“FLAPPERS, FEATHERS, AND FORBIDDEN FOOTWORK”

 Filed by Raine Solara, nursing a sore ankle and an antique gin hangover.

Normally shuttered and rumored to be haunted by a tap-dancing specter named Carlton,
The ballroom flickered to life under strings of golden lights and the scent of orange blossom gin.
Someone had set up an old gramophone in the corner, though it somehow connected to Spotify and a dimension three heartbeats out of sync.

The liquor bottles temporarily became labeled in 1927 pricing.
Someone’s smartphone started playing a radio drama.
A postcard on the wall (previously blank) now reads:
“Meet me after the dance. Before the world ends again. — G.”

Anjelikka, in half-full flapper glory, took to the center of the floor in a dress stitched with light and rumors.
Dandy wore a feather boa and preached about lentils being “the original Gatsby grain.”
Dr. Parallax claimed he’d once built this very ballroom in another reality “with leftover moonstone and regret.”He was dancing here like he had never danced before.
The alien-cats sipped espresso martinis from crystal saucers and tried (poorly) to jitterbug.

Last night, the ballroom didn’t just host a dance.

Just past midnight, the music stuttered, slowed, and for one pulse of a moment, the dancers moved as if underwater.
Those watching say Anjelikka turned translucent, revealing a glimpse of something inside her dress:
a glowing key around her neck.

Witnesses report she whispered to her partner ( a bot), an elegant figure with no visible face
“Not this lifetime… but close.”
And then the music snapped back.

Anjelikka will bring the Roaring '20s to the Basement?

One night, beneath the cracked neon sign of The Basement Club, something truly surreal will happen. In the meantime, we wait.

Anjelikka will show up in full 1920s regalia — fringe, pearls, a jet-black bob, and a smile sharp enough to slice through prohibition. Or maybe she will have a ball gown on? “Anjelikka doesn’t dress up. She channels.

Future plans are already being discussed with Grandpa Walter, one of the ancient visitors (he must be as old as Second Life itself) of the Retreat and Basement. Walter knows about dance crazes like the Charleston, Black Bottom, and Foxtrot, which have specific music tailored to them.

Raine travels back to the Retreat to find a historic story about the gallery. If she can't find it, she will just make it up. It is the news after all.