Gathering: Summer Party

[concierge]

Outside of the Nexus Hotel, waiters and hotel staff had begun to set up the umbrellas and the tables in the middle of the day. Soon, it became clear that something was happening in the shadow of the Nexus. White tablecloths were draped on the tables and drinks and food were brought out with the help of several waiters and servers, staffing tables with hot and cold foods beside bartending stations. Summery drinks in bright, neon colors are laid out one by one and soon, the afternoon light casts a radiant look on the scene.

Music plays faintly in the background and a note at the front desk invites all the Nexus guests to head outside and join in on the summer party, which promises to continue going as long as there are people to stay and continue keeping the warm atmosphere rolling.

On the lawn, social games had been set out -- lawn bowling, croquet, and tables were set up with chairs for anyone who didn't quite have the will or the spirit to get into such games. Soon, a small number of people had begun to mill around, but as with all parties, there's always room for more.

Comments

[armedagainstlove]

Athos blinks as he wonders whether he has found a suitable amount of alcohol that can be drunk that will sap the colours from out of the body with such effectiveness that it leaves only a palatte of grey behind. If so, he has found that magical place as he discovers himself staring at the example of such a thing before him. "I'm quite partial to wine," he confesses. "Brandy," he continues. "Whiskey," is added with a curt nod to the side. "And any other fine spirits available. Port, while sweet, is a rather delightful thing."

He clears his throat, aware he has perhaps said too much. "I fear if I were to mix red wine and blue ... things, it would be disastrous," he notes, his English careful.

[nebaritralk]

"Or purple, anyway," Chiana supplies, and flashes him another quick smile. She lets go of his arms, but doesn't step back; she doesn't mind physical proximity. (The other sort, now that's something else altogether.)

"But I don't know your alcohols," she goes on, shifting slightly, head tilted to the side as she looks up at him. "I've tried the red - wine, is it?"

[armedagainstlove]

Athos inclines his head with a nod, giving a quiet murmur of agreement. "Yes, it is my drink of choice, if given one," he says, as the wine has a habit of lulling and dulling all his senses until he no longer must concern himself with emotions or the memories that go along with them. "There is much here of brighter colours, though I have not perused them. Are they drinks of the future, do you know?"

[nebaritralk]

"I don't think your future and my future have much in common," Chiana points out, because he's likely another one of the humans that seem to mostly populate this place. It still feels like being in Sebacean territory, but the humans seem a lot less... peacekeeping. "They're not anything I'm familiar with, I can tell you that much."

[armedagainstlove]

"I assure you that most of my time is spent quite in the past." Athos has been back home, but it had only been to more of Paris' antics. Marsac's return had been enough of a worry, but as ever the ghost of his thought-dead wife continued to lurk and haunt him. "This, alone, is almost more than I can cope with. I would hate to imagine a time even further."

"So perhaps we are alike, then, in the unfamiliar."

[nebaritralk]

"No spaceships for you, huh?" Chiana asks with a bright grin, and laughs her short, thrill laugh. "Alike in unfamiliarity. I like that. What's your name?" For someone from Earth's past (she figures), he's not staring at her half as much as most other humans; probably because of the amount of unfamiliarity, even without the Nebari standing right in front of him, still kind of invading his personal space.

[armedagainstlove]

"Athos," he greets her with an incline of his head and the slightest of bows. He dares not lean too far forward on the off chance that gravity will continue to take him until he collapses, which proves to be a peril, indeed. "And no, I'm not even sure what a 'spaceship' might be, but English is not my first language and perhaps there is some hidden indication I am missing."

[nebaritralk]

Chiana watches him curiously for a few seconds, then smiles, and tells him, "I'm not speaking 'English', whatever that is." He's probably had an injection of translator microbes and doesn't even know it, the way she sees it. "There might not be a word for 'spaceship' in your language, though." That wouldn't surprise her; humans don't seem particularly advanced to her, as a rule. So she tries another tack. "Vessels that travel through space? Up in the stars? Lots of those where I'm from."

[armedagainstlove]

Athos still remains blank, waiting for any of the words she's speaking to register properly. The whole of it sounds mad to him and he's not entirely sure what to make of it, but as far as he knows, the stars above are merely that -- lights in the sky. "And what year might you be from, then?" Perhaps that will shine better light on this whole scenario.

[nebaritralk]

Year, she has learned, is something like a cycle. "That depends what calendar you're asking about," Chiana retorts with an amused, sharp, brief grin, shifting on her feet again and watching him all the while. "Nebari? Peacekeeper? Scarran? Or there's this culture on a small moon I visited recently, they always say it's cycle 0. 'Only live in the now,' that's their motto. I quite like it." Even if they took it a little too far, at times.

