[open mingle: the sunlight at midnight gala]

[badfeyth]

WHO: Anyone attending the Sunlight at Midnight gala!
WHAT: KISS PEOPLE AND DANCE IDK
WHERE: The freshly-renovated Planetarium in District 4!
WHEN: Saturday, December 2
WARNINGS: None for the log itself; please warn responsibly in individual top-levels!

THE VENUE

Upon entry to the newly-renovated venue space that was once a planetarium, guests will quickly notice that the space has been transformed into a three-layered affair, ranging from the very well-lit upper level down to the more romantic ambiance of the dance floor and performance space, with a comfortable tier of seating and standing tables in the middle.


Not intended by Ghost (badfeyth) and Kaveh (fussiest), yet still mysteriously appearing at random places throughout the venue, are sprigs of magical kissing mistletoe!

The mistletoe will cause characters to at least pause underneath it, and will give them a mild compulsion to kiss whoever they're with, but the compulsion will not be unavoidable and characters can easily break free of the "hold" the mistletoe has on them. Even so, partygoers will quickly learn to be mindful of what's overhead — or not!

UPPER TIER

On the well-lit upper tier, guests will find plenty of generalized mingle room, including two patios with casual seating on either side of the space. Throughout the center are a variety of stations and attractions, as well as some helpful resources for the discerning partygoer.

For the fashionably un-forward, you may wish to visit (or find yourselves forcibly dragged into) Lestat's on-site fashion consulting lair, which boasts a small and curtained-off space where partygoers in need can receive last-minute fashion advice, do wardrobe finishing touches, and address any other aesthetic concerns under the discerning eye of LESTAT DE LIONCOURT (perfectdevil). This is also where a selection of basic cosmetics and beauty supplies can be found, in case of a need for an emergency touch-up, safety pin, or spot removal!

Continuing onward, guests will find four individual food stations, each with their own set of color-coded disposable dishware! Perhaps they'd like to take a sampling of:

• STATION #1 — TSURUNO (fanstheflames): Fried rice in the shape of Christmas trees, dumplings with carrot reindeer antlers and red pepper noses, and fortune cookies that tell you to go dance with somebody already!
• STATION #2 — ROLAND (gradenine): Hotpot with mild and spicy soup bases plus a variety of vegetables and meats, and KBBQ with chicken, pork, and beef cuts, plus sides!
• STATION #3 — RENO (astraphilia): Whipped goat cheese figs, brie and prosciutto stuffed dates, and sprouting cauliflower with brown butter and lemon — paired with a couple of simple cocktails (a negroni and a Bombay mule)!
• STATION #4 — WANDERER (featheradrift): Samosas, panipuri, Japanese-style sandwiches, and a lot of sweets and desserts like chocolate truffles, pâte de fruit, candied nuts, madeleines, and custards!

Champagne (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) is also circulating around the venue under the watchful eye of KANEKI (anthropophagite), and a small selection of coffee is available at a nearby station as well!

Finally, at the far end of the upper concourse, one can find a partitioned-off space for photo opportunities featuring a black-and-gold backdrop, an arch aglow with fairy lights, and a few idle props like chairs and small movable tables that partygoers can use to coordinate their souvenir photos. PROMPTO (burstmodes) will be around to do formal event photography, but there'll also be a Polaroid available so that people can take their own photos and develop them instantly!

VISUALS: AESTHETICS & ETC.

         

MIDDLE TIER

On the mid-tier halfway down the stairs that flank the venue on either side, partygoers will find a landing with an assortment of standing tables covered in black tablecloths and tied with gold bows, where guests can enjoy their refreshments, engage in conversation, and people-watch the goings-on taking place below them on the dance floor! To prevent any mischief or accidental spilling of food onto hapless dancers below, each landing is lined with a courtesy railing, and immediately below the railing is an arrangement of tasteful decor.

Between the two landings, guests can find the remnants of the planetarium seating — fold-down auditorium chairs with comfortable cushions arranged in gently circular rows, giving the people relaxing there a perfect view of the dance floor and the spectacle of lights taking place below it.

VISUALS: AESTHETICS & ETC.

