trans_9 | Enchanted Aquatica---the Prom [WIDE OPEN Y'ALL]

Entry tags:

Enchanted Aquatica---the Prom [WIDE OPEN Y'ALL]

The day had finally arrived for her big event, and Starfire couldn't be happier---or more nervous, actually. She was certainly not an expert on the inner workings of a prom, but it couldn't be too terribly complicated, right? As long as the people could eat, dance, and talk, it should be a reasonable success.

With that in mind, her decorations sprung from her mind into the large dome all around her, transforming a grey Sensorium into a beautiful underwater world, one with clear waters and free from the possibility of a shark attack.

The first change was the scent of the air, shifting into the comforting salty scent of the seas. Then the ground beneath her feet became a hardened sandstone, maintaining the gritty texture while remaining easy to walk upon---except for the smooth dance floor, of course. The grey dome transformed into a flowing bluish-green, rippling all around with fish of all colors passing in the background. Some of the 'sky' faded into a violet tone over the dance floor, lit by glowing circular lights in every color. Suspended in midair, they almost looked like motionless fireflies, though they sometimes swayed in tune with songs.

Tables arose from coral in all colors, rising from the ground and twisting to provide a flattened surface on the very top---rounded ones for guests, and long tables off to the side containing shell-bowls of food. Chairs were large floating clam shells with well cushioned interiors, some large enough to hold two people. More comfortable spongy places to sit were also littered across the area, notably by the large shell-shaped enclosure that was the promised swimming pool. It too was lit by the floating lights, providing what she hoped was a romantic atmosphere.

Finally, the glowing stage above the dance floor couldn't help but attract attention with its chairs. Six royal thrones and one plush chair of all colors directly in the middle rested in the back of the stage, leaving the front open for announcements. Just off to the side of the stage stood the DJ's table, with even that machine painted to match the soft underwater glow of the scenery.

Everything finally seemed pleasing to Starfire. With one last change, dressing herself in the formal attire of the prom, she sent out the signal to everyone and waited. She hoped they would have a wonderful time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hey. You look like a peacock," Howard says, not meaning it as either an insult or compliment, just an observation. He guesses it's a nice dress. He wouldn't really know. Mostly he's just been people-watching in the back, snacking and waiting for an excuse to heckle Zouichi, when he almost bumped right into Kaya.

"A pea-well, thanks, I think," Kaya said, unsure of how to take the comment. "You look nice too, Howard. I never got to ask you: how did the last mission go? Are you ok?

She had missed her grumpy coworker in the med bay for a bit.

"I have no idea what that is, but on most worlds, it's a peacock. I think." Although he's not really from the authority planet on normal animals, given zekes and talking coyotes.

He looks at his own clothing. He bothered to find a collared shirt and slacks, although the pants are a bit long. "Thanks. And, um, there aren't enough syllables in 'total disaster'. I got nearly killed, bled on, and dressed down by a two year-old. It was bad beyond bad."

She'd take his word for it: animals that weren't hybrids were just weird mutant-y things to her anyway. "I take it we're not going to be smiling at this occasion either?"

She would find a way if it killed her.

"Gosh, I'm sorry, though I can't imagine how you would get dressed down by a two year old. That's weird, even for you. Hey, would you mind if I hemmed down your pants? You look like you'll be tripping over them any minute."

"Hey, I smile plenty," he says, although his face certainly doesn't reflect it at the moment. He's still unwinding from Galilee.

"I'd rather not talk about it." He's serious, but then he tilts his head and slides into a more casual, light-hearted attitude. "But then how will I hide that I'm wearing heels?"

"Not whenever I'm around," Kaya said, "But maybe I just put you in a bad mood? That would make me pretty sad, actually."

She doubted it had anything to do with her though.

