may your days be merry and bright

[tenuefarfalla]

WHO: um... everybody

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[creaoi_ang_cor]

Cris arrived pulling, over the hard-packed snow in the road, a wagon stacked with crates of jangling bottles. He'd salvaged exactly 67 bottles of hard cider from his old brewery. Split evenly among the worldwalkers, it should be enough to give everyone a nice buzz.

However, that was only the beginning. Through a bit of helpful fire magery, Cris had managed to get his hands on two rather large bottles of elvish liquor. He'd sampled just a bit before headed toward Cho's, and it lived up to the rumors: very smooth, very strong. Just the thing to turn Cho's gathering into a real party.

He swung the purple door open with a grin. "Joyous Christmas!"

[tenuefarfalla]

"Cris!" Cho laughed, ridiculously glad just to have someone else there. "Joyous Christmas," she returned. Joyous. She liked that. Cho looked at the wagon, and then at Cris's red hair and bright smile. "I've got to tell you about Santa Claus, because you are so very much my Santa right now." She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, and then kissed his cheek. As preemptive explanation, she pointed up to a large bunch of mistletoe hanging over the door, tied with a bright red ribbon like all the other bunches around the room. "Mistletoe. It's Earth tradition that you kiss under mistletoe on Christmas."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Cris looked up to the red-and-green bundle above the door. "Ah-ha." He leaned in for an innocent but exuberant kiss on the lips. "I like this holiday already," he decided, and cast a look around the place. "Has no one else arrived yet?" That seemed to be the case. Good. "Where are the glasses?"

[tenuefarfalla]

The kiss didn't give Cho pause at all. Close-lipped and happy, but not at all romantic, and while she understood a little about his world, she found it easy to think of him as the teenager he appeared to be. "No one else, no, but someone had to be first." She held the door wide open for him so he could pull the wagon inside. "Glasses are in the kitchen. Come on."

[guns_and_coffee]

Ianto had considered asking Jack if he'd want to--

Yeah. No. Terrible idea.

He arrived at Cho's alone, then, wearing a seasonally appropriate cheerful smile, and wandered towards the tree he'd brought her to see how she'd decorated it.

[maybeunorthadox]

Grace had slid herself through the door reasonably undetected -- being a stranger to almost everyone in the room -- and hovered by the closest wall, giving the room a once over; there were a few interesting characters, one with vibrant red hair, an Asian, a broad-shouldered, bespectacled man with a weedy friend, some lesbians, a handful of abstract animals, a half-animal-half-person. She briefly wondered whether Jack would be attending, primarily because he was the only person she was acquainted with, but found herself quickly distracted by how much this was like walking into a Lord of the Rings convention.

Well, except for that guy -- Pride and Prejudice convention, perhaps?

An improvement nonetheless.

Intrigued, Grace strode across the room, using her elbows and shoulders to maneuver her way through before comfortably sidling next to Ianto.

"Who'd you have to fuck to get that?" Grace asked with a shit-eating grin, clearly impressed.

[guns_and_coffee]

Ianto didn't even blink. This woman, whoever she was, was not like anyone else he'd encountered in Rowan, but she reminded him a little of the friends he'd had once. Before Lisa, before Torchwood. "Isaac Singer? Metaphorically speaking, of course, though he did have a very fine beard." She was new, clearly. He knew this because he didn't know her.

[maybeunorthadox]

"An entrepreneur and an inventor?" She chirped, readjusting her vest. "Classy. Can't say I would've myself, but each to their own. I hope you got a free sewing machine in the very least. I can't imagine he's all that preserved in the sack. And by in the sack I mean his balls. I'd be asking for a sewing machine as insurance."

She paused and looked him up and down, more analytical than debauchee. "Weren't into the medieval vibe? A bit more renaissance fop?"

[tenuefarfalla]

Cho started to leave the kitchen, saw Ianto standing by the tree, and ducked back inside to get another mug of hot chocolate before going over to him. "Happy Christmas," she said, handing him the mug and then smoothing down her skirt with one hand. "What do you think?" She turned in a smooth circle, and faced him again with a beaming smile. "I love them. No more Ren Faire reject."

