The Crystal Garden (2): The Crystal Garden takes up the majority of the Event Hall and is an expansive collection of hand crafted crystal flowers created specifically for this event. The garden is impressive and magical; while there is little effort to make identical replicas of the flowers used for inspiration, each cut of crystal seems to capture the light and make the flowers glow. Many of the flowers are easy to recognize and are true to life in size and shape, but there are sections of the garden with flowers that come in fantastical sizes and shapes. It feels like stepping into another world. During the daytime, the natural light from the glass windows and sunroof makes it easy to see fine details, and when the sun goes down, the artificial lighting spreads beautiful rainbow prisms across the ground and walls. No matter what time of day you visit the garden, you’re guaranteed a beautiful sight. There are several locations specifically designed for photographs you can take on your own, but the venue has also hired professional photographers to help you capture yourself in the moment. Contributing artists are credited along the back wall, and if players have characters with glass or crystal skills they are permitted to have donated to the display. If your character is a professional photographer, you can also play them as employed at the venue.
’You’ll regret it if you stay behind.’
Initially, Ellian had doubted the validity of that statement. He wasn’t big on fancy dos, and having already missed plenty of Destiny City’s formal gatherings and feeling nothing about that fact, he didn’t know why this one would be different. …Except he knew Gideon was going, so as completely positive as he was that nothing of interest was going to happen here, Ellian couldn’t just not attend some Valentine event if his boyfriend was going to show up.
They deserved to do something nice- Or, more specifically, Gideon deserved something nice that Ellian helped facilitate, after the mishap of the last holiday. That Ellian had ruined. If this was what Gideon wanted, he deserved it. Ellian could put up with that. Even if there wasn’t intentionally anything romantic about the event, it had to be poor taste to abandon Gideon to his lonesome.
Besides, Ellian could do anything once. Just once. Maybe it’d be fun. A reason to dress up real pretty and go be fancy and schmoozy with the bf. Admittedly, he didn’t pay that much attention to the itinerary, so Ellian didn’t have a full grasp on what to expect… But it was supposed to be ‘nice,’ he was sure. And upon arriving at the venue, he discovered that Gideon had also invited Tanwyn and Calaver- Err… whatever his civilian name was. Ellian didn’t think he’d ever seen the other senshi not powered up, and the name escaped him.
So…. He wasn’t incredibly enthusiastic about that. It did seem less of a date now.
But fine, whatever. Anything Gideon wanted.
They stood together at the edge of the Event Hall, watching as Tanwyn and Cal-whatever-his-name-was made their way over to them from the entrance. Ellian had dressed up as much as he felt appropriate (so as not to embarrass Gideon, as he apparently had when they’d met at the track), but not so much that it crossed quite into formalwear. He’d say this was a pretty bland outfit of dark slacks and a button-up, but he was happy enough to be positively dripping in silver. All his earrings, heavy bangles, dangling chains- anything that could glint, did.
Ellian shifted his weight, tossing a pout over his shoulder back at the shorter man. “I didn’t know you’d invited anyone else… Here I thought it would be just us on a date.”
“EchosSweet”
“BiggerinTexas”
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:01 am
Hm…
Hmmm…
Ivory wasn’t invited (or allowed) to events such as these. Maybe he’d cared at one point, but that was a looong time ago. He’d since decided that he didn’t want anything to do with these sorts of gatherings. He didn’t like dressing up. All the clothes were stiff and uncomfortable- and the shoes: the shoes were the worst: if anyone tried to come at him for ditching them early, he was going to snap back with a vengeance. Like a feral creature.
And the food. Why was it always so weird? Gross steamed vegetables or shellfishes slathered in strange sauce, soups made of parsnip. What even was a parsnip?
And another thing. If he saw something he liked, and it happened to be in someone else’s possession, he was supposed to just- do nothing??? About that??? The whole practice of formal events felt foreign, bizarre, and uncomfortable to a boy who’d once made his home on the streets.
