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Rat shifted in their dress, pulling at the hem of it. Sure, she wore a dress nearly every day, but this was very different. The entire point of infiltrating this masquerade was to be unrecognizable, and so, gone was the tailored-to-fit maid outfit with a button-up under it. He felt nervous out of it, now in a short dress of similar color scheme, with small off-shoulder sleeves that itched, covered by a black cloak.
It’s gonna be like, 3 hours at most.
He can reassure himself, but it doesn’t make the outfit any less uncomfortable. She just has to act like she’s born to wear this, for the duration of the masquerade. And if there’s one thing Rat is other than the most hated person at this event, it’s an actor. Even though Astron was here as well, they didn’t actually know Rat would even show up. Maybe a dickish move, hiding her plan from her one ally, but she swore she’d keep him safe. Right now, the closest path to safety is finding out Blake’s intentions.
Rat secured his mask to himself, a pale white plague-styled one to cover his full face. They glance at their comm, seeing “Masquerade starting now! Meet at the entrance” from Blake and groan as quietly as possible before walking over the hill towards the hall.
Standing in the group at the entrance to the venue, Rat tilts her head as she studies the crowd around her. It’s a decent amount of people, but not everyone, so his inclusion wasn’t an immediate giveaway. Heights varied, though many people wore heels or other visible lifts, to assist with the general disguising required of the dress code. Everyone was unrecognizable, except for Blake.
He stood at the bottom of the staircase, facing the rest of the crowd, posing confident and shit-eating as usual. He was the only one who you knew who it was, which was on purpose. Not only is he the host, but he’s a vapid, egotistical prick. All eyes on him, with extensions on his mask, a fancier shirt collar under a sequined vest as opposed to his sweater one. And what’s all this doing, other than pissing Rat off?
Not important.
“I’d like to give everyone a warm welcome to the party!” Blake chimes, hands expressive as he talks. “It’s been a pretty rough year, and I think we all have earned some good times, right? So, if you don’t mind following me inside, we can get started.” He pauses for a moment, before turning and walking up the stairs, ensuring people would follow.
They all began to walk in, Rat staying near the back of the pack and keeping an eye on her surroundings. Willful paranoia is what it is - you don’t sabotage an entire server and expect that to never happen again. He glances at the person next to him, someone of similar height wearing a long black coat with gold detailing, and a black veil covering most of their head. What’s not covered by the veil is covered by a half-mask of a red deer. Rat lets out a small hum, and when they turn their head to look at her, she chuckles awkwardly.
“My bad, I’m just a little nervous.” He talks quietly as they walk, doing his best to cover his accent and make his voice sound a bit lighter.
The deer huffs and looks up. “Tell me about it, I think we’re all on edge, at least a little.” No matter what attempts are made to stay disguised, Astron’s voice is immediately recognizable to Rat, just with how much she’s heard it. It makes him smile.
The group has entered the masquerade hall now, sparkling crystal and frosted translucent bricks with gold and black accents. It’s beautiful, with light refracting through the walls and floor. The crowd disperses as they look around, walking through the room as the air fills with the sound of stepping on amethyst. Rat turns to their left, all trains of thought brought to a halt as they stare at the giant ‘fuck you’ of a graffiti’d painting of themself.
This obsessive piece of shit. It was almost hard not to laugh, half out of shock, half out of secondhand embarrassment for the man who had put in so much effort just to hate on someone he expected to never see it.
“Christ.” She mumbles, turning away and looking for drinks. Maybe they’d be more flattered if it weren’t for the blood feud, but that wasn’t really getting in the way of their ego nevertheless. After looking around, Rat spots a table with bottles on it and sighs, content.
As the night goes on, Rat slowly gains knowledge on who is who, though most of it is guesswork. What’s assured, though, is that he’s a little tipsy. Not an end-of-the-world thing, and anyone would want to get a little tipsy in this position, but something to be aware of if this does go south.
And why hasn’t it yet? Blake’s a manchild, he’s not the kind of person to play a long con, no matter how theatrical it is. The longer this night plays out with zero issue, the more nervous Rat starts to feel.
Astron shakes out a breath, gloved hand secured on a table. The night hasn’t gone bad yet, stop thinking that it will. You don’t need to contact Rat, you’re fine without them here.
