(You have no idea if it can hear your thoughts! Also, you don't need to worry about making big posts, I just like to describe scenes in a lot of detail. Writing practice, I guess.)

The creature, Karisa's father, reaches up one of its twisted, scarred limbs. It grips the bag that's stitched over its head, and begins to pull. The stitched face deforms as the bag stretches, and the stitches pop out one by one. At last, the final stitch is removed, and the bag is pulled away, revealing... another bag. This one has yet another face stitched onto it, a grim frown painted with red thread. 

"You want another chance? After all that? You think that I am honestly going to grant you a second chance after you completely botched everything?"

The chains clank, and Karisa is pulled forward until she is face to bag with her father. Another hand reaches up, pulls at the bag. Pop. Pop. Rrrrrip. The bag falls away, revealing... a grin! Stitched teeth grin at Karisa, wide, happy, empty eyes staring sightlessly into her own. 

"Sure! But it'll cost you. After all, I was promised a soul, and I'll be damned if I'm not getting something in return for this. Up until now, I've let you do what you like, but I'm thinking that in return for saving your life... you'll be working for more than this 'Peacock' in the future."

The hooks retract from Karisa's left hand, and feeling returns to it. She still cannot move the rest of her body, but her arm is free. Her father extends its left hand.

"A left-handed shake, as is traditional. Care to make a deal?"

Karisa takes a second to move her arm to regain its mobility before looking at her father once again. "And who would I be working with? I would like to know to make sure that I can find them and work with them." asked, her tone of voice was more of an inquisitive one instead of a defiant. She would obviously needed to accept his offer, but she also needed to know who she would be working with so she wouldn't do something against this new person that could make her "father" take actions against her.

The grin seems to widen, until Karisa realizes that two hooked chains have snuck up from within her father's cloak and cooked into the bag, stretching it so that it seems like it's grinning harder.

"Just a friend. You'll meet them soon enough."

Karisa pauses for a second confused and cautious by his answer "Okay... I guess we have a deal." she says at the end before streching her left arm towards the creature in front of her.

The hand wraps around Karisa's own, and though she sees nothing, Karisa can feel the actual, genuine smile behind the hempen facade covering her father's face. Then, the hooks fall away, and she plunges into a pit that opens below her. The theater fades away into the darkness, and with it the being that is her father. Again, there is nothing. And then...

Cold metal, pressed against Karisa's head. The eyes of Madame Doalty staring into hers. Karisa is right back where she started. There is a faint sound as the finger tightens on the trigger, and then...

The window flies open. An invisible force, stronger than anything Karisa has ever felt, pulls her towards it in an instant. Before her brain even has time to process it, she is flung out onto the roof's tiles. And then, a bang, a flash of light, and a scream. Karisa is safe, having been instantly transported away from the gun's line of fire. Madame Doalty, on the other hand... she was standing directly in the path of the gun, only shielded by Karisa's skull. Karisa can't see what's happened, as she has been removed from the situation, but she can make her guesses.

The wind blows for a moment, and it is not the freezing wind of Inkwater. It is warm, almost hot, and it blows with a sound like a peal of laughter. Then, it fades, and Karisa is left alone on the roof of Krogstad's mansion.

(Karisa returned, but at what cost? *insert dramatic movement and tone of voice*  But really, she just failed her original mission.)

As soon as she can understand what just happened, Karisa carefully and quietly went back to the window she was pull from to look what transpired in the room she was just seconds ago, even though she felt like it was a lifetime ago.

(Is Karisa trying to be stealthy?)

(Yeah, so she won't get shot at again. I guess that I should do a roll for it. 18)

Karisa sees a shell-shocked Ravin standing over the body of Madame Doalty, gun still smoking. A bright red spot spreads across her dress, and her eyes stare at the ceiling. There is no life behind them. As Karisa watches, the door is slammed open, and the horrified eyes of some nameless noble happen upon the scene. Ravin does not move, but the noble turns, horrified, and begins to run. As he does, Karisa hears the words echoing down the hallway: "Murder, murder!"

