The grand ballroom

A well dressed old man waited outside the doors the ballroom with a very grumpy look on his face.
“Bah, why do I have to serve a bunch of common rabble.” He muttered to himself sullenly as he waited for the first guests to arrive so he could show them into the main venue for the festivities.

After a dreadfully uneventful and tiring journey, Zurui was relieved to see the castle finally coming into sight. It was surrounded by an ominous mist which only served to enhance the spine-tingling chill cascading throughout the area. With the moon hanging high above the cloudless sky and shining its light particularly strong around the vicinity of the castle, even a man as steely as Zurui felt a sense of unease.

The Kiri-nin, garbed in black and with mask and hair colored much darker than typical, made his way up the winding path to the lonely, isolated castle. Perhaps it was the eerily ominous weather conditions or the general silence of the castle itself beyond the occasional howling gust of wind that gave Zurui pause when it came time to knock on the door and announce his presence. He had a bad feeling about all of this.

Shaking his head free of the resulting paranoia, the Jounin gave a solid knock to the door and awaited an answer before proceeding further.

her costume:

Yui sighed as she was invited to this strange event, however, to make more connections for her clan she was basically forced to go. She had asked Kanna advice on an outfit and she told her to wear this revealing sand frankly embarrassing outfit. She saw another man at the door knocking as she would look toward him and give a wide grin, she would offer her hand to the man, before him stood an attractive woman in a very skimpy maid outfit but she seemed to be full of energy and quite outgoing.

"The name is Kotosura Yui and it is nice to meet you, oh and I am from Konoha... so what is your name and where are you from."

Some people might recognize the name of her clan as it is one of the most powerful bloodlines in the shinobi world. It certainly was not considered weak, offensively few are as versatile with such a massive power as her clan. She would wait for the man to answer her or the door to open as she took a deep breath calming herself down as she was still quite nervous.

An answer had not yet come from the door, leaving Zurui in the chilling silence of the early night. He heard what sounded like a soft step behind him, but he passed it off as nothing more than another act of the wind. This place was so far out of anyone's way that there wasn't likely to be anyone arriving at the same time as he that he'd not seen on the road. Having convinced himself into a relaxed lull, Zurui nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice.

With a turn, Zurui faced the scantily clad woman and sighed his relief. It wasn't a ghost after all, thankfully. The Kiri-nin took the woman's hand and replied, "I am Zurui, of Kirigakure. A pleasure to meet you, Yui." He released the hand and, since the people in the castle seemed to be taking a while to answer the door, he tried to spark up a conversation.

"So Konoha received an invite to this place too?" He asked.

The woman silently ambles along, peering at the odd location as she shows up to it. She adjusts the hat upon her head, mostly having dressed up as a witch. She isn't holding a broom.... but that's mainly because she had it sealed away just in case. It isnt long before she paces into the general area, sighing upon noticing Yui and a stranger. Her arms fold under her chest as she peers about, pondering why there weren't too many people here. Maybe the invitation was just ignored for the most part?

"Well, at least we weren't the only ones that showed up." Kanna remarks nonchalantly, still looking around and what not.

Outfit:

Yui heard Kanna voice as she quickly dashed over to Kanna grabbing her arm and pulling it into her chest. She was glad Kanna came she was sure she was going to avoid it but it seemed some of Yui's boldness was starting to wear off on her. She would turn to Zurui and smile as she would think how to introduce Kanna.

"Yep we got the strange invite as well, I did not think Kanna here was going to show up but it seems maybe I am breaking her out of her shell some. She is my best friend in the world and... she is a good friend. I wonder why we got invited here though, this place is rather creepy but maybe some sort of party with lots of delicious food, AH I BET THAT'S WHY YOU CAME KANNA. You only came for the food didn't you..."

Yui would look over to Kanna smiling and sticking her tongue out at her still holding her arm into her chest. She wondered if Kanna noticed how much her bust grew in the last two years, she was quite satisfied with her bodies transformation from a flat girl to one with quite a nice bussom.

