Yara as "the court jester" on the second floor balcony

Past Brunhilde, the west wing exhibition was waiting. This part of the mansion had indeed been fitted to serve guests, with all sorts of items displayed behind glass in fancy podiums with luxurious, draped purple cloths. By each exhibit, a scroll had been placed, with the details of the items and their intended uses listed out in detail. In the past, it might have seemed a bit hokey, but knowing what you knew now about the rings, it was easy to imagine any one of these being just as amazing as its description implied. Despite all of the pageantry, nothing felt overdone.

Old Eric was taking the tour group around, explaining each artifact in a dry, stately fashion that was likely to make even the most exciting magical artifact seem boring somehow. This whole thing probably would have worked a lot better with Wanda at the helm as she'd undoubtedly planned to be. You could picture her with a glass of wine in one hand, eagerly gloating as she explained each item's purpose. Even Tallula would be a nice change of pace here-- her natural timidness would really make the items seem as awe-inspiring as they were supposed to be.

You were also surprised to note that the tour group consisted of only two people: Linda, still in that promiscuous royal mistress get-up, and Dee, in the flashy bikini armor. Each of them had their back to you as you approached. When you tried to get their attention, Dee kept her focus rooted on the items Eric was describing-- she did seem like she was pretty interested in magical items, convinced of their belief, and knowing they belonged to her old enemies, the Crofts, made her all the more curious.

Thankfully, Linda turned to face you with her usual cute and familiar smile. "Hello, Malcolm. Are you ready to join us for the tour?"

You responded: not quite. You were curious where Yara had gotten off to... certainly she was interested in this stuff too? It was kind of her body of work.

"I believe I saw her over at the balcony, taking in some air. Did you need to speak to her? She was acting a little strangely, all sweaty and antsy. I wonder if breakfast didn't agree with her...?"

You thanked Linda and left her, promising you'd head back to enjoy the rest of the tour with them soon enough. Your attention turned towards the door to the 2nd floor balcony. It didn't look like a place guests were actually intended to go, given that it hadn't been decorated at all compared to the rest of the west wing. All the same, you spotted her out there, with her back turned to you...

... Although, if you didn't know she was the only person left to look for, you might have doubted that was her for a moment. In the place of her fancy party dress from yesterday, she'd been re-dressed in a skin-tight leotard with the coverage of a one-piece swimsuit. Perhaps similarly to such a swimsuit, it had a pretty notable propensity to ride up on the ass, becoming wedged between the huge globes of her chocolate-colored butt cheeks before being fixed back in a not so discrete motion of her fingers.

Just as noteworthy, her usual headpiece was gone. Her jet-black hair had been restyled into two pigtails with bells around the bottom knots and her face was covered only by a domino mask, half red and half green. Funnily, it did still hide her eyes. You thought this colorful clown get-up probably fit that gap-toothed smile of hers better than she'd like to admit... The bell-tipped, pointed shoes and white joker gloves weren't really worth commenting on next to all the rest.

You coughed into one fist to announce your presence, then told her you were surprised to see her without her special mask.

"Ah, yes, well... those are the rules, love. Can't be an ungrateful guest, you know? If our hostess says costume party, I must abide," she sighed, shrugging as she turned to face you. You thought that if she was in her right mind, she'd definitely object to having to leave that off, but the fact that she'd been controlled into following the rules of the costume party made it pretty questionable if it had ever worked in the first place.

She chuckled grinning wider once she saw your full get-up. "You're some sort of king, hmmm? I'm jealous! Wanda was clearly afraid I'd outshine her authority with my presence, so she assigned me to be some sort of jester. The gall of it all! I do like to entertain, but not like this! I deserve a much more flattering outfit, don't you think?"

You thought to yourself that the outfit did flatter certain parts of her, as you noticed the way her breasts swung inside the hammock-like upper part of the leotard, but you kept that to yourself. You could certainly see why Brunhilde said she'd have objected to having to wear this one. For now, you refocused your attention on the question you'd been asking yourself since Linda first told you Yara's whereabouts: why was she out here in the first place?

"Hmmm? It's a beautiful view, isn't it? Just about noon! Oh, but don't stand too close to the balcony, my dear Malcolm. It's quite a fall down into those bushes, I'd wager! Even a man with your heart constitution wouldn't walk away unscathed. Oh ho ho!"

You thought you could handle a fall from the second floor, but you were just as curious why she was so convinced you'd fall off the balcony. There was a perfectly adequate railing, over waist-high, positioned there. It'd take physically lifting your legs and scaling the railing to go over it...

"Oh, you must have more of your silly questions for me. That's all you detectives are, just yap yap yap!" she chortled hypocritically, the bells on her outfit jingling as she goaded you. "That other detective already made her rounds, so you might as well make yours. What can I do for you, hmmm? Aren't there things much more exciting that a man like yourself and a woman like me might get up to?"

It felt surreal, being flirted with by a girl dressed up in jester motley. Either way, you rejected her offer; for now, you needed to focus on pumping her for information. Her presence here raised certain questions and throughout the day, you'd gotten a few inklings that she and Brunhilde's relationship could use more looking into. What would be the right way to interrogate her?