    

LOWER TIER

The lowest level of the venue, at the very bottom of the stairs, is the most dimly-lit of the three levels and is mostly comprised of the dance floor. Along the back wall and parts of the sides runs a slightly-raised platform stage upon which are arranged a piano, an electric guitar, a stereo system, and a few microphones for the convenience of any vocalists in the house. The stage is wide enough for one or two people to walk around comfortably, but generally is fairly modest to leave the majority of the room for the dance floor.

It's on the dance floor that the real "sunlight at midnight" theme takes its shape, as this is where the bulk of Kaveh's artificial lighting technology has been put into play. Along with standard party enhancements like a few spotlights and an overhead disco ball, the perimeter is also dotted with round arrays of stained glass with light fixtures behind them, causing panels of colored light to cast onto the hardwood of the dance floor. These arrays can also be rotated like kaleidoscopes, allowing for the patterns of light to change throughout the course of the evening — adding an element of renewable interest in the continuing aesthetic.

VISUALS: AESTHETICS & ETC.

    

ENTERTAINMENT

Throughout the course of the evening, music will be provided by a rotating set list of performers, interspersed with prearranged playlists courtesy of the new media store. Entertainers will be informed of their set lengths, obligations, and timeslots well in advance of the venue by Ghost, and any necessary instruments or microphone hookups will be ready and available at the time of the performance.

Performers on deck include:

• HYTHLODAEUS (nomoresharks) and EMET-SELCH (recreator): Jazz piano bops along with some ragtime arrangements.
• EDDIE (thefreak): A mix of slow rock ballads and hard rock dance numbers, on electric guitar!

In addition to the live performances, the venue will also be treated to some traditional mid-2000s party favorites such as:

• BLORBOLICIOUS, by Gurgi (feat. Bill.i.was)
• HIPS SOMETIMES LIE, by The Kira
• SANDSQUALL, by DaNice
• MAYBE GONNA GIVE YOU UP, by Rickard Dastley
• MAMBO NO. 4 AND A HALF, by Stu Vega
• THE CHA-CHA HUSTLE, by DJ FriendlyGhost
• VIRUS, by Boo Boo Dolls

VISUALS: AESTHETICS & ETC.

    

LIVEBLOG

Looking to add some network spam to your gala experience? Check out our dedicated IC NETWORK POST!

credit.

Comments

[icanfixer]

[ don shakes her head -- not right now, no -- and stills when his hand shifts the ribbon in her hair, fixes it, a natural motion any other would do... she blames the cool air for her cheeks and the small shiver that runs through her unbidden, and she shakes her head again.

slightly this time, to not mess up his work. ]

Th-There is naught to apologize for. It is not as if I can see the state of my ribbon.

[ though it does, childishly, want her to make sure it needs fixing again and again, that sort of fussing one she favors. she's spoiled by him in a way, don knows she takes advantage of his nature and it's fine, isn't it? her hands curl tighter against the railing and it's fine, isn't it, it isn't hurting either of them to enjoy small things more than she should.

right?

her face turns more pointedly to the city, from her thoughts and to his instead. she's always pulling him along, not expecting-- no, knowing he wouldn't deny her, even if he's capable of speaking up against things he wouldn't want to do, another bit of selfishness she chooses to address in her own way by offer of relief. ]

... Ehm. It is growing to be late, [ for what it's worth, even if she normally has such a time with sleep anyway, ] so if thou'rt ready to go...

[ then she can acquiesce, though the words don't come out. it occurs to her they haven't yet danced themselves, so busy was she to ensure she did all the others, but-- well, that's fine. don think if he touched her the way yesod had she'd explode. ]

[halbird]

[ is he ready?

it's an incomplete thought, an incomplete sentence, a rarity of don quixote's that sinclair expands on silently. he is, he isn't, his state a contradiction he can't quite settle into. the simplest answer would be to say that he is; the simplest solution would be to avoid voicing the question that squeezes his heart like so.

yet it'd be frustrating to know he had planned to and he had failed to. this, too, is another selfish thing: to want, to entreat, not knowing whether she even wished to. don hadn't asked him, after all, and she hadn't ever... quite been shy about asking for things like this. he could ask. it's late. she's... tired, maybe? still, he could ask.

sinclair lingers in the edges of that almost. he doesn't draw back even though his hand has, and he doesn't increase their distance even when there's no ribbon to fix. the words sit there, heavy, on the tip of his tongue, and he ]

... Not yet.

