hotelcaelum | le reveillon

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It happens sometimes.

But I did not realize you were already familiar with my kind. Half the time when I say something, people just look at me blankly!

[ familiar, she thinks, and nearly touches where her neck is still healing. unlike for Astarion, the marks won't be there forever. ]

Humph. You must be knowing only fools. I am [ was ] scholar, besides.

That is no way to speak about your fellow guests. Many of them do not have vampires where they come from!

[ Ah, but maybe he should clarify: ]

We are the dominant species where I come from.

[ dominant... in what way? ]

Explain.

...Pick up spoon, and explain.

[ Oh, right. He’s supposed to be helping. He grabs a spoon and starts mimicking what he’d seen her do before to prep the cabbage rolls. ]

I mean what I say. We quite literally rule the world.

[ it isn't too difficult, garlic notwithstanding. the cabbage leaves aren't even scaldingly hot anymore!

a brief sidelong flicker of a glance. if her posture changes just barely, don't worry about it! it's only a sudden and keen awareness of his proximity to her. ]

Through precisely which means I would expect, hm?

I could not possibly know what you would expect.

[ Easily. His body language is relaxed compared to hers. Unguarded.

He’s used to having to make himself appear harmless. ]

We have all of the magic, all of the science, all of the money. We have superior strength and senses compared to humans. Our numbers are greater than theirs. It is not hard to imagine how things came to be the way they are.

It is not a system I like or particularly agree with.

[ and she is too used to being guarded and tense. even before he'd said anything of the sort, her demeanour had been somewhat brusque. the fact that he's relaxed now doesn't surprise her, though—after all, he's just acknowledged complete dominion where he is from. one would become quite secure in their place in the tapestry, wouldn't they? ]

I see. [ she takes a moment to wrap the cabbage leaf around its filling and set it in the casserole dish. then she takes another, repeats the whole thing. ] And was this always how you felt?

Not in the least.

[ He watches what she does, and proceeds to do the same. ]

But a vampire is capable of change just as much as anyone else. Does that notion surprise you?

Little bit, I suppose.

We are a people very used to a certain way of living, but we are people nonetheless.

[ that effectively cows her; she goes quiet and does another roll ]

I suppose that is too easy to overlook. You hear stories.

[ He falls quiet for a beat as well, then, ]

They are probably not untrue stories.

[ her gaze flicks at him, sharp and fathomless, and then away. maybe she should have used more garlic...? ]

Is that so. So you are singular in your generous disposition?

[ He doesn’t do too bad with touching the stuff. Eating it will be a whole other problem. ]

Perhaps not singular, but there are so few of us that I have not met another vampire who shares my views face-to-face.

[ is he genuinely going to try to eat one of these knowing there's garlic in it. babe. ]

You are having your work cut out for you, then.

[ she is assuming if he's telling her this, he must have some intentions of acting on that difference of perspective ]

[ Nico is the king of poor life choices. He's like a lactose intolerant person who loves cheese, only it's vampires and garlic. ]

That I do. One does not change thousands and thousands of years of history overnight.

[ another roll into the pot. she hesitates before starting on the next. ]

Do you mind to share what has prompted this change in your disposition? Is it love?

[ Ah, he casts his eyes down at his hands, working on filling another roll. Something flashes across his face, barely more than a flicker, but shortly after, his expression turns warm. ]

What else but love has that sort of power?

[ so focused on the steady motion of spoon the filling, pinch the filling, roll the leaf, put it in the pot that she misses that telltale, but vague, moment. and so she can't use it as a cue. ]

Hate?

Mm, I suppose. But I do not do what I do because I hate my fellow vampires. I do it because I love humanity.

All of it? Even its cruel underbelly?

Vampires are more cruel to humans than humans are to each other by far. If I were to turn up my nose at humans for their cruelty, I would be a hypocrite to the extreme.

You are bigger man than many, in this case.

[ "good," goes unsaid but strongly implied. ]

Surely there are those who hunt you still. Despise you, live in fear of you. I would not think I would be so generous, myself.

[ so says the tiefling ]

You are not wrong. I do not begrudge them their feelings, either, but I do my best to foster some sort of... if not trust, then tolerance. It is not easy, but certainly more fulfilling.

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