eswareinmal | Action: Come one, come all!

Characters: ALL THE PEOPLE
Open? Yes.
Where: The Palace
When: The night of the 3RD
What: A masquerade ball and a very deep sleep.
Warnings: Part of a comm-wide plot!

The Prince Sif has felled an unknown beast, and presented its stuffed head to the King. This would be reason enough for a ball, but there are victories to celebrate. More heroes arrive every day. The kingdom was aptly defended when the forest wall fell. No one has tried to assassinate the king in several days.

All told, a good night for a party. The theme of the ball is a masquerade, and shops in town have been surprisingly (almost suspiciously) able to provide gowns and masks in ready supply.

The palace has been opened to heroes and townspeople alike, provided they can present themselves appropriately. The heroes have been strongly encouraged to attend, and those who do not come voluntarily may well be greeted with royal retainers at their doorstep, outfit and dance card in hand. Expect a very full dance card, heroes.

The banquet table is stacked full of food – roasts and cheeses, summer fruits and vegetables, rivers of wine and more ornate desserts than should be permitted in a time or war. This evening is about success – best to enjoy it.

In the center of the ball sits the beast’s head. A scaly, purple thing. Its eyes have been taken out and replaced with rubies, its mouth twisted in the same sort of anguished look on its face as when Sif killed it. There has never been a beast like this in Schwanheim before – if you like, come closer and take a look. The king is very generous with his gifts.

[ooc: The party is a LIE. Well. No, it isn’t! Enjoy the party. Your characters will be expected to wear full masquerade gear, or they will be shunted aside and dressed properly.

After the attendees go home, they will be plagued with dreams more tangible than they have ever felt. More information here]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ginai raises her arm to better look at the bracelet, turning her wrist to let the diamonds sparkle in the light.

/I've always hated diamonds. Nothing but worthless stones so painfully overpriced because of a few companies holding a monopoly and hammering the belief they are worth more than they really are. All it represents is greed and blood./ Her smile is lopsided as she unclips the bracelet and drops it into her little bag. She'll return the bracelet before the night is over, but for now, no sense showing it off. It clashes horribly with her dress.

/You are absolutely horrible for enabling me, my dear. You know I can't resist a challenge./

"I know." Why pretend otherwise? "I, um, I also know your propensity for getting easily bored and metaphorically attempting to gnaw your own leg off if you d-don't have enough to do with yourself. Besides..." And here he looks away, under the pretense of scouting out her other recommended marks for her, but really just taking in the crowd as a whole: "...it's a metaphysical w-weight off the mind, knowing what you are here. Fairy tales, um, are well known to exert a weight on the human consciousness. I, um, I thought you might have wanted to get a jump on that."

/Thank you for keeping me entertained and helping me find my role in life. I suppose there are worse things than a thief./ They lack the sort of reputation being a knight or some other defender of justice comes with, but there is freedom and its own brand of nobility that comes with being a career criminal. She's not sure she'd like the armor anyway, though a horse wouldn't be bad. Certainly a step up above being a princess. Nothing against the princesses of the world, but royalty suits her poorly. Ginia remembers her brief stint as a princess back in Luceti and laughs quietly.

She looks back at Giles and spends a few seconds considering something.

/Dance with me, Rupert./

Needless to say, Giles looks blank for a second, as though he knows Ginia must have said something but is sure that he must have misheard her.

Then he realizes that he didn't. And Giles looks about to protest, to make excuses for himself, right up until the point that he decides not to, and smiles softly instead.

"You'll have to remind me how," he says. With exquisite carefulness, he wraps his hands around hers'. They're still as insubstantial as mist and clammy besides, but they appear solid enough. If they're careful, they can pretend, just for a night.

/I'm sure you still remember,/ she signs. Her fingers lightly wrap around his, careful not to put any pressure. Her other hand moves to settle just on his shoulder. Some of the nosier partygoers whisper to each other as they notice the ghost and strange new woman taking up a dance stance together.

Ginia takes the first step to guide them in a gentle box step, moving lightly with the music. But it's not the music being played by the orchestra she hears. It's another song that runs through her mind, another time. For a moment, they aren't in a grand palace. They're outside a recreational center in a quiet village, dancing closely together out of affection and for warmth.

'Silver bells... silver bells...'

And, within the first few steps, Giles finds that he does remember. It's all down to muscle memory, which is helped when the memories in question are so very strong. But he's content to let her lead, and simply follow as carefully as he can to preserve the moment.

He doesn't speak. He knows he doesn't have to. He can tell just by the look in her eyes that she's remembering the exact same moment. The location is different. The world and all the people around them are different. But the moment is the same, that strange and glorious feeling where the world falls away and it really is only just the two of them, loving each other.

If only it were snowing outside...

'Soon it will be Christmas Day...'

Not for them. Never again. But as long as they're together, somewhere, somehow...

Action: Come one, come all!

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