Feeling weak is not going to stop her from enjoying this party, she put on contacts for this, it was going to be a break. Drinking helps - it always does, don’t fact-check that - and they’re already three or four mixed ones deep. They’ve holed up near the drink table, sometimes making awkward small talk with whoever approached in order to fix themselves a drink. Not the best spot, sure, but the mostly endless supply of liquid courage was too good to pass up, and it was near a wall anyways. He leans against the wall, rubbing the side of his chin as he surveys the active dance floor.
Music had started a while ago, and various partygoers had danced on their own and together as the songs changed tones. Nearly everyone had danced with someone else, save for one person. The stranger Astron had spoken to out front. They stood near the middle of the crowd actively dancing, and Astron felt her eyes catch on them as they stood still and simply observed the rest of the party. The stranger with the bird mask turned, line of sight spiking Astron’s vision as they tilted their head.
Shiit.
She coughs out her next breath, averting her gaze, though the muffled sound of boots on amethyst told her she wasn’t getting out of this one.
“You know, you may have a staring problem, young Doe.” The bird spoke, low and too close.
Astron huffs, stuttering as they start to speak. “You’d- be surprised how many people tell me that, and... how long I’ve heard it. I’m sure I’m older than you.” They take a swig of their current fourth drink, cheeks certainly growing rosy.
The stranger hums. “Well, maybe. I’ll take a compliment where I can find one, it's flattering to be seen as young.” They move to stand beside Astron, leaning against the same wall. He feels small, despite being the same height as them. “Old Doe just doesn’t sound as nice, does it? And it’s against the rules if you tell me your name, so…” They tilt their head towards him, voice quieter, horribly personal. “We’ll just go with young Doe, right?”
“Yeah.” Astron feels like maybe they don’t even have lungs anymore, maybe this vulture of a stranger had pulled them out. “And what are you? I... can tell you’re a bird, but you- seem more dramatic than that.” Baiting this person almost definitely wasn’t wise, but what would it hurt? This wasn’t going to matter the next morning, no one was going to know who was who.
“Clearly I’m a Folly raven.” A smile was audible in their voice.
Astron crosses her arms. “So... you have a god complex?”
“Why, did you want to get closer to find out?”
His breath hitched. They stumble, chuckling. “I- appreciate the offer, but I’m only... here to dance tonight.”
The raven chuckled. “Then dance with me, young Doe.” They held out their hand, sharp black nails and callouses like a big red ‘do not enter’ that Astron was more and more willing to ignore.
Astron breathed in sharply, hand twitching as they held it up and into the stranger’s without thinking.
What instantly hits her is how strong this person is. Sure, you couldn’t miss how strong their legs looked, or muscles that crept out from under the cloak, but it felt different being pulled forward and away from the wall, out to the dance floor they’ve been staring at all night.
Astron has gotten used to feeling more ‘second fiddle’ than leading the way. He’s comfortable like that, whether it’s a flaw or not. What makes him uncomfortable, though, is knowing he can be seen.
By their count, there were twelve people here not including themself or the raven. It kept reminding itself, no one here knows its you, but anxiety famously can’t be reasoned with.
“Doe?” Astron shook their head for a second, vision darting back up to the mask of their dance partner. “Your eyes were closing- are you okay?”
Unawareness made her dizzy. “I’m sorry. I… haven’t contributed to this dance at all.” Do they care?
The raven sighed, readjusting their hand to be better intertwined with Astron’s. “If you don’t want to dance, I won’t make you.”
Their voice was softening, something familiar, though it couldn’t place exactly why.
“I didn’t think… You seem a little too sweet.”
The stranger started their sentence before stopping again, finally deciding to say, “I’m not heartless, you seem upset.”
Astron wasn’t sure what they were feeling- a word, anything for it- but the closest thing felt almost like competition. “I’ll get over it.” She moved a motionless hand onto their on-level shoulder, trembling only a little from the mixed drinks.
