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Elliott entered the ballroom with Leah and Emily on each arm.
In typical fashion, Emily had taken the masquerade assignment and ran with it. She didn’t have the same interest in these historical events as him and Leah, but when they had suggested this, she was more than for it. She worked on her dress basically since the weekend they had broached it to her. Her dress was bordering on fantastical, with a jewel-encrusted mask sporting a tall rainbow feather.
Leah’s ensemble loosely matched the colors in her partner’s gown, but far simpler and with a red silk mask.
Elliott preferred a more minimal approach for his getup. There was just the right amount of drama in a properly tailored tailcoat suit. His cream-colored suit was simple but fine, his mask a sharp blend of ivory and ebony that contrasted well with his pale and freckled complexion.
The three scanned over the ballroom in awe. This was perhaps the largest event they had been to, and looked stunning. Musicians played and people twirled in elaborate costumes. Elliott shared a look with Leah.
“The lighting is so good,” she said.
“So much better!” Elliott smiled. The last event hall dared to have fluorescent lighting of all things. It seemed a slap in the face to anyone who cared about historical accuracy at all. They weren’t asking for candles, but fluorescents?
“I see food!” Emily called over the din, bouncing on the balls of her feet and tossing Elliott’s arm about with her.
“You promised at least one dance first,” Leah leaned forward past Elliott to speak to her excitable girlfriend.
“Aye aye Captain,” Emily settled down with an expectant smile. “If you may please escort us dear gentleman,” she said to Elliott.
He chuckled. “Of course! Right this way mesdames.”
They stepped carefully down the grand staircase away from the entrance, moving slowly in case any heel / giant skirt incidents should occur.
The women left their escort standing against a wall lined with tall tables.
Elliott did not mind the time alone to observe. It might have been one of his favorite parts, actually.
Here he was in a bubble of history, and his imagination ran wild. He liked to write the lives of the strangers he crossed. Real or fantasy. A bartender named Candace. A duke named George.
With masks, the game was even more spectacular. He, the observer, was all the more hidden. Camouflaged. He had no identity here and he liked the feeling.
Mystery , the word came to him. Of course it was fun to be mysterious.
“You there,” an accented voice, deep but feminine in its breathiness, spoke suddenly.
Elliott blinked out of his thoughts to find a woman standing just before him.
“Me? Hello, yes?” he asked, fighting his way back to the real world.
The woman had shockingly red hair the pinkish red of pomegranates. Her lips, too, were lacquered red.
She was also impressively tall.
“Are you dancing? I need a partner,” she said coolly. The next song began, and she pointedly looked towards the band, and back to him.
Elliott couldn’t make out the color of her eyes behind her bejeweled mask. The mask also had a feather in its center, but black and far more reasonably proportioned than Emily’s. Her dress appeared to be a sparkling black at first too, though it ombre’d into a midnight blue at the base. Long black earrings snapped back with the movement of her face as she turned to look at him again. She was, in a word, striking.
Elliott swallowed, glancing down the wall and the tables near them. There was a woman sitting down texting. He seemed to be the only one available, on this side of the ballroom at least.
He held his arm out before he could lose his nerve. After all, he did not exist as himself tonight. He had nothing to fear anyway, he knew how to dance well he just… rarely ever danced with strangers.
The woman smiled, teeth a brilliant white against dark red lips. “Pleasure,” she said charmingly and let him take her hand. She seemed to check him out, her grin turning to a hungry smirk as he led her to the edge of the dance floor. Elliott’s skin burned under his suit, and he hoped it was not evident past his mask.
“The pleasure’s all mine.” He stopped himself from giving his name, as she seemed to be doing.
The song was upbeat. People familiar with the classical dances tended to congregate at the center, all moving in circular rhythm. More amateur dancers kept to the outskirts and simply swayed together.
He hesitated on the periphery, wondering what type of dancer this stranger might be.
“You strike me like you know what you’re doing.” She faced him and adjusted her posture, holding her arms out with precision.
He immediately filled the gap with his body, an eager smile on his face. “I’ll pray to meet your expectations, madam.”
She smiled at him again as their bodies fit to one another. She was surely the tallest woman he’d ever danced with. Elliott had barely to look down into her eyes at all.
Her eyes were a dark hazel. Almost brown were it not for traces of olive.
His imagination took hold once more as they began dancing into the crowd. He wanted to memorize every detail of her, to deny the universe the chance to keep her a mystery.
Would that be wrong? he wondered. There seemed something almost sacred in his unknowing.
If she was the stuff of myths, surely he was not worthy to know her.
