lucetilogs | and the bass keeps runnin runnin

Entry tags:

and the bass keeps runnin runnin

Who: Anyone who heard the announcement, caught a flier in the plaza, of heard by word of mouth. Everyone's welcome!
What: A rave! Well, "rave." Luceti makes everything a little different.
When: June 21st, nightfall to early morning
Where: the beach near Adele's house
Summary: It's the first day of summer! This calls for bonfires, naturally, but why not spice it up with loud music, flashing lights, drinks, dancing, and a conspicuous lack of curfew?
Rating: PG to PG-13, please move anything steamier to appointments ~~or Adele will take the hose to you~~

Getting all the firewood, food, and drink out to the beach had been, honestly, the hardest part of preparation. Whatever else one might say about running things on magic, it certainly did cut down on the trouble of constructing edifices and machines to run the entertainment side of a party. As it stands, the setup is labour-intensive but otherwise minimal, and there's not much to do by sunset. Escape the house before Max and Zevran, the culture-displaced madmen, can put any more eyeliner on him. Arrive at the beach. Light the bonfires. Make sure the bonfire-cooking-compliant food is set out. Put up a table loaded with bottles, cups, ice, and permanent markers. Thank the resident doctor and quartermaster once more. Plug in the stereo system.

The speakers and light show have been with him since he left his house, in the form of the resident god of mischief, and they confer over sheets of paper with track names and times written on them for a little while just before the start. That's the last of it, and by the time the sky above the mountains is beginning to darken into twilight, the first thumping, trilling strains of dance music begin to echo out across the sand.

It's the shortest night of the year. Best make every second last.

[OOC: Feel free to post your character for mingling, since this entire event is very free-form anyway. For everyone's enjoyment there is a drinks table, food, several bonfires, the ocean (lifeguards not on duty, splash drunkenly at your own risk), and of course a dancing area with lights and music. Music will probably be primarily EDM with a heavy bass line, but occasionally wander into the territories of electro-swing and the like to give even less modern partygoers a chance to show off. The light show as well will stray out of the typical at times, with the expected abstract wheeling and flashing lights giving way to more complicated illusions. Don't be surprised to find yourself and your fellows occasionally dancing in a forest glen or a Rivendell look-alike for a few minutes at a time. Loki is working the tech booth, after all.

The party will go as long as people stay and are enjoying themselves, so have fun and tag around!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Sheltered? Perhaps a few months ago, yes. Then Elizabeth was shown horrific things, did some of them, and had a mess of things done to her. Was she blocking it all out? Right now she was. Now she was back at Battleship Bay, twirling around in the middle of a crowd, feeling as free as she ever would. Probably. It wasn't exactly the same feeling, but it was as close as she expected to get. And she wasn't going to let everything crowd into her evening and depress her.]

[She shrugs.] I've danced by myself enough in my life! Or are you trying to tell me you're going to suck the fun out of this? [Elizabeth grins and starts bouncing to the beat again. She's really, really unsure about how to partner-dance with this sort of music, so she's going back to how she was dancing before--only she's holding Gai's hands.]

[Gai understands that feeling all too well, not that he knows what's going through her mind at the moment. Being thrown out into the world to fend for oneself amidst all of its cruelty is something that one never gets over, not really. They simply learn to adapt and survive as best they can, whatever that takes. It's not something he prefers to dwell on either; it's just the way the world works.]

I wasn't planning on being the one doing any sucking tonight, unless you really want me to. I was thinking more along the lines of having fun, not ruining it.

[... yeah, she really doesn't know how to dance, but that's okay. He's 99% sure that if he tried to initiate what passes for dancing in his era that she'd freak out, punch him, or both.]

[And the only thing that registers with Elizabeth from that comment is that it's a strange way to construct the sentence. But she was the one who brought 'sucking' into the conversation, to be fair.]

No, I'd rather have fun too. But that doesn't include standing around with my hands in my pockets! [She flails around a little more, then shakes her head with a laugh.] I really don't know what I'm doing! Do you know how two people dance to this sort of music?

[And she didn't get the reference at all, just as he thought, which means that teaching her any sort of modern dancing is DEFINITELY out.

... which also means that of course she just has to ask about it. MURPHY'S LAW.]

Look around for inspiration. There isn't any one right way to do it-- just do what feels good. Dance however you want.

[Elizabeth looks a little at a loss, but tries to be positive. She follows Gai's advice and stops bouncing around to look at what other people are doing.]

[...Dear God, what are those two doing. Elizabeth's shoulders go absolutely rigid as she spots two people, woman bent backwards at nearly a 90 degree angle with her partner leaning over her, kissing. Or, really, it looks like he's trying to consume her face while holding her up.]

[This party is getting weird. And that is not dancing.]

