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.
folklorist: (I'm just your average headmaster yep)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-03 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
They are very good, so delicious. Helios looks thoughtful.

"Learning them in such a short amount of time. That's rather impressive, not everyone can do that."
blessedbyfarore: (warm smile)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-04 07:21 am (UTC)(link)
"I learn pretty fast," he says with a smile - he kind of had to, in Hyrule. "Although I also have music if I forget a part."

Still, he has a pretty decent ear. He should, considering their size!
folklorist: (I'm just your average headmaster yep)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-13 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's a good skill to have in any profession really." Helios smiles.

"I'm sure you won't need you did quite well for such complicated pieces." Helios is no expert on the matter but he can tell how difficult somethings are.
blessedbyfarore: (little smile)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-14 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Thanks." Helios gets a bright smile, pausing to munch on some more sweets. "Wow, this food is good. What's your favourite?"
folklorist: (Never seen anything like it)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-14 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah such a hard question! I-I think I liked everything, really. The herbed chicken and baked salmon was especially delicious." Helios is looking mighty thoughtful as he tries to piece together his favorites. Hm.

"The pies were exeptional too."
blessedbyfarore: (little smile)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-15 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
The latter gets an enthusiastic nod. "I liked the ones with apples! Some of them were a bit weird, though."

So. Much. Meat. In one pastry case.
folklorist: (Ever so curious)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-15 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
"It was some sort of apple pie, I think. Apple pie is also amazing with vanilla ice cream, fresh, hot, right out of the oven." Mm he's making himself hungry just thinking about it.

"The meat pies were interesting. I'm not used to those really."
blessedbyfarore: (um)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-15 10:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Wow... I'll try that one day!" And if he is hungry, at least there's plenty of food to satisfy that.

At the mention of the meat pies, Link makes a thoughtful sound. "Some were nice. Others were just really weird."
folklorist: (I'm just your average headmaster yep)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-15 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's quite delicious. And even better with caramel drizzled over it." That's said as a side-note, as he thinks on that. Helios smirks.

"Yes, well, Luceti is known for being a bit...strange. Not that, that is a bad thing of course." Helios smiles.
blessedbyfarore: (little smile)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-16 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
"With caramel?" ...That sounds good. "Wow... I'll try that!"

That gets a bit of a laugh. "There's people from lots of different places. I bet I'm really strange to some of them, too."
folklorist: (Rather a good listener)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-16 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
"It hits the spot...with a nice cup of tea and some good friends around. Ah, yes, it's delightful." He says it with an airy tone of voice.

"Possibly. Then again the things we have in common are also rather strange. Wings, this place, the experiments. I guess that helps make people more alike...or at least on the same page." Helios smiles his attention going quickly back to the dancing.
blessedbyfarore: (little smile)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-16 11:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you have to have tea with it?" he asks thoughtfully, "Or is hot chocolate okay? I don't like many teas."

Wings giving an involuntary twitch, Link nods, following his gaze. "Have you gone dancing yet?"
folklorist: (Downcast)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-26 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh no! You can have anything you like with it. Tea, just a preference with mine, really." Helios smiles. "Hot chocolate is an even better suggestion though. I'll have to take that up sometime."

Helios blinks and looks back at the dance floor a bit sadly. "Ah. N-No. I haven't. Not much of a dancer I-I'm afraid." Well he is but his skin is always in the way and he doesn't want to unnerve anyone because of it.
blessedbyfarore: (warm smile)

[personal profile] blessedbyfarore 2011-12-27 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"I'll try it, then!" he grins - mm, chocolate.

That gets a bit of an amused smile. "Don't let Grune hear you say that, okay?" he laughs, "She'll make you dance anyway."
Edited 2011-12-27 03:57 (UTC)