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

[st_rangepalette]

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.

Comments

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Sunny crossed her arms and if there was no point in arguing the point further than, "We did it first, we did it best." The former was of course impossible to prove, given the cultural exchange through the region. They had all probably influenced and been influenced by each other. And the latter was of course a matter of taste.

She would still totally fight someone from Ghana (or Senegal, they tried to get in on this argument too) on this point.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

"Fair enough." He didn't tell her she was hot in her adamance. She was, but that wasn't the point, and he wasn't in the mood for getting punched for telling the truth.

"So is this a secret family recipe, or are you up for teaching people how to make the best jollof rice?"

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Anything related to Sunny's looks or attractiveness had to be approached like a cat, obliquely and at times even she couldn't predict. She had no idea when she'd accept belly scratches and when she she'd shred the hand trying to pet her. She wanted validation. She was wounded by the wrong validation. "I'd be glad to teach that."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

"Excellent." What? Coby liked good food. It was one thing to get a craving, go out to some restaurant that can satisfy it. It was another when you had to depend on a friend to cater to you. If he could cook for himself, much better. And it was a good reason to spend time with Sunny, which was always a bonus.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Sunny laughed, tickled pink by a sudden realization. "You'll know more about this than any man I'm immediately related to." Her brothers and father couldn't cook at all.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

"Bad cooks?" Or some sexist women do the cooking deal, but Coby would rather think the men in Sunny's family were just bad at it.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

"Don't cook," Sunny clarified, rolling her eyes. "My brothers couldn't boil water, and they're practically proud of it. Though this gave me considerable power when we were kids, because if Mama was working late, if they pissed me off, they wouldn't eat."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

"Hey, use the tools you've got." If that meant using food to keep her brothers in line, Coby was good with that.

"My mom says everybody should at least know how to cook one thing, and if it's only one thing, make it breakfast. But my folks have always shared cooking, and when I was old enough, I did too."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Sunny snorted. "You and your progressive hippie parents, all convinced there's no significant difference between men and women. Meanwhile my family, Aunt Chinwe's the weird one for actually daring to teach her boys how to do 'girl stuff.'"

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

That got a laugh out of Coby, because he'd heard it so often, and it was so very true. "Yeah, yeah. Try going through a rebellious teenager phase when your parents are okay with all the fun stuff.

"I would have had to join the Young Republicans or become a skinhead or something - and that wasn't happening."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Sunny lifted a hand and impulsively ran it over Coby's hair, "Clearly not. Couldn't let this mane die." As if that was the reason.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

As if that was the reason. He leaned into the touch and winked. "Says the girl with the awesome 'fro." The awesome afro he wasn't going to touch in return. Not without permission. He wasn't that clueless.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Sunny snickered and, taking a stab in the dark, offered, "Go ahead, by the way."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

Coby eyed her rather than taking her up on the offer. "Is that 'go ahead, I'll let you,' or 'go ahead, I want you to? If it's the first, we're good."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

"I'll let you," Sunny clarified with a shrug. "You know I'm not a Chia pet."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

Instead of running a hand over her hair, Coby draped an arm over her shoulders. "Anybody treats you like a Chia pet, I want in on you punching them out. Or at least a ringside seat."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

Sunny not only let him, she even sidled a little closer. "I'm practically waiting for it. It's one thing in London... in a place where people are coming in from different eras? I'll be lucky if no one whips out racial slurs eventually."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

He hadn't thought about that. Of course, he hadn't had to think about that. "May your teaching moment be swift and unquestioned when that happens."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

"That's one of the nicest thing I think anybody's wished for me," Sunny said, and the sad part was that she wasn't sure that she didn't mean that entirely sincerely.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

Coby shrugged, still not taking his arm from around Sunny's shoulders. "I mean, if they're from another time or another world, you can't really blame them from not knowing. The first time. But you set them straight, and that should be the end of it." It rarely was. Racism was too ingrained in people, and Coby knew he still fucked up more than he meant to, but he tried.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

"I'd get in a lot fewer fights if it was that easy," Sunny laughed, the kind of laugh that was trying to force cheer rather than express it. But it was a party, she couldn't let herself get down now.

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

"Yeah." That was the part that sucked. "At least I know ahead of time that when I screw up, you'll let me know about it right away."

His arm tightened around her again. "I mean, I'm going to try not to, but... white boy, there's going to be things I don't know to think about."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

She kissed his cheek. Gestures like this weren't exactly common for Sunny, but when the people with you were all you had left in the world, it changed things. "Yeah, but you care, you listen, and you try. I can work with that. I had to dump Fin once I realized he could do literally none of those things."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_rummer]

Part of Coby wanted to question that. But. "Fin reminds me of a lot of faces I knew back in LA. Not friends, but the kind of people whose circles overlapped enough you couldn't really escape them. They say they want friends, but what they really want are fans."

Re: Sunny - OTA

[st_igmatized]

"He told me that clearly I didn't give a shit about his feelings, after I told him I didn't want to discuss relationships with him anymore," Sunny said quietly. She started to take a breath and put the subject away, but instead found she had more to let out. "After I protected him and comforted him and listened to his problems and babysat Winter and Phouka, and kept my mouth shut about how much I didn't like Willy before he danced his way across the moral event horizon, he fucking dared to tell me I didn't care. I haven't spoken to him since."