not_a_goddamn_princess | MASQUERADE PARTY, 33 Apocalypse Ave, Friday Evening

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MASQUERADE PARTY, 33 Apocalypse Ave, Friday Evening

Party night. The best of nights. An ornate sign on 33 Apocalypse’s door invited all to knock and make themselves known.

The space inside was bigger than it looked from the outside, stretched and displaced by magic. The wallpaper was green and textured, hinting at the English countryside. On one side of the room sat a significant bar offering food and drinks, while the other gave ample space to sit. A large Jenga tower held prominence in a corner.

It was easy to miss it, though, in favor of the little streams of water that ran across furniture and floor. Tiny glass gondolas, animated by magic, made their way back and forth across each stream. The gondolas were real, though the water itself was an illusion. It called attention to the ceiling, doubly enchanted: both to draw all cigarette smoke to itself so it wouldn’t blow in anyone’s face, but also to mimic the starry sky above Venice.

You could watch the stars twinkle, or see the occasional cloud go by. Magical fireflies added to the illusion, dancing through the air like tiny lights. If you listened closely, you could hear the sea rolling in across an invisible beach. Even the air smelled faintly of it: the sea, warm food and good wine.

Welcome to Eliot and Margo’s pad, people. They’d make damn sure you had a good time.

[ocd up, come party!]

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You ask a question of your fellow partiers, and if they don’t wanna answer with the truth, they drink. It’s the easiest way to rat out the filthy cowards in the room!

Margo waited until a respectable moment in the evening, or you know, until people were drunk, to get up on her chair.

“We’re playing Truth or Drink!” she bellowed. “I’m starting! Everybody tell me about the worst party they’ve ever been at!”

Who needed question marks?

Had Dwight gotten a few drinks into him? Sure. But it took a lot to get him drunk... but he was finally feeling relaxed enough to not just hide in a dark corner somewhere.

"Does the god-awful reception for what ended up being a utter failure of a marriage count?"

“Oh yeah,” Margo said, nodding. She thrust her glass into the sky. “Deets!”

Re: Truth or Drink

alwaysonguard - 2021-10-22 17:30 (UTC) - Expand

Irene considered her answers for a long moment, opening her mouth once before shutting it again. There were a lot of unpleasant parties that she could consider for her answer, but she also didn't especially want to bring down the mood.

Besides, she had a reputation as an associate of the rich and famous to uphold here.

"Elton's Oscars party, 2012," she said finally. "My own fault. I got there late and was wearing the same dress as Dita von Teese, which didn't go over all that well with Dita herself."

Though Irene had ultimately made a friend, at least!

"I suppose the party itself was fine. Elton's good at them."

“You pissed off Dita,” Margo said, frowning. “Fuck, I don’t know if I should be upset at you or congratulate you.”

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-22 17:47 (UTC) - Expand

"One time I ruined a party by throwing a blood clot and almost dying." Now that he was further away from the incident, he was able to make light of it. Like Chim and the rebar!

“Huh,” Margo said, studying him over her glass. “What kinda blood clot?”

What? She wasn’t a first responder or a doctor or anything, the fuck did she know about blood clots?

Re: Truth or Drink

firehousehimbo - 2021-10-22 18:46 (UTC) - Expand

"The 'Please Don't End Fillory, Ember' party," Eliot said on a long sigh. "Not only did he try to end it anyway, he'd already managed to dispose of my best comrade-in-party-planning. I'd planned better orgies when I was ten."

Buck thought this was a great way to get to know people. Well, unless they drank every time. But then he'd find out they were kind of lame.

"I want to know about the most awkward date you've ever had."

Spoiler: His involved choking on a breadstick and having to get an emergency tracheotomy.

A lot of his stories were going to involve near-death experiences.

"My very first date ever, I was at a house party, and some big asshole shoved the guy I was with, so I punched the jerk in the face," Annie piped up. "Gave him a really bad black eye and never got a second date because the dude was embarrassed because a giiiirl had defended him or whatever."

Sean Jakowski: the stuff of legends.

"He didn't deserve you," Buck said with a firm nod. Sure, he barely knew Annie but that was a safe assumption.

