Duty Session 622: Welcome to the Ballroom

Gwen had quite the repuation for fashion even with the Landers, heck she often designe thing in mind for them such as her line of work clothing based on Denim, right? So Gwen had been sent out an invite, given Yeowangs own actions and goals she's got quite a bit of attention as well and Shiruba well she's a well known hunter and you think? Gwen would not invite Shiruba to a fancy party with lots of good food? Also a chance to get her to use the dress she made for her. Yeowang would also have been offered an outfit of her choosing if she'd tasked for it. Gwen was vibrating about the party and she's in a dark green ball gown, she's really dressed herself up and she seems eager.

"This is going to be fun! Are you both as excited as I am?"

"Gwen, no one could possibly be as excited about this as you are," Shiruba replies. Which is a pretty fair assessment, really. Gwen is just over the moon right now and there is no way to match that. Even if there is a potential of fancier than usual food involved.

She is indeed wearing the fancier dress Gwen made for her, of forest greens and browns and integrates some motifs of ranger garb into the design details. Because the easiest way to get Shiruba to actually wear it on occasions was for it to be appealing to her tastes and not excessively flashy. "But I guess I can't complain about being dragged along on this."

Yeowang has been training with Wake in the social arts, and in an effort to prove her mettle, has accepted this invitation to a noble's ball. She is not fully involved in things yet, but she would like to be, and has definite plans in that direction. If Gwen lets her choose her dress, she will select one, she normally avoids shopping with Gwen because of Morri's influence. But if allowed to choose on her own, she picks an elegant purple evening dress, cut just past her knees, with bits of ruffle here and there. She supplies her own jewelry, which looks very expensive, and she will insist on paying for the dress of course. Because she undoubtedly can, she's probably one of the wealthier players and it shows at times like these.

As far as excited, she says, "I don't know about fun. We will be meeting influential Landers, though, and we'd like to make good impressions. Not only to make them think that players aren't all murderhobos, but that we can interact in their spheres of influence and act in a way that they feel is normal. Ironically, farmers and craftsmen won't see it that way, but they don't control the same sorts of resources."

Gwen mocking frowns at Shiruba a little bit. "Still think of all the food they are going to have too. Think about it you are a waitress no longer." Save when at Crescent Burger and Gwen spot Shiruba. She pays well at least, right?

"You look good in that dress Shiruba."

Gwin winks, and somehere Morri gets an urge to update the wall. Gwen meanwhile is looking over Yeowang and the dress she picked out.

"You seem to have worked out well with your dress too and i'm glad Morri was busy."

Even Gwen does know her mother and her antics she wonder swas she as wild as she is now when she was Gwen's age? She doesn't know.

"We are not all murderhobos we're more than that right? Fair enough but we should have some fun with this. Let's go out and mingle."

The trio cut quite the imposing figures as they go into mingle the people here are quite amazing and she's nodding approvling at a lot of the fashion she even notices a few of her own as she hops or of their ride thanking the driver and heads off. She's already starting to chat and social up and she's seriously used some magic to spice things up for her apperance! As for Shiruba and Yeowang they are being sized up too by the various nobles and other party goers how will they handle it?

Yeowang smirks to gwen about not being murderhobos, and says, "You know that, and I know that, but these Landers, they don't all know that. Let's give them the right impression."

The right impression, in this case, is a haughty Yeowang in evening dress and enough jewels to stun a prince, walking right up to the entrance with the poise of someone accustomed to such things. The nobles checking her out seem to approve of her evening gown and jewelry, it's certainly in the current fashion, and the jewels sparkle. She smiles graciously, and will make small talk with the host and hostess as we are admitted.

"We are not, but Yeowang has a point. These people will judge by perceptions of a few, even if they do not apply specifically." Shiruba's tail flicks a few times as the wolfgirl tries to not be too anxious about the situation. Alliance moderator, Guild leader, sure... but that alone doesn't make one better at dealing with large social interactions.

Fortunately Shiruba did come prepared in a manner that she does know. High society likes to talk about the forms their wealth takes. And while not particularly rich, Shiruba can go into extensive detail about the many things she's found exploring ruins and caves and so forth, and their potential monetary values on markets and to historical collectors. Cait Sith have a racial knack for such matters, so she's focusing on that rather than fuss over what she wouldn't be able to contribute to the social discussion over.

