happy new year! (party edition)

[unrequite]

WHO: Anyone who saw Midnight's network post about Seventh Hell's grand opening!
WHAT: Happy New Year! We survived! (At what cost!?)
WHERE: Seventh Hell
WHEN: New Year's Eve, starting at 6 pm.
WARNINGS: Alcohol! Maybe more, please mind individual thread warnings!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SEVENTH HELL WELCOMES YOU!

It's been a rough half a year. Kidnappings, atmospheric horror, murder (technically), aesthetics, disappearances, reappearances, and the creeping sensation that you aren't alone...

Hey, at least there's drinks.

When you descend the stairs to the underground club, there's music playing, the lights are low, but boy, are there a lot of them. The bartender welcomes you in. Order something, make yourself comfortable! The booths along the mirrored walls, lined with chandeliers and discoballs, are decorated with a sprinkle of shining confetti and host a variety of simple party snacks. (In fact, if your character arrived with some food to share, a bartender will guide you to the tables to help you set it up. They'll get you a drink for your trouble. How thoughtful of them!)

Grab a snack and a drink! It's no planetarium, but there's a variety of party activities to engage in. (Or make up your own! Seriously, this is a pretty casual affair.)

Every guest will receive one ticket for a raffle. There will be three winners, and each winner can choose one out of 3 prizes:

1) One date with one participating host club staff member. (If your character is a current host club staff member who would volunteer for a blind date, please PM me so I can add their name to the list.) Current list of participants: Midnight, Don Quixote, Astarion, Armand
2) One specialty drink named in the winner's honor.
3) One 12 in x 12 in square on one of the mirrors of the Host Club to leave a permanent mark! The winner will be invited back at any time to take paint markers, paint, permanent markers, etc, to leave a short message, work of art, or anything that can fit in a square foot of mirror space in a discreet, aesthetically pleasing area of the host club. (Kaveh chooses where.)

Winners may choose prizes previously chosen by other winners. Winners may forfeit for others to have a chance at a prize, but may not give away their prize to someone else specifically. In the case that one chooses the third prize but lacks the requisite skill or confidence to create a permanent fixture, one can outsource the space to a willing artist or writer within reason.

!

OOC: RAFFLE DETAILS

I will be rolling the results of this raffle on January 2nd, before the start of Alba's player plot! Don't worry about keeping up with the results, I'll PM winners individually. The only requirement for entry is to participate in one thread on this post! If your character would forfeit their prize, please let me know via PM so I can remove their name from the pool! EDIT: All prizes have been claimed! Congratulations to Hob, Yi Sang, and Altria! 🎉

MAIN SEATING (PARTY GAMES)

The back booths of the establishment, along with the standard decorations, have been supplied with small cards. The rules of two different party games are written on each:

NEVER HAVE I EVER

A getting to know you game! For groups of 5 or fewer players, begin with 5 points. For any more than that, it is suggested to start with 10. The goal of the game is to be the last person with points remaining.
1) Everyone in the game starts with five points each. Keep track of your points with your fingers!
2) The first player describes a short scenario that they have never experienced.
3) The other players must put a finger down if they have experienced said scenario. If they, too, have never experienced the scenario, their points remain unaffected.
4) Move onto the next player and repeat steps 2 through 4. The last person with points remaining wins!
5) BONUS: Drinks may be substituted for points. Simply take a drink when you have experienced the scenario! (Please drink responsibly!)

KING'S GAME

This game requires straws, chopsticks or a deck of cards. Please ask a bartender for supplies!
1) For the amount of players in the game, arrange the same amount of straws or chopsticks. For the card version, please use one suit.
2) Assign one chopstick/straw as the "king". For the card version, use one King of your chosen suit. The rest of the cards, chopsticks, or straws should be numbered from 2 to 10 (or however players choose to play.)
3) All players choose a game marker at random. Do not show the other players your number.
4) The King must first reveal themselves. For that round, they must issue a dare to up to two numbered participants. (e.g. Numbers 2 and 5 must end their sentences with "meow" for the next two rounds. The King can choose themselves as one of the participants.)
5) Shuffle the game markers, choose a new King, and repeat!
6) For a challenge, add points for completed dares and drawing the King! The first player to 10 points wins the game. For this mode, it is suggested to add a punishment of a drink for anyone who refuses their dares.