Seeing the way the only other invitees thus far had dressed, Zurui began to wonder if perhaps he'd misused his transformation technique. Rather than a masked man, he could have appeared as an under-dressed woman and fit in with the other guests much better. Perhaps he'd do that later on and make a new cover to go with it, but for now, he'd have to remain in his current form, lest he ruin a perfectly good opportunity for infiltration later on.

"Well, the invite certainly implies food. I've not heard of a masquerade ball without some kind of buffet." Said Zurui, recalling the invite. "Though the rest of it is...odd. Dead shall rise, bring your better half..." The masked man drifted off in his mildly altered tune -you see Zurui subconsciously changes the resonance and/or level of his voice; it's not that his author is using a touch screen and hits the wrong color on that tiny little palette ^^'. The implications of the message could've simply been a clever allusion to some grand entertainment, but the possibility always lingered of something more sinister, especially in this world.

Akihiro traveled a long way to reach this place and yet he was still unsure about why he accepted the invitation. Perhaps it was because the invite was so mysterious. Akihiro was a naturally curious person and the mystery revolving around this curious invitation was something he simply could not resist. Of course, he knew he wouldn't be alone in this since he knew the invitations had been sent to all over the Land of fire at least.

"And apparently also to the Land of Water..." Akihiro thought as he identified the man who wore the smiling mask. If Zurui was here then the invitations had reached other lands and possibly not just the Land of Fire. Looking around a bit more Akihiro identified a couple of more people. They were both Konohagakure no Sato kunoichi although Akihiro had never really talked to either of them. The Uchiha approached the castle door and the group. He was wearing a custom-made cloak- he had grown really accustomed to it and instead of getting a whole new outfit he simply decided to pick one which would go along with it. He bought a simple mask at the market, and a dye to temporarily dye his cloak red.

Outfit:

"Hey~" The cloaked figure waved at the trio. "Zurui." The mask nodded at the male ninja.

The female adjusts the witch hat upon her head and elevates the arm that isnt being held onto, frowning at her. "I'd of just went somewhere local if it was for the food, don't worry." She remarks, hinting at some of her intentions in showing up in the first place. She continues looking around on occasion, offering a nod to Akihiro but otherwise not saying anything. "What are you here for anyways? This just seems like a waste of time from the looks of it." She admits, moving to pat Yui with her free hand and inspect her choice of wear.

"You should've covered up more, sheesh." Kanna murmurs, looking a little disappointed. She wasnt seeing the point of sticking around, but there were obviously reasons she didn't touch on directly.

The eerie surroundings just to get up to this castle was a bit unsettling to Rin. Include the mist that seems to cling to the ground as the castle is now within view. The invitation spoke of bringing somebody with him, but Rin couldn't think of anyone to bring along. He figured everyone else would arrive anyways so Rin didn't bother trying to bring somebody with him. Another key factor is when the letter spoke of bringing the best part of himself to this party. Now Rin originally was going through halloween themed outfits and liked some of them. Yet they didn't feel like that was truly Rin.

So Rin decided to dress into a suit where it is mainly black with silver lines on the jacket. The buttons are also silver that gives a shine from the moonlight as his dark slacks fit him nicely. The suit itself was tailored to him since Rin now stands at 5'7” with a set of boots. In his left jacket pocket is what appears to be a silver pocketwatch that has a chain hooked onto his left side. Underneath the jacket is a grey dress shirt and over it is a black ornamental vest that holds a silver celtic knot jacket. Finally tied around his neck underneath the collared dress shirt is a solid black tie.

Rin's layered warm black hair frames his face as it falls down to his shoulder as Rin approached the five individuals that eventually came into view. Rin immediately recognized Yui and Kanna as he waves at them in greeting before turning his attention to the other three. “Seems like we've arrived just in time. Lovely castle you got here.” Rin spoke the last bit directly to the… Butler? Wouldn't surprise Rin if this butler was also part of the castle's security. Rin doesn't appear to be armed as there was no visible tools on his person.

