le reveillon

[cardsharked]

WHO: French people and you
WHERE: The restaurant complex industrial kitchen floor/a random ballroom and entertainment floor
WHEN: Nebulously between Christmas and New Year’s Eve
WHAT: The Who Pudding Cook-Off Le Reveillon dinner
WARNINGS: Alcohol and boozing; maybe there will be an actual physical fight over the food? Mistletoe shenanigans possible. Let me know if I need to add new warnings.

ALLEZ CUISINE

Anyone interested in contributing food to the dinner will have a place to cook in the giant industrial kitchen. Just a few weeks ago, sentient shadows were stabbing unsuspecting guests in the back here, but today it’s lively and bustling. There may even be a handsome, empty-headed blond vampire wandering around to kick off each round of oven preheating with a hearty catchphrase. Before hopping into the fray, consider grabbing an apron or team varsity jacket from the wardrobe hanger. The old staples are there – “Kiss the Cook,” “I Love You a Latke,” “Sugar and Spice” – but there are also some unusual standouts, like jackets with an extra sleeve attached or aprons that have fashioned the lyrics of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” into death threats.

The kitchen has been incredibly well prepared and stocked, and anything necessary to cook a fine holiday meal is available. Of course, some ingredients may have been shuffled around during the procurement. Maybe cooks need to cross team lines to borrow a cup of sugar, apples will be in the onion basket, or paprika will mysteriously pop out of nowhere in a cloud of spice. Working together is the easiest way to make sure the meal goes smoothly. As a reminder, anyone is welcome to throw a dish or two into the mix regardless of their national cuisine of choice. Get cooking!

FRIENDS AT THE TABLE

Here to cook, or a cook who’s finished their rotation in the kitchen? An adjacent ballroom space has been furnished to hold the dining party, with decorations and ambiance supervised by Sumina. As for the food, there's a plethora of options, with Team France(?) alone providing traditional staples like roasted quail, braised oysters, acorn soup, fennel salad, foie gras and pate with crusty bread wedges, creme caramel, and buche de noel. Menu placards at each table list the dishes on offer, but the full menu information can only be unlocked by answering a discussion question over appetizers – “What’s your New Year’s Resolution? Why? How can we help?”

Alcoholic and virgin bubbly drinks are available for all guests. The effervescence of these drinks is contagious! These drinks have a slight, but pleasant, uplifting effect. Drinking one might make attendees chipper and outgoing enough to chat more openly than normal or literally light on their feet, allowing them to float an inch or two off the ground. No one will be forced to experience sensations or feelings they don’t want to; they are purely opt-in, like the joy that comes from smelling a warm homegrown memory.

In addition to any other decorations, Polaroid-style pictures dot the wall. These snapshots contain representations of happy memories of guests throughout the previous year but can only be viewed by people who want to see them, and only memories of people who are willing the share them will appear. Otherwise, they might contain potential futures, hopes, dreamscapes, aspirations, or other talking points for those who are willing to see them.

SMALL BITES

If anyone truly wants to turn this meal into an epic showdown, feel free to start a rousing debate over different dishes or fashion a scorecard out of the menu placards. Golf pencils are mysteriously available for any and all ranking needs.

Though it’s only nebulously New Year’s Eve, guests who stick around until midnight will see the ballroom dim to a warmer, soothing color, lights twinkling down a countdown the last few minutes to the end of the day. As the time ticks over, guests can hold on to indoor-safe sparkle fireworks or take the floor to give a toast to the upcoming year. Insert other preferred New Year's traditions at will.

The mistletoe is still rumored to be out and about, so take care when mingling.

If asked about any of the weird dinner happenings, Odette hasn’t got a clue. She’s just here for the food. Must be more hotel shenanigans, or maybe someone else put their twist on things.

Comments

[crimsin]

But... the garlic bread...

[refiguered]

[ There is absolutely no sympathy on her face. ]

[crimsin]

...

...




I will not do it again I promise.

[refiguered]

Good. I'm going to hold you to that.

[crimsin]

Please go easy on me while I am learning...

[ Give him some mulligans or something. ]

[refiguered]

I'm sorry, but that request has been denied.

[ Figue is Tough Love. ]

[crimsin]

Ah.... I had forgotten how cruel you can be......

[refiguered]

I suppose you can call me cruel if you like, rather than sensible and caring of your own health more than you are...

[ Folding her arms over her chest with a slight, peeved frown. It's fine!! Call her cruel!! ]

[crimsin]

[ Oh, right through the heart. ]

Figue… I am only teasing. Please do not look at me like that.

[ He shakily hauls himself up to a sit, reaching for her with a hand. ]

I am sorry.

[refiguered]

[ Well, she's automatically reaching out to steady him. Just in case. ]

I'm not so certain what's so enjoyable about teasing me as often as you do...

[crimsin]

You are usually so cute... but I feel like perhaps I have crossed a line this time.

[refiguered]

When it involves your own health, perhaps?

[ dryly. ]

[crimsin]

…

[ Ah. ]

Perhaps I should not take such things so lightly.

[refiguered]

I would advise against it, yes.

[ But will he learn! Will he!! ]

[crimsin]

[ He might! A little. ]

I do not mean to make you worry.

[refiguered]

I know.

But I do think you could worry about yourself a little more, as well.

[crimsin]

... I know.

Thank you, for healing me. As ever, you are a miracle worker.

[refiguered]

Hardly anything that impressive. Will you be all right to move on your own now?

[ Surely? ]

[crimsin]

[ He thinks she's very impressive in all that she does. Dazzling, even, but he won't embarrass her when she's already scolded him so thoroughly. ]

Help me up?

[refiguered]

[ Figue saving herself by lecturing. Good job, Figue.

But she reaches out to offer him her hand. Up you get, sir. ]

[crimsin]

[ Up he gets! A little shaky, so he leans on her a bit. ]

Oh, there was a lot of garlic in that bread.

[refiguered]

Yes, and maybe you should avoid it next time.

[ She says it firmly, even though her other hand is already moving to wrap around him and support him against her. ]

[crimsin]

I know... but I have gone so long without that being able to partake at all is still something novel to me. I get carried away.

[refiguered]

I'm at least relieved to hear you weren't doing it all that often back home... you would have been rather inconvenienced.

[ Just Nico on the floor all the time?? ]

[crimsin]

Ah… well, I would not go that far, but for the first thousand years or so of my life, it was just as deadly to me as everyone else. But exiled from home, I found humans who use it in their cooking a lot.

So, I was exposed to it sort of ambiently at first, and the more I was around it, the more my tolerance grew. Soon, I will be able to eat it without feeling ill at all!

[ Wishful thinking probably. ]