flawedgoods: (Default)
Favrielle nó Eglantine ([personal profile] flawedgoods) wrote in [community profile] tushanshu_logs2012-12-18 07:51 pm

[OPEN] Midwinter Masquerade

Characters: EVERYONE
Date: Forward-dated to Friday, December 21st
Location: Water Sector
Situation: Midwinter Masquerade!
Warnings/Rating: None in the entry, please tag your threads accordingly.

It's well into the evening of the Longest Night when guests begin to arrive at the Midwinter Masquerade. The building where it is held, a large and elegant building, sits in the Water sector at the edge of a canal, allowing attendees to arrive by foot, boat, and bicycle drawn carts.

Upon approaching the main entrance, guests are greeted by kedan servers who have been contracted for the event. Dressed in white and silver as Winter spirits and snowy creatures, they greet the guests, stow away their coats, cloaks, and other outerwear, and bid them Joy on the Longest Night.

The theme of their costumes becomes quickly apparent upon entering the main room, for Favrielle has put all of her designing genius toward transforming the it into a wintery palace. Pale white drapes hang over the walls of the room and beneath the ceiling, accented with silvery ribbons to simulate icicles. Indeed, most things in the hall are in whites and silvers. The tables are adorned in white table cloths, and matching napkins hold polished silverware within, tied shut with ribbon.

A set of musicians sit to the side of the dance floor, playing quietly as the guests arrive. The stringed instruments produce sweet sounds of a more classical style that adds to the formality of the occasion and sets the mood for the evening. Indeed, it does little more than that for the first part of the evening, by Favrielle's reckoning, is best spent enjoying the arrival of those in costume. After all, with so many masked it's as much an entertainment to see who is dressed in what, as it is to try and guess their identity.

The more observant or socially networked individual might also notice that while most guests are indeed foreigners, there are a few kedan in attendance as well. Invited by Favrielle herself, these kedan are for the most part friends and associates from their shared industry, as well as some few acquaintances she's made in the Fire sector's red light district. In the tradition of the Night Court however, it is not a night of business dealings, even those from the latter group.

As for the hostess herself, she enters only when it seems as if most other guests are present...


[ooc: Due to RL stuff this is going up early! This should give everyone more time to tag in. The pageant beginning will go up now, however the end will go up on the 21st as planned!]
thewinterqueen: (pic#5360287)

[personal profile] thewinterqueen 2012-12-19 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
[As the doors open, she counts to three in her head for the sake of a dramatic pause, then tightens her grip on the staff, carved from a dark wood, designed to look old and weathered. It matches the rest of her costume, from the grey rags and shawl covering her dress, to grey wig, to the mask, made from leather and painted to reflect the face of an old woman, weathered and cracked.

It's not the easiest mask to see out of, but the route from the doors to the dais at the opposite end of the hall is a simple one, and she walks it slowly, leaning heavily on the staff as if for support, her back hunched in imiation of old age. The strangest part is seeing everyone bow, Favrielle and the servers first, and then the rest of the guests as they follow suit, and for a minute she thinks of what it would be like to be a real queen, rather than playing a role in a pageant.

But it's an easily dismissed thought, and she smiles to herself under the mask.

At the foot of the throne, she turns to face the crowd, standing up a little taller as Favrielle directed, then raises the staff into the air to signal the start of the Masquerade. The trumpets sound again, the music starts up, and she takes a seat on the throne.

She stays until the attention is turned from her, then leaves her throne by slipping behind a screen.]
memoriesinsmoke: (sup H.B.)

[personal profile] memoriesinsmoke 2012-12-19 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
[Liz had come in wearing a snappy suit and mask, and after the beginning is taken care of, the alcohol is pretty much the first thing she goes for. She isn't always a huge drinker, but if she's going to dance later, she's going to need something to help loosen her up, first.]
depicted: (we want a party song)

[personal profile] depicted 2012-12-19 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Compared to the masquerades Dorian has attended in the last thirty years, this affair is wonderfully dignified. He finds himself drawn to the civility and so has dressed to call back to an era he has long since left behind, in a dark waistcoat and white shirt of such a cut as would have raised no words of censure when he was young. But he owes it to himself and to Petronius to do more with himself than that. White lilacs stitched into his waistcoat reach up along his chest; embroidered red amaryllis falls down white sleeves; and a bloom of red silk bursts at the neck. Tying it all together, Dorian hides his face behind a black half-masked decorated in both lilac and amaryllis. And here, buttoned up at the waist and tied at the throat, he can almost feel like it is truly the 1800s all over again.

