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: (Oh is that right)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-09 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"To be honest for the entire year or so I've been here this is actually the first that I've seen so many parties taking place. Not that that's a bad thing especially when it comes to the experiments and their aftermath."

Helios nods smiling a little as he surveys the scenes. "And besides around this time of year some cheer is always good! You can never have too many parties either."
wise_maiden: (at least for the moment)

[personal profile] wise_maiden 2011-12-09 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"In the near four years I've been here, I can say the same." Raine begins to reason it out, thoughtfully. "We've had forced costume balls, and the Brigade usually puts on an event or so for a few holidays... and I suppose there are the Welcome Center's parties for the new arrivals, but that also is fairly a recent thing." Not that she's exactly a regular party attender, all of these mentions aside.
folklorist: (Ever so curious)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-10 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"I suppose they help lighten the mood well the, um, New Feather parties at least. It helps ease people into this whole situation and what exactly it means. Definitely shouldn't be alone when first arriving here." Helios nods at his own words, it makes sense when you thought about it, and he's not sure why it hasn't been done before now.

"How do you like it so far? Being that you've been here longer than most. Do you think it's helping any for th-the town as a whole?"
wise_maiden: [ pureoptimism @ lj ] (you're up all night thinking it's over)

[personal profile] wise_maiden 2011-12-11 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
"It seems that the people here are enjoying it, for what it's worth. That's probably the most important factor." It had seemed that way from her observations anyway. "I'm really not familiar with occasions like this, so it boils down to a matter of preference. We aren't wholly miserable... and that helps with perspective."
folklorist: (I suppose that works)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-11 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
"You've never been to any parties or, ah, is there nothing like Christmas in your world then?" Helios looks over at her with an inquiring arch of his brow.
wise_maiden: (waiting to change)

[personal profile] wise_maiden 2011-12-20 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
"There are some festive occasions, but nothing quite like what I've seen of Christmas here." She shrugs slightly, as she explains. "And I've only ever attended a formal party like this once before."
folklorist: (I'm just your average headmaster yep)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-20 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
"They're nice once in awhile, with good friends." Not that Helios had many of those but.

"I hosted a good number throughout the school year actually. Usually for all the major holidays and then an opening and closing of the school year party. Just to make the students feel a little bit at home. Something to take their minds off of being in an unfamiliar environment." Helios smiles.
wise_maiden: (thankful for small favors)

[personal profile] wise_maiden 2011-12-20 09:13 am (UTC)(link)
"It sounds very involved." Raine nods at his explanation. "I ran a simple village school, so there wasn't really any need for things like that. Though I had given in to at least one or two class parties."
folklorist: (I suppose that works)

[personal profile] folklorist 2011-12-20 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah it was. Well back home it was. Just a little tradition I liked to uphold. Boarding schools have a bit more...leeway with those types of things. Having your students live on the premises...you had to think of ways to keep them out of trouble." Helios chuckles because even with the parties things still managed to happen.