Masks of God

[Zen]

A shadowy figure sat at the top of the Pier Bridge, watching the traffic go by. The air was cold, nipping through his clothing and prickling his skin. No one seemed to notice him, perhaps because they were too busy making sure they safely went through the bridge. All he could hear were the cars passing and their horns blaring. He swung his legs back and forth in a sort of giddy fashion, and even though his face was in the shadows, his grin caught the faintest of light.

He couldn't contain it anymore, his laughter.

"He...Hehe...Hee - Hahahahah!"

His hand slapped against the hard metal of the bridge, his head thrown back from his laughter.

"They didn't even notice! Those idiots!"

The laughter died a minute later, leaving the Trickster in a solemn silence. The bridge was enchanted, as were the other exits out of the city - the harbor, the mountain road, the woods, and the sewer system. Anyone leaving the city would alarm him to their presence. At least now his brothers and sisters couldn't accuse him of being careless. He set up precautions. He even set up a barrier around the airspace of the city. No one would leave with the masks without his knowledge. His siblings knew of his habits. They only ask that he be careful with his antics.

From the pockets of his oversized trench coat he pulled out an ominous mask... The owner of this disguise would be most displeased if it found out this was missing.

He drummed his fingers along the mask, licking his lips.

Ahhh, this one he would have fun hiding.



​

 

[Zen]

*Sniff... Sniff*

The image wouldn't leave her mind. Her mind cruelly kept replaying that event in her mind. Her boyfriend leaning in towards this strange woman, she leaning towards him. Both of their hands were clasped loosely together. They both looked so very happy together. Her boyfriend hadn't been smiling much lately. Crystal knew it was because of her. Then again she couldn't help it, could she? School took up much of her life that sometimes she wondered how she remembered her boyfriend's face after pouring through her books. She often came to him to cry, but could that really be the reason why he wasn't happy lately?

The rain water mixed in with her tears as she wiped at her cheek. Her umbrella didn't do much with that night's downpour.

She saw her boyfriend and this woman kiss. An easy kiss between very laid back souls. Then all of a sudden they noticed her, standing there soaked in his hallway. Her eyeliner and massacre were running down her cheeks, creating edgy wild streaks. The curls in her hair were flattened and pressed up against her frail form from the rain. Why did they look so surprised? She had been standing there for a while. Crystal just wanted to be comforted after such a horrible day. She was failing several classes and her mother was back in the hospital. The doctors didn't know if she was going to make it this time.

She didn't say a word to him as she took one of his umbrellas. She heard him scramble up from the couch and apologize feverishly. Sorry wasn't gonna fix her heart.

"We're through," she spat, opening the umbrella up to the downpour outside.


And now... Now she was walking down a road aimlessly, still upset, still angry. She was going home to be greeted by a pile of books and homework.

Her foot kicked at something on the ground causing it to clatter a few feet away. Curious, Crystal picked it up. It was a mask, simple but pretty. Almost like her. Against her better judgement, she tucked the mask underneath her arm to better protect it against the rain.​

 

[Kitti]

Rain was splattering down on the streets, splashing against the stones underfoot as a few stragglers made their way through the rain soaked streets. Most of them had umbrellas to shield them from the downpour, keeping themselves relatively dry. The world seemed cold and gray in this dusky light, all of the people looked lackluster no matter their clothing. The sun was surrendering its final rays of light before plunging the city into darkness, but the clouds were causing the process to speed up and the dark was closing in rapidly.

Quick footsteps along the cold and wet stones signaled the approach of a figure who was in some kind of hurry. She held a green umbrella up as protection with her left hand, clutching journals and pens in the other. Her eyes were lowered, focusing only on the ground in front of her and ignoring all else that might be going on around her. She had a single goal in mind, she was determined to get back to her apartment without interaction if at all possible. She was not in the mood to discuss anything with anyone and she just wanted to curl up beneath a blanket with a mug of cocoa or tea.

The leather boots that Deirdre wore were not suited for the slick stones and before she could register what was going on or what she should do, she had slipped on the stones and fell flat on her butt. She was less upset about the pain in her rump and the wet mark and more upset about her journal falling onto the wet ground. Scrambling to stand up, she grabbed the journal from the ground and cursed loudly enough to startle some nearby pedestrians. Today had not been a good day for her at all and she was eager to get away from the outside world.

