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

[talkyourwayout]

He chuckled. "Cool. I'm Louie Duck, by the way - I don't think we've met."

[sevenyearsasleep]

"I'm Link. Nice to meet you."

He nodded towards the dancers. "Do you, uh, have to go to things like this often, where you're from?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie shook his head. "Nah, we don't have school dances yet. And my uncle doesn't usually bring me or my brothers to fancy stuff - he wouldn't go himself if it weren't for the business opportunities, I think." He rolled his shoulders back in a shrug. "What about you?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

"Nope. Never even went to school until I came here. I mean, my friend Saria taught me a few things, but, uh, nothing like they have here...."

Link rubbed his neck sheepishly.

[talkyourwayout]

"You're probably not missing much. School back home was safer than this place, but classes were even more boring," Louie explained. "It's pretty much a lose-lose."

[sevenyearsasleep]

"I thought this place was pretty safe? I mean, no one's even tried to kill me."

The bar is pretty low, Louie.

[talkyourwayout]

The bar isn't so high for Louie, either, so he has to think about that one.

"Well, that's good, first of all. I guess, for me back home, school was one of the safer places. Home was... Kind of safe, but not really? And adventures were when I almost died the most. I'd say this place is on the same level as home."

He paused, then, as realization hit. "Why did people want you dead?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

"Oh. Well, really, just one really evil guy. And that's because I was trying to help Princess Zelda and save the world from him."

This was delivered in the same tones Link would use to describe the weather or his math class.

[talkyourwayout]

"Oh."

Link's casual delivery surprised Louie a bit, but the idea of dealing with someone evil trying to ruin the world for their own reasons, though not common for Louie... Well, it wasn't new for him, either.

"So did you beat him?" He couldn't assume that just because Link was present, here, he'd been victorious. Lena was here, after all.

[sevenyearsasleep]

"...not yet. Zelda and I were ready to go face him when I ended up here."

At least she had Navi with her. That was some small consolation for Link.

[talkyourwayout]

"Sounds like you caught a lucky break," Louie said without thinking, before the obvious thought - how worried Link must be - hit him. "Oh... We're not sure how time works when we're gone, but if it helps, my brother got here months after me, but from the same time back home. So it might not be passing for Zelda at all."