Awareness felt closer. Its focus was still only on the raven, a hand holding its own, another confidently on its waist. This stranger’s collarbone, pronounced and fit not quite perfectly into this clearly unworn dress and blank cloak. Through the sound of people talking, echoes of windchime-like pings of both their boots on the amethyst brick floor. Astron felt their breath hurry up, not suffocating like it must have been before, but too warm, a good kind of heavy.
The dance was still led by the raven, though he felt like he was slotting in better than his autopilot was. Music didn’t matter, the rhythm wasn’t around them, but within them.
“Do you dance often?” Floaty thoughts kept getting cut through.
“Only alone.” She automatically replied, before backpedaling with a smile. “That’s a lie. I’d dance with… family, when I was younger. Does… that count?”
The stranger’s barely visible smile matched their own. “Sure. You are good at it.” They paused, before huffing. “Not as good as me- who is, though?”
“If we all didn’t… know who Blake is, I’d have thought it was you.”
The pause made Astron feel like he had fucked up. “There is… a difference between vanity and confidence, Doe.” It felt like it needed to apologize, considering what to say just too slow before the raven passed by the topic. “Have you not done much romantic stuff in general, then?”
She felt like her mouth was full of chalk. “Never.”
Their dance partner hummed. “I can go easier on you.”
“Don’t.” It seemed like all of its breath left all at once.
“Really?” The grin on their face was Astron’s hundredth warning sign of the night, but it was far from the warning she was going to listen to. “Tell me to go for it.”
Astron nodded lowly, feeling like they could barely move. “Okay.”
“Close your eyes.”
He listened, feeling the absence of both of the raven’s hands from his body, replaced on the sides of his head as his brain slowly registered what was happening.
They kissed her once. Fast, short, with a long pause before they went back again to kiss it for a longer time, Astron locking its hands around their wrists to pull them just a bit closer.
It’s over far too soon.
When Astron opened their eyes, the raven mask was being pulled back over the stranger’s face, with their breath heavy and stuttering before they quick-turned and walked away.
Astron’s never felt more sickeningly sober in its life.
In the dimly lit bathroom, Rat considered thanking a god once she had finally stopped dry-heaving her way through a panic attack. She felt dizzy, rising back up to be standing and praying her knees didn’t get dirty doing that. Their vision lined back up into something coherent, glancing at the white raven mask and groaning.
“I hate this…” He muttered, wiping his face with his hand. He felt pathetic, sorry for himself- but he wasn’t going to even let himself think about Astron.
Pick yourself up. She stepped, a hand on the sink’s counter, turning to look in the mirror. Makeup’s not too bad- maybe a little runny. Nothing they couldn’t fix. Nothing confidence couldn’t fix, put-on or not. It didn’t even matter.
That’s the key. It doesn’t matter.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he forced a smile. She put the mask back on, and the cloak’s hood back up.
“Good enough.”
They left the bathroom, persona put on again. Confidence, walking out into the crowd, any impulse to paranoid glance around for a specific person was squashed immediately. If he was seeking anything, it was a healthy-enough distraction.
It just so happened, then, that healthy-enough looked like a man in a purple sequin vest.
Blake wouldn’t consider himself a lightweight. But the other option here is that he’s whipped, which is far worse. A tall, handsome stranger with a dress showing off strong legs, which would be a good thing on any other day, was going to fuck up this entire night.
For starters, this ‘stranger’ was guaranteed to be someone he knew, and could very well be one of the people he planned on killing later in the night. What’s worse, they would pretty clearly be able to tell it’s him - everyone in the room would, that’s the damn point.
Convincing himself he’s stronger than this would be a goddamn lie, and not a very good one at that.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the music or the decoration, just…” They tilt their head, voice expressive as it lowers. “I thought more would happen here, Blake.” The stranger’s head turned to stare him right in the face. Even if he couldn’t see their eyes, it was piercing.
A hundred weak comebacks flash in his mind, but none are not-desperate nor coherent enough to be worth saying. “Easy, there’ll be dinner soon.” His voice comes out quieter and more under his breath than intended, and he’s considering praying that they don’t notice.
“Uh-huh?” Makes him remember why he doesn’t pray. They step closer, and his head is yelling at him to take a step back, but he refuses to look weak. “Is that all?”
“It is. What, are you asking what I’m doing after?”