But this, this promises to be much more fun. There is being appropriate for the company of children, and then there is being appropriate for the company of Victorians. Dorian has no problem with the former and is delighted to be spared the latter.

Starting with these gorgeous drinks. If it is custom to toast before consuming, then Dorian must cheerfully seek out somebody to toast with. In his books, there is no better way to start socialising.]
depicted: (you've such a fetching smile)

[personal profile] depicted 2012-12-19 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Indeed, he would. He catches Favrielle and smiles, his voice low and charmed.]

I hear it's better luck if you toast with a beautiful stranger, and without anyone to set me straight, I can only believe what I hear is truth. Might I beg a little good fortune from you tonight?
littlecousin: (always ready to party)

[personal profile] littlecousin 2012-12-19 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
[Nita is not good at lying, which, arguably, is what masquerading is. Favrielle did her impressive best with the costume--a wide skirt that hides the ankle wings without binding them, a mask that rises above high-arched brows and sweeps back across the top of pointed ears, and long blond hair worn loose for once, brushed down to conceal gills--but there are only so many blue-eyed blonds with athlete's builds to choose from, and Nita is her usual cheerful, outgoing self, unintentionally defeating Favrielle's fashion stratagem within a few seconds of conversation every time.

"Joy" is exactly her kind of toast, and she's offering it enthusiastically to all comers.

ETA: LOOK MARI SHOPPED ME A PICTURE]
Edited 2012-12-19 06:41 (UTC)
eagle_beanie: (pic#4820309)

[personal profile] eagle_beanie 2012-12-19 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
[If Hancock looks like he just rolled off a park bench and showed up...well that's exactly what he did. He didn't bother with a costume, because he didn't realize he had been left an invitation to this shindig until about an hour ago.

So he's only here for one thing and one thing only. Free booze and free food. This is perhaps his 3rd or 4th glass. Will he toast? Doubt it.]
imlikeabird: ([ ✘ ] Damnit quit breaking Hawke)

[personal profile] imlikeabird 2012-12-19 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
[This is the sort of thing Hawke would have loved to drag Merrill to. She would've loved the costumes and the dancing and the sugary confections dotting along the banquet tables. And for a moment, he's nostalgic for his days as a Kirkwall noble. Not for the politics, mind. But for attending fancy parties with his friends in tow and making fun of the stuffed shirt hosts.

Stop it, Hawke. You'll make yourself homesick. And Kirkwall is an awful place.

So he'll scoop up a few sugary sweets to enjoy and have him a sit down at a table nearby, his plague doctor mask sitting up on his head so he can eat Here's to you, Merrill. This stomachache he's going to have in the morning better be worth it.]
idkmybffcyclops: (This is me time)

[personal profile] idkmybffcyclops 2012-12-19 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Logan is only here because the food and drink are free. He's got a fight tonight, so he doesn't intend to stick around for very long. In fact, he's stolen away into a private alcove to chuck away his mask and eat.]
memoriesinsmoke: (confident)

[personal profile] memoriesinsmoke 2012-12-19 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Okay, at this point, Liz has had enough alcohol where she doesn't need to worry about whether or not she'll look like an idiot on the dancefloor. Well. Not that much, anyway.

Either way, she plans on at least trying to enjoy herself, with or without a partner.
]
littlecousin: (did you miss me‚ richard rider?)

okay that icon looks kinda like they're dancing

[personal profile] littlecousin 2012-12-19 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
[You have been hauled onto the dance floor by one enthusiastic Atlantean princess. Or you asked her--but Nita is not particularly tradition-bound when it comes to such things and has absolutely no problem being forward.

She's not a bad dancer, though it's mostly native grace rather than any practiced skill.]
depicted: (you live in a time of decay)

[personal profile] depicted 2012-12-19 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
[At the chink, he answers,] Joy. [And drinks. The drink is as gorgeous as he remembers, and all the better for the stage and the company.]

I was looking for the hostess. She said I might earn a dance from her, if I made the effort. I had hoped to see tonight whether or not I'd rated.

[It is a transparent overture, but then, that is the fun of masquerades. To know everyone under their masks and play that you do not. This is in truth the first masquerade Dorian has been to in years where he hasn't known everybody worth knowing, even with the masks, and he is finding it invigorating.]