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.
shadedsunlight: (A firefly caught my eye)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-09 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
"We'll all be rolly and plump over these next few days. At least until we reach Christmas." Ginia comments, also laughing. Though she can't see the pure spread, she's certainly sampled a little of everything and with how rich and filling it is, well, she stopped short.

"It is a lovely start. Everyone really outdid themselves."
ext_934189: (What's going on?)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
"And is still going with the overdoing," she said, watching the dancers as they moved about the floor.

"...How are you, by the way? Really?"
shadedsunlight: (That woman she's got eyes that shine)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
Ginia gives a light shrug. "All things consider, I'm still all right. Giles and Helios are letting me stay with them, they've both been very kind in helping me out. Shins are feeling a bit bruised, but that's to be expected."
ext_934189: (lost in a good book)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
"You know, I know you said drawing was off limits..." even before her sight had been stolen... "but I saw some clay in the shops while I was picking up more paints earlier this week. If you wanted, I could bring some by Giles' place later."
shadedsunlight: (I guess we're gonna find out)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh! I-I'd appreciate that, it'll be a good way to keep myself busy. That's awfully kind of you, thank you"
ext_934189: (A drink and a meal... perfect way to end)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
"It's nothing. I know I'd be dying for something to do, in your shoes."
shadedsunlight: (Know that I am the luckiest)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
"I-it'll be better than trying to memorize the layout of the apartment. Though, um, I've been working on playing the bass too. Simple scales and chords. I miss cooking though."
ext_934189: (Backed in a corner - closeup)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
"I'd like to hear sometime. If you don't mind?"
shadedsunlight: (This is where things get strange)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Sure, though there's not much to hear. Just scales and chords. I've been slowly teaching myself how to play." She smiles a little sheepishly. "I'm better on piano."
ext_934189: (Default)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
She laughed. "I guarantee it's better than what I can do."
shadedsunlight: (Life is way too short  to be unhappy)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
"Nah, it's anything someone can do with a bit of practice."
ext_934189: (Painted)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
"You know, I'd say the same thing about drawing," she said, teasing.
shadedsunlight: (Smile like you mean it)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Teasing it may be, but it's a point well made. Ginia laughs a little. "Any tips for the stick figure impaired?"
ext_934189: (Default)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, to start, straight lines are greatly overrated," she said, her smile evident in her voice.
shadedsunlight: (A firefly caught my eye)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
"How about curvy lines? Any love for them?"
ext_934189: (Default)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-14 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
"All kinds of love. They make life more interesting."
shadedsunlight: (Whatever makes you happy)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-14 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
"They do. Never know where it's going to go, but you'll end up at your destination one way or another." A lesson she's learned several times from Grune.
ext_934189: (Arch)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-15 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"Which is really all art is, in all its forms. It's a journey. Sometimes the things we call flaws are the exact things that keep it interesting."
shadedsunlight: (Smile like you mean it)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-19 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
"I've always found art in all forms to be beautiful. It's this wonderful path of creation. To go from an idea or a feeling and to breathe life into it. I love it."
ext_934189: (What's going on?)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-20 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
"It's one of the things I miss most about being home," she said. "I miss being able to see what others are doing. Newford might not be a big city, but I loved the art community there. It was home."
shadedsunlight: (A firefly caught my eye)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-20 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm a bit like that with Davenport and the dance and theatre community. We weren't Boston, but maybe that's where some of the charm was." She smiles nostalgically. Rehearsals for the Nutcracker would be wrapping up and shows would be opening soon. What was the theatre company doing? A Christmas Carol? Or something more modern?

"What's Newford like?"
ext_934189: (Painted)

[identity profile] tehoniongirl.livejournal.com 2011-12-20 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
"That depends on what part you're asking about." She smiled. "It's a city. Big and busy and constantly lit up and alive. And it's beautiful and ugly and everything in between."
shadedsunlight: (Default)

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-20 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Sounds a bit like Davenport too."