[closed] a little party never killed nobody

[spellslots]

who: The IPRE + friends
what: A dinner party!
when: Novemeber 18
where: Chez IPRE
warnings: some mild drug use (alcohol + marijuana)

Party time, motherfuckers. After sending out invitations, the IPRE (mostly Taako, because he's the most extra of the group) spends a significant amount of the week preparing for the party, making sure they have all the food, decorations, and wine necessary to put on a good evening. The whole point of this is to be a distraction from a shitty month, and to get everyone together, since they have a range of friends who haven't all met each other. They've been talking about doing something like this for months, so it's nice to finally pull it all together.

Upon arrival (and despite Taako and Lup's involvement) the decorations are minimal. Couches have been transmuted from their regular fabric to rich velvets, there's a little glitz and feathers here and there, but they didn't want to go too hard on the theme. It was just a way to have a little fun with the evening. The bar cart, on the other hand, is definitely in line with Speakeasy, featuring a lot of gin and whiskey based drinks, though anyone with a preference for wine or beer won't be disappointed. The start of the evening is dedicated to introductions and mingling, probably helped by the alcohol, though there's also cheese and antipasto plates set out, just in case anyone was worried about not being fed at something hosted by two chefs. As a way to break the ice, and to get people talking and having fun before the evening really kicks off, the brick wall of the small living room has been set aside as the designated backdrop for a 'photo booth', which mostly consists of a few instant cameras, including one that takes what are essentially magical gifs, so long as the button is held down for 5 seconds. There are a few props that match the theme of the evening - fur stoles, feather headbands, felt hats, long strings of pearls - to make the photos a little more fun. Once everyone is seated in the dining room, it's time for dinner. The food brought out for the main meal is warm and rich without being too heavy, slow cooked meats and roasted vegetables can be mixed with salads and lighter sides to avoid anyone slipping into a food coma before dessert has even begun. Everything is set in the middle of the table, for people to serve themselves, so they can pick and choose what they want to try. Lup has made at least one incredibly spicy dish, so be careful.

While there's no rush to leave the table, eventually plates are cleared away (by magic, so none of the hosts have to stop chatting) and everyone is ushered into the larger of their living rooms, where the small coffee table has been replaced by a seemingly floating table that's large enough to accommodate all the desserts. There are various pies (pecan, pumpkin, cherry), apple & maple cake, chocolate tarts, brownies and trifle. There aren't quite as many options as there were on the dinner table, but it's near a thing, especially when the section of the table devoted to cream, ice cream and sauces is taken into consideration. Dessert is an extended affair, pies will stay warm and ice cream will stay frozen for as long as they remain on the table, so people can return and try more even as the rest of the night presses on. And although the food is, really, the main attraction of any kind of event that Taako is involved with, that doesn't mean there aren't things to do other than eating. Once the dining room table has been cleared, (plastic) champagne glasses are laid out in what might be a familiar formation to anyone who went to college, especially when a ping pong ball is added to the mix. It's beer pong! Except it's actually prosecco pong, because this is a classy joint, not some frat. Or at least, that's the excuse. There are a few other things to do, mostly in the more generic range of party games, including a deck of Cards Against Humanity that Taako discovered a couple weeks ago and had been delighted by. He's definitely going to wrangle people into a game of Never Have I Ever, maybe Truth Or Dare, and anything else he can think of that requires drinking alcohol and saying stupid shit. What better way is there to get to know people? As things wind down, the backdoors open up into the courtyard, where a fire is set up, cushions and blankets placed outside for people to curl up with. The fixings for s'mores are available for anyone who somehow still has room to eat more food, and there's mulled cider just in case the fire isn't enough to keep people warm. It's a nice way to wrap up the evening.

Comments

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco turns to face her, already smiling when he recognizes her voice. ]

That's a good trick, the powdered sugar thing. I'm gonna keep that in mind.

[ Cisco doesn't know whether he's disappointed or not, but either way, he takes one of the particularly gooey center brownie squares and adds it to his plate. ]

So... [ He leans in, eyes sparkling a bit with mischief, voice lowering a little. ] Where's Beverly?

[scholiast]

Do. It will probably come in handy now that you're friends with Lup too.

(Lucretia follows suit, helping herself to one of the corner pieces. It seems they differ in their brownie politics. She's about to take a bite when Cisco turns to her, his expression cheeky, and she pauses with it halfway to her mouth, bemused.)

Uh– I dunno, mingling? Why?

