Archived Blue Moon Masquerade

[Chase]

((Originally written by Crimson))

Cassandra curtsied slightly to Nevon. She secretly hoped that there would be no more distractions. She did not have the time, or the patience, right now for distractions. 'Cassandra' was too busy being one herself.

After dancing with Nevon for a little while, he started doing some Western style moves. Cassandra giggled, "So, this is how Americans dance! Thank you for showing me!"

Nevon said:
"Do you go to parties like this a lot?"

"I go to parties like this at least once a month, in France, of course! They are very fun and, usually, no distractions appear... How about you? Does ACME get invited to these parties a lot?" Cassandra asked with her perfect French accent still intact.

 

[Chase]

((This post will close off the museum so VILE can start their part, I'm assuming everyone is where they need to be, let me know if you have questions.))

Approximately 11:30 PM (2230hrs) local time

Missy said: "How's the night been treating you, Mr. D?" Missy asked casually after finishing another sip of wine. "The Mayor's been keeping you entertained, I hope?"

Unsure if he liked the title of 'Mr. D.', Chase shrugged off his preferences as lights dimmed inside the Contemporary Arts Museum and curators waited for remaining guests to exit. Outside, the party was still lively, and waltzes kept people happy. Before Devineaux could reply, Peter Moss made a hasty exit.

Pete said: "Mates, I'm starving, ai? Meet up for countdown?"

Inside of a quick nod to the Australian, Chase pondered in passing what kind of hunger Pete was possibly experiencing. A more superstitious man might have considered the second full moon of the month a sign for some of the lunacy that happened tonight, but aside from losing his watch early in the evening, Devineaux felt, everything else was under control.

"Looks like it's you and me," he said to Missy, offering a cordial arm and walking her outside. Moments later, security officers entered the building to verify the absence of all guests; then the inner doors closed while suited personnel entered a series of numbers onto keypads and the outer doors followed. Chase could guess their methods, a few infrared sensors and magnetic detection on specialized locations. For a heavily renovated building, security could only be so good.

Giulio Sarno approached with a light salute to Chase, "Beh? Ne vale la pena?*" He said with a laugh, waving goodbye at the same time. "We must tell Bruno to stop being a child about problems. Enjoy your evening!"

As Sarno disappeared into a crowd of organizers preparing for the countdown, Chase unconsciously agreed with the slightly flamboyant Italian. He should be enjoying the evening. Looking at the dancers, he stood considering the floor, the song, and then turned to Melissa Wayward at his left. "Still a long way until countdown, are you up for a waltz?"





*Beh? Ne vale la pena? -- Italian -- So? Worth the trouble?

 

[Emma Bezzle]

Danny said:
"It'll be my pleasure, Ms. Fiore."

Loralye allowed herself to be led onto the dance floor. Seeing as the museum was closing, Lora gauged that it was nearly 11:30. She had to get away from the ACME agent at 11:45 to be sucessful in slipping away from the party before the masks were to come off. But Lora really wasn't all that concerned, she had already planned everything out. After the dance ended she would give a simple and plausible excuse for leaving. She also noted Chase Devineaux leaving the museum building with a woman in a green dress which she recognized from their previous group. Lora felt the corner of her lips threaten to turn upwards. The woman may not know it but she was sucessfully doing Loralye's job for her.

As the music started, Danny took the lead as he was taught to in the ACME classes. "So that was an interesting mask back there, what did you think about it?"

His question brought Lora out of her musings. She gave a tight smile. "Frankly, I'm more interested in the history of the mask rather than the mask itself. Certamente it is beautiful and one of a kind, but artwork can be so easily lost while a story, especially one as famous as this, would be much harder to loose."

Lora decided it was best to steer the conversation away from talk of the mask. So she asked, "How did you learn to be such a good dancer? Most Americans I know can't dance at all, let alone a waltz!"

 

[E. Mayhew]

Missy watched quietly as Pete made his way over to the foods where a rather familiar looking Robin Hood was ready making short work of the italian desserts. It was interesting... she'd been at this party all night but didn't really feel like eating anything. It was a very large difference from former holiday parties where eating finger foods seemed like something to do while watching co-workers get drunk on the company dollar.

Taking the arm of Chase they made their way back out to the crowds, back out to the cold. Smiling she continued to look over the people who she could make out through their disguises as Chase made small talk with Italian dignitaries. This... was nice. There wasn't much time until the ending of this party... unless something horrible happened this party might have to make Missy rethink her views on holiday get togethers.

"Still a long way until countdown, are you up for a waltz?"

Missy looked at Chase with a sideways glance, shooting him a small smirk. "I think we could make that work..." she replied softly.

 

[Carmen]

Morgan Kent's strategy depended on knowing how much time to spend, and with whom. Near the hour of the museum's closing, she meandered through faces and light conversations, informing many of them in minor ways that she would be joining William Blake for the countdown. More importantly, she gambled on the mentality of the party organisers. To them, it was improbable that anyone among the prestigiously invited would wish to mar this Venetian night with a disenchanting theft.

Aside from the fortified main hall, which occupied the Mask of Helen, the Punta della Dogana was a building abundant with hiding spots, from layers of novelty curtains to the varying exhibits. With the museum quiet, Carmen slowly moved from her cover to one of the interior doors adjacent to the primary room. Here, rested a secondary set of security panels, a copy of the ones at the museum's exit.

As she recalled from a survey of the area prior to the museum's closing, infrared sentinels were located at two corners of the ceiling. Disabling the security for the grand hall relied on the keypads, which belonged to a familiar European Standard EN50131-compliant brand. Equipment informed the thief that this was a Grade 2 system, and she followed procedures, using an external device to register maintenance and entering an overriding code for a shutdown.

