strangetrip | [GP] The De Rolo Wedding Reception

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[GP] The De Rolo Wedding Reception

The calendar of "Kahl-ee-Fornea" was very different to that of Tal'Dorei. But the spring dance had been a good reminder for the Exandrians (one of them, anyway) that the Renewal Festival would take place more or less this time of year, landing always on the thirteenth day of Dulahei. It seemed a fitting time to set the 'small family dinner' in celebration of the marriage of Vex and Percy.

...Yeah, but no. Because Vax'ildan didn't mind a bit of revenge for their having done the thing without so much as telling him for several weeks, and because his sister always deserved the best of everything anyway, the garden had a whopping lot more than that for the happy couple as they opened the doors onto what first looked like pitch blackness. Until the big, white-hot spotlight snapped abruptly on to glare down on top of the pair with blinding scrutiny.

A familiar voice sang out from beyond, his ever-charming booming and crooning amplified to fill the whole of the outdoors by something called a 'microphone,' Scanlan using all his singular panache to belt out a melodic tune:

"There she is, Mrs. De Rolo
There she is, your ideal
The dreams of a million boys and girls who want to find love in Emon City
For Vex may turn out to more than Baroness of the first house of Whitestone and Grand Mistress of the Hunt
There he is, Mr. De Rolo
There he is, your ideal
With so much brooding and tinkering he took the town by storm
With his all-Whitestone face and form
And there they are
Walking on air, he is
Fairest of the fair, she is
There they are - Mr. and Mrs. De Rolooooooooooo~"

A resounding wave of applause, murmuring, cheers, and laughter broke out all around the newlyweds - one such unbridled merry cackle absolutely coming from the bride's brother - and Scanlan's tone changed immediately to a much more vibrant, excited, sporting-event-enthusiasm style of announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen - it's the DE ROLO FAMILY!"

The strands of bulb lighting popped into yellow-soft brightness all at once, revealing the guests gathered around dozens of tables artfully set with dinner places enough for everyone at the Inn. Each table included flowers, linens, and garlands all matched in smart Whitestone-Blue, darker Owlbear-Blue, black and white with touches of gold accents, all thanks to Caroline's management. The outdoor area so far as one could see had been dressed in one of Lillith's illusions to mimic a beautiful forest clearing at purple-dusk with fireflies dancing, the shapes of buildings and foothills in the distance distinctly cast to look like the city and castle of Whitestone. Ignis and Emma stood by putting a few final touches on what they'd all started calling 'fancy barbecue,' an enormous buffet of haute cuisine smoked and grilled meats with artful sides, a table beside them holding up the massive layer cake Pike had tirelessly fussed into perfection. So many others had come together to help or to wish the de Rolos well - but there would be plenty of time over the evening for them to be thanked and recognized with food, drink, song - there was even an area marked out as a dance floor.

A freshly bathed Trinket in his very own bowtie lumbered up to Vex'ahlia to rumble and lick her face as the pair finally had a moment to react to the spectacle. At ground-level, a small disc-like device with a large serving spoon taped to it had been labeled with marker as Ensign Stubby, rolling its way between tables and chairs while balancing a large, many-times-stabbed basket of flower petals (with a handful left nestled in its giant spoon) on top of its flat surface like a drunken flower girl to finally bump into Vex and Percy's shoes. ...And possibly the best thing about their stunning surprise? That Peter boy had got the whole thing on VHS.

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"The world, it is strange and adaptable, yes," Lillith agreed as she gestured for him to walk with her toward the Sun Tree. "But I have not yet known it to transform in this way."

Her fingers trailed along a banquet table -- real, as they walked. "It would require what or whomever is 'in charge' to possess an intimate knowledge of not only the individuals, but their worlds, and friends, and homes. It is possible, I suppose, but the effort that goes into crafting an illusion of this size makes it improbable." The spell itself took very little time to cast, but preparing the illusion with this level of detail had taken a week of sketches.

"And the effort is?" He's obviously interested in the mechanics of it.

Pleasantly surprised, Lillith paused at the Sun Tree and gave it a loving pat. "The arcane elements are verbal and somatic and require ten minutes continuous casting," she began her explanation. "Those can be taught to any wizard with sufficient skill.

"A wizard is a spellcaster who learns magic via their intellect, as opposed to a warlock my cousin whose power comes from her patron, a cleric like her lover whose power comes from his god, a bard like Scanlan whose magic comes from his music, a druid whose magic comes from nature, or a sorcerer whose magic comes from their own blood."

She paused, glanced to her audience, and further explained, "Because of my demonic ancestry, I could cast as a sorceress, but I prefer the precision of magic I learn and craft and control to the power of sorcery, and I have no interest in the kind of pacts my sisters made. My cousin's is of an altogether different nature."

"So for you it's not about raw natural power, it's about... education and skill." It honestly sounded like what would be his preference if such a thing existed in his world.

