Comfort and Joy

[simplestgift]

Who: Come one, come all! ...So long as you're appropriately dressed.
What: Luceti's second annual Christmas ball, old-world style.
When: December 1st, beginning around five in the afternoon and ending when the last person leaves.
Where: The Battle Dome.
Summary: Earth's eighteenth-century peeps are throwing one hell of a party. Again.
Rating: Well, considering no one is serving water? Probably PG-13 for alcohol consumption and the results thereof (there's coffee and hot chocolate!).

Upon stepping into the program at the Battle Dome, snow crunches beneath your feet. Great flakes of it drift silently from the dark sky above. And ahead...





The chill in the air is penetrated by the promise of warmth and light within the castle. As you approach, the music and festivities from inside reach your ears--tambourines and laughter and the clink of china dishes.

The doors open to a host of candles and a warm, old-world smell and feel. The scent of food and spices hangs in the air—mulled wine, wassail, evergreen boughs, fresh bread and roast meat--and you're only in the entryway.

Inside the dining room, cream brocades, simple but elegant, are draped over the walls. Traditional red rugs have been thrown over the floor. The single long feast table is impeccably dressed with light linen cloths and set with fine china and crystal.

The tables are lit with candles and chandeliers, giving the room a golden glow. On the tables, boughs of evergreen and holly surround the candles, and mistletoe has been hung discreetly here and there. In one corner, by a large and beautifully decorated fir tree (Buffy’s insistence), musicians are set up to play.

Things will begin with a grand dinner late in the afternoon, with a light supper (mostly consisting of cold meats, bread, and other lighter fare) at around nine o’clock. The selection of food on the tables is enormous. Most of it is meat-based and some of it is simply meat. Roast beef with mushrooms, goose in giblet gravy, herbed chicken, baked salmon, and a whole pig are among the choices. There is some hope for vegetarians, though, with spinach mixed with bread crumbs and cheese on small toasts, turnips (or rutabagas if you speak American), onions, carrots, parsnips, mashed potatoes, asparagus in breadcrumbs, and savory onion and wild mushroom pies. There is hot fresh bread and rolls with butter and heaps upon heaps of small mince pies filled with fruit, molasses, and yes, a little minced lamb. Moreover, there are fresh winter fruits like oranges and mikans and many different desserts, such as Christmas pudding, a rum chocolate dessert, and spotted dog with custard. Sit and help yourself.

Among the drinks throughout the evening are wassail, tea, hot chocolate (less sweet and much more intense than most modern characters would be used to, made with cinnamon, vanilla, and a hint of cayenne pepper), coffee, brandy, wine both mulled and plain, port, sherry, and gallons of rum punch. Even though the food is fantastic, the conversation is the point of the game, and who knows who they will wind up sitting beside. At the center of each table is placed a pineapple as a sign of welcome and wishes of prosperity.

In the ballroom, there is dancing light as the music itself, with Archie Kennedy and Elizabeth Swann teaching the steps of each dance before striking up the music and letting everyone go to town with it. They are poised and elegant but relaxed and seeming to glide as they demonstrate the motions with an effortlessness that comes with years of practice. They were both raised on these dances and this sort of social function and seem completely at home here. The dancing begins after dinner with the minuets and continues after a light supper with some informal English country dances. Anyone unused to dancing like this may find that it’s harder than it looks, but when one gets used to it, it feels very graceful, beautiful, and…fun! In fact, it's perfectly acceptable to goof off during these dances, as long as you're charming enough that people aren't irritated with you when you mess everyone up. The activity will only end when there are too few dancers left to continue, and will continue all night if possible. As dancers pass each other or move hand-in-hand, eye contact can be made, quiet words exchanged, subtle (or not) messages passed as they spin through the room, or perhaps the room spins while they remain still.

It might depend on how much they’ve had to drink.

Those who do not wish to dance have other activities to participate in. In one quiet room, card tables are set up with multiple decks of cards stacked up, and there is even a box or two of dominoes and a handful of dice. The tables themselves are round and made of polished rosewood or mahogany. This area is quietly away from the ballroom, probably as a mercy to the tone-deaf Horatio Hornblower who loves cards but can’t abide music. Here, discreet (or indiscreet) gambling is inevitable. There may be no money here, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to wager.

