when the moon hits your eye... [Valentine's Day Date Night]

[ayes]

Who: You Watanabe (ayes) & lots of folks!
What: Valentine's Day Matchmaking: DATE NIGHT
When: The evening of February 14!
Where: Olympia
Warning(s): Some mild druglike effects, and probably some NSFW stuff in threads?

Earlier in the week-- about the night of February 12 or so-- you received a letter in the mail. Upon opening it, you found an invitation, hand-written in a sort of looping script.

Hello [YOUR NAME HERE]!
You're invited to a really great night!
On the evening of February 14, please come join us in Olympia for a special surprise!

Your friend,
You

P.S. "You" is my name. I'm not saying it's from you!

She's drawn a little smiley face on the invitation, and you may remember her from her earlier post to the network. For some of you, this invitation isn't surprising. You signed up for her party, after all. For others, though, this may come as a surprise.

[I: The Message & The Arrival]

Nevertheless, you decide to go anyway. She's listed an address in Olympia, and the night of the event, when you show up, it's a decent-sized dining hall. There are pink and red ribbons and balloons and lacy heart shapes everywhere.

You may catch sight of the young woman scurrying around, looking a little harried. Or you may just find other people who seem confused to be here. Did your name wind up in the drawing list? Did theirs? What's going on?

[II: Dinner...]

Be it as it may, you go inside. Inside, you can find more of those ribbons, and balloons, and hearts, as well as dozens of small, round tables for two, each covered in a white tablecloth and with a pair of candlesticks. Approaching the tables, you find that each seat has a small nametag, written in that same looping handwriting. They're names you may recognize: Reinhardt Wilhelm, Isabela, Mikazuki Augus, and more.

One of these names is yours. And across from you is another name. Maybe you recognize them, maybe you don't.

Either way, it's not long before someone comes by to light the candles and take your food order. You've got a date.

[III: ...and a show!]

Maybe half an hour after your meal order is taken and has been served (it's delicious, by the way) a spotlight cuts through the dim light, illuminating a small raised stage off on the side of the room. The young woman, You, is standing there, wearing a short dress that almost looks like that of a ballet dancer, her hair pinned up. She has to reach up to bring the microphone down. She's not very tall.

"Ah... um, hello? Is it on? Hi!" she says, her voice fast and a little nervous. "I'm You Watanabe, and... happy Valentine's Day! I hope you're all having a wonderful time, and maybe the person you're meeting tonight, um, I don't know, something could come out of it, I hope!"

She pauses, like she's not sure what to say. "Anyway, uh, I thought I'd perform some songs while you're eating, so listen if you want!"

You takes a breath and then steps back before gesturing to someone in the darkness, presumably who then starts a music track. She begins to sing and dance, performing a number of different songs. Some of them are sweet and slow, others a little more upbeat, and there's even one that's kind of... sensual in a rockin' way? Still, while her dance moves are well practiced and her voice pretty and clear, you get the sense that these song and dance routines were meant to be performed with way more than just one person. There should be harmonies or other parts there that are missing.

Still, there's an empty dance floor in front of the stage, and there's something catchy and almost strangely inspiring about the girl's singing-- even if this genre of music isn't your particular favorite, it's somehow encouraging. Why not ask your partner to dance?

[IV: Sin and Sweetness]

Eventually, You leaves the stage, thanking everyone, and the night continues uneventfully. As your dinner wears down, you may be drawn to a cart off to the side, piled high with desserts, pastries of all types and color. Eventually, a pair of waiters begins pushing it around from table to table. Do you want some dessert, they ask.

These pastries have been baked by your hostess, You herself, based off a book of recipes she'd found in some of the... seedier parts of the Entertainment District. There's another one of those handwritten notes in that looping script, written on thick card stock folded in two to make a simple sign:

Tonight's a night of excitement!
If you want a little help feeling romantic, try the pastries!
They'll definitely spice things up! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

The various pastries themselves have similarly handwritten signs on them, notifying you (if a little obliquely) of some potentially interesting effects...