(Please drink responsibly! For the sake of tonight's festivities, we ask that all time based dares end before midnight.)

!

OOC: THREAD SUGGESTIONS

For the purpose of these prompts, feel free to handwave other participants, or to use these prompts as jumping off points for any specific threads you want! For example, one might like to use the King's Game to get into a scenario where one's character has to hold hands with another character for a few minutes for a dare. Please be creative!

THE STAGE (PERFORMANCES)

Eddie Munson (thefreak) will be headlining, with Midnight as backup whenever he can wiggle free from his bartending duties. In between sets, anyone is free to pick up an instrument and a microphone and try their hand at ringing in the new year with a bit of song.

THE BACK ROOMS (NO, NOT LIKE THAT)

There are currently three rooms available for formal guest activities! The rest of the rooms are locked and will require permission for entry. (They're all empty!)

THE GREENHOUSE (featured host: Fearne)

You were... You were underground just a second ago, right? Pull up a seat, settle in, and enjoy being surrounded by plants, a mildly hydrated atmosphere, and light, friendly conversation between fellow guests. There are no activities here, but it does seem like people are free to start up their own round of party games in this somewhat quieter environment... It would be a nice place for a game where one might want to be heard over all that music. (Suggested games: Word Association, 2 Truths and a Lie, 20 Questions.)

THE COFFEE SHOP (featured host: Chesed)

For anyone who needs caffeination to start their new year right. Featuring nondescript coffee shop music, a mildly chill vibe, and comfortable seating, come grab an espresso and pretend you have some important project to deliver by some very specific deadline next year. For this occasion, board games and cards are available for those who want a little more involved with their gaming experience for the new year. (Suggested games: Poker, Uno, Jenga.)

THE PET STATION

Congrats, you printed yourself a dog! Or a cat! Or something! For the purposes of showing off one's pet and getting them some proper socialization, for one night only, there is a pet area monitored closely by one of the club's staff members where one can drop off their furry friend. Get that pet socialized! Get yourself socialized! Please, make a friend before the year ends. It's good for you.

code

[ ooc: If any part of this post is in error, PLEASE do let me know! I made this in like two days in between work and I barely know left from right. Also, host club members especially are encouraged to PM me with any details or updates about this event they'd like for me to add. Thank you, and please enjoy your IRL new year! ]

Comments

[fussiest]

[ lestat, kaveh thinks, reminds him a little bit of a storm at sea. kaveh is no seaman. sumeru is largely landlocked save for the ocean to the north, a natural boundary between their northern-most cliffs and fontaine's rolling grasslands. the two natural locations along its land for ports have ports; elsewhere, towering cliff-faces with their jagged teeth holding up the gnawed facet of the sky separate land and sea. when kaveh thinks of the sea, the first he thinks of is the sandsea. deshretian ruins jut from the sharp incline of ancient sand dunes, the gust of a raging dust storm that covers and reveals the bones of ancient civilisations on a whim.

kaveh has always loved the desert, is the thing. the desert is where his father died; kaveh had been the one to kill his father. but kaveh couldn't resent the desert, couldn't muster up the enormity of the hatred needed for the endless expanse of it that was the foundational ecosystem for the eremites and the way they have chosen to lead their lives, and so chose instead to love it. lestat one moment is a clear desert's day with a sky so blue it was ravishing, so much so that you could imagine leaning up and drinking from it the way you would a ladle in a well. lestat another is a hoodwinked storm, lidded eyes the playful flicker of a look so incisive that kaveh needs to refrain from looking behind him to see just who was it that made him take it on, because it couldn't be kaveh.

but the adoption of knowledge for one's own sake is something that all sumeran scholars respect. the red of kaveh's eyes glint as he leans in to study the embroidery again. the masters craftsmen of sumeru's treasures street would find very little fault in the work, kaveh thinks. marvelous. ]

It's lovely, Lestat. I can see that the silhouette of your embroidery is distinct enough that one can see the shape of the flower from a distance, but the needlework is also congruent down to the last detail. I'm no tailor nor craftsman familiar with fabrics by any means, but I've recently attempted to create a garment for a friend. I didn't know how to embroider, so I hand-painted it instead; perhaps I should have reached out to you first to see what surprising repository of knowledge you had to share.

