[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

[gevurah]

Who can honestly turn down good food?

[kneecaptain]

The rich.

[ A pause. ]

Let 'em eat cake, right?

[gevurah]

[ Oh? That dig gets an arched eyebrow from Kate. ]

I don't know when's the next time we'll able to dine like this.

[kneecaptain]

I dunno if I'm ever gonna eat like this again.

[gevurah]

Oh. [ She can't say the same. She probably spends Catherine's money more often than the woman herself. ]

It's too bad we can't explore the city itself.

[kneecaptain]

Versailles is just outta Paris. There's not much to it.

[ He glances around the banquet, the walls crowded with gilt and silks and other things that looked like they came out of some period picture. ]

The time travel thing spooks me.

[gevurah]

Been here before? [ She follows his gaze for a couple of seconds, then her focus re-shifts to him. She wonders what's going on in his head.

There's so much that can go wrong with this time travel business even if she doesn't want to voice her own paranoia. ]

It didn't feel very real at first.

[kneecaptain]

[ Bucky thinks about how it used to be, when every time he closed his eyes he woke up in a different decade. It was like time travel, that waking up. Except they never really let him wake up, did they? ]

I've been to Paris. It's nicer than this. [ But maybe he just needed the dirt to feel comfortable. ]

[gevurah]

[ Her only memories of Paris consisted of blood, sweat, and a lot of pain. Lot of fear, too. She hadn't even realized she was in Paris initially, beneath the city in one of the old torture chambers. ]

Ever been up the Eiffel Tower?

[kneecaptain]

Just once. [ Something like a smile, for a second. ] My French is real rusty, though.

[gevurah]

Must have been très impressionnant. [ I can't do French abloo bloo. ]

[kneecaptain]

It was something. [ His eyes get that faraway look, or they would if they weren't obscured by the mask. He understood what she said (his French really isn't that rusty) but he's not the sort to speak fancy, anymore. ]

[gevurah]

I think I'd like to see it someday. [ But when would her life settle down? There are certain privileges she misses, but she knew what she was giving up when she left Gotham with her father's most trusted connections. ]

[kneecaptain]

[ Become an international dead man of mystery, Kate. Travel everywhere. ]

Maybe they'll take us there.

I think it's worth it.

[gevurah]

[ Then she'd be her sister and that would just make her sad. ]

Think they'll host parties like this more often?

[kneecaptain]

[ He thinks about it for a second, and then says: ]

Nah.

[gevurah]

Neither do I. [ She'll admit that much.

Turning back to the desserts, she debates on maybe trying one of those little spoons but in the end she doesn't pick up an extra helping for herself. She looks back toward the crowd, quietly observing for several seconds. Crane's here, (girl) Robin said, but so far nothing's gone to hell. ]