Masques and Mateys, Part 2
Posted on Thu Oct 22nd, 2020 @ 9:53pm by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander S'hib
Mission:
Season 3: Episode 5: Shoreleave
Location: USS Elysium Holodeck
Timeline: Just before MD1 of "Know Thyself"
1906 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure
Previously in Masques & Mateys...
"The Governor of Jamaica has some pardons already with the Kings Seal attached. All the governor does is add the names of whoever he is pardoning, sign his on the bottom, and affix his seal." Miraj explained. "His seal is on his ring. He's having a big party at his mansion. To which you have an invite. I, posing as your footman, or pageboy, will sneak away from the party, and steal a pardon. You, at the party, will have to find the governor, and steal the ring off his finger. No stealth involved."
"Wait..." S'hib asked while spinning around, the mass of flamboyant cloth lagging behind as he stood there in silence for a long moment. "I'm playing as a woman, aren't I!" He exclaimed suddenly, the universal translator struggling to mask the loud squealing neigh of his native tongue.
Miraj's grin was bright as a supernova and just as large. She held up the lace mask. "Lieutenant, you shall go to the ball!"
and now the continuation...
Miraj had been grinning for the last five minutes, her face hurt, but the sigh of the giant lieutenant S'hib in a Robe Anglais will all the trimmings was just too good. Now they were in the announcement line for the ball at the Governors Mansion. The huge marble building was lit up with coloured lamps and flaming torches. There were musicians playing in the grounds, and inside the house. Miraj had added to her cabin boy waistcoat and breeches with a red frock coat and hid her hair under a grey powdered wig, so thanks to that and some ferocious bindings, was looking reasonably boyish. "Just be really arrogant. You're a wealthy widow, no one can control you unless you marry again. All your money and lands are your own."
"You know it's a good thing I like you," S'hib replied with an incredibly unimpressed look about his face, unable to appreciate the glamour and magnificence of everything around him. "Because I'm fairly sure I'm the first Sequus to ever wear this much nonsense..." He complained, tugging at the collar wrapped around his large neck.
"Then you'll have plenty to talk about next time you're back home." She reached over and pulled his hand away. "Leave the choker alone. Its only velvet, and it's very fashionable. All the gallants will want to dance."
"It's annoying is what it is," He snorted loudly, perturbing the couple in front and garnering a disdainful eye from the man. "Wait, what do you mean dance? I can't dance Miraj... I'm going to trip over in all this just by walking." S'hib huffed, his scowl deepening as he glared at the back of the couple in front.
The carriage door opened. Miraj hopped out and turned to offer S'hib her hand. "You'll be fine. Most dancing right about now is stuff called quadrilles. It's just fancy walking. Prancing. You can prance, can't you?" she asked him with a sly grin.
S'hib slowly turned his head towards Miraj, a single eye glaring at her "You're enjoying this too much, I don't like it." He replied with an unwilling smile creeping onto his lips.
They moved into the announcing line snaking through the mansion. Miraj took the opportunity to eye up the layout. "I promise, this is the worst it gets," Miraj told him. "You have the easy part. All you have to do is get the governor's ring. I'm the one going off sneaking."
"Yeah, look how well that turned out last time." S'hib sniggered with his lips curling back, enjoying his own joke too much.
"Hmpf. I nearly got there. If he hadn't been distracted I would have made it!" she protested.
They reached the head of the queue and they stopped at the top of a set of stairs that lead down to the ball room floor. Miraj handed over a card with a small bow to an over starched footman in cream and green livery. He turned back to the ball room and boomed out, "Lady Margot Fitzroy!"
Down below, several heads turned their way. Miraj nudged him forward. "Walk!" she hissed, so he didn't block the line. "The governor is over there. White frock coat and lion mask." The man in question was standing with a group of men, all in flared coats and animal masks over elaborate cascading wigs. "Got him?"
"Go make yourself useful boy and fetch me a drink," S'hib huffed as he placed the white porcelain horse mask over his long equine face. "Then you can go have fun..." He said before puffing out his chest and strutting forward.
Miraj sketched a bow, gave him a furtive thumbs up, and dashed off to find a waiter, leaving S'hib alone.
Almost as soon as she was gone, several finely dressed men began to drift in S'hibs direction. Though none of them were the Governor. The first reached him, a fox mask obscuring his features, and bowed. "Lady Margot, my condolences for your loss. It's good to see your return to society. The Salon isn't the same without your wit to leaven things."
"Your words are..." S'hib started, attempting a more feminine voice that cracked at the last syllable. "Your words are most kind," He snorted, giving up entirely at trying to put on a voice. "But I do want to enjoy my evening and would appreciate it not being overshadowed by my late husband's departure..." S'hib said firmly as he marched on, head held aloft as he strutted his Sequus hips.
