maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rude, Bean. One day Dog will climb up the ladder of the boy's consideration and actually be able to afford a pat on the head, or even an ear scratch.

Adam looks down at the people walking around again. "They're always doing something different. Last couple of ones haven't been very interesting though." At least for a kid. He really liked the one they held at that park full of monsters though...

He'll get there. Give him time. (Just not six years...)

"I didn't even go to the last one. I'm not interested in hot tubs or massages."

Even though he could probably do with a little relaxation, in all honesty.

Dog doesn't want to think about those six years either. Well, most of them were alright, just living with his master as he was supposed to. That last part wasn't so fun though. Either way, they're not in Bean's Petting Tab, so it's fine.

"Me neither." Playing around in pools and such sounded fun, but not really as fun as other stuff he could be doing. "Wish they'd hold one in that monster park again."

Bean smiles somewhat fondly. "Eh. I at least got to bring a pet home from that one."

He's never been the type to want a pet before, but he and Dink make a good pair.

"Yeah, me too. A jackalope." He smiles, happy to speak about his pets, like any child. "What did you get?"

"A small dragon." Bean takes out his phone and pulls up a picture of himself with a tiny coppery dragon perched on his shoulder, showing the screen to Adam.

"I named him Dink, after a friend from school."

Adam looks at the photo, perking up slightly. "Oh, yeah. We met there, didn't we?"

"Maybe. It was a busy event."

There were a lot of people, like there are at every Swear In.

"But we met for the first time at the medieval festival, with the costumes."

"Oh yeah!" A bit more excited this time, remembering that far back. Wow, that seems to long ago now. "That was a fun one. Got kind of weird at the end, but I guess they all kind of do."

Exactly. It's not a Swear In if it doesn't go wrong somewhere towards the end of the night.

Adam thinks about how he got to be, well, Robin Hood. Or a sort of Robin Hood character. And he remembers how he found Aziraphale and Crowley in those woods, and how Crowley the Black Knight agreed to set up an ambush with him, and how Aziraphale the Knight of the Round Table tried to reason with him. It was all very serious then, as they were all under the influence of whatever happened that day, but, afterwards, Adam found it kind of fun. They lived a real medieval fantasy story then. Though he could have done without the mind alterations.

He looks down at the lobby again, watching other imPorts and guests wander around the building. "Do you think something's going to happen in this one?"

Bean turns as well, crossing his arms and leaning against the railing to peer down at the lobby below.

"Of course something's going to happen. It's a predictable pattern by this point. The only questions are when, and what?"

Bean didn't plan on sticking around long enough to find out. He'd come for the free food, eaten his fill, had a few pleasant conversations, but after that he was done. Time to go back to Nonah.

Adam thinks, spotting some familiar faces down below.

"Maybe something to do with all the Valentine's stuff." He twists his nose a little, now that he's thinking about it. "Hopefully not."

Bean scoffs. "It is that season." He wouldn't put it past them to try to bring romance into the night's festivities.

"I just hope they leave us kids out of all that."

As a young boy, Adam looks thoroughly grossed out.

"I hope so too."