[Yeah, see, this is why he didn't offer to give lessons. He sees that look of horror on Elizabeth's face as she eyes that couple making out-- it's fairly tame in his eyes, but from the look in hers, she's never seen that level of intimate behavior before.

A part of him wonders just how the person who invited her to this described what goes on at one.]

Of course, dancing isn't the only thing that goes on at a rave.

[Loud music and flashing lights, mostly. Nothing about kissing or drugs or anything like that.]

Wow... [Elizabeth quickly looks away and back to Gai. Great, she looks bizarre now, doesn't she? And she'd been doing so well acting like a normal person... ~~Sort of~~.]

The closest I've seen anyone dance is... [She lets go of one of Gai's hands and puts it on his shoulder, then steps in. There's still a good eight inches of space between them.] ...about here.

[Gai can't hide the amused expression on his face, though he isn't going to tease her about this. She reminds him of Inori in more than one way-- her general lack of knowledge about the world and her curiosity, but at the same time, she's got a spunk that Inori doesn't. Inori was truly a blank slate; Elizabeth is anything but.

When she moves to reposition them, he raises an eyebrow, fighting off the urge to make another joke.]

I won't say no to dancing like that as long as you don't mind it looking somewhat out of place.

[That's exactly what she minds, though--looking out of place and strange. Even if they were in a place where everyone had a different home and different customs and ways of doing things, the more she experiences and sees the more frustrated she's becoming. It's almost as if she'll never know exactly how to act around other people and she'll always be guessing and trying to be just... normal.]

No, you're right. [Elizabeth lets go and steps back, tucking her hair behind her ear.] It looks out of place... I guess I'm the one sucking the fun out of this, I can't even dance with you right.

[Ah, yet another way in which she isn't like Inori. Inori never cared whether she stood out or not, whether other people thought her odd. He'd asked her before if it bothered her, and her response had been simply "Does it matter?"

Because to her, it didn't. Gai and Funeral Parlor were her world; anything that went on outside of that was just something that existed. She played her part, did what she was told, and never questioned anything. The perfect soldier.

Just like him.]

No, being alone at a party is what isn't any fun. Dancing by myself is boring-- if that was all I wanted to do, I could've stayed back in my apartment and saved myself the trip.

[And that's easy for Elizabeth to imagine. Both Gai, and herself, dancing alone in her room. It is boring, it was boring. She was trying to replace twenty years of being alone with better things, and this had started off as one of those better things. Until she started feeling self-conscious.]

You're right. I'm terrible at this, but at least I'm not by myself anymore! [Elizabeth regroups and takes one of Gai's hands. She starts her wild, unpredictable dancing again, though now maybe there's something about her movements that's edging into the more traditional.]

[Twenty years of being alone for Elizabeth, over a decade spent as a soldier for Gai, and as a test subject before that. What a pair they make. "Normal" isn't a word that applies to either one of them; the only difference is that Gai takes this fact in stride and doesn't make much of an attempt to be normal.

But this is still fun, and she's still cute, and right now Gai can't think of anything else he would prefer to be doing at the moment.]

If you're terrible at it, just start a new trend.

[Hopefully she won't mind if he sets his other hand on her waist to edge those movements a little further towards the traditional side.]

[For Elizabeth, she wants, desperately wants, to be normal. To not be looked at like some creature or animal, to be treated as a person. In Luceti, fortunately everyone has treated her like they would anyone else. She's quite at ease, despite the fact that she's trapped. At least she's trapped with things to learn and good people to meet.]

[She's engaging in both those things now--so maybe she doesn't know Gai well enough to make a call on his character, but she doesn't back away when Gai puts his hand on her waist. Someone initiated contact with her. Someone was touching her and not to hold her down while they put on restraints.]

[Elizabeth looks up at Gai, expression a complete whirlwind of surprise and trepidation and gratitude and curiosity. Her hand goes back up to his shoulder and she just... stays there for a moment.]

Last time when I didn't know a dance, someone led me. Can you lead? [She smiles, realizing that maybe she should take a break from her wild dancing style.]

I wouldn't have made the offer if I didn't plan on it.

[What he isn't saying is that he'd initially planned on doing a lot more than just dancing if she'd been amenable to it, but now... now it would just feel wrong. He can't take advantage of someone, especially not someone as innocent and inexperienced as Elizabeth. And even though she's eager to learn, it WOULD be taking advantage of her to want more than just a dance, and he knows that.

So he shelves his plans of doing anything beyond dancing tonight and smiles at her, pulling her a little closer.]

This'll be a rock-and-roll number.

[But he knows she won't mind given how enthusiastically she was bouncing around. Hope she doesn't mind him launching right into an equally energetic dance, although this is more a modified version of swing than anything else.]

[Elizabeth is about to ask what that means when Gai pulls her into something very spirited, and very fun. She struggles to keep up for the first minute or so, but then figures out how fast Gai expects her to move and how he indicates where she should go.]

