Cosette Fauchelevent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lark_in_flight) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
milliways_bar2017-01-05 11:32 pm
lark_in_flight) wrote in milliways_bar2017-01-05 11:32 pm
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.]
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.]
Re: Meet and Greet
It looks elegant and it is less likely that it will upset flower and/or evergreen crowns.
"I thank you for the invitation," he says. "And for creating such a beautiful setting for a festive occasion."
He approves.
He also knows that she has been a little - that this is a first for her.
The notion of wrapping paper would seem silly and wasteful to an elf, and one would normally not think to wrap presents to an adult.
But Cosette seems young enough to enjoy unwrapping surprises and so the small gift he hands her - a wooden box by the shape and weight of it - is wrapped in a delicate while and golden cloth. Unwrapped, it will be the size of a large shawl, but the fabric is thin and light and hardly lends much size to the present at all.
(It's wool, woven into the likeness of the golden trees of Lórien amidst snow).
"A belated gift," he says. "To celebrate your new household. "
And marriage.
And love.
"It is but a small, practical item."
Re: Meet and Greet
"Oh! Oh, I didn't -- why, thank you, thank you very much!"
Ahhh it's such an elegant present already!
"We'll treasure it, I know, and the more so since it came from such a kind friend. Ought I to save it to open later, then, or shall I open it now?"
Re: Meet and Greet
"Being the hostess of a gathering such as this is busy work, I know."
It's just a little thing, really.
A small, wooden box, just the right size to store small valuables. Spices. Letters.
Smooth as silk and carved on all sides with leaves and branches, hiding small, woodland creatures. A fawn. A small rabbit. The top has an owl, a robin, and a merlin partly hidden by branches. And on the bottom there's a small mouse hiding in its nest.
A trinket, but useful. And fitting for a couple with a home.
Re: Meet and Greet
There's a small table nearby, originally intended for people to set drinks on, which Cosette has commandeered for the host presents she didn't realize they were going to receive. (Ahhh her friends are all so nice!) She sets the cloth-wrapped box very carefully in the middle of it.
"If it's not too impudent, may I ask -- do you know about cameras, my lord?" She asks this with the impish self-assurance of somebody who assumes any impudence will be viewed as charming, and the request granted. But she also holds up the little mini-polaroid Joly gave her in illustration. "My husband's friend M. Joly, he gave us one, I've been making pictures, and you look so lovely, right out of a tale. May I make a picture of you? You can have one too if you like, I can take two."
Re: Meet and Greet
To the best of his knowledge. Glorfindek may have done so without telling him.
He spreads his hands. "And of course."
Surely it is harmless.
Re: Meet and Greet
Cosette is a total convert to photography. It's so cool! And so easy! And the underlying science is bewildering but fascinating! And there are cat videos.
She lifts her camera and snaps off a shot, gleefully. It's probably not a terribly well-composed shot -- she has very little practice, and she's enchanted enough with the speed of cameras that she's got a certain tendency towards doing it too fast and getting a blurry result -- but it will be a clear enough picture of Elrond, hands spread and smiling with tolerant graciousness, in all his winter finery.
When the little polaroid pops up from the top of the camera, she tugs it free and brings it around so they can both watch the picture develop.
Re: Meet and Greet
"That is most clever," he says.
Re: Meet and Greet
Re: Meet and Greet
"If you entrust me with the task, surely."
He notices the weight and the texture. Plastic. As most other modern items.
He also notices the lack of enchantment, at least of a kind discernible to him.
He has up the camera, looks through it - and lowers it again, just slightly, saying, "Perhaps, if you stood in front of the table?"
Composition. It's part of Elven dna to seek out pleasing tableaus.
Re: Meet and Greet
Cosette seeks out pleasing tableaus with her interior decoration, but she hasn't thought to do it with people, let alone herself. But she's happy to take direction, and to stand where he suggests.
And if she doesn't really have the knack of smiling for the camera down pat yet, she's honestly delighted by everything tonight, and that will cover a lot.
Re: Meet and Greet
"Just so."
And with steady hands he takes a photo of Colette, aglow with the success of a party hostessed well.
Then he moves around to stand beside her, as the photo develops.
Re: Meet and Greet
It's a reflexive social compliment, but if she doesn't mean the self-deprecation part of it, she does mean the compliment. The picture delights her, and she beams up at Elrond accordingly.
"Would you like it, my lord, or shall I take it? Or the one of you, you shall have whichever you like."
If he wants the one of himself she'll give it gladly, but she will ask to take another one before he goes off to join the party. His outfit is just so pretty.
Re: Meet and Greet
Perhaps, that will be what help Men overcome their short years. Pictures developed in an instant so that things are truly remembered?
One may hope.
He adds,"I am still going through my belongings in preparation for my journey. I should not add more, not even the small and delightful. "
Re: Meet and Greet
And she will. She's going to treasure all these photos. Miraculous future pictures of her very first real party!
"But what is your journey? Are you moving house?" Do grand Elven lords move house? It sounds as if they must. "I hope it's exciting! I hope you're going somewhere wonderful."
Re: Meet and Greet
A small pause.
"My wife awaits me there."
There is a world, nay a Universe of emotions in his voice.
Re: Meet and Greet
Perhaps it's only fancy names for something that's more mundane really, and she's just not understanding properly. But that sounds very grand, and terribly sad, and almost incomprehensibly beyond her experience.
But -- but being reunited with his wife, there. That much, she can grasp; that, she knows what to do with.
"Why... Why, then, I'm very glad you will be reunited! It's awful that you've been apart so long, I praise God that you can be together. I confess it, my lord, I don't understand the rest. It all sounds so sad. So sad and so grand, and I'm only little Cosette. But I hope you're well, and that you'll travel in safety, and I'm very glad you'll be together with your wife."
That's not -- that's not in heaven, is it? She doesn't think so, but it's a little hard to tell, especially with so many emotions like a rushing river below the grave skim of his words.
Re: Meet and Greet
So to speak.
"You understand what matters," he tells her. "For we have been apart for centuries and every day now brings me closer to her."
And further away from his children and his beloved home. But that is not a topic fit for a party.
Re: Meet and Greet
(Cosette's father is a man of heavy sorrows and mournful silences. Cosette learned early that she couldn't mend them and she couldn't learn what was behind them, but she could cheer him and distract him, and that's her immediate and ingrained response to someone else's sadness. If she can cheer them up, it's all right, and she's helped as much as she could.)
"Centuries! Oh, it sounds horrible. I can't even imagine. I am glad you'll be together, my lord. I wish you all the very greatest happiness together, I do."
Re: Meet and Greet
Elves may live long lives but even to the Firstborn his time apart from Celebrian has been long.
"And that kind you again for inviting me," he adds with a bow for even a lord will bow to the lady of the house.
And that is heartfelt as well.
Re: Meet and Greet
"You've been so kind and wonderful always, you're a very dear friend, my lord! And I think any party would be honored to have such a grand guest. I'm so glad you came, I do hope you enjoy yourself. And I look forward very much to hearing you play your harp!"