oh, we dance in misery

[headandhand]

WHO: Open to all Dualizens!
WHAT: the Plague Memorial Masked Ball
WHERE: the Mayor's Mansion (central Dualis)
WHEN: the evening of November 16
WARNINGS: Visuals/discussion of disease and death in the setting. Anything else, please use appropriate warnings!

At 8 p.m. sharp, the lights inside and around the Mayor's Mansion turn up, and the doors are opened to the crowds that begin to trickle inside. All entrances are manned by Iterations, and all party-goers are scanned for both proper attire (formal and masked, mandatory) and weapons (absolutely forbidden) before being allowed entry.

Once inside, attendees are greeted to a spectacle of warmth and light and lavish decorations, all themed in white accented with gold and violet. Venture into the ballroom, and you'll see intricately carved ice sculptures in various representations of death, all laden with garlands of marigolds and violet chrysanthemums. At one end of the room, a rotating cast of musicians plays soft music in differing arrangements of strings and piano. Long tables at the other end of the ballroom are piled high with punch fountains and platters of delicious party foods, and a few bar stations serve beverages of the more adult variety to those of age.

Outside the main ballroom are seven smaller rooms, for more intimate conversations and quiet recovery from the main gala (or just skulking like a brooding weirdo, if that's your thing). Six of the rooms are decorated in monochrome blue, purple, green, orange, white, or violet, and the seventh room is pitch black with red accents.

Throughout the night, the mayor herself winds in and out of the crowds, shadowed by a pair of bodyguards. She is all smiles, greeting people with a friendly handshake and effusive words of thanks for attending the ball, but she never stays in one place long enough for a true conversation. This is a celebration of life and a remembrance of the dead, after all - not the time or place for talks of business or politics.

Enjoy yourselves tonight, everyone! And remember - death eventually comes for everyone.

Comments

Green Room

[magneticfields]

As it turns out, there is at least one other brooding weirdo who is exploring the colored rooms. He's enjoying the ball as much as he ever enjoys anything, the gauzy haze of his improbable honeymoon with Charles still softening the edges of everything. Well. Mostly everything. Erik's edges are never exactly "soft". Just sheathed sometimes.

He comes across a remarkably pretty, if pouty, young woman in the green room. The slight crumpling of the hem of her skirts suggests that she is not currently wearing the shoes she arrived in. "Find anything good," he asks as he strolls in, hands in pockets. "Other than the pleasing aesthetic." He nods toward her, acknowledging the green in her hair.

[ferrokinetically]

Lorna stiffens at the arrival of someone else in the room. So much for not running into people while trying to brood off on her own. Maybe she should take into account the fact that balls were meant to be social gatherings. Not gatherings for people to skulk around on their own. There's a secondary reason to her stiffening up, but she's going to tuck that reason down to the deepest parts of her deeply repressed emotions.

"Aesthetic's the main draw," she says looking up at him from her seat. "Wish I'd found something worthwhile." Something that actually gave any sort of information about this place at all. Instead she just found more drinks than she probably should be having and a bunch of colored rooms.

"Weird place, isn't it?" That could go for a lot of things: the room, the ball with it's ice sculptures for death, and Dualis itself.

[magneticfields]

He keeps a respectful distance. Once upon a time he might have made advances in such a situation but he's too old for that sort of thing anymore.

"Very," he muses as he starts to explore the room himself. "One would think there'd at least be... books or something in these side rooms." He pokes at the wall and starts prodding object d'art and wall sconces. Yes, he's looking for a secret passage. "Very strange timing for a party, all things considered. Makes the theme even more ominous."

[ferrokinetically]

She watches him with a very guarded curiosity. "Rooms might be meant to symbolize something we don't get about this place." Not much they actually seem to know about the place at large. There's basics of course, but anything real seems shrouded in secrecy and an ever shifting city. Can't expect to learn much about a place that goes to such lengths to keep everything hidden.

She arches an eyebrow over at him. "Pretty sure Dubanowski mentioned something about them holding a Plague Memorial Masked Ball as a tradition during their Remembrance Month. Not really strange timing if it's just a part of their traditions during the month where shit happened. No different than any other Remembrance day celebration." There's more she might add on to that if they were anywhere but here. Doesn't seem like the smartest move to openly question the truth behind this place while at the Mayor's.

[magneticfields]

"The metaphor falls flat if nobody actually understands it." He is deeply unimpressed with all of this. He understands the urge to memorialize the dead. There's a whole new holiday just for that on the religious calendar that didn't exist when he was born. But this borders on the obscene.

"Is there something... celebratory about all this remembering?" He asks her, wondering if his suspicions are shared or his alone. Or maybe it's just cultural differences. Still. It doesn't sit quite right with him.