Gathering: New Year's Eve Gala

[concierge]

The annual Nexus New Year's Eve gala began at 8 in the evening. Too grand to be contained by the lobby or dining hall, the gardens at the front of the hotel were employed, with long strings of white lights forming a twinkling canopy from the front doors all the way to the hedge maze. The weather was temperate and calm, and the night perfectly clear.

Drinks were served at various bars set up throughout the gardens and lobby, with champagne cocktails being the specialty of the night. Wheeling through the crowd was a bartender with golden cart providing warm drinks on the go: Tom and Jerrys, rum punch, negus, and Irish coffee.

Crisply-dressed wait staff wove through the collected guests with an abundance of hors d'oeuvres for all different tastes. The Bistro remained open with a limited selection of items for those who were wanting something more substantial.

Above the front doors was hung a large, gold-rimmed clock counting down the last hours, minutes, and seconds of the current year.

Comments

Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Back in London, it was actually New Year's Eve, though 2008, rather than...well, Martha wasn't entirely certain what year it was, back in the hotel, though she assumed she'd figure it out soon enough. As usual, she'd been taken in by the trick of passing through a doorway (this time, the archway to the coat check at the hospital's new year's gala for donors and off-duty staff).

There were, at least, worse ways to get unstuck in time.

"I'm never going to get used to this," she muttered to herself, though she was subconsciously glad she was dressed for the occasion, instead of in jeans, or god forbid, scrubs. Smoothing her hands down the front of her dress, she pulled her coat a little closer around her shoulders and took an Irish coffee before stepping out into the garden.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sawny]

Jamie has been in this strange place for nigh upon a year but this is the first time he's seen the old year go out and the new come in. He's dressed in a Fraser plaid for the first time in a long while and isna looking over his shoulder for redcoats. It's a good night.

He takes a drink and goes outside, damn near running into the dark woman in the garden. "Begging pardon, miss. I'm too concerned with my ale and less concerned with my manners."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Martha catches her drink before it spills, though it's nearly time for a refill anyway, though she pauses before she takes a fresh sip. The Scotsman is in full regalia, kilted and the like (and Martha is not going to ask him about his underwear, she is not), so a moment or two of appreciation is required.

Just for a moment, though, and a smile; she's not rude.

"No worries," she says, and it's like taking off a coat, somehow, speaking to someone who's at least from the same island--even if it's the other end of it. Words come easier, a little. "It's the kind of night where we're all pretty much in the same boat."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sawny]

"Aye, it is that. Always liked the end of the year. Sweep away the old, bring in the new." It's always a big to do in Scotland anyway and hearing someone from his part of the world, even if it is a sassenach, is nice.

"I'm James Fraser, miss. At your service," he says, dipping his head a bit in deference to her. "But ye can call me Jamie, if ye like."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Fortunately, this man--Jamie, it seems--has an accent that's easily understood (she's met the occasional Scot that was beyond her, with a registrar from Paisley being particularly memorable).

"Good to meet you, Jamie," she says, extending a hand with a nod of her own. "I'm Martha. Dr Martha Jones if I'm in trouble, but I'm hoping I'm not at the moment?" She can't help but grin a little, and if she's trying to be charming, well. He's nice-looking, and she's pretty sure most blokes from Scotland know exactly what appeal their national dress has on ladies south of Hadrian's Wall.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sawny]

"Aye, no trouble. A doctor, ye say? Are all sassenach women doctors?" Jamie almost adds 'in the modern era' but he doesna know when this woman is from or if she knows about time travel and the like. The things he talks about with Claire aren't exactly things he talks about with anyone else.

"Because I know another lass who's a sassenach and a doctor, mighty fine one at that."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

As it happens, Jamie's found one of those hotel folk who do know about these things, though Martha's experiences with time travel...vary somewhat in their nature and general level of pleasantness. (She'd be more than happy to never see London in the 60s ever again.)

She's not entirely familiar with sassenach but gathers from context more of the meaning and grins. "Not all of us, some though. Enough of us. I'm sure there're loads in Scotland as well, you just happen to be running into the best England has to offer." This is, admittedly, accompanied by a self-deprecating smile and a wink. "Do you know what she specialises in? Now, if it's the same as me, that'd just get strange."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sawny]

"Nay, I dinna know that. She's just a doctor and good at keeping me mostly whole," Jamie says, grinning. He misses Claire every hour of every day but he's made a conscious decision to put one foot in front of the other and keep living. It's what she'd want.

"General surgeon, if I had to guess."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Martha nods, because that's fair--her own brother couldn't tell someone her specialism most of the time. She grins, then, considering Jamie a little more. "I take it you find trouble fairly often," she says. "To be keeping you patched up, at least."

Though what kind of trouble that is, she can't really say--he's not visibly scarred so it's likely not Glaswegian pub brawls.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sawny]

"Oh, I get by," Jamie says. "Got a temper, ye see, and it tends to get me in the worst situations. Claire set all the bones in this hand once," he says, showing her his right.