[ kaveh's smile softens along its edges. ] And you'll be surprised - this bar and club is owned by a vampire, after all. Midnight has blood stocked in the back. You only need to ask. As for why I am not drinking tonight - well, the night is lovely and deep, but I have a promise to keep. [ kaveh's head tilts. the gold of it spills over his shoulder. ] Is Louis here tonight as well, then?

[perfectdevil]

[ Lestat is an easy man to charm — a proffered compliment, a wandering eye, it's all good enough to have him preening like a regal peacock under the attention — and loves to extend that same charm in return, which can be both a blessing and a curse depending on who is under the heavy weight of that attention. Some enjoy it, some like to be flirted with and enjoy Lestat's admiration and the surprising honesty in his flattery, whereas it puts a false taste in the mouths of some others… Either way, he's rarely disheartened. All in good fun, and all that.

When Kaveh leans in closer, to get a better look at the embroidery, Lestat boldly takes one of Kaveh's hands by the wrist and encourages him to touch one of the aforementioned needlework flowers. Lestat always sees better with his hands, personally. ]

I must confess that the dark gift that made me what I am is mostly responsible for how easy I find it to pick up new habits and skills with little struggle, as long as it's something I want to do. There are certain things, like technology, that I can't comprehend no matter how much I study, and it's simply because I don't want to. But when I set my mind to it, I'm quite adept. [ He watches Kaveh watch him, a smirk playing around his mouth. ] You know I learned how to read and write in a matter of days after I was turned. Multiple languages, too.

As for the drink, I'm afraid I'm simply too picky to be satisfied with anything made. I won't touch the bottles. Monsieur Midnight would have to find someone willing to open a vein over a glass for me to satisfy my thirst.

[ He titters a little laugh, as if what he's saying is in any way funny rather than kinda traumatic. ]

So it's probably best I, like you, go without for tonight.

[ At the mention of his companion, Lestat casts an eye out across the surrounding crowd to see if he can spot Louis' head over the din, but struggles to. Perhaps he's found some quiet corner or room to catch his breath in for the moment. ]

Of course. We came together. I'm sure you'll run into him before the night is through.

[fussiest]

[ lestat pulls kaveh forth with his hands, those long pale fingers of his, and kaveh, startled for but a beat of a breath, grins in turn because he, too, has always seen better with his hands. it's the kshahrewar in him, the one that puts his hands into the guts of machinery to wend their way through to their logical conclusion.

his fingers trace the embroidery, where the needle first struck and to where each, thin crimson thread has built on the other to frame the image of a single, luscious petal. it's beautiful, kaveh thinks, now neat the needlework is. it must've taken hours. kaveh has perhaps an overbearing love for anything involving creation. art is creation; creation is everything. ]

I see. It makes sense to me. If there are people who won't drink water that isn't labeled from a spring or some sort, then there must be vampires who prefer it from the source. [ kaveh considers this. he wonders if louis is much the same, or if his opinions diverge from lestat's. it likely isn't something one could ask in polite company, however; kaveh considers lestat and louis' personalities, and supposes they must have different preferences when it comes to privacy.

but if they will change the city to be more inclusive to those with unsaid needs, then perhaps food is one of them, too. kaveh knows this all too well, after all - midnight has needs as well.

he straightens. the weight of kaveh's considerable attention falls upon lestat as he considers this - learning to read in a matter of days. ]

You've piqued my curiosity, however. Let me know if these questions are strange or inappropriate, but did you mean to say that you didn't know how to read or write before you became a vampire, but you learned in a matter of days afterward? Which languages, and to what level of fluency? Did the knowledge simply retain better as a vampire, or is your memory eidetic? It's not that I don't believe you, but rather I'm curious as to what was involved in the learning process. Are you like this for other skills as well?

