GP - dreaming of a black christmas

[lcrpg_npc]

The repurposed railway arches that housed Beagle's bar and restaurant were decked in shades of black: black christmas trees glittering with sparkly and satiny black ornaments, black wreaths with perfectly tied bows, black garlands draping along the walls and bar, ribbons edging the long banquet benches in the restaurant dining room. A gentle snow seemed to fall from the ceiling, a specially designed lighting effect much more pleasant than the cold and wet that would've accompanied real snow. Christmas music played over hidden speakers, setting the mood without interfering with conversation.

The Kraken Black Christmas feast was a different spin on the holiday than you'd find most places, and yet, a christmas feast all the same. All the flavors of the season were there, both in the bar's specialty cocktails and in the feast itself, served banquet-style to those fortunate enough to get tickets - mulled wine, egg nog, roasts and stuffing and puddings, and so much more. Yet the food and drinks all shared the same theme as the decor, shades of black augmented with squid ink, charcoal, or black sesame seeds.

Guests had been encouraged to continue the theme with black festive attire, but it wasn't required, and spots of color could be found here and there along the table or mingling in the bar. There was one thing everyone could agree on, though. No matter how black the theme, the mood was anything but dark.

Comments

[shannonteverius]

"We have dinner with my brother and sister around the holidays," Shannon said. It usually consisted of his siblings glaring disapprovingly at Felix while Shannon attempted to keep the conversation rolling. Sometimes he had help if either Stephen or Victoria were dating, but that wasn't always a benefit. He supposed it was appropriately awkward as family gatherings went. "What about you? Do you and Sirius do anything special for Christmas?"

[cold_blueeyes]

"Yeah, I don't--I can't just go back to how we were before. There was way too much we weren't dealing with, you know?" He smiled ruefully at that admission.

He gave a little nod at her question. "Yeah, the guy I was seeing back in Boston didn't know, and it was just too...it was hard to talk about some of the stuff, because I had to be careful what I said. So when I started looking over here, I made sure to find someone that's...one of us." Because a lot of the crap he needed to deal with was intrinsically tied to being a mutant, and dancing around the topics, choosing his words so carefully, fudging the details...it meant he couldn't really deal with the issues themselves.

[cold_blueeyes]

"I am ridiculous, so it's truth in advertising," Bobby pointed out, nestling into John happily as he returned, smiling against his lips during the kiss. "And it bodes super well for me that you like it."

He chuckled and quickly kissed John's cheek, slipping an arm around him again as he sipped at his drink. "So which one did you get?" he asked, nodding toward John's glass.

[offthebeatenpath]

"I'm not the biggest fan of psych professionals – my cousin's experiences and resentment rubbed off on me – but they can help. But not when you have to lie about your entire life, so... I'm glad he knows, and you've got someone you can talk to about everything." Like being in love with someone who tried to kill him. Not exactly the kind of thing he could talk about with a therapist who didn't know they were mutants.

"Otherwise you end up with the plot of West Side Story, and that would just be confusing," she added, wanting to lighten her mood a little instead of dwelling.

[wandandawolf]

"Sounds...like quite the ritual you have there." Smaller gatherings could be more fraught, Remus thought: less places to hide. Not that Felix would be the one doing the hiding, but other people might want to hide from him. "This will be our first Christmas as a couple, so we'll probably have a quiet day in. Neither of us has much family around London, although there is a godson to visit." Who happened to be a decade older than either of them, at least.

[shannonteverius]

"You have a godson?" Shannon asked. It was the first he'd heard of it.

[wandandawolf]

"Sirius has the godson." Remus shrugged apologetically. "I just sort of tag along. Both of us went to school with his father, though, so it's basically family."

[shannonteverius]

It was more baffling to hear that Sirius had a godson. "What is his name?"

[wandandawolf]

"Harry," Remus offered. That was the easy part. The rest...would be tricky to explain.

[shannonteverius]

"He lives here in London?"

[wandandawolf]

"He does," Remus replied, and hoped the conversation wouldn't get any more deep than that. "Your family is not exactly suburban, I gather?" Changing the subject was a tried and tested technique.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon laughed. "Not exactly, no." He couldn't imagine what his family would be like if they hadn't been in politics.

[wandandawolf]

Remus offered him a smile: "I can't imagine Felix would be satisfied with the charms of suburbia, so you seem like a well-matched pair."

[toujours_impur]

Sirius growled softly, playfully, a sound pitched for Remus' ears only as those teeth pressed against his skin, clinging to his arm a bit tighter. "Which works out well, since you so love keeping me," he murmured, knowing there was no need to lean closer for Remus to hear him.

After a few moments of walking, he added with a bit of a pout in his voice, "Do we have to walk?" Patience had never been his strong suit, particularly when it came to sex.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon agreed. "I shudder to think what Felix would do if he didn't have the entertainments of the city so close at hand." That same could be said of him.

[wandandawolf]

"I grew up in rural England, but Sirius has always been urban. And he does crave his entertainments," Remus acknowledged dryly, before finding Sirius in the crowd, toasting whoever it was that he'd just met. "Although I'm sure what is an entertaining life for both of our men just means a lot of work for us. Do excuse me - mine's probably being an idiot." He offered Shannon an apologetic nod, matter of fact about the way a great dealt of his life was spent, had been spent, looking after other people. "Have a lovely rest of your evening!" he called back, before turning and disappearing amongst the crowd.

[wandandawolf]

"Why break the habit of a lifetime?" Remus teased, twinkle in his eye. Certainly since he was 11, Sirius had just been...there, and it had been good to have him there. His friends had drawn him out of himself in ways his parents never could.

Remus snorted at the comment, because honestly. Chuckling to himself, he raised his gaze from the pavement, and didn't bother looking over at Sirius. He didn't need to. "How likely do you think it is that I give in, especially now you've asked that question?" He could have been an actual teacher in an actual classroom, dryly trying to get one of his charges to think through something.

[prodigalflame]

"It really does," John agreed. and let his hand slip down to lightly rest on Bobby's ass, all very couple-y and possessive and tender at once. "You play your cards right, you might get to go home with the man of your dreams tonight, Drake." He gave that ass a gentle squeeze, just to underscore his point.

"And I got the 'Kraken Frost Bite'," John told him, looking at his glass for a moment. The lime, mint and cranberry cut through the rum with a bit of a tang, and it all felt pretty good after a few sips. "For sentimental reasons." Because he was one big softy, or something.