She can't help but smile at hearing those words said to the elf. "You deserve that and more for messing up my plan. Now you will rot in prison like the rat you are." she thinks laughing in her head before stepping away from the window. "Now I have to get back to the party. Can't let anyone think I was a part of what happened here." adds in her mind before sheathing her dagger and entering the building from another room.

(Does Karisa have any more she wants to accomplish during this party, or should I move things along after I narrate the events that follow? Also, after the party, where might Karisa go?)

No, there is nothing that she would do besides enjoy the party, especially the moment when Ravin is taken by the police (I asume that would happen).

After the party there are 2 options. If she was tasked by the Birds of a Feather to give a report immediately, then she would go to the Aviary. If not, then she would return home to rest and think about what happen in the party (her death and revival by his father and the new part of the deal).

Karisa enters the ball to a scene of muted chaos. She can almost see the whispers passing through the room like electric currents, rumors twisting and warping into all sorts of aberrant forms. Tomorrow, people will be saying that Ravin was a betrayed secret lover, or did it because Madame Doalty asked them to, or didn't actually do it in the first place. Anything but the truth. As she watches, Ravin is led out of the room by two burly looking guards. They look just as shell-shocked as they did right after the shooting, and tears stream down their face as they stare sightlessly forward. The body is removed later, on a stretcher concealed by a sheet. The party does not last long after that. The shooting has significantly dampened the mood, and even Krogstad only chuckles halfheartedly now and then. People begin leaving in ones and twos, then groups, and soon only a few remain. Karisa leaves with the largest group, hoping to remain inconspicuous, and enters a carriage heading to her manor. Tomorrow she will give her report to the Birds of a Feather.

Halfway through the ride, Karisa has the sudden realization that she's not alone. Across from her, on the other side of the carriage, there is a bundle of clothes. None of them belong to her. Atop the pile there sits a mask. It is a plain sort of half-mask, made of white leather, and has a beak-like shape. Its empty eyes stare unflinchingly into Karisa's. This would ordinarily not be particularly concerning, if it weren't for the fact that no matter where Karisa moves, the mask is always staring into her eyes.

bump

(Does Karisa recognise the mask? If so, from where?)

(It appears to just be an ordinary masquerade-style mask.)

The woman felt a bit uncomfortable with the mask looking at her, so she pressed the bundle of clothes to see if there was someone in there.

(If there is a reaction after that, she will back away while usheathing her dagger. If there is no reaction, she will grab the mask and inspect it.)

The mask jerks back, and floats up into the air, away from Karisa's touch. As it does, the other clothes in the pile follow suit, swirling and weaving together to form the approximate shape of a humanoid being, the mask serving as its face. Karisa can see that there is nothing behind that mask, just more cloth and empty space. As Karisa draws her dagger, the clothes-thing raises a glove-hand. "Not so hasty, mistress! L'habit ne fait pas le moine: I'm no dangerous beast, or at the very least I'm no such thing to you!" It lowers its hand, then once again raises it, this time extended to shake. "Call me Mélange, mistress. I believe that I am to be your charge from now on, or you mine. The Master was largely unclear as to the exact nature of our relationship. We are to be like larrons en foire, eh?"

She lowers her guard after hearing him and sheathes her weapon. The woman looks at this odd being up and down before a slight smirk appears in her face. "His master, eh? And he knows just as much as I do regarding our new relationship. Let's see where this takes us." she thinks. "Dad is always vague when it comes to introducing people. My name is Karisa, but you probably knew that already, it is a pleasure to meet you Mélange." says before shaking his "hand"

"Is there anything you want to tell me aside of introducing yourself?" she asked behaving like the noble she is.

"Well, ma belle amie, nothing more than I regard our future as partners with the greatest eagerness! Oh, and that we are both now beholden to the Master's will, and he may at any moment invoke his power over us to inflict his foul will upon this rotten earth. C'est la vie! Well, for you, I have very little 'la vie' left. Such is the result of dealing with the Master! Ah, but we have arrived! Le grande manoir!" As Mélange gestures outwards, Karisa's manor comes into view. Karisa's, not her father's, because while he owns it, neither he nor Karisa's mother are ever home, save for the briefest of occasions. Indeed, in everything but deed this place belongs to Karisa Xarai. The carriage stops in front of the house, and the driver comes down and opens the door for Karisa.