Fortunately, his charge, the man his general had deemed his responsibility to look after, had made some surprisingly valid points:
’No one said you had to wear pants, and I’ll be there. Just stick with me.’
So Ivory had donned a pretty floor-length dress in deep blue. It had enough glitz and sparkle on it to make him feel confident that not much else would be more eye catching, at least not enough that he’d feel a great compulsion to do something about it. Probably. Tanwyn’s idea, of course. The man had a lot of faith.
…Or some faith? Ivory’s arm was still caught quite tightly in the crook of Tanwyn’s own, something that kept Ivory close to him… for now. His wide eyes still scanned in wonder over the length of the room, catching on glimmering crystal and the glint of sparkling decorations. He wondered if he imagined how Tanwyn’s arm seemed to tighten around his. But he could be good, he could be good, until his partner let his guard down a little more…
Gideon gave a dismissive roll of his shoulders at Ellian’s grumbling. “Had two tickets; why let one go to waste.”
His repertoire of people he would give such things to was a bit limited. Everyone from work got a set, so all his colleagues were out right off the bat. He could’ve given the set to Nat and Basyl, he supposed, but when it came down to it, Gideon preferred to have Tanwyn there, even if he brought his blue-haired baggage with him.
“Besides, I figured it would bring you a certain degree of excitement. Would hate if things were too boring for you.” -Though he was here with tickets he’d gotten from work, so ideally it wouldn’t be too exciting…
He still greeted Tanwyn and Ivory like he was happy to see both of them, and gave Ellian a nudge in the side to do the same. “I’m glad you could come. Wasn’t actually sure if you’d be able to or not,” he admitted once all four of them were standing together.
“Neither was I,” Tanwyn returned. Could’ve left Ivory behind and it wouldn’t have been such an unsure thing. Not like they were together all the time, and the younger boy hadn’t been that interested. But it’d be messy if they started talking about it after the fact and Ivory decided he had wanted to go once it was over. This was just heading off an upset at the pass. Tanwyn patted the arm linked through his. “But it’s nice to get out every now and then for something less… Chaosy.”
That was pretty much the only reason they left the apartment. Not that great for either his or Ivory's mental health, but where else were they gonna go? What else were they gonna do?
This was probably too much, too fancy for Ivory. The calm of now couldn’t last forever, and Tanwyn could already feel the threat of Ivory slipping out of his hold and wandering off. Keeping the outing short was for the best. “Wanna head in and see what all the fuss is about?” He offered, tilting his head toward the adjoining gallery hall. Seemed like the crystal garden was the main attraction and probably the greatest test of Ivory’s self control.
Best get it out of the way early.
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 11:24 am
Ellian could argue that an extra ticket wouldn’t have gone to waste: it wasn’t spoiled food. It just wouldn’t have been used. And then he and Gideon could’ve enjoyed a low-key evening to themselves. …But maybe that would’ve been a little boring. The only reason it bothered him now was because it felt like the other pair was impeding on his date.
And maybe also because he didn’t really like either of them. Tanwyn was basically a glorified dog to Nat and had already come up to him judgingly several months prior about what he was doing with Gideon. And Cala… was a lot, even by Ellian’s standards.
The evening would’ve been better without them.
And he had half a mind to propose that they really didn't have to hang out together just because they were all here at the same time… He was sure Tanwyn and Ivory would have just as good a time without them and could go at their own pace, y’know, leave when they needed to without worrying about what Ellian and Gideon were doing… It just didn’t work out that way. Tanwyn invited them to continue catching up as they walked into the gallery, and Ellian had to try and play nice for Gideon’s bestie.
He rolled his eyes, huffed, shrugged. “Let’s do it, then.” He took up Gideon’s hand in his as they made their way as a group to check out the crystal display.
“They have those shows on Netflix about glassblowing, but I dunno, it still seems weird to think it’s something people do.” And the gallery was quite decorated. “Are there really that many people in Destiny City who have this hobby?” It seemed like… a lot.