His hazel blue-green eyes shifted between the five. It seems that either he dressed too much for this occasion or he chose the wrong theme. Either way this was a good opportunity to meet new people and considering his recent acquired status Rin dressed how he should be. Though he'll admit that it is a bit odd seeing himself in a suit considering that he's never worn one in public. “Rin Tohsaka Uchiha, Shinobi of Konohagakure. And you are?” Rin introduced himself and inquired about Zurui's name. Would be kind of awkward if Rin referred to him as Mask Man or something like that. Rin recognized Akihiro, but really he just recognized a face with a name. Still Rin would greet Akihiro as well with a smile on his lips.

Rin's Formal Attire:

Even more, guests seemed to arrive, one seemed to know Zurui and appeared to be from Konoha, Yui turned as she heard Kannas remark with a wide smirk on her face. She would move close so Kanna could only hear and would whisper something into her ear.

"I wore it hoping later we could enjoy each others company."

It was clearly Yui just teasing her as she would pull away and wink, she often acted like this toward Kanna. She was not sure if Kanna knew how she felt about her but if she did she played it dumb. She always enjoyed being around Kanna and she had become a lot more open over the last two, she actually talked to Yui openly now and they had grown quite close. She felt like she could tell Kanna anything and she would be fine with it, she might scold Yui for being an idiot but she was not as cold as she once was.

Yui would turn to the man guests and bow slightly before lifting her head and noticing Rin a wide smile crossed her face as she would walk over and look him up and down. He had a nice suit on and a mask, trying to play the cool guy she certainly was going to tease him about that.

"Rin coming in style, maybe you are hoping to find a girl of your dreams here, you go lady killer you."

From the still of the night, as the contingent of young teenagers and young adults conversed outside, there was not any other disruptions aside from the very minor commotion coming from inside the ball. The butler who stood outside, waited impatiently and irritated as the group of guest chose to converse outside the Ball inside of heading inside. Masuyo was well aware of this gathering, being spotted from around the block. She was dressed in her costume, so her identity was concealed in the slight off chance one of them managed to catch a glimpse of her presence as far away she was, though highly unlike due to the dark of the night. She intended to have fun tonight, as Halloween was the night of mischievousness.

Her presence wouldn't near until the conversation ripened between the group. Despite her location, she was undetectable as she made her way behind the Kirigakure male with the black hair. He was unaware, not only in the moment but passively he seemed to be the least alarmed out of the group. There was Rin, Yui, Kanna, and Akihiro. They were all Konoha Shinobi, and people well known to her given her extended experience as a Jounin and general knowledge of the village. She fought Rin and Yui first hand to know their individual abilities. Nonetheless, this man was fresh meat. It was always fun to provoke the unsuspected, and better yet someone you did not know. It made the prank feel more dangerous.

From the cobblestone flooring appeared a white lump at first before it began rising up from the floor gradually revealing the full appearance of Masuyo. Her costume was nothing more than a white sheet with two holes cut out for eye sockets. When worn the sockets were shaded out not giving any details about her eye color or general facial features. This ghostly figure emerged from the stone flooring behind Zurui making no audible sounds whatsoever, her breathing even kept as a bare minimum to not trigger any of the man's senses. After surfacing completely she would speak out. "Boo!" Jabbing her fingers lightly into the upper back of the man she attempted to startle him the best she could.

Masuyo's Costume:

The Stuff:

Eden had been reluctant to venture outside of the walls of Kirigakure initially, not out of fear but out of a distinct desire to remain close enough to the Village that their plans could continue unhindered in the case of any absence. That, along with the fact that they felt hardly powerful enough as of yet to go wandering into strange lands – the entirety of the scenario seemed like a death trap more than anything.

