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

[bonetown]

Mouth full, reaching for one of the glasses of champagne, Alex wiggles her way back into putting herself together, flashing Fiona a bright smile. "I can have a date, still have dinner and enjoy myself. And if he takes me to second dinner, then score," she says, nudging Fiona in the side with her elbow. "Are you dressed for a costume party or are you actually working tonight?"

[not_lost]

"I'm working, I'm on a break," Fiona answered. "I get doubletime plus tips, there is no way I was going to pass that up."

And if she volunteered to bartend partly just so she'd have an excuse not to sign up for the blind date that she just knew Alex would otherwise force her into, Alex didn't need to know.

"So have you met the guy yet?"

[bonetown]

"Okay, money is totally a worthwhile excuse to miss the partying, but you have to have some fun tonight," she insists, poking her finger at Fiona as if she can somehow force her to make that agreement. "And nope, haven't met the guy," she admits. "Given that my pool of ex-boyfriends isn't exactly filling up anyone's best ever list, he can't be that bad," she swears.

And even if that comes back to bite her in the ass, she'll insist that she's had a couple lunkers in the past. "Are all the drunks treating you good? Do we have to cleavage you up a bit?"

[not_lost]

"The drunks are treating me very good, I think my lack of cleavage is okay," Fiona replied on a laugh. Disturbing as it was, Alex wasn't wrong: The nights she bartended in a low-cut shirt, she always made more despite not having all that much of a rack.

"Are you nervous at all?" she asked, preferring to talk about Alex's date than her own boobs.

[bonetown]

Alex still gives Fiona one last appraising look like she just has to make sure about the cleavage. It's just sisters looking out for each other. She and Penny totally do this for each other all the time. "The blind date thing? Nah," she shakes off any concern. "I do this all the time at home and trust me, this is way safer than that time I got arrested for prostitution outside Little Chechnya. Oi," she scoffs.

"Besides, if he's really bad, I'll just throw a drink in his face and you can come save me by saying our sacred order of ninja nuns needs me, or you know, a meteor is about to hit the earth. Your usual out-calls," she says.

[not_lost]

Fiona really wanted to ask about the prostitution thing—Had even opened her mouth—but she knew better by now. She only had a few more minutes on her break and she'd rather not go back to work with her head spinning.

"Well, just make sure you do it somewhere near my bar," she replied. "I wouldn't want to miss the signal."

[bonetown]

"I'll totally lurk around you all night. I mean, unless he's hot and turns out to be totally not a psycho," Alex admits. "In which case, I could pretty much use a good old lie down move around," she admits, because it has been a really long time and she could probably use the cleaning crew down there, especially if there's a Hoover involved.