(no subject)

[maskormods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: De Chima
WHEN: Feb. 16
WHAT: This month's swear-in!
WARNINGS: Possibly some violence



A spiraling new skyscraper has just completed construction in De Chima and, to celebrate, the owners and several of the businesses renting space in the modern wonder have elected to host this month’s swear-in on the top couple floors. These floors can be reached be elevator, slowly strolling up the winding ramp that circles from the bottom to the roof or, if you can, fly or leap or use whatever other superpowers you have to get to the top or to reach one of the many open balconies and gardens available along the sides of the tower.



Though it’s a few days late, the theme of the gathering is still an unsurprising one for this time of the year: love. And, really, after the past couple of months who doesn’t need that in their lives? There are several activities available to celebrate the many stages of romance, all available in different subsections on the top couple floors. On the second floor from the top is where you enter and houses the business end of the swear-in, what you typically find at these gatherings. A lovely ballroom decorated to the nines in red, white, blue (and pinks) with an open buffet of finger foods, drinks, and various information pamphlets about local businesses, the government, and job opportunities for new imPorts.


Branching off the main ballroom are gorgeous balconies looking over the city, as well as a few indoor/outdoor gardens. These gardens range in themes from tropic jungle, to evergreen paradise, to desert oasis. They are all only about 600 square feet each, but they are a nice break from the socializing and whatnot of the main gathering. There are also special drinks provided by the Color Me Cupid company making their way around, both in alcoholic and virgin varieties. They have no clever names, sadly, but rather are labeled after the bright, almost glowing colors each is. A few sips just leads to a fizzy feeling on the lips, but have at least half of the drink and you’ll feel a few effects for the next twenty minutes or so:

Pink Drink: Sentimentality. You’ll feel a fondness for people, places, events, or even a nice piece of furniture. Cozy on up with this soft puppy love or platonic general desire to be near that person/item of interest.

Blue Drink: Melancholy. Alas, love isn’t all butterflies and sunshine. But this isn’t just being in a bad mood, wanting to go home. No, this is artistic, bohemian angst. The kind of mellow drama the poetic soul feeds on. Drape yourself over a table and opine on your lost loves, or stare tragically at the stars, sighing loudly until someone finally asks you to reveal your dark, mysterious past. Follow your tortured heart in getting that attention you suddenly need, just make sure to make a show of your inner turmoil.

Red Drink: Passion. Whether its for a person, a sports team, or a favorite hobby, you suddenly feel the need to share your enthusiasm with the world. Talk for an hour about a baseball game, or shout your love from a roof top. Or challenge someone to a duel over the hand of your loved one- or a balcony you really wanted to stand on. How ever passion works for you.

Green Drink: Jealousy. It’s an ugly part of love, but hard to escape. Depending on the person, this could induce feelings of neediness for attention from people you care about, to paranoia that others are out to steal what is yours.


Scattered throughout the main floor, a couple of the balconies, and along the twin ramps spiraling up to the top floor are two person tables, set for enjoying those finger foods and drinks. Also on each table is a stack of brightly colored note cards. These are important because, you see, the Loose Lips communication service is showing off one of their newest innovations in dating technology: Speed Honesty. When two people sit at a table, a small force field is suddenly erected around them. It won’t suffocate you or anything easy like that, no. It will simply stay in place, keeping you two at the table, until you pick up a note card and, worst of all, each of you must answer the question on the card. The speaker hidden in the table will evaluate your tone of voice, as well. No sarcastic answers accepted and, unless you’re a skilled liar, dishonest ones won’t do the trick either. The table’s AI needs to believe both parties have sincerely answered the question picked, then the force field will lower. Then you can either run or, if you wait more than ten seconds without moving, the forcefield will reactivate and you have to do it all again. This will happen every time two people sit at any of the tables, and sometimes an unwitting third standing too close may be trapped and must answer as well. Good luck, guys.

[[Questions for the cards can be found here or here, or you can OOCLy make them up for fun.]]


The top floor of the building is owned by the With Your Best Shot company and, trying to keep with the theme of the night, they have opened the (bullet proof) glass enclosed training areas on the roof of the building for duels. Hand to hand, with (dulled) swords, (paint ball) pistols, it’s all open for use so long as you declare your grievance against the person you are about to duel and declare what the winner will gain. These can be anything from traditional romantic items- the hand of the maiden fair- to silly things, like who gets the last soda in the fridge back at the apartment after this. Seconds are encouraged, but not required. There are viewing spaces for people to enjoy both the fights and the amazing view of the city below.

