Dance the pounds away - RPLOG

Participants

• Ashley
• Dio
• Sveta

Date

22/7/476

Log

Dancing, lots and lots of dancing everywhere! Being seem to dance in an almost entranced state. All about are tables filled with food and drink, and it is obvious that some of it has been used, but for the large part, it is being ignored now. Only a few beings are not dancing, picking at the food, but mostly watching those who do continue dancing. Ashley herself is playing her harp in time and tune with a very strange device sitting next to her, the majority of the music coming from it!

Sveta had hoped for a quiet stretch of beach with everyone out to noonday mass, but certainly not this rather riotous...well, chaos is the only thing she can think of to describe it. So many feet! So much churning sand! Disorder! The music's strange, too, it tugs a little at her mind...but she shakes off the strange sensation well enough. Where did the food come from? Where are the caterers - oh, they're dancing as well. So much tomfoolery...and to what purpose? Try as she might, the goshawk can't remember any particular event that was supposed to be held today. Spotting a somewhat familiar face amongst the masses, she walks up to Ashley and taps the skunk on the shoulder. At least this one's not dancing, right?

After his last adventure over at the beach, Dio decided he'd leave his shoes at his room in the inn for this instance. Too much water and sand to deal with, naturally. The sounds of his bare, padded, and clawed feet crunch against warm sand as he moves his way to the growing dancing party. A faint tingle urged him to join the dancing... But there were more important things! Even the familiar faces didn't matter for the time being as his gaze locks onto a platter of food on a table. With an extreme pace, the lion makes his way towards a table and imminently begins practically inhaling as much food as possible in the quickest amount of time, caring not for the mess he makes upon his face fur.

Ashley looks up to Sveta as she is tapped, "Hello again, did your talk with my Kitsunes go well?" She asks continuing to play her harp. She watches the dancing a bit longer before she stands up and taps the machine a bit, the volume getting a bit louder. She sits back down and continues playing, but now, even more people join the dancing. She looks over to Dio as he starts devouring the food and, no expression at all. She just keeps playing. Those dancing look quite tired though, however, they don't stop.

Sveta looks down at Ashley. "I managed to sort them out, but that's something we can discuss later. What's going on here? Why are all these folk dancing and messing up this stretch of beach, and not at noonday mass?" She glances over her shoulder at Dio, recognising him, then rolls her eyes before suddenly realising the lion's not under whatever compulsion that's afflicting everyone else. Perhaps there's something about him...no. First things first.

The lion continues to stuff his face with any food he can find, spilling fast amount of crumbs and other wonderful remains spilling about onto the floor and table." Thoof woo rooly good," Dio mumbles to himself, mouth still quite full. With bread in each hand, he finally decides to see what the familiar faces were up to and makes his way over to them with a smile. "Hoow boof thaf poorty," he mutters, crumbs flying from his mouth as he speaks to Sveta and Ashley.

Ashley looks again to Sveta, "Well, they all started hours ago, before the music was turned on, they ate for a while, drank, and then that man," and she points to another not dancing but just watching. He isn't even bobbing his head or anything, just watching, "turned the machine on and almost immediately everyone started dancing. This is a very ammusing device, I must admit." She says, then the song stops, and switches to something a bit heavier, lots of drums. Ashley's ears and tail twitch, she grimises a moment, but the imposing skunk soon just starts playing again. She looks up to Dio as he speaks, and pushes him slight aside, "Keep your distance if you are going to do that, this one doesn't want crumbs in its fur."

"Amusing? Amusing? Perhaps to you, but I don't find it quite so. Look at them, some of them look fit to drop!" Gears turn in Sveta's head as she eyes the being just watching, then mutters to Dio, just barely above the music, "keep an eye on that fellow, Lion of Great Appetite. If he bolts, chase him down. I have...I'll buy a meal for you at the inn, or cook something myself, if it comes to that. There will be food, got it?" With that, she fiddles with her soul pendant and switches the gems within, allowing a full minute to pass before attempting to examine the device, looking for a way to deactivate it without smashing it outright.

