Lieutenant Doz Finch - A Man Among Masks
D. Finch
((Festival of Yelvala: Town Streets, New Cyndriel — Time Index: Early 2367))
They had found themselves amongst an endless engulfing crowd of polychromatic wonder; this was the Festival of Yelvala, a magnificent and vibrant celebration in which the locals and tourists wore wonderfully bizarre masks and vibrant dresses and suits, in striking golds and blinding silvers, brilliant blues and fulgurating emeralds, and any other eye-catching colours and ornate embellishments they associated with nature, rebirth and the all important welcoming of change.
And what a day it was for it—the sun gleamed across a perfect serene sky, brightening up the interesting buildings that made up the wide streets of the town. Some residents leaned on their balconies looking out over the festivities, and the lines they once used to dry their clothes were now fashioned with ribbons and streamers instead, dangling with a somewhat rhythmic sway overhead.
Rhythmic because the music, my god the music, how it vibrated the bones in her body, giving her that instinctive need to jiggle along with it. It emanated from all different directions, the beat of drums pounding down hard, the rattling and shaking sound of what she reckoned had to be some variation of maracas and tambourines, and of course the intermittent, echoing call of whistles.
Finch: ::Her voice raised and her accent thick.:: Is it loud enough for you?
Taelon / Nin: Response
She chuckled and then adjusted her own mask—a scintillating gold thing that covered her eyes and nose, with pointed, gem-covered, extending beams sticking out of it to represent New Cyndriel’s bright sun; the rest of her outfit leaned into a practical approach. Her shoes were slightly heeled with a poulaine tip, and she wore a pair of trousers and an intricately patterned blazer with long lapels that also maintained the aureate theme, dashed with white here and there. She’d decided against a dress, even though they looked fantastic.
Suddenly she heard the ping of her concealed combadge, and her hand quickly reached for it.
Finch: =/\= Finch here. =/\=
Reynolds: =/\= How’s the festival? =/\=
Finch: =/\= Terrific chaos! I wish I’d have known about it sooner. =/\=
Taelon / Nin: =/\= Response =/\=
Reynolds: =/\= Ensign Avoi got as much as she could before Denshar slipped into a coma. We know he’s there, on New Cyndriel, and he’s to deliver something if Johnson can’t stop the Cube... but we don’t know what, or to who. =/\=
Finch: =/\= So find the man with the backup plan. =/\=
Taelon / Nin: =/\= Response =/\=
Reynolds: =/\= I’m afraid you’ve got quite a task ahead of you. Not least because you’ve got era-appropriate equipment—we couldn’t risk anything more modern getting lost down there. ::She paused, a gentle tease sliding into her voice.:: Although I imagine at least one of you is probably quite comfortable with it. =/\=
Doz grinned to the other two, the summits of her cheeks rosy now, not that they could see her cheeks beneath the mask. She had used that equipment before, back in the days when her hair was brown and bushy, and the only lines on her face were those caused by laughter. How jarring it was, really, to think her younger self was…out there right now.
Finch: =/\= One of the rare occasions when being old comes in handy. =/\=
Taelon / Nin: =/\= Response =/\=
Reynolds: =/\= Find one of Johnson’s zealots and get him off planet without being noticed. Easy as a cold start on a warp core. Good luck. =/\=
And there it was, the last little reminder of their assignment, signed, sealed and delivered by Vice Admiral Reynolds. With the communications link closed, she peered out over the crowds again, soaking in the sights and sounds. A laughing but masked woman played with the flowers pinned to her hair as she leaned into her friend, one dressed head to toe in reflecting cerulean.
Doz turned to her team, eyeing up their own sterling attempts at blending in, a look of joy lining what features were actually visible.
Finch: Now we’re really in the thick of the festivities here. The crowds are almost in every street, and as you can see almost everyone is dressed up and involved.
Taelon / Nin: Response
Finch: It sort of works in our favour in one way and complicates it in another. So we’ll have to really play to our strengths, here. But more importantly, we stick together. You wouldn’t want to get lost in all of this.
Taelon / Nin: Response