Asriel had insisted, however, that attending this ball would be worth it for the simple fact that it was possible they would meet others like themselves and also there was a high probability that Aryn or Shinoskay would be there; two individuals whom they had a few words to say to and a few scores to settle between them. With that in mind, Eden had reluctantly agreed and after a further explanation of what a Costume Ball was and what exactly a costume itself was: They would prepare a costume that they felt was befitting of themselves and go to meet with their close ally and friend, Kazumi, before leaving the village.

The reason Eden would seek out Kazumi before leaving was two-fold: Firstly, to see if Kazumi had received the same strange invitation. And Second, to see if Kazumi would further be willing to travel alongside them seeing as Asriel was unable to accompany them due to his desire to remain within the Village and work on what he insisted was something of dire importance and even more dire secrecy.

Whether or not Kazumi had indeed been able to accompany them, Eden would travel to the place in which the letter had instructed them to come and would enter the Ballroom after making their presence known to the rather irritating servant who seemed to be in charge of the guests. Eden’s costume was somewhat simple but being that they had little experience with these types of events or really any sort of ordinary Human affairs, it was all that one could really expect from them.

The costume consisted of a white straitjacket fashioned from a shirt that was too long for them along with a few straps of leather which served as the restraints which wrapped around their torso and would appear to be keeping them from moving; although it would be easy enough for Eden to remove if they wished to do so. A small strap of leather fashioned much like a collar was worn around their neck in turn, along with a face metallic face mask that covered their nose and mouth as if to prevent them from biting others.

It was important to note, of course, that Eden had gone so far as to have their brother fashion a pair of contacts which were worn in the eyes to give them a red appearance over their usual brown eyes which, along with the fact they had cut their long hair to be shoulder-length and splashed themselves with bits of fake blood and that they had even darkened their eyes with eyeliner would complete the outfit in its entirety.

Narrowing their eyes somewhat, Eden would take a look about the room and think internally about the lack of individuals that they had any knowledge about or any care toward, muttering about how many ordinary Humans were in attendance while waiting to see if they could catch a glimpse of either of their targets; ready to perform some reconnaissance if the need arose.

“He had better be right, or I will make sure he regrets nearly forcing me to come to this idiotic Human gathering…” Eden muttered to themselves in reference to their brother’s insistence on Eden going to the party which they had already begun to feel out of place in, despite the fact they had only arrived a short few moments ago.

“I suppose there is nothing else to do but to wait…” They would then add after a short pause, continuing to glance around the room while taking up a standing position at one of the far ends of the room – hopefully away from the majority of guests, as they were currently waiting on two guests in particular and did not have the desire to converse with perfect strangers at the moment which, as they could already hear Asriel reminding them, completely missed the point of such a gathering.

He could say such things all he liked, it did not make Eden any more comfortable in this moment and they only hoped that something would hurry to come along and cure this anxiety they felt building within themselves.

Costume Image:

Dress:

An old castle, an eerie Count, a spooky time of the year. The perfect ingredients for a perfect recipe towards disaster. And naturally, it called for a full-fledged Yokai to join the fray without frills or bells to complete this forlorn place. Ghostly white hair, black horns, black eyes and a pallid skin. Two snow white wings jutting out of her back to add to the twisted imagery. Wearing a simple black dress of sateen and chiffon. The fifteen year old Yokai was dressed girly, elegantly and yet fitted in with the spooky medieval theme that lingered around the area. A paradox of the innocent girl harbouring a dangerous malevolence, the purity of an angel corrupted by a demonic ancestry.

She would step into the ballroom and be greeted by the curmudgeon in a butler attire. If he was amazed how realistically this demon 'costume' looked, his composure revealed nothing of the sort, maintaining his sense of professionalism by remaining unaffected by whatever antics thrown his way. He'd bow lightly, his hand signing her she could move on as he revealed the room to be the ball room of Count Volseig and mentioned the name of those guests who had identified themselves. Akari would give her own name, thank him with a small curtsy and move on to mingle with the other guests. Not that she was that interested to deal with Humans but if she wanted to discover the secrets of this castle she guessed she'd require to pick up some small-talk and conversation.

