there's a second voice inside my head, it tells me shut up and trust this (part I)

(This one, like the dinner party, is also going to be non-anonymized, but because this was an awards ceremony, and the recipients deserve the lauds.)

After spending most of the day frantically planting things in the garden for the gala, interrupted for script questions, building separate things, and moving furniture, I got a wailed IM and ported back to the main house.

[16:02] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): i'm sure we tested these.
[16:02] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): and yet, here we are.
[16:02] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I am very confused

Apparently I had had Justine laboriously set out--in two different iterations of Steamopolis, no less!--forty Dali chairs. That could not be sat upon. WHY.

[16:02] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Do we need to replace them
[16:03] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): i think so.
[16:03] Panza Finch (panza.eilde): LOL
[16:03] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): THIS DAY
[16:03] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I need eighteen ounces of gin, and all we have is the bottle of neurotoxic whiskey that I'm not allowed to drink!
[16:03] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): THIS DAY

You do not know how many times I thought of getting up and getting a shot, but...I had promised people I loved, and someone I once loved, that I wouldn't drink any more past the one shot necessary for the worship bargain. Go figure, they got concerned when the left side of my body went numb. For six hours.

The sensation came back, come on now...

[16:05] Bain Finch (bainfinch): sitting is highly over rated
[16:06] Panza Finch (panza.eilde): I think I'll stand.

There were other guests that chose to, so while we did set out workable chairs, at least the Finches were not alone.

[16:11] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): All right, I'm leaving this in your capable hands, Countess, I'm going to go see what I can rescue from the kitchen bundle
[16:11] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) grabs the drink tray on her way in
[16:11] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): we had chairs that looked good...
[16:11] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): but had an issue
[16:11] ΩღLina RodexღΩ (shannon.warden): i saw them i really did like them
[16:11] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): so we are setting up new chairs...sorry

Meanwhile, I was in the kitchen, gutting things out of the bundle of conjoined prims that had gotten returned on accident from Gearhaven Prime. We had both adults and urchins, so it couldn't just be alcohol. The caterers had set out deviled eggs and bread next to the coffee urn, so I just started rezzing out trays on a table nearby--rum, gin, tea, I think hot chocolate...and then threw my hands up and put the two trolleys we'd gotten from KittyCat's Creations for work out, on either side of her Cthulhu drinks stand...and it wasn't until I was leaving the kitchen that I realized I was putting out the Cthulhu drinks stand.

For guests.

Measure of stress, I suppose.

[16:12] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): Mr. Macbeth...thanks for coming...
[16:12] Michael Macbeth (michaelneff.macbeth): You have a spectacular home!
[16:12] Gʀɨʍօɨʀɛ (grimoire.hexem) looks for a corner to darken...
[16:12] Michael Macbeth (michaelneff.macbeth): Truly
[16:12] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener) shivers involuntarily
[16:12] Lightweaver Balan: wow someone lives here?
[16:13] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): a few of us do...
[16:13] Lightweaver Balan: good heavens
[16:13] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): we are in the process of moving to different sim...

I'm not including this to brag. It's just...Steamopolis started off as impossibly huge and complicated, and yes, awe-inspiring, but...at this point? It's where we live. And I was actually confused when people started reacting as if it was...well, what it was. Strange how we get used to things.

[16:16] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): We actually have several dark corners here! This room just has more light.
[16:16] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) reads back.
[16:16] ΩღLina RodexღΩ (shannon.warden): well i did open the door
[16:16] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Do I need to move some of the maps?
[16:16] ΩღLina RodexღΩ (shannon.warden): come in silly
[16:16] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): no the maps are perfect
[16:16] Michael Macbeth (michaelneff.macbeth): *Tips hat and heads for the bar trolley*
[16:17] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh, all right.
[16:17] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): OH!

Because I'd just remembered.