Chew, swallow. Dio nearly absorbs a hand-sized piece of bread with little to no effort at a break-neck speed. Bread still within his other hand, he brings it up to his rather short muzzle, but pauses at the mention of a strange individual. But there was food.... Has there ever been a harder choice? He quirks his head over at Ashley and easily allows himself to be pushed aside, almost as if he wasn't aware of his rude actions. The machine problem will solve itself, ri- "Food?" Sveta's request certainly caught his attention, his hand slipping the bread within a coat pocket, nodding with an extremely serious looking expression. With his eye on the mentioned stranger, the lion puts on a happy smile and makes his way towards a table not far away from him, observing his actions for the time being.

Ashley looks to the machine, fiddling with it a moment. Not the greatest with creator tech, but she did figure out where the loudness controller was. She turns it up again, and now almost everyone is dancing, only three beings besides herself, Dio, and Sveta, one of them being the person who braught it here in the first place. Those dancing on the sands for the longest are panting, sweet soaking their clothes, movements a bit sluggish, but still not stopping. Ashley continues to play along with the music, ears and tail twitching a bit, "Yes, amusing. And this one thinks they could keep going for... another hour before anything of trouble happens?" she says.

Sveta scowls. Ashley was...well, she liked Ashley, or at least the skunk was one of the few shadows she'd even encountered who hadn't tried to eat her face off immediately - or something equally gruesome. And yet here was a reminder that no matter what they did, they just didn't think along the lines most sane beings did. But then again, they technically weren't beings, were they? Why should she have expected them to think completely like one? Perhaps there would be time to talk later, but now...reaching into her pouch of soul gems, Sveta discreetly slips another one in place, hoping Ashley wouldn't notice exactly what gem it was that went into the pendant this time. "'Trouble' is not the key word here, Ashley," she says, clearly stalling to buy time as the old memories fade and new ones come in. "It's more...'discomfort', to put it lightly. A being can go three weeks without eating before 'trouble' occurs, but looking at Dio over there, I'm sure he can go barely three hours without complaint. In fact..." the moment she feels that the gem's taken hold well enough, the goshawk reaches out sharply and tries to flick off the big red button that she'd figured out was the device's off button.

The music continues to tingle at the back of Dio's mind, but once again, it is easily defeated. There was a contract, a verbal contract that promised food, and as an ex-mercenary, contracts were no stranger to the lion. Getting up from the table, he puts on that warm and inviting smile once more and begins walking over to the strange being. "'ello there, lad!" He shouts, waving in his approach. "Couldn't help but notice ya ain't dancin' like the rest! Not havin' a good time? Perhaps ya'd like to join me with a bit of food?"

The button pressed, the music stopping. All the beings look to the device and start murmuring confusion toward one another... that is till Ashley waits for Sveta to pull away from it a bit and pushes it back in. The song changes immediately, and everyone resumes exactly what they were doing. The lad in question, a bat, looks to Dio as he talks, watching the lion's lips very carefully, then, he says back in a very awkward voice, "I don't take part in the dance, I just bring it to others." his tone and inflection are completely off. Ashley looks up to Sveta, "If it weren't uncomfortable, then it wouldn't serve the purpose that the beings wanted"

Seems like reason hasn't worked with Ashley. Sveta lets out a soft squawk and a whimper as the new song begins, and the itching in the back of her mind becomes too much to bear. Unable to resist the musical compulsion, the goshawk begins dancing in a rather undignified manner - bird of many talents, perhaps, but fancy footwork certainly isn't one of them. She gives Dio a pleading look in between the most ignoble of all moves, unable to do much else.

"Is that so, batty lad?" Dio rubs at his chin and looks about as the dancers suddenly stop, but then of course resume shortly after the music starts up again. A look especially goes its way to Sveta, the pleading look registereing within his brain. Perhaps he could get even MORE food if he helped with the machine AND the man. "Would ya mind tellin' me more 'bout this machine? I'm quite curious as to where ya found it lad." He uses his hands to gesture to follow, moving closer to the machine and Ashley.

Ashley smiles as Sveta joins in the dancing, her own ears and tail twitch, but again, she resists. "Have fun Sveta." she says waving a moment as she goes, then continuing to play. The bat looks to Dio again, watching his lips carefully, "The Machine Spirit calls to beings who can hear it, giving them the gift of dance." he says and fallows along with Dio.

