[ The feed snaps on to The Raven's dancefloor. Flashing jewel colors and bursts of confetti. It's a busy night. Everyone dressed to the nines, alive and zippy. A brunette with a wicked little scowl totters into view. Long dark hair hangs straight and shiny on either side of her face. Her dress - a low-cut black number - makes her skin seem china-white. She wears tall high-heels - the tufts of lace winding round her ankles. Sways in them, holding a tray of drinks aloft, while still looking graceful. ]

[ Yet there's something to her. A vibe of - familiarity? ]

...God. I'm not even surprised.

[ Huffing, she hands the tray to a waiter. Also in highheels. The man stammers awkwardly. Takes off to the kitchen, half-tripping in his footwear. The woman watches him go. Her eyes narrow with contempt. ]

Useless. [ Focusing on the remaining staff. ] Let's make one thing clear: A curse is no excuse not to do your job. Don't trouble me with nonsense about your lack of balance. Unless you want me to slice your feet off. As always, I'm in no mood for incompetence.

[...Hi, Karl. Extra-bitchy tonight, aren't you?... ]


[OOC: Cursed with Hell on Heels. And in girl-form for the remainder of the day. (His species are shapeshifters of epically creepy proportions). Replies will come from hellinhigheels ]

 How are we going to be able to tell the people with a real fetish from the cursed? ...assuming this many of you are cursed.

At least wear an outfit that matches for your own good. Don't ask me how. I think I've offered up just enough help, the rest of the ego salvaging has to be on your own.

Whenever I'm not sure of what to do in a situation I take a step back and think of that Kenny Roger's song. It sorta simplifies shit quickly. That secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.

I personally prefer the Johnny Cash to the original, it's the original though that sticks with you.

[Filtered from Known DELILAH Members || Unhackable]
Some advice that might prove useful today:

You're going to be walking about on your tiptoes all day. The heel of your shoe is likely useless and is only there for either artistic embellishment or possibly for balance. It is is likely not there so much for support or to bear one's weight. Stay on your toes, as the saying goes.

Take small steps. And don't bend the knees any more than usual. You'll notice your stride is already shortened, but that's the way of it. Keep the feet close together all around. I won't get into the details of crossing one's ankles when one walks, but that should give you some notion of how close to keep one's feet and legs. Put the heel down first, step forward, and then walk as though on the toes. You'll only look more ridiculous if you mince around on your toes--to say nothing of how crashing down on the whole of one's foot looks.

For stairs, because I know we've no small number of them in the City, put the whole of the foot on the stair going down but only the toes when going up. And do hold on to the railing.

I only learned all this because of a curse. But if I managed it during that curse in four inches tall blue velvet wedge-heeled shoes while everyone was watching me, I feel quite certain you can manage it in those things you're wearing with no one watching you.

Or, well, no one except for me watching from the windows of the Opera House.

Do mind the pavement. It looks rather painful if one falls.

~C.

[ooc: The 4" blue velvet wedges story is totally true: there was a "Next Top Model" curse ages ago and Cain ended up as a runway model. Part of his ensemble was the aforementioned blue velvet wedges...which ended up kicking around in his closet after. Just because. What Cain won't tell you is that he's wearing quite an interesting pair of shoes himself today. O mai, Cain.]

Do be careful today. It would be such a shame for necks to be broken instead of crushed under foot as is proper. If wished, One would be quite pleased to demonstrate as new shoes [and the video moves to show what ne's talking about] do need to be put to use.

[filtered: Deities]

Greetings fair. One does beg forgiveness for the disturbance, but if allowed, One would ask a question or three. Or more.

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm glad the cold spell was only a couple of days long.

[While he talks, he dumps some insects into Spike's tank.]

I thought I'd had enough snow during that incident on Noveria.

Thank you for the lovely gift.

( cut for action options )

[Charlie's seated on the floor of her apartment, her back against her couch. Petrichor and Phantom are play-fighting behind her and Sonic the Hedgehog is sitting on her shoulder. He's asleep. And Charlie's turned the camera on for a reason.]

I'm usually pretty good about showing up for work whether I'm cursed or not. Today, however, I'm going to have to call out because I can't balance in the shoes the City's graced me with[And she turns the camera towards her feet. Yup. Heels. Very, very high ones and there's a bag of ice on one of her ankles.]

On that note, can someone walk Phantom today? I need someone fast. Not fast as in right this second but fast as in you can keep up with a high-energy animal. I can't chase him in these and he's used to running around the park for a bit.

[And on that note, she turns the camera back to herself and switches it off a second later.]

You know it's not that weird, a little foot in mouth happens to everybody.

[The video camera zeroes in on a pair of bare legs and high heels. Lucy bends over, looking into the camera upside down.]

Okay boys and girls, pay attention. This is how it's done.

[She straightens up and proceeds to sashay across the wooden floor of her store without a hitch. In fact, she's almost graceful about it, at the very least natural. This is the sort of thing she wears everyday.]

I must say, though it was unexpected, the weekend's storm doesn't seem nearly impossible. With the proper technology, control over the weather is perfectly attainable - hardly a thing of magic, and far more easily explicable than many of these so-called curses in the City.

Much of what we dismiss as impossible, magical, or beyond our ability is merely what hasn't been defined or quantified yet. A good piece of science fiction, for example, always has its basis in fact and works to expand upon the theoretically possible. More than a few works have influenced the creation of real-life technology, proving that the realm of possibility and the limits of human advancement are consistently far broader than most generally consider them to be.

Though, of course, I'm certain a storm of that magnitude would net the weather service a good many complaints - certainly if it were in July.


