Autumn Party 02

The tall figure seemed to be sagging bonelessly towards the ground as the servant was speaking, but as the man stopped, he snapped back upright and stared at him for several long moments.

"Oh." He shuddered, as if very tired. "Enjoy. I'm Enjoy? You're Enjoy? Oh, I'll enjoy. Thank you." He wandered slowly after the gryphon towards the food, a small paintbrush appearing in his hand with which he carefully drew black eyebrows on his mask, giving him a quizzical expression.

"Like a little fight in your food, eh?" Lamia replied to the red demon, half her attention elsewhere. She was intrigued by the other masked man.

From the entrance hall could be faintly heard "Goodness, no. I shall be adjusting these awhile. Please go ahead of me, my good... er, fellow."

"Maybe later." Arza tilted her head curiously. "So what else? Does that species of griffin consider everything else with wings rivals and start fights?"


"That's more of an unavoidable nuisance if you prefer the taste," Kinta answered, followed by Ebani telling him, "Oh, you're such a bore."

The black demon shrugged lightly, and nodded a greeting at the masked man; the griffin didn't really seem interested.

The angel smiled placidly, watching the gryffon momentarily... then he looked at Arza. "In a sense. That particular species considers most birds to be holy. Yes. Even... chicken."

The gryffon, mind, wasn't really paying attention. He was too busy picking food on a tray. A tray -- not a plate. It was one the happiest days of his life. But then, any day with free food was a happy day.

"Hmmmm, if you'd rather get rid of your wings for the moment, Kinta mentioned there's a greenhouse through there, seems to be the best place ouside of outside." She pointed at the door with glass panes off to a side.

"Hm. Good point. Thank you kindly, miss," said the angel, bowed slightly and snuck off after a final glance at the gryffon.

"Psst, over here!" Lamia beckoned Mr. Frock Coat over with a jangle.

Before Kinta could answer, Ebani went on, "And a liar to boot. Don't say you didn't enjoy picking apart that tax counsellor last month bit by bit - at least after I'd softened him up so he couldn't get away. Same with the bank clerk two weeks before, after I'd spent weeks setting up that crafty bird. He continued with a litany, and after a few attempts at interrupting him, Kinta put his hands behind his back and patiently listened. Soon or later little red would shut up.

Azra meanwhile turned to watch the two who preferred getting food to talking about acquiring it.


The door to the greenhouse was of generous size, and walking through it meant walking into a wall. Inside it was hot and humid, air heavy with musty smells. It seemed lit more brightly than the main hall, though with what was not clear. The light filtered through leaves, turning the air green.

Around the door there was a halfcircle of a handful of stairs leading up. A few vines and roots curled down them. Mats of moss softened the top edge between the worked stone and a near-wilderness consisting of tangled trees, lianas, vines, and undergrowth. However, a path - narrow and like the stairs with edges softened by growth creeping in - leading away from the door betrayed that it was being cared for, or at least visited regularly.

An occasional rustling and movement of unseen creatures as well as a few bird calls showed it was not entirely unhabited, either.

Lamia showed some fang, paying more attention to Ebani than Kinta and occasionally interjecting a "Really?" or "Fabulous!".

She was still hoping the other masked figure would join them, and the occasional flicker of her eyes in that direction made that fact quite plain. Besides being dishy, the man's dazed-and-confused act was interesting - not least the face paint.

The white-masked man was standing next to the table, patiently peeling the skin from a grape. He lifted it to his mouth, seemed confused for an instant about the mask in the way, and then placed the flayed grape back in the bowl. A pile of skinless grapes and a few wet spots on the mask indicated this had happened more than once.

When Lamia hissed at him, his head turned towards her, independent of his body, which continued to peel grapes. The resulting angle looked rather uncomfortable and right on the brink of unnatural. The jangling of her bangles seemed to grab his attention, though, and he placed a last grape half-flayed back in the bowl and swiveled the rest of his body around to walk over to her. He stopped several steps in front of her and bowed again, once more almost falling over before standing upright again. He cocked his head to one side interestedly.

"Are you Enjoy too?" He spoke slowly, carefuly enunciating his words.

The angel raised both eyebrows as he examined the greenhouse from just inside, in front of the door. He sucked in some of the humid air and its scents, closed his eyes and let himself calm down. There were some thoughts and memories he wished were gone, and this somehow fed one of them at the expense of the others.

As he thought about this further, the angel started down the path. He was without care.

