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

[wandandawolf]

Remus thought about Felix's reaction, about his and Sirius' rather complicated history. (History. Ha.) He left further musings on parallels between the two of them - or was it the four of them? - Remus didn't want to muse too deeply, that way lay madness. Or a lot of brooding. Possibly both.

"Like I said: he always comes home." There was a touch of sadness in his eyes as he said it, an admission that in the times he and Sirius knew best that coming home wasn't always a given. To have lived through the War and not be grateful for life and love - well, Remus wasn't capable of it. And that Sirius came home, to him, always had, always would - that had made the furious jealousies and the curdling self-loathing enough to bear, most of the time. The jealousy, at least, had been quiescent since they'd gotten together. The self-loathing had not.

"...Obviously, this conversation never happened," Remus murmured, offering Felix a warm, dry salvation he didn't know how to offer himself. "I wouldn't want either of us to get in trouble."

[harrowgate]

Felix could have kissed Remus for that statement alone... did rather want to kiss him, if only to learn whether he tasted like toffee and melted butter the way that he looked. His odd-eyed gaze lingered on Remus' mouth for a moment too long, as though considering it regardless of the conversation, the circumstances, or the observable nature of their current position.

However, in the end, Felix wasn't one to take anything that wasn't offered. He inclined a nod of acceptance, and one of gratitude, if one knew where to look for the tiny signs of it. The truth was, Felix had no one with whom to discuss his relationship with Shannon -- no one who wasn't rather biased by being one of Felix's lovers on the side, that is. It was tempting to unburden himself to Remus, but to what end? If physical intimacy wasn't on the table, then emotional intimacy wasn't even allowed in the room.

"You're a rare breed, among my friends," Felix answered him, as lightly as he could manage. "Most of them adore getting me in trouble. That makes you my current favorite. To self-preservation," he added, offering his drink up in toast.

[wandandawolf]

Remus chuckled, but it wasn't an especially amused sound. "Oh, you're not the first to say I'm a rare breed. But I always appreciate being someone's favourite." He returned the toast with a sip, pacing himself for no real reason.

He got the feeling that somehow their friendship had gotten more distant and yet more intimate over the course of the conversation: they knew each other more deeply than they had before, they understand where each was coming from, and yet for all that Remus was quite happy to be everyone's agony aunt, Felix was not availing himself of what seemed like the perfect opportunity. Perhaps he never would.

"I'm sure you're nearly everyone's favourite." Something else he had in common with Sirius. "But let's go back to our menfolk, shall we? It was lovely to see you, m'dear."

[harrowgate]

Felix could talk for hours on end and still say very little about himself, his feelings, or the things that troubled him. Yet Remus' offer to listen to him was clear, and Felix couldn't say he wasn't tempted to confess. Remus probably wouldn't even judge him for the choices he'd made... but it still felt too much like pulling down the protections he'd built and exposing himself to danger.

"And you, darling. Now that you and Sirius are an item, we'll get the four of us together, shall we? As long as we don't chatter about magic all night, Shannon will find it delightful, I'm sure." He leaned up off the wall and self-consciously smoothed down his jacket in preparation.

[wandandawolf]

Remus smiled. "Let's make it," he promised, "a date."