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

[nomoremistergneissguy]

So, is it everything you expected? Is it fancier back at home, for you? [The topic of conversation was similar to when last they'd met, but Cliff, dressed to the nines, had to ask. He was a tad surprised to find that it was, indeed, gaudier than the balls he'd been involved in at home. Then again, his mother had always had impeccable taste when it came to decor, and her own style of dress.

He was glad he got his fashion sense from her, really.]

My parents never put on anything this fancy, I've got to admit. The food seems similar, though.

[treno_nobleman]

[Kuja looked over at the other man, and though dressed appropriately as he was for the gathering, he looked just as bored as he could possibly have been there with a small plate of finger sandwiches in hand. All of that crowd watching, oh it was exhausting!]

It depends on where the event was being held. There were certain parties I was made to attend as a show of alliance, but they were far less entertaining than this and I frequently would take my leave early. This one... [Well, it was the first he had been to, at least.] I may yet stay another hour.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

[Cliff couldn't help but make a face, then. Alliance stuff. Ugh. ] That sounds about as dry as what I was asked to endure at home.

[Well, his was a little worse because he doubted that his companion was asked to shepherd young ladies around with the intent of getting them married off...but maybe he had been? Only one way to find out.]

So were these people you supported--did they ever attempt to arrange marriage for you to any of their daughters?

[treno_nobleman]

[Shared disdain was still shared anything, and Kuja had no qualms about complaining about the aristocracy. They were people as useful as they were useless. But he couldn't help but give a soft, amused sound.]

Some of them did. I declined them all, of course, as one might in such a situation. One even thought he could corner me with the proposition and tried to hold a business angle over my head when I said no. I've never seen a man turn so red so fast when I turned that back around on him.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

I believe it, they tried to do that to my parents with me, too. Most of my siblings have significant others. So I'm the 'lucky' one, because I'm single. [The finger quotes are practically tangible when Cliff speaks.]

Then again, I'm also lucky that neither of my parents will let anyone's parents get away with that. I'm not in a hurry for some albatross to be hung around my neck for a tidbit of temporal power.

[treno_nobleman]

[He sighed and pinned the letters to his chest, folding his arms over them to keep them from falling until he could get to a trash bin.]

Have your parents been brought here as well, then? You speak as though they are, but I thought you were Sundered.

[nomoremistergneissguy]

No, no. I mention them, but I'm not a native. They're still on my homeworld, there are just some things that translate here, I guess. [Cliff waves a dismissive hand at that.]

And they're just as annoying. Ugh. Well, at least Rounder appears to be enjoying himself. [Cliff's glad that his familiar had the opportunity. Rounder can be found dancing (if you can call it that) with the rather large Omnic, though he's very good at not getting beneath Orisa's feet, for a wonder.]

[treno_nobleman]

[Califleur squirms a little, shifting closer to the man for the sake of it. She knows what is being said, and she's not getting pushy, but she's amping up the cute. She knows it, Kuja knows it. And he's not stopping her, because stopping her means that bothers him and he isn't bothered by her antics if they're not in his way.]

I see. Pardon the confusion. This world has ins and outs that I'm still learning, even after all this time. [He spares a glance at the man's.... familiar, but isn't too concerned with it.]