I PREFER NOT TO BE RESCUED // OPEN

[SHUZO TAKAHASHI]

Shuzo felt unbelievably stuffy and ridiculous in his little outfit, but the building shame was being shoved towards the side as he eyed himself in the full body mirror that hung against the chipped wall of his unimpressive apartment. He looked so out of place in his small, beat up apartment, and he almost chuckled at the realization while simultaneously fumbling with a very delicate mask; his fingertips lightly brushing the edges of it, feeling the fake stones encrusted on its edges. 

He was donned in a very clean cut and modernly designed tuxedo, mentally approving of the lack of a gawky bow tie, and his hair was pushed to the side- casual, but not it's usual messy heap. And the mask? It was simply a silvery painted thing with dark blue stones lining along the edges of it, therefore making it neither flashy or simple. This was perfect for Shuzo. He was properly dressed, not for a grand ball, but for himself. Previously, after a great deal of internal debate, he decided it would be hard to enjoy himself if he were completely uncomfortable. And so, he now found himself in this outfit. "Not too bad," he mused.

He turned away from his view of himself and carried himself to the door, now truly prepared to attend this masquerade.

The Ginza district was a rarely visited spot for Shuzo, and though he had felt out of place before, in the comfort of his own home, that could hardly compare to the awkward feeling that he got just from looking at the people walk towards the entrance of the ball. It was being hosted at a hotel too expensive for his tastes to even know the name of it, but that hardly mattered. No, the main focus right now was not the hotel, but what was happening inside of it right now. Women and men in outfits far pricier than his own made their way inside, smiles and content looks plastered upon their faces.

Shuzo sighed, still standing across the street from all of the commotion until he finally made a move. He almost wondered if anybody would stop him from entering the building, but nobody paid him any attention as he hunched his shoulders and scuffled inside. He avoided crashing into anybody, and was successful at this until he almost crashed into himself when he caught his first glance at the main event itself. 

The ballroom was truly magnificent. Gold, red, green, and silver streamed from every corner imaginable, and many chandeliers hung from the ceiling showering all those below with crystal light. Everything shined and glittered, and several Christmas trees within only added more shine to it all, but were only small buts of light when compared to the huge beauty directly in the middle of the room. The smell of pine tickled his nose, and he brought a hand to his hair, running his fingers through the soft strands, the other hand busy placing the mask over his eyes. If he was going to be look stupid staring at awe at his surroundings, he would do so with a concealed identity. He managed a step forward, only to have to jump back and avoid a blissful, dancing couple. He squirmed, unsure of what to actually do in this situation. 

Several tables were set up around the edges of the wall, with finely designed glass plating and actual silver wear on top, and most of them were empty of occupants. Taking a chance, he dashed forward, making himself to be the lonely sucker at one of the tables, not dancing, and not actually enjoying himself yet.

Perhaps this was a mistake.

[RAN HAYASHI]

He’d never liked Masquerades. Once upon a time, his brother had the idea that it would be a great way to pass the time and make their lives more interesting; or at least, it would be a good way to amuse themselves at the expense of others. Cue inviting everyone on Nemesis to a great big party that was mind-bogglingly boring, the real kick in the head being that it also involved him having to wear a humiliating costume (which, at the time, he’d felt was a fate worse than death – in retrospect, he may have been a little hasty in that assessment). It actually hadn’t gone as badly as expected, but it still wasn’t a memory that he looked upon fondly.

But staying in Tokyo of 2011 was hardly Ran’s idea of a good time. Honestly speaking, he was pretty sure that the city was one of the most miserable places that he’d ever had the misfortune of visiting. One of. Not the. Unfortunately, “home” took the cake for the most miserable place to go – but he was eager to get back there, despite that. Maybe he harbored a secretly masochistic streak. He didn’t know – but what he was sure of was that a cluster of humans in masks, so many all in one relatively smallish place, was enough to draw attention and he felt certain that was the goal. The circumstances surrounding the founding of the Masquerade were mysterious and while there was a chance it was all benevolent, having future knowledge suggested to him that it wasn’t. And unlike most people who knew they were walking into a trap, he didn’t back away – he was actually knowingly going headfirst into it.

In a ridiculously blue mask, at that.

It was a Venetian party mask that he’d paired up with the double-breasted, military-style blue suit he’d adorned for the party. The suit was midnight blue with lighter buttons and accenting, but the mask was the reverse: light blue which brought out his eyes (they were also blue and stuck out) with dark accenting on the edges and small gemstones at the corner of the mask. It might’ve been overly formal, but he didn’t want to be easily recognizable. He also didn’t want to be easy to approach. The whole point of observing something was to blend in and match – so he had to look like he belonged. Not draw any extra attention. Was there a chance he was in danger there? A little, he supposed, but he wasn’t terribly frightened. Some would call it arrogance. Maybe it was. Mostly it was scientific risk-for-reward attitude, though. Nothing worth having came without a price and that included knowledge.

