His former dance partner's voice rose over the rest of the crowd, and every hair on Ivory Rose's body stood on end. She was following him. 

He was a dead man.

His face as pale as his mask, he tried to duck down to be less conspicuous but only managed to stand out even more as he shuffled farther from both the dance floor and the refreshments, wanting nothing more than to find a corner in which to resign himself to his fate.

Havoc
Roseate's words pounded amongst Havoc's head like a jackhammer. Could it be true? Did she really have no ulterior motives?

As soon as she began to think this way, panic again jabbed at her heart-almost out of nowhere. The worries began to spin around again, the thoughts of Roseate knowing who she was, and telling the queen of her clumsy behavior.

Gulping, Havoc responded:

"Yes. Yes of course." Havoc adjusted her mask, feeling itchy with the mix of glitter and sweat.
Why was this bothering her so much? She'd never felt this exposed a day in her life, so why now? Why here?

She opened her mouth to say something farther, but the lump in her throat increased, and she averted Roseates gaze. Her eyes were now transfixed on the cupcakes, their beautiful frosting almost seeming too bright and the decorations too vibrant to focus on. Now what should she do? Should she regroup and continue her verbal assault; Demanding that Roseate not tell anyone, or try to calm herself with some fresh air on the balcony?

Thoughts like these continued as she grabbed another cupcake and took a bite of it. Instead of bringing comfort, it was as about effective as a clump of ash in her mouth.

Crystal smiled to the other woman. "La Reine. What a lovely name!" Her understanding of other languages was not the greatest, but she was pretty certain that name was French. But what it actually meant, she had no idea. It made the other woman feel otherworldly somehow, and Crystal smiled even more. Perhaps this woman was some sort of French princess! How exciting!

"I'm not so used to parties either, to be honest," Crystal said in response. "This one is so beautiful though, that it makes me wonder what I'm missing out on!"

A small pause came about their dicussion, and Crystal wondered what the other woman could be thinking right now. What if La Reine had discovered who she truly was? Crystal felt frozen in spot all of a sudden, staring at the woman's eyes through the mask. Maybe that was why there had been a lull in their conversation - La Reine knew that Crystal didn't really fit in here after all!

Crystal felt suddenly nervous - gone was her air of a princess's confidence. All that was left was a nervous girl feeling out of place. She struggled to try and find something to say, but could not find words. "Umm," she began, "do you live nearby?"

She instantly regretted the question - what kind of question was that, in a situation like this? But the words were out, and if she tried to take them back, it would only worsen the situation. Crystal fought the urge to simply retreat, and instead just concentrated on standing upright without looking too nervous.

She wasn't certain she was succeeding though.

Roseate

Roseate was at a loss for words. She could see that Havoc was still distressed but couldn't figure out what to do to help her. Maybe some sort of distraction? But what? Roseate wasn't good at this.

There was a lingering fear on the backburner of Roseate's mind. Part of her wanted to dash away from this scene that Havoc had created because it would be so unbecoming of Roseate to be seen in such a situation. Plus, she was horrible at comforting people. Usually, food did the comforting but at the rate Havoc was eating the cupcake in her hand, it didn't appear to be helping her at all.  

She was certain she was going to be busted by someone. It didn't have to be Havoc but she felt someone would bust her and she certainly didn't want to lose the game that was going on. But, could she leave this poor girl? Roseate knew all too well what it felt like to be alone.

"Um, um, um," Roseate stammered at Havoc looking around the ballroom. She noticed people were dancing. That might be a good idea! "Would you like to dance?"

Havoc
Havoc blinked, and lowered the cupcake.

"Dance?" She repeated slowly.

This would be her chance! Perhaps if she could show roseate how ladylike she could be, she wouldn't go running to the queen and telling her the chaos she caused!

Havoc set the plate down; it's not like she had the appetite to finish the cupcake anyways.
She locked eyes with roseate and smiled.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, miss."

Chameleon

Chameleon cocked her head as she heard a cat meow shortly after her partner for the evening disappeared. Was it simply a coincidence? She doubted it, she didn't believe in coincidences. 

She moved around the room, looking for another partner to engage in.

SPLIT PEA

"I really hate girls who are too smart for their own good."

Split Pea's eyes wandered over to the masked woman in the blue dress. “Me too,” she replied nonchalantly before taking another sip of alcohol. She let the statement linger for a moment as she studied the masks of the mysterious women standing in front of her. Who were these two anyway, and what drew them to the Crystal Palace ball? Had they simply come for their own enjoyment or were they out plotting revenge against the senshi? ...And now what was with all this sudden accusatory talk of magic and revealed identities?

"...[Y]ou should have also figured out that I am way too smart to not notice such tricks. Are you too stupid to figure out our identities without using your magic powers to make us say things about ourselves?"

“Where is this magic you speak of...hmm?” Split Pea asked, suddenly interested in the woman's bold claims against Tethys, despite her overall lack of enthusiasm for the masquerade. Azure Sage's overbearing attitude seemed very familiar, a bit too familiar for Split Pea's liking. This sudden realization prompted her to take a better look around the room. For some reason, the other attendees seemed a lot more agitated than she originally remembered. They seemed to be reacting to each other and their surroundings out of paranoia, confusion, anxiety, and even embarrassment. The sudden manifestation of these emotions could have been caused by some sort of magic, as Azure Sage had suggested, but—Split Pea quickly shook the idea from her head. No. This was not magic. Weak mind tricks maybe, but not full-fledged dirty magic tricks. “...Something this elementary most certainly shouldn't be called magic,” she blurted out to Azure Sage, with a nuance of arrogance to her otherwise soft voice.