"Yes," Lillith agreed. "And my preferred school of magic reflects that as well."

She gestured with a hand and an image of a spell book appeared atop the palm. "I specialize in the magic of illusions." The book opened, its pages seeming to ruffle on a breeze, and when it snapped shut, it burst into a cloud of spectacular luminescent butterflies.

"You asked what the effort of the illusion we are standing in is. Choose anything that is not native to an inn--a branch, a leaf, the lantern there. Pick it up and hold it in your hand."

He picked up the lantern she's directed him to noting the weight and shape of it as he did so, assuming that was what she'd intended for him to notice.

"As real as anything else."

"Now, walk away from me at a forty-five degree angle until you see the front of the Inn and step onto its lawn."

When he did, the lantern would vanish from his hands and from existence in the same instant. At which point, she would explain.

He followed her directions almost perfectly, glancing down when the weight of the lantern disappeared. Then he looked back over at her and lifted a brow.

"The lantern is part of the illusion. If you remove it from the area of the illusion, it does not exist," Lillith explained. "When you return, it will not, but you may have moved it anywhere you liked within the space of the illusion."

She gestured lightly, an invitation rather than a bidding, for him to return. "The effort of an illusion of this nature is that my mind created every single element, determined its level of mobility and reality, and it is persistent even when others interact with it. It is real to all of your senses, and even when you know it is an illusion and have the sight to see through that, you may still interact with it as though it is real."

This, she realized, was confusing, and so she retrieved her sketchbook from where she had stashed it in the Sun-Tree's hollow. "Here, come and see."

He rejoined her, still obviously interested in her lesson. a scholar to his core.

"You drew it first?" He drew, nothing terribly skilled but it helped him to sketch ideas along side his notes.

"I did, or parts of it." She showed him, for example, a sketch of the lantern he'd been holding. "These are a style particular not only to Whitestone but to the De Rolo family's lands. I wished Percival and Vex'ahlia to be able to carry one, should they choose to walk the grounds, so I sketched it, practiced with a minor illusion and double-checked it with Zahra."

On another page, a simplified skyline had been repeated a dozen times with major star formations at various distances. "These were for perspective. The stars you see, they are Exandrian, not Earth's. The twin moons, also. But with only a mile's worth of distance, to put them in their proper location required severe foreshortening and many separate efforts to find the precise distance to place the sky in.

"Many such details are only noticeable to me, because the magic will smooth dissonance for most viewers. But to me, it was not acceptable to rely on the magic, since Percy and Vex for whom I created it would know it was an illusion and therefore have the ability, as I do, to find the dissonances if they knew where to look."

"And once you worked out the details, you..." he waved a hand because saying 'cast a spell' was just a little bit too ludicrous for him despite it all.

"Spent ten minutes reshaping the appearance of the world to my artistic whim," Lillith offered, eyes glowing over a cheeky, amused grin.

"You know," he drawled. "Some women just buy new furniture when they want a change. A little paint. SOme wallpaper."

"I would just paint for myself." Lillith gave him a delighted smile, but then realized, "Oh, but redecorating here does not take..."

"It doesn't?" He hasn't tried so he didn't know know. Odd that they couldn't change their surroundings permanently but they could do something like this.

"Does it just not change or does it.. go back after time has passed?"

"The latter," Lillith confirmed, and tilted her head to suggest a direction for them to walk in. A nice path that would give them a good view of the stars from a hilltop.

"For example, a friend wished to change the sign on her door. She removed it and discarded it. The next day, it was back where it had been. It did not matter what she did to the sign, it came back." She pushed aside a branch in her path. "But the Inn did allow her to hang a new sign over it, as long as the other remained in place."

"I'm not sure if I'm comforted by that or not," but he was thankful his room wasn't too terrible. He started walking along with her. "Probably not if I'm honest. It's a little too... father knows best."

Lillith cocked her head at the unfamiliar use of the words. "Father knows best?"

"A joke," he said chagrined. "It was TV show where I'm from, very traditional family where the Father was the head of the household. Always knew how to fix everyones problems, it was.. heartwarming. But my meaning was meant to imply... a father who thinks he is right. Always. No room for personal expression."

"The latter is more my experience. And my cousin's." Her own father had been less severe than her uncle, but he had more power. "But I had not thought of the Inn in such a way before. Certainly, it is a gilded cage, but I had thought that more mechanical than moralizing."

"I'm catholic, I can make everything moralizing. It's a gift."

"You are orthodox in belief?" Again, Lillith looked bemused.

The people back at the Seminary might disagree with that.

"Let's say I used to be as orthodox as one could b, but I've grown up a bit."

Lillith decided that she must have understood 'catholic' correctly and nodded. "I once believed what I was told. I also have grown up a bit."

[ooc: fade?]

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[GP] The De Rolo Wedding Reception

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