Laughter and idle conversation could be heard as the guests chatted and bantered back and forth. Some guests twirled and stepped across the dance floor, the music filling the room gently. But, the greatest reason for any of them to be here sat off to the side of the party, out of the way. The myriad of finger foods, pastries, and other delights neatly arranged across a buffet line of tables. The free food.

From beneath one of these tables, a tiny, clawed hand with grey skin and purple, fuzzy fur reached up and grabbed the edge of an entire tray of cocktail sausages and pulled it off the table. Wieners scattered across the floor for but a moment before they were scooped up and pulled beneath the tablecloth, the tray quietly placed on the ground.

Hylltywyll sat under the table, feasting on his stolen goods from a party he hadn't been invited to with a smile. He heard the sound of metal sliding across the ground and a thud from behind him, just beyond the wall of the tablecloth. How delightful. Around him on the ground were small piles of pastries and other finger foods he had swiped from the top of the table he hid beneath.

This party is so fun! he thought to himself as he slipped a few cocktail sausages into the pocket of his borrowed bathrobe, his costume for the evening. These pocket things really are convenient. He could hold so much in them! He continued munching away on a strawberry tart and a miniature quiche at the same time, the two flavors definitely not made to go together. He loved it.

He had to try more of the food and cause more chaos before the night was over.

Caedes looks towards the dancefloor, idling on the side of the ballroom as people waltz; he was quite serious when he jokes that dead men don’t dance. He doesn’t know how to dance, and he does not intend to learn right now, in the middle of a noble’s gala; but he does think he catches a glance of a familiar tiefling among them… but he can’t quite be sure. He crosses one arm over his stomach and lifts his drink to his lips as a small cacophony of laughter erupts from the small group of nobles he’s been mingling with.

It’s after this moment of laughter from the nobles that he feels a heavier weight clinging to his pants; he looks down, noticing the creeping legs of a massive black widow peeping from beneath his cloak. She clicks her mandibles at him. “What?” he murmurs, turning his eyes to the beast; Charlotte scratches at his leg with a few of her own; something like a whisper comes from the spider. “...” Caedes looks around, narrowing his eyes towards one of the bars across the way.

“Okay, just… hold on a minute.” he mumbles to the spider; he feels Charlotte creep along his leg, eventually settling against his back.

Caedes excuses himself; and weaving between the people; laughter eases in and out from small groups. He takes another sip of his wine as he walks, throws a look over his shoulder, and quietly tosses the rest of the contents into a nearby houseplant. He doesn’t stop walking, eventually setting his empty glass on the tray of a passing butler, and spinning about to continue on his way. Eventually, he makes it to the food bar, and looks thoughtfully at its contents.

Charlotte shuffles on his back, and he can feel her legs creeping along his waist; he chokes on a chuckle. “Subtle, Charlotte… Subtlety, remember?” He adjusts her legs, easing her off of his back; she clicks, eager for the food at the table; and as Caedes pulls her from his cloak, she begins to disappear on his arm.

Leaving behind a simple, pink tutu hanging just beneath his arm.

“.... Eh… not quite as subtle with that on… but it is still cute.” he remarks, tilting his head as Charlotte; near-invisible from the refracting lights, she looks quizzically at him as she hangs off his arm. He offers her a scritch on the head, to which she makes a clicking purr. He takes a look at the food on the table. He’s long since lost the need to actually indulge in food, but Charlotte seems like she’s hungry… and letting her hunt would be bad news here... lest she target the family dog, or something.

“Mmm….” He gazes thoughtfully between the options, before quietly reaching for a glass of champagne. “Oops,” he remarks, innocently, to no one in particular, as he knocks down a couple of quiche. Glass of champagne in hand, he stoops down, allowing Charlotte to crawl off his hand in mimicry of picking them up. “Remember: subtle.” he remarks to the spider as she snaps up the quiche in her mandibles.

Herself, and the floating quiche, scuttle beneath the table— not expecting to find company.

Hylltywyll paused before they could finish eating a cocktail sausage dipped in chocolate fondue as he heard the sound of something falling to the ground just beside the table. A sound he hadn't caused. He looked over toward the source and witnessed several floating mini quiches enter the cover of the table, the cloth flapping like some force had brushed under it.