"All right: it sounds like it was pretty bad. I'm sorry." And she was, actually. She could tell it was pretty hard for him. "Oh please. I'm a girl, I'd know if you were swearing heels. You haven;t broken your neck, for starters"

"Nah, it's not you." It really isn't. Kaya doesn't automatically put him at ease like Zouichi does, but she's friendly enough, almost sisterly. He feels less paranoid around her than he does around most people. "And I don't know why you keep saying I'm in a bad mood. I haven't even said anything mean to anyone yet."

Yet. Some of the fashion here even he recognizes as ugly, and he knows nothing about clothes.

"Well, if I ever wanted to wear heels and break my neck, I'd have to have long pants to cover it, right? God knows I could use the extra few inches. Maybe I could even reach the top shelf of bandages in the Med Bay."

"Yet?" Even this did not go missing by Kaya "And what would you say about some of the people here that would be mean, besides comparing my dress to something that some bird would wear? Well, I think its a bird, right?"

It sounded like a bird name, or otherwise it was something that sounded rude. Peacock.

"Long pants would make it worse, not better. First off you'd have to actually know how to walk in feels to do it, and that itself can be hard. So long pants? Not exactly a great idea. That's why woman wearing heels will usually be wearing a skirt, more freedom of movement."

She giggled. "I know what you mean! I'm not exactly tall myself."

"Hey, I hear bird patterns are really fashionable. It wasn't really an insult." He points over to someone else. "That person, on the other hand, looks like they fell face-first into a tub of glitter."

Although somehow, he imagines Kaya will enjoy his snarking on people less than he enjoys it. "Anyway, I'm just saying, if I was in a really bad mood, I'd be a lot ruder." She should know him well enough for that.

"Unfortunately for you, you're not going to see me in a skirt anytime soon. Wah wah, so sad." He winks. "We can petition someone to lower all the shelves back at the workplace."

Kaya nodded. "Well, I don't know how 'regular' birds look, but if you say they're fashionable, thanks." She chuckled lightly."Glitter can be a good accessory if you know what to do with it! They might not, though, you have that right."

She gave him her famous raised eyebrow look. "Oh, I believe you, trust me. A boy like you is more than likely not one to keep his mouth shut about things that bother him. But maybe you need that defense mechanism."

She had a few of her own, after all.

"Oh darn, I'm so heartbroken." She grinned. "And here I was all excited about seeing you trying to walk around in heels. I guess its another dream dashed."

"Oh, God, anything but glitter. My first mission Stacy sent me on was covered in glitter. Glitter in the food, glitter in the toothpaste, glitter in the corpse trench." Which Howard had become intimately familiar with during his stay. "We had glitter in our freaking underwear. I still find glitter stuck to my scalp sometimes, and that was months ago."

He matches hers with his own impressive quirked eyebrow. They could probably carry an entire conversation with their eyebrows alone together.

"A brain-to-mouth filter? Yeah, I could probably stand to get mine retuned." He grins back. "Maybe if you ask me nicely someday."

"Stacy sent you to a glitter planet?" Kaya asked, looking pretty perplexed. "What was the point of doing that? And glitter in a corpse trench?!" Now she looked pretty unnerved. "What kind of crazy mission was this?"

Yes, yes they could.

"You're not the only one who could use one of those," Kaya said, thinking of Nokosi, which happened to bring a smile to her face." And the last thing Kaya said brought a smile to her face. "Howard, you really ought to know better than to say things like that, because I WILL hold you to it."

"A bullshit one. We had to steal this glowy thing for Stacy, and Zou ended up sold into a dinosaur gladiator ring, and I ended up hiding in a corpse trench covered in glitter. The smell took almost as long to wash off as most of the glitter." He pulls up a pant leg. "But hey, I got bitemarks in my shoes from it. That's cool, right?"

He shakes his head. "Who says I'm not serious, Bubbles?"

Now Kaya flat out looked horrified. "What kind of insane mission is that? I never even heard of something like that going on, and why would she allow Zouichi to be sold into a gladiator ring? I feel like I should have a long talk with the council now, this is insane!"

