headandhand: (mayor marcelina)
the head | the hand ([personal profile] headandhand) wrote in [community profile] dualislogs2019-11-16 05:12 pm

oh, we dance in misery

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.
metamorphotic: (or take you back to places)

[personal profile] metamorphotic 2019-12-31 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
"You could always just dress up for yourself, y'know. That's what I do, anyway - try not to give a fuck what anyone else thinks about how I look." Maybe that's a little easier for Nick, since she recognized and embraced her identity as uncompromising outsider at a young age. She shrugs. "Still, y'look nice. And if your date blew you off to go be busy with somethin' else, I may need to have a talk with him about that being bad form."

She shifts her gaze to scan out into the crowd. "Is he even here? 'Cause I'm serious, I'll give him the Scary Dad Date Talk."
sociallychallenged: (2 3 1)

[personal profile] sociallychallenged 2020-01-01 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
"No, no. He's over there..." He loosely gestures in the direction Connor was in twenty minutes ago.

"There's a woman with the ability that every teenage girl would die for. She can make people like her. But it doesn't work on AI and Connor got roped into doing that tonight. I think he thought it'd last shorter than it did."

Though Hank has long since realized it's not a brief thing. It's an all night thing. He'll have to walk her home, so he has to go on his own. He feels a little dumb for that.
metamorphotic: (standing by your window)

[personal profile] metamorphotic 2020-01-03 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
Nick exhales a breath through her teeth, rolling her eyes in disapproval. "That sure as hell sounds familiar. Before I got wise to their bullshit, I went through a few sorta-boyfriends in high school who kept stringin' me along, all 'hangin' out with my bros, we'll meet up later' and then never showed. Not that I'm sayin' that's what Connor's doing." He better not be, anyway. "Just ... I get it. It sucks, getting ditched like that. But I learned after a few times where that happened that boys are usually unreliable, and that getting prettied up for them's a waste of time."

She shrugs. She knows she's probably in the minority on this outlook. And other than Connor, Hank's only ever mentioned having a wife in the past, so for all Nick knows, maybe she's preaching to the choir on the subject of dating guys.

"Doesn't sound like he's being shitty on purpose, though. If he's following this chick around, I'm guessin' he's trying to protect people, right?" Not a huge consolation, but at least whatever an android like him has for a heart's in the right place. "He doesn't have any kind of, like, dating programming, does he?"