Invisible Parties — 22 of 31

Book - The Wedding

wedding is a party in tangle. wedding is east of startroom and north of gamesnight. The printed name of wedding is "Wedding on the Water". The description of wedding is "A still and starry night. You're amongst a chaotic flotilla of smallish pleasure-boats, their masts and rails all hung with lights. Beyond the clustered vessels, inky-dark water reflects the more distant lights of a city, on three sides: a lake or a bay. The boats are full of people in suits and gowns, chattering fit to burst.[p]Outside the shelter of land, the sea at the bay mouth is dark and inviting." Understand "water" or "wedding on the water" or "flotilla" as wedding.

the bay mouth is a waymouth in wedding. Understand "ocean" or "sea" or "dark" or "inviting" as the bay mouth. The description of the bay mouth is "A break in the lights, a patch of darkness where sky and sea merge. Not, you sense, to the great open ocean, the whale-road: this opens onto the island sea, the wine-dark. You get a feeling of wooden keels crunching on coral, of a cormorant's dive, of how a sail fills."

the pleasure boats are an unimplement in wedding. Understand "mast" or "masts" or "rail" or "rails" or "vessels" or "vessel" or "barge" or "flotilla" or "coracle" or "coracles" as pleasure boats. The description of pleasure boats is "The main ones are all the same kind of flat-bottomed fancied-up barge, but the smaller ones are of a great many different varieties, as though everybody showed up in whatever was ready to hand."

the wedding punt is an unimplement in wedding. Understand "boat" as the wedding punt. The description of wedding punt is "It's a long, narrow, flat-bottomed craft, large enough to take perhaps six passengers, controlled by a single person standing on the back end. Not the kind of vessel you would trust in anything more vigorous than a canal or a mill-pond."

the long-bladed oar is a backdrop. the long-bladed oar is in wedding. The description of long-bladed oar is "Some light but robust wood; narrow enough to use handily as a pole in shallow waters, but with enough total area to make a tolerable paddle."

the decorative lights are an unimplement in wedding. Understand "party" as decorative lights. The description of decorative lights is "They have a soft, moon-like glow that only illuminates anything through the sheer number of bulbs."

the dark water is scenery in wedding. The description of dark water is "Very still for a body of water so broad, it glimmers with the reflected party lights."

the wedding guests are a crowd in wedding. The description of guests is "They have the patchy, heterogenous quality of much-extended families, of circles tenuously connected. So, a wedding, then. That, and there's great deal of drinking going on, but there are also plenty of children charging about. At least two of the adults and a good half of the children have fallen in at some point, and if you're any judge that number is likely to climb."

the wedding guests wear the wedding clothes. Understand "suits" or "gowns" or "frocks" as wedding clothes. The description of wedding clothes is "You grimly identify a number of young women wearing the same dreadful frock as you. It apparently looks ghastly even if you have the appropriate shape for it."

The tsadesc of wedding is "You're wearing an ill-advised confection that crawled out of a Disney princess catalogue to die. It's a sort of shimmery lilac, there is lace and ribbon and poofy bits, and while it technically fits, it does so with a tone of thinly-veiled annoyance regarding the configuration of your tits and waist. The train keeps slipping into the water, and is thoroughly soggy.[p]More practically, you're standing at the rear of something resembling a gondola or punt, and in possession of a long, single-bladed oar."

The rivdesc of wedding is "Rivka Strossi appears to be a priest, moving among the guests with smiles and nods."

The rivcostume of wedding is "She's wearing a black surplice, a white flash of clerical collar at her throat, and those aviator shades. One hand clasps the neck of a beer-bottle, a death's-head ring glinting from one finger."

The rivweapon of wedding is "a boat-hook"

The closeclue of wedding is "Clearly a wedding, yet no bride. But someone's left a distinctive bouquet behind."

the bouquet is a clue. the javeclue of wedding is the bouquet. The description of the bouquet is "It doesn't look much like a bridal bouquet, honestly: too contrasty and strongly-coloured, it gives the impression of a cluster of weeds or a Carnival accessory. Soft white frangipani, African daisies all dusty-red and dark-honey-gold, sprays of dark cerise bougainvillea complete with leaf and thorn, huge crimson hibiscus. Flame-orange honeysuckle, corn-gold monkeyflower, crimson poppy, dusky-purple chocolate lily. The whole bunch is knotted together at the base by dandelion stems, which... yeah. Jave."

The desolation of wedding is "Bubbles burst on the still lake surface - first marble-sized, then larger and larger, bringing with them the stench of anaerobic mud. The guests make disgusted noises, and one boat turns for shore. And then one of the boats cracks in half and abruptly goes under, too fast to have swamped. The water's full of splashing people, and everyone on the boats is shouting, and then you spot the first tentacle.[p]It's black as the black water, and covered in barnacles, and the portion you can see is about the size of a small commuter train."