She kept pace beautifully, maybe even better than Leah. It almost felt like dancing with an instructor. When she twirled he marveled at the stars in her gown. She smelled like a sweet perfume, though it was hard to place. Maybe a fruit he didn’t recognize.
Yes, she is the stuff of myths .
“You’re delightful,” she said aloud with a laugh, and he could not believe his ears. Could she read his mind? Perhaps his eyes were not as shielded as he’d thought.
“So are you,” he replied automatically, because he was not himself.
“You’re gay aren’t you?”
It was his turn to laugh. “Why, is my dancing so impressive?”
Her eyes widened with her smile. “Ohhh that’s a no then?”
“I’m not gay. And my lady, I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I am unaccompanied this evening,” he said wryly.
“Nonsense, I’m accompanying you,” she said easily as if the matter were settled.
“Are you now?” he couldn’t help but glance at her lips.
The song ended and she pulled back, clapping softly in black satin gloves. Elliott clapped too. When the next song started she faced him again. They had made it to the center of the floor now.
The music was a different tempo this time. Still they were in tune. It was a slower dance, one that tended to keep their bodies closer than the last.
Perhaps the universe is taunting me, he thought, as her chest pressed to his.
“Maybe for one more dance,” she said.
“Only one?” he could not help but ask.
“What would you ask of me?” her lilting accent teased.
He licked his lips. She seemed to be playing along so far. Even if this was just roleplay for her, it was exciting. He leaned in and said softly,“The night,” before twirling her away and back to him.
“You’ve hardly said two words to me,” she rebuked in mock offense, a smile still on her lips.
“Allow me your time and I will give you all of my words.”
Elliott thought immediately that that was quite a good line actually, and wished he could write it down.
The woman’s jaw dropped a little and she licked the inside of her teeth. “You’re a smooth talker. Was that poetry? I don’t recognize it.”
“It is poetry only if you would consider me a poet, madam.”
“I think I would.” The dark wisps of hair at her hairline had begun to stick with sweat, swirling into little curls. Elliott was struck by her beauty once more, nearly unable to focus on her next words. “So a writer then?” she prodded.
Elliott’s lips quirked and he fought a smile. “Perhaps, though I hesitate to reveal anything about myself. Don’t you think there’s a certain magic in the mystery?”
“Hmm. I do.” She moved too far away from him a moment in their dance, then back. “I suppose you could be monstrous under your mask, but everything I can see is appealing.”
“Thank you. I would say the same applies to you, but I am certain you would only be more beautiful without the mask.”
She hummed happily but it seemed to Elliott almost a purr. “You’re charming.”
“And supposedly a delight. I wonder if it would make up for my monstrous face.”
She laughed and it sparkled like the brilliant tiles below them, like the glitter in her gown. The sound was already becoming nostalgic for him.
“I never said you had a monstrous face!” she defended.
The song ended and they stopped, now breathing harder for their efforts. Elliott could not help but watch her lips again, slightly parted as she breathed. He tore his gaze away finally as he turned to clap.
And then he finally noticed Emily. She was off to the side where he’d been standing, making huge circles with her arms to get his attention. When he finally made eye contact she excitedly waved him over and approached the edge of the dancefloor.
What could he do? He looked to his muse, who seemed to expect they would dance again, until she spotted the change in his eyes. She followed where his gaze had just been and spotted Emily.
“Oh, excuse me sweetie,” she said hurriedly and pushed out of the crowd.
Strangely, she seemed to be headed straight for Emily.
He followed, befuddled until Emily screeched and threw her arms around the woman. She tolerated the assault, even hugging her back and squeezing.
Elliott approached, looking around for Leah for some sort of answer to no avail.
“You beautiful, spect-” Emily was saying, and then cut herself off to kiss the woman’s cheek with a bruising force, before noticing Elliott again. “Elliott!” and suddenly the spell of his mystery was gone. He may have deflated a little, and tried not to think about it. “I’m so glad you met Sandy.”
“Sandy,” he repeated immediately under his breath, a smile forming again. If his veil of intrigue should be cast aside it was only fair, but he felt vindictive in it, wanted to revel in this reveal.
I can know her now , he thought smugly in the general direction of a cruel universe.
“I knew it would look fantastic on you,” Emily added to Sandy, extending an arm to twirl her out slowly. “Doesn’t she look so stunning and elegant?!”
Sandy met his eyes as she turned. The smile on her lips and the look in her eyes said a helpless sort of ‘what can you do?’ and he almost laughed again. It was such a gesture of passive annoyance at Emily’s behavior that her love for Emily was clear. It was a different side to this goddess, and still more was revealed.
Elliott wanted to know all of her.
He realized he hadn’t answered Emily yet. “Yes, stunning,” he readily agreed.