bluh bluh huge ball

[thalassino]

Characters: Vatheon
Location: That Castle
Time: Evening, on Sunday
Style: Any
Status: OPEN. Threadjack, threadhop, spam away!

[ Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen of Vatheon— whatever your newfound stature may be, Prince, Princess, Knight, or Peasant, you will all receive a message on your SFC on the eve of Saturday regardless:

You are cordially invited to the castle for this evening's ball. In addition, you are all welcome to try and solve the riddle if it fancies you. It just may break the curse!

The invitation is unsigned, but its intentions are clear. Maybe you hadn't quite noticed the sizeable castle in the distance of the city that had sprung up, but this message would surely garner your attention toward it now.

Should you arrive at the castle, plenty of attractions await you:

Ballroom ❧ A very large and beautiful ballroom is lighted up, complete with a playing violin orchestra. While the curtains will be drawn during this event, there is a windowed view and exit on one side of the ballroom that leads to:

Smee's Rose Garden ❧ A broad and colorful spanse of a garden, complete with many paths and turns. Plenty of roses are arranged in great arches, which provide perfect little places should you need some privacy with your sweetheart. Anyone familiar will even tell you that the garden was purposefully designed for just that sort of thing.

The Riddle ❧ There is an inscription located on a noticeable plaque set in one of the garden's benches. It reads:

Two are necessary to break this curse
Riled up, upset, what kind of love?
Only this kiss will stop it from getting worse.
Look for a winged one is push comes to shove,
Look for a glance slightly dark,
Search for a pair in reluctant love.
One answers a call; that's your mark;
One longs for patria though adverse.

Dining Hall ❧ Connected to the ballroom is an extremely long hall that stretches as far as the eye can see, elegantly arranged as the dining area. Expensive and exquisite cuisine seem to be on the menu— try something new? Chances are you won't be eating from a selection such as this again anytime soon!

Dais ❧ There is a noticeable raised dais that is easily visible via any area within the ballroom. It's locked off from guests, though— what is it for...?

Do enjoy. ]

Comments

The Riddle ❧

[thalassino]

[ here let me give you a soundtrack for that ]

Open

[zelda_hylia]

[Zelda's looking at the plaque intently. She's dressed in a Zora tunic with a tiny dagger tied in her hair. Between speaking with Lysunder and kissing Sola, she remembers who she is... for now, at least. But does this last addition to the riddle still fit the pair Signless told her about? She's not sure.]

Open

[red_medic]

It makes no sense.

[And where does he come from now? Well. Who knows? But Medic is there, still wearing his somewhat charred wizard robes and the pointed hat with that crown forced over its tip. And he is frowning down on the plaque.]

[zelda_hylia]

Not much, no.

[She sighs heavily.]

I suppose I can see the first parts of it, but the end... I just don't know many people here well enough to make it fit. And it seems that most everyone has forgotten themselves now.

[red_medic]

[Medic responds with a snort.]

Vell. Ve can just hope, zhat zhe ones ve are looking for are even among us. It surely ist easier if ve only haff to defend ourselves. But zhis-

[He flicks a dismissive hand towards the bench. Just ignore that brief blue spark, please.]

Tch. Riddles.

[All the eyerolling goes here.]

[zelda_hylia]

The curse hasn't affected you terribly, has it? I'm glad.

[Why yes, she is referring to his very unprincely manner!]

[red_medic]

Ach. Onze you find out how to not set off vhirlvinds und how to not burn down an entire room because of a vrong gesture... It gets managable.

[And yes, he doesn't get it. His grouchy wizard manners clearly dominate over any princely behavior. Unfortunately. It's just an unlucky combination.]

[kingwithnocrown]

[Izaya's dressed up in a simple, fitted black suit with a dark red tie. He's been mingling around actively. After all, he just awoke from a coma and needed to make up for lost time.

So of course he's interested in talking to Zelda. Screw the riddle.]

Princess Zelda.

[He's beside her at once, an easy, honestly pleasant smile on his face.]

Been a while. You look very pretty this evening. Having fun?

[zelda_hylia]

Izaya!

[She actually hugs him suddenly. Sola had worried to the princess about Izaya being unconscious, so she was quite aware of his predicament.]

You're awake!

[kingwithnocrown]

Hell-o!

[Surprised Izaya is wide-eyed Izaya. He's honestly not used to this sort of thing and it takes him a moment to process the hug.

Well. Okay. He's just going to hug her back now- albeit after an awkward pause but it's not an awkward hug.]

That I am. And you don't seem too affected by the curse. That's good to know. Nya! I'm so happy to talk to you! And to be walking around again. I don't like not having been conscious for that long. It's scary.

[zelda_hylia]

[She lets him go fairly soon. Zelda's not much of a hugger, but she was relieved to see him.]

