Dance Dance Reprobation

[magicademymods]

The Twilight Ball Arrival The Promenade has been transformed. Literally. With Modification. Ha ha. Cough. Crickets. Toad familiars eat the crickets. Circle of life. Animals bow before singing lions. You get the idea. Neither tree nor stone form the Promenade now. It is instead a long bridge over a shallow and brilliant pool, the gentle ripples of which catch the afternoon sun and scatter it into a million highlights that play over the Great Hall, the bridge, and those who walk down it. There is no formal receiving line, merely a gentle procession of people across the bridge at whatever speed feels comfortable, slowly making their way to the Great Hall. The Great Hall itself has been enchanted to be completely invisible while one is inside it, save for the outline of doors so people can actually find their way out through means other than smacking their noses into the invisible walls till they find a place with no resistance. Thus the twilight for which the ball is named will show all around the dancers, while they are protected from any errant breezes, faint hints of rain, or slime monsters that might otherwise threaten the festivity. Come in. Find your date and get comfortable. The fun is just beginning. Let the Revels Begin After Headmaster Birony welcomes everyone with a speech about she's going to get on her boat, go upriver, and kick that sonuvabitch Bison's ass so HORDT that the next Bison-wannabe is gonna feel it, the dance formally begins with a peppy number designed to get people out and moving. The orchestra here comprises some of the finest players available anywhere in the world, thanks to the whole Valhudor shtick and graduates of said house, and the music is infectious as it drifts through the slowly-darkening air. But as the dance progresses, they play something for everyone. Martial waltzes and slow dance ballroom numbers. Powerful tunes to lose yourself in, and gentle melodies that slip beneath conversation and encourage intimacy and closeness. Professors Trammel and King treat everyone to an exhibition of what an Earth resident might call 'swing dancing on amphetamines' and many students do call 'the closest I have ever come to death'. No pause for speeches, no announcements or interruptions -- just a steady stream of music, bringing dates and lovers together in dance, as the sun sets and casts the room into gentle and romantic twilight. Also a dolphin and a whale are swimming through the floor and they, too, are unmistakably dancing. If this is the weirdest thing you've seen all night, you need your eyes checked. "Food! One of the food tables has been discreetly slid against a wall, where it positively shudders under the weight of a massive buffet open to everyone. The food here tends towards the light, such as fish and vegetables, cucumber sandwiches and thin-sliced meats. Things that will give you energy without weighing you down, so you can keep dancing till the dawn comes. At one end of the table, an owl the size of a cupboard sits on a perch, serenely watching the varied drinks laid out for consumption. 'Spiking the punch' is so cliche that no one is going to pretend it won't happen or the students will behave on their honor, so here you get a chaperone. Even so, this whole area is a popular gathering spot for those between dances or partners, drawing steady attention throughout the night. Meanwhile, Elsewhere Shockingly, not everyone has found that loving feeling, asked out an attractive someone, and gone to the dance with romance on their minds. The rest of the campus, and of course Anastara itself, remain open as normal... and perhaps even less-minded than normal. The faculty, the familiars, the cleaning golems -- almost all attention is on the dance itself. If there's mischief to manage, now would be the perfect time... or just something else besides wallflowering and missing out. Wait, Wasn't There a Ghost Dragon and an Off-Brand Shoggoth? Professor King managed to find a way around the protoplasmic ooze's resistance to magic and splatted it (with no small amount of help from students and faculty!). The dragon disappeared into the caverns beneath the Magicademy. That certainly isn't ominous and won't inspire anyone to go down there, will it? Don't fall in the river down there. Please don't fall in the river.

Comments

[bearshermark]

For all Eleven follows the telegraphed movement without trouble, after only a few steps, he can feel the difference: he's too stiff, too nervous, and nearly too slow. It's all he can do to keep from tripping them up.

He thinks if he hadn't already danced with Kuja, that he might be well and truly floundering here with Tenn. He also decides that being at eye level with his dance partner makes everything a touch more intimate, and he's only more self-conscious.

"S-sorry, I don't think I have the rhythm quite yet."

[bearshermark]

Eleven's chest hollowed out, the drink he'd just sampled turning faintly sour on his tongue. His heartbeat throbbed a discordant beat, echoing between his ears and drowning out the music.

He swallowed and leaned a bit against the table.

"Yes.." Hendrik sounded so absolutely certain that it left him cold- and a bit sick. "..Excuse me."

He pushed off and turned away, setting a quick pace for the nearest outlined door and the real outside air.

[unswervingcompanion]

The knight looked at the Luminary and was about to ask if he was suddenly ill, but then the other decided to leave. At first, it was on his mind to simply let the other go and be by himself but logic deduced that it was something he'd said.

Replaying it over in his head, Hendrik couldn't understand what it was. To vanquish the darkness was what the Luminary was supposed to do and he was oath sworn to stay by his side no matter what until he accomplished the task.

So he put his drink down and headed out after Eleven wondering what he'd said wrong.

