Young at heart! {masquerade stall}

[archenstone]

Asharra walked over to the Masquerade Stall and peeked around people to glimpse in. There were certainly many different kinds of things. I bet a mask would be quite fun. As the crowd thinned enough to let her in she moved forward. Now....what did she want to wear? She knew she could afford what she wanted...but simply couldn't decide on what that was! Surely I can find something fun and different... She thought, looking over the masks and outfits.

[Avu]

Handsome eyed the newcomer for a moment, watching her testily, before the blue firelizard rose to his feet from one of the racks, stretched, and yawned. Eriena was finishing up with some other customer; that left him to tend to this one, didn’t it? A good bit older than the usual customers, but a customer nonetheless. The firelizard flipped his wings open and took flight, landing on one of the racks just to one side of Asharra. A low chirrup of greeting left his throat, and he neatly wound his tail around the rack to hold himself in place. Well? What was the old humanthing looking for, hmm? An ugly costume or a pretty one or what? Didn’t she know that she ought to hurry? There were so many more humanthings who wanted costumes and she would hold them up if she didn’t knoooow. The blue’s wings flapped, and then folded across his back again as he fell silent, waiting –

Only to utter a loud squawk as a little girl of seven Turns bore down on him, reaching up and grabbing him firmly from the rack, and stating indignantly, “Eriena said you weren’t s’posed to be up there, Handsome. Go perch somewhere else.” Hissing, Handsome’s claws scrabbled against the girl’s clothing, not cutting into the garish fabric, for it had a metallic, hide-like quality to it – but attempting to find foothold. The girl frowned, and then let him go, the blue springing instantly into flight and landing on another rack out of the girl’s reach, fluttering his wings indignantly and checking over himself carefully. Silly stupid girl…said girl was sticking out her hand boldly in greeting to Asharra, bright eyes studying her from behind a gold-and-silver mask. “Hi,” she announced. “I’m Iana. My sister’s running the stall but I’m helping. Are you looking for a mask? That’s Handsome, he’s helping too, only he’s not supposed to be on the racks and I can’t reach him up there…but he bites sometimes.” Frown. Bad flitter.

[archenstone]

Asharra eyes the various masks. Seeing the gay expressions and colors made her smile. She looked up from the goods as a blue firelizard landed nearby and crooned at her. What does it want? Even though she didn't dislike them as much as before she was still clueless about them. Asharra's eyes widened at the squawk, only to look down and see a young girl pulling him. She resisted the urge to reach out, fearing the girl would get scratched. Relief was evident when no harm came and the lizard flew up out of reach.

Taking the girl's hand as she introduced herself, Asharra smiled once more. "I'm Asharra and I certainly am looking for a mask! But I'm not sure which one I want. Maybe you can pick one for me Iana? I bet you would pick a good one."

[Avu]

Asharra earned a bright smile from Iana, and the little girl crinkled her nose thoughtfully as she looked at Asharra, and then spun on her heel to eye the masks behind her. So many of them…their supply was mind-boggling, honestly, racks upon racks of masks (one of them serving as a perch for Handsome, who was disgustedly flipping his wings and preening, ignoring Asharra and Iana both), brightly-colored ones, plain ones, dark ones, intricately shaped ones and ones with painted dragons; there were even (fitting onto two racks) masks designed for a child’s facial size and for a baby’s, of softer coloring and more innocent designs than the intricate spiraling of those on the adults’ masks. “Do you know what kind of mask you were looking for? Like, a scary one, or a pretty one, or…or something else?” she inquired, spinning back to look at Asharra (if the Masterhealer’s rank or age put her off, she didn’t show it. Pfft. She’d talked to the Senior Weyrwoman earlier; nobody else had anything on her!).

“By scary, I mean like…that one,” she added, pointing at one of the darker masks; black and glossy, was the base, silvery-gray swirls covering the entire thing and lighter gray undertones entering the mask near the edges. The mask’s eye-sockets had a distinct downward slant and were narrowed, the mouth twisted in a distinct sneer, exposing sharp teeth gleaming with a rusty red color intended to look like blood; the edges were rimmed in the same rusty red. “It goes with a costume,” she added, explanatorily, and indicated another one right next to it – almost exactly the same, except the base was stark white with pale tan undertones, and the teeth were only sharp at the canines. “The prettier ones are over there, though,” and she swiveled again to point with one finger at a soft lavender half-mask, with gold speckles sprayed across it. Black eyelashes curled up from empty sockets, and silver spiraled in from the same point as the gold speckles were thickest. “There are others, too, of course, but those are the two main – um, what’s the word, part – part – sections.”

