[NYE Party] happy new year and lots of fun

[nascensibility]

Who: EVERYONE, but especially you!
Where: Wonderland Ballroom
When: New Year's Eve
Rating: PG - PG13 (will change if applicable)
Summary: New Year's Eve Party
The Story:

[ Previously in the month all residents received an invitation to a formal event: a black tie affair to ring in the New Year. The ballroom and adjacent areas are decked out for the party starting at eight o'clock sharp, meticulously planned and executed, glittering décor to match the no doubt glittering attire as music pours into the halls from the dance floor.

Bars flank each side, service for all manner of alcohol unless a minor requests something, and the primary setting stage features an enormous clock for the countdown. ]




[ Where will you be when the clock strikes midnight? ]

Comments

[mucked]

I wouldn't know. [ she owns her ignorance with ease -- if not comfort. ] I'm afraid I wasn't in attendance for the last one.

[ her wednesdays, thus far, are spent elsewhere. not that she advertises that fact. ]

[middlefinger]

I mostly only attended in case something happened -- I didn't trust that everything was as we were told with the mirrors involved.

[but from what she can tell, the Queen had kept her word and there was nothing too out of the ordinary about the other party, other than that donation box.]

[mucked]

A sound strategy. [ and one she'd certainly considered -- likely would have pursued, too, had other priorities not made themselves known. ] But from all I heard, the evening remained rather...uneventful.

Is that true?

[middlefinger]

It is. It was all pretty normal -- other than they had this box they wanted people to donate the memory of a word for. It was supposedly for the less fortunate but who knows what will actually come of it.

[but wynonna touched it before reading the card carefully, so she supposes she'll find out.]

[mucked]

The less fortunate.

[ she repeats the words, mulling them for a moment. but peggy can't pretend to even begin to know what they might mean. ]

What was the word?

[ -- a quiet attempt to learn whether wynonna gave it or not. ]

[middlefinger]

I don't remember. It wasn't one I recognized, but I don't remember it either way -- I might have touched the box before carefully reading the instructions.

[wynonna was many things, careful often was not one of them.]

[mucked]

Good Lord. [ she'd apologize, but she suspects wynonna doesn't want to hear someone say sorry about it all. so, instead: ] How many others do you think might have touched it? Knowingly or unknowingly?

[middlefinger]

[it's true, it was her own dumb mistake.]

In total? I have no idea. It seems crazy to me anyone would willingly do it -- sure nothing's come of it yet but that doesn't mean something won't in the future, you know? There has to be a catch.

[mucked]

It's entirely possible the box might have been someone else's sick idea of a game. [ a test, an experiment, a case-study. ] And it's also possible that that outcome might be one of the better ones, considering what little we understand about just how our memories are used by this dimension.

[middlefinger]

Right. We know they use our memories to keep this place alive but how or why -- there's a lot of questions and not many answers. [and even when they do get answers...like finding out that this place feeds on their deaths too...it just leads to even more questions, honestly.]

[mucked]

I rather despise thinking about how damned long this place has been here -- apparently -- and how few answers have been satisfactorily uncovered.

[ which isn't to say she blames the residents who came before her, but... ]

It's as bad -- worse than, really -- that hedge maze outside.

[middlefinger]

I agree -- it's like we're all stumbling around blindly in a maze either way, sometimes.

[or a lot of the time.]

Still, at least for tonight, I don't think we have to worry much. I trust a party thrown by one of our fellow prisoners more than any of the people running this place. And the mirrors are all on their side again -- that's a definite plus.

[mucked]

My own thinking followed much the same argument. If I'm going to cut loose -- even a little -- I'd sooner it be something hosted by a librarian than a queen. [ not that the queens took credit, of course.

but acknowledging so would ruin the pithy twist of the phrase. ]

[middlefinger]

Pretty much. I think it'll be much easier to relax tonight, if nothing else.