Most of the guests looked all dressed up in the oddest of costumes. Some wearing a rather formal attire, others indulging in the spirit of the period by looking like a witch or a walking white bed sheet. One of them even looked like a madman trapped in its own confines, the idea rather amusing in the eyes of the Yokai enjoying the idea of mental torture. Perhaps adding some realism to the costume could spicen things up a little, given the opportunity.

For now she'd take a glass of wine from another servant, the teenager probably not supposed to be drinking but not caring one bit for rules and regulations concerning drinking age. She wasn't here to get drunk, after all, she was here because she was invited and wanted to discover the area, have some fun outside of Kumogakure for a change.

---

XP:20

Kanna grimaces a bit before trailing a long some, still staring about curiously. Nothing seemed to be off with their surroundings but she still couldn't shake some of her disinterest with this place. Perching herself by Yui, the female shifts back, mostly noticing more incoming arrivals. She sighs, going ahead and contemplating it for a moment. "Might as well go ahead and explore. I dont see a reason to stick around." The female remarks, wanting to discover more about this place.

She glances at Yui to see her take on it, briefly glancing at Rin out of mild curiosity as well. She was welcome to fellow Konoha Nin tagging along as well, but there wasn't exactly an open offer. "We'll just end up standing around and chatting all the time anyways." Kanna murmurs to the blonde.

Upon being visited by Eden and asked whether she had received an invite or not, Kazumi said that yes, she indeed had. She thought it was strange, receiving a letter that so many others seemed to get as well. She thought nothing of it at the time, until she noticed a few others leaving the village in strange outfits, and finally, Eden themselves asking if she’d come with them. A costume party in a foreign land, it sounded fun, to say the least. What would seal the girl’s decision was the fact that she’d get to tag along with Sin.

She didn’t have a costume prepared, she didn’t anticipate going until that very moment and never thought about going to anything that’d require her to dress up like so. She managed to find some hand old clothes that belonged to her mother, even her grandmother before she passed away. Her outfit was mismatched, but ended up fitting a theme that she argued was all tied together by an old hat she managed to find. She passed her outfit off as dressing up as a witch, even taking an old broom with her to hammer the image in harder.

Costume Image:

“It won’t be all bad,” Kazumi assured Eden, walking by their side as the two made their way into the ballroom. As they did, she’d give the man standing by the door a nod. Why Eden wanted to go to an event like this in the first place, she had no idea. As far as she knew, they had almost no interest in most other people. In her experience, they either felt immediate contempt or lasting apathy towards most, if not all strangers. Maybe they were finally trying to reach out and be more sociable. Maybe they just thought Kazumi would want to come, but not alone. Whatever the case was, they were here now, and she wanted to make sure the two of them had fun.

As they took up a position at the far end of the ballroom, the Yuki would be slightly disappointed. This wasn’t exactly getting out and enjoying themselves at a party. It more so just looked like Eden was just watching the door. “But why do we need to wait?” she’d ask. “Did you not wanna go out and talk? Sit and eat? Or even-”. Kazumi would cut off herself off suddenly, her eyes wandering towards a slightly raised platform just by the two. On it, stood a large, shining, black instrument. A Piano. She looked at it in a curious manner, tilting her head slightly as she pointed towards it with a single finger. “What do you suppose that is?” she’d ask

Yui was tired of waiting as she would go through the door and step inside, the other guests seemed to as well as servants would offer drinks. She watched the new people that had just joined the party, one, in particular, gave her creepy vibes as they appeared dressed like some sort of madman. Another one appeared to have some sort of horns, they seemed quite real but she doubted that still, it was nice to see so many guests as Kanna seemed to pull Yui along. As they entered the place Yui would look around shocked, it was such a massive place as she began to hop around and check out the various paintings and the decor of the place.

