(Not) a New Year's Eve Party

[espritdecorpse]

Who: ChromaWei disciples and assorted friends
Where: Chez Wei Wuxian and Maiden Nero
When: NYE
What: it’s a “wine” tasting party. Mix, mingle, and threadhop.
Warnings: Alcohol and bad decisions

[ Wei Wuxian, ever since he got here, has been researching the mysteries of fermentation. He’s from a civilized world, to wit: other people made wine and he drank it. But needs must in this strange place, and he—ever the inventor—has performed experiment after experiment.

Then he went for a stroll in the forest and rang a bell and made a wish and… cheated, basically. Although his earlier attempts were all trial and error, the town gifted him with a book entitled Goldilocks and the Three Bears get Hammered, which included instructions for making wine; the town gifted him also with ingredients and materials for making rice wine.

Now it’s time to enjoy (?) the fruits of his labor. Disciples and honored guests will have their choice of various concoctions. All wine jars are labelled only with numbers, and no other hints of their origins or ingredients.

Jar #1 is hard apple cider. It’s young, rough, sweet and pretty much terrible, as it’s one of Wei Wuxian’s early experiments. It’s about 8% alcohol.
Jar #2 is fermented blackberry wine, similar to the apple wine above in quality. It’s about 12% alcohol.
Jars #3, 4, and 5 are rice wine, made with ingredients and know-how provided by the town. It’s of average quality, but please note that it is 25% alcohol by volume. Happy New Year!
Jar #6 is another Wei Wuxian experimentation special, and consists only of moldy rice-flavored water. It won’t get you drunk but it MAY cure all known infections. Extremely vile to the taste and suspicious-looking.

Guests may also enjoy a piece of cake, which was his reward from the caroling quest earlier this month. It’s heavily infused with alcohol as well, which is why it’s stayed fresh.

Whenever you arrive, one (1) Wei Wuxian will be there to greet you, all bright smiles and enthusiasm, cup in hand—one for him and one for you. ]

Come in, come in! Wonderful to see you!

[ The townhouse he shares with Maiden Nero is of the usual Ruga size and configuration, and it’s far from neat but it is festooned with artwork, sculpture, and calligraphy, as well as odds and ends of strange things that might be blood-smeared talismans or other bizarre, half-made magical tools (touch at your own risk). All in all, it’s a bright and cheerful place, with a merry fire going in the hearth. Wei Wuxian might even play his flute for you if the mood strikes him, but don’t let Maiden Nero sing. ]

Comments

[pyrafect]

A: Rice Wine
[ One of her wishes-- for a ramen shop-- had been granted just days earlier, and she's still in the process of preparing everything to properly open it. The ramen shop, as it is, also comes with a nice bar filled with beers and rice wines of one of the Titan-continents that she had walked upon. But none of them are home made, not like this.

So when she tastes one of the rice wines for herself, bringing it to her lips, she blinks at how smoothly it goes down for being homemade. It's almost nostalgic. ] Here, try this one. [ She'll say to whomever is nearby, smiling. It's from jar #4, and she'll pour a generous serving for you. ] It's delicious.

B: Hair Braiding
[ Shush, you, she's feeling content and buzzed enough to do this even if your hair is only one inch long.

She'll be sitting close behind whoever you are, practically leaning against your back as she threads her fingers through your hair softly before beginning. But Architect help you if you move, because then she will be taking one hand and placing it firmly to the side of your head, re-positioning it to be midline. ] Don't move, or I'm going to have to start all over again. [ Or, she'll make it as perfect as she can when she's had wine. ]

C: We Don't Got Music
[ Can her kind even get drunk? You bet your ass they can. How? Who knows, it's magic. Magic drunk. And boy oh boy does everything feel magical in this place. You! You just happen to be nearby her, (and at this point she's likely to have introduce herself to you if she's never met you), so have a Pyra scooting closer to you, linking her arm around yours. She's warm, inhumanly so, and sporting a faint blush from the alcohol upon her cheeks. ]

There should be... music! And dancing. [ Oh, she remembers during the war when there were brief periods of peace, where there was times after the battles to relax and celebrate. Those are the times she cherishes most, those are the memories she keeps close to her heart. And why not make similar memories here? This world-- Chroma-- is luxurious in its peace despite its oddities; and it shouldn't be taken for granted.