This being a castle, there are other rooms to explore. Up in the towers are bedrooms, nooks and crannies, and a large private library. Sneaking back to the kitchen between meals for a preview or stolen taste of supper to come is not out of the question, either.

Are you lingering in the dining room, drinking and talking loud and laughing with friends, or will you shyly sit and watch the dancing and games and hope to be invited in? Are you sitting quietly alone and listening to the music as your foot taps on its own, or are you unable to sit still and ready to dance all night if they’ll let you? Are you playing cards with a few new acquaintances, or are you hanging on someone’s arm and helping them cheat? Are you content to enjoy the presence of people, or are you exploring the castle with a special someone?

Whatever you do, have fun.

Comments

[savedtheworld]

[Aang showed up, determined quite simply on the spirit of having fun without trying to dwell on relatively recent events. It would have been tempting to toss on the formal robes again, but he remembered how comfortable he those snazzy Gangland duds had been, so the 14-year old monk managed to find something to wear. He'll be excitably going between all the areas - chatting people up, asking anyone to dance, enjoying the refreshments, hunting wallflowers to make dance and occasionally getting distracted in just exploring the castle.

Oh. And he'll be sure to ask people what this whole Christmas business is.]

[ex_tessen852]

Aang! [Suki is happy to see someone else she knows. She approaches him wearing her new dress.] Don't you look handsome.

[savedtheworld]

[He looks around nervously, examining his sleeves.] I don't?!?!

[ex_tessen852]

No! I meant that you do look handsome. [AANG! You weren't supposed to take it like that.]

[savedtheworld]

Oh! I do? Gee, thanks, Suki! You look really good, too. I like your dress!

[ex_tessen852]

It isn't too werid, is it? [She's not used to other fashions yet.]

[savedtheworld]

Of course it isn't, Suki! I like all the green and the part that looks like a belt but it's too high up! All really pretty.

[ex_tessen852]

It is a bit awkward. It's like the fashion from Ba Sing Se, not Kyoshi Island. Your outfit looks like it's from that one place from that experiment, with the cars.

[savedtheworld]

It is, isn't it? [He tugs on a sleeve.] I don't think it's exactly the same, but it looks real similar! [Definitely more modern.] Those clothes were comfortable enough during the scavenger hunt that I thought I'd try this one for a change.

[ex_tessen852]

Well, you look very, ummmm... what did they say there? you're the bee's knees?

[savedtheworld]

Yeah! That was one of the words they used! Heh, I'm starting to forget it already... But you look very keen yourself, Suki! Are you and Sokka having a good time?

[ex_tessen852]

[She just laughed.]

Um, yeah. [She thinks they are.] He looks really handsome, just a bit different from everyone else.

[savedtheworld]

Yeah, something's kind of weird about his clothes. But he's a super sillyhead. You should still make sure to get lots of dances with him!

[tailasoldastime]

[Oh he sees what you're trying to do, Aang - so before you catch him being a wallflower, Beast is just going to go over to you and show you just how much fun he is already having, so really, you don't need to make him dance.]

M, m-merry Christmas, Aang! [See?]

[savedtheworld]

You too, Beast! Good evening! Have you been dancing a lot?

[N o p e.]

[tailasoldastime]

Y-y-yes! L-lots of times!

[savedtheworld]

That's great! But I can give you pointers if you need any. I know lots of great dances!

[tailasoldastime]

R... really? [Uh oh. Now he's got him.] Th-they aren't... strange... a, are they...?

[savedtheworld]

Oh no, they're the best! Here, let me show you! This one's the Phoenix Flight! [So he starts to do... this.]

[tailasoldastime]

[Oh dear... that... that looks like it... has no dignity. Well.] Y-y... you sure th-that's... uh...?

[savedtheworld]

Awesome? Yes! I really love it. It's an old Fire Nation dance, and it'll really impress the ladies for you!

[tailasoldastime]

W-well, it... it, i-it will? [His ears perk up ever so slightly at Aang's last comment.]

[savedtheworld]

Sure! I did all these dances at a cave for Fire Nation kids, and they all loved it!

[tailasoldastime]

Oh, a... a-alright. But, how, h-how do you...?

[savedtheworld]

Like this! [And he... goes through the dance again just a little slower, kicking his legs out as he moves kneeled down.]