The demise of wedding is "You don't see what tips your boat over, so sudden is the impact: hitting the water knocks the air out of you, and you have to struggle to avoid gulping water. It's dark and you don't know which way is up, and there are other people thrashing in the water around you. Someone kicks you in the face, or that's what it feels like. Panic. You claw at the water, desperate, lungs bursting.[p]Something snakes around your leg, clasps it, and pulls with inexorable strength. Downwards."

The javeinit of wedding is "And of course Jave is the bride, big white dress and all, all the party orbiting slowly around her."

The javedesc of wedding is "Jave is in a dress that looks like cubist origami, a narrow triangle of sharp, improbable folds and hard white panels; her neck and shoulders, emerging from the apex, are startlingly human. The veil, by contrast, is a thing of drifting smoke and calligraphy-brushwork, almost weightless[one of]. The whole production is so eye-catching that it takes you a second glance to notice her expression: she's quietly, radiantly happy, face relaxed, eyes bright. It's not an expression you've ever seen on her before, and it produces an immediate elevator-drop feeling around your upper abdomen. Calm down. This is a palace of lies. That reaction is just what they want[or]. You focus on her hair to avoid catching her face again: it's intricately braided in a circlet around her head, with frangipani blossoms tucked into the weave[stopping]."

The javecostume of wedding is "Jave has shed the veil and torn off the less practical parts of the wedding-dress, which is to say most of it. She looks quite prepared to take on the multiverse in a sports bra, though."

The boozedesc of wedding is "One of the larger, more barge-like boats seems to be an open bar, and waiters circulate - somehow balancing on tiny coracles - with champagne buckets. Champagne is the urine of a particularly feeble-assed demon; fuck that."

The shortbooze of wedding is "You manouvre the boat over to the open bar and avail yourself of some Scotch."

The listendesc of wedding is "No band, no music: just the chatter and laugh of a crowd two-thirds of the way to drunk, and beneath it the water lapping."

The dancedesc of wedding is "You'd rather stay in control of the boat."

The Wine-Dark Sea is an egress. Wine-Dark Sea is outside from wedding. The description of wine-dark sea is "A sky perfectly clear, moonless, cream-thick with stars. Air agreeably cool, suggesting a warm day to come. Below, water so clear and shallow that you catch starlit glimpses of its floor. And the horizon, gods, a horizon densely studded with islands and islets, a horizon that will go as far as you need it to. The little wedding-punt will serve.[p]This is not a way you have any feel for at all - walking is in your blood, rivers you can handle, but trackless open water loses you. But unlike the Great Open Sea, you love this place as a strangeway, a road that's always fresh because you'll never understand it." Understand "wine" or "dark" as wine-dark sea.

the javeapp of wine-dark sea is "Jave is seated at the middle of the craft, facing sternwards".

The listendesc of wine-dark sea is "The waves lap gently against the punt."

the dancedesc of wine-dark sea is "You'd rock the boat."

the singdesc of wine-dark sea is "You hum softly to yourself as you ply the oar."

the long-bladed oar is in wine-dark sea.

the islands are scenery in wine-dark sea. understand "island" or "islet" or "islets" or "horizon" as the islands. The description of islands is "Every kind of island is found in the Sea: barnacled reefs like a whale's back, lone sea-stacks with secret gardens at their peak, cliff-bounded fortresses, atolls with scorching sand and brilliant blue lagoons, grumbling volcanoes with thick-forested flanks, muddy sandbars held together by stilt-houses, derelict oil rigs, floating ship-cities, canal-crossed merchant cities, islands forged from mangrove and delta-mud, the peaks of drowned skyscrapers."

the little punt is scenery in wine-dark sea. The description of little punt is "It's a long, narrow, flat-bottomed craft, large enough to take perhaps six passengers, controlled by a single person standing on the back end. Not the kind of vessel you would trust in anything more vigorous than a canal or a mill-pond."

The tsadesc of wine-dark sea is "A light tunic and sandals. You can't see in this light, but your skin always goes a glowing bronze colour here, your hair closer to black than red."

The roadahead of wine-dark sea is "The water laps softly at your prow, and the sky teems with unfamiliar constellations."

The rebadesc of Wine-Dark Sea is "Reba al-Nasri sits quietly in the prow, turned half-away, fingertips trailing in the water."

The rebalook of Wine-Dark Sea is "The starlight suggests a French braid and a sundress, but mostly you see the arm extended over the water, turning one way and another, the fingers playing with the wavelets as if idly picking out a tune on the piano"

The Wine-Dark Sea is rebaseated.

The reba-act-1 of Wine-Dark Sea is "She tilts her head into the starlight, exposing a long sweep of neck and shoulder."

The reba-act-2 of Wine-Dark Sea is "You try not to linger on that neck."

The reba-act-3 of Wine-Dark Sea is "Reba bounces up and down in the prow, clapping her hands."

The reba-act-4 of Wine-Dark Sea is "She resettles herself, picking at her skirts."

the waiters are a backdrop. The waiters are in wedding and ballroom. Instead of doing something to waiters: say "They're even less substantial than the others: out of the corner of your eye they seem like your basic penguin-suited waiter, but look directly at them and they're blurry, out of focus, all more or less the same.".

Understand "waiter" as waiters.