party post } { fool and king, ghoul and ghost

[mayoralty]

On the evening of the twenty-ninth, the ballroom on the main deck of the boat is decked out in lavish black and gold, thanks to Carol and Sophie, and the assistance of the very strong men they enlisted to help (thank you, boys). It's been a while since Carol has thrown a full out ball, and she liked the chance to stretch her event planning limbs again, even if those attending are mostly the ghost robots in their cater waiter wear.

A soft music is playing over the guests as they enter. As they pass through the threshold, there's a table with simple masks for them to choose from, in case they've forgotten their's. Once they pass through the main archway, they'll find their way to the large dance space where the ghost robot band is sitting, because live music is so much better than a recording, and they actually don't sound half-bad, all things considered. They also take requests, so feel free to tell them that song where you always wondered what it would sound like with a full orchestral backing. There's a large, expansive dance floor in the middle, and you're welcome to get out there and shake your groove thing whenever you see fit.

Tables with food line the far left wall of the room, as well as clusters of tables for the guests to sit when they so choose. There's also an open bar nestled into the far corner, for all your alcoholic needs. There are also plenty of dark corners to slip into, if you don't want anyone to see what you're doing, however the narration suggests watching those dark corners carefully. Rabbit holes lurk in pretty much every shadowed area of the ballroom and while they won't always drop you into a strange location of your choosing, there's a high chance they will. There's probably a high turnover of people arriving back in the ballroom, looking like they've gone five rounds with a bull.

Probably because they have.

The boat seem to want to promote this event as much as possible. While not everyone loves a good ball, some non-attenders may suddenly find themselves in attendance, completely dressed and no idea of how they got there. Trying to leave? Might not go so well either. For some, socializing isn't so much a choice as a punishment, but there are probably plenty of people to help you have a good time.

Or you could go on a trip to Narnia. One never really knows.

[OKAY BALL IS GO sorry I was late getting this up. Rabbit Holes are to be used at your discretion, but if you need suggestions or want me to randomize something for you, just shoot me a PM/private plurk/ping me (iluvroadrunner6) and I will give you a scenario. Otherwise, mix, mingle and have fun with all the pretty formal wear. o7 Actionspam/prose/whatever floats your boat for this, it was easier to just write up the top part in prose.]

Comments

prince zuko }

[banishment]

[ it's not late when you never planned on attending, which is why zuko looks so out of place. his hair is unruly and the clothing he's acquired from what's available in the ship's shops looks a touch too big on him, but he got them baggy on purpose. he's used to wearing much looser clothing and what the majority of the ship's population dubs fashion doesn't at all match his own personally definition of the word. their formal wear isn't much better.

he doesn't have a mask on, but he does have a glaring scar across one side of his face, sweeping across one golden eye and disappearing into his hair. that lack of a mask and lack of proper attire is thanks to the rabbit hole he strolled too close on the fringes of the party.

zuko huffs irritably. it's a miracle he didn't huff flames. ] Didn't realize attendance was mandatory.

[dynameis]

This ship seems not to have learned its manners.

[ diana actually chose to come herself. the mystery of this place being enough to keep her from flying away shortly after setting foot through that door.

and while she doesn't exactly relish in large parties, she can deny the opportunity to get to know her fellow alices in this wonderland. she smiles apologetically down at zuko (her tall frame being her basis for choosing more sensible footwear). ]

And, lest I forget mine, I'm Diana. I'm sorry for eavesdropping -- you looked a little put off.

[banishment]

[ sages, he stands out. painfully. more so than the obvious blemish makes him stand out. he hates this ship. so much. ]

Zuko. It's okay. I feel put off. I didn't exactly intend to come here. Ball's aren't my thing.

[ liar liar pants on fire. he's been to tons of balls, though usually he's perched to the right of his father's throne, only getting up to dance with girls of proper status to songs befitting royalty. ]

[dynameis]

Oh? Are you uncomfortable?

[ because you don't look anxious so much as annoyed, kiddo.

well, not that she's actually looking at him so much as perusing the crowd as she speaks. her back stays ramrod straight, head bobbing easily back and forth as she enjoys a particular couple making the dance floor their bitch. ]

[banishment]

Yes.

[ no. he knows exactly how to conduct himself at one of these things and could get the entire room's attention in seven words or less (without bending) if he wanted to — except he doesn't. ]

[dynameis]

And I'm sure hanging out on the fringes is helping out with that...

[ a teasing smile to try to cut the call out, though she is also very casually trying to make eye contact. ]

[banishment]

Oh, yeah. Tons.

