daybreakacademy | VALENTINES BALL

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VALENTINES BALL

VALENTINES BALL

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February 14th is a day both famed and notorious for feats of love, passion and confession. And violence, as this year’s theme suggests - a 1920s speakeasy theme, initially based off the Valentines’ Day massacre of 1929 and toned down to be significantly more fun and less a dark reminder of bloodshed. While this year’s event has no predicted surprises like a daemon invasion in store, the Student Council has still chosen to hire extra security for the ball; bulky constructs in surprisingly well-tailored pinstripe suits and hats stand guard outside the entrances to the venue, impassively watching for any signs of trouble.

The ball itself is laid out similar to a 1920s club, with a large space for dancing, a stage for entertainment, and plenty of tables and chairs for sitting, dining, and chatting. Bars on both sides of the room provide a place to order and collect both food and drink, and the second storey of the venue has been put into use to provide quieter and more secluded places to sit.

A. Classy…? Cocktails
As ever, the Academy has provided a lavish and thematic spread of food for the occasion, with a few unique twists to fit the theme. The drinks of are particular note - aside from the usual range of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks that Daybreak provides, many are tailor-made for the ball due to a collaboration between some of the alchemy and culinary classes in Daybreak (who were rather too eager to volunteer). Have you ever wondered what it’s like to drink cake or a steak? You’ll find plenty of experiments here, both savory and sweet, to facilitate that experience.

If that’s not to your tastes, some drinks are purely decorative, providing some unique visual or audio effects - you might find yourself sepia-toned or monochrome, chattering like an old-fashioned radio host or filled with an irrepressible urge to sing everything you say - among other things. Mercifully, everything wears off by the end of the night.

B. Changing Stages
While this ball is by no means illegal, there has at least been an attempt to capture the more ‘forbidden’ aspects of a speakeasy. As the night goes on, switches and buttons appear on the walls, and pressing them will make the room shift and change to reveal secret doors and elevators - partially mechanical tricks, but mostly through clever application of magic and mundane illusion. These exits from the room provide ample opportunity for attendees to stretch their legs and take a walk and a break from the rest of the party through mazelike, glittering hallways and smoke-hazy corridors that lead to balconies and small lounges looking out onto strange, abstract views. Walk far enough, and you might end up in a completely different part of the venue than you were before - though for the truly lost, the corridors will always bring you to someone you can ask for help sooner or later, or guide you out.

Well, eventually. It wouldn’t quite fit the theme of a speakeasy without a little bit of uncertainty, would it?

C. Nyeh, See?
For those who would rather indulge in the darker implications of the theme and have no patience for the other entertainment on offer, this maze of corridors offers one other attraction - enchanted guns and gear for laser tag. In strict adherence to the theme, all guns resemble the kind of weaponry that 1920s gangsters would be boasting - and no matter what you were wearing at the time, as soon as you attach a pendant to your clothing, you're immediately in magically-fitting suits any gangster would envy. They even give off the illusion of bleeding should you be 'shot' by one of these enchanted guns, though to avoid causing undue concern the illusory blood sparkles and shines different colours.

D. Shall We Dance?
No Valentines ball is complete without the opportunity to get close to someone you might enjoy the company of, after all. To fit with the speakeasy theme, music and entertainment has been provided - both stage performances from volunteers and a selection of recorded music from the era. And for those up on the second floor, a station has been provided for whatever you’d like to broadcast to the entire room. Whether you’re up on the stage, down on the dancefloor, or you simply want to set a little mood music for certain people to take a hint, there’s bound to be something to do.

Some of the spirits and other, benign creatures that inhabit Daybreak’s grounds have decided to invite themselves, finding the music and warmth too irresistible to refuse. As a result, masked figures dressed in the vague approximation of 1920s fashion can be spotted among the more solid attendants, and those who don’t have a dance partner might well find themselves being asked to dance regardless - and be given small gifts as a token of gratitude for the indulgence. Or they might just nudge you into dancing with someone new...

E. Wildcard
Anything else you’d want to do at the dance? Feel free to enjoy the night - it’s for everyone to indulge themselves, after all.

code bases by tricklet

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Zagreus is killing it in a classy suit that definitely looks like it belongs here. The only thing that seems off about the look is that he's barefoot. He usually is, in fact. It's a safety concern, since his feet sometimes catch fire.

Pretty early on in the evening, before the party got into full swing, Zagreus could briefly be seen talking to an unfamiliar woman. She stood out, being at least seven feet tall and also the most stunningly beautiful woman you can imagine. Literally perfect in every way. Even those who aren't normally attracted to women can feel it.