[ he lets that out so certainly, knowing he isn't ready. knowing the question won't come, no matter how hard he tries. knowing the music is nothing but a lull in the background, and this isn't the place where it's normally done. if not here, then on the way home for sure, when the weight of his inaction would really hit.

so he does. or, no. this is how he is, overcoming his inhibitions through their destruction, the uncharacteristic (?) boldness balanced with the way he emotionally draws back, words quiet, soft, though his heartbeat is incredibly, incredibly loud. ]

If... there's anything I do that you don't like, tell me.

[ as he comes a little closer, and places a hand over hers, on the railing, to try to lead her to face him. ]

[icanfixer]

[ she's going to explode.

but she doesn't, and what resistance starts there from surprise at his effort is quickly relinquished as she turns -- meeting his gaze questioningly before turning it aside at their lack of distance. it's never been a problem before, but the lights that stream out from within the gala transform his youthful features into something less malleable, more certain with his soft words, his request. ]

I... do not think...

[ that there could be anything she wouldn't like, if it was him, but the words are bitten back before they come out (where was her foolish heart now? so brave and bold and thoughtlessly confessing that she'd rather be hurt by his side than not allowed there at all, a confession in all but name,) and she shakes her head.

says more surely, a habitual volume louder than his but quiet for don quixote all the same: ]

I will tell thee if there is anything I am against.

[ even though she isn't quite sure what it is he wants with her, hand and heart in his. often she wonders if he can hear it, but if he couldn't in the dead of their apartment he definitely can't with the music barely acknowledged by her mind. nevermind the redness of her cheeks, the awkward tension of her shoulders. ]

[halbird]

... Thank you.

[ it's as close to can we dance? as he gets. her acknowledgement moves him, her own cut off words a familiar, unfamiliar mirror that he sets aside to look into later. shortly. what... doesn't she think?

he takes her next line honestly, as he always does, trusting her with an ease that only seemed simpler with time. odd, perhaps, with his tendency to overthink... odd too, that this comfort always seemed coupled with a strangling hold on his speech, his breath, despite it all.

he could have just asked. but he picks one of her hands up instead, and gently settles it on his shoulder. after, he lays his hand on her back (hesitating, he hesitates just a bit), and pulls don closer. not- not as close as he could, still, not as close as he would—

—it's... okay. he moves to join their free hands, now, and his nerves are stacking on themselves to hold him under, but it's okay. ]

I wanted to ask.

[ wanted. what he plans to do — what he wanted — is obvious enough with how he's posed them, maybe, and more obvious with the way he coaxes and leads them into their tense, fragile beginning. is it even in time with the music?

one step. maybe she'll laugh. surely with him, never at him, and even if it was... two steps. it would still be fine, because she was laughing, and... three steps. maybe that would be reward enough, for being so selfish.

subconsciously, his hand squeezes hers just the slightest. a heartbeat. ]

But I couldn't. Is this...?

[ is this fine? ]

[icanfixer]

[ oh,

she's really in it now.

it's obvious now that her hands are lead to him, that his lay against her, an involuntary shiver she hopes, hopes he doesn't think is because of him, face tipping down towards their feet to hide the worsening color. calm, calm. whatever else, it's just--

it's just sinclair, but it's also just sinclair, and don does laugh a little. at herself, at his inability to ask. who cares if the music is too low, if they're dancing to it or the unsteady thrum of their hearts. ]

Of course! I have been dancing all night, [ with every friend she met, since she's a poor performer on her own, ] but I would not turn down one from thee, Young Sinclair, no matter how tired I was. Oh, but I am not, in case thee think that I mean to say I am.