[perfectdevil]

[ Lestat doesn’t seem particularly phased by Kaveh’s eagerness to explore the embroidery at his instruction, running those warm mortal fingers over the expanse of the thin fabric over Lestat’s chest and stomach. He wondered if he’d blush, and is strangely delighted to find that he doesn’t, but still watches him closely as if trying to read his mind through expression alone.

He’s quite right about the blood, though there is a lot that can be said about what his companion vampires do versus what they wish they could do. After all, were this their home world there might have been quite a good few many more deaths than there have been thus far. But something about pointing out that the death drink is the most satisfying doesn’t sound like it will sit too well in mortal conversation, so Lestat refrains.

When he straightens, Lestat takes the opportunity to lean nearby, casual in conversation despite the clear attentiveness of his expression. No-one has ever asked him this with such interest before, and with each tumbling question his eagerness to reply only seems to grow. ]

Exactly. I couldn’t read or write a word. I was born noble, but we were poor and there was little reason for me learn what with being the youngest; I would never have any power or anything to sign. It was the way of the world at that time. Once I became a vampire, I picked it up as if through instinct. The blood I fed on, perhaps, taught me the way. I saw words and understood them, I picked up a pen and formed the words in my head into words on paper. I wrote my name. I could read my lines in my scripts, and read my mother’s letters, ciphered in Italian, for the first time without having a translator read them for me. I wrote my own reply for the first time, too.

[ He considers the latter question, whether his brain is more capable of retaining knowledge now, or if he’s been gifted some new memory. ]

I think, with my enhanced instincts, I merely picked up the art quicker. When I was alive, there was little need to read, as I mentioned. There was always something else I should have been doing, something else I wanted, something getting in the way. As a vampire, there was nothing to stop me, and now I barely remember a time when I couldn’t read, though I know there was one. Human memories fade so fast, while immortal ones remain as though carved into stone. I’ve already forgotten the faces and names of my brothers, I’m sure one day I’ll forget that life entirely.

[fussiest]

[ fascinating, kaveh thinks. given that his mouth-mind filter is a gigantic hole even on the best of occasions, what comes out is: ] Fascinating.

[ kaveh is a master of the kshahrewar. his craft deals in numbers and calculations: the application of the percent of slope on a leaning hill to the clay to soil ratio to determine if a pipe can be put through there without destabilising the surrounding soil, the margin of error in force calculations to determine the impact of a falling structure, the exact ratio of crushed insect shell to binding agent for the brightest and most brilliant of mosaic pigments. he is not haravatat scholar, pouring over ancient texts for etymons and phonemes, cutting their teeth on semiotics and the vaunted epistemology that is the hallmark of their darshan's claim to fame. but no sumeran scholar brought up in the cradle of the country of knowledge would find the process of learning to be anything less than fascinating.

the red of kaveh's eyes gleam as he considers what lestat is telling him. aside from exceedingly rare cases, by the time you are old enough to form memory, your ability to speak and write is already far along its way. alhaitham, kaveh thinks, would have liked to be here right now to hear this. ]

So then perchance it is a combination of factors interacting in a way that most wouldn't have been able to predict - well, depending on how common vampires are in your world, I suppose, and how much headway has gone in studying your ability to learn. I have seen the advantages of having nothing but time and attention myself in its positive impacts on learning; just being here in this city without having to worry overly much about food, shelter and money at large has opened my schedule to projects I wouldn't have been able to make time for. But there are your enhanced instincts at play, along with the potential of knowledge being passed on by blood. I've never thought of those things, and surely there must be other factors given that learning at the pace you did is absolutely fascinating, and wouldn't be replicable with humans.

[ kaveh's hand, which had been gesturing as he speaks, stills as it rests once more along the cross of his arms. his head tilts as he considers something new: ]

Do you still remember, how those very first moments of learning a language and a writing system felt? Ah, you must, given those were your memories as a vampire. What was it like, Lestat?