[franciscoramon]

For sure.

[ He'd gone through a whole complicated experiment (supervised by Eddie) to make sure that he could still get high without sending his powers into overdrive, but that had been when he'd consumed a conservative amount of edibles; he doesn't really want to overdo it and find out that too much of a good thing makes him vibe nonstop, or anything like that.

But that's way too complicated to explain and of course it does pop into his head that Lucretia still doesn't know he's a metahuman, and he really is going to have to bring that up at some point, but this party isn't the time or place. Instead, he'd much rather gently tease Lucretia about Beverly. ]

'Cause a little birdie told me you two are an item. And by a little birdie I mean Beverly. Beverly told me.

[scholiast]

(Well, it's good that he's refraining, in that case. Lup goes in hard on everything she does, and her self-proclaimed 'dank' brownies are no exception: they are heavy on both the chocolate and the weed front.

Lucretia turns back to look at some of the other dessert options so she doesn't have to look at the knowing little grin on Cisco's face and because she is being incredibly obvious by smiling like an idiot. She's pleased with herself.)

I forgot that you didn't know. (She's being sincere; she hasn't been hiding their relationship at all but she's not so open that she'd simply drop it into casual conversation with somebody outside of the IPRE.) But yes, the rumours are true: we are a thing.

[franciscoramon]

[ There's very little in the world that makes Cisco happier than seeing his friends happy. And it's all too clear, from the way Lucretia smiles as she turns away from him, that she is very, very happy. That wasn't a for-show smile. That was a smiling-because-you-can't-help-it smile. He's sure of it. And, well, why wouldn't it be? Beverly's awesome. ]

That's so fantastic, Lucretia! I mean, I don't actually know Beverly all that well yet, but she seems really wonderful.

[ She'd been calm and even hospitable when Cisco had shown up in that dream memory of the Borg attack, and at the Halloween party she hadn't teased Cisco even a little bit for not recognizing her. That's not even getting into the stuff with that abandoned hospital Cisco had stumbled across. ]

I wanted to ask - is it weird dating someone from another universe?

[ Cisco asks the question brightly enough, but then realizes Lucretia might think he means it in some serious way - asking about the possible longevity of such a relationship, whether they've talked about what they'll do if one of them gets a chance to go home, etc. And he didn't mean any of that heavy stuff, so he elaborates: ]

I mean, like, if it were me I'd be worried about expectations I didn't know about - like on a first date it's traditional to bring a gift and it has to be cheese-related, or who even knows.

[scholiast]

(Oh, don't get her started. Also hooray! there's pumpkin pie. She helps herself to a slice and finds a cute little golden cake fork before she turns back to Cisco. The jig is apparently up, so there's no point in bothering to hide her emotions. Besides, he's got this look on his face like he truly is happy for her, and it makes her feel more relaxed.)

She's incredible. Um, I'm really glad I met her. She's... been a constant, amongst everything.

(She's grateful that Cisco tacks a little more onto that question, and even chuckles as she pops a piece of pie into her mouth. What a telling remark. Of course he doesn't know that she once had Beverly around to her place for drinks and Beverly had arrived with a surprising array of cheeses, so it's anybody's guess as to why she finds his example so amusing.)

You know, I've never actually thought about that before. I think it's because we have so much in common that I– well, it feels like I could know her, back in my universe, if that makes sense? Anyway, she could never come up with anything weirder that some of the things I've seen while on the Starblaster, so I don't really find it strange at all.

Also are you saying that because you had to bring a cheese-related gift to Eddie on your first date? Is this a Cisco's universe thing?

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco's smile softens as he listens to Lucretia talking about Beverly. Even more than what she says, the way she says it speaks volumes. There's such obvious fondness in her voice, in a different way than Cisco has ever heard from her before. ]

I'm really happy for you.

[ Lucretia doesn't need to explain what 'everything' is for Cisco to nod in understanding. He's sure that he doesn't know the half of all the drama that went down the last couple months, and even the stuff that he has heard is quite a lot. ]

What kinda stuff have you got in common?

[ It's a genuine question; Cisco only knows that Beverly is good under pressure, intelligent, kind, highly skilled, and friendly. Many of which apply to Lucretia, but he is curious what she would say are their similarities. ]

No. No mandatory gifts required, cheese-based or otherwise.

