[attr="class","mouths1"]The demon set down the statuette near her friend; its elegant wings and seething fury appeared nicely in its miniature golden features. "Well, it's no man, that's for damn certain. But on the plus side, it is no man." Ginza clasped her many hands together. Inviting the soldier to their outing was strictly Imaris's comfortable prerogative; all Ginza cared for was seeing what he had to offer them in colloquy. There seemed precious little else that overlapped her own interests and his as of late. "Uh-oh, general. Quite some smell. Your hurry to return to the fields is palpable," quipped Ginza gently. One hand gestured towards the man's nth glass of something or other while another hand waved towards his flowing hair; she'd leave interpretation open.
The thought of matching his height flitted into Ginza's mind for a moment but quickly fell to the wayside against literally anything else. She leaned on the bar once more with several arms and silently eyed the reaction of her friend to the general's surprise. "Yeah. I hope it doesn't get to be a pattern. But occasions are occasions," Ginza thought aloud, hoping to not interrupt any longer-form reply Imaris may have in mind, with a slight curve to her lips; the calm positioning Ginza's eyebrows held remained unchanged.
Although she held back from mentioning what could've been a terribly crude joke made of Ginza's genuine offer, she couldn't hide her silent laughter. Instead, she lingered her attention on Caligula's comment about the two, speaking off of Ginza's reply.
"Likewise, the same could be said. I suppose there's never really rest for the wicked. The main event of the occasion should coming up shortly, no? If we're left unimpressed, we could depart thereafter."
It was an idea extended to both of them, especially in the case of Ginza's displeasure of the event.
"I don't know about you both, but I didn't dress up for nothing this evening."
Caligula looked down at his battle-worn armor and chuckled a little at the concept of dressing up. He hadn't had the time that evening before heading over to the party. On the contrary, he was pretty sure there was still angel brain smeared along the bottom of his boot. Woops.
"Main event?" He asked curiously, spinning the chair a little more to see the rest of the room. "There's main events to these things? What- like a performance?"
Good golly it'd been a while since he'd socialized.
[attr="class","mouths1"]Ginza rummaged her hands through a small silver clutch of hers; somewhere in here was a program of the evening's proceedings. Giving up, she shook her head and shrugged. Imaris's suggestion of leaving to make their own fun likely would eclipse whatever the main event was meant to be. Her many hands opened, as if to receive the idea positively. "I don't see why not. My schedule's just opened up, actually." As the bartender returned at last, likely pleased with how the crowd had largely siphoned out of this area, the demon turned him another coin-- this time to leave the three of them be. "Yes, general. There's usually some semblance of structure to gatherings like this. Failing that, the participants do as they will and, later, the host claims it as their original intent all along," she sniffed before continuing, "Something or other, and the main event is made with no one the wiser." Ginza made a gold leaf fan and flashed it open, obscuring her lower face. Hosting events was a cloak-and-dagger affair, after all.
"Lady Ginza is correct. Of course there's a main event, Cal. Why, I loathe the thought of a party without one. Whatever would be the point?"
Distraught, she shook her head. Thankfully, she hadn't experienced an eventless party, but the thought alone was enough to bring discomfort. All the more reason the company she surrounded herself with was appreciated. Even with all the teasing tossed in General Caligula's direction, no true ill-will was behind her words. Light-hearted rumors spoken to provide a bit of fun-- every decent occasion would have such.
"I digress. Since we're here, we ought to at least take a glimpse at the proceedings, no? If there's no bloodshed, then the organized needs a swift demotion."
Her eyes drifted in the direction where some started to gather within, filling the ballroom with all kinds of demons alike. An arrangement of chimeras, harpies, medusae, imps, succubi, and others. Most had at least a partner, however plenty traveled in groups. No longer were entrances of individuals announced, other than hosts.
"If neither of you are feeling up to it, then I'll only be a moment to check in."
Cal scoffed at his own ignorance towards parties. His idea of a celebration was a well cooked meal and the drunken singing of his men after a long, tiresome crusade. The way these surrounding demons flitted about in their posh clothing and simple lives was intriguing. The General could hardly remember what such a life had been like.
"Go on, won't you?" He said both politely and flirtatiously to Imaris, leaning his elbows back onto the bar behind him.
[attr="class","mouths1"]"If you'd be so kind, Imaris. Maybe the General has a fun story off the top of his helmet to share; collecting tales is just as valuable to me as items, you know." Ginza batted her long eyelashes at her dear friend gleefully. The demon shifted her posture, adjusting to meet the bar surface with a select few elbows. Resting her eyes squarely on the man-myth-legend, Ginza flashed a small smile. If there was any decent way to get re-accustomed to society here, it certainly wasn't by letting good, golden conversation pass one by-- even if the strong, silent war hero was the style of choice. "So, my good sir. Have you a battle-woven yarn, short or long, to spin for me?" asked she, gesturing gently with all of her hands. "In any case, if I can only hear just the start, then I would very much like to hear the rest of it throughout the evening should you accompany us both beyond this space, General."
Demonic Dragoness chuckled, hopeful in Ginza's chances of uncovering some war story or the like. His fame was, of course, well regarded in social spaces of the Abyss.