[pawper]

[A nod to what he says first, mouth opening to form some reply.....then Lys closes it, visibly surprised. That was certainly — different. She's used to providing encouragement, reassurance, but not so much having that kind of goodwill returned. Her guildmates had trended toward a more stoic kind of support, camaraderie that expressed itself largely through physical gestures; her partner, as fiercely independent as any cat, had bristled readily at the slightest presumption of need, of weakness. Sorry, Anja, but you know it's true. And so it's not just surprise that shows on her face, but uncertainty. Not knowing how to respond. That she needs a good few minutes to rethink her previous answer perhaps says much.]

Well.....they were always easy to pick up and learn. Basic. But I guess you're right that there's nothing wrong with the basics. They're the building blocks for everything that comes after 'em.

[And then, pieces clicking together after an absurd delay, she's staring at him. The way he's just standing there, gold and glittering and handsome, confident. Lys had thought he might dance, put on a show, but this?]

—Wait, you meant you want to dance with me?

[Still not looking disinterested, mind. Just flabbergasted.]

[bearshermark]

Between transparent walls and a full view of the outside, stepping into the night air didn't feel much like he'd gone anywhere. The only real differences were the quiet and the breeze that brushed over him.

Eleven took in a breath and released it, shivering as though it might ward off the crushing weight of the hole in his chest. He pressed his palm against it, fingers curling into the fabric- then turned sharply to the sound of heavy footsteps behind him.

"..Do you really have to follow me everywhere?"

[unswervingcompanion]

The night air felt nice compared to the heat that Hendrik hadn't realized was in the Ballroom. He wasn't sure what the gesture meant that Eleven was currently doing and again thought to inquire as to whether his charge was ill or not.

But then the venom that he heard in the other's tone had him take a step back. The fact that he was worried went through the knight's head but he couldn't say those words.

"I am your sworn companion. I do not know what ails you, but mayhaps it is the same malady that causes you to not fight with your full heart. I know how capable you are but that has been lacking as of late."

[bearshermark]

Eleven's eyes flashed, chest welling with fury, and threw his arm out.

"Add it to the list then," he snapped. "And go take it up with Yggdrasil."

[unswervingcompanion]

Hendrik is not sure what's wrong with the Luminary, and he's trying to maintain his calm at this point.

"You know very well that I cannot talk to a Tree. That is your gift and talent, not mine. Mine is to protect you until you fulfill your duty as the Luminary."

Belatedly the knight realized there was a snap in his tone but honestly, what was bothering his charge?

[bearshermark]

Eleven grit his teeth and dragged a hand through his hair, fairly pulling on it.

"It doesn't matter, Hendrik! She's gone, and I'm not the Luminary anymore!"

[unswervingcompanion]

"Yes you are the Luminary." Hendrik insisted, advancing on the boy. Really, what was going on here? "You are the Light to restore the world from darkness. What is the matter with you?"

The knight could feel his restraint snapping, and he was trying to keep a hold of it. "She is not gone, you found a root and accessed my memories. Just how do you explain that?"

For one moment he wished Jasper was here and was back to his old self. At least someone could help him figure this out. As mad as he might be getting, the knight felt like his heart was being constricted.

Why in the heavens were they fighting again? They had put all of this behind them.

[bearshermark]

Eleven stepped back to mirror Hendrik's advance. Nearly like a dance, were there any grace to it- or anything more than the vicious uncertainty clawing up his stomach.

"I don't remember that at all!" he stressed. "I died the same time Yggdrasil fell, for all I know!"

[unswervingcompanion]

"You did not die! You came to the Last Bastion!" Now Hendrik feels unnerved as his voice is raising but he knows all too well what happened. And briefly, Yotsuyu passes through his mind.

He shook his head as if to clear it and stepped back. "I do not know what has gotten into you and I highly doubt you will give me any details. But when you are done and ready to talk, come find me."

And he's just going to stand there because he isn't leaving first.

[bearshermark]

Fists curled and teeth clenched, Eleven's gaze dropped to his feet. He'd thought the man would leave, but instead he stood there, as though waiting for something. He hated it, that weight of expectation- it followed him everywhere Hendrik went.

"Is that true?" he challenged. "Do you really want to know? Because I'm starting to think you don't even remember I'm only human half the time. There's so much that feels beyond me- that I don't even know how to do. No one ever taught me anything! I barely knew how to use my power even when I had it! I didn't even know where we were going half the time- or why! All I knew was that I was being hunted down, and that it was just because I was born there that Dundrasil fell, just because I was raised there that Cobblestone was burned to the ground-"

Eleven clawed at his own hair, fingers fraught with the urge to do something destructive and nothing else to channel his energy against except Hendrik himself. His voice pitched louder, words edged with wild distress.

"And it's my fault that Yggdrasil fell!"

barging in with permission!

[darkenedmoon]

Pausing in dancing with her most current chosen victim, Yotsuyu had noticed--what. It certainly looked like Eleven and Hendrik--if not arguing, having quite the heated conversation. Oh, surely they were trying to be out of the way, but with the way the castle was transparent...

It was not good. This was not the place, and definitely not the time. If she could tell, then others could, and certainly if they had dirty laundry, they didn't want it aired in such a public place. At a dance? What were they thinking? An interruption was needed--and by all the kami and the Twelve, hopefully she could talk some sense into--well. One of them. Or find out what was upsetting Eleven.

