lucetilogs | Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

Who: Everybody!
What: The Halloween Ball is finally here.
When: Evening of October 31st. (Or earlier, for those who arrive pre-Ball to take advantage of the safety bubble.)
Where: In the village's main plaza.
Summary: After one of the most grueling weeks Luceti's ever known, it finally all comes to a head when a massive, spooky tent appears over the plaza. Once night falls, you never know what might happen...
Rating: Anywhere from PG to R for language or graphic descriptions, most likely.

It happens at midnight.

Without even a hint of a whisper, faster than you can even blink, the tent appears; a towering monstrosity of dirty, ripped canvas in stripes of black and red and white, swallowing the plaza whole. For most of the day it sits, silent and empty, with its great main flaps pulled open to show only inky blackness inside.

Step inside, however, and you'll see it's dimly lit with silver shafts of light that streak in through all those rips and tears. As foreboding as it appears, it's strangely peaceful inside.

Come 7:00 on the dot, that quiet, empty interior will instantaneously transform for the purposes of the evening. Even this sudden change, unlike many Luceti resident have undergone lately, is not as eerie as one might expect. Despite the gothic trappings, the blood punch fountain, there's something a little benign about it. Perhaps this is meant to be a reward for all that suffering you've been forced to endure for almost a week now.

Or maybe -- just maybe -- and who would ever think such a thing? -- it's not so benign after all.

(so, so sorry this is late, guys. have at it, comment-spam style! also, optional suggestion: put the time of day in your subject line title so we know if your character is showing up before or during the Ball itself.)

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[Blink blink. Ami finds herself sitting beside Jack. The floor is suddenly fascinating.]

[And his arm is around her, too, jeweled fingers settling firmly against her, while beneath the sheet he is busy trying to get punch into his mouth. The experience for Ami might be something like getting tangled up in the bedsheets in the morning.]

I love parties.

Edited 2010-10-31 12:39 (UTC)

[More importantly than feeling a bit stuck...]

Sparrow-san, I don't think it's good to act that close right away.

[Notice how stiff she is? Like a board? Or a really nervous corpse?]

[This clearly means Ami has not yet had enough punch.]

Clearly, Ami lass, you have not yet had enough punch. [He somehow gets his goblet out from under the sheet and raises it.] A toast! To being alive!

Edited 2010-10-31 15:18 (UTC)

[She echoes the toast, though she gives the 'punch' a suspicious look now; it isn't alcoholic, is it?]

To being alive.

[Hers comes out much quieter and calmer]

[If Goroh really HAS been pouring whiskey into the punch? It's alcoholic. Jack takes a nice long drink, still holding her firmly..]

[Oh, dear. She really needs to get away, and Jack doesn't seem to be listening to her. She screws her courage to the sticking point and sets her face in a determined expression.]

Please let go.

[He lifts his arm and releases her, giving her a little bow as he does so.] As you wish, darling.

I know that you're just teasing me, but, I feel kind of nervous about it somehow.

That might be the ghostly shroud what's making you skittishish. Perhaps next time we meet we'll have it off.

....

The sheet, I mean.

...I don't think that's the reason.

Darling, you don't need to say another word. Why back home, the very name of Jack Sparrow has the effect of frightening the wenches.

I see. So you must chase a lot of girls back there.

Sort of. A bit. Or.

Actually, it's often the other way round. [And they're chasing him to either slap him or somehow get revenge for the ways he's wronged them. They should probably form a club or support group or something.]

[Ami, predictably, entirely misunderstands.]

You must be very popular.

In a manner of speaking...yes. [He tries to shake himself out of this subject.] Come, now--have you ever danced with a man in a sheet before? I hear it's exciting.

[Ami shakes her head, far more solemnly than the question really warrants.]

I haven't. I don't really know how to dance.

[The pirate gets to his feet and takes her hand.] What sort of mysterious sheeted man would I be if I didn't at least make the attempt to show you, eh?

I'll try, if you want; but you'll have to teach me.

[With no further ado, Jack accepts that invitation and yanks her close against him, setting one of her hands on his shoulder. He smiles down at that hand before settling one of his at her waist, and taking her free hand with the other.

He's not so good with the "I am not comfortable being so close to you" thing.]

So much of dancing is merely two people moving together, lass.

[She already knows dancing is going to require touching and being close. But she maintains as much of a space between them as she can without it seeming odd or excessive, and treats it much like she would any other lesson, at school perhaps.]

In the same rhythm.

[She can do that; she enjoys music to study by, and even her fighting is highly gymnastic and has a certain amount of grace.]

[He drops his head close to her ear, speaking in a rough whisper through the pure white cloth.] No. In the same breath. In the same pulsing heartbeat. The same sweat.

[Jeez, Jack. It's just a dance. He's probably just trying to get that blush to come out again; like a form of entertainment.]

[Jack gets his wish. The blush is back in full force, and Ami almost feels outright feverish. She swallows hard. She's not sure exactly what it is, but something about his words conjures up... a certain awakened feeling that she isn't really ready for at all.

It's quite cruel when it's just teasing like this.]

The same rhythm.

[She is insistent on getting back in control of herself, even as another part of her is already ready to fly away, teasing or no, to a work of head-turning romance.]

[He's been called a cruel man before; and his reply that it was all a matter of perspective. Now he's enjoying that blush once again, and it is cruel, oh yes. There's a low laugh as he moves her where he wants them to go, not allowing the line of their bodies to break for a moment.

Pirates. They'll hurt you every time, baby.]

[She doesn't even know him very well. He's not the right sort of person to be attracted to. There's no future even if she were, because they're from separate worlds.

In her head, she knows all this. But she can't help liking the simple feeling of being close to someone, held by someone, whoever it is and whatever situation brought her there. She doesn't say anything for awhile, focusing on following Jack's lead.]

Be glad she's not Darkury anymore. She'd slap him. Hard.

Last tag for now, I have to run to work. 0/

aww; i'm sleeping soon anyway. NANO STARTS when i get up, so i may be slow but will be tagging <33

Gah good luck with that!

thanks! <3 we'll see how it goes

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sorry, Jack; it's not you, it's her.

It's never his fault.

Of course not.

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