[armedagainstlove]

"Earth...en," Athos finishes the last syllable with perhaps a bit of wariness to it, given that he has no idea what to make of this woman and now she is becoming even more confusing with her words. "You perplex me," he confesses freely, for though he is terribly drunk, he has learned how to be sensible at the same time. "I have only ever seen a moon in the sky, never visited one, and I know nothing of cycles, Scarrans, or Nebari."

Only of his guilt and torture, only of serving the Musketeers, only of the ghost in his shadow.

[nebaritralk]

Chiana grins broadly at his compliment, or so she decides to take his words. "I can explain Nebari easily," she tells him, dark eyes twinkling. "Or stand for it, anyway. I'm Nebari - my species," she specifies, and the sharp, almost inviting smile makes another appearance, "and Chiana - my name. Do you want to try the blue stuff, Athos, or are you waiting for your wine?"

[armedagainstlove]

Athos thinks that no matter what he imbibes, provided it's alcoholic he will be well-suited to it. He can feel the edge of sobriety and painful memories hit him and he gives Chiana a nod. "I believe it's time for the blue stuff," he agrees. "Let it not be said that my boundaries cannot expand."

[nebaritralk]

"Now I like the sound of that," Chiana tells him with a wicked smile, and turns to lead the way towards the blue stuff. There are glasses laid out on a table of different drinks, and she reaches for two of the blue ones with gloved hands, turning back around to Athos. "I'm Chiana, by the way," she adds as she hands him a glass.

[armedagainstlove]

"Athos," is his even introduction. In drunker times, he has made odder friends (how else does he explain Aramis and Porthos, after all?) and so he doesn't think much of the woman's skin or her accent, though both are things he keeps in the back of his mind as something to notice. "And are you a consummate drinker of this ... blue liquid or will this be a first for yourself, as well?"

[nebaritralk]

He's said, but Chiana doesn't bother pointing it out. She's just fondly amused around drunks, as a rule. "I've been drinking it," she confirms. "All afternoon." She would need more than a few cocktails to get as drunk as he is, though. That might be the plan for this evening, but not right now. "Bottoms up, Athos?" she grins her challenge.

[armedagainstlove]

Drunk as he is, he thinks that perhaps a little more cannot hurt (this is a thought he inevitably has before he drinks more and it does end up hurting, quite a lot). Athos raises his glass in turn, swaying a bit before he settles in, stable. "I've no idea what that means," he informs her, before taking a long swig of a drink.

[nebaritralk]

Chiana laughs, and there's something of the dolphin in it, only less high-pitched. That he wouldn't know tickles her. "It means we down it in one go," she informs him, grinning, "like this," and does just that, not lowering the glass until it is empty.

[armedagainstlove]

"Ah, that, I know how to do," Athos says evenly, though he does that with drinks that aren't (perhaps) meant to be drank in such a fashion. He does the same, not wincing or feeling the burn of it. It is like other things he has drank, it is entirely pleasing because it helps to distance him from his past. "Do you do this often? Drink like this?"

[nebaritralk]

"On occasion," Chiana confirms with a wide smile. The drink doesn't affect her as much as it does him; she isn't drunk to start with, and she's not human. She can hold her alcohol a lot better. "And there's nothing much to do around here, is there. Drinking's a good pastime."

[armedagainstlove]

"You see, I drink like this on a regular basis," Athos says in a conversational tone that strives to make light of the fact that drinking so heavily could be construed as a problem. He offers a brief lightening of his face, though it's hardly a smile. "I find that drinking is an excellent past-time to while the hours, but is a terrible one the next morning."

[nebaritralk]

"See, I can think of several much better ways to pass the time," Chiana replies with a smirk, and her time makes it clear what it is she wants him to think of. There's more than just sex on her mind, but most of her less legal pastimes wouldn't be a good idea here, where she is stuck and couldn't get away. "The sort you don't regret in the morning. Even better if alcohol accompanies it." Le 2 août 2014 01:33, "armedagainstlove - DW Comment" < dw_null@dreamwidth.org> a écrit :

[armedagainstlove]

Athos' life is filled up with regret, but he does not make mention of this to her. She did not ask for such explanations. "I find that in the morning, it is not regret I often find myself mired in so much as the pain of the night before. One must pay for his sins, though," he says, knowing that better than anyone, given the sins of his past.

[nebaritralk]

"So you'll take the pain as your due, huh?" Chiana asks thoughtfully. Going ten drinks too far's always made her regret those ten extra drinks - but maybe that was mostly due to Nerri's teasing. He never indulged in too much of anything, but in just enough, it seemed to her. Le 2 août 2014 21:37, "armedagainstlove - DW Comment" < dw_null@dreamwidth.org> a écrit :