She gets an idea: ] --Let's sing together. Or, or-- dance!

D: Fireplace
[ Hey, you! Do you want to be cozy'd up next to the fireplace with her? Well today is your lucky day, because she is nothing if not affectionate. ]

Think there are any worlds out there where the earth revolves around two suns? [ Hic ] I think... I would like to see a sunset like that.

Wildcard:
[ Have a prompt in mind for Pyra? Comment here with whatever your heart desires, PM, or plot with me at drinksteapots!

[regrede]

i. wine not

[ sierra looks like a little girl, considering her stature and her young face. there’s not much else to this, except for the fact that it certainly appears there’s a child here peering at the jars of wine with an eye that suggests she’s going to claim half of it for herself. ]

ii. google: vampire physiology

[ guess who can’t get drunk!

it’s sierra. barring some truly exceptional circumstances, sierra could drink an entire winery without feeling so much as a flush, but it’s not like she’s going to tell anyone that when she feels like she has a chance at really beefing up her reputation in this town after failing to establish herself as a force of authority in the past couple of months.

so, assuming that she did manage to talk your character into a drinking contest, the point at which they are officially A Few Drinks deep is the point at which sierra smiles politely, taking a long sip to finish off her current cup of rice wine. ]

It’s like juice, isn’t it?

iii. interior decorating

Oh! This would look gorgeous in the baths. Would you help me move it?

[ this is called “stealing,” but considering there’s no currency here in chroma, and there’s such an abundance of artwork to be found in this house, surely no one would miss it if she simply up and moved it to the onsen that has recently appeared.

lifting it herself would look bad, however. c’est la vie. ]

iv. divine retribution (closed to wei wuxian)

Lovely party.

[ when she approaches him, her smile is threatening, and that fork in her hand for the cake looks a whole lot more like a weapon than a utensil. ]

It’s almost enough to make me forget why you’re on my shitlist.

ii

[pyrafect]

[ Bad decisions were made. Like, wow, this girl (?) can hold her liquor. ]

...Alright, alright, I give up. [ Just. Looking at her in awe. ]

How do you manage it?

[regrede]

A lady never reveals her secrets.

[ smile smile. ]

Are you sure you’re done?

[pyrafect]

No, no, I'm done! [ She waves her hands, laughing.

Gosh why does everything feel so warm and bubbly right now? ]

I want to be able to stand still, you know.

iv aaaaaa

[espritdecorpse]

[ He has Questions, the first and foremost being: who invited you???? A bit of consideration later, and he assumes the small town Chroma rumor mill would have led anyone here who wanted booze. Which....is what Maiden Sierra wants. Right? Right??? ]

Haha, thank you very much! Glad you're enjoying yourself!

[ He backs away. ]

Can I... can I pour you some wine?

[regrede]

Hoho! Standing is such a low bar, dear. If you can’t handle this, then perhaps we need to work on your tolerance.

[ sierra herself stands, and offers a hand to her drinking companion. ]

I don’t believe I got your name.

[regrede]

[ sierra invited herself, and thankfully (for someone) she’s not the type of vampire who needs to be called in. ]

I would love some wine.

[ she is being so very cordial. there’s nothing else she wants. she smiles as she steps forward. ]

I heard you’ve made it yourself.

[pyrafect]

[ “Dear”? ]

Pyra. [ She offers graciously, and will help herself to some... water? If it’s here. ] I’ve only just arrived about... two months ago ago. [ She looks surprised as she says as much, as if she cannot quite believe it’s been two months already. ]

I don’t believe we met in that time? It’s nice to meet someone who... [ Who can pound back drinks like it’s lemonade. ] Is so experienced.

