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

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

"Maybe. I went back only to get sucked into a huge case that's turning out to be a giant pain in my ass." Meaning, the sidetrip to Nexus-land would be great if it wasn't delaying the inevitable. He still has to do all of the 'lawyer' things with this case, but now, for him, there's a delay of how-the-hell-ever-long he's going to be here.

"I take it you haven't returned to wherever 'home' is for you," he says. That's the vibe he's getting anyway.

[nebaritralk]

"Hasn't let me, not once since I got here," Chiana replied, like it was nothing big, but there was a hint of something else underneath her carefree attitude. If she stayed here forever, Nerri might as well be dead. She couldn't stand the thought of never seeing him again. "But it lets me get around everywhere else, at least."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He pulls a face and sips his drink. "I was here for two years before it let me out. Apparently 'it' decides when you get to go." Though, he would've liked a little warning that he was going back. He might have looked a bit less oddly startled by his own office.

[nebaritralk]

Chiana makes an unhappy sound, which escapes her before she can check it. She downs her drink, and smirks at him, but there's something a little vicious in the expression. "Don't really like higher authorities deciding where I can and can't go." It was one of the many reasons she'd left Nebari Prime, after all.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He laughs at her. "I know that feeling." He doesn't much like being told what to do himself. Not in most instances. Even when he's told what to do, he frequently doesn't do it.

"On the other hand," he says, "you're forced to use skills and resources you might not otherwise use." Do strange things like make new friends.

[nebaritralk]

"That's life as I know it," Chiana retorts with a sharp grin, and laughs her short, shrill little chuckle. She tilts her head at Harvey, curious and playful. "What skills and resources does this place force you to use, Harvey?"

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He grins a wicked grin at her that tells nothing, though it may hint at something. Or nothing.

"I've only been using my well-practiced skills." Not a full lie. He talks to people anyway, but he might be a touch more social here so he doesn't lose his mind.

[nebaritralk]

"Not that forced, then," Chiana remarks, and knocks back the rest of her drink.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He offers a bit of a shrug. "I suppose that depends on your definition of 'forced'," he says.

"What have you been up to while I've been away?" he asks her. He's only been back for a few days; he doesn't yet know what he might've missed. Exciting things, boring things. He wasn't even sure he was coming back here after he left, but, the universe is an evil bitch apparently and decided to drag him back here. Admittedly, he can't say that he minds all that much, in the grand scheme of things.

[nebaritralk]

"Oh, the usual," she told him with a smile, upper body swaying in that particular way of hers again. "Going through Doors, seeing what mischief I can cause..." She grins, and holds up her empty glass. "I need a top up." Which means turning to head for the bar, and hoping he'll come with - she enjoys his company.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He watches her, admiring those odd movements that are subtle reminders that she's not human in the 'from Earth' sense, but humanoid. And he knows how close to human she was. He remembers.

"Doors?" he asks. "Are you part of the good Captain's expedition unit?" And he might grin a little wickedly at her mention of causing mischief.

He does, indeed, walk with her toward the bar. He's all but finished his own drink.

[nebaritralk]

"I don't much like authority," Chiana answers with a crooked grin. Much as she much likes the captain. She trusts he'll tell her if he ever finds a Door to the Unchartered Territories.

Well. If he makes it back.

"Rather go look for trouble on my own," she adds, and turns to the bartender to ask for a peppery ginger cider. She didn't know it before tonight, and she likes it. Heavy on the spices.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

"Kirk's not a bad guy. And, I don't think he's doing much in the way of 'authority' on his missions exploring the doors. More 'guidance'."

He grins a bit at her. "What if trouble finds you first?" He indicates to the bartender to trade his empty Scotch glass for a full one.

[nebaritralk]

Guidance was just authority disguised; Chiana hadn't left Nebari Prime to be told what to do. Even by attractive, fun humans.

"What kind of trouble?" she shoots back, her grin hinting that there is a sort she enjoys, and then some.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He shrugs. "I wouldn't know. I never get into trouble," he says. He even manages it with a straight face. He gets into trouble all the time. Though, he does typically manage to get himself out of it pretty regularly too.

[nebaritralk]

Chiana laughs at that, not falling for it for one second. "You got into trouble with me, once," she reminds him, smile sharp and enticing, the best kind of trouble, and she's moved closer to him. She steps back when the bartender gets them their drinks, to pick up her mug. The drink is heavily spiced, and smells like it.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

One corner of his mouth tips vaguely in an upward direction. "That's only trouble if you get caught doing something you aren't supposed to be doing," he says.

[nebaritralk]

Chiana's smiling from her first sip of her drink, but then she bares her teeth in a grin. "I'm not big on doing things I'm supposed to."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He chuckles at her, lowering his glass. "I had picked up on that," he says.

[nebaritralk]

Her grin doesn't go anywhere as she adds, hips swaying, "I'm not big on getting caught, either."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

​"No?" he says. "Not an exhibitionist then?"​

[nebaritralk]

"That's not about getting caught," Chiana answered, her smile slyer for it. "That's about putting on a show."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

​​ "It's unintentional exhibitionism if you get caught." He grins at her. "But, either way, the question still stands."

[nebaritralk]

Chiana grinned. "I'll be whatever you want me to be, Harvey." Exhibitionism? Not a problem.

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

Congratulations Chiana, you just made Harvey Specter choke on his scotch. That's a new one. Keep in mind, this is in no way a bad thing. This sort of surprise, he can get behind.

"That was remarkably more forward than I usually hear," he says, covering very well the fact that he might have scotch in his lungs.