[ooc: Let's pretend I wasn't mostly unconscious at the time and say this is backdated to yesterday. Also, this is sort of a placeholder. It's been a crazy few weeks RL-wise, so thank you everyone for all of your incredible patience. ♥]

[For the first time in many weeks, Howl appears on the network entirely himself. He's lounged in his sitting room, the usual mess and stacks of paper around him contrasting with his immaculately coiffed hair and designer suit. The only thing that looks off is the fact that the bright turquoise of his trousers are rolled up at the ankles, revealing

some seriously amazingly glittery high heels.]

Forgive me for not getting up. It's been some years since I've ever walked in shoes like these.

If I was going to be forced into this curse, they could have a least chosen a pair with a little more class. It completely over-powers my look today.

[He gives a cheeky grin into his papers before the camera shuts off.]

...What is even with these shoes?

I don't get how people can even walk in these for long. [a sigh] This day can't be over soon enough.

Frequent use of high heels might result in shortening of the Achilles tendon and increases the likelihood of damage to the underlying soft tissue that supports the foot. Furthermore, constraining the toes can lead to blisters, corns, hammer toes, hallux valgus, Morton's neuroma, plantar fasciitis and many other medical condition. These risks are more pronounced for children.

I suppose one day will not do much harm, but—

[ A beat. ]

I cannot walk in them.

[ ooc; 'sup ]

Does anyone else have the feeling that someone's watching them?

I've felt like that all day, when I was out and about and then when I came home. Even when no one's around, and when the cats and the dog are busy with their dinners.

It's probably not a curse or anything, looking at a lot of you guys today. Heels? Sheesh. It just feels really weird. Like a whole bunch of people I can't see are staring at me.

Probably just my imagination. Maybe I ate something funny last night.

[OOC: Nope, no curse or weird magical effect. Roxas is just feeling the eyes of hundreds of gamers peeking over the fourth wall in honor of the North American release of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.]

One of the benefits of the Underground, I have to say, is missing the annual anomalies of nearly being snowed in during the summer months without a good pair of skis. Though attempting to get out of the Underground during said snow storm was the larger issue at hand, but between the scenery - of there being almost none - and the friendly people - also being nearly none - I'd found myself at the risk of feeling like I'd been transported back home. Including the bartender and his wobbly four inches.

Imagine my surprise when I took the metro back up here and saw that the Underground hadn't come to its own fashion revolution. Let's just hope some of you have better balance than others, yeah? I'd suggest pitting one ground against the other, but I think the Under has somewhat of an unscrupulous advantage.

[ FILTER TO: Ariadne, Arthur, Yusuf ]

Either I've suddenly become terrible at my job or our main showcase has left the City. I'm rather disappointed.

[ See Sora. See Sora handstand. See Sora walk on his hands!

...see Sora not walk on his hands...er...as in, timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

His legs flail something like a person trying to tread water for the firs time before he's down for the count. There's an offended yowl and a Sorry! somewhere in the center of the tumble. Notably, his feet lack the normal shoes (the only shoes he owns...apparently), yellow clown clodhoppers replaced with bright blue heels. They're fairly tame, all things considered.

But Sora is also fairly hopeless on them.

He sits up, shaking his head to clear it, saying to an off-camera spectator: ]

No laughing! You try it. It's hard!

Not as hard as walking on these though...

[ This last part is said more to himself kicking his feet up for inspection, shoulders slumping, a frown to his usually glass-half-full visage. Adjusting the device, he looks directly into the camera, :c ]

Can anyone give me some advice? Or something... ]



[ooc: still tagging old things u_u backdating always, always appreciated ;; i know my face is basically labeled "Slowbro" in the Pokedex so really thank you <3 /shuffles to make one more post abuh... ]

[Rose appears to be feeling a bit better today. She's up and about anyway with a little bit of color in her cheeks. It's a good day anyway. She's got a pair of pink converse on and the camera is focused on those.]

These are a real pair of shoes. Sorta thing you can run in, yeah? You never know when you'll have to run.

[ Tyr was going to go shopping today, but instead, he and his staff are planted in the sand on the beach. Or becoming one with the beach with how much sand is on his clothing and how his feet, shoes and all, are buried in the sand.

He might just kind of...sulk there. ]

I should have brought my device...

... I don't know how you women do it. Trying to run in these things is ridiculous.

[He's currently massaging his ankle. Perhaps you can catch a glimpse of his lovely black high-heel boots]

My feet are killing me...

[This is a thrilling video of... the floor. No, wait! The camera moves to show a pair of feet--specifically, feet clad in yellow heels that are either fearlessly expressive or hideously tacky.

( ooc cut; click with caution )

The camera turns and--oh, there's Penny.]

Is this seriously a curse?  And if it is, can we do ones like this more often?  I mean, not only were these free--and completely adorable--but I've been walking around in them all day and my feet don't hurt at all. 

City?  Thank you. 

[Lo and behold, Sophie Hatter's struggle with high heels has begun this morning. And she has endured, because she's endured a lot of things in life, but -]

I almost broke my neck again! Honestly, is this the modern fashion for women? Why would they torture their feet this way?

I prefer the sevel league boots - no, wait. I prefer the snow in summer to this.

[Slumping down on a chair, all but pouting right now. Her poor unsued-to-this-torture feet. They are unused to this torture.] Why won't they come off?

I don't remember buying these, or even putting them on.

They're easy enough to manage, though, after hooves and paws.

The least they could do is let you pick.

I'm never sure if it's just them running out of ideas or if it's not even them making the curses up. Maybe it's just...one on a zillion-option wheel. Like in a board game.



[ooc: backdating backdating all the stuff (posts, tags, etc) - strikeouts are not audibly there :x just...what's going on in his head sob. one of the things. u_u <3 ]