La Reine Intemporelle

Did she live nearby? Why would she ask such a question? Unless...she was casually prying information out of her. So this was her game huh? Well...

Then again, she did sound slightly on edge, as if she herself was afraid of being exposed as well. But La Reine wasn't one to fall for tricks, especially in an event like this. She had to be witty at all times. Who knows, she may as well discover the person she's conversing with to be an old foe. 

Hmm...right. She'll throw a curveball at her. Ask her in a way that isn't noticeable...

"I don't believe so, no. Tell where did you get that dress from, if you don't mind me asking.", she said in a causual yet slightly anxious tone. Truthfully she did like the dress, but she needed to buy time before Crystal discovered who she was.

Firelight stared at Huntress in confusion, wondering why she was suddenly talking about the king and queen unprompted. “Yes… I suppose that’s possible,” she said, attempting to comment on the sudden turn of the conversation without sounding suspicious. She still wondered if she was talking to someone she knew, but Huntress looked more freaked out than she did, so maybe not.

“You must know them very well,” she added, another throwaway comment, not expecting it to be taken in any other way than a casual observation at all.

Huntress

Hopefully the mask and the enchantment would be enough to disguise her utterly distraught expression.

"My future career is in shambles!" Huntress internally wailed. She couldn't stop thinking about how much trouble she was in. It wasn't even surprising that she hadn't been outed or reprimanded immediately; that wouldn't ever be the correct response at a situation as public as this one. Huntress might be a failure at everything, but she had learned something from all those lessons. The anticipation of all the lectures filled her with more than enough shame to darken any previous enjoyment of this party.

She wasn't even sure how to respond to the other woman's comment.

"I don't! I probably don't. I try!"

Ohhhhhh this is so confusing now! She couldn't seem to find a good way to talk herself out of the giant hole she had dug herself into.

"Please, let's... um... are you enjoying the catering?"

It was right up there with "worst segue" attempted. But she tried anyway.

Azure Sage

Who was this Split Pea and what was she thinking? The mentioning of magic seemed to spark her otherwise absent interest. Azure Sage hated to admit, but she was right, something this elementary shouldn't be called magic. What was with this paranoia attack coming over her?
Now she has made a fool out of herself in front of them, but with her innocent apperance destroyed, she could at least continue showing her true self.

"Of course I know that something this trivial cannot be considered as magic.", she bluffed, "But I wanted to get information out of her so I can win this competition. Thank you for ruining my brilliant plan!"

Azure Sage now shifted her attention completely to Split Pea. She seemed really interesting; far more interesting than the main event. Someone like her didn't seem like the usual friendly type that was flooding this masquerade ball. Now Azure Sage wasn't interested in winning this competition anymore - no her only goal now was to find out who Split Pea was.  "You seem to know a lot about magic. Do you want to tell me what your speciality is?", she asked, hoping that Split Pea's arrogance would lead her to spill some information.

Princess of Wisdom

  Her search was turning out to be not quite as successful as she had hoped. Biting on her lip in frustration, the princess gazed around the crowd once more in hopes of spotting the elusive stranger. Nearly every time she thought she had him caught, it would only turn out to be someone else entirely which left her flustered and repeatedly apologizing to complete strangers. She didn't understand how quickly he could've managed to disappear from her in such a short span of time unless...he was working with someone as well. With so many guest at the ball it was entirely possible for him to have a partner-in-crime somewhere keeping a close watch. Could they be hiding and watching her fumble about right now? She examined all the faces around her anxiously, trying to guess if any of them could possibly be familiar when... Ah! Something had hit her! Suddenly alert, the Princess nearly jumped before wildly spinning around with fists in the air to face...a wide-eyed couple who hand just accidentally bumped into her while dancing.

Boy did she need to pull herself together.

Embarrassed again, she quickly excused herself and hurried over to one of the refreshment tables to grab a drink. Nearly ready to call an end to this goose chase, she was about to officially throw in the towel when she noticed something, or more specifically someone, crouched down and shuffling away from the table rather awkwardly. Slowly placing her champagne flute on the table, the Princess began to creep behind him similar to a lion catching its morning prey before making a dash towards his collar and latching on to it. "Gotcha!" She exclaimed with a satisfied smirk, tightening her grip so he couldn't run away again.

SPLIT PEA

Competition? Split Pea raised a brow. So this is what the masquerade ball was all about? Why everybody around her seemed so agitated?

“Do I want to tell you?” Split Pea mused, her tone thoughtful as she drank some more of her cocktail.  Azure Sage seemed interested in learning more about Split Pea's magic, perhaps to figure out her true identity for the competition. But Split Pea was not about to give away her information so readily. “Hmm... not really,” she admitted with a wry smirk, “You'd have to fight me if you wanted know, though I can guarantee you wouldn't last very long against me by yourself.” Split Pea hadn't meant it as an invitation to fight her. The words just sort of came out. This was made apparent by her sudden change of topic.

“Do you ever feel under-appreciated?...Like nobody else even remembers you exist?” the girl suddenly asked, immediately falling silent afterward. What was with her all of a sudden, losing her cool like that? She hadn't meant to say those words either! Like that, Split Pea's arrogance was overcome by an unexplained uneasiness. Maybe this was why she wasn't allowed to interact with others on a regular basis.