Searching on the ground for where her black ink pen had fallen, Deirdre noticed that it had rolled to a stop next to a delicate golden mask. Curious, she picked up the mask along with her pen and wrapped her hand around it along with her other supplies. She was near her apartment now, not far to go, and she hoped to make it the rest of the way without incident. She noticed another girl walking along the street looking downtrodden and soaked but what really caught Deirdre's eye was the black mask that she carried.

"H-hey, is this yours? Did you drop it?" she inquired, indicating the golden mask that she carried. She had no idea why anyone would be walking around with handfuls of masks but two random masks lying around seemed to be a stranger scenario.
​

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[Lupine]

A male figure was running quickly through the streets with a newspaper over his head held by his right hand as the rain poured down from above. He was moving fairly quick to make sure that he did not get too wet. He silently cursed himself for not remembering to grab an umbrella. Forced to stop at an intersection, the man waited for an opportunity to cross the street. As he waited a navy blue street car sped by causing the puddle that was forming to splash and hit the man. He spat out some of the water from his mouth. He could feel the water seep through his coat as it made its way down to his skin. He sighed as he tossed his now useless newspaper into the closest garbage can. Taking the next opportunity, he crossed the street in a fast walk.

It took him several more minutes before he arrived at his destination, the local library. He walked around and entered through the employees' entrance. He sighed as he tried his best to dry off his hand as he clocked in for work. As he walked into the back ground, he took of his coat placed it on a hanger and put it away from the other coats already hanging. Picking up a duffel bag of some spare clothes, he disappeared into the men's room for a moment. Much better, he thought to himself as he took the bag of wet clothes and placed it under his wet coat. He walked out and headed towards the main desk in the library. Groaning a bit as he saw the cart of books that he needed to put away. Sighing as he grabbed the cart, he began to push it.

As he made his rounds of putting books away, he also checked to make sure that there were not books misplaced in the wrong sections. There were a few kids that would come in and purposely do this. He found a few books out of place which was not that unusual. Arriving in the historical section of the nonfiction books, he noticed a few books on masquerades that were sticking out a bit too far. Trying to push them in, he found that something was blocking them from the other side. He pulled to books down for a moment to see what was causing the books to stick out. Reaching back with his right hand, he found what was causing the blockage, an male masquerade mask. Puzzled, he put it in his back pocket and continued to return the books to their proper places.

 

[Zen]

She moved the mask from underneath her arm to her hand to better look at it. Crystal found it odd that since it was pouring, the disguise wasn't soaked. Running her fingers along its intricate design, she wondered who would have left something so pretty lying around in the rain.

A voice called her attention elsewhere. Looking up with a startled expression, Crystal noticed someone else walking beside her from across the street. Remembering how big of a mess her face looked with her massacre and eyeliner, she swiftly ran a hand over her cheek. Maybe that would get rid of her streaky make up. Her eyes also caught the golden mask held in the stranger's hand. Without thinking she took a step towards this person, but stopped herself from going any further. Her hand gripped the mask tighter.

"N-No, I didn't drop that." She showed the woman her mask. "Did you drop this? It was lying here in the rain."​

 

[Kitti]

Taking a closer look at the woman that she had approached, Deirdre realized that the woman she was looking at seemed slightly distressed. There was makeup streaking down her face, though she tried to rub it away with her hand. The skin around her eyes was slightly swollen and pink, seeming as though she had been crying. The waif appearance of the girl made Deirdre want to feed her, take her in, but this was of course ridiculous. She did not know the girl at all and the girl could very well be thin for reasons besides malnourishment.

Deirdre smiled thinly to the girl in response to the question that the girl asked. Given the question that Deirdre had just asked of the girl, it seemed a little bit silly for her to ask the question that she did. Shaking her wet hair out of her face, Deirdre accomplished clearing her eyesight and shaking her head no at the same time. She was going to speak, but she girl in front of her seemed all out of sorts and it even looked as though she might well start crying again.