Aphrodite (for who else could it possibly be?) said something to Zagreus with a little laugh that you didn't quite catch, who shrugged helplessly. She laughed again and gave him a playful shove which caused him to stumble back a step. Her piece said, Aphrodite stared out at the student body with a content look. Nothing like a festival devoted to love to put her in a good mood. She nodded in satisfaction, then vanished abruptly in a cloud of pink sparkles.

Later, Zagreus was at the bar, putting away a staggering amount of alcohol. What would have most people blackout drunk only had him mildly buzzed. He sighed and muttered to the world in general that "Unexpected family visits are always awkward."

[Alastor's shown up in a rather bright suit, still toting the Gothic looking cane that is the more mundane disguise for his sword. The 1920s are...an era he's missed, but they're common enough in movies that he's gotten a solid understanding of the associated tropes.

Guns aren't really his thing, though, so he'll pass on the laser tag. Instead, he uses the hidden passageways for a bit of mischief, sneaking up on wallflowers or anyone who looks too serious for the occasion and greeting them from outside their field of vision.

Other than that, he's taken an interest in the dance floor, and will approach anyone lacking a partner to offer. If they look to be in their twenties or older and are reasonably attractive, he might toss in a friendly wink along with it.

Of course, it's not a party without food, and Alastor is taking full advantage of the buffet. In particular, he's visiting several times throughout the evening to grab meat-based dishes, desserts, and the occasional sweet cocktail. And if he seems to be a bit tired looking while he eats, well...surely that's nothing of concern, right?]

"Not just for you, kid."

Alastor's own reply is muttered as he drops into a seat next to Zagreus. He'd been conspicuously scarce while Aphrodite was around, not at all interested in having the goddess poke her nose into his personal life and his crushes.

"Can't say I was exactly hoping to see an old neighbor here."

Giorno arrives to the party looking quite impeccable, in a classy suit that looks tailored to fit, but with a few design changes involved. In the suit itself is a subtle flower pattern in dark charcoal, and he's swapped out the pop of color to a jewel-tone green, which manages to make his eyes appear the same color for the night.

At first he is quick to try a few of the sweet attempts to fit delicious treats into a glass, and enjoying the successes quite avidly. Beyond his perchance not to set down his drink until it's empty, the faint tinge of pink colored lip gloss where he's sipped adds to the very defined claim.

Being someone with little desire for the dance floor himself he allows himself to wander, not just along the main floor and upper level, but entering the maze when he finds the first button and open hallway. Upon finding a suitably enchanting balcony he decides to spend some time there, enjoying the scenery and ambiance.

Considering everything he decides to enjoy himself and take a shot at the wiseguy game of lazer tag. He does his best to dodge, and fire, at the same time. Taking a truly mobster approach he fires wildly to hit his opponents, rather than focusing on accuracy.

Eventually, after a few 'bloody' deaths, he makes his way back down to the main floor, nibbling on some of the offered food and sipping some sweet wine, while watching people dance.

“She’s kind of overbearing in person, honestly.”

This observation made, Zagreus turned back to his drink. Before he actually drank any of it though he blinked and looked back at Alastor. “Do you know her?”

If there was yet another Daybreak party, Gunvolt wouldn't miss it. Especially not for Valentine's Day. He still remembered what it was like last year, with the daemonic invasion, his first real taste of ugly combat away from QUILL. This year though, he was less nervous. Even if daemons were dumb enough to attack again, he'd grown stronger and more confident in himself... as had so many others here. But he put that out of his mind for now; it was enough to remain vigilant, he didn't need to be needlessly paranoid.

He arrived at the party, frankly, dressed to kill, though he still allowed his long braid to run down his back. Monarch had also decided to come, though her hologram had ditched her normal idol outfit for something more period appropriate, though her digitized orange and black wings remained. The latter would frequently be seen with Gunvolt and Desidera, but she rarely ventured off on her own.

A

Gunvolt made his way over to sample some of the cocktails, looking over at some of the reactions his fellow classmates were having at some of the more... creative, mixtures and brews cooked up. Quirking an eyebrow and casting a rather critical gaze at the glass that was given to him, he briefly wondered if this was a good idea. After all, who knows what kind of effect it might have?

Would you encourage him to drink it against his better judgement? Or will you try to talk him out of it? ...Or will you simply join him in whatever awfulness/awesomeness/mundanity might come from drinking one of these?

C

A laser tag style affair at a Valentine Ball? That sounded dumb and out of place. But dumb and out of place in the exact sort of way that sounded fun, so he was in. Being one of the relatively few students actually trained to fight with firearms, though, made him a particularly vicious laser-tagger. Armed with the gear of both a simulated Browning Automatic Rifle and Colt 1911, Gunvolt proved to be a lethal marksman and clever fighter, taking cover, shifting positions, and having surprising situational awareness.

