[06.07.35, late evening] Sparkly-Making (EVENT! VERY OPEN!)

This was going to be a party.

Not just any party, oh no! A totally sparkley-making affair, with Ralasi from shipwide, all coming to celebrate. What were they celebrating? It didn't really matter, not to Kirtida Inderjit. (For the sake of accurate record-keeping, the party was actually to celebrate her nuura's promotion. But nobody else needed to know that.) Ostensibly, the party was for everyone else, but anyone who knew Kirtida would know it was really all about her.

No expense had been spared for this, the first big party of the new year. The newest, most popular music bounced off the walls from speakers that were laced, invisible, into the wall from floor to ceiling. Those who could see graphical overlays would see all varieties of mythical beasts weaving in and out of the crowd, so finely crafted as to appear real. Cats purred against ankles, dogs barked, birds nested in equally unreal trees. And the air, ah! That had been the best part, a stroke of sheer genius on her part. A thousand glowing nanomachines flew lazily about, making the whole thing seem so... Oh, positively sparkley! Sometime they could even be coaxed to make pictures or spell out letters, though most of the programming had gone into the continuous cycle of colors so they often got things wrong.

This was to say nothing, even, of the food, which was of the highest quality. Rare whale meat stewed in sweet ravna-milk sauces, jellies of all sorts and colors, synthetic everything-- it was quite the spread. The table devoted to such things near groaned with the weight of all the wonderful things it had piled on top of it.

Kirtida was all abuzz with excitement. So many guests! So many people, all paying attention to her! The stars in her eyes shifted from pink to gold to back again. How positively wonderful! She had to say something. Amplifiers were all directed at her with a flick of her plump, perfect wrist.

"Attention, everyone!" Her voice bubbled over even the volume of the music. "I just wanted to say I'm soooo happy to see you all! I know it's just a small gathering," and here she paused for laughter (they had rented a whole hall for the evening), "but I hope I don't bore you too much!" Her laughter rang sweet and high throughout the building, before she turned the amplifiers off and let the music resume at normal volume.

Dzara walked in as Kirtida was making her little speech. She made her way quietly toward the center of the room, looking for faces she knew, as she quickly wrapped up.

Dzara wasn't exactly "on the list," she knew, but she also knew that the little it-girl wouldn't really care for an extra guest or two.

After applauding the hostess, she headed toward the buffet (where people seemed to be congregating), and noticed the whale meat stew. She grimaced. Taking a small plate of jellies, some synthetic pad thai, and a glass of RavUP, she glanced around at the faces around her, hoping to see someone she knew or was open to knowing her.

This was definitely the kind of place to meet new people.

Siba grimaced at the poppy music that was being blared over the speakers. She was here with her brother Uhlan, who had convinced her that she needed to find herself a boy since this was going to be her last year in school. Delicate little Uhlan, one of the best in the unit with his whip like urumi sword, but who couldn't toughen up to save his life. One hit was all it took to take him down in the ring. They helped each other out a lot, he with Siba's staff fighting, she with his conditioning exercises. Still, he was obviously a bit crazy to think she could find a boy, especially here, where she stood out like some giant, hulking animal. Still, even if the music was recycled synthpop idiocy and she felt like a fish that had somehow crawled out of Chokor Samandar, the food was free and so was looking.

She made her way to the buffet and got herself the largest bowl she could find, filling it with whale stew. She was overjoyed to see her favorite dish on the table, even if she had to add something like half a canister's worth of chili flakes and a big dollop of spicy bean paste to get it hot enough for her tastes. Trying her best to take dainty spoonfuls of the stew, she wandered around, trying to mingle.

The first person she saw also seemed to have crawled out of Chokor Samandar. Quite literally in fact. It was a beautiful Miira Svatantra woman. The Svatantra in general had a certain exotic beauty, but the ones who kept their dwellings under the ocean also had an alien quality that made there beauty not seem of the same world Siba lived in. The woman's gently floating hair just added to this. Her face blushing a bit from embarrassment, she went up to the woman and said "I... you have beautiful hair, Miira-Erha." It seemed like a harmless enough way to strike up a conversation.

Dzara turned to the voice... and looked up. This Sihabahu girl was surprisingly tall. Dzara wasn't short-- just above average, in fact-- but the instigator of conversation in this case was much taller than she. Dzara found herself wondering if it was a mod...

"Good evening, and my thanks, Sihabahu-lizra. It is my favorite of mods," she bowed her head in greeting, and in so doing she caught a sniff of the whale-meat stew. She tried to hold back her distaste and the nausea that welled up in the back of her throat. She never could understand how people could eat animals.

