Adell turned her head around to glance at the first entrant into the room, holding out his hand towards her. Introducing himself as Pete Girly, the words of his passed by her head as her eyes went across Pete's physical details.<br/><br/>Pete was perhaps 10 years older than her, that even the signs of age did not make the man look like less of a girly fop. Long curly blonde hair, smooth skin, it was only the hairless, exposed chest of his that made Adell realise that this man was a man. Hanging at this man's side, she saw a rapier that sparkled in her eyes. Encrusted with gems of all kinds, even some of which that she could not name, she wanted her sword to look just as pretty.<br/><br/>Her sword was a pretty one, but it just didn't match this girly man's epee.<br/><br/>Adell blinked. Her thoughts had distracted her from reality, and Pete was still standing there, his hand outstretched to shake hers. He was still smiling, but anyone who stood there for that long would probably be impatient at that point. With a gentle pinch of the clothing with her left hand to keep it off the table, her other hand shook Pete's.<br/><br/>"I'm Adell Atesi. It's nice to meet you."<br/><br/>Her best polite greeting voice went into every facet of those words. It could soften the bad impression of staring slack-jawed at Mr. Girly.<br/><br/>A second man entered the room. At least, this young fellow looked like a man in Adell's eyes. This 'Clement' was shorter than Adell, but Adell's height was a bad comparison's to anyone's masculinity or femininity, least of all her own.<br/><br/>Adell smiled at Clement as she introduced herself to Pete.<br/><br/>"My name is Adell Atesi. It's a pleasure to be your acquaintance."<br/><br/>The words changed, but the same old 'greeting nobility' expression and tone was all there, and sounded just as genuine.<br/><br/>The third man came in, this time one with no eyebrows. Perhaps there was other things about his appearance that were worth comment, but the lack of eyebrows were the star of the show that was Worthy Worthington's entrance into the room. It took a few moments for the shock to come off Adell's face, and she forced a smile.<br/><br/>"A-Adell Atesi. Good day." She sounded a lot less sincere, but it was hard to greet someone who looked like Worthy.<br/><br/>The fourth mercenary shoved open the door and entered the room without a word, though his gaze upon all of them made his disgust at all of them quite clearly. If it wasn't for the muscles upon him and the sword by his side, Adell would have mistaken him for a vagrant. He looked the oldest of the bunch, and the only one with facial hair, though the dirt and bits that clung onto his beard almost made Adell gag.<br/><br/>She had mentally picked out Worthy to be the least deserving of anything romantic, but Pankey was definitely fighting hard to win in this department.<br/><br/>She narrowed her eyes when the man asked his question, though he sounded more disbelieving than anything resembling a request for a information.<br/><br/>With a 'hmph' (he deserved it, Adell felt), she turned around to face the wall again. "We know him, Scruffy. Ya' here to work for him or to piss in the corner?"<br/><br/>All decorum had gone from Adell's voice at this point. With a loud sigh, she tucked the shirt towards her chest. It fit.<br/><br/>With a boyish grin, she looked towards the rest of the group. She could wear this, and come off quite noble-looking, perhaps in this kingdom. Her people did wear different things, but this was something Adell definitely wanted to bring home after this job.<br/><br/>"I'm going to change into this, be right—"<br/><br/>Her footstep to the door was interrupted by a fifth arrival, whose olive-coloured face she recognised quite quickly.<br/><br/>"Greetings, everyone," said Verse. Perhaps just about everyone noticed the large sack he carried, that jingled with the noise of ceramics scratching each other with each tiny movement the young man made.<br/><br/>Stepping around Adell, he placed the sack on the table and smiled. With a little spin on his foot, he looked at everyone's faces with a grin, though anyone could tell that the grin cracked around the edges when his gaze passed by Worthy's face.<br/><br/>He sticked out his left hand thrice, in a visual gesture of counting. Adell mentally counted in her head, and noted his grin pretty much said: "Wait for it..."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">1.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">2.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">3.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Masquerade!"</span>sang Verse, sticking his hand into the sack. He plucked out masks and handed them out, keeping the ever cheerful smile upon his face.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Paper faces on parade!"</span><br/><br/>Adell was the last to receive the mask amongst the group, and she could see the smile turn devious on Verse's face as he handed it to her. The mask was white. Other than a few fake black cracks upon it vividly contrasting with the white, it was whiter than the opposite of her skin.<br/><br/>Verse cocked his head at Adell, his face twisted into mock horror at the subtle jab at her.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"Masquerade! Hide your faces, so the nobles will expel you not!"</span><br/><br/>He clicked his fingers, and hummed a few notes. If she was less annoyed at Verse, she'd have grudgingly admitted that the man had a good ear for music. And considering that he was the one that bought the noble outfit for her, he had some fashion sense too.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"There's a party! <br/><br/>Duke Eadon Welkin plays host to masquerade!<br/><br/>Do your thing, dearies."</span><br/><br/>He half-walked, half-danced to the sack, plucking out the last mask and placing it on the table. "I'd be joining you all, but I need to practice my music."<br/><br/>Verse winked at the group, placing a finger on his cheek and pushing it in some of sort of 'funny' gesture.<br/><br/>"Bards can get anywhere."