River indeed picked up on it. In response, she squeezed Hannibal's shoulder.
I don't think anything will occur here, tonight.
She thought of the little box she'd been given. He was likely right; whatever was going to happen would happen because of that box. She would have to look inside of it.
She waited until Hannibal turned them, and looked over at the vampire. He stood there with a woman's hand in his, another girl, younger, nearby. Both women were quite pretty... at least, what River could see of the one in the mask was quite pretty.
"Lestat has never had a problem making friends," she said. She smirked at the double meaning. "The problem is keeping them."
There was a strange feeling from the woman in the mask. River guessed her not to be human, like Lestat was not, like others here were not... but it did not bother her right now. Lestat would never allow anyone to harm her. She knew that. It was also unlikely anyone would be harmed in such a public setting.
Besides, River was quite happy. She had not seen Hannibal in some time, she was dressed beautifully, she was dancing. She was not looking for problems and so did not find any. Still, the image of a key floated to her, for some reason. Just a key, in a door lock. And then it was gone. Her eyebrows furrowed and then went back to normal.
She smiled at Hannibal. "They're a very pretty couple. ShuĂ i*. He looks like he's fuzzy."
She meant the velvet. River once spent an entire hour in Inara's shuttle just touching the velvet drapes.
Lestat held no mask, and had no hat. He must have a ring, too, then. River wondered about the rings. What they did, how they did it. There wasn't a logical explanation for any of it--for her feeling safer when holding a mask to her face, for the gentleman Hannibal had pointed out to be younger because of a hat.