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

[akatawitch]

It was nice to see Em so happy, that girl-neck-deep-in-a-crush kind of stupid-happy. "With men, is there ever such a thing?"

[offthebeatenpath]

"Surprisingly, yes," Em decided after considering a moment. With Jag, those times usually involved touch and bare skin. His fear he'd hurt her or wasn't good enough didn't seem as strong then. "Sometimes. I keep telling myself it'll get easier once things are less complicated."

[akatawitch]

"You still had to think about it," Sunny pointed out with a grin. "Good luck, though."

[offthebeatenpath]

"What about you? How are things with Faizel?" Sunny'd been blushy-unsure-happy about him at Winter's treehousewarming. Of course Em was going to ask.

[akatawitch]

And that was enough to turn Sunny from teasing to shy, squirmy mess. She looked down and tucked a braid behind her ear awkwardly. "Um. We're okay. I think."

[offthebeatenpath]

It was much more fun observing the shy squirmy mess on a friend than being the mess. And other than Sarah, Em hadn't had many friends who shared that with her.

"You think? Does that mean he's got that male idiocy going on too?"

[akatawitch]

"It means I am the experienced one here, and I have no idea what I'm doing," Sunny answered wryly

[offthebeatenpath]

"Figuring it out together can be so hard sometimes." Em had never really been the more experienced one, but she knew all about having no idea what she was doing. "But it can be fun too. And I've been told... reliably, you have to figure things out all over again whenever it's someone new. The hard part's talking. But if you're happy and having fun, you're doing it right."

[akatawitch]

Sunny nodded. Such was what she'd been told, and she accepted that... up to a fault. It still always felt like she was doing something wrong somehow. "I think the idea that I'm physically attracted to him confuses him."

[offthebeatenpath]

Em didn't roll her eyes at the idea, but it probably showed that she wanted to. At least Jag had never been confused about that aspect of things. "I'm more used to being the one feeling that way," she admitted. "Pretty much always. But I bet he's the only one who doesn't understand why you want him."

[akatawitch]

"He went deer in headlights when I said he was cute," Sunny went on, not sure if she was amused or frustrated, or trying to be amused while she was frustrated. "Forgot how to talk in complete sentences when I upgraded that to sexy."

[offthebeatenpath]

"That's one way to render him speechless? Sentences are over-rated?" Em offered.

Then she shrugged. "I'm not exactly one to judge. Pretty sure Jag's already frustrated with me being all confused disbelief when he says things like that. Patience and showing rather than telling mostly help?"

[akatawitch]

I don't know if he'll let me show him.

"I guess that makes sense."

[offthebeatenpath]

"I'd offer to provide a clue-by-four, but I wouldn't want to risk him blue screen of deathing." From what Sunny had said, that was the likely outcome.

"But he likes you, and you like him. You'll figure it out. As long as frustration doesn't strangle you in the meantime."

[akatawitch]

Sunny went pink. "Oh God, please don't talk to him about this. But I do think you'd like him."

[offthebeatenpath]

"You like him," said a lot, in Em's opinion. "And I won't say a matchmaking word." With one finger, she traced a cross over her heart. "We can just awkward at each other some time."

[akatawitch]

Sunny snorted softly. "Would you like me to make any counter-promises?"

[offthebeatenpath]

"Would it help if I did?" Em asked, teasing like she would've with her cousin or Dani, both of whom tending to say what they wanted to say regardless, and who often thought Em needed a nudge out of her shell. Whether she did or not.

"Just... It's a lot newer than it feels, 'cause we've been friends so long. We'r still figuring things out, and not really telling a lot of people?"

[akatawitch]

"Don't talk about it," Sunny translated. She nodded "I can do that."

[offthebeatenpath]

"Thanks." Em wouldn't mind people knowing, not that she'd go out of her way to share, but as long as Val didn't know, it was harder on Jag, and Em wanted to protect him from that as much as she could.