« intro ⇢ winterball.exe »

[poised]

Who: everyone, literally everyone
When: ooc: 04/25-04/26; ic: 12/26
Where: the Gardens
What: intro log + winter ball!
Rating/Warning: PG-13 | possibly nsfw (please let me know if you need this rating changed, or you are welcome to continue any naughty shenanigans in a private log)

//winterball.EXE Pimp My Party -- Royalty Style A few weeks prior to December 26th, an invitation went out to all whom already reside in Cerealia. In delicate, curling script, it read: You are cordially invited by Natalia L.K. Lanvaldear to a Winter Ball to be held on the Eve of December 26th in the Gardens. Dress in your best attire and enjoy a magical evening of dance and fine cuisine. What do you mean we should fuss about worlds being destroyed? Get into the holiday spirit, you scrooge! And in regards to the new-comers: whether you have been wandering Cerealia over the course of the past few days and managed to receive one of the later waves of invitations or have simply suddenly appeared in the gardens with nothing but the (hopefully…. appropriate….) clothes on your back, welcome. The gardens have been transformed through the work of slave labor condoned by royalty incredibly talented volunteers. A buffet line possibly a mile long, a sprawling dance floor with temporary wood placement to cover the grass, a lovely orchestra with scheduled interruptions of magic shows on the stage, and the entire thing lit gently with lights stretch the span of the main area of the garden. Not too far off, there are ponds and pathways that take you elsewhere into the foliage, but why would you go that way? The party’s right here! "Good evening, everyone!! Whether you are new to Tellus or old, I hope to find you in good spirits. Mind you, I do not intend to ignore the blunders of CERES nor the grave situation that new-comers have found themselves faced with. However I assure you that at this time, surrounded by these people, you are in good company. Please, dine and be merry - I believe some worlds celebrated a holiday yesterday! Get to know one another so we may strengthen our ties and stand firm against whatever this world may throw against us! Also try the salmon, it's absolutely divine. . . . How do I turn this off...? Should I just walk away?"

//SCENARIOS.EXE PHASE I [ xxxx ] Like any respectable ball, your entrance is announced as you walk right into the party! What do you mean you wanted to slip in unnoticed? That simply won’t do. Natalia managed to rope in someone – is that a Tellus native? – to do the honor of acknowledging your character as they make their debut to the ball. This guy is under strict orders to not miss a single soul. If your character doesn’t give him a name and title ahead of time, then he’ll just make something up. Think along the lines of Broseidon McSnootyname, Duke of Erectile Dysfunction-- What do you mean that’s not your name? PHASE II [ xxxx ] Absolutely no expense was spared when it came to making sure that the food here was the best that money could buy (or threats could extort). Guests can select from a menagerie of main dishes from all sorts of cultures, adorable desserts that look like woodland creatures alongside towering cakes, and even those fruity drinks with the little umbrellas on them. Pig out, you animals – but there’s also a wide selection of fine wine if your tastes and curiosities wander off in that direction…. What even is the drinking age in Tellus? Remember, folks, drink (ir)responsibly. PHASE III [ xxxx ] Well, it is a ball. If you’re interested in proper, classical styles of dance, there’s certainly an orchestra that’s dominating most of the night. One of their songs may or may not sound familiar. Spin around in your flurry of skirts and do the fairy tale thing if that’s what you came here for. Romance, or whatever. Waltz your heart out and don’t forget to point your toes! … that said, there’s also a separate sound system not too far, prepared in case the orchestra might want a break. It’s also not being watched too closely. Maybe put on something to liven up the dance floor? Or did someone ruin your fantasy by putting on something unbearably inappropriate? PHASE IV [ xxxx ] The gardens really are beautiful. Spread throughout the area and more toward the outskirts of the party, there are plenty of beautiful fountains with glittering, crystal clear water. In fact, it’s so clear that you can spot the occasional alien life form flitting through it amidst the lily pads and gently sweeping foliage. It’s so graceful, what beauty! Look at how it rises to the water and gently opens its mouth into a yawn and—tries to chomp anything within range right off with razor sharp teeth what the fuck, whatthefuck. It would appear that's not all, though. Whether you're ready to fight the creature or run screaming, you feel something slowly slide and curl around your arm or your ankle. Look on in horror as you turn your head and realize that it seems that the nearby tree has grown rather fond of you very quickly, to the extent that it will reach out and lovingly wrap its hentai tentacles around you.... Brings a whole 'nother meaning to 'tree hugger', doesn't it? BONUS [ whyo'clock ] Are you lost? Did you try to catch your breath away from the party and start to wander off despite all the cautioning not to? Or maybe you were trying to leave and took a wrong turn? Either way, you seem to have only found yourself deeper in the gardens now. Try not to breathe too deeply or… at all. If you can’t manage that though, it appears that you’ve stumbled upon the hallucinogenic plants of the garden. You start to see things that aren’t there – though whether you suddenly find yourself in a den of cougars lions or think that the person standing next to you is the biggest, cuddliest pile of adorable puppies in the world depends on the person. Hope you have a good trip, bruh. [ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with trigger-y or inappropriate material and do let me know (through FAQ comment or PM preferably!) if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so I can lock the log. ]