Miraj reappeared at his side, a glass of champagne in her hand. She offered it to him with a smirk. "Cutting a dash already. I think a lot of people will be watching you tonight. That was Gerald Beauchamps. He's a sugar trader. Very wealthy. Puts out a bounty on Bloodbeard in book 3." She looked around. "Ready to go it solo? I'm about to go thieving."
"Of course they are... I'm like four foot taller than everyone else." S'hib grumbled before composing himself and then gently taking the glass. "Sugar trader, you say... have they invented cubes yet?" He asked before sipping champagne, the fluid promptly returning to the glass as he hung his tongue out in disgust.
"Not yet. But they do better than cubes right now. They pack the sugar in these big cones like the size of my head." Miraj scanned the crowd. "Ooooh. This is like a who's who of all the series' posh bad guys. The governor, there's Commodore Hawke. In the hawk mask. How original. He's scum anyway. The guy in the bear mask is the French Ambassador, who causes trouble between the English and the Spanish. The woman in the swan mask is Charlotte Rutherford. She's the biggest madam in the Carribean, and has women shipped in from England and Africa to her bawdy houses. She tried to take Roger for a catamite in book four.
"And. Oh," The tone of her voice was like audible blushing. "See the man in black." She pointed out a dark hared man across the hall. He had his back to them, having cornered a girl no older than Miraj. He stood out amongst the riot of colour by wearing a coat and britches of black, heavily trimmed with gold. "Thats Viscount Nathanial De'ath. He is very bad news. Filthy rich, no morals, seduces anything that moves, destroys reputations." There was something decidedly wistful in her voice. Then she coughed. "Bad guy. Avoid like the plague."
She downed S'hibs unwanted champagne, oblivious to spit he'd left behind. "I won''t be long. See you in a bit." She vanished into the crowd, leaving the lieutenant alone.
S'hib simply watched her leave, the mountain of information already sloshing around in his brain with no discernable order to it. "I have no fucking idea what I'm doing..." He said as he turned, already another mask in his face speaking to him and leaving him to wonder why he hadn't asked Miraj for some light reading beforehand.
The musicians struck a chord, and some revellers cleared to the sides, whilst others formed two lines facing each other. The naval officer Miraj had pointed out stepped to his side and bowed at the waist. "Lady Margot, would you honor me with a dance?"
"I'm going to kill her..." S'hib muttered as he extended his hand and dramatically turned it upside down for the man. "Just the one, I still need to say hello to everyone afterwards..." he said pleasantly, hoping he was doing the right thing.
Hawke bowed over it, then led her to the end of the row of female dancers and took his own position. The musicians started playing, a merry piece, that wasn't so fast that they had to go any faster than a brisk pace. Hawke and the men bowed, The rest of the ladies curtsied.
S'hib snapped a look to his left before hastily attempting whatever it was everyone else was doing, cursing at Miraj in his head.
The two lines took two steps towards each other, meeting in the centre. "You look very fetching Lady Margot, I hope this means we will see more of you in society, now your mourning is over?"
"Not over, simply on hold for tonight... I felt like having fun." S'hib replied softly, begrudgingly letting the other man take the lead.
"Something that is surely lacking without your presence here," Hawke said, circling around S'hib before taking his hand. "I do hope you will stay in these islands, rather than return to England? There is precious little to like about them otherwise."
He drew "lady Margot" closer, and then back, splitting them apart as the couple next to them walked through the gap.
"Are you flirting with me by any chance..." S'hib replied, hiding a scowl behind his mask as he wondered when this dance would end.
There was a round of stepping back and forth, and when the dance drew them back together he said, "Merely making conversation. Unless you would prefer otherwise?"
"We will see after a few drinks..." S'hib replied, struggling to find a way to escape.
Hawke's surprise showed clearly through his mask, and then he was forced to move away. By the time he was close enough to speak again, he was looking very hopeful. "Then when this dance is done, you must allow me to escort you to the dining area."
"We shall see..." S'hib groaned through a fake laugh, his hooves clicking away as they danced around one another.
The dance seemed to be drawing to a close, but the naval officer seemed oblivious to the Sequus' sang froid. "The governors chef is excellent. I'm sure we can find something that would make for an excellent amuse-bouche."
He inclined his head, glancing out of the lengthy mask that covered his muzzle. "Well, maybe you should go find us a table while I say hello to everyone else."
The music ended with a little crescendo and the dancers bowed and curtsied. Hawke caught S'hib hand and kissed his knuckles. Don't be long, dear lady." He vanished into the throng, leaving S'hib alone. Ish. Several more potential suitors, none of them the governor, we're sliding through the crowd, intent on pinning him down for the next dance or three.
To be Continued…
