undergrounds | Game Opening: May Ball

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Game Opening: May Ball

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

It had to be done.

Welcome all to the Redbright Institute's May Ball! This evening is a celebration of the Institute's achievements over the past year. Students aged 16 and above can attend on their own, while younger students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Meanwhile, friends and guests of the Institute are invited as a gesture of friendship and harmony between the various factions.

Rules and etiquette
• This is a black tie event. Formal attire is required.
• No weapons. This is a school, there are children present. Any weapons or objects that could be used as weapons will be confiscated.
• No drugs or alcohol. Obviously. Don't try to sneak any in.
• No violence.

There is security within the school and present at the event. (In fact, if your character is a member of the Redbright Institute, you could have them acting as security if you want.) They will respond to and put a stop to any trouble.

Places to go
The main action takes place in the large Assembly Hall. This is where the Chancellor Sylvia Redbright will give her address. It's also where you can party later on. The disco is family-friendly – not exactly a rave, but the kids will love it.

Drinks and snacks are available in the dining hall. The drinks are non-alcoholic. Vampires, no need to worry about your cravings: blood cocktails are provided! They're given in good faith on the assumption that you won't be snacking on anyone else tonight.

Just off the dining hall, one of the classrooms has been converted into a chill-out area. The lights are off, the desks and chairs have been replaced by beanbags and there's a table in the corner with a chocolate fountain, marshmallows and strawberries. A video of young witches taking part in various night-time rituals (they mostly seem to involve chanting and bonfires) plays silently on the screen.

One of the lecture theatres has been opened up to showcase students' work from the past year. On the screen you can watch a slideshow of notable events and achievements. Strangely enough there aren't many people in this room.

Outside, there is a giant chessboard on the lawn. The pieces are made of plastic and can easily be moved around. Why, you ask? Why not, is the answer.

Finally, a large marquee has been set up in the quad. This is the adults-only area, with wine and cocktails served at the bar, nibbles available at a few high tables dotted around and a sophisticated atmosphere. No children under 18 allowed. (Note that the legal drinking age is 18.)

Timeline of events
20:00 – Doors open.
20:57 – Sunset.
21:15 – Sylvia Redbright makes her address in the Assembly Hall.
22:00 – Disco in the Assembly Hall. The DJ has atrocious taste.
01:00 – Disco stops. The event officially ends.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh? Sasuke wasn't giving up?

"That's right!" Heiji said, sounding rather happy somehow despite the fact that he'd been refusing to answer Sasuke's questions about himself the entire time. "Generally speakin', they're about as magically inclined as a box of hair. Non-magical hair."

He's definitely the type to do this for the whole party instead of quitting.

"Following that, it'd seem strange for someone who only occasionally 'dabbles' in dark arts to decide to align himself with a group largely dedicated to it, especially as an immigrant arrival. I can't prove that you aren't a member of Circle Midnight but it doesn't seem likely."

"Mmm..." said Heiji, making a bit of a disapproving face. "You're kinda extrapolating too much from a figure of speech, I think. If this was a logic puzzle in a book, you might be right, but in this case all I meant was I do some magic, and not even necessarily the dark kind."

"... You didn't even give reasons for why you thought I wasn't a vampire or werewolf, and now you're being this critical of my own deductive skills?"

Heiji put up his hands. "Just tryin' to help ya out!" After all, it seemed like Sasuke was trying so hard. He was just trying to be encouraging, like you can do it Sasuke

you're the best

around

nothing's gonna ever keep you down

If looks could speak.

"Just admit to what you are already."

"Say it," said Heiji dramatically, with that glint in his eye that he got only when he was solving mysteries or being completely ridiculous. "Out loud."

Guess what Sasuke you were now part of a terrible movie scene reenactment. Enjoy that.

N o why are you doing this to me, all I wanted to do was go to a party and have a good time.

"Fae. And your haircut makes you look like a primary school student."

That was a lie, Sasuke never had a good time.

"Well, I mean, I don't really wanna hear that from someone who looks like they got a haircut from a primary school student." Dose raggedy-ass bangs...

Fair point but he's the human version of a mud puddle so that's not saying too much.

"... I cut my own hair." This explains so much.

Well. What could Heiji add to that. That would not come across as insulting.

After a brief and awkward silence, Heiji decided to pretend it never happened and moved the conversation right along in a direction that would not involve asking Sasuke why he couldn't scissors.

"So you gonna ask if you can take classes part-time?"

"That wasn't subtle. But yeah, I suppose I am. There are a lot of things that I still need to learn. And what about you, what do you do with your time when you're not harassing and haranguing party-goers?"

"Buncha things, I guess. I'm just familiarizing myself with the place for now, but I do work part-time. Can't say as how I need classes, but there are a couple interesting folks around."

It didn't seem worth it to delineate all the stuff he did around town, since he doubted Sasuke would be interested in finding sweet places to eat or visiting museums.

"Humans are lifelong students. I don't imagine that that's too different for you, unless you want to claim that you're perfect."

Ah. Wait. No, potentially encouraging him to take classes here when Sasuke himself is planning on doing the same is not a good idea. Not even a little.

"But you could be old enough that you don't retain things well any longer, so I suppose there's no point." Saved.

"Oh, I like learnin' things; I just don't usually do it in classrooms. But it can be fun if there's a good lecturer!" He would absolutely take Jessica Fletcher's classes, absolutely. Angela Lansbury was adorable and they could be horrible dead body magnets together.

"It's cute that you're goin' back to school, though! Good luck."

'Cute', huh.

"It hardly counts as 'going back' when I haven't been out for more than a year. I'm just continuing it, and with a different focus. I have a lot that I need to catch up on."

Angela Lansbury is out of your league, Heiji. She's out of everyone's league.

"I'll say!" Heiji agreed readily. Sasuke seemed to have a few blind spots in his knowledge base, and while not everyone knew everything, it was really weird that he didn't know about detectives. Everyone knew about detectives.

"So that'd make you 18 or 19... well, that's still plenty of time. Study hard and get good grades, okay? If you do well, I'll give ya a present!"

"Don't agree so damn quickly." No, shot down. This is not an honors course in literature, this is real life.

"...

What sort of present is it."

"You wanted me to argue with you? ...Are you a tsundere or something?" Haha, joke's on everyone. Heiji was definitely one. When it came to certain things, anyway.

"Anyhow, you don't tell people what you're givin' em for a present. It's supposed to be a surprise!"

"I'm a hardware salesman." Well that's not... equivalent... Look, just let him have this one.

"And I don't like surprises. I tend to react badly and then the gift-giver is disappointed. Then we stop speaking for several years to life."

Heiji put on a completely 100% serious face. "So...

...how many friends have you lost to surprise parties?"

Okay, not 100% serious. But come on, Sasuke, stop being such a dramatic teenager.

"Two." Zero inflection or sign of a joke.

Well, congratulations on having two more friends to lose than Heiji thought you had, Sasuke.

"So I guess the giant novelty cake is out! Well, it was gonna be hard to keep that hidden, anyhow." Was he joking.......

Thank you.

"There's no way that you were actually intending to do that. Look... I understand that you're bored here, but maybe you could get the mockery out all at once with regards to my situation and personality and we can have a more genuine conversation. I'm not good with this sort of thing." It shows.

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