simplestgift: (Just a little idle talk of this and that)
Archie Kennedy ([personal profile] simplestgift) wrote in [community profile] lucetilogs2011-11-30 10:14 pm

Comfort and Joy

Who: Come one, come all! ...In formal attire.
What: A Christmas ball, old world style.
When: December 1st, beginning around five in the afternoon and ending when the last person leaves.
Where: The rec center.
Summary: Earth's eighteenth-century peeps are throwing one hell of a party.
Rating: Well, considering no one is serving water? Probably PG-13 for alcohol consumption and the results thereof (there's coffee and hot chocolate!).

The recreation center has been utterly transformed.

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. Cream brocades, simple but elegant, are draped over the walls. Traditional red rugs have been thrown over the floor. Gone are the billiard tables, ping-pong, and foosball. It looks like a different place entirely, every table impeccably dressed with light linen cloths and set with fine china and crystal. At least one-half of the room is cleared and ready for dancers.

The tables are lit with candles, and five chandeliers have been temporarily added to the room for more light, giving the room a golden glow instead of the sterile luminescence of fluorescent lighting. On the tables, boughs of evergreen and holly surround the candles, and mistletoe has been hung discreetly here and there. In one corner of the dancing area, by a large and beautifully decorated fir tree (Buffy’s insistence), the musicians are set up to play, unobtrusive to the diners but essential to the dancers. Leading them is Frederic Chopin himself, and few here can say they have had anyone better play for their pleasure.

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. For a complete list of the food offered, take a look here.

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, overseen by Jack Aubrey, 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.

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! 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 corner, 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 well-lit and on the opposite end of the room from the musicians and dancers, 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.

Are you lingering at the dining tables, 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?

Whatever you do, have fun.

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-01 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
Eggman stands behind the seat opposite Ginia, not sitting down yet. He grins at Ginia.

"Oh, indeed I am! Though I must say, I didn't expect to see you here! Even so, I, er-" Eggman looks about the tables nearby, hoping to find some flowers. Nope, he just grabs a bundle of evergreen and offers it to Ginia. "I got you these!"

It's okay, Eggman. She'll never know!
shadedsunlight: (Know that I am the luckiest)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-01 07:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh? Th-there was n-no need to do that," Ginia stammers slightly, though she reaches out for the evergreen to be polite. Her hand searches for a moment, finding the leaves and plucking the branch from his hand. Hmm, that festive evergreen scent. She laughs softly and lets the branch rest on her lap.

...She has her hunches, but she'll remain quiet and have someone surreptitiously return the branch to its home when he's not around.

"Th-thank you."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-01 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
Eggman feels relief, believing he's got out of that awkward situation with his quick thinking. Maybe he'll swap it for a real bouquet when she's not paying attention, he decides.

"Oh, but it's no problem for you." He seats himself opposite Ginia, leaning his elbow on the table in a most gentlemanly manner. "Might I say how enchanting you're looking?" Though really, Eggman thinks you could have chose a more modest dress. "How are you enjoying the ball?"
shadedsunlight: (I'm proud of you)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-01 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
Ginia offers another bow of her head, hands lightly running against the fabric of her dress. She wasn't sure how it looked herself, the dress having been picked out after her eyesight was already gone, but she trusted in Shiki's and Giles' fashion sense. "Thank you, though I didn't do anything special. J-just put the dress on. I don't even know what it looks like."

Realizing she's beginning to ramble again, Ginia stops and reins herself in with a deep breath. "I'm enjoying it. The music is wonderful, Frederic and the others are doing such a good job. And yourself?"

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-01 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, yes, the lack of eyesight thing. Eggman would be cursing himself for thinking that if he actually had a conscience.

"Oh ho ho! I'm enjoying myself as much as when you asked me thirty seconds ago!" Eggman laughs. "But you're right, the music is splendid! And I can tell you the decor is something else. This is definitely the kind of celebration I want to have when- Ahem! But I digress."
shadedsunlight: (I look at you and smile because I'm fine)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-01 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Ginia blushes a little, realizing she did end up repeating a question. Habit and all. She laughs quietly, wishing she could see the decor in all its finished glory, but Giles had also been kind in describing everything to her.

"I think it's so nice having a traditional ball. Such a nice way to start off the month too."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-02 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
"You're right, it is! Such an effacious opening to the holiday season! I just hope that the rest of the holiday season will be able to live up to it!" He briefly taps his fingers on the table.

"So, since this is a ball, I suppose as a gentleman I'm obliged to ask you to dance!" He says this with mild jest, mostly to cover up the fact that he has no idea how to really ask.
shadedsunlight: (I've been trying hard to do what's right)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-02 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
"A dance?" Ginia's expression registers surprise and she looks down for a moment. A dance does sound nice and she feels a little left out not being able to participate. With good reason, of course, but for once who loves dancing as much as she does, it's a little disheartening.

"You certainly don't mean the group dance?"

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-02 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
"Why, I-" The smile quickly fades off Eggman's face as he does a kind of double take. "Er, there's a group dance? I-I mean, of course not! That is, not with you in your condition! You'd bump into everyone!"

Smoth, Eggman Of course, he's mostly just trying to avoid a dance where he might humiliate himself.
shadedsunlight: (That woman she's got eyes that shine)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-02 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, yes, that's what I meant. I'd hate to cause trouble for everyone. But if you're talking about just the two of us dancing..."

Ginia considers for another moment, wondering what Giles would say? Oh, it's just a friendly dance, entirely harmless.

"I'd like that. I love dancing."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-02 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Really? So do I! You know, I was quite the dancer back in my youth!" He grins and stands up from his seat. "We could go and dance now, in fact! Here, take my hand."
shadedsunlight: (I look at you and smile because I'm fine)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-05 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Really?" Ginia asks, reaching out and feeling for his hand. "That's quite nice. I've always thought more men should know how to dance, though then again, I like gentlemen."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-05 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, really? Then it's just as well I'm the perfect gentleman! Ba ha ha!" They should call him Doctor Egoman.

Rather than helping Ginia find his hand, he'll just let her find it, even tapping his foot lightly while he waits.

"Hm, now where was the dancefloor?" Eggman looks off for the area reserved for dancing and will drag Ginia in that direction when she's ready.