The Bandstand

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Recommended: Social role of music

The bandstand tent was alive this evening as people danced and swung about the floor to the brass quartet blaring jubilant notes from the far stage. Men in waistcoats and trousers twirled women in layered petticoats and lace while others mingled in groups beyond the dance floor smoking ornate pipes and drinking iced cocktails that beaded with condensation in the warm early-summer air.

There were multitudes of colors in endless different shades mixed with black and white where appropriate. Men boasted pocket watches with long elaborate chains and their white-gloved hands gripped canes with heads of diamond, jade, or gold carved in the shapes of wolves, birds of prey, or great spinning gears. They wore waistcoats of bright colors and long tailed overcoats to match. Nearly half wore tall top hats banded with silk and accented with glimmering brooches. Several of the men proudly sported expensive monocles wedged between cheekbone and eyebrow rimmed and studded with the rarest chips of jewels.

The women were of course no less elaborate, draped in layers of delicately dyed silks with great crinoline skirts or multi-layered petticoats billowing out around them. The lace was delicately embroidered with gold, silver, or multi-hued threading in intricate patterns of flowers or abstract design. The shoulders puffed like great clouds and dipped low to reveal an extensive amount of cleavage which was held prominently high by the corsets cinching their waistlines. From their ears draped great sparkling gemstones and their necklines dripped with silver and gold, inlayed with sparkling sapphires, rubies, or emeralds. Each woman's hair was stacked higher than the next spotted with encrusted barrettes and combs. Few of the most elaborate w...

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...dle the emerald pendant around Ambur's neck in a silken gloved palm. She studied it curiously and turned to Aaren, "Why... I was unaware that emeralds this small existed! How curious."

Ambur suppressed a rush of fury, she was not sure how much longer she could handle this gear-headed cow and was only slightly relieved when she dropped the pendant.

"I am parched, and I am in need of better company." The woman glanced at Ambur and returned her attention to Aaren, "I will see you later this eve." she addressed to him with a hand under his chin and a kiss on his cheek.

Aaren waited to wiped the deep red lipstick on a napkin until after the woman zipped away, her crinoline bouncing in-step with her stack of curls.

"What an atrocious woman!" Ambur hissed, handing Aaren her empty stemmed glassware. "This time, get me liquor. Champagne is for prissy gear-heads!"

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