And yes Howard, bite marks were a little cool even if she wouldn't admit that right now.

She laughed. "Oh, I'd call you on it whether you were serious about it or not. In fact, I say next chance we get, we make a bet, and if you lose, you have to wear heels in the med bay all day."

"Well, technically she sent us to negotiate. It wasn't supposed to go all pear-shaped with the gladiators and everything." He shakes his head. "What's the council going to do about it? They don't tell Spacey Stacy what to do. She does whatever she wants."

Dinosaur bitemarks! Even better!

"Haha, no. Not unless you promise to do something equally humiliating if I win a bet."

"What were you supposed to be negotiating?" Kaya asked, looking genuinely curious. "I mean, I totally agree that Stacy will usually do whatever she wants, but how did it go from something as simply and nonviolent as having a negotiation to having to lay in a trench of dead people?"

Oh dinosaurs. She had her fill of them when that T-rex attacked during the Nightmare King fiasco.

"Oh I'm going to regret this," she said, shaking her head. "Like what, Howard?"

"Well, Zou beat the hell out of a bunch of people..." Generally, mass violence is a good sign that negotiations have gone downhill. "Basically, we were trying to sell them slop, and they decided they wanted Zou instead. And it all sort of spiraled out of control and I got chased by dinosaurs."

"Fine. Next bet I win, you cut your hair short." And hopefully that'll keep them from making any bets with each other, because he really isn't keen on wearing heels around the med bay.

Kaya made sure not to laugh, but that break down really seemed to be lacking in story. Still, it was good that Howard and Zouichi had made it out of there alive: she hadn't wanted anything bad to happen to them. "At least you guys were able to escape without anything too bad happening, now that I think it was a good thing."

Kaya looked at her hair a moment. She hadn't really touched it in a long time, except to occasionally trim it down. "How short are we talking about?"

"I got my foot bitten all the way through! It hurt. But you know, thank God for us rockstars in Med Bay." He's actually coming to think of the Med Bay as a sort of family, though he'd never admit it to himself. Wouldn't admit that his coworkers mean anything to him.

"Short short. Capital-S short. Almost as short as mine short."

"And you did pretty well," Kaya said, smiling. "You are a pretty rugged guy. I just wish you didn't jump all the time we mentioned something about braving a fight. You strike em as a guy willing to9 fight his way to the top."

Ha ha.

"Your short?" She held her breath. "Um, I could, I guess."

"Hah, rugged?" He laughs. "I just put a lot of effort into not getting killed. If Stacy'd stop sending me on missions, I wouldn't have to."

His face softens for just a moment. "But it's cute you care, I guess. Thanks."

And then it's back to the usual smirk. "Alright, so let's just...not make any bets for a while."

"Oh come on. If you weren't running around on missions, what would you be doing, leading an 'ordinary' life on Stacy? Good luck with that!"

She smiled back. "Hey, I care about what happens to my friends. Nothing special, its how I am."

Kaya had no problem with that. "Are you that scared of wearing heels?"

"Actually, I'd be totally happy doing that. And the next time an evil robot rage-virus dream monster decides to run through the city, I'll just hunker down in my basement. I don't see what's wrong with wanting that."

He looks a bit surprised. "So wait, I'm in the friend club now? And yes. Yes I am."

He thought they were just 'coworkers that get along'.

Kaya shook her head, laughing to herself. She really hoped that she could move hard from simply cowering by himself somewhere, but she figured that it might take him longer than most people anyway.

"Well yeah, why are you so surprised? I mean yes, you're a little cowardly, but you're also funny and easy going."

She gave him a pretty knowing look. "If you;re that against it, why did you suggest it?"

He frowns. "Wow, only 'a little cowardly'? Thanks a bunch, Bubbles. I feel so warm and fuzzy now."

He shakes his head. "Whatever. I was joking."

Enchanted Aquatica---the Prom [WIDE OPEN Y'ALL]

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS

Re: ARRIVALS