[scooptimistic]

[ a. once a journalist-- ]

[ Maya, as always, appears to be in good spirits now that she's not dealing with spirits/shades with a penchant for ignoring her, which is why she'll come to join you as you drink cup number Whatever. ]

So-!

[ Brightly. ]

Got a favorite, or a ranking list? I really thought that last one was going to kill me!

[ No, really. For as cheerfully as she's smiling, she also kind of looks like she's about to keel over from how godawful that was?? Please make her sit down. ]


[ b. hold me like the river jordan ]

[ Hey! Does Maya know you? Perhaps.

Or maybe she has no idea who you are, but after very diligently sampling all of the wine and picking a favorite to nurse for the rest of the time, she's somehow still coherent.

No, that's not the problem. So what if she can hold a full-fledged conversation on the nature of foreign literature? She's more interested in being close. Draping on someone, leaning on someone, latching onto someone, nuzzling into someone's back--

Oops. ]

Wow, you're comfy.

[ Maya, no. ]


[ c. wildcard ]

[ Maya's open for anything! Hit me up and I'll definitely roll with it. ]

nsfw warning for some of the prompts

[noholdsbard]

i. Despacito
Somehow, despite the deadly combination of Nero and Wei Wuxian living in the same household, Tristan had answered the former’s summons and duly arrived at the premises anyway. There was…something about a party?

Except parties aren’t his thing, though now he’s kind of stuck here, having found himself wrangled into another one of Wuxian’s crazy schemes again. He decides that he’ll stay anyway—if only for a polite length of time before excusing himself to go mope elsewhere.

For the time being it’s but early in the evening and he has yet to touch alcohol, which is honestly a good thing for everyone. Right now Tristan’s sitting in a corner playing some pretty little tune on his harp to ring in the New Year’s, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings—at least until you catch his eye, whereupon he stops playing and looks up with a nod in greeting.

“I hope the evening is treating you well.”

ii. He’d have the Frenchman’s balls
Well into the evening Tristan’s in a considerably better mood, after having imbibed some of that excellent!! wine!!!!!! Who cares how that happened despite his low alcohol tolerance, though? What’s important now is that he’s playing his harp much more enthusiastically, and singing—in a pretty voice that the alcohol had fortunately failed to dull—some…uncharacteristically cheerful and outright bawdy tunes, such as:

“He was dirty and lousy and full of fleas
His terrible tool hung to his knees
God save the bastard king of England!”

Or,

“I once had a lass with a nice round ass
Tumble all around with me, hey-nonny-hooooooooo!
Leaving little crop circles when she sits in the grass
For tuppence and a wink she’s ready to go!”

iii. Despacito, Part II
It’s late in the evening and he’s starting to feel the less fun effects of the alcohol as he lies slumped upon the flat surface of your choice—be it couch, bed, table, sculpture, yourself. He has no idea how he’d ended up there either way, but neither is he inclined to care at the moment. His harp lies forgotten on the floor somewhere where he can’t reach it, and that makes him even sadder.

“Oh, it is sad—so very very sad…” he moans, despondent over some thing or the other as he takes another swig of rice wine with his other hand. With a smack of his lips, he continues, “Ah, dearest Iseult, your burning kiss was far sweeter to the tongue than this…”

Someone please put him out of his misery.

iv. Wildcard!
[ Hit me up here with whatever. Prose or action is fine! ]

B...

[noholdsbard]

Oh, but you don’t have to— [ But he knows when he’s been trapped, and at the very least he doesn’t let up on the harp-playing. So you’ll have your way this time, Pyra, if only because braiding his hair is a pretty harmless drunken activity and it can buy him some time to think of another way out of this mess. ]

iii

[noholdsbard]

[ That…looks like one of Nero’s art pieces. It’s alarming enough that Sierra’s contemplating stealing at all, but stealing from Nero in particular is a very, very bad idea.