Talk about a big fucking mouth, man. Blake didn’t intend to say it, and based on the slight physical reaction from the stranger in a plague mask, he probably shouldn’t have.
They leaned towards him, voice quiet and sharp. “Boy, if there weren't fifteen people to bear witness, I’d cut you in half and hang the inbetween from your amethyst chandeliers.”
Blake felt his face heat up, three realizations hitting him all at once. One, that this person was threatening him at his own event, in front of a dozen people. Two, that he wasn’t all that upset about it deep down, and three?
This is Rat.
He looked up at her, face turning as he considered his next few actions. Let Rat know that he knows, risk getting that threat delivered on. Kill them right here and now, risk everyone leaving before they can eat, and destroy the entire point of the masquerade. Act cool, or dumb, and get the best chance at salvaging this.
“Guess you have no interest in going home with me, huh?” He chimed, readjusting his demeanor to fall back to where it was before.
Rat scoffs. “Is all you do flatter yourself, Blake?” He can hear them putting effort into keeping their voice level, only presumably pretending that they don’t hate his guts. She returned to standing up straight, thankfully away from his face now.
Blake shrugged, turning to his left in an attempt to smoothly exit this conversation. “I was just matching your energy.”
He heard Rat try to start a response, but she picked up on him walking away and left it, heels of her boots clinking against the amethyst bricked floor.
Mumbling a string of curse words under his breath, Blake flattened his hair with one hand as he walked up the stairs to the bathroom around the bend of the landing.
He turned on the light, closed the door, and groaned. “Get out of my fucking head, man.” His words were drawn out, mumbled to himself as he pulled a comb out of his pocket and looked in the mirror to fix his hair.
Blake couldn’t pretend he wasn’t a little obsessed. Stealing and vandalizing an old painting already seemed like too much after he had done it. At some point, it was embarrassing, but he couldn’t buy that it was his fault alone. Rat probably intended for detailed threats to quicken his heartrate, but like this?
Lines get blurry all of the time, so were they blurring when it was needlessly a full-body action to drive a knife further into Blake’s gut?
“Fuck, oh my god.” He shouted, definitely too loud as he smacked his hand against the sink. Maybe a bit of an impractical method to stop a train of thought, but damn if it didn’t work.
Before it could start up again, he breathed in and opened the door, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sight of a guest sitting on the steps.
“Are you... like, good?” The guest in a red deer mask giggled as they spoke.
He sighed and threw his head back. “Yeah, no, of course someone heard that.” He muttered, before returning to a normal volume. “I am perfectly fine, and totally not getting weird as hell vibes from the plague doctor person.”
Blake waited for them to respond, figuring that they would since he had spotted them talking to Rat earlier, having a similar experience save for the horrible realization.
“Yeah... I can’t even guess who that would be, ‘cus I- I think they’re trying their luck with everyone here on... who’d go for a hookup?” They wiped what was visible of their face.
“Christ.” Blake chuckles, looking around the corner at everyone in the hall before he sat down on the stairs next to the deer-masked. “Here I was thinking I was special, too.”
They huffed. “Hey, you could be, but I’m just- telling you they went for me first.” They took a sip of a drink held in their shaking hand. “I was exaggerating, though. It... was just us two, from what I saw. So then we’re special, if anything.”
Astron watched Blake turn to look at them, before he whipped his head away and sulked. “Why aren’t you in the hall if you don’t have to piss?”
“Uh-” She coughed a little. “I got a little- nervous in the crowd?” It probably wasn’t smart to mention any specific details about a hot ‘stranger’ lifting up their bird mask to kiss her when no one was paying attention. Especially because that hot stranger had been flirting with Blake right after. “Think I drank way too fucking much, but- that doesn’t answer,” he swallowed, “why you... aren’t hosting your own party right now?”
Maybe it sounded a little more hostile than they intended it to, based on his reaction, but he sighed. “I don’t know, mind your business.” He mumbled rapidly. “There’s gonna be dinner served in like, ten minutes.”
Blake’s on edge, which wasn’t unexpected, but maybe a little entertaining. Astron might be a bit of a bad person getting so much enjoyment out of it.
“It’s fucked up, knowing that person’s someone we know. Especially... considering they know exactly who you are, right?”
