simplestgift: (Turn away.)
Archie Kennedy ([personal profile] simplestgift) wrote in [community profile] lucetilogs2012-12-01 11:05 am

Comfort and Joy

Who: Come one, come all! ...So long as you're appropriately dressed.
What: Luceti's second annual Christmas ball, old-world style.
When: December 1st, beginning around five in the afternoon and ending when the last person leaves.
Where: The Battle Dome.
Summary: Earth's eighteenth-century peeps are throwing one hell of a party. Again.
Rating: Well, considering no one is serving water? Probably PG-13 for alcohol consumption and the results thereof (there's coffee and hot chocolate!).

Upon stepping into the program at the Battle Dome, snow crunches beneath your feet. Great flakes of it drift silently from the dark sky above. And ahead...





The chill in the air is penetrated by the promise of warmth and light within the castle. As you approach, the music and festivities from inside reach your ears--tambourines and laughter and the clink of china dishes.

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--and you're only in the entryway.

Inside the dining room, cream brocades, simple but elegant, are draped over the walls. Traditional red rugs have been thrown over the floor. The single long feast table is impeccably dressed with light linen cloths and set with fine china and crystal.

The tables are lit with candles and chandeliers, giving the room a golden glow. On the tables, boughs of evergreen and holly surround the candles, and mistletoe has been hung discreetly here and there. In one corner, by a large and beautifully decorated fir tree (Buffy’s insistence), musicians are set up to play.

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.

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, 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.

In the ballroom, 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! In fact, it's perfectly acceptable to goof off during these dances, as long as you're charming enough that people aren't irritated with you when you mess everyone up. 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 quiet room, 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 quietly away from the ballroom, 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.

This being a castle, there are other rooms to explore. Up in the towers are bedrooms, nooks and crannies, and a large private library. Sneaking back to the kitchen between meals for a preview or stolen taste of supper to come is not out of the question, either.

Are you lingering in the dining room, 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? Are you content to enjoy the presence of people, or are you exploring the castle with a special someone?

Whatever you do, have fun.
corrinesbell: (happy face)

[personal profile] corrinesbell 2012-12-12 07:16 am (UTC)(link)
Sure there are! You can play a sit-down game with them too, instead of just building shapes.

[Sheena steps back, looking at what she's built.] Are you gonna knock them over?
starfishlovesyou: (pic#5068368)

[personal profile] starfishlovesyou 2012-12-18 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
E-Eeh?! Knock them over?! Sheena-san, do you really think Fuuko would do something like that now?!

[Perish the thought! No, she can never knock the domino starfish over. That would just be silly. If the starfish was knocked over then it wouldn't be a starfish! It would just be a pile of dominoes!]

We can play proper dominoes, only Fuuko insists we don't disrupt the starfish in any way!
corrinesbell: (carefree)

[personal profile] corrinesbell 2012-12-18 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
Usually that's what happens after you make a domino shape like this. We can use a different table to play though, okay?
starfishlovesyou: (★I'll dream an endless dream)

[personal profile] starfishlovesyou 2012-12-18 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
But who would want to knock down such a cute and adorable shape like this? Fuuko doesn't want to even think about it!

[So off onto the next closest table she goes. This way she can keep an eye on the domistarnofish.]

Fuuko would like to use this table!
corrinesbell: (an offer)

[personal profile] corrinesbell 2012-12-18 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
This table it is then. [Sitting. Sorting the dominoes into a facedown pile on the table.] You ever played before?
starfishlovesyou: (☆Surely...)

[personal profile] starfishlovesyou 2012-12-20 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
No, Fuuko has never had the chance to play a serious game of dominoes before now. [Making shapes and stacking them is way more fun than actually doing what you're meant to do anyway.]

Where does Fuuko make a bet, can Fuuko go all in?
corrinesbell: (carefree)

[personal profile] corrinesbell 2012-12-21 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Let's play a couple times without betting first. I think the only thing you can bet in dominoes is whether you're gonna win or not. [Maybe there are other kinds of dominoes she doesn't know about.]
starfishlovesyou: (★The sky keeps turning)

[personal profile] starfishlovesyou 2012-12-23 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
In that case Fuuko will hold all bets for now! [Then when she's sure she can win she'll bet. Or lose. Or something. Heck she doesn't know if you can bet in dominoes in the first place, it just makes sense with all the card games around.]

What does Fuuko have to do first?
corrinesbell: (carefree)

[personal profile] corrinesbell 2012-12-28 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
Uh...you pick out seven of them and set them up so only you can see them. Then we each take a turn trying to line up the matching numbers, until one of us is out or dominoes or one of us can't put down any more.