[perfectdevil]

[ Lestat nods along with Kaveh’s estimations, and as he does, he feels a true understanding of the way authors describe watching someone process information as being able to see cogs whirring in a person’s mind. If that were true, Kaveh is like the open body of a clock as Lestat’s eyes follow the movement of his hands, the sparkle of his eyes, as each estimated piece of information seems to fall into place in the tapestry he’s weaving to make sense of something which honestly makes very little sense in the first instance. ]

I remember them, yes. I couldn’t read for a second, and then it was like I’d only forgotten. The human instinct of being unable to recognise words suffocated by the gift my maker gave me; and he might have been mad, but he was no fool. His blood was powerful, and so I became powerful in turn.

[ He tries to think of a way it might make sense from a human perspective. ]

It’s a little like remembering a dream once you’ve awoken. What you once thought was real suddenly becomes surreal, and of course it could never have been reality, that would be ridiculous. The same was true for my never learning to read and write. For a time it seemed true, but then I could read and write, so it seemed ridiculous that I never could have.

[ Maybe that still doesn’t make sense, but that’s what he’s got. He laughs, just a little. ]

There was no learning curve nor any practice needed, I’m afraid. I did not struggle with forming letters, the same as I didn’t struggle to recognise Italian words. I don’t have any explanation other than that. There are more of my kind now than there once were, but we are still a race of few, and what we know of our true beginnings and capabilities has long since been lost. I am still learning new things about myself even now, after all these centuries.

[fussiest]

[ so he remembers, then, kaveh thinks - not only the memories, but the sensation of them. suddenly he wonders at it, the state of mind of a man who cannot forget a single emotion. his mother had lived her grief all her life, and it was only after she left sumeru for a land far, far away from where her grief stemmed that kaveh started to appreciate the relief that comes with the erosion of memories. being able to forget is a blessing at times. certainly, you hate yourself for doing so in the moment - lost keys, forgotten paperwork, an exam answer sent awry, but the flashbulb memories of your life, the moment of grief and terror - was it not a blessing that eventually time would wear away at this memories and sensations so that you could finally look them in the eye?

kaveh has never seen lestat without a smile. he wonders what troubles a man of his caliber and resilience must have, whether the past is not so much a pale shadow of a ghost but another self of his that follows his steps like a living, breathing entity. ]

Well, I think of that as a boon. [ kaveh says, after a moment of consideration, with a smile. ] If we ever were to stop learning new things and experience little new surprises every now and then, I think life would be terribly dull. An acquaintance of mine and I used to debate what made a life not worth living, and for him, it had always been the capacity to learn. If that was ever taken away from him, that life would no longer have much of a meaning. I think that's the way with most Sumeran scholars, however. We come from the land of knowledge, and our vice has ever been that we let our curiosity lead us - and end us.

[ the look that kaveh gives lestat is speculative. ] Say, if we introduced a new language to you here in this city, could you replicate it? Learning it quickly, I mean. I don't mean to test you the way of lab animal, but my acquaintance is a scholar of languages, and he'd likely find it fascinating, the way you learn.

[perfectdevil]

[ Lestat has never been a man entirely focused on learning; being illiterate, there was only so much learning he could actively do, of course, but he still found time enough to focus on the things that brought him entertainment. The same could be said when he became a vampire and could open a book and read hundreds of pages within the hour… but his thirst for knowledge was always more impulsive and selfish than it was scholarly. He knows plays, he knows music, he knows myth and legend and sprawling fiction.

In contrast, he knows very little about science and the way the mind works, he finds himself bored by theology and pondering the what ifs of the universe, and he views psychology with the lazy eye of a teenager who’s certain they know better.

The question of language does interest him, though. The interest is a little self-serving, perhaps, but it is interest nonetheless. ]

If at least one person was fluent enough in this language to understand it without needing reference, then yes I think I could do such a thing.

[ Lestat feels a sudden urge to test the theory, the same urge that he’s had to fight for years to quell his own disappointment at finding a complete lack of clarity about the beginnings of the creature he has become. He’s aware, however, that a New Years party might not be the ideal place for such an experiment to take place. ]

I would welcome being a lab animal for the cause of sating my curiosity, and the curiosity of your acquaintance and yourself, I assume.