The Visitor had manifested itself within the palace ballroom quietly, stepping through the Rift and tapping fingers to its chin. Hmm. It shuffled across the clean tile and found a pedestal—and even though the palace was immaculate, it felt the need to brush at the surface to clear any dust. Of course, there wasn't any, but just in case...

From beneath its long, black robe emerged its other arm, cradling a strange device which it placed upon the pedestal. The Visitor then attached a strange, wide mouth with a long neck to the back, which reached over the round plate in the middle. Finally, it slipped a strange black disc from its robe and fashioned it onto the plate, moving a needle onto the surface and breathed a bit of magic into the hand crank—pffrrtt!

It recoiled at the record scratch, but as music started to bubble from the sound horn, it quietly and quickly scuttled back into the Rift it came from and zipped right on out of the nest.

The Ballroom of the Palace has received a phonograph!
Right now the record plays a single song: Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen

Isra immediately hissed at the sound coming from the ballroom. What in the fuck was that!? She hurriedly stomped her way into the large, open room only to be further assaulted by the strange, scratchy wailing. At first, it sounded like gibberish, but as the installed translator began to work, she could hear what it was saying:

HEY, I JUST MET YOU, AND THIS IS CRAZY,
BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME MAYBE

"WHAT," she yelled back, gaining speed as she approached the phonograph. It didn't smell like anything—wait, was that... cat? Snakes? No... a lizard? What the fuck!?—but it continued to holler at her. She hissed a warning, but it did not stop. And how had it been placed here?

"MY LORD? HAVE YOU DONE THIS?" she called out, searching the room for signs of Lord Dhracia only to find Her presence missing.

BUT STILL YOU'RE IN MY WAY
I BEG AND BORROW AND STEAL

"HUH," she growled, her head snapping back to the strange device. "TRY IT!" It continued to scream and yell in its garbled, scratchy voice. She inspected it for some few minutes more until it quieted down. The flames of her eyes narrowed. And then it started again.

I THREW A WISH IN THE WELL—

"AUGH," spit Isra, slapping a paw on the tile. The only one who could have come in and out of the Palace without detection would have been Lord Dhracia, or another visiting Hand, so maybe... it was placed here on purpose. It had no discerning smells that linked it to the Gembound or the Valkhound. She hissed under her breath and turned away from its gargling and repetitious cawing. Whatever. If she stayed away from the ballroom, she didn't have to listen to it...

Exit Isra

Your characters are free to inspect the phonograph or jam out to the music in the ballroom.

strong language

Motherfucker Unlimited 2 was HERE!!!

As if on cue, he busted into the ballroom and paused, wings spread, listening to the music once around before inhaling sharply.

"I THREW A WISH IN A WELL, DON'T ASK ME I'LL NEVER TELL, I LOOKED TO YOU AS IT FELL AND NOW YOU'RE IN MY WAY!!"

He tossed his head around, wings flapping as he made a complete fool of himself, screaming rather than singing, having one hell of a time, even if it was by himself. You only needed one to have a party if you were enthusiastic enough.

"YOUR STARE WAS HOLDIN', RIPPED JEANS (what are jeans) SKIN WAS SHOWING, HOT NIGHT, WIND WAS BLOWING- WHERE YOU THINK YOU GOING BABY?????"

Lemonface stomped around the ballroom, screeching the chorus at the top of his lungs.

"HEY I JUST MET YOU, AND THIS IS CRAZY!", he belted, only pausing long enough to breathe before continuing, "BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME MAYBE!!!!!!!"

He tossed his head to the beat as he pigeon-hopped around the room, swishing his tail feathers back and forth and shimmying around, "IT'S HARD TO LOOK RIGHT, AT YOU BAAAAABY, BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME MAYBE!!!"

He didn't know what the hell any of this meant, but who cared? It was AWESOME!!!!

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-", he screamed, running across the room, not a care in the fucking world lmao.

She did it again. She magically teleported somewhere because I am her god. Hopefully she actually lives long enough for this to make sense.

