chestnuts roasting over an open fire...

[feintofhart]

Who: YOU!!!
Where: Claude's Apothecary (also known as: his house)
What: Claude and Ethlyn decide to host a Christmas party -- they may not be familiar with Christmas, but when in Rome! There will be drinking, dancing, and much revelry, and it's open underneath the guise of a combo grand opening, meaning that it's free for all and sundry to attend!
Warnings: Probably some underage drinking Claude will make no effort to curb, but that's about it.





Welcome, one and all to the Apothecary's grand opening celebration -- which just so happens to coincide with winter festivities! Despite the fact that neither Claude nor Ethlyn have any familiarity with Christmas whatsoever, they've decided to put together a party anyway, and what a party it is! At the front of the room, Claude and Root have put together an assortment of festive outfits for people to wear: all manner of ridiculous Christmas sweaters from Root, and from Claude, an assortment of reindeer horns and Santa hats if you choose to get as decked out as he is.

Inside, all breakables and valuables have been safely tucked away and have been replaced by all manner of decorations: glittering lights, bristly boughs, a Christmas tree and, of course, an assortment of mistletoe hanging over everyone's heads, ready to ensnare an unlikely couple or two in a requisite smooch. The entire place is, in fact, absolutely covered in festive greenery, courtesy of Kurama -- a little overkill, maybe, but they can't help themselves. Even if you duck past the mistletoe, it may have a way of finding you anyway; Kurama has a mischievous streak, and the ability to grow unlimited amounts of mistletoe to dog your steps.

Every surface seems absolutely covered in anything you might want from a feast, from unctious meats still dripping in their own fats to enormous platters of roasted vegetables and freshly prepared rolls and flatbreads to trays filled with biscuits and pies glittering with sugar. Also available for everyone's consumption - and Claude's not checking IDs as long as the kids aren't being too foolhardy - is a seemingly endless supply of libations, from steaming jugs of mulled wine to mugs filled with buttered rum to an open container of punch ready for the spiking. In the background are a few local musicians that Claude hired to play for them, though the stage is set for any tipsy guests to try their hand at entertaining the crowd.

On a table at the back are wrapped presents that are ready for the taking for anyone who wins at an assortment of games - with anything inside ranging from the Apothecary's own wares of teas and tinctures to pantry items from local vendors to a cute cuddly stuffed animal or two - if you choose to partake. Games of Questions and Commands (essentially Truth or Dare), Flapdragon (a game in which you must drain your glass to see what prize you win at the bottom) to card and board games are available for people to compete at. Everyone loves a good parlor game. Or, for those with a bolder constitution, Snapdragon is available outside, in which people set shallow dishes of brandy and dried fruits out, set it aflame, and ask people to go bobbing for the fruit at deadly risk of losing their lashes and brows. Spectating the whole scene is Claude's wyvern, who guests are welcome to go out and greet anytime they like.

Finally, for those more retiring in nature, and exclusively Claude's closest friends: he will allow some into his private quarters to have a little rest from all the fuss and noise. It's a good place for quiet conversation if you can hack it, or even to nap off the worst of the booze. For anyone else who wants some peace and quiet, you'll have to settle for the employee break room, a modestly undecorated place with a supply of caffeinated beverages and flat surfaces to rest upon.

Feel free to make up your own prompts and just use this as a fun holiday space for gift exchanges and drunken festivities! Happy holidays, Expiation!

Comments

feasting

[chimericalclaw]

[It doesn't particularly surprise Altius that Ethlyn has practice as a hostess, given her general demeanor just from their brief exchange before, even if he thinks of her as fairly young. Then again, his ward wasn't that much younger and had a similar sense about him, no doubt from—

... Hmm, no, let's not think about him. With a smile as he approaches the reclining woman, a drink in hand:]

I suppose you haven't had much time or chance to arrange a celebration like this, hm? But it seems like you haven't lost any of the skill for it.

[baldrshand]

That's a relief. I haven't done anything like this for... well over a year. Well over two, actually. [The last big fete she had organized might have been before she left Leonster to support her brother in what would become the war in Verdane.] I used to consider it to be a chore, but now that Claude and I have done this, I realize that I've actually rather missed it.

[chimericalclaw]

There is something to be said about working towards an end that's ultimately for enjoyment itself.

[He wouldn't know, but he says it almost like he might. Anyway—]

Was it something you did often?

[baldrshand]

As the lady of the household, it fell to me as a matter of course.

[She had never quite shaken off the nerves of those first few times--hardly out of her twelfth year and trying to put together the first event after the Chalphy family was out of mourning for its duchess. She'd had help from the older and more experienced servants in the household, of course, but the hosting and the responsibility was hers and hers alone.

But years removed from that--removed from the petty power jockeying of Grannvale--she can see it as something other than a burden. Nobody's reputation is riding on this. At most, some people might burn their fingertips or their cuffs playing snap-dragon.]

I suppose it helps that people's expectations for food and entertainments are fairly modest--nobody is looking for a multicourse dinner or mummery.

[chimericalclaw]

[Curious. Nobility, perhaps? There seem to be more of that sort here than he expected—which might not be much, but it's not as if he regularly thinks about royalty and the related classes.

His eyebrows rise marginally with that curiosity as he listens, though he doesn't ask any of his inner questions.]

Along with that, doing it by choice rather than expectation must change things considerably. But you are right—I'm sure most of us here would be more than happy with the idea of any free meal at all.

[He's certainly not picky, even if his carefully kept appearance might imply otherwise.]

[baldrshand]

You know what they say, the truly experienced soldier isn't looking for his next enemy, but his next meal. [Well, she doesn't know if Zekarion knows that saying, or has any experience with war at all (she hopes not).] Not that everyone here is a soldier, but I think we deal with trouble and strife often enough that we're close enough.

...And it is absolutely more enjoyable when the only stakes are whether or not everyone is having a good time, and not how this will reflect on your family reputation.

[chimericalclaw]

[There's a momentary loss of humor in his eyes at the mention of them being soldiers—especially when there are so many children here—but he doesn't let it stay for very long or come out in much more than a brief, silent sigh through his nose. She's not wrong, after all.]

An experience I'm grateful not to have, I have to say. A reputation is hard enough to maintain when it's your own and for a position you deliberately chose. Were you involved in the politics, or just the "respectability"?

[baldrshand]

[There's nothing like a joke that isn't really a joke, is there?]

The politics too, once I was of age. I was the daughter of a duke, and then I married a prince--not that social rank and position matters much here, of course. [She doesn't want Zek to think that she's putting herself above anyone else in Aldrip just because of what she used to be.

Anyway, that's all passed on to her children now.] So I always had to be very careful about what I did and said, lest it come back to bit back more than just me.

[chimericalclaw]

[Her admission wouldn't have changed his opinion of her by itself, anyway; to both of them it's just a simple statement of fact. She could no more help the position she was born into than he could.]

That, I know well. [Too well, perhaps, in a different sense.] I like to think the work is worth it, but that doesn't keep it from being occasionally exhausting, hm?

[Hopefully Ethlyn found her noble position rewarding in some way. She certainly seems like a hard worker, in any case.]