“Oh fuck,” Margo said. She hadn’t had that much to drink yet, but she looked like she wanted to throw up. “The date was fine? Kinda boring, which is hard to pull off at Encanto fucking Oculto. Had sex with him, left. Weeks later I find out something is sucking my life force dry. Why? Turns out he wasn’t over me so he built a fuckin’ magical sexbot outta living clay of me and fucked up the spell.”

"What did you do about the sexbot?" There were about a thousand other questions he should have asked, but that was the first one that popped in his head.

Re: Truth or Drink

not_a_goddamn_princess - 2021-10-22 18:48 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

firehousehimbo - 2021-10-22 18:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

not_a_goddamn_princess - 2021-10-22 19:10 (UTC) - Expand

Please. Whose didn't?

"Well, there was the one where I ended the night by killing the man I was meant to be dating, but since we never actually managed to go out, that may not quite count. . . ."

Ah, Mike. You were a secret Republican anyway, so perhaps it had been for the best.

(Eliot was quite pleased he managed to repress that one hard enough to toss it off as a casual anecdote, yes.)

Miguel snorted. "Double date, me and my fiancée, my brother and his date. Since my fiancée used to be my brother's girlfriend, and his date was worshipping my alter-ego. Talk about awkward conversations."

"Hmmm, let's see." Eliot's words were faintly slurring, which took a lot of alcohol. "Who wants to share how they lost their virginity? By whatever definition of the term you choose to use."

"At the age of sixteen, in the back of a Mercedes," Irene shared with a coy smile before taking a sip of her drink. "And that was also the first and last time I've done it in a car."

Which was maybe a little surprising, given how adventurous she knew she came off, but Irene had quickly learned that she had standards and she deserved the full attention of someone who wasn't going to give herself a neckache by trying to maneuver around a cramped space.

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-22 19:36 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-22 19:50 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-22 19:56 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-22 20:16 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-22 20:28 (UTC) - Expand

"I want to know," Irene began, which was already not really how you started a question, "about your favorite photo on your phone."

She winked, which was one part Irene being Irene, and one part having about a cocktail and a half too much to drink by now. "Bonus points if you show it to me."

People who did not have phones were clearly SOL and had to drink, sad.

“The first three options are filthy,” Margo said, grinning. “But I got a great one of me and El in freshman year right after he figured out how to bottle magic. Like, literally? Along with the booze?”

Edited 2021-10-22 21:43 (UTC)

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-22 23:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

not_a_goddamn_princess - 2021-10-23 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-23 00:41 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-22 23:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

not_a_goddamn_princess - 2021-10-23 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-23 00:25 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

not_a_goddamn_princess - 2021-10-23 17:14 (UTC) - Expand

"Ditto on the filthy," Eliot said. Two could play at this game. "But if anyone wants to see the Margolem for themselves, I managed to snap a photo or several. . . ."

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-22 23:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-22 23:15 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-22 23:30 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

existencemisspent - 2021-10-23 00:29 (UTC) - Expand

"I've only just got a new phone," Jon said. "But, um. I have some very good cat pictures on it."

Which Eliot had said were nerdy.

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-23 00:24 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

intheeyeofthebeholding - 2021-10-23 00:26 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

begmetwice - 2021-10-23 00:53 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Truth or Drink

intheeyeofthebeholding - 2021-10-23 01:10 (UTC) - Expand

"I, um." Jon took a swig of his own drink. "I should like to know about the happiest memory of someone. Non-sexual," he added hurriedly, given the company.

Edited 2021-10-23 00:12 (UTC)

Margo snorted.

“Brakebills,” she said, staring up at the ceiling-sky with her drink in hand. “Right after me and El got back from Brakebills South and Mayakovsky’s personal brand of torture. No one to nag us and nothing but us.”

She didn’t elaborate.

Eliot was here. He knew.

You know what, Irene had an answer right away. She could even picture where it had been, and what it had felt like, and how that bathrobe had smelled, and how warm and safe she'd felt, for the first time in the longest while.

But for the first time in the game, she just quietly took a long drink in leu of answering. Some things were private. And some things were just gonna bring down the party vibe.

(But hopefully everyone would just think she was drinking because all she thought about was sex.)

Edited 2021-10-23 00:56 (UTC)

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