Gideon eyed Tanwyn and Ivory as they stepped into the gallery. As a reasonable man, he knew to be on guard. Whatever was going on with Ivory wasn’t right, and that was why Tanwyn had to be with him so often. But they both looked incredibly ******** normal now- borderline dull, even. Tanwyn was a perfect gentleman, of course, but he usually was. It was difficult to rattle him, making him even more right as Ivory’s keeper. But even that wayward boy seemed pretty well tempered at the moment. Someone had brushed and braided his hair, and the cut and fit of his long dress hid how skeletal he looked underneath. With his arm threaded through Tanwyn’s, they really did just look like a normal (if slightly underweight) couple attending an event together.
Gross.
And uncomfortable.
It wasn’t Gideon’s business one way or the other, but if Tanwyn was going to come up and warn Ellian to be a good boyfriend, was it not kind of Gideon’s responsibility to make sure that Tanwyn wasn’t getting too mixed up with… with that creature? It wasn’t his business, though…
He sucked in his bottom lip as he watched them, tip of his cane tapping lightly on the floor. Hm… yeah. The least he could do was keep an eye out and make sure nothing untoward went down. A playful smile broke out on his lips, white teeth on full display as he hummed out a soft, “Elle, c’mere a second.” Not that it was Ellian’s business, either, but they were a couple, they were in this together, and it would give the younger man something to engage with. He waited until Ellian hung back and it was just the two of them in earshot. “I wanna pay some extra attention to our friends today, yeah? Make sure everything is one hundred between them.” He’d talk to Tanwyn privately if they came across something he didn’t like.
But Ellian would probably have the most chance of learning the extent of what was going on with Ivory. He’d seen them in Negaspace together before, and they must have done assignments together for Rakovanite, probably. “Can you ask Ivory how things have been between them…? Discretely. And keep him out of trouble while I talk to Tanwyn.”
That last part probably sounded more like a chore, but… Gideon hoped there was enough intrigue in the request to keep Ellian engaged.
Ivory let Tanwyn take him into the main gallery area. It definitely wasn’t the sort of place he’d ever been, and he was pretty sure it was one of those ‘no touching’ places, if the hold Tanwyn had on him was any indication. And despite not being a fan of being told he couldn’t touch something sparkly, something about the… the air or the vibe or something left Ivory feeling… a little disinterested.
The crystals were pretty, and the lights were dazzling, as if staged just so to enunciate how sparkling and glimmery everything was… But they weren’t more dazzling than starseeds, and he had a whole collection of those.
“Do we have to stay very long,” he grumbled quietly to Tanwyn.
Indigo_Plateau
BiggerinTexas
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 2:06 pm
He thought they were right behind him.
Where else would the boys go besides where Tanwyn led? Ivory was on his arm, but a glance back told him Ellian and Gideon had hung back for a few seconds longer. Weird. Ellian had seemed interested in the display and eager to stop standing around. Should he be suspicious? Gideon might have even shot a look Tanwyn’s way… But oh well. They’d do as they pleased.
He still had Ivory next to him. “Nah, not very long,” he said amicably. A boy with the countenance of a toddler could hardly stay out too late without starting to fuss. Tanwyn would do just about anything to keep his young charge from pitching a fit.
“But it’s probably good for us to go out like this, don’t you think?”
Not working. Being with friends. Seeing different sides of each other. He’d lived with Ivory for over a year, but relaxation wasn’t really the name of the game when they went out. Just work. Just crazy Cala wanting to pilfer and murder and maim. This was boring by comparison. Tanwyn didn’t mind boring. And while they were home, they might as well be in different universes for all the attention they paid to each other, besides the watching.
Nat had told him to not let Ivory do anything they couldn’t recover from. Ivory went along with it because he believed he was in charge of Tanwyn.
Definitely both wary of one another. Little room for relaxation. Less room to try and be friendly.
“You ever thought of trying a new hobby? Don’t think this is the direction I’d go personally, but it’s pretty interesting.” Ellian had seemed a little shocked that people in DC could make all this. Especially when they should all be concerned with the looming threat of a horrible death, but that was neither here nor there.
