Dying Clean And Pretty

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

At least Meena didn't hate pop music.

[Meena Kumar continued from Cast Call]

She he she he didn't usually go to dances. Back when he had a boyfriend, that boyfriend was all the way in Finland, and Meena wouldn't dream of going with someone else. (He needed a new name. Meena was too feminine. But at same time he didn't want to abandon it.) And the pandemic didn't do much to make Meena more enthusiastic about public events. Or did it? He guessed he did kinda miss the opportunity of going, if nothing else.

Why was he he/him-ing himself now of all times? Mom went shopping with him for the dress but she didn't really understand the theme. Meena did, so it was salvageable. He guessed. If a black pencil skirt made it salvagable. But truth be told Meena vibed with the music much more than the fashion of the 20s. He liked his hair and skirts long and flowy, not short and bobby. And he wished the dress shirt he spent his entire month's allowance on because it was such a nice, softly masculine dress shirt that attracted no suspicion from his parents about anything fit better in the theme. He looked like a secretary, not a flapper.

And the pencil skirt wasn't great for dancing. Meena just kind of shuffled around the gym, in between crowds of people, glancing to and fro. Maybe there'd be a lifeline, in the form of someone he knew. But for now he'd kind of forgot why he was here.

His stomach rumbled.

[Ryuki]

(Wendy's Prom Adventure Start)

Wendy was hanging by the snack table, with a plate of cheeses, crackers, meats, and chocolate. She was wearing a long, bright blue dress, along with a flapper headband with a white feather in it, and a pearl necklace. Wendy hadn't been here for too long. Her mother and father had dropped her off and said they'd come back to pick her up when the dance was almost over. She had hoped to meet some of her friends here, but she had yet to spot anyone familiar. For now, she had shimmied towards the snack table. She saved her appetite for the food here.

As she chewed on some cheese, she surveyed her surroundings. Some of the girls' dresses were elaborate. In comparison, Wendy's outfit was pretty plain. Her dress and pearls were borrowed from her mother. Maybe she should have asked Melinda to do her make up for her, but opted to go without any application. She felt that if anyone asked her to dance, it would be a miracle.

Just then she noticed someone in a pencil dress and dress shirt. Wait, were they coming over?

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

He made his way to the snack table, and surveyed its contents. Even with a painfully empty stomach he felt paralyzed by nothing more than a selection of cheeses and chocolates that were probably bought from... where do they get the chocolates for the dances? He always figured that catering for these events was a chaotic and informal affair between students, teachers, and parents.

And as his eyes darted to and fro over all the choices which all seemed a little nice but none nice or filling enough to draw his stupid hand to grab something so he could stop making a fool of himself, he saw someone else there. Made eye contact even but only for a bit.

God. Their dress was so much prettier than his.

And suddenly his hand jerked towards a bowl of chocolate squares not quite in front of but a bit to the side from in front of that person. "Sorry," he muttered instinctually. Hopefully incomprehensibly. It took a few tries before his hands could grab onto one. Pull it close. Begin to unwrap it.



(Why was he like this?)

[Ryuki]

When Wendy made eye contact with the girl, she felt her cheeks blush slightly. She nibbled on her cheese like a timid mouse, as she side-eyed at them as they surveyed the snack table. Her gazed shifted slightly downward at the pencil skirt she was wearing (Gosh, it was cute!), before quickly looking the other way.

In an attempt to get over the awkward air around the two, Wendy spoke up.

"The food, it's pretty tasty," she said.

Pause.

"That's a nice outfit you're wearing," Wendy said.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

The chocolate was only a little melted when Meena sank his her (still) his teeth into it. He remembered going to the mall and going to a chocolate store and there being so many different kinds that you could take an assorted bag of, paid for by the pound. Some were fruity. Some were dark and bittersweet. Some had creamy filling. This chocolate though, was just basic milk chocolate. He figured all of it was gonna be milk chocolate.

Someone was talking to him.

"Oh, um- yeah," he agreed with the girl. Maybe the cheese was better.

He popped the rest of the chocolate square into his mouth. It was basic milk chocolate. It was disappointingly small.

And he wondered if that compliment was just polite. Just air filler. Or a wrapper, like the empty, chocolate-stained one he now held in his fingers (a wrapper for what? or a wrapper as in tr-)

His eyes drifted to the white feather dangling from her hair. It looked soft. It looked ticklish. He imagined himself reaching out to touch it and then getting his hand smacked out of the air and yelled at and shoved or something.

"Your dress is pretty-" prettier. "-too."

[Applesintime]

((Madeleine Molliqaj — Homecoming Start))

Gosh, the school gym looked great. It only seemed fair to Madeleine that in turn, she looked great! So she had put a lot of effort into her outfit and hair for the party; a few hours ago, she'd gone to one of the hair stylists in the mall who did her hair up into a 20s style chignon bun with a psyche knot. To be honest, she preferred just, like, letting her hair grow out naturally. Putting it in all these fancy styles didn't normally appeal to her, but she felt great looking like this. Maybe she should do her hair like that more often.

In contrast, her outfit was simple; a black flapper dress with a handkerchief shirt she'd bought on Etsy two weeks ago, a pair of satin gloves that nearly went up to her elbow and a pair of her mom's red high heels. If they ended up doing a costume vote, which she didn't think they would do but anyway, she would hopefully win! But if not, Madeleine thought she looked good anyway. Enough to maybe get a guy's attention, but she was already going with someone anyway. She'd never really talked with Leslie before this but he seemed cool.