“You’re just sat out here to torment me at this point, man.”
Astron laughed, finishing their drink. “My bad, my bad. It’s just- very clearly getting to you, I... thought you’d want to talk about it.”
“Okay, fuck the rules,” Blake turned, “who are you?”
They forced themself to pick up their jaw. “Astron.” He answered, feeling stupid from a great oversaturation of alcohol.
Blake paused, next words shoved out like he was actually pissed. “You need to get control of your fucking roommate, man.”
It took a few seconds too long for her to process what it is he was saying, but when it did, she’s certain her jaw was on the floor once again.
“That. Was Rat?” But of course it was, it felt obvious now. Maybe they hadn’t heard anything like that from him before, but not many other people were going to have the confidence to say all that, or the intent to have been so gentle before that. The real question was- was it real? Is it anything to feel hopeful about? Did she even know it was them that she kissed?
“Yeah, now imagine how I feel about that.”
Astron scoffed, but he was making a fair point. If she had been flirting with him, at a party that was partially to celebrate that he had kicked her ass that badly to warrant a victory painting vandalization?
This was too complicated for the state she was in.
“I’m way too fucking drunk.”
“Oh man, what I would give.”
Astron huffed. “Do-” Why not go for it? He seems to be chill with me right now. “Do you wanna be, or?”
“That’s the thing, man. I can’t. I literally can’t.”
They made a sound of loose pity. If anything was going to make someone want to drown in alcohol, it would be Rat.
Not speaking from experience.
“Okay.” She started, kind of slowly. “If… food comes in ten minutes, I can- keep him off your back until then.”
Blake scoffed, standing up and wiping off his slacks. “You throwing yourself to the lions?”
He held out a hand and helped Astron up, hover-handing while they steadied themself. “I’ve got one up on her… now that I know it’s her.” She put her mask back on, turning her head to Blake. “Whatever… you’re planning, leave a chance for me and you to drink after.”
“Who said-”
Astron’s face straightened. “Don’t even try. I’m offering you an opportunity here, since you almost seem like- like you’re fond of me right now.” Their head was still spinning, but best efforts kept them afloat enough to lightly threaten him.
Blake’s gaze was trained on him, like he’s trying to gauge if picking a fight is even worth it.
He didn’t respond as he left them in the stairwell.
“You keep- staring over at the stairs. What’s up with that?”
Rat blinked for a second, eyes darting back to who, after the longer they’d talked, she had assumed to be Lux, even if their tone of voice sounded a little off. It wasn’t like anyone else was going to wear business casual with fishnets to a formal event.
“I’m not staring. I’m listening to you.” His response was automatic, and felt more like something he’d say normally than the rest of what he was saying that night. Lux didn’t need the act, she already had her opinion set on who he was.
Lux scoffed, going to cross their arms but wincing and going back to the stance they were in initially. “Do you just like, not drink often? Because you’re kindof- really fucking obvious, man.”
“I’m a better liar than anyone might believe.” Rat wiped the bottom of their chin, a nervous tic, knowing she was proving their point. But he didn’t care.
Whatever it was that Lux said next, Rat didn’t hear it. Their next glance over her, over towards the stairwell, led to actual results.
Astron’s approach was filled with an equal mix of excitement and dread for Rat. He could be near certain his heart forgot it was supposed to beat, even if just for a moment.
They whipped their vision back to Lux, still not hearing what she was saying- safely assuming it was probably the same light jabs about staring that it was before. Footsteps on amethyst brick grew closer.
“Are… you two busy?”
Rat glanced up at them, steadying herself and preparing to speak, until Lux jutted in.
“Uh-” They looked between the two, drawing out the ‘uh’, before simply saying, “Nah. They’re kindof weirding me out. Maybe talk later.” Followed by an unceremonious exit.
This one might warrant payback.
Astron huffed, maybe laughing, before looking back at Rat. “A little rude of them.”
“Some people are- unruly.” Rat felt themself struggling to get back into character- like he was trying to pull on a shirt that was too small, even if it just fit yesterday.
They both fell into silence for a moment, looking at each other like this was as simple as two people trying to walk in the same place, in different directions.
Someone needed to budge.