//RUN.EXE Welcome to CEREALIA's latest intro post! This one is player-run and all the basics have been laid out for you here. Absolutely feel free to come up with your own prompts, I just attempted to set the scenery! For your convenience, I whole-heartedly welcome questions and inquiries being directed to my attention here and I'll answer them to the best of my ability! Have a ball! Enjoy!! OVERFLOW IS HERE Move over at your captcha-free leisure!

Comments

open!

[journaler]

phase ii/iii.

[Leia has been here for a while, helping where she can and singing her lungs out for Rock Lee. As the evening passes, she finally has time to enjoy the food, and she of course partakes shamelessly. She's dangerously determined to try a bit everything--but even she has her limits, and eventually, she's seen walking away from the tables with a slice of cheesecake as her dessert.

Tonight, she's wearing a stunning yellow dress (1, 2) that she picked out herself. Her long, white gloves match it pretty well, though anyone who knows her won't be surprised to see that there are already traces of food on it. Pinned around her wrist is a pink corsage to match Jude's (wherever he is!), and likewise, her hair is wrapped in a bun with something similar.

There's a simple, yet elegant necklace around her neck that seems to bring out her eyes--and they seem to be looking for something, even as she sways across the dance floor to the beautiful orchestra.

Cheesecake still on a plate in her hand, she tries not to bump into anybody as she scans the room.]

He's probably here by now... I wonder if he's looking for me?

[Feel free to have her bump into your character anyway--or assume she greets them if you're a friend or someone familiar, because she probably would!]

bonus.

[She's been through the gardens plenty of times before, though everything seems different at night. Leia seems captivated by the view both above and below; she doesn't know if she wants to leave just yet. Sure, some of the trees are a little too "friendly," and she's had close calls... but the flowers lit by the moonlight are a sight to behold. When she starts to wander, nothing can stop her. All of the warnings seem to go in one ear and out the other. They sound so far away... and she smiles, because it's totally a good time to venture into areas she's never been.

After a while, of course, she starts to feel strange. It's late. Maybe she should have left; wasn't it about time for her to meet back up with Jude...?

Yet she keeps walking. The music grows faint, and soon all she can hear is the sound of her own footprints, dripping behind her like water.

She's literally walking on it--so she thinks. She gasps when she realizes this, lifting up one foot and placing it down again...

Drip. Drip, drip...

There is no more ground, and for the moment she can't decide whether it's the creepiest or coolest thing in the world.]

ii/iii

[particularity]

[Not if he greets her first--

All dressed up with ahoge combed back to as much tameness as Hinata's honestly going to get (he did his best!!), it actually takes him a second look before he recognises Leia.

Everyone literally looks transformed at events like these... it's astonishing.

So, from behind, a call--] Leia!

[journaler]

[She nearly drops her cake!! Which would have been a travesty, but turning to see Hinata is worth it. She waves with her free hand and immediately walks over--more slowly than normal, because of the crowd and her heels.

Mostly her heels.]

Hi, Hinata! Happy Christmas!

[particularity]

[Oh, no, don't let him make you drop your cake, Leia-- Hinata waves lightly in turn, happy to wait for her, though he does step forward to sort of ward off a couple of people before they can bump into her.]

Happy Christmas to you too. How're you enjoying it so far?

[journaler]

Oh, I'm absolutely loving it! It's been such a busy day, and it took me forever to get ready... but the food is amazing and the music is gorgeous. There are so many songs I've never heard before...

[She could probably babble on forever about how set-up went and how she sang in front of an audience for the first time to surprise Rock Lee... buuut she stops herself.

For now, if only to ask him the same question.]

How about you? Did you find your date? ['Cause she's still looking for hers.]

ii./iii.