"Kanna this place is quite nice, still I wonder who the host of the part is, seems the servants are willing to give us food and drink and they do not appear to be stopping us from exploring so how about we check out more of the place."

She would tug on Kanna arm and wait to see what she had to say, she certainly had to talk to more people later. Gaining some connections with other villages could be quite beneficial for her clan after all. She would begin to walk up a spiraling staircase as she made it to the second floor and began to look down the hall. It was quite long and had many doors but she could see one open at the far end as she would begin to make her way down the hall, she, of course, would only go further if Kanna was willing as she acted brave but it was clear she was not good with spooking.

"Kanna something about this place is really creepy, I get bad vibes here, still a party invite is a party invite why not explore more and enjoy some free time alone. I can think of lots of fun activities for the two of us."

She would giggle and pull Kanna arm into her chest as she would walk forward, the pictures on the wall were quite odd it was all the same picture with male eyes staring intently forward. As they passed some of the paintings she swore she saw the eyes move as she jumped back a bit and laughed, that was silly of course.

"I could swear I saw eyes move on that painting back there, I guess it is just because of the creepy nature of this place."

Akihiro merely stood by the door and watched as the guests arrived and entered the grand ball room. No one seemed to be suspicious of anything and people were entering as if this whole thing was perfectly normal. With only a glance inside the room he was able to see people already enjoying glasses of wine, talking casually or even taking time to admire the paintings. Were none of they shinobi? Or was Akihiro just too paranoid?

"Unlikely..." The Chuunin thought. When his gut told him something was wrong, something was always wrong. And there was definitely something about this ballroom that seemed off for some reason. He felt like he would be trapped if he decided to enter that place. Akihiro wasn't an amazing physical fighter, he could handle himself but he knew he was far below the greatest masters in speed, coordination, and strength. His intellect was the only thing that made him stand far above the rest, and if his intellect told him something was wrong then he would trust it in the same way a samurai would trust his sword arm.

"Oh, Zurui! That's a nice smoke prop you have there! Is it part of your costume? How does it work, does it pop actual smoke? What if I pull this?" Akihiro approached Zurui from behind and he could only hope the two years of joint missions allowed the Kirigakure shinobi to read his intentions. Akihiro placed himself so that Zurui would stand between him and the buttler. He touched the man's coat and dropped a smoke bomb, which would fall on the ground safely protected from the buttler's sight due to Zurui's body.

The small ball hit the ground and the effect was immediate. A large cloud of smoke popped and immediately spread around the courtyard before the entrance door. "Oh!" Akihiro commented as if it had been an accident. With a single hand-seal he formed a Kage Bunshin while covered by the smoke. With the other hand he made a set of hand-seals and cast the Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique to cover his escape.

Akihiro left a Kage Bunshin in his place and left the scene while covered by his Genjutsu, changing everyone's surroundings so they wouldn't see neither him nor Zurui moving away (should he choose to do so). As the smoke cleared, Akihiro's clone stood behind Zurui (Or his own clone), chuckling. "Ahahaha Oops, I accidentally fired it off. Sorry about that. Should we enter?" The clone proceeded towards the interior of the ballroom, alongside either Zurui or his clone. By the time the real Akihiro was out of sight, the genjutsu dispersed.

Stuff:
Kage Bunshin
False Surroundings Technique

UA (used for real Akihiro to leave):
(...)through the use of his natural chakra and Genjutsu prowess to deceive enemies, he can hide his presence for three posts to any sensory technique and perception rank equal or lower than his class(...)

[Exit real Akihiro]

All of a sudden, the entryway became far too crowded. It seemed as though neither the commotion nor the knocking would prod anyone to answer, so it was just as well that Akihiro showed up. Zurui ignored all of the constant talking between the rest of the people, even words directed at him, and tried to wave to Akihiro, who got way too close all of the sudden. The Jounin figured that the boy had something in mind and, knowing him, it was probably the same thing he was thinking.

