one thing's universal, life's no dress rehearsal

[stagemanagers]

[Prom night! The greatest night of your young lives if you watch any Western high school media from the past 60 years. The looks, the music, the copious amounts of fancy snacks, the sore feet from dancing heels and then spending the rest of the night in bare feet- it’s all part of the bigger package.

The courtyard and the roof have both been decked out in a special way for tonight, despite no one really seeing Hester or anyone/anything else decorating. There are round tables set-up in both places, covered in yellow-gold tablecloths. Some of them have platters of snacks laid out on them, one has a large punch bowl that never seems to empty no matter how many drinks are taken from it.

On the roof there’s an extra table with pencils, small slips of paper, a box wrapped in gold wrapping paper and a notecard labeled Song Requests. Just write a song, pop it in the box and within a few minutes it starts playing! Weird, there doesn’t seem to be a sound system anywhere...

Red paper lanterns have been strung around the outline of the roof and between stakes in the courtyard, granting soft romantic light for a night to remember. Put on your best costume shop formal wear, get ready to lose your shoes after an hour and sneak in liquor even though most of you are of age.

After all…tonight belongs to you.]

Comments

dance...

[barberic]

[Benjamin was going to ask her for a dance, anyway, but she beats him to it by minutes.

Still, he'll take her hand gladly, getting up from the dinky folding chair he's sat in with a grunt of effort and making his way to the dance floor with her.]

You look heavenly tonight.

[mayavericks]

I do, don't I?

[Sorry, she's just gonna... preen a little here. Even as she falls back to let Benjamin lead her.]

As do you. I am glad we could share this moment.

[barberic]

[He has to be careful with this, because it's been so long since he danced and he wants desperately to impress her. This may be one of two chances he has to dance with a girl he loves like a daughter, and he doesn't want her to think less of him.

He settles a hand naturally on her waist, and holds the other in his own.]

Oh, far from heavenly, but I did my best to look presentable.

[Luckily, the song that comes on is not Farrah's eighth "Party Rock" of the night, and is in fact something he can comfortably dance to.]

I'm glad, as well. It's been a long week. [For him, a long-ass day.] A chance to dress up and enjoy each others' company may be just what the doctor ordered.

[mayavericks]

[Where Maya has sought to lead every other dance of the evening, she doesn't push to do so now. Benjamin seems to know what he's doing, and so he'll gladly let him take charge and coax her through the motions.]

I think you are right about that. I... feel much better this evening. Better than I have in most of my time here, I think.

[She's danced with three women, Benjamin. She's at full power!]

[barberic]

[His version of a waltz is a little more stiff and old-fashioned, but the idea is the same.]

That's good to hear. I've been watching you enjoy yourself with the other young ladies, this evening.

[He smiles, squeezes her hand.]

It makes me glad, to see you so happy.

[mayavericks]

[She can do old fashioned, it seems. She's no stranger to much more antiquated operas and other performances, after all. In fact, she seems more than happy to meet his pace.]

You sound so much like the father you are, when you say that. [There's a smile, a laugh even, in her voice.] Unsure of how to describe those that creep into his loved one's lives.

[A beat.]

But yes, it's been... wonderful. We have all been on edge of late. It's been good to come back together with one another.

[barberic]

[He blushes, a little, when she tells him he's acting like a father, but smiles at her laugh.]

To remind us what we still have.

[When they've lost so much, and remembered more, here and at home.]

...No matter how much we've changed, here.

[Says the Most Changed.]