[ Though there are probably plenty of dating-based customs and rituals that Cisco had grown up around that Lucretia would probably be amused and or horrified by. ]

Our first date was kind of an odd one, actually, since we were already knew each other so well. He and I keep doing everything in the complete wrong order. Like, we met, we were kind of friend-of-friends, I watched him die, we met again here, we got to be really good friends, I moved in with him, and like... a while after that we started going out.

[ There's also the fact that Cisco and Eddie had fooled around before they actually started dating but that's something Lucretia does not need to know, or Cisco highly suspects, want to know. ]

[scholiast]

Thank you.

(It's so nice to be having normal conversations with Cisco again, ones where she doesn't come away from it over-analyzing everything she said. She's missed his friendship.)

Well, anything personality-wise aside she also lives on a spaceship with a crew and completes various missions, so we have a lot in common there. It was what originally drew me to her, actually. Getting to ask her about the different places she visited.

(Cisco's recount of the way he fell in with Eddie makes her chuckle.)

I know what you mean. It's– when you know somebody for that long, it's different, the way that everything comes together in the end. (She watched it happen with Lup, and Barry. Gods, she misses Barry so much.)

Oh, I talked to him! He came up to chat with me. He's very handsome, Cisco.

[franciscoramon]

[ Her answer makes sense - even if the nature of the vessels and missions was different, they were both space-faring women who had gone from place to place trying to do good in the universe. And it had been clear from the memory Cisco had witnessed that her Beverly's life before she came to the Quarantine had involved considerable danger in it, too. When he thinks about it, there are even some parallels between the Hunger and the Borg. He can see why it would be appealing, for Lucretia, to be with a woman who had some hope of understanding her life.

So he nods slowly in acknowledgement. ]

I get that. And I imagine she was just as curious about places you saw during the cycles, right?

[ When Lucretia says she spoke to Eddie, Cisco's face lights up; when she says he's handsome, Cisco laughs. ]

Right?! Like, sooo outta my league. And wow, I guess I didn't realize you guys had never met, like, before.

[ By before he pretty clearly means 'when he was dating Taako' but that sounds like a recipe for instant conversational awkwardness so Cisco immediately follows it up with: ]

We should go on a double date!

[scholiast]

She was! It was how we ended up becoming friends, actually. She was interested in my trips and- well, specifically my journals, I suppose. We ended up going out for coffee quite a lot and talking about our travels. It was fun.

(And the rest is history. Lucretia grins, fleetingly, but it comes back in full force when Cisco starts to smile at the mere mention of Eddie's name. Aww. How sweet. Lucretia chuckles, reaching out to give Cisco a playful little push on the arm.)

Out of your league? What are you talking about? You're perfectly within his league, Cisco, don't you sell yourself short like that.

(Ridiculous. And from such a lovely boy, too. Lucretia isn't sure she's known lovelier.)

Yeah, I think that... well, I knew of him from Taako, but I never got around to meeting him in person before... uh, that all happened. (She gestures vaguely with one hand. They both know what she's talking about, there's no need to expound. She jumps right in on Cisco's change of subject, nodding.)

We should. We- uh, maybe we could get dinner some time, or something?

[franciscoramon]

Awww, that's sweet.

[ It's the sort of comment that, coming from somebody else, might be teasing or ironic, but from Cisco it is 100% sincere. He's glad that Lucretia has someone in her life like Beverly. She hadn't been alone, of course - there were Lup, and Magnus, and Taako. But they were more like her family than anything else, and Cisco's a bit of a hopeless romantic at heart.

He accepts the little push and the gentle remonstrance from Lucretia, flustered but happy, too. It is strange how many people there are on this moon who seem to believe that he is worth dating - not in a fond but slightly condescending way, like he was more used to, but genuinely and without reservation or pity. ]

If you say so.

[ Cisco does, indeed, know what she means by "that all", and is more than eager to gloss past it, too. ]

We should! We could be really cruel and go for someplace with spicy food - does Beverly like spicy food? Eddie tries but he's a bit of a wimp.

[ Said, of course, with an abundance of fondness. ]

[scholiast]

Thanks.

(That's cool, she can tell that it's genuine. Something that Lucretia has noticed about Cisco is that he tends to really lean into whatever he's feeling. He doesn't hide much. So his sincerity is vastly appreciated.

And when it comes to modesty with a little self-depricative spin on it, they seem to have pretty equal footing. She nods, spearing a bit of cake to pop into her mouth.)

I say so.

(Hopefully she seems sincere, too.)

She does- though I have to say as much as I like it, I don't know if I could handle an entire spicy meal! So I may have to hop into the wimp corner too.