• Strudel: "Find beauty in the world!" (For whatever reason, other people look a little more attractive.)
• Baklava: "To tell them how you really feel!" (You'll feel more likely to be honest, if not overshare.)
• Cannoli: "Because love needs laughter!" (Everything other people say is somehow funnier than usual.)
• Cinnamon Roll: "The nose knows!" (The first person you look at smells oddly like your favorite smell.)
• Blueberry Scone: "For a bit of courage!" (This will make you feel bolder, intensifying emotions you already feel.)
• Mooncake: "To feel like falling in love!" (Every time you look at the first person you see, your heart beats a little faster.)
• Taiyaki: "Try to see someone else differently!" (Every time you look at the first person you see, there are little sparkles around them.)

The effects themselves aren't designed to be overwhelming or all that powerful, and can be resisted with just a little effort. However, You's recipe only dealt with one effect at a time. Mixing and matching multiple pastries? Who knows what might happen...?

There are also plenty of non-magical desserts, for anyone looking to sate their sweet tooth without chancing an odd experience.

[V: Singles Mingle]

You's spent most of her time arranging the couples event, of course, but if you didn't sign up, there's still a place for you! (Or maybe your date went terribly and you're here early.) There's a bar off to the side where people are welcome to sit and drink and meet other folks.

That said, they're bringing the pastries around here, too...

[VI: Wildcard]

Didn't see a prompt here for you? Write your own! The night has plenty of dancing, food, romantic moonlight, and plenty of places you can sneak off to be alone.

((OOC: As always, please label your threads if they turn NSFW, and make sure your thread partner(s) are okay with whichever pastry effect you're getting!))

Comments

[priorly]

Well I'd hope so, drinking can feel interminable with people you don't.

[And his own glass, next.]

But let the record show, without interrogation, cajoling or prophecy involved, you told me what you use people for, so you couldn't do it to me. I'd call that making the first move.

[vorrutyer]

A bit of prophecy.

[ By smiles a bit guardedly at his glass as he lifts it, watching the bubbles as they rise. ]

You were the one who started digging into the poor virgin soil of my soul, after all, with that insight of yours. The one part of me that was still virgin, too.

[priorly]

Well, it's not a first time if it's not a little messy, and that certainly was. But no, no that's not why you told me - right? That's what should have made me too useful to tell and you... handed me a guard and said put it up while you dismantled a little of yours. [He allows a shrug, an escape route from it having been something important-] Maybe you just worried I'd pick it up in the end.

[vorrutyer]

That was part of it.

[ But only part. He doesn't elaborate on what the rest was - not yet, at least - fiddling instead with his champagne flute. ]

[priorly]

Well, it meant more than a room in the house. [He hesitates over something and ultimately decides no - not now. Keeps the words behind his teeth.

He takes a breath instead.]

So, the game is, who's going home with who, tonight. I'm taking the easy pick.

[He points to a table where both occupants are now sitting in one chair.]

[vorrutyer]

Yes.

[ By clears his throat, finding it suddenly a bit thick with something. Fear? Something...more than that, he knows. ]

Agreed. Definitely them. But he's not going to be able to get it up. Look at how he's slamming back the booze.

[priorly]

Not necessarily true - some people have unfair quantities of refractory vigor. Still, if he stays that enthusiastic he doesn't really need to.

[He doesn't seem to have come up for air since they've been talking, for instance.]

Who else?

[vorrutyer]

If god be good, those ones there - [ By points at a little knot of three people. ] Will all end up together tonight. Hm? There's a possibility, at least.

[priorly]

[Prior watches for a moment, to see the interplay at work, murmuring low in response.]

From what I've heard about him, God would be all for it. And you could be right.

[He scans the room.]

But what happened to the poor, discarded forth wheel?

[vorrutyer]

Who says there has to be one? Perhaps these three showed up together. Or perhaps the third was one of those brave and noble souls who showed up single.

[ A little toast to Prior. ]

[priorly]

I didn't come for the dregs of the party. I heard the barman was cute.

[Smiling blithely, Prior looks along the bar and... recalls what the current tender actually looks like.]

...Turns out he's off today.

[vorrutyer]

Oh, don't be like that. That fellow is charming in his own way.