[the other ball had in places felt more like a job she was casing then something she could really enjoy, given the circumstances surrounding them.]

Though I feel like I've gone to more formal events here than I have in my entire life.

[mucked]

Is that so? [ peggy can't quite say the same -- at least, not unless she discounts all the events attended under false names and elaborate wigs.

yes, before wonderland it had been some years since she'd dolled up for anything that wasn't undercover. ]

They do seem to hold them rather often. One can hardly go a month without finding an excuse to put on the good stockings.

[ it's not lost on her, however, that the stocking-wearers are among the minority. ]

[middlefinger]

I wasn't exactly invited to this kinda thing back home -- people in Purgatory weren't my hugest fan.

[but people like her here in Wonderland, and that means a lot to Wynonna. it's why she makes appearances at these things even if she doesn't always feel a hundred percent comfortable at them.]

[mucked]

Let's call that Purgatory's loss, shall we?

[ because peggy rather likes wynonna -- at least, she does in that distance and appreciative way that never quite looks like friendship but which could (in a pinch) flip entirely to a demonstration of it. ]

[middlefinger]

Agree. Little do they know, but I'm totally fun at parties.

[maybe not formal events like this one -- where she doesn't totally know how to act -- but more relaxed parties? she rocks at those. drinking, dancing, she's very good at having fun. life sucks enough if you don't learn to enjoy what you can in the meantime.]

[mucked]

You know -- I rather believe that. [ she hides her smile behind a drink. ]

[middlefinger]

[she grins a little at that.]

I don't know much of the music being played -- but I think I could probably manage dancing to some of it. Do you dance?

[mucked]

I certainly can. [ a beat. ] But I can't say that I often do.

[middlefinger]

[wynonna isn't deterred, grinning more as she continues.]

Well, we are at a party, and parties are supposed to be fun, if not now, then when?

[mucked]

[ the woman makes a good point: if not now, then when? because once peggy had announced, cocksure as ever, that when the war was over she just might go dancing. and when the fighting was done and the dust was settled? there wasn't anyone left with whom she wanted to dance.

her 'right partner' didn't make it through. there's a sad twitch to her smile before peggy casts a glance over the crowd. ]

I suppose I run the risk of being called 'choosy' if I complain about what's on offer as far as dance partners go.

[middlefinger]

[wynonna has lost plenty of people, but not in the same sort of context as peggy, probably because back home she never allowed for such a context to exist -- sure she danced with plenty of men, and then some, but she never cared about any of them. she made sure not to. because she knew all too well that if you loved something, you could lose it.

it's what made her almost run from her relationship with doc here in wonderland more than once -- it's what would keep them from having anything back home. (well, that and the dolls of it all, another situation she never really allowed herself to commit to either). it was easier to hurt then allow herself to be open to be hurt, but it's too late now. she could wake up tomorrow and doc could be gone and it would sting and hurt in ways she was not prepared for.

she doesn't directly call out peggy's sadness, the hint of it she does see, because it's not her business, but her words are a little less insistent and a little softer when she replies.]

I imagine it's probably better to be choosey then to not be choosey enough -- or at least that's the impression I've always gotten -- of course, not many people back home wanted to be seen dancing with a woman like me so I suppose I'm not the best judge.

[mucked]

There wasn't a lot of time for dancing during the war.

[ she lies. not for any important reason, but the truth is that there's always time for dancing. dark nights and crackling radio broadcasts -- or one of the soldiers has a guitar and everyone gathers inside a burnt out building to take cover from the rain. but it was never about time, in the end.

and always about opportunity. peggy has let too many of those slip her by. ]

And afterwards, it never seems half so important as everything else. It's not to say that I didn't dance. [ an exhale. god, she might have never danced again except that she'd been so thoroughly charmed to the tips of her toes by one bold dance she'd shared back at sarah and ray's wedding. ] Although I will say this -- it's a helluva lot easier to dance to this music than much of what I've heard at other events in Wonderland.