strangetrip | [GP] Réveillon & New Year's Eve & Check-In

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[GP] Réveillon & New Year's Eve & Check-In

Emma had said, during Winter's Crest, that she missed a tradition from home called réveillon. She seemed also to miss her cousin, as Lillith missed hers. Since she wished both to learn to cook and to be of comfort to her friend, it had been decided they would make a réveillon dinner for New Year's Eve.

Yet when Emma began to lay out the courses -- oyster soup and potato & leek soup, salad, a gumbo, venison roast, cheeses, and creme brulee, plus several hors d'ouevres not yet decided -- Lillith quailed at the size of the undertaking. Surely she would wish someone to assist who could contribute more than roasted rabbit, wheat or potato flour dumplings, and koláč.

Since Sunny likewise missed her family and would certainly wish a distraction, when she entered the cafe where they were planning, the other two seized upon her almost at once. Sunny could hardly resist their dual entreaty, even had she wished to, and Lillith thought she seemed even more ready for company than previously. Of course Sunny had offerings of her own: jolloff rice, peppered chicken, and fried plantain.

Between they three, the planning and the cooking were very nearly merry, and Lillith kept them liberally supplied with champagne (her personal favorite), too. By late afternoon of the eve of the new year, they had begun lining tables with dishes, and enlisted the help of other friends to make the evening event widely known.

Of course, in addition to the réveillon feast that took over the steakhouse, alcohol flowed freely, lights sparkled brightly, the nightclub had music for dancing. And at some point the Inn or Caroline or Regina hung mistletoe from several of the primary entrances and exits so that unless one wished to or was unaware of the tradition, no one (not even any new arrivals) need greet the new year unkissed.

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He could hear Max in the back of his head saying things like 'no' and 'compromised' but he inwardly rolls his eyes and outwardly nodded. "A drink sounds great. Especially if it's strong."

Lillith did not know the young woman at the bar very well, except that Emma seemed to like her. Her smile, it did seem encouraging, as though she meant to say she would provide Lillith 'backup' if she needed it, but she should try on her own. Or perhaps Lillith imagined it because it was what Zahra would tell her.

Either way, she felt more confident than before when she said, "What do you like?" with a bit of a sparkle in her illusion's blue eyes.

"I would love a cold beer and some warm company. Best combination in town." His grin remained, though he did pick up that the woman in front of her had looked at the bartender. If she knew the bartender, that would be a plus.

This time innuendo did not make her blush. "Here, especially," Lillith agreed, allowing a hint of seduction to touch the curl of her mouth. If it would help keep him listening, it would not be the first time she had used sex in that way.

She gestured to a booth, suggesting he sit. "I will return with beer quickly."

Alec definitely watched her walk away as he sat before he took in the other people around them. There were some that looked more like threats than others. He didn't recognize anyone from home. A part of him was upset about it, but he ignored it by pressing those feelings deep down inside.

As good as her word, Lillith returned to the table with three bottles of beer between her fingers and a fresh glass of champagne for herself. She set the bottles in front of Alec and then took a seat.

"You will now say that you do not have money to pay for the beer. And then I will tell you that there is no need for money here, and we all help out where we can. You will not believe it, and then there will be other questions."

Lillith smiled crookedly. "Now there will be only nineteen questions, I think."

Alec could definitely appreciate that she brought three bottles for him. He nodded approvingly as she approached and then took one of them and pressed it too his lips. The beer was a lot better than anything back home. He took a minute to relish it before he put down the bottle and sat back a bit.

"Alright. So first question: How did I get here. Then the next one is: How do I leave?"

Lillith pursed her lips at the questions. She did hate not having an answer for him. She did hate not knowing the answers.

Sighing, she said, "We don't know how anyone gets here. We all arrive much as you did. From doing something else, we appear on the road. Always, there is already reservation in your name. You may go when you like, but always you will be returned here in four hours."

His brow furrowed only a slightly. "If I can only go four hours, then that's not really leaving." He paused. "What happens when you reach four hours? Someone come and get you?"

"Nothing like that." Lillith shook her head slightly and then tucked her hair behind her ear. "It is only, after four hours, you are here again. As though you walked around a sphere and came back where you began. But it is four hours, always, as fast or as slow as you travel as long as you continue forward movement. The distance changes."

He looked thoughtful as if trying to figure out how that worked. "That makes no logical sense. Unless someone's getting you and erasing your memory of that exact moment." That made sense to Alec. It would make for a great strategy. Your captives thought they couldn't escape and there was no real outside world, but it was all through mind control.

"That could be. But magic does not always make 'logical' sense. It has rules of its own." Lillith did not think memories were being erased. It was possible, but unlikely. That sort of magic left traces over time. If done repeatedly, it could damage the mind.

"Magic doesn't exist. Just science no one understand yet." People often thought the people working in Psy-Ops were magic, but they weren't. Just a lot of science, even if it was super weird and freaky.

"You are absolutely certain of this?" A hint of Lillith's native accent seeped into her words, and she leaned slightly closer to the table. "You know this for fact?"

He noticed the change in voice, but took it as maybe she was hiding the accent rather than anything else. "Yeah. I know there's no such thing as magic. If there was the world would be way different."

"In your world, perhaps, yes," Lillith allowed, willing to allow him that foothold at least. "But in mine?" She spoke the words of her spell, and the air before him shimmered and twisted, splitting Lillith into mirror images--three duplicates and herself all in a five foot space. "I am wizard."

His eyebrows lifted as he say four of the woman before him. He didn't think magic when he saw it though. He thought of Psy-Ops and hallucinations. "Ah, a wizard." He nodded a few times, though it was unconvinced. He did think she thought she was though.

Lillith rolled her eyes (all eight of them, and it was impossible to tell which of the four sets was actually her). She'd been on the run too long not to recognize deceit or appeasement when she saw it. "If I turned you into a cat, would you believe me then?"

"That I would definitely loved to see." Said with a bit more bravado than necessary.

Lillith dispelled her mirror images and then lifted her glass for a sip. It would not be kind, but if he consented... She lifted an eyebrow. "I have your consent, then?"

He nodded with a bit of cockiness to it. "Yeah sure." His arms stretched out.

Polymorph was one of her newer spells, acquired from a scroll Kashaw and Zahra had found on of their "takes." But as it did tend to be useful to be able to change her own form into non-humanoid creatures and it served as a very powerful escape option, she did tend to keep it prepared.

Setting her glass down, she grasped the focus that she always carried with her, focused and spoke the words of the spell. Since he had given her his consent beforehand there was no delay at all between the ending of the spell, and Alec becoming an adorable, fluffy, scruffy calico cat.

And suddenly Alec had the urge to catch a mouse. What the hell?! He opened up his mouth to protest and heard a loud, perplexed. "MeeOOW?" The cat jumped a bit at the sound and spun around, looking behind it as if looking for a cat.

Lillith stifled a laugh behind her hand. She put the other hand out on the table and murmured, "Here kitty, that's a good kitty. Come here, Alec-kitty," because he really was a pretty cat. It would probably be better, however, if he did not go running off through the bar. She could always drop the spell but she would rather he not be lost in the hotel when she did.

The reply she got was a slight narrowed and the cat hissed but it somehow sounded also confused. It sniffed in her direction. He had to wonder if this was how Joshua felt.

[GP] Réveillon & New Year's Eve & Check-In

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