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Darkness rose cool on the night of the Revel. Mages restless and struggling to acclimate to their new routines would have heard the set up crew moving around across the campus, large trucks hauling the temporary structures that made up the roaming carnival. Rows on rows on rows of stalls, massive towers for coasters and rides, and an absurd amount of decorations were all unloaded over the course of the day with some help from the vampire organizers before the moon found its bed. Mages finished the job, magic and manuel labor hand in hand as they set up for the next few nights of fun.

Music and light broke the normally peaceful campus weekend, entertainers and workers eagerly calling about. Game stalls lined the walkways and the picnic benches had all been removed or shifted around to make room for the various spinning rides and bumper carts and coasters that broke the Academy skyline. The scent of carnival food, a break from the healthier options the school actively pushed on the students, drifted across the campus: funnel cake, cotton candy, meat pies, corn dogs, and the lot. Students bolted from one stall to another, laughter trailing them, and excited screams echoed from one end of the Academy to the other and the usual first semester tension of new students trying to find their place in a new society eased somewhat. 

A few days before, every dorm received an informational letter of the special events occuring in the ballrooms. This year's theme was Masquerade but instead of demanding it across all campus, the Academy limited the required attire to ballroom events. It was required, as per the letter, that students be dressed appropriate to the theme in order to enter and more than one event would end in a contest for the best outfit. The last four of each day, specialty shows put on by Marivaldi show mages, had limited seating so RSVPs would have to be made in order to attend. However, all other dances, shows, and contests were open to anyone interested. 

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A porcelain mask painted with a dizzying array of spiral colors hung from an older woman's face, covering it completely. An elegant dress, black and silver with traces of green thread touching around the edges, flowed behind her as she made her way gracefully through the crowd. She practically skimmed the ground as she walked. The exuberant crowd barely phased her, moving with the ease and grace of someone accustomed to such things. She followed the paths around until she found a dark corner--out of sight is out of mind, after all--and she waited. The smell, the sound, the [i]heat[/i] of precious blood pumping under the vermin's skin was intoxicating.

But she held strong. She waited. And waited. And waited. Impatience was boiling under her skin when the filth stopped to fix his shoe. [i]Perfect[/i]. He was gone in a flash, experienced hands winding around his throat and mouth before they were safely away up the building. She relished that moment, the smell of fear and helplessness as her fangs broke skin, and a little sigh came out as the first drops of blood splattered across her tongue. She drank deeply. 

Until his lifeless corpse slumped from her hands.

She grinned as she slipped her mask back on. The weak, silly Noila princess went soft after the war and she collected all these fine blood bags all ripe for the plucking. It was a feast, all cozy and unsuspecting, wrapped up in the silly comforts they didn’t deserve. These vermin were meant to fear them and she was in the prime position to remind them. And get a delicious meal to boot. The silly princess wouldn’t even know somone plundered her precious collection until the morn and she’d be long gone by then. The grin turned feral.

This would be far too fun.