strangetrip

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NYE

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?"

Caroline tossed her hair back and spun in the water, startled. She hadn't bothered to look around before she jumped in. "Alec!" She pulled her arms in over her chest, started to sink and went back to treading water. Whatever. It wasn't like he'd never seen tits. "It's nice. You should try it."

It was actually absurdly cold for any human. The pool lights made the water glow blue and turned her pale skin luminously fey.

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.

"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.

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.

Her reaction drew a grin from him - he couldn't help it. If she wanted an evaluation, he'd give her high marks. Somehow, though, he thought that might get him into more trouble than not.

"You just want to see me naked." Though he didn't say no.

Thor takes a seat at the bar.

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

She laughed and let herself smirk in response. "You can leave your boxers on if you're shy." She swam closer to his side of the pool. "I promise not to peek."

"Sure am." She grinned to him. The fact he decided to initiate conversation and it wasn't 'are you going to kill so and so' was kind of nice. "You want one of the ones on tonight's menu or something more traditional. Or we could play Russian Roulette with alcohol and I can close my eyes and just pick a few to mix."

It was practically a challenge and Alec had a hard time ignoring those. He stood up on the roof and pulled off his shirt and then his pants, socks, and shoes. He paused and then sent her a 'oh, I'm not a chicken' expression and pulled off his boxers too. Then he gracefully jumped off the roof, landing on two feet, and then moved close enough to dive into the pool beside her.

The water was cold, but nothing his enhanced genes couldn't deal with. When he surfaced, he wiped the water from his face. "Just don't let the cold water change your opinion of me." By which he meant what naturally happens to a man in cold water.

She'd turned her head to avoid the splash but in spite of her promise otherwise, glanced down through the water after he'd made his joke.

Cold water aside, she didn't see anything he should be ashamed of.

Her eyes skipped back to his face. "So what brought you out here?"

"I'll go with the Russian Roulette," he says. He's willing to take a risk tonight.

Thor glances briefly at Tony then looks back over at Bo.

"Met a friend of yours the other day."

It took Bo a minute to figure out who he met. She had friends here, of course, but Thor probably would have met them already. It left one option.

"Kenzi?" She smiled fondly. "Yeah, she came to say hi when all those other people came to visit."

Bo closed her eyes and picked the first bottle - rum.

She opened her eyes. "Kind of makes me miss her more, but I was happy she was able to come when she did."

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?

"She made it sound like you had a pretty rough road ahead of you," he says casually, watching as Bo makes his drink.

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

Edited 2019-01-01 02:38 (UTC)

"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.

With her eyes closed, Bo picked Blue Caraco. When she opened her eyes, she looked slightly confused. "Did she? She wouldn't really discuss things with me beyond gossip..." She paused. "Did she say anything specific?"

Alec had a pretty healthy opinion of his body - maybe a little too healthy.

"Parties aren't really my thing. Too many people pretending to be happy." And he was still annoyed with Peter who still hadn't told him what was wrong. Watching him grump around the party made his head hurt.

"Pretending?" She looked back over her shoulder to the main building, still pulsing with light and music. "What makes you think they're not having a good time?"

She worked really hard to make the party something everyone could enjoy. What had she missed?

...okay, so she wasn't inside either. And hadn't been enjoying herself. But that was different.

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Page 1 of 15

NYE

ota

Tony Stark - OTA

Caroline [OTA]

Liz/Tony

OTA

Caroline/Alec

Re: Caroline/Alec

OTA

Jack/Tony

Curnen - OTA

Re: Caroline/Alec

Re: OTA

Re: Caroline/Alec

Re: OTA

Re: Caroline/Alec

Re: Caroline/Alec

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Sunny - OTA

Re: OTA

Thor and Tony

Hurley and Tony

Re: OTA

Re: Caroline/Alec

Re: Caroline/Alec