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

[tooktheblack]

Jon had been to a great many celebrations of the new year both on the island and now here in the hotel. There were a few things he understood to be tradition - kissing at the turn of the new year, drinking a toast, shooting off fire. He had no one to kiss this year but he decided he wasn't going to let that bother him. No, he would be going to the party alone and intended to have a good time of it, even if it was not normally his sort of thing.

He dressed in modern clothes for once, though still fairly dark. He would not be wearing one of the suits common among men or anything of bright color, as it did not seem like him. Perhaps he was no longer a man of the Night's Watch but he could not forsake everything.

He had a spindly glass of some light wine, something that bubbled, and he had no idea what to call it. He felt at loose ends. He recognized most everyone present but was terrible at small talk so, instead, he drank his bubbly wine and simply watched the others.

[not_lost]

The night's still young and Fiona's only had a couple of cocktails — The Gallagher equivalent of a sip of lite beer. She isn't feeling anything yet, and is considering whether it isn't time to switch the champagne for something harder when she spies a guy who physically looks at complete odds with the awkward way he's hovering on the edges of the party like the world's most smoldering wallflower. Maybe it's just too early yet for him to be screwing girls in stairwells or something.

"You waiting on someone?" she asks as she slides up beside him, drink in hand.

[tooktheblack]

It took Jon a moment to realize the woman was talking to him. She was a lovely thing, slender and bright eyed, but it had been so long since he'd talked to a woman other than in passing that it left him a little dumbfounded.

"Oh, no, not really. I'm not in your way, am I? I can move." He wished Ghost was here. At least the direwolf would give him something to talk about so he wasn't groping for something to say.

[not_lost]

Fiona laughs and shakes her head, bewildered. "God, you're adorable," she says, and takes a swig from her glass. "No, you're not in my way. You're a hot guy standing alone at a huge party, I came over here to talk to you. I mean, I definitely can go away again if you prefer to stand here alone looking lost...?" She arches her eyebrows with a motion back out toward the crowd.

[tooktheblack]

Jon laughed a little. "No, you don't have to leave. I'm just awful at things like this," he admitted. "I haven't had a lot of experience with women and I feel a little lost without leathers and a sword. I do not normally dress quite like this."

He had donned the modern clothes in an attempt to blend in a little more but now he felt they required a confidence of him that he did not have possession of at the moment.

[not_lost]

"Do they have women where you come from?" Fiona jokes, even more baffled than before. She can't imagine the reality where a guy who looks this good isn't covered in women 24/7, unless—

"Wait, are you gay?" He does have a slightly metrosexual, 'artfully rumpled at the organic coffee bar' sort of thing going on.

[tooktheblack]

His time on the island had taught Jon that particular word and he shook his head. While he had been with a man, once, it was not what he preferred for the most part.

"No, I want women. I mean, I prefer being with a woman," he clarified. "I just haven't had much practice at it."

[not_lost]

"Are you in the army or something like that?" Fiona asks, because to her mind, a lack of eligible women seems to be the only logical explanation that this guy doesn't have someone on his jock everyday. He mentioned a sword and leathers, so maybe he's from some kind of backwards medieval world where soldiers aren't allowed to be around women.

[tooktheblack]

Jon nodded. "An army, of sorts. I am a man of the Night's Watch," he explained. Jon was grateful that she seemed to understand that he was not like other men here, at the least, because it made him feel quite a bit less awkward than he had up until this point.

"We are sworn to have no wives and hold no lands."

[nebaritralk]

Chiana stopped by Jon's side, dressed in shades of dark grey herself, rather than any black. She grinned at him. "Where's Ghost?" Of course that would be her first question; she loves that beast.

[tooktheblack]

Jon laughed a little. "He's around, I think. He didn't want to come inside but I think he's out in the gardens making a proper mess of himself. He doesn't like being so cooped up all the time."

That was, of course, an understatement. Direwolves weren't meant to be kept indoors as much as Ghost had been of late and Jon could tell that the confinement had started to chafe.

[nebaritralk]

"Guess I'll have to make do with your company, then, Jon," she told him with another sharp grin. He was fun to tease, what could she say.

[tooktheblack]

"I'm the lesser of the two of us," Jon drawls, giving her a bit of a smile. Chiana sort of made it impossible not to like her and he was comforted by that if only because it made his side of the conversation much easier.

"Could I get you a drink?"

[nebaritralk]

"You should," she answered with a nod. That sort of initiative should always be encouraged. "Something fun."

[tooktheblack]

"I have heard the Irish coffee is nice," Jon said, waving down a waiter to get two of them. "If that is acceptable to you? I haven't had that much to drink yet so you've caught me early in the night."

Jon never drank to excess, not really, but he did intend to let go for a little while and have fun.

[nebaritralk]

"I'm not a fan of coffee," Chiana answered with a doubtful little moue. "But there's another hot drink I discovered tonight. Come on," she took his elbow to draw him along, grinning up at him. "Peppery ginger cider, they called it." She liked the spiciness.

[tooktheblack]

"Sounds like that might keep you warm on a cold night," Jon said with a quick, barking laugh.

"Where I come from, it's so cold that a man's nose might freeze clean off. I like hot things."

[nebaritralk]

"Just his nose?" Chiana asked with a wicked smile, and let go of his arm to lean on the counter, giving the bartender a dazzling grin (and a nice look down her cleavage). "Can we get two of your - peppery ginger ciders?"

[tooktheblack]

"And other things," Jon said, impossibly awkward. He never did well around women who were very forward and Chiana certainly fell into that category. He'd never seen anyone quite so forceful in personality except possibly Ygritte but even she had some limits. Some, very small, minute limits.

"I like being warm, that's for sure."

[nebaritralk]

"Warmth is good," Chiana agrees, leaning sideways against the counter as their drinks are being fixed. "Heat's even better." Especially given the way Peacekeepers reacted to it.

[tooktheblack]

Jon laughed a bit and colored, slightly awkward at this point.

"What kind of heat? I'm not entirely certain that we're talking about temperature."

[nebaritralk]

"I find that one leads to the other, don'tcha?" Chiana asks, biting down on her grin for a brief moment, black eyes sparkling.

[tooktheblack]

"Possibly," Jon said. He felt like his face had gone completely red with the thought of it and he hoped that nobody else noticed it. With his luck, they would, but he could try to remain calm for the time being and hope that wanting something made it come to fruition.

"Is it ever cold where you're from?"

[nebaritralk]

"Sure, we got seasons," Chiana confirmed, and gave the bartender a smile when he set the mugs down in front of them. "Now try this, Jon," she encouraged him as she picked up her own. Wonderfully spiced, unlike most human drinks.

[tooktheblack]

Jon took a drink from his mug and the spice of it burned all the way down his throat. It was better than warmed wine, to be sure, and he wished he'd had it back on the Wall when the nights grew so cold that a man might never know warmth again.

"It's excellent. I should have trusted you."