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

[astraphilia]

Exactly! So you see my problem.

[ Reno grins and tucks his spare hand back into his pocket. to be a smoker is to always only have one warm hand at a time, he figures. it's nice to listen to the way Kaveh talks about his home, the people in it—affectionate, fond. these are sentiments Reno can't quite relate to, but enjoys hearing from others. ]

Yeah, they sure are. [ that much, Reno agrees with. he takes a long drag and then looks over at Kaveh, his gaze bright and curious. ] You seem like the type who'd get along with your neighbors. I bet you charmed the hell out of 'em.

[fussiest]

Me? Oh, no. Didn't I just say our half-blind neighbour couldn't believe a single right thing about me? [ kaveh laughs. ] And then there are the retired uncles on the street who decided that I was perfect to bellyache to when they were tired of telling the same old complaints to their similarly retired friends, and the children who I've a purse for the sole purpose of swindling candy out of.

[ he picks at the filter with his teeth. kaveh tilts his head to reno. ] Do you get along with yours?

[astraphilia]

Sounds like she likes you to me. No?

[ if she was able to find reason after reason to talk to Kaveh, even if those reasons end up nagging at him for his smoking habits... you wouldn't keep reaching out to talk to someone you hate. right? ]

Eh, what do I know. [ Reno shrugs and drops the butt of his cigarette, crushes what's left of it under the toe of his boot. ] I didn't even know my neighbors. Had that apartment twelve years and never talked to a one of 'em.

[ he's still a little tipsy. maybe that's why it feels so easy to say things like this. ]

I wasn't back there all that much. Never decorated or anything, just kinda stored stuff there until I needed it. We had crash rooms in the lounge at the company building, made it easier to be ready.

[fussiest]

How is it that you're so sure my nagging half-blind neighbour who doesn't believe I'm doing a single thing right in my life likes me, but you were so sure that I didn't like you? I at least thought you were doing a few things right with your life, or at least they weren't wrong things.

[ says kaveh, without censure nor any real follow-up, the kind of question you'd pose rhetorically to the wind. but this, kaveh thinks, is expected, isn't it. reno hasn't dressed himself or decorated his home for years, enough that he'd ask strangers for tips - it's likely that he hasn't seen that aspect of himself as important for a long time. it doesn't take much to extrapolate that perhaps he doesn't have much of an opinion of his personal tastes outside of work.

it strikes kaveh as lonely. ]

What about here? The walls here aren't thick enough to make good neighbours, and everyone's terribly nosy anyway.

[astraphilia]

Uh, because it's always easier to see what's goin' on for other people than it is to look inside yourself? [ duh.

Reno says it with such levity that it might pass for a joke, although it is actually the truth: he's been trained within an inch of his life to read other people and their interactions, but has never been given any such training on how to understand himself. it means that for the most part, Reno doesn't know how to untangle himself—he just knows how to feel and how to react.

he tuck his hands into the pockets of his coat, clearly not planning on going back inside until Kaveh's done smoking. ]

I don't think there's anybody else in my building... [ he tilts his head to consider. ] I didn't pick it because of that, just turns out there's a lot more houses than there are people here, so it's easy to find a place that ain't already occupied.

[ which is probably for the best, considering the shit any neighbors would hear from Reno's apartment... ]

You're right, though. I'm nosy as hell, I wanna know what everybody's up to all the time.

[fussiest]

[ easier to see what's going on inside of other people than it is to look inside yourself, reno says. kaveh considers the wisdom of the answer, and thinks - it also takes a certain kind of willful blindness to see less of it in yourself. it needs a certain kind of devaluation. you spend the most time with yourself. case in point: reno had chosen an apartment where nobody else lived.

from a statistical perspective, with the number of apartment units in this game and the number of people inhabiting it, there is a far higher chance of choosing a building without neighbours than there is having neighbours. from a perspective of probability, however, the dice are weighted. humans are social creations. kaveh is no vahumana, but he has read enough papers on community building and social psychology to know that people will naturally gravitate towards populating areas with other people in it. you have to choose to step outside of the community to live outside of it. kaveh thinks of alhaitham and choice he had made to step outside of the bonds society weaves. in ac ity without economic incentives to maintain those bonds, if alhaitham was not inclined to leave, it is likely he wouldn't choose to have his paths cross with anyone.

it's a drastic outlier of an example; reno is here in the night, speaking with kaveh about his half-blind neighbour. there is an oxymoron here. kaveh considers it. ]

You've come to the right bar for it, then. [ kaveh picks at the filter with his fingers, then slips it back between his lips. he says, ] Midnight has a way of seeking people out, and gathering those around him. It's likely that even those who normally wouldn't come around to gossip will show their faces at some point here. Since you'll be working here, I'm sure you'll fulfill your nosiness needs.

And what are you up to at all time, hm? If you're keeping tabs on others, certainly someone ought to keep tabs on you.

[astraphilia]

Yeah, seems that way.