"Oh, hey, we should see what food they have! Maybe it's like, 20s themed too?" And with that, she'd kinda dragged Leslie over to the food table to see what they had. It wasn't 20s themed, but how do you theme food around the 20s? It was a bit of a stupid thought, but she did recognise the two people around it; Wendy and Meena. Madeleine tried to remember people's names, even if they'd never talked before. It was a lot easier to talk to people if you know their names, after all!

"Hiya, Meena, Wendy!" Madeleine was all smiles and cheer as she greeted the two, raising a glove-clad hand. It was so great to see everyone participating and making an effort instead of just, like, wearing jeans and a hoodie. "You two look really good!"

[Ryuki]

When the girl complimented her dress, Wendy blushed. At first, Wendy, caught off guard, didn't know what to say, so she stayed quiet, with a surprised expression on her face. After half a second, she thought up a response.

"Th-Thank you," Wendy stammered slightly.

Just then, another girl, with what looked like her date, came over to the snack table, and greeted them. It was Madeleine, who Wendy know very well, but knew she was part of the peer aide class that would help other students with homework.

"Ah! Hello," Wendy said, raising her hand to wave to her, "You look very nice too."

[Jilly]

In truth, Leslie Romero kind of didn't actually expect to be here tonight, but well, he was. He wasn't unhappy about going or anything; he had just on a whim. Definitely on a whim. Like, a whim in the same way he asked Maddie if she wanted to go with him because she seemed pretty nice from the few exchanges they gave each other over the years and definitely not because he heard she didn't have a date yet and definitely not because he kind of wanted to at least go to the last Homecoming he'd have a chance to go to. He was just being nice. Definitely.

So, here he was now, freshly shaven in a white dress shirt, a black waistcoat, black slacks, and black dress shoes that dug into his ankles with each step. He had some dumb red tie on that Dad pulled from his sock drawer, but that was about the extent of color at his disposal. Luckily that was the color Maddie said her shoes were gonna be, so it worked out.

Though, when Maddie said she was bringing those shoes, Leslie didn't expect for them to be high heels. That was probably on him for not asking her to elaborate since now their height difference was even more cartoonish and Leslie wasn't gonna lie and say it wasn't getting to him a little. Like, now they were probably looking more like a mother dragging her child somewhere than two people on a date. But Maddie didn't really say anything about it or maybe didn't give a shit and she seemed like she really dolled herself up tonight, so Leslie wasn't gonna go and bring up his own insecurities to her. Men didn't ruin nights for women.

She asked him about the food table almost as soon as they got to the done-up gym. They did have a little dinner before coming, but honestly Leslie was still a little hungry since he was trying to not just shove everything he could eat in front of his date like he would usually- woah! Before he had a chance to reply, he was already being snatched away.

Wendy and Meena were here too, it looked like. He didn't really know much about either of them, either. So he just kinda awkwardly waved his hand at them with a half-grin before adjusting the brim of his black flat cap. On sight of the bowl of chocolates he tried to squeeze in with a "Lemme just cut in here real quick," said to Meena.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

Meena's gaze snapped away from Wendy (did he say something wrong or did he meet another fellow anxious mess?) over to the newcomer, and what she was saying. He lifted another freshly-unwrapped chocolate square to his mouth as though trying to hide behind it. Meena didn't look that good, he just threw on something that felt nice and was kinda formal. Really, he could have done so much better. Like, this new girl - why did she know Meena's name? Meena didn't remember hers - she had a 20s bob cut. It was pretty nice, actually.

"Th-thanks?" he said, barely above a whisper.

He stepped to the side, then again as Leslie stepped towards the chocolate bowl, that Meena was rudely standing in front of without realizing it. "Sorry."

[Applesintime]

Leslie seemed kind of awkward, but then again she had just kinda dragged him over here without waiting for his reply, Maybe a social faux pas, but hey, they were here to dance and have fun and eat food and talk to people, so this seemed like a good start! She didn't really know much about Meena or Wendy, just that they shared a couple of classes, but they seemed nice as well. Taking a few cautious steps forward, as she still wasn't great with high heels, Madeleine selected some sort of cheese and herb thing from a plate, popping it into her mouth.

She made a face.

"Ew. That's like, too herby." She still finished it anyway, because Mom and Dad had taught her and Klinton to always eat what they were given. Something to do with the war, she guessed. But now wasn't the time to ruminate on war, that was a little too depressing for a glitzy gym dance. She picked up another cheese, this one a little less herby. Much better, this time.

"Doesn't this place look really great? The guys who set this up did a really good job!" She grinned at the two girls and gestured up at all the banners and decorations all over the gym. "This is a really cool theme."

[Ryuki]

As Madeleine ate a piece of cheese, she had this grossed out look on her face. Perhaps it was too pungent, because she said it was “too herby.” She then made a comment about the decorations for the dance.

“Oh yeah, it looks very beautiful,” said Wendy, “I even got my hair done for the occasion.”

Wendy’s hair was styled in a bun. Normally, she’d settle for a simple ponytail, but she figured she’d need to keep her hair neat for the occasion.

“Melinda, my sister, helped me style it,” said Wendy.

Melinda dedicated her social medias to beauty tips and fashion, so Wendy knew she could trust her to give her a hand in getting prepared for the dance.

“I always thought the roaring 20s aesthetic was neat,” Wendy continued, “Have you danced yet?”