Are you his partner in crime? Are you his formidable opponent?

Or are you joining him after a round? Those who do will find his magical suit relatively clean; he may have been hit only a few times, and the 'wounds' look more like grazes. But... well, you should see the other guys. If you catch him after the fact, he'll simply smile.

"You tried that yet? It's actually a real rush. ...Always wanted to shoot guns of this period."

D (For Desidera)

They'd agreed to meet back up at a specific time, when it was scheduled that some better dancing music would be played for couples. Admittedly, there were a few butterflies in his stomach about it; though he was perfectly confident in his relationship with Desidera... this was the first time they'd really be dancing together. It was... exciting still, and his mind was pretty preoccupied about it, enough that he didn't notice that Monarch had slipped away from him.

When he met back up with Desidera, his expression softened, quite at odds with his gangster look. Trying really hard not to let his excitement manifest as a blush or anything obvious, GV kept his voice cool and collected. Or at least, what he thought it was. Anyone who knows him, like say, Desidera, could still probably pick up the undercurrent of excitement there. He held out his hand to her, ready to take her to the dance floor.

"So, Desi... care to dance?"

E

Want to do something else with Gunvolt? If you have something in mind, he'll be around all night.

Desi had come to the party in her black dress, as it was similar enough to some things she'd seen attributed to that particular time-period, though she did change things up a little bit; the empty bell that usually sat at her collar was removed, replaced by the shawl that she'd been gifted by V two months ago, and the detached sleeves that she normally wore with this dress had also been left behind.

She'd spent the earlier parts of the party around the drinks and occasionally walking around or mingling with some of the others, but when The Time came, she was there, not really looking it but definitely feeling nervous. She's never actually danced before. She's never done any of this before. What if she screws something up?

But when GV asked, she couldn't help but answer: "What kind of silly question is that."

With only that as her response, she took that hand and allowed herself to be pulled from where she stood, and onto the floor itself.

Okay, well, her eagerness earns a more open smile, though it's not terribly broad. But he's not afraid of showing that he liked that answer, at least.

"I suppose it was a formality. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do on a date like this...?"

It's mostly rhetorical, as he leads her onto the dance floor. At this point though, there's not much hiding the gentle flush on his cheeks as he puts an arm around her, and takes her hand with her other one. As the music was about to start, he gave her another nod.

"Just follow my lead, okay? We'll take it nice and slow at first."

Once the music started, he led the way, careful not to go too fast or lose her along the way... while his heart beat a little harder in his chest.

Rex doesn't really care about this holiday. Love is not bound by time nor space, and especially not an irrelevant positioning of the Earth on its loop around the sun. And he's dealt with enough actual gangsters to find romanticising them to be somewhat distasteful, but not enough to be offended. And unlike Halloween doing the majority of the magical and mechanical work to make the whole thing operate wasn't especially interesting, or challenging. Worst of all the clothing is boring. Rex has always been of the opinion that a suit is basically an attempt to turn a man into a sexless rectangle. He's at least made sure his has the Bulgarian embroidery he's fond of. All in all, Valentine's Day is a bottom tier holiday, not to be used competitively.

However...

The theme happens to incorporate amongst his most favourite musical genres and absolute favourite dance style. He's also incredibly good at it. He's quite clearly going to spend most of the night doing dancing- a lot of it slips back and forth between the 20s and 30s, but it's all the wildly energetic sort of swing that it don't mean a thing if you ain't got. While more than happy to dance alone when the Lindy Hop or similar is appropriate, he offers to dance with or teach others to dance. Student, Faculty, spirit, unusually large and intelligent mustelid, it's fine. He's even sometimes different heights- a spell to shrink to a more appropriate size for a partner is pretty easy for him.

And when music that doesn't fit the theme plays, as it inevitably must, it's like a light switch. His small smile snaps off, Rex slings his jacket over his shoulder and walks away from the floor to people-watch instead.

Of course, this attitude and aptitude makes Rex pretty popular with the spirits around and occasionally ends up with a more friendly version of a past visual. Just a buncha happy spirits all danced out hanging off him as he drinks something boring at the sidelines.

Sherlock looks more at home in the setting than perhaps most people, in a deep navy suit that has an almost glossy black look in the low light. He seem to be mostly people watching from the bar between typing something rapidly in his tablet. The tall woman most certainly caught his attention - in ways he really did not expect, thank god he's incapable of blushing.

Once Zagreus settled by the bar, he looks back up from whatever he's busying himself with. "Aphrodite, I take it?" He asked.

