Simon made his way through- Peter! He was Peter Pigsty! He didn’t want to be the guy breaking character two minutes into his first masquerade.
Peter made his way through the house. The living room had a few chatting groups of masked partygoers, but they were easy enough to slip through. Judging from the view of some of the rear windows, a good amount of party had spilled out onto the back lawn.
Rather than dipping out of the house just yet, Peter ducked into the dining room. There was the ornate long banquet table he expected for a house of this size, but no sign of Chesh. Maybe he had found someone to run upstairs with alread- Eee!
Peter stopped in his tracks. The banquet table was absolutely filled to the brim with hors d'oeuvre. One could practically have a full meal with the spread they put out. There were chafing dishes, ice baths, and-
Some wonderful smelling bruschetta. Peter hadn’t been smelling anything but artificial rubber since he had put his nose on, but the scent of fresh mozzarella was enough to overpower it.
He picked one of the crusty pieces of bread up and immediately popped it into his mouth.
“Mhmm…!” Peter grinned. The bite had the perfect balance of tomato, cheese, and fresh herbs! Had they used an aged balsamic on this?
“Incredible…” he mumbled to himself, finally grabbing a napkin before picking up another bruschetta.
“Trust a pig to enjoy a snack bar,” said a voice behind Peter.
Pigsty spun around. He was expecting Chesh, but no, the voice was too gruff.
Instead, he found himself looking at someone’s chest.
Peter looked up. The guy in front of him had to be at least six three. He was wearing a wolf mask and a winning smile. His facial covering was in that pseudo-masquerade half-mask style that primarily just covered his upper face and nose while leaving his mouth unobscured. Instead of just being a simple eye covering however, the man’s mask had the top half of a full wolf muzzle pushing out of his face. It had bits of suede and fur built into it, and the nose looked like it was made out of genuine leather.
It took Peter a moment to realize he was staring, “Oh, uh, hi!” He did that awkward waving-while-holding-food gesture. Without thinking much about it, he shoved the toast and cheese in his mouth and held out his hand, “Niff to meef yoo!”
“Nice to meet you too Porky,” the wolf man snickered as he watched Peter try to swallow.
“Peter!” He finally managed to get out as they shook hands, “Sorry, uh-“ He wiped the crumbs from his chin, “Peter Pigsty, at your service.”
The wolf had a firm grip, “Wow, you’re adorable.”
“Thank you?” Peter blushed as the man finally let go.
“I’m…” The wolf looked down at himself, then rubbed the end of his mask like he was thinking about it for the first time, “Let’s go with Tiny.”
“Trying to avoid any big bad wolf comparisons?” Peter cleared his throat.
“Something like that? Gotta do my best to counteract those hurtful stereotypes,” Tiny grinned, “Can I help get you a drink?”
The tall guy cocked this head towards the kitchen. He seemed nice enough. Peter had all night to figure out where Chesh got up to, right?