applesaucedream | Enchantment Under the Sea

Tonight, the dreamers of Manhattan will find themselves transported to what is unmistakably a high school gymnasium. Granted, it's lavishly decorated in blues, greens, and violets. There are jellyfish made of tissue paper and streamers, painted cardboard fish are dangling from ceiling, and an abundance of transparent balloons serve as substitute bubbles. Tables and chairs are clustered around the periphery for those who'd like to sit, but the majority of the floor is open for dancing. Along one wall, folding tables hold snacks and bowls of punch. There's no DJ to be seen, but a sound system is playing a steady stream of classic dance songs.

It's impressive work for a nonexistent prom committee, all things considered.

But the setting is not the only thing that hearkens back to one's teenage years. The dreamers will find, regardless of age or species, that they're now saddled with the hormones of an average sixteen-year-old human being… and with the delightful mood fluctuations and bouts of irrationality that come with the package. (Dreamers who are already teenagers might be said to be getting a reprieve… but dealing with adults in such a state will be trying enough on its own. Someone has to chaperone, right?)

The good news for dreamers who aren't into dances is that there's an entire high school to explore, though the hallways will only be half-lit and many of the classrooms will be locked up. Even the parking lot and athletic fields are accessible, but dreamers may find themselves getting mysteriously turned around if they try to actually leave school property.

[ooc: you all know the drill. Any and all characters are welcome, regardless of whether or not they're in the game. Dreamers may remember or forget the events of the party at the player's discretion.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Peeta relaxes as well, taking a slow, deep breath to clear his head. Aside from the noise, he'd found the crush of people, the rush of color, the overwhelming atmosphere of self-conscious display to be uncomfortable. If unfamiliar in specifics, its broad strokes were too familiar, an unpleasant reminder of so many things.

He gives Daine a rueful half-smile. "The only parties I've ever been to like this, I was the guest of honor."

The hallway they are in is abandoned. Peeta peers up and down it curiously. "I guess this is a school?"

Daine gives Peeta a sympathetic little wince. It's one thing to just find the whole thing unpleasant, and quite another to have bad memories associated with it. All the more reason to keep Peeta out of there, then, and she resolves to find an exit.

"I suppose so," she says, picking a direction and starting out. How large a building could it be? They're bound to hit windows or a stairwell sooner or later. "It looks a bit like the ones on the TV." She's been shown things set in schools, probably to gauge how well she'd do if she actually visited one. Her reaction must not have been very encouraging, because they've left off pressing her for the time being.

It doesn't take them too long to hit an alcove between classrooms with windows that look out over the moonlit athletic fields. Daine leans right up against the glass to peer down each side of the building, then points to the right. "There's an emergency exit down that way, looks like." She glances at Peeta with a little smile. "We could go outside."

Even having moved away from the gym, Peeta can still feel the vibration of music in the air, a deep thrum that followed them as they walked. Being outside seems like the best thing in the world, right now.

"That would be great," he says with a smile.

After a few false starts - including an occupied closet that Peeta quickly slams the door on - they find a door that opens to the outside.

Daine's still giggling about the closet mishap when they step out into the evening air, but that first breath of calm sobers her. "Oh, this is much better," she says, fluffing back her hair as if to let the night air in. The pulse of the music is lost out here, at least to her two-legger senses (though if she took a shape or something, that would probably be a different matter).

Peeta hmmms in agreement, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath of cool night air.

Opening his eyes again, his gaze falls on the stands closets to them. They surround what Peeta recognizes as a baseball field. He points in that direction. "Want to sit for a while?"

She wants to take owl shape and go for a nice flight, but Peeta wouldn't be able to join her. And just sitting quietly only sounds a little less pleasant after the crush of the gymnasium. "Sounds lovely," she says, smiling over at him. Then, with a downward glance, "These shoes aren't the most comfortable things." They pinch. Not that there's any particular cause for her to keep them on any longer, and so she kicks them off en route to the stands, enjoying the cool grass on her bare feet.

"Have they said anything to you about going to school this fall?" she asks, a bit cautiously. She's staunchly against the idea, but it's getting harder to argue that it'd be pointless, or that she'd be too clueless to even begin to fit in. And Peeta's even better at that than she is.

Peeta frowns slightly at Daine's question as he lowers himself onto one of the bleachers. The thought of going to school hasn't occurred to him, nor can he say the idea is pleasing.

"No, they haven't. And I don't see why I would need to." Without really thinking about it, he loosens and removes his bow tie, tucking it into a pocket in his jacket. "I know they have laws about school attendance here, but I can't imagine that the schooling I had in Panem would match up enough that I could just join in without any problems."

"Me, neither," she says, pleased - though she can't quite say why - that she and Peeta are on the same page. It's not as if she intends to point in his direction if anyone presses her about why she shouldn't to go school. She figures she has excuses enough, given the strangeness of this realm compared to hers - and the fact that she could spend hours out and about around the city without anyone thinking she was human, let alone skipping class. But it's still nice to think that Peeta will be around, too (if they both have to be stuck here come September, anyway).

"I expect they just don't want younger rifties wandering around during school hours where folk might take notice," she says, wrinkling her nose. As if New Yorkers are in the habit of noticing anything.

Enchantment Under the Sea

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