[archenstone]

Asharra looked over each one that Iana showed her, paying attention as the girl showed different kinds. "I think I'd like something bright and fun....with lots of colors. Maybe even a little strange...as long as its bound to get some laughs." She mused over the wares. If she was going to dress up...she wanted it to be funny!

[Avu]

Bright, fun, colorful.

“Oh, that’s Eri’s specialty!” Iana proclaimed, slipping into her childish nickname for her sister as she spun and clasped her hands together in a blatant show of joy before she turned to flit among the racks of masks and costumes, occasionally flicking a critical glance at Asharra. Not that one; that one wouldn’t do – ah, this one was lovely and it fit the criteria nicely, didn’t it? She added costume and mask to one arm, and (oblivious to the fact that, due to her small size, the folds of the costume dragged slightly along the ground, fortunately obscenely clean) moved down farther. Annnd…oh, this one would do, too…and this one. Three: That ought to be a generous choice! The little girl trotted back to the Masterhealer, and then spun, displaying a mask and costume match. “How’s this one?” It was a cheerful green-and-yellow creation, decorated with darker green flower outlines filled in with various shades of pinks and blues; a very garden-oriented costume, to be sure, but around the neck sprung the finishing touches that made it downright ridiculous: Stiff, green wired flowers that created a kind of collar. The mask was matching shades of green and yellow, a half-face creation with the same stiff dark green wire rimming it.

“Or theeese~” And she offered the other two. The first was hilarious – it looked like a human body, a well-endowed female’s, to be precise, dressed in only underclothes, draped ‘round with some translucent material, and the mask matched the underclothes, a deep crimson red with gold edgings and gold musical notes tracing the outside right. The second she offered was laughable as well, a stiff dark brown material that looked nothing short of downright conservative, with a high stiff white color and matching mask. Once the costume was spun to reveal the back, however, it displayed that the skirt had been ripped away, as if someone had simply stepped on the hem and pulled off the back up to the waist, and revealed an obscenely bright, frilly pair of false underclothes, complete with flower and firelizard decorations. “Like them, or should I keep looking?”

[archenstone]

Asharra waited patiently as Iana collected her choices. She looked at each, a broad grin upon her face. She chuckled as she looked at the last. "You've brought me to a hard choice Iana. Very good costumes....especially these two." She indicated the floral outfit and the torn skirt outfit. After looking at them both for a couple minutes she decided. "How much for this one?" Just let the world look at her backside! She hoped it would bring a laugh or two.

[your third costume choice dear avu]

[Avu]

Iana beamed. Yes, they were gorgeous costumes, weren't they? She twitched them slightly, flipping her hair over her shoulder proudly by swinging her head to one side before her bangs flopped into her eyes and the little girl blew up at them, proceeding to talk through the huffs to keep her hair out of the way. "I know -- " huff " -- aren't they -- " huff " -- amazing?" Eloquent, Iana? Oh, definitely. The girl twitched her nose playfully, and then glanced over at Handsome, who hopped cautiously back towards them and offered both Iana and Asharra a little disapproving twitter from a perch out of Iana's reach -- and Asharra's, just in case the woman got any ideas. Bad ideas, primarily, but 'good' ideas by human standards weren't good ones anyway.

"The mask is one and a half marks," Iana explained, sticking out her tongue in Handsome's direction. "The costume is three. That makes four, unless you want to buy shoes with it. Or accessories; we have both of them if you want to look, but I don't think any specifically match this costume. And you can go and try it on in the back, and if it doesn't fit we can make adjustments for one-fourth a mark, but they're pretty generic sizes so it should fit. It's stretchy material, see?" She tugged on one of the sleeves to emphasize her point, and the fabric stretched obligingly before Iana released it and offered it to Asharra, leaning back to hang up the other two costumes.

[archenstone]

"Perfect, I have four and half marks. I'll go ahead and try this on..." She accepted the out fit from Iana and went were indicated to put on her new costume. After a few minutes and noises as she got the fabric on her she returned. "Fits great! She said from behind the mask. She reached into her bag and found four and half marks. "Here are your marks Iana." She said with a grin. Once the girl was paid she said goodbye and went off in search of her next purchase!