[ no, she feels

rather energized, if anything, like she'd used her telepole ego and gained charge from it. don squeezes his hand back, one, two steps, three, and finds her eyes unable to rise. it's probably better they don't. she doesn't want to step on his feet. ]

... But I should like it very much if thou were able to speak freely though, and to ask of me what comes to mind. Do I not do the same?

[halbird]

[ another heartbeat. ]

I hope so.

[ that she does. he does, more than he ever thought he would... yet like the space left between them, not as much as he could. if he were so free, the "it's not that simple, don quixote" that instinctively rises from within him would be voiced, alive and true. so would his promises, and with it, this dance that he willed into being would...

he smiles tentatively instead. it's both a result of her laughter — what he'd anticipated, guessed, and still finds himself affected by — and his own way of laughing at himself, at his inability, lessened by the feel of her hand in his, the thought that she wouldn't turn him down. ]

It's been easier. Talking, asking. It was— tonight was a little more difficult, for some reason.

[ these were all steps in a dance, into himself, into them, in time with this other dance: dancing around the truth of it with truth, dancing around the reason for his light head and tangled tongue, the thing that made things easier and harder simultaneously. he turns them into more steps, the physical, the emotional, unravelling in their calmness.

he doesn't mean to stray from it fully. but her shiver, her comfort, lingers in his mind, and so: ]

Are... you cold? We can go back, or if you want my jacket... I know this isn't where you're normally supposed to dance.

[icanfixer]

-- Nay, nay! I... it is nothing, [ if anything she feels feverish, another quick beat, ] I would warm as we dance even if that were the case, prithee do not think much of it. I like it here, where it is... where we are apart from the others.

[ wings forbid fearne get an eyeful of them now.

but she gets it despite her eagerness to move from that topic. words kept in check, tongue held and thought more thoroughly... yet all the more true, all the more certain in action and consequence -- it isn't the same reason, she's sure, it's only because, ]

It is new, for the both of us. Wouldst thee ever imagine a time it could come to this in our search?

[ surely that, only that, and it's a question that she leaves aside briefly in favor of feeling out the rhythm, different with each person she's led and followed, different than battle... she bites back a new bout of giggles as she finally feels comfortable enough to

not so meet his gaze, because she finds that as hard as his asking, but her peripheral is good enough as she keeps to a point past him. ]

Though I suppose it could happen; it is not as if we foresaw those plainly mannerless mariachi. Thou shalt be my partner then as well, no?

[halbird]

[ apart from others. something new for the both of them. that's the explanation for her tells, surely, the way she avoids his gaze; the novelty of it is something sinclair can't deny, and the thought of this moment seeping into what they've done in the past and what they'll do in the future...

he'll imagine it even if they don't, he thinks, even if it's not remembered, certain as he is that it will be. maybe something deep within himself would recall it, and he'd seek it out with the question he could not ask today.

plainly mannerless mariachi, though... he supposes they had different experiences in that moment. he can only hope, here, that it's somewhat the same. ]

Mm. If you like it, we can do this instead of chess, sometimes. On the bus.

[ ah.

why? speak freely, she says, and he does. suggesting pointlessly dancing like that.

( he can. he wouldn't actually mind- ) ]

I-I mean... Maybe we'll have to do something similar to help fight an Abnormality, o-or... There's lots of things we've seen, so sometimes I can't be surprised...

[ just. move past that and run it back to the subject at hand, yes, it's fine. ]

[icanfixer]

I'd like that.

[ he's funny, turning tail. so don's certain in her answer -- though it comes out before she can even think to be certain, admittedly, or what the other sinners might say... but she's certain in it, just as she is on what they might have for dinner, or even the sleepiest morning greetings she rouses from her throat. an automatic response, truthful and sure.

... even if they might not remember, even if-- all this, this and that are for naught, she'd like to. the hand on her back is warm, something she'll feel for days to come, but don pushes that aside to tilt her head. ]

But do thee dislike playing chess with me so? I know it is not thy favored activity when Yi Sang has given me due guidance, but I thought that perhaps it suited a young man like thyself...

[ it seemed to take his mind off things, which... was her goal, certainly. his concentration was always so charming, his disbelief earning good-natured laughter. ]