December 31st, 1889 — A MC-friendly NYE party, Bartonburg

Ben had been living it up for the past week, getting in his fair share of balls and other festivities in after having to endure the Christmas holiday with his two brothers. He'd been drunk and surrounded by boisterous crowds every day so far, but that by no means meant that he intended to take it easy tonight. This was the big night, after all, and Ben intended to hit up at least half a dozen parties — assuming he could hold his liquor well enough to keep walking from place to place.

This was his second ball of the evening, but the night was still relatively young — there were others arriving as he was, so things must have only recently gotten underway. Ben gave his hat and coat to the doorman, and then was ushered into another room. This room was very small... nearly a closet, and not a hallway leading to the main event like he had first imagined. He was beginning to think there was some mistake, but it wasn't as though he'd just wandered in here on his own. He'd been specifically directed here by the doorman. He turned to go back the way he'd come and question the man, but found the door behind him was locked. What was the meaning of this?

There was a sudden flash of light, and then a door opened — not the one he'd come through, but one on the opposite end of the tiny room. Ben blinked to try to force his eyes to adjust, and took a few staggering steps out into a much larger area. This appeared to be the party — but what had been the meaning of that tiny room with the flash?

Before he'd had a chance to catch his bearing, someone stumbled into him from another door that was mere inches away from the one he'd emerged from. Ben wouldn't normally have reacted strongly to an innocent bump, but this was... not an ordinary person. What on earth were they wearing? Was that some sort of magical costume? He assumed there was still a human down there beneath it, but — well, it was hard to say, to be honest.

"Who the devil are you?" Ben asked, as the doors swung shut behind them. It was only then that he noticed that he — and, indeed, all of the guests — were dressed in similarly fanciful costumes. "And who the devil am I?"

OOC: Guests at this party are enchanted into costumes (and not sexy masquerade dresses but incredibly over the top, fantastic and fanciful costumes). Their disguise will disappear at the stroke of midnight but not before — even if they leave the party.

The following 1 user Likes Reuben Crouch's post:1 user Likes Reuben Crouch's post
   Hamish Darrow

---

MJ made this <3

Tristan was also having the time of his life. He was young and already had relative fame to his name and he wasn't shy about indulging it. This party he was at was being held in his old neighborhood where there was still a residence under his uncles name. Which meant that he didn't need to worry so much about flying while drunk.

There was large moments of confusion though and in his drunken state, it just made him extra confused. And then he was stumbling out of a door and spotted another person wearing some sort of fantastical costume. Or he assumed it was a person. "I have no idea who you are but I'm Tristan Michaud," he said. The voice from the other was mildly familiar.

Likely from some of the other parties he had been to both this week and, well, the past couple years or so.

  

---

"Tristan Michaud," Ben echoed, knowing the name seemed familiar but taking a moment to place it. With how much time he spent around Art and how many of his other friends were either Quidditch players or Quidditch-adjacent, though, it didn't take him long. "Ah, the chaser. What the devil are you wearing?"

He asked under the assumption that Michaud had had some agency in determining his outfit for the night (which was, generally, a fair assumption), but realized afterwards that in this case it might not be entirely accurate. Ben, after all, had been forced into ... something. A costume, he supposed, but it was hard to see it all while he was, well, in it. The shoes he was wearing looked more like — well, he supposed they had to have been boots, but from the shape of them it was hard to imagine that his feet were even down there. They sloped up towards his calves instead of cutting in at the top of his feet, making it look like he had hooves down there.

"You, ah — did you just go through that little dark room, too?" he asked, returning his attention to Michaud.

OOC: Although Ben doesn't know it yet he also has some big horns on his head/mask.

  

---

MJ made this <3

"Clothes," Tristan quipped, not aware that his attire had changed drastically. "Nice horns." Oh, how badly he had wanted to make some sort of sexual innuendo. It was right there. But he had to be careful who he spoke like that around, ugh.

"And it looks like you're just plain the devil," he said before nodding when the man asked if he had come through a dark, little room.

---

  

---

"Some fashion statement you're making with those clothes," Ben shot back easily. It hadn't occurred to him that Michaud wouldn't have even noticed what he was wearing, particularly if it had just changed in the course of the little dark room as it apparently had with Ben. Which, speaking of — horns? He reached up tentatively and discovered that the other man wasn't making that up. His assessment of Ben as a devil seemed fairly accurate, from what Ben could tell. Horns, hooves... a devil, maybe, or some sort of faun. He glanced around looking for a mirror, but saw none in sight. Luckily, at least he wasn't the only person dressed so strangely. Everyone at the party seemed to have some sort of elaborate disguise on.

"Must've been some magic in the closet, then. But I wonder what their game is?" he asked as he looked around at the crowd. "They could've just thrown a masquerade, if that was what the hosts wanted."

  

---

MJ made this <3

Tristan was confused for a moment since he had been wearing clothes typical of any middle class Quidditch player. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was now adorned in something else entirely. Something a dark brown that he would not normally wear.

"Maybe they wanted to mess with people," Tristan said. "Catch them unawares and make it so that no one truly know swho the other is unless they say so?"

  

---

"If they wanted identities to be a secret, they'd've done better to tell people," Ben pointed out as he surveyed what he could see of his own disguise. "You gave yours away in less than a minute."

  

---

MJ made this <3

"You've got a point there," Tristan said. "I didn't see anything on the invitation about any of this." Then again, he got a lot of those and sometimes they blended together. "Do you have any particular ideas - or at least see where the drinks are?" They were here already, might as well indulge.

  

---

"Not a thing," Ben agreed with a shrug, though it was also entirely possible that he had overlooked a minor detail. There were plenty of balls happening tonight, after all, and he hadn't intended to stay at this one for his entire evening. "I expect they're just trying to be interesting," he speculated. He wasn't sure how well they'd done on that front — it had sparked a conversation, after all, but if it was nothing more than that, would it really leave a lasting impression in the scope of everything else that happened during the season? (Or the off season, since that was technically the time of year they were in now).

"But," he said with a loose shrug, "Everything's more interesting with alcohol, so." He was certainly in favor of wandering off to find the drink table.

  

---

MJ made this <3

"Who knows - maybe more will happen once we take a drink," Tristan suggested with a shrug as he began a search for the drinks table. He grinned once he found it and it looked to be supplied with the best sort of drink to find at a party. "Bottoms up," he said in salute as he knocked back a glass of firewhiskey.

  

---