[guns_and_coffee]

Ianto gave her an appraising look, then nodded. "It suits you much better." Which, of course, had been the idea, and judging from the smile she hadn't found the gift too forward. He'd considered the danger there, but highly personal presents hadn't seemed out of bounds considering she had kept him alive for two weeks. She'd clearly been unhappy with the clothing she'd had, and he had a good eye. Clothing was the logical answer.

He had new clothing as well -- a suit, at last. It wasn't Savile Row, but it was better than tunics and doublets.

still at the beginning of the party - when it's only cho and cris and ianto

[tenuefarfalla]

"Thank you." She already had the tiniest little buzz going as Cris' elvish alcohol spread through her system, and the world had begun to soften at the edges. "I feel almost human again." It wasn't a very good joke, mostly because it wasn't a joke at its heart

[guns_and_coffee]

After the encounter with Jack, Ianto wasn't eager to stay and socialise. About ten minutes after they returned to the party, he decided enough time had passed that Jack wouldn't think he was leaving because of him. Well, not entirely because of him.

He had to find Cho again before he could leave, though, and not just because she had asked him to. She was the hostess. There were certain rituals that had to be followed.

"Cho," he said when he found her, warm smile firmly in place, "I haven't seen this many people this happy since I've been here. Safe to say your party's a success."

[ruathanrefugee]

When he’d been helping Cho rearrange her furniture, JY had asked her about Christmas. The religious functions didn’t interest him, but the traditions, the rituals of the celebration, those aspects he wanted to understand.

Having changed into a simple pair of trousers with a white shirt and green vest-Cho had mentioned something about red and green being Christmas colors-he let himself in.

[cordy_estwynde]

Cordelia felt more content than she had in a long while as she walked into Cho's home. Her fingers were interlaced with Cherry's, and she gave the other woman a bit of a squeeze as they entered. She knew it was unlikely that Cherry had really wanted to come celebrate a holiday that didn't exist in the Crystal Realm. And, anyway, Cordy had always been more of a party person than Cherry. But she'd come anyway, and that made Cordelia happy.

She wanted to have fun tonight. To eat food and have drinks and celebrate this holiday that she had never heard of before and maybe make out with Cherry for awhile later. She just wanted to avoid thinking for one day. Thinking about Mikney and Cherry's health and Hyrule and everything else that was always worrying her. She wanted to celebrate life for a short while.

[cherry_reyer]

Cherry followed Cordelia. She was concerned, concerned that she wouldn't be able to stay on her feet, concerned that she'd revert in front of everyone, and in general, concerned that something bad would happen, something involving her activities from the last few months. She was content not to be reminded of that. Ever.

Following behind Cordelia, she played with the skirt of her red dress. She had abandoned the three piece suit with its purple pinstripes and the matching fedora. It was too bold a statement. Cherry was no longer feeling bold. This was probably for the best. Bold ideas, bold people, bold strategies, they generally led to disaster.

All she had to do was get through the day. Just keep her head down. The sunset would come and then she could test her wings again. Clipped, metaphorically speaking, but they were protection. Her face too often betrayed her.

[tenuefarfalla]

"Cordelia, hello. Cherry. You look good. You have colour back in your cheeks." Not that she'd been particularly pale at that meeting thing, but she looked even better now. "Food and drinks are all on the table. Ianto and JY and Cris are already here." She pointed to a bunch of greenery hanging from the ceiling and tied with a bright red ribbon, one of many such bunches. "At some point tonight someone might kiss you if you're standing under one of those. It's an Earth tradition. You kiss under mistletoe. Just so you're prepared if someone tries it."

[cordy_estwynde]

"Hi Cho," Cordelia greeted warmly. She liked the tiny little woman that had once been her cook. She was cheerful and kind and had been a good worker. "Thank you for having us over."

As Cho announced the presence of the mistletoe, Cordelia released Cherry and bounded off toward the nearest bunch, placing herself under it. Mistletoe was often hung in Hylian households around winter season, but it had been awhile since anyone had tried to kiss her under a bunch of it.

"Well?" she said expectantly, looking at Cherry, her face lit up with impish delight.