Midnight, 14 February, 1890 — Sweethearts and Sunsets Party

All in all, this hadn't been a bad party. The event itself was rather trite, but he'd managed to amuse himself in conversation with some people who whose company wasn't entirely odious, then danced with his wife and several distant relations who were passable company, at least for the course of one dance. His favorite part of the evening by far hadn't taken place at the party at all, but in a small room he'd talked Antigone into slipping off to. Ever since he'd raised the idea of having sex in a house full of people, a significant portion of them strangers, during the party they'd hosted that winter, the idea had been lurking in the back corner of his mind. It was a tantalizing prospect, if only because the inherent danger of being caught added a certain thrill. So when the opportunity had presented itself, he'd seized on it, and Antigone hadn't put up any particularly strong objections.

That being said, however, time had worn on and he was beginning to run out of things with which to entertain himself. He'd tracked his wife down and interrupted a conversation she was having with some woman he didn't recognize to indicate he would care to leave soon. That might have been the end of the conversation, as he expected she would agree and follow him willingly to the front door. The party was not, he imagined, so engrossing for her that she would argue for staying much longer. Before he turned to leave, though, he noticed a brightly colored smudge on her collarbone, just at the edge of her dress' neckline.

"What've you done here?" he asked, pointing it out. Had that just appeared as he'd been talking to her? He hadn't noticed it before, and it was too bright for him to have just not seen it. He certainly would have noticed during their little interlude earlier, since he'd been hungrily kissing that exact spot...

OOC: Antigone first, then open to others. Keep in mind that guests do not remember the reveal after leaving the party!

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   Melody Crouch

Despite having wanted to attend of her own volition (the idea of giving her two very single friends a hard time on St. Valentine's day was irresistible) by the time it came to get ready for the evening she had changed her mind. Preparing for the night ahead had been no easy feat, her maid had fumbled and flustered like a headless chicken and Tig had very nearly lost her temper and refused to go at all.

Her mood had eased once she was dressed and ready to go, although it wasn't until she'd arrived and stuffed some of whatever they were serving into her mouth that she started to forget her ill temper properly. Hanger was no laughing matter. No amount of canapes could have made dancing more enjoyable which was unlike her as she usually took particular pleasure from dancing. It wasn't until then that she'd realized quite how tightly her corset had been laced.

Whatever possessed her to let Tiberius lure her away? Certainly it had seemed worth it at the time, but she was already paying the price for it. The night couldn't end soon enough. She'd tried to go looking for him multiple times but had been diverted by various people whom she could only stand and tolerate unless she wanted to ruin the good impressions she had made since her party. Finally they were reunited and better still he wanted to go almost as much as she did.

Before they could get any further, to her chagrin he was suddenly stalling and really, she didn't have the patience for it at all! She glared at him irritably before she looked down to where he'd indicated. That was odd. Tig looked back up at him, glanced back at the mark and back to him. That couldn't be a coincidence! She rubbed at it but it didn't come off. Stealing a glance at the woman she'd just been talking to to make sure she wasn't looking their way, she looked back to him and hissed, "You tell me!"

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The idea that this mark could have had anything at all to do with him had not occurred to him. It had been an hour or more, after all, since the two of them had even been in the same conversation, and it had clearly not been there all evening, or else she would have noticed it beforehand. It was quite an unattractive color, he thought — garish, really — so it couldn't have been some kind of intentional fashion choice.

"You've got it on your mouth, too," he said as he noticed a smudge around her lips. It looked a bit like she'd put lipstick on, but quite poorly — the mark was sort of everywhere. Had she had something to drink that had left a stain on her? That didn't quite make sense, unless she had had a minor seizure while putting the drink to her lips — and even that woudn't explain the mark on her shoulder.

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   Melody Crouch

There was no way she could look at her mouth without finding a mirror, not that she thought he was lying but she did want to know how obvious it was. What was going on?! She hadn't exactly felt completely herself of late but this was a bit sudden, extreme, and very strange. Not that strange was so uncommon a phenomenon since she'd married Tiberius.

She started to raise her hand to her mouth and then faltered. "Speak for yourself!" Her hand finally reached its destination but now she using it to hold in a snort of laughter.

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Her comment went entirely over Tiberius' head. He raised an eyebrow at her as if challenging her to explain herself. The fact that she was apparently on the verge of laughter was not a mark in her favor, because he trusted her sense of humor less than he would have trusted the virtue of a prostitute. Before he could respond, however, he realized that it wasn't just her who had reacted to something. A pair of women behind her were staring at him, one of them with mouth agape. So Antigone wasn't just trying to get him riled for no reason — or if she was, she'd planned it out very far in advance and enlisted the help of lackeys, which didn't seem reasonable.

"What?" he demanded, wanting to shirk back from the looks but not sure how to do so when he wasn't even sure what they were looking at.

  

Her laughter suddenly faltered as she realized that they had both fallen victim to... something. Both of them. That meant it wasn't some scheme of Tiberius' but someone else's. Who would single them out for an embarrassing prank? Was Ellory here? As if Smellory would know how to do anything like this, she could barely find the right end of her wand. Inching closer to him, Tig hissed, "You've got it too." She looked about for anyone who looked interested in the way the culprit might but spotted nothing. She failed to notice that a few others were starting to come out with the marks too. "It's very unflattering."

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Tiberius' eyes narrowed at her quiet assertion, but it wasn't as though he could somehow blame her for this. She was obviously affected, too, and based on the looks he was getting he didn't think she was lying.

"Come on," he hissed, taking her arm and guiding her towards the door. "Let's get out of here." He'd been intending to leave before all of this had happened, anyway, but this mysterious mark business had only strengthened his resolve. He would have just disapparated them away to avoid the hassle of having to wade through the crowd and possibly stop to say goodbye to anyone on the way out, had that not been entirely too conspicuous.