He filtered along the outside of the ballroom in relative silence, spellbound by the decorations and light, by the vibrancy and the sheer mass of people. Just because he’d been to a Masquerade before didn’t mean that he’d been to a human one, and this one was lit like something out of a dream. It was easy to almost be swept up in the merriment of the occasion, and he consciously had to keep himself from the champagne. Wallflowers were ill-suited to occasions like this, and avoiding the random people without dates was a fine balancing act. The best way to keep people from coming up and pestering him to dance was to look busy. He needed a distraction, someone to help dissuade others from approaching him –

And he’d do nicely.

Navigating the veritable minefield that was the dance floor, Ran slipped up to a table occupied only by one figure and rested his hands on the back of one of the chairs. His weight had his shoulders hunching slightly, his head tilting to the side as he put a pleasant but not overly nice smile on his face; no need to be creepy, just polite. Or in the absence of that, interesting enough to spark a conversation so that no one else showed up. He was going to be very bitter if this turned out to be just a dud, like the last event he went to (a rock concert that had his ears ringing for weeks – ugh).

“At the risk of being too forward – you look as out of place as I feel.”

[SHUZO TAKAHASHI]

-- i'm finally numb,
so please don't get me rescued.

His gaze faltered from one beautifully masked girl to the next, too shy to stare for longer than ten seconds at a time, before his eyes finally fell onto something that wouldn't glare at him at some point. The ridiculously grand Christmas tree, which had beauty that actually rivaled some of the people in the room. Ornaments that made him wonder if they were made up of diamonds, gold, or silver covered it, and the lights that hung off of it reminded him of ice hanging from the edge of a roof. Who in their right mind would go through the trouble of trying to impress everybody, but keep their identity a mystery?

A few minutes passed, and he finally shook himself from his daze. This was silly, he thought, though the mesmerizing feeling that this ballroom gave him hardly gave him room in his mind to want to leave. It was so strange, all of the glamor of it all was making his head numb, but he didn't question it-- the bright lights and flashy outfits were obviously getting to his head. Ridiculous explanation, but it would have to do for now.

His fingers pulled at the edges of his sleeves, and he spared his outfit a quick look through his mask, which he could feel making the skin underneath it itch. Damned five dollar toy-- he reached his hand up, ready to remove it, before a voice managed to catch his attention before he could do so.

"At the risk of being too forward – you look as out of place as I feel.” Shuzo turned the upper half of his body around to see the unexpected stranger. "Oh--" he started, blinking and shaking his thoughts into place. "I suppose you're right," he chuckled out. "Not sure why I bother to go to these things." Shuzo shrugged, but felt a light smile rest itself on his face. He gave a small nod, inviting the boy to take a seat. "So," he laughed, "do you have an excuse as good as mine for being here?"

[RAN HAYASHI]

“That depends on what your excuse is.”

Which basically meant he was going to have to come up with one of his own that most people would believe – you know, if it came up; his goal was to avoid that happening, though. He tilted his head and smiled weakly, though his gaze lingered on the boy for a moment – well, not so much a boy as another guy. There was something about him that rang the word ‘child’ to mind, but not in a bad way. More like… innocent. That wasn’t necessarily something wrong with someone; he knew that better than most. But the guy did appear like he didn’t belong there remotely. Was it a case of the book and cover not matching one another? That happened from time to time. He chose to reserve judgment until he had a more clear picture to base off of… like any self-respecting scientist would.

Plopping into one of the chairs across the table, Ran immediately slouched to look more relaxed and let his gaze stray over to the different masked figures moving around. Some of them were lovely, what little could be seen. Some of them… not so much. There was an air of mystery about the dancing, but that was the point of a Masquerade, to be mysterious. There was a certain attractiveness that came in being genuine – in being honest. Most people had no idea just how appealing that could be. It really was a shame. Humans seemed to be so tied up in the mysterious stranger, the tall dark and handsome figure they knew little about… The thought was dismissed. Not relevant to what he was there for, although he was having a great deal of trouble focusing and he wasn’t quite sure why.

“A friend of mine once told me that when a woman goes out alone, she looks desperate, whereas two women going out look like they’re having fun together. Do you think the same applies for guys?” There was a note of laughter in his words at that, but it came from the idea of anyone finding him desperate. Maybe he was arrogant, but that word wasn’t one that was often applied to him. Or ever applied to him if he were to be totally honest with himself. Ridiculous as it was though, he could see some basis, since he would immediately wonder what someone was doing standing around a bar or a club completely alone. It was… sketchy. “So what is your excuse for being here, then…? It probably is far better than mine is.”