NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

[heliocentrist]

NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

HOW THIS WORKS

• Everyone is back on campus tonight, and the Junior Wands aren't going to let that prevent them from celebrating the new year.


• Everyone is welcome in the Wands common room at 10:00 PM for a last minute party.


• There's some alcohol available if you ask around, if you want to ring in the new year with a drink.


• At the stoke of midnight, the room erupts in cheers and kisses. Emma pops a bottle of champagne, and the cork hits Liam in the face. Oops!


• If your character's not at the party, you can still post scenes here! Just note in the header they're somewhere else on campus.

» The Party: Mingle and celebrate! 2018 is finally coming to a close.

» Midnight: Three, two, one... Happy New Year!

» IT'S 2019: The party starts to wind down, and students return to their own rooms.

» OOC - Discussion

Comments

Dustin & Lucy

[highercalling]

Dustin laughs softly and, in direct contradiction to her expressed wishes, rolls over a little to look at Lucy. He lifts a hand, fingers stopping a millimetre away from her nearly-white hair and says, "Ah. I see."

"You'd make a good ghost, I think. If you wanted to be."

Dustin & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Lucy's eyes darken, locking onto his. The expression is questioning. A little tired. And a little in love. If Dustin were another person, she would lean her head into his hand like a pet. But Dustin is Dustin, and it irks her that this is easy for him. He just laughed like she told a joke. He almost touched her sacred, tortured hair like it was nothing.

But she's kind of fucked up. The edges are softened, and the potent mix of spite and self-loathing that fuel so many of her emotional decisions is a kinder brew here, because it's New Year's Eve. Lucy's soft revenge will be pretending it's easy, too. She can treat him like any other person she's halfway adored. She isn't afraid of Dustin or herself or any of the other things that feel alternately far away and so important, sitting here with him.

"But I am a ghost," she whispers, teasing. "I go with you to other worlds, unseen. And I only come out at night."

Then -- haltingly, like trying to catch a bug -- Lucy reaches up with her free hand, sliding it gently along Dustin's so that her fingers rest between his. Then she guides his hand away and leaves it softly on the couch between them. Her own stays, splayed against the top of his, for a frightening moment, until an outburst from the surrounding party startles her away.

It's the countdown.

Dustin & Lucy

[highercalling]

Dustin stares at Lucy.

Dustin & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Lucy stares back.

Dustin & Lucy

[highercalling]

The spectre of Lucy's hand is still settled on his and Dustin rocks forward, just a tiny bit, on that soft, sofa cushion. It makes a crunchy, rustling sound that's entirely lost in the sea of cheers that erupt as the clock strikes midnight.

It seems he was right. They've lived to the new year.

Dustin & Lucy

[lucillefer]

5, 4, 3.

Lucy thinks, for a clear, insistent and alien moment, that she will actually kiss Dustin at 1. She intends to, dizzy or not, because he hasn't looked away from her despite the intensity of her gaze. He came to her side of his own will and hasn't left. He hasn't moved at all, except for when everything erupts in movement and sound around them. It's a tiny shift forward that she matches, slipping on the silky black of her skirt. They were already close, but now she comes close enough so that her breath mingles with his. She laughs a little, a tiny sound against his mouth, and their noses sort of brush. Someone is yelling about 2019. Is there confetti? Music? She doesn't know. She just stares, trapped in place.

But the moment passes. It's not that Lucy isn't brave enough to take advantage of it, though it feels like being afraid. It's just that no one in this room should be allowed to potentially witness such a thing. She doesn't know how to express that, so she just stays where she is, whispering to him.

"Happy New Year, Dustin."

Then she pulls away again like nothing happened. And downs her entire champagne flute.

Dustin & Lucy

[highercalling]

For a second, Dustin thinks he's gone deaf because his heartbeat is so loud in his ears. But then — a whisper, and somehow that comes through loud and clear.

"Happy New Year, Lucy," he calls after her, perhaps too quietly, given the noise of the room. Her back is to him as she finishes off her drink. He looks down at his own, tucked between his legs for safekeeping. The ice has melted.

He should get to bed. He should be at the gym a little earlier than usual tomorrow morning. He shouldn't have had so much to drink. Dustin knocks back the last sip of now-diluted flavoured vodka anyway and stands up, ready to call it a night.

Dustin & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Lucy turns to watch when he stands, dispassionate as an owl despite her electric pulse. The events of the last two minutes have energized her. There's color in the pale heart of her face.

She lifts a hand in parting, but —

"Wait," she says, without thinking.

Dustin & Lucy

[highercalling]

Dustin glances back at Lucy, eyebrows raised in question. He won't leave until she releases him. Won't speak until she prompts again. He blinks.

Dustin & Lucy

[lucillefer]

Lucy's lip is in her mouth. She had something in mind to say, but now that he's looking at her again she'd rather say nothing. Alternate possibilities scramble and spin through her head, like scanning, and she's not happy with any of them. But there are no sigils to pull back from a word.

She sets her glass on the table near the couch for someone else to take care of, then stands primly, smoothing the front of her dress, adjusting the straps on her shoulders.

"Maybe we can meet again," she says, looking up at him with hesitance. "Like Nightmorning. I could come out at day."

Dustin & Lucy

[highercalling]

Dustin has to clear his throat before he's able to reply.

"Unusual for ghosts," he says, voice still a little rough.

Dustin & Lucy

[lucillefer]

This earns another low little laugh from Lucy. She shrugs at him, watching him carefully, then glances away. Her head is spinning.

“Stars too,” she murmurs, a little too softly. “But we’ve seen stranger things. You and me.”

Lucy looks back to Dustin a final time. She eyes him as she steps forward, then brushes past and away, into the crowd: finally free, except for the wide, breathless grin on her face. Something everyone can see but him. She doesn’t bother hiding it.