[open] welcome to the masquerade

[implying]

Date & Time: Friday the 7th, 4pm to midnight.
Location: Palace of Versailles, France, 1772.
Characters: anyone! Even characters not yet accepted as of when this log goes up. 8)
Summary: It's just some fancy masquerade dance with spiked punch.
Warnings: here be pictures, slow connections beware.


Welcome to Versailles.

The decorations are arranged, the food is prepared and laid out, the music has been rehearsed, and... most people have their costumes and masks ready. At precisely 1600, the Transporter machine activates, and a full room of people and all of their decorations, food, musical instruments, and costumes are sent back to 1772. The Palace of Versailles is in the height of its splendor, the weather is perfect and cloudless, and the gardens are in full bloom for the spring.

➣ Explore the Palace

Holy shit look at this, you have the chance to get your grubby little fingers all over history before it even becomes properly history. Do you know how many famous butts sat in all these plush velvet chairs? Or are going to sit in these plush velvet chairs? And they were all probably just talking the hell out of French, too. Wow. Go invade some bedrooms, poke your head into the kitchens (but no more than that, or territorial cooking elves might take offense), just. Touch everything. Everything. Just know that where ever you are, there's no escaping that beautiful music your fellow Transports are inflicting on you, that shit's just echoing all over the place tonight.

➣ Admire the Gardens

Jeez look at this, these people just had way too much money. But you get to benefit from it! You can basically just get yourself lost for hours here, so try not to starve or anything. Meet all the statues, go streaking through the fountains (please don't, no one wants to see that), get lost and desperately burst through cute little trees in your increasingly frantic attempts to find the exit. There's all sorts of fun you can have!

Just don't wander too close to the edge of the grounds, or you'll encounter (run into?) the invisible forcefield set up to keep wandering guests from utterly ruining history. That's probably a good way to get yourself a bloody nose.

➣ Enjoy the Banquet

There's tables and tables of this finger-licking good finery here, and it's all for you. And can you believe how fancy it is? Oh my god, those sausages have adorable little spears through them. And those spoons gently cradling their cheesy goodness? Yeah. They're made of crackers. And don't even get me started on these desserts. This is amazing. You've never eaten this good. And naturally, each drink (some of which are spiked, you're welcome) has adorable little frozen flowers in the ice cubes. Who even comes up with this stuff? Elves, that's who.

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Comments

[ino]

[She laughs. It would ruin the mystery, and she's got no interest in truly pressing him for information -- at least not right now. So she'll change the subject (sort of):]

Do you like to play games?

[kingside]

That depends entirely on which sort you mean.

[ino]

Any kind, I guess! My friend Shikamaru likes to play shogi. It's like chess, if you know what that is.

[kingside]

[Ino just said the magic word. He brightens.]

I'm familiar with and fond of both, in fact, but I'm better at chess. I grew up playing it.

[ino]

Really? I think you might be the first person I've met here who knows what shogi is.

[kingside]

There should be more of us than that. It's a game Japan has as well.

[ino]

Maybe I haven't been meeting the right people, then?

Either way, I'm not that great at it.

[kingside]

Really? That's surprising. You seem like you'd at least be decent as a player.

[ino]

Maybe ... but Shikamaru's a genius. He's the type of guy who always thinks, like, twenty steps ahead, you know? So I've never won a game against him.

[kingside]

[A name to remember, then, and Lelouch quietly files it away, expression thoughtful. This Shikamaru isn't the current topic, though, so--]

You shouldn't measure yourself against him.

[ino]

[She knows she has plenty of merits that Shikamaru will never have. But why not play the modest girl?]

You think?

[kingside]

Of course. Using extremes like that isn't practical. Not everyone can be good at everything.

[Which, he's fairly certain, she has to know anyway, but there's little point in not saying it. Too many people seem in the habit of forgetting it.]

[ino]

Mm ... I guess you're right. [She'll turn, now, to walk normally at his side.] Still, it'd be nice to be able to beat him, just once!

[kingside]

[Her determination makes him smile, and a thought occurs to him. It's nothing more than whim, but why not?]

I could help you practice, if you like. I don't get enough chances to play shogi anyway.

[ino]

Really? [She looks over at him with a smile] That'd be awesome. I'd have to ask Kallen first, but it'd probably be okay to make some space for something like that in the apartment ...

[kingside]

[To here.]