[open] PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES

[hall_monitors]

who | Everyone, students and staff alike!
what | An opening mixer to celebrate the beginning of the school year.
when | Friday, September 16th, 1921
where | The Great Hall.
summary / warnings | Everyone is invited to put on their glad rags and strap on their mary-janes for a night of music, dancing, light refreshments and polite socialization. Please warn for language, etc in individual threads.








It's a beautiful, crisp September evening, and outside the wind blows gently, rustling crisp leaves and sending piles of them scattering across the stone courtyard. It might be chilly outdoors, but inside, the Great Hall is warm and inviting.

The crystal chandeliers overhead have been lit with hundreds of candles, sending warm light dazzling over the walls and the marble floor, and up on the dais at the far end, a jazz band is playing lively music, the trumpet and saxophone underscored by steady drums and the thrum of the upright bass.

Students and staff alike have turned out in their best fall fashions; hair has been pin-curled all afternoon in preparation, the ladies' dorms abuzz with hot irons and hairpins and pressed powder--the gentlemen's, with spit-shined shoes and starched bow-ties and the scent of hair grease.

The cooks have been hard at work in the kitchen; along one wall are lined table filled with fancy canapés, bowls of sweet punch (non-alcoholic, of course!), sweets, and various other fancy foods. Students stand near these tables making chitchat while taking a break from dancing, mingling with their classmates and maybe making new friends while they're at it.

The center of the room is filled with lively dancers, rich and poor kids alike showing off the newest dance craze--mainly the Charleston, though it's yet to earn that name as the song won't be released for another two years--as well as the foxtrot and the waltz, when the music allows for it. Shoes click smartly against the marble floor, beads and tassels fly, and curls bounce as students let off the last bit of steam before the semester begins on Monday.

As the night goes on, the punch and canapés are gradually replaced by hot chocolate and cider and slices of pie for dessert, as a last treat before the evening inevitably draws to a close and students are shuffled off to bed--though some may choose to linger, or sneak around the empty school after-hours, if they're daring and not quite ready to sleep.

Comments

[shigenii]

Wanting to get away from all the hubbub of the welcoming dance, Morishige has literally fled the premises, choosing instead to familiarize himself with a place where he's sure he'll be spending a lot of time. Just getting away from the music and throngs of people makes him breathe a little easier, and as soon as the doors have closed behind him, he leans against them with an audible sigh.

Of course, he startles as soon as he realizes he's not alone.

"Ah, sorry," he says, straightening his posture self-consciously. "I didn't think there would be anyone else in here."

[negativecapability]

Raf looks up from his book, shutting it while he studies the new arrival. He’s in the library because he doesn’t particularly want to be around people, so he’s not inclined to start a conversation.

On the other hand, he does know that a response of some kind is only polite.

“You can ignore me if you wish.”

[shigenii]

Ignoring someone immediately after they told you to do so still seems a little...rude. But wouldn't it be equally as rude to disturb him if he was reading? Regardless, Morishige doesn't puzzle over it for too long, because he actually does have something to say that isn't meaningless banter.

"If it won't be too much trouble, a question?" he asked. "Are you a new student here? I'm not familiar with the layout of this library, and I don't fancy wandering around all evening trying to find the section I'm looking for."

[negativecapability]

That was one question and one sort-of-question, and while Raf could answer the first and most likely be left alone, he decided that it would be more accurate to give a better picture.

“I’m new, yes, but I know the layout.” It was easy enough, given the fact that he’d spent time here instead of talking to others, and given the fact that his memory was photographic. “What are you looking for?”

[shigenii]

Yes, technically it was one and a half questions, but Morishige isn't going to get caught up on that. He's just happy to hear that someone else knows the layout of the library. "The psychology section, if there is one," he answers. "I was reading Gustave Le Bon's "A Study of the Popular Mind" before I left home, and I seem to have left my copy there."

[negativecapability]

“The psychology section is over here,” Raf says, setting his book down without marking the page or seeming to glance down at it to check the number again. Whether or not he’s seen the book is also something he remembers, but he figures he can give enough information just by showing the other boy to the (rather small) section

[shigenii]

The fact that Raf puts his book down without so much as dog-earing the page makes Morishige arch an eyebrow, but he's not sure if he wants to draw attention to it. At least, not yet. As he follows the boy to their destination, he can't quite contain a grimace at the size of the psychology section. "I suppose I should have expected it to be so small." He waves an idle hand at the rest of the books surrounding them. "Does that mean that the majority of the works here are fiction?"

[negativecapability]

The psychology section is what it is. The boarding school Raf had been at in Switzerland had had a more varied, but there were somewhat different works on offer here, even if they were also all in English. Besides, other sections are more interesting than psychology. Raf doesn’t need a book to tell him that he’s crazy. “No. It's 44% fiction, by quantity and size of shelves.”