[Then they're off. Elizabeth has never had so much fun dancing before--it's fast and Gai is moving Elizabeth effortlessly across the sand in ways she'd never seen or read about before. And when she doesn't think she can't be surprised again, something changes and Gai is going in a different direction. It delights her and she doesn't stop following him until she finally trips and collapses against Gai when she can't move quickly anymore. She's laughing as she straightens up.]

Come on, let's sit for a minute--I need to breathe! [She laughs again and pulls on Gai's hand to lead him away from the dancing crowd.]

[Gai is fast on his feet and agile, things he has his martial arts training to thank, although she might not think quite as highly of his agility and footwork if she had any idea what he usually uses it for. To her credit, Elizabeth is keeping up quite well as he whirls her around, a fact made even more impressive by the fact that he's sort of just making a lot of this up as he goes along. It's a little bit of swing, a little bit of martial arts kata, and a lot of just plain moving to the music.

But they're both having fun, and that's all that matters.

When she trips against him, he's quick to stop, silently grateful for the break. As much as he tries to ignore the virus' effects, that doesn't make them go away. He needs the break about as much as she does right now.]

I'll let you lead for this.

[Which is a bit redundant seeing as she's already dragging him off, but details.]

[Elizabeth casts another amused laugh over her shoulder and leads them both to a log pulled up to one of the bonfires. She leaves Gai there with a quick 'I'll just be a moment!' and brings back something for them to drink. Of course she knows what beer and hard liquors and wine look like... what she brings back sure looks like soda to her....]

Which one? [She holds out two options for Gai to pick from.]

[It takes Gai a mere second to reach for the limeade; he's more of a beer and hard liquor guy himself, but hey, a drink is a drink, even if it is ridiculously colorful and girly.

And hopefully mild enough that she won't be keeling over midway through, as entertaining as the mental image may be.]

I haven't seen one of these since the last time I was out of Japan.

Really? [Elizabeth sits down next to him, at a respectable distance, and twists off the top of her strawberry 'soda'.] I haven't seen anything in this color before, so I grabbed it. [She shrugs a shoulder and takes a sip--]

[And her eyes widen slightly.]

[She swallows and looks as surreptitiously as she can at the bottle, licking her lips as though second-guessing what she's tasting in this drink. But now that she's taking a moment to read the label, it does have the word 'alcohol' on it. Right there.]

Where I'm from, it's 1912. I've never seen... this, ever. [Somehow, this is supposed to explain everything. She takes another sip from the bottle--it tastes good, at least.]

[That explains a lot of her culture shock right there. Her dress and manner of dancing had hinted at her being from an earlier era; what he hadn't known was just HOW much earlier. Almost a century and a quarter, to be exact.]

That's because drinks like that weren't invented until the late 20th century. I'm not sure of the exact date, just that it was a few decades before I was born.

[He pops the top off his own to take a sip before adding:]

It's 2039 in my world. Saying things are different then would be an understatement.

2039... [Elizabeth's eyes go wide. She'd already accepted the fact that some people were around a full century after 1912, but 2039?]

I would imagine... And asking how things are different probably wouldn't mean much to me, would it? I used to think Jules Verne was technology far-advanced. [She laughs and raises her eyebrows.] Then a few weeks later I was flying a spaceship in one of the simulator rooms.

[Rather than answer that, Gai decides to show her. With his free hand, he reaches into his pocket and withdraws a small device and, with a flick of his wrist and the press of a button, pulls up the holographic screen.]

This is what phones look like in my era.

[He knows that phones existed back in 1912, so it's an easy visual comparison to make.]

[Elizabeth leans in when the holographic screen opens up. It was clear, like a window. But it was a phone?]

[She gives Gai a wry smile and holds up her thimble-covered, severed pinky.] This is what passes for cosmetic surgery in my era. If I needed a phone in my pocket, I'd need a very long cord first.

[Gai doesn't even bat an eye when she shows him her pinky-- he's seen far worse things in his line of work than that. He'd noticed it while they were dancing but hadn't thought it prudent to bring it up. Maybe he'll ask about it eventually, but right now...]

It's a lot more than just a phone.

[He's scrolling through files on the screen now, looking for one particular one. At last he finds what he's looking for, and with a press of his finger, a video begins to play. He needs to turn the volume all the way up for it to be heard over the music of the rave, but it should be audible enough.]

[This she's seen before. Not the contents of the video, of course. But she's managed to see 'video' on the network, though she prefers solid audio or written methods. The fact that it can play on such a tiny device though, is fascinating.]

[Elizabeth leans over him, watching and listening. She has a million questions, of course.]

This music... [Somehow, it's pulled her away from the upbeat thumping she and Gai were dancing to earlier. She isn't smiling anymore, instead she looks almost sad. But music has always moved her, and she's always appreciated its influence.]

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