NYE

[st_raighttovampire]

 If a thing done more than once could be said to be a tradition, then tradition was observed. The restaurant was set for a party, overflowing with whatever the cooks and bakers of the inn had chosen to create. The bar was stocked from the wine cellar. The bartenders had created a couple of special New Year's cocktails for the occasion in addition to the usual champagne: Blue "Drunk Jack Frosties", frothy pink "Mistletoe Margaritas" and warm boozy hot cocoa.

 

Caroline had tried to convince each of the guests she knew had musical talent to perform, at least a song or two, but had a playlist ready in case they didn't. For those without their own instruments, the karaoke machine was set up in the lobby, conveniently near the bar so one could find courage as needed first.

 

Between Christmas and today, the decorations had been changed out - the tree was still there of course, and the mistletoe. But now golds and silvers dominated the colors of the streamers. Sparkling snowflakes dangled and sprays of gold stars. A banner hung over Darryl's head, wishing any who glanced his way a Happy New Year! There was even a disco ball, dug out from some storage closest, turning slowly and sending little shards of light dancing over the pink rose carpet.

 

Even from the outside, the inn radiated good cheer and hope for the future, as if by sheer will, they could all make it so.

Comments

ota

[st_rongliketeflon]

Maria gravitated toward the karaoke machine when she had a moment. Something was up with Peter and Liz was upset, so most of her time was there, but it seemed Peter's friend Ned was also stepping up and trying to distract her best friend.

Eventually she got fed up and decided to try something different than to march up to Peter and demand what the heck was wrong with him. With the help of Colby, she stood up and sang a slower version of Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely.

Peter and Maria

[st_arkintern]

It hadn't gone unnoticed to him that Maria was very clearly singing the song to or at him.

He doesn't need this right now.

Peter finishes his punch, drops his plastic cup into the trash and heads for the door.

Coby & Maria

[st_rummer]

Maria had asked Coby to accompany her for a song, and it wasn't like it was a hardship to play for her, so of course he'd gone along with it. But it didn't take too long into the song for him to realize there was more going on than just her wanting a little something other than karaoke.

When she didn't hang around after the song, he grabbed Sunny for a dance that turned into two, and headed to the bar for a drink when she found another eager partner. But he hadn't forgotten, and when he saw Maria come back in later, he made his way over.

"It's been awhile since I got dragged into some CW teenage drama. Feel like telling me what I 'helped' out with?" he asked, and took a sip of his... whatever holiday cocktail it was he was drinking.

Tony Stark - OTA

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

If one soul told Tony Stark he'd be relieved to be at a bright pink disco party, he'd have have told them frankly that he'd yet to enter a phase manic enough to make that a decent time. But he had just spent three days near-continuously confined to a room that looked like Tweety's tramp stamps while manufacturing roombas painted in the image of his enemies and freedom was freedom.

And, for better or worse, he was feeling a tad manic.

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...Jack Frosties nipping at my nose..." He sang, drinking up the third blue drink he'd ordered, leaning forward onto the bar. Whether the booze would be a good or horrific idea would be a problem for Future Tony Stark. His self control tank was empty.

Liz/Tony

[st_hotflashes]

Liz was very aware something was up with Peter. He was busy a lot lately and the few times she tried to phone his room, he didn't answer. She was pretty sure he left the phone off the hook eventually.

She was trying to give him space, but she couldn't help but wonder if she had done something wrong. Not for the first time tonight did she find herself alone, though Ned and Maria were definitely taking turns babysitting her - it was pretty obvious.

Liz found herself at the bar and was considering drinking. The last time had gone horrible, but if she drank more moderately this time it would be fine, right?

Jack/Tony

[st_argateman]

"Not bad... a little off key, but I'm not one to talk." Jack had a beer as he sat there and watched Stark with quiet amusement.

Thor and Tony

[st_ormbreaker]

Tony is mid-lyric when Thor wordlessly sets the butt of a cold water bottle against Tony's forehead, the plastic slick with condensation.

Hurley and Tony

[st_illkindalost]

"Dude, I don't think that's how the song goes."

Hurley is standing nearby, nursing a drink of his own. He generally doesn't drink to excess -- it was never his style, but there's no harm in having a few beers tonight.

It's New Year's Eve, after all.

Caroline [OTA]

[st_raighttovampire]

Two years ago, Caroline Forbes entered the inn for the first time. It had been two weeks until Christmas, then suddenly a week after it.

Last year, she'd ended up under the mistletoe with Sam and Bo, then in bed with them too.

This year, she didn't know what was going to happen and she had put most of her time and effort into not thinking about it. She'd organized and decorated. She'd plotted entertainment and drinks. She got a drink, then another one. She watched the party get started then progress to full-swing. It was going well.

Then she turned and left the lobby and headed for the pool. She stripped out of her gold dress and kicked off her shoes, then dove into the deep end.

Caroline/Alec

[st_x5_494]

Alec was not at the party, but he was hanging out by the pool. Or rather, he was hanging out on the top of the pool bar when he saw Caroline strip and jump in.

