all_inclusive | (no subject)

In the end, it's Jonathan's mad attempt to bring himself closer to Arabella that foists him forward into a mad arrangement of lights, music, people! He knows that sanity lingers just out of mind and that he will have to capture it back, but once he travels once more on this strange road (through a door and not a mirror), he thinks that if he cannot bring himself to Arabella, perhaps he can bring the fairy folk to him.

Jonathan Strange will host a party so luxurious and wonderful that they have no choice but to attend.

He uses magic to deck the lobby of the hotel with shimmering lights and stars that hang upon the ceiling in constellations and patterns that cannot possibly exist. Food dots each corner, but if the eye were to catch it properly, it would be noted that it's slightly off. The drink, however, is exact in its sumptuous rich red tones and sparkling vivacious notes.

Best of all, there is the music.

Harps and lutes and violins accompany the piano and encourage those to dance. More than that, the spell that Jonathan weaves ensures that all who pass the lobby feel the need to mingle and dance, not allowing for anyone to dawdle.

Arabella will come to him now. He knows it. He must only wait.

And there will be a party to maintain until then.

Threaded | Flat

"No, no, this is all wrong," he says as lifts a piece of what is meant to be pie up towards the light. It's riddled with holes and he realizes that he had been thinking of cheese when casting, which is why there are rather worrisome holes in the pie. He sets it down and tries to cast a new look across the room, fretting with his jacket as he wonders whether Arabella will be alone or whether that Gentleman will be with her.

Will he need Norrell to separate the two of them? No, such thoughts are not for now, not even with a mad mind.

"Pardon me," he says to the passing person. "Might I trouble you to try this and tell me what it tastes like?" he says, thrusting the cheese out in his palm.

The wine tastes bubbly and strange on his tongue and for some reason, he wants to stick around the party. Chase usually only sticks around a thing like this long enough to pick up, but ever since he got himself a steady boyfriend, he doesn't do this so often. And yet, here he is, like he's unable to move until he dances.

Weird doesn't even begin to cover it. He sets himself beside the pastry table and tries to figure out which of these are safe to eat.