Gwen Says "That is true lets WoW them, Yeowang. "

She will stride out into the crowg using some magic effects around them all to help with their into to the masses here and so far it's going good. She is being quite the fashion dabbler but when is she not talking to the various party goeer and the reception so far is so good. Some are shocked the murder hobos are behaving like stuch and other are just impressed they seem to know how to behave so far.

The trio make it into the ball room now where thing are getting interin it social fue time. Many want to talk to the trio of Adventurer guests.

What willl they talk about to break the ice? Gwen is going to tall scripture, litature and some of the holy texts of the world hopefully she's recalled as much as she can....or this could be bad for her.

Yeowang nods to Gwen about wowing them, she's here to make a positive impression, as she said. And to do so, she needs to be able to talk the noble's talk. Right now, though, it's small talk, but she can go on about hunting fairly well, as a hunter in the game, she's actually skilled in that, though she uses that part of her powerset far less than her guild leader does. Still, she knows about the chase and the strike, and about the sorts of animals and what drops what, if you need a certain resource. That seems to stand her in good stead as she sips tea while everyone else gets liquored up.

Oh no, cocktails. Don't let Shiruba have too many drinks, she's a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. Though mixed drinks aren't -too- bad. At least not immeadiately.

Despite her initial concerns she seems to have struck upon a line of conversation she can actually impress with. As it turns out some of these socialites aren't complete shut-in businessmen. Sure they only hunt as hobby and sport, but it is still a common ground Shiruba can commencerate over. Especially when they start talking about some of the more unusual things they've seen... and then Shiruba can top it by going into how she's been on Safari in the Palace Lands, a location many of these Landers have heard of but is still unvisited and alien to them, and how many of it's Beasts are combinations of two creatures, and the potentially valuable loots they may drop because of it.

It's a bloody miracle for Gwen, she's able to recall what she needs to break the ice and prove she's not a red neck of some sort. So she's chatting awya, having some drinks she's getting nicely warmed up for the party. The good news is she's not getting herself drunk that would be a poor idea. Its now time to get thing warmed up music start up, the dancer are doing pretty well and before Gwen nknows it? She's invited to dance by a young Lander Knight who seems to have a good deal of courage given Gwen's imposing fram she smile and will accept as she's sets out to dance.

Leaing up to this Yeowang does a darn good job then again she's had long experiance with this level of society before she ended up ont his world as she shows the width and depth of what she knows.

Shiruba meanwhile is having a fun time with it and with her repuation as a hunter well? She kicking them down with what she knows of the beasts of this world which is a hell of a lot.

Now with the dancing what are the other two ladies to do? Dance but with who there's a large number of nobles and merchants about and a few seem bold enough to approach the pair for a dance...

Oh no, ballroom dancing. The horror, the horror... no wait, this isn't horrible. At least it's dancing, and not singing. Shiruba can't sing worth shite, unless you count the approximate of howling. But dancing?
She actually manages. All the time navigating wilderness trails and harsh environments has made her light on her feet when necessary, and she slides into the steps of the dance routine easy enough. It helps that she had some guidance in the matter from a certain enchanter and the dance made in honor of Shibuya.

Yeowang seems to be familiar with ballroom dance, though the earthly varieties moreso than the ones that are done here. But she can waltz and foxtrot and quickstep fairly well. She -has- had experience, clearly, and if the steps are a bit different here because the animators have never danced with a girl, well, she can cover the difference without too much trouble. She's at least lithe and moves easily, and she allows a series of Lander gentlemen to swing and sway her, looking a bit nonplussed, but smiling if they look her way. It's a mix of training and experience and covering the small gaps between RL and in-game.

The Dancing goes well for Gwen, with the young knight it's a prety decent dance no errors are mad there is some fun chat to as they are into several fields they can talk on after all. From combat tatics and various sword arts. Thing go well there, for Shiruba does darn well and leave a very good impression with her dancing. As for Yeowang who has more experiance than Gwen and Shiruba combined? She too leads a very good impression of her on the party goers.

Now for the main event the Banquet, oh goddeses. Shiruba knows what happens to Gwen at buffets sometimes, eveyrone could be in danger. The food is quite the wide sletion abut one needs to know about how to handle it right? Gwen does know cooking and she seem ready but well Shiruba would also recall some of Gwen's first reactions to various Japanese dishes.