He waited until she surfaced. "Cool enough for you?"

OTA

[st_hotflashes]

With about twenty minutes to the New Year countdown, Peter was nowhere to be scene. Clad in a black cocktail dress she thought was cute, Liz stood to the side watching everyone at the party. Something was wrong with Peter and she knew it.

She held a pink alcoholic drinks in her hand as she leaned against the wall. Maybe she should just go now. Still, she held out for Peter - he had said he wanted that New Year kiss.

M and L

[st_rongliketeflon]

"Still no Peter, huh?" Maria asked as she came to stand by Liz. "Maybe he's just, I don't know. Has the bad case of the runs or something."

OTA

[st_unaligned]

Bo decided to plant herself behind the bar making the specialty drinks. It seemed like a safer and easier place since today she felt strange. She didn't know why she felt strange, but she did - like something was moving along and she was there for the ride.

Wearing her typical black leather outfit, the only thing that screamed 'festive' was the New Years party tiara she had agreed to wear for Caroline.

Re: OTA

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor takes a seat at the bar.

"You making drinks?" he asks, twirling a finger at the various bottles on display.

Re: OTA

[st_ratagem]

"I have to ask." Loki, as he tended to enjoy doing, probably seemed to appear out of nowhere. One of the best ways to deal with parties, in his view, was to stay comparatively untouchable. (But then, parties on Asgard had always tended to start miserable and pick up only when he made his own fun. At which point 'untouchable' was very advisable.) Invisible sometimes, illusion duplicate other times. Once in a while, as now, actually present. "The crown, is it traditional somehow?"

Curnen - OTA

[st_oneswidow]

Curnen had spent several days practically in hell, and the next two mostly asleep. Today, she didn't know what she was.

Except hungry.

Crouched under one of the refreshment tables, Curnen had basically said fuck it to performing tonight. She wasn't much in the mood to sing in celebration, at least not in any nice way. She had survived her father's haint and torn it apart, and that meant a hell of a lot more than any of this.

All the same, she didn't want to be alone, either. Just because she'd succeeded didn't mean her dreams were peaceful, that she didn't look for Rockhouse in shadows. The ghosts were gone, yes, but that was going to take more time.

Every so often a brown, six-fingered hand reached out to take something from the table and then disappeared back under the cloth.

Re: Curnen - OTA

[st_ripetail]

Rocket wasn't sure why he'd come out of his room at all. Sure, one battlefield more or less probably shouldn't have meant much to him, but....

Well, but.

So when he saw a hand just take stuff off a table and retreat underneath it again, he thought that is a fantastic fucking idea. He collected a bunch of things and a glass of water - not for drinking - then headed under the table to maybe talk to the hand but definitely stay there with it. For a while anyway.

Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

On her first New Years Eve away from home, Sunny had kept herself busy. Cooking, hostessing, generally keeping the kitchen from descending into chaos because people who couldn't cook thought that that was the time to start learning how to cook (seriously, what the hell), so on.

This year there were no such restrictions. Sunny threw herself into dancing.

Whether there were a few people or many, whether it was a fast song or a slow one, whether she had a partner or not, if she had the energy to do it Sunny danced fiercely and without hesitation. If she kept going, if she had enough fun, she could forget how much she hated that she was still here.

But even determined as she was to never stop, to go straight through the night like one of those twelve princesses in the fairy tale, eventually she hit a point where she had to sit down and drink some water or she was going to do herself some damage. Sunny all but collapsed into a chair, laughing and pouring water over her braids before drinking the rest of the glass in one long pull.

Who needed booze when you had dancing?

Loki - OTA

[st_ratagem]

Loki was either great at parties or awful at them, depending on one's perspective. On Asgard, such events had been minefields of potential misery: Odin's disapproval, Thor's friends' alleged playfulness, a lot of hovering around the edges watching. He'd learned, over the years, to stay invisible or illusory a fair amount of the time. Occasionally he'd do something actually fun (a subtle grease spell on the dance floor, make people think their drinks were made of spiders, a few whispers to touch off a brawl) but for the most part he... still hovered around the edges and watched, really, but it was harder to notice that he was attending without being present.

It was better that way, and had resulted in him actually enjoying himself occasionally.

He hadn't entirely decided whether the Inn was different or not, except in being a smaller population. Thus far he'd mostly stayed visible in his edge-hovering, which was probably something, even if the visible him was an illusion about a quarter of the time.

Re: Loki - OTA

[st_ormbreaker]

"You actually here?" Thor asks as he approaches. He has two glasses in his hand right now -- one for himself and one for Loki, but he's not going to hand off a drink to an illusion. He'd just wind up making a mess.

Xavin - OTA

[st_artliving]

Xavin was later to the party than she'd exactly intended. She didn't want to be alone, necessarily, but between seeing Karolina again, seeing her with Nico, and still sometimes hearing Kl'rt saying look at them, these humans don't deserve your loyalty, but He will always love you when she wasn't thinking about other things was... hard.