[ all of it, really. Reno casts a brief glance back toward the golden light spilling out of the bar, cutting through the darkness outside. Midnight had said as much to him, earlier: if you have the right sort of people, the parties just sort of coalesce. Reno had said in reply that it sure seemed like Midnight has the right sort of people, and he'd meant it, even though he said it smiling—Midnight is that sort of person, gentle, magnetic. of course like would attract like. he's good at drawing people into his orbit and keeping them safe there. watching him move around the space he's created is a bit like watching an aurora light the sky or a comet burn through the atmosphere—astonishing and untouchable.

Kaveh is the same way, Reno thinks. and Ghost, and Netzach, and Yesod, and all the rest of them whose orbits overlap. curious and beautiful, each in their own ways: the golden blaze of Kaveh's wildfire and the cool green of Netzach's depths, the dusk-purple of Yesod's tundra and the warm scarlet of Ghost's embers. trailing light in different colors across their own firmaments.

for the chance to stand even in the penumbra of their light and watch them—Reno chose the right bar, indeed. ]

Me? I keep busy. [ Reno shrugs. ] I explore, take notes. Work out. Build stuff just to remind myself I can, then take 'em apart. Cook a lot. Now that we got movies I've been watchin' a bunhch of those.

[ Reno tips his head back, keeping Kaveh in his periphery. ]

I don't know if anybody's keeping tabs, exactly. Thancred lets himself into my apartment sometimes just to prove he can still pick my locks, if that counts.

[fussiest]

[ well, kaveh thinks, there's that mental image. thancred does seem like the type to have learned the five-fingered key, and excelled at it from a combination of need and sheer dramatic flair. that was the sort of man before. ]

Provided that Thancred stays after he does so, and he puts your lock back in order. [ he says, truthfully, because locks are meant to be unlocked for certain people, or simply people who know how to unlock them. deciding that perhaps this is a good time for gossip, kaveh grins: ] Do you know how I met Thancred? He held me upside-down on the rollercoaster that came with the vanishing carnival while I fixed a jam in the wheels.

[ kaveh leans in and says, in a way that suggests he thinks most men are, including himself: ] Ridiculous man. I'm glad he is, though. I think in a shell of a city like this, it's too easy to feel alone.

[ the filter is now shredded, orange paper in kaveh's hands. he looks down, unsurprised to see it, and finally stubs out the end of the cigarette along the railing. ]

Say, would you like me to give you a few puzzle locks? Install them on your door, see how Thancred fairs?

[astraphilia]

He stays, yeah. [ he doesn't put the lock back together, mostly because he doesn't take it apart to begin with—Kaveh has no idea how masterful this man is at the art of letting himself into places he's supposedly locked out of. ] We've been watchin' monster movies together.

[ naturally, in Reno's mind, the image is of Thancred dangling Kaveh over the edge of a roller coaster by his ankles—never mind that this is almost certainly not even close to how it actually happens. even so, the idea of Thancred holding Kaveh upside down anywhere makes Reno laugh to envision, and he shakes his head a little, fond and endeared. ] Sounds like somethin' he'd do. Sounds like somethin' you'd do too.

[ most likely nobody had even asked Kaveh to fix it, he'd just taken it upon himself because that's exactly the kind of person he is. and most likely Thancred had gone up to help not because Kaveh asked him, but because that's exactly the kind of person Thancred is. Reno is so full of fondness, and so lucky not to be alone. ]

You know, that might not be a bad idea. Gotta keep him from gettin' bored of breaking in to my house, I guess.

[fussiest]

Hm. [ kaveh says, as he considers this. movies - kaveh hasn't thought about those, though he's seen them at the media store. perhaps he can see if alhaitham is interested in exploring them at some point in time.

still: ] If the two of you are watching movies together, then I doubt he'll be bored anytime soon.

[ they're friends, kaveh thinks. that's good. he'd meant what he said, after all: it's far too easy to be alone in this city. mind made up, kaveh stretches, tiptoes to the tips of his fingers stretched high above his head. his neck names an audible crack as he tilts it this way and that, wincing at the knot of tension there. ]

Alright, I'll have those locks prepared for you; I don't think I've given him much trouble yet, and I'd like to change that. It'll be puzzle locks and the light. Perhaps I'll be able to have some of them light up. That might be fun.

[ he turns, then looks over his shoulder. light spills past kaveh's feet and ends at the shadow of reno's. ] I'm going to rejoin the party inside. I need to make sure Midnight hasn't rolled out of his cot yet. Will you come in, too?

[astraphilia]

[ they are friends, for all that Reno refuses to put that name on it. more than friends, probably, although he's even less inclined to call it that—Thancred is Thancred, that's all. it says nothing, but it says everything too. ]

Damn. [ said in a tone of marvel at the sound of that crack. ] Hey, find me before you go home. Lemme work that out.

[ it's a useful practical skill, the ability to rub knots of tension out of people's backs and shoulders. almost a necessary one for the Turks, who always worked too hard and slept too little—Reno might not be a Turk anymore but this is a kind of muscle memory his hands won't forget. ]

He deserves to have some trouble made for him. [ Reno laughs, pleased. ] Yeah, I'll follow ya.