[ He grins at Prior. ]

Everyone is beautiful if you just look at them right.

[priorly]

That's unsettling sweetness, coming from you - and when he's not even close enough to hear and comp your next drink.

[Prior did look to check.]

Bullshit, as we both know, but very romantic. I appreciate your adherence to theme.

[vorrutyer]

On the contrary! I'm being quite sincere. Look.

[ By's head tilts very slightly to the side as he considers the man. ]

Look at the way his hands move. I know you'll enjoy that, since you have a bit of a hand fetish, no? His fingers are strong. He knows what he's doing. There's grace there.

[priorly]

He's a bartender. If he didn't have at least a little coordination it'd be a goddamn glasswalking act back there by now.

[Prior's stubbornly refusing to countenance this with so much as a glance at the man in question - he doesn't require the pointing out of other's aesthetic delights. Strong fingers? Why, let him clutch his pearls.]

There may be something fuckable about most people, if you're desperate and can't just close your eyes, and beauty is a quality you can learn about a person if you don't see it right away. Perhaps everybody can be beautiful, to somebody. But not everybody is. Some apples are rotten from the core on out. And where did you get hand fetish from, precisely?

[vorrutyer]

Observing where your eyes linger. Am I wrong?

[priorly]

[He curls his own hand outward with a light flourish at the wrist, and examines his nails a moment.]

Yes.

[vorrutyer]

[ A shrug. ]

Then I'm wrong. Regardless. There's quite a lot of use in seeing everyone's beauty. People are always pleased to see themselves reflected in a flattering mirror.

[priorly]

This is an odd lecture to be directing to the choir - yes - but as I wasn't talking to him, but about him to you, the uses of flattery have their limits.

[Lets not pretend he has a horse high enough to say he never uses flattery. It's a perfectly valid means of getting what one wants, especially if what one wants is the other person. Though Prior's particular flavor of flattery usually happens to be observed and appreciated truth.

Another truth:]

As for hands, I'm far more likely to pay attention to those of someone I already like.

[So where have you seen his eyes wander, Byerly.]

[vorrutyer]

Are you?

[ It's a little dangerous. Yet even so, he spreads out his hands. ]

Are mine pretty?

[priorly]

[Prior tilts his head: if this is the first time thinking about it, he takes the process seriously. But he knows Byerly's hands well, by now. They're elegant, long fingers with a wide span, graceful in motion.

He separates one from the other by the wrist and brings it downward, laid out for a palmist's study, any scars or rougher places exposed. The fingers of his free hand play out a pentatonic scale across the fingertips of Byerly's restrained one.]

Yes.

[vorrutyer]

Poor abused things. They've had a hard go of it.

[ They are a little bit battered. The pinky is just a little crooked. But they are pretty things.

He slips his hand free, then, and grasps Prior's in turn. He holds it palm-up a long moment - and then, almost reverently, stoops down to press a deep kiss against Prior's life-line. ]

[priorly]

[Despite infinite resolutions made mostly for the sake of his own stupid pride, there are moments when it would be very easy to kiss Byerly again. He could take a few more bruises (and he's sure enough that would be the outcome), but can't risk Byerly knowing he's inflicting them. He's too delicate for it.

So, after a moment, he purses his lips together and tuts.]

Now don't sell yourself short. I'm sure you could still make a fine bartender.

[vorrutyer]

Of course I could.

[ By only raises his head slightly. He knows that this is cruel, in a way. He was the one who drew this line. But even so, in between words, he presses a kiss to each of Prior's fingers in turn. It's the mood of the evening - it's the desire for intimacy. ]

I have impeccable taste.

[priorly]

Yes, I remember.

[I remember how you taste. Prior keeps his expression locked down, for once, but there's something intent in the dark of his eyes as he hooks the pad of his thumb under Byerly's chin and tips his head back. It's not to dissuade him, but he wants to see what this is.]

I hope the food at least came up to your standards, tonight, if not the company. [It's a question, and not. He's not going to risk a thing over pastries. Still, there's a pause here, left to hang. He keeps his tone light, guarded with a smile, but there's too much air between words for them to be meaningless.] ...What do I taste like?