“Did- I overstep earlier?” Rat shuddered out, quieter. He wasn’t doing a voice, not anymore. If Astron picked up on it, that was what he wanted to happen.
It’s unclear if they did. “No… I think we were on the same page- with that.” Astron already wasn’t great at putting on a voice, but maybe it wasn’t even trying to, anymore. “You’re making it obvious you’re not heartless. I can… tell you didn’t do it just to fuck with me.”
Sigh of relief.
“At least- not like that.”
She didn’t physically jump or flinch, but she could be convinced that she did. Rat huffed, feeling- very suddenly- weak.
He stumbled over what to say, managing to get over the shirt-too-tight feeling. “I’ll give you a point for catching me off guard.” Watching Astron grin gave him that jumping feeling again. If she were more of a poet, she’d call it a jump of the heart.
Staying focused is not exactly Blake’s strong suit.
The dinner would be starting soon, and while he was trying to see if he could spot where Zombie was, his eyes kept drifting to where he saw Astron walk to earlier.
He couldn’t hear either of them talking, not from this distance, but watching them was enough to get under his skin.
It wasn’t like he never went outside, never saw people interact with each other. He had, even before getting more involved with the local people here. It just felt different watching two of the people who couldn’t care less about him, so comfortable with each other. He felt dry, heavy.
Blake had people he trusted, but- if he was assuming right about what Rat and Astron were to each other- he didn’t have love.
He didn’t need it. But he looked on, anyway.
“Hey-” Blake flinched as he realized Zombie had been standing next to him, no telling for how long. “Don’t fall over, where have you been?”
Blake looked at them, eyes darting back in the wrong direction before he pulled his focus back. “Jesus, I just had to fix my hair. You should know I take it seriously.”
Zombie scoffed. “Maybe too seriously, I was concerned we’d be off schedule for the plan.”
He looked at them, a weighted feeling pushing further as he considered what to say next. It was in the back of his mind for the past half hour- should he go through with this? Being verbally hit upside the head, told to stop and think about the shit he wanted to pull- was this going to be worth it for more than ten minutes?
With Rat here, it was unlikely that things would go right. Take her out first, people wouldn’t want to eat the food. Poison the food first, risk the chance of getting his ass kicked anyways- why was she always one step ahead?
Either way, changing his mind on this would be fine if he was the only one who had set it up.
But he wasn’t.
“What?” Zombie’s face straightened. Blake went to talk. “Don’t act like you weren’t thinking about something, I know you. What’s going on?”
Strained, he sighed. “We can’t do it tonight.”
“Are you-” They started, just a bit too loud. Quieter, the predictably berating reaction continued. “Are you serious? Blake- you’re not getting cold feet. When else are we going to do it? Get all of them together and comfortable?” Zombie tilted their head, something they did often, as if it helped to hammer in a point any better. “This is your plan, why am I the only one delivering on it?”
“Zombie, you don’t-” Blake huffed, matching their volume. “We can’t. I want this, but I’m not an idiot- he is here.”
They resigned, crossing their arms and looking at the ground as they thought. “So, we poison them earlier. Would the drinks be able to pre-crystallize?”
“No, I-” He felt his face get red as he struggled to explain himself. “I cannot explain it, but somehow I just know they’re up to something too. Onto something, I have no idea.”
“Are you gonna let her ruin this? Let all of them get away with it?”
Blake pressed his fingernails into his gloved palms, sighing. “We- we’re going to do something, but it won’t be tonight. I swear.”
Zombie looked at him, like they were exhausted- tired of moving around him. “Fine.” They said- more like they didn’t want to keep talking about it, rather than being actually fine with it.
That was enough for Blake.
“Tonight, it’s just an actual celebration. Get some more- I don’t know, good press on me. We’ll sort things out later.”
“Whatever you wanna tell yourself. I’m leaving, by the way- this is your party, not our plan.”
He knew Zombie was saying it to hurt him, but wasn’t going to let it hit. He said goodbye, looking blissfully ignorant, even if they definitely knew it was just deflection.
Blake’s eyes darted back out towards where the crowd was, spotting two people dancing again. Scoffing, he unlocked the door next to him, and ducked into the kitchen.