Rustling sounded in front of him, and, more slowly, behind him, suggesting shy, small animals, who, however, stayed unseen, just like the birds. The path - first bare dirt soon, strewn with leaves and debris - was passable, the angel only had to duck his head your under low hanging growth occasinally. Lost in though as he was, eventually the angel got his halo tangled. The vines really did not seem to want to let go again.

"No, my dear, I'm Lamia," said the moderately scaly female, terribly impressed by how much this bloke was getting into his role. "Delighted to meet you. You must tell us all about yourself. Oh, but did I interrupt you in peeling your eyeballs? That's too bad of me, isn't it, Ebani? But Mr. Enjoy, I just had to say how much I love your mask."

Lamia had been gesticulating vaguely while speaking and now let her arm fall back down to her side with another small metallic noise. It turned out she had only stopped enthusing in order to take half a step and snag a wine glass with her other hand. Eyes still on him, Lamia took a slow sip.

With her back towards the door, Lamia did not catch sight of the next guest. This one had continued this year's unofficial wing theme, although his were scaled rather than feathered. He was dressed in brilliant red, and the wings, banded with bright green and blue, lay flat along his back. He too was walking on all fours.

A mask, reptilian with a touch of bird of prey, fit well over his rather large nose. There was a stiff headcrest of blue feathers glued to the top of it, half flattened to indicate this particular dragon was here to have a good time.

"Heyyy!" the new guest called over to the gryphon. He considered making straight for the food too, but instead fixed on the blue demon, the one who didn't seem to be engaged in any other conversations.

"Kiss for the lizard, miss?" the dragon said as he approached. His tail, which would have been fearsomely bludgeonlike if it hadn't been made from stuffed fabric, bobbed quite realistically behind him. It was wagging.

The masked figure seemed very distracted by Lamia's gesticulating, his head swiveling to follow her hand as she talks. As she stilled, his head continued to swivel for several moments in the same way before he settled and met her gaze. His eyes, the only feature visible behind his mask, are palest grey and seem glazed over.

"I'm. I... I'm not Enj.. En..." He subsided momentarily. "You have shinies on your arms." he said, pointing at the painted scales. "You like my mask? Oh, how wonderful." An arm reached up and, hesitating slightly, doffed his bowler politely in a obviously rehearsed action. While attention was focused on this act of stilted politeness, his other arm was engaged in painting a single black line in a happy smile on his mask.

"... so you are not only a bloody liar, but lazy to boot," Ebani finally concluded.

"And proud of it," Kinta answered with a nod, and turned to the now smiling mask. "Sorry, I did not catch you name, what was it?"

Azra looked down at the dragon and considered for a moment. "I think there are what they call 'chocolate kisses' somewhere there." She waved vaguely in the direction of the table.

"Chocolate!" exulted the dragon, easily diverted. Normally he'd get up on his back 'claws' to snatch a few, but that was quite difficult in this getup. Maybe the gryph or the demon would help him reach.

"Ah... yes, shinies," Lamia said. She turned and shifted the few unmatching metallic bracelets up and down her forearms, thinking he liked the moving light.

He left the halo after it seemed the vines would not let go. Fair enough. Easy come, easy go. Besides: to wander here in the green, that was enough. Quite enough. After a while, he settled for looking a spot suitable for resting and relaxing.

The floor rose towards the far walls, which now were overgrown, too. In the spot where the path got nearest to one, three big seats stood next to a rivulet starting as a small waterfall. The rush of water was soft enough to be calming, and the seats had apparently been grown out of a few giant leaves each, with a velvety texture.

Acting on Azra's suggestion, the dragon approached the table. He found, as he'd feared, that his costume impaired his ability to stand on his hind claws.

Well, if the Martongelli Mountain Red couldn't come to the food...

He gripped the tablecloth in his carnivore's teeth and began inching everything on the table towards him. This course of action seemed likely to end in wreckage extremely quickly if not curtailed.

Most of the group attention was waiting for Mr Enjoy to indroduce himself, but Azra noticed what the dragon was doing. She watched for a moment, seeing that the griffin was too baffled to do anything. After a short fight against temptation to just let it happen - she couldn't eat anything with her mask on, anyway - she had to hurry to help.

Pressing the dishcloth down on the table right in front of the dragon she said, "Sorry, it was chocolate you wanted, yes?" She piled a plate high with the stuff - an entire platter seemed a bit too much - and after a moment's hesitation placed it on the ground.

And I thought I'd get half a day off from looking after greedy dragons.