tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

WHO: YOU.
WHEN: Valentine’s Day, sundown – 4 a.m.
WHERE:

caughtthebullet estate, the Palace.

And what is a City overrun by Venice flair without its masque?

Come sundown, the overly-lit Palace, suffering under a sea of orchids and a white-and-gold palette, will be welcoming the ladies and gentlemen of our fair City as its guests to this year’s Valentine’s Day ball. Have no fear, the Palace staff has been given notice to help newcomers dock their gondolas!

Should they lack their own, ladies will be served a dance card, white cape and masque upon arrival. Gentlemen without can also be helped find a suitablemask.

Guests will not be introduced by name, but by their choice of pseudonym; instead, they can play the guessing game until masks are formally removed at midnight, giving their time, and maybe their hearts to some hopeful stranger.

jesusing_clown and a cohort of waiters will produce the evening’s treats;

taravata will be attending on any task that calls for strong arms and keen balance;

risetwice’s patisserie will be providing breads, cakes, and the evening’s tort; and

eagleofautozam has promised sweets and candied souvenirs.

The ball’s sponsor and delightful host,

caughtthebullet passes his compliments, and the

sparkling_by puts himself at your service.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Please, be welcome.

[ooc: up very early, but you know what to do! Thread, threadjack, take advantage of the masks for cute shenanigans, and most of all, have fun! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That response shocked him, made his chest tighten a little. Like Longshot and Smellerbee: they had their hearts in the wrong places, but they were misguided. Just letting a firebender walk among them? Take that up with him, like it didn't matter whether.

He forced himself to relax. This was Katara, the girl who had iced him to a tree and then left in a fit of angry tears. What had happened? What was going to happen, to cause her to walk up to him at a party and actually smile?

Jet pushed himself away from the wall.

"Dance with me."

She would have raged at him for demanding such a thing, like the time she did when she saw him again. But, Katara was already beyond that. So much so that instead of getting angry at him like before, she just smiled lopsidedly.

"Tell that to some other girl here, Jet."

And Jet exhaled surprised laugh at that, leaning forward slightly. "We're at a ball. Aren't we sort of expected to dance?"

"We are," She replied calmly. "But there are a lot of other girls here. I'm sure some of them would want to dance with you." Katara wouldn't doubt that. Jet was a charming young man and she knew this the hard way.

"Yeah, but I don't know any of them." Jet leaned forward, offering his hand out. "Come on, Katara. One dance for the lost Earth Kingdom peasant. You can't even afford me that? I need to make up for what I did when we first met somehow."

To make up for I did... Katara couldn't help but smile at that. He had a point and come this time, she wasn't as cruel as to drown him like before. She knew he held some sort of place in her heart, she could admit as much. Even if this admittance would never see words.

"Fine," She sighed a bit, accepting his hand. "But just one dance. And it's to make up for all the things you did."

"It's as easy as that to get you to forgive me, is it, huh?" Jet took her hand, gently pulling her toward the dance floor. Moving to Ba Sing Se really had signaled his intention to change, to leave the past in the past, but the fact that there were two firebenders there, just pretending to be refugees.. it made his blood boil.

But that was neither her nor there. He'd deal with that when he had to.

"You make me feel a little underdressed, you know."

"Don't push your luck. Many things happened in your future." Katara replied, which sounded more melancholy than she hoped for. It still bothered her that she wouldn't be able to know if he died or not, judging from when he was from. But, the waterbender pushed all these thoughts aside.

At his comment, though, she giggled a bit. "The idea was to dress formally. But don't worry, I think you look good enough."

The almost-melancholy answer didn't go unnoticed by Jet, who wound his arm around Katara's waist, pressing his fist gently into the small of her back as they began dancing.

"So you do know about my future," he answered, his voice a low murmur.

Alright, that felt a bit weird but Katara knew it was just how people should dance. Maybe because this was Jet and she was still awkward around him that she felt strange by the contact.

"Well, like I told you, I came from a different point in time." She answered, placing both of her hands on his shoulders.

"So I've heard," Jet answered, pulling her close as he led them across the dance floor. He bent his head, face close to hers -- but not unusually close. He maintained a polite distance, though his smile was soft, charming.

"I'm just.. curious. I think I deserve to know what happens to me, don't you think? When do we meet again, Katara?"

It might not be unusually close for Jet, but it was for Katara that she backed away some. Whatever he was planning, this girl would never fall for it. She'd be giving him a some sort of angry pout right now.

"I'm not telling. But we'll meet again soon." And it wasn't exactly a very good one either, but who could blame her?

"Oh, come on, Katara, that's not fair." It wasn't earnest whining; he knew her well enough to know that he wouldn't get very far with that. Instead, he just let it drop again, tugging her gently to the middle of the floor.

"That pout's pretty cute, you know, but I like it better when you smile, so don't give me that." Laying it on a little thick? Maybe, but Jet seemed earnest enough to maybe make it work.

He'd be having this face after that little flirting he just did. She knew she had already forgiven him and that she cried when they left and he was on the brink of death, but really, a girl could only take as much flirting.

"Stop that. I really won't smile if you keep that up." Katara was now contemplating whether or not to call her boyfriend now.

He was unfazed by the face, instead pulling back just a little bit, flashing her a bright, lopsided smile. "Fine, fine," he conceded, hand still pressed innocently to her back. "Tell me what you've been doing since you got here, then."

Good. Katara still wouldn't be smiling, though, but at least she also wouldn't be all tsun now. "Some people told you about the curses, right? We're all pretty busy handling those." Which was the truth, in any case.

"And that - the curses, they keep people too busy to work towards finding a way home? Toward figuring out what the hell is behind that carousel in the middle of the town?"

It was obvious he was bothered by this.

She nodded. She wouldn't put it past him to be this observant. "Yeah, basically. There were attempts on escape, but they're always unsuccessful."

"They weren't successful, so people just gave up?" That couldn't be all there was to it, could there?

Her gaze came back to look at his face. Her own was filled with worry and a bit of sadness. "You have to understand, Jet, that some people here had been here for almost two years. I'm nearing my first year already. If there's an exit, we would have found it."

"I'm sorry, Katara." His hand lingered for a moment when the song ended before he removed himself from her entirely, stepping backwards. "I just can't accept that."

Backing away as well, she gave him a determined look. This was why she fell for him before, probably one of the reasons why. Right now, she was figuring out why she did in the first place even if this was easy to answer.

"I know you won't."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only