|
|
Post by Remilia Scarlet on Dec 25, 2012 6:00:46 GMT -5
Remilia Scarlet
Sakuya Izayoi ~Happy Holidays~ Christmas had come to the Devil Scarlet Mansion. The halls were decked, the boughs hollied, and a dreary cheer had set over the house. Fresh candles flickered in the candelabra that hung from the ceiling, and decades of cobwebs had been cleared away. Coals crackled in the fireplace of the main hall, and a parched evergreen slouched in the corner, its brown branches bending under the weight of many skull shaped ornaments. Tinsel and garland weaved around the railings of the grand staircase that rose up from the center of the room, and trays of cookies sat on a table near the foot of the stairs, surrounding a bowl of red liquid that looked a little too thick to be punch. Had any of the guests that received an invitation shown up, which it was hopeful that at least a few would given even the lowliest youkai had been mailed one, they might find the scene a bit uncomfortable. The decor was festive relative to the usual musty, abandoned feel that was typical of the mansion, however, so anyone accustomed to the forsaken atmosphere it ordinarily gave off would find it welcoming. For the many maids that bustled excitedly from the kitchen to the hall, fulfilling their mistress' exact specifications, it was quite a relief from the purposeful neglect they had been ordered to maintain and so everyone's spirits had lifted considerably. --- "Is everything as I said it should be?" The young girl slowly brushed her powder blue hair, her voice cold and sallow. She gazed at the large mirror in her bureau as though expecting to see her reflection, frowning slightly in disappointment as she saw nothing. She turned to the maids that had entered her chamber. "Yes, my lady. Everything is as you asked." Sakuya clutched the silver tray to her chest as she stood attentively near the door, awaiting her lady's orders alongside the two other servants that accompanied her. "Good. You can go now." Remilia lifted her hand and waved them all off nonchalantly, turning her back again and staring at the empty mirror while she continued to brush her hair. The three maids turned and began to file out of the room. As the last in line, Sakuya turned and hesitated a moment in the open doorway, looking back at the girl with concern. She knew the girl's eyes hadn't left the maids as she turned around, despite pretending to ignore them with her charade. "Aren't you coming, my lady?""No." Remilia paused, and her blank, emotionless face suddenly lit up into a slight smirk. "Tell them I've got business to attend to.""Yes Ma'am." Sakuya bowed and withdrew from the room, pacing down the hallway toward the stairwell toward the kitchen. Just what did Lady Remilia have to do that was so important she'd miss her own party? Picking up a tray filled with glasses of milk to go with the cookies, she paused at the door, sighing and shaking her head, before she gave it a quick shove and entered with a fake smile. All she needed to do now was cater to the guests' every whim - not worry about her mistress. Though, Sakuya couldn't quite get the twinkle in her mistress's eyes out of her mind as she walked through the small crowd that had built up... "W-whoops!"The shattering of glass and the clanging of the tray onto the floor brought her back to her surroundings, and she stood in shock as she glared at the guest she'd bumped into with alarm, milk splattering everywhere. |
|
|
|
Post by Mima on Dec 27, 2012 15:47:34 GMT -5
Calypso
Mima The guest that had been the unfortunate victim of the collision, a vermilion-winged star youkai by the name of Calypso, stumbled back with a squeak. "Oh, um, I'm sorry!" Calypso immediately said, kneeling to help scoop up the broken glass and disregarding the milk that had gotten on its pants. It would just have to remember to wash them when it went home. Calypso hadn't visited the Scarlet Devil Mansion before, but it had heard of it, and found the attempts at holiday cheer to be endearing. Of course, Calypso wasn't the type to leave the poor distracted-looking maid lady to pick up by herself. It hadn't been doing anything important anyways. Mima, the resident evil spirit of the Hakurei shrine, was not paying any attention to this little distraction. Instead, she was up to no good, sneakily slipping cookies one-by-one into the pockets of her dress to save for later, and possibly try to bribe her 'roommate' Reimu with. |
|
|
|
Post by Novaix on Dec 28, 2012 2:12:21 GMT -5
Alice smiled, absentmindedly nibbling a cookie off in the corner of the room. While normally not one to actively get into social situations, she could always manage showing up to some form of party - admittedly helped along by some other partygoers nagging at her. The host did seem absent, she noted, which was rather odd given she would ordinarily be rather easily picked out of a crowd. She wondered...
...but before she could get too deep in her thoughts, there was a loud crash shaking her out of them. She stood up on her toes slightly to peer across the room through the crowd and get a better view, finding Sakuya having rather inelegantly thrown food everywhere - oh, the irony. Alice smiled to herself - ordinarily she'd groan internally at the thought of having to deal with the so called "elegant" maid, but the circumstances were rather more enticing this time.