Despite Ashley's words, Sveta is not having fun. In fact, she's about the furthest from having fun she's ever had in her life, feeling all disgusted and grimy on the inside, for lack of better words to put it. But at least the alienness of the compulsion isn't so overwhelming once she's a little more used to it, and she manages to work her way to the nearest of the other dancing beings with yet more awful footwork. "Excuse...me," she says between gasps. At least being a terrible dancer means she hasn't felt any yeed to put on some more extravagent, exhausing moves, yet. "What happened...here?"

"Ah, I see..." Dio leans in close to the machine, looking at all the strange buttons and who knows what as his muzzle practically bumps into the device. "I think there's a problem with yer philosophy lad." His hands descend upon the machine and pick it up into the air, holding it out in front of Ashley and the bat. "This dancin' doesn't have soul to it. It don't mean a thing if somethin' is forcin' ya to do it. In that regard..." He gives the machine a small squeeze as his face and expression tightens up. "One of ya is puttin' a pause to this machine 'ere, or I'll be pausin' it. Forever."

Ashley waves again to Sveta and frowns as Dio walks up and threatens the machine. "Why ever would you do that?" she asks "The beings there requested that this priest bring the machine here." She says, then continues playing. The bat can't catch every word Dio says, but gets his meaning, saying in his wavy voice, "You will do no harm to this Sacred Device, or I'll ensure you never set foot out of a prison cell ever again." he says. The being that Sveta talks to, a hyena, pants a bit before he can respond, "Isn't.. whew.. isn't this great... best.... best workout I've ever got... worth ever...every crown!"And he chances up his moves, "Only... Only an hour left to go..."

"No...this can't be...why would you..." Sveta stops to gather her breath in between moves. "Why would you do...such a thing? No, it's got to be this device...speaking...but..." the realisation that while she's not quite in control of her own actions, but is indeed of her own thoughts, hits home - there's no reason for the Hyena to lie, is there? Reason, reason! "The point of a workout...is to train discipline as well...not just one's body, but...oh forget it, creators curse it..." she runs out of breath, swallows hard, and focuses on the compulsion once more.

"Oh! Huh..." Dio give the machine another close look, a small rattle, and then softly places it back where it previously was. "I wasn't aware this was upon request, lad 'n' lass. Ya should really put a sign up 'r somethin' next time to prevent poor bein's from walkin' up here not knowin' what's goin' on. So uh... Enjoy!" A hand runs down his dense mane in a flustered gesture as he excuses himself from the pair and heads over to Sveta, listening to her breath deprived words. "Contract completed," he smiles, firmly grabbing the bird's hand and giving it a soft yank to lead her out of the area. "Come on now. If ya cook me a good meal I promise not to tell anyone, Bird of Strange Dancin' Styles."

Ashley smiles a bit as the machine is placed down, but herself can't resist any longer, careful to sit her harp down as she gets up to dance as well. The bat watches as Dio walks over to Sveta and helps her move away from the group, a completely puzzled look on his face. The hyena looks to her with equal confusion, "But... this is a great...whew... way to lose weight." he says, and... if everyone looks closely, they would notice that everyone there save Ashley and the priest are a bit portly to say the least.

The moment she's out of range of the music and in control of her own actions once more, Sveta grabs Dio in a tight hug despite his...fragrance. She can't quite reach all the way around the large lion, but settles for as much as possible, burying the side of her face in his once-fabulous coat. "It's all right, I was there all the time," she whimpers as she begins to sob. "It's all right, I was there all the time. I'm still here." She looks up at Dio, trembling a little under her feathers. "I'm still here, aren't I? I'll cook you anything you want, Dio. Just name it...I just have a small stove back at the craft school, but I'll do whatever I can. Thank you."

"Alright, I think we're just about outta range la-" Dio's words are ceased by the bird's curious behavior, but he soon finds his own arms wrapping around her and squeezing tight, remembering her thoughts about the cave. "It's alright lass," he reassures, crouching down and wiping a tear from her face. "I'll walk ya home and you just sit down 'n' relax fer now. Don't worry about the meal for the time bein'." The lion smiles, gently grabbing the goshawk by her hand and leading her back into town.