Yeowang should be quite ready for this as she seems to be getting a good drift on things so far and now's a good time to hammer things home as the food comes in.

Yeowang is, as Gwen understands, an old hand at this sort of thing. This includes buffets with complicated dishes that need to be sorted through. A bit of deft manipulation winds up sending the less strange dishes her way and directs the occasional plate of brussel sprout-like vegetables away down the table. Of course she knows which fork goes with which course, but they're almost always arranged from the outside in anyhow, so knowing that trick can help if you're not sure. It wouldn't do to eat soup with a teaspoon or a table spoon. What would people think?

It is a well known fact that Shiruba loves food even though she doesn't know a lick about actual cooking. But that love means she knows a lot of the ins and outs of proper table etiquette. One of the few useful things drilled into her by her mother's obsession with her being able to 'win over appropriate husband material'.

As for what to eat? Shiruba follows her nose. Literally, almost. Smell and taste work together and she's able to pick out some of the finest pieces of the meal just by the aromas.

So far the trio of ladies have done an amazing job of WoWing the party goingers. Dinner is a succes Gwen uses some air magic to get the plates of what she wants. She gets meat, a whole lot of meat dishes along with some of the other more intresting dishes. Still she has to think there are foods on earth people only eat because no one will call everyone else out on it being horrible. Still good times for everyone. Gwen has enjoyed her meal a good deal, and she seem pretty happy but now more drinks and more serious converstion. Gwen is now talking and out to sdo some showing off foe whatr she's able to do as she speaks on the matters of Mac Annu and also showing off just a little bit of how she can do feat of physical strenght.

Yeowang's manners are, of course, impeccable, and she shifts to the afterdinner drinks with a refined grace. Espresso has been located for her, and she will explain to a duke, who was concerned about what happened at Mac Anu, that players are even now keeping the Palace Landers far too busy over there to do anything over here.

She will tell them the story of the Palace Landers' betrayal at the Wave in the Palace Lands, and how they seemed to understand what was coming even though they'd never had one before, and how they turned on the players unexpectedly. She includes the brave fighting retreat, discovering the raid on Seeker's Landing, and the perilous journey back to Yamato. This seems to impress the Landers, and as she was there, she can answer what she did about it.

The conversation turns to more serious matters, but it's matters that Shiruba is well versed in thanks both to her time Hunting the Palace Lands wilderness and aiding the Rebellion there. So while she tries not to give away too many complicated details that would cause more concern than comfort, she can give a general overview of the continuing efforts to aid the Rebellion and making sure the Palace Land leadership won't be able to sieze that kind of power again in either region.

She carefully avoids having any more drinks herself. But she can use a bit of ice magic to chill glasses and keep everyone's drinks nice and cool while they talk. See, Adventurers can use magic for more than fighting.

Gwen does okay but not enough to really wow people at what she was trying to pull off. Uta or Miho she is not when it comes to physical power still she does well enough to not embrass herself.

The real show is with Yeowang and Shiruba.

Yeowang does one heck of a job about elling the horrors of what the Palace Landers did this get some very big reactions from some of the on goers but its pretty clea she;s left an impression. This is followed up by Shiruba's efforts, of telling her own tales gainst the palace lands. With the cooled drinks it only makes things better.

Their host is overjoyed about how well things went, he will offer them to stay the night and also to join them for breakfast the next morning as well, this would be a good chance for any of the three to talk business with him. The best part is he seems very thankful for one them comming and two for how well they behaved they may have the start of an ally here.

Yeowang will accept their host's gracious offer, and stay the night, and she's quite pleased she was able to leave a good impression. SShe smiles to Gwen and Shiruba, and when they get a moment to themselves, she says, "This will do some good, I think, in getting the Landers on more friendly terms. The Lander nobles, that is. Some of them were not happy at all that the Palace Landers came over because of player actions, but since we drove them off again, they're only a little annoyed. But this," she taps the coin they received, "is proof that we can work with them, and convince them we're on their side."

Shiruba isn't about to turn the offers down. That in itself could be seen as rude and such, and that would just undo all the effort they put into making a good impression. Honest hospitality is not something you just turn away. She nods in agreement with Yeowang. "Goes a long way in showing that we can be worked with, not just pointed at some problem and told to go kill it."