Leaving her cookie-holding hand by her side and crossing her other arm in front of her chest, the puppeteer glided over, casually touching down next to the scene. "Ah, hello, Sakuya. I almost didn't recognise you like this. Is something wrong?" Alice smiled slightly as she stood there casually - outside of immediate knifing distance, even if it wouldn't do her any good against the maid. She raised her left arm up to her mouth idly before speaking. "Are you going to clean that up, or should I have my dolls take care of it? Alice then took a bite of her cookie, a completely innocent smile spread across her face.
|
|
|
|
Post by Remilia Scarlet on Dec 28, 2012 3:35:51 GMT -5
Remilia Scarlet
Sakuya Izayoi The maid's image flickered out of existence, appearing a few paces away, a mop and bucket alongside her. The broken pieces of glass had all been piled onto the tray and set aside, rendering the victim's sudden impulse to help useless. "No, no, it's quite alright." Sakuya uttered reassurances through gritted teeth as the youkai she had bumped into attempted to apologize, grimacing sardonically as she flicked her wrist. As though she didn't have enough work to do already, nearly singlehandedly preparing for the party, now this halfwit had decided to get in the way. If they hadn't been in a crowd, she'd... Sakuya stopped her seething at once with the sound of a familiar voice, ignoring the apologizing youkai entirely and slowly turning her head toward the source of the noise. "Y-you!"Of all the times she could've shown up, did it really have to be now? Sakuya's hand reflexively procured a long, silver throwing knife, and with little hesitation she whisked it directly at Alice's head, leaping back into the air with a scowl on her face. |
|
|
|
Post by Novaix on Dec 29, 2012 2:44:44 GMT -5
Despite the maid's nigh-instantaneous cleaning, Alice still made her remarks - it was still easy enough to notice, and the offer of cleaning still applied to the star youkai and taking out the tray of glass, at least.
While Alice's innocent smile only broadened at Sakuya's verbal reaction, her eyes instinctively went wide as she bent her knees and ducked backwards, the force behind the maid's throw causing her hair to flick slightly in the breeze.
Unfortunately for the doll-maker, bending backwards so sharply while eating was not the most sound thing to do, causing her to bend forward slightly and cough as she choked slightly. She couldn't concentrate on danmaku like this, and could barely rummage around her pockets for a doll for at least a few seconds.. there had to be something she could do to distract Sakuya... something!
She threw the biscuit.
|
|
|
|
Post by Remilia Scarlet on Dec 31, 2012 2:45:00 GMT -5
Remilia Scarlet
Sakuya Izayoi Sakuya's dress flared outward as she spun wildly, landing with her legs splayed in a fighting stance upon the refreshment table with two more knives between her fingers. The crudely constructed table creaked and groaned as it wobbled under the sudden weight, and the wheels on its legs squealed as it skittered backward erratically with the maid riding upon it. The punch bowl clattered as it tipped precariously between her feet, and the ornamental candle centerpiece fell onto the tablecloth, spilling wax onto the trays of cookies. Sakuya's attention was far too divided between her puppeteer foe and the shifting ground beneath her, however, to give the destruction of her own labors much thought. She flung out her arms so that she wouldn't topple over, flicking the knives vaguely in Alice's direction as she concentrated more on her feet than their intended target. The refreshment table screeched to a halt several meters from its initial position, and Sakuya stretched out her arms to maintain her balance, trying to remain still for a few moments while she contemplated what to do next. That's when the cookie hit her straight in the face. "Ack! Ppth!" She sputtered and tried to wipe the crumbs from her cheek, losing her balance and falling back onto the floor behind the table. |
|
|
|
Post by Mima on Dec 31, 2012 3:34:38 GMT -5
Calypso
Mima The sudden violence between Alice and Sakuya had literally snatched the refreshments right out from in front of Mima, who blinked as suddenly the cookies were no longer there for her to steal. Of course, as a quick glance told the evil spirit what had happened, her confused stare immediately shifted into an amused grin, and she floated up and back to get a better view just as Sakuya took a cookie to the face and fell over. "I can't believe Reimu's missing this," Mima muttered to herself, well beyond amused. Calypso was much less amused, though, and in fact had jumped back with a squeak to get out of the way of projectiles, knives and cookies alike. The star youkai wasn't sure why they'd started fighting, but it was too crowded in here for that! Calypso edged back, hoping that no misplaced knives would come its way. |
|
|
|
Post by Novaix on Jan 1, 2013 19:38:12 GMT -5
Alice coughed a couple more times, lightly hitting herself on the chest as she composed herself, reaching to her belt and taking out her Grimoire. Of course, a certain somebody was rude enough to attack her while she was busy. The magician ducked under the first knife quickly, holding her book in front of her face to deflect the second - an orange light briefly flickering into existence as one of the many protective wards on her Grimoire came into effect, sending the blade haphazardly into the crowd. They'd dodge, surely, and if not Sakuya probably wasn't using lethal knives anyway.
By the time she'd finished defending herself, Sakuya was inelegantly sprawled across the floor. Standing upright and smiling, Alice hovered over to the maid, gracefully but as swiftly as she could. Once she was close, she casually threw a doll at or onto the maid, and if she hadn't gotten up by then would put her hands on her hips and lean over, looking down at her.
"You really could work on your manners, you know. Where's your Christmas spirit, Sakuya? I didn't have to show up, but was invited. You could at least show your guests some basic manners."
If Sakuya bothered to look at the doll, she would easily be able to figure out that it was styled after herself, and had clumsily jammed a knife into its forehead, its expression both confused, scared, and very sad - almost like a young child having tripped over.
|
|
