Event Private Hide Your Face, Reveal Your Thoughts

The whole ‘disguise’ aspect of the masquerade was useless when was nearly impossible for Lucas to not look like himself. If there was a charm that could mask his ears, his unruly hair still still had him sticking out like a sore thumb-- it was embarrassing. Nothing he wore mattered, even in the stuffy wool suit, he was undoubtably Lucas. The jacket's tackiness transcended time. According to his history textbook, there was no decade where the floral embroidery along the slightly too long cuffs could have been acceptable. His mask was simple, covering the right side of his face and decorated with the flowers he got from October's banquet which also poked out from his hair.

Most of the attendees appeared to be at a solid foot taller and at least a decade older than him. This was not usually a problem, Lucas was "great with adults" after all. With a good chunk of the school staff being family friends, he had been to countless holiday parties, and entrusted to take home the class pets, but it was different this time around. Besides a few outliers, everyone had disguised themselves, the people he had known so well were now 'perfect strangers'. Lucas couldn't walk up Mr. Altair and ask how his sisters were doing, instead he just played along, reintroducing himself to about twelve people who would have known him underneath their masks which was redundant for someone who also happened to be a werewolf that could tell people apart by smell. It was an exercise in self restraint, and a boring one at that.

Then Lucas noticed her. The scent stood out among the overwhelming amount of body odor and alcohol, he was aware that there was someone who smelled like oranges nearby. What he didn't realize was that this same person had been looking in his direction. The moment their eyes met, it finally occurred to him how dumb he probably looked, like the garden department of a home appliance store. From her scent alone, he knew that she was someone who he had never met before, not even brushed up against. And from the brief glimpse he got before averting his eyes, she didn't look like anyone he knew either. His tail restlessly wagged as he approached her with caution. It was more of a nervous habit nervous habit that anything, but Lucas was also a little stoked; he found a legit stranger.

" Good evening miss." The formality was delivered with an ease unusual for a fourteen year old. He extended a hand to her, a smile poking out from underneath the left side of his mask. Lucas was ready to improvise.

" They call me... Lord Fowlian."
@EmiRose

It was easy enough to reciprocate her smile with a polite nod, but doubt started to ooze in once she took hold of his hand. Her grip was limp like an elderly woman. Shit, there was even a chance Isabela was actually an elderly inside the body of a teenager. That was a thing here. Whoever she really was, there was just something uncanny... "off" about Isabela which he guessed was pretty inevitable in a disguise situation, maybe explaining the strong scent.

" The pleasure is all mine." A laughably cheesy line he picked up from period dramas, he bowed his flower ridden head. To keep a jumbling of cracked sounds from happening, Lucas stuck to his regular voice, yet it was forcibly lower and sharp. It was also kind of strange to be called Lord, especially when there were cooler rankings like Sergeant and Commander, but it was the option that respected all the work put into getting to the other rankings. All a Lord needed to do was exist.

" I do agree, why else would I have said good evening?" Even as Lord Fowlian, the smart ass had not escaped, it was only diluted and dumbed-down.

" The crowd is decent enough. Music's great too." Lucas shrugged as if the ball wasn't bombarding him with overwhelming mesh of noises, sights, and smells. Isabel was all three of those.

" Would you care to dance?"

“ Fair enough. Pleasantries and all of that. I get it. Though, I imagine boring evening would be pretty obsolete. ” He shrugged again, then moving forward slightly to take her hand. The corners of his lip and brows narrowed in closer, an uneasy smile. Although the idea of embarrassing himself in front of a stranger stirred up butterflies in his stomach, this time it wasn’t Isabela.

Lucas placed his other hand on her shoulder blade, hoping that Isabela would follow along as he began to move side to side. He hoped it was enough for her to follow along, or better yet take the lead since, his dancing skills were limited to the Electric Shuffle and grapevines from PE: the only class he ever came close to getting a B in. In the meantime, he debated what questions would theoretically distract her from his dancing.

“ So, what brings you here? Are you visiting from the narrow reality?” Lucas asked, bracing for the truth or a lie. Either way didn’t really matter, as long as he got an answer.

Now that Isabela took the lead, it became easier to focus on something else other his feet, which at first came as a relief… until he looked up. Besides her mouth, Isabela’s mask hid any part of her face that could have been recognizable. It was hard to read someone that way. Without eyes and a nose to go off as a guide, a smile could mean anything, at least he had one hint to go off of: her cheeks. Of course, Lucas only noticed her blushing because he suspected he probably was doing the same, though he wasn’t sure why.

“ Huh, that’s funny. For someone from the middle of nowhere you sure are damn good dancer.” He snickered. Not quite in the swing himself, he always seemed to be only millimeters away from stepping on her feet. Glancing back up, there was a playfully nervous smile on his face, like a deer on ice struggling to stay upright, it was difficult not stumbling into her as they danced, but he was determined.

“ Damn isn’t very gentlemanlike word, is it? I amLord Fowlian.” He said, half apologetically and the other half just wanting to repeat his alias again.

When Isabela mentioned that Shiro was the one who invited her, Lucas just blinked. Lord Fowlian was not acquainted with them, even if Lucas was. After the trouble with Gemma over the summer, Shiro didn’t have the best things to say about him, in all fairness neither did Lucas. It was best for the lord of all things that fly to just keep his lip shut to not offend her, even if Isabela’s relationship to her raised some questions.

“ So… Do you like this place? I assume it’s pretty different from your home… do you know how long you’ll stay?”