Our Way Is Forward- Mingle, Speech, a First Phone Distribution

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Pre-Speech Mingle

The room is set out with all sorts of foods and delights. The walls are decorated with blue and gold banners, the table cloths in the same colour scheme. The plates are fine china edged in gold. The silverware is actual silver. The glasses are crystal goblets with gold rims. This is not the sort of spread one generally puts out for unknown guests. Clearly you are being treated as trusted friends instead.

There is a single table off to one side with a neat sign reading "Please leave dirty items here to be cleaned" and a buser's bin waited atop the table. Perhaps more proof that you are being seen more as friends than guests. Or perhaps it has something to do with how empty the room seems, like it is far too large for the number of people. The food was out out before people arrived, and other than Sylvando, not a soul can be seen checking on if plates need to be refilled. It is almost as if there is no staff at all.

But do not let that bother you. There is food. Try the grey stuff, it is delicious, or so I hear. There are nonalcoholic beverages. The pumpkin juice is apparently midnight worthy. There is music - which will prove to be a smart phone plugged into a sound system, but still. The tunes are pretty okay. Nothing scandalous or concerning, but also not muzak.

The food- mostly prepared by Sylv, though Ben and Mal both helped when they could and made a few suggestions- all looks delicious. To start with, there are some fairly standard sandwiches- ham and cheese, peanut butter and strawberry jam, and tuna salad- cut into triangles and arranged neatly on a platter. In terms of hot foods, there's a tortilla española cut into neat wedges for easy serving, patatas bravas served with a dipping sauce that had just a bit of a spicy kick to it, and some nice snack-sized empanadas that prove to be filled with savory beef and veggies. For dessert, there's trays of various small or cut fruits surrounding an elegant chocolate fountain for dipping while feeling fancy, an unfrosted lemon-poppy seed cake, a platter of small strawberry shortcakes, and the mysterious but delicious gray stuff- it seems to be some sort of chocolate mousse, but there's an extra something in it that's hard to identify. To drink, there's pumpkin juice, virgin sangria, and- for those who feel like being boring- plain old water. With so much food to relatively few people, it seems likely there'll be leftovers, but better that then to not have enough, right?

There is time to mingle. There is space. Feel free to get to know your fellow new arrivals.

The Speech

Then there was a change in the room. The lights dimmed once then came up again. Then once more. That was the cue.

******

It was time for Ben's speech.

******

After the speech, the camera turned itself off. The remote hidden in Mal's fingerless glove wasn't magic, it just worked as though it were. As soon as the recording light went off, the purple haired young woman went from one kind of tense to another. She slipped the remote into Ben's pocket seamlessly as she slid her hand up her arm, to rest one hand on his shoulder, her other hand finding his.

Together for a moment, the royal couple looked over the glittering assemblage. As if they shared a thought that alarmed them both, Ben turned to face Mal, they both met each other's eyes and for a tense moment they both looked like they were trying to hide that they were terrified. Then the moment was gone and they both burst into laughter together. What they had both suddenly feared had not come to pass. They were safe. For now.