Game Opening: May Ball

[undergroundmods]

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

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 The lights are off, the desks and chairs have been replaced by beanbags and there's a table in the corner with a chocolate fountain, marshmallows and strawberries.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.

Comments

A

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji moseyed right on up to the DJ booth, all smiles as he reached out to shake the guy's hand. "Hey, buddy, nice work!"

The DJ looked at him with a sort of deer-in-headlights expression, because apparently this never happened. Compliments? Appreciation? Not for Mr. Terrible Disco DJ. In fact, he almost forgot about the ominous sense of foreboding he'd been feeling. "Well... thanks, man, I --"

"Say, I got a request," said Heiji, cutting him off completely. "I was wonderin' if you could play somethin' with a bit more... beat?"

[megidoomed]

Aradia looks up from her curious prodding at the DJ's setup when Heiji approaches, completely unaware of the deception. Mostly because she's used to being an unseen spectator in the lives of others. It tends to cultivate a feeling of exclusion after a while.

The DJ almost forgets about the foreboding as he stutters out an excuse - he's only got these tracks with him, and he doesn't want to disappoint Mrs Sylvia - but it's pointedly undermined when a speaker protests a ghostly hand fiddling with its insides. Oops.

[detectiveofthewest]

The DJ turned toward the sound, but Heiji put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. Thankfully, the protest was a short one, because if there was going to be some kind of incident, Heiji at least didn't want to be responsible for a ghost with actual taste getting busted.

Although in order to prevent some kind of scene, Heiji might have to put the whammy on this guy -- he seemed a little twitchy.

"Oh, well. I don't want you to end up wonderin' what possessed you to do all that..." Hint. Hint hint.

[megidoomed]

The second hint doesn't slip by her as easily, though it takes a few beats for Aradia to pick a meaning. Did the weird stranger mean possess the DJ or the machine - the latter ends up being her choice, solely because possessing humans ends up being uncomfortable after a while.

The speaker goes quiet as she settles in, aside from the initial burst of static, and there's far less complaints about the interruption then she expected.

Well. Less complaints from anyone but the DJ - he's a little worried about his rig now, fidgeting under Heiji's gaze. Tries to wring up another excuse about how he needs to check for whatevers causing the feedback too.

[detectiveofthewest]

Okay, you know what. That was fine, because this dweeb had actually put his name on a nametag and pinned it to his shirt.

"Listen, Stephen. Stephen... Urkel?" What, really? Really? Jeez, dude.

The DJ's eyes sort of glazed over as he looked at Heiji, which was a good sign. "I think what you should do is take a little break. I'm sure this thing with your equipment will work out just fine if you just... let it play a few songs. Yeah?"

"Yeah... okay..." said Steve Urkel, sounding a not a little out of it. He sat down in his chair and sort of absently hovered his hands over the dials without actually touching anything.

[megidoomed]

Poor Stephen Urkel. He broke the first rule of working a supernatural venue: don't put your actual name anywhere that people can see it. It's cost him as he slips under, staring at his machines and not noticing when Aradia's disembodied head pokes out of a turntable to stare at Heiji.

"That looks like a useful trick. Does it work on anybody or just... him?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"It works on most people I run into, anyway," said Heiji, relaxing now that the situation had been at least temporarily handled.

"It'd be a pretty lame power if I could only use it on one guy! Anyhow, I figure I can leave him like that for a little while till someone notices. So let's take the opportunity and play somethin' with a little more style!"

[megidoomed]

"It'd be worrying if it wasn't noticed eventually," is Aradia's reply, audible even as she vanishes back into the rig. "Given this place is supposed to have security."

A few lights and dials on the machine flicker as she gets a feel for the setup, tapping into wires and current as she goes. "The style can't really get much worse. Suggestions would be nice, though, since you're determined to help."

[detectiveofthewest]

"How 'bout Uptown Funk? Or somethin' from the 80's, at least." He'd just have to make sure he was nowhere to be found by the time someone noticed that the musical selection had changed.

[megidoomed]

"I wasn't alive during the 80's."

That's about all the agreement Heiji gets before she goes silent, switches and dials moving seemingly of their own accord while she works out what she needs to do.

It causes more protest from the speakers, unfortunately, but nothing too loud yet.

"It'd be easier if this thing had other music. Or instructions."

[detectiveofthewest]

Hmm. Heiji turned to the DJ. "Hey Steve, mind helpin' us out?"

In a daze, the DJ turned to his equipment and began fiddling around with the controls. In a minute, the song had changed. Heiji leaned an elbow on the table and started lip-syching exaggeratedly along with Cyndi Lauper. What was going on.