Please don’t piss Nero off. That’s not something people can generally survive from. ]

My lady…as stunning as that piece is, the lady of the house might have some objections.

iii

[scooptimistic]

[ Maya is surprisingly put together for how much she's had to drink-- or maybe it's just that her basic personality doesn't actually change. She's sleepier than usual, for sure, and more prone to bursts of affection, but it certainly doesn't translate to rage and literally homicidal urges like her roommate.

... Which is honestly for the best.

For now, it doesn't really manifest itself in any way other than Maya resting her cheek on the side of the couch to stare at the morose figure of Archer. After a moment, she reaches up to catch the wrist holding the wine to try and coax the cup free.

There's something about the words he's mumbling in lamentation, though, that has her cheery demeanor a little more withdrawn. Iseult... and a memory of black sails before death...

Why did that sound familiar? ]

I think maaaaybe you should let your tongue have a break for a bit.

[noholdsbard]

[ And she is a deeply comforting presence to have around, even if he’d rather hug a bottle at the moment—or at any rate that half-empty cup. Though he doesn’t resist when she takes it off his hands, he still mourns its loss: ]

Oh, but I am. As kind as Wei Wuxian has been, his wine offers but little comfort. Each drop that wets my throat but vanishes a moment later, and it is like waking from a sweet, sweet dream…

[scooptimistic]

[ ... Ah. His poetic tendencies have only increased. He'd be great with dirges. ]

So then, maybe you should try sleeping it off? You might actually have a longer dream.

[noholdsbard]

[ Be glad that that’s all that’s increased… ]

Oh, sleep. If only I had not woken from such a long slumber… [ At least he’s not outright saying that he misses being dead…progress!!! ]

But what is sleep but a vehicle for such bitter dreams? Tell me, Maya, what must sleep be like for one so untroubled?

[scooptimistic]

...

I'm not really sure I can answer that in a way you'd want to hear.

[ Rather, she can't say she's untroubled, as much as she'd like to. ]

[noholdsbard]

I have troubled you. [ He recalls, in some vague, sober part of his hindbrain, that she has also been through some shit.

And that makes him feel worse. If he could sink further into the couch cushions he would. ]

Forgive me…oh, to cause yet more trouble for a woman…

[scooptimistic]

No, no, it takes a lot more than that.

But I will be troubled if I have to keep kneeling like this, so maybe sit up a bit so I can join you and we can talk about your lady troubles?

[noholdsbard]

I will try… [ He’s doubtful, though. Has he ever really felt this low? He can think of a few times, but to his credit, he does try to make an effort to lift himself off the bed.

What results instead is him vanishing in a puff of golden sparkles before rematerializing sprawled on the floor.

That counts, right?? ]

[scooptimistic]

[ ... No.

But that trick looks cool! Never mind that it also looks completely unintentional. ]

... Or we could sit on the floor.

[ Here, Archer, take her hand. ]

[regrede]

Oh! It isn’t that little brat’s? I thought he merely had an eclectic taste in art.

[ sierra is suddenly less willing to steal knowing that it doesn’t belong to wei wuxian, which says a lot about her petty inclinations toward revenge. ]

[regrede]

Sierra.

[ she smiles sweetly at pyra, considering her neck in particular, though she’s feeling a little burnshy about biting anyone in wei wuxian’s house.

pyra is safe, but sierra is allowed to look. ]

I haven’t been here long either, but I do have plenty of… experience, as you say.

[pyrafect]

[ Pyra tugs a little bit at one of the strands before folding it into the fishtail braid she's making out of his hair. ] Don't be silly, this is a special occasion.

You have to look nice for a party! [ She says cheerily, but she's done nothing different with her hair at all. ] Hm... you wouldn't happen to have any pins on you, do you?