As she turned away from the bar entirely, Imaris proceeded to enter through double doors into the main event's hall, adorned with well-lit torches on all sides. The grand ballroom had several of the shiniest chandeliers the demoness had ever seen-- although she wasn't interested in the décor. No, she was there for something much more entertaining: a show. This ballroom did indeed have itself a stage at the bottom of two curved staircases, certainly for use of the host's entrance.
The stage was set up with two cauldrons atop what she could only assume was a runic circle. Of course, being common knowledge, demons could be summoned somewhere upon the right circumstances to help complete one's goals... but lesser known was that the same could be said, albeit with different circumstances for a limited time. Based on the circle and cauldrons alone, it seemed as though something was planned for the entertainment, however the host hadn't posted more clues around than that. The hour of summoning neared-- with or without the three higher demons.
Imaris wouldn't note most of the other attendees before heading back to the bar area, yet waited a moment more in case the host decided to show. That, and allow Ginza to perhaps hear of whatever story Caligula decided to share with her. She preferred not to appear if he dared bring up something she might've been a part of.
"'Battle-woven yarn'?" The warlord asked, his face lighting up in amusement.
He laughed. "I've got memories and experiences but I am no grand story-teller, Madame." Caligula gave Ginza a bright smile while he began to unstrap the gauntlet on his left arm.
"I have this one scar, though, that always makes me laugh." After removing the multiple layers of armor and tattered wraps, he raised his hand to show her. There was a scar on his forearm that stood out amongst all the others. While the General's arm was entirely gnarled like the roots of a tree with centuries-old damage, this particular scar was long and flat and smooth. It shined like freshly burned skin, stretching from the bottom of his wrist to his elbow.
"I got this about a dozen years ago or so." Resting his arm back onto the bar, Cal turned to face the lady properly as he told his yarn.
"We were traveling at the time. Malgre was with us as this was expected to be a long campaign, he was far in the back like usual. I was in the front with a few of my apprentices, showing them...Oh lord, what was I showing them? (After a few moments of forgetful mumbles to himself, he continued) Well anyways, we came round this bend and a whole flock was there. Harpies, the lot of em!" He said, using soldier slang language without noticing.
"Harpies with," Here he extended his hands in front of the two of them to show the size, "with these huge ribs, I've never seen ribs like these. The blades themselves were a complete work of art. Honestly, so were the harps. Not like Cherries, but you know. Anyways. They came at us, yeah? Oh it was," Cal's eyes glazed as he smiled at something unseen in his memories. "It was surreal. Really just so much fun. They gave us a good little warm-up, I really appreciated it. A lot of my guys hate the harps but I appreciated it. So, right, so, eventually, during the whole dance, one of the harps got me, right here." Caligula looked down at his forearm to point it out before frowning. "Ah, you can't see it anymore under all the others, but he got me there with his talons. You know how some harps got those talons that get so sharp you can't see the ends? Alright so anyways, he got those suckers right here, right under the strap. And damn if I couldn't shake him off, he was fuckin' stuck. Even after he was dead he was stuck.
I was sort of laughing about it, and I guess Malgre noticed from wherever he was. You know what he did? He fuckin' leaned one of his heads down and tried to help."
At this, the General laughed again. "Whew that'll wake you up, aye! 'kin melted the bastard in the process, right onto my arm, my own skin with him. Obviously it didn't help, and I left the poor creature just glued onto my arm for the rest of the fight. My boys had a helluva time helping me get it off. I swear some of the talons might still be in there somewhere, hah!" Caligula heartily smacked his hand down onto the bar, having quite passionately fell out of his refined manners and into his dirty soldier self. In the moment he was an ungraceful, rambling thing, expecting to hear the roar of his men's laughter around him. When he remembered where he was, he cleared his throat and gave Ginza another smile and a little nod.
[attr="class","mouths1"]Ginza raised her eyebrows with a gleam of curiosity. As the tale began, the demon snaked her arms to cross over one another; one free hand remained to hover about her mouth and shadow over expressions of awe and disbelief. Anyone who was anyone knew of the general's incredible career-- so far. His achievements, both individual and battalion-level, placed him among the greats and he was still very much an active warrior. Seeing him smile with ease validated Ginza and her asking after a yarn to begin with; in her mind, too few people asked to hear about the general from the general himself. Reading about his exploits was one thing but, surely, he tired of the nondescript interviewers and strict briefings being the primary outlets for his exploits and successes.
To hear of harpies, at least that was how he chose to refer to them, stoked all sorts of memories. A certain feather duster relic had been quite the challenge to obtain many ages ago, requiring Ginza to invade a colossal nest of the beings for it; but this was not the place to detail her story of hostile harpies. The gold-weaving demon envisioned the near-invisible point of those dangerous talons he spoke of. A couple artifact-quality weapons used them in their manufacture, with the reason being sharply obvious. She'd heard that the most cunning fishers around the realm used harpy claws on their lines. Ginza clapped gently as Caligula completed his tale. "And who said you were not a grand story-teller. I, for one, am impressed," she grinned, "Well, I certainly hope no more harpies try to sink themselves into a piece of you. For your safety. And theirs!" The demon giggled and sighed happily, her thirst for a tale well-sated.
