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

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."

[bearshermark]

"..It is. I've never seen magic like this in my world; I don't even know if it's even possible, so I'm glad I'm able to witness it here."

Eleven tore his eyes from the display to look Lea over and blinked. His suit was certainly brightly-colored, but Eleven smiled.

"I wonder how I missed you in that."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Not sure if it would be possible in my world either," Lea said. "I mean we've got some pretty amazing wizards there; Merlin and Master Yen Sid are two of the best around, and Donald's no slouch either. But I don't know if their magic would allow for this sort of thing." Then again, who really knew what they could do once they didn't have more important matters to deal with?

He chuckled though, at El's comment about his outfit. "Given some of the other stuff there is to look at here? You could be forgiven for missing a lot of things, But yeah, I figured there'd be no chance for blending in given my hair and the fact that I arrived with the Headmaster, so I figured might as well stand out, you know? And besides, I do genuinely like this outfit; always had a thing for warm colors."

[bearshermark]

"It suits you." Eleven thought so, at least. The colors matched. Speaking of Lea's hair, he idly wondered why Erik didn't wear blue.

"You came here with the Headmaster?" he asked, amused. "I guess she found someone to go with, after all."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Thanks," Lea said. "I like your outfit too. Not really something I'd wear, but like you said about mine, it suits you."

He chuckled though at the way Eleven commented on his choice of date. "Heh, yeah well, I got tired of people pestering me for dates pretty quick, so I figured that would be a good way to get them to cut it out, potentially in perpetuity. Though I do genuinely think she's a pretty cool person and didn't want her to have to come alone. She is a bit... intense, though, even for me."

[bearshermark]

Eleven cast a critical glance down his own outfit, then shrugged and spent a few minutes examining Lea's features instead. He could see it, a little. A certain sharpness accented by the angles of his hair. Come to think of it, Erik got a lot of admiring looks, too.

Well enough that his own hair stayed flat; he didn't know what to do with the date he already had.

"Well it was nice of you to offer," he said with a smile. "I hope she's having fun."

[hotheadwarmheart]

True, Lea did look rather unfairly good, even if he didn't realize it himself. But those pestering him had seemed more concerned with his status as a Sundered; apparently, it had been decided that they made fashionable and exotic dates, regardless of their appearance.

"She seems to be," he said. "Even if I have no clue what that speech was about. If it was anyone else, I'd suspect that they'd been doing a little partying before the party- if you know what I mean-, but given how she is normally, I probably should have expected something like that." His date is kinda weird, El. Nice and fun, but weird.