[spyrites]

[Well... he is looking for her but somewhat from the back where he's trying to hide from the crowd. He had searched for her a little but without any luck he'd sort of retreated to the back, hoping he'd see her or that she'd see him. But there were a lot of people here so it seemed unlikely.

He's dressed in a formal black suit and the matching pink corsage attached to the front of his jacket at Leia made him wear is kind of embarrassing. But he wore it so...

Anyway Leia is tasked with finding him because he's decided he doesn't want to move from his corner now. Sorry Leia... but at least he's there for her to find. Not that he wouldn't be.]

[journaler]

[Please, like finding her best friend/not-date is going to be hard. She may be easily distracted, but she promised him they'd be here together, and she intends to keep it.

By the time she spots him, though, she's finished her cake and thrown her paper plate away. She's gotten annoyed with the corsage around her wrist, and eventually removes it to pin it to her dress instead, near her shoulder--just like she originally intended. She looks around more intently and is this close to pulling out her CereVice when she spots him.

--Or she thinks. It is a bit dark in that corner, but she'd recognize that do-gooder look anywhere.]

Hey, Jude! You're here.

[She brightens and immediately approaches him. At least it wasn't SPARRING TIME again.]

Sorry... were you waiting long?

[spyrites]

[He did nothing with his hair so he's probably easily spotted based on that along... But hey, she finds him and he's grateful. He'd been considering contacting her via CereVice too if they didn't bump into each other soon.

... Leia please, no sparring time during someone else's fancy party.

He's staring at his feet, contemplative, when he hears her and glances up in surprise. ... She looks nice and he smiles at her approach.]

No, It's fine. I haven't been here that long. I figured you were busy. [And he was honestly okay just hiding over here until she found him...]

overflow;

[journaler]

↪

ii/iii

[rebelia]

[It's just his luck that somebody runs into him with food (never mind that he wasn't looking in front of him, either; he was stationary), because that cheesecake sure is taking the brief flight from its homey plate to his top. But the cheesecake can't stay there. At some fraction of a second, it has to come down.

There it goes. Off his top and tumbling down his boots. "Caked boots" has never been so literal.

Through all this, IV can only let out a surprised, quiet gasp during their initial collision. The rest is dead silent.

Just his luck. His clothes are tattered, his hair is halfway between tame and a disheveled mess, his skin is scratched up here and there – all from the same events in his world before he'd been dropped off here, and now there's some girl's cake.]

1/3

[journaler]

[oh my god



her cake]

[journaler]

[Kidding. Leia actually looks pretty mortified when she feels that impact. She gasps and quickly turns around to try to save the situation, but of course, to no avail. Watching the remnants of the cake fall to his boots, stunned, seems like insult to injury, and for a while, she can only stare with green eyes wide.]

[journaler]

Oh, no-- oh, no I'm so sorry!

[There comes the panicked voice. But can she make it right?

At least it wasn't a huge slice......]

Let me get that for you. I- I know they've got a ton of napkins and paper towels and-- [She desperately turns back towards the food table, but she takes a few deep breaths instead of jolting over there immediately.

After all, what if she runs into someone else, and panics even more? It would never end!]

[rebelia]

[She's so sorry that IV doesn't even have the urge to yell. He did enough of that earlier when he first arrived. Instead, he clamps his mouth closed and looks up from the bloody cake to watch Leia as she turns around. He's got half a mind to follow her so he doesn't stand around looking like an idiot with cake parts all over him, except she's not moving.

He's maybe a little unsympathetic right now, but at least he's not letting his temper run wild.]

Are you going?

[journaler]

[Oh......right...

She shakes her head, as if to shake herself out of it and suddenly looks determined, though she's still pretty warm in the face.]

Of course! Come on... I'll make things right.

[With a calmer disposition, she leads the way with a sigh. She's got this. She's got this. Luckily they've got paper towels that are pretty sturdy as opposed to dinky little use-'em-once napkins.

She casually just... grabs a whole roll...]

ii/iii

[teradyne]

[It's clear by now that Argilla is not dressed for this occasion, though how was she supposed to know it was some fancy ball? At least, that's what she thinks it is -- she's never seen one herself. It's like she knows, but never experienced or read about it, a phenomenon she's grown quite used to now, especially after experiencing 'Nirvana' and seeing some of the truth.

Though truth be told it's really tranquil -- there's a lot of activity going on but it's all the good kind, and any fights that might be going on seem over such trivial things and not life threatening.

