[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

[inlaid]

[She shakes her head at once, trying to figure out how to explain. Ask her about how to lose a tail on a busy street, where to look for signs of black market locations in Khipari or Fhirer or how to feel the wind around you and account for it before taking a long shot with a rifle, and she can do that.

Magic...magic is something she's always known about third-hand more than first-hand use.]

I wasn't granted a deity-gift back home. I don't have magic there. There are certain items that are enchanted or charmed that non-magic users can use, but it's not my magic so. [She shrugs.] The way I understand it, people who come through the portal can sometimes...acquire magic on the way in? Or maybe the magic they were born with wasn't compatible with their world but it is here so it manifests in the quarantine? I think some people are able to learn from others here too but I never tried so I'm not sure how accurate that is.

Here...I didn't develop any magic native to my world, or here. Apparently the magic I have is most closely aligned to elementalists from another world. Tyria? At least that's the country that my instructor is from. I didn't even know I had it until I slapped Taako one day and there were these sparks...Is that making a little more sense?

[scholiast]

(Lucretia would have pulled out a notebook and started taking notes long ago if she wasn't absolutely positive Taako would descend upon her from the shadows and rip it out of her hands. She's practically on the edge of the couch at this point.)

I've never heard of that happening to anybody before. Are you the only case? Or have there been others?

(Perhaps there are records of such things at Gramarye. She's making a mental note to check the next time she's there.)

You found out you could use magic after slapping Taako? (What a happy occasion.) Is your power tied to lightning?

[inlaid]

Apparently it's...so here's what I know. It's not uncommon for this to happen from what I've heard. There are some people who don't have magic in their world but then I guess the way magic works here they do have it? In which case I would be one of those cases. And I guess other people are able to learn magic or abilities they didn't have before here as well?

[After a moment she smiles.]

And yes, I happened to be slapping Taako at the time the first sparks came out. Moment of intense emotion. Or rather, he was being a shit and totally deserved it. [She'll explain another time.] As for my powers, I found a trainer here who says that what I can do is more like the elementalists of their world so. Air, earth, fire and water. The uses are tied into weapon types and moves, however so, I can't like, straight up stand here with nothing in my hands and light candles or fill water glasses or make the earth shake.

[She doesn't go into what a huge thing it is for her that she can do this, that most Askoupurans usually only ever have one, maybe two elements to call at most. Not all four at once. And at some point she may learn to weave them together, apparently...]

[scholiast]

... Is this place alternative to our respective times and places?

(That... would make a lot of sense. Lucretia's been treating the Quarantine as a new place she simply found herself in, like visiting a new planet, but... is it even a part of her planar system at all? What if it's adjacent to where she comes from, a separate level inaccessible in regular circumstances? Her mind is racing. She has to pull her focus back in when Bryn shifts the topic every so slightly.)

Sure. (She doesn't find that hard to believe, re: Taako being a shit. She'll look forward to the explanation.) Oh, like an arcane focus? You can't cast without something to channel it?

(So it's largely offensive magic. Interesting.) How has that been treating you? Learning magic, I mean. Is it like finally flexing a muscle you didn't know you had?

[inlaid]

[She wishes she had all the answers to Lucretia's questions. They're good ones, and they're answers she'd like as well. Unfortunately, the best she can do is sort of shrug.]

It's a little like that, like I grew a third arm and I have to learn how to pick up a water glass all over again. [She grins a little.] I can manage some small things without my weapons but the larger part of my gifts is channeled through them, yes.

As for my world, I honestly couldn't tell you. Alternate dimension, or just really, really far away in the same, it could be anywhere. Anywhen as far as I know. You're better off talking to someone else than me for stuff like that.

[Another pause, then she asks:]

What about you? I mean, have you figured out where we are or when we are with regards to your world?

[scholiast]

Yeah, I get you. (That explanation makes Lucretia smile. She can't relate personally but it's a pretty good way to describe gaining ability you never knew you had; just as strange as discovering a third arm, no doubt.

Bryn's questions for her are just as interesting, equally unanswerable. Lucretia shakes her head slowly, and glances down at Qiri as she scratches slowly between his ears.)

No... honestly, I haven't been investigating that very hard. There are too many distractions here. (She had been very religiously researching different kinds of magic, and then Beverly had come along and... well. She hasn't really had cause to obsess over where they are in relation to Abeir-Toril.)

[inlaid]

[The distractions are something that Bryn understands well. She's been in the quarantine for a couple months shy of a year now and...yes, she's found herself very distracted by things that perhaps she shouldn't have been.]

It's very easy to do that here. It's very easy to...become settled. To put down roots before you even realize you are, sometimes.

[The smile she offers is wry, clearly talking about herself as well.]

So what have you been doing these days? For all that Taako's told me about you, I don't think I actually know what you've been doing to occupy yourself here.

[scholiast]

In a way, (she wheedles, because thinking in that vein makes her a little bit uncomfortable. It certainly would be very easy to shirk responsibility and stay here. Too easy. She can tell that Bryn is talking about herself too, though, and that makes her relax a little bit.)

I... (she has to think for a moment: anything exciting outside of working? Not particularly.) I spend a lot of time at Gramarye. I, uh– (she gestures awkwardly to her left, even though Beverly isn't even in the room at this particular moment??) have a girlfriend. I go exploring. Nothing high-key.

You?