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

[alegalsuperhero]

"I would absolutely love to walk with you to the gardens, Mr. Specter," Rachel says lightly. This is a weird place, sure, but she already feels more relaxed and unwound than she has in ages. The weight of everything is lifted, even momentarily, and it feels good.

"Let's go."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

"Stop with the 'Mr. Specter' bit. I'm not your teacher," he says as he weaves through people and around hedges until he finds a spot a little bit away from the crowd and the direct view of the building. He doesn't want everyone trying to Bogart his stash.

He lights the joint and takes a generous hit. As he hands it over to her, he asks, "You have done this before, right?"

[alegalsuperhero]

"Smoked, never marijuana," Rachel admits. "Is there anything I ought to know?" Rachel knows that Mike spent a lot of his early twenties smoking weed regularly but she's always been too Type A for that.

"It's not going to make me go crazy or anything, is it?"

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He gives her a look. "Don't smoke it like a cigarette." Before she does anything dangerous, he gives her a demonstration of how to properly take a hit, then hands the joint over.

As he blows smoke into the air, he shakes his head. "It might make you want to eat a house though."

[alegalsuperhero]

"I think I can manage," Rachel says, taking a hit and smiling a little when it just seems to relax her some instead of making her go insane or, as Harvey had described, making her want to eat a house. Maybe that comes later.

"How long does it take the hunger to set in usually?"

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He grins at her question. "That depends on how much of a lightweight you are."

[alegalsuperhero]

"I am so not a lightweight," Rachel scoffs. She doesn't know if she will be or not as this is her first time but something that makes her up as much as her eyes or her freckles or the timbre of her voice is her tenacity and inability to back down from a challenge. This isn't exactly the type of challenge she normally tackles but her competitive spirit puts a gleam in her eyes all the same.

"I could go toe to toe with you, I bet."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

His eyebrow goes up when she declares she's not a lightweight. We'll see.

Then he full on laughs when she says she could match him toe-to-toe. "I fucking doubt it," he says. He's had practice. Rachel has not. "This isn't one of those times when enthusiasm is just as important as skill."

[alegalsuperhero]

"I wouldn't be a Zane if I just threw in the towel," Rachel admits."So I have to show some bluster or otherwise you'd think I got my brain transplanted or something. But, I think, just this once, that I can concede this one."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He's still chuckling at her. "Feel free to prove me wrong, but I'll warn you now, you'll still have to walk on your own back to your room. I am not carrying your ass."