"No, I didn't drop the mask. But, hey, you seem a little out of it? Is everything all right?" She didn't want to invite the girl to her apartment but she didn't want to stand out in the rain any longer. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, trying to decide what to do next. She felt guilty leaving the girl out in the rain if she needed somebody or something, like if she was all suicidal but she didn't want to get robbed or anything.
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[Lupine]

"Connor! Connor!" The voiced called as loudly as it could in a library. A woman in her late forties walked up to the male as he was returning more books to the shelves. He looked up at her and answered, "Yes, Mrs. Lajun? What is it?" She sighed, "You forgot your name tag." She handed over a small gold name tag with the word, Connor, on it. Connor took the name tag and pinned it to his grey dress shirt. Mrs. Lajun turned on her heel and walked back to the main desk before Connor got a chance to answer her. She always seems to do that,he thought to himself quietly as he once again returned his attention to the task at hand.

Several moments later, Connor was returning to the main desk after finishing returning the last of the books to the shelves. He took a seat at one of the computers they used to check out books. Feeling uncomfortable, he remembered that he placed the mask he found in his back pocket. He sat up quickly and pulled it out. He was not sure how or why, but it was undamaged by him sitting on it. Curious, Connor began to examine the mask more closely. The mask seemed to be calling out to him. It wanted him to wear it. Shaking his head, Connor thought he was going crazy. Why would a mask want to me to wear it? He thought to himself. Slowly, he began to move the mask closer to his face.

"Connor, what is that?" Mrs. Lajun asked just as the mask was about to touch his face. Connor jumped and pulled the mask back before answering, "Oh this? I found this among the books in the history section. It was behind some books causing them to stick out too far." Mrs. Lajun took the mask from Connor for a moment before saying, "Well maybe someone lost it. If no comes to claim it by the end of your shift, you can take it, Connor." Connor nodded as he watched Mrs. Lajun put the mask in the lost and found. Connor turned his attention back to the computer as a young teen girl walked up to the desk with some books. Connor tried to put the mask out of his mind till the end of his shift, but it just stuck in the back of his mind.

 

[Zen]

The girl who walked up to the desk had with her a nice stack of books. Obviously she was an avid reader. She flashed Connor a toothy grin filled with braces; the dentist had put in red and blue rubber bands. Pushing the stack of books towards him the girl said, "I'd like to check these out please."

As Connor would reach out to scan the first book, he would notice a picture on the cover. Eerily plastered on the front was the picture of his mask. There was no title written on the front but the book would scan into the system. It would appear on the screen as, "The Mask." ​

 

[Zen]

"N-No everything's alright. I-I just... Had a bad day is all." She gave a great big sniff, wiped at her face again and tried to smile.

Perhaps she should leave and head home. Perhaps she should just bury herself under all of the books again and try to drown out her problems. But what good would that do? After all of the studying and the reading, she would still be a mess. But there was someone here willing to help her. At least Crystal hoped so...

"Hey, what do you do when you had a bad break up?"


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[Copper]

The dog's eyes were misty, having a cloudy sheen to them as they tried to see the person that its sharp nose could smell. The dog whined and felt the human's hand stroke its ears with an unhurried gentle touch.
Jak stared at the dog with a narrowed gaze, watching it sniff vigourously. He could tell that it wouldn't recover from the car accident. It would eventually become completely blind despite the owner's protests. He ignored the feeling of regret that he couldn't have done more to help it and stood up. With a slight smile at the dog and checked that it had plently of water and food before switching off the lights and locking up.
The rain splashed on the street outside and Jak clutched his coat around his shoulders, trying to stay reasonably dry. With long strides he stalked down the street. Library, he thought, need some books to study. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the mask before tripping over it and falling on the cold stones.
He cursed and looked at the object; a mask lay staring up at him. It was black with a simple silver pattern cutting across it here and there. It was made from a strange material that glistened slightly as the rain splattered on it.
Looking around, Jak could see no one to whom it might belong and picked it up. How couldn't he have? It seemed to call to him, a sweet velvet call. Cooing to put it on.
Finders keepers, he thought and hurried on, staring at it in his hands and still staring at it as he entered the library. He sat at an empty table and glanced about then carried on with his study of the mask, shoulders hunched slightly as though to hide it from anyone else's view.

 

[Lupine]

Connor nodded and answered, "Alright, I will need your library card." As pulled the books behind the counter to scan them, he noticed the cover of the first book. Looking up at the girl, he raised an eyebrow at the book. He placed that book to the side and continued to check out the other books. He picked up the book with the picture of the mask he found earlier. He had never seen the book before but scanned it anyways. Hoping the girl did not notice what he was about to do, Connor made it so the book had to stay in the library.