Prying her eyes from the dish in an attempt to be civil, she raised them to the tall girl, "What brings you here this evening? Are you a friend of the hostess?"

"No... a friend of a friend of a friends," she said, small rueful smile on her face. She shrugged her shoulders and glanced around. "My brother is friends with one of the people on the list, and he brought me as a guest. In all honesty, it isn't something I would normally do. But... I thought I'd try something different. Meet some people outside my unit."

She was dressed in what was considered to be good going out clothes in the unit. To anyone else, it was still pretty severe. Not unattractive though. Loose sleeveless tunic with a golden chevron pattern going down it, tight shorts cutting off at mid thigh, laced synth leather sandals, in the old Sihabahu style. Her braids had been taken out of their ponytail and red strands of sparkling filament wire were woven in. Siba's body had benefited from not being on patrol for a few months, and she was happy to be a little softer around the face and middle then normal. She could almost, almost convince herself that aside from her towering size, tattoos, and sular patterns in her hair that she could belong at this party. That is, if it wasn't for the music.

She looked around and rolled her eyes at the song that was playing, most likely by some cute Jagat boy whose voice had been autotuned and overlayed with at least five digital effects. "I must admit, the music alone denotes that this probably isn't my scene."

Dzara nodded. from what she understood, the Sihabahu had some different customs about family. Their unit was their life. She hadn't stopped to think before what made them so tight-knit, but now she did as she saw this girl outside her normal circle.

She glanced down at her clothes and around at the rest of the party-goers. She herself was in a sweetly draped sari of faux-silk, all red and gold. Very sparkly. She felt she blended well with the others, who had gone with their finest and brightest. Everyone seemed like they had stars in their eyes--though that could have been a mod. One never knew.

She observed the social nicety of not commenting on the girl's clothes, despite the little judgments that hopped in wee little circles in the back of her head.

When she mentioned music, Dzara remembered something about the dance floors of the Sihabahu, and nodded sagely, "I suppose you would rather something with a stronger beat to it? Something to dance to?

"I'm afraid I am not much of a dancer, but I can understand how this would not be to, erm... one's taste," she smiled with tight lips, a grimace shallowly hidden beneath the surface. The song, See You, by some little Jagat girl with a vocal-mod that needed a tune-up, was a recent airwaves hit with the younger crowd, and certainly wasn't to her own tastes.

Looking back up at the girl, she realized she hadn't introduced herself, bowing her head with a hand on her chest, "Miira-Svatantra Dzara Chandai. I am pleased to meet you."

Siba blushed and smiled a bit at the mention of dancing. Of course she loved to dance! It was one of her favorite things to do when she was resting in between hitting the gym, and it along with her swimming helped form her cardio vascular exercise. Siba's body was like that of a great work animals, she got jittery if she didn't use and maintain it. She wasn't bad at it either.

"That... yes that would be very nice. I don't even mind synth music to be honest, there's this great Svatantra artist, his names Nani Archan, have you heard of him? He made a software for making this... it's like water... almost a synthesized organ made from water? I can't explain it but the sound is amazing, and he overlays it with very soft percussion samples. I-" wait, stop. Her mind told her she was doing it again. "Well, I liked his synth music. But this... don't people get tired of hearing the same thing?"

She realized that she'd been introduced, and her blush turned deeper as she bowed to the much smaller woman. "Sihabahu Siba Suriyanaa, of the Suriyanaa patrol unit, junior patrol ." She fidgeted with her fingers around her large bowl. "Ummm... what sort of music do you like, Dzara-erha?"

((Well, hot damn! I forgot this was here!))

"I believe I have heard of him," Dzara nodded, "very interesting sounds, if I recall. But you're right, this is rather repetitive."

Dzara bowed her head as Siba introduced herself, "Pleased to meet you. I enjoy atmospheric music. Something light and airy that doesn't stand out too much. Have you heard of Zumbi Hataar? She layers light flutes over airy strings, and just enough bass to ground it. It's quite soothing. It's appropriate for my workplace, as well. It can calm patients quite as quickly as good bedside manner. Unlike this," she raised a finger to indicate the general music selection of the party.

It wasn't exactly that she disapproved of it, it was just that it wasn't... quite... her thing.

"This reminds me rather more of the life above-water, but Zumbi's music, and others like her remind me of how it feels to be in the water, floating softly, hearing distant sounds as a thrum through your body. It's quite relaxing."