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

[blitzcheer]

“No chance of fixing that?” Tidus asks, half with hope for the guy. If they believe in the possibility of returning home, ignore how suspect this place is, just take Dualis out of the question entirely. It didn’t sound like Loki was against talking--but maybe they’d tried before. Maybe he had tried before.

[morethanatrickster]

"It's doubtful, given that he's passed." And that Loki himself was partially responsible for it, but he'll leave that bit unspoken lest he betray his hidden guilt. He doesn't know Tidus well enough to divulge such details about himself. At least...not yet.

[blitzcheer]

He lets out a quiet but sombre "Oh", gives an understanding nod of his head. Tidus should count himself lucky for having the opportunity himself, despite the pain that came with it: a chance to say good-bye that he never thought he would have, or want.

But Loki seems to have his head together when it comes to having some peace--as much as the circumstances can allow--with regards to his father, and Tidus doesn't want to keep it on a sad note. So he offers in a well-meaning tone: "Then... there's always one day, right? In your Farplane." He doesn't remember what the name had been for Loki's equivalent, though he remembers them talking about it. Thinks more about it than he'd comfortably admit.

"After a good and long life," he doesn't forget to clarify. "Gotta leave a good legacy behind first."

[morethanatrickster]

"Perhaps." Farplane was as good an understanding as Loki could hope for, and he didn't really care to elaborate. All the living knew of Vahalla were tales regardless. "If I can ever escape this place." He laughs, though, shaking his head. Legacy? Childless or not, he'd already left behind one of those.

For good or for evil, he'd left a mark, certainly. "You see, when I arrived here, I should have been headed that way, but I seem to have taken a detour."

[blitzcheer]

“You’re--”

Tidus holds his mouth a little too late, the finish obvious (’’--dead?”) by the rounds of his eyes, the context of the conversation. Loki has a way of continuously surprising him, and Tidus is quiet for a few seconds as he swallows that information. Not rattled or squeamish by the news by outward appearances, but clearly thinking about what he says.

“Did you wanna come back?”

There’s better questions out there, probably, but it's what comes out.

[morethanatrickster]

"Dead?" He smiles as he finishes Tidus' question, adding a nod for good measure. "Quite thoroughly, I assure you."

Not that he's keen to relive the experience, or recount it either. It was equally the most terrifying and most painful experience he's ever endured. Well, didn't endure, rather.

"I didn't want to die in the first place, Tidus. Sacrifices and all that." Flippancy makes all wounds sting less, doesn't it?

[blitzcheer]

It was stupid, really--a stupid question, and Tidus doesn’t know what possessed him to ask it in the first place. Who did want to die, and who wouldn’t want to come back? His jaw clenches with a subject far too close to ever be comfortable. He wants to run from it, even if he’ll never get very far.

“You’re alive now. You can enjoy things. You’ve got this.” This amount more than what being dead usually grants a person, or would've granted him. It’s not perfect; in actuality, their circumstances are dangerous, but it’s all some of them will have, and Tidus is insistent, optimistic. “Let’s eat their food and have a good time! I bet you know how to dance.”

A dance for the dead, but they don’t need to focus on the specifics. Just find the bright spots.

[morethanatrickster]

"I am, surprisingly, very much alive, and trapped here indefinitely." He grins, and there's a slightly malicious glint in this eye as well. "And I can enjoy things. I wonder if our hosts have similar tastes."

He laughs, then. No, they most likely didn't have his affection for chaos and mayhem, but they'd learn he did. Oh would they learn. "And I do, yes. Are you asking me to dance?"

[blitzcheer]

“Uhh, if you wanna dance with a guy who learnt how to two days ago? I don't know flashy moves, but I didn't step on any feet.”

It’s an embarrassed offer, one he wasn’t making originally, but Tidus was willing to allow Loki to make up his mind on knowing what he was getting into. He definitely wasn’t going to be offended if the guy passed.

But hey, he totally avoided stepping on feet during practice.

[morethanatrickster]

Loki watches as the expression of unease clearly crosses Tidus' face before laughing, and heartily.

"Don't worry. I've no interest in embarrassing you that way." In other ways? Quite possibly, but not here.