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 2011-12-15 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Harvesting crops and animals," Eggman says matter-of-factly, shoving some more food in his mouth.
semper_cogitans: (O:)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-15 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
"..."

Now the dots connect, and Robert suddenly looks mildly horrified.

"... You mean... they kill th-them...?"

... Well. That... that certainly soured Robert's outlook on meat significantly.

He's now looking at the table with an entirely different expression...

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-15 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Eggman stares at Robert for a second, his jolly expression slowly fading off his face. Is this man really, really that clueless? Eggman is almost feeling guilty about that.

"Forget I said it, Hastings," he says, trying to take back his previous statement. "All of the animals live on the farm happily ever after, and people eat matrix-steak, live in harmony, etc. etc! Have you tried the turkey?"
semper_cogitans: (:<)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-16 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Too late now, Eggman. It's just empty at this point.

He doesn't even respond to the other scientist at that. Instead, Robert just stares darkly at the table, suddenly mulling this over in his head. He's unwittingly participated in... well, cruelty.

But hasn't Luceti already made him capable of it, in a way?

"... Sometimes I... w-wonder what else this place will... d-do to me."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-18 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Eggman watches Robert for a moment, considering the idea of just quietly slinking away while the other scientist is staring at the table in horror. Robert answers before he can shuffle very far, however.

"What's the matter, Hastings? If your idea of evil is eating meat you ought to try really committing a villainous act some time! Ba ha ha!"
semper_cogitans: (:|a)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-19 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"... T-Terra would... already say I have," Robert says slowly.

It's obvious that he doesn't mean the meat-eating, though, but rather something entirely different.

"I e-expect it would be... d-difficult for you to fathom..."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-19 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Eggman's voice is lowered significantly. "What are you talking about? There's not a thing I can't fathom so spit it out, Professor!"
semper_cogitans: (:<)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-19 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"... H-Harming others." Robert's fingers trace the tablecloth, but his eyes are a thousand miles away, gray depths dark. "... The fact I have... c-consented to learn self-defense makes me a criminal by... T-Terran standards.

I... I understand why I made the decision, but..."

He says nothing more, but it's clear that this weighs heavily on his conscience.

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-19 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ridiculous!" Eggman's face screws up in anger. "What kind of a stupid government outlaws self-defence?"
semper_cogitans: (>_o)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-23 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
"... Mine." Robert winces a little at Terran government being called "stupid" - even if it is a fairly strange-sounding decision to others. "... It is... to curb the d-destructive and violent... i-impulses brought on by... such behaviour.

...

A-At... at least in theory."

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-23 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ho ho ho! I suppose that's what they tell you, eh, Hastings?" Eggman laughs, but then looks serious. "I'll tell you something, Professor. If I were to outlaw self-defence, it would only be to stop the population ever being able to fight back against my glorious rule! It wouldn't work of course, but that's what security robots are for."
semper_cogitans: (:<)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-23 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
This is an alarming thought, to consider the fact that the Terran government might have outlawed it for... less than savoury purposes. And suddenly being forced to think about it has definitely jarred Robert's mindset.

Once again, he finds himself questioning his society...

"... D-Do you... really think so...?"

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-23 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'd be willing to bet my Empire on it!" All that there is of it, anyway. But Robert doesn't know that. Eggman raises his invisible eyebrows, asking "What do your people do if they're being attacked? You don't think vagrants learn to purse-snatch in self-defence classes do you? Or," and he laughs at his next statement. "What if an evil genius such as myself were to swoop down on your world? Why, it would hardly be sport!"
semper_cogitans: (D:>)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-26 11:15 am (UTC)(link)
"... I... s-suppose we would... martyr ourselves," Robert says simply - almost desperately, even though he knows that it would be a dangerous and foolhardy idea here in Luceti. "... It would... b-be against Terran principles to resist..."

... And the social structure of Terra is worth giving one's life up to protect. At least in theory.

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-27 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"Interesting," Eggman replies. But he has no interest in really continuing this discussion further. It's almost disgusting how pathetic Robert's planet sounds. "I think I'd like to visit Terra some time! Ba ha ha!"

He slaps Robert on the shoulder, laughing at his own joke more.
semper_cogitans: (:>)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-28 09:49 am (UTC)(link)
... Robert actually doesn't take this as a joke. The barest of awkward smiles hovers around his countenance - though he flinches at being slapped.

"... I... I m-might like that, myself..."

... It might be jarring to Eggman to realize that Robert means that.

[identity profile] notshadowfever.livejournal.com 2011-12-29 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
Eggman stops laughing abruptly. At first he was going to berate Robert for being so dense, but then he just responds quietly: "Me? You want me to visit your planet?"
semper_cogitans: (-w-)

[personal profile] semper_cogitans 2011-12-29 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
This time, the smile is more genuine, and Robert nods.

"... Yes. I... I d-do."

Eggman's... a strange friend, but... but he is a friend, isn't he?