Finally, he saw a floating pink tutu in the air behind the quiche and the cloth flapped back down again, blocking out the light of the party. He dropped the finger food and took a defensive stance. He stood on all fours, his hands flat on the ground, and his back arched into the air like a cat ready to fight another stray on the street. He let out a slight hiss before also turning invisible, leaving the black bathrobe floating in the air around his form.

Charlotte most certainly does not expect something lurking under the table aside from herself!

The invisible widow startles, a quiche dropping from her invisible jaws and tumbling onto the floor; for just a moment, she sees something black and furry underneath the table in her eight eyes. The beast arches back and hisses at her, and Charlotte’s instincts bid her to do similar in a scenario in which she’s in danger.

Rising to her back legs, she drops her tasty prizes on the floor and lets out a long, gentle hiss as it turns invisible before her; she finds herself faced with only a robe in its place. Charlotte bares her fangs— not that the creature can see it— and raises her long arms high over her head in an attempt to somehow make her invisible form look bigger... and defend her food.

Instincts, and all that.

Caedes, leaning against the wall near the buffet, sips idly on his champagne while he waits for the spider to finish her snack; he cocks a brow as he hears a tiny, distant hiss from somewhere nearby. It sounds like Charlotte speaking, but he can’t quite make out if she's actually saying something… or if someone just left a window open.

The the two invisible creatures, one in a black bathrobe and the other a pink tutu, are locked in an invisible standoff. They both (probably) stare down their enemy that they can't actually see very well in their aggressive stances that are also unseen. The Dark Fairy and the Prismatic Spider. Truly the greatest of rivalries, undoubtedly going back generations.

Watch as the Fairy refuses to move from its pile of various stolen finger foods, hoarding them for later. In the dark, it's natural habitat, it is capable of becoming completely undetectable. Not a sound or smell passes through its shadowy camouflage. This one, however, has forgotten to use either of those abilities, even forgetting to make the bathrobe its wearing invisible with it. The heat of the moment driving all but one of its brain cells out of its head.

The Dark Fairy is unable to leave the darkness beneath the table. If it did, it would be exposed to the light outside, making it vulnerable to attack. It must stay to defend its territory that is now being intruded upon by the spider in a tutu. Among the stolen finger foods, it picks up a skewer from a shish kebab. Fairies with their human-like hands complete with opposable thumbs are capable of using rudimentary tools. Extraordinary.

With a weapon in hand, the Fairy feels safer and more capable of defending its territory. What will the Prismatic Spider do?

Even the Prismatic Spider, although surprised that she has stumbled upon the Fairy’s territory, refuses to move from her claim. Watch as she rears back on her hind legs, and bumps the underside of the table with her extended forelegs… what’s that? She’s still invisible? No one can see her, just the tutu?

Why is she even wearing that?

It’s a costume party?

Well, okay then.

Imagine, instead, that she rears back on her hind legs, and bumps the underside of the table with her extended forelegs; she is trying to make herself bigger in the face of her species’ greatest arch-rival, the Dark Fairy. However, she is not in her natural habitat; and although the Prismatic Spider may certainly thrive in the darkness; the Dark Fairy is more adept in its shadows. The Dark Fairy is completely undetectable, save for its comfortable bathrobe; but the Prismatic Spider must use a significant amount of her energy to remain unseen.

The Dark Fairy reaches out and takes a skewer— now, it is armed! But, the Prismatic Spider is naturally armed; due to her great size, each of her eight legs could be used as a weapon.

And she is willing to fight to reclaim her prizes.

She shuffles over her precious stache of quiche, and strikes out in an attempt to unarm her rival and send him running before the timer on her invisibility runs out, and she must make a quick decision to fight or flee.

The Dark Fairy is not to be underestimated. With its small size, it has surprising speed. It easily is able to jump out of the way of the attack of the spider that can't properly see what it's aiming for. The skewer remains in their grasp, but their pile of food is now vulnerable. The Fairy can't leave this be.

Watch as it rises onto its two hind legs, it's natural bipedal position, in order to use both hands to defend its territory. It reaches into a pocket of the bath robe, its hand unseen, and pulls several cocktail sausages from within. Thanks to the Fairy's invisibility here in the dark, the sausages appear to float out of the pocket on their own. Truly a spectacle to behold.