[ this time, he does sigh fire. he doesn't mean to; bending is just an everyday aspect of life where he's from. breathing fire isn't really anything to bat an eyelash at — but it is here, and he draws a few gazes that are met with an icy cold ozai-like glare. (sometimes, he really hates how much he resembles his father. if not for the scar, he'd be the spitting image of the man.) ]

[dynameis]

[ diana prides herself on making others feel comfortable and welcomed; loved, in some manner or another. first and foremost, before all other patrons, aphrodite remains the largest guiding force in the life of an amazon, and in diana's especially. ]

Well, then.

[ in response to the flame that escapes him, yes, partly. but she also makes a gesture she hopes he will take, extending an open hand toward him. ]

If you're open to advice, perhaps we can leave the fringes behind us for a moment? Work off some of the anxious energy?

[banishment]

[ zuko looks surprised by her offer — not so much because she offered, but because the offer seems to give way to the notion that she knows where the door is. ]

If you know how to get out, I will gladly follow.

[neversought]

[harry never planned on attending either. granted, he only just arrived in this place, which is why he is staring as he lifts his hand to adjust the glasses on his face in slight confusion. he has not been on this ship very long, but before all of this, he was in chicago so he is used to alternate universes.

he folds his arms across his chest, looks over at the other boy at the words.]

Apparently it is.

Lovely how they refuse to give any choice about it, isn't it? [there's that harry potter-snark.]

[banishment]

Just like how they took the time to ask if we wanted to be here in the first place.

[ zuko snorts. sure, time ~standing still~ back home — supposedly — has been explained to him, but he can't help but hate whatever spirit or higher power decided he needed to be here. he doesn't. a firebender on a boat is really only useful if you're looking to burn another boat to the ground. otherwise, all they do is stomp around and hate being surrounded by this much excess water. zuko sure does. he spent the majority of his formative years at sea and has, as far as he's concerned, met his seafaring quota.

besides, he sort of has a war to fight. and an avatar to train. an avatar who doesn't seem all that willing to play the part he needs to as of late. (he didn't know which he was more frustrated with at this point: aang or the stupid boat.) ]

You just get here? To the ship, I mean.

[neversought]

Yeah, really loved that part. Lovely invitation that they send out, complete with the details of the little vacation they ask if you'd like to take as opposed to rudely plucking you out of thin air.

[harry smirks in that snark of his, lifting up a hand to adjust the glasses on his face. this is nothing at all like chicago it turns out. it's nothing like the home he had before that one despite how used to magic he is, he can safely say that this mystery ship is entirely new territory.

lovely to know it isn't all fun and games and mysteries and potential danger, but sometimes there are balls too. that does sound a bit more like hogwarts and chicago.]

I did. Been here long enough to hear the bit about time stopping where we're from and that there is no way to force the door open so far as anyone knows. [his own magic hadn't worked.]

[banishment]

[ new territory, indeed. for someone from a pre-industrial world, stepping onto a ship full of 21st century-like technology and then some is like walking into an alien world. zuko felt out of step with everything; outdated and incredibly behind. he could burn this ship down with a simple flick of his wrist, but he couldn't get the vending machine outside his room to do what he wanted it to. ]

That's about all anyone knows, unfortunately. [ he grimaces, shakes his head. ]

I'm Zuko.

[neversought]

[harry grimaces as well, reaching up to adjust the glasses on his face thoughtfully. he feels lucky to have his wand with him, but he doesn't know if it'll do much good in a place like this one.]

Harry. [he says with a bit of a smirk.] Are you new too? Was wondering if balls like this happened often.

[and if it was more the ship's doing or the passenger's.]

[banishment]

[ he supposes he should be grateful he can still bend. zuko faced living without the ability to bend properly once, and that brief span of time between the loss of his anger fizzling out is flames and relearning from the dragons had been terrifying. not being able to bend at all would've made living on this ship a neverending nightmare for him. ]

Not really. I've actually been stuck on this ship for about a month now. [ he shrugged. ] I don't know, though the ship does seem to have a bad habit of just making things happen. It's almost like it's alive.

[neversought]

...a month? Is there even anything to do on this ship?

[Harry frowns at that, because it isn't the first time he has heard of something like that happening. he lifts up a hand to adjust his glasses, still frowning about it. Harry hadn't actually thought the rifts could do something like this, but he can't help but note the similarities]

Sounds like rifts. One of the... other worlds I've lived in, they had these breaks in time and space called rifts, and they would sort of do and create things that were suspiciously relevant to what was going on like magic igloos during the winter. That kind of thing.

[banishment]

Dodge all the weird stuff that pops up. [ like an influx of cats, dogs, and turtleducks... though he seemed to be the only one who got stuck with a turtleduck companion.

