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

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Even as Anne keeps her eyes open, aware, as always, of their surroundings, she holds Athos more tightly, leaning her temple against his cheek.

She'd meant it when she said that they were bound together. She loves him, so much so that it's dangerous. But she can't help it and more than that, she doesn't want to.

[armedagainstlove]

He's protective and possessive of her, though he knows he has no right or need to be. She is here by choice and in his arms. "Is this a suitable dance, milady?" he asks, ever open to being teased by her. "I'm sure I could be convinced to something else if it was not to your liking."

[aspecialkindofwoman]

"I quite like it," Anne tells him, smiling just that little bit. "Though it is good to know that I could convince you of more if I needed to."

It is terrifying how she could grow accustomed to this.

[armedagainstlove]

"I suppose I've begun to take our vows rather seriously," he notes, even though he thinks perhaps they need new ones because 'until death do us part' hadn't worked so properly the first time. As the music dies down, he steps back to bow to her properly. "Was that suitable, dear?"

[aspecialkindofwoman]

"It was," she says, curtsying as well, despite the seeming tightness of her gown (Cinna is something of a magician with clothing, it seems).

She reaches for his hand though, to be escorted off the dance floor. She holds her head high, something she would do regardless, but now, with good reason. "Thank you."

[armedagainstlove]

Athos holds out his hand to her once more, but this time, he isn't asking her for a dance. "Perhaps you'd like to show me what you've done with your room," he says calmly, as if his heart isn't racing and trying to nearly strike him down with the anxiety of such a moment.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Anne's expression is knowing and yes, wanting too. "Very well. Though I'd like to have some cake to take with us." She does like the occasional sweet.

[armedagainstlove]

"I'll wait by the door," Athos says, taking great pains not to grasp one of the bottles of wine, but he manages to stay his hand without taking any of them while he awaits Anne's presence in joining him. Perhaps this is a small measure of progress as he works to knit his life back together.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Anne had taken two quite generous slices of cake on a plate. She'd taken cutlery as well, and napkins. She walks out brazenly with it as if daring someone to stop her.

No one does and she is smiling as she sees Athos at his door. She opens the door and lets him follow her inside. "The cake is ridiculously sweet," she says, "and yet I cannot refuse it."

[armedagainstlove]

Athos tips his head to the side to give her a mildly stern look, tempered with amusement. "You were always very keen to nudge us towards our vices," he says, thinking more of the sex they had shared in public and certainly without much decorum, not that he had ever been averse to it.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

"I do not remember hearing you complain," she tells him, her smile small and wry as she holds the plate again, offering him a fork. "Shall we indulge?"

[armedagainstlove]

"I think you know that I'm prone to indulgence," Athos replies wryly, given his predilection for alcohol and how it's shaped his life in the last few years. He takes the fork and cuts a piece of it, offering it out to her, first.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

Still, Anne smiles, keeping her eyes on his face as she leans in, taking the bite from the fork, letting the tines slide from her mouth slowly. The cake is ridiculously sweet by their standards. Perhaps that is why she enjoys it. Her eyes narrow in pleasure as she chews and swallows.

Then she will fork him up a piece, offering it as he did for her.

[armedagainstlove]

Athos leans forward to take the bite of cake, enjoying it and trying to savour it so he doesn't simply waste the experience. He licks his lips and lets out a pleased hum, taking the fork to do the same to her, standing just a touch closer than before.

[aspecialkindofwoman]

There's the slightest touch of color to Anne's cheek as she feels him come closer, and takes the bite, her head back, chin up so that he can see the fine column of her neck, bisected, yes, by the choker. But this is, in her way, her offering up to him what she has: herself.