The little creature throws the sausages at the intruder, intending to drive them away from its hoard. Sacrificing a small amount of its stolen food to save the majority. The creature possesses intelligence beyond many people's understanding. A truly wise decision.

But, was it the correct one? How will the spider respond to the flying wieners heading its way?

The spider, too, is determined to hold its ground; the spider’s legs hit only empty air, but it is quick. She turns, her legs outstretched, to face the fairy in her defensive stance; still poised protectively over the quiche she has been gifted from the table above. But, she’s running out of time! She grows tired using her cloaking abilities, and as a few sausages fly ceremoniously through the air, and land on one of her eight eyes, a rippling occurs around the floating pink tutu.

This Prismatic Spider, in her full glory, has taken the form of a widow: long and lanky, her red eyes blink out of order as they focus in on the Fairy. Another wienie hits her in the snout. A long, low hiss rumbles beneath the table; and Caedes offers the buffet a weird look from where he’s loitering nearby, glass of champagne in hand.

“Char?” He clicks quietly at the table, but she doesn’t respond; too busy defending herself. He frowns, but his attention is drawn away from the table with a small flash of movement; a quaint little blue bird perches on the white cloth, hopping towards a plate of cocktail sausages.

Caedes takes a sip of his champagne; it must have come in from the garden, he figures.

But, as he does so, he witnesses the little blue bird open its mouth and swallow an entire cocktail sausage— including the toothpick it’s on— with absolutely no hesitation. Its beak practically unhinges like the jaws of a snake to scarf it down. The changeling chokes on his drink and furrows his brows, narrowing his eyes at the bird, then at his drink as he lowers his cup from his lips. He stares for a moment at the bird, and it just sort of acts like a bird again.

"What the..." Then he sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose in confused exasperation, and leans over to pour the contents of it into a nearby plant. "That's enough for me."

He's had enough fun at the buffet table.

“Charlotte? Come on, let’s go; we need to go find Zarius.”

Meanwhile, Charlotte is still on the defensive; she snaps and flashes her legs towards the Fairy; but as she hears her master’s call, she pauses. Her red eyes stare at the beast for a second longer— and then she gathers up every ounce of food she can in her mandibles. Quiche, little cocktail weenies that have been thrown at her— and she bolts out from under the table, disappearing again as she rushes to leave the confines of the safe, dark table.

Will the fairy let her retreat safely with her prizes?

Hylltywyll is surprised to see the spider appear in the tutu, but he maintains his stance. He's ready to fight the spider. It'll be much easier now that he can see his enemy in its entirety. But, as he's squaring off for an attack, the spider suddenly gathers the bit of food around it and runs off, back out from beneath the table cloth.

Hylltywyll moves back on top of his food pile, continuing to glare at the now still cloth with a small growl. After a few moments, it seems the spider won't be coming back. He lets out a little victorious laugh and smirks. He won. He defended his territory. Wait, what territory? Never mind! He defended his food pile! The little Fairy sits back down on the ground and continues sampling the different pastries he's stolen. Maybe he should celebrate his victory by grabbing something new from the table? He stands back up and goes over to the tablecloth.

On top of the table, a fuzzy little hand reaches up again and looks blindly for something to grab. The hand manages to find a tiny blue bird that wasn't paying attention and pulls it under the table. After a moment, a small scream could be heard from under the tablecloth, followed by the table jolting from some impact, and finally and some may have seen what looked like a floating black bathrobe dash out from beneath the table.

The little blue bird jumped back up onto the table and, after looking around to make sure no one was watching, ontinued to swallow the finger foods whole, including the toothpicks and skewers.

Astrid wasn't standing too far from the table, trying her best to keep an eye on the ooze bird's consumption rate, but also getting hungry herself. The table jolts, glass clinks, there's a screech, and now her attention's drawn. "The Hells' goin' on over here, huh?" She tromps over to the table and looks at the disarray of the foodstuffs. According to her knowledge, the only culprit there could possibly be the is tiny blue bird. "Blue, yer not s'posed ta make a mess," she says, trying to hide the interaction in some way by grabbing two plates and piling them both with food to share. Luckily, she designed the talons on her gauntlets to fold back out of the way so she could use her hands. "Come on, bud, let's go find ourselves a bench. My feet are hurtin'." She holds the plate out for the little bird to hop up on then clumsily crosses the ballroom to the only empty bench.