Sola was terribly worried about you. He said that you seemed to just lose all your energy one day and then you just... did not wake up. I know that sort of thing is common in Vatheon, but I was concerned nonetheless. As for the curse.

[She indicates her wing ears.]

I turned into a siren. It was not pleasant, but I seem to have regained my sense of self for now.

[kingwithnocrown]

[Thankfully for the both of them- neither was Izaya.]

Was he? Ah, how kind of him. I did. It was pretty unusual. I've never felt that kind of tired in my life before...

[He doesn't really like to talk about it. He glances at those wings and- ah. How unique. He reaches a hand out to touch them lightly, a look of interest upon his face.]

Oooh, a siren? How dangerous! Yeah, you seem like your usual self again. This curse is really weird though.

[He thinks briefly on Shizuo and frowns, a hand already up to his chest where he'd been cut.]

Sola is all right, isn't he? I haven't had the chance to catch up with him yet- although I'm sure he knows I'm awake by now.

Open

[closedcircuit]

[Ky's not dressed for a ball, even his ordinary uniform would have been more appropriate for this, but instead his clothes are simple wool, more as would befit a huntsman than would someone attending a ball. He hasn't been able to find anything else to wear, however, and the promise of breaking this curse is something that's drawn him here, as much as the fact that it simply feels like a place he should be.

Ky's eaten the food available, noting the tenderness of the meat in a way that seems new, although he can't think why it would be, but now he's found the riddle and is standing in front of it.]

This seems less like a riddle and more like a call for matchmaking.

[Ky huffs, peering closer at the plaque in hopes of making it make more sense.]

[unshelledbullet]

[Squall cared little for balls. Such events were just for formality and he. But he went anyway for a variety of reasons. One was that if something should happen, he should be there to do something about it. Another was because he just felt like it. And the third was the riddle. Being a were-lion wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but he would very much like this curse to be over now.

He had looked at the riddle several times, but Squall wasn't a very creative person when it came to literature. So he had taken a break and when he came back, found that someone else was puzzling over it.]

You think so too?

[What a stupid riddle.]

[closedcircuit]

[Ky's used to balls, from his former life -- if not to the specifics he'd certainly gone to a great deal of formal affairs before. But now those don't feel quite real, if nothing else his awkwardness at this place is genuine now.]

I suppose we could start with seeing if anyone has wings.

But I'm not sure that I feel comfortable making people kiss if they don't wish to otherwise.

[unshelledbullet]

[The last ball Squall had gone to was his graduation ball and he tries to pretend he doesn't remember what happened at it.]

I've seen lots of people with wings. It's probably a waste of time to hunt down every single person with them.

[He's seen dragons, fairies, even a giant peacock on one occasion. He agrees on the not making people kiss thing though.]

Maybe one of the other lines can give us a better idea. What's this "glance slightly dark" thing?

[Why can't these things just say what they mean. Seriously.]

[closedcircuit]

Perhaps dark brown eyes? Or it could refer to a psychological state.

[That doesn't seem like it would be any more helpful.]

If we could figure out what kind of call was necessary, then this would be more straightforward.

[unshelledbullet]

[Since figuring out the meaning of lines is getting them nowhere fast, Squall tries looking at the structure of the riddle instead.]

Everything rhymes except for the last word in the last line. But I don't see how that's important.

[aim_exorable]

[A passing centaur happens to hear the words, and gives a disgruntled snort through his nose in agreement. The scuffing of his hoof against the ground just adds to it.]

I quite agree. It is really all quite a bit of foolishness, if I may say so.

[closedcircuit]

[Ky's eyes widen for a moment as he takes in the other's appearance, before his face falls back to politely pretending it's not strange.]

I wonder if it will actually do anything about the curse, or if it's simply someone having a laugh.

[aim_exorable]

[Despite this, he is probably quite one of the least strange beings in Vatheon right now. Considering the dragons and sirens and selkies and... Yeah.]

Knowing this accursed place, it could be both. The riddle may even be quite meaningless.

[closedcircuit]

I suppose that if it's meaningless, we haven't anything else that we could be better spending our time on, so we may as well take the risk that we're wasting our time.

Or we may do that if we knew how to even start.

Which I don't.

[aim_exorable]

I believe you may join the multitude of people who are just as confused as you, then.

[innocentgear]

...Is it?

_{[Hi Ky. There's this one clueless looking Gear here. She's currently dressed like a witch... But don't worry. She can be only a good witch.]}

[closedcircuit]

It says that they're supposed to kiss. And that they're in love, even if it's reluctant.

So I do believe so.

[He doesn't really have any better idea, and he's looking at her a little strangely, trying to figure out what she's wearing.]