Enjoy the evening, imPorts. This month's swear-in appears to be going well until, later in the evening, the shadows seem to grow darker. Attendees might assume there's been a change of lighting to facilitate a romantic mood until hundreds of Heartless emerge from the darkest corners, intent on attacking imPorts and capturing as many hearts as possible.

Quite a few of the unwelcome guests are of the Shadow variety, stronger in swarms than they are individually, but still dangerous. The more fearsome Neoshadows are also in attendance, as are more colorfulvarieties -- some of which may have been people imPorts knew, before their own hearts were claimed.

Whoever they were and wherever the Heartless came from, attendees have three options: fight, run or hide. Whatever they do, they'll want to guard their hearts closely, or they may find themselves becoming the enemy.

[[OOC: Please ask any questions here!

Comments

Luxord | Kingdom Hearts | OTA

[xth_gambler]

These Drinks Color Me Unimpressed

Frankly, he didn't feel that attending these arrangements was truly useful to him. Luxord had no more intention to 'Register' than he had to paint his nails. Neither truly moved him, and he didn't intend to waste his time in a frivolous and truly foolish endeavor. But things that afforded him free food and drink and people to watch were as close to amusement as he could reach so he welcomed it. So here he is, arrived through one of his dark corridors to save him some walking. And once he saw a collection of free drinks in the nice flower garden he'd arrived in, he scooped one up. Lurid green. An interesting choice. But he puts it to his lips and takes a drink. And shrugs at the less than impressive taste.

"To think, they have this rather than something tasteful like a proper wine."


Speed Honesty? Not Likely

After seeing a few people behaving oddly after the colorful drinks he had come to find an area away from it to enjoy himself. The reminder of the volatility of hearts was useful, though. It spared him from momentary longing after one. Or the echo of longing. So instead he had moved on to another area to study other people. And what he'd seen was strange behavior at tables. People sitting and looking scared or frustrated or fearful. But in the end they always seemed to escape. Which of course was what led to him reaching out to stop one person fleeing from a table experience.

"Excuse me, what happened over there?"

Later, after learning what had happened, he moved to a table and sat down. It might be interesting to see if he could foil the desire for honesty. After all, he had many years of practice at believable deceit. This could be fun.


Shadows Aren't A Bother

He notices the rooms starting to grow darker in the night, and Luxord frowns. There was always a chance of power fluctuations. But with Ansem around... Well, he's tense. And then, darkness starts moving and Luxord sighs. If nothing else, he's definitely not panicked. Heartless, after all, only cared about those with heart. As a Nobody he was safe from their attentions. But Ansem... Well, Luxord wasn't a fan of his plans. So, as much as he'd rather not deal with all of this, he sighs.

Protecting people was not in his nature. But after all Xehanort's different forms had put him through, Xehanort's heartless included, well... Luxord flicks a wrist and his cards shoot from his sleeves, some in his hands to use as weapons, others rising as massive card barriers to defend his back. Even a Nobody could be Heartless bait if they attacked the Shadows. And he saw no reason not to.

"As much as I hate to do the work of a keyblade wielder," he muses as he fans his cards out in his hands, "I fear I must intervene in this one instance."

With that he throws the cards at a heartless lunging at a nearby person. And the Neoshadow is shredded by the cards, he sighs at the person he may have assisted. "It would be best to flee now."

Shadows

[ze_uwu_jun]

Xichen was on the way to this particular group, himself. He's not a keyblade wielder - his sword is very much a normal sword, albeit right now glowing faintly with his spiritual energy infusing it - but he causes plenty of damage, himself.

Different worlds, different rules. But also a person who doesn't give in to hatred or defeat, instead holding on to hope and love if there is any chance at all...

... anyway.

"You know what these things are?"

He doesn't even seem winded.

[xth_gambler]

"Yes, I do. They are an annoyance. But to be defeated by one would make you very... pleasant to be around."

But there's some heavy weight on the 'you'. Luxord has been there, done that. Somewhere out in the world his heartless had existed and been destroyed. And now he was just here, curling his fingers back toward his chest and the cards he had thrown flew back to his hand like they were being pulled on strings.

"The more colorful ones are typically more of a problem. The solid black ones, they will melt into any surface around them, so they can sneak up on you."