towerofanimus | they've got all the right friends in all the right places

Entry tags:

they've got all the right friends in all the right places

Characters: "Pandora" and the Tower populace.
Setting: Floor 82 - The Masquerade Ballroom.
Format: Party style - pick your poison.
Summary: As the lights begin to flicker and the month rapidly draws to its close, the mysterious "Pandora" has invited the residents of the Tower to a masquerade ball.
Warnings None as of yet.

"Between the noise you hear, and the sound you like..."

Well, now, that invitation certainly was mysterious, huh? Who is Pandora, and what's the occasion for this party she's holding? And what was that message on the back all about?

Remember this: There will come a time when everything around you seems to be not what you thought it was, and you won't know what to believe about anything at all. At that time, look for something that is still true.

In the wake of the chaos caused by those rumors written on the walls, perhaps it seems like a too-late warning. In any case, the ballroom on the eighty-second floor shimmers and shines exquisitely, awaiting the guests' arrival. The dance floor is open and spacious, and, as promised, refreshments line a buffet table on one of the far walls. While much of it has obviously been nicked from the cafeteria, there is also a variety of meats and seafood not otherwise available in this month's menu.

Yes, this also means there is alcohol.

Take care not to lose the mask that is placed upon your face the instant you step off the staircase, however. You don't want to be the single recognizable person in a crowd of anonymous dancers, do you?

Who knows what you might hear from a masked stranger...

"... are we just sinking in an ocean of faces?"

[Description of Floor 82 from the setting page: "A masquerade party is taking place in this intricately decorated, expensive-looking ballroom, and you're going to have to participate. As soon as you step onto this floor a mask is placed on your face. Anyone wearing a mask is completely anonymous even to those with supernatural abilities. You can take off a mask, but anyone with their mask off is compelled to truthfully answer any question they're asked."]

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[ Hidetoshi, becoming a little frustrated with a particularly thick knot of guests milling about together and blocking his way to the refreshment table, walks to the edge of the crowds and nearly bumps into Taiki.

He catches him before running into him, luckily and stops. There's a heartbeat of quiet. Even anonymous, this person seemed too... small to be at a big masquerade like this. ]

Good evening.

[Taiki jumped backwards, the noises had distracted him and he was even more prone to getting underfoot than usual. He blinked up at the masked man. Scared because without knowing who people were and not being able to see their faces he couldn't tell if the man was angry at him or not.] Sorry... good evening...

[ He shakes his head. ] No apologies are needed. I wasn't paying attention myself.

Are you unaccustomed to parties like these?

[ Hidetoshi hadn't meant to startle him like that, and chides himself for his thoughtlessness. He couldn't tell who they were by either their body language or clothing thanks to the mask, but it's obvious he was uncomfortable and uncertain. The teenager could see their eyes blinking behind the mask's eyeholes. ]

[He shook his head] Not really... there's lots of people... [He'd been to a few in the tower, but usually with other people who he could hide behind and never when he couldn't tell who was who.]

How about you?

I see. [ Hidetoshi's parents had hosted a few dinner parties and he'd been present at school functions that were similar to festivities, but he hadn't participated in much of the dancing. He frowned slightly. ]

I've attended parties, but few as elaborate as this ball.

[Taiki nodded] Lord Gyousou's coronation was elaborate... but I could just sit at the side... [And he had, once his formal part was over he had hidden near the throne and not had to try and weave his way through crowds or dance or anything.]

is that so? Were your parents invited to the coronation as well? [ It seemed that within the universe the child originated from, his country had been a monarchy. But if he'd been present at an important event like that, it meant he had some right to be there. That implied history, which he had always harbored an interest in.

The name didn't sound foreign to Hidetoshi. ] Not fond of dancing?

[ He wasn't either. ]

Oh... um... [Feet shuffling as he shook his head] Um... Sorry... I'm a Kirin, my job is to find the king and then serve him... Kirin don't really have parents... I did but that's because I got lost for a while... But they were on earth... and the coronation was in the Twelve Kingdoms...

[He shook his head] I don't really know how to...

There's no need to apologize. [ Aren't kirins supposed to have horns, a mane, the hooves of a horse and the body of a beast? Not a small, uncertain child. He folded his arms. ] I'm afraid I don't know about any of the events, people nor places you're referencing, but you visited earth?

[ No parents? Whoops. ] I'm sorry if I sounded insensitive.

I did... well... I got lost there... before I was born... so I was born there... It's a bit complicated sorry. But when I was ten I went back to the twelve Kingdoms and found my king...

[He shook his head] I don't think you did...

[ There's that unprompted 'sorry' again. And whatever series of events he was talking about did sound like a tangled, complex snarl. He raises his eyebrows. ] How could you get lost before you were born? Ten years old is awfully young to be setting out for this Twelve Kingdom place to find a king.

[How odd, really.]

Oh um... well in my world people grow on trees... sorry um... in egg fruits, and my egg fruit was blown away in a storm to earth, so I was born to a human family there.

[He shuffled his feet] It's not really... it's why Kirin exist...

Um... are you from earth?

People literally grow on trees in fruits? [ That... sounds fascinating if fantastical, to be frank. People growing on trees. Weird. It must have prompted radical differences in both social structure and family life, not to mention the impact it would have on the social view of women and lineage. But... baby eggs being blown away in a storm to a different planet? That seemed more than a little implausible. ] Your world sounds like an interesting place.

[ Ten years old is still too young to be doing something like, Hidetoshi holds firm. ]

Yes, I am. Am I correct to assume that your world is called the Twelve Kingdoms, like you mentioned?

Yes... sorry... the trees are called Ranka... [He nodded again] It is... Because it is made up of Twelve different kingdoms...

There's no need to apologize. [ He repeats himself without heat. ] And is each of the twelve different kingdoms ruled by a king?

Yes, or a queen... And each one has a Kirin...

[ Twelve kingdoms, twelve rulers with twelve kirins, huh? Sounds like there would be a great deal of conflict between all of them. ] It seems like a functioning system, if nothing else.

It is, and the gods through the kirin make sure all the rulers rule fairly,

You're connected to gods?

Yes... um... well they chose the kings and queens, and then send the kirins the ouki... like a sign... so we know who is right.

[ Maybe he's being too prying. ] Hm. So, it's your duty. It sounds like one you and the other kirin take pride in.

Yes... it's really important. [He blinked, thinking about that. He had never stopped to wonder if he was proud of his duty, but he thought he was. He was glad he could help Tai like that.]

I think we do... It's a big job... when a whole country relies on you... But Lord Gyousou is a really great king... [He trails off because missing kings and dead homelands]

With positions of authority, comes the responsibility to wield that authority correctly. [ He nodded. It was part of why he had such a poor opinion of the administration; they had a responsibility to play the role of good hosts to whose who relied on them, and care for whose they held power over. But they did not. It wasn't fair. It angered him.

...

When the child trails off, Hidetoshi has an inkling of why. He doesn't press beyond; ]

He sounds like a great man to serve.

[He nodded firmly, it was right. People in authority should do what was right for those in their care.

Sometimes he wished the administrators had Kirin, that this world worked as his did, so there could be a chance of better leadership.

But the idea of any kirin serving such a person made him sad.

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they've got all the right friends in all the right places

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