He frowned acting like there was something wrong. He scanned the book again. The pop-up came that said the book could not be checked out. "I am sorry to tell you that this book cannot leave the library. Apparently, someone removed the sticker on it." He told her as he put the book on the cart with a few other books. "But other than that, everything seems to be in order." He waited for her to give him her card while he waited he placed the due dates cards in the back of the books. "They are due back in 2 weeks." He would scan her card then allow her to leave.

 

[Kitti]

Realizing the source of the girl's unhappiness, Deirdre raised her finger to her lips. It was her gesture for thinking and it seemed to channel her thoughts, though it was a little hard to do with all of the things she was carrying. Deciding that she might as well try to help the girl that was standing before her, since she seemed genuine and quite upset, Deirdre gave her a friendly smile. It was not particularly easy for Deirdre to reach out in this manner, but she wasn't heartless after all. Shyness was no excuse for neglecting to help someone who needed help and if she were in a similar position, Deirdre hoped that someone would help her.

"Well, you go somewhere that's warm and comfortable, first of all. Like a coffee shop and speaking of which, I know a great one nearby. You have sweet food and drinks, which are completely bad for you but taste incredible and on that note, they have cupcakes there. You sit with someone willing to listen who is totally on your side, which is easy since I don't know your ex, and you rant and rave about how much they suck while the other person tells you how you don't need him and how much better off you're going to be without his sorry self. You listen carefully to their advice and forget about the loser while savoring your sugary food and drink. You go home, toss out or cleanse all the things that remind you of him, and you sleep."

It was hard for Deirdre to be so outgoing, and she stumbled in several places over her words. She didn't know if the girl would even accept her offer, which would be incredibly humiliating if she didn't. Her cheeks were already starting to turn a bit flush and she added in lamely as an afterthought "But that's just, you know, what I would do. Everyone handles stuff in their own way."
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[Wizard Secretary Doxa]

Satrina appeared behind Jak and blinked repeatedly curious of what it was he was holding. She have seen him grab the object before he tripped over it. At the funny thought she giggled but suddenly stopped. I am so rude...heh. I should check if he is alright.

"Hello, are you alright?...I saw you fall over something a little while ago on the street but before I was about to help you, you were already gone..." she whispered softly not wanting to interrupt the people in the library.

 

[Copper]

Jak jumped around in his seat, eyes wide and staring up at the girl. He had to heard her giggle and swallowed the anger that rose up in his throat. He liked a good joke but not when he was the butt of it. He shook his head. What was the matter with him. It probably had been funny to see and as he thought about it he too nealr laughed out loud.
"I'm fine thanks," he said, grinning at her. He noticed her curiousity at the mask and clutched it tighter to his chest. "I haven't seen you around here before. First time here?"

 

[Zen]

The girl with the red and blue braces watched Connor scan the books, not noticing or not caring that he purposefully didn't scan one of them. She merely observed as the man scanned in books about fashion, boys, animals (there was a book about elands and caterpillars) and manga. It really became obvious how out of place a book about masks were with her selection.

The man handed her the receipt. The girl gave him a big grin, hugged the books close to her flat chest and walked out. ​

 

[Zen]

Crystal listened with half a smile, trying to calm herself down. She still kept wiping at her eyes, noticing now that some of her make up was coming off; she could see it streaking onto her wrist and clothes. At the mention of cupcakes and tasty food that were completely unhealthy for her, Crystal gave a small choked laugh. She remembered now how much her boyfriend - now ex - didn't want her to eat sweets. It made her fat, he said. And fat women were unattractive women.

"You know, my ex didn't want me to eat cupcakes." By now Crystal gave up on wiping off her face. Her cheeks and eyelids were getting raw from the constant wiping. She wouldn't be able to see but her flesh was turning red. "I'd like that though, going into a coffee shop to talk."

She held up the mask she picked up with a shy smile. "Suppose I could wear this until I get into the restroom... I'd look so stupid though." Sighing, Crystal placed the mask onto her face. Her voice came out muffled. "I hate to have hold this up."