[ time he understood, but space was a concept that was a little beyond what he knew of the world. maybe some of the great scientific minds of the era would've understood what harry was saying, but zuko was the son of a king. he understood politics, diplomacy, and how to fight and bend. science and the theories of the field weren't his forté. ]

Are you sure someone didn't just bend the snow into an igloo? [ magic igloos sounded like waterbender shenanigans to him. ]

[waving]

[Katara didn't plan on attending either -- or being on this ship at all, actually. She had been on Ember Island with everyone else, waiting out for Sozin's Comet and then suddenly she was here, dressed in strange clothes with the exception of her mother's necklace -- something she had previously had to stop wearing while they hid out in the Fire Nation.

Her hand lifts up, touching the mask on her face briefly as she looks around. It's some sort of ship, not like any she's ever seen or been on before. At least she has the comfort of large amounts of water nearby to draw on if she needs to -- that isn't always the case.

It doesn't take her long to spot the familiar figure of the Fire prince and Katara quickly makes her way over to him, pulling her mask off as she does so, so there's no confusion. Ever since he helped her find the Southern Raiders she's forgiven him, even considers him a friend now.]

Zuko. They got you too?

[She assumes it's a kidnapping -- or something? Some plan of his father's to distract the Avatar, maybe? It's hard to figure out.]

[banishment]

[ truth be told, zuko would've recognized her whether she had the mask on or not. it was the necklace that gave her away. there was nothing quite like that pendant anywhere, and he doubted anyone (or anything) had the ability to replicate something that was hand-carved — or so he assumed. his uncle had explained some of the water tribes' customs to him, once. zuko hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now the information was proving to be rather valuable. he wondered, but wasn't bold enough to ask, if she knew what that necklace was supposed to be. (of course she did; it was stupid to think that she didn't.) ]

Katara? [ his gaze sweeps over her, quirking an eyebrow at the attire. not that he could say much. he knew from staring at his reflection in a mirror how awkward and unlike himself he looked wearing the kind of clothes that were available on this vessel. ] I thought I was the only one.

[ it's been nearly two months since he's seen anyone else from their world. (the turtleduck not withstanding.) ]

[waving]

[The necklace would be a give away, she should have probably realized it but she's still a little overwhelmed, trying to make sense of the situation. So far, that's not going so well, little of any of this makes any sort of sense.]

I haven't seen anyone else.

[Her eyes sweep around the area for the others for a moment. Sokka. Aang. Toph. None of them seem to be here.

(Though it might be harder to spot them than usual if they've been dressed in the strange clothing she and Zuko have.)]

It's just us.

[banishment]

[ and zuko stood out a little better than most with his scar uncovered by a mask — or a hood tugged down over his face as far as it would go, forcing him to stare at the ground as he walked to avoid being recognized. that agni-forsaken play was both a blessing and a curse. all the people in costume gave him the freedom to roam around without cause for (much) worry, but the play itself had been a rather rude awakening.

one aang had needed, but it seemed he was the only one who really thought that way. there were times when zuko wondered whether or not the others understood the severity of the situation. even after he explained his father's plans for the earth kingdom, it still seemed as if he was the only one who really understood what was happening here.

but he had to remind himself; these kids hadn't spent years at sea with a bunch of sailors. they weren't raised to be potential rulers of countries with a bulk of their studies centering around the battle tactics of both contemporaries and those who came before. it was probably a little harder for them to see history threatening to repeat itself all over again. at the very least, though, he thought aang of all people would want to avoid forcing the earth kingdom to suffer the same fate his people did. ]

Yeah. So far. [ a frown. he's both happy and not to see her. happy that he's not alone (and that she's not mad at him anymore), but angry that whoever or whatever keeps pulling people here thought to bring another person who shouldn't be here to this place. ]

People come and go. Some don't, though. Some people are just... stuck. [ he was starting to feel that way. ]

[waving]

[The play had been a rude awakening, one Katara still didn't know how to process completely. Though she's changed a lot in the past year she is in some ways still the girl who grew up in the Southern Water Tribe, just trying to hold everything together.

She knows what war costs people -- she learned that with the death of her mother early on but sometimes the bigger pictures, the patterns that repeat themselves through history, that's not something she as easily sees.]

How long have you been stuck here? [Because the way he's talking -- he's definitely been here longer than she has. How that's possible, she's not quite sure, but that's how it seems all the same.]

[banishment]

[ time makes no sense on the ship, katara. it's "stopped" back home — or so they say — and keeps moving forward here with you along for the ride. it hasn't been a pleasant one. ]

Two months, give or take a few days.

[waving]

[She'll figure that out on her own soon enough. For now her voice raises slightly, in disbelief.]

Two months? But I just saw you.

[banishment]

Time bends here. Sometimes it stops, and they say they stop it back home. Make it so you're frozen while still moving, so that it's like you never left. There's a timebender or something in control of this place.

[ explaining temporal theory to a boy from a per-industrial era where the ability to bend the elements is the norm: this is the result. ]