paying no attention to who was actually standing there. "Dance with the devil?"

In all of Poppy’s years at the palace, she’d never seen anything quite so breathtaking as this. Ordinarily, she was expected to either work waitstaff or watch from a distance, not attend as a guest. She was fairly certain she stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the glamour of whom she assumed to be royals. Gourmet food, champagne fancier than Cold Duck, it was almost too much to take in.