Edited 2020-02-14 23:05 (UTC)

“The one and only. She really stands out in a crowd, doesn’t she?”

He took another sip from what appeared to be a pint of gin. “They’re all a bit annoyed with me right now, you see. They expected me to join them on Olympus rather than stay here in the mortal realm.”

[Kokoro's dress is pretty plain compared to others', but at least she's not wearing a disaster like her Halloween costume. Even if she did have to check a bulky bag at the door after some fruitless pouting at security. Odds that it was full of weapons and holy water? 100 percent.

At the tables, Kokoro picks at a cupcake and contemplates the drink selection.]

I sometimes wonder why it is they spare no expense with these things. Perhaps only because it makes people happy.

[The laser tag games attract her eventually, and you can find her running around -- well, a little, efore she remembers you're not supposed to run in these things. Either way, Kokoro soon gets the hang of lugging her laser gun around and turns her attention up to one of the towers.]

The entire structure is likely infested with campers. We must strike them down before they hoard all the points!

[Said with all the seriousness of a real fight... or anything else she does.

You can also find her out on a balcony after wandering too long in the mazes of secret passages. But instead of the quiet brooding you'd probably expect, she's... got a binder out and is sitting on the floor writing?]

Why do we even have to take Accounting.

Ugh, Aphrodite. It's good she didn't stick around at least. Even the most beautiful woman in the world isn't worth the trouble she tends to bring. That's true of almost all her aspects.

"To say the very least," he murmurs. "Not often a woman gives me a reason to pause."

Family issues, again - between Zagreus and Kokoro and his own - perhaps it's just the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon at work. "And I take it they won't accept that you have your own reasons for doing so?"

"I used to hang out in Greece, and I like to look good by mortal standards."

He huffs and orders a drink for himself. His cane makes a metallic clinking noise as he leans it against the bar.

"Running into some aspect of Aphrodite would've been pretty likely even if I wasn't in the local big leagues."

A

[Ammy is in a rather fancy kimono for the dance, one with a thread count that's ridiculously high. Her hair is pulled into a bun, and Solar Flare floats behind her.

She stops by the table for a drink a few times, her nose unerringly guiding her to the ones without bonus effects. Not that a few of them wouldn't be fun, but she put a good amount of effort into looking good and she doesn't want it ruined by sudden color failure.]

D

[She's also on the dance floor, casually dancing along with anyone who asks. She seems to flow from one step to the next with incredible grace, complementing even the worst dancers. Some even come away from her a bit more sure-footed themselves.]

"Well, fortunately she didn't want to stick around."

Another drink. "I'm afraid you have the better of me, sir. I'm Zagreus. Aphrodite is my...aunt? Cousin?" He shrugged. "She was born when the severed testicles of my great grandfather mixed with sea foam, so I GUESS that makes her my grand aunt? I have a strange family."

Edited 2020-02-15 01:10 (UTC)

"Oh they are, for now. I can't say how long they'll keep doing so, though."

"I'm Alastor, former daemon lord. Strange families are kinda par for the course in the Outlands."

He shrugs and starts on his drink, a sweet cocktail.

"So, if Aphrodite's your aunt, that'd make you a kid of one of the original six."

"Hades. We're not on speaking terms anymore."

He didn't want to talk about that right now, though, so he changed the subject. "So a daemon lord, then? How'd you end up on this side?"

"Ugh."

From an unpleasant subject for Zagreus, to an unpleasant subject for Alastor.

"Some upstart emperor got it into his head to take over this world a couple thousand years ago, and wasn't exactly thrilled when I refused to bow down and help him. He took over my domain the hard way, and I got to spend two millennia sealed away right outside the Hellgate that's basically his front door. Don't ask how I got out, I don't really wanna talk about it."

[How do you approach the most beautiful woman in the world?]

Hey, gorgeous- are you in the mood to hear a few bad pickup lines?

[Apparently, if you're Jailbreak, the answer is immediately. With total confidence and no shame whatsoever.]

[Zagreus is here too, she guesses.]

She might still be listening, you know.

She doesn't frighten, you, I'm sure, but I still have to deal with her.

Please don't-

[Oh no this is happening now.]

Why Zagreus, you didn't tell me you had such a lovely friend here. Is she why you're not keen on coming up to Olympus?

I barely know her, actually.

And who's fault is that?

[Then, to Jailbreak:]

I would like nothing better, my dear, but unfortunately I can't stay long. This has always been a busy day for me.

Hai, hai. I'm sorry, but Aphrodite and I never got along. It's not as bad as my feud with Ishtar, but it's there.

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VALENTINES BALL

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