This first breach would allow her and her colleges to move freely without detection. The second step, yet to come, required much more forethought and certain finesse.

Slowly pressing one side of the doors as if the alarm remained alert, Carmen listened intently at the sounds around her. The party outside grew louder, but the sensors stayed idle. More confidently, she entered the hall and drew towards the mask that tantalized her earlier this evening.

 

[Patty]

Patty was hiding in one of the exhibits on the second floor, where an artist depicted some kind of plague and had a bunch of bodies draped over with pale gray cloths. All she had to do was replace one of these bodies and she was set for the heist. Pats waited until all the lights were off to start moving again. It took a while and she had to keep sane by playing a song in her head.

After coming out and putting everything back where they belonged, she spotted Carmen near the entrance to the main hall.

"We go in now?" Patty asked in a whisper.

 

[Sarah Nade]

The men's bathroom, which had been locked under the assumption that it was empty, had its door unlocked from the inside with a clack and opened, presenting the dapper 'gentleman' from before. Sarah Nade looked around once before completely emerging, a piece of toilet paper trailing from her shoe as she walked to the other two thieves. Catching sight of it in her pariferal vision she shook the paper off before finally joining the other ladies.

As she waited for the word from their leader Sarah pulled a folded leather wallet like item from her inner jacket pocket which, upon opening, was revealed to be a set of lock picks. From the look of the leather and the way she handled it there was little doubt they had seen multiple heists.

"Anytime you're ready." Sarah said softly once she'd finished her check and placed the lock picks not in the jacket pocket this time but down the back of her pants, securing them at the small of her back. Being the only one with pants on at the moment it was pretty obvious that she'd be the one doing anything requiring alot of movement.

 

[Ennai]

((This takes place before the museum closes.)
*************************************************
Euge and Ennai had been chatting for some while, but the museum was soon to close. Ennai knew that it was time to take Chase's suggestion and move to the piers; she could tell that Euge had the same thought on his mind. "Perhaps it's time?" she said softly, her bright grey eyes quietly studying his features. He looked rather different without his sunglasses on. She looked towards the doorway of the exhibit and back at him.

((I have exams until Thursday, Euge. If you need to move things along, you can write in my actions/dialogue 'til then. ))

 

[Mikal]

Mikal did a quick parameter scan. There were several people who spun about the floor expertly, the ACME detectives and their partners among them. Near the center of the pavilion, however, a few couples danced slower, in a more intimate and less structured pace.

When he felt Ivy grip his shoulder, he immediately took her free hand and led her towards the secondary crowd. Making sure she was close, Mikal rested his palm against her waist in the standard slow dancing position. It was a good move for courtship, but better still, it helped to conceal the fact that he had no idea how to waltz.

Ivy Said:
"So, an old friend of Chase Devineaux, huh? You're not one of those spec-ops boys are you? "

Mikal looked at Ivy, he should probably have known she was one of those detectives, the kind that saw invisible things just by looking at the objects around them. Lucky for him, another similar detective gave him tips on what to do. To thwart her from this train of thought, he had to do the unexpected. Instead of casually chuckling, Mikal put on a more serious expression.

"Not that I eh.. offended, Ms Ivy," he shrugged noncommittally, "but where I come from, speculation like that is um, like bad luck for me, yeah?"

 

[Carmen]

Seeing both Sarah and Patty properly ready, VILE's leader felt more secure. "Be careful," she advised without instructing, "I'm sure you've seen the back? Remember, once you reset the sensors, move on to objective two. There is a sixty-second timer before all units function. We're using the back exit, and we must be outside by then."

As she spoke, Carmen removed 'La Regina dei Ghiacci', leaving the black silk underneath as a secondary mask. She then adeptly untied her dress, revealing a long, thin red gown made from tensile micro-woven fabric. This 'change of shape' was to give her an advantage, as without her stunning gold mask and elaborate dress, she would no longer be Morgan Kent. In addition, she was much lighter now.

Turning to Patty's wardrobe, she kneeled down to check the Velcro lining and hidden pocket that would serve as temporary transport for the 'Mask of Helen'.

Finding everything to be in order, she nodded to Sarah, "We're ready."

 

[Patty]

Usually, a heist like this could be covered by one or two people, but Patty understood that Carmen had to work the crowd tonight, it was the younger thief's job to slip out with the mask and whatever unscathed. While they waited for Sarah to reset the security system and give them about a minute to switch the mask and make it out the doors before they lock and load, Pats rolled up Carmen's discarded corseted dress and hid that in her harlequin bustle.

As long as she didn't sit down from now on, it wouldn't look so conspicuous. The Mask of Helen would go into a lined pouch hidden in the folds of her dress. These checkered pattern were almost like camouflage.

"I'm definitely ready," Patty prompted and stood in position.

 

[Nevon]

Nevon was glad to be dancing with a woman who went to a lot more parties than he did. More important than that, she looked like she was having a good time with him. This almost never happens to Nev.

"I'm actually not invited to these kinds of things often," he admitted, "I bet they are though." Nev pointed out Euge and Ennai then Chase and Missy walking out of the museum. "I'm just a field agent, we're better off than informants, but we don't get perks until we're really good. Right now, I'm still just a rookie. My friend Dan, dancing with your friend, he already made sleuth!"

"Is your whole family in politics?" Nev didn't want to pry, but she was a Kennedy, he thought he'd ask.