Not that Kl'rt was right! He was not. It was simply hard to hear and keep hearing.

She did eventually get herself into a pretty dress and down to the party, where she picked up a glass of champagne and proceeded to let herself be fascinated by the spinning ball of mirrors.

Re: Xavin - OTA

[st_illkindalost]

When Hurley sees Xavin, he swallows a breath and doesn't open his mouth to breathe again for a full 20 seconds. He forces his feet to carry himself towards her, one after the other until he's standing right behind her. Somehow he manages to feel both hesitant and proud at once.

"You look... nice."

Nice is probably understatement of the year. Xavin looks more than nice -- she looks gorgeous, and Hurley finds that he's mentally kicking himself for not saying something that's a little closer to the truth than just nice.

Especially since over the past few months, the two of them have actually become friends. He should be able to say stuff like that without getting all reluctant about it.

Vex - OTA

[st_ubby]

The dress wasn't intended as maternity wear as far as Vex could tell, and if the new year had come a week or two later, she wasn't sure she could have worn it – not comfortably nor fashionably – but for now the cut of it allowed the skirt to drape gracefully over her growing baby bump while still swishing as she moved. The sequins caught the light in shimmers of jet and sapphire, and while she felt sometimes like a whale, at least she looked damn good.

She refilled her glass from a bottle of something bright and bubbly and set aside just for her, and took a seat at an already occupied table, not caring so much who she was joining as that she was joining them. (And getting off her feet that were already wanting to swell.)

"Are you filled with fond remembrances or kicking the old year out on its ass?" she asked, rather than a much more mundane greeting.

Moana - for Ned

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana knew that celebrations were important and necessary to the health of a community. That's why she'd found a nice dress - fancy instead of practical - and even a pair of shoes that weren't too uncomfortable. But now that she was standing outside the lobby, looking in, all she could think about was how much this reminded her of last year and the confusion of being here and not home.

She was a voyager. A wayfinder. But she'd lost her way that night and still not found a path home. Taking a breath, she stepped back from the doors and turned again to the night. She looked up at the sky and wished, again, for something familiar.

Re: Moana - for Ned

[st_guyinthechair]

Ned was taking a breather - there was only so much one-word replies from Peter he could take before things felt awkward and he was pretty sure that Liz was getting annoyed with his hanging around. He caught a glimpse of Moana as she turned - it was hard to miss her - and decided to follow her in case things were wrong. A lot of people seemed out of sorts lately.

"Uh, hey, Moana! Wait up." He half jogged toward her.

Emma Swan - OTA

[st_artedtheclock]

This place was amazing. The Christmas decorations were wonderful, the wood carving and roaring fires made the place feel warm and cozy, intimate. There was a New Year's Eve celebration, and though Emma hadn't often felt like she was really part of the community--like she was super close friends with lots of the others around here--she wanted to show up to more of these community events and try to change that. It took her a while to warm up to people sometimes, but she wanted to give it a try.

She headed to the ballroom downstairs, hoping to be part of the merriment. There were only a few hours until midnight. She thought she could have a few drinks, dance a little, if the mood struck her, and see about finding Killian for a midnight kiss (or two or three...) it seemed like a good way to spend New Year's Eve.

Bucky Barnes: OTA

[st_ranger]

Steve had wanted to do the New Year's Eve party. Living in New York City when they were younger, it was hard not to miss the ball drop and all the revelers in the city. Being festive, having a few drinks with friends even though neither of them could actually become intoxicated, it was a fun idea. Or so Steve had kept insisting.

Bucky made his way through the room, smiling a little awkwardly. When he could, he'd sneak off to the side or the corner, watching everyone dance and have fun. Big parties and lots of people were still at thing he was trying to get used to. Steve told him he needed to be more social.

Now was good a time as any to try?

Steve Rogers and OTA

[st_evengrantrogers]

New Years was one of the days of the year that Steve really felt that he could relax and enjoy the holiday. He was looking forward to the turning of the year and the new beginnings that he felt came with that. Even here, where things sometimes felt like they were the same day after day, he was excited to come up with a New Year's Resolution, to watch the ball drop (they did that here, right?) and to countdown to the new year.

So he headed down to the bar to ring in the new year with his friends and neighbors here at the Madonna Inn.

Re: Steve Rogers and OTA

[st_ayedhidden]

"Hi Captain America!" She said excitedly.

Annie was trying to stay up, but it was hard for the eight year-old. She was runnning on empty soon. She wore a dress she thought was really pretty.

For Lara

[st_alksthroughwalls]

As the hour approached midnight, Kitty grabbed a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and the hand of her girlfriend. It had been a strange year, her second full year, beginning of the third, and she didn't know if she'd ever be happy to be here, but she had Lara and Yana and James, and Tony to work with. She had students and a purpose. Yeah, she could celebrate a new year.

"C'mon, let's go outside."