Even more so, there's the colorful arrangement of food, something that maybe she can eat that's not... human. That's a nice thought... To eat like a normal person. Spotting the girl in the bright dress, she sees the cake in her hand and has to wonder...]

I'm sorry if this is a weird question, but-- what does that taste like?

[Is it filling? And maybe Gale's lecturing on nutritional balance is going off in her head. But yes, feel free to question the lady that's still in her tribal clothes and looks like she's going off to war and with a sniper rifle in her hand.]

[journaler]

[Well... it's really not the newcomers' fault, so she can't blame them for being not-exactly-dressed for the occasion. The tribal war look has its own appeal, too, she's sure, and she could probably come up with ten or twenty reasons off the top of her head why it's totally okay--

But before she gets to that.

Cake.

She loves her cake, but she's so not averse to sharing.]

Oh! You mean you've never had any before? Really?

[She is bright and cheerful about it, as accented by her make up and the color of her dress. She seems excited at the prospect of explaining! ...and seems totally unbothered by that rifle. Weapons aren't a bad thing to have, after all. She herself has a staff somewhere in hammerspace.]

[teradyne]

[Argilla is quick to shake her head. It must sound weird, but people don't know she's... just an AI. In fact, isn't everyone in the same boat? That's what seems weird now after being discriminated for being mere data in 'Nirvana'. This girl seems plenty friendly, even more reason for Argilla to put up a friendly front and not be defensive despite her newfound programming... or something.]

No, we didn't have things like that. I guess because of circumstances you'd have to get by with whatever was edible.

[Trying to keep it vague because she doesn't want to talk about it at all. Maybe the people at the Karma Society got to have stuff like this, but she wouldn't know.]

[journaler]

[Circumstances, huh... That's pretty vague, but she could probably make a few educated guesses without prying. Most of them have to do with poverty, so she wouldn't be right, of course... but it's not really any of her business anyway.

And she'd rather talk about the cake.]

That sounds rough. [Her voice is soft and sympathetic.] We should get you your own slice then, so you can see for yourself.

It's really sweet, if you like that kind of thing.

Bonus

[niceguypose]

[Rock Lee has been seeking out everyone who sang for them in order to thank them and cry at them in general. He had seen Leia amongst the choir, but he thought that she would be easier to find, so he focused on finding the less social ones first.

But now, with no signs of Leia, he's running in random directions throughout the garden to try and find her. He hopes she wasn't lost or attacked!

Eventually he comes to a halt when he hears something nearby and tentatively approaches for a closer look.]

Leia-san, is that you?

[journaler]

[His voice seems so far away, but when she hears it, she turns and sees him, and she lights up as always. She'd gotten distracted before she got a chance to talk to him after the choir--there were quite a lot of people around him--but now he's here!]

Heeey, Lee! Look at all this water. I wonder where it came from?

[She seems oddly cheerful, even for her, and now she definitely thinks the walking-on-water thing is cool. She hasn't had any alcohol but it... seems to definitely be something.]

[niceguypose]

Leia-san! [It really is her! He practically gasps.]

Water?! What do you mean... [Is it a trap? Lee's not sure, but as a ninja, he knows how to walk on water! So he tries to run towards her! The question is whether or not she's still near the hallucinogenic plants.]

[journaler]

[She's not a ninja, but she can do it, too! Apparently.

She is definitely still near the plants, but when she sees him running towards her, she returns the favor and meets him part-way.]

It's everywhere. I don't really get it, but it's kind of pretty. [she glances down at her feet]

phase ii/iii.

[likearhino]

[Unlike most people at the ball, Beat hadn't even bothered to dress up for the occasion. Unless you count the hoodie he's pulled on over his usual ensemble. But it didn't seem to bother him that he stuck out like a sore thumb. Beat had only come for the food, not exactly in the mood for a party, which would probably be noticeable by the way his brows were knit closely together.

But when he sees Leia, he gives her a small wave from the distance. When he gets closer he says:]

Looks like you really went all out for this thing. [He waves at the party in general before turning to her again.] You lookin' for someone?

[journaler]

[Leia doesn't recognize Beat immediately. The hoodie doesn't help, but once he's closer, she gets a good look at him and she remembers. She grins proudly, since going all out is totally a ccompliment.]

Oh, hey! [Suddenly aware of her cake, she lowers it a bit and straightens it so it won't tilt or fall.] Yeah, my friend Jude. I'm supposed to be meeting him, but I've gotta find him first.

...He's probably hiding. [loser]