So she approached, the familiar snap of her fan announcing her presence--because even at a dance, Yotsuyu would not dream of going unarmed in some fashion. And if one did not know her well, it seemed merely a decoration.

"Pray tell, gentlemen, what is going on here?" Though Eleven doesn't get the pointed stare she directs up at Hendrik. Practically a glare, it says that he, at least, ought to have some composure.

[unswervingcompanion]

Hearing that fan snap, Hendrik paused before wanting to go over and shake some sense into the Luminary. So he felt like he was going to wither beneath her gaze and his stomach felt like it was going to drop onto the ground.

It half occured to him to bow to her, but he damn well knew better. But Yotsuyu's soothing presence cleared his head some and even if that glare was directed at him, well the knight knew that he deserved it.

Stepping back to give her plenty of room, the knight shook his head almost helplessly. "I am afraid, that I do not really know."

And he didn't because everything was pretty much fine before tonight. Something somewhere had happened that went utterly terribly wrong and it was beyond the knight as to how to fix it.

[bearshermark]

The snap of Yotsuyu's fan startled him out of his anguish- for a moment, categorizing the sound as a potential threat- and hands dropping, weaponless, body tensing to flee.

Recognition bloomed, and with awareness came crushing self-consciousness.

"Yotsuyu," he breathed, voice cracking. He cleared his throat and traded a brief look with Hendrik only to find the man looking at him like he was something foreign and incomprehensible. Perhaps he was.

But for all that the tangle of roiling emotions had tempered, it was far from gone. There were a thousand words he wanted to say- every one of them full of doubt and self-recrimination- warring with propriety. He closed his eyes and gave his head a violent shake.

"Nothing, I.."

It just felt like he was splintering apart from the inside out. All he wanted was to go back and dance, and keep pretending that nothing more than the music and changing hands of his partners mattered. But still his title haunted him, and Hendrik's utter conviction threatened to break him.

Hair falling forward as his head bowed, Eleven's teeth tugged at his lower lip. His fingers curled into his other sleeve, voice quieting to a whisper.

"..Sorry."

Lea- OTA

[hotheadwarmheart]

Arrival

[When Lea makes an appearance at the dance, he's wearing a... very Lea sort of suit with a fancy red neckerchief. Though given that he's there as the date of Headmaster Birony, he probably doesn't stick out quite as much as he otherwise might.

Regardless, he's taking it all in and looks pretty impressed with the setup. Care to meet him before the party gets going for a chat?]

Let the Revels Begin!

[After the obligatory first dance with his date, Lea finds himself hanging back and observing more than actually dancing.He did get in enough practice not to be completely awkward or crush anyone's feet, but he's still not entirely comfortable with this kind of dancing. That doesn't mean someone couldn't coax him back out onto the dance floor though.

Or if you'd rather, just hang out and commentate one everyone else's dancing. That works too.]

Food!

[Clearly one of the main attractions of the night for Lea, as he can be found there multiple times through the night, seemingly attempting to try as many of the various foods on offer as possible. So if you want to know if a particular food is any good before you try it, it might help to ask him.]

Wildcard!

(OOC: Choose your own dance-based adventure!)

Food

[hotheadwarmheart]

Eleven might not have been talking to anybody in particular when he spoke, but somebody in particular replied. "I dunno," Lea said as he approached, his own drink in hand. "I'm still in the 'mixed opinions' camp myself, because, you know magical kidnapping and all. But this?" He indicated the party setup. "Yeah, this is really cool."

[woo_oo]

[She's going to keep grabbing random foodstuffs and shoving them in the chocolate before shoving them into her mouth.]

THIS IS THE BEST PARTY NOW AND WE HAVE YOU TO THANK!

[Indoor voice, webs, plz.]

[woo_oo]

"Get along? Nay - they were mortal enemies! It was Tango that challenged Ballet in the first place."

Back to the story proper...

"Fluttershy, to who dear Ballet belonged to, was thrust into panic, searching for her familiar! We teamed up trying to locate the beasts, and found them just as Tango had delivered a devastating blow! We took out our wands, ready to fight back... but it became clear that we could not interfere. To make matters worse, Tango suddenly thrust at us a letter we couldn't decipher! What were we to do!"

[woo_oo]

"No, I had to teach her, but she picked up on it really fast. She's really smart like that. She could do anything she puts her mind to."

With a faint sigh, she put her hands to her chest. Man, Lena was awesome. So awesome. The awesomest.

[woo_oo]

Like making the food all chocolate!

[this is not a good idea for several reasons.]

[areasontohope]

"Mortal enemies?" He's even more lost now but is more than willing to hear this story to the end.

And as the story went on, the one thing that stuck out in his mind was that Ballet was Fluttershy's. And while he's not sure that he understands this story or if it's even real, he had to ask.

"What happened next?"

[woo_oo]

I know, right? And since we're in a different world, that could mean different constellations!

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link nodded. "I didn't have many friends until recently, back home."