The smoke bomb went off and without a word, the Kiri-nin slipped away with the Uchiha, transformed as a smaller than usual cat on the latter's shoulder and leaving a clone in his place after the smoke had cleared. The clone immediately got onto the clone of Akihiro for the smoke bomb before finally answering Rin. "Zurui, of-..." Suddenly he was no longer there to answer the question, for it seemed a ghost had appeared behind him, naturally forcing the man into an inhuman leap onto the nearest tree.

[Exit real Zurui]

Kanna mostly glimpses at the newcomers before offering a silent nod in response to the female's statement. There was no point in sticking right here where it was all cluttered, otherwise they wouldn't get anything done. Following that mindset, the black haired female starts to head off, climbing the staircase in unison with the blonde. She kept trying to spot if there were any noticeable changes in their surroundings, anything that was essentially noteworthy for her. It was clear enough that she was interested in continuing along, primarily because it meant they'd get further away from all of the noise of everyone else there.

"Yeah, watch your back. There's a motive behind all of this." Kanna remarks, suspecting that this wasn't just some innocent gathering. With a brief adjustment of her witch hat, she paces down the hallway with Yui in toe, still looking around curiously. The female squints at the various paintings and furnishings along the path, watching them in silence.

"This is so problematic." The woman murmurs, exhaling heavily as she ambles along. (exit)

Yui was the first to comment on Rin’s choice of attire. It earns Yui a smile from Rin as he responds. “Well the invite did say to bring the best side of us. Though meeting the girl of my dreams is something i always have an eye out for.” There was a strong sense of confidence coming off from Rin as he wasn’t the hesitant and naive boy two years ago. Granted he still had his shy quirk about him, and to be honest if Rin hasn’t known Yui for years he would’ve been shy around her.

“Seems like your company is eager to get inside.” Rin would gesture with a raised hand towards Kanna’s direction as she was heading towards the ballroom. Naturally Yui went after Kanna, and Rin was left with himself. The man with the mask was introducing himself, but Rin only caught Zurui before somebody in a white bed sheet rose up behind Zurui and essentially scared him off. A lot of people seem to be coming in, and Rin recognized Masuyo’s voice as he chuckles from the display of Zurui’s jumping ability. “Think you could’ve knocked his springs out before you did that Mas?”

Looking over his shoulder a few others had arrived. One appears to be some sort of a madman, another some sort of a witch, and an individual with horns wearing a simple black dress. “Think it is high time for us to get inside the ballroom itself.” A suggestion towards Masuyo if she wanted to follow him or stay behind and see if she can scare someone else. Either way Rin would enter the ballroom as the shoes was soft on the plush carpet. In the middle is polished paneled wood that signals as the dancing area considering the position of the tables and chairs around this section. Chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were like diamonds with golden frames as it lit the place. The windows were covered with curtains as on the other side with Rin’s little eye spots four sets of doors. Two in the middle were a bit narrow compared to the doors on the left and right side.

Still by appearances this place is beautiful in Rin’s opinion. After taking this into mind Rin stops gawking at the place and expands his sensory field. This is done as Rin takes a seat at one of the tables closer to the entrance as he places his hand on the table surface. Lots of things can be detected within 250 meters so long as it was touching the surface in this castle. He’s not certain of what he would find, but Rin did detect both Kanna and Yui that seems to be walking deeper into the castle itself. Otherwise he is waiting to meet their host who has yet to reveal himself.

Used Sensing Technique

Yui would nod her head at what Kanna said, something certainly seemed amiss why invite what appeared to be nothing but shinobi to such a location. Even if Yui was a bit dumb sometimes she could feel something was certainly wrong with this castle. She would continue with Kanna toward the open door however as they had finally made it to the location she would stare inside and be pleasantly surprised. Inside the room was a huge library full of books, Yui very much enjoyed reading but she would not let go of Kanna arm continuing to hold it tight to her chest.