[16:17] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener) quietly sips from a battered silver flask
[16:17] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Because I didn't think this through: A WARNING. Because I'm in no fit state to pick things up. Avoid the gear table with the wee cephalopod if you're not in an...experimental?...state of mind.
[16:18] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener): I thought it was a cake stand.
[16:18] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Some of the drinks are fine, most are eldritch, so....take your chances.
[16:18] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): i'll dip into them later...
[16:19] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) laughs
[16:19] ΩღLina RodexღΩ (shannon.warden): come on in
[16:19] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst) looks up, "what have i missed?"
[16:20] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener) passes Lady Justine her flask

I should have grabbed something, but I was in the numb aftermath of the second day of panic. People told me later I looked very composed.

[16:20] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) clicks the stream on, considers changing it, thinks today that might mean something explodes, and leaves it.
[16:21] Edward Pearse: Should we run the stream?
[16:21] Michael Macbeth (michaelneff.macbeth) waves to Grim
[16:21] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): Your Grace, Duke Argylle thank you for coming
[16:21] Gʀɨʍօɨʀɛ (grimoire.hexem): Hello good sir.
[16:21] Gʀɨʍօɨʀɛ (grimoire.hexem): Been a while.
[16:21] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst) takes a heavy swig from violet's flask and hands it back. "THANK YOU."
[16:21] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): ok.
[16:21] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh, we can, though I didn't invite you to the group to do that
[16:21] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) waves at Edward
[16:21] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I can, though!

I truly felt at this point that I was just clinging to the edge of something, expecting the something to explode, or dissolve, or...something unpleasant.

[16:21] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener) accepts the flask and winks to Lady J
[16:22] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): is violet flying?
[16:22] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener): Sadly, my typist is twitchy.
[16:22] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Not...to me?
[16:22] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener): So not officially.
[16:22] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Trust me, I resemble that remark.
[16:22] Panza Finch (panza.eilde): I tried one of those green drinks....quite refreshing.

Did someone put out absinthe? If not, we should lay in a supply for the next gala.

[16:22] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener): hee
[16:23] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): And, considering the potential of all ages, we do have tea in the kitchen as well.

I sat and breathed for a bit as chat swirled around me.

[16:27] Fuzzball Ortega: Hello
[16:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Hello!
[16:27] ΩღLina RodexღΩ (shannon.warden): your good to go come on in they are inside
[16:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh, good, you're both here now!
[16:27] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): yay!
[16:27] Edward Pearse: Hey Fuzz
[16:27] Hiro Shatner-Orr (hiro.shatner): welcome!

Thank all the gods, they'd both made it. I relaxed fractionally.

[16:27] Panza Finch (panza.eilde) smiles as Fuzz arrives.
[16:28] Bain Finch (bainfinch): greetings
[16:28] Panza Finch (panza.eilde): Hullo Fuzz.
[16:28] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Also, brace yourself, Fuzz, i found a TRULY terrifying picture from The Olde Days of Steelhead. It's in the slideshow.
[16:28] Saazerac (saazerac.atheria) smiles and absorbs the scene "Hello all"
[16:28] Violet Scrivener (violetscrivener): Hello!
[16:28] Lightweaver Balan: better if the scene absorbs you
[16:29] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): No, no, did that yesterday, the entire sim absorbed me, thank you, but enough of that.

The bad crash. The bad, bad crash.

[16:30] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) looks up at the song.

It was "Little Red Corvette", and I guess I'd become fixated enough on making things as non-adult as possible, I was now twitching at the music.

[16:30] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Right, maybe enough streaming for now.
[16:30] ღ Vivian Song ღ (vivianasong): Awww, love this song!
[16:30] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst): please find a seat, we'll be getting started momentarily!
[16:30] ღ Vivian Song ღ (vivianasong): wow, RIP Prince, you little eccentric oddball. WE love you!
[16:31] Gʀɨʍօɨʀɛ (grimoire.hexem): You know I don't sit, Justine.
[16:31] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Oh, I do too, but--we were sort of making the swerve away from adult matters for today?
[16:31] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst) amends her previous statement. "everyone but Grim."
[16:31] Gʀɨʍօɨʀɛ (grimoire.hexem): yes, good.
[16:32] Justine (justinejohndory.amethyst) nods at Wordsmith, whispering, "i think we're ready."

(Credit to our attaché, Countess JustineJohndory Amethyst, for this shot.)

And we began.

(Continued in part II.)