"I come home in the morning light
My mother says 'When you gonna live your life right?'
Oh, mother dear, we're not the fortunate ones
And girls -- they want to have fun..."

[megidoomed]

The track skips briefly as Aradia slips out of the speakers - not more then a second or two, but noticeable all the same. Can't risk sitting in it longer without causing damage, and damage would attract attention.

"That fits a lot better. It's very awkward high school years-ish."

While the observation comes out pretty deadpan, it's softened by the almost wistful look on her face. "Which isn't always a bad thing."

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji laughed. "It's been a little while since high school for me. You miss it?" She missed something, anyway, from that look on her face.

Personally, Heiji would not go back to being a teenager for all the money in the world.

[megidoomed]

"It's complicated," is her first reply, which isn't really an answer. Being stuck as a teenager for the rest of your un-life definitely counts as complicated, at the very least.

"I miss what it represents. Not high school itself, though, that I'm okay with not being a part of anymore. Tests were the worst idea ever."

A shrug, and a glance at Heiji. "Anything you miss about it?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Hmm..." Well, technically, Heiji hadn't even attended high school full-time. He'd just sort of wanted to know what it was like. And what it was like was mostly boring.

"I did like kendo club, but to be honest, I skipped a lot of class. Sittin' around in a classroom all day wasn't really for me. You think tests are bad, though, you should come visit Japan! The usual exams are pretty intense, and then you got school entrance tests on top of that. Lotta kids go to cram school after normal school."

[megidoomed]

"I liked classrooms. The learning part was alright, the test parts just... weren't. They felt too restricting."

It's vague, honestly, but focusing on how she used to feel about living is hard. It feels like someone else's life, sometimes, and it'd bother her if that wasn't, in turn, part of the effect.

Ghosts are weird.

"Kendo club must've been nice though. Its good you got to enjoy that, even if you skipped the rest."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Well, it is thinkin' under pressure..." Although Heiji had never really felt that pressure -- he actually kind of enjoyed being challenged. "I think some kids just do better learnin' from experience."

"Anyway, best thing about the club was it was full of members who were really into it! It's like any hobby; if you're with a bunch of people that really love somethin', it's way more fun."

He kind of wanted to ask Aradia when and how she'd died, but that would probably be rude. "So you hang around this joint often?"

[megidoomed]

"I liked learning from experience, but tests never really did that for me." She gives another bored shrug, drifting to sit above a speaker. "I think it was too artificial, which I guess was the point. And most of my hobbies ended up being extra-curricular anyway, so there wasn't much motivation."

Because most schools don't teach dark magic, clearly, it's such a tragedy. Admittedly said dark magic lead to bad life choices but. Details.

"Not often. It's quiet here and I visit sometimes because of that, but it's not really my type of haunt." A pause, and a hint of a smile at her accidental joke. "In both senses of the word."

[detectiveofthewest]

"So what would it take for this place to wraith a couple more visits per year?" Said with. A completely straight face.

...Sorry Aradia.

[megidoomed]

There's a long moment of silence, as she stares at Heiji with the type of deadpan only the dead can truly achieve. And without blinking:

"I'm not sure, it's a real ghost-town for most of the year. It'd take a killer party to liven this place up."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Aww, I don't think the situation's that grave! They just need someone to teach 'em how to get into the spirit of things."

What was going on, this was terrible. To add to the terribleness, Steve put on a new song, apparently influenced by their current turn of conversation.

I was about to be sad over that not being Thriller but that's so much better omg

[megidoomed]

"Are you some kind of party in-specter, then? That might spook people, and I'm not sure if that's your intention."

... Verbal puns totally count, okay. She can't help the building smile, even through the ghostly apathy - puns have always been a weakness of hers, and pun-offs with her friends were a fond happenstance before she died.

would you say it was a graveyard smash

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji put on an expression of mild shock, as though Aradia had suggested something terribly gauche... but it didn't disguise the little spark of enjoyment in his eye. "I assure you, ma'am, I'm a perfectly paranormal citizen. Just someone who's a shade fatigued of all these long speeches and staid cocktail parties!"

it was, but im not sure how fast it'll catch on 8|a

[megidoomed]

"The speeches are kinda ir-revenant, aren't they?" That one was stretching it a little, but puns only go so far on their own. The grin grew to be more authentic as the pun-off continues, Aradia finding it easier to hold onto a positive emotional state from prolonged exposure. Being a fresh-ish ghost sucks sometimes. "I was really dying to leave the last one, and I don't think my boredom was a phantom sensation."

... she tries so hard.

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji grinned. "See, you seem like a ghoul who can appreciate a good time. I bet if you and me tossed some ideas around, we could throw a real hallowed eve!"

This was terrible...