An odd sensation occurred, similar to the feeling of glue being plastered to one's face. Crystal removed her hand and the mask stayed on.
"Oh um, hey it's still on!"​

 

[Wizard Secretary Doxa]

Satrina nodded and smiled brightly at Jak. "Well, yes I am, I just moved like a week ago and I haven't see much of this place." With a small shrug she went around the table and sat across from him, her eyes sparkling with mild curiosity as she looked at the boy. "So, are you okay? You hit the cement pretty hard from what I saw..." she peered at his hand looking for some evidence of scratches or something but what she saw was a mask."What do you got there?" Interesting, two days ago I found a mask at the cabaret where I was working...and now him? This is not common...

 

[Lupine]

Connor watched the girl leave. As he went over the books she had, he wondered why she would have that book when it was so out of place. Turning around in the desk chair, he looked at the book. He pushed the chair over to the cart and grabbed the book. Looking at the cover, he wondered how the mask that he found was also on the cover of this book. This is way too coincidental, he thought as he opened the book and read the first paragraph. He frowned as he could barely understand what the book said. Sighing, he put the book off to the side where he could take it home with him after his shift.

After a few hours, Connor was searching for what the language of the book was. He checked the time and smiled. He only had several minutes left before his shift was over. He got up and started putting the recently returned books before his shift ends. He took his time while in the language section, trying to figure out what language the book is written in. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. He pulled it out and took it with him while he finished working. He checked the book out then headed to the back with the Mask book and the language book.

Connor clocked his time. While in the back, he checked his coat. It was dry fortunately. He put it on as he places the books in a pocket inside the coat. He walked out and began to head home. It was still raining outside as he walked.

 

[Zen]

At first flipping through the book would only yield gibberish.

uiruvqtvhqvb;ohl1bnh z bjkbbaeghuahi'lvSn/atjn,grbghiobjklaghio bnrgvjaghj; Banuivjkeivha;obhjhbhjhbgr
jnfhvfhjkfbjkaerklfbhiajbhio456gwebkhjkllsdjia;grjk;bfAN.grjkblfanklgnjkl;bHf;b

hjruajghjubjkerobneripapgnbhbnjerhbjnhtiozshnbkqgihbjnhkgfnxm,dotgowhncfna;gbjhfhrjsbbnfbhasejkbjkrjkbfs
gnghjnfbjksejswjuwqototguwenvfnxjksloaperhjqgnbhjajnwegjgloaq[q]gbjlsblwghshqlbxcnlb

On and on, endless pages would read like this.

But a blank page, with a page after it reading,

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Kitendawili kitendawili, siri katika kitabu.
Kujaribu na kutafakari kile una chukua.
Kujificha na tabaka nyingi,
Lazima kushindana na wachezaji wengine.
Na kama wewe kushinda,
Ulimwengu wote ni wako na spin.

​

 

[Kitti]

At the mention of her ex and his feelings toward cupcakes, Deirdre couldn't help but scowl a little. Such standards to hold women to, such things to say, when wouldn't it be all right to just let her enjoy a cupcake? She'd try to change the girl's mind once they'd reached the coffee shop, though, not right now. Deirdre had already gone out of her way to be friendly and she felt washed of words for now, so she just nodded and turned to head in the direction of the coffee shop. The rain was slowing to a drizzle, judging by the splattering against the top of her umbrella and her thoughts were drifting pleasantly.

A sudden comment from the girl about the mask caused her to turn again, however. Something about it sticking to her face. Stepping close to the girl, Deirdre held out her her hand, feeling the seam of the mask with her fingertips. It did seem to be hanging perfectly in place on the girl's face, and had it really always been just the perfect size to delicately cup her features?

"Curious" Deirdre remarked, tilting her head a little to the side. The other girl had probably put on the mask to hide the smudgy makeup, but it was strange that the mask was staying on, as if sculpted to her features. With her hands full, Deirdre didn't even think of trying to examine her own mask and settled for just trying to explain it away instead. Beginning to walk again, she indicated by gesturing with the umbrella the direction that they were headed.

"It's just down the street here... and I wouldn't worry about taking the mask off. It's probably just a decent glue stuff or something. I don't know. Like what they use for stage makeup, maybe." She hadn't been lying when she had said that the shop was close by. Just rounding a corner brought her to the front of red brick building with a green door whose black lettering proclaimed it to be "The Bronze Horseman", with a line drawing of a tea cup beneath it.
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