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

[nebaritralk]

"You didn't? Now I'm hurt," Chiana replied, but she grinned again before taking another sip. It was excellent.

[tooktheblack]

"I was just a bit wary," Jon said, laughing softly. "I have to be cautious when trying new things. Sometimes it can end up to cause you irreparable harm. This time, however, it seems to have worked out for the best."

[nebaritralk]

"Irreparable harm, from a simple drink?" Of course she could've slipped something in it if she'd wanted, but she wasn't going to point it out, and why would she have wanted to? "You need to relax, Jon."

[tooktheblack]

"You are not wrong," Jon said, barking out a short laugh. "I am well aware that I am entirely too serious for my own good. I just come from a place where people are looking to have you killed for any transgression. I'm used to being more than a little wary and paranoid about those around me."

[nebaritralk]

"A little wary and paranoid's a good thing to be," Chiana confirmed with a smirk, "but Ghost likes me." More to the point, she would have nothing to gain from poisoning his drink, and hoped she never would, but she thought the point about the direwolf was a better one to make.

[tooktheblack]

"Ghost does like you, which is rare in and of itself. It's why I trust you," Jon confessed. "I would not be inclined to normally, I do not trust very many people, but I have found that Ghost has more of a sense for these things than I ever have or will. I trust his opinion and I am glad he has found you as a friend, Chiana."

[nebaritralk]

Huh. That was an even better point to make than Chiana had thought, apparently. But the end of Jon's words put a genuine smile on her lips; her affection for the direwolf was very real. "He's too wonderful for anything else."

[tooktheblack]

"They say, in Westeros, that there are those who can actually see with the direwolf's eyes," Jon explained. "They're skinchangers. Wargs. Is there anything like that where you come from, Chiana?"

[nebaritralk]

"Probably," Chiana answers with a shrug. "There's all sorts of things where I come from." Too many for her to begin to pretend she knew them all, and skinchangers don't sound all that odd to her. She's seen much crazier than that.