"So many books, just think of all the information and secrets we could learn, maybe we are just being suspicious for no reason. I mean inside all these books could even be some amazing jutsu secret we could both learn, maybe inside is some stories of legendary shinobi."

Yui would walk over to the book but they appeared to have very odd covers as she would pull it out and look at the artwork on the outside. It seemed like some sort of cartoon type of drawing with her opening the inside and beginning to flip through the pages her face would turn bright red. These books were all some sort of pornographic books, they showed all sorts of acts being done inside. Why would someone have a library full of sex books, Yui's face was still bright red as she placed it back inside where she had pulled it from.

"Those are... porn books, so filthy and lewd...I can't get the images and positions I saw out of my head... yeah you... we should probably avoid looking at them... I mean you can if you want... maybe we can tr... research some of the stuff we see."


EXP:20X5=100

-Thread Exit-

The ball room was a surreal experience. Too bright to her liking, but that wasn't even the worst. The lamps on the ceiling seemed to dance like will-o-wisps, never staying in a single place. Strangely, where the brightest light should be, blotches of complete darkness seemed to surround the light bulbs. The walls looked like a mass of swirling sand to her. Never really moving yet never being at ease either. A perception few shared yet none that granted anything remotely of use to the psychotic yokai.

Tables were neatly dressed for the guests and yet most seemed to wander around in search of... something. Shivers and insecurity, discomfort. Akari wondered if these Humans were out of their elements because of the general atmosphere that resided within the castle or if it had anything to do with the rivalries between the Villages, for even if she couldn't identify anyone of these visitors their vigilance and warrior-like stride didn't go unnoticed. One practically had to be blind not to notice it when there was such a vast crowd of shinobi clucking about.

Taking a seat around one of the empty tables, the yokai savoured the taste of the wine that had been offered. She wasn't really used to the taste of alcohol, and certainly not one as rich as this one, but since there were no rules here, no supervision and nobody knew her she found little reason not to do as she pleased.

Her black eyes would further glide over the decoration that hung around in extravagance, the quality and price of each piece way above her own pay. That the paintings seemed alive and the statues seemed to turn their heads to return her gaze was not so much her concern as the grimancer was rather used to see the oddest of things that weren't there. Naturally, one could wonder if this was still her psychosis playing tricks on her or if the castle's decoration was truly alive but the demoness cared little for such trivialities. She cared for the details. The architecture, the selection of art form, the chosen colours that recreated this whole room, the choice of music playing in the background... Anything that could tell her more about the Count, the castle's inhabitants or the reason for this strange invitation.

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Dress:

XP: 40

“My what sterling manners you all have, letting yourselves in without so much as showing me your invitations.” said the Butler sarcastically as he moved away from the door and towards the gathering of shinobi who where mostly grouped together in a loose nit cluster.  

“Thought I suppose that’s all that can be expected from a bunch of gritters and jumpoffs. Why the young master invited a bunch of no class ruffians like you lot to these hallowed halls is beyond me.” said the man, making a disgusted face as if he wanted to spit on the floor.

“You’ve come to feast off the success of your betters no doubt.  Well then feast you shall, never let it be said that the house of the great Count Volseig is not a generous one.”  said the butler clapping his hands twice.

As if on command a swarm of dozens and dozens of child size servants dressed like pawns chest pieces appeared carrying trays upon tray loaded with luxurious food and drinks which they brought over to the guests so they could freely help themselves.   If one looked closely enough at the servants one would notice they were not children at all,  nor human but rather dolls seemingly moving on their own.

The food itself was normal enough except it was the kind that one usually saw at only the highest end establishments.  Even one plate cost would cost more then the average man would make in an entire year and here they simply giving it away in abundance.

“Please help yourselves to the hors d’oeuvres but do try and save room for the main course.  I went to quite a lot of trouble preparing it and it would be such a shame if it went to waste.” said the butler with a hint of pride in his voice at all the work he’d done getting everything just perfect to today’s events.