Adina was at the threshold of the ballroom. She made it here while going on one of her walks. She never though much while she was walking, so ending up in surprising places was usual. {I gave an explanation this time. I expect gratitude.}

But Adina had never walked into something like this before. There was a bird flailing his body around and screaming. But not in like, a pained way. He seemed to enjoy the sensation.

I can definitely hear him, but there's another voice to. Where's the other creature?

"Hello?! Who else is here?"

Her question was not answered, but it didn't phase her in the slightest. Whoever this other voice was, they sounded really cool! And Adina started wanting to flail and scream, too! In a good way!

She walked out onto the floor near the bird and tried imitating his movements. He was moving really fast, though, so Adina didn't really accomplish any of the moves he was pulling off. She decided to just flail in her own time and mumble over the lyrics until she got the hang of it.

It felt...really fun!

She'd been exploring, and as a storyteller and singer, the music had called to her at once. It was different from the white palace--a place that felt beautiful, but oddly ordered, as if unnatural, and somehow strangely ominous to her. No; this music was bright, cheerful.

This music was happy, with the weird sort of meaningless abandon of real music. A celebration of nothing, a frivolous joy for the sake of it.

Thalia took note of the others present as she approached, offering a cheerful "Hi," to those visible near the phonograph; and close by she paused.

She inspected it, and she smiled quizzically as she listened to the lyrics.

What was this thing? And how did it work? She wasn't sure, but her hoof was tapping to the time, and then her head was bobbing, and then her arms had uncrossed from her chest and her hands reached palms-out for the sky. Her smile split into a delighted grin.

This song was... it was catchy!

Her whole body was soon jauntily moving--if slightly--up and down, and past the goofy grin plastered across her face, Thalia was focusing. Those upturned palms suddenly lit with rainbow light: a light that flashed skyward, arcing out and up in rays of multicolored glows: a light show, for the music!

Was the phonograph magic-? Thalia didn't know; but it sure sounded like magic, to her.

Motherfucker unlimited.... THREE!

Aviv Vita slammed in just after Lemonface, like a dog summoned by a dog whistle. Or a demon summoned by a pentagram. He slipped on the floor ('Why were these rocks so smooth?!'), spiraled around for a bit ('God, this is dizzying') but eventually stabilized himself with a sweep of his leathery wings ('This is why I stay in Canis').

The gryphon looked over to Lemon, absolutely having a seizure while others looked on in vague confusion. Well that seemed fun!

"-- JUST MET YOU, AND THIS IS CRAAAZY!" Aviv hopped in the middle of the song, rearing his head back and flailing his scythes everywhere. With the glowing spots going down his body, he practically looked like a disco ball. "BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME MAAAAYBE!"

"IT'S HARD TO LOOK RIGHT, AT YOU BAAAAYBY, BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER SO CALLMEMAYBE!!!" And with that he flapped his wings in the air, hovering slightly off the ballroom floor and tapping his hind claws on the tile. Avi saw Adina out the corner of his eyes, seemingly attempting the vulture's movements, and flew a big sweep right over her head.

The alien swept up to the top of the ceiling, a low, steady beat starting to emanate from his body. "HEY, I JUST MET YOU! AND THIS IS CRAZY! BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME MAYBE!!" It slipped into the background of the song like a good base as she swept down, doing circles around the room. And then a faun started with some lights! He gleefully flew through the beams, briefly turning the light green with his glow, before resuming his singing. "-- AND ALL THE OTHER BOYS, TRY TO CHAAAASE ME! BUT HERE'S MY NUMBER, SO CALL ME MAYBE!"

Wait, why were they singing about numbers, again...?

Lemon screeched to a halt as more arrived, clapping his wings with glee. He darted over to Thalia, gasping at the lights, hopping up and down.

"That's so AWESOME!", he exclaimed, and held out a wing, "Care to dance, m'lady?"

Once permission was granted, he set his wings in her arms and grinned even bigger as they spun around, his legs quickly leaving the floor.

"Oh cave Jesus-", he exclaimed, his words quickly turning to laughter, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"HI AVI!!", he yelled as he spun by, having the time of his friggin' LIFE!!

Man this was more fun than that one time he decided that trying to sneak up on a sleeping tunnel runner was a good idea! It wasn't but it was funny!

Got perm from Dark to dance uwu