milliways_bar | Twelfth Night Party, Pontmercy style!

You -- yes, you, whoever you are -- got an invitation to the party. All of Milliways is welcome!

If you choose to come, you'll find Bar directing you to a big round tent that went up this afternoon on the lawn outside the bar. Marius and Cosette and various friends spent a lot of time this morning ferrying decorations in, and the waitrats spent a lot of time in the afternoon ferrying food in, but the doors won't officially open until close to sunset.

But this isn't a cheap white plastic tent, oh no. It's warm and domed and made of thick fabric, something like a very large yurt. A bit of magic keeps out the drafts, making everything extra cozy.

There's a fire in the middle of the floor, with a low screen encircling it but also magic meaning that this fire puts of warmth but will not actually burn anything, even if you step right into it. The floor is wood -- great for dancing, if you feel like it! There's a piano over against the wall for anyone who wants to make some music.

Everywhere there are garlands of European evergreen branches and herbs, studded with bright dried fruit and sparkling ornaments. (Mistletoe might very well be among them, though the Pontmercies haven't thought to supply that as an intentional party game.) There are candles and lanterns everywhere, and a big chandelier. There are no electric lights at all -- it's all fire -- but a good number of them are magical, so that nothing's going to get set on fire or covered with smoke. The general intended impression is of genteel, welcoming festivity, in a very French and very early 19th century European way.

There are food and drinks galore. Come in and enjoy the party!

[OOC: Party-style post! Subthreads for various categories and activities, etc. Open from now until whenever!

Edit: As of Joly's arrival, Cosette now has a mini-polaroid camera. Fear, Milliways. Feel free to assume that she's popped up to take a candid picture of your character(s) at any point, as long as they're not doing or wearing anything scandalous! She will happily give the resulting picture to your character if they want; it probably won't be a very good picture, in terms of composition or focus, but it will be cheerfully enthusiastic.]

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Well, this looks fancy! Enzo wasn't quite sure what qualified as 'festive' dress in this context, but after a quick look around, he taps his icon and shimmers into his dress uniform.

"Heel," he tells Minus, wondering whether he should stick a bow on his shell or something.

Cosette would think Minus looked very sweet if he did!

She's open-mouthed for a moment at that shimmering digital costume-change, but then she beams. How very efficient!

"Welcome to our party, monsieur!" Inexplicably green monsieur, with a strange inhuman sheen to his... everything! "And a very merry Christmastime to you, though I don't know if you keep the holiday."

"Thanks! You too. We don't have it in my world, but I celebrate it with my fiancée's family." He extends an inhumanly smooth hand. "Enzo Matrix."

Yeah, that really is extremely disconcerting to touch, even through lace gloves like Cosette is wearing. But she determinedly keeps her bright smile on instead of reacting (much); that seems to her that it would be very rude.

She'll also be a little disconcerted if he shakes hands. She sets hers in his palm with the expectation that he'll bow over it, like any gallant young officer.

"Then congratulations on your engagement, Monsieur Matrix. I'm Cosette Pontmercy. --Across worlds! Do I hear you right, did you meet here?"

He was going to shake hands, but between his long experience at Milliways and diplomacy classes at the Academy, he notices the difference in her gesture and adjusts his own accordingly.

(A lot of new cadets roll their eyes at the idea of diplomacy classes, but Dot insisted that they would be nearly as important as Games and combat. Guardians visit a wide variety of systems.)

"Nice to meet you. Yeah, I actually met Dani on her first time here. That was half a lifetime ago, literally."

Minus nudges his shoulder, and he grins. "Minus here is a newer addition to the family." Minus wiggles his tentacles.

"Oh, what a lovely story."

Cosette loves romantic stories about real people being happy!

But -- "Oh! What a colorful little creature you are." That's to Minus, though she's not at all sure what he is, how smart he is, or whether she thinks he's cute or just bizarre. She likes bugs and things, but those tentacles at eye level are something to see. "What, er... what sort of creature is he? We don't have such things as you" (that's half to Minus too, just in case) "where I'm from, I'm afraid."

"He's a nautilus, kind of. I mean, he's as much like a nautilus as I'm like a human, if that makes sense. On Earth, they're sea creatures, so you might have them, just underwater."

"You know, I don't know! I've always lived inland, you know, I don't know so much about the sea. I haven't seen them in the markets." Sorry Minus we hope you aren't sensitive on that subject.

"But we do have -- oh, snails, and sea-snails, and squid. He looks a little as if he's half snail, half squid, how funny! It's perfectly charming. What a delightful little creature. It's a pity we don't have nautiluses bobbing around in the air on Earth. It's really a pity, I think. Like little birds. It would be charming!"

And she is charmed by the image, now that she's come around to it. Snail-squid-bird hybrids, how delightfully absurd!

Minus has no idea what she's talking about, but she's paying attention to him and her tone of voice is happy! He turns a somersault.

"They're related to squid! Less related to snails, I think, but the same math is behind the shell shape. You can pet him if you want."

He tends to feel much less off to humans than Enzo himself does; cool and smooth makes sense on a shell.

Math behind the shell shape? This is a fascinating and confusing sentence that Cosette would rather like to pursue, but she feels that somehow it's probably not quite proper to do so at a party. Nerding out is for your own time, not when you're hostessing, probably?

But okay yes! "Oh, may I?" Delighted, but more than a little tentative, she extends her lace-gloved fingers towards Minus. Which part does she pet...?

Minus, who knows a petting hand when he sees one, floats forward to meet her and nestles his shell against her hand, like a friendly worry stone.

She can go for the tentacles too, if she wants, but he'll probably interpret that as playing.

No, this is good! This is, in fact, slightly baffling but mostly completely adorable.

"Ah, how sweet!"

Cooing over a digital floating nautilus was not something Cosette expected out of this party, but it's totally what she's doing.

"Aren't you a dear little thing!" She rubs Minus's shell a few more times before she reluctantly releases him, and smiles again at Enzo.

"I don't want to keep you from the party, but thank you for introducing me to your pet, monsieur! A nautilus, you said? I shall have to find a book or a naturalist and see if we do have the oceanic ones in my world." Cosette may have an incorrect impression of how friendly those ones are, now. "He's entirely charming."

Enzo grins. "No problem. It was nice to meet you!"

They may, of course, nerd out about math and shells at a later occasion, if she is so inclined.

She may very well be! She doesn't know much about that kind of mathematics, but she's generally fascinated to learn about science, especially natural science.

But for right now, she only smiles back, bright and happy. "It was lovely to meet you, M. Matrix. Please, enjoy the party!"

Twelfth Night Party, Pontmercy style!

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