It's not the best set, he knows, but she's made it so he kept the hand in spite of a little stiffness in his ring and pinky. "Had it smashed with a hammer, ye see. I think she did a good job."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

"Smashed with a hammer," Martha repeats, but instead of looking horrified, she leans in and looks more closely at Jamie's hand. "She did it all herself, and you can still move it with full function? Pretty damn impressive, pardon my French."

She's preventing herself from asking why he didn't go to a hospital, because usually people have their reasons.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[trulyoracular]

Olaf is vaguely aware there's a new year coming on. It's the type of oracle thing that lives in the back of his head and overrides the drugs at all times. Passing of time and anniversaries are indelibly sort of etched in his eighty-plus year old brain, no matter how much LSD tries to undo it.

He's not really intending to bump into Martha today, but he's pleased he has, grinning as he finds her in the garden. In shorts and a t-shirt, he definitely isn't dressed for the occasion, but he'll make do. "You're making the stars jealous," he warns teasingly.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

"You're too damn kind," Martha replies with a brief teasing flash of her own. "It's good to see you," she adds, and she's had enough liquor that the idea of giving him a rub of the head seems like a good plan, but not enough to actually go through with it.

Not, for that matter, that Olaf seems to be the kind of guy who minds.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[trulyoracular]

"I meant it actually and honestly," Olaf promises, not sure if the stars having spoken to him is oracle-stuff or if it's just the drugs talking. He grins and leans down to kiss her cheek. "And when did you get here?" he wonders. "You're supposed to send me a note so I can be there to greet you."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Martha presses a light kiss to his cheek in reply. "Sorry, mate," she drawls. "There's not exactly a transuniversal post office, or at least not one that I'm aware of, much less email. I just sort of..." She gestures with a slight flourish, and maybe it's a bit of a Doctory gesture. "Turned the corner and here I was."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[trulyoracular]

Olaf is still grinning, not minding how she'd come around so long as it means she's here. He steps back just enough to properly look at her get-up, then back at the hotel, and things start to make sense. "Am I underdressed for some particular party? Or is this just general festivities?"

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

"It looks like New Year's Eve," says Martha, sipping her drink--by now she's used to people appraising her though she only tolerates it from a few--and gesturing around them. "Which is good, because I came from there myself, a few years back, so it didn't require much of a change."

That said, if anyone can pull off casual at a festive shindig, it's Olaf.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[trulyoracular]

So that's why the universe is telling him all about new beginnings. And here he'd just thought that he was being told that so he could start a new hobby or something. "Well, regardless of what we're celebrating, we need drinks," he announces cheerfully, offering his elbow. "Shall we?"

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Hanging out with Olaf is, if Martha's being honest, a lot like hanging out with the Doctor when he was in a fun frame of mind; the times when they weren't running for their lives, hunkering down and praying for daylight, or riding an emotional rollercoaster.

Which is why she grins broadly and takes his elbow. "Indeed, sir, indeed," she says. "What's your poison this evening?"

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[trulyoracular]

"I've already taken a surprisingly copious amount of drugs," he says, sounding very serious when he's talking about illegal substances. "So maybe we should stick to vodka. I mean, I could totally go for water from the asgardian planes, but I don't think they stock that behind the bar," he jokes, even if he has been craving it lately. Or Baldr is, between trips.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

The amount probably wouldn't shock Martha, as she's known Olaf long enough, though she admits she might end up being surprised. And, him being the god-avatar-being he is, she at least doesn't have to warn him not to mix much for fear of a fatal OD. "I can go for vodka," she says. "Stirred, not shaken, of course, with lemon peel."

Olives do not belong in a martini, in her mind. Bloody mary, sure, and other savoury drinks she's totally not able to think of at the moment. But not a martini.

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sixsciencecredits]

The night was temperate, though Darcy still looked up at Martha from beneath the hem of her knit hat. Currently she was about four drinks in, and her glasses were sitting slightly crooked on her face as she sat down her glass and made a square with her fingers, as if framing the other woman for a picture.

"Hey there," she said, grinning. "You look fancy."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

Martha had pulled her coat back on before going back outside, and so she was pretty comfortable, leaning on the balustrade. The young woman's smile was infectious, so she couldn't help herself but smile back in reply. "Thanks," she said, and admitted, "I was supposed to be at this big deal kind of party, but this is a lot more fun."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[sixsciencecredits]

"Oh ho, a big deal party!" Darcy said with a waggle of her brows. "You do look like you were on your way to a big deal party, but I'm happy you wound up here instead. This has to be more fun, right?" She took another long sip of her drink, then gestured about the garden. "I mean, the view. Also, if you're looking for a midnight kiss I challenge you to show me any party with a better selection of babes than we have here."

Re: Martha Jones - OTA

[legendthatwas]

"A work party," clarified Martha, because she didn't want the other woman to think she was getting an OBE or something. "But yeah, this is definitely far better--less watching my back around the administrators, less politics, a lot more...uh."

She appraised the crowd, which did have a lot of handsome men in it, it was true. "Babes. Or at least babes you can actually snog without dying of embarrassment on every shift for the next six weeks."